Jiang Kaiwen walked over carrying a water cup, and the first thing he did was hand it to him.
“Moisten your throat first.”
Jiang Yue took the cup. The steam brushed against the tip of his nose as he bowed his head and took a sip, finally washing down the sickly sweet residue of the fake blood in his throat.
He Chuan walked over. “We'll stop today's shoot here. We'll use the remaining time to do some pick-up shots.”
Jiang Kaiwen immediately beamed with joy, almost writing the words “finally wrapping up early” on his face. “Director He, you are wise.”
He Chuan raised his hand and patted Jiang Yue's right shoulder, then reminded Jiang Kaiwen, “Jiang Yue's commercial buzz has been very high these past two days, so there will definitely be a lot of proxy photographers around the perimeter. Make sure to confirm the wrap-up route in advance.”
Jiang Kaiwen immediately turned serious. “I've already coordinated with the set crew.”
Jiang Yue stood to the side listening, silently taking another sip of water.
He now had a firsthand taste of it—ever since the teaser for 《VMAN》 went viral, he truly had no freedom left on set.
Blowing up in popularity sounded glamorous, but in reality, even deciding which door to leave from after wrapping up had to be planned several times in advance.
When it was time to wrap up for the night, the makeup artist removed the makeup from Jiang Yue's face.
Jiang Yue closed his eyes, his ears filled with the constant pinging of message notifications from Jiang Kaiwen's phone.
Jiang Kaiwen was originally able to tolerate it, but by the third time the screen lit up, he finally looked down at it.
After taking a look, his expression changed again.
“Third Brother.”
Jiang Yue didn't even need to open his eyes to know what that tone meant. “More good news?”
“The second batch of pre-sales that 《VMAN》 just added sold out in ten minutes again.”
Jiang Kaiwen kept his voice down, but he couldn't hide his pride. “Now they're preparing to open a third batch, but Sister Qing has already had the studio post a Weibo reminding fans to buy rationally.”
Jiang Yue's eyelids twitched, but he didn't open them. “What does it say?”
Jiang Kaiwen read it out loud to him: “Thank you all for your attention and support for Jiang Yue. 《VMAN》 magazine will continue to open pre-orders in batches. Please purchase rationally according to your actual needs. Keep your love for the work, and for a longer-lasting companionship.”
Jiang Yue nodded after listening.
The tone was decent—it thanked them for the support without encouraging them to boost sales numbers.
“Pretty good.”
“And there's more.”
Jiang Kaiwen continued scrolling down. “Fashion bloggers have also started posting their photo reviews in droves. Several accounts that rarely praise anyone are saying Lamerd made an extremely accurate choice this time, calling you a darling of fashion.”
The makeup artist couldn't help but chime in, “That's a really high evaluation.”
Jiang Kaiwen straightened his back, his eyebrows practically flying off his face. “Hehe, we call this making strides in both film and fashion simultaneously.”
Jiang Yue opened his eyes and looked at him through the mirror. “Housekeeper Jiang, rein it in.”
Jiang Kaiwen answered quickly, “Understood.”
But the smile on his face didn't fade at all.
On the way back to the hotel, the sky had completely darkened.
The heater was running in the car, and Jiang Yue leaned back in the rear seat.
Jiang Kaiwen sat next to him, a tablet in one hand and a phone in the other, checking the data from both sides.
“Didn't you tell me not to read scripts until midnight?”
Jiang Yue turned his head to look at him, his tone lazy. “With how you look right now, you're even busier than me.”
Jiang Kaiwen retorted, “This is work.”
“Me reading scripts is also work.”
“Your job right now is to sleep.”
Jiang Kaiwen replied without hesitation, “You have to be in makeup at six-thirty tomorrow morning. If you stay up late and aren't in top form, I won't shield you when Director He calls you out.”
He Chuan was considered quite strict on set; many actors had been scolded by him.
Although it wasn't outright scolding, being publicly called out for being out of form as a public figure was still somewhat uncomfortable, so everyone put in 120% effort to avoid it.
As for Jiang Yue, he had never actually experienced this treatment.
Though he had seen He Chuan call out other actors for being out of form on set a few times.
Jiang Yue chuckled softly, having no intention of arguing with him.
The next day, before the sky was fully light, the lights in the dressing room were already on.
Jiang Yue sat in front of the mirror, closing his eyes as the makeup artist applied makeup to his face.
Jiang Kaiwen stood beside him.
Just as the makeup artist finished mixing the color of the fake blood, he leaned in to take a look. “Is this blood sticky today? Don't let it be like yesterday, where removing it felt like pulling taffy.”
The makeup artist smiled apologetically. “Don't worry, we changed the recipe today.”
The fake blood from the past few days had been extremely sticky. The issue lay with the props procurement, not the makeup artist's fault.
Jiang Yue hadn't complained once over several days of filming, which made the makeup artist feel guilty, so they went to communicate with the props team.
The props team was also very cooperative.
Jiang Yue was now a key object of protection for the crew; no one dared to cut corners on these details, so they had delivered the new fake blood prop early this morning.
Jiang Yue opened his eyes and looked at him through the mirror. “You even have to manage the fake blood?”
Jiang Kaiwen's perspective on things was clearly novel. “You're playing Lu Ji. We can't have Lu Ji turn into a candied hawthorn stick after filming.”
Several staff members nearby couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Jiang Yue was also amused by his words, so he simply closed his eyes again.
Joking aside, when it came to filming, no one let their guard down completely.
Inside the mortuary set, seven flimsy coffins were lined up in sequence, the oil lamps dimmed very low.
The seventh coffin had been rechecked by the props team. An impact mechanism had been installed inside the coffin lid to produce a dull thudding sound, as if someone inside was spending their last breath to knock on the wooden board.
The clapperboard snapped.
When the seventh coffin shook again, the iron-masked shadow guard's eyes instantly turned cold, and he raised his hand almost simultaneously. “Kill.”
More than a dozen men in black surged into the mortuary. Wei Cen held his saber horizontally, shielding Lu Ji behind him. With a sweep of his blade, he forced back the first two who rushed in.
Yet Lu Ji did not look toward the entrance.
His gaze remained fixed on the seventh coffin.
The sounds inside the coffin were not chaotic, but sounded like a living person trapped in an extremely narrow space, their heartbeat intermittent, their knuckles weakly bumping against the coffin board.
Lu Ji swore silently first.
What a perfect time.
There were over a dozen blades outside wanting his life, yet a half-dead person just had to be hidden inside the coffin.
But despite his silent cursing, his eyes remained locked on the edge of the coffin lid.
“It's not a mechanism.”
Wei Cen blocked the iron-masked man's weapon with his saber, asking through gritted teeth, “What?”
Supporting himself on the edge of the coffin, Lu Ji's fingertips brushed against several silver needles on the rim of the lid, so thin they were almost invisible.
The patterns on the needle tails were almost identical to the Meridian-Sealing Needles he had searched from the pursuers.
He eye's coldness sank deeper.
“It's a living person.”
Pressing his thumb against the tail of a silver needle, his voice was freezing cold. “Meridian-Sealing Needles suppressing the heartbeat, the Turtle Breathing Technique hiding the breath... and poisonous smoke targeting internal energy.”
“Someone hid him here as the seventh corpse.”
Hearing this, the iron-masked man finally stopped concealing his murderous intent. “You know too much.”
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