GRMFBS CH83

The college student extras had started a group chat, and right now they were discussing it.

“Hey, weren’t we supposed to go to the set the day after tomorrow? Why was it pushed back another two days?”

Zhan Yan thought to himself, That’s because the director fainted from fright and is now lying in the hospital.

He was enjoying the gossip from afar.

When Director Ji woke up, he was already in the hospital. It was Yu Zhen who had found someone to help.

Yu Zhen, truly worthy of being a seasoned working ghost, had extraordinary acting skills. His expression was one of pure panic: “I was just passing by when I saw someone lying there. I went over and realized it was Director Ji!”

When Director Ji woke up, he even had to thank him for saving his life!

After waking up, Ji Lele was also in a panic: “I really saw a ghost! A head, pale and ghastly white! It stuck out from the wall, suspended right above the incense table! It was terrifying! Really! I’m not lying to you!”

He even pulled Yu Zhen over to be his witness: “Did you see it or not? You’re the one who found me, you must have seen it!”

Yu Zhen looked troubled. “Well… Director, I only saw you lying there…”

The assistant director tried to persuade Ji Lele: “Have you been under too much stress lately? Thinking about ghostly plots and scenes all day, even I’m having nightmares. You should rest well for a couple of days. On the set, I’ll film some of the less important scenes first so the crew won’t be waiting around.”

Ji Lele: “No, I really saw it! Why don’t you guys believe me?!”

The person in charge of their publicity also secretly found Ji Lele: “Using the film crew seeing a ghost as a publicity stunt isn’t in vogue right now.”

The director himself encountering a ghost… it wouldn’t look good if word got out.

Ji Lele was on the verge of tears but couldn’t cry: “Wuwuwu, I’m not acting! I don’t have those acting skills!”

He absolutely refused to go back to the set.

He knew horror movies were fake, so it was okay to be scared. But a real haunting was a different story!

Xia Yuexian was also complaining to Zhan Yan about this matter.

Zhan Yan asked Xia Yuexian about the extras’ schedule being pushed back, and the two started chatting.

Xia Yuexian hadn’t been on set before. As the big boss, she couldn’t possibly follow one film crew all the time. She was still around because she had some business in Beiling City these past two days. After hearing about the incident, she came to the hospital to take a look.

Ji Lele reacted as if he’d seen his own mother: “Wuwuwu, Boss Xia! I’m serious! The set is really haunted! Let’s find a great master! Or go to a temple and invite a Bodhisattva!”

Xia Yuexian gave him a gentle smile, asked for all the details of what had happened, told him to rest well, and then went to the set to look around. It didn’t take long for her to single out Yu Zhen.

Ji Lele filmed horror movies, but Xia Yuexian had never used any yao or ghosts in his crews, not even people with supernatural abilities. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have let the youngest son of the Chongming Demon King’s family join the crew.

But a regular casting director couldn’t possibly tell that an actor coming for an audition was a ghost!

Ji Lele was quite sensitive to the supernatural, which was precisely why Xia Yuexian had arranged for only ordinary people to be in his crew.

Yu Zhen stood before Xia Yuexian, terrified and nearly collapsing in fear. Why would a great yao open a film production company! Wu… He had never faced such a powerful yao before!

“I was just trying to get a taste of the incense offerings…” Yu Zhen said weakly. “The director burns incense there every day, and it smelled so good, I couldn’t resist sneaking a bite. It was my first time! Really!”

Xia Yuexian put on a stern face and told Yu Zhen to go see Ji Lele. Ji Lele was having nightmares every day, and his vitality was visibly deteriorating.

“You scared my director half to death, now what? Do you know how much money the crew loses for every day it’s idle?”

Yu Zhen whimpered, “That really wasn’t my doing! He just happened to see me that one time by accident, I didn’t do anything after that!”

Ji Lele’s nightmares were the result of him scaring himself all day.

Xia Yuexian gave Yu Zhen a good scare, but then let him continue working on the set, with the condition that he was not to reveal his ghostly form again. On one hand, Ji Lele already knew this supporting actor, who was actually very good at playing a ghost! It would be difficult to reshoot the parts they had already filmed if they replaced him. On the other hand, Xia Yuexian figured it might be a good idea to keep Yu Zhen in Ji Lele’s crew long-term. This way, with Yu Zhen keeping an eye out, they wouldn’t have another situation where a ghost was hired without anyone knowing.

Xia Yuexian immediately went and signed a contract with Yu Zhen.

After dealing with Yu Zhen, Xia Yuexian went to find Ji Lele again.

[Xia Yuexian used a Mind-Confusing Spell to make Ji Lele believe he hadn’t really seen a ghost, but had just been seeing things due to being overworked and staying up late.]

Seeing this piece of gossip pop up, Zhan Yan collected a new information keyword. “Mind-Confusing Spell” entered his “Abilities” column, the energy bar above it filled up, and he once again received a small star.

Zhan Yan was very satisfied. He had leveled up again!

The little stars in the Abilities column were for information privacy. Zhan Yan first locked his dad’s information. His dad was the Chongming Demon King, hehe! He was helping his dad keep a huge secret! He’d go home and freeload a big meal from his dad for this!

The director recovered, the crew resumed work, and the college student extras successfully joined the set.

The makeup artist didn’t have time to do makeup for every extra. She found one person to use as an example, had them change into their costume, smeared on some fake blood plasma, and asked them, “How is it? You all see how it’s done? Just copy this look. The fake blood is over here.” Then she left.

Zhan Yan and Gu Jiancheng smeared fake blood on each other. Bao Qingshan dipped a finger in the fake blood and licked it, “Hey! It’s sweet!”

A group of college students stared curiously at the bucket of fake blood.

“It looks so real! Just a bit thick.”

“Duh! If it wasn’t thick, how could it stick to your face? It would just drip off.”

“I heard this stuff is made from syrup.”

“It does smell pretty sweet.”

“Let’s try it, let’s try it!”

A little while later, someone from the props team came over with a long face: “Team lead, we’re out of fake blood.”

The team lead was stunned: “Huh? Didn’t we just make a huge pot of it?”

The college students were curious, and with each person taking a taste, only the dregs at the bottom of the pot were left after everyone’s makeup was done.

The props team had to urgently cook up more fake blood, while the casting director put on a fierce face to scare the students: “I see you’re all about to get full from drinking that! If you keep this up, you won’t be getting lunch boxes later!”

When filming started, the initial shot was simple. A group of them were arranged to sit in a classroom and told not to move. When someone off-camera yelled “Three, two, one,” they were to turn their heads towards the camera simultaneously with blank expressions.

Ji Lele sat in his director’s chair, stroking his chin.

Ji Lele was someone who paid great attention to visuals; his “horror aesthetics” were quite famous. Besides terror, his films possessed a strange kind of beauty.

The current shot was executed quite well, and this part didn’t require live sound recording. But Ji Lele still felt the composition was a little disharmonious.

“You, the one in the second row on the far left. Yes, yes, you. Come out for a second.” He pulled Gu Jiancheng out.

Ji Lele stared at Gu Jiancheng for a moment: “You’re too good-looking. It disrupts the harmony of the shot.”

Zhan Yan was reminded of the “beauty pass” incident and couldn’t help but let out a “Pfft.”

Gu Jiancheng turned to glare at him.

Ji Lele’s gaze followed and landed on Zhan Yan. Oh! This one’s good-looking too!

But Gu Jiancheng’s problem wasn’t just his good looks. Right now, their faces were all covered in fake blood and lit by stage lights; any face should have been toned down in this scene. That’s why Ji Lele hadn’t been picky about the extras’ faces initially.

Gu Jiancheng’s biggest issue was his overly prominent temperament. It was an aggressive aura, as sharp as a knife. When he stood there, it was impossible for anyone to ignore him.

The kid who had just laughed was also handsome, but his temperament was gentle and could blend into the scene.

“You go sit over there for now.” Ji Lele had Gu Jiancheng step down, replaced him with another extra in the classroom, and finished filming the scene.

Zhan Yan took a moment to check his gossip-eating system.

Whoa! Ji Lele wants to poach him!

Zhan Yan didn’t have his phone on set and had no time to talk to Gu Jiancheng, so he had to use the breaks between takes to signal him with his eyes.

Most people would be nervous after being singled out by the director, but Gu Jiancheng was different. He sat on the side, intently watching Zhan Yan act. When he saw Zhan Yan making eye signals and gestures at him, he even smiled. And when he smiled, that distant aura of his transformed into something that could make people blush.

Once these few segments were done filming, Zhan Yan quickly hurried over to remind him, “Director Ji wants to poach you!”

“He wants me to act?” Gu Jiancheng asked.

“Yeah, do you want to?” Zhan Yan asked.

“Why? Because I’m good-looking?” Gu Jiancheng was baffled. “You’re good-looking too.”

Zhan Yan was left speechless by his completely frank statement.

“Aiya, you…”

Before he could finish, Ji Lele walked over.

He sized up Gu Jiancheng gleefully, thinking this young man had the potential to become a huge star!

Good looks were one thing, but the most important thing was that special quality that made someone instantly stand out on camera!

Although such a person’s range of roles might be limited, they also had the potential to become explosive hits!

Which of the superstars who could dominate an era didn’t have this kind of quality?

Poach him! Poach him for Boss Xia!

Ji Lele began amiably, asking Gu Jiancheng if he was interested in acting.

He thought there would be no problem starting with this topic! If he wasn’t interested, why would he come be an extra?

Gu Jiancheng stated bluntly, “Not interested.”

Ji Lele: …?

The conversation died right at the beginning.

Ji Lele: “If you’re not interested, why did you come to be an extra?”

Gu Jiancheng was concise: “To accompany a friend.”

Ji Lele choked, looked at Zhan Yan beside him, and asked, “Do you have any plans to develop a career in the entertainment industry?”

He’s accompanying a friend, so just let him keep accompanying!

Zhan Yan: “Nope. Director, I just came because it seemed fun.”

Ji Lele: “…Then do you want to be on camera? Getting more scenes is also a lot of fun!”

Zhan Yan: “Does it pay more?”

Ji Lele: …

Ugh! I hate you university students who haven’t been beaten down by society and speak so bluntly!

Having failed to poach them, Ji Lele was left feeling snubbed. He couldn’t be bothered to argue with these “limpidly foolish” college students, so he huffily resumed filming, stuffing the overly conspicuous Gu Jiancheng into a corner. Zhan Yan didn’t need to move, but he automatically followed Gu Jiancheng to squat in the corner with him.

Neither of them cared about being on camera. If Zhan Yan wanted to get into the entertainment industry, he could just go to his dad.

The two of them had fun with the film crew for two days. Zhan Yan poked Gu Jiancheng with a finger, “Hey, do you think it’s fun?”

Gu Jiancheng: “It’s quite interesting.”

He looked up at Yu Zhen.

He had never experienced anything like it before and found it quite novel. Who would have thought there was a real ghost on the set of a horror movie.

Yu Zhen, dressed in his costume, hurried past and suddenly felt a chill. He turned his head but only saw a circle of cheerful college student extras.

Yu Zhen scratched his head. It’s probably nothing, right? After being warned by Boss Xia, he had been behaving himself.

Boss Xia had told him to keep an eye on the crew and make sure no more supernaturals were hired. The most recent newcomers were this batch of college students. He couldn’t see any problems with them, unless there was a master powerful enough to hide themselves so completely that he couldn’t detect a single clue.

What kind of big shot would be bored enough to pretend to be a college student and work as an extra?