Top Dupe CH 067 Moving Towards The Big Screen Part 2

“Hey, Li Shengyu and Jiang Muxing said they’re going for mushroom hot pot! Want to join us?” Luo Yu lowered his body slightly to speak to Gu Xiaowei.

Gu Xiaowei looked up with a hint of an elusive smile, “They are your friends now, aren’t they?”

“Yes. This is probably the biggest gain from participating in this show,” Luo Yu said with a smile.

In his previous life, he was truly alone in the entertainment industry, except for Sister Cui, no one cared about him. Friends were something he only made after transitioning to stage plays.

Now, Luo Yu no longer needed to worry about not being able to gather enough people for a game of cards.

On the side, Han Yang watched Luo Yu and found him quite special.

When he swiftly and decisively took the flag behind He Mu, there was no hesitation. When he rode the horse towards the finish line, his figure seemed rare and carefree. Yet when he reached the finish line and looked at his teammates, he smiled so openly, as if he was not driven by a desire to win or lose but was simply sharing joy.

He had the strength of a man, yet didn’t completely shed the purity of youth.

“Sister Cui just received a call from Director Sheng,” Gu Xiaowei said, watching Luo Yu. But Luo Yu didn’t show any anxiety or nervousness; he just lifted his helmet.

“The role should be mine.”

“Oh, you weren’t so confident before,” Gu Xiaowei said, holding the railing with one hand and pulling his reins down with the other, leaning closer.

“I could tell from your expression—if we can’t work together, you’ll surely feel disappointed,” Luo Yu said with a bright smile.

Han Yang approached Sister Cui, “Congratulations on landing such a good role.”

“Thank you,” Sister Cui didn’t expect him to offer congratulations. “I also hope Mr. Han can pay more attention to Luo Yu’s performance and give us a chance to collaborate.”

Finally saying the request for collaboration, Sister Cui felt confident, whereas she previously felt timid.

She had learned a lot from being beside Gu Xiaowei, such as keeping Luo Yu’s memorable moments ready in the phone, setting the stage before discussing collaboration to show Luo Yu’s unique value, and maintaining calm and confidence to keep the other party engaged.

“Of course. I have a drama in pre-production and hope to start shooting in the second quarter. There’s a role that fits Luo Yu well. If ‘Beast and Rose’ finishes shooting by then, he’s welcome to audition.”

Sister Cui seized the opportunity, “Then Mr. Han, could we exchange contact information?”

Typically, a producer like Han Yang would ask an assistant to handle it, but unexpectedly, Han Yang took out his phone and opened the WeChat QR code, “This is my work WeChat. I might not be online during holidays and breaks.”

Sister Cui quickly scanned the code and added Han Yang, her face showing disbelief.

Han Yang nodded towards Gu Xiaowei as a farewell gesture and then turned to leave.

Sister Cui came back to her senses and said regretfully, “I should have asked you to greet Mr. Han. Just letting him go like that seemed impolite.”

Luo Yu asked, “Who was that CEO just now?”

“Han Yang, the producer from K Station,” Gu Xiaowei said.

Luo Yu touched his nose, with a smirk looking at Sister Cui, “Sister Cui, not only is Mr. Han handsome, but he also has a lot of grace, right?”

Sister Cui’s eyes were fixed on Han Yang’s WeChat profile picture, which was of a Ragdoll cat. She felt that this cat was more noble and luxurious than anything on earth, “As long as he can get you a role, even if I have to praise him as being more handsome than Teacher Gu, I could write a hundred thousand words of praise!”

Gu Xiaowei’s brows furrowed slightly, a small movement that Luo Yu caught.

He poked Gu Xiaowei’s forehead, “Teacher Gu, there’s no need for a competitive spirit here.”

Gu Xiaowei lifted his chin and grabbed Luo Yu’s hand, completely unguarded.

Li Shengyu and Jiang Muxing waved at Luo Yu, “We’re leaving—going back to change clothes and remove makeup—”

Luo Yu pulled on the reins, changed direction, and trotted towards them: “Coming!”

The news that he had secured the role of Wen Yuchi quickly spread through the production team.

Xu Mu smiled with his eyes squinted into slits, secretly delighted at the huge profits.

When the cast of “Beast and Rose” was announced, it happened to coincide with the airing of their show, providing free publicity!

“Luo Yu is one of the rare actors who has participated in the works of directors Lin Yue, Xu Han, and Sheng Yunlan, isn’t he?”

The assistant director’s reminder made Xu Mu feel that there was another angle for program promotion.

“As long as he doesn’t collapse or falter, no one can stop him from becoming popular,” the cameraman commented.

Although they had only interacted for two days, Xu Mu had gained some understanding of Luo Yu’s personality.

He had a sense of propriety, wasn’t blindly pursuing fame and fortune, and wouldn’t give up opportunities to showcase himself for the sake of being low-key.

“A person like him… it’s probably not easy to find something that could hold him accountable for a principled mistake.”

Especially for someone who has just emerged from a low point, they would cherish their feathers even more.

With some people rejoicing, there are bound to be others who are sorrowful.

He Mu’s agent had just received a call confirming that He Mu had not secured the role of Wen Yuchi.

“If you don’t mind, can I ask who eventually got the role of Wen Yuchi?”

“For specific results, please follow the official Weibo.”

After the call ended, He Mu’s agent heard the crew members chatting.

“Just now, Luo Yu’s agent went away from the crowd to take a call. It seemed like Luo Yu got a role. She kept saying thank you and almost cried!”

“Luo Yu is quite good. Among the guests on this episode, I have the best impression of him. No matter what role he gets, I really hope he becomes popular.”

Hearing this, He Mu’s agent’s heart sank. The phone call notification was likely about the casting results for “Beast and Rose.”

“Oh! I also saw that Producer Han added his agent on WeChat!”

“Really? That’s great! Producer Han’s TV dramas are a quality benchmark in the industry! I’d really like to see Luo Yu in one of Producer Han’s dramas!”

“I’d like to see it too! If his drama can be on K Station, I’d be willing to recharge for three years immediately!”

Hearing this, He Mu’s agent suddenly envied Cui Zhuxin greatly.

When he got to the van, he saw He Mu’s face turning pale, obviously having found out as well.

—What else could be done? Just endure it!

Their vehicle drove away, brushing past Li Shengyu’s van, and voices from inside the van were audible even from inside.

“Luo Yu—congratulations! You’ve fought your way through and are going to the big screen!”

“Brother Luo, I declare you as my idol!”

He Mu said coldly, “Didn’t Chairman Ou say he would try his best to get the role of Wen Yuchi for me? Why did it end up with Luo Yu?”

“Am I spoiling you too much?” the agent suddenly spoke up.

He Mu was stunned, “What...what are you saying?”

“Do you think you can get anything you want, that the world only has Dijun Media, and that you should be invincible in the industry?”

“I...I didn’t think that way.” He Mu didn’t expect his agent to suddenly say these things and was completely bewildered.

In the past, his agent would comfort him, persuade him, but this time his tone was very sharp.

“He Mu, actually, since Luo Yu successfully auditioned for Bai Ying, I’ve wanted to tell you—be mentally prepared. The roles you want will often be taken by him. Even if you hire internet trolls to flood social media, they won’t overturn Luo Yu. You’ll increasingly be compared to him, and the harm you inflicted on Luo Yu in the past will come back to you in the same way,” the agent said.

At that moment, He Mu felt an inexplicable fear.

He remembered the scathing attacks by internet trolls on Luo Yu, and how his numerous fans had drowned Luo Yu out.

If one day, Luo Yu also had fan appeal like him, how would he retaliate?

At this moment, Luo Yu was happily dining with Li Shengyu and the others.

The mountain mushroom hotpot restaurant was not large but was very popular. Fortunately, Li Shengyu’s assistant had reserved a private room in advance, and they entered through the back door, avoiding attention.

After they sat down, Li Shengyu and Jiang Muxing appeared a bit nervous.

Luo Yu and Sister Cui were already so hungry that their stomachs were flattened, showing no pretensions, and immediately began ordering dishes with the iPad.

“Five plates of beef! Five plates of lamb!” Luo Yu’s fingers were tapping rapidly on the screen.

“Duck blood! Also beef tripe, yellow throat! My favorites!” Sister Cui’s face was almost pressed against the screen.

Jiang Muxing reminded, “We’re here for mountain mushroom hotpot…”

“Oh! Right! How about a large mushroom platter? There are so many mushrooms here I’ve never heard of!” Luo Yu curiously examined the options.

Li Shengyu and Jiang Muxing exchanged glances, wondering how Luo Yu managed to ignore Gu Xiaowei, who hadn’t spoken a word.

Jiang Muxing took a breath and smiled politely at Gu Xiaowei, “Hello, Teacher Gu, I really enjoy watching your dramas. You were really impressive in 'Sunset Avenue'!”

Gu Xiaowei across the table slowly curved his lips. For the first time, Jiang Muxing had a concrete sense of what a “ice melting smile” looked like.

Gu Xiaowei mimicked Jiang Muxing’s tone, “Hello, Teacher Jiang. Your ‘Cloud God’ is also a must-listen track for me on my way to jobs. I also like ‘Night Dye’ and ‘Carved Beams and Painted Rafters’.”

Jiang Muxing’s eyes lit up, “You’ve heard my songs?”

“I’ve heard many of your songs. So, can we skip calling each other ‘Teacher’ now?”

Luo Yu also looked up and smiled, “Can you two stop the commercial flattery? Let’s hurry up and order.”

After a meal, Li Shengyu and Jiang Muxing discovered that Gu Xiaowei was actually very easy to get along with, even though he wasn’t the life of the party, he could carry any topic and was good at listening, responding and keeping the conversation lively.

When Li Shengyu, who had a bit of a cleanliness obsession, used a spoon to scrape off some small black spots on the mushrooms, Gu Xiaowei wasn’t impatient at all, showing no resentment for the previous acting PK during the shooting of “Storm”.

This made Li Shengyu feel embarrassed, and he opened a bottle of beer, very seriously apologizing to Luo Yu again.

“Looking back now, I guess I was a bit envious of you,” Li Shengyu remarked.

“It’s my honor to be envied by you,” Luo Yu clinked beer bottles with him.

Li Shengyu smiled heartily, “Now I’m not envious at all. Your roles are always so captivating. I accept losing in that acting battle wholeheartedly.”

“You’ve been criticized online, and you still accept it?” Luo Yu asked with a smile.

“In our line of work, being criticized is common. If no one is criticizing you, it means you’ve hit rock bottom. You believe it or not, thanks to Brother Gu, we’ll get trending again for eating hotpot. Those who criticized me will probably be surprised—Li Shengyu and Luo Yu aren’t that antagonistic after all. They’re friends in the industry who can eat hotpot together!”

Being straightforward, the boys drank a few bottles of beer and spoke even more openly.

As they chatted, Li Shengyu and Jiang Muxing made strong suggestions to Luo Yu.

“I’m telling you, you must have an assistant! If you’re filming period dramas—wearing layer upon layer and walking around without an assistant, you’ll be exhausted,” Li Shengyu said.

“You also need a van. Otherwise, if you want to rest for a while, you’d have to set up a temporary stall and could accidentally get hit on the head by passing props,” Jiang Muxing, who had felt the importance of a van from participating in a few variety shows, added.

“A van, huh… I’ll consider it.”

“When you’re filming movies, won’t you need a quiet space to discuss scenes with Brother Gu? If you hit a snag, will you just sit in the set and self-breakthrough?" Li Shengyu said again.

"Hey, you have a van, right?" Luo Yu looked at Gu Xiaowei, because he had never seen one on the set of "Counterattack."

"Yes, I do."

"Then when we need a quiet space to rehearse, can’t I just go to your van?"

Luo Yu still hasn't gotten over the shadow of drowning in a van from his past life.