Chapter 9: Taking Over the Script for "Thief Catcher"

Xiao He kept up this kind of provocative behavior for more than half a month.

Whenever Li Zhicheng got close to Li Hanyue, Xiao He would find all kinds of excuses to interrupt their contact. To avoid misunderstandings, Xiao He’s methods were very subtle. Occasionally, he even dragged Liu Zehang along, so to outsiders, it just looked like the three of them were good friends, nothing suspicious.

Of course, except for Li Zhicheng.

The look Li Zhicheng gave Xiao He now was filled with undeniable murderous intent.

But since the scenes at the slaughterhouse were basically finished, Li Zhicheng didn’t make any unnecessary moves.

One day, Xiao He finally completed the shooting he hadn’t finished before, performing the kind of insane desire that Hou Rongxuan had requested—

Having been hungry for three days, Xiao He could confirm that if you only drink water every day and eat nothing, and someone next to you holds a bucket of delicious fried chicken to tempt you, you can definitely portray that extreme, maddening desire.

According to Liu Zehang and Li Hanyue, who were present at the time, when the director said “cut” and declared the scene perfectly done, Xiao He immediately turned into a beam of light, dashing toward the bucket of fried chicken and devouring it in a storm.

Liu Zehang jokingly said that scene looked like the parents of Chihiro in Spirited Away were still alive—no one could pull Xiao He back.

Xiao He knew full well that Liu Zehang was laughing at him like a pig, so he kicked Liu Zehang’s butt hard without any goodwill.

By now, they were very familiar with each other, so these jokes and roughhousing never really caused any anger.

At moments like these, Xiao He felt a bit emotional. It was really lucky to have consecutively encountered two excellent crews.

And after spending some time following the crew, Xiao He had accumulated forty points again.

This was more than he had earned before!

Xiao He decisively decided to continue looking for scripts and acting.

Not for any other reason, purely out of interest and love for the craft.

So, as Xiao He was about to wrap up filming, he began secretly inquiring about casting situations in other recent crews.

The first person he asked was Liu Zehang.

Liu Zehang was a bit stunned, then somewhat surprised: “Brother Xiao, are you planning to develop a career in the entertainment industry?”

Because Xiao He’s aura was intimidating, automatically carrying a two-meter-high sense of deterrence, both Liu Zehang and Li Hanyue called him “Brother Xiao,” even though Liu Zehang was actually three years older than Xiao He, and Li Hanyue was a few months older.

“Yeah, acting seems pretty interesting,” Xiao He answered vaguely.

He certainly couldn’t say he was here to legally “stab people.”

“I actually do know a bit…” Liu Zehang hesitated, then told Xiao He, “Director Anran is preparing a new drama, a modern romance backed by a big IP. If you…”

“No, no,” Xiao He quickly waved his hand, “I can’t act in modern romances.”

Liu Zehang also felt that Xiao He’s temperament didn’t suit appearing in romantic idol dramas. He then recalled some other projects in his mind, looking a bit frustrated: “Sorry, Brother Xiao, I don’t have anything like that at the moment.”

His company was focused on pushing him toward the traffic route, and filming idol dramas was the fastest way to gain popularity, so almost all the scripts Liu Zehang got recently were idol dramas, with the rest rejected by his agents. He was very angry about this and was considering switching companies.

Xiao He understood.

“Thanks, Brother Zehang.”

“No problem, I didn’t help much,” Liu Zehang offered some advice, “You might want to ask Director Hou directly. Directors usually have many contacts with each other. If there’s a script, maybe you can try to get involved.”

Xiao He nodded, “Okay, I’ll think about it.”

Just then, Zhuo Jianhua walked into the lounge.

Liu Zehang and Xiao He both stood up to greet him.

Although Zhuo Jianhua was the lead actor with plenty of screen time, his scenes were mostly with the investigation team and rarely with the three brothers, so they weren’t very familiar with this elder actor, but basic courtesy was a must.

Zhuo Jianhua nodded at the two, then his gaze surprisingly landed on Xiao He: “Come here.”

“Huh?”

Xiao He pointed at himself in surprise, “Me?”

“Yes.”

Zhuo Jianhua clasped his hands behind his back without saying more, signaling Xiao He to follow him out.

“Go quickly,” Liu Zehang winked at Xiao He, “It’s definitely a good thing.”

Xiao He could only step after Zhuo Jianhua’s pace.

Once inside an empty lounge, Zhuo Jianhua finally spoke: “An old friend of mine has a son who wrote a script. There’s a role that suits you well. I don’t know if you’re interested.”

Xiao He hadn’t expected this. Like someone handing you a pillow when you’re sleepy, and from an elder he barely talked to, with whom his relationship was just average!

This was both surprising and delightful.

“Um… can I ask what type of script it is? What kind of role?” Xiao He didn’t immediately agree and kept asking.

Seeing Xiao He wasn’t immediately tempted, Zhuo Jianhua admired him a bit more in his heart.

Although he hadn’t spoken much with this junior, he had silently been following him. Xiao He’s acting wasn’t extraordinary, but he was very spirited, especially his knife skills. Zhuo Jianhua was shocked every time he saw that.

So when he saw the script from his friend’s son, he immediately thought of Xiao He.

“It’s a martial arts script. The role is a cook who’s skilled with the bone-removing knife. Not the lead, but the role is quite important. I think you’ll definitely be interested.”

Xiao He’s eyes lit up.

As expected of an elder, he instantly grasped what he wanted!

“The role… kills people?” Xiao He carefully asked.

Since it’s a martial arts background, it had to be full of bloody battles.

Zhuo Jianhua: ?

What a strange question…

“He kills.”

“Alright, I’ll take it!”

Xiao He decisively agreed.

At this point, not taking it would be stupid.

So before wrapping up the drama “Killing Life,” Xiao He got the script titled “Thief Catcher.”

-

“Take the stuff and go.” Zhu Third Brother smoked while staring at his subordinates. “Those cops are definitely already watching us!”

Zhu Third Brother violently chopped the meat on the cutting board, his face twisted and twitching, angry at the police’s relentless pursuit and fearful of the death that awaited him: “I’m not leaving! They have no evidence. What are we scared of?”

“Bah, idiot!” Zhu Big Brother spat, “Our monopoly business is too big, sooner or later someone’s going to be jealous. Those bastards deserve to be chopped up and fed to the pigs!

“Our Zhu family’s future must never be cut off.” Zhu Second Brother spoke at this moment, “You go up the mountain immediately. The Mountain Dad behind will take you through. You definitely know the place better than those guys. Once in the mountain, hide all the way and don’t come back.”

“Then we’ll go together.”

Zhu Big Brother slapped Zhu Third Brother across the face: “Damn it, I told you to get lost! If I wasn’t the prime suspect right now, do you think I wouldn’t want to run? You’ve been stuck in school all day and got a brain like a dog’s!”

Zhu Third Brother was stunned by the slap but then sobered up. He decisively packed his things into his backpack.

At dawn the next day, his figure completely disappeared from the way to school.

When the police came to the slaughterhouse to arrest the three Zhu brothers, they only found the eldest and the second brother.

No one knew where the third brother had gone.

And that disappearance… lasted more than twenty years.