The next morning, when President Huo was leaving, Liang Xiao specifically requested leave from the film crew.
Compared to the always strict and reserved President Huo, Mr. Liang was undoubtedly much more open. He shamelessly dragged out President Huo’s departure, keeping him lingering all the way, and also took a tie and two buttons.
He successfully coaxed their President Huo into looking much happier.
“Let me know when you get home.”
Liang Xiao took out a tie clip he had prepared earlier and pinned it on the disassembled President Huo: “Report your safe landing.”
Taking advantage of being alone with their own people in the car, Liang Xiao wasn’t polite and nuzzled against his neck: “When you’re tired, send me a message to chat. I’ll check my phone as soon as I finish filming, and I won’t put it on silent.”
President Huo listened quietly, reached out to embrace Liang Xiao, and carefully learned from him word by word: “Tell me when you finish filming, message me when you miss home.”
Liang Xiao readily agreed: “Alright.”
“By the way, ‘Year’s End’ should premiere tonight.”
Liang Xiao calculated the time and teased him with a smile, reaching out to ruffle their President Huo’s head: “If you’re busy, it’s fine, but if you have time, contribute to my ratings…”
President Huo lowered his head slightly, allowing him to mess up his hair without any method: “You’re not in the first episode.”
Liang Xiao: “…”
Liang Xiao hadn’t expected this and opened his mouth: “Oh.”
Liang Xiao tried hard to think: “It’s okay, with two episodes airing together, I should appear in the second half of the second episode. I’ll go back and check which minute…”
President Huo: “Seventeen minutes and twenty-four seconds.”
Liang Xiao looked up in surprise, felt President Huo’s forehead, and then carefully felt his own.
“Before the sample was sent for approval, Xingguan was given a copy.”
The butler was at the side, reporting to Mr. Liang and solving the mystery: “If you need it, we also have the edited version, the compilation of deleted scenes, the work-specific white noise version without dialogue, the slow-motion high-definition premium version…”
Unexpectedly betrayed by the butler, President Huo turned back with furrowed brows, his expression darkening.
The butler, accustomed to storms and snow, calmly wiped off the small ice crystals on his head and looked at Liang Xiao: “Later, when the results of the marketing department’s MV production competition come out, we’ll also share the top three works with you.”
Liang Xiao was stunned for a while, looked at President Huo, tried to press down the corners of his mouth several times, but still couldn’t help lifting them slightly: “…Alright.”
President Huo didn’t want them to casually talk about this outside and was about to reprimand them in a deep voice, but Liang Xiao had already reliably nodded to the butler and promptly turned President Huo’s head back: “Is it good?”
“…” President Huo’s imposing aura completely dissipated. After a moment of silence, he allowed Liang Xiao to cup his face with both hands: “It’s good.”
Liang Xiao was very happy: “How good?”
President Huo had watched those scenes many times and knew almost every detail better than Liang Xiao himself. Being questioned like this, he forgot about reprimanding the butler, and his ears almost heated up.
Yet Liang Xiao still wanted to hear more and held onto him expectantly, not letting go: “Is it impactful? Is it handsome? Does it make you want to carry him home…”
President Huo said softly: “Very much so.”
Liang Xiao opened his mouth, but the words that followed didn’t come out.
The evaluation was too high, and Liang Xiao rarely blushed a bit, scratched his head, and lowered his head with a smile.
“Very outstanding…” President Huo lowered his gaze, holding his hand. “Extremely dazzling, radiant.”
Liang Xiao was so flattered that he felt a bit disoriented. He grinned for a while, trying hard to be modest: “It’s average, I haven’t performed particularly well yet…”
Liang Xiao tugged at President Huo, his ears bright red as he spoke softly: “When you miss me, remember to watch TV.”
President Huo nodded slightly: “When you miss me-”
President Huo paused, unable to learn from Liang Xiao’s example, unconsciously clenched his fist, and frowned slightly.
Liang Xiao had a sudden inspiration: “I’ll just watch financial news.”
President Huo: “…”
Liang Xiao: “…”
The butler sighed and helped open the car door: “President Huo, we’ve arrived at the airport.”
–
With the public attention having just died down, it wasn’t appropriate for Liang Xiao to go to the airport to see someone off. He stayed in the car, eagerly waving for a long time at President Huo, who kept looking back every few steps.
The flight was scheduled early. Liang Xiao returned to the set just in time for his scenes.
“There’s no need to rush like this.”
Director Jin, hearing that he had gone to the airport to see someone off, roughly guessed what had happened: “Is your state okay? If not, we can film in the afternoon.”
“It’s fine,” Liang Xiao smiled. “We agreed not to let it affect our work.”
Jin Zhenbo carefully examined his energy and spirit, didn’t say much, nodded slightly, and handed the script to the assistant director responsible for the next scene.
The scenes were being shot in a crisscross manner. Recently, the weather had been clear, suitable for filming palace court scenes with red bricks and glazed tiles. The film crew had also moved back to that expensive palace complex.
“In this segment, you’re avoiding assassination by hidden guards. After being blocked several times, you decide to hide in plain sight and take the only path into the palace.”
Jin Zhenbo had someone adjust the equipment and personally explained the scene to him: “You’ve returned to this place, which you know inside out, and could navigate with your eyes closed.”
Liang Xiao, surrounded by makeup artists, nodded.
“But things have changed,” Director Jin said. “You recognize the palace, but the people and scenery inside have all changed.”
“It’s like… the place is still the same place, but the people you knew are no longer there, and naturally, the familiar things have also been removed and emptied out.”
Jin Zhenbo had recently discussed directing experiences with Director Song Qi, another outstanding director, and was unusually patient, explaining in more detail: “Can you find the feeling?”
“…” Liang Xiao looked up at the righteous director, pulling out the knives stabbing his chest one by one: “I can.”
Director Jin was very satisfied and nodded: “Reflect on it yourself a bit more.”
Liang Xiao reflected for a while and suddenly couldn’t help but feel a bit worried.
President Huo had just boarded the plane, and Liang Xiao hadn’t had time to start missing him yet. Now, with the director’s prompt, he couldn’t help but worry about what the suite would look like after being cleared out.
His luggage wasn’t much, and even all together, it wouldn’t take up much space, but if it was really emptied out…
…that would be too desolate.
It might be better to have the manager help contact the hotel to see if they could book a frugal standard room again.
Liang Xiao suppressed these thoughts, didn’t get distracted, and cooperated with the makeup artist by turning his head.
Director Jin always insisted on being at the center of the actors’ vision and turned with him: “This segment has no dialogue. It relies entirely on body language and facial expressions to convey inner thoughts. There will be many close-up shots, so you need to find the right feeling.”
Liang Xiao thought for a moment: “Alright.”
Jin Zhenbo: “You’ll be on wires, so prepare for protection.”
“I understand,” Liang Xiao smiled. “Thank you.”
Jin Zhenbo was always satisfied with his acting sense and didn’t waste more words. He nodded slightly, put away the script, and left the makeup room.
–
After a full day of filming, Liang Xiao returned to the side of the set. His phone already had several unread messages from President Huo.
“There shouldn’t be anything urgent, just letting you know he’s home.”
Duan Ming had been keeping an eye on it for him and handed over the phone: “He specifically said to focus on filming and not rush to reply.”
Liang Xiao had been running on rooftops all day and had just come down not long ago, still feeling a bit dizzy. He wiped his hands and took the phone: “When did he send it?”
“Not too long ago,” Duan Ming helped him remove a layer of fabric strips from his body while letting him hold the phone with both hands. “He probably had a lot of company matters to handle and just got home.”
The wire harness had already been removed. Duan Ming noticed the faint red marks seeping through his undergarments and couldn’t help but frown again.
Liang Xiao didn’t mind, quickly replying to their President Huo, the corners of his mouth unconsciously lifting: “It’s nothing, I just have delicate skin…”
Duan Ming frowned: “Isn’t it because of your protruding ribs?”
Liang Xiao: “…”
Liang Xiao finished replying and put down his phone: “No, this is an omega’s glory.”
It wasn’t really about Liang Xiao’s ribs conflicting with the wire harness. Omegas naturally have good skin that doesn’t tan or roughen no matter how much they’re exposed. Back when they were filming during summer, under the scorching heat of over thirty degrees for a day, he stood out visually among a group of miners.
Correspondingly, in this kind of work where one inevitably gets strapped, stretched, and pulled, even with the best protection, some injuries are bound to occur.
During film and TV shooting, omega actors usually find relatively slender beta body doubles to do the work. It’s not just about being prima donnas afraid of hardship; there are genuine physical limitations.
“If you had worn a couple more layers of clothes inside, it wouldn’t have chafed like this.”
Duan Ming had seen this many times but still wasn’t used to it. He pulled Liang Xiao to remove his makeup and change clothes, and couldn’t help mocking him: “Your road to success is truly paved with flesh and blood…”
Liang Xiao knew he was displeased and smiled as he gave the manager a pat on the back.
Duan Ming wasn’t appeased and pushed him into the changing room, still unable to stop nagging: “Even when you were a body double before, you weren’t this dedicated.”
“The requirements for body doubles aren’t as high,” Liang Xiao explained as he struggled with the traditional Chinese knot buttons of his costume. “For those actors I doubled for, stuffing in a couple more pieces of clothing was just right…”
When he was working as a body double before, the requirements were relatively lower. To match the original actor’s physique, there were often opportunities to layer clothes underneath.
“Cloud Flag” had taken a grand artistic approach, with cinematography directors all coming from film crews, and they had put their heart and soul into everything from sets to costumes and props. Even without Director Jin’s increasingly high demands, Liang Xiao himself couldn’t help but strive for perfection.
His phone rang twice. Liang Xiao, still undoing the knot buttons, quickly opened the message to take a look.
“Is it from President Huo?” Duan Ming couldn’t stay angry with him and found a chair for him to sit down. “What did he say?”
Liang Xiao looked for a long time and couldn’t help it as the corners of his mouth lifted slightly: “He says he’s watching TV.”
Duan Ming: “Huh?”
“Brother Duan, you wouldn’t understand.” Liang Xiao skillfully received “Analysis and Discussion of Yun Lian’s Character in ‘Year’s End’ (Part 1)” and saved it in a confidential folder. “This is intimacy.”
“…” Duan Ming decided not to rescue him anymore and went to get the first aid kit: “Fine.”
These days’ scenes didn’t have many lines to memorize, and Liang Xiao was just worried about having nothing to do. He happily replied to President Huo with a couple of messages and put his phone aside.
This time, the wire work was less intense than the last time. He was suspended for a long time, but there weren’t many scenes requiring spinning and jumping, so the chafed areas weren’t seriously injured.
Liang Xiao finally took off his outer clothes, looked at the bloodstained areas, took a deep breath, closed his eyes, steeled himself, and pulled his clothes open in one go.
Duan Ming had just washed his hands and taken a bottle of mineral water, preparing to help him dab the wounds: “…”
Duan Ming: “Has losing President Huo made you this much stronger?”
Liang Xiao was dizzy and weak, barely managing to trickle out: “Q…”
“AQ, stop talking, shut up and rest for a while.”
Duan Ming finished for him, picked him up and put him back in the chair, then crouched down to disinfect the wounds.
Liang Xiao collapsed lifelessly, picked up his phone to look again, scrolled through those few chat messages, and flipped back through them.
“Take care of it yourself again when you get back.”
Duan Ming put bandages on him: “Anything else? If not, I’ll let the crew know and call a car to pick us up.”
Liang Xiao hesitated a bit: “Nothing…”
Duan Ming: “But?”
But Liang Xiao felt a bit desolate at the thought of the empty presidential suite and didn’t really want to go back. He quietly discussed with the manager: “Why don’t we add a night scene?”
(advanced chapters available on kofi)
![After losing all his wealth, the ancestor rose from his coffin [BL]](https://www.freenovels.net/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Your-paragraph-text-1.png "After losing all his wealth, the ancestor rose from his coffin [BL]")