The Cannon Fodder Became a Superstar After Joining a Dating Show with the Film Emperor [Transmigration] - Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Meanwhile, Lu Ren was exploring the set of *Blade* with the wide-eyed curiosity of Grandma Liu visiting the Grand View Garden.

He had been short on opportunities during his freshman year, and as a sophomore, he had mostly been assisting on period dramas. His experience with modern productions was sparse. Besides, those period dramas were all web series, most of which were filmed in one go at a few studios near Hengdian. He had always played minor roles eunuchs, guards, you name it so he spent all his time in palace interiors. He had never been to an outdoor set like this before.

Dolly tracks were laid out on the ground in four directions, with a camera being pushed back and forth by a crew member.

Under the scorching sun, Lu Ren shielded his eyes with one hand, squinting as he observed the scene. He began to apply the lessons he’d learned in class.

The grass along the highway was patchy and uneven, a messy mix of grayish-yellow and green weeds. Filming here wouldn’t yield a visually appealing shot. However, the crew had deliberately placed yellow-and-black caution tape in the corner to balance the color palette. When the final footage was edited, it wouldn’t look out of place. These caution tapes would also subtly convey the desolate feel of the highway.

He had arrived at the perfect time. The cinematography team wasn’t taking a break at noon they were still filming.

The sun was at its zenith, and the people’s shadows were just short stubs.

Under the scorching sun, a young-looking male actor was pinned to the ground from behind by the actor playing a policeman, struggling incessantly.

His neck was pressed down by the policeman’s knee, and his entire face was mashed into the filthy, grassy earth. He looked miserable. The cinematographer shouldered the camera, filming a close-up from above.

Lu Ren wanted a better look, so he hurried forward a few steps, taking the frontmost position possible for an observer.

As he got closer, Lu Ren suddenly froze.

…Du Huai.

The name sprang to mind instantly.

He knew who Du Huai was.

While most of the male characters in the story were either getting slapped in the face or on their way to it, Du Huai was one of the few upright men Dongfang Zhizhu had written.

This wasn’t because Du Huai was particularly special, but rather because Dongfang Zhizhu had quickly run out of ideas.

Du Huai was a character introduced near the end of the novel. They say Maslow’s hierarchy has five levels of needs. By the late stages of *The Path of the Film Emperor*, the simple routine of slapping faces and gaining respect had grown stale. Lu Ren felt that Dongfang Zhizhu had no choice but to create a character like Du Huai to spice things up.

Du Huai existed solely to serve as a foil to Yin Beilin’s “self-actualization” need.

He was a talented person, but his talent was essentially there to highlight Yin Beilin’s genius.

How did Dongfang Zhizhu describe it every time Du Huai and Yin Beilin had a scene together? Something like:

“Du Huai was astonished to discover that while he thought the art of acting had reached its peak here, Yin Beilin was truly a god-like man. He had led him to open the door to a new world a brand-new realm of acting.”

Recalling such descriptions, Lu Ren felt utterly speechless.

But anyway, as the righteous little brother, Du Huai’s achievements in the book were still quite good, winning the Golden Branch Award for Best New Actor.

Then, the day of the award ceremony was another day for Dongfang Zhizhu to fanatically boost Yin Beilin’s prestige.

During the live broadcast, Du Huai said the name of the actor he was most grateful to in front of the entire nation Yin Beilin.

He even said something like he would forever follow Senior Yin’s footsteps. In short, if one didn’t know better, they would think Du Huai was the one receiving the award. An old veteran like him, Lu Ren, knew this was just a filial son boosting Yin Beilin’s prestige!

But to tell the truth, Du Huai did indeed win the award through his own strength.

Although he was young, just by watching him now, Lu Ren could feel that his acting was extremely exquisite.

This scene of Du Huai’s was a scene that was very challenging for close-ups.

His neck was pinned down firmly by the police actor. Because of this posture, the face of the originally gentle young gentleman was flushed with blood. Combined with his constant struggling, his exquisite suit was completely stained with dirt, and his tie was loosened. The whole person exuded an indescribable sense of frustration and hostility.

His suffocation was very vivid.

Lu Ren watched and felt a phantom pain in his heart for a moment, unable to resist reaching out to rub it.

At this time, his phone suddenly vibrated violently.

Lu Ren lowered his head and found it was an unknown number without a note, and it was a short number starting with 9, which looked like a spam call.

He looked at it curiously, not paying attention, and accidentally bumped into the person walking towards him.

Lu Ren took two steps back and hissed.

The person opposite him made a soft “Ouch” and was supported by an assistant.

Lu Ren hurriedly said, “Sorry.”

He looked up and discovered that the person opposite him was an exceptionally pure and beautiful girl. She had long, smooth, black, shiny hair, wore a simple sun-protection jacket, had a petite figure, and large, innocent eyes. It was a look that made people feel a strong desire to protect her.

…Rao Mengmeng?

Isn’t this the third female lead in *Blade* who signed a marriage agreement with the male lead!

Holy shit, so Dongfang Zhizhu’s final type was this kind.

The original owner’s memories surfaced again, but that slight feeling of discomfort seemed to be amplified, making Lu Ren’s heart feel stifled and anxious.

Rao Mengmeng glanced over, blinking in surprise. “Lu Ren?”

Lu Ren nodded.

She gave him a bewildered look, her tone teasing. “You really change your style every single day, don’t you? The difference between yesterday and today is just too much.”

Lu Ren forced a dry laugh.

*Rao Mengmeng and the original owner must have been close…* Lu Ren could only nod again, too afraid to speak for fear of exposing himself.

But Rao Mengmeng seemed genuinely interested now, her eyes scanning him. “This outfit… Wow,” she suddenly exclaimed, her eyes lighting up. “This is a Balwin seasonal piece! Where did you get it?”

The clothes belonged to Yin Beilin.

Lu Ren knew exactly what a “Balwin seasonal piece” was. He scratched his head awkwardly. “No, this isn’t my outfit…”

“Of course I know it’s not yours!” Rao Mengmeng stepped closer and patted his shoulder, leaning in to whisper coquettishly, “Lu Ren, we’re classmates, after all. Just tell me how you got a promotional piece from this brand.”

…Classmates?

Lu Ren nearly choked when he heard that.

But Rao Mengmeng was still waiting for his answer. He replied honestly, “I really don’t know. This is… someone else’s. I’m just borrowing it for the day, and I have to return it right away.”

Rao Mengmeng stared at him for two seconds, her cherry lips pouting slightly in dissatisfaction.

Seeing her expression, Lu Ren explained again, not wanting her to misunderstand, “I just didn’t have any clothes to wear, so someone gave it to me.”

How could Rao Mengmeng believe that?

The number of people nationwide who had received the Balwin white-lettered design could be counted on two hands. She refused to believe that Lu Ren’s “friend” wouldn’t wear it themselves and would instead lend it to him.

But since Lu Ren had already said so much, even the most foolish person would know he was simply unwilling to reveal his source.

They were both smart people. Rao Mengmeng smiled faintly and stopped pressing the issue. “Alright then.”

“Your phone is still ringing,” Rao Mengmeng said, covering her mouth with a hand as she chuckled. “You’d better answer it. I’ll go now. See you next time.”

At her words, Lu Ren glanced down at his phone.

The same number he had just dismissed as a spam call was ringing again. Lu Ren nodded apologetically and walked to a corner to answer the call.

Meanwhile, Rao Mengmeng’s assistant leaned in and started whispering to her.

“Mengmeng, you and Lu Ren were classmates too?” Rao Mengmeng’s assistant asked in surprise. “Doesn’t that mean he, you, and Du Huai were all classmates? How come I’ve never heard you mention this?”

“Yes, we were all in the same graduating class.” Rao Mengmeng absentmindedly twirled a strand of her long, black hair around her index finger.

“Lu Ren never says a word to anyone, and he never greeted me before, so I just didn’t bring it up.”

“Tsk, true.” Her assistant nodded and rolled her eyes. “With the way Lu Ren acts, he’s not exactly popular. He looks down his nose at everyone all the time. Hardly anyone in the crew even bothers with him.”

Rao Mengmeng shrugged. “But he seems to have changed his style today.”

“Even with a new style, he’s still just as petty,” her assistant scoffed. “We’re all classmates, yet Balwin didn’t even give us a heads-up. His vision and class are just lacking.”

She continued, a hint of schadenfreude in her voice, “It’s probably all fake anyway. When the truth comes out, he’ll be all over the trending topics again.”

“Forget it,” Rao Mengmeng sneered. “Let’s not talk about him.”

“Let’s go back to the lounge,” Rao Mengmeng said, gently smoothing her long hair. “Our impromptu scene with Brother Lin is what really matters.”

***

Meanwhile.

Lu Ren answered the phone, but before he could even process the call, a voice dripping with malice and anger came through.

“Mr. Lu, you’re a busy man, aren’t you?” the voice sneered. “Ignoring my calls?”

*Who is this?*

Lu Ren pulled the phone away from his ear to check the screen. There was no name saved, and not even a single message in the chat history.

He pressed the phone back to his ear and asked, bewildered, “…Who is this?”

Whether the person on the other end had misunderstood his simple question or not, they let out a series of cold sneers.

“You can’t even recognize your own manager’s voice?”

It’s been a whole day, Lu Ren thought, exasperated. *Why wouldn’t my manager just message me on WeChat? Who knows who this is, calling from a random number.

But the next moment, a realization struck him.

His hand clenched tightly at his side as he asked tentatively, “…What do you want?”

Sure enough, his words were met with two more cold sneers. The voice drawled, “What do I want? You know exactly what I want.”

“How did yesterday’s job go?” the man asked. “You’re the one who told me in the middle of the night that you’d secured it. That’s why I let you go.”

“I know you’re on set, right?” the man’s voice turned sinister. “Be smart. Bring the item back to the company and find me. Don’t force me to come to the set and drag you back myself.”

Lu Ren’s heart skipped a beat, and a cold sweat broke out across his back.

From the man’s tone… was the original owner of this body being blackmailed?

After a two-second silence, Lu Ren’s grip tightened on the phone.

The next moment, he said firmly, “What item? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

The man on the other end seemed to freeze, likely not expecting such a response. There was a two-second void of silence.

Seizing the opportunity before the man could react, Lu Ren rushed out, “If you call me with this kind of harassment again, I’ll report you! Stop bothering me!”

Having said his piece in one breath, Lu Ren hung up the phone.

He patted his chest, his heart still pounding. But barely two seconds after hanging up…

His phone immediately started vibrating like crazy. With no other choice, Lu Ren blacklisted the number.

This time, the notifications shifted to WeChat.

Lu Ren opened the app to find a relentless stream of incoming voice calls. With trembling hands, he tapped “hang up” and then “delete contact” in one fluid motion.

Only after this sequence of actions did he finally have a moment to read the last few messages before deletion.

“Lu Ren, you’re tough, aren’t you? Good for you.”

“If you can’t come up with Brother Bin’s five million in two days, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Lu Ren cursed aloud, drawing the attention of the staff working beside him.

But he was too frantic to notice their reactions. Staring at those last two messages, his expression gradually turned to one of panic.

*Shit!* Dongfang Zhizhu hadn’t written this much into the original story. How the hell did he end up owing five million? Was this some kind of scam?

But just then, a fragment of his patchy memory resurfaced.

Three seconds later, Lu Ren’s heart sank.

He finally understood where this cannon fodder character had gotten the nerve to extort Yin Beilin.

Money makes the world go ’round.

The original owner had actually taken out a loan shark loan…

*Holy shit,* Lu Ren practically spat out a mouthful of old blood.

Can the cannon fodder not add extra drama for me?!! For the love of God!

But after two seconds, Lu Ren discovered something even more terrifying.

He realized that if he scrolled up, there were still a few messages he hadn’t seen.

That person had actually sent messages as early as noon!

“What’s the word? Did you get the photos of you and Yin Beilin?”

“What about the video of Yin Beilin?”

“After this is done, Brother Bin’s five million will be wiped clean, and I can give you an extra million.”

“What do you mean? Why aren’t you replying to my messages?”

These four messages had clearly been sent an hour ago, yet he hadn’t seen them at all…

Not only had he missed them, but he hadn’t even noticed the chat window with this man, who had “Manager” written next to his name, Chen De. He’d only seen it because the man had just called him on WeChat.

…But when he had checked his phone before, he had completely failed to notice these messages.

What was he doing an hour ago? An hour ago…

Lu Ren fell silent.

An hour ago…

His phone had been snatched away…

WeChat… Pinned chats…

In a daze, Yin Beilin’s half-smiling face and his dark, unfathomable eyes gradually materialized in his mind.

Lu Ren: “…”

The June weather was scorching, the highway baking in the sun. Yet, in the hottest part of the afternoon, a chill seeped from the crown of Lu Ren’s head all the way down to his toes.

“Lu Ren? Lu Ren?”

Rao Mengmeng stood before the stunned Lu Ren, waving a hand in front of his face. She asked curiously, “Are you okay?”

“…I’m fine…”

Rao Mengmeng’s lips twitched. That voice, as thin as a wisp of silk, didn’t sound “fine” at all.

She had just changed clothes and come over, only to find Lu Ren standing here like a mindless doll, his soul seemingly departed from his body.

If it weren’t for the Balwin outfit Lu Ren was wearing, Rao Mengmeng would have curled her lip in disdain and had no mood to care what had happened to him.

*Fine, maybe it was more than just that.* Rao Mengmeng kept her gaze fixed on Lu Ren, her eyes scanning him without a trace of her true thoughts.

*…This guy… he seems to be reverting to his old self.*

From this angle, without the heavy makeup and eyeliner, Lu Ren did indeed have a hint of his former self.

Though only a hint.

His loose black hair fell around his face, but it no longer overshadowed his eyes in that same gloomy way. Instead, it was tucked away to one side, the dark strands at his temples making his pale face look even fairer. His raven-black eyelashes drooped halfway, giving him a dazed, vacant expression.

Perhaps it was the sunlight, but there was a natural, healthy glow emanating from his skin.

Rao Mengmeng: “…”

Why does his natural sun-kissed flush look better than my blush?

Whatever. He’s a man. What good is looking pretty?

Watching Lu Ren’s blank, wooden expression, Rao Mengmeng withdrew her gaze and shook her head in silent exasperation, smoothing out her white gauze camisole dress.

She had only stepped away a moment ago to change into this new outfit.

A few days ago, the director had indicated that if the opportunity arose, he would give her an extra scene with Chen Ruoyu, the male lead played by Yin Beilin.

Once Rao Mengmeng learned of this, she had her assistant secretly find someone to review the script. Sure enough, a final scene had been added at the last minute.

Bridge In: Evening

A woman in a long dress dies beautifully and despairingly in Chen Dao’s arms by the side of a car.

Bridge Out: Afterglow fades to black

Although she was eighty percent certain, Rao Mengmeng kept her composure and didn’t breathe a word to anyone.

As expected, the production team notified her to come in today.

Today was the filming of the final scenes for *Blade*. As the third female lead, her scenes should have wrapped long ago so why call her back now? It had to be for this scene!

This was her final scene with Yin Beilin.

At the thought, Rao Mengmeng bit her lower lip, twirling a strand of her hair around her finger as a wave of girlish excitement washed over her…

Suddenly, the person beside her gasped and took a step back.

The sound abruptly snapped Rao Mengmeng out of her girlish reverie. She glanced at Lu Ren beside her in confusion, only to notice a sudden stir of commotion ahead.

Rao Mengmeng paused, her gaze sweeping forward, and her eyes instantly lit up.

*Yin Beilin is here!*

He was walking toward them, surrounded by a crowd, with Director Xu by his side.

Director Xu was notorious in the industry for being difficult to get along with, yet as he walked with Yin Beilin, a hint of a smile touched his usually stern face though no one noticed.

Everyone was too busy staring at Yin Beilin.

The crew nearby, including Rao Mengmeng, had almost unconsciously halted their work. Their gazes were drawn to Yin Beilin, following him until he came to a leisurely stop before them.

Rao Mengmeng shook herself awake, as if from a dream.

She greeted them with practiced poise. “Director Xu, Brother Lin.”

Director Xu nodded and asked abruptly, “Is this the person you specifically requested to act opposite?”

“Yes,” Yin Beilin replied, his voice cool and level.

Rao Mengmeng froze. In the next instant, she felt her heart skip a beat.

“Hmm,” Director Xu murmured, thinking for a moment. “Hmm… adding this scene actually isn’t a bad idea. It’s quite interesting.”

…It’s a go!

Rao Mengmeng fought to suppress the joy bubbling up inside as she beamed, about to offer a humble reply.

But the next second, her smile froze.

“In that case,” Director Xu said, his face hardening as he spoke with booming authority, “Young man, why aren’t you in your dress yet?”

Rao Mengmeng: “…”

Rao Mengmeng: “…”

Young man Lu Ren: “?????”

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