A few days later, Xiao He and several other concerned citizens gathered together to receive officially issued certificates and rewards. They also collectively accepted interviews and coverage from relevant news outlets, gaining significant attention online once again.
This time, Xiao He also encountered Meng Zihao.
When Meng Zihao saw Xiao He this time, his expression was somewhat complex. He raised his hand to pat Xiao He's shoulder and said with profound sincerity, "Brother, there's quite a difference between your acting skills and your actual self."
Xiao He was momentarily stunned, then understood something.
He smiled wryly.
Did this guy actually go back and binge-watch his previous works?
Well, those were indeed... quite something.
Xiao He felt too embarrassed to tell Meng Zihao that before he obtained Psychological Suggestion, Meng Zihao probably wanted to arrest him when he saw him.
Now that he had done good deeds, Meng Zihao viewed him through a "good person" filter, and that sense of danger had naturally diminished considerably.
Xiao He sighed helplessly at the sky, could only grip the small red booklet symbolizing honor even tighter in his hand.
...
In the blink of an eye, the year-end arrived.
Originally, Father Xiao and Mother Xiao had planned to come at year-end to celebrate the New Year with Xiao He, but Xiao He felt the New Year's holiday was too short. There wasn't really any need for them to make the trip, so he persuaded them to reschedule for the Spring Festival.
Anyway, their family didn't have any so-called "returning to hometown" traditions. Taking advantage of the Spring Festival to visit Beijing seemed quite nice.
After considering it, Mother Xiao agreed it was indeed a good idea. Moreover, by that time, Xiao He's scenes should be nearing completion, and his work wouldn't be too busy, so it wouldn't affect Xiao He's job.
Thus, this New Year's celebration was spent by Xiao He together with the other members of the "Corner Also" crew.
Although the "Corner Also" crew had many minor issues here and there at the beginning, after spending some time together, they had found a relatively harmonious balance in their interactions with each other.
As for Xiao He, it went without saying - since the car accident, his status within the crew had inexplicably risen. Even Yuan Sitong, recognized as one of the crew's "troublemakers," would call him "Brother Xiao" at banquets, seemingly genuinely somewhat afraid of this ruthless person who "dared to risk his life."
Xiao He: ...
Xiao He looked at the woman before him with a complex expression, ultimately saying nothing. He raised his wine glass, nodded, and downed it in one go.
To be honest, although Yuan Sitong caused various troubles within the crew, she basically never directly offended Xiao He - to be precise, within the crew, others had their own petty schemes and actions, but they almost unanimously avoided Xiao He, as if he were some terrifying figure.
Well, Xiao He admitted that when he wasn't "in character" as Yin Qi, his demeanor could indeed be quite fierce, looking like a bad-tempered villain.
Previously, Xiao He had found this temperament somewhat annoying, but he never expected it would actually help intimidate others in this crew.
— After all, within the entire crew, aside from Yan Shaohan, Xiao He was also a newcomer.
Those self-important old-timers dared to overstep their bounds in front of Yan Shaohan, but they didn't dare to cause trouble around Xiao He.
It could only be said that it truly reflected that old saying: The nice guy finishes last, the tame horse gets ridden.
Xiao He's villainous face helped him avoid a lot of unnecessary social interactions and troubles.
After Yuan Sitong finished toasting, several younger actors came over one after another to offer drinks, which could be considered as selling some goodwill. After dealing with these actors, Xiao He went to toast the more senior actors one by one, as well as other key creative personnel in the crew with important positions.
By the time the banquet ended, it was already early morning.
After waking up from sleep, it was yet another brand new day.
Not long after Xiao He got up, he received a New Year's gift from Liu Rulan.
"No Bait?" Xiao He looked at the script in his hand, quite surprised, "Is this the script Sister Liu has been busy with recently?"
"Yes." Liu Rulan nodded with a smile, "Everyone was busy recently, and you were busy rushing the crew's schedule here, so I didn't give you the script immediately. Today happens to be a crew holiday, so you can finally spare some time to look at this script."
"—But the final audition still depends on you. There will definitely be many people competing for this script."
Xiao He thought for a moment and asked, "Is this the script Sister Liu mentioned before where the protagonist is almost omnipotent?"
"Exactly." Liu Rulan explained, "This script was shelved for a long time before. Now that restrictions have loosened a bit, this script has finally passed through the review process."
"The one in your hands is the old script used for auditions back then. Now that over ten years have passed, many plot details might have been adjusted. Also, to pass review, I'm not sure if the screenwriter made deletions or major revisions, but you can first look at the general story content to understand the character setup."
"Speaking of which, when Sister Liu mentioned this script before, I didn't know its genre or content. Now that so much time has passed, I can finally see what it looks like—"
Xiao He picked up the script curiously and opened it for a look.
Then he raised his eyebrows slightly: "Audition version? What does this mean? Is the script incomplete? And it doesn't even clearly indicate the genre?"
Liu Rulan shrugged: "We asked this question back then too. Director Ning originally said he would show us the final version after joining the crew, but you know the situation back then, so currently all of us only have the audition version."
As for the final version, it might only be with Director Ning at present.
Xiao He found this somewhat strange, but didn't say anything. He immediately opened the script and began examining it.
More than twenty minutes later, Xiao He finally closed the script with complex feelings and asked Liu Rulan with a peculiar expression: "Sister Liu, what do you think of this script?"
To summarize this script in one sentence, it's about the protagonist Shu Yuxiu's cheat-like wish-fulfillment life.
The protagonist Shu Yuxiu was originally just an ordinary employee at an auto repair shop, but he possessed exceptional intelligence, extremely strong learning abilities, and incredible luck. On his development path, he met many influential people. Finally, with the help of these benefactors, he gradually transformed from an ordinary auto mechanic into a super wealthy man, marrying a beautiful and rich woman and inheriting his father-in-law's wealth and influence - a typical dragon pride heaven story.
This could be described as a completely cheat-filled, brainless wish-fulfillment story. Even if thrown into web novels, it would only be considered among the lowest-tier story templates.
The only part that might have some drama is the latter half of the plot, where Shu Yuxiu's wife suddenly falls ill and dies. Just as Shu Yuxiu is grieving intensely, his father-in-law has a political opponent who actually collaborates with the police to frame Shu Yuxiu, falsely accusing him of poisoning his wife, trying to take this opportunity to suppress Shu Yuxiu and his father-in-law and seize the father-in-law's power.
Perhaps this political struggle plot was relatively sensitive, involving many issues, which is why this script had been stuck until now.
Also, since this is only an audition version, Xiao He currently only knows that Shu Yuxiu was arrested for interrogation, but doesn't know Shu Yuxiu's final outcome or whether he cleared his name.
But something feels oddly strange - could such a plot really have been shelved for so many years?