CHAPTER 42: CHAPTER 42: HAS THE SYSTEM BEEN TAMED? (REQUESTING MONTHLY TICKETS)

[Task 9 completed, reward received: Acting +10, Script "Searching for a Gun"]

[Task completed, training opportunity granted]

[Training NPCs: Choose one of three: Wang Zhiwen/Jiang Wen/Tian Zhuangzhuang]

[New task release starts now]

[Task 10: Although you haven’t been in the business long, given your good personal qualities, perhaps you can sacrifice some charm and shoot a romantic scene with a female star! Task difficulty: 4 stars, Deadline: 90 days]

[Task completion reward: Charm +10, Script "Shaolin Soccer", Sven Glasses (system version)]

Script "Searching for a Gun"...

Qi Hao could only feel pain in his heart and lungs, such a good thing, but unfortunately, it’s outdated now.

You have to admit, if the system hadn’t taken ten years to load, it’s quite generous with rewards.

And the task difficulty isn’t too unreasonable.

As long as you work hard, you can always succeed.

What a pity.

Then there’s the training NPC, Wang Zhiwen, Jiang Wen, Tian Zhuangzhuang.

Needless to say, Wang Zhiwen has excellent acting skills and his lines are perfect—no doubt a top pick.

Actually, Jiang Wen and Tian Zhuangzhuang are great actors too.

Jiang Wen is a two-time Baihua Film Emperor, a Golden Eagle Film Emperor, and a Golden Horse Best Supporting Actor. These awards from more than ten years ago still had good value.

And Tian Zhuangzhuang also has good acting skills.

But Qi Hao currently doesn’t have any ideas about directing and just wants to perfect his acting, so he chose Wang Zhiwen without hesitation.

Wang, you’ll be my dialogue coach from now on.

The new task is a romantic scene.

And it specifically emphasizes that it’s with a female star, which made Qi Hao slightly relieved.

If it were the Qi Hao from the first two years after debut, it’s not impossible to complete but at least not as easy as it is now.

Coincidentally, in "Chinese Paladin 3", he has a lot of romantic scenes with Tang Yan.

Since they are currently filming Yang Mi’s parts mostly, the scenes with him and Tang Yan haven’t started shooting yet.

Then there are the rewards Qi Hao is most looking forward to.

Charm +10, a little useless.

Others might dream of infinite charm, but Qi Hao just wants to stay low-key, to avoid those female demons from constantly finding him to drain his spirit.

If you believe in superstitions, they say female demons become famous by having rumors with him, who knows if they’re sapping his fortune?

The script "Shaolin Soccer", as usual, is nonsensical.

Feels like this damn system is doing it on purpose, giving some particularly good but outdated scripts, making the host’s little heart feel like it’s been gnawed by a dog.

Oh, the agony.

Sven Glasses?

A pair of glasses?

Qi Hao doesn’t usually wear glasses.

His eyesight is excellent, he can see a little cleavage from far away.

Even if he wears glasses, it’s often the sunglasses celebrities wear.

Playing the cool male god.

And the word "Sven" only makes Qi Hao think of a cultured scoundrel.

Also, in "Infernal Affairs 3", when Li Ming ordered the beating of a mafia member and said "Do it with style."

Li Ming in that scene was incredibly charming.

However, Qi Hao wasn’t disappointed with just a pair of glasses.

Because there’s a suffix—system version. The last reward like this was a system version Santana 2000.

After consulting with the system, Qi Hao learned these glasses truly have a mystical attribute.

Eidetic memory!

Holy moly, Tongzi is awesome!

Lying on the bed, Qi Hao randomly grabbed at the air, seemingly wanting to put on the glasses right away to try them.

Reading is too exhausting!

Don’t look at how many books he’s read during this time.

But in fact, once he’s finished, he forgets about them, just like Zhu Bajie eating ginseng fruit, only a little is remembered.

For unfamiliar words, once he’s learned them, he forgets their names when reading again.

Lack of learning ability is sometimes due to poor habits.

But some genuinely come from birth.

Qi Hao belongs to the latter, with no natural gift for learning. In primary school, with two family teachers teaching, he managed. But in middle school, he started to fall behind.

It was then that the system came along, and he didn’t hesitate to start mixing in circles.

Now with memory-enhancing glasses, it can’t completely solve the problem, but at least it won’t be as hard.

At least we will only recognize more characters!

Tongzi is truly considerate.

"In the morning I go to pick dung, come home, my woman is nowhere to be found, searching east yard then west yard, south yard then north yard, searching all households, can’t find my woman, I’m anxious with sweat..."

Humming a little tune, Qi Hao planned to practice with Wang Zhiwen for eight hours before he gets married.

Just as he was about to enter the training space, he suddenly stopped.

Something’s not right!

The electricity?

Why is there no electricity!

Every time there’s a task release, there’s a "Task Failure Penalty: Three electric shocks," but this time the system didn’t mention it.

Qi Hao can check the task details in his mind.

He quickly pulled it out to check.

Nope!

Indeed, there’s no penalty this time, and no mention of "three electric shocks."

Qi Hao isn’t particularly nostalgic about getting shocked three times, nor is he a masochist wanting to be electrocuted.

It’s just that...

How can it just disappear without a reason?

Things happened, they ought to have a reason, right?

Could it be that the dog system was tamed?

Haha...

Of course, whether he chooses to do the task or not, it’s all Qi Hao’s willing decision, definitely not out of fear of getting shocked.

Once he returned, he told the director, "I want to hook up with a female star."

Obviously, that was a joke. Since "Chinese Paladin 3" already arranged for his intimate scenes and not just one, completing the task was inevitable.

Moreover, judging by the shooting progress, it won’t take long.

So, he just needs to wait.

Avoiding making the director think he has designs on Tang Yan.

How could he have any designs on Tang Yan?

His interest in Tang Yan isn’t even as strong as his love for Tang Yan’s mom’s pickles.

And the female star Qi Hao plans to hook up with is lying on the big hotel bed at the moment, and she isn’t alone.

Three people!

"What do you guys want to chat about, late at night?"

Since the chair was piled with stuff, Tang Yan had Yang Mi and Liu Shishi sit on her bed.

The southern weather was a bit chilly; she didn’t like turning on the air conditioning, finding it too dry.

So, the three chose to cover themselves with a blanket and chat.

"I don’t know, really. Mimi brought me here." Liu Shishi looked completely bewildered.

She was very curious about what Yang Mi wanted to talk about.

"Oh, just some adult topics..." Yang Mi seemed to have thrown caution to the wind.

"Adult topics... like what time to start work tomorrow?"

Tang Yan looked at her, inexplicably wanting to laugh.

"This constant fighting is useless; might as well sit down and discuss it."

Yang Mi ignored her; as the most eager one here, she had her reasons.

One was her superstition, the other was that her time was running out.

After filming for over a month, most of the scenes were hers, and her filming in Hengdian was nearly done.

"What’s there to fight about? We don’t understand." Tang Yan shook her head, and Liu Shishi followed suit.

"It’s time to stop pretending; don’t you want to be famous?"

"Do you have any ideas?" Liu Shishi asked.

She had seen the real fanfare of a rising star; since stepping into this circle, no celebrity doesn’t want to be famous.

And Cai Yinong often brought this up.

Might as well fulfill the boss’s wish, after all, it’s just spreading rumors, and it doesn’t cost her anything.

"What are you planning?" Tang Yan was slightly wary.

Whether or not to spread rumors didn’t matter much to her; even if she didn’t actively do it, there were on-screen couples and intimate scenes, and the drama might trigger rumors after it aired.

"I’ll go first, then Shishi, and Tang Yan, you’ll be last. We’ll take turns."

Take... turns?

Tang Yan and Liu Shishi were dumbfounded.

Could things work like this?

"Why wouldn’t it work? We’re just stirring up rumors, not taking turns to sleep with him."

Yang Mi said confidently.

"Yeah, with all his rumored flings, almost every show he does has rumors. We... we might as well treat him to a few meals."

Liu Shishi was tempted as well.

"I noticed you guys don’t actually like him; you just want to... ride on his popularity."

Tang Yan chuckled.

Suddenly, she felt a bit sympathetic towards Qi Hao.

This could be a side effect of filming.

Since they played a couple, she was starting to habitually think about Qi Hao.

Oh no, she’s definitely a romance-focused person.

"Anyway... if he wants some real thank you gift, I... I’m not entirely against it." Yang Mi stood firm.

"You’ve got to be kidding!" Tang Yan immediately struck her with a heavy blow.

"He probably wouldn’t look at us like that..." Liu Shishi propped her chin on her knee, looking melancholy.

"You’re not seriously considering it?" Yang Mi was surprised.

This woman who isn’t sleepy except when sleeping, is she really feeling the urge?

"Qi Hao is quite good, you know—well-regarded, ten years in the industry, has many friends in showbiz; he’s got money and can afford to buy a Rolls-Royce Phantom; he’s good-looking, a unanimously recognized handsome guy in the industry, and people say while Qi Hao may not be the sharpest, you can’t deny he’s good-looking..."

Liu Shishi counted on her fingers.

Hmm, all this was Cai Yinong’s indoctrination.

Cai Yinong even hoped she could really snag Qi Hao, and with the title of Mrs. Film Emperor propel further roles so that a few years down the line, she could become a popular actress.

If Qi Hao knew, he’d be furious.

"We’ve got no grievance against each other, and you wish to add to my household register?"

"Ahem, anyway, let’s not talk about other things now, let’s set the sequence for the rumor mill and get the news spinning before we discuss more."

Yang Mi was too lazy to dole out criticism on Liu Shishi.

A brain is a good thing, but if you’re Xiong Da, you can do without.

But you’re not even big, so why would Qi Hao notice you?

He couldn’t even win over An Feng!

Might as well grab what’s tangible, cook up the gossip, and maybe it’ll work out.

Think about men later when there’s time.