Chapter 67 Seamless Coordination

Chapter 67 Seamless Coordination

Lu Xu discovered that Shao Yao's way of expressing kindness to someone was: treating them to delicious food.

The filming location for *Voices of the Dead* was a large film and television base in City C (a placeholder for a real city name). This was Lu Xu's first time filming here; his previous projects, *The Path of Bones* and *The Son of Heaven*, had been shot elsewhere.

Shao Yao had been here many times and was very familiar with the area. Whenever he had free time, he would take Lu Xu out for good food, treating him to delicious meals. This eventually led to the director protesting, "You two, do you even care about your physiques anymore?"

"Cut back! I’m already putting on weight!"

Of course, Shao Yao didn't forget the director either, often bringing him midnight snacks.

Lu Xu was speechless.

The restaurants Shao Yao chose were indeed good.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t refuse, but the other party was too enthusiastic—looking visibly disappointed if Lu Xu turned him down. Reluctantly, Lu Xu had no choice but to give in.

Shao Yao also did something that made Lu Xu feel embarrassed—after they became familiar with each other, he confessed to Lu Xu that he hadn’t watched any of Lu Xu’s previous dramas. So, during breaks in the filming of *Voices of the Dead*, he would open his tablet and watch *The Path of Bones* alone.

First *The Path of Bones*, then *The Son of Heaven*—he ended up watching both dramas.

Lu Xu was speechless.

Did he forget they were colleagues? Wasn’t this kind of thing awkward?

Fortunately, Shao Yao was a dedicated actor. He watched the dramas without any malice, simply appreciating the work from an actor’s perspective.

Although Lu Xu didn’t know that, while watching the dramas, Shao Yao would occasionally send messages to his agent like, "My admiration for him has grown even more," or "I’ve learned a lot."

He also followed Lu Xu's Weibo, and Lu Xu returned the follow.

In short, their collaboration was very pleasant.

In the drama "Whispers of the Dead," the characters Jiang Lin and Su Yang also had an unspoken rapport.

Jiang Lin had grown accustomed to his ability to listen to corpses speak, as it represented clues. To better utilize this ability, he intentionally honed his auditory skills.

For the first case, what seemed to ordinary people as just shouts, footsteps, and crows' calls, he quickly provided Su Yang with a clue: “Stone pavement, morning, not a new residential area built in recent years…”

The sound of a bicycle tire on stone pavement, asphalt, and dirt is different, and the background noise sounded more like that of a certain urban village.

"Let's start looking for clues around the central lake." Jiang Lin's expression was graver than usual. "There may be more than one victim."

What made this case worse was that the murders had occurred some time ago. The severe drought in S City during the summer meant that if the killer had disposed of the body parts in the central lake before the drought, it could have been at least half a year ago.

After receiving Jiang Lin's clue, Su Yang nodded.

He spoke little but turned back to look at Jiang Lin a few steps after setting off. "Can you go back alone?"

Jiang Lin gave an OK sign, and the two parted ways.

In the setting of "Whispers of the Dead," Jiang Lin and Su Yang were not close friends in private. Jiang Lin was more outgoing, while Su Yang was quiet and reclusive. However, once they were investigating a murder case, a single glance from Jiang Lin was enough for Su Yang to understand his thoughts.

To Jiang Lin, Su Yang was his pillar of courage.

It was because of Su Yang that he had the courage to take on each case proactively, even risking his own safety to recreate the scenes of the crimes based on the voices he heard from the dead, in order to lure the murderer into a trap.

Lu Xu and Shao Yao also worked together with remarkable synergy.

Perhaps it was because their relationship had improved privately, but on set, the two of them seemed to work with even greater chemistry. At least during filming, there was no trace of unfamiliarity between them; it felt as if they had known each other for years.

Lu Xu was an actor who combined talent with hard work, while Shao Yao might not have matched him in natural ability, he certainly surpassed him in effort.

As an observer, Director Xu Yan felt this change most acutely.

At the beginning of "Whispers of the Dead," to highlight the rapport between Su Yang and Jiang Lin, the script included some small, coordinated actions for the two. As the story progressed, their dialogue and movements became increasingly natural, requiring no deliberate design to convey their familiarity.

Of course, there were occasional missteps.

For instance—Shao Yao, in reality, somewhat idolized Lu Xu. However, in the show, Su Yang was meant to be a composed and steady figure. Yet, at times, Shao Yao would momentarily forget his role, showing admiration for Lu Xu personally during scenes.

"Cut, cut!" Xu Yan instructed bluntly, turning to Lu Xu, "Lu Xu, you tell him."

The director had noticed that when Lu Xu reminded Shao Yao, it was more effective than when he did.

Tsk tsk.

But the director showed no shame.

Experiencing such admiration, Lu Xu naturally had to pay a price.

"They get along so well," Zhao Jincheng couldn't help but comment, "Why did the rumors about the 'Nanxiangzi' crew get so ugly?"

Zhao Jincheng hadn't interacted with Shao Yao before, but he had heard about the latter being ostracized by the 'Nanxiangzi' crew. Now, after working together for so long, he could only say that while Shao Yao appeared strong and capable on the surface, that was just an appearance. His personality didn't match the image of being strong and capable at all.

On set, Shao Yao respected the director and also respected him as the screenwriter, maintaining the appropriate respect for all other crew members as well.

Xu Yan whispered, "Shao Yao is from Ming Niao, and Yan Qichen is from Ning Shi."

"Alright, they really know how to cause a scene," Zhao Jincheng immediately understood. "Fortunately, our crew managed to get Lu Xu and Shao Yao."

The other two from "The Empress" crew fortunately didn’t come over. Although those two aren’t signed under Ning Shi, just looking at the stormy situation in "The Empress" crew, it’s clear that those two are not to be trifled with.

"It’s fine, even if they showed up, Lu Xu would take care of them."

"Please don’t, I don’t want that kind of drama," Zhao Jincheng said. "I have high blood pressure; what if fans go to the comment section to curse me, and my blood pressure spikes? Staying healthy is more important."

Xu Yan thought that made sense.

As a director, he also hoped for a quiet set, without any disturbances during filming.

Like Lu Xu and Shao Yao, who work diligently on their roles, analyze their characters, and memorize lines—these tasks aren’t that difficult, but for some reason, for some people, such simple requirements seem like a matter of life and death.

The longer Xu Yan stayed in this industry, the more he felt he couldn’t understand it.

Each generation has its own tastes; maybe he’s just out of touch.

...

The first case came to a close in a sorrowful atmosphere.

The criminal was found; Jiang Lin provided some clues, and the criminal investigation team, by combining these clues, finally uncovered the real culprit.

It was an extremely cunning criminal, moving around to commit crimes, skilled at hiding in urban villages, mountainous areas, and the fringes of society—places where people who are often overlooked live.

One of the victims was a girl who had run away from her parents in her hometown.

By the time she arrived here, she had already been tricked and had given birth to a child. As a mother, she was unwilling to abandon her child, even though she was very young. She worked in a factory during the day and took on foreign trade orders to make quilt covers at night. When the criminal attacked, she just turned on the light to see what was happening, and both she and her child fell victim to the crime.

The criminal investigation team notified her parents.

However, her parents did not take her home; instead, they repeatedly asked about compensation—her brother back in their hometown was waiting to get married, and some compensation would ease the family's burden.

The policewoman was furious, and Jiang Lin was also furious.

Her parents were not indifferent: “What can we do? She’s dead, and I can’t bring her back.”

“The dead have their own way of life, and the living have theirs.”

“If we take her back to our hometown, people will mock us. Everyone knows my daughter didn’t behave well out there; her brother won’t be able to find a wife either.”

“How can I tell everyone that my daughter didn’t do anything wrong but was killed? Who would believe me?”

The old couple wailed loudly, and after crying, they still decided to cremate her nearby. Words and even physical punishment were useless; they had other children to think about.

The wrinkles on their faces were deep, unsmoothable, much like the centuries-old traditions in the girl’s hometown that never changed.

Not all stories in "Whispers from the Dead" were this sad; there were beautiful ones too. Even when death was involved, some people were surrounded by love from birth to death.

For Jiang Lin, whether the outcome was sorrowful or infuriating, he was gradually adapting.

...

The first case was wrapped up, and the actors for the second case had just joined the cast. Lu Xu and Shao Yao found themselves with some free time.

Shao Yao planned to treat Lu Xu to a feast again, but before the director could get angry, Lu Xu quickly stopped him—being treated every time made even his thick skin feel embarrassed.

They ended up playing a game together instead.

Lu Xu has been part of the *Corpse Whispers* production for quite some time now, and naturally, the news has spread.

Many in the industry believed that Lu Xu would favor projects with award potential, such as *The Son of Heaven* or *The Path of Bones*, which offer ample room for performance.

However, after *The Path of Bones* concluded, Lu Xu joined the cast of *Corpse Whispers*.

*Corpse Whispers* is clearly not a show that provides actors with much room to shine; it is a plot-heavy, performance-light drama.

Some people sneered, "Isn't Lu Xu the one who claims he isn't a 'traffic star'? Why is he competing for attention now?"

"Better to aim for the Starlight Award all at once. Winning an award would secure his status, allowing him to pick any role he wants. There's no need to waste time on a show like this."

When it was revealed that Lu Xu's new co-star was Shao Yao, those who disapproved of him started mocking again—

"Lu Xu and Shao Yao, these two can hardly avoid getting into fights, right?"

"Tsk, once *Corpse Whispers* airs, the entertainment industry will likely be buzzing again."

"…We'll probably see Lu Xu clashing with others again. What were the producers thinking, putting two troublemakers together? Was there no one else they could choose?"

Shao Yao's reputation is far from stellar, and Yan Qichen's fans still hold a grudge against him.

Unfortunately, the imagined scenario of Lu Xu and Shao Yao constantly fighting did not materialize.

A paparazzo captured footage of *Corpse Whispers* shooting breaks, where the two leads were seen shopping at a supermarket like kids—although they wandered around for tens of minutes, they only ended up buying a bunch of drinks and snacks.

Lu Xu was beaming with a bright smile.

Shao Yao's smile… was surprisingly radiant as well.

This kind of expression from him was almost never seen in public.

"Wait... Does Shao Yao smile like that?"

"Wow!!! I never realized Shao Yao's big laugh is actually cute and kind of attractive."

"Agreed, he's kind of attractive."

"Too many snacks will make you gain weight, cut back!!!"