Chapter 68 068 The Mouse

Chapter 68 068 The Mouse

"Why does it feel like the atmosphere on the set of 'Voices of the Dead' is super good?"

"Hilarious, this vibe of making new friends and showing off immediately is totally Lu Xiao Gou."

"Shao Yao's sunny and cheerful vibe... it's so unexpected, the contrast is striking!"

"You two... snacking away... I’ll just leave it at that."

It’s mostly because these two are grinning so widely, they’re like a pair of energetic, happy-go-lucky dogs!

"Their personas are totally falling apart!"

"Who said Lu Xiao Gou has no friends? Lu Xiao Gou isn’t friendless, he just doesn’t want to play with you, lol."

Lu Xu’s fans can’t help but laugh when they think about a recent incident—after Verse disbanded and ditched Lu Xu, Yao Yuan, who was shamelessly riding on Xie Qingyang’s coattails for CP hype, actually dug up old photos with Lu Xu.

Mostly never-before-seen photos from the Verse days, trying to prove he and Lu Xu were once tight.

But, unfortunately, fans only remember one thing—he still owes Lu Xu money.

"If Lu Xu weren’t popular, these photos would’ve stayed buried forever, right?"

"Thank goodness Lu Xiao Gou made it big, otherwise, even if he did nothing wrong, no one would’ve cared about the truth."

Yao Yuan’s been irrelevant for a while now, especially since Xie Qingyang, his former CP hype partner, has also faded, leaving him with no resources to tap into.

Right after Yao Yuan posted those photos with Lu Xu, he got invited to a brand’s live stream, hawking products while waxing nostalgic about the good old days when Lu Xu had his back.

Fans think Yao Yuan’s completely lost it, and honestly, he’s got no shame left.

His chances of a comeback are slim to none, and he’s no Lu Xu—he can’t turn a flop into a hit.

For a washed-up guy like him, it’s all about scraping by.

Yao Yuan sometimes reflects on Lu Xu’s comeback and can only sigh—a mediocre drama like 'The Noble Son' breaking 10,000 in ratings? Lu Xu’s rise was inevitable.

Lu Xu’s fans barely pay him any mind, just tossing out a few jabs here and there. After all, the other three Verse members aren’t faring as well as Lu Xu, and Yao Yuan? He’s just riding on Verse’s coattails.

When celebs feud or shout each other out, it’s all about being equals, and Yao Yuan’s just not in the same league anymore.

Probably... when he was busy trashing Lu Xu while piggybacking on Xie Qingyang’s fame, he never imagined Lu Xu would bounce back.

...

'Voices of the Dead' is still filming, but fans are already hyped for this double male lead drama.

As for the rumors that Shao Yao’s a 'drama tyrant' who loves bossing others around, fans say it depends on who’s on the receiving end.

"Lu Xiao Gou’s got a Starlight Award nomination under his belt—he’s not sweating a little direction."

"+1, I caught the big scenes in 'The Southern Son'—no names, but some folks’ acting could use a pro’s touch."

"Professional guidance... you mean Gu Sinian’s trio of acting coaches? Let’s be real—if there’s zero talent, no amount of coaching can fix that."

Gu Sinian, caught off guard: "What the heck?"

He’s not the only one with a flop—why’s everyone always coming for him like he’s the only sheep to shear?

Lu Xu's fans are just as insufferable as he is.

Unfortunately, Gu Sinian couldn't think of any way to undermine Lu Xu unless the drama *Voices of the Dead* flops miserably.

But... the chances are slim.

The cast of *Voices of the Dead* is stacked.

Lu Xu's current upward momentum is no less impressive than Qiao Mengyao's, and even more intense than Qiao Mengyao's back in the day.

Good script selection, plus a bit of good luck, is enough for him to stay afloat in the acting circle.

...

Fans confirmed that Lu Xu and Shao Yao had become good friends when paparazzi spotted them riding bikes to the set one morning.

"It was like one puppy biking alongside another."

Both arrived at the set happily, but once filming started, they instantly shifted to serious expressions.

The paparazzi didn't capture many photos, but they showed fans the two discussing the script in low voices and gesticulating.

Lu Xu's expression, with his head lowered, was genuinely warm, reminding fans of the scene where Yu Yi first appeared in *The Path of Bones*.

During his time in Verse, such expressions were almost never seen on Lu Xu's face.

The same was true for Shao Yao—

"Shao Yao always had a sullen and brooding expression in *Nanxiangzi*. When I said he had a good personality, no one believed me!"

"Same here! It's great if they get along comfortably!"

When Lu Xu was filming his previous dramas, he clicked well with the cast, but he was a bit closer to Shao Yao.

Probably because Lu Xu rarely encountered such an extremely introverted partner, and the other's seemingly eccentric personality surprisingly clicked with his own.

Moreover, Shao Yao's quietness doesn't mean he's incapable of speaking; his personality is very straightforward.

Such straightforward people are already quite rare in the entertainment industry, and Lu Xu prefers dealing with straightforward people. He doesn't like guessing the hidden meanings in others' beating around the bush—it's too exhausting.

...

The second story in *Voices of the Dead* is centered around rats.

One day, a sudden rat infestation broke out in a certain area, plaguing the residents. After an investigation, a corpse was discovered in a basement apartment of a certain neighborhood. The weather was hot, and the area near the ground floor was swarming with flies, mosquitoes, and rats, reeking intermittently.

Lu Xu initially thought that his cooperation with Shao Yao was going smoothly, and this chapter could be completed smoothly, even faster than the first one.

Then, he turned his head and noticed a crack in the calm, aloof expression of his partner, who had been maintaining it all along.

Shao Yao looked as if he was prepared to die: "I'm afraid of rats."

—This was what Shao Yao said during the script reading before filming began.

And when filming started, the crew used real rats. Lu Xu personally heard his tall, aloof partner let out a blood-curdling scream.

It sounded like a mix of a chicken's cry and a demonic shriek, a tone even more terrifying than the "voices of the dead" Jiang Lin heard. At that moment, Lu Xu was quite curious—was this really a sound a human could make?

Shao Yao desperately backed away, his legs not even daring to touch the ground, hopping around in sheer panic. His eyes were filled with terror as he uttered a long string of words that were incomprehensible to humans.

Lu Xu: "..."

He would be better suited as a dancer.

It's not Shao Yao's fault—"Voices of the Dead" introduces a new script with each chapter, and he hadn't seen the full script before arriving on set.

Normally, fake prop rats are used during filming, but the "Voices of the Dead" crew opted for real rats to make it feel more real.

Xu Yan: "What should we do?"

The director once again handed the task to Lu Xu: "Can you help talk him into it?"

Lu Xu: "How do I persuade him? Catch the rats?"

He doesn’t have that many skills under his belt yet.

The key is, seeing Shao Yao's terrified expression, he also thinks those rats are pretty scary.

Their shiny fur and tiny, beady eyes... Director, can we shoot something less creepy?

Lu Xu sighed and turned back to Shao Yao, "You're over 1.8 meters tall, and the rats aren't even 18 centimeters."

"If the rats were 18 centimeters, I'd freak out."

Picturing 18-centimeter rats, Shao Yao was clearly zoning out.

Lu Xu: "..."

No point in arguing.

In summary, at the director's request, he assisted Shao Yao in completing the desensitization process to rats, and ultimately only required him to maintain Su Yang’s cool image during filming, forbidding him from screaming or making sharp noises.

Fortunately, Shao Yao is a professional actor; although he became a vacant goose after this scene was shot, he did not have any further issues during filming and diligently completed the scene.

Actually, Lu Xu also felt uncomfortable while shooting.

Jiang Lin could hear the sounds of corpses. During the filming of "Corpse Sounds," to help Lu Xu get into character more quickly and better match the role of Jiang Lin, the crew would play the sounds that Jiang Lin “hears.”

In the previous segment, it was the sound of pleading and a child’s crying. In this segment, it was the sound of rats gnawing on living flesh—the victim did not die immediately but remained alive, witnessing their own consumption.

Although these sounds were just simulations, they made Lu Xu particularly uncomfortable.

Each production has different requirements, and what actors need to do is try their best to cooperate with the crew and perform their scenes well.

Sometimes the demands of the production can be quite challenging, but he had no choice but to accept them.

Seeing the identical post-trauma expressions on both Lu Xu and Shao Yao, the director said, “Starting tomorrow, I’ll give you two days off. Just finish the earlier scenes as soon as possible.”

He found these two clowns amusing.

Shao Yao gradually overcame his fear of rats, but for some reason, whether it was due to being influenced by Shao Yao or something else, Lu Xu started jumping when he saw rats.

Xu Yan: "..."

It was rather hypocritical of him to mock Shao Yao.

However, the director was still satisfied with both of their performances. Their fear of rats was genuine, but it did not affect their filming. As soon as he announced the start of filming, both of them could instantly transform into Jiang Lin and Su Yang.

Apart from the crisis caused by the rats, the second chapter of "Corpse Sounds" was filmed without any hindrance.

The first story had already given Lu Xu a deep understanding of Jiang Lin's character, so when he moved on to the second story, it came naturally to him.

Jiang Lin's laid-back personality meant Lu Xu could relax while shaping the character.

In a way, Jiang Lin was the easiest role Lu Xu had ever played. Qin Zhao and Yu Yi were tough to portray, while Yu Wei and Ji Xiuya were... all over the place, making it hard to follow their train of thought.

Filming *Voices of the Dead* wasn’t much affected by outside noise—unlike when Lu Xu starred in *The Son of Heaven* and *The Supreme*, including *The Path of Bones*, which faced a lot of skepticism.

Now, whenever Lu Xu was in a drama, marketers stayed noncommittal—no matter how much trash they talked before the show aired, they’d end up eating their words afterward.

Meanwhile, Shao Yao got a lot of flak.

His career had been stagnant lately, so much so that netizens mostly remembered him for the *Nanzhuangzi* drama.

Shao Yao’s Weibo comments were still flooded with Yan Qichen’s fans, and even though Mingniao Entertainment called out the haters, it just made Yan Qichen’s fans mock him even harder.

Coupled with his inability to clap back, anything he posted was mocked, so he simply stopped posting.

"Anyway, what I post isn't interesting," Shao Yao said calmly. "If I don't post, I don't post."

But this didn’t stop Shao Yao from thoroughly studying Lu Xu's Weibo.

Through this, he got to know the other three members of Verse and grasped the basics of V-studies. Although he had worked with Chen Ye before, he hadn't been familiar with the discipline Chen Ye had initiated.

Lu Xu snapped, "What’s even the point of learning this stuff?" He was fuming! Ridiculous!