Chapter 38: Unlocking a New Skill!

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“Here, have this chicken leg. You need to replenish your strength.”

Inside the prison set, Ji Yu sat on a pile of straw, digging into his boxed meal.

Le Jiatong and Fan Bingbing were eating boxed meals beside him as well, but they had given him both of their chicken legs.

Ji Yu chuckled. “Eating in prison with two beautiful women beside me—this is one hell of a sentence.”

Le Jiatong rolled her eyes at him and said disdainfully, “It’s filthy.”

“But at least it’s not cold in here. It’s freezing outside.”

“That’s true.” Le Jiatong wrapped her military coat a little tighter around herself.

Fan Bingbing had no appetite for today’s boxed meal. After only a few bites, she was already shivering from the cold.

Hugging her knees, she trembled and said, “Filming in winter is so cold.”

“I seem to remember that My Fair Princess also started filming in winter.”

“We started in early spring.”

“Oh, you were only sixteen then, weren’t you? All chubby and round—Little Fat Bing.”

“That was baby fat. It was cute.”

“Cuteness is worthless in the face of sexiness.”

Ji Yu swallowed his last bite and turned to Le Jiatong. “Isn’t that right?”

“You’re simply a lecher,” Le Jiatong exposed him without mercy.

Ji Yu had no way to refute that. If a man wasn’t lustful, what else was he supposed to be?

He changed the subject. “Are we still singing tonight?”

“You’re paying? Are you planning to get us drunk again?” Le Jiatong teased with a half-smile.

Ji Yu clicked his tongue. “I don’t have any money. I drive you two around every day, so what’s wrong with treating me to karaoke?”

“Fine, I’ll treat you. But tonight you have to sing with us, drink with us, and dance too.”

“That’s the full escort package. Why don’t you just say I have to sleep with you as well?”

“As if you’d dare.”

“Then wait and see tonight. I’ll wear you out in bed!”

Ji Yu jammed his chopsticks forcefully into the meal container. The broth soon began leaking out through the hole.

Le Jiatong burst out laughing. She reached over and patted him on the head. “It’s all right if men finish quickly.”

Ji Yu: “...”

Her driver’s license must be the highest class available!

After they finished eating and rested for a while, the set grew busy again.

Still wearing his prison uniform, Ji Yu lay miserably inside the cell.

He trembled and shivered on the ground.

The director was extremely pleased with his performance, saying that Ji Yu had captured the character’s helplessness, fear, and unease.

What a fine actor!

There were only two shots in this scene, yet he performed with such devotion!

Ji Yu really wanted to say: Could it possibly be because he was freezing?

If he caught a cold, he would demand that the production cover his medical expenses!

After finishing the prison scenes that afternoon, Ji Yu’s workload became much lighter.

This story arc was planned to run for six episodes, and there were four main characters in it. None of them had particularly demanding schedules.

Ji Yu finished his last scene shortly after three in the afternoon, which meant he could wrap for the day and return to rest.

Fan Bingbing and Le Jiatong, however, were not so lucky. They still had scenes to film that evening.

“Remember to come pick us up tonight.”

Before Ji Yu left, Le Jiatong grabbed him and reminded him.

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“Seriously? Can’t we just take the production van back?”

“I don’t want to ride in that minibus, all right?”

“Fine. Call me when you’re about to wrap.”

Ji Yu slipped away as soon as he finished speaking. After all, this was Hengdian.

It would be a shame not to take advantage of the opportunity to work as an extra and grind out some missions.

But first, he needed to return to the hotel and put on a disguise.

It would be embarrassing if someone recognized him.

The Book of Love had invited him to play the second male lead. If he turned around and went off to work as an extra, he would not only lose face himself—the production would look like a complete fool as well.

After making a simple disguise, Ji Yu went looking for another production to work in.

He did not care whether the role had much screen time. As long as it allowed him to grind missions, that was enough.

Ji Yu specifically sought out period dramas, preferably roles such as scholars or talented young gentlemen.

The skills gained from such characters would be more useful.

Ji Yu currently divided the system’s skills into two categories.

The first consisted of basic professional espionage skills. Disguise, combat, and surveillance all fell into this category.

The second consisted of character skills related to an agent’s disguises.

To disguise himself flawlessly as a particular character, he naturally had to master the skills associated with that character’s identity.

For example, this time, disguising himself as a scholar had yielded a memory-enhancement skill.

The characters Ji Yu had played before had either been related to espionage or had been utterly unremarkable.

The skills he gained had therefore mostly been espionage-related.

From now on, whenever he took on missions, he would need to choose his roles more strategically.

Quality over quantity.

If only he could go to Hong Kong and play the King of Duck Meat. He wondered whether he could grind out the King of Duck Meat’s special skills!

Just imagining it was amusing.

Ji Yu loitered among the extras for half an hour and gave away half a pack of cigarettes before finally securing a role.

He was to play a musician—a pure background extra. All he had to do was sit there and pretend to play the qin.

Still, the extras manager said the role included one proper front-facing shot. If Ji Yu had not been so handsome, they would not have given it to him!

Ji Yu genuinely felt that life as an extra was far too difficult. Even a role that showed one’s face had to be fought over.

There was no future in being an extra.

One’s acting could not be honed, one’s appearance could not gain exposure, and all one could do was scrape by.

And even that meant merely scraping by. Extras were paid far too little.

Soon, Ji Yu changed clothes and sat down in front of the guqin on the set.

“Ding! A mission has arrived!”

“Disguise yourself as a qin player and infiltrate the Prince of Ning’s residence. Gather evidence of Prince Ning’s treason!”

“Mission reward: One string-instrument performance skill fragment and ten exposure points.”

This was an excellent reward.

There were simply too many kinds of string instruments!

There were bowed instruments such as the violin, plucked instruments such as the guitar, and struck string instruments such as the piano.

Although it was only a skill fragment and would at most allow him to get a basic grasp of an instrument, if he continued grinding related missions in the future, he would surely be able to raise the skill to an intermediate level!

By then, he would be a versatile, all-around entertainer.

One could never have too many skills.

In the future, he would become an all-around little prince!

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The scene began shooting soon afterward, and Ji Yu pretended to pluck the strings.

The scene took an hour to film, and Ji Yu spent the entire hour sitting there as a background prop.

Afterward, he received his hourly wage: ten yuan.

That evening, he would use it to treat Le Jiatong and Fan Bingbing to sunflower seeds.

The mission reward arrived as well.

Ji Yu immediately felt a great deal of basic knowledge about string instruments appear in his mind.

His fingers also became more nimble. Looking closely, he discovered that they seemed to have grown ever so slightly longer.

Ji Yu flexed his fingers and tested his speed.

Hmm... They were fast—very flexible.

It was already past seven. Ji Yu returned the qin player’s costume to the production and packed up to leave.

The production still had scenes to film that night, but Ji Yu no longer wanted to continue.

Who would want to play a servant?

What kind of skill could he grind from that? Disguise, serving tea, and pouring water?

Le Jiatong’s call came through just then. They would be wrapping in half an hour.

He would pick them up, have dinner with them, and then get Le Jiatong to treat him to karaoke.

As Ji Yu drove past a music shop, he made a U-turn and bought a guitar.

He could practice whenever he had nothing else to do.

A skill like this could be improved through his own efforts as well.

Besides, the guitar was a powerful tool for showing off!

When they went singing that night, he would give the two women a little surprise.

He would sing while accompanying himself!

Wouldn’t they be completely captivated?

Ji Yu spent two hundred and eighty yuan on the guitar, and his heart ached terribly.

This thing was genuinely expensive, and this was already the cheapest model.

The more expensive ones cost several thousand, even tens of thousands.

Carrying the guitar, Ji Yu arrived at the set of The Book of Love and picked up the two shivering young women.

The moment she got into the car, Le Jiatong asked, “Did you see a beautiful woman on the way? Why were you driving so slowly? Something’s not right!”

“I stopped to buy a guitar,” Ji Yu said smugly.

Only then did Le Jiatong and Fan Bingbing notice the guitar lying in the front passenger seat.

“You can play guitar too?”

“There’s a lot your man can do. You two really struck gold by getting to know me!”

“True. You’re just a coward.”

“Are you done? Bingbing, get out of the car. I’ll put her in her place right now!”

Fan Bingbing immediately shook her head. “No way. I want to watch.”

“Get lost!” Le Jiatong lightly smacked her and steered the conversation elsewhere.

Only then did Ji Yu start the car. “Let’s go. We’ll eat first, then go sing!”

“Then let’s skip the karaoke bar tonight. We’ll go to your room and listen to you sing while playing for yourself!”

“Sure. Once you’re done listening, neither of you is allowed to leave!”

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