Reborn in the Hong Kong entertainment industry in the 1980s

Hu Xiaoxiao flipped through the script again and saw that Yamamoto Masako had a very exciting gunfight scene, in which she was shooting while running up and down.

She found out that the movie had some difficult action scenes, so Xia Lu decided to have a stunt double perform them.

Without hesitation, Hu Xiaoxiao went to find Qi Weiming and Lin Yi, stealing half of Xia Lu's gunfight, and the most exciting half at that.

When Xia Lu found out, she was so angry that she felt dizzy.

When will Hu Xiaoxiao ever stop? She only tried to steal from her once, and now she's trying to steal from her twice? What's worse, she didn't even manage to steal from her the first time! So, she lost out twice for no reason!

Xia Lu approached the director, but the director now had higher standards for acting and appreciated Hu Xiaoxiao's performance more, so he sided with Hu Xiaoxiao.

Xia Lu felt a chill in her heart upon seeing this.

If this continues, her already limited number of scenes will become even fewer. Keep in mind, she's just a supporting actress, so her screen time is already limited.

After much thought, Xia Lu searched for a way to suppress Hu Xiaoxiao. When she overheard several actors in the crew complaining privately about not having enough scenes and not having enough money to spend this month, she went over to them.

"You should cherish this month's money, because next month you'll probably have even less," Xia Lu said.

When the actors saw Xia Lu, they hurriedly greeted her as "Sister Xia Lu" and asked in confusion, "Sister Xia Lu, our filming schedule for next month is about the same as this month's, so how could we be paid less?"

"Don't you know? Hu Xiaoxiao has been currying favor with the director and screenwriter, and now she keeps adding scenes for herself. The more scenes she has, the less scenes you have, right?"

Why did Hu Xiaoxiao steal our spotlight?

"Of course, she'd even steal my roles if she wanted to become famous, let alone yours?"

"This is outrageous! She has more money than she can spend from shooting commercials every year, and she's trying to steal the spotlight from us who are just sitting on the sidelines?"

Under Xia Lu's instigation, some actors in the crew began to harbor resentment towards Hu Xiaoxiao, and others were jealous of her good fortune—and there were quite a few of them. These people gathered together, attracting more and more onlookers. As a result, the crowd grew larger and larger.

Taking this opportunity, Xia Lu encouraged them to attack Hu Xiaoxiao.

The director may disregard her, but if a group of actors are dissatisfied, the director must come up with a solution.

After filming the gun scene, Hu Xiaoxiao did not leave the film studio immediately. Instead, she sat on a chair, playing with the prop gun in her hand, and mentally reviewing her performance to see what shortcomings it had.

When more than twenty actors walked up to her, they came in a menacing manner.

Hu Xiaoxiao looked up and asked, "What is it?"

Under her gaze, the actors in front shrank back, not wanting to be the first to act, and then the onlookers all turned their attention to Xia Lu in the back.

Xia Lu cursed them under her breath for being useless. She walked up to Hu Xiaoxiao and said, "Hu Xiaoxiao, the crew isn't yours to rule. Nobody acts like you. Do you want to steal everyone else's scenes? You think you're so great now, even more powerful than Sister Yu."

Upon hearing Xia Lu's words, Hu Xiaoxiao guessed why they had come. She glanced at the actors and said, "Whose scenes did I steal? Whose scenes were reduced? Stand up and talk to me."

The actors looked at each other, but not a single one of them stepped forward.

Xia Lu had to say it again—

"Shut up, I wasn't asking you!" Xia Xiaoxiao stopped Xia Lu and looked at the actors: "If no one is speaking, then it's none of your business. Don't be used as pawns."

"What do you mean, 'used as a pawn'? Hu Xiaoxiao, are you going to lie in front of so many people?" Xia Lu immediately brought up someone to increase the persuasiveness, "Li Qi's scenes are all gone, didn't you steal them? If you didn't steal his scenes, where did your gunfight scenes come from?"

"Oh, so that's what you mean." Hu Xiaoxiao wiped the prop gun in her hand with a tissue and said, "A stunt double's scenes count as scenes? If you insist on counting them, fine, but didn't you do your research? Didn't you ask Li Qi's opinion before criticizing me? I told Li Qi a few days in advance that his scenes were being cut, and the crew would pay him his share as usual. But now, taking advantage of the fact that he doesn't have any filming these past few days, he's already gone to another crew to work as a stunt double, earning double pay. Oh, and he also told me that if there's another good opportunity like this where you get paid without doing any work, keep looking for him."

Li Qi is Yamamoto Masako's stunt double.

The film studio has stunt doubles who specialize in doing scenes that actors dare not or cannot perform. The more dangerous the scene, the more money they get. Xia Lu's gunfight scene wasn't considered dangerous, and her role was small, only a few shots. Plus, the production crew was rather stingy, so they didn't pay her much. The stunt double readily gave up the scene.

After entering the 1990s, the development of the film industry in Hong Kong was like a rocket, rising rapidly.

In previous years, fewer than 200 films were made a year, but after the 1990s, the output increased year by year, especially this year, when the output in half a year was higher than the output in a whole year before.

Action movies are the highest-grossing films, so stuntmen never have to worry about work. They just have contracts with TV stations and need to come when needed. Li Qi has fewer roles, but he's still making a lot of money, and he can also take time to work on other film sets to earn extra cash, so he's extremely happy.

But for Xia Lu, the stunt double's scenes were also her scenes.

Even in stunt scenes, she still has a face. After the stunt double finishes the dangerous stunt, she just gets a shot of her face and that's considered her part. Once it's filmed and edited, the audience can't tell the difference; they'll just assume it was her acting.

"Hu Xiaoxiao, you even stole my spotlight!" Xia Lu pointed out that her original scene had now become Hu Xiaoxiao's.

"That's a grudge between you and me." Hu Xiaoxiao put down the prop gun and returned it to the prop master, looking at Xia Lu with a mocking gaze. "Since you hate it so much when others steal your spotlight, why did you steal mine in the first place? If you hadn't started it, how could I have dared to follow suit? You started it, so why can't I do it too?"

Hu Xiaoxiao then asked the actors, "If it were you, would you want to take it back?"

If it were them, who wouldn't want to take it back if they had the ability?

At this point, those who had been instigated and blinded by jealousy cleared their heads and retreated to the sides, standing among the noisy spectators, unwilling to get involved.

“That’s more like it,” Hu Xiaoxiao said. “Don’t act like idiots, believing everything anyone says. Do your own research and see if you’re putting on too much of a show.”

Because Lin Yi kept adding new plot points, the screen time for other characters also increased, so Qi Weiming simply added a few more episodes to the original series.

As a result, apart from Xia Lu, all the actors who had scenes with Hu Xiaoxiao got more screen time.

These people are acting innocent even after getting a good deal. Hu Xiaoxiao said mercilessly, "You're all brainless idiots! You believe whatever Xia Lu says. If she told you to die, why don't a few of you die and see?"