Reborn in the Hong Kong entertainment industry in the 1980s

It's clear how much Mingxu had been cooped up—no, how incredibly hungry—during this period.

Before Lu Xinghe could speak, Mingxu ran over and exclaimed, "Let's go, let's go have a big meal! It's on me today!"

"How about we go eat seafood?" Lu Xinghe suggested.

Mingxu flatly refused, "No! My stomach is so bland, I don't want any oil at all. I want braised pork, stewed pig's trotters, and char siu!"

However, considering that there were three girls, and girls don't like to eat anything too greasy, they finally decided to go to a teahouse for dim sum.

Teahouses offer a wide variety of dim sum and also serve main meals, satisfying the appetites of most people.

After discussing it, the five decided to go to a famous teahouse in Baogang. The place was a bit far, so the two men drove them there.

Mingxu had booked a private room in advance by phone. After the five of them arrived, they sat down and started ordering.

Mingxu grabbed a menu and ordered a bunch of dishes: "Signature shrimp dumplings, steamed siu mai, chicken feet with black bean sauce, braised tripe in purple sauce, black pepper pork tripe, fried milk, char siu bao, custard buns, sticky rice chicken, Malay cake..."

There are also various kinds of sausages, porridge, and noodles; you can order whatever you see.

Hu Xiaoxiao calculated that even if the five of them could eat a lot, they couldn't finish this much, and said, "Don't order anymore, it'll be a waste if we order any more."

Mingxu said generously, "We'll pack up any leftovers."

Upon hearing this, Hu Xiaoxiao immediately brought over the menu, spotted the roast chicken, and said, "I want to order a roast chicken."

“His roast chicken isn’t good; it’s raised on feed. Who would take their good chicken to make roast chicken?” Mingxu said.

Hu Xiaoxiao thought of a place and said to him, "I know a restaurant that makes really good poached chicken."

"Where?" Mingxu asked.

"I'll take you there another day."

"No need to reschedule, let's go eat tomorrow."

Lu Xinghe handed the menu to Athena and said to Mingxu, "Be careful not to eat too much meat and fish every day, or you'll develop a belly again, and Charlie will be in trouble again."

Athena ordered a dessert and said, "Even if Mingxu gets fat, he's still handsome."

Lu Xinghe then recounted how Mingxu had developed a belly from overeating, and how Charlie discovered it just before he joined the crew, leading Charlie to publicly criticize Mingxu so harshly that the entire television station knew about it.

Hu Xiaoxiao then learned about this past incident; no wonder Charlie was always watching Mingxu's food so closely. "Mingxu, how long until you join the crew?"

"I'm not filming any dramas this year." So he has more than half a year to spare. "It's not too late to lose weight when I join a production next year. I'm very experienced when it comes to losing weight."

Zhu Wanwen quickly asked, "What experience do you have? I'd like to hear it."

Athena also leaned in to listen, and Lu Xinghe asked her, "You're so thin, why are you trying to lose weight?"

Athena whispered, "I've been eating a lot lately. What if I gain weight and don't look good on camera?"

"Then let's skip the dessert. I'll take you to eat seafood later. Seafood is light and won't make you gain weight."

"Great! I haven't had seafood in ages."

Hu Xiaoxiao doesn't have this worry about gaining weight. She eats a lot and exercises a lot, and she thinks it would be nice if she were a little chubby.

The waiter brought out several baskets of steamed dishes, and Hu Xiaoxiao was the first to start eating. She picked up a piece of honeycomb tripe, and her eyes narrowed with delight at how delicious it was. "This tastes so good, it's different from the honeycomb tripe I've had before."

Mingxu was already hungry, so he quickly picked up his chopsticks and took a piece. He then pushed a basket of shrimp dumplings in front of Hu Xiaoxiao and said, "The shrimp dumplings at this teahouse are also delicious. The shrimp are all freshly peeled that day. You should try them."

"It's really delicious, very fresh."

"There's sauce here, you can dip your food in it."

Dipping it in sauce gives it a completely different flavor.

Both of them ate very well and with great relish, which made everyone's appetite soar. Athena and Zhu Wanwen hadn't planned to eat much, but as they watched, they couldn't help but eat until they were stuffed.

In the end, even Lu Xinghe ate quite a bit.

They ordered way too much. Besides dim sum, there was roast duck, char siu, and braised dishes. Even though they were stuffed, there was still a lot left over.

It was already completely dark outside. Hu Xiaoxiao, carrying a large bag of takeout food, got into Mingxu's car with Zhu Wanwen and waved goodbye to Lu Xinghe and Athena.

After filming wrapped, "The Grandmaster" was immediately sent for post-production so that it could be broadcast as soon as possible.

During Hu Xiaoxiao's training period, the post-production team also asked her to come over and redo some of the parts that hadn't been recorded properly.

In addition, she attended several other events, keeping her schedule very tight every day.

After the training ended, Hu Xiaoxiao graduated successfully with high marks.

"Xiaoxiao, 'The Grandmaster' is premiering next week. Can you spare some time tomorrow to help the company with the promotional activities?" Awei called Hu Xiaoxiao.

Hu Xiaoxiao was at home flipping through a magazine, looking at the news about this year's Miss Hong Kong pageant, when she asked, "Why do we suddenly have to go out for promotions?"

In the past, when there was a drama to promote, we would notify the audience well in advance. Usually, the promotion would be done on TV programs, with the actors doing games or other activities, or some trailers would be shown during commercial breaks.

Ah Wei said, "This year, Baozhu TV has a drama called 'The Hero's Tenderness' competing with us. Their promotion is very aggressive, saying they want to suppress us for another year. We also need to keep up with their promotion. Last year at this time, their martial arts dramas took away most of the viewership. This year, we absolutely cannot let them suppress us again."

Last year, if it weren't for the good ratings of the Miss Hong Kong pageant, which turned the tide, TVB would have been completely overwhelmed.

"No problem, I will definitely cooperate."

Hu Xiaoxiao was originally considering competing for a role in a new drama, but now it seems she needs to focus on promoting "The Grandmaster" first. If her role becomes popular, it will elevate her status and greatly benefit her future acting opportunities.

Ah Wei added, "You need to be at the company early tomorrow. You need to put on makeup and wear your costume..."

Hu Xiaoxiao wrote everything down and arrived at the company early the next day.

The company gave her a costume of the female lead, Lan Xinya. After Hu Xiaoxiao changed into it, she also styled her hair like Lan Xinya.

When the director came over and saw it, he felt something was missing. On a whim, he said, "Xiaoxiao, why don't you try on Zhou Bijun's look? I'll arrange for you and Mingxu to perform a martial arts routine to attract the audience."

Xiao Xiao then went to the costume department, found several red dresses that Zhou Bijun had worn, and took them back to the dressing room.

In the dressing room, Hong Qiuyan, another character who was going to be promoted, had already arrived and had just changed into black clothes.

"The Grandmaster" is a male-centric drama, with the main characters being male. There are only three female characters with significant screen time, and Hu Xiaoxiao plays two of them.

Therefore, only two female artists, Hu Xiaoxiao and Hong Qiuyan, participated in this promotional trip.