Huayu Shen Gongbao

Chapter 2 Is a white tiger also a tiger?

Upon hearing Shen Gongbao's words, Xiao Bin looked puzzled.

"What do you mean? You want to go into the entertainment industry? You don't even have a mentor, who's going to get you in?"

"I can find a mentor myself. Have you ever heard of the six degrees of separation theory?"

"Never heard of it."

The "six degrees of separation theory," also known as the small-world phenomenon, refers to the idea that you can get to know any stranger in the world through a maximum of six people.

Your relationship with the US president is at most six people away.

This illustrates that weak ties exist in interpersonal relationships; once you find this ties, you'll be invincible.

Shen Gongbao continued to deceive Xiao Bin, but this time it had little effect.

Xiao Bin calmly analyzed, "What six degrees of separation theory? Isn't this just a math problem?"

A person has at least 100 classmates, colleagues, relatives and friends from childhood to adulthood. Finding six of them in a row would be 100 to the power of 6, which is one trillion.

This number is many times greater than the total population of the Earth.

These social scientists are so boring, spending all their time inventing concepts that seem mysterious but are actually meaningless.

In real life, the hardest part is finding the right person from a large group who can help you, and then getting that person to be willing to help you.

Xiao Bin is just bad at picking up girls; as a top student in the Department of Electronic Engineering at Zhejiang University, his IQ is definitely very high.

This analysis is very insightful.

Shen Gongbao put his arm around his shoulder and said with a smile, "That's why I need your help!"

Since you're from Zhejiang, I remember you have a local alumni group. Could you ask around to see if there are any students from Dongyang City? Maybe they can help me find some connections.

Shen Gongbao's plan was simple: since he was already in Hengdian, he would first find a film crew to play around with, even if it was just as an extra, to get familiar with the situation.

He knew very well that as a country boy, he didn't have many connections, and his classmates from Zhejiang University were his biggest network.

Asking more questions at this time is definitely beneficial.

Xiao Bin looked at Shen Gongbao and asked for confirmation, "Are you serious?"

"Of course we're serious. You could say we're doing a graduation celebration; it's a graduation trip with special significance."

After receiving Shen Gongbao's affirmative reply, Xiao Bin immediately took out his phone and sent a message to the local alumni group of Zhejiang University.

[Need help! My classmates and I are on our graduation trip to Hengdian and we'd like to find a film crew to act in as a graduation souvenir. Does anyone know of any connections?]

Shen Gongbao also posted a request for help in the class and grade groups, which sparked a heated discussion among the students.

As graduation approaches, going to a film crew to act and use images from movies and TV shows to capture the moment of parting is a really interesting idea for a graduation trip. It can resonate with students and many people want to follow suit.

Soon, several classmates called to say they could try to help.

One of the graduate students from Dongyang, Xu Ruiwen, gave a clear answer, telling Shen Gongbao and Xiao Bin to go to Qiu Lijun, the vice chairman of the Hengdian Actors Guild, and that she had already made arrangements to arrange for them to join the crew and play two roles with lines.

I must say, the students from Zhejiang University are really awesome.

After obtaining Qiu Lijun's contact information, Shen Gongbao and Xiao Bin headed towards the Actors Guild.

As I passed an intersection, I saw a film crew recruiting.

Three men stood in front of a long table, with the fat, pot-bellied man in the middle in charge.

Behind them were two display stands: one was a poster for the movie Red Cliff, featuring a star-studded cast; the other was a job posting—Red Cliff (Part 2) needed to film additional scenes in Hengdian and required the recruitment of some actors.

Although the main filming location for Red Cliff was in Hebei, some scenes in Red Cliff (Part 2) needed to be reshot, and the reshoots took place in Hengdian.

Wu Yusen recently mentioned this in an interview, and many people have heard about it.

The information matched, so the recruitment area was packed with people.

Shen Gongbao took a closer look, but felt something was wrong.

The place where they recruited was too rudimentary and did not match the status of the major production team of Red Cliff. The Red Cliff production team would not have recruited people so hastily and in such a scattered manner.

Moreover, most of the people gathered here asking about the roles were ordinary people; there were no professional actors, not even any registered extras.

It's obvious that these two are scammers.

In the past two years, Hengdian World Studios has become increasingly popular, attracting many people with dreams of becoming stars to come here to pursue their dreams, which has also led to the emergence of various scams.

The most common and effective scam is to recruit people under the guise of a major film production crew and then collect kickbacks from them.

After all, most people in the entertainment industry come from well-off families. They are rich but lack connections, and are willing to spend money to buy opportunities.

In addition, these "nine-leaky fish" (a derogatory term for people with low intelligence) are relatively easy to fool.

Li Xin was swindled out of her salary for the film "Dream of the Red Chamber," and Yao Di was swindled out of a bribe during her freshman year of college—these are both verifiable cases.

At this moment, a group of people surrounded the three swindlers and asked them questions. Standing at the front was Li Xue (Li Yitong).

Her excellent physical appearance naturally made her a target for scammers.

The fat, pot-bellied man kept tempting her: "Girl, you're so beautiful, no less so than Lin Zhiling, you just lack an opportunity!"

Although Xiao Qiao's maid has few scenes, she does have two lines, which is a great opportunity for her to show her face.

There's a lot of competition for this role, and we need to bribe people up and down the ranks, so you'll have to give us something in return.

Hearing this, Li Xue was tempted.

Although she applied to the Beijing Dance Academy, she would certainly be willing to enter the entertainment industry and become a star if given the opportunity.

As a beautiful woman, Li Xue is quite confident in her appearance. She thinks the fat man with the big belly is right; she just lacks an opportunity to showcase herself!

The eighteen-year-old girl had never seen the harsh realities of society, and her true colors were revealed on the spot.

"How much does this role cost? I only have 2 yuan on me, which is my New Year's money saved up over the years."

Seeing Li Yitong fall for the trick so easily, Shen Gongbao covered his face. This girl's intelligence was inversely proportional to her beauty; it was truly unbearable to look at.

After thinking for a moment, Shen Gongbao whispered a few words in Xiao Bin's ear.

Xiao Bin's eyes lit up, and he stepped forward, loudly proclaiming, "Are there any suitable roles for me? I'm not short of money; I just want to play a general and show off my power!"

Xiao Bin comes from a well-off family. This time, he was wearing the latest Adidas tracksuit, which cost about 2000 yuan, and he was also wearing a Cartier watch that his family gave him.

The fat, pot-bellied man's eyes lit up when he saw the man's outfit; another big fat sheep had arrived!

Xiao Bin quickly negotiated a price with him: 6 yuan for a character who was riding a horse as a general.

She was even faster than Li Yitong.

Just then, Shen Gongbao appeared.

He grabbed the fat man and shouted, "Finally found you! You took 1000 yuan from me yesterday, saying you'd introduce me to a role, but now there's no role and you haven't given me my money back!"

Are you a scammer?!

The fat man looked completely bewildered: "Who are you? We don't know you."

"So, you're going to turn your back on us after taking the money? You're definitely a scammer!"

Upon hearing Shen Gongbao's words, the crowd stirred, and the fat man panicked as well.

Seeing that two fat sheep were about to be tricked, Li Xue received 2 yuan and Xiao Bin received 6 yuan, which was a total of 8 yuan in kickbacks!

If we let Shen Gongbao spout nonsense and people start to suspect that they are fraudsters, then the fat sheep we've already got will run away!

Thinking of this, the fat man quickly said, "What's the rush? Your role is still being arranged."

"Bullshit! You said yesterday you'd refund my money if I didn't get the role, and now I want my money back!"

Upon hearing this, some people around him began to question it.

At this point, the fat man realized something was wrong and that he had fallen into a trap, but the 8 yuan reward was too tempting.

If he closes this deal, he can live a carefree life for a whole year.

It's only 1000 yuan, worth the gamble!

So he gritted his teeth, took out ten red bills from his wallet, handed them to Shen Gongbao, and said loudly, "You really have no patience. How can you get a good role so quickly?"

Here, this is 1000 yuan! I'll return the money to you!

We are registered and legitimate staff members of the Actors Guild. If we don't get a role, we'll refund your money. There's no risk for you!

When he mentioned there was no risk, the fat man's eyes were fixed on Xiao Bin and Li Xue, then scanned the others.

Xiao Bin offered a few words of praise, which silenced the doubters and stabilized the situation.

Seeing this, the fat man felt he had made the right bet, so he ignored Shen Gongbao and let him leave with the money, while he continued to deceive Li Xue.

Unexpectedly, after Shen Gongbao disappeared for a while, Xiao Bin suddenly changed his mind and didn't want the role anymore. Li Xue had already recognized Shen Gongbao and Xiao Bin, so she naturally followed suit and changed her mind as well.

The fat man immediately realized he had been tricked and was furious. He had been a conman all day long, but he never expected to be outsmarted!

He grabbed Xiao Bin and wouldn't let him leave, but soon, Shen Gongbao appeared at the intersection with several security guards.

Upon seeing the security guard, the fat man abandoned his stall and ran away.

The security guards didn't investigate further. Hengdian is a mixed bag these days, with too many scammers, and they believed it was better to avoid trouble.

If Shen Gongbao hadn't produced his Zhejiang University student ID and explained that his classmate had been scammed, these security guards might not have been willing to get involved.

After the swindler escaped, Shen Gongbao received a reward message from the Taoist book.

[The player successfully outsmarted a small fraud gang, swindling them out of 1000 yuan. This meets the requirements of the Taoist manual, and the player is rewarded with the basic skill: Beast Taming.]

【Beast Taming Skill (lv1): Allows you to capture a pet and train it, increasing the pet's growth rate by 5%.】

Upon seeing this information, Shen Gongbao was slightly taken aback.

As a disciple of Yuanshi Tianzun, Shen Gongbao possessed a personal sword, the magical artifact Kaitian Pearl, and a personal mount, the White-browed Tiger.

The white-browed tiger was a mythical beast that Shen Gongbao had kept as a companion to before he became a disciple of Yuanshi Tianzun, and they had a deep bond with each other.

During the Investiture of the Gods, the White-browed Tiger followed Shen Gongbao on his adventures across the land, displaying considerable strength and unwavering loyalty.

Therefore, it is not surprising that Shen Gongbao knew how to control beasts.

However, in this degenerate age, there are no pets to keep; at most, one can keep a big yellow dog to guard the house.

Shen Gongbao was considering what pet to get when he saw Li Xue jogging over, smiling and saying, "Thank goodness you showed up in time, or I would have been tricked!"

The weather was hot, and Li Xue's face was flushed, with fine beads of sweat on her forehead, which made her skin look even whiter and smoother. Her smiling eyes were even more heartwarming.

After admiring Li Xue's beauty up close, Shen Gongbao instantly forgave her earlier foolishness.

Just as he was about to speak, he received another prompt from the Taoist book.

[One pet detected. Attempt to capture it?]

Upon seeing this notification, Shen Gongbao was shocked.

What does that mean? Is Li Xue a pet animal?

Is it...

Is a white tiger also a tiger?