"Hello? Lao Qing, are you still there?"
It wasn't until Zhuge Gong's inquiry came from the other end of the phone that Zhuge Qing snapped out of his recollections.
"I'm here, Father."
Zhuge Gong looked at his phone in confusion, wondering if he had misheard.
His son, Zhuge Qing, had always been synonymous with stability and maturity in his eyes, yet he had rarely heard a hint of panic in Zhuge Qing's voice!
Although he really wanted to find out what had happened to Zhuge Qing, since Zhuge Qing didn't intend to say, there must be his own reasons, and Zhuge Gong was unwilling to press further.
A moment later, Zhuge Qing, who had recomposed himself, tentatively asked, "Dad, was there anyone from our Martial Marquis Qimen among the Thirty-Six Thieves?"
"Well, you could say there was..."
Zhuge Gong's words made Zhuge Qing's heart sink, and he quickly asked, "Then, Dad, do you know what their name was?"
Zhuge Qing was very afraid that Zhuge Gong would say, 'His name was Zhuge Chulan.'
If it really was that, Zhuge Qing would truly have to go ask Lin Xu!
However, Zhuge Gong's next sentence made Zhuge Qing breathe a sigh of relief.
"I don't know who exactly it was. This is a taboo in our Zhuge Village... I only know that the one who joined the Thirty-Six Thieves doesn't seem to be from our main Zhuge Family; it was the lover of an elder."
Zhuge Qing let out a long breath and said, "Phew... That's good."
"Huh? What did you say?" Zhuge Gong asked, puzzled.
"Nothing, nothing!" Zhuge Qing quickly brushed it off, changing the subject, "I was just asking casually. Dad, don't overthink it. If there's nothing else, I'll hang up first."
After speaking, Zhuge Qing hung up the phone, leaving Zhuge Gong scratching his head in confusion... While Zhuge Qing was alone, sorting through all the information after hanging up, Lin Xu was also diligently writing the script and plot for the movie.
As an efficiency-first individual, Lin Xu had always written scripts very quickly, often even writing the script as he filmed the movie.
This was very much in the filming style of Hong Kong filmmakers from the last century.
Although he had already decided to film the story of under one person, Lin Xu wasn't bold enough to directly film Zhang Chulan's story in its entirety.
Wouldn't filming it without any modifications be pure suicide?
Therefore, Lin Xu had to make reasonable changes to the backgrounds and names of the characters appearing in under one person.
Since he had decided to have Zhuge Qing play Zhang Chulan, Lin Xu directly changed Zhang Chulan's Tianshi Mansion background to Martial Marquis Qimen.
Then he would modify Zhang Huaiyi's story and apply it to the Zhuge Family!
"Zhuge Chulan... sounds a bit silly."
Lin Xu muttered the modified name under his breath, feeling that it didn't roll off the tongue well.
Moreover, in the plot, their whole family was on the run, and the surname Zhuge was a bit too conspicuous!
"I need to change it. Zhuge... then I'll just change it to Zhu. Zhu Chulan sounds much more decent!"
If the protagonist was changed, their whole family had to be changed too.
Zhang Huaiyi... changing it directly to Zhu Huaiyi wasn't quite right. It wouldn't be strange for just the grandson to be named Chulan, but if both the grandfather and grandson had the same name, it would seem very odd!
Then for Huaiyi, let's just take the "Yi" and call him Zhu Yi. That's about right.
Then Chulan's father, Zhang Yude, would just take the "De"... Lin Xu suddenly shook his head, having thought of something.
"The character 'De' cannot be used! And with the surname Zhu, that would be something else entirely. It must be changed!"
"Let's call him... Zhu Yu. Change it to a homophone."
Lin Xu nodded in satisfaction, jotting down the names of the protagonist's family in his notebook.
As for the Cultivation Technique, Lin Xu wasn't worried; he could just change the name.
Lin Xu planned to let Zhuge Qing come up with the specific names and effects himself. Since they had already decided to film a story about Yiren, they might as well be bold.
Letting Zhuge Qing, an Yiren, devise it would definitely yield better results than he, an outsider! He only needed to fill in the general plot.
After setting up the protagonist's family, Lin Xu turned his attention to the next important component.
Feng Baobao and Na Du Tong!
Na Du Tong was easy to change. Lin Xu planned to just modify its name and borrow it directly.
Since under one person in his previous life could package a state-owned express delivery enterprise as a relevant department of the Yiren Jie (World of Superhumans), it was perfectly reasonable for him to modify Na Du Tong now.
After three seconds of thought, a name called 【National Wide】 appeared on the script.
Modifying Na Du Tong was simple; what truly gave Lin Xu a headache was how to change Feng Baobao!
If he merely changed her name without altering her character settings, she might be noticed by people from Na Du Tong.
Therefore, Feng Baobao's settings had to be slightly modified.
First, Feng Baobao was an Yiren who had lost part of her memory and was suspected of possessing the ability of immortality.
These two settings were related to the hidden secrets behind the Eight Wonders, and Lin Xu certainly couldn't remove them; otherwise, the 'under one person' he was filming wouldn't be authentic.
Recalling Feng Baobao's settings, Lin Xu suddenly thought of a character from a movie or TV show who was quite similar to her.
Zhang Qiling from the Tomb Raiding world!
Zhang Qiling, also stoic, immortal, powerful, suffering from amnesia and forgetting his past, and most importantly, he also used a blade!
Holy cow! The settings of these two characters were too similar.
Lin Xu even felt that perhaps Feng Baobao was originally modeled after Zhang Qiling.
"Perfect, perfect, it's practically tailor-made!"
Lin Xu subconsciously applauded. If he really set up a female, amnesiac, immortal character, no matter how he changed other aspects,
Xu San and Xu Si, who were around Feng Baobao, would easily discover the similarities between them, and they might become suspicious.
It would be better to directly modify her into a male character, and the name could simply be Zhang Ling, changing the plot to a dual-male protagonist model like in Tomb Raiding.
One Zhu Chulan, one Zhang Ling.
Although Lin Xu was very reluctant to admit it, as a director who had filmed movies for two years,
He was very clear that the main audience for film and television works were women.
If there were some 'bromance' elements in the work, it could easily become a big hit!
Lin Xu smirked, gloating.
"I'll just have to make Lao Qing suffer a bit; I'll bear the infamy."
"Although I know, Lao Qing, you don't really like this kind of 'bromance' plot, I believe you are a professional actor and will definitely be able to overcome it."
At this moment, Zhuge Qing, who was resting in his room's office, suddenly felt a chill and looked around warily.
He suddenly felt as if something was staring at him!
But Zhuge Qing looked left and right for a long time and couldn't find any problems, only attributing it to his own oversensitivity.
"It seems I really need a good rest. Lin Xu's words have made me a bit sensitive; I'm starting to be paranoid."