"Miss you~"
Kristen's voice dropped lower, her gaze fixed straight on him.
Cassius felt his throat go a little dry. "Me too!"
Silence stretched across the screen for a few seconds, filled only by faint electronic static.
The atmosphere turned ambiguous.
"Really want to fly back to Los Angeles right now!"
Kristen leaned back against the headboard, the collar of her bathrobe slightly open, revealing the line of her collarbone.
"And then pin you to the bed!"
Cassius: "..."
He felt his lower abdomen tighten.
This woman was always like this, hitting him with something intense when he least expected it.
"K..."
His voice was a bit hoarse.
"What?"
Kristen raised an eyebrow, mixing provocation and seduction.
"Doesn't Boss Han Lee know fortune-telling? Calculate what I want to do right now?"
Cassius took a deep breath, trying to suppress the flames rising within him.
"I calculate that you have a schedule tomorrow and need to save your energy!"
"Coward!"
Kristen huffed, but her eyes were full of mirth.
She adjusted her posture, the hem of her bathrobe slipping open to reveal a smooth calf.
"But seriously, Cassius, I'll be busy here for another week. When I get back, you'd better clear your 'schedule' for me!"
This hint was already quite explicit!
Cassius felt the fire burning even brighter.
"Available on call, guaranteed!"
They chatted stickily for another ten minutes or so until someone knocked on Kristen's door, seemingly an assistant urging her to rest, before they hung up.
Cassius put down his phone, feeling the living room was excessively quiet. The heat stirred up by Kristen's few sentences hadn't fully subsided.
He got up, went to the kitchen, poured a glass of ice water, and downed it in one go, finally feeling slightly better.
...
Filming for 2 Broke Girls proceeded methodically.
After a few weeks, Cassius was as familiar with the Warner Bros. soundstage as his own living room.
He didn't need to look at the marks on the floor anymore; he could navigate between the counter, booths, and kitchen with his eyes closed.
Absolutely wouldn't bump into any moving cameras or floor directors doubled over with laughter.
The initial rustiness was long gone.
When he entered the studio now, the way he high-fived Kat and Beth was as practiced as an old colleague of ten years.
"Hey, charlatan boss, calculate for us today, will we meet a big spender who isn't stingy with tips?"
Kat was arranging cupcakes on the table. Seeing Cassius enter, she roasted him immediately.
She truly treated Cassius as one of her own now, showing no mercy with her jabs.
Cassius skillfully fished a coin out of his pocket, twirled it on his fingertip, and said seriously:
"Max, the hexagram indicates mediocre financial luck today, but the calamity of speech is particularly prominent. Suggest you talk less!"
Kat rolled her eyes. "Screw your hexagram!"
Beth laughed beside them while adjusting her socialite outfit.
"Don't listen to her. Your shirt looks great today, very sharp!"
She always tried to maintain a fragile peace between Max's toxic tongue and Han Lee's mystique.
[Kat Dennings Favorability +3, Current Favorability 68]
[Beth Behrs Favorability +5, Current Favorability 65]
A green attribute orb dropped from Beth.
[Sweet Affinity +2]
Cassius found that after filming sitcoms for a while, actors really formed a unique tacit understanding and rhythm.
He could predict the direction of Kat's next roast and catch Beth's slightly exaggerated socialite reactions.
His rhythm attribute got fully exercised and applied here.
Although the live audience had to hand in their phones, someone still managed to sneak in a device, recording clips of Cassius's performance and posting them online.
Initially intended to mock Kristen's boyfriend as ridiculous, it unexpectedly brought positive attention to Cassius online.
The heat was not low!
During official taping, the atmosphere in the audience grew livelier.
Many audience members indeed came for the Eastern boss who played with coins and spouted Feng Shui hexagrams.
As soon as he appeared, before even speaking, there was laughter and expectant whispering from below the stage.
"Here he comes! Boss Han Lee!"
"That serious yet slightly awkward look is really too cute!"
"He's more handsome in person than in the entertainment news! Paparazzi photography skills are worrisome!"
...
After the upgrade from the [Male God Enhancer], Cassius was now 183cm tall, looking much more handsome than before!
Today's scene involved Han Lee trying to promote a "Five Elements Energy Cupcake" he meticulously developed for Max.
Supposedly flavored according to the customer's birth chart to boost luck.
Max looked at the pile of weirdly colored cupcakes, expressionless.
"Boss, are you sure eating this brings luck and doesn't just send people straight to the afterlife?"
Cassius looked solemn, gesturing with a small compass in front of the cakes.
His focused expression and upright posture made several female audience members cover their mouths.
"Max, you don't understand! This is based on the principle of balance between Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth, combined with the local magnetic field of Brooklyn..."
"Magnetic field?"
Max interrupted him. "I only know my magnetic field tells me if these don't sell, we'll be drinking northwest wind!"
"According to your theory, northwest wind belongs to Metal, might be quite nourishing!"
The audience burst into laughter.
"His look of being stunned by the roast is so funny!"
"The changes in expression are so rich, from serious to pained to guilty, the layering is amazing!"
"Is being handsome charming even when playing a wimp?"
...
Cassius's Han Lee choked on the retort, his face showing pain that science wasn't understood, mixed with a bit of worry about the end-of-month bills—rich emotional layering.
He held it in for a few seconds before weakly retorting: "Sincerity makes it effective!"
At this moment, Oleg leaned over, picked up a green cupcake, and winked lewdly.
"Boss, does eating this Wood element one make you last longer?"
Han Lee immediately showed a disgusted expression, fanning his hand vigorously in front of his nose.
"Oleg! Filthy language, destroying the Qi field! Take it away!"
He subconsciously took half a step back, as if Oleg and the cake in his hand were biological weapons.
This reaction drew another round of laughter.
Cassius brought to life Han Lee's cowardly yet fastidious nature, trying to use metaphysics to combat all disharmonious factors.
That exaggerated yet natural body language and expression management made the audience feel it was both funny and amazing.
"His comedic rhythm is too good!"
"Even his disgusted expression is so handsome, it's unfair!"
"He really brought this character to life, weird and charming!"
...
Old Earl couldn't help but add a slow roast from the side:
"Han, if your cakes could bring good luck like your coin tricks, we'd all be richer than Caroline used to be!"
A blue attribute orb dropped from Earl.
[Precise Roasting & Deadpan Humor +3]
Absorbing it, Cassius felt his grasp of this American rhythmic banter become clearer.
Filming breaks. Director Michael watched the monitor playback and said to the producer next to him:
"Cass's progress is indeed fast. He's not just acting Han Lee; he practically became Han Lee!"
"Those micro-expressions, improvised lines, all just right. The audience buys it!"
The producer nodded. "That coin and Feng Shui setting was a stroke of genius. It established his character instantly and made him memorable!"
"Some fans online are already imitating his coin spinning!"
Cassius felt the change himself.
Standing in front of the camera now was almost an instinctive reaction.
How Han Lee should speak, move, and struggle to maintain his Eastern philosophy amidst Max's artillery fire and Oleg's sleaze.
Everything came naturally.
He even began to enjoy this creative process of instant feedback and the laughter from the audience because of his performance.
At the end of the day's taping, as the audience dispersed, several young girls ran specifically to the barrier and shouted at Cassius:
"Han Lee! I love you!"
"Can you tell my fortune?"
"The coin trick is so cool!"
...
Cassius smiled and waved to them.
This feeling was wonderful.
Different from the attention gained as Kristen's boyfriend or for the Thor role.
This was pure love for the comedic character Han Lee he portrayed.
While removing makeup, Kat wiped off the heavy foundation and said to him, "Seriously, Cass, you're the treasure boy of our crew now!"
"Heard the writers are adding scenes for you, building jokes around your fortune-telling skills!"
Beth also leaned over. "Yeah, Cass, you're our diner's mascot now."
Cassius smiled and didn't speak.
He knew clearly this was inseparable from the various attribute orbs he continuously absorbed, especially [Rhythm] and [Expression], making his improvised comedy and subtle reactions increasingly precise.
The [Male God Enhancer] made his appearance more photogenic; even in ordinary clothes, that gradually settling unique temperament was hard to hide.
Walking out of the soundstage, the Los Angeles night breeze carried a chill.
Cassius looked at the call sheet for next week sent by Rob on his phone. Sure enough, Han Lee's scenes had increased again.
Sitting in the car, he felt a exhaustion and satisfaction post-creation filling his body.
Boss Han Lee's daily life at the Williamsburg Diner continued, becoming more and more vibrant.
He somewhat understood now why some people could stay in a sitcom for several seasons.
This feeling of being directly recognized by the audience and growing with the character was indeed addictive.
Back at Beverly Hills.
The house was quiet.
Cassius threw himself onto the sofa and fished out his phone.
There was a voice message from Kristen on the screen, timestamped a few hours ago.
Clicking it, her slightly hoarse voice played against a noisy background:
"Paris today was crazy, three interviews in a row, throat's about to smoke. Probably getting back very late, you sleep first, don't wait for me! Miss you~"