AYF CH42
Chapter 42: Take It All
The next morning, bright and early, Shen Xici called Lu Jiming, full of energy, “Director Lu, are you up?”
Lu Jiming was about to go crazy from sleep deprivation. With such a huge piece of gossip trending, how could he possibly finish following it before dawn? His eyelids were stuck together, and he couldn’t open them. He covered his head with the blanket and replied in a muffled voice, “Up for what? I just went to sleep!”
Shen Xici pretended to be troubled, “But, if Director Lu doesn’t get up, we won’t make the Spring Festival release.”
Slowly pulling the blanket away, Lu Jiming stared blankly at the spiderweb on the ceiling and couldn’t help but ask, “…And what else?”
“We still have to find actors. Because you slept in this morning, the talented, hardworking new actor who was willing to sign a contract with us was signed by someone else for twenty thousand yuan. We have less than ten months, and we still need to scout locations and secure investment—”
“Don’t say any more, don’t say any more, I’m up!” Lu Jiming, with a bedhead that looked like a chicken’s nest, struggled to throw off the covers and get out of bed.
He had initially adopted a laid-back, “go with the flow” attitude. It was just him, handling fundraising, casting, and location scouting. Didn’t he have to take it step by step? Who knew he would run into Shen Xici, this king of competition, who insisted on aiming for a Spring Festival release.
Fine, a Spring Festival release it is.
He was still very tempted by the idea…
Besides, with an actor as outstanding as Shen Xici, he couldn’t hold him back.
Yawning, Lu Jiming went to wash up, grumbling as he held his toothbrush, “Other people push their kids or their parents, but you, you’re pushing your director. You’re something else!”
Shen Xici was taking his own temperature and blood pressure. He laughed and said, “Pushing a director only yields results if the director is talented and capable. Otherwise, it’s all wasted effort.”
The irritability from lack of sleep vanished completely. Lu Jiming was in such a good mood he wanted to hum a tune. He said reservedly, “Mmm, you have good taste, recognizing the excellent qualities of a future great director at first glance!” He then hesitated, “But, we have no money. How are we supposed to find actors?”
Shen Xici exposed him, “When you tricked me into signing the actor’s contract, you didn’t even have the two hundred thousand yuan in compensation money from Cheng Mingye.”
Lu Jiming chuckled sheepishly, “That’s different. You’re a god-tier talent. If I didn’t trick you into signing, and you ran off, I’d never find another one like you. So, I had to sacrifice my conscience to tie you down!”
The two met at the entrance of Ningcheng Drama Academy. Shen Xici was wearing a black hat and mask. Before he even reached the school gate, a hand reached out from the side and pulled him behind a large tree.
“Don’t go, don’t go, the paparazzi are having a meeting at the gate! Be careful not to get recognized!”
Shen Xici looked towards the school gate, curious, “A meeting? What kind of meeting are they having here?”
“Xu Lingjia! Isn’t he a student at Ningcheng Drama Academy? I just went to check out the situation. Apparently, his family and his company can’t find him. A bunch of entertainment reporters had nowhere to go, so they all swarmed to the school to stake it out.” Lu Jiming looked at Shen Xici, whose eyes were bright and clear without a trace of having stayed up all night. “You can’t have missed such a huge piece of gossip, right?”
Shen Xici nodded, “Of course I’ve been following it.”
Originally, because the movie had wrapped, the crew’s group chats had all gone silent. But one hot search topic blew them all up. Lan Xiaoshan, with incredible speed, had pulled him into a gossip group chat for the Mountain Range Line crew. Just like the groups in school that didn’t include the head teacher or counselor, this one was mostly filled with assistant directors and assistants for lighting and wardrobe. The chat messages hit 999+ within minutes.
He didn’t even need to go on Weibo; all the relevant information was being ported into that gossip group.
Bypassing the staking-out paparazzi, Lu Jiming pointed, “Here, follow me this way. There’s a small side gate we can get through!”
It was still early. The street was lined with breakfast carts, and the air was filled with the aroma of fried pancakes. Lu Jiming sniffed the air. The more he smelled it, the more he wanted to eat. He quickly tried to distract himself. “I was following the gossip last night and couldn’t make heads or tails of it. I read dozens of analysis posts, and it feels like everyone is a Sherlock Holmes, with their analysis making perfect sense.
In the video released by the assistant, Can Can, Xu Lingjia does look like he’s intentionally swapping the two thermoses. But there’s too little footage. Some analysis posts say that the two thermoses are identical. Maybe Xu Lingjia thought the thermos in his hand was Zhong Yue’s, took it by mistake, and was just swapping his own back. It wasn’t some so-called deliberate attempt to harm someone. That assistant, Can Can, was just trying to clear her own name by throwing Xu Lingjia under the bus.
See, that makes a lot of sense too! It’s completely in line with logical behavior! No wonder his fans are fighting all night, vowing to clear Xu Lingjia’s name.”
Shen Xici added, “Plus, Zhong Yue himself didn’t even know he had a severe allergy.”
“Right, right, I was almost convinced yesterday!” Lu Jiming rubbed his chin. “But I also feel like something is very wrong. It’s not about the details like carrying an epinephrine pen. I just feel that, although Xu Lingjia is a second-generation star and has had a lot of exposure growing up, with his hard-to-describe acting skills, it’s very difficult for him to make a name for himself in the film and television industry. But if he latched onto Zhong Yue, tsk tsk, just look at his current status and film offers, his motive couldn’t be stronger.” Lu Jiming shook his head vigorously. “No, no, we can’t convict someone just because they have a motive!”
This was also the current trend of online public opinion regarding the video. Coupled with Ye Mei’s relentless PR efforts, although some fans who believed Xu Lingjia was the culprit were unfollowing him, there were still many fans who firmly believed in his innocence.
Lu Jiming nudged Shen Xici with his elbow, “Hey, you must have some inside information. Spill it, spill it.”
Shen Xici had already pieced together the whole incident during the two days Zhong Yue was hospitalized for his allergic reaction. Even with the video footage now, unless Xu Lingjia confessed himself, it would be very difficult to expose his actions.
“As for inside information,” Shen Xici thought for a moment, “The assistant who found the video in the camera equipment resigned yesterday. She said she and the assistant named Can Can will go back to school, switch to a different field of work, and never touch the entertainment industry again. Does that count as inside information?”
“For Zhong Yue and his team to fire the assistant at the height of the controversy, that was really not cool of them. It’s not like they don’t know how crazy some fans can be.” Lu Jiming sighed a little. “This news is pretty good. It’s comforting to hear. This industry is just too dirty and messy. The little people are like duckweed in the rain, you never know where they’ll be washed away to.”
In the white steam that billowed out when a street-side breakfast stall lifted the lid of a steamer, Shen Xici looked at the complex expression on Lu Jiming’s face.
In the past life, what did Lu Jiming go through that made him disappear for the next few years?
Quickly pulling himself out of his sentimental mood, Lu Jiming asked, “What do you think will happen next? Xu Lingjia’s fans are clamoring, daring Zhong Yue to call the police. If he doesn’t dare to, then it’s slander.”
Shen Xici nodded, “I also think the key is Zhong Yue. So far, Zhong Yue hasn’t made a statement.”
Twenty minutes later, the two were once again squatting behind a bush, looking from afar at a small sports field at Ningcheng Drama Academy. The acting department students were doing their morning exercises there, and the air was filled with all sorts of lines and tongue twisters.
Lu Jiming found this hiding spot with the ease of a seasoned pro. Shen Xici whispered, “Director Lu, are you from this school?”
Lu Jiming said proudly, “Yeah, I’m from the directing department, a real professionally trained talent!”
“Then, dear alumnus, why don’t we go sit on the stone bench over there?”
Lu Jiming blinked, then slapped his own forehead. “Why didn’t I think of that! Ah, I’m just so used to being sneaky, I almost forgot we could just sit!”
“Shh,” Shen Xici made a hushing motion. “Director Lu, with what you just said, plus me wearing a mask and hat, we could easily attract the patrolling security guards, who would then chase us out like a couple of geese.”
Lu Jiming’s interest was piqued, “You describe it so accurately. Have you been chased out by your school’s security before?”
“The security never chased me, but I chased the security,” Shen Xici fell silent for a moment, but continued, “Halloween. You know how the biggest amusement park in Ningcheng has an event? I went there to work part-time for some money. By the time the event ended and I got back to school, it was four or five in the morning. I had to climb the wall, and because it was too late, I didn’t have time to take off my makeup—”
“You were sitting on the wall when the security guard happened to see you?”
“Yes, and it was behind the laboratory building where we had our anatomy classes. That section of the wall is easier to climb.”
Lu Jiming exclaimed, “Good heavens!” and then urged for the rest of the story, “And then? And then?”
“The security uncle just ran with his flashlight, shouting ‘There’s a ghost!’ as he ran. I was afraid he’d be traumatized, so I jumped down from the wall and chased after him, shouting, ‘I’m not a ghost, don’t be afraid!'”
Lu Jiming couldn’t stop laughing, “The security guard must have been thinking, ‘Oh no, a ghost is chasing me!'” Laughing, he suddenly realized something was wrong. “Wait, anatomy class? Laboratory building? What film school did you go to? That’s so hardcore.”
“I went to Xiajing Medical University.”
Lu Jiming’s eyes widened, “My brother is actually a top student? I can’t believe I ran into something like this. But why did you abandon medicine for acting? Xiajing is so prestigious!”
Shen Xici omitted the full story and said concisely, “Because I was short on money.”
Lu Jiming patted his shoulder, his eyes full of the shared resonance of one poor person to another. “I can’t believe both medical school and art school are so expensive! Money, oh money, why doesn’t some just fall from the sky? I’d be willing to be knocked unconscious by it!”
Just then, the sound of a conversation drifted over.
“Shen Du Jie Sha‘s official Weibo account deleted the post! They deleted the one announcing Xu Lingjia as the second male lead. This is getting exciting!”
“What about Zhong Yue? What’s Zhong Yue’s reaction?”
“Zhong Yue hasn’t reacted yet. I used to be a huge shipper of the ‘Xu Wo Zhong Qing’ CP. Who knew it would collapse like this!”
“I heard that assistant Can Can used to be a big fan of Xu Lingjia too. On another platform, she wrote in her notes that she was so happy to see Xu Lingjia on set, and that she had watched that cute kid reality show when she was little. I can’t believe it. This collapse is even worse, isn’t it? So tragic.”
Lu Jiming quickly opened Weibo, saying sourly, “This move by Shen Du Jie Sha, announcing one minute and deleting the next, they’ve already generated enough hype before filming even started. They’ve saved who knows how much on promotion fees! I’m so jealous!”
“Shen Du Jie Sha? What do they mean? Weren’t we agreed—”
The call was hung up.
Xu Lingjia hadn’t slept much all night. He was curled up on the single sofa in the living room, asking pitifully, “Godmother, what did they say?”
Ye Mei rubbed her temples. “What did they say? They won’t even bother with us!”
From last night until now, she didn’t know how many calls she had made. Who would have thought that the people who had been so enthusiastic about her and Xu Lingjia, begging them to cooperate, would suddenly turn cold? Forget helping, many were even kicking them while they were down. Even an endorsement deal that was already negotiated and just waiting for the final contract to be signed had been withdrawn.
Xu Lingjia clutched the blanket tightly, whispering, “Godmother, did I cause trouble for you?”
Having not slept all night, Ye Mei had a headache. She said patiently, “Jiajia, next time before you do something like this, remember to discuss it with me.” She sighed. “You know, that Cui Yunwei has been watching me like a hawk, just waiting to make a big deal out of this.”
The phone rang. Ye Mei answered it. A few minutes later, she hung up and looked at Xu Lingjia. “Zhong Yue deleted his posts.”
Like a frightened bird, Xu Lingjia shot up straight. “Deleted what posts?”
“All the Weibo posts related to you, he deleted them all.” Ye Mei held her phone, looking at Xu Lingjia’s pale face. “The company told me that Cui Yunwei is preparing to attack me for condoning my artist’s reckless behavior, which offended Zhong Yue and the major capitalists behind him. He’s also planning to snatch away the brand ambassador and endorsement deals that were previously given to you. The company’s intention is to have you take a break for a while, and we’ll see after this storm blows over.”
Xu Lingjia gripped the blanket tightly. What break for a while? Isn’t that just shelving me?
“And Mountain Range Line, they might also cut your scenes. Once you have no resources and can’t get any scripts, you’ll basically enter a period of no exposure. Jiajia, you need to be mentally prepared.”
Be prepared?
Prepared for what?
Xu Lingjia stared at a spot in front of him, anxiously biting his nails, constantly flipping through his memories.
He had prophetic dreams. He knew what would happen in the next year or two. He was the one chosen by fate. How could he possibly lose?
The book of memory stopped on a certain page. Xu Lingjia’s eyes lit up. “Godmother! I know… I know! So what if those people don’t want me to have it easy? I will definitely make a comeback!”
Yanming Mountain.
On the mountain road, car headlights cut through the night. The pure black Pagani supercar roared through the mountains like a mechanical beast.
In the driver’s seat, Cheng Mingye, with his choppy platinum blonde hair, glanced at the rearview mirror, confirming that all those little red and yellow sports cars were left behind him.
The guardrail at the edge of the cliff twisted like a silver snake. Outside the range of the headlights, nothing could be seen, only pitch darkness. When he turned the steering wheel, the centrifugal force pressed Cheng Mingye into the driver’s seat. But it was this rush of adrenaline that made Cheng Mingye even more excited.
In a very good mood, Cheng Mingye muttered smugly, “As expected, my Pagani consort is the most magnificent of them all!”
After saying that, for some reason, he suddenly remembered the person in the club room, that mysterious guy named Shen Xici, who had said, “In your racing competition, your brakes will fail. The light outcome is serious injury, the heavy one is the destruction of the car and your death.”
This kind of metaphysics scam, saying scary things like a bloody disaster, was just to make people willingly pay money out of fear. He had seen it many times.
In the middle of a high-speed corner, Cheng Mingye thought for no reason—what if it’s true?
He had said it so confidently. After the threats and intimidation, Shen Xici hadn’t told him to go burn incense somewhere, nor had he asked him for money to avert the disaster.
It was a bit different from the other metaphysics scams he had encountered.
Could this person really have some tricks up his sleeve?
No, Cheng Mingye, use your brain. This person must be a scammer!
That’s what he thought, but the Pagani’s speed gradually slowed down. Outside the window, sports cars whizzed past one after another, leaving trails of taillights.
Cheng Mingye held the steering wheel, feeling his actions were a bit ridiculous. He had actually slowed down because of something a person he met for the first time said. If he came in last this time, being laughed at by those people was a small matter, but what about his Pagani consort’s reputation?
No! For the sake of my beloved Pagani!
One last push! Take back first place!
Outside Ningcheng Drama Academy, in a small, remote shop, Shen Xici and Lu Jiming each ordered a bowl of noodles.
While the acting department students were doing their morning exercises, Lu Jiming had targeted four or five individuals, tailing them whenever he got the chance. At first, those targets all treated him like a scammer. Lu Jiming would then have Shen Xici take off his mask and show his face, which was very persuasive. But unexpectedly, as soon as they heard the pay was only thirty thousand yuan, the conversation would end, without exception.
Lu Jiming poked at the noodles in his bowl, tentatively asking, “How about we aim for next year’s or the year after’s Spring Festival release for this movie?”
Shen Xici was cold and ruthless, “No.”
Lu Jiming wanted to say, who’s the director here? You should listen to me! But those previous targets had all looked at him with the expression one gives a pyramid schemer or a scammer. Only after Shen Xici showed his face were they willing to talk a little more.
Fine, Shen Xici was a treasure now, he couldn’t be offended. Lu Jiming meekly swallowed his opposition.
At that moment, the phone placed on the side rang. Lu Jiming glanced at it. He was so excited that he choked on some chili, coughing violently until tears streamed down his face. He simply threw the phone to Shen Xici, gesturing for him to answer it quickly.
Shen Xici took it and looked. The contact name was just one character: Dad.
He asked, “Is it your dad calling?”
Lu Jiming opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but he clutched his throat, unable to stop coughing.
Shen Xici answered the call. Just as he said “Hello” and was about to say “Hello, Uncle Lu,” static exploded from the receiver, “Brother, Master, Dad!”
Shen Xici looked at Lu Jiming in confusion, covered the mouthpiece, and whispered, “Your dad calls you brother and dad? Is your family relationship that complicated?”
Lu Jiming’s eyes were red and full of tears. He struggled, forcing out a hoarse syllable from his throat with great difficulty, “Cheng… Cheng Ming—”
“Cheng Mingye?”
At the same time, Cheng Mingye’s voice came from the receiver, filled with confusion and lingering fear, the end of his words trembling slightly, “The brakes really failed! I was so close to dying with my beloved Pagani! Aren’t you guys making a movie? How much more do you need? Take it all! Just consider it my life-saving money!”