Yan Huan grabbed Luo Lin’s hand. “Okay, enough. Let’s not wake him up. He’s my younger son, the cranky one.”
“In that case, this must be the older one,” said Luo Lin, who proceeded to harass the older one. Yan Huan’s triplets were somewhat famous at the moment, since she had so many fans. Everyone wanted to know what they looked like. However, the Lu Family had done a good job at protecting the identity of the children, and not many outsiders had the privilege of seeing them.
“Where’s the little princess?” Little Xunxun was Luo Lin’s favorite. The child had a delicate, pretty visage, just like her mother.
“Old Master Lu’s keeping her to himself,” said Yan Huan helplessly. “You might not be able to see her today. Her days have been fully booked by Old Master Lu, and her nights by Lu Yi’s parents.”
Luo Lin laughed drily, disappointed.
She then stared at Yan Huan’s face for a long time, as though there was a flower sprouting from it.
“What’s wrong?” Yan Huan felt her face. “Is there something on my face?”
“No,” said Luo Lin. “I’m just glad that someone has inherited your incredible beauty.”
“Cough…” Yan Huan thought that she was exaggerating.
Oh, right! She didn’t ask Luo Lin here to listen to her praises. Her excessive praises nearly made her forget her initial intention! That’s why it’s better to stay humble.
“Come with me,” said Yan Huan, turning around.
“But…” said Luo Lin hesitantly, pointing at the sleeping twins.
“Don’t worry, the nannies will take care of them,” said Yan Huan, holding the door open for Luo Lin. The children usually slept till 5PM, though the older one sometimes woke even later. The older brother was lazy, and the second brother was energetic. The little girl slept quite a lot too, but that was mostly due to her poor health.
This was the time for the adults to catch a breather.
Luo Lin followed Yan Huan into Lu Yi’s study. They sat down. Luo Lin passed a script to Yan Huan. “This is the movie we are currently working on. Our performance for the first half of the year has been great, and the movie we released raked in over 1.2 billion, which is a good result for this year.”
Yan Huan leafed through the script. As Luo Lin said, Lin Lang was doing well. Even without her foresights, Lin Lang was growing steadily. 1.2 billion wasn’t a bad result at all. The first place in the box-office leaderboard was still held by Yan Huan’s movie. It’s hard to say when that record might be surpassed, but one thing was for certain: Yan Huan’s name will be up there for a long time to come.
“The company wants to use Sun Yuhan and Lu Qin for this drama, I heard?” asked Yan Huan, closing the script. She didn’t really care about such things. Like she said, she wouldn’t interfere with Lin Lang’s internal affairs, but there was one thing she would never compromise: Lu Qin cannot appear in any of Lin Lang’s productions. Working with a person like him will leave an inerasable taint on Lin Lang’s reputation.
“Yes,” admitted Luo Lin. “They are quite popular at the moment, and Lu Qin’s acting skills have improved too. With the two of them, we wouldn’t have to worry about the popularity of the show during the early phases.”
“What’s wrong? Are you against it?” asked Luo Lin, sensing that this was the reason why Yan Huan invited her over.
“Yes,” said Yan Huan, picking up the script.
Luo Lin leaned back in a way that said “I’m all ears.”
Yan Huan shut the script again and pressed her hand against it. She looked up and stared at Luo Lin earnestly.
“I don’t want Lu Qin in this drama. Like I said, I refuse to work with Lu Qin.”
There were two lifetimes worth of resentment between them, and she vowed to never let Lu Qin benefit from her popularity or her assets, including Lin Lang.
“But…” Luo Lin frowned. “We have already reached out to him. Is it really a good idea to go back on our words?”
“Have we signed an agreement with him?”asked Yan Huan perfunctorily. In truth, it didn’t matter since Yan Huan had the final say, and she didn’t mind paying him a breach-of-contract compensation.
“No,” Luo Lin shook her head. “We have only given them a heads up, though both sides are tacitly aware of the cooperation. Lu Qin hasn’t been taking on any roles lately either. He’s just waiting for the cast to be finalized.”
“Take him out,” said Yan Huan, pressing her hands against the script.
“Take him out?” Luo Lin reached out and felt Yan Huan’s forehead. “What’s wrong? Is there bad blood between you?”
“Yes,” Yan Huan smiled coldly. “And it wouldn’t end before one of us is dead. Do you understand now?”
“I understand,” nodded Luo Lin. “But…” She shrugged. “I’ll do as you say. You are the owner of Lin Lang after all. I’m sure you have the money to waste, but I can’t allow you to waste all the time and efforts we put into this.”
She stared at Yan Huan gravely. “If you want me to cross out Lu Qin, you’ll have to find a replacement for him, and it has to be a popular, influential actor with a huge following. Otherwise, I won’t answer to the directors of Lin Lang in your stead.”
Luo Lin had her own principles, and she wouldn’t do anything that would harm the interest of the company.
Making a last minute change to the main cast wasn’t a small decision; a large part of the film had been tailored for Lu Qin. And what about all the money they invested into marketing?
Yan Huan browsed through the script again, her fingers tapping rhythmically, elegantly.
“Does the shooting begin in January?” she asked Luo Lin.
“Yes,” nodded Luo Lin. “There’s a lot of preparation work to be done, like scouting for the film location. Tentatively, the shooting should start at around that time.”
Yan Huan closed the script and shoved it towards Luo Lin.
“Cross him out,” she said firmly as she pointed to her face. “and I’ll take his place. How about that?”
Luo Lin paused, then crossed out “Lu Qin” and scribbled in “Yan Huan” at the speed of lightning.
“Okay,” she made an OK-sign. “You can’t go back on your word, alright?”
