“Aren’t you being too strict? You’re literally like the homeroom teacher hiding in the hallway checking up on his student.” Director Liu laughed.
“Isn’t it natural to be strict with my student? I want him to be able to work on his own as soon as he can and produce a good film. At least my name won’t be tarnished.” Director Hou scolded him.
It made Director Liu raise his eyebrows. He hadn’t expected Hou Yuehai to have such high hopes for Tan Jinqi.
“Seriously, don’t you trust your own disciple?” Director Liu sighed. “He’s doing well and working really hard here. Not only can he complete his job perfectly, but he can do it efficiently as well. What’s more, he’s willing to learn everything, and he doesn’t give up any chances to learn something new. Heck, I am so jealous of you for having such a good student. Stop trying to boast, you old fart.”
Hou Yuehai let out a laugh and walked toward Tan Jinqi.
Being a director for so long, all he needed was to look at the production and he knew Tan Jinqi was doing a good job. In all honesty, there had been no need for him to ask Director Liu.
Tan Jinqi also spotted Hou Yuehai and jogged toward him.
“Master,” the young man exclaimed, “why are you here?”
“No reason, really. I’m just here to check up on you.” Hou Yuehai patted his disciple’s shoulder. “I heard from Director Liu that you’re doing a pretty good job. It looks like you aren’t embarrassing me.”
Ding Mengfei had followed Tan Jinqi and was surprised to hear the conversation. “Director Hou, is he really your student?”
Since Hou Yuehai wasn’t teaching at a university, it would mean that this student must be one who was following along by the side of the director.
Ding Mengfei started experiencing mixed feelings now. Never had she ever thought that Tan Jinqi would have such an influential person backing him up.
“Yup. I just finished my last drama and am resting now. Since there’s nothing for Jinqi here to do while I rest, I introduced him to work with Liu instead,” Hou Yuehai said. Then he frowned. “I think I heard you two arguing about something just now. Is something wrong? Why don’t you tell me what he did wrong, and I’ll punish him for you.”
Of course, there was no way Ding Mengfei would say anything now that she had learned that Tan Jinqi was Hou Yuehai’s disciple. She quickly made up an excuse to dismiss the question.
Since it was already lunchtime, Director Liu put his arm over Hou Yuehai’s shoulder and said, “Come on. Let’s go have lunch. It’s been quite some time since we last met.”
The director then turned to a few other actors and invited them. “Zhang, Chen, Gu, you guys wanna come? It’s my treat!”
The three actors were only playing minor roles in the drama, but, nevertheless, they were still famous actors with wide connections in the field.
Director Liu had his reasons for inviting them along.
Ding Mengfei could only watch as they left. Since Director Liu had only invited those three actors, there was no way she could follow them.
All of them drove toward a restaurant that Director Liu frequented near the studio.
Since they still had more to film after lunch, they decided not to order any alcoholic beverages.
“Director, there’s a question that has been bugging me for quite some time. Where did you find the young scriptwriter? The script is plain amazing,” Zhang Kangwang suddenly asked. “It has been years since I last saw such an interesting plot and story. It’s completely different than the one you showed me before. To be honest, that one might have sold well once the drama aired, but it would never have become a classic. It wasn’t something that people would talk about years into the future and definitely not something people would watch over and over again. But this one is different. I can tell confidently that this will still be talked about years into the future. This version is something you don’t come across every day.”
Now that the script had officially changed, Zhang Kangwang could finally give his real opinion on the previous version.
“To be honest, luck was just on my side.” Director Liu sighed and told them the whole story now that he had the chance.
After that, Director Liu warned everyone about Shen Jingyi. “Remember, if you ever run into her in the future, don’t employ her as your scriptwriter. Heck, I would’ve lost everything if I continued using her for this drama. Remind everyone around you guys as well. We have to make sure that things like this never happen again.”
That was the main reason he’d invited the three actors to lunch, to warn them about what Shen Jingyi had done.
After learning of what had really happened behind the scenes, the three actors decided to take action as well. They planned on sending the message to all of their friends in the industry once lunch was over.
…
Ding Mengfei was munching on her fat-free diet lunch while studying the script in her trailer.
“We can’t let this go on like this,” she said to her manager. “The reason I joined this drama was to boost my popularity, but look at what’s happening now. I barely have any scenes. How am I supposed to include my sponsors now? It’s literally impossible to forcefully add the same thing over and over again into what’s left of my lines, and the viewers will definitely get annoyed. Also, I have more than one sponsor. What am I going to do now?”
At first, she hadn’t been worried that she was playing a minor role as she could still capture the viewer’s attention with her looks. It would have the same effect as playing the female protagonist role, and, if things went well, she could even land her own leading role after doing a couple of minor roles.
But now, all her plans had been ruined.
Even her manager was anxious now, as only when the actress she managed got famous would she succeed.
“Hmm…say, even if Tan Mo did write an amazing script, she’s still a nobody, right?” Ding Mengfei suddenly asked. “I wonder what would happen if the sponsors learned about this? Wouldn’t they think she’s unreliable?”
“Are you going to inform the sponsors?” Lin, Ding Mengfei’s manager, asked with a frown.
“What? Of course not. Who am I to directly contact them? Even if I could, there’s no way I could speak to the one who’s really in charge.” Ding Mengfei sighed as she put her chopsticks down. “If I could do that, do you really think I would still be here trying to make a living?”
Lin nodded. She’d almost thought that Ding Mengfei had gone out with some rich man behind her back. It wasn’t as if the manager was against that, but, at the very least, she needed to know what her actress was doing. If anything were to happen because of the actress’s actions, she needed to be able to react appropriately.
“But, what if people learn about it online?” Ding Mengfei suddenly whispered, afraid that if someone overheard the conversation, she would be out of the business for good. “All we have to do is let those scandal websites know about the situation, and once word gets out, the sponsors would definitely question Director Liu for making Tan Mo the new scriptwriter. I know even if I do this, I won’t be able to get more screen time, but I’m not going to let that Tan Mo off the hook just like this. How can such a young girl be so cruel? She’s literally trying to ruin my future!”
