Translator: Yunyi Editor: Yunyi
That night, Mo Ting woke up inside the resting lounge of Hai Rui and found Tangning sitting at the foot of the bed looking at him with a smile, “You’re finally awake.”
“I didn’t…”
“I told Lu Che to carry you onto the bed. Even with all that movement, you didn’t wake up,” Tangning gave a bitter smile and shook the script in her hand. “For the sake of this, you didn’t sleep all night.”
“It’s not as bad as you think. Have you read through it yet? How was it?” Mo Ting quickly changed the subject. “You said you wanted to incorporate Senior Long’s skills and change the plot to focus on a student and teacher…”
“This script isn’t as important as you. Don’t stress yourself like this again because of me,” Tangning said as she stared into Mo Ting’s eyes. “If you get too tired and burn out because of this, what am I supposed to do?”
“I won’t,” Mo Ting guaranteed as he pulled Tangning into his arms. “I won’t do this ever again!”
Tangning did not continue to nag. Instead, she went home with Mo Ting to prepare dinner and take care of their daughter. Afterwards, the couple sat down on the sofa and began to discuss the plot of ‘The Ant Queen 2’.
“I think the script is almost complete. You just need to add a little something.”
“What do you want me to add?”
“A super antagonist! What do you think about playing an antagonist? I’m sure you’ll be a super sexy antagonist!” Tangning replied.
After hearing Tangning’s suggestion, Mo Ting wanted to please her, but he also felt a little helpless. Didn’t they agree that he wouldn’t act in the sequel? From the looks of it, Tangning had lured him into it again. However, the real issue still lay with their director; they hadn’t officially hired him yet. What was Bai Junye doing?
After the couple discussed a few details, Tangning called Xia Yuling to check on Zichen’s condition. Of course, the two mothers took care of him well.
The next day, Tangning visited Bai Junye. But, when she arrived at the hospital, she realized he was packing his belongings to leave.
“Have you come to a decision?”
“Life is a but a drop of water in the ocean,” Bai Junye replied. “Thank you for helping me pay off my debt. I will find a way to pay you back.”
“You’re still not planning to sign a contract with me? The script’s already finalized and everything’s ready to go!”
“Now that you mention it, thanks to your invite, my debt collector saw some potential and struck a deal with me. He said that if I can help him film a sci-fi film, he’ll clear all my debts. What do you think?”
Tangning was suddenly speechless as she looked at Bai Junye.
“Since all of you have faith in me, I might as well give it a try. Who knows, I might even get famous and surpass you.”
After speaking, Bai Junye picked up his luggage. Just before he left, he leaned into Tangning’s ear and whispered, “I hope you find a director that you’re satisfied with.”
In the end, Tangning simply watched as Bai Junye left. There was nothing she could do because Bai Junye was an arrogant and unyielding character that couldn’t be controlled. Even after her multiple invites, he was still not interested.
Now that they had gotten to this point, what was she to do?
Soon after, Springfall Film and Television held a press release to announce that they were filming the first film in a sci-fi saga called ‘Parasite’. They revealed that their director was Bai Junye and the protagonist was the international superstar Fan Didan. This press release immediately attracted a lot of attention.
Tangning’s success with ‘The Ant Queen’ awoke the domestic market to the lack of sci-fi films produced in China. So, Springfall decided to feed off this hype by carefully selecting the best screenwriters and actors for their production.
It seemed, the sci-fi market was about to enter a new era.
However, news started spreading that Tangning actually invited Bai Junye to direct ‘The Ant Queen 2’ first, but he chose ‘Parasite’ instead. The public did not understand the reason behind his decision.
Wasn’t ‘The Ant Queen’ a better choice?
…
“That Bai Junye doesn’t know what’s good for him. You treated him so nice and President Mo even spoke to him. He must be blind!” Long Jie was furious after seeing the news. “Is there something wrong with his brain?”
“He owes them money, so it makes sense to repay them in this way,” Tangning replied. “Besides, it’s his choice, there’s nothing wrong with what he did.”
“How could you stick up for him…”
“I’m not sticking up for him. Bai Junye’s not a bad person.”
“But, where are you going to find a suitable director? Why don’t you direct it yourself?”
Tangning shook her head at Long Jie’s suggestion, “I may have trained with Jones for a few months, but I am still new to all this. Plus, I have never directed anything before.”
“Before you became an actress, didn’t you have no experience in acting as well? If you don’t choose this option, what are you planning to do? No one else is suitable.”
Although a lot of competition had now appeared in the industry, it was an overall good thing for the progress of the sci-fi market. As long as it was friendly competition, it didn’t matter.
In fact, the challenge encouraged Tangning to work even harder.
“Let me think about it.”
Tangning knew that the quality of the director determined the success of a film. This thought, once again, made her wish that Qiao Sen was still alive.
How happy would he be if he saw the current competition in the industry?
Everyone was now paying attention to sci-fi; the thing that he was so passionate about.
…
As soon as Mo Ting heard how Bai Junye had been snatched away, he immediately comforted his wife, “You still have many options.”
“The top directors in China all have their own unique strengths. I’m not looking down on them, I simply feel that everyone has their own speciality and if they don’t stick to what they’re good at, it would be a waste of their talent.”
“Look at Qiao Sen for example.”
“Keep looking patiently, I’m sure you’ll eventually find someone.”
In reality, Mo Ting’s office desk was already covered in a pile of director’s portfolios. Unfortunately, due to a lack of sci-fi films in the domestic market, not many directors had experience in the genre. The only reason why Tangning developed interest in Bai Junye was because his filming style was wild; a trait that Tangning liked, but couldn’t find on anyone else.
Unfortunately, he had already signed with someone else. Even though she was the wife of the Big Boss of entertainment, she couldn’t break the rules.
But, now that Bai Junye had joined the enemy camp, it definitely applied a lot more pressure on Tangning.
‘The Ant Queen’ had Qiao Sen, but now that Qiao Sen was gone, Tangning was like a helpless bird that had lost its wings.
Even though the audience acknowledged An Zihao’s directing style for the parts that he did in the first film, ‘The Ant Queen 2’ would be too much of a challenge for him.
As a result, everyone wondered whether ‘The Ant Queen 2’ would be as spectacular as its predecessor…
How was Tangning going to improve upon herself?
