Chapter 158: Cannot Afford to Offend
Translator: Yunyi Editor: Yunyi
Ling Feng’s manager was still trying to persuade him into going to the shoot. At this moment in time, Ling Feng had finally finished his workout. Beads of sweat slid down his bronze-colored skin. Looking at his testosterone-fueled body paired with his tough and handsome looks, it was clear to see how he managed to get famous so quickly.
However, his personality…
His manager didn’t know what else to say. Although he was also angered by Tangning, he didn’t feel it was necessary to delay one’s work for the sake of punishing another. However, this was the type of person Ling Feng was.
“Let’s go then, let’s go to the shoot,” Ling Feng acted like he was being extremely generous as he wiped off his sweat.
“Great, I’ll go get the car. You can get changed on the way,” his manager felt a sense of relief as he quickly went to retrieve his car from the parking lot. Ling Feng looked exhausted the entire way. Even when they reached the resort, he did not appear like he would recover his energy anytime soon. This made his manager a bit worried.
“Your fans are all awaiting the highlights from this shoot. Have a quick nap so you can show your most perfect self to the cameras.”
“In the whole of Beijing, how many others are as handsome as I am?” Ling Feng scoffed before crossing his arms and closing his eyes for a rest.
Presumably, he seemed to think his appearance was a gift sent from the heavens to save the film crew.
Not long after, their car turned into the resort. However, they were surprised to find the crew were already packing up. The manager thought it was because Ling Feng couldn’t make an appearance that the director had no choice but to postpone the shoot. So, he looked around for LM’s representative. He ended up making a phone call to the representative, who at this time, had already reported back at the office. The representative told him LM would directly contact Ling Feng’s agency for a chat.
Ling Feng’s manager placed one hand on his hip and tried to explain over the phone, “Ling Feng was indeed unwell, yet he still came all the way here. Didn’t he make it here in the end?”
However, the man was no longer in the mood to talk to him, so he directly hung up the phone.
The manager helplessly grabbed onto a staff who was packing up, “Where is the representative from LM? Our Ling Feng has arrived…”
The staff peeked at Ling Feng sitting inside the car and replied, “The commercial has already finished shooting.”
After hearing the staff’s reply, Ling Feng’s manager was surprised as he scrunched up his forehead, “What do you mean by this? The male lead hasn’t even arrived, how could the shoot be over?”
“The director replaced the male lead and the shoot went smoothly. So we are packing up half a day earlier than scheduled.” After speaking the staff left the resort with the props, leaving the manager standing there all alone; he wasn’t impressed.
Never would he have imagined – LM, the director and Tangning – all had the guts to replace Ling Feng. How dare they!
The manager trembled in anger as he returned to the car. He grabbed onto the steering wheel for quite some time without saying a word. Eventually, Ling Feng sensed a change in his mood as he asked with his eyes still closed, “When will the shoot start?”
“It’s finished!” his manager replied frustratedly.
“What do you mean?” Ling Feng forced open his eyes as he asked in an agitated manner.
“You were replaced and the commercial was completed.”
“Do they f*cking know who I am? How dare they replace me?” Ling Feng was young and arrogant, so swear words came flying out of his mouth. He clenched his right fist and punched it against the back of the driver’s seat, “Who did they replace me with? Don’t they want to survive in this industry anymore?”
“I will immediately go investigate,” his manager did not look happy either. According to Ling Feng’s current status, although he wasn’t an A-lister, he was pretty much on the same level as them. How dare LM replace Ling Feng. No wonder the representative refused to chat to him over the phone…
“Give my father a call right now. If I find out whose idea this was, I will definitely screw them up. It better have not been Tangning the b*tch!” Ling Feng acted like an arrogant, good-for-nothing rich kid; his career up to this point had been too smooth and everyone spoilt him too much. So, when faced with humiliation like this, it would have been surprising if he managed to tolerate it.
His manager once again called LM, but no one picked up. He then tried calling the director.
“Director, Ling Feng and I just arrived on set, but the staff told us the shoot has already been completed. Could you explain yourself?”
“Isn’t Ling Feng sick? In order to allow him to get some rest, I decided to replace him. Is there a problem?” Director Liu asked calmly.
“How could you do this? Ling Feng was LM’s designated male lead, plus, we already signed a contract! Above all, I previously provided you an explanation that Ling Feng was sick.”
“If he was sick then why was he working out at the gym?” Director Liu scoffed.
The manager was dumbfounded.
“His fans have already posted up photos of him at the gym, how could you tell me he wasn’t feeling well?” Director Liu’s voice was fearless and unfazed. “The commercial has finished shooting and my job is complete. As for your contract, you will need to discuss it with LM, it is not my responsibility.”
After speaking, Director Liu was about to hang up, but at that moment, the manager quickly called out to hold him back, “Who was the male model that replaced Ling Feng?”
“An outsider. I suggest you not to look into it, he is not someone you can afford to offend,” with this simple reply, all the manager could hear coming from the other end of the phone was a dial tone as the director hung up.
The manager was so angry he almost threw his phone on the ground.
Seeing his reaction, Ling Feng immediately asked, “Who was it?”
“The director told us not to look into it. It is someone we can’t afford to offend.”
“So, am I, Ling Feng, not one he should worry about offending?” Ling Feng complained resentfully. He then pulled out his phone, typed up a paragraph of text and posted it online:
“I am baffled as to what I have done wrong to be replaced for no reason.”
“Although I have always known of this industry’s unspoken rules, I am still extremely disappointed.”
“I won’t blame anyone, I can only blame myself for not working hard enough.”
“I wish for everyone to be treated fairly…”
As he was currently very popular and his fans were generally quite young, after seeing his post, they were furious. They immediately asked him what happened, who bullied him and why he sounded so unhappy.
Not long after, a fan posted up Ling Feng’s schedule for the day, showing that he was supposed to be at the resort filming a commercial.
Did that mean his role as male lead was stolen?
His fans all started speculating. Some even rang up An Zihao, trying to get some insider information from Tangning – but An Zihao did not respond.
In just 1 hour, the post was shared over 100,000 times; Ling Feng was pleased. Since they didn’t want him to be well off, then they might as well be unhappy together.
After all, in this industry, fans had always been more forgiving of male celebrities than females. He couldn’t wait to see how Tangning, the director and LM would be scolded at like dogs!
Translator’s Thoughts
Yunyi Yunyi
Oh…the power of social media…
