Chapter 35: The Gathering
If there was anywhere you could see celebrities in clusters, HD Film City was definitely one of them.
The enormous film city had shooting locations from every era imaginable. All year round, productions came and went nonstop; some actors practically treated the place like home.
On the way to the hotel, Jiang Yu already saw many identical nanny vans driving around. Once he arrived, he saw plenty of familiar TV faces coming and going.
Occasionally running into a few he’d met before, Jiang Yu would exchange greetings.
After dropping off the luggage, Wang Huan drove Jiang Yu to the address Qi Sheng had sent. The crew was holding its first get-together dinner, and Jiang Yu was on the invitation list.
The entire crew numbered over two hundred people, but Qi Sheng hadn’t invited everyone. Today was reportedly a dinner for the main cast.
When Jiang Yu arrived, there weren’t many people yet. Seeing him, Qi Sheng warmly pulled him over to introduce him around.
Assistant director, producer, screenwriter—Jiang Yu lingered a few extra glances on the screenwriter, Zhang Anquan. Since the script had been revised to shoehorn him in, Jiang Yu wanted to know what the screenwriter really thought of him.
But Zhang Anquan smiled even more enthusiastically than the director, and Jiang Yu couldn’t see any sign of resentment.
Sigh. It’s hard for everyone—just working stiffs.
Wang Yifeng and Qiao Miao—the male and female leads—had already arrived. The second male lead, Kou Dehai, and the fourth male lead, Zhao Chen, were sitting together.
The second female lead, Feng Ai, and the third male lead, Ji Xu, hadn’t arrived yet. Jiang Yu didn’t know who was playing the fourth female role. Even as the fifth male lead, he already felt a bit self-conscious being there. As for the fifth female lead, there wasn’t one in the script—his character was a complete loner.
After making the rounds greeting everyone, Jiang Yu finally sat down. Zhao Chen suddenly smiled and said, “I heard Brother Yu injured his back a while ago. Is it better now?”
“It’s much better, but I still can’t do intense exercise,” Jiang Yu replied politely.
Zhao Chen let out a meaningful “Oh,” then said, “Oh, no wonder the role of Yang Xiaotian was kept for Brother Yu. Other people couldn’t get it even if they wanted to.
“You might not know this, Brother Yu, but our project could’ve started filming long ago. It was delayed for quite a few days just to wait for your back to recover.
“Brother Yu, I heard you were injured because you got caught by your sponsor’s legal partner, and they hurt you—is that true? Doesn’t your patron care about you at all? We’re all insiders here; everyone knows how things work. You don’t have to hide it—why don’t you tell us what really happened?”
Zhao Chen asked very bluntly. Everyone at the table stared at him in shock. Although unspoken rules were no longer much of a secret, no one ever talked about them this directly.
It was everyone’s first meeting, and asking something like that was completely tactless. Kou Dehai glanced at Zhao Chen and subtly scooted his chair away.
Someone this brainless wouldn’t last long in the entertainment industry. Was Jiang Yu’s backer someone you could casually gossip about?
Jiang Yu frowned slightly as well. Where had this kid picked up such ridiculous gossip—and why ask it straight to his face? Was he genuinely unbothered by unspoken rules, mistaking bluntness for honesty, or was he deliberately picking a fight?
“Of course it’s not true. My back injury has nothing to do with any romantic disputes.”
Jiang Yu felt he didn’t know Zhao Chen at all; the kid was probably just curious, low EQ, and asked out of supposed straightforwardness rather than deliberately trying to cause trouble.
“Really? But I heard you’re being backed by someone, and that the role of Yang Xiaotian was reserved specifically for you. Your patron treats you really well. Doesn’t he have a legal partner? If I were the legal partner, I’d be jealous of you too,” Zhao Chen pressed on relentlessly.
Seeing the mocking, half-sarcastic look in his eyes, Jiang Yu suddenly realized—it was obvious this guy was deliberately picking a fight with him.
Jiang Yu let his smile fade. He wasn’t made of clay; he wasn’t going to keep smiling when someone provoked him.
The moment Jiang Yu’s expression turned cold, the atmosphere at the table became awkward.
As the director, Qi Sheng immediately stepped in to smooth things over. “Come on, let’s have a toast to welcome Jiang Yu to the crew.”
Once Qi Sheng spoke, everyone courteously stood up and picked up their glasses.
Jiang Yu shot Zhao Chen a glance and stood up as well. Since he’d just arrived, his glass was still empty, and he was looking around for some wine to pour himself a drink.
Zhao Chen beat him to it, taking the red wine bottle and filling Jiang Yu’s glass to the brim, even spilling some. He pushed it in front of Jiang Yu and said with a snide smile, “I’ve never seen Director Qi value an actor this much—delaying the start of filming for so long just for a fifth male lead.
You should know, every day a crew is delayed costs a lot of money. Brother Yu, this was all to wait for you. You really ought to drink a glass and properly thank Director Qi.”
Jiang Yu looked at the overflowing glass of red wine, then raised his head to look at Zhao Chen. The kid might be young, but he was already very slick with the usual drinking-table pressure tactics.
Jiang Yu didn’t know the inside story. If it really was as Zhao Chen said—that the crew had shut down for a long time just to wait for him—then he did owe them a full drink as an apology.
“Zhao Chen, who toasts someone with that much wine?” Qi Sheng said. “Jiang Yu, don’t listen to his nonsense. It wasn’t just waiting for you that delayed the shoot—there were other issues too.”
Qi Sheng took an empty glass and poured about two-thirds of the wine from Jiang Yu’s glass into it, leaving Jiang Yu with only one-third.
Qi Sheng and Wang Hao were both well-known directors, with comparable box-office results, but Wang Hao had a better reputation because he held firmly to his own principles in filmmaking.
Qi Sheng, on the other hand, was very good at pleasing investors. As long as the financiers’ demands weren’t too excessive, he would agree to them.
For example, when Han Cheng suggested shoehorning Jiang Yu into the cast and having the screenwriter rewrite the script, Qi Sheng readily agreed.
So now that Zhao Chen and Jiang Yu were at odds, Qi Sheng didn’t hesitate to take Jiang Yu’s side.
“Come, let’s welcome Jiang Yu—cheers, everyone,” Qi Sheng said, raising his glass.
“Cheers.”
Everyone clinked glasses together, the atmosphere turning lively. Only Zhao Chen shot Jiang Yu a disdainful glance. He did pick up his glass, but merely tapped it at the rim—he didn’t drink a drop.
Jiang Yu glanced sideways at Zhao Chen and sighed helplessly. He’d just arrived, done nothing at all, and already made an enemy. It was completely inexplicable.
Since not everyone had arrived yet, they continued with some awkward small talk. Zhao Chen tried several more times to pick on Jiang Yu, but each time Qi Sheng shut him down.
After a while, the second female lead Feng Ai and the fourth female lead Sun Feilan arrived together. A little later, the third male lead, Ji Xu, arrived last, making a grand entrance.
Given his background, he really did merit such an entrance. The Ji family was wealthy to begin with, and with his connection to Han Cheng, Ji Xu immediately became the center of attention. Even the male lead Wang Yifeng and the female lead Qiao Miao seemed somewhat overshadowed.
Zhao Chen’s attitude toward Ji Xu was completely different from how he treated Jiang Yu—as if he’d become a different person.
This kid didn’t have low emotional intelligence at all. On the contrary, he was very socially savvy. He showered Ji Xu with praise so smoothly that it didn’t feel forced or fake at all.
“Sorry I’m late,” Ji Xu said. “I ran into rush-hour traffic on the way—there was a bit of a jam.”
Pulled by Zhao Chen, Ji Xu took the seat that had been specially reserved beside Qi Sheng.
Just as Zhao Chen returned to his own seat, he heard Ji Xu’s words. He glanced at Jiang Yu, then smiled brightly at Ji Xu and said, “Brother Xu, don’t say that. A little traffic is nothing. Some people made all of us wait a whole week before filming could start and didn’t even apologize. Compared to that, what’s there for you to apologize for over a traffic jam?”
Jiang Yu calmly took a sip of red wine. This kid clearly held a deep grudge against him—he could twist anything to drag Jiang Yu into it. When he got back, he’d have Wang Huan thoroughly look into this Zhao Chen. What kind of history did he have with this guy to be so fixated on him?
