Chapter 5: Something’s Wrong with Meng Yi
The “Leisure Life” program team came to confirm the recording time with Jiang Yu, and finally determined that the recording would take place in three days.
The recording location of “Leisure Life” is in a small town in S City, which is not far from Jiang Yu, and Jiang Yu can go there on the same day.
After sending off the people from the program team, Sister Bai didn’t leave. She pretended to tidy up the newly signed contract, moving the few pieces of paper up and down, and folding them back and forth several times.
Sister Bai rarely looks so hesitant. Usually, when she’s this hesitant, it’s not a good thing. Jiang Yu had only seen Sister Bai like this once, and Jiang Yu would never forget what happened that time.
Jiang Yu waited for a while, sighed, and spoke first: “If you have something to say, just say it. The last time you were like this, I suffered a lot.”
Sister Bai looked up, looking at Jiang Yu with a complicated expression. In those ghostly eyes with more white than pupil, Jiang Yu actually saw pity.
Sister Bai felt sorry for him? Jiang Yu smiled self-deprecatingly, rubbed his eyes, and his eyesight had been a little bad lately because of his waist injury.
Sister Bai opened her mouth several times, but couldn’t say a word. She returned to that dead look of wanting to say something but stopping, the silence was irritating.
Jiang Yu was too lazy to guess what Sister Bai wanted to say. After a while of silence, Sister Bai suddenly stood up and neatly packed up the contract: “Forget it, it’s all self-inflicted. I’m leaving. Take good care of yourself. The recording will take two days. Don’t rush to do everything when you get there, or I’ll be the one getting scolded if you strain your waist again.”
“Okay.” Jiang Yu lazily agreed, watching Sister Bai leave in a hurry, frowning slightly. He was still a little concerned about what Sister Bai wanted to say.
Han Cheng was satisfied with Jiang Yu, and started being filmed dating Ji Xu again. The two of them went shopping and drank coffee together. Although they were two big men, the media portrayed it as if they were actually a little sweet.
In three days, Han Cheng was busy showing affection, and with no one causing trouble, Jiang Yu’s back felt much better.
However, when packing his luggage, bending over for a little too long caused a dull ache to return.
Jiang Yu rubbed his back, feeling troubled. The doctor only told him to rest well, but after four years of resting, it only seemed to get worse. Jiang Yu strongly suspected that his back was damaged during the surgery four years ago by that doctor.
That old man was said to be an expert, and everyone trusted him, but Jiang Yu, the patient, had doubts, and no one would listen to Jiang Yu.
He always felt like he was at a disadvantage.
After a night’s sleep, his back felt a little better, but it still ached faintly.
The smell of the medicated plaster was a bit strong, so Jiang Yu wrapped another layer of gauze around his waist to cover the smell and also slimmed down his waistline, killing two birds with one stone.
Meng Yi and Sister Bai arrived early in the morning, bringing Meng Yi’s team. Stylists and makeup artists gave Jiang Yu a good makeover.
Jiang Yu hadn’t worked for a long time, and besides Wang Huan, the rest of his staff had been assigned to other artists.
Jiang Yu’s looks weren’t bad, and after the makeup, he had a bit of a young heartthrob vibe. On the other hand, Meng Yi seemed to have aged ten years in three days, looking even more tired than Jiang Yu.
“What have you been busy with lately? Are all top-tier idols this busy? Although you’re young, you still need to take care of your health,” Jiang Yu said, looking at Meng Yi’s complexion with concern. He knew too well how uncomfortable it was to be in poor health.
“Thank you for your concern, Brother Yu,” Meng Yi said, forcing his standard sunny, warm-guy smile, but it was too strained and fake.
Jiang Yu glanced at him, knowing that this kid was definitely up to something. But Jiang Yu didn’t want to get involved in other people’s affairs; the entertainment industry wasn’t that easy to navigate.
After the makeup artists finished with the two of them, Meng Yi’s complexion finally looked a little better. Looking at himself in the mirror, Meng Yi suddenly smiled, touching his face and saying, “Brother Yu, I got the second male lead in Director Wang’s new film. President Han mentioned it to Director Wang. Thank you, Brother Yu.
Brother Yu, what do you think of my acting skills? Can I play the second male lead well?”
“I’ve only seen your singing and dancing performances, and I think your stage presence is very good, so your acting shouldn’t be bad either,” Jiang Yu said, rubbing his back and speaking politely.
“Sister Bai said that you definitely wouldn’t be able to tell that we were acting, as long as I showed that I wanted to act and had the self-awareness not to compete for good roles, wanting to hone my acting skills starting with small roles, you would think of your younger self, empathize with me, and help me say a word to President Han.
I was actually prepared to play small roles, but President Han gave me the second male lead. Brother Yu, I’m really happy to play the second male lead. I don’t want to start with small roles. Fame should come early. If I can become popular with one role, why should I play small roles?
Brother Yu, what were you thinking when you were young? Why did you have the idea of playing small roles? Does President Han like down-to-earth people and dislike ambitious people?”
Meng Yi had a self-deprecating expression, but he was also ambitious, his eyes gleaming with a green light, staring straight at Jiang Yu, asking some inexplicable questions.
Jiang Yu could tell at a glance that this kid’s mental state wasn’t quite right. He moved slightly to prevent Meng Yi from suddenly attacking him, rolled his eyes, and comforted him according to Meng Yi’s intentions: “You’re right, fame should come early. Look at me now, my acting skills haven’t been honed, and I don’t even have any roles to play. If there’s a leading role, we should play the leading role. Who wants to play a small role?”
“Brother Yu, you’re joking. You’re different from me. It’s not that you don’t have roles to play, it’s that you don’t want to play them. This second male lead was originally reserved for you by President Han, which is why it was delayed for so long.”
Meng Yi propped his chin up and sized up Jiang Yu, staring at him so blatantly that Jiang Yu’s hair stood on end. What was wrong with this kid today?
Jiang Yu couldn’t stand it and wanted to run away, but Meng Yi suddenly smiled brightly: “President Han really likes people who don’t compete or fight for things?”
What does Han Cheng have to do with this? What did Han Cheng do to drive this kid crazy?
“Are you done with the makeup? If you’re done, let’s get in the car,” Sister Bai came in time, saving Jiang Yu.
Meng Yi smiled slightly at Jiang Yu, becoming that sunny young man again, and said to Jiang Yu, “Brother Yu, let’s go.”
“You go first. I suddenly remembered that I didn’t bring the medicated plaster. I’ll go inside to get it. You guys wait for me in the car,” Jiang Yu said, not wanting to be too close to Meng Yi right now.
“Okay,” Meng Yi said with a smile and left. Jiang Yu immediately grabbed Sister Bai and asked in a low voice, “What’s wrong with Meng Yi?”
“It’s nothing. It’s all his own choice. You’re much luckier than him,” Sister Bai patted Jiang Yu’s shoulder, saying something that made Jiang Yu even more confused.
The road to the filming location of “Leisure Life” wasn’t too far or too close. Four hours later, Jiang Yu was already lying in the back seat of the car. Sitting for so long was too much for his back, and it was aching like needles.
Jiang Yu grimaced and rubbed his back, thinking that he shouldn’t have come to participate in “Leisure Life.” He didn’t care who Han Cheng was with. This compensation was just suffering for him.
When they arrived, the cameras were already waiting. Sister Bai looked at Jiang Yu and asked worriedly, “Are you okay? Can you get out?”
“Will the company pay my penalty for breach of contract?”
“No. Eight million. You have to pay it yourself. Do you want to give up filming?”
“Eight million! Isn’t it one million? I read the contract,” Jiang Yu said, looking at Sister Bai in shock.
“President Han changed it, just in case you breached the contract halfway through and didn’t participate.”
“Changed the contract without my consent? Is that legal?”
“Are you going to talk about the law with President Han?” Sister Bai looked at Jiang Yu helplessly.
Jiang Yu clicked his tongue. Old rogue, not even abiding by the law. He’ll be going in sooner or later.
There was no way he could pay the eight million penalty. Jiang Yu put two more plasters on his back. Meng Yi got out of the car first and took the initiative to help Jiang Yu.
The young man smiled brightly and radiantly. The cameras were filming, and Jiang Yu couldn’t avoid it, so he got out of the car with Meng Yi’s support.
He would be staying for two days. Jiang Yu didn’t have much luggage, and it all fit in one suitcase.
Meng Yi wanted to help Jiang Yu push the suitcase, but Jiang Yu didn’t let him. Holding the suitcase would make it easier for him to walk, and he didn’t want people to think he was putting on airs. Meng Yi’s fans were quite the fighting force.
Both of them put on fake smiles, but a staff member ran over and asked them to get back in the car. They were going to film a scene of them calling Leisure House to order food from the car.
Jiang Yu rubbed his waist, his smile stiffening for a moment. He had finally gotten out of the car, and now he had to climb back in. They really didn’t treat his back pain as a serious issue.
“Okay, what do we need to say?” Jiang Yu complained inwardly, but his face was all smiles.
“Just say whatever you want to eat.”
“Can you make anything I want?” Meng Yi blinked his big, beautiful eyes and asked innocently.
The staff member was a young lady, and seemed to be a fan of Meng Yi. Being looked at by Meng Yi, the young lady’s face turned red, and she said with a smile, “It doesn’t matter, you can even say you want dragon meat. The special feature of our show is to say whatever comes to mind, but what we can make depends on the ingredients in Leisure House.”
“Oh, then I need to think of a good dish.” Meng Yi bit his lip, pondering.
His cute appearance made the young lady’s neck turn red.
Jiang Yu was personally witnessing Meng Yi’s professional mode for the first time, and he was deeply impressed.
He struggled to get back into the car, and the camera followed to film. Jiang Yu couldn’t lie down, so he leaned against the car window, maintaining his smile.
Meng Yi used the phone the young lady gave her to call Leisure House. The other side answered, and Meng Yi chatted enthusiastically with them, pinching his voice to prevent them from guessing who he was. The other side also pretended not to know and guessed randomly.
In the end, Meng Yi ordered dumplings with chives and egg filling, and handed the phone to Jiang Yu. Jiang Yu thought for a moment and ordered wontons with shrimp filling.
After filming, the car returned to its original spot, and the two of them needed to walk to Leisure House themselves.
Jiang Yu spoke meaningless words to the camera and Meng Yi, but cursed in his heart.
Damn it, they invited people to be guests, but they didn’t even come to greet them. If he were really visiting such a house, he would definitely turn around and leave.
