Chapter 2.3

Although the male side character ran away with the female lead, many fans and reporters had yet to leave the area around the entrance of Tian Xing Pictures. Seeing that the time for signing the contract was quickly approaching, Fan Yuan manifested the extreme professionalism and accomplishments of the gold-medal manager he was. He quickly pulled a brand new newsboy cap, sunglasses, and mask from the storage compartment of the car and neatly placed them in front of Fang Xu. His intent was obvious: Put them on. Now.

Fang Xu frowned at the items in front of him and did not move a muscle. He was silent for half a minute. Finally, he couldn’t help opening his mouth to say, “You’ve always had these prepared in your car?”

Fan Yuan adjusted his glasses and scrupulously replied, “In order to adjust to any unexpected situations that may suddenly arise, I must be thoroughly prepared at all times. That’s what any qualified manager should do.”

The male lead slouched against the seat and cast a sidelong glance at him. He coolly said, “What I mean is how long have these things have been sitting in your car? If it’s over 24 hours, I won’t wear them if they haven’t been disinfected first.”

Fan Yuan: “…………” This guy. So many f*cking ailments!

“Although the male lead hasn’t deviated from the plot, he gives people the indescribable urge to beat him up, what to do……”

“Ding. Beating up the male lead will not only go against your character’s image, it’ll also collapse the plot. Master, please be sure to keep a cool head.”

“Hearing you put it like that, sure enough, I’ve calmed down Orz”

Fan Yuan put his things back with a wooden expression. After a moment of standstill, he suggested, “Actually, there’s still another way.”

Fang Xu squinted at him, his heart suddenly filled with an ominous premonition.

………………………………

Ignoring the strange glances of the entertainment reporters and passersby, they entered Tian Xing Pictures, Inc.’s building. Fang Xu pulled Fan Yuan’s suit jacket off his head, his teeth bared in a smile. His voice was wintery: “Tang Yuan—I’m talking about you—if it were anyone else but you……”

He broke off after that, gave a cold grunt, and thrust the black jacket into Fan Yuan’s arms. He turned and strode toward the elevator.

Fan Yuan put on his jacket as he silently followed him to the elevator. His expression held a trace of helplessness, but in his heart he was smiling so hard he was about to pull a muscle. The male lead-daren, he who was always all kinds of awesome, wild, and dominating to the max, had used a suit jacket to cover his head and face, fleeing the fans like a little old lady. He felt like he could laugh for a full year!

“Ding. Master, please regain your wits. A critical plot point is up next.”

Fan Yuan’s expression was solemn. “Okay, I got it. But his appearance just now was really too hilarious ahahahaha!”

“…………”

Upon entering the conference room, Fan Yuan looked at the time. They still had two minutes. He finally let out a long breath.

The director, Lin Zhuo; the producer, Wang Dong; and a few other people in charge of various parts were already inside the conference room, drinking cups of hot tea and waiting for Fang the Emperor of the Silver Screen to appear.

Fang Xu was in a bad mood and didn’t feel like socializing with them after he entered the room. He said simply, “There were so many fans blocking downstairs, I almost couldn’t get up.”

Fan Yuan had just entered the room when he heard this. His mouth twitched. In one sentence, he neatly managed to cleanly push the responsibility onto someone else. The way he said it, it sounded as if he had arrived a while ago, but had been blocked by fans down below. Who the hell was it that just had to take a detour to Zhou Ji Cha’s to buy breakfast? Can’t you be a little more honest?! You don’t see Tian Xing’s PR department head squirming in her seat?

Of course Fang Xu had seen her, but he felt absolutely no guilt. He unhurriedly swaggered to his seat and opened the contact list and started to skim through it at lightning speed.

The mood of the room momentarily got a little awkward. Fang Xu wasn’t your run of the mill artist. He had already ascended to godhood in the world of showbiz. But it wasn’t his talent or status that inspired fear in them. Instead, they feared the power and influence backing him. Outsiders were unaware, but they knew that Fang Xu was actually a member of the Fang family. And no one could afford to offend the Fang family of China’s imperial capital. He was the sole young master of the third generation of the Fang dynasty. No one would dare to displease him.

The CEO of Tian Xing Pictures wiped away his cold sweat, very apologetically saying, “This time we lacked foresight. We did not promptly clear out unrelated persons and wasted Mr. Fang’s time. Our company will send representatives over to personally apologize after this. We hope this won’t influence our cooperation at this time.”

The corner of Fang Xu’s mouth quirked up. He carelessly tossed the more-than-ten page contract on the table. “CEO Zhao is exaggerating. It’s only a trifling matter. I’m just bringing it to your attention so we can move on.”

That CEO Zhao’s expression relaxed upon hearing Fang Xu wasn’t going to pursue the matter. He was about to utter some suitably flowery phrases when he instead heard Fang Xu unhurriedly say, “ It just so happens that I also have a small favor to ask CEO Zhao.”

CEO Zhao cautiously asked him: “What matter might this be?”

“I saw an actress downstairs. Her name should be Tan Ling, I believe. Her personality is similar to that of ‘Woman #2’ in the script. How about getting her to act the part?”

Fan Yuan silently swallowed some saliva. Although the male lead caught the important points of the plot, the manner was somehow different from the script??? He should have sincerely recommended her to Director Lin Zhuo, increasing the director’s favorability of the female lead in one fell swoop.

Xiao Wu incisively pointed out the truth of the matter: “Ding. It’s probably because Master forced the male lead to do something he didn’t want to do, which put him in a bad mood and caused a shift in the way the plot is advancing.”

Fan Yuan instantly bristled. “Blaming me again, huh?? Wasn’t I afraid to make the male lead late? The script definitely didn’t say we arrived late!”

“Ding. Xiao Wu thinks that as long as the path of the main plot does not change, these small details shouldn’t cause any trouble.”

Fan Yuan silently choked: “Although you said it like that, from now on if there are any points that don’t match with the script, I’ll feel uneasy. I’ll worry about any accidents occurring and my nerves will be shot QAQ”

Xiao Wu: “……”

On the other side of the table, CEO Zhao listened to Fang Xu. He only hesitated for a split second and immediately opened his mouth to agree. “Seeing as how the God of Cinema himself recommended her, there definitely won’t be a problem.”

Lin Zhao also smiled. Smoothing things over, he said, “This is the first time I’ve seen Fang Xu recommend an actor. Looks like ‘Woman #2’ is worth looking forward to this time.”

Fang Xu’s expression softened a little and he slightly nodded his head. “Director Lin, I hope we film another good film this time.”

“Of course, of course! With you joining us, there will certainly be no problems.”

In a moment, the atmosphere started to thaw. The group of people discussed a couple of matters concerning the contract. Then, under everyone’s expectant gazes, Fang Xu the God of Movies signed the contract.

Everything was thus conclusively settled.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

A month passed in this way. After clinging to the male side character-jun’s thick and strong golden thigh, the female lead was instantly transformed from “the scheming b*tch everyone was rooting for to get a beating” to “a diligent and hardworking newcomer who filmed a pretty good advertisement” and who had gained no small amount of fans.

Although the “Woman #2” role in “Hidden Edge” the male lead had offered to the female lead was a villain, it would definitely attract its share of fans. This was undoubtedly an olive branch tossed out to her.

“Hidden Edge” was a wartime spy film that tells the story of the struggle between the two main factions during the time of the Republic of China. The male lead played the role of a spy who was tasked with infiltrating the enemy camp. In the picture, there was a female Communist party member who he was deeply in love with, “Woman #1,” but because he had no choice but to hide the truth of his mission from her, she mistakenly thought he was a traitor.

The “Woman #2” role that Tan Ling was to play was the daughter of an important Kuomintang leader. The male lead was supposed to get close to her, win her trust, and then acquire information from her.

At the start, “Woman #2” was a little sweet and naive, but after she discovered that her lover was actually an enemy who had a different reason for getting close to her, she started to blacken. She plotted attacks against the Communists and wanted to get revenge on the male lead. In the end, she held a gun to the male lead’s head with the intention of killing him.

The male lead eyed the muzzle of the gun pointed at his temple, no fear in his expression. Instead, he shut his eyes and helplessly said, “Why are you crying? You’re ugly when you cry.”

“Woman #2” angrily slapped him across the face, but was then unable to shoot him. In the end, she let him leave.

By the end, of course the male lead ended up with the first woman after straightening out their misunderstanding. The two struggled together to build a new China.

On the day they were to begin filming, Fan Yuan followed the male lead to the set, heavy suitcase in tow. Although it was impossible to live on location for someone of Fang Xu’s status, he would still occasionally use the lounge when he was not filming, so Fan Yuan had to replace everything with his own items. Even a drink coaster couldn’t be left behind. That’s right! He’s that headstrong! He’s that unreasonable!

Yet, nowadays Fan Yuan had already become cool and collected. He had followed the poisonous male lead-daren for close to two months now. He held that even if fiercer trials and hardships were to hammer down on him, he wouldn’t! Even! Care!

On the first day of shooting, the female lead was accompanied to the set by Min Zihang. Standing together, the two looked like an ideal couple and indeed gave people the impression that they were very compatible.

Fan Yuan silently sized up his family’s male lead. He was currently sitting on his special chair catching up on sleep, his face slightly leaning to the side. Even just his profile was stunningly handsome. He looked utterly defenseless as he slept which made people feel an even greater rush of excitement. But Fan Yuan was very clear as to this guy’s true character. He was actually a completely ink-black-bellied, gravely ill OCD patient! Female lead, how short sighted are you to switch and pick this deep well of ice over a family-oriented, considerate, and protective man like the male side character?

Tan Ling was not the female lead for nothing. Although she had always only played minor roles in the past and hadn’t played any decent roles, she had a knack for acting. At the start there were a few NG takes, but towards the end there were seldom any. Director Lin nodded continuously and seemed very satisfied with her.

While the male lead was catching up on his sleep, Director Lin directly moved his scenes to the beginning of filming.

Tan Ling had not yet completely recovered from the thrill of seeing her god act with her own eyes when the director called on her for shooting their scenes as adversaries. In the next moment, she trembled as her face turned blue with fear. “D-d-director, m-me?! Act?!”

Hearing her idiotic words, Director Lin immediately replied, “If not you, then who else? Me?! Go get ready!”

Tan Ling swallowed. She peeked at Fang Xu, so scared that her legs were trembling. “Director, I don’t dare……That is the Great God Fang after all……”

Director Lin Zhuo had an explosive temper. Hearing her nonsense, his temper was set off. “Why the hell did you come here if you dare not act? To waste all of our time? If not for Fang Xu’s recommendation……”

“Director Lin,” Fang Xu unhurriedly walked up and interrupted their conversation. “How about you let me speak to Tan Ling?”

Lin Zhuo immediately smiled. “Okay, I’ll leave it to you then. We’ll arrange the set in the meantime.”

Everyone gradually dispersed. Tan Ling still had her head lowered and did not dare look at Fang Xu.

Fan Yuan spotted the male lead helping the female lead out of trouble from a distance away. The weight that had been sitting on his heart like a stone was quietly lifted. His heart said, no problem, no problem! Next we have the ‘hair-tousle’ finishing blow, and then the male lead will gently console her for two sentences, establishing self-confidence in the female lead. Today’s plot is satisfactory!”

“Xiao Wu, I’m really not used to the plot developing so smoothly, you know!”

Xiao Wu: “……”

Fang Xu stared at the female lead for a moment, staring directly until her ears turned red. He then frowned. His expression discontented, he opened his mouth and said, “Miss Tan, I had asked Director Lin for this role of yours. I thought your ability was good enough and you were competent. Did you want to prove to everyone that I, Fang Xu, made an error in judgement?”

Fan Yuan: “…………” What in the f*cking hell are you saying, man???

#My pants are already off and you’re making me watch this instead?!#

#This male lead, are you an idiot dispatched by that monkey??#

# Male lead, where did your gentleness stat go? Did it get eaten by a dog?!#