CH 3

Jiang Li did not care what Jiang Zhan was thinking at that time, he thought of System who had vanished since Jiang Zhan appeared last night. He felt strange and called System twice in his mind.

System did not answer at first, it only answered after calling its name for the second time.

“I’m here.” System answered with apologies, “Sorry Host, the system of the beta test had some problems last night, it was only solved just now, sorry for the wait.”

“Beta Test?” Jiang Li had a bad feeling after he heard was said, “Don’t tell me this game is……”

“Yes, it’s in its first operation, you’re a player of the first batch.”

“……”

I am playing a beta version? Jiang Li was speechless, he felt like he was a guinea pig, he tried to seek joy amidst the hardship, “Then am I given a beginner package?”

“Yes.” System answered and showed Jiang Li the board of the game’s mission.

Jiang Li did not expect this since he was just asking unintentionally.

There was a reward option on the top right side of the virtual board. It was lighted up in yellow, informing that he had the beginner reward.

Jiang Zhan was still standing beside so Jiang Li did not use his finger to press it. He then asked System, “What’s that?”

“Host, please look.” System pressed on the reward and asked Jiang Li to check it.

Jiang Li’s eyes turned dull when he saw the beginner’s reward.

[Beginner’s Reward]

Item’s Name: Pill of Fair Skin as Jade

Item’s Function: After using it, Host’s skin will turn bright and smooth, as white and smooth as the egg that was just cracked open, as clear as rare jade, as white as snow, you deserve to have it.

“……Is the person who created this game a female?” Jiang Li went into silence for two seconds and asked, this advertisement was much more exaggerated than skin product advertisements he had seen.

“…… No.”

“Then is he a pervert?”

“……”

System fell into silence, it was not sure if it was silently agreeing or it was unanswerable. Jiang Li thought it should be the former, or else who would create such a boring game.

Jiang Li had completely forgotten how interested he was in the game last night.

But he was not going to look into the answer for this, he asked System if it had any information about Jiang Zhan, he needed to understand the basic information to capture him well.

“Yes.”

System changed the screen into the page where Jiang Zhan’s information was stored, Jiang Li then noticed the information given was different from the original host’s information. Jiang Zhan’s information only had a simple line.

[Jiang Zhan, 32 years old, Unmarried, President of the Jiang Group]

The Jiang Group is the best media company in the country, it’s subsidiary operations include films, dramas, variety shows, singers’ albums and many more.

Jiang Li knew the Jiang Group through Zhang Ziyang.

Zhang Ziyang had always wanted to sign a contract with the Jiang Group, this was because it did not only have good resources and provide high pay, they also had the best agents, it was just that he was not able to reach the standards to sign the contract.

‘Long River and Falling Moon’ was one of the dramas invested and filmed by the Jiang Group. They spent generously from the investment to the drama crew. The male lead of the drama was Le Yu, who was a trending best actor and he female lead was Feng Yating, a skillful actress. Both of them were artists from the Jiang Group and this drama was voted to be one of the most anticipated dramas in this year.

Jiang Zhan turned out to be the President of Jiang Group, that’s why he said that he invited the whole crew.

Jiang Li jotted down the information given so it could be used later. Other than the information, he was more attracted to the column that showed the favorability. He remembered that the favorability last night was 0, but now it showed -10.

This meant that Jiang Zhan messed him up for three times, but the favorability dropped from 0 to -10!

Jiang Li felt that he had a chip on his shoulder towards this result. Fuck, he did not even frown upon Jiang Zhan’s skill on the bed as if he was driving a bumper car, and Jiang Zhan even dared to reduce his favorability towards him? How shameless could he be!

He looked with utter dissatisfaction towards Jiang Zhan who was walking towards the balcony as he was on the phone.

Jiang Zhan stood on the balcony and called his secretary to fetch him. He then saw Jiang Li who was sitting on the bed like last night and looking at him, but the difference was the dissatisfaction from his eyes that could be seen unlike yesterday.

Dissatisfied?

Are you dissatisfied with the fact that I’m not the so-called vice director? Or is it because of my skills?

The former was fairly irrelevant, since his position was much more higher than the vice director. But for the latter…

“What are you looking at me for?”

“Does the agreement that we made yesterday still count?”

Both of them spoke at the same time and stopped at the same time, they then looked at each other.

Jiang Zhan knew he agreed to give him the role of ‘Liu Chuandeng’ and looked down on his professionalism of remembering the trade. But he was also not a person who would break his own promise.

“It definitely still counts, someone will talk to you about this later.” Jiang Zhan then went to the cloakroom beside to take his clothes for a bath after finished speaking. This hotel was invested by him and this room was also fixed for him, so there were items and clothes prepared.

Jiang Li looked at his leaving figure and averted his gaze towards the mission’s column. After Jiang Zhan finished speaking, Jiang Li noticed that Jiang Zhan’s favorability towards him dropped by two points again, it dropped from -10 to -12.

Jiang Li felt baffling towards this and asked, “System, what’s the problem with this?”

“I’m sorry Host, I’m not too sure about that.”

“……”

Jiang Li thought that Jiang Zhan was really a capricious man.

[T/N: capricious: sudden change of mood and behaviour]

……

Jiang Zhan’s secretary came in a while.

Ji Shu was young, he looked approximately less then 30 years old. He was wearing a white shirt and trousers, he was also wearing a black-frame spectacle, which made him look gentle.

Ji Shu felt a little shocked when he saw the one who opened the door was Jiang Li, but he quickly hide his emotions He scanned over Jiang Li’s neck that had red scars and greeted Jiang Li gently, “Hi, I’m President Jiang’s secretary, Ji Shu. Is he here?”

Jiang Li quickly captured the expression in his eyes easily being in the entertainment industry for so many years during his previous life. He answered yes and stood beside to allow his entrance, “He’s inside.”

Ji Shu entered the bedroom to look for Jiang Zhan. Jiang Li knew in his heart that this was probably the person who would discuss the role with him as mentioned by Jiang Zhan, he then returned to the living room to wait for him.

Ji Shu came out in no time and talk to to Jiang Li about ‘Long River and Falling Moon’.

Ji Shu felt curious towards Jiang Li.

As Jiang Zhan’s secretary, he had seen many females and males who wanted to climb up the entertainment ladder by crawling onto Jiang Zhan’s bed. This included the top female star in their own company. However, nobody was really able to crawl onto Jiang Zhan’s bed successfully before.

Ji Shu looked from Jiang Li’s head to toe secretly and found out the person in front of him had the upper hand in terms of his features or his elegance. A look like this would still be one of the best in the entertainment industry that was filled with beautiful stars. No wonder his boss would take an action on him.

Although he did not know Jiang Li’s background yet, Ji Shu still had to be cautious.

Jiang Li knew Ji Shu was looking at him, but he did not care at all and drank tea relaxingly while waiting for Ji Shu to say something, not feeling fearful or prudish.

After finished looking at him, Ji Shu said, “Mr. Jiang, President Jiang had already told me regarding your request, you want to join ‘Long River and Falling Moon’ right?”

“Yes.” Jiang Li nodded generously, “The roles of Liu Chuandeng and Liu Baizhu.”

“I’m sorry to ask but did you read the novel before?” Ji Shu asked.

“Yes, I’ve read them before.”

Although Jiang Li did not read it before, the original host did, so he got the information through that.

Liu Chuandeng and Liu Baizhu were twins, but their personalities and what they experienced were completely different. The former was the Govenor of the Eastern Depot, he had a weird and gloomy personality, while the latter was an adopted child of an old and well-known family, he had an innocent and upright personality.

A pair of twins that had a large contrast in their personalities was really hard to be acted and controlled. An ordinary actor would not challenge such a setting simply as it needed more than enough skills to act well. A careless mistake would easily expose one’s shortcoming.

The role that the vice-director promised Zhang Ziyang was not this one, instead, it was another good guy role alongside the male lead. It’s setting was ordinary and did not need much acting skills, but its exposure would be high due to the male lead.

Jiang Li did not only need the exposure, he also needed a breaking point. He was not afraid to challenge, he was only afraid that he did not have the chance to challenge, while the roles Liu Chuandeng and Liu Baizhu were the first challenge of stepping into this world’s entertainment industry.

Ji Shu thought that he had enough confidence since he answered naturally and did not seem like he was faking it, he then said, “I had contacted Director Kong of the drama, there is no suitable actor for these two roles yet, if you are free tomorrow, someone will bring you to meet the drama crews.”

“I’m free, sorry for the inconvenience caused.” Jiang Li did not have other jobs, what he had most was his time.

“Not a problem.” Ji Shu smiled and handed in his name card that he took out from his bag to Jiang Li, “This is my name card, you can send your contact number and address to me, I’ll call someone to fetch you tomorrow.”

“Sure, thank you.”

After confirming everything, Jiang Li was not interested to stay anymore, he then prepared to leave after saying goodbye to Ji Shu.

Ji Shu sent him to the door and noticed that he was leaving without any consideration, he was not able to resist and asked, “Mr. Jiang, are you sure you don’t need to tell President Jiang before leaving?”

“Why do I need to tell him?” Jiang Li asked back strangely, Jiang Zhan was such a capricious person, he could only capture him slowly. Also, it could be seen how defensive Jiang Zhan was this morning when he choked him. The favorability might drop to -20 if he stayed, it was not worth it.

Ji Shu looked at his reaction and suddenly understood the reason why he was able to crawl his boss’s bed.

Because he was — different!

Ji Shu nodded his head and had his opinions changed towards Jiang Li. He realized that Jiang Li was not only good-looking but also had a unique personality! Someone like that could possibly succeed if he had the qualifications!

When he thought of this, he was shocked as he turned his head and saw Jiang Zhan standing behind silently, “President Jiang.”

“He left already?” Jiang Zhan lifted his chin and asked.

There were only two people there, Ji Shu knew who he was asking about, “He just left.”

“What did he say?”

“Nothing, he only made an appointment for tomorrow’s audition and left.”

“……”

Ji Shu had been working for Jiang Zhan for a lot of years so he knew his temper quite well. He could feel the pressure Jiang Zhan’s surrounding turned low suddenly, he secretly swallowed the words ‘He even left without any consideration’.

At the same time, Jiang Li who had already reached the lowest floor heard a ding, System’s voice echoed, “Host, please pay attention, male lead’s favorability is reducing. If it reaches -20, you will receive a punishment.”

Jiang Li quickly opened the mission’s column and found out Jiang Zhan’s favorability had indeed reduced, it was at -15, only 5 points to -20.

Jiang Li, “……” Fuck this favorability, can the male lead be more reasonable?

Jiang Zhan who was upstairs was not in a good mood. He walked towards the door of the lift with a sullen expression, as if he was producing an aura of ‘You’ll die if you come nearer’. As he was a few steps away from the lift, he stopped abruptly and asked Ji Shu, “What kind of role is Liu Chuandeng?”

Although ‘Long River and Falling Moon’ was invested by the Jiang Group, Jiang Zhan did not read the novel and script before.

“Liu Chuandeng…” Ji Shu did not now why he suddenly asked that question, he thought for a while and said, “He’s an antagonist in ‘Long River and Falling Moon’, also the Governor of the Eastern Depot, a position that’s under one person but above ten thousands.”

“The Governor of the Eastern Depot?”

“Yes… but actually, he’s an eunuch.”

“……”

Jiang Zhan’s expression was indescribable, Jiang Li spent this much effort just for a role of an eunuch?

Can he be more ambitious?