CH 19

Endorsement

Dai Zhong just asked that jokingly in a sudden whim, but Lin Jianshen seemed to be pondering about this question seriously, when suddenly he stood up and started thinking about it.

He frowned unconsciously, and his pondering gesture startled Dai Zhong.

“Jianshen, don’t tell me you really have this kind of plan…” Looking at Lin Jianshen’s contemplative profile, Dai Zhong felt bitterness in his mouth, fearing that he was the one who has given the reminder.

Thinking of this, Dai Zhong couldn’t help shedding tears of sympathy for himself in his heart.

He has been Lin Jianshen’s manager for several years, and the deepest experience is that Lin Jianshen is a very trouble-free actor. He is serious and dedicated in filming. He can bear hardships and has no temper, so he doesn’t need to worry too much.

But he sometimes insists on some things inexplicably, and has his own opinions on many things. Dai Zhong stays by his side and acts like an assistant instead of an agent most of the time.

For example, in terms of endorsements and advertisements, the choice of movie and TV scripts, and the decision-making of some more important matters, the basic decision-making power is in Lin Jianshen’s hands, and Dai Zhong has no right to speak.

It stands to reason that such an actor who does not obey the arrangement of his superiors is difficult to be reused in an entertainment company.

What the company needs are employees who obey orders and are easy to control. People with too much autonomy, such as Lin Jianshen, will not only not get very good resources, but will also cause huge conflicts with the company because of their disobedience to discipline, and sometimes they will fall in the suppression to the point of being frozen.

[ T/N:- Probably means like getting banned from the whole acting industry ]

Therefore, in the first few years, because Lin Jianshen was too assertive, he didn’t get along well with the previous managers. He had two managers before, but he didn’t get any good resources, so he remained unknown.

The entertainment industry known for its chaos, competition for resources, is all too common.

In the early years of Lin Jianshen’s career, there was not only pressure from the company, but also exclusion from peers.

But he never wanted to cater to others in the past. He simply refused to accept scripts that he was not satisfied with. He even disdain to act in some bad dramas.

The result of being too maverick was that he was abandoned by two brokers. In the end, the company directly handed him over to a little-known broker. The intention of giving up was very obvious. That broker was Dai Zhong.

[ T/N:- Lmaooooo XD ]

Dai Zhong had just entered the industry that year, and had only a few thirty-eighth-tier artists in his hands. When he first took over Lin Jianshen, he thought that Lin Jianshen was also a thirty-eighth-tier artist who could not support him. But after getting along, he felt that Lin Jianshen was different from other artists under him, and he had the potential to become popular.

The previous agent had never put Lin Jianshen in his eyes, and naturally he could not see his efforts and excellence.

Dai Zhong, however, found out in the contact between the two of them, that Lin Jianshen was obviously not from a acting major, but his acting skills were quite superb. He usually worked very hard in acting. He spent countless hours studying the script for the play, and had the opportunity to make up for lessons in his spare time. He didn’t slacked even a little bit!

It’s just that he is a little cold in dealing with people and things, but he can be said to be humble and polite.

Unlike some of the young actors he met, they were not well-known, but they were full of pretense.

Dai Zhong suddenly unearthed such a golden bump from a group of people who had long been judged to have no potential, and instantly gave birth to infinite pride and lofty ambitions, imagining that he was a Bole, meeting a horse of a thousand miles, both winning a bright future of a superstar.

But soon he was awakened by the cruel reality, because even if he discovered Lin Jianshen’s potential, Dai Zhong could not give him better resources as a one year novice broker.

At that time, in response to the difficult situation they were facing, Dai Zhong had several conversations with Lin Jianshen.

Compared to Dai Zhong’s anxiety and ambition, Lin Jianshen was as calm as usual. He has always been like this, his joy and anger are invisible, as if he has never been flustered.

“You don’t need to do anything, you just need not to interfere with my judgment, respect any decision I make, that’s all.”

That day, Lin Jianshen said these words to Dai Zhong, and the faint power in his expression gave the strength to make people surrender unconsciously.

For so many years, Dai Zhong has been conscientiously implementing this sentence, and countless experiences have told him that Lin Jianshen’s choice is not wrong. The roles he has played have been widely acclaimed, and the movies and TV series he has acted in, will always explode (blockbuster). His eyes are sharp and precise, and he can accurately seize all opportunities for success, as if he has the power to predict the future.

However, it turns out that whether Lin Jianshen can predict the future is debatable, but he does have a far-sighted vision, not only in the choice of scripts, but also in the business field.

Dai Zhong has followed him for so many years and gradually learned more from him. Two years ago, Lin Jianshen’s contract with the company expired. Instead of renewing the contract, he came out of it on his own will. Dai Zhong left the company without hesitation to join Lin Jianshen, and truly changed from an agent to Lin Jianshen’s employee and assistant.

So now, if Lin Jianshen really wanted to do something, Dai Zhong couldn’t stop him.

Seeing that Lin Jianshen was still silent, Dai Zhong’s mind instantly rang out. Some time ago, Lin Jianshen’s engagement with Yu MianMian caught him off guard, but fortunately there was no rumor, thus it had no impact on Lin Jianshen’s career.

But if it were rumored that the actor and the fan were dating online at this time, the consequences would be unimaginable. After all, the relationship between idols and fans in the entertainment industry is inherently sensitive, and with an online dating, I don’t know how the outside world will judge Lin Jianshen.

Even though he always ridiculed Lin Jianshen and his “netizens”, Dai Zhong still cares more about Lin Jianshen’s future once it happens.

What’s more, Lin Jianshen still has a “marriage contract”. Although the two sides have no feelings for each other, they can’t be a scumbag.

“What are you thinking?” Lin Jianshen looked away from the screen and saw Dai Zhong’s constipated look, and immediately knew what was going on in his brain.

[ T/N :- He is horrified lmao ]

Dai Zhong suddenly returned to his senses, wiped his face and said, “Look Lin Jianshen, you are going to get married now, let’s say goodbye to this online dating? You don’t even know whether the other party is a man or a woman, right? Maybe? What if she is married? Maybe she’s ugly? Maybe she…”

Lin Jianshen’s brows grew tighter and tighter with Dai Zhong’s every words. Fortunately, Dai Zhong also took into account that this was on the set and there were many people around him. The director was sitting on the table next to them, and he kept his voice down when he spoke.

“When did I say I want to…” The words “online dating” rolled between his lips and teeth, but he still didn’t say it in the end.

Lin Jianshen’s voice was cold, and his eyes were even colder.

Dai Zhong was shocked and immediately shut his mouth. He didn’t expect Lin Jianshen to have such a big reaction. He knew him better than anyone, and knew that he was really angry.

The person in front of him was his boss, who controlled his job and salary. Dai Zhong didn’t dare to talk about this issue any more, and bluntly changed the subject and said, “Well, you didn’t say anything, it’s because I think too much. Oh… by the way, someone contacted you just now and gave you an endorsement, do you want to pick it up?”

“No.”

[ T/N:- Guess who it was XD ]

This indistinguishable tone, even if he had prepared for it, Dai Zhong still choked up.

After thinking about it, he felt that he still had to explain all the information again, “Yiju Group invited you to endorse their products, and I got the news internally that the boss of Yiju group has a daughter at home who seems to be your fan. And this time too, she offered to ask you to endorse for it, plus the price was very high…”

Lin Jianshen didn’t give him a second chance to continue: “I said no.”

He put down the phone, his face seemed to be covered with a thin layer of frost, there was only coldness in his expression.

Dai Zhong nodded his habit to show that he knew, he was already used to Lin Jianshen’s behavior. In addition to being interested in acting, Lin Jianshen has never participated in other things such as endorsement of variety shows.

He has never accepted general endorsements. In the past, the endorsements were basically public service advertisements, and none of them were for commercial nature at all, which was different from other entertainment stars.

Occasionally Dai Zhong would also think, why did a person as arrogant as Lin Jianshen enter the entertainment industry?

If he doesn’t understand, he shouldn’t think about it.

Dai Zhong shook his head, “Okay, then I’ll refuse them for you.”

——

Yu Mian when returned home, it was already late for afternoon meal. Auntie left food for her in the kitchen. Father Yu went out fishing with a friend. Mother Yu was also invited to have afternoon tea by the lady of the same community, leaving her as the only one left at home.

Auntie took Yu Mian’s umbrella and was about to dry it and put it away, when she suddenly found that the safety talisman hanging under the umbrella was gone.

“Miss, have you lost the pendant under your umbrella?”

Yu Mian changed her shoes beside the shoe rack, when she heard the words, she looked at the handle of the umbrella, and sure enough, there was only a bare wooden handle left underneath, the handle was polished smooth and translucent, but the small red Ping An Fu wooden sign hanging below disappeared.

Before she went out to play, she noticed that the umbrella had a peace talisman, the safety knot was made of red rope and the square card with the word ‘safety’ engraved on it. It looked delicate and festive, as she played with it for a while.

“It was still there before I went out. I don’t remember when it disappeared. It must have fallen on the road.” Yu Mian thought about it for a while, but still couldn’t remember where it fell.

Auntie waved her hand, showing that she didn’t seem to care: “It’s okay, if you dropped it, you dropped it. Auntie will hang up another one for you later.”

After lunch, Yu Mian couldn’t help feeling apprehensive whenever she thought of the new tutor coming this afternoon.

Under tension, she flipped out Yu Mianmian’s textbook and read it from the beginning. She loves Chinese painting, but because she couldn’t afford the cost of studying fine arts, she used to find materials to learn by herself. Hence there was no such systematic and professional study.

Looking at the skills and knowledge in the book, she was fascinated for a while.

The Yu family specially arranged a room for Yu Mian to study. There is a large floor-to-ceiling window in the room. Outside the window is the small garden behind the villa. It is a very suitable place for learning.

Painting is the most practical, and you can’t learn the essence just by reading a book. Yu Mian read the book for a while, then simply sat in front of the easel, holding the paintbrush in one hand and the book in the other, and practiced the knowledge in the book.