Chapter Twenty

  Three people walked into the elevator, Fang Yu patted Jiang Chuan's shoulder with a sigh: "After today, your name will be tied to Yuan Jinran and become well-known..."

  Jiang Chuan looked at him expressionlessly: "Squeeze out the last bit of remaining value from Yuan Jinran?"

  The little assistant felt that the atmosphere around him was not right, and immediately threw away the supporting cards and banners in his arms, taking over Jiang Chuan's hamster cage - as if he was afraid that the next second the cage would be slapped on Fang Yu's face - Fortunately, Jiang Chuan didn't argue with him either, and let go of his hand to let him take it.

  After taking the cage, he bowed his head and whistled at the fat hamster in the cage, pretending that he hadn't heard anything - the hamster wouldn't pay attention to him, dragging its round buttocks and crawling into the toy blocks, climbing to the top layer, then poking its head out from one exit, and shrinking back, after a while, it poked its head out from another exit again, and shrunk back... ...seemed to be having a lot of fun.

  At this time, while the hamster was happily playing the "in and out" game, Fang's agent was looked at by the man next to him with a cold gaze, making him somewhat short of breath. Feeling innocent and helpless, he could only smile wryly and explain: "I know you don't like it, but what can I do? I didn't expect it to turn out this way either. Just now, I just wanted to help Jianyan regain some face. He had just gotten into trouble, and that Xu Wenjie was eager to take advantage of the situation... Anyway, I couldn't bear to watch, and if Jianyan knew, he wouldn't like it either."

  The hamster poked its head out of a hole.

  The hamster said: "Squeak."

  Absolutely right.

  Let Xu Wenjie take office?

  An uncle can be tolerated but an aunt cannot.

  He carefully picked up the scattered hamster food and put it back in the bowl, patted his little paws and shook his butt, then he lay down at the edge of the toy bucket, looking up at Jiang Chuan with his head tilted - although there was no extra expression on the latter's face, but from those calm azure eyes, it could be seen that he was still quite unhappy at this moment...

  Jiang Chuan probably thought that the title "Mysterious Man in Jianran's Hospital Room" was not much different from other small-time celebrities like Xu Wenjie who wanted to gain fame through this incident - although he didn't say it out loud, his expression clearly conveyed his disgust at such a lowly behavior.

  Fang Yu tried to comfort him: "Jiang Chuan, you did a good thing, don't feel burdened because of it."

  Jiang Chuan calmly went "hmm".

  "For example, ah, that whoever, for instance, even Lei Feng would write down the good things he did in his diary."

  Jiang Chuan: "Who is Lei Feng?"

  He fell silent for a moment, then said: "… an old good fellow, just like you."

  Jiang Chuan glanced at his agent and said seriously: "I'm not a good person."

  Fang Yu: "......"

  Jian Ran: "......"

  Listening to the hilarious conversation between the broker and the homeowner, I wiped my paws on my round belly, feeling somewhat indifferent in my heart: Jiang Chuan, this newcomer, is a bit too straightforward, to put it bluntly... he doesn't understand how to be flexible at all.

  After working with Fang Yu for so many years, not only does Fang Yu know him inside out, but he also has a good understanding of this agent who is as close to him as a brother. Think about it, after all these years in the industry, Fang Yu's agent must have gained some reputation, and bringing up a newcomer in this way might not be something that sounds good when mentioned.

  And with Fang Yu's many years of accumulated connections and experience, he can choose the best timing to promote Jiang Chuan in his best state - this is probably why after Jiang Chuan offended the reporter yesterday, he first thought of suppressing the matter and keeping Jiang Chuan's identity confidential, rather than directly promoting him as a "hospital hero".

  Jiang Chuan was indeed wrong to blame Fang Yu for this.

  At this moment, Fang Yu also looked like he couldn't be bothered to explain so much. After all, he wasn't familiar with Jiang Chuan anyway, and things had already turned out this way, so wasting his breath explaining would be pointless... As the elevator reached the top floor of the office building, Fang Yu let out a long sigh and stepped out of the elevator. He pushed his glasses up and thought to himself that he had been too impulsive earlier, with his mind preoccupied with helping Jian Ran save face, and had neglected the fact that there might be reporters present who had also appeared at the hospital yesterday...

  It can also be considered his negligence and carelessness.

  So there's nothing to be resentful about.

  Thinking of this, Fang's agent let out a disdainful "tsk" and thought to himself: This little scoundrel, Juran, even with his physical body lying in the hospital, his soul was still releasing the continuous attack skill that tormented him...

  ……

  The IM Director's office is located at the end of the top floor corridor.

  Fang Yu was the first to stretch out his hand and push open the door of the office, Jiang Chuan followed naturally and walked in, the little assistant holding a hamster cage trotting behind him, leaving only Fang Yu standing alone in the wind for a while, accidentally becoming a doorman.

  Today's IM company high-level office...hmm, quite lively.

  The inside is packed with people.

  Sitting on the sofa inside were three shareholders of IM Company - Luo Cheng, Xue Kai and Shao Xudong.

  Luo Cheng and Xue Kai are around thirty-five years old, relatively young. Luo Cheng's family is a mafia family who recently entered the entertainment industry; Xue Kai is a legitimate businessman and university classmate of Luo Cheng, and the two were among the initial founders of IM. Among the three, Shao Xiangdong is the oldest, nearly fifty years old, but because he takes good care of himself, he looks like he's in his early forties. When he doesn't speak, he looks like a serious businessman.

  Among the three shareholders of IM Company, Jian Ran disliked Shao Xudong the most. It was not for any other reason, but because this old man's gaze was too strange and full of aggression, always making people feel uncomfortable, as if they were going to be swallowed alive. However, since he was his boss, Jian Ran couldn't say anything. After gaining fame and the right to show off, whenever Shao Xudong was present, Jian Ran would avoid attending if possible.

  In Jian Ran's view, Luo Cheng, who was born in the underworld, is not as evil as him.

  At this time, when Jianran entered the office, Jiang Chuan didn't say a word and found a chair in a corner to sit down, holding his hamster to play with it by himself. Luo Cheng and Xue Kai both looked up at him, but unexpectedly didn't say anything about him being rude. Luo Cheng even slightly narrowed his eyes, smiling and teasingly said: "Hey, you bought a hamster."

  Jiang Chuan nodded without lifting his head and opened the door of the hamster's cage.

  Luo Cheng said: "I heard you're so poor that you can't even afford to compensate the journalist for their equipment, what's with keeping a hamster?"

  Jiang Chuan raised his head and looked at Luo Cheng with an expressionless face, then astonishingly said: "You have so much to say, do you want to borrow money from me?"

  Jian Ran: "......"

  Damn, it's really something.

  This is the person who pays your salary, Old Man Jiang - you can starve to death if you want, but don't drag down your pets. I'll follow you and sing "Little White Cabbage" on the streets together.

  When Luo Cheng was thinking about the next line of "Little White Cabbage, Yellow in the Ground" with a serious expression, he suddenly stopped talking - until the hamster squatting in the cage finally reacted and realized that it wasn't time to sing, it turned its small head in shock, its eyes darting back and forth between its former boss and current owner.

  Oh right, Fang Yu also mentioned earlier that Jiang Chuan's film with Jiang Luocheng was a paid collaboration.

  What line did Luo Cheng take?

  He looked at Jiang Chuan again, and after a long time, he still couldn't figure out one thing: apart from being handsome, why did the boss set him up with someone?

  At this time, the atmosphere in the office was slightly relaxed due to Jiang Chuan and Luo Cheng's occasional nonsense. Among the three shareholders, only Shao Xudong didn't move, he was quietly fiddling with the wooden handle in his hand, staring intently at the sofa across from him - where Jiang Luocheng, the director, sat with a poker face. Jiang Luocheng occupied one end of the sofa, while Xu Wenjie sat at the other end, looking somewhat constrained with his head down.

  Xu Wenjie is standing behind his agent.

  "Good morning, bosses," said Fang Yu, a young man with a cheerful tone, "Wow, it's quite lively."

  Luo Cheng and Xue Kai gave him a glance with the look of "you're already dead", before they could speak, Shao Xudong, who was staring at Jiang Luocheng, withdrew his gaze and spoke first: "Fang Yu, I heard you guys had a big fight downstairs."

  The man's voice was low and deep, full of a threatening sense that seemed to foretell an impending storm.

  Fang Yu heard this and looked at Xu Wenjie and his agent behind him with a smile that was not quite a smile: "Oh, it seems I'm a step too slow. Someone has informed on me before I did."

  "You're a company's." Shaodong pinched the hand-held item in his hand, furrowed his brow and said, "Stop messing around with those unnecessary things, something big has happened, does that mean the company won't be able to open for business?"

  "Sorry, how was I supposed to know it would turn out like this? Next time, we can just wait until the reporters have taken pictures of us without electricity and then appear?" Fang Yu shrugged his shoulders, putting his hands in his pockets, thought for a moment, and suddenly put on a smiling expression. He turned around and asked the person sitting on the sofa: "Xu Wenjie, did you go see our Jianran this morning? How was it?"

  “……”

  Shaodong's hand, which was playing with a small object, paused as he turned his head to look at Xu Wenjie. Xu Wenjie suddenly lifted his head and looked towards Fang Yu, his eyes flashing with a hint of gloominess that quickly passed - it was such a fleeting negative emotion that if Shaodong hadn't been staring intently at him, he probably wouldn't have noticed. So Xu Wenjie likely didn't realize that at this moment, in some unremarkable corner, all of his dark little thoughts had already fallen into the eyes of a hamster.

  The hamster impatiently kicked its legs and dug out some food from the newly filled food bowl.

  Shaodong and Xu Wenjie, ah, spit it out.

  ".... Ah Fei, didn't your mother ever tell you not to play with your food?"

  Jiang Chuan lowered his voice, opened the hamster cage, and grabbed out the hamster that was in a very irritable state. Seeing it moving around unsteadily on his palm, he stretched out his hand and flicked its ear - the hamster immediately became quiet as if it had been stunned, its forward movement suddenly freezing, and then the whole mouse fell to the ground.

  Jiang Chuan picked up the hamster with two fingers and dangled it from his fingertips.

  Those azure eyes, however, were not focused on the hamster. The calm gaze directly passed over the hamster that was being swung back and forth by itself and looked straight at the sofa instead.

  At this time, Jiang Luocheng's face was even more unpleasant than when Fang Yu and the others came in. He seemed to be completely unafraid of the pressure exerted by Shao Xudong, making a sound of impatience, stretching out his legs and then pulling them back in. After thinking for a moment, he actually grabbed Fang Yu, who was theoretically the most incompatible with him in this room, saying: "You've come at just the right time. Once you're done with your business, take Jiang Chuan and come back with me directly. This afternoon there are several new actors waiting to replace Jingran. Let's make the most of our time and try a few more combinations."

  "Director Jiang," Shao Xudong interrupted Jiang Luocheng's words in a calm and unhurried tone - when the latter suddenly closed his mouth, turned his head to look at him, he revealed a smile. "Did you pay attention to my previous proposal? As you can see, in my opinion, Xu Wenjie is the most similar to Yuan Jinyan in terms of age, conditions, and appearance. Now that Jinyan has confirmed that she can play the role in your drama, but something happened to her, why don't you consider giving this role to Xu Wenjie?"

  Everyone: "......"

  "Rustle!!"

  NO！！！！！！！！！！！

  NODOOR！！！！！！！！！！！！！！！

  Listen up, foolish humans! Although I don't like Jiang Luocheng's TV series, it doesn't mean I'm willing to let Xu Wenjie take over this role. Got it? Not eating and not giving it to him! Don't ask me why! Anger, arbitrariness!!!!!!!!!

  The hamster bounced up and down excitedly, and when the fingers holding its back fur loosened, it fell "plop" into the palm of its owner's other hand. At the same time, its head was stroked, and Jiang Chuan said, "Shh."

  Jian Ran: "......"

  What the heck!!!!!!!!!

  Lao Zi's rice bowl is going to be polluted!!!!!!!!!!

  When Jin Yan was furious and had goosebumps all over his body, extremely dissatisfied with Xu Wenjie's behavior of relying on the gold master to grab roles, not far from him, Shao Xudong continued to try to persuade Jiang Luocheng: "I heard that Jin Yan's contract has been drafted, you also know that different companies have different rules - on the contrary, if we directly use our company's artists, the whole process will be much more convenient, as for the price, we can also discuss it again..."

  Jiang Luocheng remained silent from start to finish.

  When Shao Xudong actually brought up the price in such a dignified manner, he finally raised an eyebrow and gave him a straight glance - and he didn't know that with just one glance, he had become a complete idiot and an old money-obsessed fool in the eyes of a certain hamster with triangular eyes not far away.

  In the silent resentful gaze of the hamsters, the other two shareholders sitting next to Shao Xudong also exchanged a rather sarcastic glance, then turned their heads in unison to look at Xu Wenjie sitting opposite them.

  Since Xu Wenjie entered this office, Jiang Luocheng finally put his gaze on him formally.

  Xu Wenjie's head hung even lower.

  "Xu Wenjie, right?" Jiang Luocheng patted his pocket, pulled out a cigarette and lit it, taking a drag as he spoke unclearly with the cigarette butt in his mouth. "I know you, you used to be Jian Ran's stunt double - later he fired you, and you struck out on your own... You played the male lead in Wang Leqian's 'The Last Nursery Rhyme', didn't you?"

  Xu Wenjie suddenly lifted his head, his eyes shining brightly, without concealing the delight in his eyes: "Right, right, that was my first movie -"

  "Hmm," said Jiang Luocheng, "from script trash to director's final trash to actor's trash movie."

  Xu Wenjie: "......"

  Jiang Luocheng: "Deep Sea Mystery, you played the second male lead."

  Xu Wenjie: "......ah......"

  Jiang Luocheng: "Tell me, where did Director Zhao Long get the confidence to deceive audiences that a one-meter-square swimming pool with a few tropical fish is what they call 'deep-sea filming'?"

  Xu Wenjie: "......"

  Jian Ran: "......"

  Although it's not very nice of me.

  But... Hahahahahahahahahahahaha o(*≧▽≦)ツ┏━┓.

  The hamster rolled over in its owner's palm and scratched its belly with its paws.

  Jiang Luocheng ignored the embarrassed-looking Xu Wenjie, who seemed like he was about to suffocate, and turned to ask Shao Xudong with a smile: "Shao, what kind of discount are you going to give me?"

  Shaodong glanced at Xu Wenjie, who was about to bury his head in his knees. He saw that Xu first slightly furrowed his brow, then smiled and said to Jiang Luocheng: "I know you quoted a price of 350,000 per episode for Jianran."

  Jiang Luocheng shrugged indifferently: "He's worth the price."

  The hamster climbed up from its owner's palm, shook its round buttocks, and used its paws to groom the hair on its forehead.

  Shaodong ignored Jiang Luocheng's words and continued, "As long as you let Xu Wenjie take over your original role, our company can consider only asking for a low price of 50,000 per episode."

  As soon as Shao Xudong's words fell, the people present were shocked - Luo Cheng and Xue Kai looked at their partner with "are you crazy" eyes, while Fang Yu's facial muscles twitched violently like he had eaten shit.

  Fifty thousand?

  Is it really worth making such a big fuss over just some cabbage?

  Thinking of his ex-lover's moral integrity, and then thinking about Xu Wenjie and Xu Qianqian's relationship, the hamster squatting in its owner's palm suddenly lost its previous complacency, silently lifted its paws to cover its eyes, and muttered to itself: It's all over, it's all over...

  Can't bear to see Jiang Luo become a miserable wretch like that.

  At the moment when Jin Yan was busy covering his eyes with his paws, the entire office became quiet as if it had entered another dimension. Just then, Jin Yan heard Jiang Luo Cheng suddenly chuckle, followed by Director Jiang's usual mocking laughter that he used to ridicule actors who couldn't act, which was completely unreserved.

  "Director Shao, 500,000 yuan is also money. Standing on the Yangtze River Bridge and throwing it down, you can still hear people sighing 'Wow, rich guy' - You let me spend 500,000 to buy this... Ah... Going back, I'm afraid all I'll hear is people sighing at me 'Wow, idiot'."

  The author has something to say: Guess Jiang Luocheng and Xu Wenjie are enough, I wouldn't bother putting out such a low-level spoiler! Hmph!

  No wonder the author is such a lofty and noble person!