Chapter 10
Zong Mo’s hand, holding the phone, trembled violently. He looked across at An Lan, at a loss.
An Lan, oblivious, had no interest in her nominal boss’s private life and was just waiting eagerly for her meal.
“I wasn’t finished talking.” Lu Bo continued without needing Zong Mo’s reply. “I only have three scenes, two of them are opposite you. I’ll be gone in three days at most; I have other things to attend to. It’s best if we rehearse tonight.”
Otherwise, it would delay the precious time of a film emperor.
Zong Mo choked back a sob. This was truly impossible to refuse.
Lu Bo asked again, “Where are you staying?”
Zong Mo could only give him the name of the hotel.
Lu Bo smiled, then continued, “Which floor?”
Zong Mo: “The twenty-second floor.”
Lu Bo: “What room number?”
The questions grew more and more specific. Zong Mo finally sensed something was wrong and shut his mouth, not daring to speak.
So Lu Bo said bluntly, “I’m staying at the same hotel as you, room 2333. Should I come to you, or will you come to me?”
Zong Mo: …Fuck.
Not only were they staying at the same hotel, but they were also separated by just a ceiling. As expected of the unbreakable bond between the main gong and the main shou.
He thought for a moment and said, “I’m in the buffet restaurant downstairs. There are private rooms here. Let’s talk while we eat.”
“Sure,” Lu Bo readily agreed. “I’ll be there in about half an hour.”
Zong Mo’s hands were still shaking.
To be honest, he had indeed once had the thought of topping the main gong as well.
But after discovering the powerful force of the script, he was more afraid of being topped himself.
Most importantly, his sponsor seemed to be a little abnormal.
An Lan asked curiously, “Who was that? Director Yang?”
“CEO Lu, no, Film Emperor Lu,” Zong Mo said. “He’s coming to discuss the script with me.”
An Lan: …
Zong Mo had thought An Lan would stay with him, taking on the supervisory role on behalf of her boss, Ruan Chi. But his assistant, Little Wan, had gone out to buy daily necessities and his car had broken down in the middle of nowhere.
Little Wan was younger than Zong Mo, and he had gone out to buy things for him. Zong Mo couldn’t bear to let him wait alone on a dark road, so he had An Lan go pick him up first.
Just like that, thirty minutes later, Zong Mo had moved to the designated private room, and the person in front of him had also changed. There was only one.
Lu Bo was definitely the favored son of this novel; whatever he wished for was granted.
Lu Bo pushed the few new pages of the script on the table over to him and said, “These are the two scenes you and I have together. Because I wasn’t sure if I could make it, Director Yang didn’t give you this part of the script in advance.”
Zong Mo: …
With his years of experience reading novels, why did he not believe this?
“Plot-wise, these two scenes are optional,” Lu Bo said. “But emotionally, they can add a lot of color to the whole movie. Take a look.”
The two scenes didn’t have much content. Zong Mo quickly flipped through them.
The first part was the setup for their relationship, which would be played by child actors, but they also needed to understand it, as it was very important for their later performances.
The character Lu Bo played, Chu Nantian, was the only person in the orphanage who had ever shown kindness to Yu Chi. Yu Chi genuinely regarded him as an older brother. Unfortunately, a month later, he was adopted by a foreign couple and taken abroad, and he didn’t see Yu Chi again for ten years.
Yu Chi’s feelings for him were partly jealousy, but more so the resentment of being abandoned.
Ten years later, Chu Nantian, a university graduate, returned to his long-lost hometown. He learned from the orphanage that Yu Chi had returned to his father’s side. Thinking he was doing reasonably well, he planned to just take a look and leave.
Unexpectedly, Yu Chi was living in a dilapidated, dangerous building. He even ran into a panicked, fleeing girl at his doorstep. Unsure whether he should knock and go in, he stood by the window for a while, and his gaze met that of the young man who suddenly looked up from the darkness.
At the lowest point of his life, Yu Chi was reunited with his former “big brother,” now a glamorous young man.
Zong Mo was silent.
The second time was when, due to his father’s beatings and coercion, Yu Chi put aside his pride to borrow money from his “big brother.” Chu Nantian gave him the money without a second thought, believing this was the help the young man needed most. He never expected that what the young man truly craved was for someone to pull him out of his situation.
Chu Nantian had the ability to take him away.
The young man’s stubbornness and pride prevented him from asking directly. Chu Nantian, on the other hand, was helping him in his own way.
A lack of one sincere conversation led to a lifetime of missed chances.
Zong Mo: ?
Was this really a romance movie?
Something was very wrong. He looked again.
Lu Bo’s third scene was not opposite Zong Mo, but it was related to him. He came to attend Yu Chi’s funeral.
Yes, this movie was full of melodrama, and the ending was a bad ending.
Yu Chi, pushed to his limit, accidentally killed his father. Coincidentally, he had just turned eighteen at the time. Because he had long carried various sharp objects for self-defense and had a strong motive for murder, the charge of intentional homicide was confirmed.
His life was completely ruined.
The audience knew he was utterly innocent, but in Yu Chi’s world, no one knew. The only person who probably believed him was the female lead, Yun Jie. Although he would eventually be released from prison and wouldn’t die, the audience might die of frustration or anger.
So, the screenwriter had Yu Chi escape during his arrest, running from the suburbs to the fields and then onto the highway, where he was hit and killed by a car. Before dying, he looked up with a smile at the sky, where the dark clouds were retreating to reveal the azure blue, finally obtaining the “freedom” he had long craved.
The screenwriter’s intention was to torture the audience to death. The actual effect would have to be seen at the time, but anyway, Zong Mo was tortured.
Finally, at the funeral, Chu Nantian met the female lead, Yun Jie, again and learned that Yu Chi had been deeply in love with her. Since there was nothing more he could do for Yu Chi, he decided to help the female lead in his place.
He offered to sponsor the female lead’s university education, but she retorted, “Do you think what I need is this little bit of money?”
Then, a flashback of Yu Chi borrowing money from him began, a montage of memories.
Chu Nantian came to a realization, but it was too late.
Zong Mo was engrossed in his reading when Lu Bo suddenly called out to him, “Little Chi.”
He was already in character.
Zong Mo really couldn’t bring himself to say “big brother”; it felt too much like flirting.
Lu Bo pressed on, asking, “Aren’t we rehearsing?”
Which scene were they rehearsing?
Zong Mo wasn’t sure. He could only tentatively call out “Big brother” with a bewildered expression.
Lu Bo burst out laughing, a playful expression on his face that would never appear on Chu Nantian’s.
Zong Mo: …
He was being flirted with. Absolutely.
Zong Mo’s feelings were incredibly complicated. The gongs in this novel seemed to be of a higher and higher caliber.
Gong #2, Ruan Chi, could already tire him out so much he couldn’t get out of bed. What about this man in front of him, who had surpassed Ruan Chi to become Gong #1?
And he, in this state, still fantasized about becoming the ultimate top?
At that moment, Zong Mo’s phone suddenly rang with an unfamiliar notification sound he had never heard before. It was a perfect excuse to get away from Lu Bo for a moment. He gratefully picked up his phone, only to see his face change drastically.
[Video call invitation from CEO Ruan.]
