Chapter 64

  ...after making history with Jiang Wen...

  It's really pathetic to find out that as a human being, I couldn't get the love of my junior brother - and that hypocrite Jiang Chuan. Previously, he was all tangled up and shy, saying that he had some kind of feelings for me, but now when we meet face-to-face, he even refuses to shake hands, and says such hurtful words like "there's no need for physical contact anymore".

  But putting aside this hamster's anxiety, there are still many more things to be done ——

  First of all, he has to face a wave of public opinion, which is the first trouble.

  "Yuan Jinyan" waking up was already a huge news, for a time, on TV, in newspapers, and online media, it was all about his awakening - In the fast-paced modern urban life, people's emotions gradually became dull, so they need public figures' birth, aging, illness, and death to stimulate their almost numb emotions. Whether it's a celebrity passing away or being seriously injured and falling into a coma, or a celebrity who has been in a coma suddenly waking up, when encountering such events, they would all rush to express their sympathy or share the joy that had little to do with themselves.

  ...even if they themselves are not fans of this public figure or anything related to them.

  He inadvertently made himself the headline news, and for a time, because of his friends in the circle helping to forward congratulations and blessings - whether familiar or unfamiliar, those who supported him during his coma and even pretended to be dead - all came out at this moment. With their help, the Weibo post was only slightly alleviated on the fifth day after Jian Ran woke up, and by then, the number of forwards had broken through the astonishing 1 million mark. It is said that on the first day, a certain period of time, Jian Ran's Weibo post photo could not be opened in large size, mainly because too many people clicked on the picture at the same time, causing a small part of Sina Weibo server to crash directly.

  When I first heard the news, I thought it was quite absurd and subconsciously wanted to ask if the server used by Weibo was a Xiaobawang learning machine. But thinking again, he would be happy even if that photo couldn't be opened - as the first whistleblower of this earth-shaking news, his "scavenger uncle" photo appeared in almost every corner he could have imagined the next day.

  "I'm like a fugitive, wearing this blue and white striped hospital gown, plastered all over the streets," said the young man with black hair, sitting on his bed drinking the congee cooked by his mother. "And it's even worse with those photos... just wait, probably by today, there will be rumors online saying 'Yuan Jinran didn't fall into a coma after an accident these past few months, but had plastic surgery that failed and now has to face reality'..."

  The young man with black hair in the messy room had cut off his overgrown and disheveled hair, revealing a clean and tidy short haircut that showed off his bright forehead. His face was also shaved clean of its scattered whiskers - apart from being slightly gaunt from a recent illness, he still looked quite handsome... At this moment, he sat cross-legged on the bed, with an IV drip still attached to the back of his hand, hunched over and slurping down the porridge in his hands. Mrs. Yuan lovingly wiped away a drop of rice at the corner of her son's mouth: "Not at all, Mom thinks you're still very handsome."

  Jian Ran thought the sentence was very useful, moved his lips to say something, raised his head but unfortunately saw the TV playing "Entertainment Big Sky" gossip program, his ugly photo covered the entire 32-inch LCD TV screen - instantly lost the courage to speak, Jian Ran lowered his head and continued to silently drink porridge.

  This was an expected situation, but the wave came quickly and went quickly, probably not exceeding a week, everything will return to normal, following the usual routine.

  Now he needs to face the second trouble after waking up - that is his work.

  When Jin Yan had eaten his fill and was preparing to take a nap on the bed while the sun was still shining, the agent who had just sent Jiang Chuan to the film company's studio rushed in, pushing open the door. At this time, Jin Yan was wiping his hands and about to lie down on the bed. The agent saw him and immediately shouted: "Get up! Don't lie down! You're sitting for a month, aren't you? The doctor told you to move around more and not lie in bed all day, didn't you hear? If you keep lying like this, when are you going to start working again? Today the company's phone has been ringing non-stop, people are clamoring to make an appointment with Dabao -

  After all, it can be touted as "the great banner of Yuan Quan's first work after half a year of recovery", and various businesses or film and television production companies do not want to miss this opportunity.

  The phone that was quietly pressed under his butt vibrated, he picked it up and took a look, finding out it was a text message from Jiang Luocheng, roughly asking if he was okay and if it was convenient for him to come over. After hastily scanning the content, the young man with black hair impatiently stuffed the phone back under the pillow, got out of bed unwillingly, rubbed his face, and without lifting his head, replied to Fang Yu: "Don't bother, don't bother. First deal with the mess I left before I passed out——"

  "Oh, that one, there's a mess to deal with, and it's a big one." Fang Yu said, "One good news, one bad news, which one do you want to hear first?"

  "Bad news."

  "The role in the play 'Mysterious Seed' was basically confirmed to be yours, but because of what happened before, it's now basically confirmed to go to Xu Qianqian instead." Fang Yu shrugged his shoulders, "That woman should be thrilled to death."

  Not to mention being happy, but going crazy. He calmly laughed and got out of bed, grabbed his cane and limped to the window where the sunlight was shining, threw away his cane and sat down with a thud - the sunlight was dazzling, making him squint slightly as if he was enjoying this moment of sun-killing bacteria: "It's basically confirmed, or rather not yet confirmed, right? Make a decisive comeback, give me my computer and I'll send an email to that director..."

  Fang Yu heard this and looked somewhat surprised, saying: "......I thought you weren't too interested in this movie to begin with."

  "Sorry, I'm very hungry now." Jian Yan said expressionlessly, "No job to take, eat yourself?"

  "So, there's some good news. Don't worry about the role in 'Mysterious Seeds' for now, listen to this and then make a decision," Fang Yu cleared his throat and said to the young man with black hair who was squatting down, eyes narrowed into slits as he basked in the sun, "Regarding the invitation from Chuan Na Film and Television Company, there's a main theme TV series..."

  Those eyes, narrowed to a slit, opened up.

  Fang Yu smiled: "I knew you'd react this way. You can decide now, Mr. Yuan Zhenran - whether to continue being an idol actor or start considering a transition to becoming a national-level, powerful actor. Of course, if you refuse Chuan Na Film and TV, the higher-ups at IM Company might not be too happy. Although Hollywood is great, compared to going to Hollywood to make soy sauce, the company obviously hopes you can stand firm domestically."

  Jian Ran: "......"

  Fang Yu: "We hope that one day we can hear the roar of a mother-level housewife in your fan group."

  "This statement is really despicable."

  He muttered to himself, then turned away - Fang Yu was right, he was thoroughly entangled. Before waking up, he vowed to make Xu Qianqian look good, and as the first step to "make Xu Qianqian look good", he had to take back the role of "Mysterious Seed" that she had been thinking about all along - while doubling her worries and fears, he also wanted to make her realize that none of her worries and fears would be rewarded, suffocating her.

  But he never thought that now a Kunna Film and Television would suddenly appear halfway.

  If a current star is said to have eaten his fill and refused the invitation of Chuan Na Film and Television, he will probably be regarded by the industry as a complete idiot plus a mentally ill person.

  Let me introduce Naka Media to you.

  Firstly, including Jinma Media where Jiang Luocheng is located, there are several large film and television companies in the country that have been dedicated to providing popular TV idol dramas to various satellite TVs, and competing for resources on this platform until they die. Any one of these film and television companies can be recognized as a first-line film and television company by people in the industry - creating countless stars, works, and popular TV dramas.

  But these few powerful film and television companies, in front of Chuan Na Film and Television, are estimated to be just a small role of serving tea and water, holding shoes.

  All of this is because of the background of Chuan Na, which is a bright and upright red - This film and television company, which has been in scale since the founding of the country, has developed to the present day, and its water depth is already unfathomable. It is a film and television company with "country" as the background unit, and basically all the works produced are not so-called box office but must be good main theme movies and TV series. The person in charge of this company once said at a press conference that one sentence has been widely circulated within the industry - That is, when a reporter accidentally asked about the box office of a certain film of Chuan Na, the person in charge smiled slightly and said: Box office? We never look at the box office.

  Yes, this is a film and television company that stands firm in the era when every film and television company is struggling for box office success, treating box office as dirt. The audience they mainly face are people from 40 to 80 years old, because basically, the stories told in the works produced by Kawana are about their era.

  To put it simply, the most representative one is the "Hand Tearing Devils" series.

  In contrast, compared to those young fans who are active on Weibo every day, enthusiastically cheering for one celebrity today and then turning against them the next, this group of people aged 40-80 has a larger base, higher recognition rate, and their approval rating of certain actors is simply based on "this person acts well" or "this person acts poorly". These are the most basic and important levels of recognition for actors. Moreover, they are also the ones who spend the most time sitting in front of the TV, controlling the remote control.

  After all, when they glare at them, the young girls and boys must obediently roll back into their rooms to do their homework.

  So, fundamentally speaking, the idol fans of girls and boys can establish an actor's "idol status", but only these stable and more pure audiences can create an actor's "national status".

  Wanting to be the big brother of the entertainment industry isn't something that can be achieved by just forwarding a few million or twenty million Weibo posts - investors won't give you a higher salary just because your Weibo forwards are high.

  The predecessors in the film and television industry who really earn the most and make a fortune quietly may not even go online.

  Yuan Yechen is still at the "idol" level, although he has won several awards with a few films and has become one of the top domestic actors. However, after filming "The Sound of Years", he was once trapped in a state of being unable to break through - he thought that on this "idol route", he had basically reached the highest point that an actor could reach. At least, if you ask someone in their 30s or 40s who grew up in the 80s or 90s, or even someone born after 2000, they should all know Yuan Yechen.

  However, for an older age group, it's not the case - for those aunts and uncles who are even older, they only know old actors like Bai Wenqi, and their recognition of this new generation of actors is very low, basically in a blank stage.

  While Huanan Movie & TV is here to fill in these blanks.

  Above.

  So if Jing Tian gave up the role of Jiang Yu in "The Mystery of Liancheng" for the sake of his relationship with Xu Qian, he would undoubtedly think himself a fool - finding a substitute for Xu Qian was necessary, but that didn't mean he had to give up the great opportunity to develop his own career.

  He adjusted his sitting posture: "What role did Guanah give you?"

  "The devil officer."

  "What?"

  Fang Yu still had a sympathetic expression: "That means you have a suitable appearance and I've also heard that your Japanese speaking skills are not bad..."

  Jian Ran: "......"

  Fang Yu: "The sorrow of mastering multiple languages, is it regrettable to be a top student? The outcome of being a top student is to be torn into pieces by others... Ah, but your role is actually not bad, at least you weren't torn apart, but rather were chased and cornered into an alley with no way out, and finally took your own life... From the script, it's not very tragic, and it's easy for people to feel 'he's finally dead, that's great'."

  Jian Ran: "......"

  "But this is also a kind of role positioning, right? Even the best actors and actresses have been scolded on the streets or had kids throw water balloons at their homes for playing bad roles. This is also a kind of affirmation of their acting skills - think about it, as an actor, walking on the street and being scolded by someone is still better than walking on the street and having people look at you with a 'who's that' expression."

  To be honest, there is not much difference between these two situations, a tall man among dwarfs.

  Jian Ran: "That 'Mysterious Seed' side——"

  "I'll try to help you check the schedule, if it's possible to film in H city, it would be easier for you to run back and forth, even if it's tiring. But most of the scenes for "Mysterious Seed" are shot abroad, or even domestically, they're filmed in K city. Honestly, do you really want this role that much? If the effect isn't good after filming, you might get scolded."

  Fang Yu rubbed his chin, "When it comes to Chinese people appearing in Hollywood movies, our domestic film critics are generally quite harsh..."

  "It's settled then." His lips twitched slightly, "I know, I'll take care of the Cannes side, and try my best to get Hollywood on board. I'll send an email to the director later, but I'm sure he already knows that I've woken up... As for the rest, advertisements and whatnot, let's put them off for now——you go arrange it, I estimate we can start working normally next month. Before then, let's get the press conference sorted out..."

  Yes, press conferences, this is the third trouble Zhen Ran has to face.

  But for this inevitable trouble, there is still a little bit of expectation.

  A press conference is scheduled for Thursday of the second week after Jian Ran wakes up.

  At this time, he was able to walk quickly and steadily in the hospital corridor with his crutches, speaking fluently and teasing the little nurse, which made his agent furious - every day, you could see him actively appearing in various corners of the hospital. Once again, Fang Yu had arranged everything for Jiang Chuan, who rushed to the hospital to show Jian Ran the script, and as soon as he arrived, he saw this guy standing in the corridor of the VIP ward with one hand holding his crutches, surrounded by a group of relatives, chatting and laughing.

  Fang Yu's heart was almost collapsing.

  He was almost shouting as he sent the doctor away, reminding him to "rest" and "only need moderate exercise to recover muscle activity", and then returned to the ward. Facing that innocent and unwilling face, the agent said: "Tomorrow is the press conference, have you read those drafts? Have you memorized them?"

  He slowly raised his hand and stroked his chin: "I heard that the last time Jiang Chuan was at a press conference to clear himself of not operating, he didn't read from the company's script either, and passed smoothly."

  "That's Jiang Chuan," Fang Yu said without hesitation, "Do you have that IQ?"

  He stood up straight and puffed out his chest, saying calmly: "None."

  The agent slammed two folders in front of the young man with black hair - one was a script outline sent by Kunna Film and Television, the TV series was called "Star Fire", and the other folder was the manuscript for tomorrow's press conference. He put the script outline aside for now and opened the folder for tomorrow's press conference first, only to find that it was filled with all sorts of weird questions - IM company's public relations department really had a lot of imagination.

  For example, this one——

  Q: Mr. Yuan Jinyan, what's your opinion on Jiang Chuan's open and honest declaration of pursuing you? Do you feel uncomfortable with this way of pursuit?

  A: This question is really interesting - actually I just woke up, and I'm not familiar with Jiang Chuan, but I've heard that Mr. Jiang has helped me a lot in the past, for which I'm very grateful... Emotional things can't be forced, you ask me what I think, I can only say that I'd like to make friends with Mr. Jiang, as for whether I mind this way of pursuit, I think anyone would feel proud when being pursued by an excellent person (laughs).

  "What's with this smile at the end?"

  "Which means when you get to this part, you should smile."

  "......Now our company's PR team has evolved to the point where they even manage the facial expressions of artists when they speak, and isn't this openly giving Jiang Chuan a good person card? And they have to smile along with it, isn't that very humiliating?"

  "Fang Yu: 'Don't worry, Jiang Chuan wouldn't bother hitting you - and you'll notice that this announcement is written in a rather ambiguous way. Phrases like "emotional matters can't be forced" and "being pursued by an excellent person would make anyone feel proud" seem to imply that you're actually considering something with Jiang Chuan. However, upon closer inspection, it's not entirely acknowledging him, but rather sounds like polite PR talk. This kind of response can satisfy both groups: those who oppose your involvement with Jiang Chuan and those who fantasize about you two being together. Everyone gets what they want, and everyone's happy.'"

  "I was originally prepared to have something with him, but my agent didn't allow it."

  "Tomorrow you just say that, see if I won't beat you to death."

  He closed his mouth tightly, and then hastily reviewed the thick draft that filled several A4 papers. Then he vowed to be extremely careful in everything he did, whether walking, crossing the road, or even eating, because he absolutely didn't want to faint again. When he fainted, turning into a small animal and getting close to his male god was delightful, but after the delight came the "afterglow of a funeral pyre". Countless messy situations rushed at him, leaving him almost too spiritless to cope.

  ……

  The next day was a press conference.

  Early in the morning, Jian Ran was dragged out of bed by Fang Yu with two black eye circles - as a normal human breakfast outside the hospital for today's honest day without any tricks. Standing in front of the mirror with sleepy eyes, letting the agent serve himself to get dressed, the young man with black hair looked at himself in the mirror and finally realized that his eight-month-long vacation would probably end with today's press conference.

  The only gain is that he got a master (daughter-in-law) who loathes him for being human.

  Sighing in a low voice.

  At this time, the broker was standing behind him making a phone call to an assistant or something - in order to fulfill his promise, he wanted the assistant to bring over breakfast for a certain someone who couldn't stop talking. Fang Yu muttered "I don't know what he wants to eat either, you ask him yourself" and then put the phone directly up to Jian Ran's ear - at this moment, Jian Ran was carefully examining the dark circles under his eyes in the mirror. The young man with black hair absent-mindedly felt the phone being pressed against his ear, and before the person on the other end could even speak, he started muttering: "Assistant little brother? Hello, it's Jian Ran gege here. I want a meat bun, a meat bun, a meat bun, a meat bun - do you know what a meat bun is? It's got meat inside, big pieces of meat, oily ones... and also bring over a cup of soy milk, hot and steaming, with lots of sugar - meat bun, soy milk, meat bun, soy milk... repeat it one more time, meat bun, soy milk."

  Just give him a red bean bun, who cares about the meat one.

  Jian Ran looked back at Fang Yu from the mirror and said expressionlessly: "I want to make a big scene at the press conference."

  Fang Yu also looked back at him with a expressionless face: "Go ahead and make a fuss, in the worst case we'll just hug each other and jump off the top floor of IM together."

  The agent Mr. ruthlessly hung up the phone.

  Because he couldn't get the meat bun, and feeling melancholy about the end of the eight-month long vacation, Jian Chuang was really cold and distant recently. He stood there with his head hung low, looking lifeless, allowing Fang Yu to mess with his hair. About twenty minutes after hanging up the phone, the door to the hospital room was pushed open again. Jian Chuang subconsciously turned his head to look, but found that the person who came in was wearing a hoodie and a mask with a somewhat eccentric pattern, which was none other than Jian Chuang himself.

  As he walked in, he was still holding a thermos of hot soy milk and several meat buns.

  Baozi

  He transformed his face into that of a dog who had just spotted a meat bun - if he had a tail, he would have wagged it by now. He stretched out his neck and stared intently at Jiang Chuan as he placed the breakfast on the table, then reluctantly withdrew his gaze and pretended to be calm, asking, "How did you get here?"

  It's also not easy to pretend to be calm and collected, my face is almost stiff from being tense.

  "Since I'm free today," Gang Chuan took off his hat and mask, gave a glance around cautiously, "I'll come take a look at your press conference."

  "In the background, I don't appear."

  He calmly said "oh" and continued: "To put it simply, you're just here to watch the excitement, right?"

  Jiang Chuan nodded: "Yes."

  Jian Ran: "......"

  Never seen anyone so shameless about their good fortune.

  When his fellow disciples were engaged in a dull and friendly conversation, Fang Yu tidied up his sleeves, sniffed his nose as if he felt something was wrong, turned his head to look at Jiang Chuan, then looked at the large meat bun on the table, and immediately frowned in dissatisfaction: "Why did you really buy him a meat bun?"

  Jiang Chuan didn't speak, raised his head, and lazily swept a glance at Jin Ran... Jin Ran was stunned for a moment, reacting half a beat late, before he finally reacted, his eyes widening in terror: "Damn, it was you on the phone just now?"

  He was like a starving ghost who had been hungry for 800 years, shouting "meat bun" in an unattractive manner, and was perfectly received by Jiang Chuan?

  It's really messed up.

  Once in a while, it's okay to be a little naughty.

  The whole damn thing was caused by Jiang Chuan's carelessness and he ended up getting hit.

  What kind of evil thing is this?!

  At this moment, Jiang Chuan did not respond to the agent's complaint and sat down on a chair he had found for himself. He was holding his old mobile phone and sending a text message. After a while, he said indifferently without lifting his head: "He wants to eat meat."

  I suddenly felt a thread of pride being supported by my wife, so I swept away the collapse in my heart about the collapse of my image, and instead raised my chin, looking at the agent with great satisfaction: Right, I want to eat meat.

  "He wants to eat meat, just buy it for him."

  "Over and over again," Jiang Chuan said expressionlessly, "brainwashing."

  His chin rose even higher, and he raised his hands to pose with a triumphant gesture. Just as he finished posing, he suddenly felt two unusual gazes coming from behind him... The young man with black hair was slightly startled, put down his raised hands, turned around, and found that Jiang Chuan had stopped texting halfway through and was now silently staring at him from above the edge of his phone.

  Those azure eyes didn't show much emotion, and I had no idea what he was thinking.

  He was stared at and his whole body felt hairy, he put his hands in his trouser pockets and bent down to ask: "What's wrong?"

  "No." A flicker of unusual emotion flashed across the azure pupils, but before anyone could make it out, the man appeared somewhat indifferent, lowering his head again and continuing to move his fingers swiftly as he sent a text message on his old phone, saying without looking up, "The stuff has been bought, eat if you want."

  He was taken aback for a moment, then woodenly said: "Oh."

  Jiang Chuan thought for a moment, put down his phone and said: "Eat it while it's hot."

  Jian Ran: "Oh."

  After a moment, the young man with black hair turned his head to face the agent standing behind him who was adjusting his collar and said: "Mr. Fang, my junior apprentice brother told me to have breakfast first, don't starve."

  Jiang Chuan, who was sitting on a chair and texting, was stunned by the words, raised his head and looked at Jin Ran with particularly bewildered eyes.

  "Go ahead and eat, you shameless thing."

  Finally, under Fang Yu's spiritual pressure, Jin Ran drank a cup of soy milk and ate half a meat bun, but no more, fearing that his intestines had not yet recovered from the laughing function, eating too much greasy food would make him sick.

  "If you were to fart while answering questions at a press conference, you wouldn't have to worry about whether you're a popular idol or a national actor with real skills. You can directly transform into a comedian and steadily move towards the goal of performing on the Spring Festival Gala." The manager warned, his face expressionless.

  After some thought, it made sense that he couldn't fall apart at a critical moment, so he reluctantly gave up the remaining half of the bun. Afterwards, a group of people got on the minibus and headed towards the press conference venue - Jian Ye's folder full of drafts was now on Jiang Chuan's lap. The man lowered his eyes, hung his head, and supported his chin with one hand as he carefully flipped through the drafts in the folder. When he saw the simulated reporter's questions about pursuing Yuan Zhen Ran, he stared at those few lines of answers for a long time.

  Sitting next to him, Yuan Jinyan's comrade was shocked and frightened.

  After a long time, he stretched out his hand and poked Jiang Chuan - the latter seemed to dislike his physical contact, slightly dodged, frowned, raised his head and looked at him: "What?"

  Being looked at with such an expression, he suddenly lost interest in speaking... He just silently shook his head, thinking about how to get through this, but found Jiang Shi staring at him, impatient yet contradictory patiently waiting for him to speak... So the young man with black hair dryly laughed and said: "I just wanted to ask if you think this draft's response is good or not, do you have any suggestions?"

  "It's alright." Jiang Chuan closed the folder and handed it back to Jin Ran, "Let's just say that, or if you want to refuse, that's fine too - there have been a lot of people talking about us online lately, so it's good to let those topics die down a bit."

  He nodded solemnly, not knowing what mood he was in, and replied: "I see." After thinking for a moment, he added: "Got it."

  She carefully held her face with both hands and sank into thought for a while, sorted out her thoughts, and carefully considered the meaning of Jiang Chuan's words.

  Jiang Chuan didn't want to have anything more to do with him.

  So he said that even if he was openly rejected and lost face, it didn't matter.

  As long as you don't drag me into this anymore.

  Damn it, I'm dead.

  The small spark that had been ignited in Yuan Juran's heart due to the meat bun was extinguished by the heavy rain before it could spread.