Chapter 34
3.11 - His most loved one was clearly Bai Yue
It had to be said that Lin Yi knew how to do all the right things. He invited many people from the entertainment circle to attend the celebration under the power of his own name. When Xue Ling arrived, he also brought him around to meet with these elders in order to garner a lot of goodwill. This was clearly done with Xue Ling's best interests in mind, but there were some redundancies.
Xue Ling was an artist signed with White Light Entertainment, and had plenty of opportunities to meet these people if he had wanted to. To put it another way, if he was interested, many of these people's contact information would be placed in front of him and he might not even have given them a glance. To bring these people before him in order to please him, was simply looking down on him.
But Xue Ling still made the rounds to roughly let people become more familiar with him before finding an excuse to stay away from Lin Yi and join the film crew.
The deputy director was a famous master in the circle and an experienced director in his own right. At the beginning, he gave Xue Ling a lot of pointers and helped him a lot. He seemed to see Lin Yi's intentions, and purposely came over with a glass of wine in hand in order to remind Xue Ling not to fall into a trap simply because of these small favors.
Xue Ling's laugh was a little strange. "An Duo, do I look like I'm in need of his resources and am moved by his introductions?"
Director An looked at him for a while and realized that it was probably just a moment of hot-headedness on Lin Yi's part. "If you don't like him, then stay further away. Doesn't he also have Sun Jianan by his side?"
It was not a secret in the circle that there was someone behind Sun Jianan. Although he seldom asked Lin Yi to help him with connections, he had purposely ensured that everyone in the circle knew about their relationship and had found many resources 'by himself' through Lin Yi's network.
This was probably what Sun Jianan considered as being 'self-reliant and independent'. He did not have to directly bother Lin Yi to find resources, so from Lin Yi's point of view, the little star that he kept was extremely simple, and never concealed his feelings. This allowed Lin Yi to maximize his feelings of manliness - in front of Sun Jianan, he could maintain the façade of being a domineering president. He could buy whatever he wanted without any concern for money, but Sun Jianan also never asked much of him. In this way, Lin Yi also built up a strange sense of pride that the other party wanted himself rather than his money.
However low and humble he placed himself in front of Bai Yue was directly in proportion to how high and mighty he was in front of Sun Jianan. The difference in the two attitudes was also the source of his current entanglement. He liked Bai Yue and was willing to be in the lower position in front of Bai Yue, but that was on the premise that he was still waiting for Bai Yue to respond to his feelings. If he was asked to abandon Sun Jianan who looked up to him like a god in this current situation, he would more or less be unwilling.
Xue Ling stepped closer and whispered to An Dao, "Don't you think that Sun Jianan and I are similar?"
An Duo had spent several months together with the two of them, often watching them during the shooting phase of production. He originally felt that they were quite similar around the eyes, but now with the context of their previous conversation topic, Sun Jianan's existence became somewhat awkward.
Knowing that the director understood, Xue Ling smiled and continued, "Why do you think Sun Jianan hasn't come yet? He's probably sulking back home."
An Duo frowned with disapproval. "If you don't have that kind of intention, then don't get involved with the two of them. Save yourself some time in case something happens and you're dragged into the water. The waters are very deep in the entertainment business. Although you have a strong person at your back, your elder brother won't allow you to do such foolish things."
Xue Ling pouted. "Who would want to mix with them? I feel sick when I look at Sun Jianan. Who does he think he is, imitating me? Heh. "
An Duo urged him to lower his voice, "Just keep these kinds of thoughts in your heart, why speak it out loud? What if someone overhears…"
Xue Ling glanced back at Lin Yi's back as he fled with his tail tucked between his legs and knew that his goal had been achieved. He obediently raised his hand and gestured to indicate that he was definitely not speaking about it anymore.
An Duo changed the subject. "What are you planning to do next?"
"Although I have a script on hand, I want to polish it up a bit. I'll continue to participate in the variety show, and perhaps act in a movie or a play." He rubbed his chin and asked, "Does An Duo have anything to recommend?"
An Duo looked at him up and down, nodded his head and said, "I do have a recommendation, but I don't know if you can get the interest of that person."
"How will you know if you don't try!" An Duo was very clear about Xue Ling's acting ability. Even if he kept a low profile, it was impossible to suppress his brilliance. When he acted, his demeanor was grand and his movements perfect. "What kind of suggestion does An Duo have?"
"My teacher has a historical themed work that he has been working on for many years, but it has some taboos. I don't know if it will be accepted in China when the time comes."
Xue Ling had a sudden moment of realization. An Duo's teacher was a famous national director in China who had disappeared for five years. He did not really disappear, but rather, he had been preparing for a film. Sun Jianan's greatest golden finger in this novel was this film. He happened to meet the director on an outing, and his temperament was in line with what the old director had been looking for. So, he acted in the film, won the title of film emperor and rose into the international film circle in one stroke.
Sun Jianan imitated Bai Yue's appearance. If Bai Yue played the leading role in this movie, presumably it would be even more amazing.
Xue Ling was happy to do anything that would make Sun Jianan's path less smooth, not to mention that this was a really good movie.
The film, titled "Male Consort", was about the life of male consort Tuoba Xiu. The movie started from his childhood as the prince of an enemy country, and told the story of how he left the country to make a name for himself amongst both the commoners and martial artists before being appointed by the Emperor to be the prince's grand advisor, and finally became an unparalleled male consort.
But the historical records all stated that while the man was brilliant and amazing, the male consort was born with an elegant and refined stature, and his demeanor was like that of a sheltered prince. Bai Yue was of mixed blood, but if he were to wear ancient garb, his princely demeanor would be at a level where Sun Jianan absolutely could not imitate. Director An was very optimistic about him, and had mentioned Bai Yue to his teacher long ago. He only brought it up now to gauge this little young master, so he didn't go into too much detail.
"I'm willing to try anything as long as it's a good film." Xue Ling clinked his glass with Director An and said, "You should also know that I did not enter this circle for the sake of fame or money, but rather for passion, because I want to do good work. That's settled then. I'd like to ask you to help me make a recommendation."
"Naturally." Director An laughed. His son was older than Xue Ling, and was always unruly. Xue Ling was more well behaved than him, and he unconsciously regarded the little young master as his own child.
If his son had such good looks and prospects, he would probably wake up laughing from his dreams.
Xue Ling did not drink too much wine, and he made sure to let Lin Yi know when he left. Lin Yi had heard his words from earlier, and now could not bear to see him. He didn't try to make him stay, and simply let him leave. Xue Ling left the hotel and saw Bai Hao's car waiting, just as he had expected. He greeted the driver with a smile and then unhurriedly sat in the back seat. "Elder brother finished so soon?"
"Yes." In order to be able to pick him up, the speed of his meeting had been extraordinarily quick. Even after it had finished, the high level managers were still somewhat muddled, not knowing why Bai Hao's work efficiency suddenly became so high.
Xue Ling did not try to poke a hole in his lie. He stretched, and then lazily slouched in his own seat before sharing Bai Hao what Director An had just told him.
"If I am successful, I think I'll have go to Movie City." Movie City was not in their city, so he would have to leave home. Xue Ling brought it up in order to tease Bai Hao, and even added two more sentences. "I really enjoy the food cooked by the maid at home. Alas, when I join the crew, I'll have to eat lunch boxes with everyone else."
Bai Hao waved his hand, expression remaining the same as usual as he said, "If you enjoy it, I'll have the maid follow you."
"No, I am not a spoiled young man." Xue Ling looked up at the roof of the car and added, "Grandpa would be so angry. You should know that he also enjoys the things that maid makes."
Bai Hao was silent for a while, his thoughts unreadable. He only gave Xue Ling a glance, and then moved his gaze away.
If he wasn't going to speak, then Xue Ling wasn't going to wait and listen. He took out his mobile phone and began to look for news on himself on the internet.
From winning the prize till now, the number of fans on his weibo had soared, and he could be considered to have become popular overnight. His weibo account had very few posts, and were basically just tossed up there. Xue Ling thought about it for a moment before sending a selfie. His mood improved a lot as he watched his followers fangirl over his post, asking to marry him.
You see? This was the attitude that people should have when they like someone. Say it out loud! Maybe he would even respond positively! Look at how uncomfortable Bai Hao was right now because he bottled up everything~
With that in mind, he stared at Bai Hao, who was somewhat puzzled not knowing where he had offended the other party.
Xue Ling did not know why he was always so unlucky. He always encountered these damned repressed men. When he was with Cong Hui, he didn't have any intention to get together and so he had only complained a bit, then with Cole he was really somewhat moved, but had not fallen in love, it was only at the end that he truly understood that there was no point in being stubborn. Now that he was actually trying to seduce and make hints towards Bai Hao, for some reason the other party could still hold on for so long.
If he had the guts to climb into his bed in the middle of the night every night, then don't poke him with that thing when he leaves in the morning! Did he really think that he was that deeply asleep and oblivious?!
Xue Ling had specifically let Lin Yi hear his disdain for Sun Jianan at the party in order to provoke him. He wanted Lin Yi to know that he knew the other party had a stand-in, and also understood what kind of thoughts Lin Yi had towards him.
This would push Lin Yi into a corner. He must make a choice between the two of them, or else he would lose his white moonlight.
Because Xue Ling was now doing so well, Sun Jianan would not be as important in Lin Yi's heart as Bai Yue. After he thought about it, Lin Yi felt that he had really been wrong. At first, he found Sun Jianan only because he couldn't pursue Bai Yue. Now that Bai Yue had returned, it was no longer impossible. No matter how one looked at it, putting a Sun Jianan between them was not good.
How could a proud man like Bai Yue tolerate a stand-in?
Having realized the key point within his current situation, Lin Yi spent some time and finally made up his mind.
Since the man was there, why would he ignore what was close at hand and take in an imitation?
His most loved one was clearly Bai Yue.
If Xue Ling could hear these thoughts, he would definitely kick this damned scum gong until he was completely and irrevocably dead, unable to get back up again. It would make people feel much better if this kind of scum was dead and cleaned up without fuss.
Xue Ling tossed the scum gong and cheap shou to the back of his head, made sure to complete his daily task of teasing Bai Hao every night, and had a good sleep. He woke up the next day and was told by the system that Lin Yi and Sun Jianan had split up.
Xue Ling was somewhat surprised. He had not expected that Lin Yi would act so righteously and break up with Sun Jianan just because of a single phrase from him. He truly was a promiscuous man. Even if he really broke up with Sun Jianan and got together with Bai Yue, in the end he would definitely still cheat on him because Bai Yue was not as familiar with him as Sun Jianan.
This kind of scum was still scum even if he had a change of heart.
Xue Ling was not interested in the pair anymore after he learned that Sun Jianan had a big fight with Lin Yi and finally moved out of the house that he had bought for him. In order to prevent the two scum from getting back together again in the end, he naturally still had many cards that he could play in his hands. For example, recently his elder brother had already begun to deal with Lin family's businesses and soon, Lin Yi would find that the family business was declining under his hands.
And then, Xue Ling would be able to see if Sun Jianan would still love a golden ticket that did not have money.
Director An had mentioned an introduction, and sure enough, he came to see Xue Ling the next day. Xue Ling hurried out with him, and couldn't have dinner with Bai Hao. This made Bai Hao, who came home every night for dinner ever since his brother came back, feel extremely unhappy. His face was so black that Old Master Bai suspected that someone in the company had been making trouble for him.
"What's wrong with you?" After dinner, Old Master Bai felt it necessary to inquire about his grandson's psychological problems.
Bai Hao did not look at him, but he was sulking.
The old man muttered, "You… You only know how to hold everything in your heart all day long. When will you find a granddaughter-in-law for me who can properly help you relieve your heart's burdens before it becomes too much and crushes it?"
Bai Hao glanced at his grandfather and thought to himself that he already had a granddaughter-in-law, but he couldn't tell him. Otherwise, the old man might really go to visit his ancestors a few years early.
Seeing that he did not speak, Old Master Bai shrugged his shoulders and prepared to go out. Before leaving, he also directed the housekeeper, "Have Little Yue come back and talk with his elder brother more, otherwise it would be bad if he completely blackened in two days."
The housekeeper nodded silently. Recently, the old master spent a lot of time surfing the internet and would occasionally use some slang. He didn't know whether it was good a good thing or not.
editors: alamerysl & BlueBug