Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Gu Xu left the bar and got into the driver's seat, heading to a lounge bar.

The lounge bar wasn't crowded, with only a few tables occupied. One table had four young men, all in their early twenties, wearing white T-shirts and shorts, radiating the youthful energy of college students.

One of them, keen-eyed, spotted Gu Xu and let out a "Shh—" before whistling to the person next to him, "Lin Qing, your ride's here."

The boy referred to as Lin Qing put down his bottle, his face slightly red, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, handsome and sunny.

He got off the high stool and walked over to Gu Xu, smiling, "Brother Xu!"

Gu Xu responded with a nonchalant "Hmm."

"Hope I didn't bother you calling so late?" Lin Qing said, then turned back to wave goodbye to his friends before walking out of the lounge bar side by side with Gu Xu.

Gu Xu: "I was just nearby."

Once in the car, he said, "For stuff like this, call Xu Fei next time."

Lin Qing, sitting beside him, nonchalantly said "Oh," clearly not taking the advice to heart.

After dropping off Lin Qing, Gu Xu also returned home. He sat on the sofa, rubbing his tired eyes, and was about to turn on the TV when he noticed a file on the living room table.

The file was labeled "Lu Yan" in neat handwriting.

Seeing the name reminded him that it was probably the Lu Yan information prepared by his assistant. He opened the file, and the first thing that greeted him was a professional photo of Lu Yan in a white shirt and suit pants, adjusting a watch on his wrist, seemingly part of a watch advertisement for some brand.

Lu Yan's features were already close to perfect, and under the play of light and shadow, his profile was sharp and refined.

The white shirt clung to his muscular frame, with a leather belt accentuating his waistline, making him look lean yet strong.

Twenty-seven years old, five years in the industry, graduated from B University... oh, a top graduate.

Five years without touching a movie, all TV dramas, each a ratings success as the lead.

Not many advertisements, only two endorsements, both from relatively well-known light luxury brands.

Rarely involved in scandals, most of which were quickly cleared up post-promotion.

...

This was a man with a clear roadmap for his life.

Gu Xu's slender fingers tapped lightly on the professional photo, and after a moment's thought, he made a call to his assistant.

The assistant answered quickly, "Mr. Gu."

"I'll be there for Lu Yan's signing tomorrow."

*

After reading the script, Lu Yan realized his phone was bombarded with messages.

"You're signing with Sheng Ming???"

"Even if you're not renewing with me, there's no need to go to Sheng Ming, a company that's less than six months old, it's not going to do you any good, Xiao Yan, don't make a rash decision."

"The company's boss's focus isn't even in the entertainment industry, you're just making things difficult for yourself, aren't you?"

"Even if you must sign with Sheng Ming, why do it in the middle of the night?!"

Lu Yan was at a loss for words. He had blocked no less than ten numbers in the past few days, yet he still couldn’t avoid Xu Ze’s relentless messages.

Moreover, he had no idea what Xu Ze was talking about. Lin An had indeed agreed on the terms with Ming Sheng, but the signing was scheduled for tomorrow afternoon.

He picked up the script once more and skimmed through it. The script, titled *War Song*, was personally delivered by Director Chen Jing, whom he knew somewhat. Chen Jing was renowned for his strictness with his works. When Lu Yan first debuted, he had gone through a lot under Chen Jing’s direction. A script he personally delivered must be something extraordinary. Lu Yan spent the whole night reading it, and indeed, the script was excellent, with a rich plot and distinct character personalities.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, this movie would be his first foray into the film industry, and he had to make it a standout success.

Finding such a great script put Lu Yan in an especially good mood, and for once, he actually replied to a message.

“Why don’t you just get lost?”

The next day, Lu Yan went to Ming Sheng with Lin An.

Looking at the towering building in front of him, Lin An smirked: “Damn, Ming Sheng is over the top. A company that’s only been around for a few months, and their building has so many more floors than Star Entertainment’s?!”

Lu Yan adjusted his mask.

Lin An: “With such a huge building, I doubt they even have fifty employees.”

But Lin An was quickly proven wrong.

Not only was the staff fully equipped and more numerous than expected, but from the first to the seventh floor—using the elevator—they actually ran into six up-and-coming stars.

The term ‘minor celebrities’ refers not to their fame but to the fact that they were all recent debutantes. These newcomers had already made a mark in the entertainment industry, and even Lu Yan could recognize a few of them.

Lin An marveled as they went: “He/She is actually with Ming Sheng?!”

“This girl is really funny. I nearly died laughing watching her amusement park episode.”

“This guy has a great voice. I heard he’s about to release his second album.”

“This guy was in your last drama! Though it was a minor villain role, he played it so repulsively.”

Later, they found out that before they came to sign the contract, Ming Sheng had just held a small meeting, which was why so many of their stars were gathered together.

Lu Yan’s initial plan to just sign and leave shifted slightly.

As soon as they entered the meeting room, the person in charge of the signing arrived, but he stayed in the background. The first to enter the meeting room was a man wearing a navy blue suit.

The man had handsome features, a tall stature, and an aura that subtly lowered the atmosphere in the room as soon as he entered.

With a slight smile, he extended his hand to Lu Yan and introduced himself simply: “Gu Xu.”

Just a simple name, without any additional descriptions, not even a ‘I am’ in front.

A handsome and somewhat arrogant man—that was Lu Yan’s first impression of Gu Xu.

Lu Yan politely stood up and shook the man’s hand: “Hello, I’m Lu Yan.”

After the greetings, the four of them sat down, and Lin An and the employee in charge of the signing began discussing the contract details.

Lin An: “We’ve looked over the contract, and there are basically no major issues, just... in terms of resources...”

Lin An had spent some time researching after returning yesterday. In terms of the split, they were getting the highest offer among all the proposals they had received, which he was quite satisfied with. However, Ming Sheng hadn’t included any clauses like ‘will allocate resources properly.’

With Lu Yan being so sought after, any other company would be eager to shower him with resources. With his current popularity, in a year or two, he could smoothly step into the public’s perception as an industry god, standing shoulder to shoulder with many top-tier celebrities.

The employee in charge of the signing was highly experienced, having been poached from another company at a high price. He put on a professional smile: “What resources does Lu Yan not have now? Resources must be coming to him on their own. Why would there be a need to specifically outline them in the contract?”

Lin An smiled and said, "The weather is unpredictable, right? With so many uncertainties in the world, we definitely want to have a backup plan."

The employee replied, "You're being humble. Actually, we didn't include such terms in the contract because we didn't want to constrain Lu Yan's development. Our company is still in its early stages, so we don't have that many resources. But we will definitely do our best to support Lu Yan."

This sounded logical, and Lin An was momentarily swayed. But Lu Yan got the message: the company wouldn't favor him.

Just as Lin An was feeling confused, Gu Xu spoke up.

"I have a lot of resources," he said, bypassing the two who were discussing the contract and looking directly at Lu Yan, who had been quiet the whole time. "But I won't give you any special favors."

Lin An: "..."

The employee, who had been carefully choosing his words: "???"

The employee quickly added, "But our company can definitely give you more than Star Entertainment."

Lu Yan smiled lightly and didn't say much. "Alright, the contract looks good. We can sign it now. Mr. Gu, let's wrap this up quickly? I have an appointment to catch later."

Lin An: "???"

Lu Yan, where's your usual fire?!

Gu Xu raised an eyebrow but didn't seem too surprised.

After signing the contract, Lu Yan got up to leave. Gu Xu watched Lu Yan walk away and chuckled softly, his eyes full of interest.

As soon as they got into the elevator, Lin An couldn't keep quiet.

"Dude, they straight up said they wouldn't give you special treatment, and you just signed without a second thought? Do you know how generous the contracts from other companies are? It's like they're promising the moon," Lin An said, wide-eyed. "You... you're not hiding some secret deal with the new company, are you?"

Lin An could only think of this possibility, and the more he thought about it, the more horrified he became. "If it's true, you better tell me. Don't pull a Xu Ze, where I only found out after you broke up. And I have to watch out for you guys getting caught by the paparazzi or something."

Lu Yan had his reasons for agreeing so quickly, but it was just a vague idea, and he didn't plan to explain.

"You know it's just empty promises," he rolled his eyes. "With your imagination, you're wasted as my manager. You should be a scriptwriter. I'd definitely star in the dramas you write."

Lin An: "Oh... but speaking of Xu Ze, he's got connections, so we can't mess with him. But we can mess with Liu Xing'an. Should I call 'Misty City' and ask them to reduce his scenes?"

Ever since Lin An heard the reason for Lu Yan's contract termination, he had been furious, as if his own son had been bullied. He kept talking about getting revenge for Lu Yan.

'Misty City' was a TV drama Lu Yan had just finished filming. Liu Xing'an played the fourth male lead. Considering the timing, it should be around the time the crew is editing.

Lu Yan played with his phone, his voice muffled by the mask. "Don't. His scenes are already few. If you go and cut them, it's just pitiful."

Lin An clicked his tongue. "Right now, you look like the white lotus female lead in a drama, who gets her man stolen but still smiles and forgives him."

"If he can steal him, that's a skill," Lu Yan said. "I like people with skills, in any aspect. Why don't you call and ask them to add more scenes for him?"

Lin An said expressionlessly, "Why is the water green? Because Lu Yan is washing his hair upstream."

Lu Yan: "Shut up."

On the way to the set, Lu Yan opened Weibo out of boredom and found that it was in an uproar.

A female star was exposed by the paparazzi for cheating during her marriage. The photo showed the two kissing passionately, and the paparazzi had drawn a big circle around the female star's head with an arrow pointing to her, along with a hard photo of her.

The last picture in the news was a meme with a green hat photoshopped on its head, with a line of text: "Of course, choose to forgive her."

Lu Yan: "..."

He pressed the lock button hard and closed his eyes in annoyance.

Lu Yan indeed had no feelings for Xu Ze. In fact, if Lin An hadn't brought it up today, he would have forgotten about the idiot who bombarded him with messages yesterday.

But this sudden green hat didn't sit well with him either.