That night's farce nourished many impulsive thoughts that need not be mentioned for now. The main screenwriter of Spy struggled as he held onto Director Zeng Mingson: “Director Zeng, now that Zhong Ruanxing has become the biggest investor in the crew, should I give her more scenes?”
After all, Zhong Ruanxing's role, though the second female lead, did not have that many scenes. She only showed up to collect her paycheck in the latter half.
The third female lead was someone the investor had inserted into the production, and her scenes were almost catching up to Zhong Ruanxing's. Treating the biggest shareholder of the crew like this did seem inappropriate.
Zeng Mingson rejected the idea without a second thought: “No need. Her current scenes are just right. I don't think she's the kind of person who cares about screen time.”
Since the director said no, the screenwriter did not bring it up again.
Although the producer had notified everyone before the end of the dinner party not to spread word of what happened in the private room, there were simply too many people present. Adding to that the servers waiting at the door, more or less everyone heard a little and talked a little about Song Lecheng's loud shouting.
Within minutes of Song Jinxing returning to his room, his excited agent Ruan Ting rushed over: “Ruanxing, did anyone give you trouble tonight?!”
It was almost time for the biological clock Zhong Ruanxing had set for herself to sleep. She felt a little tired leaning against the sofa and pinched the bridge of her nose: “It's been taken care of. Don't worry.”
Recalling the scene she just heard about, Ruan Ting thought her artist was so cool.
Song Jinxing relaxed his brow ridges. When he lifted his head, he met his agent's gaze of admiration.
Ruan Ting said solemnly: “Ruanxing, you are my idol from now on!” Then, as if by magic, she took out a promotional photo Zhong Ruanxing had previously taken for Yunshan advertisements from her pocket: “Can I have your autograph?!”
Song Jinxing: “......”
He suddenly recalled Zhong Ruanxing telling him wistfully about how unknown she was, not even having a fan ask for her autograph after so many years in the industry. His expression unconsciously softened, a smile on his face as he took the photo from Ruan Ting: “This is the first time I'm giving someone an autograph.”
Ruan Ting was overjoyed: “Really?!” She carefully tucked the autographed photo into her pocket after scrutinizing it: “Then I’m your first fan! From now on, I’m both your agent and your fan! I’m going to make you famous all over Asia!”
Song Jinxing laughed.
After washing up and getting into bed, the first thing he told Zhong Ruanxing when he called her was: “You have a fan now.”
Over the phone, her laughter was bright and clear: “It should be your fan. She was captivated by your charm.”
After some small talk, Zhong Ruanxing asked about what happened tonight: “I heard you taught Song Lecheng a lesson on my behalf?”
Of course Feng Ling would not overstep his superior to deal with a Song family son. Right after hanging up the phone, he immediately reported what he knew of the situation to Zhong Ruanxing.
As soon as Zhong Ruanxing heard it, she understood what was going on. In the past, that scumbag Song Lecheng sabotaged her resources in a roundabout way, but now he wasn't even trying to cover it up, shamelessly going about it overtly.
She told Feng Ling to handle it as he saw fit. Feng Ling naturally knew what his boss meant and what to do next.
Dealing with small fries like Song Lecheng didn’t even require the boss to get her hands dirty! Otherwise why pay them high salaries to work for her, if not to share her burdens?
Song Jinxing felt he was responsible for Song Lecheng’s arrogant bullying because of his own poor judgment. His tone carried a tinge of apology: “He won't appear before you again in the future.”
By ordinary logic, Song Lecheng was someone from the Song family, borrowing power from the Songs. Ultimately, the repression Zhong Ruanxing had endured over the years actually came from the Songs. It would be understandable if she harbored resentment against the Songs, the Song family, or even Song Jinxing himself.
Would she?
Zhong Ruanxing naturally picked up on his meaning and felt a little amused, while also feeling soft inside. What did any of that have to do with him? Zhong Ruanxing had always been fair in her grudges, never displacing her anger. “Song Jinxing, you are the most gentlemanly person I’ve met.”
Song Jinxing knew she understood what he meant. The taut string in his heart finally relaxed as he said solemnly: “I apologize on behalf of the Songs. This kind of thing will never happen again in the future.”
By ordinary logic, Song Lecheng was someone from the Song family, borrowing power from the Songs. At the root of it, the repression Zhong Ruanxing had endured over the years actually came from the Songs. It would be understandable if she harbored resentment against the Songs, the Song family, or even Song Jinxing himself.
Would she?
Zhong Ruanxing naturally picked up on his meaning and felt a little amused, while also feeling soft inside. What did any of that have to do with him? Zhong Ruanxing had always been fair in her grudges, never displacing her anger. “Song Jinxing, you are the most gentlemanly person I’ve met.”
Song Jinxing knew she understood what he meant. The taut string in his heart finally relaxed as he said solemnly: “I apologize on behalf of the Songs. This kind of thing will never happen again in the future.”
Zhong Ruanxing smiled and said amiably: “Then I'll believe you.”
The voice over the phone was solemn: “You can believe me.”
...
The next morning, Song Jinxing attended the opening ceremony with the rest of the cast and crew.
After last night, many people took the initiative to chat with him today. Even Kou An’an greeted him first: “Had breakfast yet?”
Song Jinxing gave a slight nod. His cold and powerful aura still made Kou An’an abandon the thought of getting closer to him by going out together.
Kou An’an’s assistant was a little dissatisfied: “What’s she acting so arrogant for?”
Kou An’an glanced coldly at her assistant. The assistant immediately shut her mouth and didn’t dare say anything more.
She didn’t feel Zhong Ruanxing was arrogant at all. Having reached her status, she had seen and experienced much more. She had encountered many truly arrogant people, and Zhong Ruanxing was different from them.
It seemed to be... an innate coldness that naturally made people not dare get close.
She hadn't worked with Zhong Ruanxing before and didn't expect her to be this kind of person. Kou An'an was lost in thought.
At the filming site, many reporters were already waiting. Naturally, everyone’s focus was on Kou An’an and Yu Lin. Some were also fiercely snapping photos of the bare-faced Zhong Ruanxing, who was still stunningly beautiful just standing there.
However, behind the group of reporters, there were quite a few girls holding up signs, shaking their support items, and shouting a name loud enough to drown out Kou An'an’s popularity.
Yu Lin was a little unhappy as the most senior actor on set whose words held weight: “Whose fans are being so ill-mannered?”
Of course he heard the name being shouted, yet deliberately didn't say it out, wanting to make the other party feel embarrassed this way.
The actor playing the second male lead Guan Yuanzhou, who was standing next to Song Jinxing, turned red as pig's liver. “Teacher Yu, I'm sorry. Let me go over and tell them to quiet down. I really apologize for this.”
In fact, he had been hinting for his fans to stay quiet, but this was the first time since his idol debut that he was filming. His fans were excited. Idol fans were naturally quite mad, and cheering was their way of showing support for their idol. They didn't understand on-set etiquette and only wanted their idol to feel their passionate support.
After Guan Yuanzhou left, Yu Lin lamented to Kou An'an in a seemingly regretful manner: “We didn't have all these tricks when we were filming in the past. Everyone was proper and treated acting seriously as a profession. Now it's more open, all kinds of people can come in and have a go, bringing in quite a bit of bad style.”
Kou An'an just smiled without replying. Although she was very popular, it was more among the general public. When it came to fans, she definitely couldn't compete with top flow idols who debuted through idol survival shows.
Let alone veteran actors like Yu Lin who basically only had passerby-level popularity and no real fans.
Song Jinxing frowned imperceptibly.
He didn't really understand why seniors would be so jealous of juniors like this. In the same field, with no conflict of interest, seniors should be more caring towards juniors. The girls who liked Guan Yuanzhou were young. It wasn’t like they could become fans of Yu Lin, who was about the same age as their fathers.
No wonder Zhong Ruanxing had specifically singled out this person to introduce to him before joining the crew, saying...
Great skills, petty mindset. Keep your distance for safety.
The crew interrupted the little clash on stage: “Come on, come closer. Let’s take a group photo.”
Naturally for a group photo, the male and female leads stood in the center with the director, producer etc. The rest lined up according to their billing.
As second female lead, Song Jinxing’s position was quite good.
The opening ceremony photo was proof of billing that fans would scrutinize. It was also the group photo that would be shown to online viewers when promoting the film, so positioning was important.
By the time Guan Yuanzhou came back after placating his fans, the positions had all been set. It was packed shoulder to shoulder with no room for him. He pursed his lips and lowered his head to walk to the furthest edge.
Suddenly, he heard a cold, clear voice call him: “Come stand here.”
Guan Yuanzhou looked back to see the second female lead who always had a cold face make space beside her, an aloof gaze on him. If she hadn't been looking at him, Guan Yuanzhou would have thought she wasn't talking to him.
Realizing what was happening, his eyes suddenly lit up and he strode over: “Thank you, Sister Ruanxing!”