Chapter 678 Excuse

Some people, you need time to see their true character.

But some people, you only need to meet them once to know they're not the kind of person you like.

Lu Yanhe disliked the air of arrogance that Yang Zhoujin subtly exuded.

In fact, Lu Yanhe was well aware that in China, in the eyes of some so-called "powerful and wealthy," celebrities were just actors.

Even though with the development of the times, the assets behind today's top-tier celebrities are far more than those of some so-called tycoons, some outdated ideas are still deeply rooted in the bones of some people.

Lu Yanhe had never directly encountered such a person, let alone someone who expressed such an attitude to him face-to-face. However, he had heard of many such people, and in fact, Yan Liang had told him that he had encountered them.

Li Zhibai's family already has a large group, so even though he has made being an entertainer his main profession, others will not treat him as a purely entertainer.

Although he didn't have such a family background, ever since he passed the college entrance examination and was admitted to Zhenhua University, this prestigious status meant that no one would dare to belittle him as an actor. And when he started screenwriting and producing films and television dramas, even fewer people did that.

Only Yan Liang, in the eyes of these people, truly had no background whatsoever.

He's famous, he's popular, and his starring roles have been consistently hits, even gaining international recognition. However, he's still just an actor, at most a relatively famous one.

Therefore, in some situations, some people directly expressed their "disdain" and "contempt" for Yan Liang.

Lu Yanhe and Li Zhibai had never encountered these things, but Yan Liang had.

Some of these people are good at acting but don't show it much, while others, like Yang Zhoujin, don't act at all.

He completely ignored everyone else present and went straight to Lu Yanhe, as if Lu Yanhe was the only one in the room worthy of sitting and eating with him.

How could Lu Yanhe possibly give him that face?

Those familiar with Lu Yanhe know that he hates this kind of person the most.

-

"I don't know why Zhan Yun likes him."

After Yang Zhoujin left, Yan Liang sighed softly.

Lu Yanhe shook his head and said, "I don't know, but he's handsome and rich, so it's not surprising that Zhan Yun likes him."

Yan Liang nodded: "That's true."

He smiled, looked at Lu Yanhe, and asked, "Although Yang Zhoujin's family isn't in the entertainment industry, they are still a fairly well-known rich second-generation. If you don't give them any face, who knows what they're thinking about you."

“Go ahead and yell at me. If you’re going to hold a grudge about me yelling at you for not agreeing to have dinner with you, I’ll hold a grudge until I die. There are plenty of people who want to have dinner with me.” Lu Yanhe shrugged. “If he weren’t Zhan Yun’s boyfriend, I wouldn’t even bother to be polite and give him face. At least I had a reason.”

"This kind of person was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and he probably never lacks female celebrities throwing themselves at him," Yan Liang said. "In the eyes of this kind of person, the entertainment industry is probably just a place of sensual pleasures and fame."

“Of course, that’s very possible.” Lu Yanhe nodded. “So I think the work is the only thing that matters. That’s absolutely true. As long as you have outstanding works, no one can look down on you. Otherwise, sometimes when faced with someone’s contempt, you really don’t have the confidence to retaliate.”

Yan Liang suddenly nudged Lu Yanhe with his elbow.

“Look.”

Yan Liang gestured for Lu Yanhe to go and see Yin Xincheng.

The latter was sitting in his chair, lost in thought.

Yin Xincheng is usually quite lively, basically the type who is full of energy and has nowhere to vent it. On set, it is rare to see him sitting alone in a daze.

“He must have been hit hard,” Yan Liang said.

Yan Liang had previously said that he thought Yin Xincheng liked Zhan Yun.

The so-called "being hit hard" probably refers to Yin Xincheng meeting Yang Zhoujin and feeling that he was not as good as the latter, so he was a little hit hard.

Lu Yanhe thought to himself, "Wouldn't it affect Yin Xincheng's acting career?"

The unstable factor in the previous season was Yin Xincheng, who went missing once because his girlfriend broke up with him.

Although it's not nice to say it like that, people with a criminal record do tend to cause more worry, just like worrying about a relapse of an old illness.

Out of trust in Yin Xincheng, and also because he didn't want Yin Xincheng to feel that he didn't trust him, despite his worries, Lu Yanhe said nothing and did nothing at this moment.

-

Fortunately, Yin Xincheng did not show any problems during the actual filming process.

The filming still involved occasional laughter and retakes, but the overall atmosphere was very comfortable.

However, for some unknown reason, everyone tacitly avoided mentioning Yang Zhoujin.

Not only did Lu Yanhe not mention it, but the girls didn't mention it either.

Including Zhan Yun.

-

As December arrived, a heavy snowfall ushered in the true winter for everyone.

The second season of "The Seventeen Floors" has also aired one-third of its episodes.

The word-of-mouth and feedback for this season have declined slightly compared to the first season.

This is something that cannot be avoided. Of ten sequels, nine are less well-received than their predecessors.

The fact that the second season of "The Seventeen Floors" managed to maintain its reputation and avoid being considered a flop is already quite an achievement.

During the promotion of this drama, Chen Ziyan did not do any publicity or marketing for Lu Yanhe. This was mainly because Lu Yanhe had been in the spotlight non-stop recently, and the popularity of the drama "Seventeen Floors" itself, as well as Lu Yanhe's own star effect, had already kept him in a high level of exposure. There was no need to do any additional publicity or marketing.

Lu Yanhe is no longer a young actor on the rise; he needs additional, planned exposure to boost his career.

In fact, throughout the promotion of the second season of "The Seventeen Floors", Beijing TV did not focus its publicity efforts on Lu Yanhe. Lu Yanhe understood this, since he had hardly cooperated with Beijing TV in any promotion.

Li Yuefeng's return is a major highlight of the second season of "The Seventeenth Floor," but also a major point of contention. The trope of resurrecting twins in a sequel has become cliché, and the better Li Yuefeng's character arc was in the first season, the more viewers disliked him in the second season due to his desire for "revenge" and his attempts to cause trouble for the main characters.

However, as the truth is gradually revealed later, when the audience learns that Li Yuefeng had reached an agreement with the main characters from the beginning to deceive the game designers by "pretending to be opposed" in order to fight against the mastermind behind these deadly games, there will be a big change for both his character and him.

Chen Ziyan said, "Li Yuefeng's character arc is actually much better than yours. Your character is still more stereotypical, and the changes are not big enough. Unlike Li Yuefeng, even though the show hasn't aired yet, I can roughly guess what kind of promotional rhythm his character will have later."

Lu Yanhe nodded: "It would be great if he could take another step forward through the second season of 'The Seventeenth Floor'."

Li Yuefeng's ambition and his willingness to work hard earned him Lu Yanhe's respect. Lu Yanhe was willing to let Li Yuefeng reap greater publicity benefits than him when he didn't want unnecessary exposure.

Everything was going well until Beijing TV was discussing the performance contract for the third season with Lu Yanhe. During the show's promotional materials, Beijing TV revealed some information—

Chen Pinhe's character will appear in the third season, serving as a teaser for a spin-off series starring him.

Lu Yanhe and Chen Ziyan were immediately unable to sign the contract.

-

"Is it because you're not satisfied with the pay?" As soon as Jiang Lan heard that Lu Yanhe was having trouble signing the contract, she immediately called Chen Ziyan.

Chen Ziyan said, "It's not about the salary. If you want to develop a spin-off series, that's fine. However, having the male lead of the spin-off series appear from the third season ruins the original plan for the third season. We don't want to see a character being added to the script of the third season so abruptly."

Jiang Lan was taken aback, completely unprepared for this question.

Chen Ziyan continued, "The third season is the final season. This story has a very complete setting from the beginning. Jiang Tai and Yan He were willing to continue to act in the third season because of their trust in Director Lian Bei and their professional ethics as actors to fully portray a character. But if you don't care about the integrity of this story and want to destroy the original setting of the script in order to develop a spin-off series, then there is no need for us to continue acting. What do you think?"

Jiang Lan never expected that the appearance of a spin-off character starring Chen Pinhe in the third season of "The Seventeen Floors" would provoke such strong opposition from Lu Yanhe's side.

However, Jiang Lan didn't think of anything else.

Lu Yanhe is known for his high standards when it comes to scripts.

A few days ago, Lu Yanhe made headlines for choosing Yang Shiyi, a relatively unknown stage actor, instead of Li Yuefeng, a popular A-list actor who was interested in starring in "Rouge".

Jiang Lan didn't think otherwise; she genuinely believed that Lu Yanhe didn't want the script for the third season to be ruined.

She quickly took the script outline for the third season to the Friends set, wanting to discuss the matter with him in person.

She wanted to tell Lu Yanhe that even if Chen Pinhe's character was given a role in the third season, it wouldn't be much, just a few scenes to warm up the spin-off series, and it would definitely not disrupt the overall integrity of the drama.

Lu Yanhe shook his head again.

“Excuse me, Director Jiang, let me give you an example. The male lead you invited for the spin-off series is Chen Pinhe. Even if he only appears in a few scenes, as long as he appears, the focus will be on him,” Lu Yanhe said. “This will seriously damage the aura of the main characters in ‘The Seventeenth Floor.’ This is different from a cameo. As soon as everyone sees his character, they will clearly know, ‘Although this story has ended, it’s not over yet. We will continue to film it.’ At least within the ‘The Seventeenth Floor’ worldview, the integrity of our story will be destroyed.”

Jiang Lan was a little frustrated because she found that she couldn't quite understand what Lu Yanhe was saying.

However, Lu Yanhe's past glorious achievements made Jiang Lan subconsciously wonder if it was her fault that she didn't understand what Lu Yanhe was saying.

-

In fact, Lu Yanhe knew how far-fetched his reason was.

But this was the most respectable reason he and Chen Ziyan could find.

In short, Lu Yanhe and Chen Ziyan reached a consensus not to act in the third season of "The Seventeen Floors" with Chen Pinhe.

The two of them were actually considering the same things.

Nobody knows what kind of trouble might arise if he and Chen Pinhe act in a drama together, especially one set in Beijing and Taiwan.

Judging from their previous encounters, once they start fighting, neither of them will stop.

What if they end up in the same frame again?

Once cooperation begins, this may be unavoidable.

There are too many unpredictable things after cooperation, and the impact is difficult to estimate.

Lu Yanhe could only refuse to appear with Chen Pinhe in the third season for this reason.

-

Jiang Lan was completely baffled, and after returning home, she found it even more outrageous.

For the sake of the integrity of a work, even the male lead of a spin-off series can't make a few appearances?

In the film and television industry, this is a very common practice, whether in movies or TV series.

Jiang Lan had a vague feeling that something was wrong.

Having dealt with Lu Yanhe so many times before, she had never felt that Lu Yanhe had any obsessive-compulsive tendencies in this regard.

"Could it be that Lu Yanhe doesn't want to act in the third season, so he's deliberately using this as an excuse to quit?"

When she discussed this matter with the station director, Shen Tailin, she expressed her own thoughts.

Shen Tailin smiled enigmatically before saying, "If you get Chen Pinhe to appear in the third season of 'The Seventeen Floors,' Lu Yanhe will be a liar."

"Huh?" Jiang Lan naturally understood Shen Tailin's implication and asked, "What's wrong? Is there a conflict between Lu Yanhe and Chen Pinhe? I haven't heard of it before."

Shen Tailin said, "Contradictory? Hehe, you can understand it that way too. If you want Lu Yanhe to act in the third season, then give up the idea of ​​having Chen Pinhe appear in the third season. Let me tell you this, Lu Yanhe will absolutely not act in this show with Chen Pinhe."

Jiang Lan is really strange.

Why would Shen Tailin say that?

Lu Yanhe and Chen Pinhe have never worked together before, so where does their conflict come from?

Jiang Lan had no choice but to try to find out from her own information channels what kind of grudge Lu Yanhe and Chen Pinhe had.

A friend who works in the media industry said, "You didn't know this? The male lead for the movie 'Doomsday' was originally intended to be Chen Pinhe, but for some reason, he refused to act in it, and then Jiang Jun took over the movie. Don't you remember who was the third-ranked producer of this movie?"

Jiang Lan suddenly realized.

"Jiang Jun was able to get this movie mainly because Lu Yanhe was pulling the strings behind the scenes," the friend said. "I even heard a version, but I can't guarantee whether it's true or not. It's said that Lune Reese, the director of 'Doomsday,' initially wanted Lu Yanhe for the male lead, but the executives at Parameter chose Chen Pinhe. Anyway, the two of them must have clashed before, they just didn't make it public."

Jiang Lan: "I understand."

She felt helpless.

She called Chen Ziyan.

“Yan He and Chen Pinhe have a grudge, you should have just told me,” Jiang Lan said. “If I hadn’t learned about ‘Destruction Day’ from a friend, I wouldn’t have known that you two had been at odds. If I had known, I wouldn’t have suggested having Chen Pinhe make a guest appearance in the third season.”

Chen Ziyan was completely confused when she received the call, but then she realized, "Doomsday" can be used like this?"

Wait a minute, so does this mean that Lu Yanhe and Chen Pinhe can now have a legitimate reason to fight?

One of the most troublesome things for Chen Ziyan was the public relationship between Lu Yanhe and Chen Pinhe. Neither of them wanted to reveal their true relationship, but it was also an undeniable fact that they couldn't even pretend to be together. This made many things seem very strange to outsiders.

For example, in the case of the third season of "The Seventeenth Floor," Lu Yanhe refused to act, but he couldn't explain why. He could only come up with a ridiculous reason to justify his actions.

Chen Ziyan coughed lightly and said, "How can we say this directly? Besides, Chen Pinhe's side was really dishonest. Lu Nei's initial choice was Lu Yanhe, but Chen Pinhe somehow managed to get Parameter to choose him instead. It's one thing to compete domestically, but to try and steal roles overseas is another."

Jiang Lan sighed, "Now that you mention it, I can understand why you were so adamant about not wanting to act in the third season of 'The Seventeen Floors' with Chen Pinhe."

Chen Ziyan: "You know, Chen Pinhe is a senior, so we can't really say anything bad about him or complain about him."

“Yes,” Jiang Lan said. “I understand. I won’t let Chen Pinhe appear in the third season. As for Yan He, let’s continue with his contract.”

"Since we've already discussed this, fine. We need to add a clause to our contract for the third season."

"What terms?" Jiang Lan asked.

"There's a clause preventing Chen Pinhe from appearing in this drama," Chen Ziyan said.

Jiang Lan took a deep breath.

"All right."

After hanging up the phone, Jiang Lan shook her head.

"These celebrities are really hard to deal with."

Then, Jiang Lan suddenly realized something else.

Chen Pinhe snatched the role from Lu Yanhe. Instead of trying to win the role back, Lu Yanhe became the producer and let Jiang Jun get the role.

This is much more difficult than him directly taking the role.

At this moment, Jiang Lan suddenly wanted to know how Lu Yanhe had managed to do all that.

Chen Ziyan told Lu Yanhe about it immediately.

"It was completely beyond my expectations. For no reason at all, Jiang Lan used the Doomsday incident as a reason for your unwillingness to act with Chen Pinhe in the third season." Chen Ziyan said seriously, "But this incident did inspire me. In the future, we can use this incident as a reason to refuse to cooperate with Chen Pinhe."

After listening to Chen Ziyan's explanation, Lu Yanhe thought for a moment and said, "Okay, no problem."

“However, this might slightly affect your reputation in the industry, because it’s perfectly normal for actors to compete for roles, especially when nothing is finalized yet. If you keep dwelling on this, it makes you seem too petty. Of course, there are plenty of actors who hold grudges about having roles taken from them and never let it go,” Chen Ziyan said. “Anyway, that’s the situation, and I’m making it clear to you first.”

“Mm,” Lu Yanhe said. “I understand, Sister Ziyan. I think this is a good idea.”

“Okay, then we’ll use that as our excuse from now on.” Chen Ziyan breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m relieved. At least I don’t have to rack my brains for excuses every time.”

Lu Yanhe laughed, "You've had a hard time, Sister Ziyan."

"It really put me in a difficult position, I'm not exaggerating at all," Chen Ziyan said confidently. "Fortunately, Lu Qingzhen helped me think of things."

"Does Sister Qingzhen also know about me and Chen Pinhe?"

“She doesn’t know,” Chen Ziyan said. “I just need to tell her that I don’t want you to cooperate with Chen Pinhe. She won’t ask why, she will just help me think of reasons. This is the tacit understanding between us after knowing each other for many years.”

"You and Sister Qingzhen have a really good relationship."

“Of course, you have friends like Li Zhibai and Yan Liang, and I have friends like Lu Qingzhen,” Chen Ziyan said.

Lu Yanhe laughed.

-

To Lu Yanhe's surprise, the news quickly reached Chen Bige's ears.

Chen Bige called Lu Yanhe in surprise and asked, "Do you have a conflict with Chen Pinhe?"

Lu Yanhe: "Yes, Sister Bige, where did you hear that from?"

“I heard it from my agent. I heard that you had some problems negotiating your contract for the third season with Jingtai,” Chen Bige asked. “How did you and Chen Pinhe have such a big conflict that you don’t want to work together anymore? Do you need me to help mediate?”

"No need." Lu Yanhe refused directly. "Sister Bige, it's alright. This is between him and me, so please don't interfere."

Chen Bige: "Alright then."

Chen Bige then said, "Wouldn't you be very upset if he were to act in a spin-off of 'The Seventeen Floors'?"

"I wouldn't call it being depressed, but I am definitely unhappy," Lu Yanhe said frankly. "However, there's nothing I can do. I don't own the copyright to 'The Seventeenth Floor,' and I don't want to continue acting in this series."

The implication is that if he held the copyright, or if he intended to continue starring in the series, he would absolutely not allow Chen Pinhe to be involved in it.

Upon hearing this, Chen Bige pondered for a moment and asked, "What exactly is the reason for such a deep conflict between you and him? Is it just because of the movie 'Doomsday'?"

"It's just the same old stuff anyway," Lu Yanhe said. "Sister Bige, it's okay. Like I said, this is between him and me. Don't let it affect your relationship and cooperation with him."

Chen Bige: "Cooperate? I'm not willing to cooperate with him either."

"Huh?" Lu Yanhe was taken aback. "Why?"

Chen Bige said, "On the surface, he is a good man, but in reality, he has cheated on his wife many times. When I worked with him before, I even happened to see him bring his assistant into his room late at night."

"Huh?" Lu Yanhe was taken aback.

“I had only been in the industry for a short time at that time,” Chen Bige said. “Although I wouldn’t call myself a chaste and virtuous woman, at least I never lied to anyone or cheated on someone. You know how disgusting he is. Once, he was photographed with someone and insisted that the person was his cousin, someone he grew up with, which is why they had intimate behavior. But I know that’s not true at all.”

Lu Yanhe opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but couldn't say anything.

At one point, he even wanted to ask Chen Bige who the assistant he had met was.

But he immediately stopped talking.

Lu Yanhe was already twenty-three years old, while Chen Bige was not yet thirty-six. Even if she debuted early, she certainly wouldn't have met his mother. Lu Yanhe knew that Chen Bige hadn't debuted as a child star.

Nevertheless, at this moment, Lu Yanhe felt a tightness in his chest and a strange sense of unease.

Fearing that he would reveal his presence to Chen Bige and that she would overhear something, he immediately made an excuse, saying that he had to film a movie, and hung up the phone.

He sat in the chair, feeling completely lost for a few seconds, before slowly regaining his composure and rationality.

It's nothing, I should have thought of this a long time ago.

That's normal.

nothing.

Lu Yanhe took a deep breath.

(End of this chapter)