Chapter 184 A Clash of Wits [VIP]

Chapter Summary: Did we really have to go this far?

Lanxing Media, Director of Brokerage Office.

After reading the "peaceful termination" document, Liu Rui picked up the pen on the table in front of her, but did not sign it immediately.

She looked up at Ji Binghe across from her.

"Director Ji, the contract expires automatically in three months. Do you really have to be so ruthless?"

Ji Binghe glanced at Liu Rui, her voice cold and devoid of any emotion: "Another option is for the actress and extras you instructed to speak out online, exposing all the things you meticulously planned to do—taking photos of Mu Zhi and President He in physical contact, and orchestrating the exposure of Mu Zhi's relationship and the malicious attacks on Mu Zhi by online trolls—to the internet."

Let netizens judge your actions, and the company's legal team will pursue legal action against you, the mastermind behind this defamation of Mu Zhi.

Liu Rui's face turned deathly pale. She took off her pen cap, and the pen tip hovered above the signature area.

With her head down, she still asked, unwilling to give up, "Does President He know about this?"

"You should feel fortunate and grateful that Mu Zhi does not want her personal matters to take up public resources, and President He respects Mu Zhi's wishes and has not dealt with this matter in the open."

Liu Rui's mind went blank, her vision blurred, and she bit her lip hard, tasting the metallic flavor in her mouth. She snapped out of her daze and signed her name with trembling hands.

"I have one last question."

Liu Rui kept a straight face to avoid showing any sign of losing her composure.

"I want to know when Lanxing Media gave up on me?"

Ji Binghe glanced at Liu Rui speechlessly and said sarcastically, "During the contract period, Lanxing Media will not give up on any artist. You are the one who gave up on yourself."

She took the document that Liu Rui had signed, and while flipping through it, she said expressionlessly, "Since the first year that the company officially announced its operation, you have been the company's top artist. We have made a detailed performance development plan for you, invested a lot of resources in you, and paid more attention to you than Mao Hongjun."

The company has done everything perfectly for you and Mao Hongjun; there is absolutely nothing that they owe us.

As a result, I raised two ungrateful wretches.

Ji Binghe was furious whenever she thought about it; Liu Rui still had the nerve to talk nonsense here.

"The company got you a role in a top-tier TV series, but you complained about the long filming schedule, the dozen or so scenes a day, and the lack of prestige in TV dramas, so you refused. Then you saw that Tai Feng's suspense web series on the Green Apple platform was doing well, so you wanted to collaborate on one too, but it flopped. You refused the movie role they got for you and secretly snatched Mu Zhi's movie resources..."

One thing after another, Liu Rui has made far too many foolish mistakes.

Even now, they still haven't come to their senses.

Ji Binghe: "I think you should reflect on when you stopped putting your heart into acting."

Liu Rui stammered, unable to find a single word to refute.

Ji Binghe didn't look at Liu Rui again, saying she had other things to do and dismissed her.

Liu Rui stood up, feeling both angry and ashamed, and walked towards the door.

Backed by the He Group, Lanxing Media is growing stronger and stronger, with a bright future ahead. Liu Rui, having worked with Lanxing Media for several years, is well aware that the company is dedicated to the career development of its artists, and that staying with Lanxing Media is better than going to other companies...

However, Liu Rui did not feel reluctant or regretful about ending her cooperation with Lanxing Media.

Because she knew that Mu Zhi was very likely to renew her contract with Lanxing Media and would not leave.

Mu Zhi's staying means she will be with He Zhiyue, the real boss of Lanxing Media, and may even become the company's boss's wife in the next few years.

With Mu Zhi around, Liu Rui couldn't bear the thought of herself essentially working for Mu Zhi.

I took the elevator to the office floor.

Liu Rui went into her personal office, packed a few things, and took a bag with her.

The door wasn't closed properly, and employees outside the office area were gossiping, their words drifting in one after another.

"What happened? I heard that Liu Rui's entire team was dismissed."

"Liu Rui brought her team here herself. If she leaves, the company definitely won't keep her team members."

"Doesn't her contract with the company still have a few months left? How did things turn out so ugly?"

"She must have done something that crossed the company's bottom line, like the time she snatched the job... Now that she's been fired, I doubt any other company would dare to take her on."

"She hasn't produced a single decent work in recent years; all she has left is the false aura of an award-winning actress."

"Bang!" The door was pushed open forcefully from the inside, making a loud noise.

The gossipy people immediately fell silent and looked in the direction from which the loud noise came from.

Liu Rui glared coldly in the direction of the gossiping group, then put on her sunglasses and walked away with her head held high.

After leaving the Lanxing Media building.

Liu Rui's shoulders slumped, and she slowly stopped walking. However, she did not turn around. After pausing for a few seconds, she straightened her chest and continued walking towards the parking lot.

She would never allow herself to be like a loser.

But her legs felt weak, and the road ahead was like the gray sunglasses she was wearing—gray and indistinct. She could vaguely make out the direction, but she had no idea what awaited her at the end of that road...

After Liu Rui left, Ji Binghe rubbed her temples.

Although Liu Rui signed a "peaceful termination" agreement with Lanxing Media, her contract had not actually expired. Lanxing Media quickly completed all the procedures with Liu Rui, severing all ties completely.

A couple of days later, the news spread like wildfire within the industry, which was bound to have a significant impact on Liu Rui's search for a new agency. In addition, without the protection of Lanxing Media, some of Liu Rui's negative news could no longer be contained.

Liu Rui's future in the entertainment industry is pretty much over.

If Liu Rui's actions towards Mu Zhi hadn't been made public, it wouldn't have turned into a struggle between the two women.

Even if Mu Zhi is an innocent victim, because of her current status and popularity, she has many fans and many haters. In addition, due to her relationship with He Zhiyue, some outrageous doubts may appear, such as: "Mu Zhi has He Zhiyue backing her up, Liu Rui definitely can't beat her", "Mu Zhi's resources have been very good in recent years, Liu Rui may have encountered unfair treatment and that's why she did this", "The internal strife at Lanxing Media is so terrifying", etc.

The fact that Liu Rui framed Mu Zhi has gone viral and will likely have a devastating negative impact on Liu Rui.

But this might not be a good thing for Mu Zhi.

Two months ago, their "relationship" went viral.

The movie "Claws and Teeth," which was released at the end of last month, is currently showing in theaters.

Another new movie, "Safe Evacuation," is set to be released during the National Day holiday.

Mu Zhi's personal matters should no longer be trending on social media.

Liu Rui was incredibly lucky; she should be secretly pleased with her outcome.

Ji Binghe glanced at the time; at this hour, Mu Zhi should be resting in the waiting area.

I dialed Mu Zhi's number.

"Zhizhi, I've already made an appointment with my English teacher. I'll pick her up tomorrow and we'll go to the dubbing studio together."

Mu Zhi, who was on set, responded with a "Okay".

Filming for the movie "Doomsday Virus" began in early June and has continued until mid-August.

Mu Zhi and the others have been filming in the green screen studio for almost two and a half months, and it's finally coming to an end.

Tomorrow, the crew will move to the Western Film City for location shooting. Mu Zhi happens to be going back to Beicheng to do voice-over work for "All Personnel Safely Evacuated," so she doesn't need to ask for leave.

After finishing work at 6 p.m., Mu Zhi and her team went back to the hotel to pick up some things. Their luggage had been packed the night before, and two staff members were left to take care of it.

Mu Zhi, along with Minmin, bodyguard A Hu, and assistant Xiao Ling, took the last flight and flew back to Beicheng that evening.

The following morning.

Mu Zhi and her agent had arranged a time to meet in the parking lot and go up to the dubbing studio together.

Two weeks ago, Mu Zhi met director Tang Yan at the premiere of "Claws".

Last week, Zhou Zilong made a cameo appearance in the movie "Doomsday Virus" and filmed for a week. The two even acted in scenes together.

So when we met this time, we were all familiar with each other.

Director Tang Yan noticed that the English teacher following Mu Zhi looked familiar and remembered that Mu Zhi had brought her along during filming in China.

Thinking back to a few days ago, Mu Zhi asked if an English teacher was present to supervise the dubbing performance, and learned that no one was, so...

Mu Zhi explained, "I invited my English teacher to come and give me another go. After all, it's been more than half a year since filming wrapped up, and I'm a little worried that I've forgotten all the knowledge I crammed back then."

This time, I played the role of a professional and outstanding translator.

Mu Zhide ensured that his pronunciation of every line and every word during filming and dubbing was standard and professional.

Otherwise, if Zhou Jingwen mispronounces any word or line after the movie is released, it will not only be a joke about her personally, but also a joke about the character.

She couldn't allow the unprofessionalism of the character she portrayed to affect the entire film.

Director Tang Yan nodded in agreement, his appreciation for Mu Zhi growing even stronger.

The film industry needs actors who are meticulous like this. Sometimes the quality control personnel hired by the production team may not be doing their job properly. If there are oversights that are not noticed, it will be too late when the audience points them out after the movie is released.

It is commendable that actors take their roles so seriously and are so dedicated to them.

In the afternoon, the dubbing work was completed.

As soon as Mu Zhi stepped out of the dubbing room, she heard her English teacher praising her: "Teacher Mu's money was wasted. My trip was completely useless."

Mu Zhi smiled slightly: "Because Teacher Xu was there, I felt very safe and performed exceptionally well."

Their back-and-forth banter made Director Tang Yan and Zhou Zilong laugh; it was rare to see Mu Zhi display such a lively and endearing side.

Next, everyone gathered together to discuss the promotional schedule for the roadshow.

The movie "Safe Evacuation" is scheduled for release during the National Day holiday, on September 30.

If the review goes smoothly, we should have a result by the end of August.

The release date announcement was held in early September, and the promotional tour began the next day. The main actors participated in the promotional tour until the day of the release, which lasted for about a month.

As a blockbuster with a huge box office potential, the main creative team for the promotional tour of "All People Safely Evacuated" includes director Tang Yan and the absolute male lead Zhou Zilong, whose two most bankable stars will definitely be involved throughout the entire process.

Many big-name actors also participated, such as the female lead Mu Zhi, and heavyweight stars Liu Jiaxu, Chai Yin, and Du Qianqian in special appearances.

Mu Zhi is currently filming "Doomsday Virus" and it's impossible for her to take a month off to do promotional tours.

Director Wan Zhou had called Tang Yan long ago, telling her not to steal the lead role in his movie.

With his elder brother speaking, Tang Yan naturally dared not make things difficult for Mu Zhi.

In fact, with such a star-studded cast as "Safe Evacuation," it's impossible to have so many big names doing promotional tours together. It would make it difficult to grasp the key points of the film's promotion, let alone have big names serving as background figures or supporting roles for other big names.

Therefore, the production company deliberately staggered the promotional tours for the lead actors.

The crew of "Doomsday Virus" will move to the Western Film City to film until late September, and then move to the next filming location, Qionghai.

Director Tang Yan then scheduled Mu Zhi to join the main creative team for the promotional tour in late September, coinciding with Mu Zhi's transition time. The specific dates were set from September 23rd to the film's release date, the 30th, a total of 8 days.

It takes one more day than "The Claws".

After finishing the dubbing work, Mu Zhi and her group went to have dinner.

After the meal, Ji Binghe escorted Mu Zhi back to Donghua Mansion.

Because this trip back to Beicheng was timed perfectly for the transition period, and filming wouldn't start until the day after tomorrow, Mu Zhi didn't need to rush back to the set that night; she had booked a flight for tomorrow morning.

Ji Binghe told Mu Zhi about the scripts she had received in the past two or three months.

"Several film scripts featuring leading ladies have been submitted, and they are not limited to a single genre. They include fantasy comedy, suspense action, science fiction, and biographical films."

I've sent all the selected scripts to your email. Have Minmin print them out and take a look when you have time.

In the film industry today, most of the big-name actors with box office appeal are limited to a certain type of genre or role. For example, Yue Ge only has appeal in the comedy genre, and he plays comedic roles.

So far in her acting career, the themes of the works she has starred in are:

In terms of television dramas: fantasy dramas and spy dramas;

In terms of movies: youth campus films, road movies, patriotic films, fantasy films, and martial arts films currently in theaters. Each film has a different theme, and the roles played are also different.

From initially being offered the role of an eggplant and then being approached by all sorts of eggplant actors, to now receiving a wide variety of scripts on all sorts of themes, it shows that directors believe Mu Zhi can handle any genre and is not limited to any one type of subject matter.

For Mu Zhi, this gives her more options when choosing roles.

Mu Zhi: "Okay, I think I can finish watching it before filming wraps up."

In late September, Mu Zhi will be doing promotional tours. Once she returns to the film set, she will have to ask the director to schedule more of her scenes each day and film them in a concentrated manner so that she can free up some time for promotional tours.

In this way, the overall filming schedule will not be delayed.

So she didn't have much time to read the script after work.

I need to find time to read these scripts I received.

In late August, the movie "Doomsday Virus" came to the Western Film City for location shooting.

Two well-known actors who made cameo appearances joined the cast and crew, one of whom was the male lead in the sci-fi film "Earth Diary" released a couple of years ago.

Director Wan Zhou is a renowned director, and Lanxing Media is financially powerful, boasting a super-luxurious cast.

Through her observations during filming since joining the crew, Mu Zhi discovered that although director Wan Zhou was directing a science fiction disaster film for the first time, he was by no means a "novice".

In response to Mu Zhi's question, Wan Zhou revealed, "I consulted with several directors who make science fiction films."

So that's how it is. It's really admirable that Wan Zhou, a renowned director in the industry, was willing to humble himself and seek advice from other directors.

In late August, the movie "Safe Evacuation" received good news: it passed censorship and was officially scheduled for release during the National Day holiday.

The release date announcement will be held on September 2nd.

As the female lead, Mu Zhi couldn't be absent, so she asked the crew for a day off.

The night before the press conference, Mu Zhi and her entourage took the last flight back to Beicheng.

For Mu Zhi, the challenges off-screen during the filming of "Doomsday Virus" were greater than those on-screen.

The release of two movies coincided with her schedule, which included dubbing, press conferences, and promotional tours. This meant that she would take a break from filming for a while, fly for a day or two, and then spend a week on promotional tours. It was a tough test for an actor, and she had to calm down and get back into character every time she returned to the set.

Mu Zhi counts down the days, hoping to finish her off-screen work soon so she can focus on filming on set.

On September 2nd, the day of the press conference for the movie "Safe Evacuation".

Mu Zhi got her hair and makeup done early in the morning and drove with her team to the press conference venue.

Ji Binghe accompanied Mu Zhi to today's press conference.

Ji Binghe talked to Mu Zhi about which actors were attending the press conference today. When mentioning Du Qianqian, she added, "I asked Director Tang for a schedule of the main creative team's roadshow. Du Qianqian has a small role but she is quite enthusiastic. She put aside her work to follow the crew for a month."

Mu Zhi casually added, "Maybe he wants to win over Director Tang."

Minmin quickly joined the conversation: "Du Xixi's team attaches great importance to this movie. They're probably counting on it to break into the film industry."

"As soon as the news of the movie's release date announcement came out at the end of the month, I noticed that Du Qianqian's fans were going all out to get tickets to the press conference, wanting the venue to be full of Du's army, claiming that they wanted to give Du Qianqian the treatment of the female lead, to outdo Sister Zhizhi and our fans, and to let Director Tang see whose fans are more numerous and more enthusiastic."

In recent years, Du Xixi's career has not developed well, and the title of one of the "Four Little Flowers" that she worked hard to market has been kicked out.

Du Qianqian has fewer fans than before, but she still has a group of die-hard fans. This is thanks to her team and support management, as well as the close relationship with several major fan groups. She also has professional fan management to maintain the fan group, so this group of die-hard fans is still very enthusiastic.

However, Mu Zhi now enjoys immense popularity and is the female lead in "Safe Evacuation." Most of her fans are relatively laid-back, being fans of the actress, but she also has a group of long-time fans who have been with her since the talent show days, and they are much more enthusiastic.

There's no way we can let Du Xixi's fans ride roughshod over us.

"So today's press conference will definitely be a fan event." Minmin said with pride.

Mu Zhi: ... She surfs the internet and often sees mentions of the new four little flowers, the original four little flowers, the four little flowers plus one, and now the four golden flowers.

In reality, Mu Zhi only had real interactions with Du Qianqian offline, and she only greeted Chi Yue, Liao Yaning, and Xi Qianwen inside the event or on the same stage when receiving awards.

This time, Mu Zhi and Du Qianqian collaborated on the same movie, setting a precedent in recent years for two popular actresses to work together on the same film.

In the upcoming promotional roadshow, the two will likely be compared and discussed extensively.

At the press conference for the movie "Safe Evacuation".

As soon as the creative team entered the venue, the fans shouted "Mu Zhi" at the top of their lungs, creating a deafening roar and demonstrating their extraordinary enthusiasm.

Mu Zhi recalled what Minmin had said on the way here. She glanced at the audience and noticed a dozen or so audience members wearing yellow T-shirts holding banners or signs that read "Du Qianqian." They must be Du Qianqian's fans, wearing matching support outfits.

After Mu Zhi's fans stopped cheering, Du Qianqian's fans defiantly shouted "Du Qianqian" a few times.

The atmosphere among the fans in the audience was somewhat tense.

The segment included interaction with the media and fans present.

Director Tang Yan, Zhou Zilong, Mu Zhi, Chai Yin, and Du Xixi were all invited to the stage.

When the host invited audience members to ask questions, since two Mu Zhi fans had already been called on to interact, and Du Qianqian fans in the audience had been raising their hands very actively, the host then called on one of Du Qianqian fans.

Unexpectedly, the fan of Du Qianqian stood up, took the microphone from the staff, and asked a question not to Du Qianqian, but to Mu Zhi, speaking arrogantly in English.

Mu Zhi plays the role of a translator in the film, which was intentionally designed to test her English proficiency.

[Author's Note]

Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 23:56:42 on October 17, 2022 and 23:58:29 on October 18, 2022!

Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: Ye Zhirou and 40851218 (1 bottle);

Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!