At seven o'clock that evening, Jiang Dao followed Zhu Yao into a private room in the hotel where they were staying.
By the time Li Cheng and the bigwigs from the financing side had all entered the venue, it was already past 7:30. There was not only Jiang Dao but also two other young male actors from other companies, both in their early twenties, and looked well-behaved and handsome.
The person who built the bridge for Galaxy Media was one of the investors, who ranked third among the four big investors present. But he is most familiar with Li Cheng, so he speaks with confidence.
At such a drinking party, although everyone knows that they are there for resources, no one will talk about business right away. Instead, they will just start the conversation with some beautiful scenery, delicious food, romance, etc.
It was not until three rounds of drinks that the topic of conversation at the table gradually turned to the three artists present.
"Xiao Gu is a good kid."
Li Cheng was slightly tipsy, but obviously not drunk. However, his temperament was completely different from that in the audition room. His eyes fell on several artists, with more scrutiny and judgment than appreciation.
"At first glance, he's a good kid, clean and sweet... It may be difficult for him to play the leading role in the future, but he will definitely have no problem playing the role of the popular second male lead."
The male artist named Gu who was sitting next to him immediately smiled sweetly at Li Cheng: "Thank you Li Dao for the compliment! I am very lucky to be able to work with you, and I am not greedy."
Li Cheng smiled, picked up the wine glass and raised it towards him.
Xiao Gu immediately picked up the cup and took a big sip with a red face.
On the side, an investor named Wang asked with a smile: "What about us? Director Li, can you give us some comments?"
Li Cheng smiled and said, "Qi Jiayun... is actually not bad. It's just that he's a little less recognizable, but he's also a good kid. If he can make a breakthrough in his acting skills, he'll have a bright future."
Upon hearing this, Qi Jiayun immediately raised his glass: "Thank you, Mr. Li. I'll toast you. Please feel free to drink!"
As he said this, he raised his neck and drank the full glass of wine.
Seeing him drinking wine like this, Li Cheng looked a little unhappy. He took a sip from the edge of the glass, put down the glass, and turned his gaze to Jiang Dao.
Zhu Yao kicked Jiang Dao under the table.
Jiang Dao raised his eyes and reluctantly put down the half-eaten taro roll in his chopsticks.
Li Cheng smiled: "Xiaodao is straightforward, not pretentious at all."
Jiang Dao gave him a perfunctory smile: "Thank you for the compliment."
Li Cheng lifted up the wine glass and shook it in his hand: "In terms of appearance, you are the most beautiful among the three people today. You have a good figure too, and you don't look weak... Do you exercise regularly?"
Jiang Dao nodded: "Yes."
Li Cheng looked him up and down again and smiled meaningfully: "With your looks, it may be difficult for you to play the leading role. If you are too beautiful, you will look a little evil and not suitable for decent characters. If you play a villain, you may leave a deeper impression on people."
After saying that, without waiting for Jiang Dao to be polite, he took the initiative to raise his glass and raised it in Jiang Dao's direction.
Jiangdao picked up the wine glass, found it empty, and reached for the bottle not far away.
Zhu Yao whispered in his ear: "Drink less, be careful in this kind of drinking party..."
Jiang Dao turned a deaf ear to him, took the wine bottle and filled half a glass, then drank it all in one gulp just like Qi Jiayun.
Li Chengzheng paused for a moment while tasting the wine, then put the glass down, but his expression showed no sign of change.
After chatting for a while, the topic gradually opened up and we drank more and more wine.
Zhu Yao used the excuse that his artist had schedules tomorrow, and helped Jiang Dao block a lot of drinks, drinking until his cheeks turned red.
Jiang Dao was eating while observing Li Cheng's condition, and their eyes inadvertently made contact several times. Finally, Li Cheng even winked at him when they looked at each other.
It seems that the time is ripe.
Jiang Dao put down his chopsticks and asked Zhu Yao, "I feel a little stuffy, let me go to the terrace to get some fresh air."
Zhu Yao took a while to understand what he said, frowned and asked, "Drunk?"
Jiang Dao smiled and said, "No, I just ate too much."
At this time, the investor found by Xinghe Media asked Zhu Yao to drink again. Zhu Yao had no choice but to say to Jiang Dao, "Go quickly and come back soon," and turned around to deal with the investor.
Jiang Dao left the private room, strolled to the end of the corridor, stood on the large terrace, silently looked at the city lights below, and calculated how long it would take Li Cheng to follow him out.
But within just two minutes, he heard footsteps behind him, followed by Li Cheng's pretended deep chuckle: "Looking at the scenery?"
Jiang Dao turned around and curled his lips towards Li Cheng.
Li Cheng laughed and said, "Isn't that too perfunctory?"
Jiang Dao leaned against the railing, looking to the side, with a faint smile on his face that carried a hint of mockery: "I didn't want to do it originally... I mean, I didn't expect... I didn't expect that I would actually get the role."
Hearing him say this, a hint of surprise flashed across Li Cheng's face.
But that emotion was fleeting. He narrowed his eyes, looked Jiang Dao up and down for a moment, and said, "No wonder you were so perfunctory during the audition."
Jiang Dao lowered his eyelashes and whispered, "How could it be... How dare I mess up the company's arrangement..."
Li Cheng smiled, as if he was confident about everything. He moved closer and whispered, "Are you scared now? When you deliberately wanted to lose the election, why weren't you afraid that your CEO Liu would turn against you?"
Jiang Dao was surprised and looked at Li Cheng, with a moment of panic in his eyes. Then he quickly looked away, pursed his lips, and grabbed the railing with both hands, his fingertips clenched white.
His flustered and nervous look obviously pleased Li Cheng.
Li Cheng just laughed again and said, "Don't worry, I won't tell Mr. Liu. Besides, I don't like to force people. For things like this, it's best to have both of us agree... Mr. Liu does understand my preferences, but unfortunately, he doesn't know that I don't like forced things."
After hearing these words, Jiang Dao immediately understood - the senior management of Galaxy Media definitely knew what kind of person Li Cheng was. As for whether having him audition and arranging a banquet was a deliberate arrangement or an attempt that could succeed or fail, it doesn't matter anymore.
He has already understood that in the eyes of Galaxy Media, he is just a commodity, not a person.
Seeing that Jiang Dao said nothing, with a hint of sarcasm gradually rising at the corner of his mouth, and his whole temperament taking on more madness and unruliness, Li Cheng's eyes became brighter.
He licked his lips and changed the subject: "But don't rush to refuse. At least I can promise that if you are willing, your screen time in the play can be increased. Moreover, I can give you a better opportunity in the next play. How about it, consider it?"
After getting the answer he wanted, Jiang Dao was too lazy to continue acting.
He sneered and glanced at Li Cheng with his eyes raised. His gaze was like a sharp knife, cutting this wretched man who was wrapped in literary style from top to bottom.
Li Cheng swallowed subconsciously, and his hands holding the railing trembled slightly.
Before Jiang Dao could speak, the crisp sound of high heels stepping on the ground was suddenly heard in the corridor.
Then, the only female investor at the table appeared on the terrace and looked at the two of them with a smile.
"Oh, are you taking a break here?"
The charming lady said as she walked forward, took out a lady's cigarette from her handbag, and threw the lighter to Jiang Dao casually, saying in a nonchalant tone: "Chu Yinlong said you are his friend, which is really rare."
Jiang Dao knew that this beautiful investor was Lu Zhengrong whom Chu Yinlong had mentioned to him. She probably saw that he and Li Cheng were not in the private room, so she rushed out to rescue them.
Jiang Dao felt a little amused, but he didn't show it on his face. He lit a cigarette for Lu Zhengrong and asked in a polite manner, "Why is it so difficult? Teacher Chu has many friends."
Lu Zhengrong smiled: "He has a lot of friends, but almost all of them are older than him. There are few people of the same age, let alone young people... You are really the only friend he recognizes who is under 30 years old."
As she spoke, she paused and smiled even more brightly: "And I heard that he invited you to star in his movie, but you refused?"
Jiangdao: ...
Is being rejected something to be proud of?
Why does Chu Yinlong say this to everyone he meets?
At the side, Li Cheng's expression changed slightly, but he quickly put on his usual gentle smile: "It's a good opportunity to work with the movie emperor, Xiaodao, don't miss it."
Jiang Dao looked at him and smiled back: "Thank you, Mr. Li."
"I've been out for quite a while, I'm going back now."
After saying that, Li Cheng turned around and left quickly. When he turned the corner, he subconsciously raised his hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead.
On the terrace, Lu Zhengrong looked at Jiang Dao for a moment with a strange expression: "Why do I feel that you are not being taken advantage of, but are gaining the upper hand?"
Jiang Dao couldn't help laughing out loud.
After a moment, he said, "Anyway, thank you for helping me."
"No need to thank me. Since Chu Yinlong has asked me to do so, it's only natural for me to help you."
Lu Zhengrong took a puff of cigarette and continued, "Even if your company deliberately arranged what happened today, I don't think your agent knew about it. He was drunk by Lao Wang, otherwise it wouldn't be my turn to come out and look for you."
"Okay, got it." Jiang Dao nodded in agreement, "Then I'll go back first."
"Go ahead." Lu Zhengrong said, "Don't worry about Li Cheng. He's a very prudent person."
After Jiang Dao left, Lu Zhengrong opened her phone and typed with a smile: "Where did you find this kid? He's really interesting. He doesn't need my help at all."
Chu Yinlong's reply arrived almost immediately: "As long as he is okay."
Lu Zhengrong: "Not only is he fine, I don't know what he said, but it scared Li Cheng so much that he almost sobered up."
Chu Yinlong: "Is the banquet over?"
Chu Yinlong: "He's not drunk, is he?"
Lu Zhengrong stared at the phone and made a disdainful "tsk" sound.
Finally, he kindly replied, "It's almost over. He did drink quite a bit, but he didn't look drunk."
At the end, he added: "This kid seems to be able to drink quite well! When we have a small gathering at home, you can invite him to come and see if he can compete with me."
Chu Yinlong: "Impossible."
Chu Yinlong: "If my uncle-in-law knew that you were drinking again and fighting with the people I brought back, he would tie me up and take me to his research institute to cut me up."
Lu Zhengrong: "It's really boring."
Lu Zhengrong: "But, you found such a small friend, nine years younger than you, does your mother know?"
Chu Yinlong: “?”
Before Lu Zhengrong could reply, Chu Yinlong sent another series of messages:
"You think too much. It's not that kind of relationship. We are just ordinary friends."
"Director Mu saw his potential and wanted to train him. I also think he has good talent."
"That's all."
Lu Zhengrong sneered and replied, "If I hadn't caught you hiding under the covers in the middle of the night reading gay porn, I might still believe what you said."
Chu Yinlong: “…”
Chu Yinlong: "It happened almost ten years ago, can you please not mention it?"
Chu Yinlong withdrew a message.
Chu Yinlong: "I believe in Buddhism, how could I do such a thing."
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