After the birthday banquet, Du Yuanzhe maintained his previous shooting intensity and finished work at 11pm every day. The reward for this high-intensity work was that his part was completed at the end of May, half a month earlier than previously planned.

The roles of other actors were still a little short of being finished, but it was rare for the male lead in a drama to finish his role ahead of time. However, due to Du Yuanzhe's desperate filming, the finishing time of the entire crew was advanced a lot.

Zhu Mi thus saved a lot of venue fees and was in a particularly good mood. On the day of Du Yuanzhe's completion, he invited everyone in the crew to hold a completion banquet for him.

After working non-stop for more than twenty days, everyone was exhausted both physically and mentally. They could all breathe a sigh of relief after Du Yuanzhe finished the filming. At the wrap-up banquet, no one was polite to the director. Everyone ate and drank to their heart's content, as if they wanted to make up for the energy they had used up over the past twenty days.

As for Du Yuanzhe, he was unlucky.

I don't know who heard that he accepted all the toasts at the last closing banquet, but his eyes suddenly became extremely excited, like a hungry wolf seeing meat.

Du Yuanzhe had just taken two bites of his food when he started to be toasted.

Zhu Mi did not help to stop it, but just watched happily from the side.

Du Yuanzhe was helpless, with his status he could just refuse and no one could force him, but because of his personal matter, he caused everyone to work non-stop for more than 20 days, he felt a little guilty, and they were still resentful, maybe getting him drunk would make them feel better.

Du Yuanzhe sighed inwardly and accepted the toasts with a bitter face.

"I can't drink anymore!"

“I really can’t drink anymore!”

Du Yuanzhe kept refusing, but it was of no use. There were so many people in the crew, and if you accepted a toast from one person, you had to accept a toast from another.

Xiaopang was watching anxiously: "Brother Liu, Brother Zhe can't stand it anymore."

Liu Xu said calmly: "Why are you worried? We are here and we will definitely take him home."

"But, they were trying to get Zhe drunk on purpose."

"Because of Yuanzhe's words, the crew's workload has at least doubled, but the salary hasn't increased a cent. Can't you allow them to retaliate a little?"

Xiao Pang was not convinced and said, "But Brother Zhe has already bought gifts for everyone, and Brother Zhe has also paid out of his own pocket to improve everyone's food these days."

Liu Xu laughed: "If I hadn't done this, the internet would have already spread the news that Yuanzhe was being a big shot."

Small people also have small people's connections. If you really offend someone, they will find ways to dislike you.

Xiaopang was speechless and could only watch Du Yuanzhe not even have time to eat a bite of the food while being toasted non-stop.

Liu Xu looked at Du Yuanzhe who kept drinking, feeling a little worried but also relieved.

He does not hesitate to use his privileges when necessary, and is willing to show his dignity when it comes to paying compensation.

At first I just thought I was going to take care of a second-generation rich kid and wanted to let him do whatever he wanted, but I didn't expect that I would pick up a treasure.

Liu Xu had a hunch that Du Yuanzhe would be the most promising artist he had ever managed, and he would watch Du Yuanzhe climb to the top step by step.

Of course, this future star is still very young and even too drunk to walk.

It took Liu Xu and Xiao Pang two people working together to help him into the car.

Wu Xing asked worriedly, "Should I buy some hangover medicine for Brother Zhe?"

Liu Xu nodded: "Just stop at a drugstore. I'll buy him some hangover medicine."

Xia Ningmi is the only one at home, and she is not the one who knows how to take care of others, so it would be better for them to feed Du Yuanzhe the medicine first.

Du Yuanzhe leaned back in his seat with a flushed face. Xiaopang sat next to him to prevent him from falling and hurting himself.

After buying the hangover medicine, Xiaopang finally got Du Yuanzhe to drink it with great difficulty, and panted and begged: "Brother Liu, Brother Zhe is much more drunk this time than last time."

He was at least somewhat conscious last time, but now he's like a dead pig.

Today he finally understood why people say that drunk people have trouble moving.

Liu Xu said, "It's obvious. Last time, they just toasted him because of a bunch of people. This time, they deliberately forced him to drink. And there were a lot more people than last time. He didn't pass out on the spot, which means he can drink quite well."

Another reason is that Du Yuanzhe is the male lead in this drama and has received more attention than last time, which is much more realistic.

Wu Xing drove Du Yuanzhe back to Huahu Apartment. Brother Liu and Xiaopang looked at each other silently, refused Wu Xing's help, took a deep breath, got Du Yuanzhe out of the car, and finally sent him home after going through a lot of hardships.

As soon as Xia Ningmi opened the door, she saw Du Yuanzhe leaning on Xiaopang with his head down, and the smell of alcohol on his body hit her face.

Xia Ningmi frowned slightly and made way for them: "Send him to the room."

Du Yuanzhe's room was on the second floor. Xia Ningmi couldn't lift him by herself, so she had to ask Liu Xu and the other two for help.

When the two saw the stairs, their faces turned bitter and they could only grit their teeth and work harder. By the time they put Du Yuanzhe on the bed, they were almost paralyzed from exhaustion.

Xia Ningmi asked, "Why does he drink so much?"

Liu Xu explained: "Yuanzhe felt that he owed everyone during this period, so he did not refuse their toasts."

Xia Ningmi coldly spat out two words "stupid", and the coldness on her body became more and more intense.

Neither Liu Xu nor Xiaopang dared to speak for Du Yuanzhe.

They had already sent Du Yuanzhe home, and they didn't dare to face Xia Ningmi, who was obviously in a bad mood, so they quickly said goodbye and left the apartment.

After entering the elevator, Xiaopang felt like he had survived a disaster: "Brother Liu, President Xia's aura is too strong. I felt like I was going to die just now."

Liu Xu smiled bitterly: "Me too."

He thought he had seen a lot of the world, but he had never dealt with people of Xia Ningmi's status. He was used to pretending to be angry, and he really couldn't stand Xia Ningmi's undisguised anger.

Du Yuanzhe's Room

Xia Ningmi looked at Du Yuanzhe, whose face was flushed. The smell of alcohol on him almost filled the whole room, and his face looked even uglier.

There are many ways to compensate someone, but he chose the stupidest one.

Xia Ningmi wanted to ignore him and let him feel uncomfortable, but in the end she couldn't bear it and went into the bathroom to soak a towel in hot water.

Du Yuanzhe regained some consciousness after taking the hangover medicine. He felt the temperature of the towel, opened his eyes dazedly, and saw Xia Ningmi wiping his face.

He called out vaguely, "Qiqi."

Xia Ningmu paused and looked at him coldly: "Do you want to continue drinking?"

Du Yuanzhe shook his head in pain: "I don't want to drink anymore. It's too uncomfortable."

"You know you're feeling uncomfortable, but you still drink so much. Are you stupid?"

Xia Ningmi became angrier and angrier the more she thought about it. She threw the towel on his face and said, "Wipe it yourself!"

After saying that, he stood up and was about to leave.

Du Yuanzhe subconsciously grabbed her hand and asked, "Qiqi, where are you going?"

Xia Ning said: "I don't want to stay with idiots."

Du Yuanzhe took the towel off, slightly pulled Xia Ningmi to sit down again, and subconsciously said, "Qiqi, don't be angry. I was wrong."

Xia Ning turned her head to look at him: "What's wrong with you?"

Du Yuanzhe grinned, looking silly, and said, "It's my fault that Qiqi got angry."

He held Xia Ningmi's hand and rubbed it on his face, and said softly, "Qiqi, please don't be angry with me, okay?"

Xia Ning was startled, looked away and said stiffly: "This matter is not something you can get away with by being coquettish and doing good things."

Du Yuanzhe's consciousness was sometimes clear and sometimes confused. He couldn't make sense of the whole thing and even forgot the conversation. Feeling the softness of Xia Ningmi's hand, he had the urge to kiss her.

But just as it moved to his lips, he subconsciously stopped and asked, "Qiqi, can I kiss your hand?"

Seeing that he was still confused and still asked her in advance, Xia Ningmi was actually amused and said unhappily, "No."

Du Yuanzhe stared blankly. When she smiled, he seemed to see the most beautiful scenery in the world. He murmured, "My girlfriend is the most beautiful in the world."

Xia Ningmi's smile remained: "Sweet words are useless."

Du Yuanzhe was still immersed in his own thoughts, and said in frustration: "I should have taken a picture with my camera, took a picture..."

He drank too much, and the hangover pills only sobered him up for a while before he was drunk again.

Xia Ning watched him fall asleep again while holding her hand. For a moment, she felt really stupid for getting angry with a drunkard. It was such a waste of emotion.

Xia Ningmao withdrew her hand without hesitation, ignored Du Yuanzhe, and turned to leave his room.

......

The next day, Du Yuanzhe felt a dampness and was so scared that he thought he had vomited on the bed. He sat up suddenly and turned his head, only to find a towel next to the pillow.

The towels were half dry and the sheets underneath were a little damp.

Du Yuanzhe patted his aching head, his mind was foggy and he couldn't remember how he got the towel.

He smelled the alcohol on his body and felt disgusted for a moment, but he didn't want to think about it anymore and immediately went into the bathroom to take a shower and change clothes.

When he had packed everything, he walked out of the room and found Xia Ningmi working downstairs.

The clock on the wall stopped at ten.

Du Yuanzhe walked downstairs in surprise: "Qiqi, you didn't go to work?"

Xia Ningmi said without even looking up: "I'm waiting for a certain idiot to wake up."

Du Yuanzhe's heart trembled: "What did I do last night?"

Xia Ning raised her eyes and said sarcastically, "Not bad, you still know I'm talking about you."

Du Yuanzhe walked over and sat next to her, saying with a wry smile, "I was so drunk last night that I don't remember anything, not even who sent me home."

[I hope I didn’t do anything too wrong]

Xia Ning glared at him and asked, "Just because you feel guilty, you let those people force you to drink?"

Du Yuanzhe said: "After all, it's because of me that they are so busy, and they haven't even raised their wages."

"When you first joined the crew, the director treated you like two people and didn't even raise your salary. Did he feel guilty?"

Du Yuanzhe explained: "That's different. The crew had to catch up with the progress at that time."

"What does it have to do with you if the crew wants to rush the progress? You are just an actor, your job is to shoot the movie. If the crew goes over budget due to slow progress, that is something the director and investors need to consider."

Du Yuanzhe looked at her blankly: "Qiqi..."

Xia Ningmi said calmly, "The director doesn't feel guilty because he signed a contract with you. It is your responsibility to film according to the requirements. Similarly, the staff and actors have also signed contracts, and everything they do is within the scope of the contract."

"If you want to compensate them, it's your freedom. Just buy them some gifts. Why do you have to make yourself look like that last night? Who will be the one suffering if something goes wrong with your stomach?"

"In the entertainment industry, profit comes first. If you humble yourself and make amends today, they won't hesitate to sell you out for profit someday. If they don't want to offend you one day, it won't be because you are approachable, but because they are in awe of your status in the entertainment industry and the power behind you."

Du Yuanzhe looked at Xia Ningmi in front of him and for the first time truly felt what the cold-blooded President Xia was like.

Even though there is a soft part in her heart, she essentially believes in the supremacy of interests and firmly believes that most people in this world will be brought together or separated by interests.

In fact, it is not wrong to think so, but we should not be too absolute in everything.

Du Yuanzhe was silent for a moment and said, "Qiqi, maybe you are right, but human nature is complicated. Even bad people like to make friends with good people. No one likes people who only care about interests. I can give them more gifts as compensation, but they will only think that I am superior. But if I accept their toast, the resentment of me making the entire crew work overtime for more than 20 days will be infinitely diluted. Even if some people will complain about me online, there will be people who speak for me without me having to do anything."

"In the entertainment industry, profit is paramount, but it's not all about profit. I give people the impression of being approachable, not to get them to stand on my side when their interests are involved, but just to hope that when there are no interests involved, they can do their jobs well and not go against my will just because they are dissatisfied with me as a person."

The composition of a film crew is very complex. Everyone has his own tasks and powers. Only when everyone works together can a good work be created. Du Yuanzhe doesn't want to work hard on filming but be held back by others.

Xia Ningmi said: "Have you ever thought that as long as you can become famous, you can also do these things."

Du Yuanzhe nodded: "I know, but I always think that there is no harm in doing good to others."

Xia Ningmi said indifferently: "So you think it was right that you drank so much last night?"

"That's wrong!"

Xia Ning was stunned.

Du Yuanzhe held her hand and said, "I was wrong about what happened last night. I forgot that you would worry about me, and I also forgot that drinking too much would hurt your body. I didn't think it through. It was indeed my fault."

Everyone has his or her own values, and this is everyone's freedom.

Du Yuanzhe doesn't think Xia Ningmi's values ​​are wrong. He knows that Xia Ningmi is so angry not because of their different values, but because she is essentially just worried about him.

Sure enough, after hearing this, Xia Ningmi's expression softened and the coldness in her body disappeared.

Du Yuanzhe continued: "I'm sorry, Qiqi, for making you worry."

Xia Ningmi snorted coldly: "You don't care about your own body, so I have nothing to worry about."

"That won't do," Du Yuanzhe looked at her seriously and said, "I just want you to care about me."

Xia Ningmi pursed her lips and changed the subject, "You pissed me off so much that I didn't eat this morning."

Du Yuanzhe immediately said, "I'll make you braised prawns and big crabs for lunch."

Xia Ningmi asked, "Want to eat seafood today?"

Du Yuanzhe said, "I can cook a lot of dishes. I will cook them for you one by one in the future. You can't always eat sweet dishes. You have to try other flavors."

Xia Ningmi had no objection and said, "It seems that there is no seafood at home."

She hadn't specifically instructed the staff who replaced the ingredients for them not to prepare seafood.

"We go to the supermarket to buy things. There is a big supermarket opposite the community. It has everything."

Du Yuanzhe smiled and said, "You probably haven't been to a supermarket before. I'll take you shopping."

Xia Ningmi didn't mention that she had been there when she was in college. She nodded and said, "Okay."

She was not opposed to doing what she had done before with Du Yuanzhe again.