Chapter 214 The Shadow of Summer
Soon, as the cicadas sang more and more desperately, summer moved from July into August.
The scorching heat spread evenly over everyone exposed to the air, drawing curses and jeers.
Lu Yanhe's time was also divided into three parts: one part for "Jump Up", one part for stage rehearsals, and one part for fitness and "lying down" after fitness.
Yes, I really can't stay idle.
The performances at the Beijing-Taiwan gala that evening were broadcast live, featuring one cover song and one duet, putting Lu Yanhe under immense pressure.
This is the lack of self-confidence of non-professional singers.
But when the person in charge asked him if he wanted to return the audio, he still refused.
Although he's not a professional, he's still doing his job for money, and his moral values and professional ethics wouldn't allow him to lip-sync.
While he was busy rehearsing, Chen Siqi was also busy, even busier than him, finding layout artists and designers to make covers and do layout design. It is said that she spent every day in the studio.
“For a Mook like us, other people can earn much more money by taking on commercial orders. If I don’t work hard and become a familiar face, why would anyone bother with me?” Chen Siqi had her own theory.
Lu Yanhe didn't ask her who she had contacted. Anyway, he didn't understand this area, and Chen Siqi had already taken care of it, so he just let her handle it.
Lu Yanhe is now responsible for checking in on those who haven't submitted their manuscripts yet, and urging them to finish their work.
This afternoon, Lu Yanhe and Song Linxin had arranged to go to rehearsal.
Just before he was about to leave, Song Linxin suddenly sent him a message saying that there was an unexpected situation and the afternoon rehearsal had to be canceled, and apologized to him.
Lu Yanhe said it was nothing, then asked what had happened. Song Linxin didn't reply. Unexpectedly, Chen Ziyan suddenly called him that evening.
"Hello? Sister Ziyan, you were looking for me?"
"Hmm." Chen Ziyan's tone didn't sound very good. "Song Linxin's agent just called me and said she was sorry, but the performance she was supposed to sing with you has to be canceled."
"Cancelled?" Lu Yanhe was stunned and didn't react. He was confused and asked, "What happened? Why was it suddenly cancelled? I was supposed to have a rehearsal with her this afternoon. She told me at noon that it was cancelled. Did something happen to her?"
"No." Chen Ziyan sighed softly on the other end of the phone and said, "Yan He, it's not that something happened to her, it's that Chen Ziliang contacted them again, and her manager decided to let her sing this song with Chen Ziliang again."
Lu Yanhe was taken aback.
"Didn't Chen Ziliang reject her before? Is that why he came to me for help?"
“I don’t know what Chen Ziliang was thinking, but he’s contacted her again. After all, Chen Ziliang’s status and fame in the music industry are much higher than yours. I can understand why her manager made this decision. Don’t take it too hard. Just focus on doing your own thing,” Chen Ziyan said.
A fire suddenly ignited within Lu Yanhe.
"I'm sorry, Sister Ziyan, I can't help but take it to heart."
If Song Linxin were just that little girl who bought the cover rights to "Remembrance," it would be one thing. But after more than a month of getting to know each other, getting to know each other, and spending time together, from Song Linxin helping him write the script to him helping Song Linxin complete this duet, rehearsing every few days, meeting up, and chatting from time to time about their thoughts on the future, Lu Yanhe had come to regard Song Linxin as his friend. He could not accept that Song Linxin had done such a thing.
Just as he could accept Ma Zhiyuan betraying him, but could not accept Li Zhibai and Yan Liang doing the same, he had no trust in the former but trusted the latter.
The same applies to Song Linxin.
Lu Yanhe was furious.
Chen Ziyan: "I know you might be a little angry right now, but take some time to process it. Don't do anything, and don't impulsively question Song Linxin about why. Be smarter, okay?"
Lu Yanhe took a deep breath and let out a long sigh.
“If I don’t get to the bottom of this with Song Linxin now, I won’t know how to deal with her in the future.”
"Just deal with things the way you normally would," Chen Ziyan said. "We can talk about the rest later. Right now you're angry, and you won't listen to anything I say. I just hope you can calm down tonight and not do anything while you're angry."
"I see."
"What you promised me."
"Um."
After hanging up the phone, Lu Yanhe took a deep breath and barely managed to calm himself down.
To be honest, this song was written by Song Linxin, and Song Linxin also invited him to sing it. Now that she's not including him in the songs anymore, it's understandable, and he hasn't lost anything.
But because of the month of getting to know each other and rehearsing together, after this incident, Lu Yanhe felt that he had just gained a friend and then immediately lost another.
Being abandoned feels like being slapped twice; the first reaction isn't pain, but rather anger and embarrassment.
-
Song Linxin's eyes were red as she looked at her agent, Zhou Meng.
"Aunt Meng, you're making me lose Lu Yanhe as a friend."
Zhou Meng was helpless, but there was nothing she could do. "Lin Xin, this is what Beijing TV wants. This is a gala they are holding. Chen Ziliang is a singer they want to promote. We can't afford to offend Beijing TV."
Song Linxin sat on the sofa with her knees drawn up, her eyes red like a rabbit's, and said, "Back then, it was clearly Chen Ziliang who disliked my song because it was too girly and refused to sing it with me."
“It wasn’t that the higher-ups at Beijing TV got him sorted out and then pushed him back.” Zhou Meng squatted down in front of Song Linxin, patted her head, and said, “I know you and Lu Yanhe have suffered a lot of grievances in this matter, but I’m sorry, if we stubbornly refuse Beijing TV’s request, your collaboration with Beijing TV on ‘A Song to Respond’ will also be affected. You’ve only been in the industry for a short time, and now is the time when you need exposure the most. There is no program more suitable for you than ‘A Song to Respond’.”
Zhou Meng added, "You should explain things to Lu Yanhe properly. If he truly considers you a friend, he will understand."
“If my friend did this to me, I would never speak to him again in my life.”
Song Linxin glared at Zhou Meng with tears welling up in her eyes, looking aggrieved.
"I couldn't bring myself to call him."
-
Lu Yanhe tossed and turned in bed, unable to fall asleep.
I'm so angry.
However, I'm not as angry as I was when I first received the call.
—Lu Yanhe, is this really necessary? Why are you so angry about something like this for so long? Are you petty?
A voice questioned him in his mind.
Lu Yanhe thought to himself, "You don't know anything."
By the time he realized what was happening, he had already been asking and answering his own questions for quite a while.
Lu Yanhe sat up abruptly. Unable to sleep, he turned on the lights, started a live stream, and began reading.
When feeling restless and irritable, reading helps calm the mind.
He was too lazy to get out of bed, so he simply pointed the camera at the head of the bed, picked up a book, and sat on the bed to read.
Because of the close proximity, his profile took up a third of the screen.
This is an angle that almost never appears normally.
This surprised fans who had been watching Lu Yanhe's live streams for a long time, who wondered why the camera angle had changed today.
Lu Yanhe was reading a book published by another publisher today. It was not a novel, but a travelogue.
The main issue is that at this point in time, Lu Yanhe doesn't feel like reading novels anymore.
After reading for a short while, the phone started buzzing.
He frowned in confusion, picked up the phone, and saw that it was a call from Chen Siqi.
"Hello?" Lu Yanhe answered the phone.
Chen Siqi: "You seem to be in a bad mood? Why are you suddenly going live at this time? Are you having trouble sleeping?"
Chen Siqi immediately guessed Lu Yanhe's behavior and psychology.
He remained awkwardly silent for a while before admitting, "Yes."
As he was speaking, he suddenly realized that he was live streaming and quickly turned his head to check if the live stream was muted.
“You’ve already muted it, don’t worry,” Chen Siqi immediately added.
Lu Yanhe was embarrassed and asked, "How can you guess what I'm thinking?"
Chen Siqi: "That's because you can't hide anything from your face."
Lu Yanhe: "No, not really."
Chen Siqi: "If you say no, then no. But if you're in a bad mood, you don't have to keep it to yourself. If you want to talk to someone, I'm on summer vacation and have plenty of free time."
"Actually, it's nothing. A female singer invited me to sing a duet with her, and we've been rehearsing together recently. But today, her manager suddenly told my manager that she's replacing me with someone else. And she hasn't sent me a single message yet. She contacted my manager through her own manager instead of telling me directly."
"A female singer? Is she pretty?"
"Uh, that's not the point."
"If she won't give a straight answer, then so be it," Chen Siqi muttered. "This is indeed quite frustrating, but if you think about it from another perspective, you don't need this performance opportunity. If she wants to collaborate with someone else, just let her be. Anyway, you have your own performance program."
Lu Yanhe: "Yeah, it's just that I considered this person a friend before, and now I feel like I've been betrayed by someone I trusted."
"How can you so easily consider people as friends?"
“When I need her help, she’s the first to agree,” Lu Yanhe said immediately.
Song Linxin was indeed the first to agree and the first to submit her manuscript.
Chen Siqi instantly guessed, "Could it be Song Linxin?"
Lu Yanhe: "..."
He suddenly realized just how advanced Chen Siqi's radar was.
"Looks like I guessed right." Chen Siqi smiled. "In that case, why don't you just call her and ask her clearly if there's any misunderstanding that wasn't explained? Who knows if this is her intention? According to you, since she's a very loyal person, even if she wants to replace you and cooperate with someone else, she should explain it to you clearly according to common sense."
Lu Yanhe sighed, "I was probably too angry when I answered Ziyan's call. Ziyan told me to calm down first and to wait until I'm calmer tomorrow before making a call."
"Your agent is right."
"yes."
"But if you don't figure this out, you won't be able to sleep tonight, will you?"
"Don't curse me, I was thinking of reading for a while before going to sleep."
Chen Siqi laughed and said, "Okay, then you can read your book. I won't bother you anymore."
Chen Siqi hung up the phone after saying that.
Lu Yanhe stared wide-eyed at his phone. Damn, he just hung up like that? Without even a goodnight!
Chen Siqi looked at Lu Yanhe's profile on the computer screen, where he was frowning and staring at his phone, and laughed.
Suddenly there was a knock on the door.
As if by reflex, she clicked the mouse, and the cursor, which had been hovering over the close button, immediately zoomed in and out of the live streaming platform window.
"Who is it? I'm about to go to sleep."
"Then go to sleep early, don't do what happened last night, when I got up to use the bathroom in the early hours of the morning and saw your room light was still on." Her father's voice came from the doorway.
Chen Siqi originally thought it was Liu Wei'an.
Because her father rarely knocked on her bedroom door.
“I was looking at manuscripts yesterday,” Chen Siqi said through the door. “You know I’m currently co-editing a book with my classmates.”
She didn't know if her father was still listening.
Two seconds passed, and there was still no sound from outside the door.
A wave of disappointment washed over Chen Siqi. Suddenly, her father's voice came from outside the door again: "You can play around with those things for fun, but don't stay up all night and hurt your health."
She was so angry she wanted to retort, how could it be just playing around? How could it be just playing around in his eyes when she finally did something she wanted to do?
But she held back. Chen Siqi took a deep breath, listening to the footsteps fading away at the door, and clenched her fists in anger.
She could only comfort and encourage herself, telling herself not to be a giant in words, but to make "Jump Up," to make "Jump Up" the best Mook ever, and then see who dared to say she was just "playing around"!
Lu Yanhe originally planned to contact Song Linxin the next day. No matter what, he wanted to hear her tell him what had happened.
However, Lu Yanhe did not expect that he would suddenly receive a call from Chen Ziyan early the next morning. Chen Ziyan said, "Wang Yunfan is in trouble."
"Huh?" Lu Yanhe was taken aback. "What happened to him?"
“He brought this on himself. He went to record a variety show in the middle of filming, and as a result, he had an accident last night and broke his leg during the recording,” Chen Ziyan said. “Now the rest of the filming for ‘The Golden Era’ will have to be adjusted accordingly.”
"Huh?" Lu Yanhe asked, "Then how will his scenes be filmed? Will we wait until his leg injury heals before filming?"
“He won’t be able to stand up for three months. How can we wait? Who has the time to wait for him?” Chen Ziyan’s tone was full of annoyance because Wang Yunfan’s problem was delaying the entire crew’s progress.
"Then what should we do?" Lu Yanhe asked.
Chen Ziyan said, "Lei Shuangcheng contacted me half an hour ago and asked if I was free in August. I told him I had a gala recording and another program recording after the 20th, and he didn't say anything. But then I thought about it, since Wang Yunfan had problems, why would he call me to ask if I was free? Did he call me like that because Director Luo is thinking of giving you more screen time? Changing the script and giving you the role of Wang Yunfan?"
Lu Yanhe's eyes widened in shock. "No way? That's the second male lead."
“I also think it’s unlikely, but Director Luo really favors you. And it’s not like he’ll just let you play Wang Yunfan’s role directly. He might ask the screenwriter to revise the script overnight and split his scenes among different people,” Chen Ziyan said. “As soon as I thought about this, I called you right away, Yan He. I’m asking you, would you be willing to give up recording ‘The Days of Youth’?”
Lu Yanhe was stunned.
"Huh? Didn't we already sign a contract?"
Chen Ziyan said, "Which is more important, a variety show or a more significant role in director Luo Yuzhong's new film?"
She spoke in a tone that suggested Lu Yanhe was particularly ignorant.
Lu Yanhe fell silent, his doubts deepening. After a while, he said, "But if we have already signed an agreement with 'The Days of Youth,' I think we should uphold the spirit of the contract."
Chen Ziyan: "We can still negotiate even if we've signed an agreement. We can amicably negotiate to withdraw. The key question is, if Director Luo is really willing to give you more screen time, wouldn't you be tempted?"
Lu Yanhe frowned for a long time before saying, "Sister Ziyan, I am very tempted, but... since I have made a promise to someone else, I don't want to break it."
Chen Ziyan probably didn't expect Lu Yanhe to be so stubborn in this regard, and for a moment she didn't know what to say. After a couple of seconds of silence, she hung up the phone.
Chen Ziyan was unaware that Lu Yanhe was full of doubt after hanging up the phone, because he felt that Chen Ziyan's attitude on the phone was not consistent with her usual style.
In his mind, Chen Ziyan's success in the entertainment industry was inseparable from her keeping her promises and being trustworthy. Why would she advise him to terminate his contract with "The Days of Youth"?
-
“Although the agreement has been signed, there is still so much time before the show is recorded. If I talk to the production team and help them introduce and contact a popular idol star to join, do you think Chen Biqiu and the others would refuse?”
Chen Ziyan shook her head helplessly, looking at the man sitting in front of her. "Director Li, you see, even when I tried to get him to have more scenes in Director Luo's 'The Golden Era,' I still couldn't persuade him to terminate his contract with 'Young Days.' What other reason could I possibly have to persuade him?"
Sitting in front of her was a deputy director of the Beijing-Taiwan Broadcasting Station, who was also a director with real power.
The latter was in his early fifties, but his temples were already gray.
He had a slight smile on his lips, waved his hand, and said, "Xiao Chen, don't try that on me. If you really wanted him to not appear on 'The Days of Youth,' you wouldn't need such a reason."
Chen Ziyan sighed, "Director Li, you really overestimate me. I'm just a small-time agent. Besides, it's not like the old days when we had the final say anymore. Now, agents are just waiters working for artists. How could I possibly have the ability to persuade him?"
Director Li said, "Aren't you the mastermind behind him who gave him brilliant advice and ultimately helped him stay at Star Entertainment Agency?"
"Huh?" Chen Ziyan looked bewildered. "What are you talking about?"
Director Li said, "I heard from General Manager Ma that if it weren't for your intervention, he would have terminated Lu Yanhe's contract long ago. Of course, he's blind and didn't realize that Lu Yanhe is such a gem."
"You flatter me. I didn't stop them at all," Chen Ziyan said. "I just knew that Zhou Ping'an wasn't bringing Lu Yanhe anymore, and I saw some of his good qualities, so I brought him along."
"Alright, I came to see you today hoping to catch up and also invite this recently popular young man to record a program at our station. Unfortunately, the times clash. Let's talk about it another time." Director Li waved his hand and made a move to stand up.
"Look how simple my place is, I have nothing to offer you, but I'll take you there."
"No need, please stay." Director Li waved his hand.
Chen Ziyan still insisted on seeing the person to the elevator.
Once everyone had left, Chen Ziyan's smile faded and she became serious.
As soon as she got back to her office, she immediately called Lu Yanhe back.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Sister Ziyan? I just rejected you, are you angry?" On the phone, Lu Yanhe's voice sounded a little cautious.
Chen Ziyan: "I'm not angry. You answered very well just now. I really had no other choice but to make that call to you. I was forced into that situation by a deputy director of Beijing TV. He implied that Beijing TV had a program that wanted to collaborate with you and asked you to terminate your contract with 'Young Days'. Because of my personal reasons, I couldn't refuse him directly. I could only say that I couldn't make the decision for you and found an excuse to ask you if you were willing to terminate the contract."
Lu Yanhe was completely confused and didn't understand what kind of relationship it was.
Chen Ziyan paused for two seconds and then said, "He seems particularly reluctant to let you appear on the show 'The Days of Youth'."
"A deputy director of Beijing TV is particularly reluctant to let me appear on the program 'The Days of Youth'?" Lu Yanhe asked. "What does this program have to do with Beijing TV?"
“No, this program is an online variety show, it’s not broadcast on TV, that’s what I find particularly strange,” Chen Ziyan asked. “Do you know the deputy director of Beijing TV? His surname is Li.”
"I don't know him."
Chen Ziyan didn't think Lu Yanhe could know her; she only asked to eliminate that last sliver of possibility.
Is it true or false that Wang Yunfan broke his leg?
“Really,” Chen Ziyan said. “But Lei Shuangcheng didn’t call to ask if you had time; he came as an old friend to vent and yell at me.”
"What about the rest of the filming of 'The Golden Era'?"
"With his body in a cast, we can only film his upper body from the front and side, and only film the stand-in for the full shot. That's all we can do for now," Chen Ziyan said. "It's really bad for a film crew to have an actor like this. He'll probably be blacklisted by Director Luo and his circle of directors in the future."
Lu Yanhe felt a pang of sympathy upon hearing this.
“I always felt that Director Li from the Beijing-Taiwan Railway Station came out of nowhere, which made me feel strange.” Chen Ziyan still said, “I don’t know why, but I have a strong intuition that it might be related to those incomprehensible things that happened to you before.”
"Sister Ziyan, are you talking about how I was pushed into the river and kicked out of the company?"
"Hmm." A strange light flashed in Chen Ziyan's eyes. "I even have some suspicions now, but I don't have any evidence yet. Let me investigate first, and if I find any clues, I'll tell you."
Lu Yanhe felt inexplicably nervous.
"I see."
Chen Ziyan: "It's okay, don't worry. No matter what, the more you make a fuss, the more famous you become, and the more attention you receive, the more wary the person hiding behind you will become. Speaking of which, I need to find you an assistant. It would be best if she also knows some martial arts. With someone following you, you won't be alone, and you won't be in danger like before. It was really my oversight to let you film 'The Golden Era' alone. Luckily, nothing bad happened."
After hanging up the phone, Chen Ziyan immediately started looking for a suitable assistant through her network of contacts.
Originally, Chen Ziyan didn't want to find an assistant for Lu Yanhe so early. First, she didn't want Lu Yanhe to develop the bad habit of being waited on wherever he went too early. Second, Lu Yanhe's current income couldn't afford an assistant's salary. If the company had to pay for it, Vice President Ma would definitely not agree. She had to use her power forcefully, but she wasn't very convincing at the senior management meeting. After all, she had turned down so many profitable projects for Lu Yanhe and only accepted some that weren't very profitable.
However, Chen Ziyan suddenly realized that assigning Lu Yanhe an assistant was not just a simple matter of assigning an assistant, but also to prevent him from being alone and to avoid giving others any opportunity to take advantage of him.
Although last time they used an anonymous letter to lure Lu Yanhe to a secluded riverside location when no one was around to carry out their attack, who knows how they'll do it next time.
We must be on guard now!
——
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(End of this chapter)
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