Chapter 79 Negotiation Result "He Yan, I'm sorry, let's break up...
Zhu Shengting looked at the two messages He Yan sent him that morning and stroked the screen.
After seeing He Yan’s simple “Good morning” for a long time, he replied with a [cat waving] emoticon.
In the end, I deleted both messages without leaving any more.
“Dongdong——”
He put his phone back into his pocket and knocked on Qiao Ling's office door.
"Come in."
As Zhu Shengting came in, he smelled a strong aroma of black coffee, which penetrated into his spleen and made him feel a little nauseous.
But this was not Black Coffee's fault. He stood at the door and nodded slightly at Qiao Ling, with a polite smile on his lips.
"Sit down," Qiao Ling gave him a meaningful look. "What do you want from me?"
"I know Mr. Qiao doesn't like beating around the bush, so I'll be frank," Zhu Shengting said, pretending to be unaware of Zhu Liao's hidden agenda from last night's remarks. "Why don't I have any further work arrangements? Isn't that amiss, Mr. Qiao?"
Qiao Ling smiled intriguingly. "What's wrong? Didn't Zhu Liao give you new resources? Then you should go to him first instead of going over my head. I'm usually busy too."
Zhu Shengting crossed his arms, his face darkening, but the corners of his mouth still maintained that curved arc. "Mr. Qiao, you know I trust you very much in arranging my work plan."
"Is that so?" Qiao Ling slowly put down her coffee cup, making a crisp sound on the table, then slowly took out a document, turned it to the last page, and placed it in front of Zhu Shengting.
Zhu Shengting lowered his eyes, looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar document, his palms began to sweat.
The last page of the document was signed by two names, his and He Yan.
The document had a contract term of one year marked out in bold red ink.
One of the terms of the contract was also highlighted - the contracting parties are prohibited from acting out the real deal during the contract period.
"For artists who breach the contract, Mengchuan seems to have no obligation to make new plans or new work arrangements for you. What do you think?" Qiao Ling stared at him.
Zhu Shengting felt a little dizzy in the bright morning sunlight. "I don't quite understand what you mean."
Qiao Ling stood up and bent over to look at him, "You really don't understand?"
"Mr. Qiao, please speak frankly." Zhu Shengting responded unwillingly, one hand touching the mobile phone in his pocket that had lost all evidence.
In just a few minutes, Qiao Ling was already fed up with Zhu Shengting's attitude. She was too lazy to argue with him anymore and simply threw the stack of photos out of the drawer.
Some of them flew to Zhu Shengting's knees and feet with the force of Qiao Ling, like butterflies flapping their wings in search of a habitat before breaking out of their cocoons.
Zhu Shengting caught one of the photos flying in the sky.
Those beautiful scenes were trapped in the tiny photos, and were thrown nakedly and bloodily at his heart as evidence of illegal activities.
"Don't tell me I drove to the hotel where He Yan was staying just to have a long chat with my good brother instead of to talk about love. I'm not stupid, Zhu Shengting," Qiao Ling looked coldly at the young man whose hard shell was beginning to crack. "You are the stupid one who refused to listen before..."
"You've seen it now. Meng Chuan won't give up He Yan easily. But who told you to be unlucky? 'Lingnan Wushuang' died. I can tell you responsibly that Meng Chuan no longer needs you."
Qiao Ling spoke with such finality that Zhu Shengting's heart felt like it was drowning in the sea, dull and silent.
"Since you have violated the contract, you will need to pay a penalty of 30 million plus a termination fee of 10 million."
Zhu Shengting's hands were completely exhausted. He no longer touched his phone through the cloth. His eyes were calm, like a frozen glass wall that could not be drilled.
He had already prepared for the worst before coming.
After a few seconds of silence, he opened his mouth slightly and uttered a few words.
"I will take the initiative to break up with He Yan and make sure he doesn't know about these things and won't cause any trouble for any of you. I will also take the initiative to send a handwritten letter of apology to fans on public platforms, without you having to intervene."
"But I have two conditions."
This indeed solved the two most difficult consequences for Meng Chuan. Qiao Ling raised an eyebrow and said, "Tell me about it."
Zhu Shengting raised his eyes and said, "First, this contract is void. Go through the normal termination process and pay me my previous compensation as usual. You must pay me every cent."
"Second," his voice softened and he lowered his eyes, "be nice to He Yan."
Qiao Ling gave a sudden laugh. "Should I say you're selfish or affectionate? You used his feelings as leverage to threaten Meng Chuan, and then took all the consequences on yourself, letting He Yan take all the blame, even though he nearly ruined his reputation."
"I was wrong about that. You're not stupid, you're smart. It's such a pity."
Zhu Shengting listened silently without saying a word.
"But if that's the case, then let's do as you say." Qiao Ling took a sip of the warm coffee. The bitter taste spread to the back of her tongue, making her feel refreshed. "I'll redraft a new contract for three days."
Zhu Shengting didn't move, like a puppet whose heart had been ripped out, washed, and then hung out to dry on the rooftop.
"Within three days, I will transfer all the previously announced remuneration to your card. You must also leave Meng Chuan and He Yan within these three days."
*
"Brother Yan, is your waist uncomfortable?" Huang Min was always very attentive. She noticed that He Yan had been bending down a little slowly these past two days, as if he was afraid of pulling something. "Do you need me to ask the crew for leave to go to the hospital? It would be bad if he really got hurt."
He Yan paused and smiled gently at Huang Min. His eyes twinkled in the dim light like stars in the night sky. "It's okay. I'm just a little tired these past two days, and my back is a little sore. I'll be fine after a couple of days of rest after filming wraps up."
Speaking of wrapping up, Huang Min was a little confused. Before He Yan, she went to discuss the shooting progress with the director alone, wanting to wrap up early and promising to complete the remaining scenes well.
Sun Chengzhi was quite satisfied with He Yan's condition during this period, and of course he was happy to finish the work early, so he agreed with He Yan's decision and filled his filming tasks during this period.
He Yan was also afraid that he would tire out other staff members because of his rush to meet deadlines, so he treated them to meals and gave them gifts every day, either desserts and milk tea or thermoses and blankets.
He Yan obviously didn't have to work so hard, and as far as she knew, He Yan didn't have any important personal matters. She didn't know why he was in such a hurry to finish filming.
However, He Yan was in good condition during filming, except that he would fall asleep in the car after filming. This was his own choice, and Huang Min, as his assistant, could not say much. It would be a big loss if he got hurt.
"Okay, Brother Yan, if you feel unwell, you must tell me in time. Some physical reasons cannot be delayed." Huang Min gave a few more instructions.
He Yan nodded, "I know, thank you."
"Oh, by the way, Brother Yan, Brother Ting called me last night. It seemed that he had something to talk to you about. But I told him that you had gone back to rest. He should have contacted you today, right?" Huang Min suddenly remembered the phone call last night.
He Yan brushed away her hair that had been messed up by the wind, her heart trembling. She hadn't expected Zhu Shengting to actually go look for Huang Min last night. "It's okay, it's not a big deal. I replied to him this morning."
"Okay, that's good." Huang Min breathed a sigh of relief and continued to look at his phone.
He Yan lowered his eyes and looked at the script, but his thoughts drifted away unconsciously.
In fact, he did see the message from Zhu Shengting last night, but he didn't reply.
He doesn't want to learn his partner's private information somewhere else instead of being told by the other person himself.
When Zhu Shengting said "something happened" that day, He Yan didn't think much about it, but what exactly was it that required going to the United States to resolve?
Is it really just a trivial matter that he doesn't have an assistant yet?
But even if it was a trivial matter, He Yan found that he still wanted to be informed and wanted to feel that he was needed.
After calming down for a night, He Yan finally realized that he must trust his lover instead of falling into the misunderstanding of being surrounded by too much information, which would create a barrier between them.
Since Zhu Shengting chose not to say anything at this stage, he must have his reasons. If he really minded, he could ask him directly when he went back to see him, instead of staying alone and guessing.
Love is always a two-way process of moving forward. He said that he wanted Zhu Shengting to stand on his side, so He Yan would definitely stand on Zhu Shengting's side 100%.
This is what should be done, not suspicion.
So he replied to Zhu Shengting's message the next morning, and sincerely hoped that the day of meeting would come sooner.
He sent it out, hoping that Sheng Ting would receive the surprise soon.
Another gust of cool wind blew by, making the script paper rustle. He Yan pulled himself back to his thoughts and looked at the lines that were underlined in blue with a fluorescent pen. He stroked the silver ring on his left wrist with his right hand, and his heart was warmed.
*
"Teacher Wu, it's me, Zhu Shengting." Zhu Shengting sat on a bench surrounded by a pile of cardboard boxes and made a phone call.
The voice on the other end sounded a little surprised. "Xiao Zhu, what I told you before, have you...thought it through?"
"Excuse me, Mr. Wu. I'm this way." Zhu Shengting paused. Under the dim yellow light, dust drifted unnoticed, gathering like a huge, dense net, enveloping people and making it hard to breathe. "I can come the day after tomorrow at the latest."
"Okay, I'll help you with the admission procedures, but your work there..."
"I will take care of it, don't worry." Zhu Shengting said in a calm tone.
"Okay, see you in America."
"See you in America." Zhu Shengting hung up the phone.
He silently sealed the cartons one by one and stacked them at the door of the room.
A yellow wooden cardboard box that was accidentally crushed had a fragile corner cracked, and Zhu Shengting had to find a new sack and put the contents of the cardboard box into the sack.
The documents, papers and scripts scattered on the ground no longer formed thick little towers. Zhu Shengting stopped when he picked up one of the scripts.
He forced himself not to blink as his vision gradually blurred and casually put the notebook into the sack.
The silently falling tears inevitably soaked the word "Gu Yu" on the cover, but the owner of the tears did not notice it.
After Zhu Shengting had packed up everything, he stood in front of the sink and wiped his face, which was covered with dried tear marks. After rubbing it repeatedly, he could not wash away the gray fog in front of his eyes.
He took out his cell phone in frustration, his hands shaking uncontrollably, and before his nose could feel the unstoppable sourness, he slapped himself mercilessly.
His cheeks instantly turned a bright red, like the color He Yan had used when he kissed someone with lipstick on. In such a morbid mood, he regained the courage that made him sick.
Typed out that sentence.
*
"Director Sun, I'm leaving first. Thank you for your hard work." He Yan completed his role today smoothly. He smiled and bowed to Sun Chengzhi.
Sun Chengzhi waved his hand, indicating that He Yan could go back and rest.
He Yan returned to the dressing room, changed his clothes, and took a car back to the hotel with Huang Min. He was in better spirits today than in the past few days and did not fall asleep in the car.
However, the shooting still ended a little late, and his phone was out of battery and he didn't have time to charge it.
When he rushed back to the hotel room, the first thing he did without hesitation was to charge his mobile phone and then went to the bathroom to wash up.
There were less than four days left before he could finish filming. He Yan looked in the mirror at himself with dark circles under his eyes after removing his makeup. He wanted to find a way to make the dark circles disappear quickly, otherwise Zhu Shengting would be worried again when he saw him.
Fortunately, it shouldn't be that obvious on the screen during video calls.
He put on his bathrobe, sat on the edge of the bed, and turned his phone back on.
The moment He Yan opened his phone, he couldn't wait to open WeChat, wanting to see what messages Zhu Shengting had sent him this afternoon and evening. He would reply to each message one by one as he did before.
The moment he opened WeChat and saw the red dot at the top, he was stunned.
He Yan's brain froze for more than ten seconds. He began to breathe heavily, opened the chat box with Zhu Shengting in disbelief, blinked, and still heard the same sentence.
You are not seeing things, you are not... seeing things.
The words came out without any warning, like a loud slap in the face, but fell silently.
The skin on his lower back began to ache again, with a hateful itch.
In the lonely chat box that had been empty for a whole day, Zhu Shengting said—
"He Yan, I'm sorry, let's break up."
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