Chapter 72: Jinjiang First Launch

After hearing what Lan Zheng said, everyone was confused. Only the agent seemed to remember something. She turned away guiltily, not daring to look Lan Zheng in the face. Lame Brother looked like he had smelled something big. Hu Leying stood on the agent's side and spoke for the agent:

"No matter what happened, it's not a reason for you to kill someone. You did something against the law, and your career is over. Did you consider this when you killed someone?"

Lan Zheng shook her head in fear: "No, I didn't kill her, I just locked her up, I just want to get back the money I deserve!"

Hu Leying looked back at the agent in confusion and asked Lan Zheng, "Are you saying that they didn't give you the money you were supposed to be paid as a stuntman?"

Lan Zheng shook her head: "They did give me the salary for being a stuntman, but I broke my right arm and had to stay in bed for a month. During that time, I paid for all the medical expenses myself. They didn't give me any money!"

As she spoke, she waved her right arm up and down: "Look, my arm has become like this. I can't do big movements anymore. This is all because of He Xianxian!"

Everyone could see that Lan Zheng's right arm was not very flexible, and no one had the heart to blame her anymore, so they all listened to her continue talking in silence.

Lan Zheng looked at the agent with red eyes. She pointed at the scars on her body and counted them one by one: "Not only my right arm, but all the scars on my body are caused by her. This scar was caused by me taking the beating for her when we were filming the palace fighting drama that year. This scar was caused by me taking the dog bite for her when we were filming the comedy that year. This scar was caused by me getting burned for her when we were filming the cooking scene that year. And this one..."

Lan Zheng's narration seemed to have no end. The agent interrupted her angrily: "Enough! This is the job of a stuntman. We are not not paying you. If you feel wronged, you can just quit! Anyway, there are plenty of people who will do it if you don't want to. Don't think that you are the only one in the world who looks like He Xianxian!"

Lame brother also didn't understand: "Yeah, sister, you are so beautiful, why do you have to put up with them? You have suffered so much injustice, you might as well leave them as soon as possible and join another crew, maybe you would have made a name for yourself by now, and you wouldn't have to endure it until today to explode."

Lan Zheng said with tears in her eyes, "Do you think I don't want to leave? It's not that I haven't thought about resigning. It was He Xianxian who took the initiative to keep me. She promised me that as long as I stayed with her for ten years, she would give me a chance to be the lead actress. By then, I could also play the leading actress and appear on TV so that everyone could see me. I was her stand-in for seven years. For these seven years, I stayed with her because of this promise!"

"What happened next?" asked Lame Brother.

Lan Zheng sneered, "Later? Then it became like this. You all saw it. When we were filming A Little Red in the Rivers and Lakes, there was a cliff jumping scene. She refused to do it herself, so I jumped for her and broke my right arm. I stayed in the hospital for a month. Although I recovered later, the doctor said that my right arm is not very flexible and I am afraid it will never recover."

"I have been in the hospital for a month. During this month, He Xianxian and her agent ignored me and never even looked at me. I sent them many messages and called them many times, but they all ignored me. I just want to get my medical expenses back. The total cost of my hospitalization was 50,000 yuan, and I didn't ask for additional compensation. I just want 50,000 yuan!"

Everyone looked at the agent with contempt. Lame Brother said angrily: "You are too shameless, aren't you? Celebrities can earn millions a day. Fifty thousand is just a drop in the bucket for you, but you are reluctant to pay even this little money. You even want others to pay for the medical expenses themselves? I was injured because of you!"

The agent said unnaturally: "Well, she is talking nonsense. We intend to compensate her, but the financial process is slow."

Lan Zheng screamed in despair, "That's not the case. You just think I'm useless and want to abandon me! I wanted to go to the studio to see He Xianxian, but the security guard stopped me and wouldn't let me in. I had to pretend to be a cleaning lady in the building to get in. I walked to the door of He Xianxian's office and just as I was about to push the door open, I heard voices talking inside."

The agent was a little nervous: "What did you hear?"

Lan Zheng glared at the agent with hatred and said word by word: "I heard how you talked about me behind my back!"

Lan Zheng recounted what happened at that time. She walked to the door of the office and heard He Xianxian's laughter. He Xianxian smiled and said to the agent:

"You picked the right promotion. My new drama has become a hot topic on the Internet before it even airs, and all the comments are praising me!"

The agent said tactfully, "Of course. I've been in the industry for so many years, and I saw at a glance that "A Little Red in the Rivers and Lakes" is a good cake, with good characters and a good plot. Don't worry, after the show is over, you will attract a large number of fans. I persuaded you to take this drama at first, but you refused to take it. Now you know it!"

Ho Xian-sin coquettishly said to the agent: "Oh, I saw that there were too many action scenes in this movie. You know, when shooting a martial arts movie, you will get injured at any time, and I don't want to get injured!"

The agent looked at He Xianxian lovingly and said, "You, why are you saying such nonsense? You know very well that a big star like you won't be asked to act in truly dangerous scenes. There will definitely be a double to shoot for you. The doubles I picked for you are not for show."

Speaking of stand-ins, He Xianxian seemed to remember something: "Oh, by the way, that Lan Zheng has been sending me messages lately, which is really annoying me. Do you think she won't cause any trouble if I ignore her?"

The agent patted He Xianxian on the head and said, "Don't worry. How could that happen? She's just a small extra. Even if she posts it on Weibo, no one will watch it. Besides, her fans will help us attack her. If she dares to sue you, I will send the best lawyer to delay her for three to five years without a trial. She will give up sooner or later."

He Xianxian breathed a sigh of relief, and then said coquettishly, "Actually, 50,000 yuan is nothing, but I just don't want to give it to her. Who told her to be so arrogant? She always told me that she wanted to be an actress and have a chance to show her face. Did she really think I would let her act in a TV series? Stupid, I was just coaxing her. She and I look so much alike. If I let her act in a TV series, wouldn't that mean she would steal my job? No way!"

The agent also laughed at her, "She is just a fool dreaming. She is destined to be a maid, but she dreams of being a master every day. She is a small extra with no background and no capital. Let alone being your stand-in for ten years, even if she works for a hundred years, she will never get the chance to be the leading actress! And now her arm is broken. Who would choose a disabled person as the leading actress? What a joke!"

Two people were laughing in the room. Outside the door, Lan Zheng dug her nails deeply into her palms. She swore that she must avenge this!

"It was then that I realized that she never intended for me to be the lead actor. You were just using me as a human shield. Seven years of my life were wasted by you. Seven years, I was a fool for seven years!" Lan Zheng roared and accused the agent.

After listening to Lan Zheng's story, everyone was shocked. Lame Brother whispered, "Although I have always heard that the entertainment industry is cruel, I never thought it was this way... Sister, I sympathize with your experience, and I believe that the agent can say such things, but are you sure that the other person in the room is He Xianxian? Could it be a mistake?"

Wu Leying also asked: "Did you record it at the time? Or do you have other evidence? I really can't believe that He Xianxian is such a person. She is really a gentle little angel. I became her fan in the first place because of her personality."

Both of them were long-time fans of He Xianxian, and for a moment they were unable to face the collapse of their idol's image. Lan Zheng looked at them and laughed sarcastically:

"A gentle little angel? What a joke! It would be better if you just removed the first four words! What she usually shows in front of the camera is her character setting, which was designed by someone long ago. As for her private face, if you have seen it, I'm afraid you would just want to scold her."

The agent said nothing, tacitly acknowledging that what Lan Zheng said was true. Things had come to this point, and she was only concerned about He Xianxian's safety and had no time to care about maintaining her business image.

Lame Brother asked tentatively: "Then...what is He Xianxian's true personality like?"

Lan Zheng looked at the two fans with pity: "Oh, personality? Let me put it this way, she has a nickname in the industry called 'evil old witch'. All the staff know that she is moody and unpredictable. She doesn't treat the staff as human beings. She throws things when she is not satisfied. Several times, she even threw things at the staff. Don't you want evidence? Let me put it this way, I didn't record it. You can go and watch the video of He Xianxian's fan meeting two years ago. It was obviously summer, but her personal assistant was wearing long sleeves. Do you know why? Because He Xianxian just lost her temper the day before and threw a cigarette butt at the assistant, burning her arm!"

Lame Brother and Hu Leying immediately went to look for the video and found that the situation at the scene was exactly as Lan Zheng described. In addition, this assistant often wore long sleeves and long pants in the summer, and it seemed that he was often injured.

Wu Leying still didn't want to believe it, she found an excuse for her idol: "What if the assistant just wanted to wear long sleeves? This doesn't prove anything. If it's true as you said, the staff around He Xianxian are so miserable, then why don't they resign?"

Lan Zheng looked at Hu Leying as if she were an alien. "Because they need money, they need that salary, so they can only endure it. It's not easy to survive in Beijing. Will it be better if you change your boss? Bosses are generally bad. How can you not understand this? Have you never worked before?"

Hu Leying nodded weakly: "...I'm sorry, I really don't have any."

Lame brother still couldn't help but lament: "If you are dissatisfied with her, you can vent it in other ways. You can post a Weibo to expose her evil deeds. Why do you have to use such an extreme method? It will completely ruin your own future!"

Lan Zheng sneered again: "I posted it, but what's the point? Less than two minutes after it was posted, He Xianxian reported it and deleted it with her ID card. Moreover, a lot of her brainless fans came to scold me. I am an ordinary person like an ant on the Internet. Who would care about me? Apart from doing it myself, how else can I get revenge?"

Everyone was silent, no one could speak. Lame Brother secretly looked at the phone in his pocket. The screen was still on and the live broadcast was still going on. Lan Zheng's words triggered heated discussions on the barrage.

[How pitiful! After all, she is just a worker who is driven crazy.]

[Why is the entertainment industry so distorted? It's just like slaves and slave owners! ]

[It turns out that behind the high salaries of celebrities is huge inequality. I really hope someone can take care of these celebrities...]

[Everyone, please don't listen to her nonsense. So far, it's just her one-sided words. She didn't produce any recordings. Please don't follow the trend to blacken our Xianxian. Xianxian is not that kind of person! ]

[As for the previous one, it is you brainless fans who force her to not be able to speak out on the Internet. How can her one mouth be compared to thousands of mouths of you? ]

[I thought of Qin Yujun who came here before. We were both hardworking action actors. She made it big, but this girl today has embarked on a path of crime. Sigh, they are the same person but have different fates!]

[In the entertainment industry, people climb to the top by stepping on the bones of their peers. How can it be so easy to get ahead? Behind every successful actor, there are countless invisible sacrifices of smaller actors.]

Lan Zheng's voice was a little hoarse after talking so much. While she was calming down, the agent came forward and said, "Okay, you've vented enough. It's time to talk about something serious. How did you kidnap He Xianxian? Do you have any help?"

Lan Zheng shook her head: "I did everything by myself from beginning to end, without any help."

The agent looked at Lan Zheng suspiciously: "How can you, a woman with a broken arm, tie up He Xianxian?"

Lan Zheng smiled and shook her head: "It seems that you really haven't taken me seriously these years. If you had taken me seriously, you would have known that I am actually very strong. I have been a stuntman for so many years, and I have worked hard and done everything. I have already built up a body of muscles."

The agent asked: "Did you enter the public toilet to kidnap He Xianxian? Why didn't she run away?"

Lan Zheng: "You are a well-informed agent, but you asked such an idiotic question. Of course, I went into the public restroom to grab her. You should know that she sent her bodyguards away to buy sanitary napkins, which means she was on her period. Her pants were half-undressed and her lower body was bleeding. How could she run?"

The agent frowned and asked, "Then how did you take her away? Wouldn't she struggle and scream?"

Lan Zheng: "I used a drug. I sprayed it on a piece of cloth in advance. After entering the toilet, I directly covered her mouth and nose with the cloth. She fainted quickly and didn't make any sound."

The agent asked himself the most puzzling question: "How did you take her away? Although the place is remote, there are many residents in the town. You carried a woman away in broad daylight. Didn't anyone see it?"

Lan Zheng sneered: "Do you think I'm as stupid as you? I've said it before, I once pretended to be a cleaning lady to enter a building. If I can use this trick once, I can certainly use it a second time. I dressed up as a cleaning staff member of a public toilet, pushed a big cleaning cart, and after bewitching He Xianxian, I stuffed her into the cleaning cart and pushed it out openly. No one doubted me along the way. Doesn't this mean that my acting skills are pretty good?"

Lan Zheng smiled sadly, and everyone felt sorry for her again. This girl with great acting skills completed her revenge by destroying herself along with the enemy.

The agent asked one last question: "Have you been lurking near that public toilet? How could you have known that He Xianxian would go to that toilet, and how did you know that she would send her bodyguards away?"

Lan Zheng: "I've been with her for several years, how could I not know her living habits? She cares most about her image. Even when filming outdoors, she must go to the nearest toilet. After all, if a popular female star is photographed urinating and defecating outdoors, it would be terrible."

"The filming schedule for "A Little Red in the Rivers and Lakes" had been set long ago. I knew she would go to the mountain in the next few days, so I followed her there secretly. I recognized her backpack, which contained her daily necessities. While everyone was filming, I secretly opened her backpack and stole the sanitary napkin inside. When she went down the mountain to use the restroom, she would find that her sanitary napkin was missing, and she would have to send her bodyguard to buy it. In this way, she would be left alone, and I could take action."

Hu Leying couldn't help but sigh, "Oh my god, you know her so well. It's ok to know her schedule, but you even remember her menstrual period?"

Lan Zheng shouted like crazy: "Of course I remember! Do you know why I remember it? Because two years ago when we were filming a water-falling scene, she said she was on her period and it was inconvenient for her to go into the water, so she asked me to go in for her. That scene was reshot dozens of times, and I soaked in the water for several hours. It was winter! The whole pool of ice water had already frozen me unconscious. Who considered me? I was also on my period!"

"That was a pond the crew found in the wild. The water was not clean, and it happened to be my period. Not only was I frozen, but I was also infected. I was sick for a long time afterwards. This filming affected my health. I can no longer have children, do you know that?!"

Lan Zheng stared at the agent, her eyes turning bloodshot with anger: "You don't know, and even if you knew, you wouldn't care. No matter what happens to me, it won't affect you sitting in the room counting money. Anyway, people like me are nothing to you!"

The agent, contrary to his usual behavior, did not argue with Lan Zheng. Instead, he pleaded with her, "Okay, okay, it's all our fault. If you want compensation, we're willing to give it to you. You asked for five million dollars, and I've already put the money at the place you specified. All you have to do is take the money and release the person. That way, we'll all be happy. Why don't you take the money, but kill someone instead?"

Now that He Xianxian is in Lan Zheng's hands, the only person the agent cares about is He Xianxian. After all, He Xianxian is her cash cow. If this cash cow falls, she will also suffer heavy losses. So she decided to change her strategy. She first tried to appease Lan Zheng's emotions, and then inquire about He Xianxian's news from the side. Now the question the agent wants to know most is - is He Xianxian dead?

After hearing what the agent said, Lan Zheng excitedly retorted: "No, I just kidnapped her, I didn't kill anyone!"