Chapter 38
He Tong and Ye Yuze returned to the dressing room. They packed up their things while chatting and laughing, and were about to leave when someone suddenly knocked on the door.
The people who came in were Huang Ye and his agent Zhang Quan.
Zhang Quan first complimented Ye He and the others on their performance with a smile, then pulled Huang Ye forward and pretended to slap him on the head.
"I just found out these past two days that this troublesome guy was instigated by someone else to help film some stuff for the 'Tian Yao' crew, and it ended up being used to discredit you two. He's timid, and after the incident, he was afraid of being scolded by you two, so he didn't dare to apologize or tell me. He only discovered it when he started acting up recently. So, I quickly brought him here to apologize to you two."
Huang Ye kept his head down, not daring to look at anyone. He bent forward and gave a 90-degree bow, his voice choking with sobs as he said, "Teacher Ye, Teacher He, I was wrong before. I shouldn't have been instigated by outsiders. I apologize! Please be kind and don't let the company freeze me out!"
Hearing his words, Zhang Quan's expression twisted instantly. He couldn't help but curse in his heart as a "brainless thing", but on the surface he had to help make up for it quickly.
"He's just young and inexperienced, too naive and easy to deceive. He believes everything others say. This is also my fault. I was too busy to pay attention to him, so an outsider took advantage of the opportunity. Teachers, please be magnanimous and don't bother with this ignorant person."
He Tong chuckled: "Young people really need to go through some things before they know how treacherous people are. I'm not like that."
Zhang Quan's heart suddenly skipped a beat.
Just when he was wondering if his flattery had hit the wrong horse, He Tong had already pulled Ye Yuze around the two of them and went out.
Huang Ye was so anxious that he wanted to stop them, but Zhang Quan quickly grabbed him, only blocking Fang Chen who was left at the end. "Mr. Fang, look at this..."
Fang Chen chuckled and patted Zhang Quan on the shoulder: "Alright, it's just a small matter, look how scared you are."
Zhang Quan's heart sank a little. He held Huang Ye down and bowed to Fang Chen while saying, "This kid really knows he's wrong. Since filming 'Tian Yao', he's been taking classes at the company for the past six months, studying his acting skills. When will you give him another chance to show off his learning achievements?"
"Don't worry about it. Acting skills can't be improved overnight. A serious professional student needs to study for a year or two, right?"
Seeing the two people in front of him looking increasingly depressed, Fang Chen changed the subject: "But I remember Xiao Huang was from a singing talent show. I just heard him sing and he sounded pretty good. He can continue to develop in the direction of a singing and dancing idol. There's no need to force yourself into something you're not good at."
After saying that, he waved his hand and left without waiting for the two to answer.
Huang Ye chased for a few steps, but in the end he didn't dare to say anything. He just clenched his fists and stared at Fang Chen as he walked further and further away.
Zhang Quan sighed and patted him on the back: "Let's go too."
Huang Ye was still unwilling to give in, and cursed in a low voice: "What nice words are you talking about? Everyone knows that singing alone has no future these days. I just made some videos, and they were hacked at first, but in the end, nothing happened, and they even got a lot of attention for free. Now they are still using their wealth and power to suppress me..."
"Shut up!" Zhang Quan scolded him, "You're the one who caused this! I told you to focus on filming and not cause trouble. Don't you realize your acting is so bad? You should spend more time studying your acting skills and learning from the seniors instead of doing crooked things! Now you've fallen flat on your face and you only know how to blame others!"
Huang Ye retorted, "But, Brother Quan, I haven't had any announcements in almost five months! All the people I had previously agreed to collaborate with have been replaced! What should I do? Am I going to be put on ice until the end of the contract?"
"I'm trying to find a solution for you!" Zhang Quan couldn't help but raise his voice. "'When you're under someone's roof, you have to bow your head.' Do you understand? I'm swallowing my pride and apologizing on your behalf, but you just open your mouth and spew out your grievances! Listen to what you're saying. Is that an apology? That's offending people!"
After scolding Huang Ye, he felt the anger in his heart finally dissipate a little, so he suppressed his temper and continued, "Okay, now that Mr. Fang has relented, at least the resource companies related to singing and dancing will no longer hold you back. If you work hard, you will have a chance to succeed. Go back, don't hang around here, you're afraid the TV station won't notice what's going on."
After Zhang Quan finished speaking, he no longer cared about Huang Ye and left.
After walking a few steps, he turned back and whispered, "Don't even think about provoking them again. Look at Yang Hedong. After the dismal box office performance of 'Eight Years,' he won't be getting any good movie scripts for at least the next two years. You don't really think 'Eight Years' failed simply because it was bad, do you? It's not uncommon for bad movies to still be box office hits. How could that movie have the bad luck of colliding with 'The Painter'?"
After saying this, Zhang Quanzhen just walked away without looking back.
Huang Ye's clenched fists loosened and tightened again, and finally, he had no choice but to follow reluctantly.
◇◆◇
Today's program recording went smoothly. It was not yet two o'clock when He Tong and his group left the TV station, so they went directly to a nearby restaurant they had booked to have a late lunch.
The holiday is three days long, and I will fly back to the crew of "Bladeless Blade" tomorrow. The free afternoon and evening will be free time.
While eating, He Tong was thinking about asking his brother Ye out on a date again.
Unfortunately, after thinking about it, I really can't think of anywhere to go. After all, they are quite famous now, and they have to bring bodyguards with them. There are at least six people when they go out. There is no way to keep a low profile. If they go to public attractions, they will probably be recognized.
He Tong sighed, but without wasting any time, he quickly peeled another crab and brought it to Ye Yuze.
Ye Yuze pushed it back: "I've had enough, you eat it yourself."
He Tong then brought it back and ate it himself.
Seeing him eating crabs with a look of deep sorrow, Ye Yuze asked with amusement, "Why are you sighing?"
He Tong looked up at his brother Ye pitifully: "I want to go out and play, but I don't know where to go."
Fang Chen, who was standing opposite him, almost spit out the soup in his mouth: "He Xiaotong, how old are you today? Do you know how to use the Internet?"
He Tong curled his lips at him: "Why don't you go online and find me a place where we can hide from the onlookers?"
Fang Chen scratched his head. It was such an emergency, it was really not easy to find it.
Lingling, who had just finished her meal and was browsing her phone, looked up and said, "Why don't we go for a river cruise? We can charter a boat and we won't have to worry about being recognized."
He Tong's eyes lit up: "That's a good idea."
Lingling quickly clicked a few times on her phone and flipped the screen to show everyone.
"A few years ago, a project was launched here. A pedestrian street and a new commercial center were built along a river connecting the two lakes. Although there are shops on both sides of the river, it has an antique atmosphere. The river is full of large and small pleasure boats. It's quite interesting to cruise on the lake during the day and the river at night."
Fang Chen immediately made the decision after hearing this: "This is it! I have a classmate here who I'm very close to. I'll ask him to help us contact someone and book a pleasure boat for a river cruise. We can have dinner right on the boat."
He took out his cell phone and called the other party. Although the other party was not in the local area, he quickly arranged for him and sent an assistant to accompany him.
Although the houseboat they ordered was not very big, it was still more than enough for their group of twelve people. There were gauze curtains hanging on the windows on both sides, which could be lowered to block the view inside the boat.
The boat is managed by a family of three. The son drives the boat, and the elderly couple is responsible for cooking and serving the guests. They are friendly but also keep an appropriate distance. It is obvious that they were trained by the cruise company to specifically receive chartered guests.
The air in September still carried the dryness of summer. A group of people sat on the pleasure boat, looking at the scenery of the lake outside and enjoying the cool breeze with moisture, which was quite pleasant.
Everyone separated into groups of three or four and chatted with each other.
He Tong was next to Ye Yuze. Whenever the pleasure boat passed a lake scene, he would give a detailed introduction and occasionally tell a few anecdotes.
Fang Chen was originally chatting with his assistant about the housing prices here. After listening for a while, he turned half sideways and asked curiously, "Hey, how do you know so much? Have you been here before?"
The assistant on the other side also smiled and complimented: "Teacher He is really knowledgeable. There are many allusions that even a local like me doesn't know."
He Tong said modestly, "I just read from the textbook. In high school, there was a classmate who was a history enthusiast. He often talked about this and that classic in class. I remembered a lot after listening to him so many times."
In fact, in his previous life, He Tong had funded a team to create 3D images of scenic spots across the country, specifically for Ye Yuze, who was physically weak and couldn't go out much. He had memorized the commentary back then, and now seeing the real scene, some of it came back to him naturally.
After a short half-day of touring the lake, as the sky darkened and the streetlights came on, the pleasure boat sailed into the river, which was sandwiched between the commercial streets. There were indeed quite a few pleasure boats on the river, and from time to time you could see two- or three-story pleasure boats docked at the shore, most of which were catering boats.
For dinner, the chef couple prepared a fish feast. Everyone ate delicious dishes, drank fragrant wine, felt the river breeze and watched the lights on both sides of the river. It really felt like a night cruise on Qinhuai River.
After three rounds of wine and five dishes, the assistant saw that everyone had almost finished eating, so he stopped the boat and ran ashore to buy some classic local snacks for everyone to try.
A table of people were chatting idly. Xiao Zheng, who was looking out the window, suddenly stood up and pointed at a two-story pleasure boat not far ahead. "Look over there, it looks like something happened."
Hearing this, everyone looked over as he instructed.
Through a large frosted window on the second floor of the houseboat, several entangled figures could be clearly seen.
"What's going on?" Lingling leaned forward slightly. "Looks like they're fighting?"
Xiao Zheng quickly pulled her back: "Be careful not to fall out."
Just as they were saying these two or three sentences, the window of the private room in the houseboat was pushed open, and a figure jumped out from inside, falling straight to the water surface with a loud splash and high splashes of water.
Soon after, many people on the first deck of the pleasure boat and on both sides of the shore began to scream: "Someone fell into the water!"
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