If men are reliable, pigs can fly.
"Don't come any closer!" Xu Luoluo wanted to run, but thinking that she was naked, running would be even more dangerous. She could only wrap herself tightly in her blanket, trembling as she stared at the person getting closer and closer to her. "You...you better not take advantage of me, I'll scream."
"Heh..." Tang Yizhuo chuckled, "Go ahead and scream, no one will come to save you no matter how hard you shout."
Xu Luoluo: "..."
She was stunned by the sudden outburst of acting from the other person as she listened to the standard bully lines. Tang Yizhuo, seemingly very into character, stopped half a foot away from her, arms crossed, watching her with a leisurely air, as if waiting for her to continue her performance of "shouting until her throat was hoarse."
Xu Luoluo rolled her eyes. This room was expensive and well-soundproofed; she wasn't going to waste her breath shouting. Besides, judging from Tang Yizhuo's demeanor, he clearly wasn't up to anything strange, as she had initially thought. Looking closer, she noticed a light bluish stubble on Tang Yizhuo's face, as if he hadn't had enough rest. Of course, something like this couldn't be easily resolved. Then she remembered the unreachable phone number Tang Yizhuo had called, and suddenly snapped back to reality, recalling a series of grudges.
How should we settle the score for the grudge that led to her being kicked out of both her company and apartment without any warning?
And just now, did he see everything?!
Xu Luoluo suddenly felt a surge of anger and glared at him angrily. Tang Yizhuo narrowed his peach blossom eyes, his expression extremely profound, his dark pupils fixed on her. A tense tension seemed to rise between them.
After their eyes met for a few minutes...
What are your plans for the future?
How much did you see?
The two spoke at the same time. Xu Luoluo bit her lip, and Tang Yizhuo smiled upon hearing this: "What do you think?"
I think, if I could sense it, would I not even know when the door was broken in? Faced with such provocation, Xu Luoluo was instantly enraged.
But why was she completely unaware of everything? Thinking of the candles she had lit and the steam rising from the bathroom, Xu Luoluo suddenly felt a little guilty. Could it be that she had really fainted from lack of oxygen and was saved by Tang Yizhuo by sheer luck?
She'd been soaking in the hot springs and was completely out of it. Trying to recall, all she could remember was waking up screaming in his arms. The feeling of their warm skin touching surged back, and Xu Luoluo shook her head uncomfortably, trying to suppress the inexplicable flutter in her heart. But why, after recognizing Tang Yizhuo, did she suddenly lower her guard and quickly hide under the covers out of shyness?
Tang Yizhuo watched her frown and smile inexplicably, and couldn't help but feel a little uneasy. He coughed and said, "If I wanted to see, would I need to cover you with a bath towel?"
"Oh, is that so?" Xu Luoluo glanced at the bath towel she had tossed aside and believed it to some extent. She then imagined him awkwardly avoiding her gaze while covering her with the towel, and couldn't help but chuckle.
"Besides, there's nothing much to see," Tang Yizhuo calmly added, breaking her elation.
"You're talking nonsense! There's clearly a lot to see!" Xu Luoluo immediately retorted when someone dared to question her charm.
Tang Yizhuo responded with an "Oh," and began to scrutinize her with interest. Xu Luoluo realized she had fallen into this low-IQ bickering trap, and in a fit of rage, threw her only weapon—a pillow—at that smug face.
Tang Yizhuo grabbed the pillow, avoiding looking at Xu Luoluo's smooth, fair arm. He turned and walked to the entryway to turn on the air conditioner. Why is this room so hot?
Tang Yizhuo left, and Xu Luoluo started sobbing, biting the blanket.
As promised, the man revealed Cheng Jun's true identity to her. The screenwriter she had so admired for "reworking" her was actually someone like this; her original plans immediately fizzled out.
Cheng Jun was actually Grandpa Gu Jun, the chief screenwriter of countless large-scale serious dramas. These were all dramas she had watched grow up. How could she possibly beg to become his apprentice? It was said that Grandpa Gu's granddaughter, Gu Yue, and Tang Yizhuo jointly invested in this drama. Grandpa Gu couldn't resist his beloved granddaughter's persistent pleading, but he also couldn't bear to abandon his reputation as a serious drama screenwriter to do something that catered to the youth market, so he used a different pen name. It has to be said, a master is a master. Her own third-rate script was instantly elevated to a level of sophistication by his writing.
She gripped the corner of the blanket tightly. That wicked capitalist Tang Yizhuo must have had his eye on Old Master Gu's adaptation skills before even partnering with Gu Yue. He never does anything that doesn't make a profit; he only acts when he's absolutely certain. She wondered how he had managed to convince Gu Yue.
Xu Luoluo recalled Gu Yue's enthusiasm towards her back then, and a thought suddenly struck her. This script was actually adapted from a novel she wrote in college, and it was also a practice piece in her transition from novel writing to screenwriting. Could it be that Gu Yue was a reader of the novel before?
She pulled out her notebook and jotted down some notes. This might be a good starting point for building connections later. But right now, she was still far from being good enough. If she forced herself to get to know Old Master Gu through Gu Yue's connection, she would just be one of the countless people who admired the senior, and the potential cold reception she might receive would shatter Gu Yue's positive impression of her as an author.
Now is really not a good time. When a person is not strong enough, it is difficult to expand relationships and exchange benefits at the same level.
Strength is the only true measure of success.
But where does skill come from? Xu Luoluo has been so engrossed in meeting deadlines lately that she hasn't had time to study or improve. For example, right now, she's so excited from organizing her thoughts that she can't sleep, so she's taken out her laptop and is actually pulling an all-nighter to finish her draft. Actually, Producer Xu hasn't given her that much time, but she knows she still has shortcomings, so she wants to finish as quickly as possible before refining and editing. She aims to finish the first draft in the next few days, giving herself time to revise the second and third drafts.
Xu Luoluo, with her hair in a bun, worked tirelessly until dawn, finally finishing an episode. Feeling dizzy and lightheaded, she got out of bed, poured herself a glass of water, and planned to drink it and go to sleep, but then she heard a "ding" from her computer—a new email notification.
Xu Luoluo finished reading the email and closed her laptop expressionlessly. She sat at the bar and downed two glasses of ice water, gripping the clear glass tightly until the grooves on the glass ached in her hand. She stared intently at the glass in her hand, her pupils dilating slightly after a long while, and finally, a bitter smile tugged at the corners of her tightly pressed lips. She had just been complaining about not having time to improve herself; now, she had indefinite time to study and improve.
How could she not have thought of that? Capital is always driven by profit. With the mobile game adaptation of *Mist Spirit* failing, investors naturally lost faith in the series and withdrew their funding. When a empire collapses, it's not the investors who suffer, but rather the ordinary workers like them. The email from screenwriter Xu was full of apologies, but as the producer, she couldn't change the investors' minds. She simply told her that she would settle a portion of the remaining budget, and that the project had to be cancelled, with future collaborations possible. This was already quite lenient; many small projects fail and screenwriters receive nothing. Producer Xu was very considerate, and Xu Luoluo gratefully replied with a thank you email, expressing her hope for future collaborations.
If men were reliable, pigs would fly. Tang Yizhuo painted so many rosy pictures for her, making her think it was a great deal, but in the end, these promises were all bubbles, bursting at the slightest touch. She ended up not only with nothing, but also losing her job and her house. She thought herself clever, but she was pathetically foolish.
But she always felt things weren't that simple. Like she'd said before, Tang Yizhuo didn't do things for nothing. Since he'd orchestrated this whole thing, there must be a reason. It didn't make sense for it to fall apart so quietly because of him. With a cold face, she opened the recording file on her phone. Luckily, she'd taken precautions and recorded everything from the very beginning. Regardless of whether Tang Yizhuo went into gaming or film in the future, releasing this recording would be a scandal, and the impact on the market would be self-evident.
However, this would place her on the opposite side of Tang Yizhuo. Unless it came to a fight to the death, doing so wouldn't benefit her. She didn't need to complicate her future just to vent her anger; using it as leverage was better than using it as blackmail. She would decide how to proceed based on the evolving situation.
A few days later, a phone call came from home. Xu's mother's voice was full of worry: "Luo Luo, I saw the news today, your company is in trouble. That Xiao Tang started his own company, I saw you two were quite close before, are you alright?"
"Nothing's involved, I've just been fired." Xu Luoluo muttered to herself, but didn't dare say it aloud: "No, no, it's just a management reshuffle. How could a small employee like me be affected? Don't worry too much."
"That's good, that's good." Aunt Xu was relieved, but couldn't help but gossip, "I've always said that Tang is a quick-witted kid, and now he's even started his own company. Running a company isn't that simple. Su is much more steady. How are you two doing these days?"
This is an old story... Xu Luoluo only realized after her mother mentioned it that she had forgotten about Su Ze for a long time, and now she felt that he was someone she had nothing to do with at all.
But she couldn't tell her mother about this, otherwise her mother would start arranging blind dates for her again. Xu Luoluo used her art of deception: "Oh, Mom, you shouldn't interfere in young people's affairs. If you make them rebellious, and things fall through, you'll be held responsible."
Instead of being angry, Xu's mother smiled broadly. Her daughter had finally figured things out and was starting to put effort into managing relationships, even using psychology knowledge—that was truly commendable. She was very pleased: "Alright, alright, then you can take care of yourselves. I won't worry about you anymore."
Xu Luoluo finally breathed a sigh of relief after hanging up the phone. Remembering the news her mother had mentioned on the phone, she opened a webpage and searched for T Company. Sure enough, Tang Yizhuo and his partners had divided the company's assets and established an independent game studio with their own team. It went so smoothly; the studio must have achieved his goal of acquiring ownership of "Mist Spirit" at a very low cost after T Company lost confidence in its market value.
He's so desperate for this IP that he's willing to risk ruining its mobile game and film adaptations. But if he cuts off these two industry chains, what exactly is he going to do with "Mist Spirit"?
Xu Luoluo couldn't understand it, but she did understand that she had truly been tricked. This was a debt that needed to be settled.
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