This is a huge misunderstanding.
There are several well-known screenwriters in the industry, but she couldn't recall this name at all. Could a newcomer really possess such masterful skills, completely outshining her?
But this level of professionalism really doesn't seem like that of a complete novice.
"Do you know him?" Xu Luoluo tapped the name on the screen and looked at Tang Yizhuo.
Tang Yizhuo raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything, looking smug.
He definitely knew, he was just keeping her in suspense. Xu Luoluo understood perfectly well that her own abilities couldn't reach those numbers; the capital and the co-writing screenwriters were the main forces driving the show's success. She needed a learning opportunity, whether it was game design or screenwriting. However, once Tang Yizhuo's plan was implemented, she definitely wouldn't be able to stay at T Company. The bait was tempting, but the price was also high. If she didn't find a new job and didn't sell any new scripts, her life would be very difficult. She hadn't sold many scripts before, mostly to small companies, and with her salary from the past year, her savings would at most be enough for her to survive in S City for another three months.
You need to think about your backup plan.
Xu Luoluo remained silent, quickly weighing the pros and cons in her mind. Tang Yizhuo didn't press her for details, but instead turned around, picked up a book from the bookshelf behind him, and began to read leisurely.
"I'm happy to be the scapegoat." After a moment of silence, Xu Luoluo made up her mind.
Seeing Tang Yizhuo look up at her, she smiled slightly and said, "However, there is one more condition."
You can't catch a wolf without risking your cub. She'd invested so much, she couldn't afford to lose money. Although the show's ratings might boost her chances of getting more collaborations, Xu Luoluo was well aware of the gap between her own abilities and the show that had secured those ratings. Accepting scripts against her conscience would only be a self-destructive act, a dead end.
The ancients said that parents love their children and plan far ahead for them. But her principle in life is to love herself, so she must plan far ahead for herself.
Lost in her memories, meticulously calculating her gains after the deed was done, Xu Luoluo's phone suddenly vibrated. Who was calling her at this hour? Clutching her bedding, she couldn't free her hands, and with only a few steps from her door, she cut off her thoughts and quickly walked back. But at the entrance of the complex, she saw an unexpected person. The person, holding a phone, paused for a moment when she approached, then angrily pressed the screen, before suddenly, as if remembering something, laughing smugly.
Xu Luoluo's phone stopped vibrating in her pocket. She immediately realized that the person who had been so eager to call her was an old acquaintance: Deng Lingling. Deng Lingling was certainly efficient; wasn't she just in the office? How did she get here so quickly? She had resigned, but Deng Lingling was a rising star employee. Was it really okay for her to blatantly slack off like this?
As she muttered to herself, the other person grew impatient and strode over in her high heels: "You actually have the nerve to come here?"
Xu Luoluo looked puzzled. She had only been fired from her company, so why shouldn't she be allowed to go home?
If she couldn't figure it out, she decided to let it go and walked back past Deng Lingling.
"Hey, did you hear what I said?" Deng Lingling followed up angrily when she saw that she was ignoring her. "Your apartment is company property, and it has already been assigned to me."
Xu Luoluo paused, and Deng Lingling laughed: "You didn't know, did you? Well, it makes sense. Your backer ran away without telling you, didn't he?"
"What backer ran away?" Xu Luoluo frowned. This house was rented to her by Tang Yizhuo. She didn't expect it to be company property. That guy didn't mention it at all.
"Tang Yizhuo," Deng Lingling rolled her eyes, "Everyone thinks you have something going on with Su Ze, but they don't know that you're secretly clinging to Producer Tang. You're as clingy as ever, sticking to Su Ze and making him suffer for nothing."
"I'm clinging to Su Ze?" Xu Luoluo gathered the documents in her hand and walked towards the apartment without stopping. "Deng Lingling, after all these years, you still love to overthink things."
"Otherwise, will he still be clinging to you?" Deng Lingling followed her closely after they got out of the elevator, glancing at her apartment and then at the apartment across the hall, her meaning quite clear.
“First, I moved here first.” Xu Luoluo took out her keys but didn’t open the door immediately. “Second, wait, let me see the apartment transfer contract.”
Deng Lingling came prepared, and instantly pulled out a stack of contracts from her large bag—complete and official. Xu Luoluo couldn't find anything wrong with them, flipped through them, took a picture, and then returned them to her.
"Secondly, I will be moving out before I leave work this afternoon, and I won't be seeing your Su Ze." She emphasized the word "your" because the other person's eyes were almost glued to the opposite door. It was too obvious that Su Ze belonged to her, just as obvious as back then. "The contract states that it starts from tomorrow, and the house is still mine, so I won't invite you in. Bye-bye."
After saying that, she slammed the door shut, leaving Deng Lingling, who was about to shout even louder, outside.
After a while, the elevator doors opened and closed repeatedly. Xu Luoluo knew that Deng Lingling had left, and only then did she calm down to pack her luggage. While packing clothes into her suitcase, she cursed that bastard Tang Yizhuo for disappearing without a word. Now that she'd finished putting on a cool act, where was she going to sleep tonight?
After thinking it over, Xu Luoluo pulled up her contacts and dialed a number: "Junior, are you interested in pulling an all-nighter to finish a draft?"
Meeting deadlines is a small matter; storing luggage is a big deal.
Finding a suitable place to stay overnight was difficult, so she was destined to stay in a hotel for a while. However, it was impossible for her to travel with all the luggage of her family. Fortunately, Wang Haoran was a local and had a large house. Upon hearing his senior, colleague, and boss's "complaints," he immediately said that he could leave the luggage there for as long as he wanted, but not overnight. He was a screenwriter with a healthy schedule and needed to get his beauty sleep on time every night.
Xu Luoluo: "...Thank you." It's because I'm not refined enough.
After packing and shipping her luggage, she chose a hot spring hotel that was rumored to be very luxurious to stay at for the first night, using the rental deposit she had gotten back.
Although being fired was expected, the series of events—being ousted and the complex gazes of others—had created immense psychological pressure, and she needed to relax. It was said that Agatha Christie wrote *Murder on the Orient Express* at the Pera Palace Hotel, inspired by its aristocratic atmosphere. Perhaps she could emulate her predecessor and see if she could transform this luxurious environment into inspiration, writing with effortless fluency every day, never again weeping over writer's block and rejected drafts.
Xu Luoluo put up her long, dark brown curly hair, walked into the bathroom, lit a scented candle, placed a bottle of red wine and a wine glass next to the round bathtub, turned on Bluetooth to connect to the surround sound speaker in the bathroom, and played her own blues jazz playlist!
The bathroom faucet connected directly to hot spring water; she chose sulfurous hot spring water, filled the tub with hot water, turned on the massage function, and lay down comfortably, her arms resting on the edge of the tub. She poured herself a glass of red wine and sipped it slowly. Steam quickly filled the bathroom. Xu Luoluo squinted, feeling light and airy. In this ethereal atmosphere, she closed her eyes, intending to fully enjoy herself.
Time flowed by smoothly. Xu Luoluo, her eyes closed amidst the swirling mist, was oblivious to everything around her. The hotel phone rang repeatedly, and knocks echoed on the door, but she remained completely unaware. Even as a figure burst into the bathroom, she… still didn't notice.
"Ah!!!!" A high-decibel female voice pierced the sky, and Xu Luoluo woke up from her dream with a start. She hugged her chest with both hands, or rather, hugged the bath towel in front of her, and glared at the man who walked out of the bathroom carrying her, dripping wet.
The other person seemed completely oblivious, resolutely walked to the bedside, threw her off, then turned away to wipe their forehead, muttering softly, "It seems heavier than last time."
"..." Xu Luoluo gritted her teeth and glared at him fiercely, but his words reminded her of the time she got drunk and vomited and had diarrhea in his room last time. She silently pulled up the blanket and hid herself.
After a long silence, she suddenly realized what had happened, threw the soaking wet towel out, and muttered under the covers, "I wasn't drunk this time! How could you have come in like this?! And you saw me naked!"
Not hearing a reply, she peeked out and saw Tang Yizhuo take off his wet coat, sit on the sofa, unbutton his shirt cuffs, roll them up, and then pick up his water glass to take a sip.
Then he turned his head and stared intently into Xu Luoluo's eyes, which had been following his every move. Instead of answering, he asked, "Did you fill in my emergency contact?"
"Um... I'll just fill this in randomly." She only realized when booking the hotel that no one seemed appropriate. If something really happened and she contacted her parents, they wouldn't be able to help her in time, and they'd be frantic if they knew she'd been fired and kicked out. Su Ze was out of the question, her relationship with Liu Jia was a bit awkward, and she didn't want to bother Wang Haoran again since they weren't that close. That left only Tang Yizhuo. Based on the principle that it was only one night and she wasn't likely to need an emergency contact, Xu Luoluo wrote down his contact information without hesitation.
"Why would you need an emergency contact?" Xu Luoluo asked suspiciously. "Nothing happened to me."
Before she could finish speaking, the guest room phone rang again. Tang Yizhuo remained motionless, clearly having no intention of getting up. Xu Luoluo had no choice but to extend a bare arm and answer the phone on the bedside table.
"Hello, are you Ms. Xu from room 402?" The receptionist's voice was gentle and sweet.
"Yes, did you just contact my emergency contact?"
"Yes. I'm sorry, Ms. Xu, when our staff brought you your meal, no one answered the door or the phone in your room. Our hallway CCTV footage shows that you should have been in your room at the time. We were a little worried about your safety, so we contacted your emergency contact to check on you."
As expected of a star-rated hotel, the service is incredibly meticulous.
Xu Luoluo exclaimed "Wow!" but felt embarrassed to blame them. If she had really been in danger, they had saved her life.
After hanging up the phone, she glanced at Tang Yizhuo guiltily, but he stood up, smiled, and walked towards her step by step. His thin lips parted slightly, and his tone was tender: "Tell me, how do you plan to repay me this time?"
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