477

Wu Lefeng cast a smug look at Mu Rui, as if to tell her that his judgment was correct. Then he said to me: “You don’t look 24 years old, because a 24-year-old would not have this kind of calmness and maturity.”

Calmness and maturity? Oh well, this is a skill that I was forced to master in order to survive in this world. After all, I always offended people who I cannot afford to offend. But even so, I was still being manipulated like a chess piece.

Mu Rui was more suspicious. She asked directly: “Are you really just an ordinary white-collar worker?”

I knew why Mu Rui doubted me, so I smiled and said: “Some people are born with a silver spoon in their mouths, but some don’t… Hehe, my dad is a university teacher, and my mother runs a small fast food restaurant. They…” I pointed to several girls next to me and said. “She and I work in the same department. She is a policewoman. These two little girls are still in high school. We all are just ordinary people.”

Hearing what I said, how did Mu Rui not know what I was emphasizing. I was neither someone who was born into a rich family nor a kept man of rich women. She blushed and coughed embarrassingly: “I, I see… I’m sorry.” She apologized quietly in the end.

“It’s alright,” I smiled: “If it were me, I’d think the same.”

Mu Rui chuckled, the wariness of me in her eyes faded a lot.

“Come, don’t just stand there. Everyone, take a seat. Avril, go and get some drinks for us please.” After knowing that I had an ordinary background, Wu Lefeng became even friendlier towards me. Seeing that he didn’t act arrogantly like other stars, my impression of him improved a lot.

It was said that the intrigue in the entertainment industry was no less than the intrigue in the business world, but I felt that getting along with Wu Lefeng was a hundred times easier than Liu Xiaosheng and Zhang Mingjie and his like. However, what surprised me more was that Liusu, Sister Tiger, as well as Chu Yuan and Dongfang who claimed to be the fans of Wu Lefeng became taciturn when they were really in the same room with their idol. Unlike how excited they were when they saw him in front of the TV, in reality, Wu Lefeng was more like a stranger’s existence to them.

Wu Lefeng didn’t mention anything that happened in the cinema earlier, nor did he mention my relationship with Liusu and Dong Xiaoye. He only chatted with me about my life, asking me where I worked, and who else was in my family. From the tone he used to talk to me, it looked like he completely treated me as someone much younger than him. But this was understandable. After all, I just graduated from college for a year, but he already reached the age of “retirement”.

Frankly speaking, the real Wu Lefeng was far less interesting than the roles he played… He was very simple, or like Mu Rui said, he was not a shrewd person. I finally understood why Hu Yan was a little bit disdainful of Wu Lefeng, and said that he was a genius in terms of hard work. What Hu Yan liked was an actor with a unique temperament whether they were inside a movie or outside a movie. However, the Wu Lefeng outside the movie was too ordinary. He was too straightforward and did not know how to conceal his emotions, so it was easy for people to see through his mind.

I had a very good impression of such a person, but for fans who admired him, the gap between the Wu Lefeng in the movie and the Wu Lefeng, in reality, was so big that they found it difficult to adapt and accept. The unconcealable disappointed expressions on those girls’ faces were already enough to prove everything.

When the idol they worshipped fell from the sky to the ground, it was inevitable that there would be a sense of shock. After all, stars were also humans. I couldn’t help sighing. If they didn’t come to this meal, they wouldn’t be disappointed.

Not long after, Kong Jiancheng came back and brought us to a room that was obviously well-decorated. We already knew from the conversation that this Kong Jiancheng was Wu Lefeng’s childhood friend, and every time Wu Lefeng came to Bei Tian City, his food and accommodation would be provided by Kong Jiancheng.

This Kong Jiancheng was also not a simple person. Because he was good at making friends, he had a wide range of connections; he knew many people from various backgrounds. After talking in detail during the dinner, I discovered that the middleman of the female producer who once sought investment from Fengchang was actually Kong Jiancheng. A friend of his was a relative of the general manager of our company’s business management department.

No wonder no one in the investment department was willing to take this job. It turned out to be someone related to the people in the business management department. The general manager of the business management department belonged to vice-chairman Zhang Li’s faction, so Mo Fei was forced to take that job but was unwilling to invest was probably because she neither wanted to give Zhang Li’s face, nor did she want to make him lose his face…

Although Kong Jiancheng owned a restaurant, his alcohol tolerance was really low. After two glasses of white wine, he was already a little drunk. Once the alcohol went to his head, he became very excited. Ignoring Wu Lefeng completely, he asked me curiously, “Speaking of it, she also showed me the plans and documents. I thought it was a good script so I introduced Fengchang to her. But why did Fengchang refuse her? It’s the project is completed, your company will definitely make a lot of money.”

At that time, I was also very curious. Although the investment cycle was a bit longer, the risk was relatively small. Why did Mo Fei firmly reject it? But now I understood that this involved the secret battle between the Mo family and the Zhang family. Mo Fei’s refusal was just an attitude. It was to tell other people not to intervene in the affairs of her investment department.

But of course, I couldn’t say this to him, so I said: “Our company is not a professional entertainment company after all, and we have never made similar investments before, so we need to be more cautious. Besides, even if we want to invest in a movie, we will still choose a bigger film company with a stronger background for cooperation. Her company, as far as we know, has never had experience in large-scale productions. This has a considerable risk…”

“As if. What you said is just rhetoric used to fool other people.” The flushed Kong Jiancheng interrupted me with drunken eyes, squinting his muddy eyes, and smiling mysteriously: “Brother Chu, we are already friends, right? So please tell me the truth… Uh…” he hiccuped and then continued: “Does your Fengchang Group run out of money?”

“Fengchang ran out of money? How could it be possible?” Actually, I didn’t know Fengchang’s financial situation, but I didn’t want people to underestimate the company I was working for. “I don’t know about other departments, but our investment department alone can make a net profit of over 100 million yuan every year…”

Kong Jiancheng waved his hands repeatedly and said slurredly: “I know your department can make money, but no matter how much you can make, the people from the top of your company can still squander it all. I have heard that a certain senior executive in your company embezzled the company funds to go to Hong Kong to speculate in the stock market, and lost a lot of money. It caused your company’s finances to have a big hole. In order to fill this hole, this senior executive actually went to the underground bank to borrow 100 million… You tell me, if your company has no financial problems, why did your company’s executive need to sneak to Hong Kong to speculate in the stock market?”

I was greatly shocked after hearing what he said. I’ve heard about Fengchang’s senior executive borrowing money from underground banks in order to fill the financial hole from Sang Yingjie before. From this, it looked like Kong Jiancheng’s words were not groundless.

Liusu only regarded Kong Jiancheng’s words as drunk talk. She said, “We don’t even know about it, so how can you possibly know it?”

Kong Jiancheng was really drunk, he laughed: “How can I not know about it? The general manager of your business management department, Mr. Qian, told us personally during the dinner with that female producer?”

Liusu was speechless, but this was a matter for Fengchang’s senior management and had little to do with those of us who worked at the lower level; so she didn’t care too much. She also knew that manager Qian was working for the Zhang family, so if everything she heard was true, the person who borrowed money from the underground bank was most likely Zhang Li.

I actually thought a little bit more than Liusu. First, it was Sang Yingjie, then it was Kong Jiancheng. Obviously, the senior executive of Fengchang borrowing money from the underground bank was no longer a secret. If that person was really Zhang Li, once this matter was exposed, it would be the end of his career at Fengchang. Could it be that the disagreement between Zhang Li and his son, Zhang Mingjie, also had something to do with this matter?

I hope I was thinking too much…

Wu Lefeng obviously realized that Kong Jiancheng had said something that shouldn’t be said. He said to me hurriedly: “This guy is obviously drunk, so Mr. Chu, please don’t take his words seriously.”

Kong Jiancheng sobered up a little after being hinted at by Wu Lefeng, he hurriedly said: “Yes, yes, I also just heard it. It may not be credible. So Brother Chu, please don’t take it seriously. You can just forget it after this meal.”

If it wasn’t credible, why would he be nervous?

Wu Lefeng cast a smug look at Mu Rui, as if to tell her that his judgment was correct. Then he said to me: “You don’t look 24 years old, because a 24-year-old would not have this kind of calmness and maturity.”

Calmness and maturity? Oh well, this is a skill that I was forced to master in order to survive in this world. After all, I always offended people who I cannot afford to offend. But even so, I was still being manipulated like a chess piece.

Mu Rui was more suspicious. She asked directly: “Are you really just an ordinary white-collar worker?”

I knew why Mu Rui doubted me, so I smiled and said: “Some people are born with a silver spoon in their mouths, but some don’t… Hehe, my dad is a university teacher, and my mother runs a small fast food restaurant. They…” I pointed to several girls next to me and said. “She and I work in the same department. She is a policewoman. These two little girls are still in high school. We all are just ordinary people.”

Hearing what I said, how did Mu Rui not know what I was emphasizing. I was neither someone who was born into a rich family nor a kept man of rich women. She blushed and coughed embarrassingly: “I, I see… I’m sorry.” She apologized quietly in the end.

“It’s alright,” I smiled: “If it were me, I’d think the same.”

Mu Rui chuckled, the wariness of me in her eyes faded a lot.

“Come, don’t just stand there. Everyone, take a seat. Avril, go and get some drinks for us please.” After knowing that I had an ordinary background, Wu Lefeng became even friendlier towards me. Seeing that he didn’t act arrogantly like other stars, my impression of him improved a lot.

It was said that the intrigue in the entertainment industry was no less than the intrigue in the business world, but I felt that getting along with Wu Lefeng was a hundred times easier than Liu Xiaosheng and Zhang Mingjie and his like. However, what surprised me more was that Liusu, Sister Tiger, as well as Chu Yuan and Dongfang who claimed to be the fans of Wu Lefeng became taciturn when they were really in the same room with their idol. Unlike how excited they were when they saw him in front of the TV, in reality, Wu Lefeng was more like a stranger’s existence to them.

Wu Lefeng didn’t mention anything that happened in the cinema earlier, nor did he mention my relationship with Liusu and Dong Xiaoye. He only chatted with me about my life, asking me where I worked, and who else was in my family. From the tone he used to talk to me, it looked like he completely treated me as someone much younger than him. But this was understandable. After all, I just graduated from college for a year, but he already reached the age of “retirement”.

Frankly speaking, the real Wu Lefeng was far less interesting than the roles he played… He was very simple, or like Mu Rui said, he was not a shrewd person. I finally understood why Hu Yan was a little bit disdainful of Wu Lefeng, and said that he was a genius in terms of hard work. What Hu Yan liked was an actor with a unique temperament whether they were inside a movie or outside a movie. However, the Wu Lefeng outside the movie was too ordinary. He was too straightforward and did not know how to conceal his emotions, so it was easy for people to see through his mind.

I had a very good impression of such a person, but for fans who admired him, the gap between the Wu Lefeng in the movie and the Wu Lefeng, in reality, was so big that they found it difficult to adapt and accept. The unconcealable disappointed expressions on those girls’ faces were already enough to prove everything.

When the idol they worshipped fell from the sky to the ground, it was inevitable that there would be a sense of shock. After all, stars were also humans. I couldn’t help sighing. If they didn’t come to this meal, they wouldn’t be disappointed.

Not long after, Kong Jiancheng came back and brought us to a room that was obviously well-decorated. We already knew from the conversation that this Kong Jiancheng was Wu Lefeng’s childhood friend, and every time Wu Lefeng came to Bei Tian City, his food and accommodation would be provided by Kong Jiancheng.

This Kong Jiancheng was also not a simple person. Because he was good at making friends, he had a wide range of connections; he knew many people from various backgrounds. After talking in detail during the dinner, I discovered that the middleman of the female producer who once sought investment from Fengchang was actually Kong Jiancheng. A friend of his was a relative of the general manager of our company’s business management department.

No wonder no one in the investment department was willing to take this job. It turned out to be someone related to the people in the business management department. The general manager of the business management department belonged to vice-chairman Zhang Li’s faction, so Mo Fei was forced to take that job but was unwilling to invest was probably because she neither wanted to give Zhang Li’s face, nor did she want to make him lose his face…

Although Kong Jiancheng owned a restaurant, his alcohol tolerance was really low. After two glasses of white wine, he was already a little drunk. Once the alcohol went to his head, he became very excited. Ignoring Wu Lefeng completely, he asked me curiously, “Speaking of it, she also showed me the plans and documents. I thought it was a good script so I introduced Fengchang to her. But why did Fengchang refuse her? It’s the project is completed, your company will definitely make a lot of money.”

At that time, I was also very curious. Although the investment cycle was a bit longer, the risk was relatively small. Why did Mo Fei firmly reject it? But now I understood that this involved the secret battle between the Mo family and the Zhang family. Mo Fei’s refusal was just an attitude. It was to tell other people not to intervene in the affairs of her investment department.

But of course, I couldn’t say this to him, so I said: “Our company is not a professional entertainment company after all, and we have never made similar investments before, so we need to be more cautious. Besides, even if we want to invest in a movie, we will still choose a bigger film company with a stronger background for cooperation. Her company, as far as we know, has never had experience in large-scale productions. This has a considerable risk…”

“As if. What you said is just rhetoric used to fool other people.” The flushed Kong Jiancheng interrupted me with drunken eyes, squinting his muddy eyes, and smiling mysteriously: “Brother Chu, we are already friends, right? So please tell me the truth… Uh…” he hiccuped and then continued: “Does your Fengchang Group run out of money?”

“Fengchang ran out of money? How could it be possible?” Actually, I didn’t know Fengchang’s financial situation, but I didn’t want people to underestimate the company I was working for. “I don’t know about other departments, but our investment department alone can make a net profit of over 100 million yuan every year…”

Kong Jiancheng waved his hands repeatedly and said slurredly: “I know your department can make money, but no matter how much you can make, the people from the top of your company can still squander it all. I have heard that a certain senior executive in your company embezzled the company funds to go to Hong Kong to speculate in the stock market, and lost a lot of money. It caused your company’s finances to have a big hole. In order to fill this hole, this senior executive actually went to the underground bank to borrow 100 million… You tell me, if your company has no financial problems, why did your company’s executive need to sneak to Hong Kong to speculate in the stock market?”

I was greatly shocked after hearing what he said. I’ve heard about Fengchang’s senior executive borrowing money from underground banks in order to fill the financial hole from Sang Yingjie before. From this, it looked like Kong Jiancheng’s words were not groundless.

Liusu only regarded Kong Jiancheng’s words as drunk talk. She said, “We don’t even know about it, so how can you possibly know it?”

Kong Jiancheng was really drunk, he laughed: “How can I not know about it? The general manager of your business management department, Mr. Qian, told us personally during the dinner with that female producer?”

Liusu was speechless, but this was a matter for Fengchang’s senior management and had little to do with those of us who worked at the lower level; so she didn’t care too much. She also knew that manager Qian was working for the Zhang family, so if everything she heard was true, the person who borrowed money from the underground bank was most likely Zhang Li.

I actually thought a little bit more than Liusu. First, it was Sang Yingjie, then it was Kong Jiancheng. Obviously, the senior executive of Fengchang borrowing money from the underground bank was no longer a secret. If that person was really Zhang Li, once this matter was exposed, it would be the end of his career at Fengchang. Could it be that the disagreement between Zhang Li and his son, Zhang Mingjie, also had something to do with this matter?

I hope I was thinking too much…

Wu Lefeng obviously realized that Kong Jiancheng had said something that shouldn’t be said. He said to me hurriedly: “This guy is obviously drunk, so Mr. Chu, please don’t take his words seriously.”

Kong Jiancheng sobered up a little after being hinted at by Wu Lefeng, he hurriedly said: “Yes, yes, I also just heard it. It may not be credible. So Brother Chu, please don’t take it seriously. You can just forget it after this meal.”

If it wasn’t credible, why would he be nervous?