Lin An'an's Dilemma

"Director Liu, you wanted to see me?"

Da Chun, who had been called back, looked puzzled.

Director Liu nodded, "Yes, did you send the script to Lin Fan?"

Da Chun replied seriously, "Just sent it."

Director Liu looked exasperated, "Kid, weren’t you always slow with tasks before?"

Da Chun noticed Director Liu’s uncomfortable expression.

He also spotted a black dot near the director’s mouth.

He asked uncertainly, "Director Liu, did you eat something bad?"

"Eat?! I didn’t eat anything wrong!"

Director Liu snapped back.

Logically, Lin Fan arrived first, followed by Xu Mo.

But it was obvious to anyone with half a brain.

Xu Mo was the most capable and came from the best family background.

Director Liu took a deep breath and assigned Da Chun a new task.

"Da Chun, go tell Lin Fan that we’ve chosen a new male lead for the script. Be tactful, don’t be too direct."

The burly Da Chun didn’t ask questions or say much, just nodded.

"Yes, Director Liu."

Director Liu gave him an approving look.

Da Chun often didn’t think too much when doing tasks.

He just did what he was told.

Though he was usually slow, that was only for tasks that required thinking.

For straightforward tasks like this,

he was the perfect fit.

Director Liu didn’t care if Da Chun could complete the task well.

After all, he wouldn’t be the one getting yelled at.

If Lin Fan showed up tomorrow and caused trouble,

Director Liu had a plan to handle it. He’d deal with it as it came.

No need to panic!

Next,

he called Lin An'an.

He wanted to give her a heads-up.

Lin An'an’s influence was no less than his as a director.

If she decided not to cooperate because of the last-minute change,

that would be a real headache!

Fortunately, after the call,

Lin An'an’s tone was calm.

She didn’t show strong dissatisfaction.

Director Liu breathed a sigh of relief.

At the same time, Da Chun came back with his phone.

"Director Liu, Lin Fan is really angry. He wants you to take the call."

"I’ve hung up three times, but he keeps calling back."

"Should I block him?"

Hiss...

Director Liu, who had been in a good mood,

hearing Da Chun’s clueless words,

was instantly furious.

How could he say something like that?

Director Liu’s face turned dark, and he quickly waved his hand.

Signaling Da Chun to wait.

He was trying to figure out what to say in response.

But Da Chun seemed to misunderstand, speaking gruffly into the phone.

"Stop calling! Director Liu doesn’t want to see you or hear your voice!"

With that,

Da Chun, to Director Liu’s shock,

hung up the phone.

And then blocked Lin Fan’s number.

A series of bold moves.

Director Liu felt his scalp tingle.

His mouth was already itching to curse.

And he did.

"What the hell, Da Chun?! What are you doing?!"

"Director Liu, I was just following your instructions."

"Is this what you call following my instructions?!"

"Yes, Director Liu."

"Get out! Don’t come to work tomorrow."

"Okay."

Da Chun turned around.

Just as he was about to leave,

Director Liu called him back.

"Wait!"

Da Chun turned back.

Director Liu rubbed his temples and waved his hand.

"Forget it, forget it. It’s a bit ruthless, but better to end it quickly. Go back to work."

"Yes! I’ll work hard!"

Da Chun’s face lit up with joy.

"Get out!"

Director Liu didn’t know why, but seeing Da Chun annoyed him.

Da Chun, feeling like he’d been pardoned, quickly left.

Director Liu pulled out a Furongwang cigarette, lit it, and looked out the window.

"Mr. Lin, it’s not that I don’t want to give you a chance, but Young Master Xu offered too much."

"Even if he just recites ‘one, two, three, four, five, six, seven,’ people would still buy tickets to watch."

"These days, nine out of ten movies lose money, and the tenth loses even more."

"Don’t blame me."

The movie business is like buying a lottery ticket.

Even famous directors can have box office flops.

Unknown or rookie directors can also produce great films.

Director Liu was playing it safe.

Even if things didn’t turn out well later,

he could rely on Xu Mo’s hype to break even.

At least it wouldn’t be a complete disaster.

It’s hard to judge a movie before it’s finished.

Just because they say the script is good,

doesn’t mean the audience will automatically buy into it.

The market ultimately decides everything.

On the other side,

Lin An'an had already heard about Xu Mo being cast as the male lead.

Hmm... she found out through Li Jiaxin.

The first thought that popped into Lin An'an’s mind was:

This movie is doomed!

Letting an inexperienced outsider play the male lead,

was like asking an elementary school student to solve college-level problems.

"Sigh... what a waste of a good script."

Lin An'an sighed.

This was one of the main reasons she didn’t like working with capital-backed projects.

They casually replaced actors with unqualified ones.

Or even changed the script on a whim.

Simply put,

money talks.

After that phone call,

Lin An'an didn’t want to comply.

She planned to tell Director Liu she didn’t want to act anymore.

But Li Jiaxin strongly advised against it in a WeChat message,

saying to give Xu Mo a chance.

There might be unexpected surprises.

Lin An'an thought about it for a while.

It was just one more day.

If it didn’t work out, she could voice her concerns later.

She’d rather pay millions in breach of contract,

than leave behind a classic bad movie.

Like the recent infamous "Shanghai Fortress."

The director had approached her.

The script was also good.

But she took one look at the cast,

and firmly declined.

No matter how much the production team offered, she wouldn’t do it.

As it turned out,

her decision was absolutely correct.

Otherwise, that movie

would have become an indelible stain on her career.

She’d be dragged out by internet trolls for daily ridicule.

And become the eternal king of Bilibili’s parody section.

That would be truly terrible!

The next morning,

Xu Mo woke up early.

Today was the day he’d get humiliated.

Of course, he had to get up early.

It’s not every day you get to experience this kind of plot.

Xu Shi hadn’t come to bother him these past few days.

Probably because she was busy with something.

Xu Mo didn’t look into it.

After all, he couldn’t be bothered.

In reality, Xu Shi had been very busy these past two days.

Using the Xu family’s influence to help Song Ligang deal with his troubles.

No matter how strong the foreign forces were,

they couldn’t reach inside the country.

And the Xu family was no pushover.

Xu Mo had just finished washing up when

Director Liu called.

"Young Master Xu, I’ve sent the location to your WeChat."

"Alright, got it."

Xu Mo checked the time. It was indeed early.

Xu Mo left the presidential suite.

An Youyi, dressed in a black professional suit, was already waiting outside.

Seeing Xu Mo,

her gaze shifted to his lips.

Xu Mo regretted it.

But a man must take responsibility for his words.

There was no way around it.

To avoid An Youyi suddenly making a move at noon,

Xu Mo had to give her the midday portion in advance.