I'd Definitely Choose Jiang Jinfu

"Fancy running into you, junior."

Zhang Yang sat down on the sofa opposite Nazha and smiled. "I thought I wouldn't see you again anytime soon."

"Why would you think that, senior?" Nazha asked, puzzled.

"Don't you have to go back to school to prepare for your cultural subject exams?" Zhang Yang asked in return.

Nazha was due to join the cast of Xuanyuan Sword in May, and might not have time for school then.

But she still had to take the college entrance exam in June. She wouldn't be able to enroll at the Beijing Film Academy until the second half of the year.

"I'm not worried about the cultural subject exams." Nazha sounded very confident.

"So you're a top student?" Zhang Yang wondered.

He remembered that someone would later pay for publicity pieces touting Nazha as a top student, building that image for her. Then they would encourage people to dig into her past, only to discover that aside from her looks, she was an ordinary girl in every other way.

Already mired in scandals, Nazha was criticized for a while over that, too.

"I'm nowhere near being a top student." Nazha immediately shook her head. "I couldn't take the college entrance exam last year because of some things that came up, so I'm repeating the year. I'm Uyghur, and I'm applying to an arts school, so the required cultural subject scores aren't that high."

At that, a glint flashed in Zhang Yang's eyes.

Nazha and Reba were the same age and had both been born in Urumqi. They had both studied at the Secondary Art School affiliated with Xinjiang Arts University and gone on to become dancers with the Xinjiang Song and Dance Troupe.

That was why there had long been rumors that they'd been high school classmates, and that Nazha had run into trouble during the year of the arts entrance exams, delaying her and causing her to enter university a year after Reba.

Since neither of them had ever responded to the rumor, people had taken it as mere gossip.

But now, it seemed there might be some truth to it.

Zhang Yang was about to try to get Nazha to open up.

Before he could say anything, though, he heard the door lock turn nearby.

"Click."

Cai Yinong pushed open the door to the lounge inside the office and walked out.

Seeing Nazha and Zhang Yang chatting with smiles on their faces, she couldn't help looking confused. "Do you two know each other?"

Nazha immediately stood up and greeted her. "Sister K."

Zhang Yang stood up too. "Good evening, Sister K. Nazha and I met in the apartment elevator the night before last and chatted for a bit."

"You live in the same building?" Cai Yinong furrowed her brow.

She was very optimistic about Nazha's prospects, which was why she'd signed her so early and immediately given her the third female lead in one of Tangren's major productions.

In those circumstances, she certainly wouldn't have arranged for Nazha to live in the same building as one of the company's male artists. What if entertainment reporters, or reporters sent by their rivals, took photos and made up a story later?

"We're not only in the same building, we're on the same floor," Zhang Yang added.

Cai Yinong furrowed her brow even more deeply. She walked over to the desk, picked up her phone, and dialed a number, putting it on speaker. "Hello, it's me. You arranged the housing for Gulnazar, right?"

"Didn't I specifically tell you to put her in the building where none of the male artists live?"

"Both buildings have male artists living in them now? Since when?"

"Jiang Jinfu wanted a higher floor, so he moved into Building 8. And that means both buildings are the same?"

"..."

Cai Yinong hung up, feeling rather annoyed.

She hadn't explicitly told them to separate the artists when arranging their housing, but shouldn't people in the entertainment industry at least know this unwritten rule?

But what was done was done. She couldn't make Jiang Jinfu and Nazha switch apartments just because of a precaution she'd assumed would be necessary.

"So you two are neighbors?" Cai Yinong looked at Zhang Yang and Nazha standing together, feeling inexplicably irritable.

She couldn't shake the feeling that something bad would happen with them living across the hall from each other.

Was she being too sensitive?

"Yes, Sister K. Senior even helped me out with something once," Nazha answered at once.

Cai Yinong gave Zhang Yang a long look. "Since you're so eager to help people, I'm sure you won't refuse the work I'm about to assign you."

Zhang Yang's expression didn't change. "What work?"

Cai Yinong didn't answer. Instead, she asked, "Did Hu Ge tell you about the role in The Legend of Dugu?"

"He did," Zhang Yang replied.

"I have a good relationship with several of the investors in that drama. When we had dinner together last night, they told me that the actor originally playing Zhao Kuangyin wanted to change the script and add scenes, which led to a conflict with Lin Ziwei. He's been dropped from the production."

"Now they urgently need an actor with a good look, preferably someone with acting ability. You came to mind."

"Other people would beg to join a production like this, but you're different. You're a Tangren artist."

"..."

Cai Yinong began putting on her boss act.

She emphasized how good the project was.

How difficult it had been for her to secure it.

How carefully she'd considered giving the role to Zhang Yang.

Seven parts of what she said were true and three parts were false. The point was to make Zhang Yang feel grateful.

Zhang Yang listened patiently, then smiled. "You have a great eye, Sister K. I definitely won't let down the faith you've placed in me."

Cai Yinong: "..."

Well, that performance had been wasted.

"I've given you the role. I'll have someone negotiate your pay; we're going in to save the production, so we won't be asking for a low fee." Cai Yinong composed herself. "But I need you to do something else: mentor the newcomers."

"Mentor the newcomers?" Zhang Yang glanced at Nazha.

Was this his lucky day?

Then Cai Yinong said, "Jiang Jinfu and Nazha. Take them along so they can experience life on a film set. That way, they'll need less time to adjust when Xuanyuan Sword starts filming."

Zhang Yang: "..."

Why was Jiang Jinfu in the mix too?

"Sister K, you're giving me too much credit." A jumble of thoughts flashed through Zhang Yang's mind. "I haven't acted in almost two years. My acting may have improved, but I'm a bit out of practice with life on a film set, too. I'm afraid I won't do a good job acting while giving two newcomers pointers."

"When I join the cast of The Legend of Dugu, I'll be representing Tangren. If I do a poor job, the company will lose face, too."

"If I act badly, Tangren loses face, and Jiang Jinfu and Nazha don't learn anything, either. What are we supposed to do then?"

Nazha nodded along beside him, seeming to think he made a good point.

But Cai Yinong knew Zhang Yang simply didn't want to mentor both of them at once.

He was telling her he was out of practice on set? When they filmed Chinese Paladin 1, hadn't he adapted faster than Hu Ge and the others, and become friends with the whole core cast?

Still, Cai Yinong didn't call him out. With an amused look, she asked, "Then surely you can handle mentoring one?"

"Well..." Zhang Yang pretended to think it over seriously, then finally nodded as if he were reluctantly agreeing. "All right, just one."

"Then who will you choose?" Cai Yinong asked again.

"Do I even need to choose?" Zhang Yang glanced at Nazha beside him and answered without hesitation, "I'd definitely choose Jiang Jinfu."

Nazha: ?

Cai Yinong: ??