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Yu Mingze: "..."

Yu Mingze howled miserably, looking aggrieved. "We can't just let it go like this!"

"Of course not." Ye Mingzhao spoke lightly.

In an instant, the entire crew's attention focused on Ye Mingzhao.

Ye Mingzhao's gaze remained fixed on his phone screen.

Following Ye Mingzhao's gaze, Yu Mingze's eyes lit up when he saw Chu Qingyi's name. "We can expose Chu Qingyi as a human trafficker's family member to the media. The male lead of The Prince's Transformation is involved in such a huge scandal—I'd like to see how they can still show their faces and keep filming."

Ye Mingzhao said nothing. Unlike Yu Mingze, his attention had fallen on the words "rising idol Zhu Junjie."

Ye Mingzhao found the name vaguely familiar. After thinking back for a moment, he immediately remembered that it had appeared in the original novel.

In the original novel, without Ye Mingzhao's interference, Chu Qingyi had successfully secured the male lead role in Beggar Prince. Unlike Ye Mingzhao, the original Chu Qingyi had neither acting experience nor the gimmick of playing two roles by himself. Nor did he have Ye Mingzhao's publicity strategy of using the production's name to partner with international luxury brands and hold global jewelry and fashion design competitions.

Even with the publicity generated by the golden partnership of top screenwriter Yu Mingze and director Li Zhengzheng, Beggar Prince still struggled to gain ratings and buzz in its early run, getting thoroughly crushed by another period drama airing at the same time, Realm Strategy.

But Chu Qingyi had been one of the main cast in the original novel, after all. His acting skills aside, his luck was unquestionably good.

When Beggar Prince was halfway through its run, Realm Strategy, the other period drama competing against it, was abruptly taken off the air after one of its actors was exposed for drug use. The original novel even described how the production company that had invested in Realm Strategy went bankrupt because of the incident.

Ye Mingzhao had an excellent memory. The moment he saw the name of rising idol Zhu Junjie, he recalled that the actor in Realm Strategy who had been blacklisted for drug use was named Zhu Junjie. With his aura of both righteousness and wickedness, he had played an immensely popular villain in Realm Strategy.

Ye Mingzhao lowered his eyes slightly and soothed Yu Mingze with a tender smile. "We must lodge a solemn protest against the actions of The Prince's Transformation production team and strongly condemn them."

The entire crew: "..."

Chapter 21

Yu Mingze still could not swallow this insult. After filming wrapped that evening, he dragged Ye Mingzhao along and went straight to confront Zhou Yueze.

Zhou Yueze had booked a presidential suite at the only five-star hotel in Hengzhou Film and Television City. When the two arrived, the freshly formed The Prince's Transformation crew was holding a celebration banquet at the hotel.

Zhou Yueze had invited many friends from the industry, including nouveau riche investors who often worked with Zhou Film and Television Company, wealthy second-generation heirs he was close to, artists signed under Zhou Film and Television Company, and the main cast and crew of The Prince's Transformation.

Seeing Chu Qingyi strutting about as though he owned the place, Yu Mingze was so furious his vision went dark. "Zhou Yueze, do you have no shame?"

Some people recognized Yu Mingze and, recalling the press conference Zhou Film and Television Company had held that morning, smiled maliciously. Others turned their attention to Ye Mingzhao.

"So that's the Ye family's adopted son?" A group of people huddled together with wineglasses in hand, whispering among themselves. Emboldened by the alcohol, the looks they gave Ye Mingzhao became noticeably murky.

"He looks even better in person than on camera," someone could not help remarking. His yellowed eyes stared fixedly at Ye Mingzhao, sweeping from head to toe as he openly assessed him.

As expected of a young master meticulously raised by a wealthy family—the air he carried in every gesture was simply different. Wearing the same three-piece suit, his waist was a waist and his legs were legs. A fitted black waistcoat wrapped around an immaculate white shirt, outlining the young man's slender waist. His burgundy tie was perfectly neat, while only his shirt sleeves had been rolled up to his elbows, exposing a section of fair, well-proportioned forearms. His wrists were slim and his knuckles distinct, somehow carrying an inexplicably seductive allure.

He was like the moon that had always hung in the sky, suddenly fallen into the mortal world and within reach. Whether they had the nerve or not, everyone wanted to boldly touch it, to see whether this moon was still as cool and distant as it had been in the heavens—still so unattainable.

If they could stain him with the filthy desires of the human world, that would be even more interesting.

Who did not look forward to seeing a genius fall from his pedestal, or someone high above everyone else suddenly reduced to ruin?

Besides, Ye Mingzhao had never truly been some wealthy young master. He had merely been an unwanted bastard, yet after being adopted by the Ye family, he had transformed into someone they could never hope to reach.

Why?

If Ye Mingzhao had remained high above them all, safely living as a wealthy young master, they would not have dared provoke him. But now, Ye Mingzhao had been cast out of the Ye family with nothing, kicked out of Ye Group, and had come here in disgrace to become an actor—

What was an actor? Nothing more than something for others' amusement!

In an instant, everyone's gazes toward Ye Mingzhao filled with filthy desire and greed. Lust and malice born of jealousy surged like the rising tide, stirring the destructive urges buried deep in their hearts and making them impatient to drag the man before them down from his pedestal.

Zhu Junjie glanced at the silent Zhou Yueze. He was the second male lead whom Zhou Film and Television Company had poached from the Realm Strategy production, paying a hefty breach-of-contract penalty.

Zhu Junjie knew that ditching a production midway was not a good look, but in order to curry favor with Zhou Film and Television Company, he could not afford to care about that. Unfortunately, only after signing with The Prince's Transformation did he learn that Zhou Yueze had invested in the production solely to promote newcomer Chu Qingyi, and was extremely cold toward his attempts to ingratiate himself.

Zhu Junjie had wanted to use The Prince's Transformation as a stepping stone to sign with Zhou Film and Television Company. How could he possibly let an opportunity to please Zhou Yueze pass him by?

"...I heard that wealthy families adopt emotional support dogs to soothe psychological trauma."

Zhu Junjie's words drew everyone's attention. Even Ye Mingzhao silently looked at him.

When Zhu Junjie's gaze met Ye Mingzhao's clear black-and-white eyes, his emotions suddenly became feverish. "You're one of the Ye family's dogs too, aren't you? Just like an emotional support dog. Back when you were useful, they threw you a few meat bones. Now that the Ye family has found their real young master, a fake like you is useless—"

"What did you say?" Yu Mingze felt a blaze of fury shoot straight to the top of his head. He grabbed Zhu Junjie by the collar. "What the hell are you, to judge Zhaozhao? Believe it or not, with just one word from me—"

"Mingze." Ye Mingzhao reached out and grasped Yu Mingze's wrist, giving it a reassuring pat to signal him to let go. "Let him speak."

Ye Mingzhao's brows curved as he looked at Zhu Junjie with a smiling expression. "I'm very curious to see what else can come out of that mouth of his."

Ye Mingzhao's voice was clear and gentle, carrying the tranquil calm of a spring breeze and gentle rain. It seemed that no person, no matter, and no words could stir his emotions.

Under Ye Mingzhao's placid, unfathomable gaze, Zhu Junjie suddenly came to his senses. It was as though a basin of icy water had been poured over his head. Uneasily moving his lips, he found the speech he had prepared lodged in his throat; he could not force out a single word.

But while he had fallen silent, there were still people who did not know when to stop. A drunken nouveau riche investor, with a scantily clad young star in his arms, staggered over to Ye Mingzhao. He gave Ye Mingzhao a malicious smile, apparently treating him as some young actor he could casually proposition.

His nauseating, muddied gaze stuck to Ye Mingzhao's face. The bloated investor spoke with what he considered great swagger. "You're the Ye family's adopted son? I heard the Ye family threw you out with nothing. So how dare you give President Zhou attitude and make him pull his investment from the Beggar Prince crew? If you hadn't been meddling, President Zhou wouldn't have started over and invested in The Prince's Transformation, and Producer Yu wouldn't have been angered like this. Aren't you just driving a wedge between a couple?"