Page 40

During a break in filming, Yu Mingze held a tablet and browsed entertainment gossip item by item. When he saw the top trending topic, #Zhou Group Strongly Supports Zhou Film and Television Company, Spending Hundreds of Millions to Prop Up Its Stock#, Yu Mingze clicked his tongue regretfully. "Zhou Film and Television Company's stock price has even hit a new high!"

Ye Mingzhao covered his face with the script and said lazily, "That's normal. Unless an actor's scandal involves breaking the law or committing a crime, it usually won't affect the production team or the film company. Otherwise, there wouldn't be that saying in your entertainment industry that bad publicity is still publicity. Zhou Film and Television Company's stock price crashed because someone was shorting it."

At a time like this, if the major players chose to drive up the price, they could easily pull the stock back up. If they took the opportunity to release a couple of pieces of good news, retail investors who had been waiting on the sidelines would jump straight in.

Sure enough, after stabilizing Zhou Film and Television Company's stock price, Zhou Yueze immediately announced that Zhou Film and Television Company would invest three hundred million to produce the Journey to the West Movie, inviting numerous stars from both sides of the strait and the three regions to join the cast.

As soon as the news broke, Zhou Film and Television Company's stock price immediately climbed to a new height.

Watching the K-line chart soar straight upward, Yu Mingze clicked his tongue in amazement. "Zhou Yueze really went all out!"

Then he looked at Ye Mingzhao again and asked worriedly, "Didn't you say Chu Hengyi was the one shorting Zhou Film and Television Company? He must've lost horribly by now, right?"

At that, Ye Mingzhao reached up, pulled down the script shielding his face from the sun, and smiled faintly at Yu Mingze.

"Brother Hengyi," Chu Qingyi said timidly in a café near Ye Group, looking at Chu Hengyi across from him as he lowered his head and fiddled with his phone. "President Zhou said that as long as you're willing to lower your head and admit your mistake, he can lend you the shares in Zhou Film and Television Company under his name at fifty percent of the current market price. If you don't have enough cash on hand, you can even write an IOU. President Zhou said that the Ye family and Zhou family are old family friends. Even if you wronged him, he wouldn't just stand by and watch you go to prison because you didn't have the cash to cover your short position."

"Still, you really were in the wrong this time. The two families are so close, yet you betrayed President Zhou. He hopes you can give him an explanation for this. At the very least, you should host a banquet, serve him tea, and apologize..."

"And," Chu Qingyi paused, carefully studying Chu Hengyi's expression, "if you want to borrow shares from President Zhou to cover your position, you'll also have to agree to clarify the recording incident that trended a while ago. You don't need to do much. You just need to tell the reporters that you still remember the Chu family's kindness in raising you, so you don't mind the relationship between Dad, Mom, me, and Uncle Two—"

A distinctly mocking snort cut off Chu Qingyi's endless chatter.

"What are you laughing at?" Chu Qingyi's face suddenly reddened. Both guilty and angry, he said, "You're the one who wasn't capable enough. You tried to imitate others by trading stocks and shorting them, but Zhou Film and Television Company's stock price rose instead, and you nearly went to prison because you couldn't cover your position. If President Zhou hadn't pitied you for being used by that bastard Ye Mingzhao, do you think he would've been kind enough to lend you shares to cover it?"

"Don't fail to appreciate kindness! This is your only chance."

Chu Hengyi crossed his arms and casually sized up Chu Qingyi, who sat across from him in the booth. He had originally been tense and uneasy, but Chu Hengyi's laughter had abruptly made him fly into embarrassed rage.

"You really hit the mark." Chu Hengyi suddenly raised his phone and said to the person on the other end, "That guy Zhou Yueze really did send someone to make peace with me." Though the negotiator he sent was clearly not much of one.

"Looks like your plan to drive a wedge between us is going to fail."

As he spoke, Chu Hengyi suddenly tapped the speaker icon on his phone screen.

In an instant, Chu Qingyi clearly heard Ye Mingzhao's unmistakable, clear and gentle voice on the other end of the call, speaking with a smile. "How could it? Unless you and Zhou Yueze are as close as brothers and completely honest with each other, my attempt to sow discord will lose its effect. Is your relationship with Zhou Yueze really that good?"

Chu Hengyi glanced at Chu Qingyi, whose expression kept shifting—the answer was obvious.

"Is this why you sold me out to Zhou Yueze?" Chu Hengyi asked.

"I seem to remember someone saying that only betraying someone who has placed their trust in you counts as selling them out."

"Chu Hengyi, did you ever trust me?"

Chu Hengyi said nothing. After several breaths of silence, he quietly hung up.

Listening to the busy tone in his ear, Ye Mingzhao put away his phone. Looking at Yu Mingze, who was sweating profusely, he comforted him with a smile. "Why are you so nervous?"

His calm, rippleless gaze swept over the tablet Yu Mingze held before him. Looking at the huge, alarming headline on the screen, Ye Mingzhao smiled tenderly and said calmly, "Isn't it just that someone found my biological parents?"

The Turning Point ### In the original novel, Ye Mingzhao's biological mother had been delivered to his door on his twenty-second birthday by the book's male lead, Chu Hengyi, under the pretext of being a "birthday gift."

Ye Mingzhao briefly recalled the plot from the original novel—it had truly been a chaotic and unexpected birthday.

Through the written description alone, Ye Mingzhao had already precisely reconstructed the turmoil and ugliness of that scene in his mind.

The person who should have been the star of the banquet had his polished façade stripped away before everyone's eyes, exposing a wretched, ugly, and lowly core. The carefully prepared clown took the stage, tearfully pouring out her helplessness and hardships to the audience below. She knelt on the floor and begged the child she had abandoned to forgive her, only to be shoved away by that child, who despised the poor and coveted the rich.

A twenty-two-tier birthday cake and champagne tower were knocked over amid the jostling. Soft cream cake and pale golden champagne splattered everywhere. The glittering tower of crystal glasses crashed to the floor alongside the guests' screams, the clear crystal goblets striking the mirror-polished marble with crisp clinks. Pooled remnants of wine and scattered shards of glass reflected the crystal chandelier and angel murals overhead. The elegantly dressed guests fled in disarray, then immediately began curiously observing the spectacle before them, while the scheming conspirator hid among the crowd and watched in secret.

The entire birthday banquet was like scraps of paper and cheap glass beads trapped inside a kaleidoscope—twisted, fractured, mottled, and absurd beyond imagination.

In that book, the villain Ye Mingzhao's life seemed to have taken that day as its dividing line. His first twenty-one years had been peaceful and prosperous, but starting from his twenty-second birthday, the castle he had carefully built collapsed in an instant. Every glittering part of his past turned to sand; the more desperately he tried to gather it in his hands, the faster it slipped away.

In the end, everyone abandoned him. He lost everything and died alone in a rented apartment.

Yet in reality, Ye Mingzhao had gazed upon his tragic ending countless times without wavering for even a moment. Between the lines, he continually examined and sorted through the plot threads of his life as a villain, then waited quietly.

"Cut!"

On the set of Beggar Prince, director Li Zhengzheng looked delightedly at the replay on the monitor. A moment later, he called out to Ye Mingzhao, "That improvised bit just now was very good. Let's do another take for safety!"

The veteran actor acting opposite Ye Mingzhao also smiled and praised him. "That reaction really is better than what was written in the script."

The veteran actor paused, then added, "It suits Fu Shen's character better."

They had just filmed a scene in which Fu Shen's secret of impersonating Gu Mingchao was exposed, and he got into an argument with Gu Mingchao's parents, who had come to confront him.

After learning the truth, Gu Mingchao's parents angrily denounced Fu Shen as vain, despicable, and shameless.

"Trash from the slums, and you dare covet the position of heir to Gu Corporation? Is that the kind of life someone as lowly as you deserves to covet?"

The veteran actor playing Gu Mingchao's father pointed at Fu Shen's nose and cursed, "You shameless little bastard! Just how thick-skinned do you have to be to pretend to be someone else's son and deceive his parents just so you could live a good life?"