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No matter what Yue Sennan was thinking, being able to say something like that made everyone see him in a new light.

Lu Heng could only smile and thank him. As for whether a smile could wipe away old grudges, that was a matter of opinion.

In short, on the night Director Fang specially held a wrap party for Lu Heng, everyone got along harmoniously, and the atmosphere felt like one big happy reunion.

Even Zhao Miao, who had wrapped long ago and gone out of town for an appearance, specifically called back. On one hand, he congratulated Lu Heng on wrapping; on the other, he demanded a poster from Director Fang out of envy, jealousy, and spite. Who knew how his news could be so well-informed.

Since they still had filming the next day, no one drank at the wrap party, and it broke up soon enough.

Early the next morning, Wei Linxuan had the driver pull up at the hotel entrance and personally went in to pick him up.

The moment he entered the room and saw all sorts of gifts spread across the bed, Wei Linxuan could not help whistling. Raising a brow, he said, "Quite the haul!"

As he spoke, he bent over and rummaged through the gifts on the bed. When he saw the notes Yue Sennan had given Lu Heng, he shook his head wordlessly. "I was wondering why Star Entertainment was pushing press releases first thing in the morning about Yue Sennan caring for juniors and nurturing newcomers. So this is where it started!"

He sat on the bed with one leg drawn up and flipped through Yue Sennan's notes. "Isn't most of this copied from An Actor's Self-Cultivation? That's some seriously half-hearted perfunctory work."

Lu Heng smiled. "You can't put it that way. Even if he had just given me a copy of An Actor's Self-Cultivation, it would still be the thought that counted."

"You're not telling me he bought you over with that little trick?" Wei Linxuan looked at Lu Heng in disapproval. "You're way too easy to fool!"

Lu Heng shook his head with a smile. He had already been mentally prepared when he accepted the gifts yesterday. Otherwise, why did people say life was a play, and it all depended on acting?

Yue Sennan wanted to use the gesture of gifting notes to whitewash himself. Who knew whether he might also take the opportunity to pin the label of an arrogant, narrow-minded newcomer who disrespected seniors and had been misled by his company onto Lu Heng.

Still, if Lu Heng did not know how to conduct himself, that label probably would not be far off anyway.

Lu Heng glanced at Wei Linxuan and asked with a smile, "Have you ever seen people in the countryside kill chickens?"

Wei Linxuan froze, unable to understand why Lu Heng had suddenly asked that.

Lu Heng said, "Back home, when we killed chickens for the New Year, if you barged straight into the coop with a knife, the chickens would panic and flap around the whole yard. They could sense your killing intent."

"So when you kill a chicken, you first have to casually wander over to it. Then, while it isn't paying attention, grab its wings and tie them together like this." Lu Heng gestured as he spoke, smiling. "Once its wings are bound together, it can't fly or even struggle. Then you put it on the chopping block. Slit its throat if you need to slit its throat, bleed it if you need to bleed it, because it has no power to fight back."

Open hostility, whether deadly or not, would inevitably cause unnecessary trouble the moment it was exposed. That was true of killing chickens, and it was much the same when dealing with people.

No matter why Yue Sennan had given him such a generous gift, there was no need for Lu Heng to turn the wrap party Director Fang had specially prepared for him into a tense confrontation.

"You can't expect me to refuse his gift in front of so many people at the wrap party. That would be far too tactless." Lu Heng said with a smile.

Many experiences from his previous life had taught Lu Heng how frightening cameras and the media could be. Many fans and viewers could not tolerate even the slightest imperfection in their idols. If he did not want trouble, it was necessary to maintain his image and protect his reputation. He certainly did not want Yue Sennan's management team to put out press releases praising Yue Sennan's tolerance and generosity toward newcomers while simultaneously painting him as an ungrateful brat who did not understand human relations.

"Oh, right. I want to ask the company for a favor." Lu Heng pointed at the two movie posters displayed on the table. "I want to have these framed."

Compared with figuring out Yue Sennan's attitude, Lu Heng clearly had more important matters to attend to. He carefully wrapped the gifts everyone had given him and placed them in his suitcase.

Wei Linxuan stared blankly at Lu Heng. He could not help feeling that this country kid understood... rather a lot.

He suddenly shook his head, snapping back to his senses, then smugly claimed credit. "Oh, right. The company got you an advertising endorsement. It's for a pretty popular domestic functional beverage. I negotiated the annual endorsement fee up to this amount for you. Not bad, right?"

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Lu Heng had indeed heard of the functional beverage Wei Linxuan mentioned. However, what he had heard was that it would be exposed in a scandal involving multiple illegal additives. Although that scandal would not surface until more than ten years later, and its truthfulness remained questionable—rumor had it that a competitor had deliberately spread lies online—Lu Heng still did not particularly want to accept this endorsement for various reasons.

He tactfully explained his concerns to Wei Linxuan. Wei Linxuan had been eagerly taking credit, but after hearing Lu Heng's concerns, his excitement immediately fizzled out. "What am I supposed to say about you? You really are overly cautious."

Lu Heng smiled faintly. "I just don't want someone to spend money on products I endorse in order to support me, only to be harmed in the end."

Quality problems with endorsed products had always been common in the industry. Most celebrities did not know there were quality issues when they accepted endorsements. Some responsible celebrities would even inspect the products before signing and verify the approval documents and product qualification certificates issued by the relevant departments. Yet even that could not guarantee that the products they endorsed would definitely be problem-free.

Once something happened, it was not only the celebrity's image that suffered, but also the many consumers who had chosen the product because they trusted and liked that celebrity.

Therefore, in the era before Lu Heng was reborn, most artists who valued their reputations chose endorsement brands carefully, especially in high-risk endorsement categories such as infant formula, beverages with additives, cosmetics, and food.

At the very least, Lu Heng himself had never accepted endorsements like those.

Wei Linxuan had no way to deal with Lu Heng. Although Lu Heng was a contracted artist of Huaxia Imperial Entertainment and was obligated under the contract to obey the company's arrangements, Wei Linxuan did not want to force Lu Heng to do anything.