Chapter 15

Chapter 15

When Wenren Yan returned to the production crew, the most obvious change was that everyone had late-night snacks again. Ao Qingyuan and several of the actresses had the strongest objections—they all had to maintain their figures and did not dare eat too much.

Wenren Yan truly did not understand why a tall, skinny young man like Ao Qingyuan did not even dare eat an extra meal.

"You're not fat. And you're still growing. There's no need to control your food intake so strictly, is there?"

"My agent won't let me eat too much." Ao Qingyuan looked at the milk tea in Wenren Yan's hand and could not help swallowing. "You like milk tea?"

Strangely enough, although Wenren Yan did not like sweets or cream, he quite liked milk tea. The last time he returned to Yanjing to handle company affairs, Steven had bought him a cup of red bean milk tea during the lunch break. Wenren Yan had found it quite tasty. It even put him in a good mood.

"I also ordered a mung bean slush." Wenren Yan smiled. "It's soft and smooth, and it cools you down. Want to try some?"

Ao Qingyuan hesitated.

Wenren Yan added, "It's so hot. Cool off a little. Otherwise, you might get heatstroke when you're hanging from wires later."

Ao Qingyuan nodded. "Then I'll just have a little."

As the two talked, Wenren Yan's phone rang. Steven was calling to report that someone was buying a large amount of Wenren Group stock on the market.

"I found out that Jiang Wenshan established a company called Wenshan Holdings. This company specializes in acquiring shares in industrial groups with promising prospects but troubled cash flow. Once it accumulates a certain amount on the secondary market, it publicly discloses its holdings, then uses media publicity to build momentum and continues buying shares from other shareholders. Its ultimate goal is to gain a controlling stake."

Wenren Yan understood. It seemed the other side did work similar to his—both were barbarians at the gate.

Steven asked Wenren Yan, "Boss, should we make a move?"

"Let him keep buying." Wenren Yan was not worried in the slightest. "As long as we can ensure my father remains the largest shareholder, that's enough. You can privately approach some of the group's minor shareholders. Don't alert the enemy."

Steven understood. When they carried out mergers and acquisitions in the United States, they too operated quietly during the accumulation stage. They were far more skilled at such tactics than Jiang Wenshan. The moment Steven heard Wenren Yan's words, he knew his boss was preparing to set someone up again.

Steven chuckled. "It's a pity Jack just resigned. Otherwise, there'd be no one better for this job."

After a pause, Steven said meaningfully, "But we should congratulate him too. He found a new job."

Wenren Yan was not surprised. The two discussed a little more about how to dig a pit for Wenshan Holdings before Wenren Yan finally hung up.

He had not avoided Ao Qingyuan during the call. So after Wenren Yan hung up, Ao Qingyuan blinked and asked curiously, "The head of Wenren Group is your dad?"

Wenren Yan nodded. Out of selfishness, he did not want to hide his identity from Ao Qingyuan.

Ao Qingyuan asked, "Then you're not Yan Shu. Your surname should be Wenren, right?"

Wenren Yan had not expected that to be Ao Qingyuan's first reaction. Slightly amused, he explained, "My name is Wenren Yan. In your industry's terms, Yan Shu should be my stage name."

"Oh." Ao Qingyuan thought for a moment, then suddenly said, "Ao Qingyuan is my real name."

"I know." Wenren Yan smiled again. A faintly gentle smile spread through his eyes. Ao Qingyuan inexplicably felt as though he had been scalded. Just as he was about to say something, a crew member knocked on the door and called Ao Qingyuan to film.

Ao Qingyuan inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief and darted out of the trailer in a single bound.

As the male lead's portable old grandpa, Wenren Yan naturally had scenes of his own. He slowly followed Ao Qingyuan out of the trailer and strolled leisurely onto the set. Tian Bao'er glanced at the two getting out one after the other and curled her lips in an almost imperceptible smile. Everyone on the production crew knew Wenren Yan's background was unusual. Countless people openly or subtly tried to curry favor with him, hoping to gain a connection through Wenren Yan. Unfortunately, though Wenren Yan was courteous and generous to outsiders, his personality was cold and aloof. Aside from exchanging a few words with Ao Qingyuan, he stayed inside his trailer whenever he was waiting for a scene and never came out. He gave no one else the chance to befriend him. Previously, several actresses had used the excuse that they needed to thank Wenren Yan for the late-night snacks he had treated them to and knocked on his trailer door, or directly knocked on the door of his hotel room after filming at night. Every one of them had been turned away by Wenren Yan with distant politeness.

As an actress who had been plagued by scandals since her debut, Tian Bao'er knew her reputation was not good, and she could not be bothered to fawn over Wenren Yan. She could just stand at a distance and gloat. And watch the show, while she was at it.

After watching for a while, Tian Bao'er noticed something—at the very least, Wenren Yan's attitude toward Ao Qingyuan was definitely different. Having spent so many years in the entertainment industry, Tian Bao'er had seen all sorts of things, so this did not surprise her. Of course, she had no intention of warning Ao Qingyuan either. She simply stayed to one side, eating melon seeds and watching the drama. Mainly because she did not want to offend Wenren Yan.

Ao Qingyuan noticed Tian Bao'er's gaze. The female lead had been acting strangely these past few days, but Ao Qingyuan could not be bothered to ask. His filming schedule had been too demanding lately. Every martial arts scene had him suspended from wires the whole time, while the dialogue scenes involved long stretches of lines. After a full day of filming, he was so exhausted that he did not even want to move his lips. He only wanted to lie on the bed in his trailer and rest a little longer, enjoy the air conditioning, and play some games.

In comparison, Wenren Yan, who was filming alongside Ao Qingyuan, had it much easier. As an NPC who did not need to show his face, most scenes requiring wire work were performed by a stunt double. As for dialogue scenes, the original novel had established Supreme One as an icy, ethereal immortal. So during filming, large fans were placed out of the camera's view to make his costume flutter in the wind. It was essentially like having a fan blowing directly on Wenren Yan. Even Ao Qingyuan, who was acting opposite him, got to enjoy the cool breeze. As a result, during breaks in filming, Ao Qingyuan could not help complaining to Wenren Yan, "If I'd known this role got such good treatment, I should have played Supreme One instead."

Wenren Yan smiled and comforted Ao Qingyuan. "It's all right. Once you get to the scenes where you practice the Supreme One's Emotionless Art, the props team will set up big fans for you too."