The twenty-third melon: What melon? Take twenty-three bites...
Director Ji had his reasons too: "Right now, they only want the role of [Xia Mei]. If we agree, who knows if they'll demand a leading role next... I said this before: in my crew, I must have absolute say! And that's precisely what Star Chasing hasn't given me!"
"Do I, Ji Minghe, really need their investment?"
Ji Minghe wasn't just talking big.
He had his pride, of course, but he also had the capital to back it up. He was an acclaimed director whose productions had won countless awards at home and abroad. More remarkably, his films were both critical and commercial successes, so whenever he announced a film, investors came flocking with money in hand.
Yu Luwei actually found it hard to argue with him, but... the same problem remained: how could an investment of several hundred million be so easy to secure? Worse still, they might offend Star Chasing, who could then put obstacles in their production's path. After all, Star Chasing had Fengxing behind it.
They could afford to offend Star Chasing, but did they dare offend Fengxing? Fengxing controlled half the country's cinema chains. Once their film was finished, just a little malice on Fengxing's part would leave it dead in the water.
But Ji Minghe hadn't considered any of that. His film was all he saw or thought about. Regardless of who he was dealing with, he opened his mouth and shot them down, leaving Yu Luwei to clean up his mess in the end.
Yu Luwei had a headache. Yu Luwei wanted to curse someone out. Seeing how Ji Minghe didn't think he'd done anything wrong only made him angrier.
"Ding-a-ling~"
Just then, the phone Director Ji had set aside suddenly rang. He picked it up and glanced at it, and his expression turned somewhat surprised.
Yu Luwei noticed his expression and asked, "Who is it?"
Director Ji turned the screen toward him. "...Ye Mo."
Ye Mo?
Yu Luwei thought back. "The actress who caught your eye, the one you wanted to play [Xia Mei]?"
Director Ji nodded.
Yu Luwei felt another headache coming on. "She probably heard we're replacing her and called to ask what's going on... Good thing you didn't give her the part outright back then and told her to go home and wait to hear from us instead. Otherwise, this really would be awkward."
Director Ji had already answered. As soon as the call connected, he heard the smiling voice on the other end say something, and his expression froze, looking dazed, as though he thought he was hearing things.
Several seconds later, Director Ji held his phone and stared blankly at the thoroughly irritable Yu Luwei, saying woodenly, "...Ye Mo said the Ye Corporation of Tianheng Industries seems very interested in our film and wants to invest in it."
His voice sounded adrift, as though he himself couldn't believe the words coming out of his mouth.
And Yu Luwei froze too when he heard him.
"Tianheng Industries?! Which Tianheng Industries? The Tianheng Industries I know?" Yu Luwei raised his voice, his tone full of disbelief.
Chapter 23: The twenty-third melon: What melon? Take twenty-three bites...
Ye Mo sat face-to-face with Director Ji Minghe once again.
This time, however, they were no longer meeting as actress and director, but as investor and investment recipient, and the location was no longer an audition venue, but a restaurant.
"...Miss Ye, was everything you said on the phone true?" The moment they sat down, Yu Luwei asked impatiently, "The Ye Corporation of Tianheng Industries really wants to invest in our film? I've never heard that Tianheng Industries intended to venture into entertainment!"
There was a measure of doubt in Yu Luwei's voice. He didn't seem to quite believe what Ye Mo had said.
Ye Mo smiled. "Just because there were no plans before doesn't mean there won't be any in the future... Let me introduce you. This is Manager Ye Yongming from Tianheng Industries!"
She introduced the person who had come with her, a handsome young man with striking eyes and upswept brows, and a muscular build that even his suit couldn't conceal. The contours of his muscles were faintly visible beneath it.
On closer inspection, he actually bore some resemblance to Ye Mo. But while Ye Mo was delicately beautiful, with peerless looks, the young man was rugged and brawny-a thoroughly muscular hunk.
At that moment, the young man named Ye Yongming handed his business card to Ji Minghe and Yu Luwei and introduced himself. "...I'm Ye Yongming from Tianheng Industries. My previous position was head of human resources."
Ji Minghe was puzzled. "Your previous position?"
"Oh," Ye Yongming said casually, "because it won't be my position much longer. Our company has recently been planning to venture into the entertainment industry. You two may be seeing a lot of this face from now on. Investing in Chase is our company's initial foray!"
Director Ji and Yu Luwei looked at the business cards in their hands, still somewhat unsure whether they were genuine.
"You really work for Tianheng Industries?" Yu Luwei sounded doubtful, and he could hardly be blamed. Scammers deceiving people over investments weren't unheard of in their industry.
Ye Yongming wasn't offended. He simply smiled and said, "My photo is on Tianheng's official website. You're both welcome to check."
Yu Luwei said, "...Pardon the offense."
As he spoke, he actually took out his phone and searched right in front of Ye Yongming.
When Yu Luwei put his phone down again, Ye Mo noticed that both he and Director Ji were looking at Ye Yongming with considerably more sincerity and earnestness.
Clearly, they had verified what Ye Yongming had said.
"How much does the Ye Corporation intend to invest?" Yu Luwei didn't waste much time on pleasantries, going straight to the point and asking about what concerned him most.
Ye Mo didn't interject in matters like this. As for Director Ji, he cared little about anything besides the film, so he and Ye Mo got together to discuss Chase instead.
When it came to this film, Ye Mo had quite a lot to say. She had played [Xia Mei] countless times and had even memorized the entire script.
Whether someone had actually read a script became clear as soon as you talked to them. Ye Mo had substance to her words, and she even clearly remembered plot points and lines unrelated to [Xia Mei], making Director Ji cast several extra looks her way.
"...You haven't memorized the entire script, have you?" the old director asked.
Ye Mo nodded frankly. "I have. My acting isn't good, is it? I don't have much talent for it, so I can only make up for that lack of talent with hard work."
In every crew she had ever worked with, she had always been the one who delivered her lines best and knew the script most thoroughly. Although that hadn't helped her acting very much, Ye Mo had always done so.
Hearing her words, Director Ji's estimation of Ye Mo rose a little-an actor lacking skill wasn't the concern; an actor with a poor attitude was
, and Ye Mo's attitude toward film was clearly extremely serious.
"I don't think your acting is as bad as other people say," Director Ji said fairly. He still remembered Ye Mo's performance at her audition. It truly had been dazzling.
At that, however, Ye Mo smiled wryly. "The acting you saw was already the result of more rounds of practice than I can count. You don't know how many times I'd practiced before then."
Even the day before the audition, she had still been feeling her way through the Script World.
In the Script World, once her character completion exceeded fifty percent, it would no longer eject her. She could perform the entire script, and every time she finished and came out, the system would score her acting.
Even now, the highest score Ye Mo had received for playing [Xia Mei] in the Script World was only seventy-eight, and that was already the result of more effort than she could count.
Faced with such naked results, Ye Mo had to admit that she really didn't have much talent for acting. Fortunately, though, where talent fell short, she still had hard work, as well as the cheat that was 888. So she felt it wasn't as though she couldn't continue down the path of acting.