TRMP Chapter 93

Jiang Yifeng’s expression remained unchanged. He sat down next to Guan Shaodong and calmly asked, “What are we eating?”

His expression was almost completely ignoring the two people sitting across from him.

Zhao Wenjun had thought that Jiang Yifeng would at least act politely, but when Jiang Yifeng withdrew his gaze, Zhao Wenjun realized that Jiang Yifeng had no intention of being polite at all.

He held grudges.

Zhao Wenjun coughed to ease the awkwardness. After the two had discussed the menu, he began to explain, “We were really sorry about the situation before, but the rumors online were so fierce that we didn’t dare to come forward.”

After all, they all had to continue in the entertainment industry. If they were associated with the reputation of being friends with a scammer, they would probably be torn apart by angry netizens on the spot.

“I understand.” Jiang Yifeng nodded.

Without looking up, Guan Shaodong added, “So I didn’t speak up at the time either, I just asked my brother to help out privately.”

Jiang Yifeng could understand his friends avoiding the limelight – no one wanted to set themselves on fire when the public opinion was at its peak.

“It’s good that you understand, good that you understand.” Zhu Kuoyang rubbed his hands and smiled. “What about the filming…”

“Didn’t you say you were going to replace someone?” A slightly surprised expression appeared on Jiang Yifeng’s face. “Isn’t it a good thing to replace someone?”

Zhu Kuoyang’s expression froze.

Guan Shaodong next to him chuckled.

He put his hand on Jiang Yifeng’s shoulder, then raised his eyebrows and smiled, “Still not convinced?”

He and Zhao Wenjun had been friends for years, but that didn’t mean that Guan Shaodong would definitely consider things from Zhao Wenjun’s perspective.

Doing something wrong was doing something wrong – even a resource-rich person like Guan Shaodong knew how much courage it took to free up his schedule for an uncertain TV series, let alone Jiang Yifeng who was on the rise.

But Zhu Kuoyang told him about terminating the contract and replacing him afterwards, which made Guan Shaodong almost lose his temper.

“Don’t pay attention to him, it’s only right for him to apologize.” Guan Shaodong hummed, “There must be a lot of crews looking for you to film now, right? I heard that Director Xu’s new film is edited, and when it’s released, you’ll be an actor who’s been in several hundred million dollar movies.”

Jiang Yifeng laughed at Guan Shaodong’s description, “You make it sound like I’m the male lead in charge of the box office…”

“I really couldn’t help it at the time, the online abuse was so harsh, did you expect me to go against the netizens?” Zhu Kuoyang said anxiously, “And the news has already been released… I…”

Although the news of Jiang Yifeng’s participation in the TV series attracted a lot of criticism at first, it all turned into anticipation afterwards, praising him for his discerning eye and for withstanding the pressure of public opinion.

When Jiang Yifeng became the new darling of public opinion on the entire internet, Zhu Kuoyang would be drowned in spit if he announced that the male lead was being replaced.

But this was no longer a problem that Jiang Yifeng needed to consider.

“When you called me, you said that you believed in me, but the public opinion didn’t believe in me, so you had to replace me.” Jiang Yifeng’s tone was very calm, he even had a smile on his face, looking more gentle than usual, but the words he spoke were piercing, “Since you don’t care what happens to me, then I don’t seem to need to care what happens to your crew after replacing me.”

“But you can also choose to delay for a few months, wait until people forget your publicity and forget about what happened today, then you don’t have to worry about the impact of public opinion.”

Jiang Yifeng picked up the teacup and took a light sip. His tone was peaceful and his eyes were gentle.

But Zhu Kuoyang’s hands had already begun to tremble.

They had already assembled the crew, and delaying for a day meant spending money, venue rental, personnel expenses, and so on were almost burning money. The investors would not agree.

Jiang Yifeng’s words sounded light, but it was a dead end.

There were already few people interested in martial arts dramas. If the scandal of Zhu Kuoyang stabbing Jiang Yifeng in the back was exposed when filming began, all the good reputation he had initially promoted would disappear – not only that, but subsequent investments and business opportunities would become more difficult, and Zhu Kuoyang would still face the risk of investors running away and the TV series being suspended.

“Don’t, don’t do this…” Zhu Kuoyang’s eyes were tangled. “We can clarify the previous misunderstanding.”

“I just think that there was no misunderstanding before. My right or wrong has nothing to do with your decision, so whether your crew chooses to suspend filming after replacing someone or find someone to replace me also has nothing to do with me.” Jiang Yifeng’s tone was very heavy.

Zhu Kuoyang didn’t speak.

Zhao Wenjun tentatively tried to ease the atmosphere, but he soon realized that Jiang Yifeng looked very soft and beautiful, and that face always had a smile.

But like a rose, the more beautiful it bloomed, the more thorns there were on the stem, and people would get their hands covered in blood if they weren’t careful, but the flower was still beautifully facing the light.

Guan Shaodong leaned against the wall and watched Jiang Yifeng. After Jiang Yifeng finished speaking, he smiled and said, “No wonder my brother told me to pay attention and be careful when interacting with you, and not to provoke you.”

“Huh?” Jiang Yifeng tilted his head curiously.

His expression looked a little silly, very cute.

“You have a tough heart, kid.” Guan Shaodong laughed, but he didn’t mean to speak up for Zhao Wenjun at all.

Zhao Wenjun and Zhu Kuoyang’s faces were ugly. By the time the dishes were served, the two of them could hardly sit still.

Guan Shaodong’s elbow nudged Jiang Yifeng’s arm under the table, signaling Jiang Yifeng to look at his phone.

Jiang Yifeng opened his phone, quietly looked at the message, and then turned his head to give Guan Shaodong a smile.

Guan Shaodong nodded. He put one hand on the table and said casually, “Actually, I didn’t help much. My brother told me that the marketing, clarification, and operation methods were all your ideas…”

“I used your brother’s connections, so I still have to treat you to a meal.” Jiang Yifeng smiled and poured Guan Shaodong a glass of lemonade.

He saw out of the corner of his eye that the two people opposite him instantly quieted down, and even Zhao Wenjun restrained his restless expression.

“We were really sorry for replacing you before.” Zhao Wenjun had been in the entertainment industry for so long, and he was more composed than a young newcomer like Zhu Kuoyang. He smiled kindly, “Our request may be a bit abrupt, but… can you help us with the follow-up, I have a few more resources that can be exchanged.”

“Huh?” Jiang Yifeng nodded with interest. “Okay.”

After he finished speaking, he added, “Considering that you were able to choose me in the first place, I can help you see how to promote it later.”

Zhao Wenjun’s expression became more gentle.

And Guan Shaodong seized the opportunity to say, “Director Zhao, you said you would replace people before, but now that you’re fine, you say you won’t replace them. That’s so hurtful.”

“Yes, we didn’t consider it carefully.”

“At least wait until the final conclusion is reached before saying anything, and besides, he hadn’t been officially announced at the time, so why couldn’t you wait?”

“I, I was a little anxious.” Zhu Kuoyang also apologized with a red face.

After all, no one expected the reversal of public opinion to be so exciting and strong. The reversal in one day stunned many celebrities in the entertainment industry. Before they could react, Jiang Yifeng had almost become the top political correctness on the Internet.

“Forget it, everything has passed. Since you want to replace people, you have to get together to make it clear, apologize, and then discuss what to do later.”

Guan Shaodong and Jiang Yifeng sang in harmony, and Zhu Kuoyang and Zhao Wenjun could only apologize, and then humbly asked Jiang Yifeng how to handle the follow-up.

Guan Shaodong said all the words that Jiang Yifeng was not suitable to say.

When Jiang Yifeng’s plan came out, Zhu Kuoyang would be grateful to Jiang Yifeng for not bearing grudges, and even Zhao Wenjun had to offer a few resources as compensation.

The meal went from being tense to being harmonious. When they left, the drunk Zhu Kuoyang was still patting Jiang Yifeng’s shoulder to thank him.

Jiang Yifeng’s eyebrows were curved, looking very gentle.

He nodded and followed them to the parking lot.

Blown by the hot wind, Jiang Yifeng suddenly realized that he seemed to have drunk alcohol.

——Does riding an electric bike after drinking count as drunk driving?

“Where’s your car?” Guan Shaodong didn’t drink. He looked around and only saw two cars.

Jiang Yifeng’s hand pointed remotely at the electric bike.

Guan Shaodong was silent for a moment. He patted Jiang Yifeng’s shoulder and then opened his car door. “Get in, I’ll take you back.”

After they both got into the car, Guan Shaodong smiled as he drove, “The entertainment industry is very afraid of falling out. If you really fall out with Director Zhao, Zhao Wenjun won’t say anything in person, but you’ll be miserable in the future.”

“If you don’t help, you’ll have to fall out even if you don’t want to.” Jiang Yifeng leaned back in the passenger seat, his eyes curved.

“Aren’t you angry because they misunderstood you?”

“Yes.” Jiang Yifeng nodded.

If it was really because of a misunderstanding that they misunderstood him and wanted to terminate the contract, it would be understandable.

After all, you can know a person’s face but not their heart. No one needs to risk tens of millions for a superficial friend in the entertainment industry. They are not close friends, and Jiang Yifeng doesn’t expect the other party to believe him at all.

But the other party clearly knew that he didn’t do it, but still chose to stab him in the back.

“I really don’t like that saying.” Jiang Yifeng lowered his eyes, “I hate that feeling the most.”

Knowing that he didn’t do it, they still chose to follow the crowd, and didn’t even choose to remain silent.

Jiang Yifeng wasn’t that generous.

His steps were light when he got out of the car.

His erratic steps slowly went upstairs.

Jiang Yifeng was thinking, he wasn’t angry when other people misunderstood him.

After all, you can’t see into people’s hearts, so who knows what other people are thinking.

But as he counted the steps one by one as he walked upstairs, Jiang Yifeng thought again – if Xie Jingshen misunderstood him, he wouldn’t want to, he would be very angry.

Because Xie Jingshen was different from everyone else.

Jiang Yifeng opened the door and leaned against the bed sheet. After lying down for a while, he got up again, grabbed a notebook, and drew with a pencil stroke by stroke.

Xie Jingshen’s world was isolated from his world. Even when he was sitting in front of him and talking to him, he wouldn’t be seen by others.

Cameras couldn’t capture Xie Jingshen, and tape recorders couldn’t record his words.

The tip of the pen traced a rough outline on the paper. Jiang Yifeng’s eyelashes trembled as he imagined Xie Jingshen’s appearance, outlining his facial features and hair.

“Xie Jingshen…” Jiang Yifeng called Xie Jingshen’s name.

When he was drunk, he almost didn’t know what he was doing. He could only rely on his instinct to keep Xie Jingshen in his world.

The figure gradually took shape.

Jiang Yifeng finally dotted the eyes on the portrait.

He dropped the pencil, hugged the drawing paper into his arms, pressed his cheek against the dirty drawing paper, and the tears on his eyelashes stained the drawing.

Jiang Yifeng couldn’t bear the sleepiness and fell into a deep sleep, while the expression on the portrait in his arms was gentle, and the expression on the person in the white frame above his head gradually overlapped.

The author has something to say:

President Xie: My wife even hugs my large-scale figure when she sleeps, so cute.

President Xie: So when will the garbage game release my wife’s large-scale figure?