Pei Shaocheng frowned.
"Then it's settled." Wen Yuhan patted Pei Shaocheng on the shoulder, then leaned close to his ear and said, "I'll need your help later, Mr. Pei..."
After saying that, he pushed the person aside, took the opportunity to sidestep Pei Shaocheng, and left the terrace without looking back.
The moment the revolving door moved, Wen Yuhan's smile vanished, his expression as indifferent as a stagnant pool.
Sure enough, as long as I returned to this line of work, I was bound to meet Pei Shaocheng sooner or later.
The moment Wen Yuhan saw Pei Shaocheng, she knew he still hated her.
Come to think of it, who could possibly greet a traitor with a smile after crushing their sincerity and honesty?
Wen Yuhan understood perfectly, but recalling Pei Shaocheng's gaze just now, her heart still couldn't help but clench with pain.
...
In the conference room, everyone saw Wen Yuhan and Pei Shaocheng return one after the other, and no one rushed to speak.
Director Cheng Liang pulled Wen Yuhan to sit down next to him, nudged his elbow, and whispered, "How are you? Are you alright?"
Cheng Liang is not a traditional academic; he originally graduated from an art academy.
Personally, although he knew that Wen Yuhan had been involved in a "plagiarism" scandal and had been blacklisted by the industry for a period of time, he was still willing to believe in him from the bottom of his heart.
After all, judging from their several creative exchanges, Wen Yuhan is definitely a very talented person, and she has her own principles and integrity when it comes to creation. It seems impossible that she would do something like "plagiarism".
Before Wen Yuhan could speak, Pei Shaocheng spoke first.
"I just had a chat with the screenwriter." He glanced at Wen Yuhan and said calmly, "Perhaps during the creative stage, we should broaden the scope a bit more, which would be more conducive to the screenwriter's work."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Yang's eyes lit up, and he looked at Wen Yuhan with admiration.
He couldn't guess what Teacher Wen had said to this Actor Pei after he left, which made him switch from a tense standoff to a screenwriter's stance.
Upon hearing Pei Shaocheng's words, literary consultant Wu Wenchang immediately understood. Feigning composure, he readily agreed, saying, "Actually, the suggestions I made before were only for reference. I quite approve of the story framework itself. I will continue to cooperate with Xiao Wen in my advisory work."
Wen Yuhan: "You've gone to so much trouble."
Producer Feng Yuan slammed his fist on the table: "That's great! That's great! We'll have to rely on Yuhan and Teacher Wu for the rest of the production!"
As the production company, given the director's approval of the screenwriter's abilities, he naturally didn't want to easily replace Wen Yuhan. Moreover, the reason they initially dared to hire this screenwriter with a tarnished past was because someone had vouched for him, and this person was someone he couldn't afford to offend.
"How about this, it's my treat tonight! Let's find a place for our main creative team to have a good get-together!" Feng Yuan said, patting Pei Shaocheng's agent on the shoulder. "Don't worry, the place I find will be absolutely private and safe!"
⚹
Two hours later, Feng Yuan led the main creative team to a resort near the airport.
The place has complete dining and entertainment facilities, and you can even book a private event in advance, so paparazzi and reporters won't sneak in. It's a popular gathering place for people in the industry, especially those who work in front of the camera.
The manager received the call early in the morning and prepared a private room. Once the guests arrived, he arranged for the waiters to serve the dishes.
Feng Yuan ordered several bottles of his own good wine, filled everyone's glasses, and then raised his glass first, saying, "Come on, let me toast everyone! Don't hold back, drink as much as you want, and if you drink too much, you can stay here tonight."
After speaking, Feng Yuan tilted his head back and drank the wine in his glass in one gulp, then waved his glass at the others at the table to cool it down.
Those present were all used to such occasions, and they all raised their glasses to Feng Yuan and drank the wine.
Next came the mutual flattery segment, with director Cheng Liang being the first to be forced to drink. After a round of drinking, he was already unsteady on his feet, his face and neck were red and thick.
Cheng Liang, holding a wine glass, swayed over to Pei Shaocheng and slurred, "Mr. Pei, you have no idea how happy I am that you agreed to act in my play! To be honest, I really didn't expect you to turn down Director Lang's offer and choose to work with a director like me who isn't formally trained in acting... I! Sigh, I have nothing to say! Thank you for your trust, I'll drink first!"
After he finished speaking, he drank the wine in his glass in one gulp, and almost fell to the ground.
"Director Cheng, you're too kind." Pei Shaocheng raised his glass in acknowledgment.
"A powerful combination! A powerful combination!" Feng Yuan quickly chimed in with flattery. "To be honest, Shao Cheng, after Director Cheng finished reading the script, he told me that this role was written specifically for you! At the time, I was a little timid, thinking that you might look down on our little production... But looking at the entire film and television industry, no one is more suitable than you!"
As he spoke, he gestured to Wen Yuhan sitting opposite him, "Isn't it Yuhan? When you were writing the character biography, did you write it based on our Actor Pei?"
Wen Yuhan was feeling nauseous at the moment, and when Feng Yuan suddenly called on him, he could only force a smile. He looked up and met Pei Shaocheng's interested gaze.
Her fingertips, which were under the table, curled slightly. She had no choice but to bite the bullet and agree, "Ha, yes."
"Speaking of which, you two were classmates, weren't you!" Feng Yuan slapped his forehead, grabbed a wine bottle, walked around to Wen Yuhan, poured another glass of wine into his glass, and said, "Old classmates meeting again on a project, shouldn't we have a good drink together?"
Hearing Feng Yuan say this, Xiao Yang, who was standing next to him, secretly glanced at Wen Yuhan with some concern.
He knew that Teacher Wen had actually been feeling unwell all day; after finishing that glass of wine, he had already broken out in a cold sweat.
"Hurry up, Yuhan!" Feng Yuan smiled and frantically winked at Wen Yuhan. His intention was obvious: to take this opportunity to ease the tension between him and Pei Shaocheng.
Wen Yuhan wiped the sweat from his palms on his pants, then took a deep breath, stood up with his cup in hand, and said to Pei Shaocheng with a smile, "Come on, Shaocheng."
Xiao Yang couldn't help but gently press Wen Yuhan's hand; if he kept drinking like this, something bad might really happen.
"Hey, Xiao Yang, don't stop me!" Feng Yuan blocked Xiao Yang's hand and joked, half-jokingly, "It's not easy to come from the same school and work in the same circle, even if we don't do the same job! With such a connection, how can we not have a drink?"
“Brother Yuan is right.” Wen Yuhan patted Xiao Yang’s shoulder and smiled reassuringly. But she didn’t see that Pei Shaocheng’s face darkened even more in an instant.
The two toasted and each drank the wine in their glasses.
Feng Yuan hurriedly reached for another full cup of water for Wen Yuhan, wondering how to persuade him again, when he heard Pei Shaocheng say calmly, "One cup is enough."
After he finished speaking, everyone present fell silent. Their gazes towards Wen Yuhan were filled with a mixture of doubt and sympathy, almost all wondering how this anonymous screenwriter had offended Actor Pei.
Feng Yuan was also stunned for a moment while holding the wine bottle, but he reacted very quickly in the next second and changed to a set of polite words, successfully shifting everyone's attention to the consultant Wu Wenchang.
While Wen Yuhan secretly breathed a sigh of relief, he felt the wine he had drunk burning all the way from his throat to his stomach, stirring up trouble in his body.
Before long, after several rounds of drinks, everyone except Wen Yuhan, Pei Shaocheng, and a few women who didn't drink was quite drunk.
Xiao Yang, who had been helping Wen Yuhan fend off drinks, was now so drunk that he was slumped over the table, unconscious.
Just then, a commotion broke out outside the door. Feng Yuan frowned, waved for the waiter to call the manager into the room, and asked casually, "Didn't we agree that we'd have the whole place to ourselves? Who's outside?"
The manager quickly smiled apologetically at Feng Yuan and said, "It's General Manager Yu and his team. I thought you and he have always had a good relationship, and you're both in the same industry, so I agreed."
"You mean Old Yu is here too?!" Feng Yuan's blurry eyes widened.
"Hey, don't worry, it's just Mr. Yu and his group at one table."
No sooner had the manager finished speaking than the door to the private room was suddenly pushed open.
"Feng Yuan'er!" A man with a protruding belly, dressed in a Tang suit, stepped in from outside.
"Fuck Lao Yu!" Feng Yuan pointed at the man surnamed Yu and laughed loudly, then gave him a tight hug. "What are you doing here?!"
As he spoke, he pulled the other person towards the table.
The man surnamed Yu patted him on the back and said, "We just finished a scene, so we came out to relax." As he spoke, he looked around at the people at the table, and when he saw Wen Yuhan, he was obviously stunned for a moment. Then he scanned the man from head to toe with an undisguised ambiguous look.
"What are you doing here..." asked the man surnamed Yu, who was fiddling with his prayer beads.
"Come, let me introduce you," Feng Yuan said to everyone. "President Yu, Yu Wanli, is one of the biggest producers in the industry! Every project he approves of has made a profit!"
"Hey, you're exaggerating, brother!" Yu Wanli waved his hand with a smile, his eyes occasionally falling back to Wen Yuhan, his thumb constantly rubbing the beads.
Feng Yuan then introduced: "This is Pei Shaocheng, the Best Actor."
"Holy crap, Feng Yuan, you've got some nerve!" Yu Wanli shook hands vigorously with Pei Shaocheng, then turned to Feng Yuan and said, "You managed to get such a big shot here?"
"I have to say, I never expected that Shao Cheng would even take a liking to our little lousy show!"
Yu Wanli nodded repeatedly: "Okay, okay, I should be making a film at the end of the year. I wonder if I will have the honor of working with Mr. Pei then?"
Pei Shaocheng said politely, "We can arrange another time to talk in person." As he spoke, he nodded to his assistant, "Emily, please get Mr. Yu's assistant's contact information later."
Emily: "Okay."
Feng Yuan then pulled Yu Wanli aside and introduced everyone at the table, finally arriving at Wen Yuhan's place.
"This is our play's screenwriter, Ms. Wen Yuhan."
“Tsk tsk…” Yu Wanli stroked his chin, squinting as he sized up Wen Yuhan. “If Feng Yuan’er hadn’t introduced her, I would have thought you were an actor too.”
"Hello, Mr. Yu." Wen Yuhan nodded politely to Yu Wanli.
Yu Wanli grabbed Wen Yuhan's hand and smiled at him meaningfully: "I've been looking for a screenwriter to work with long-term. Would you be interested in talking to me, Mr. Wen?"
"Okay," Wen Yuhan replied, trying to remove his hand from the other's grasp, and politely said, "Some other time..."
“Hey, don’t change the date.” Yu Wanli still didn’t let go of Wen Yuhan’s mind. “I’m eating next door. Why don’t you come over and sit for a bit later? Oh, Yingzi is here too. She just spent a lot of money to buy a big IP from Japan and wants to make a 40-episode TV series that will be broadcast on TV and online.”
"Wow, Ying-jie is with you? I'll have to go find her for a drink later!" Feng Yuan eagerly interjected.
He knew that this person named "Yingzi" had extraordinary connections, and if he could establish a relationship with her, it would definitely be very beneficial to future project investments.
"How about it, shall we go together?" Yu Wanli said to Feng Yuan, but his burning gaze never left Wen Yuhan.
Wen Yuhan's eyes darkened slightly, because he felt Yu Wanli using his fingertips to gently scratch his palm as they shook hands.
Bang—
The chair opposite me overturned with a loud thud.
Everyone was startled and looked in the direction of the sound. They saw Pei Shaocheng silently stand up, walk up to Yu Wanli and Wen Yuhan, put his arm around Wen Yuhan's shoulder and pull her closer to him.
Wen Yuhan lost his balance and staggered.
Pei Shaocheng slightly turned to shield him behind him, staring coldly at Yu Wanli with unfathomable eyes.
Yu Wanli felt a little uneasy under Pei Shaocheng's gaze, and opened his mouth but couldn't say anything for a moment.
A moment later, Pei Shaocheng smiled casually at Yu Wanli and said, "Sorry, I drank too much."
As she spoke, she pressed some of her strength against Wen Yuhan and whispered, "Help me to the restroom."
...
Chapter 3
The sensor faucet was running water, and Wen Yuhan rubbed her hands repeatedly, but still felt that she couldn't wash away the sweat left by Yu Wanli on her palms.
The stray hairs on his forehead obscured his eyes, concealing the weariness in his expression.
Wen Yuhan took out a piece of paper to dry his hands, then took a cigarette from the cigarette case, leaned against the wall and lit it. He unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt with one hand to allow for ventilation.
"You'd better stay away from that Yu guy." Pei Shaocheng's deep voice came from behind. "You haven't been back in Yancheng for long, so you don't know, but his behavior is notorious in the industry."
Wen Yuhan, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, replied casually, "Is that so?"
Seeing Wen Yuhan's nonchalant attitude, Pei Shaocheng's expression grew even more unpleasant. He once again flicked the cigarette out of Wen Yuhan's mouth, the cigarette butt burning the back of his hand and leaving a red mark.