Chasing the Light

The script spread out on the coffee table turned to another page. Liang Xincheng wrote a line under the long string of lines, followed by the silent recitation in his heart.

His agent Liu Fan pushed the door and came in, but Liang Xincheng did not pay attention to him, his attention was still on the script in front of him. He didn’t look up until the shutter sounded, Liu Fan smiled at him before putting away his phone.

Liang Xincheng frowned: “What are you doing taking my picture?”

“Don’t worry about this,” Liu Fan sat down next to him and took a glance at the script: “You’re still doing your homework?”

“I’ll join the group next month, so I’ll familiarize myself with it in advance. We said that we will sign the contract tomorrow, right? What time did you make the appointment?”

“I come here just to talk to you about this…That, the film side seems to have backtracked. Let’s talk about it slowly, I asked someone to inquire about it, your role is estimated to be cut off.”

Liu Fan’s words were a little tangled. Aside from this film being a rare good resource, it was definitely unpleasant to have them change their mind like this. Unfortunately, he himself was not that great, and Liang Xincheng’s popularity was not big enough to make the producer want it to be him.

Liang Xincheng’s hand holding the pen paused. He lightly pursed the corners of his lips before asking Liu Fan: “Who will replace me?”

“Ding Yao, the newcomer promoted by Shengxing Entertainment.”

Liang Xincheng had never heard of this name: “What does he look like? Do you have a photo?”

Liu Fan reluctantly took out his mobile phone and showed him the Baidu page. The boy in the photo was in his early twenties, with a round face and big eyes. He pursed his lips and smiled, revealing a dimple on one side. He was a completely different type from Liang Xincheng.

“He’s playing the young king? What did the producers think?” The question was asked by Liang Xincheng, but feeling that his question was quite redundant, he let out a laugh.

Even if the look and temperament were not suitable for the lonely and cold protagonist in the film, but as long as there were people to support him, there was no question of not being able to play the role. The rules of this circle were always the capital.

Liu Fan apparently thought so too, so he gossiped with him casually: “Ding Yao has acted in a movie before. Shengxing’s own big production. A new person who came out of nowhere and got the second male lead role. Tsk, tsk, I heard that he has a close relationship with their company boss, you know.”

Liang Xincheng didn’t gossip much about other people’s business, so he put together the script and didn’t reveal too much about the regret in his heart. It seemed as if he was used to it.

Liu Fan looked at him as if he had given up completely so he quickly reminded him: “You don’t give up, yet. The producer side hasn’t said that it is certain that there would be no chance for you. Let’s not be in a hurry. They can find a way to get the role, why can’t we? Our company and Shengxing are both investors in this film. It doesn’t make sense that they have the final say, right? Why don’t…you also go and talk to the big boss? Ask him to come forward?”

It turned out that this was what Liu Fan really wanted to say. Liang Xincheng was not surprised that his manager would have such an idea. Just like before, the company gave him the opportunity to audition and the director and producers were so satisfied with his performance that they almost booked him on the spot, but Liu Fan felt he was relying on their big boss’ face.

“There are nearly 100 signed artists in the company, when did the big boss become my manager?”

Liu Fan ignored the sneer between Liang Xincheng’s words and smiled sarcastically, “You are different from others, ah…”

That little ambiguous ridicule in his tone, only a fool couldn’t hear it.

Liang Xincheng didn’t care much. His eyes fell on the title of the cover of the script and he paused for a moment. After a while, he said softly, “I’ll try it.”

Liu Fan patted him on the shoulder with satisfaction: “Okay, let’s go to the restaurant to eat something, then pack up after eating. There is a schedule for the afternoon.”

“What with the sudden schedule?” Liang Xincheng was a little dissatisfied. Liu Fan was an average manager and the work he got for him was messy and often without plans, but he was still polite. If he really didn’t want to do it, Liu Fan would try his best to push him to do it. This probably…was also because of the face of the big boss.

“Xia Yuanhang’s new film premiere. You go to the stage to give him flowers. I have already spoken to his side.”

Liang Xincheng: “…”

Among the jobs that Liu Fan helped him with, the most unreliable ones were almost all related to Xia Yuanhang. Sitting in the nanny car that was going to the premiere, Liang Xincheng looked at his face with the delicate makeup in the mirror in the assistant’s hand. The corners of his mouth opened with a vague smile as he asked Liu Fan, “Are you sure he’s okay with me going to steal the limelight?”

“They brought it up on their own initiative. They hope you will stir up the topic to increase the popularity.”

Liang Xincheng lowered his eyes, hiding the sarcasm in his eyes.

He and Xia Yuanhang became popular at the same time because they acted in a TV series with two male leads with ambiguous relationships. The CP became popular from the show to the outside, which also made them popular. The agents of both sides tasted the sweetness and hit the deal. In the nearly one year since the broadcast ended, they had been buying marketing and water army to help them hype it. Today was not their first ‘mutual help’. The benefits were obvious; even though they had no representative works to offer after that, their popularity was growing.

In fact, Liang Xincheng had always felt that Xia Yuanhang had suffered a lot from the CP of him and himself. Xia Yuanhang was, at any rate, a serious professional. Before becoming popular, he had acted in several movies and TV series with good reputation. Even if it was just a small supporting role, he might become popular one day. There was no need to hype in this way.

And he himself, before this, was nothing more than an inconspicuous extra who roamed around the major studios.

A large number of fans and various media had gathered at the premiere. Liang Xincheng entered from the back door as a mysterious guest so he did not see Xia Yuanhang.

He was taken to the lounge by the staff and sat down as he browsed Weibo boredly. Xia Yuanhang posted a publicity post for today’s premiere more than half an hour ago, with a selfie. It was so handsome that Liang Xincheng stared at the photo for a while before slowly scrolling past it.

Halfway through the media conference, someone finally came to call Liang Xincheng on stage. He took the flowers handed by the staff and was led to the front hall.

The host’s voice excitedly invited Liang Xincheng to come to the stage. Unexpectedly, there were high-decibel screams from fans and the constant shutter sound. Liang Xincheng walked up calmly and handed the flower in his hand to Xia Yuanhang. He did not miss the flash of surprise in the other party’s eyes. Averting his eyes, he took the microphone handed to him by the host.

After briefly introducing himself and greeting, he was asked why he showed up today. Liang Xincheng smiled and looked at Xia Yuanhang, who had already recovered from his initial surprise and hooked his shoulders, even answering for him: “I invited Xincheng. I’m very happy that he came here, especially because he is so busy.”

“Your premiere is more important.” Liang Xincheng answered fluently.

Liang Xincheng briefly said a few words and then left the stage. His task for today had been mostly completed. Next, he would watch the movie with Xia Yuanhang and then his work would be over.

Half an hour later, the media conference ended. Xia Yuanhang, who went backstage to change clothes, held back the anger in his voice and questioned his agent, “Didn’t we agree not to hype the CP anymore? Why did it happen again today?”

The agent patted him on the shoulder and comforted him: “Take it easy, I’m doing it for your own good. The film’s preliminary publicity didn’t reach the expected target, the film studio is also anxious and angry. Two days ago they discussed with me whether to speculate on a scandal or something. I just thought why not hype the relationship between you and Liang Xincheng, it’s better than hyping up you and the female lead’s relationship right?”

Xia Yuanhang didn’t say anything anymore. He changed his clothes in silence and before leaving the lounge, he finally reminded his agent: “There is no next time, I would rather stir up scandals between a man and a woman.”

 

T/N: I picked up another story. This time it’s a light-hearted showbiz one. I actually really like this one despite there are some bad reviews hahaha As mentioned, it’s a very light story and also it’s one of the earliest written by BJZ, so there are some part that I think your brain needs to be offline when reading this. So, don’t think too much when reading this. Read it for the fluff and romance!

By the way, currently, the update for this will be sporadic. I’ll figure out the update once RES completed (there are only 18 chapters for RES)

Happy reading everyone!