Chapter 88
Wang Cong narrowed his eyes, what’s this?
It could be seen at first glance that the middle-aged man was the head of those dozen or so people, why did he jump past Zhang Qi and Tian Jia Hui, and went directly to talk to Shu Ning?
But Wang Cong understood after thinking about it for a moment, it was because Zhang Qi was standing in front looking angry and red in the face, you could tell with one look that he was just there to mouth someone off, while Tian Ji Hui was silent but he had also stood up. Everyone was attentive while Shu Ning was the only one sitting calmly, just like......just like a boss.
So that’s why, even if you were to act badass you needed to have character, Wang Cong learned today.
Shu Ning put down the cup in his hands and stood up to leave the boat. The boatman grunted and quickly lowered the board. While it was Zhang Qi who was dumbfounded, he wanted to say something but he was afraid that Shu Ning would think he wasn’t giving him any face, so he just let him go. But the key point was, this place was miles away from civilization and they didn’t even know where they were, so what if something happened?
Tian Jia Hui waved his hand and the other young masters had also started to get down with Wang Cong lagging behind at the very end.
Shang Zhou had already come forward :”Thanks little man.”
“It’s fine, saving lives is important,”Shu Ning was generous, and saving lives really was important:”We’ve just arrived and we’re not too sure where we can get some rest at, uncle, can you give us some advice?”
“Sure, I’m shooting a movie in front so if you’re interested, do you want to come and take a look?”
“That sounds great.”
Shang Zhou walked to the front with Shu Ning, feeling as if they’d known each other for many years. The old uncle hadn’t put on any airs, and Shu Ning was very sensible, this made the few young masters tagging along behind rather stunned, especially Wang Cong. A glint flashed past his eyes, but it was not known what he was plotting. The male lead that had gotten hurt was already on the boat, and left for quite a distance.
Thirty some people shuffled back to the studio. The place was very simple, not comparable at all to twenty years later.
Shu Ning simply say at the male lead’s seat, watching the director busy himself, getting everyone to continue filming, and separately they filmed the female lead’s, the supporting female lead’s, and several other actor’s scenes. Wang Cong had an outstanding appearance, not worse than that of a celebrity, he stood in the corner and started to show indignation, we’re all here to do big things......Being a celeb doesn’t seem too bad either, and so he straightened his posture, posing a little.
Shu Ning didn’t notice what Wang Cong was doing and he didn’t care about his companions who were walking around either, he was combing over his thoughts in his mind.
It was time to eat their lunchboxes at noon, there were an extra eight portions today. As soon as they saw the contents, the young masters were all stunned, with the greens being potatoes stir-fried with peppers, dried tofu, noodles without any meat, a few slices of thinly sliced salted cucumber, and there was some fried tofu. The green onions were sliced into very, very small pieces, if you were a tad bit blind it may even have looked like there were sprouts coming out of the tofu.
Zhang Qi and the rest were complaining while Wang Cong didn’t, secretly he thought to himself, this pile of bloody bastards probably haven’t suffered hardships before haven’t they? Only after going through hardships can you be a proper made man, don’t you know? Hmph~
Right at this time, Wang Cong’s eyes narrowed. Shu Ning was eating it, and he was eating it very elegantly as if he had a great meal right in front of him.
Shang Zhou came over with his lunchbox in hand, and his personal assistant pulled a stool over, putting it by Shu Ning’s side:”Do you mind if I come over uninvited?”
“Eating alone is too lonely, that’s tough, uncle, have you thought about changing careers?”
Shang Zhou smiled bitterly:”I’ve dreamt of it.”
Shu Ning took a bite of potato, then the clay pot rice. The flavour was so-so, but it’s fine as long as it was filling only......There was no meat at all, this truly was hard for them.
“Does it taste bad? You can have mine.”
In the entire crew, only the director and the stars of the film had slightly better lunchboxes. There was a piece of fish, and Shang Zhou didn’t hesitate to give his fried fish to Shu Ning that he hadn’t touched.
Naturally Shu Ning wouldn’t reject him, he should take a bite before his speak, these were basic manners:”Uncle, it’s not like I’m complaining about the lunchboxes, but I’m just wondering......Could you be short on money?”
So he was actually seen through? Shang Zhou tightened his grip on his chopsticks, and faced the young man. He felt slightly embarrassed but as someone from his line of work you had to be thick-skinned:”Well, there’s nothing I can do about that, literary films aren’t very popular so the investors aren’t interested.”
“Since uncle is a director, you should know what brings the money in, right?”
“Mm, horror films are popular recently, with a tinge of eroticism,”When Shang Zhou mentioned eroticism, he had no hesitations, a child who could figure out his inner shame just from a lunchbox can’t be a simple kid. So he just spoke directly, he was a stranger after all and it’s still pretty good to vent about his problems, that’s always going to be better than bottling it all up. Shang Zhou had never thought about receiving help or anything of that sort, it’s already pretty great that they came down the boat to greet him.
Rain leaked through the roof at night, and the male lead was injured, they didn’t even know whether they could continue shooting or not, it was hard.
Shu Ning had seen Shang Zhou’s interview previously in the magazine. At the trough of the career, he had filmed a literary film called Springlike Years, it was a very ordinary name and was taken off the shelves after a few days of screening, nobody was watching it and the box office sales were terrible, this made Shang Zhou who had suffered such a blow feel extremely frustrated, and even more so because he had sold his house at the start just for the filming!
His wife had followed him because she thought he had a bright future ahead of him, but in the end, every year ended worse than the last, what the hell did he mean that it takes ten years to perfect a film? All the money was already gone, did he think groceries were free? As soon as she saw that the winds were turning the wrong direction, the literary film wasn’t going anywhere, and he was still talking about his bloody dreams to her mother. And so she divorced Shang Zhou immediately, their son had already grown up and has his own ideas, so he had always been staying in school.
But after that, Shang Zhou made a movie that was a hit, it was a police film, and it was super hilarious! Shang Zhou had thought it through, he did not give up his dream, he was only changing his style. Shu Ning knew of the glorious legend of the director, he knew how much perseverance and courage it required for Shang Zhou to smile right now.
Shu Ning took out his phone and gave his driver a call:”Hey, where are you at?”
“Young master, we’re outside the studio.”
“Give me one of brother’s business cards.”
Shu Ning only had one in his wallet, it wasn’t as if he didn’t want to invest but he was just embarrassed about how strapped of cash he was, all his money had been invested into real estate.
The driver and the bodyguard walked in hurriedly, and many people had seen them. Observing around a little, the better film crews would have someone to manage the outsiders, it could be seen that Shang Zhou really was running dry on funds. Zhang Qi has seen this person before, and knew he was one of Shu Ning’s men, but......why did Shu Ning bring his bodyguards if he came out to play?
Tian Jia Hui looked over to Zhang Qi, and Zhang Qi shrugged back at him.
“Young mater, the business card you asked for,”Since he was here to protect his young master, the driver was dressed in casual clothes, and the car he drove was a black low-profile car, it had a high chassis that was easy to travel with.
Shu Ning received the business card and took a look, his big brother was handsome and even his card was handsome, the quality was superb. Then he handed it over to Shang Zhou.
“This is......”
“My name is Shu Ning, this is my brother’s,”Shu Ning smiled and it was quite brilliant:”I like movies a lot, but I don’t like literary films too much, you can talk to my brother about an investment for your next film, I’ll talk to him about it.”He didn’t hate literary films, but speaking about it this way...... He clearly knew that the literary film he was doing now would fail, wouldn’t it be stupid so invest money?
“Is that alright?”Shang Zhou’s brain hadn’t turned silly yet, but it just felt like a fantasy seeing as the boy was still a minor. However, the black business card in his hand was understated but luxurious, the finishing was superbly exquisite, it definitely belonged to a very important person. The letters that looked almost as if gilded in gold left a good impression on Shang Zhou, Shu Heng...... was it?
“This is the first time I’ve come in contact with the process of filming, and it feels quite amazing, being able to shoot a movie out of your thoughts for the world to see, uncle, you’re so amazing.”
The people who would say such words were many, but this young man’s eyes were clear with no hesitations of sending him his wishes, so naturally it moved Shang Zhou:”Thank you, come, let’s eat, the food’s probably gone cold.”Shang Zhou would put this card to his heart, after all it was still questionable whether it would come to use or not, but it was great to keep a good relationship with someone.
Zhang Qi, Tian Jia Hui, and the lot didn’t eat their lunchboxes. When shooting continued in the afternoon, Shu Ning was already sitting by the director’s side helping with the filming, the two of them would occasionally lean their heads over and giggle with each other......What the heck? Zhang Qi who had returned from a stroll looked at Tian Jia Hui who similarly looked back at him, why does it feel like we’re weak as hell?
Not only them, the other young masters also felt like they were in a supporting role.
And so Wang Cong had fallen into misfortune, this one wanted a towel and the other wanted water. Things were still fine when they were on the boat, after all they were close to each other, but right now they were in the set so it wasn’t appropriate to yell, and so a certain young master called Wang Cong over to the corner for some chatter, you came out to hang with us and you didn’t even buy a phone? Are you stupid? Wang Cong was humiliated and he didn’t even dare to hold his fists, he was tall so he couldn’t just lower his head, any expression on his face could be seen at one glance no matter what.
“You think you’re all that cause you’re tall?”
“What the hell kind of attitude is that?”
“If you’re not gonna go with it then scram, you’re a lackey but you’re doing a shit job of it, you’re simply trash.”
“......”
Babble babble, he was done, a certain young master had his fun. Zhang Qi and Tian Jia Hui were the heads of the group but they didn’t do anything even if they had seen it. They would only treat him differently if Wang Cong had gained some ability in the future.
After two hours, the boat returned. After receiving the call, Zhang Qi was ecstatic, he sent a group message and grouped up outside to leave together. Shang Zhou came out to send them off, then Shu Ning got on the boat, waved, and left. Shang Zhou’s private number was already stored in my phone, when he can’t find an investor for his next film, he would naturally think of me, that would always be better than begging and kneeling to an underworld boss then being insulted than him, right?
When a person gets famous, they’ll be faced with the compliments of many, but envied and despised behind their backs, and when you’re not doing well, the ones throwing stones down the well won’t be less, Shu Ning understood that very well.
On that night, Shu Ning heard the sounds of dogs barking, turns out Zhang Qi didn’t like drinking tap water, so he had Wang Cong go out to buy mineral water.
What a way to torment someone.
Then when Wang Cong left, he was chased by several house dogs, and he ran till his shoe fell off and he was a sorry sight, and in the end the students sitting in the yard laughed out loud at him, they found it very interesting. While Tian Jia Hui went even more overboard, he asked directly ‘where’s the water?’ Wang Cong felt very humiliated as he took out a bottle of water from his trousers, because there was only a bottle left.
Zhang Qi took it, unscrewed the cap, and drank, then took out five hundred from his wallet and gave it to Wang Cong.
Really, at that time Wang Cong wanted to throw the money at Zhang Qi’s face and yell ‘are you mad? You think you’re the shit because you’re rich?’ But he couldn’t do that, his family was too poor, his mother was still in the hospital and he needed money for everything. At the beginning, Wang Cong wanted to get into this school that was just like a school fit for nobility for the sake of face, and spent a big chunk of his family’s money.
He reached out, and took it. Wang Cong stood where he was while Zhang Qi had already turned and left......
Shu Ning had seen the entire scene within the house, and the corners of his mouth were curled faintly into a smile, lowly people are contentious after all, they clearly could’ve passed their days fine but they had to find something to take the piss out of, what for? Rich people aren’t all that big, they had their own fair share of troubles too, just like Shu Ning in his past life. Was he happy? Did he feel blessed? All the warmth he thought he had was actually a deadly poison, and he was finally sent to his grave by his mother’s hands.
Everyone knew that Shu Ning was rich, but where’s the money? In Qin Yu Zhuo’s hands, heh heh......Shu Ning’s gaze was exceptionally sharp as he looked at the slightly grim figure of himself in the mirror, secretly swearing to himself that definitely I would never let the lot of you off, I will deal with you one by one, tormenting you slowly, just you wait!
The reason why Shu Ning would continue to be friends with those toxic friends all had its reasons.
Just like that they had five days of fun. Then they got off the plane, the sky in C City had already turned dark. Shu Ning got in the Lincoln happily and refused to go home, he wanted to go to a hotel instead, what was big brother planning to do? For him to actually invite me to such a place. He felt bashful all of a sudden, how exciting!