Top Dupe CH 050 Luo Yu Is Signed Part 1
Jiang Yinchuan, with his hands in his coat pockets, gave a cold, disdainful smile. "I've heard that this President Bo has a strong desire for attention, but I didn't expect it to be this strong."
With that, Jiang Yinchuan entered the elevator.
Luo Yu narrowed his eyes and leaned closer to Gu Xiaowei. "If you want Jiang Yinchuan to help me get an audition, I can understand that you really want to act opposite me. But why did you have to tell him about Bo Wenyan's situation?"
"To see how well he handles public opinion," Gu Xiaowei paused, then continued, "Actually, you’ve already decided in your heart to work with Jiang Yinchuan."
Luo Yu was momentarily stunned; he didn’t know how Gu Xiaowei had guessed that.
But no matter what, since Xinghan Films would extend a contract offer to him, Gu Xiaowei must have put in a lot of effort.
Since he had decided to go with Yinchuan Culture, he needed to have an honest discussion with Gu Xiaowei.
"I know that Xinghan Films wants to sign me, likely due to your and Director Lin's recommendations. I just feel... that something might be missing if I go there."
Gu Xiaowei poured himself another cup of Pu'er tea and said slowly, "Deep down, you don’t actually want to seek an easy path. With your current popularity, joining Xinghan Films will inevitably mean starting as a supporting role. And that supporting role may not even be to your liking. If the main role in the same film has enough ability, like someone who can create sparks with your role, that would be fine; you’d rise faster. But if not, you’ll be a supporting role for a very long time, from the shade of the tree to the branches, dressing others in your clothes for many years. By the time you’re allowed to play a lead role, many opportunities will have already passed."
Indeed, Gu Xiaowei understood what he was thinking.
Luo Yu half-jokingly said, "Does this count as preferring to be a head of a chicken rather than the tail of a phoenix?"
Gu Xiaowei frowned, clearly displeased with that analogy.
"But for me..." Luo Yu looked up, as if looking to a more distant place through the ceiling, "First, I need to get out of the chicken coop. The sky is so big, and I’m not afraid of not finding a place to fly."
Gu Xiaowei looked at Luo Yu’s profile and suddenly realized that Luo Yu’s vision was much broader than he had imagined.
What he wanted wasn’t to become a phoenix, but the entire sky.
"I was originally going to suggest a night run together, but now it's already this late after the meeting with Jiang Yinchuan," Luo Yu glanced at the wall clock, which showed it was 10:30pm.
"Then I’ll head back first," Gu Xiaowei said, standing up and grabbing his coat from the sofa. He suddenly spoke again, "Senior Brother."
"Yes?"
At first, when Gu Xiaowei called him that, Luo Yu felt flattered. But now, every time he heard "Senior Brother," it made him inexplicably soft-hearted.
"I don’t care who you sign with; I just want to act opposite you."
That simple remark stirred all of Luo Yu’s ambition.
After Gu Xiaowei left, Luo Yu instinctively walked to the window and watched as his car disappeared into the distance.
It wasn’t long before the film “Beast and Rose” began sending out audition invitations.
Since this film had nothing to do with romance, the only prominent female role was Ai Lin, the agent of the famous painter Lu Pingfeng. The male lead, Lu Pingfeng, was specifically cast by the director and producers for Gu Xiaowei, so the most competitive role in the audition was the forensic assistant Wen Yuchi.
He Mu, who had been quiet for almost three months, immediately called his agent upon hearing this news.
"I want to play Wen Yuchi! Don’t you think this role suits me perfectly?"
The agent hesitated and said, "Our cooperation with Honghe Film and Television fell through. If you want this role, you'll have to audition."
"Then I'll go audition!"
The agent took a deep breath. He wanted to shake He Mu’s head vigorously and ask where his confidence came from to stand out in the audition!
For a movie directed by Sheng Yunlan, the audition would definitely be fierce! Besides, Sheng Yunlan often went off-script, so even if a script was issued, he might suddenly come up with an unconventional performance task, leaving the auditionees at a loss.
The high-risk audition was something the agent truly didn’t want He Mu to attend.
If you don’t have the skill, don’t take on a challenging job!
If it were based solely on the script, it would be like last time with Bai Ying’s role, where a skilled teacher could be hired for training. Even if it was a last-minute practice, it would still show results.
But if it turned out to be an Olympiad-level additional task, the agent could already imagine He Mu flustered and being at a loss.
"Alright, if you insist on being this brave warrior, I can’t stop you."
On Sunday morning, Luo Yu made himself some eggs and toasted bread, and was about to head to the gym when Sister Cui arrived.
"Luo Yu! I feel like ever since you left Zhuque Media, your luck has turned around!"
Luo Yu smiled, "Sister Cui, your beaming expression makes me think you’ve found a new love."
"Stop joking. Look at this, the audition script for “Beast and Rose”! It’s a movie! Big screen! And it’s a famous director’s work! Most importantly, apart from the role of Lu Pingfeng, the forensic assistant Wen Yuchi has the most scenes! It’s considered the male second lead, but it’s almost like a dual male lead!" Sister Cui said with uncontainable joy. "It was rumored before that this role would go to He Mu, but I didn’t expect there to be auditions!"
Luo Yu prepared a sandwich and took a bite. "Aren’t you worried that us being called to audition is just to be a formality?"
In the past, Sister Cui would have been extremely worried, but over the past few months, she had matured and was no longer so easily swayed.
"Are you trying to trick me? If Director Sheng didn’t really want auditions, why make things difficult? When He Mu competed with you for Bai Ying’s role, he lost. If he was already chosen, they wouldn’t send you an audition invitation."
Luo Yu laughed, "Sister Cui, you’re becoming more and more astute."
After finishing breakfast, Luo Yu was packing up to leave when he noticed Sister Cui’s expression change while she was on the phone.
"What’s wrong? Is there a problem with the audition?"
"It’s not about the audition. It’s that you’ve made the hot search for having dinner with Hu Wei and Jiang Yunxie! Now, many people online are speculating that you went to the dinner to cling to Jiang Yunxie’s leg! They’re saying all sorts of terrible things..."
Sister Cui’s face darkened. She knew she had to quickly get the hot search removed.
The public easily gets swayed by trends, and rational comments are drowned out by ridicule and malicious speculation.
If this continued, even if a clarification was issued immediately, it would become material for future cyber attacks against him.
Sister Cui immediately called to get the hot search removed, but as soon as it was taken down, another hot search popped up.
"Don’t remove it; it’s useless. It’s probably to target Wen Yuchi. Someone sees me as a necessary competitor to eliminate."
With such unfavorable black material, the producers and director might be reluctant to cast him.
This hot search superficially put Luo Yu’s name in the headlines, but it also reminded the public of the scandal from Honghe Film and Television that had just calmed down.
Luo Yu smiled faintly, easily guessing who was behind it.
Even after all these years, they’re still playing these old tricks. It’s just Ou Juntao; barefoot people aren’t afraid of those wearing shoes.
"Sister Cui, do you have Ou Juntao’s phone number from Dijun Media?"
"I only have his office number; he might not answer himself," Sister Cui straightened up, "Why… I thought Ou Juntao had stopped."
"Stopped?" Luo Yu’s smile turned sarcastic, "He just wants to make the past five years difficult for me, then give me a few months to breathe, hoping I’ll be grateful and feel constrained by him. But I don’t have Stockholm syndrome. They’ve used too many rotten tricks; they’d better watch out for their own downfall."
Seeing that Luo Yu had a plan, Sister Cui immediately gave him the number.
When Luo Yu dialed, it was indeed Ou Juntao’s secretary who answered, and the secretary was rather impolite upon hearing it was Luo Yu.
"Sorry, Chairman Ou is busy. Please..."
"Fine, let him be busy. He gives me hot searches; I’ll give him a hot search of his own and let him retire early." Luo Yu said calmly.
The secretary paused for a moment and then replied, "Your hot search is not our responsibility."
"Alright then, I’ll call Shareholder Lin. He should be interested."
Shareholder Lin was Ou Juntao’s rival at Dijun Media. Their fight for the chairman’s position was enough to write a business war novel.
With that, Luo Yu hung up.
"Just as I thought, his secretary won’t let you speak to him," Sister Cui said.
Luo Yu wasn’t worried at all and instead started a countdown.
"Ten, nine, eight…”
When he was counting down to the third second, Luo Yu's phone vibrated with a call from an unknown number, but Luo Yu knew it was from Ou Juntao.
On the other end, Ou Juntao was frowning deeply. It was rare for him to actively call someone who did not answer immediately. He knew Luo Yu's claim about making him a hot search was mostly bluster, but he felt an inexplicable joy upon realizing Luo Yu was looking for him. However, this joy was mixed with anger—Luo Yu had called his secretary, indicating he had never saved Ou Juntao's number.
This thought made him grind his teeth with hatred.
After the first call went unanswered, Ou Juntao slammed his phone on the table but couldn’t help but glance at the screen. Unfortunately, five minutes passed, and Luo Yu still did not return his call.
Ou Juntao checked the trending searches. The rumors claimed that Luo Yu had seduced Jiang Yunxie, with the stories being well-crafted and the number of haters increasing. The more Ou Juntao read, the angrier he became.
“That piece of trash Jiang Yunxie… has designs on Luo Yu?”
Ou Juntao summoned his secretary. “Tell Luo Yu that I am available now, and he can call me back!”
The secretary, startled, realized that not allowing Luo Yu to speak with Ou Juntao might have caused trouble.
Thirty seconds later, the secretary came back, saying, “Luo… Luo Yu said he is going to the gym and does not have time to… haggle!”
Ou Juntao felt as if he had been hit by a landslide, nearly choking on his next breath.
“What did he say? He said I am haggling? What does he mean by that?”
The secretary took a step back in fear.
Ou Juntao was indeed strict in business but never lost his temper unless absolutely necessary. Losing his temper was a sign of incompetence in Ou Juntao's book.
“Leave.”
In less than a second, Ou Juntao had composed himself.
If it had been the old Luo Yu, he would have been submissive, and Ou Juntao might not have called him. But the current Luo Yu was much more determined. Ou Juntao had a premonition that Luo Yu was not just making threats but speaking the truth.
Taking a deep breath, Ou Juntao dialed Luo Yu’s number again. This time, he connected on the sixth ring.
“Is this the courier? Please leave it at the delivery locker at the neighborhood entrance.”
That nonchalant tone was like a slap in Ou Juntao's face.
Although Ou Juntao wanted to hang up immediately and let this presumptuous kid be blacklisted forever, his dangerous intuition alerted him.
“I am Ou Juntao.”
There was a moment of silence on the other end before Luo Yu’s voice came through, with a tone of relaxed amusement and no trace of humility or false courtesy.
“So it’s Chairman Ou. I was just contacting the media to prepare a big reveal,” Luo Yu said as he sat back on the sofa.
“Really? I heard from the secretary that this big reveal is related to me?” Ou Juntao asked calmly.
The two seemed calm, but in reality, they were testing who would lose their composure first.
“I have a recording of that night’s dinner with Jiang Yunxie. Just releasing it with any number could cause Honghe Film and Television’s stock price to plummet again.”
Ou Juntao laughed. “Isn’t that perfect? The worse Honghe Film and Television performs, the more opportunities we have at Dijun Media.”
“Oh? Is that so?”
Luo Yu’s voice drawled, especially the “is that so” made Ou Juntao’s heart itch. He took a big sip of coffee, instantly bitter to the root of his tongue.
“Think about it. When Jiang Yunxie first had trouble, I didn’t release the phone recording to gain public sympathy and online popularity, which means I was wary of Honghe Film and Televison and didn’t want to have a complete fallout with them. Until my black search terms were spread online, I had no choice but to release the recording. What would old Mr. Jiang think? Would he simply come after me, a powerless little actor? Or would he think that the person who forced me to release the recording is targeting either me or aiming to take down Honghe Film and Televsion?”
Hearing this, Ou Juntao’s eyebrows knitted together.
“Old Mr. Jiang is far-sighted. With his ability, he might already be looking into Dijun Media’s contract and tax issues. Also, before I release the big reveal, shouldn’t I at least notify Honghe Film and Televsion? After all, I am not like Chairman Ou, who is unscrupulous.”
Ou Juntao’s heart sank. He knew old Mr. Jiang’s style. No matter how unreliable Jiang Yunxie was, he was still old Mr. Jiang’s grandson. Even if he was destined to be put in the incinerator, old Mr. Jiang wouldn’t want him to be burned too long.
If Luo Yu was truly forced to release the recording, he would only need to tell old Mr. Jiang that, to reduce the damage to Honghe Film and Televsion and Jiang Yunxie, old Mr. Jiang would have to personally handle the situation.
Then, old Mr. Jiang would find out that Dijun Media bought the hot searches and would certainly suspect Ou Juntao of forcing Luo Yu to release the recording. By then, it would be hard to settle the grudge between them.
“You’ve grown skillful, learning to threaten me,” Ou Juntao said with a smile.
“How can this be called a threat? Isn’t it about appealing to emotions and reasoning?”
Ou Juntao closed his eyes. From Luo Yu’s voice and attitude, he could tell that these hot searches had not affected Luo Yu’s mood or decisions.
Luo Yu… had indeed changed from before.
“To avoid old Mr. Jiang misunderstanding, I will help you remove those hot searches. But that’s all I can do. As for the future… rumors are something everyone in this circle has to endure.” Ou Juntao spoke cautiously, as he wasn’t sure if Luo Yu was recording the conversation.
“Those, Chairman Ou, don’t need to worry about.”
After saying this, Luo Yu hung up the phone.