Chapter 117: Hitting a Wall

The next day, Xu Heng flew to Jin City.

He had already discussed this matter with the Tangren company over the phone yesterday.

Although Tangren was not very willing to let an actor under their company perform in this film, which was at the center of a public opinion storm, Hu Ge himself was quite willing.

For one, Hu Ge hadn't acted in a film in the two years since his debut, and he only had some fame from the TV series *Chinese Paladin 1*; he felt that getting on the big screen would be a good test of his acting skills. For another, his popularity had been almost entirely depleted in the year since his car accident; if there was a movie to film, what more could he ask for?

Therefore, after careful consideration, Tangren still agreed to negotiate with Xu Heng, mainly to see what conditions Xu Heng could offer.

At the Tangren company headquarters, Xu Heng met the young and green-looking Hu Ge and one of Tangren's senior executives, Cai Yinong.

Cai Yinong was currently also serving as Hu Ge's manager.

Recently, she had spent a lot of energy on Hu Ge, and the *Chinese Paladin 3* TV series she had meticulously crafted for him had also been put on the agenda.

If nothing went wrong, *Chinese Paladin 3*, a TV series with considerable influence in the film and television industry, would start filming next summer, and by then, Hu Ge would have no schedule availability.

And it was because Cai Yinong was worried about whether Hu Ge could regain the popularity of *Chinese Paladin 1* through *Chinese Paladin 3* that she decided to let Hu Ge take on another TV series during this gap of more than half a year.

Of course, the TV series didn't arrive, but Xu Heng's movie did.

After meeting, Hu Ge's attitude toward Xu Heng was very polite; he smiled kindly and shook his hand: "Teacher Xu, I've long heard of your name. Please, sit."

Cai Yinong, however, sat in her seat with a cold expression, motionless, playing the role of the bad cop.

Xu Heng also smiled and said: "I don't deserve the title of 'Teacher'. I'm a few years younger than you, Hu Ge; just call me Xu Heng."

"Then I won't stand on ceremony. We can be considered peers; we have to help each other out while mixing in this circle."

The 25-year-old Hu Ge did not have the reserve of a young person and pulled Xu Heng to sit down in a very familiar manner.

He praised Xu Heng, saying that although he was younger than himself, his prominence in the music circle was much greater than his own as a down-and-out star.

Xu Heng returned the commercial flattery, saying how could the music circle compare to the film and television circle? You could grab any passerby outside and they would know you, Hu Ge, but if you asked them about Xu Heng, they would only ask back, "Xu Heng who? Don't know him."

It was true that Hu Ge was a seasoned veteran, but he still retained a young person's mindset and quite enjoyed this flattery from Xu Heng.

Young people, after all—chatting is just mutual flattery, and the more you flatter, the closer you get.

The two chatted while flattering each other, from *Chinese Paladin 1* to the 1990s, and then blew on to the future.

Hu Ge sighed and said: "I don't have any great ideals, brother. I just want to film the kind of TV shows and movies that audiences nationwide like to watch, then earn a little money and comfortably retire. Unfortunately, heaven doesn't go according to one's wishes; disaster struck out of the blue. Don't look at how I used to have some public appeal; now, I'm afraid even if you put me on the street, no one would recognize me."

Xu Heng smiled and said that wasn't necessarily true.

Just as Hu Ge wanted to continue chatting with him, Cai Yinong, who had been silent on the side, spoke up to interrupt him: "Xiao Hu, we still have serious business to discuss."

Only then did Hu Ge remember that besides Xu Heng, his boss was also in the reception room, and he scratched his cheek in embarrassment.

Cai Yinong kept a straight face, looking at first glance like the stereotypical type of business person.

"Xu Heng, Boss Xu, we have already talked about this over the phone. Actually, I personally don't think highly of your movie, but Xiao Hu is quite interested in it, so after comprehensive consideration, we have decided to take a look at the film's script first."

Xu Heng smiled and took a photocopy of *Love is Not Blind* from his bag and handed it to her.

After browsing through it roughly, Cai Yinong couldn't help but frown: "You want Xiao Hu to play the male lead in this script?"

"Yes," Xu Heng nodded and said.

Upon hearing this, Cai Yinong shook her head repeatedly and placed the script on the table: "Then you might as well go back. The image of the male lead in this movie does not fit the artist image our company has built for Xiao Hu."

Doesn't fit the artist image?

Hearing her say this, Hu Ge was also curious and picked up the script on the table to take a look.

He didn't know until he looked, and he was shocked once he did.

Whoa! Good grief, the male lead in this movie is actually a sissy! And he was given the name Wang Xiaojian.

Coupled with the fact that the actions Xu Heng described for Wang Xiaojian in the script were basically (pinching an orchid finger), (speaking in a shrill, delicate voice), and (wiggling his little waist)—words with feminine connotations—it directly molded Wang Xiaojian into a male character with an ambiguous sexual orientation.

You have to know, the artist image Tangren had previously built for Hu Ge had always been moving in the direction of handsome and dashing, sunny and cheerful, and a costume beauty.

Wouldn't letting Hu Ge play this modern urban white-collar sissy smash Tangren's own signboard?

It was no wonder Cai Yinong would refuse so firmly.

However, unlike Cai Yinong's attitude of passing after only a rough browse, Hu Ge was actually reading the script of *Love is Not Blind* attentively on the side.

To be fair, although a sissy didn't fit the image the company had built for him, it was indeed a highlight.

Moreover, the script of *Love is Not Blind* itself was quite interesting, rarely focusing on female characters on the big screen.

The sissy was nominally called the male lead in this script, but in reality, he was just a supporting role.

Xu Heng had long anticipated the result that Tangren would reject this script. He smiled without changing his expression: "Why don't you take another look at the script, President Cai? I personally think I wrote the script quite well."

"Wrote it quite well?" Cai Yinong sneered, "Are you trying to ruin our Hu Ge? What kind of reputation do you have on the internet right now? And you bring this kind of script, which is diametrically opposed to our Hu Ge's image, to drag us into the water? Do you really think our small company, Tangren, is easy to bully?"

"Sister Cai, this script is indeed written quite well," Hu Ge interjected from the side at this moment.

Cai Yinong was in the middle of her anger and turned her head to glare at him: "Shut up. I've read more scripts than the two of you have eaten meals. Can I not tell which script is good and which is bad? With this script of yours, investing tens of millions would just be throwing money into the water!"

After saying this, she exhaled through her nostrils and waved her hand: "The door is over there; I won't see you out."

Xu Heng hit a wall here, but he didn't have any emotional changes. Instead, when he took back the script, he saw Hu Ge hiding behind, smiling bitterly and shaking his head, looking helpless.

Tangren was a company with very strict management of its artists; the higher-ups basically had veto power over what TV series or movies their artists appeared in.

That is to say, even if he was interested in this script, as long as his manager didn't agree, there was nothing he could do.

"Leave a contact method," Hu Ge said, walking out of the reception room with Xu Heng, whispering in his ear.

Xu Heng thought about it and felt that Hu Ge was still a quite interesting person, so he wrote down his mobile phone number and QQ number for him.

"Let's cooperate again if there's a chance in the future," he said.

*Love is Not Blind* definitely couldn't use Hu Ge; he still had to look for a male lead candidate again.