Chapter 269: Scapegoat (7,000-character update!)

The war between Chen Ziyan and He Yingzi could be traced back to a long time ago.

But the conflict between Lu Yanhe and Lang Xia had only just begun.

Strictly speaking, there wasn't really a conflict between the two of them—they hadn't actually had a head-on collision.

But if the two were at odds, one could feel it without any words or actions.

Lu Yanhe originally thought it was because their agents were at odds, but later Lu Yanhe felt that Lang Xia's dislike of him was entirely personal.

Of course, he didn't have the interest to ask Lang Xia why.

Acting in a crew, and being of the same age, there were all kinds of reasons to be at odds.

Moreover, Lu Yanhe could more or less feel a reason.

Whenever the two of them acted in opposing scenes, when Chen Lingling pointed out problems, Lang Xia's problems often appeared in his grasp of the character and the sense of proportion in his performance, while his were often technical problems—in short, as those media said, Lu Yanhe had a rhythm in acting that was as if he were self-taught, so-called "talent," so his handling was recognized by Chen Lingling.

It had contingency, but it indeed could happen.

He Min said to Lu Yanhe: "You put on makeup first, I'll have someone go get the spare one."

Just as they were talking, He Min suddenly came over.

The makeup artists standing behind him all laughed.

The difference between two people having a conflict and ten people having a conflict wasn't just a difference in magnitude.

Lu Yanhe showed a look of surprise and asked: "Sister Ziyan, are you serious? I will take it seriously. If I don't get the nomination, I will be disappointed."

This matter would definitely be properly resolved.

There were many people in the crew. In film, television, and novels, they often became the background boards for the protagonists, but in the real crew, everyone was a person with twenty-four hours—meaning, everyone was a small butterfly, and you never knew which butterfly's flapping wings would become a tornado on the other side.

"Just, happy," Lu Yanhe said a bit embarrassedly.

However, the old team didn't mean that everything would go smoothly—people's hearts would change. When they were just starting out, they had no ability but had fear, knowing what could be done and what couldn't, and the boundaries were relatively clear. But after doing it for a long time and doing too much, their abilities were practiced, and they were familiar with things, but they often lost their fear and sense of boundaries, forming a small circle for themselves and doing some things that were compliant on the surface but contrary in secret.

The makeup artist was putting on his wig.

When he had to change clothes today, Lu Yanhe came to change clothes before makeup as usual, but the clothes he got were a bit wrinkled.

Because Chen Ziyan had come, Lu Yanhe didn't worry as much.

Lu Yanhe heard this, glanced at the time, and said: "I'm starting work in an hour, will it be in time?"

Chen Ziyan said: "*Golden Age* is indeed broadcast very well, and your performance in it received such great affirmation, which was something I didn't expect before. Director Luo specifically told me that I can look forward to several authoritative TV awards next year, maybe you can get a nomination."

It wasn't that he only insisted on wearing brand-new clothes. However, the scene to be filmed today was a daily scene, and as a personal guard to a Commandery Prince, this aspect should be paid attention to.

He Min knew Chen Ziyan, and for a moment he was troubled, but he could only take Chen Ziyan over.

Several people behind her lowered their heads, and no one answered.

"We will try our best."

Costume designer He Min listened to Lu Yanhe's words, took it in his hand and looked, and immediately became furious, asking the people behind him: "What's going on with this clothes? It was agreed that every piece should be ironed and stored. How was this kind of thing stored?!"

Huangcheng originally thought that no matter what, this matter was just a matter for the behind-the-scenes team. As a result, it happened on the day Chen Ziyan and He Yingzi came over.

"This clothes—" Lu Yanhe frowned and looked at the costume designer, "Can it be ironed?"

Then, half an hour passed, and the costume team didn't send the clothes over.

The time it took to iron an ordinary piece of clothing wasn't long, but Lu Yanhe's guard uniform had a total of three pieces inside and out, especially the outer set, which was woven by an embroiderer specifically invited by the crew. The embroidery was very fine, and the material couldn't be ironed normally, so the time it would take would be much longer than ordinary ironing.

Chen Lingling wasn't responsible for crew management, she only cared about the quality of the drama, and everything else was managed by Huangcheng.

Her expression was a bit stern, which made Lu Yanhe's heart skip a beat after seeing it from the mirror, guessing that his clothing problem might not have been resolved so smoothly.

Lu Yanhe nodded honestly and said: "Saw it."

This made Lu Yanhe feel strange.

This filming team, almost all the fixed members were old hands.

Huangcheng was also quite at ease.

"Have you been looking at the comments online lately?" Chen Ziyan asked with a smile.

Lu Yanhe made an expression of disbelief and said: "This is too cruel."

"So many people are praising you, how do you feel?"

Lu Yanhe nodded and said thank you.

Chen Ziyan heard this, frowned, and asked: "What's wrong with Lu Yanhe's clothes? Take me to see."

Chen Ziyan said to Lu Yanhe: "I'll be right back."

Lu Yanhe nodded.

At this time, Chen Ziyan came.

His confidence in Chen Ziyan had reached this level.

When Liu Biao was called to the costume room, he was still confused, not knowing what had happened, until He Min's expression of wanting to speak but stopping, looked at him, and then looked at Chen Ziyan, only then did Liu Biao know that trouble was coming.

"That's also a good thing. From now on, you are an official actor. You have to start learning to accept disappointment," Chen Ziyan said. "For actors, there are always more moments of disappointment than moments of happiness."

This was the difficulty of a crew with more people, not just a simple "1+1" superposition, but an exponential growth.

He Min said: "Yanhe, sorry, your set of clothes, there is only this one for now, the other spare ones have been taken to be washed, we have to iron them urgently, and have to wait a little longer."

"Assistant Liu, sorry, I'm bothering you to come over when you're so busy," Chen Ziyan said to Liu Biao.

Liu Biao squeezed out a smile. For this woman who had a close relationship with both Huangcheng and Chen Lingling, Liu Biao could only treat her well.

"Ziyan, what's the matter?"

"Little Lu's clothes," Chen Ziyan said. "I just found out that many of Little Lu's costumes only have one set. Like the one he has to wear to film today, it had a problem, and there was no spare."

In a crew, unless it's a particularly precious costume, generally, daily clothes will have one or two spares. Actors filming and getting clothes dirty, or accidentally damaging them, can have clothes for emergency backup. After all, getting dirty or damaged is a common occurrence.

Liu Biao immediately explained: "Of course there are spare clothes, but they haven't been sent over yet. We thought Little Lu didn't have any action scenes today, so we didn't bring the spare clothes."

"So that's how it is, it seems the staff just now wasn't familiar with the situation," Chen Ziyan said. "I don't have any other meaning, just let Little Lu film, and every scene can appear normally, instead of wearing these wrinkled clothes, making the audience taken out of the scene. This requirement shouldn't be high, right?"

She looked at Liu Biao with sharp eyes.

Liu Biao nodded immediately and said: "Not high, not high, don't worry, the problem will definitely be solved."

Chen Ziyan smiled slightly and said: "Then I'll trouble you."

Chen Ziyan didn't stay here to wait for the problem to be solved. As long as Liu Biao gave this attitude, just look at the result later.

After she left, the smile on Liu Biao's face disappeared, and he looked at He Min angrily: "Why did this happen? Why did she come over?"

He Min said helplessly: "Lu Yanhe's costume wasn't washed and ironed in time by the people below. When Lu Yanhe put it on today, he raised the problem, and this set of clothes couldn't be ironed in a short time. When I was telling Lu Yanhe about this problem, Chen Ziyan happened to come, so she came over to pick on us."

"Fire the person who messed things up directly," Liu Biao said angrily.

He Min heard this, nodded, and said: "Okay."

"As for the clothes, how long does it take to iron?" Liu Biao asked.

He Min said: "At least three hours."

Liu Biao: "I know, I will move Lu Yanhe's scenes back a few hours, giving you time to handle it."

He Min nodded.

Liu Biao didn't know what he thought of, and exhorted again: "Handle things cleanly."

"Hmm." He Min sighed, "It's my fault, I didn't check the clothes to be used today in advance, and made such a mistake."

Liu Biao was also angry and said: "If you are not careful again, if this matter makes another mistake, and Huangcheng and the others find out, you will definitely be finished before me."

He Min's face turned ugly.

"Got it."

He Yingzi talked to Lang Xia, comforted him, and told him not to be affected by Lu Yanhe's short-term success and to do a good job of adjustment.

After talking, He Yingzi prepared to go find Huangcheng.

Lang Xia just told her that his filming time had been very bad, often with four or five hours between two scenes, and he could only wait on the set, while Lu Yanhe could film his day's scenes in a concentrated period of time, and could return to the hotel to rest at other times.

Although He Yingzi knew that with Lu Yanhe's current popularity and heat, the crew's arrangement was inevitable, she still wanted to communicate with Huangcheng to at least let Lang Xia not wait on the set for so long.

For a newcomer, getting this kind of treatment in the crew was actually very normal. If it weren't for Lu Yanhe being here for comparison, Lang Xia shouldn't have been so annoyed by this differential treatment.

He Yingzi certainly couldn't tell Lang Xia that this was because Lu Yanhe was more popular now. With the hit broadcast of *Golden Age*, the crew naturally adjusted his treatment. If she really said that, with Lang Xia's sensitive mind, even if he didn't say it, he would probably be annoyed to death in his heart.

At least make Lang Xia's treatment better.

He Yingzi had this plan.

She went to find Huangcheng, but Huangcheng didn't know where he had gone, and she couldn't find him.

He Yingzi waited in the crew.

Suddenly, a little girl with red eyes and crying walked over.

He Yingzi looked at her in surprise.

Looking at her dress, she didn't look like an actor, she should be some staff member.

Did she do something wrong and get scolded?

He Yingzi looked at her thoughtfully.

She suddenly fell to the ground again.

He Yingzi was startled, subconsciously stood up, and went to help her.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm not okay!" This girl suddenly wailed, tears streaming down her face, "I've been fired!"

He Yingzi was stunned and looked at her in surprise.

"Don't wail." He Yingzi was most afraid of encountering this kind of person who started wailing before saying anything, and for a moment she was troubled, regretting not walking away the first time.

Trouble.

Really trouble.

But now it wasn't easy to let go and walk away.

He Yingzi could only help her up and comfort her: "You've been fired, wailing is useless, why don't you think about what to do next."

The girl looked at her in disbelief, and for a moment forgot to cry.

He Yingzi saw the girl like this and knew that her brain couldn't turn at all now, and she couldn't think about what to do next.

Pure and clear stupidity... He Yingzi sighed and said: "Tell me why you were fired first."

Lu Yanhe soon received the notification that due to the adjustment of the filming, his scenes were moved to the afternoon, and he could rest first.

Lu Yanhe and Chen Ziyan looked at each other.

Because there were makeup team members in the lounge, they didn't say anything more.

It wasn't until the wig was put on, the makeup was done, and the makeup team left that Lu Yanhe asked: "Sister Ziyan, my scenes were moved to the afternoon, is it related to that clothes of mine?"

"Probably," Chen Ziyan nodded, "Probably because they couldn't get a set of clothes you could wear immediately, so they fought for time to handle it."

Lu Yanhe frowned: "Since there are spare clothes, just find someone to get them. How much time does this take?"

"You really think there are spare clothes?" Chen Ziyan smiled, the corners of her mouth pulled into a sarcastic smile, and said: "Probably just this one set, at most one set for rotation, and it's been used all along."

"Ah?" Lu Yanhe was stunned,

"They reported this budget but didn't actually do it," Chen Ziyan explained to him, "This way, they can save the production costs of one or two sets of costumes and keep it for themselves. For your kind of period dramas, especially the clothes for your main characters, the production cost for one set is over ten thousand."

Lu Yanhe understood instantly.

Lu Yanhe had a total of eight sets of clothes in the drama. Normally, two spare sets should be prepared for each, and since Lu Yanhe also had fight scenes to film, even more pieces should be prepared. If the costume team only prepared two pieces for each set, or even more outrageously, only one, then just for Lu Yanhe's clothes alone, they could pocket one hundred thousand yuan.

With so many actors in a production crew and even more clothes for the leads, one can imagine how much money they could embezzle.

Lu Yanhe couldn't help but frown and ask, "Sister Ziyan, this kind of thing..."

"You must absolutely not get the idea of exposing this and letting everyone know," Chen Ziyan said immediately.

"Ah?"

"This kind of thing happens in every production crew; it's just a matter of whether it's done outrageously or not. As long as there isn't a situation where a straw hat is priced at 6,000 yuan, just turn a blind eye and don't easily offend people," Chen Ziyan said, "I've already given them a warning, they won't mess up your clothes in the future, that's enough."

Lu Yanhe was speechless and said, "Isn't this just stealing money?"

"Everyone wants to make money. You are an actor and can earn a lot of money openly, but the people in the costume team don't have that ability to command a price. They aren't cutting corners on your clothes; they are just using their experience to effectively control the loss rate and earn a little bit of the saved production costs. It really doesn't count for much. Of course, I'm not saying their approach is right—of course it's wrong—but every crew is like this, it's impossible to eradicate. Do you think the production company doesn't know? The accounts are clean, there are no major problems, and everyone will turn a blind eye."

Lu Yanhe fell silent.

Chen Ziyan patted his shoulder.

Hearing this girl named Shen Yufang finish explaining the cause and effect of her being fired, He Yingzi's eyeballs immediately started rolling around.

She hadn't expected that this matter would actually involve Lu Yanhe and Chen Ziyan.

This kind of thing in the costume team happens in every production crew; it's nothing to be surprised about.

If He Yingzi had just heard about such a thing, she wouldn't have had any thoughts and would only say that Shen Yufang was unlucky, but this matter involved Lu Yanhe and Chen Ziyan—

He Yingzi's inner abacus started clicking away.

"Little Fang, do you really intend to just be driven away so ignominiously?"

"Sister, what else can I do?" Shen Yufang looked at her with a blank expression.

He Yingzi shook her head and said, "What can you do? If you ask me, I don't know either. You have to find someone who can make decisions."

"Someone who can make decisions?" Shen Yufang still looked blank.

He Yingzi said, "That's right. Since the person who fired you is the head of your costume department, who would be effective to find?"

Shen Yufang hadn't figured it out yet, so He Yingzi smiled and said, "I've chatted with you for so long, I have to go. Bye-bye."

As soon as Shen Yufang heard she was leaving, she immediately showed a reluctant expression, "Sister, I still don't know your name."

He Yingzi: "What's the use of knowing my name? You just need to know the name of the person whose words carry weight. Alright, I'm leaving."

He Yingzi left after saying that.

Shen Yufang watched He Yingzi's departing back and thought, why isn't my leader a sister like this?

The scene of He Min making her leave surfaced in her mind, that cold attitude, as if there wasn't a shred of warmth.

Someone whose words carry weight...

In this production crew, who is the person whose words carry weight?

Shen Yufang was thinking about this question while walking with her head down, and at a corner, she bumped right into the producer, Huangcheng.

"Mr., Mr. Huang." Seeing Huangcheng, Shen Yufang subconsciously shrank her neck like a quail and called out.

Huangcheng nodded and walked forward in a hurry.

Shen Yufang suddenly thought of something and turned her head back.

"Mr. Huang!" She looked at Huangcheng's back as he hurried away, and without time to think, she called out directly.

Huangcheng stopped his steps, turned back to look at her, and showed a look of confusion.

"What's the matter?"

During the extra few hours of free time, Lu Yanhe took out his laptop to review the manuscripts for the fifth issue of *Jump Up*.

The fourth issue was about to be released.

The manuscripts for the fifth issue had all been collected; such speed meant that the operation of *Jump Up* was becoming more and more proficient, unlike the previous issues which were so rushed.

In the fifth issue of the magazine, the novel serialization by Liu Jiazhen would come to an end, and his full-length novel would also be released at the end of January, which meant that readers would be able to see the physical book of the full-length novel first.

According to the original plan, Liu Jiazhen's novel was supposed to be serialized for six issues, totaling up to the seventh issue, but now it had to end two issues early because the physical book was going to be released at the end of January.

Starting from the fourth issue, Chen Siqi had increased the word count of the serialization from 20,000 words to 40,000 words.

Xu Xiaoyin had originally worried that Lu Yanhe and Chen Siqi would mind this matter—after all, the physical book being published first would definitely affect the purchase situation of the fifth issue by readers following the serialization.

But Chen Siqi didn't mind at all.

"It doesn't matter. In fact, if it weren't to ensure that the magazine's readers could finish the story completely, not publishing the last two chapters in the magazine would be more helpful to the sales of Liu Jiazhen's full-length novel," Chen Siqi said, "I hope Liu Jiazhen's next full-length novel can still be serialized in our magazine."

Chen Siqi wanted to do one thing: she wanted the full-length novel serialized in *Jump Up* to achieve a bestseller figure and make a big splash. Only then could she hope that top writers would be willing to put their novels on *Jump Up* for serialization.

In the fifth issue, Chen Siqi also previewed the next issue's full-length novel serialization. She had invited the famous web novel writer Baduanjin to serialize a new 300,000-word work, *I Am Not an Immortal*, in *Jump Up*.

Chen Siqi had visited Baduanjin three times before she successfully persuaded him to write a 300,000-word full-length novel specifically for *Jump Up*—compared to his other novels that easily reached over a million words, this novel could obviously only be considered a short story.

"The readers of *Jump Up* are all literary types; they won't be able to accept my novel style, right?" Baduanjin's first reaction was to refuse; he didn't want to write it.

In fact, not to mention the style, for Baduanjin, writing 300,000 words on an online platform would definitely earn him several zeros more than serializing 300,000 words in *Jump Up*.

Chen Siqi said at the time: "*Jump Up*, although positioned as a literary magazine, our first requirement for a novel is that it is good. We are not a pure literature magazine; what we want to do is a magazine that everyone likes to read, and the stories you write have already fully proven one thing: everyone likes to read them."

"Besides that, Teacher Baduan, there are many web novel writers, but you are the first one we wanted to invite. This is because our entire editorial team are your readers. We unanimously believe that your writing style is what our magazine's readers will like." Chen Siqi pointed directly to his concerns, "You are already a top-tier god-level writer in the web novel world. Readers who read web novels, even if they haven't read your works, must have heard of you. But many of *Jump Up*'s readers don't understand you. *Jump Up* can become such a window. Moreover, you also know that because Lu Yanhe serves as the editor-in-chief, our magazine is read by many film and television companies, people in the entertainment industry, and so on. Your previous works, because of their macro settings and long length, have not had a single successfully developed film or television drama to date. A 300,000-word novel is the most suitable for film and television development. You are a master of storytelling and a master of rhythm in your style. Letting more people read the stories you write is the confidence we have in coming to invite you."

After listening to Chen Siqi finish the story of how she managed to get Baduanjin, Lu Yanhe admired her immensely.

"Then is his signing platform okay with it?" Lu Yanhe asked.

"Teacher Baduan's contract itself is relatively free; he negotiated it with the platform himself," Chen Siqi said, "So, starting from the sixth issue, 30,000 words will be serialized each issue, totaling ten issues until the fifteenth issue."

Chen Siqi thought seriously about whether they should specifically ask someone for advice and learn how to do copyright agency, or cooperate with the other party and let them specifically do this work.

Finally, considering that their current editorial team only had these few people and the workload of *Jump Up* every month was already very heavy, in the initial stage, they could only cooperate with them and let them specifically do this work.

Chen Siqi was busy considering various matters for *Jump Up*, and Lu Yanhe also threw himself into exam week.

After finishing the exam for *Modern Chinese (I)*, Lu Yanhe heaved a long sigh of relief and packed his things.

Zou Dong had sent him a message five minutes ago: I'm waiting for you at the South Second Gate.

Lu Yanhe replied: Just finished the exam, coming out immediately.

He put on his scarf and gloves.

The temperature had plummeted, and the ground was covered in ice. As soon as he stepped out from indoors, the bone-chilling cold permeated silently like smoke.

Lu Yanhe lowered his head and walked quickly toward the South Second Gate. He had to meet the equestrian teacher and action director arranged by the crew; there was training today.

However, unexpectedly, as soon as Lu Yanhe reached the South Second Gate, he was suddenly called out by someone.

"Lu Yanhe!"

The voice came from the school gate.

Lu Yanhe looked up in surprise and found that the person calling him was actually Lin Miaomiao.

He looked at her in surprise.

She was wearing a white velvet hat, and her clothes were also white, or rather, except for the light gray boots on her feet, everything was white. Standing against the wretched city snowscape, she was as clean as an elf.

Lu Yanhe walked up in surprise and asked, "Why are you here?"

Lu Yanhe subconsciously thought Lin Miaomiao had come to find him.

Lin Miaomiao said, "Today is the interview for the recommendation."

Lu Yanhe paused for a moment and asked in surprise, "Today? The interview?"

"Yeah," Lin Miaomiao lifted her chin and said, "I've already passed the written exam for the recommendation. As long as I pass the interview today, I'll be your junior next September."

Lu Yanhe was incredibly surprised.

Lin Miaomiao asked, "Where are you going?"

Lu Yanhe said, "I'm going to training, um, to learn martial arts moves."

Lin Miaomiao nodded and said, "Okay, will you be back tonight? After I finish my interview, can we have dinner together?"

Lu Yanhe showed a look of slight difficulty and said, "I don't know when I'll be finished. When does your interview end?"

"I don't know either, we have to draw lots on the spot to decide the order of the interviews," Lin Miaomiao sighed with some disappointment and said, "Forget it, next time then."

Lu Yanhe felt apologetic.

He wished Lin Miaomiao a successful interview.

Lin Miaomiao nodded and said, "Believe me, I'll definitely have no problem."

Lu Yanhe actually didn't know Lin Miaomiao was so capable.

Being able to get a recommendation exam spot for Zhenhua wasn't something an ordinary mortal could do, nor was it something you could do just by being first in your school.

This somewhat spoiled and somewhat overbearing little princess of the Northern Lights—what kind of impressive achievements had she made to get this recommendation exam spot?

Lu Yanhe really wanted to ask, but in the end, he kept his mouth shut.

In fact, Lu Yanhe found that not agreeing immediately was the right choice; he practiced until 8:30 in the evening, and his whole body's muscles were sore.

The martial arts director who guided him gave him a ten-minute massage to help him relax his muscles.

"Brother Lan, thank you for your hard work, thank you," Lu Yanhe said goodbye to the martial arts director, Mo Lan.

Mo Lan waved his hand with a smile.

Zou Dong asked, "Back to school or back to Huiziyuanqiao?"

Huiziyuanqiao was where the three of them rented their apartment.

Lu Yanhe glanced at the time and said, "Back to Huiziyuanqiao."

Zou Dong nodded.

"Brother Dong, you don't need to come pick me up tomorrow. I don't have any classes or exams tomorrow, I plan to stay in the dorm for the day and not go out," Lu Yanhe said.

Zou Dong asked, "Then what about your meals?"

"I'll order takeout, or just cook something simple," Lu Yanhe said.

Zou Dong said okay.