Chapter 721

By the time Li Zhibai arrived at the hotel restaurant, Yan Liang had already started eating.

Yan Liang couldn't be bothered to wait for him anymore.

Although Yan Liang wasn't styled as exquisitely by his team as usual, he now looked exactly like a young college student, sitting in his seat eating noodles in a fresh and clean way.

However, when Li Zhibai sat down, compared to the bird-nest-haired, eye-catching Li Zhibai, Yan Liang looked exceptionally "exquisite."

Yan Liang was also stunned by Li Zhibai's wrinkled T-shirt and hair that drifted like seaweed.

"You are—" Yan Liang looked at Li Zhibai and clicked his tongue, "You had a wild night."

Li Zhibai pointed at Yan Liang in disbelief.

"Where is your mind at? What kind of person do you take me for?"

"Don't tell me you're an innocent boy." Yan Liang looked at Li Zhibai expressionlessly, "If you dare say that to me, I'll splash this bowl of noodle soup on you right now."

Li Zhibai coughed violently twice.

He really couldn't bring himself to shamelessly claim he was still an innocent boy.

That ship had sailed eight hundred years ago.

Seeing his reaction, Yan Liang chuckled, his smile even colder.

Li Zhibai suddenly realized something and looked at Yan Liang in shock.

"You wouldn't still be, would you?"

Yan Liang: "..."

Li Zhibai: "Hahahahaha, I was wondering why you were so grumpy, are you jealous?"

Yan Liang: "Jealous of your grandfather."

Li Zhibai hissed and said: "Looks like I need to introduce a girlfriend to you."

"Do I need you to introduce one?" Yan Liang sneered, "Your own girlfriend is still an X."

Li Zhibai: "She was an X last night, but she has now agreed to tell you who she is."

Yan Liang was stunned.

Li Zhibai turned his head to look at both sides, wanting to say it out loud.

As a result, many people around them were secretly filming them.

Li Zhibai: "..."

Yan Liang noticed it too.

He rolled his eyes at Li Zhibai and said: "Shut up."

Li Zhibai shut his mouth, but at this very moment, his eyes and brows were filled with a smugness that wanted to show off.

Yan Liang silently gave a two-word evaluation in his heart: In heat.

Lu Yanhe slept until eleven o'clock before waking up.

He had filmed a long night scene yesterday, finishing only at five in the morning and going to sleep at six.

In fact, he wasn't very awake yet; it was just his body's biological clock that had urged him to wake up.

He climbed up and sat by the bed, dazed; his brain was foggy, and his thoughts couldn't get moving.

Because he had pulled an all-nighter yesterday, his scenes today didn't start until three in the afternoon.

He could actually sleep a little longer.

However, work started early tomorrow morning, and he was worried that if he kept sleeping, it would affect his sleep tonight.

He let out a long yawn and sent a message to Wang Biao: Are you awake?

Wang Biao didn't reply, so it seemed he wasn't awake.

Lu Yanhe then said in the small work group with Wang Biao, Zou Dong, and others: Help me prepare an iced Americano later this afternoon, the extra-strong kind; I need it to keep me alive.

Yu Xiaoyan replied in a second: Okay, Little Brother Lu, do you want one now? I happen to be buying coffee at the cafe outside the hotel. Little Biao told me yesterday that you would want coffee when you woke up today 【smiley face】.

Lu Yanhe: I'm already feeling bitter enough, I can't handle the bitterness of a double iced Americano. Is there one with fruit juice? Help me buy an iced coffee mixed with fruit juice, no sugar, thanks.

Yu Xiaoyan: Received, will be delivered within ten minutes.

Lu Yanhe yawned again, stood up, stretched, and cracked his neck and arms; his shoulders and neck actually made a clicking sound, which gave him a start.

Ten minutes later, Yu Xiaoyan really did come over carrying the coffee.

"Thanks." Lu Yanhe took the coffee Yu Xiaoyan had bought at the door.

Yu Xiaoyan: "Little Brother Lu, we'll leave for the set at one-thirty."

"Okay." Lu Yanhe nodded.

Yu Xiaoyan: "Then I'll head down first; if there's anything you need me to do, just find me anytime."

Lu Yanhe nodded and carried the coffee back into the room, discovering there was also a sugar-free cake in the bag.

Come to think of it, Yu Xiaoyan and Xing Lecheng had been working as his assistants for a while now.

However, the speed at which they entered their roles was not only slower than Wang Biao had been at the time, but their presence wasn't very high either, unlike Wan Qingqing and Song Jiang back then. Although those two were always being complained about and disliked by Wang Biao, they were always appearing in front of Lu Yanhe, unlike Yu Xiaoyan and Xing Lecheng.

Most of the time, Lu Yanhe even "ignored" them a bit.

However, this might also have to do with their personalities.

Lu Yanhe knew that when they first came to be his assistants, they were both a bit insecure and embarrassed to speak up.

Although Yu Xiaoyan was still quite simple and somewhat reserved today, at least she had started taking initiative.

That was a good sign.

Lu Yanhe also felt that this was fine, to avoid Wang Biao constantly keeping himself in a high-speed state that he couldn't stop.

As it turned out, while he was thinking this, in the afternoon, Yu Xiaoyan followed Lu Yanhe to the set, but Wang Biao still didn't appear.

Yu Xiaoyan said that Wang Biao had a fever and was on an IV drip at the hospital.

Lu Yanhe asked in surprise: "What's his temperature?"

Yu Xiaoyan: "Thirty-eight point seven degrees."

Lu Yanhe: "Let him rest well."

He thought for a moment and sent a message to Wang Biao: Rest well at the hospital. Leave all recent work to Yu Xiaoyan and Xing Lecheng; don't worry about it.

Wang Biao actually replied quickly: It's fine, the doctor said the fever should be gone by tomorrow.

Lu Yanhe: Even if the fever is gone, rest for two days. Don't push yourself; it's not a critical moment that requires you to push through.

Wang Biao: I'm not at ease with those two.

Lu Yanhe: What's there to be uneasy about? I'm not missing hands or feet. If all of you are gone, it's just a bit more troublesome for me; it's not like I have muscle weakness and need you to feed and dress me.

Wang Biao: You're making me feel like I have no sense of accomplishment! Little Brother Lu!

Lu Yanhe: If you rush back to work in the next few days, you're just making me feel guilty.

Wang Biao:...

Lu Yanhe: Here's a piece of advice: if you don't know how to lead a team, you'll just have to work yourself to death.

Wang Biao:...

Lu Yanhe: Rest well.

"Is Wang Biao alone at the hospital now?" Lu Yanhe suddenly remembered and asked Yu Xiaoyan.

Yu Xiaoyan nodded.

"What about Xing Lecheng?"

"Xing Lecheng is at the hotel handling some work coordination." Yu Xiaoyan said, "Lecheng originally wanted to accompany Little Biao, but Little Biao said that many work messages need to be handled in a timely manner and can't be delayed, so he let Xing Lecheng handle them."

In fact, there was no way to handle them effectively; it was nothing more than replying "Received" to the other party immediately, then saying some empty words to tell them that they would consider it seriously and give an answer as soon as possible.

Ninety-nine percent of that work would eventually be turned down.

Despite this, because of Chen Ziyan's style, Wang Biao was also very particular about "etiquette" in his style of handling these matters. No matter what the work invitation was, no matter who the other party was, and no matter the nature of the work, the result could be a rejection, but the way it was handled had to be "appropriate."

Lu Yanhe quickly called Xing Lecheng: "Lecheng, go to the hospital and keep Wang Biao company. He's there alone with a fever and an IV; help him keep an eye on things. Don't worry about what he says; it won't be a problem if work isn't replied to for a day or two."

Xing Lecheng answered honestly.

Lu Yanhe shook his head and said to Yu Xiaoyan: "Keep an eye on Wang Biao. Your health is your own; there's no need to push yourself so hard every single moment. It's not like this is a time when you absolutely have to push your body."

Yu Xiaoyan nodded.

A celebrity's team, to a certain extent, often determines the industry's impression of that celebrity.

Those who can directly contact the celebrity themselves are always the extreme minority; those who truly need to deal with others frequently are the staff around them.

The two great generals around Lu Yanhe were Wang Biao, who had become his assistant by a twist of fate, and Zou Dong, who was brought in by Chen Ziyan to be responsible for his security and travel.

An artist's work state often comes from the people in these two positions.

He felt that his luck was truly not just that every work seemed to be blessed by the heavens, going smoothly and becoming a huge hit, but also in the people he encountered.

From the big ones like Chen Ziyan, an agent who planned before acting and had great vision and bearing, to the small ones like Wang Biao and Zou Dong, who were only responsible for a small part of things around him, none of them were unreliable.

Over so many years, so many things, and so many moments where "a thousand-mile dike could be destroyed by an ant hole," he had relied on them to guard their respective posts; the big ones like city gates, the small ones like sluice gates—as long as it was an opening, they guarded it as solid as a fortress.

This also made Lu Yanhe very generous toward the core people around him. Their annual income was comparable to that of a junior executive in a company, especially Wang Biao and Zou Dong; their income was absolutely no lower than the department-level management at Linghe.

Lu Yanhe really couldn't understand those very famous celebrities whose top assistants only earned a normal monthly salary of ten or twenty thousand.

It wasn't that he thought they should be paid higher, but he knew very well that if you want the people around you to truly treat your good as their good and view your success as their success, you must be a community of interests and share honor and disgrace together.

If you just get that dead salary every month regardless of whether you work well or poorly, and then get a little bit of "so-called" performance pay and year-end bonus during the New Year, who can truly treat your affairs as their own from the bottom of their heart?

Lu Yanhe, for one, couldn't do it.

Why could the income of Wang Biao and Zou Dong be so high?

This wasn't their base salary.

A large part of their annual income came from the flexible performance bonuses Lu Yanhe gave based on the work situation that year; it was the real performance-based kind.

Not only that, Lu Yanhe would even take out one or two projects every year to give them an investment quota of one hundred or two hundred thousand—

For a project, such a sum of money was actually not lacking at all; Lu Yanhe was purely taking out a share to let them invest, allowing them to earn a sum of money along with him.

"How come this assistant of yours doesn't seem very bright?"

The person who said this was named Liu Bai, one of the actors in "Those Years," the one among Ke Teng's classmates who hadn't really grown up.

His character in the movie was relatively simple, but in private, he was a different person. He was talking about Li Yuefeng's assistant.

Li Yuefeng heard this and said: "What's wrong with him?"

"I saw him bring you a drink, and he didn't get it right twice. Doesn't he know what you usually drink?" Liu Bai asked.

Li Yuefeng: "He brought it according to my usual habits, but I had an upset stomach yesterday, so I can't drink anything irritating or iced today. He didn't know."

"I see." Liu Bai smiled, "I thought that even a big star like you used an assistant who wasn't very bright. My assistant, I don't even know where my company found her, she's incredibly stupid."

"What happened?" Li Yuefeng asked.

"I don't even know how to tell you." Liu Bai shook his head, "Let's just put it this way: I lost my temper with her this morning. Guess what happened? She was holding my call sheet and got my makeup time wrong. I should have arrived an hour early, but she messed it up."

Li Yuefeng: "I was wondering why you were late."

"Sigh, don't mention it." Liu Bai sighed speechlessly, "I told the company to change my assistant immediately, but they said I could only use an assistant with a monthly salary of three thousand yuan, otherwise I couldn't afford it. I'm really done; small stars have no human rights."

Li Yuefeng looked at him silently and didn't speak.

After a while, a girl wearing black-rimmed glasses came over cautiously.

She was the assistant who followed Liu Bai every day.

She nervously handed a coffee to Liu Bai and said: "Brother Bai, this is the iced Americano you wanted."

Liu Bai received it in his hand, and his brows immediately furrowed.

"Didn't I tell you, for an iced Americano, the ice cubes have to be taken out?"

The girl with black-rimmed glasses stammered and said: "That, that shop said they couldn't take the ice cubes out."

Liu Bai glared at her with great dissatisfaction.

"You're stupid to death, you can't even do such a small thing."

"I'm sorry."

Li Yuefeng frowned slightly and picked up his phone.

Liu Bai looked at him, seemingly realizing something, and said: "Forget it, forget it, just like that."

The girl with black-rimmed glasses finally breathed a sigh of relief and left.

Li Yuefeng reflected on himself; he probably wasn't as exaggerated as Liu Bai when it came to his assistants, right?

He admitted that he wasn't a person with a very good temper and didn't know how to be considerate of others, but he wouldn't go around calling people stupid at every turn.

However, that girl with black-rimmed glasses seemed to really be...

Removing ice was something coffee shops could basically do; you just had to say it, so why couldn't it be done?

Li Yuefeng subconsciously felt that Liu Bai's assistant had actually forgotten and just made up an excuse.

However, when he told this as a joke, his assistant complained: "That's not why she forgot."

"Ah? How do you know?"

His assistant said: "It's because before, when she followed Liu Bai's request and had the coffee shop remove the ice, the cup wouldn't be full. You know how iced coffee is; once you remove the ice, a third of it is gone. As a result, Liu Bai insisted that Xiao Mo had stolen a drink, and in the end, he even made them deduct the money for the coffee from Xiao Mo's salary."

Xiao Mo was Liu Bai's assistant.

Li Yuefeng was shocked beyond measure.

"Was Liu Bai's brain squeezed by a door?"

His assistant shrugged, "He's done a lot of trashy things. He clearly slept in, got up late, and was late, but he blamed Xiao Mo for messing up the call sheet, pushed everything onto his assistant, and even scolded her loudly in front of the crew."

"Damn, what a piece of work."

"Yeah."

"This girl is so miserable, being his assistant."

"Xiao Mo is also very depressed; she has applied to the company several times to stop being Liu Bai's assistant, but because she just joined the company, the company made her follow Liu Bai."

Li Yuefeng asked: "I shouldn't have these kinds of bad habits, right?"

"It's okay, although you usually have a bit of a temper and are a bit self-centered, you're generous with red envelopes." The assistant said with a cheeky smile, "So we can endure it."

Li Yuefeng said "Damn," "I actually captured you guys with money?"

The few people in the car laughed and didn't reply.

Li Yuefeng said "Damn" in his heart this time.

"Damn!"

Although Yan Liang had prepared himself mentally, when he heard the name Jiang Yuqian from Li Zhibai, he still couldn't help but let out a shocked exclamation that sounded like a curse.

He had just sat down in the chair and immediately lifted his butt again, looking at Li Zhibai in shock.

Li Zhibai immediately raised his right hand, pressed down on Yan Liang's shoulder, and pushed him back down.

"Stay calm."

Yan Liang: "How can I be calm? You really—I—fuck!"

He suddenly paused and asked: "Yan He doesn't know yet, right?"

"Don't know, haven't told him yet." Li Zhibai said.

"He'll definitely be more shocked than me." Yan Liang said.

Li Zhibai: "What's there to be shocked about."

Yan Liang: "... Heh."

Li Zhibai: "You're the only one who knows about this now; you better keep it confidential, not a single whisper can get out."

"I'm really speechless." Yan Liang sighed, "I need first aid."

Li Zhibai looked at Yan Liang with disdain, looking down at him.

"You wouldn't be out of breath and need me to give you mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, would you?"

"Get lost!"

Li Zhibai looked puzzled, "Is it that shocking?"

"No, I'm not shocked." Yan Liang shook his head expressionlessly, "You're a sister-complex, and it's not the first day I've known that."

"Fuck, you're the sister-complex." Li Zhibai retorted.

"Then have you ever liked a girl younger than you?" Yan Liang asked back.

Li Zhibai: "Who I've liked, you don't know shit about."

"You liked Sister Qiu Ling." Yan Liang's eyes showed a threatening intent, "If you have the guts, deny it."

Li Zhibai opened his mouth, but all the syllables were blocked in his throat as if they had been hit by a "silencing spell," and couldn't come out.

Yan Liang: "Heh, nothing to say now?"

Li Zhibai touched his hair, shut his mouth, and turned his head.

Yan Liang: "I'd like to see what Yan He's reaction is when you tell him."

Li Zhibai coughed twice, unable to be arrogant anymore.

At this moment, Li Zhibai's assistant knocked on the door.

"Brother Bai, we need to leave for the set."

Li Zhibai quickly smacked Yan Liang on the head, "Let's go."

Yan Liang immediately retaliated, a slap like the Buddha's palm.

"You're still arrogant at a time like this!"

Yan Liang brought a truckload of coffee, milk tea, and snacks to visit the crew.

Everyone on set was cheering.

Since they were filming at a school, besides the crew members, there were many student extras from the school.

When the crew staff were handing out the items, those students watched from far away.

After Yan Liang noticed this, he realized he hadn't bought enough, so he quickly went to find the producer, asked how many students were there, and urgently placed an additional order, having them send two more trucks over.

Not only that, Yan Liang specifically got an ice cream truck so everyone could eat ice cream on the spot.

"Damn, Yan Liang, you're too generous, aren't you? You're making me feel pressured." Li Yuefeng said.

Yan Liang smiled and said: "If I'm visiting the set, shouldn't I be generous? Anyway, I'm only visiting this once; if I'm going to treat everyone to food, I have to be generous, that's the only way to leave you guys with an impression, right?"

"Too exaggerated." Xiao Yun shook her head and sighed while eating ice cream.

Her assistant reminded her with worry: "Xiao Yun, you can't eat anymore, you have to control your weight; these past few days you've already—"

"Stop!" Xiao Yun quickly made her assistant shut up, "Don't say it!"

She was embarrassed and angry.

The assistant sighed.

Li Yuefeng laughed out loud.

"You really should be careful, Xiao Yun, watch out for getting fatter the more you film in this movie."

"You should worry about yourself, don't act like a greasy high school student." Xiao Yun complained.

While complaining, she still took a deep breath and made a painful decision not to eat anymore.

"What a waste." Xiao Yun said.

"If you throw it away like that, it really is a waste." Li Yuefeng nodded, "If someone films you, you'll be in trouble. Once it hits the hot search, many people will definitely scold you."

Xiao Yun rolled her eyes at Li Yuefeng.

She said: "Then I'll control it after I finish eating this."

She immediately ate the rest in one bite.

Her assistant saw this scene with a look of despair.

Xiao Yun's mouth was so frozen she couldn't even close it, yet she still had to say to her assistant: "That's it for now!"

Li Zhibai took out his phone with quick eyes and fast hands, wanting to capture Xiao Yun's look with her mouth open and gasping.

Commonly known as an ugly photo.

Yan Liang looked at his friend with disdain; this habit of his of liking to watch the fun had truly never changed.

At this moment, a girl wearing black-rimmed glasses walked past from the side, holding a box.

"Xiao Mo." Li Zhibai called out to her.

"Teacher Li." She stopped in surprise and nodded slightly to Li Zhibai.

"You're holding such a big box in this hot weather, what is it?" Li Zhibai said, "I don't know where Liu Bai is either; I've been looking for him for a long time."

Xiao Mo stammered and gave an awkward smile, "Then I'll tell him when I see him."

"Okay." Li Zhibai suddenly remembered something and asked: "Have you eaten ice cream yet? It's free and unlimited today, Yan Liang is treating."

Xiao Mo: "I, I'll come eat later, thank you."

She nodded and bowed slightly to Yan Liang again.

"Don't mention it." Yan Liang said.

Xiao Mo walked away holding the box.

"That's an insulated box, right?" Xiao Yun said, watching Xiao Mo's departing back.