Chapter 61: This Fucking Leech!

Morning sunlight shone upon the land.

Deng Hairong dressed quickly, got in the car, and rushed toward [Tianyu Beijing Film Division], his face dark and terrifying.

[1] Morning sunlight shone upon the land.

Just before reaching the company, he saw countless reporters blocking the front courtyard, turning it into chaos.

The moment someone shouted, “Zhou Zong is here!”, the crowd surged wildly, surrounding his car completely.

Faintly, under blinding lights, he saw a group of reporters surrounding a handsome young man hurrying toward him.

“Zhou Zong!”

“Zhou Zong, hello, I’m Zhou Yang, director of [Sun Wukong vs Superman 2]…”

“After we received your company’s lawyer letter a few days ago, I couldn’t sleep a single night—I was terrified, desperate for a chance to talk with you, hoping to clear up the misunderstanding. But every time we called your company, no one answered…”

“I had no choice. I know I’m insignificant, so I turned to the media—to speak with you face-to-face, hoping to clear up this misunderstanding…”

“…“

Countless lenses and lights shone on his face.

The young man in the suit kept shouting at him while panting as he ran over.

That smiling, trembling, terrified expression made Deng Hairong feel like a leech had latched onto him—not only sucking his blood, but impossible to shake off no matter how hard he slapped.

A fierce “fuck you” surged in his chest!

A moment later, his gaze shifted to the tabloid reporters beside him—and his face softened into a gentle smile.

Seeing Zhou Yang sprinting over shouting, the media were ecstatic, shouldering their long lenses and microphones, desperate to shove them right into their faces…

These entertainment media loved nothing more than fabricating nonsense stories every day to grab attention and traffic!

If he saw me glaring at this bloodsucker, tomorrow’s entertainment papers would dedicate three or four pages to negative stories—company leadership might even call me in.

Watching Zhou Yang’s excited expression as he pulled out the lawyer’s letter, Deng Hairong guessed this guy was here purely for hype.

“Hello, Zhou Zong…”

“Hello! Zhou Zong, hello, hello…” Zhou Yang gripped Deng Hairong’s hand tightly, his face suddenly even more excited—he didn’t let go, instead squeezed harder: “Zhou Zong, I finally met you in person! I—I… I stayed up all night yesterday just for this day! Zhou Zong, you’re even kinder than I imagined… We’ve always wanted to talk to you—our company has always wanted to talk to you…”

“Don’t rush, don’t rush, take your time. There are too many people here—let’s go upstairs to talk…”

Zhou Yang’s expression grew more agitated, his demeanor almost incoherent, as if constantly emphasizing how nervous he was.

Deng Hairong kept smiling—but inside, he wanted to slap this guy hard.

This bastard kept insisting he was nervous, watching Deng Hairong nervously—but his face kept inching toward every camera, desperately posing with a trembling handshake, full of false humility.

Only after security personnel arrived to restore order did Zhou Yang loosen his grip slightly.

Deng Hairong took a deep breath and maintained his poise and smile before the media: “Zhou Zong, today…”

Before he could finish speaking, Zhou Yang immediately cut him off.

“Zhou Zong, we didn’t infringe… we only used a name similar to [Superman], but we had no intention to infringe!”

“We’ve always been Superman fans—we loved Superman since childhood, dreamed of making movies. Later, when we saw Superman was coming out, we couldn’t resist wanting to make a similar film…”

“But I’m self-taught; my team may be unprofessional. What we made might not be good… we’ve been criticized nonstop…”

“A while ago, our DVDs and VCDs went on sale—we never imagined our film would have such a huge impact on the original [Superman]…”

“Many uninformed Superman fans cursed us as [Zhaoren]—but even worse, they came to curse Superman himself…”

“Here, I deeply regret it. I apologize to the entire nation, to all movie fans, to the general public—our film has brought shame to [Superman 2]…”

“…“

Under the sunlight, Deng Hairong stared at Zhou Yang!

He saw Zhou Yang shouting “Zhou Zong!” but his eyes never once looked at him—he kept turning toward the media!

And as Deng Hairong watched, he was genuinely shocked.

One second he looked terrified, the next his eyes welled up—and when he spoke, tears poured down like water from a broken tap.

And when he bowed to the camera, then lifted his head, his entire face was drenched in tears—like a thief caught stealing an electric scooter, handcuffed to a lamppost, begging for forgiveness…

Watching Zhou Yang like this, Deng Hairong was genuinely stunned!

He’d seen plenty of powerhouse actors in the entertainment industry, even Oscar-caliber performers every day.

But he’d never seen anyone like this guy—able to cry on command, laugh on cue, without any emotional buildup whatsoever!

“Zhou Zong, I also apologize to our [Tianyu] and to the entire [Superman 2] team who worked hard these past days—because of our reckless actions, we’ve tarnished the Superman IP. We’re deeply ashamed. Sorry, Zhou Zong. Sorry!”

Can you at least look at me when you apologize!

Under the sunlight, when he saw this guy turn to face him, bow respectfully toward him and the company, then “accidentally” glance toward the reporters before bursting into fresh sobs and sniveling apologies, Deng Hairong felt his blood pressure skyrocket!

This bastard!

Fucking annoying!

“We accept your apology. I hope this matter ends here!” Deng Hairong took a deep breath, looked at Zhou Yang, then signaled to the security staff.

Security personnel immediately rushed over, intending to maintain order and “escort” Zhou Yang away.

But this bastard clung to him like a sticky plaster.

“Thank you, Zhou Zong. [Tianyu] is a company full of humanity… Your generosity and that of [Tianyu]’s leadership have moved us deeply. I… I’m not a rational person…”

“Everyone, everyone…”

“I…”

“I…”

“Last night, I consulted a lawyer friend—he said our film didn’t infringe, but our poster resembles [Superman 2]…”

“Though we’re amateurs, we understand the law—we know breaking it is wrong. We realize that blind imitation only disrupts the market!”

“This time, we didn’t just come to apologize to [Tianyu] and the overseas team of [Superman 2]—we also wish to set an example by compensating them for their mental distress…”

“…“

Under the sunlight.

Zhou Yang’s tears had vanished again; his expression turned profoundly sincere…

Then, under countless media lenses…

Deng Hairong watched, stunned, as Zhou Yang, amid the crowd, accepted a swollen black bag.

Then handed it to Deng Hairong.

Deng Hairong stared at the bulging bag in shock.

This bastard…

Really paying up?

“This is our compensation for mental distress, plus part of our profits…”

Seeing Zhou Yang’s sincere expression…

Deng Hairong felt it was unreal.

In the end, he smiled and shook Zhou Yang’s hand.

His attitude was this—apologizing, compensating, putting on a full show.

“Zhou Dao, admitting fault and correcting it is the greatest virtue. I hope you’ll make better films next time—don’t take such reckless paths that trouble society…”

“I understand.”

“Then let’s leave it at that…”

“Zhou Zong!”

“What?”

“You’re a veteran of the entertainment industry, a giant of film studios—I… we have a film called [Zhaoren: Reboot] premiering soon. If you have time, please come and guide us… Here are the premiere tickets—we’ve reserved a VIP seat for you…”

“Zhou Zong!”

Deng Hairong took the movie ticket from Zhou Yang and stared fixedly at the words: [Zhaoren: Reboot].

His blood pressure, which had just dropped, shot up instantly!

Fuck!

This bastard has completely, utterly lost all sense of shame?

“Alright, I won’t disturb you anymore, Zhou Zong. To all the leaders and media representatives, thank you for your oversight—I’ll work hard on my films and strive to bring glory to Chinese cinema!”

“…“

“Everyone, I’ve prepared some movie tickets—if you’re interested, come watch our new film, [Zhaoren: Reboot]!”

“Thank you…”

“Thank you!”

Watching this bastard shamelessly pull out a stack of movie tickets and hand them out everywhere…

Deng Hairong shuddered violently.

But finally, amid the cameras and microphones, he ignored all this nonsense.

…he’d make the security guards snap and slap the bastard!

He feared if he stayed here any longer…

If they really slapped him!

Damn it!

Maybe he’d get even more excited…

……………………

“This money’s suspicious!”

“What is it?”

“Zhou Zong!”

What’s wrong?

……

More than ten minutes later!

Deng Hairong’s office suddenly rang with the sound of something being smashed to the floor.

Moments later, Deng Hairong stared fixedly as thousands of one-yuan, five-yuan, and ten-yuan banknotes fluttered through his office!

Fuck you!