Chapter 7: The Domineering CEO Falls in Love with the **** Me

Inside the private room.

A gentle piano melody lingered among everyone.

It was a piano arrangement adapted from the Scottish folk song "Mairi's Wedding."

Amidst the romantic melody, An Xiaoshi chatted with her companion Zhang Jingya about the script for "Love Ferris Wheel," occasionally glancing across at Zhou Yang, who was flipping through the script.

At some unknown instant...

The two chattering girls, as if seeing something, almost simultaneously stopped their discussion.

Under the room's lighting, warm light flowed over Zhou Yang's well-defined profile; as he bowed his head, stray hairs before his forehead cast shadows on his eyelids, while his gold-rimmed glasses highlighted eyes that were both gentle and serene, exuding an air of asceticism; he silently turned the script pages, his fair fingers long and powerful, and whenever he reached a key passage, those eyes, dark as ebony, would freeze, the slight upward curve at their corners revealing a focus as sharp as a blade...

It was a unique temperament rarely seen by them, blending the elegance of a Western gentleman with the profundity of an Eastern man!

In that instant, both girls were actually stunned into staring.

A moment later, almost simultaneously, the two girls exchanged glances, nodded seriously at each other, and then became excited!

Yes!

This was the male second lead they had been looking for!

"This script is good!"

Zhou Yang removed his glasses, silently rubbed his eyes, and then, wearing a gentle smile, looked at the two girls.

In a corner unnoticed by anyone, Zhou Yang gently pinched his knee, forcing his face to display a trace of admiration.

In both his past life and this one.

Zhou Yang had told many lies and deceived many people...

He had thought his heart was already an impregnable fortress, yet for some reason, when speaking these words, Zhou Yang felt a slight sense of guilt in his heart.

The story of the film "Love Ferris Wheel" tells of Huang Ying, a poor girl whose electric scooter crashes into a rich second-generation heir's luxury car; after experiencing a series of events, she develops a hint of ambiguity with the heir, whereupon an outstanding childhood friend suddenly appears with a promise of marriage, full of deep affection; ultimately, the girl repeatedly struggles to choose between the outstanding, jealous childhood friend and the deeply affectionate rich heir...

The flavor was damnably intense!

"Do you like this script?" Seeing Zhou Yang's expression, An Xiaoshi could not help but feel a surge of excitement welling up inside her.

From the script's inception to the project's establishment, then to investment, casting, and crew assembly, this film had been completed entirely by her and Zhang Jingya together.

Especially the script; the two of them had written it for nearly half a year, repeatedly polishing every word and romantic scene within it, and whenever they reached the proud highlights of the film's plot, both could not help but clap their hands in approval.

"I have seen many girls in this world, but many are biased in their attributes: either beautiful and tall yet lacking any artistic talent, or rich in artistic gift yet ordinary in appearance; when I first saw the script, I was actually somewhat resistant... after all, I felt that a beautiful Young Lady like Miss An could not possibly write a very good script, but... after finishing the script, especially upon seeing the confession between the male and female leads on the Ferris wheel, a beautiful, brilliant romantic story existing only in a fairy tale world involuntarily floated up in my mind, making one's heart yearn for it..." As Zhou Yang watched the two girls' expressions grow happier and happier, his own demeanor became increasingly sincere.

"Is it really that good?" Seeing Zhou Yang speak these words, An Xiaoshi was somewhat surprised.

Never before had an actor praised her script so highly; even when praised before, most compliments had been superficial, sounding awkward the moment one heard them.

"As an arts practitioner, I know well that good scripts and stories easily resonate with people, but there are simply too many terrible scripts in this world; setting aside bad scripts, just looking at a few simple lines of text within a script reveals the screenwriter's level of skill; I read 'Love Ferris Wheel' very carefully, almost character by character; setting aside the characters being full-bodied and distinct, just in terms of scene description, 'Love Ferris Wheel' absolutely represents the most profound literary foundation I have ever seen in a screenwriter... that romantic, beautiful car crash, echoing from beginning to end, brings two lives that should have had no intersection into contact, and slowly merges two innocent, uneasy hearts in that beautiful spring..."

"..."

Under the lights.

Zhou Yang's gaze was exceptionally deep; silently looking toward the afterglow at the distant window, he seemed to reveal a hint of longing for the beautiful love depicted in the script.

An Xiaoshi listened with an inexplicable sense of being moved, involuntarily squeezing Zhang Jingya's hand under the table...

Zhang Jingya, meanwhile, stared at Zhou Yang in a daze, seemingly carried by Zhou Yang's low, mellow, and gentle voice into the world of "Love Ferris Wheel," where the gentle, hesitant, gentlemanly noble boy Lin Feng from her mind perfectly merged with the Zhou Yang before her eyes...

Only after An Xiaoshi squeezed her hand did she snap back to reality; realizing she had been somewhat improper, she immediately sat up straight: "You are Mr. Zhou, correct?"

"Yes, hello."

"I am Zhang Jingya, the screenwriter and assistant director of 'Love Ferris Wheel'..."

"Ah, hello, Teacher Zhang!"

"Mr. Zhou, it is evident that you truly like our script; we also observed you briefly just now and are quite satisfied with you..." Zhang Jingya's face regained its composure as she smiled at Zhou Yang: "I wonder, Mr. Zhou, what acting experience do you have from before?"

"Oh, I have quite a lot of acting experience; I performed in stage plays before and played extras in many films..." Zhou Yang pushed up his glasses and began fabricating some acting experiences, citing several made-up film titles.

Nonsense!

Everything just now was damn well acting.

That "Love Ferris Wheel" script nearly made me vomit.

Being able to fool you two into being dumbfounded like this—if that isn't acting, what is?

Zhang Jingya and An Xiaoshi exchanged glances; although they had never heard of the films Zhou Yang mentioned, seeing how serious he appeared, neither of them thought much more of it.

Finally, An Xiaoshi looked at Zhou Yang: "Mr. Zhou, let us make a long story short; we are quite interested in you, so how about this: are you free this afternoon? Let us go to the film set together for an audition; what do you think?"

"That works; oh, but... sorry..." Zhou Yang fell silent for a moment, then "reluctantly" pushed the script back to the two: "I want to ask one thing: if I join the cast, how much is the remuneration?"

"I will give you..."

An Xiaoshi was about to say something, but Zhang Jingya immediately stopped her; wearing a serious expression, Zhang Jingya looked at Zhou Yang: "Mr. Zhou, what amount of remuneration do you have in mind?"

"For this film, what is your estimated investment?" Zhou Yang did not respond directly, but instead looked at Zhang Jingya.

Zhang Jingya hesitated for a while, glanced at An Xiaoshi, and upon seeing the other nod in agreement, she turned her head to look at Zhou Yang: "Mr. Zhou, this is the first film work for the two of us; it was entirely funded with our pocket money, so the total investment is not very high, roughly around two million... The budget for the film crew and project equipment is actually about 1.5 million... The total remuneration for actors is around 500,000..."

After listening, Zhou Yang nodded, lowered his head to take a sip of milk, his face showing little change.

But in his heart, a different kind of enthusiasm gradually surged up.

Pocket money?

It seems they are fat sheep indeed, and of the very sweet, delicious kind, with clear eyes and innocence regarding worldly affairs... those college student fat sheep...

Seeing Zhou Yang lower his head to drink milk with such serenity, Zhang Jingya felt somewhat unsure in her heart, but she still suppressed that unease, forcing herself to appear slightly tougher: "Actually, Mr. Zhou, let me speak plainly; the remuneration for the male and female leads is about 350,000, and of the remaining 150,000, roughly 100,000 is for the other actors... We, we can only offer you 50,000..."

"50,000..." Zhou Yang raised his head slightly, making no attempt to hide his disappointment; the enthusiasm vanished from his face as he merely looked toward the door.

"Mr. Zhou, we can offer you a share of the box office revenue..." Hearing this, An Xiaoshi immediately became somewhat anxious.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Jingya's face changed slightly, and she tugged at An Xiaoshi's hand.

This was their final trump card!

They did not really know much about this person Zhou Yang...

He just played his trump card right away!

How could that work? How are we supposed to chat in the future!

An Xiaoshi also realized she had been too hasty, with absolutely no ability to make small talk, and finally lowered her head to sip her coffee to mask her emotions.

Zhang Jingya looked at this hopeless best friend, and finally, helplessly: "Mr. Zhou, if you trust our crew, and trust us, and have confidence in our script and our abilities, we can cooperate. For the box office split, we can give you 2%…"

When Zhou Yang heard this, his expression didn't change; instead, his gaze drifted darkly toward the distance.

He sank into a long silence.

An Xiaoshi suddenly felt the atmosphere was a bit oppressive, but she also knew that at this moment, she couldn't lose her composure.

And Zhang Jingya stared at Zhou Yang: "Mr. Zhou, this project of ours is one that many juniors and juniors at Yan Film have been longing for. We actually don't lack male actors… Actually, the third male lead is already pretty much set. It's just that Xiaoshi suddenly felt you were suitable and asked me to come take a look. After I saw you, I also felt you were very suitable. But that doesn't mean we don't have backups…"

When Zhou Yang heard Zhang Jingya's words, he never responded, but instead turned his head and silently stared at that script in a daze.

Time passed bit by bit.

Zhang Jingya tried to read something from Zhou Yang's face, but in the end found she couldn't read anything at all.

After staring for a while, she also noticed that Zhou Yang's gaze was especially deep, and that damned elegant air about him made her stare a bit dazedly again.

Then she calmed herself down again, figuring this Zhou Yang guy must be an old hand at this.

After a long while…

Zhou Yang let out a sigh, pulled his gaze back, tilted his head up at a forty-five-degree angle, and looked toward the window.

"Actually… I'm not short on money…"

"Actually, I'm the boss of an entertainment company… I'm also in the middle of preparing an epic blockbuster myself…"

"Actually, today I thought that after Miss An saw my recruitment flyer, she came over to audition as an actress for my film… When I realized Miss An was also in the same industry, I had originally wanted to turn around and leave…"

"But…"

"Sigh!"

"The moment I saw the script for 'Love Ferris Wheel,' I realized I love this script, I love the character Lin Feng, I love that Ferris wheel, and that vow of a lifetime together, never to part…"

Zhou Yang stood up slightly, his gaze growing deeper and deeper, his voice growing longer and longer, looking as though he was extremely passionate about this story.

But!

He was about to puke his guts out!

For the sake of money, could it get any more disgusting?