Chapter 8: Fragrant Carriages and Beautiful Women

Morning sunlight streamed into this small alley but could not reach the rental room.

Inside the dim rental room, a wave after wave of musty odor emanated.

Chen Jianfeng silently flipped through the script.

Let's just call it...

A script?

The more he flipped, the more suffocated he felt.

The cringeworthy lines in the script for "Sun Wukong Battles Superman 2" made Chen Jianfeng feel like he was about to vomit.

Director Shen Long smoked a gloomy cigarette one after another, his hair messy and clothes ragged, looking really almost no different from a beggar on the street.

The atmosphere inside the rental room was very oppressive and also very dull.

It made Chen Jianfeng feel so stifled he was about to vomit.

"Are we really going to shoot this kind of movie?"

After hearing his voice, Shen Long did not respond; instead, he continued to puff away on a 2.5 yuan pack of Daqian Sect, his gaze looking out the window with feigned depth.

After waiting a long time for no response, Chen Jianfeng silently put down the script, his gaze somewhat dazed.

"Is it possible... he is... a scammer?"

Chen Jianfeng said this sentence again.

After hearing this, Shen Long finally crushed out the cigarette butt and looked at Chen Jianfeng: "What could he scam you of?"

"..."

This time, it was Chen Jianfeng's turn to fall silent.

Damn it!

When you are on the verge of begging, what more can you be scammed of?

But staying cooped up in this rental room, the cringe was about to drive him crazy.

"I'm going out for a walk."

He left this sentence and was just about to go out for a stroll when Shen Long's phone rang.

Afterwards...

"Hello? President Zhou?"

"Ah? Visiting the film set?"

"What do you mean?"

"You have everything prepared? For real?"

"???"

When Chen Jianfeng saw Shen Long's expression shift between shock and confusion, he stopped in his tracks.

"What? Take a shower, change into some decent clothes, and go with you to tour the set?"

"??"

"Wait, President Zhou, let me ask, are you sure you have everything prepared? On my project checklist, have you finished everything?"

"That doesn't make sense, President Zhou, how long have you been out? At most a little over two hours, and you've already finished everything?"

"..."

After Shen Long hung up the phone, his expression was utterly shocked; staring at his phone in a daze as if seeing a ghost, he tried to call back, only to find that his phone, unfortunately, had been suspended right at that moment.

Fine, he was now so down and out he couldn't even afford to recharge a hundred yuan worth of phone credit.

Just at this moment, Chen Jianfeng's phone also rang; Chen Jianfeng glanced at the caller ID and saw it was Zhou Yang calling.

"President Zhou?"

"Xiao Chen, are you in the room?"

"Yes."

"Take a shower, change into some decent clothes, and later come to our set to get familiar..."

"Ah? President Zhou, the set, where is our set?"

"Oh, Room 405, Building 35, Xinghe Road, East Street..."

"Oh, oh."

After Chen Jianfeng hung up the phone, he paused for a moment; why did he feel that this address was a little bit familiar?

Afterwards, without thinking much more, he looked at Shen Long, who was equally confused: "Director Shen, what is this about?"

Shen Long shook his head, his expression somewhat dazed, and replied after a moment: "I don't know; take a shower and change clothes first..."

…………………………

This world seemed a little bit absurd, and also somewhat magical...

Chen Jianfeng, a unlucky soul who had been slapped in the face by reality countless times and was about to switch careers to selling pirated discs, was suddenly told he would be the male lead.

But, he would be the male lead of a movie titled "Sun Wukong Battles Superman 2".

Cringeworthy lines, a plot that made one's imagination run wild, a director never heard of before; thinking of it now, it was incredibly low-class, extremely like an A4 recruitment poster designed to fool fools.

Wasn't it just pure nonsense?

But coincidentally...

"This set seems to be the set of 'Love Ferris Wheel'; I don't know why, but I feel like a fool..."

After taking a shower, when Chen Jianfeng remembered that address, "Room 405, Building 35, Xinghe Road, East Street," his spirits suddenly lifted...

That damn place wasn't the set of "Love Ferris Wheel"?

He had just gone to interview for an actor role yesterday, but ended up not even meeting the interviewer and was kicked out in the first round.

Shen Long, however, silently tidied up his new clothes...

Alright, rather than calling it new clothes, it's more like a coat that's barely passable, paired with jeans, making him look less scruffy.

"How about we take a taxi?"

"No money!"

"Take the bus?"

"No money!"

"Not even a single yuan?"

"None. How about you lend me some first?"

"..."

"How about you lend me some money to buy a bottle of water?" Shen Long asked again.

"..."

Seeing Shen Long's state, Chen Jianfeng looked at himself, then subconsciously touched his somewhat empty pockets, and finally coughed: "I didn't bring money either. Let's walk; walking is good for health..."

Though his expression remained calm, in reality, his mind was already in chaos.

Damn it!

Why does it feel more and more like I'm an idiot?

I actually believed someone like me could be the male lead!

I actually believed that this film crew...

I actually foolishly walked all the way to the "Love Ferris Wheel" film crew again; do I not think I'm stupid enough yet?

Chen Jianfeng took a deep breath, finally lowered his head, followed behind Shen Long, and walked step by step toward the "Love Ferris Wheel" film crew studio like a complete fool.

After walking for about half an hour, when his throat was so dry it felt like it was on fire, they finally arrived beside "Love Ferris Wheel."

At this moment...

A red Audi A6 sped past them.

Seeing the license plate Jing A233, Chen Jianfeng couldn't help but feel a surge of envy.

Damn it!

When will I be able to drive an Audi A6 like this? Never mind an A6, even an A2 would do in this scorching heat!

Just as he felt somewhat speechless in his heart, the Audi A6 stopped beside him, and then a familiar figure stepped out of the A6.

That figure adjusted his suit, brushed off the dust from his suit pants, pushed up his glasses, and with a smile, introduced something to the two girls who had gotten out of the car.

"Our Director Shen is excellent; at such a young age, he has already won many prestigious overseas awards. That is also the reason I value Director Shen..."

"..."

"Besides Director Shen, I discovered a promising talent from our Yanjing Film Academy yesterday. I'm thinking of nurturing him properly..."

"..."

"Actually, the investment for my film isn't much, just around a few million. Consider it me testing the waters of the film industry..."

"..."

"I was originally planning to go discuss acquiring a cinema today. Look, here comes another call? Director Zhang, Director An, wait a moment, I'll take this call."

Chen Jianfeng saw Zhou Yang smile at the two girls.

He then walked to the side and picked up the phone.

Chen Jianfeng moved slightly closer.

And then...

He heard a conversation that shattered his worldview.

"Oh, Mr. Zhang, sorry, I'm busy at the film crew right now. Yes, yes, busy at the 'Love Ferris Wheel' crew... hey..."

"..."

"No choice, it's an emergency... I didn't want this, but I was invited to play the male lead in 'Love Ferris Wheel'... oh, it seems it's the second male lead, a rich, handsome, and tall guy..."

"Mr. Zhang, you know me, I'm not very interested in acting, but both directors were so enthusiastic, insisting on dragging me to act. They said the salary is negotiable, and they even said if I don't participate, the movie will be discounted. To avoid discouraging these two new directors, I had no choice, so I just decided to take a look..."

"Regarding the acquisition, rest assured. I've reviewed the contract. I have a few questions. Hmm, let's discuss face-to-face when I have time..."

"..."

Chen Jianfeng saw Zhou Yang take the call.

Then, he turned around and stared blankly at him.

A moment later, he glanced again at Shen Long, who was covered in sweat...

His expression was strange: "Why do you look like a water rat? Wait, did you two walk here?"

Before Chen Jianfeng and Shen Long could speak, they saw Zhou Yang notice the two girls. Then Zhou Yang smiled: "Let me introduce you. This is Director Shen. Director Shen has worked incredibly hard for our film. Look, he's sweated so much his hair is wet..."