Chapter 20: Falling in Love

Jiang Qinqin sat with a pretty, stern face, saying nothing. Her financial situation was even worse than Zhou Xun's.

As everyone knows, Aunt Qiong Yao and the comedy genius Zhou Xingchi had similar personalities, belonging to the type who valued talent and profit equally. The artists under her were generally exploited quite heavily.

After Jiang Qinqin became the cover girl for *Popular Cinema* for her role in *Xi Shi*, Qiong Yao had her daughter-in-law, He Xiuqiong, sign her under her banner.

She began to emerge from *Tears in Heaven*, and even the character Ziwei in *My Fair Princess* was written with her in mind, but she had always been tightly controlled when it came to her salary.

Just like Zhao Wei during the same period, after *My Fair Princess* became a huge hit, she received a salary of at most 100,000 per episode for other dramas, but she only dared to collect about 12,000 for Qiong Yao's dramas; otherwise, she would be criticized by the former for being ungrateful.

Isn't Fan Bingbing the best example?

Because she was willing to go bankrupt to terminate her contract, she was mocked by Qiong Yao, saying she could only play a maid for the rest of her life.

"Little Lu, you are too reckless. I warned you that underground films are very risky. If the copyright can't be sold abroad, it's basically a total loss."

She was so worried that she couldn't even eat. Even though Seeing Lu Kuan had shown accurate predictions several times, this was professional film investment, and Jiang Qinqin hadn't become superstitious about him to that extent yet.

"My own 500,000, plus 500,000 borrowed from my senior brother—the contract has already been signed and the money transferred."

The little Daoist priest explained the source of the funds with a calm smile. Looking at the reactions of the two actresses, it was hard to bring up the matter of borrowing money.

"Don't worry. Forgot what I do for a living? I can't say this is guaranteed, but I have some confidence."

Comforting words had no effect. This kind of foresight far exceeded the imagination of people at the time. The awkward meal ended, and the three of them returned to their respective hotel rooms.

Seeing Lu Kuan was burning the midnight oil "creating" a script. This was also a helpless necessity in the early stages of capital accumulation. Besides continuing to swindle and bluff, there were too few ways to make money.

A person is the sum of their social relationships. If one always presents themselves as a charlatan, the labels the public sticks on them will be biased.

Just like in Liu Yifei's villa, Cheng Jingfei, Liu Xiaoli, and others were quite surprised by the acting ability he displayed, while Feng Yuanzheng, whom he had just met, felt it was nothing out of the ordinary—this was the contrast stemming from his identity as a Daoist priest.

Therefore, he couldn't just rely on the advantage of foresight to take shortcuts; he had to stand firm and interact with others through the display of other talents.

The script Seeing Lu Kuan was creating was *Lurk*. In this era, the main broadcasting units for TV dramas were various satellite TV stations, and the subject matter was nothing more than family, criminal investigation, espionage, period dramas, etc.

Espionage dramas encompassed all commercial elements, combined with a delicate and rigorous logical core. They belonged to a type of work that all satellite TV stations were quite optimistic about, which was conducive to the script's monetization.

A "knock, knock, knock" sound rang out. The little Daoist priest suspiciously closed his laptop. This was the "autumn wind" he had blown from Zhuang Xu.

Who would be knocking on Yin Zhiping's door so late? He wasn't a director or a producer.

"Who..."

Before he could finish his sentence, he felt a fragrant breeze, and Jiang Qinqin, with a flushed face, quickly flashed inside.

"Close the door quickly, you fool!"

Seeing Lu Kuan had a startled look: "Sister Jiang, I'm not feeling well today. My 'Aunt' is visiting."

"Get lost!"

Jiang Qinqin spat softly, sticking her ear to the door like a thief to listen, and only then did she pull Seeing Lu Kuan to sit down.

She took out the jewelry box she had received in the restaurant from her cotton-padded jacket pocket: "Little Lu, take it back and return it."

Seeing Lu Kuan was stunned, then laughed: "What are you doing?"

"How much more money do you need?"

Jiang Qinqin seemed to have been acting strangely since the Western restaurant. She stubbornly didn't answer, just asking questions to herself.

It was one thing for Seeing Lu Kuan to borrow money from her and Zhou Xun, but it was another for Sister Jiang to take the initiative to give it.

The iron law of the entertainment industry is equivalent exchange. He asked himself that with the strength and resources he had shown so far, he hadn't reached the point where he could make a popular actress both undress and ruin her family to help him.

The intimacy of that night was just a play, and everyone was an adult; it wasn't worth delving into or reminiscing about too much.

Unless... she had fallen in love?

Then he dared not take the money even more. Once tainted by karma, even a tough man fears a clinging woman! Especially a beauty like Jiang Qinqin.

Even if the public relations company boss was thick-skinned, he wouldn't package himself as a "pretty boy" to seek help from a famous actress—it was usually the other way around!

Seeing Lu Kuan really wanted to say to Sister Jiang, who was sitting on the bed with bright eyes, "I'm sorry, you deserve better!"

"But not the best, like me!"

"I..." Seeing Lu Kuan just wanted to mumble a few words of evasion, but was interrupted by Jiang Qinqin's raised finger. She answered the phone.

"Hello? What? Okay! Send me the address!"

"Little Lu, take me there. My friend was seriously injured and is in the hospital!"

Seeing Lu Kuan put on his coat, found the keys from the stage manager, and the two headed straight to the Wuxi First People's Hospital on Qingyang Road.

The spring chill was biting. A layer of white mist quickly rose in the car. Seeing Lu Kuan turned on the defogger and glanced at Jiang Qinqin's flushed cheeks in the passenger seat.

"What are you looking at?"

Without Zhou Xun present, in the environment of being alone, she was a bit wanton, feeling psychologically closer to the little Daoist priest.

Seeing Lu Kuan laughed secretly in his heart. He wouldn't be naive enough to take Sister Jiang's favoritism as a true expression of love in the entertainment industry, but he wouldn't refuse to enjoy this warmth either—only a fool would refuse a bargain.

"Jiang Qinqin's mother opens the door for Jiang Qinqin."

"What?"

"Beautiful to the core!"

"Go to hell! You only know how to talk nonsense."

Seeing Lu Kuan looked innocent: "I also know how to take action. Someone said 'no next time,' so what can I do!"

Jiang Qinqin knew she was no match for the little Daoist priest in verbal sparring, so she simply stayed silent with a blushing face.

After a long while, she explained: "Zhao Wenzhuo was injured. His eye was pierced by a sword tip. His manager knew I was in Wuxi and specifically called to ask me to cooperate..."

"Cooperate with the hype, right?"

Jiang Qinqin looked at him in surprise: "How did you know? Did you calculate that too?"

In June 2002, *Wind and Cloud* was about to premiere. It was perfectly normal for Jiang Qinqin and Zhao Wenzhuo, the screen couple who had worked together from *Love of the Qing River* to the drama version of *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* and *Hero Zheng Chenggong*, to be asked to cooperate with the hype.

In a future interview, Jiang Qinqin said: "He and I have a tacit understanding."

This was typical—neither confirming nor denying, leaving room for reporters and the production team to hype it up.

"Then will my going there get in your way?" Seeing Lu Kuan had the self-awareness of a tool person.

Jiang Qinqin looked at the hurried pedestrians outside the window, answering somewhat irrelevantly: "I don't want to either, but in this line of work, how many things can we decide for ourselves?"

Seeing Lu Kuan didn't know if she was explaining this to him, and he didn't answer, steadily parking the vehicle in front of the emergency building.

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 21 =====