Chapter 78: Dream Zhou Club

Looking at the basketball hoop that seemed within reach yet as far away as the horizon, Zhou Jielun’s sweat made his eyes sting with pain.

He thought of when he had just started his career, standing next to Mr. Wu like a mere lackey.

He thought of being pointed at by the office girls for his hunched back and wretched appearance, always wearing a hat or a hoodie like a clown who couldn't bear to be seen.

He thought of his mother, Ye Huimei, who had endured all sorts of hardships to raise him.

He thought of the difficulties and obstacles he had faced along the way...

Jielun held the ball and charged at Lu Kuan, and even though he was nearly ten centimeters shorter, he still threw himself against the stone like an egg.

"Trash, give me some effort!"

Lu Kuan transformed into a sharp-tongued critic, beginning to "abuse" his actors just like Hitchcock.

Hitchcock said that actors are "cattle."

This statement once caused a huge uproar in Hollywood, to the point that the master later had to explain: "I didn't say actors are cattle; I said actors need to be treated like cattle."

Well, you would have been better off not explaining.

In *Marnie*, he deliberately provoked and made physical contact with the actress Tippi Hedren, just like Lu Kuan, who was staring at Jielun and relentlessly pushing him right now.

In *The Birds*, he turned the prop birds into real ones; the unsuspecting lead actress, Tippi Hedren, entered the set, and a group of crazed birds tore at her, biting and pecking until she fainted before the scene was even finished.

As for the rest, like firing real guns near actors to force them to display expressions of terror and fear, those were just old clichés.

The current Lu Kuan was simply using the heat of the basketball duel to let Zhou Jielun completely relax, completely explode, and completely shed his burdens.

Following a collision that left both of them exhausted, they both let out a miserable cry and collapsed to the ground, having no strength left to climb back up.

Several people in jerseys exercising nearby also hurried over; this commotion had scared everyone quite a bit.

Seeing from afar that Lu Kuan and the others were all young faces, they were terrified that their own children or the descendants of some big shots had gotten into trouble here.

The leader was none other than Chen Daoming, wearing a Dream Zhou jersey, looking in disbelief at the disheveled and wretched Lu Kuan and the sweat-drenched Zhou Jielun.

"Little Lu, what is this?"

He had a deep impression of this young man during the fourth round of the Beijing Film Academy auditions.

Chen Daoming wanted to laugh a little but felt it wouldn't be very polite; although in terms of age alone, Lu Kuan was young enough to be his son, he was, after all, someone in the circle and was currently in the limelight.

Lu Kuan looked awkwardly at Chen Daoming, Hu Jun, and the others approaching, along with a charming middle-aged woman walking gracefully with a person who looked like a manager.

This was Fan Xian’s real stepmother, Liu Bei, not the stepmother from the show.

That manager was the Manager Xu who had been contacted at the front desk, who said politely at this moment: "Are there some small misunderstandings among you guests? Is there any service we can provide?"

Lu Kuan laughed: "It's nothing, just exercising. Sorry to disturb the refined mood of you all."

Zhou Jielun was not good at socializing and was waiting for Lu Kuan to settle this mess so he could slip away; fortunately, it was a private venue, otherwise, he and Lu Kuan would definitely be in the headlines tomorrow.

"Come, Jielun, let me introduce you." Lu Kuan pulled him over generously.

"This is Mr. Chen Daoming, this is Mr. Hu Jun, and this is Ms. Liu Bei; they are all powerful actors from our mainland."

Hu Jun and Liu Bei were seeing Lu Kuan for the first time; they had heard his nickname "Little Immortal" in their small circles, and stories of him stirring up trouble were circulating online, even causing the downfall of Emperor Group and Zhang Tianshuo.

Seeing now that he was still a man who knew how to handle social situations, they all greeted him with a smile.

Hu Jun’s dark face revealed a sense of honesty as he shook hands with Zhou Jielun.

He then teased Lu Kuan: "Director Lu, I heard about you from Director Zhang when I went to audition for *Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils* a while ago; truly, hearing of your reputation is not as good as meeting you in person."

"Oh?" Lu Kuan asked curiously: "It's fortunate that Mr. Hu didn't hear news about me from Zhang Tianshuo; that wouldn't be a good reputation, haha."

Chen Daoming and Liu Bei both laughed at his self-deprecation, feeling that this young man was quite interesting.

"Well then, teachers, we’ll take our leave now. We just finished filming early today and came to get some exercise."

Lu Kuan signaled for the others to slip away, leaving the place of trouble.

Chen Daoming watched the group walking away, shaking his head with a smile, feeling that he couldn't quite see through this kid.

Liu Bei watched Lu Kuan and the others walking away with their arms around each other's shoulders, laughing, and asked Chen Daoming in a low voice: "Daoming, are you familiar with this young Director Lu? How is his professional level?"

"Not familiar. Yu Zheng is in his crew right now and says he's quite professional, not like a new director at all."

Chen Daoming, finding it boring, wiped his sweat and chatted with Liu Bei.

Seeing Liu Bei smile noncommittally, he knew she wasn't asking for no reason: "What's wrong? Is something the matter?"

Liu Bei looked helpless: "It's that big nephew of yours, Ruoyun. He's only in his first year of high school, but he talks every day about not wanting to study and wanting to run to the film crew. It's worrying his father to death."

Watching the distant Lu Kuan and the others, she sighed faintly: "I don't know what kind of spell he's under, but he's obsessed with this Lu Kuan, howling his songs every single day."

(End of chapter)