Chapter 217

After being “absent” from the film and television industry for a full year, just as everyone, including Wei Sheng’s fans, had accepted that this guy had transitioned from an artist to an investor, a bolt of lightning struck from a clear sky.

Actually, it was more like a trending topic falling from the sky. Wei Sheng had actually joined a production crew to film a movie?!

And it wasn’t just some minor role. He had joined the final career-closing masterpiece of the famous domestic director, Zhang Gaojun. Word was that he was playing the second male lead, a role with significant screen time.

After a brief moment of daze, the fans’ first reaction was pure ecstasy. They quickly pushed the hashtag “Wei Sheng Joins Production” to the top of the trending searches.

Director Zhang Gaojun, who was already at the filming location, had an old face that was grinning so hard it looked like a blooming peony. He had secretly consulted a fortune teller who told him that if he wanted this “final work” to be the most brilliant end to his directing career, he had to find an artist with a “prosperous” destiny to serve as the production’s “guardian treasure.”

Looking around the Domestic Entertainment Circle these past few years, the young actor with the most fame or the most fans might not necessarily be Wei Sheng, but the one with the greatest luck was undoubtedly him.

Sure enough, as soon as he officially announced Wei Sheng as the second male lead of this movie, Wei Sheng immediately brought him several free trending spots. Moreover, word was that these weren’t bought by Wei Sheng or his manager, but were pushed up by fans and the gossip-loving public themselves.

One could only say that the gossip about “Wei Sheng acting in a romance” was perhaps more newsworthy than “Wei Sheng is dead.”

Back when everyone in the Domestic Entertainment Circle was attacking Wei Sheng together, some people had sneakily spread rumors. They claimed the reason Wei Sheng retreated to the second line and started investing in projects right after becoming famous was because he had a guilty conscience! His sexual orientation was different from others!

There were even rumors that he had an outside-the-circle boyfriend, a childhood friend he grew up with, and that the two were deeply in love. They claimed Wei Sheng had actively “left the circle” just to prevent the other person’s personal information from being dug up.

Now that they heard Wei Sheng was actually going to act in a romance, a crowd of onlookers felt their glasses were about to fall off.

Could that silly guy, no, that kid who looks so festive just by standing there, really play a tragic and repressed devoted second male lead?

Thinking of this, the fans were terrified. They were deeply afraid that as Wei Sheng acted, right when he reached the scene where he was supposed to take the fall for the female lead, he would suddenly shout: “Who dares touch me? Do you know who my lawyer is?”

Thinking about it this way, they wondered if Director Zhang would mind changing the script just a tiny bit? They really wanted to see a scene of Lawyer Liang debating against a crowd.

Fortunately, Director Zhang Gaojun was busy receiving Zhou Mingxing and Wei Sheng and hadn’t seen the fans’ bizarre comments. Otherwise, he would have been fuming.

He had meticulously designed this “white moonlight” second male lead, a character full of tragic color. How could he come with his own legal team? Wouldn’t that make him a villain?

The kind of villain who has a cigarette in his mouth, successfully escapes conviction surrounded by a team of lawyers, and then gives a contemptuous smile: “Has anyone told you? With money, you really can do whatever you want”…

That was not the devoted second male lead he wanted at all!

However, it was useless.

As everyone knows, fans take after their idol. When Wei Sheng first debuted, he had the guts to change the director’s script. As his fans, they were naturally filled with passion for the cause of “script editing.”

What? The director says the script is set and can’t be changed?

That’s fine. You film yours, and we’ll play ours. Anyway, the fanfiction masters^[1] will take action.

When the time comes, we’ll write a silly and fun new script ourselves. Once the movie is released, we’ll use the movie footage to edit it. You film your devoted second male lead, and we’ll edit our silly second male lead. We won’t interfere with each other.

As an open-minded idol, Wei Sheng never “restrained” or “managed” his fans. Fans liked him and were willing to spend real money on him, so they were essentially his benefactors. His grandfather had never taught him to boss around his benefactors.

As long as it didn’t violate the law or involve fundamental errors, Wei Sheng was quite happy to see his fans’ “secondary creations^[2],” especially some particularly hilarious edited videos. He enjoyed watching them himself, okay?

Zhou Mingxing was still as socially adept as ever. He had specifically asked around and arranged to bring Wei Sheng over the day before the male and female leads joined the production. This gave face to the leads while allowing Wei Sheng to get familiar with the director in advance.

Most importantly, this time, he was going to personally keep an eye on things. He absolutely could not let Wei Sheng instigate the director to change the script again!

A young, handsome, popular actor who had never acted in a romance? Was that even acceptable?

At this moment, Zhou Mingxing was exactly like most parents in the world. When the child is in college, they repeatedly warn them not to date. Once the child graduates and enters society, they wish they would all turn into masters of romance, preferably getting married immediately upon starting work and having a baby seamlessly. Sigh!

When other managers hear that their young idols are dating, they are scared to death. Zhou Mingxing was different; he couldn’t wait for Wei Sheng to hurry up and have a relationship to completely shut up those haters who rumored he was gay!

The first meeting with the director had a very friendly atmosphere.

Zhang Gaojun was terrified of breaking the “luck” surrounding Wei Sheng, so his attitude was as kind as if Wei Sheng were his own son. Wei Sheng also respected Zhang Gaojun, a senior in the industry. The reason was simple: Director Zhang’s reputation in the circle was excellent, especially regarding his personal life.

As a director, one holds the power of life and death over the entire crew. Especially for a famous director like Zhang Gaojun, if he was willing to promote someone, there were plenty of young and beautiful actresses, and even no shortage of male actors who would throw themselves at him.

Yet Zhang Gaojun had never been involved in such scandals.

Wei Sheng wasn’t sure if Director Zhang had a “white moonlight” in his heart. However, according to reports, he and his wife met and fell in love during his most destitute time. Back then, Zhang Gaojun was a fishmonger and his wife was a fisherman’s daughter. To save on rent after marriage, they had even lived on a fishing boat for several years.

Later, Zhang Gaojun was discovered by a director and transitioned from an actor to a director. As his career grew larger and larger, he remained very much in love with his wife. It was said that to satisfy his wife’s hobby of fishing, Zhang Gaojun had spent a huge sum of money to buy a villa near a reservoir, just so it would be convenient for his wife to go fishing right outside her door.

Wei Sheng used to think this was just another “devoted husband” persona common in the entertainment industry, until one day, while accompanying his grandfather to watch a live fishing competition on TV, he unexpectedly caught a glimpse of Director Zhang among the family members supporting the contestants.

He even followed his wife to a fishing competition; if that wasn’t true love, what was?

In any case, Wei Sheng had never seen his grandmother accompany his grandfather to any fishing competition.

Not only did she not go, but every time his grandfather returned from fishing, his grandmother would catch him and give him a scolding.

If his grandfather caught too many, his grandmother would grumble and complain, saying he was just looking for trouble all day and that bringing back so many fish was an attempt to work her to death.

If his grandfather caught too few, the grumbling turned into cold irony, saying the few fish he brought back weren’t even enough to cover the entry fee and that he must have been cheated by the fish pond owner again.

Compared to his grandparents, Director Zhang and his wife truly lived in perfect harmony.

The mutual first impressions were excellent.

The following morning, the actors playing the male and female leads arrived.

Since this was his “retirement piece,” Zhang Gaojun had naturally handpicked the leads. The male lead, Chu Bin, was Director Zhang’s “exclusive leading man,” having already appeared in four of the director’s films.

The female lead was Zhen Yu, a “striking beauty” who had become quite popular on the big screen in recent years. Her look, featuring flaming red lips and wavy hair, perfectly matched the character profile for this movie.

Aside from the main leads, the other important supporting roles were filled by well-known veteran character actors. Several were senior figures in the industry. Wei Sheng followed Zhou Mingxing, respectfully greeting each senior one by one as the time for the opening ceremony^[3] arrived.

To match the historical setting of the film, the crew had searched high and low before finally finding this impoverished, dilapidated little fishing village in a remote town in G Province. This was the hometown of the female lead and the second male lead in the script. Director Zhang had scheduled the first scene here, likely as a way to “stay true to his roots.”

This small village, called Jiangliu Village, had been entirely relocated to a new site due to river channel reconstruction. However, the original site remained. Because many villagers still needed to go down to the river to fish, and the old village was closer to the water, the old houses were more convenient for storing fishing gear.

In addition to fishing, the villagers had reclaimed land in the flood discharge area to plant many vegetables. Usually, besides selling fish, they would also sell some vegetables to supplement their household income.

The filming location was at the original site of Jiangliu Village.

These old houses, built of yellow mud bricks and straw, had been uninhabited for a long time and looked quite eerie at first glance. Even more disheartening was that halfway through their opening ceremony, a crazed beggar suddenly burst out of one of the old houses.

Giggling foolishly, he shouted at the top of his lungs, “It’s over! It’s over! You’re all finished!”

Director Zhang’s face instantly turned as black as the bottom of a pot.

Damn it! The movie just started filming, and he says it’s “over”?

Could this person have been sent by a rival specifically to spite him?

The others didn’t look too pleased either. People in this circle were more or less superstitious, especially on such an important occasion as the opening ceremony. Everyone was cautious with their words, fearing they might accidentally say something taboo. No one expected to encounter such a madman; it was simply too much bad luck.

The production assistant’s face went pale when he saw Director Zhang’s dark expression. Terrified, he hurriedly called over two security guards to haul the foul-mouthed madman away.

“Wait! Is there anything to eat, or a small red envelope? Bring some to me,” Wei Sheng ran over.

The assistant froze for a moment, then nodded frantically. “Yes, yes, yes!”

If anyone else had asked, the assistant might have hesitated, but Wei Sheng was different.

This man possessed a certain “mystical aura” within the Domestic Entertainment Circle these days. It was said that many in the industry had consulted masters to read Wei Sheng’s fortune, and the consensus was that his luck was incredibly potent. Anyone who crossed him would face dire consequences; even if they gained an advantage now, they would pay a heavy price later. The assistant had heard that since Director Zhang managed to sign Wei Sheng, he didn’t even want to set up an altar for Lord Guan^[4] anymore.

He wanted to swap it for a photo of Wei Sheng and burn three sticks of incense every morning and evening, praying for Wei Sheng to keep the crew safe and sound.

Hearing that Wei Sheng wanted something, the assistant didn’t say another word. He had someone bring a large red envelope containing five hundred yuan and a bag stuffed with food and drinks—snacks and beverages provided by sponsors.

Taking the items, Wei Sheng told the two security guards to follow him. They blocked the madman’s path, and then Wei Sheng thrust the red envelope and snacks in front of him.

“Brother, face that direction and shout ‘It’s a hit^[5]‘ three times, and all of this is yours.”

The madman blinked, his eyes darting around as he thought for a few seconds. Seeming afraid that Wei Sheng would go back on his word, he snatched the snacks away and strained his neck, shouting three times toward the altar where the crew was worshiping the gods.

“It’s a hit! It’s a hit! It’s really a hit!”

The entire crew breathed a collective sigh of relief. Director Zhang’s black face instantly blossomed into a wide smile.

“Xiao Zhou! Get two more bags of good snacks for this young brother, and move two cases of those drinks over there as well!”

After sending off the crazed fellow, Wei Sheng returned to the worshiping line. He was met with countless gazes filled with awe and admiration.

No wonder so many directors and investors wanted to sign Teacher Wei. This man really did have a bit of a “mystical aura” about him!

(End of Chapter)