Half an hour pa.s.sed before Selena walked out of the large activity hall escorted by two of her bodyguards. The rest were waiting outside chatting with Jiang Li with a wooden expression on their faces."How did it go?" Smilingly, the man asked.
She gave him a snort and went past him. No matter what took place inside the room, he would always remain unpleasant in her eyes. "Drive me back to the hotel." She said to the few men and women wearing professional attire who went after her.
Before the talk, Jiang Li told Wen Hui to tell Selena about him and Tang Yu Yan. It seemed that it had been a clue for the politician"s son to know that he was suspected of having a deal going on with the Tang"s adoptive daughter.
As she marched out of the clubhouse, barely discernable from her cold countenance was some hint of confusion. However, since the dark blue-haired man did not attempt to catch up to her, he did not see it.
Jiang Li exchanged glances with the man who came out last and got annoyed by the huge grin he saw.
Selena continued walking towards the parking lot.
When she was finally sitting at the back seat of her car, with one of the lady bodyguards taking the driver"s seat, she exhaled.
"Miss Mei." A second later, the woman opened her mouth. "I have a request for you and the others."
The lady bodyguard who started to drive her boss away from the place did not answer. But her body language showed she was alert and intently listening.
Selena looked out into the distance, relieved that she was getting further and further away from the clubhouse. She then said, "I want you to investigate a person. I want a detailed one, especially from the past few years. As for the name of the target… it is Zheng Xiang."
Silence reigned within the place for a long while. Selena saw through the mirror in front that before the other nod, a flash of recognition crossed her eyes. The bodyguard knew the person? She was aware of the scandal that happened around seven months ago?
Not long after, she realized it wouldn"t be a surprising matter given how the woman was in the country when that happened. Aside from this, Wen Hui said the matter had been the talk of the town for more than a week.
She remembered what that other guy told her before letting her exit the room.
"You know what, Miss Tang. You can doubt him all you want. But I just want to say my piece and clarify something with you. Jiang Li is like a big brother to me and I know how Tang Yu Yan views me. So if Jiang Li says I should give up on her, I would only hesitate for some time before doing so. Between a friend, no, an older brother who cares for me and a woman so hard to chase, I would, of course, choose who gives more d.a.m.n about me. Naturally, I won"t do anything which would harm him."
She didn"t know that in his mind, he added, "Of course, I won"t dare try. Because he"s someone who would demand an arm or leg as repayment for emotional damage once truly p.i.s.sed off."
What she grasped was that Wen Hui had indirectly denied her guess about him ordering someone to play around with her for Tang Yu Yan"s sake and amus.e.m.e.nt.
Could she believe him just because of a few words? When everyone else who liked that fake sister of hers all tried the same method on her, only in a different manner and timing.
Selena frowned. What she heard from the clubhouse did intrigue her and trigger her writer"s imagination. But she was not the type to easily believe in people"s statements.
"Men are liars." If Jiang Li heard her thoughts just now, he would have realized making the girl like him would still take a lot more effort than normal.
Her gaze went to the lady bodyguard driving the vehicle for her. "Actually, everyone is a liar."
"No one is truly trustworthy in this world." She added to herself.
Her thoughts wandered around as she closed her eyes and leaned her head against the back of her seat.
She said those words to herself because she knew even these people protecting her from the shadows were not totally loyal to her, but to her parents, or perhaps, the other members of the family.
…
A few days pa.s.sed. The MVs of Jiang Li"s songs were now in the editing process. Since there were already a few snippets" available, the music production team from Starlight"s music division asked him to hand over his Weibo and other SNS accounts, the one under his new name Jiang Li, to his manager or their PR team. It was so they could officially post the trailers and pictures and share them with his fans. In short, his alb.u.m was already entering the promotional stage. He was informed that it would be out in a week or so.
As for the drama he partic.i.p.ated on a whim, its filming wouldn"t be ending any time soon. It had just started not long ago. Apart from the main leads, the rest of the cast was yet not revealed. But none of them questioned this decision since it was already announced that the promotional posters, pictures, and teasers would only come out a week or so before the drama airs.
For now, the shooting could only go on.
Jiang Li was cooperating with everyone there, honestly. Nonetheless, because of the encounter at the hospital, he was reminded of the male lead"s existence so he went to regularly checking on him. As a result, he learned that Liu De had just joined the crew of the director who he almost worked on a film with before. This made him realize that the circle was truly small. He remembered that the female lead there was the popular S-tier actress enamored with Liu De. Her name was Li Xia, the girl the painter from his group was trying to chase. Now, this actress was once again working with that director for a historical drama. And of course, with Liu De.
"If my memory is still okay, our director is having a talk with ZHK for the timeslot of our drama, right?" Jiang Li once asked the manager given to him by his good friend. The person was someone emitting the vibe of a learned and experienced guy, all day long dressed smartly in a suit.
"Yes," replied the manager named Fan Jing, staring into the eyes of his talent which was being tended by a makeup artist inside a makes.h.i.+ft tent. "In our estimate, we can finish the filming only after two more months. It depends if no accident or weather interference occurs. Anyways, we can"t really say a date or timeslot. At least, not now when the filming is still in the beginning phase. What we can be sure about is that ZHK will be airing it."
The manager did not elaborate more on the details. He also did not mention which video-streaming sites will be given rights to broadcast their drama. It was still currently a faraway matter. Jiang Li was not interested to know as well.
His interest was in another topic altogether.
"ZHK is one of the biggest local networks so it"s all good." He perfunctorily responded. Then added, "However, I heard there"s another director working on a historical piece like ours. And the cast members are quite the bigshots. Ms. Li Xia is formally announced to be working with Director Su. And I think I know who"s the one playing her male lead."
"Hmm?" Judging on the tone and expression of the other, the manager was not aware. "I haven"t heard of it. But I"ll look into it. Where did you get the information by the way?"
Jiang Li and Fan Jing were not the only ones inside the huge tent. The other artists and their managers who were present s.h.i.+fted their gaze to them, curious at what they were talking about.
"Well, I remembered seeing Mr. Liu somewhere in this city days ago. I also happened to watch an interview with him where he said his next project would be a palace period drama under Director Su. Shanxi province is quite the destination for historical pieces. So I just pieced out the clues."
"Brother Jiang, there are many places in China where historical and wuxia dramas can be shot." Argued one of the younger actors nearby.
"True," he answered. "But at least I"m sure Mr. Liu will be filming a historical drama with Ms. Li. They"ve been a popular couple celebrities lately largely due to the box office success of the previous film they had starred in. "
Jiang Li"s eyes darkened for a couple of seconds. He felt a bit of discomfort from his body. Zheng Xiang, the Original, seemed to have been stirred by what he just said. After all, he was supposed to be the producer of that movie… Inwardly shaking his head, he laughed and continued, "People probably want to see them acting on a project again. I just realized. There might be a chance we will be pitted on the same timeslot. I heard their director is in talks with somebody from a rival network."
Doubtful gazes went to Jiang Li. Most were puzzled how he could speak so sure about the matter when n.o.body else had ever heard of it. Where did he get the news from? Not a few wondered it was from the backer who allowed him to enter the crew as the third most important male supporting character.
The man only smiled at the glances he was receiving. "I swear I"m not making things up."
His manager said, "Jiang Li, you don"t need to worry much about these. Our own crew has bigshots. The female lead might only be a B-list actress, but the male lead, Mr. Hua is as famous as Liu De and Li Xia. Not to mention, our production team has long hyped up the drama using Scriptwriter Selena"s reputation."
He shrugged after hearing what Fan Jing said. Who said he was worried? He was merely saying stuff to make a certain someone curious. After all, following her talk with Wen Hui, the girl ignored her for days and did not even try to make him suffer.
Unfortunately, Jiang Li"s stupid plan did not bear fruits. At least, it did not really make Selena Tang summon him for interrogation. The director also did not show interest. All it did was make some of his colleagues a bit restless and worried since the only historical drama reported to compete with them on that season was going to star Liu De, someone who had a stunning reputation of never partic.i.p.ating in something that would not be a hit project.
…
...
Weeks already pa.s.sed since Mo Zan had someone sent several ambiguous pictures to the Qin family. However, she did not get any response from them. Because of this she had no choice but admit that something was amiss.
But what did go wrong?
The question popped up in her mind as she absentmindedly looked into the doc.u.ments presented to her by her nervous secretary.
Her office that was located on the topmost floor of Dreamer Entertainment"s building was very silent.
"…President… Your grandfather wants to speak with you on the phone." Li Mulan, another secretary respectfully walked in and reported.
In an instant, a scowl appeared on Mo Zan"s face. She could already foresee an unpleasant conversation taking place. Her sharp intuition as a woman was telling her this.
"Did he mention why he wants to talk to me?" she asked in a low voice that was, as usual, stern/
"I"m sorry, President. He didn"t. It might be something very important."
The woman sitting behind the table could only nod. She asked the caller to be transferred to her.
When it connected and the voice of her paternal grandfather rang in her ears, she raised her eyes and gave the two other ladies in her office a look each which immediately made them hurry outside. That one glance was enough for them to realize she wanted them gone.
As a prideful lady, there was no way she would let anyone knows how she would be scolded by the aged family head of the Mo family.
…