Chapter 83 - Scheme
Song Xiao felt that Xinghai Entertainment’s strategy of pushing Mu Sha onto the international stage this time was unwise. It wasn’t like there were other celebrities who hadn’t walked this path before. They had even spent their own money to enter the production and play a small role, then returned to China and publicised it widely. In the end, it was discovered that there wasn’t a single scene with the Chinese star in foreign screenings of the film, and they only appeared for a short few minutes in domestic screenings.
While this sort of antic could raise a performer’s profile to a certain degree, it was only for a short time, and the viewers weren’t fools either. These celebrities still hadn’t improved, and they were still just nothing more than pretty faces.
Meanwhile, Mu Sha herself was different from these wallflowers who only had looks and no acting skills. She was the film empress and the pride of China, so lowering her worth was truly unwise.
Pushing away the emperor who was being naughty, Song Xiao gave Mu Sha’s manager a call. “If someone from the production team invites you back, don’t agree.”
“Okay.” The manager was stunned for a moment before he gave a prompt reply. He had initially thought that if Sam and the others apologised, Mu Sha could go back to filming. After all, this opportunity was hard to come by, but since Song Xiao had said so, he would obey. This incident had made him see that this young master was more capable than his father.
The news didn’t stop circulating in China, and it also continued to be a hot topic in America. Americans were pretty curious about Chinese culture to begin with, and they also cared very much about women’s rights. Over in New York, they were even preparing to march against verbal s.e.xual hara.s.sment.
As Mu Sha’s matter started to blow up, the production team couldn’t sit around anymore. Director Sam personally came by to invite Mu Sha back.
“I’m very sorry, sir.” Mu Sha’s manager turned down the director’s invitation. “Since it has already come to this, we will pay the penalty for quitting the production, but on the condition that Mr Robert comes and apologises to Miss Mu Sha.”
Sam waved his hand and expressed that the penalty didn’t need to be paid and that he still hoped Mu Sha would return; after all, this role was very important and so on and so forth.
But both sides were well aware that Mu Sha’s role had been forcibly added, and removing it would conversely make the film more complete. But public opinion was currently extremely unfavourable for the production team, and had gone far beyond the issue of a flawed script.
“Where’s Miss Mu Sha?” Seeing that he wasn’t able to convince the manager, Sam switched tactics and wanted to try and convince Mu Sha instead.
“Oh, she went to partic.i.p.ate in New York’s march,” the manager said rather helplessly.
Hearing this, Sam’s jaw dropped in shock. “What did you say? A march!”
“Because of inherent factors, women will always be weaker in some aspects, but this doesn’t give men an excuse to hara.s.s women!” At that moment, Mu Sha was standing on a dais with a microphone in hand as she gave a speech. This matter had gotten attention because of her, so when the leader of the parade invited her to attend, there hadn’t been a reason to refuse, and Mu Sha hadn’t wanted to refuse either.
“No, my dear, we aren’t inherently weak.” A blond beauty in a voluptuous skirt walked over to stand next to Mu Sha and gave her a hug. “We aren’t weak at all. As long as we’re valiant, we can punish those who try to hara.s.s women.”
As she spoke, this great beauty made an extremely rude gesture, which caused everyone to burst into laughter.
Mu Sha continued to smile gracefully, but was actually very excited. This incomparably gorgeous beauty was America’s mighty Hollywood film empress, Julie.
Julie was a devoted advocate for women’s rights, and she would attend this sort of event. She appreciated Mu Sha, this brave Chinese woman, very much. “Asian girls are somewhat timid. You’re the first Asian actress I’ve met who has dared to step forward.”
“Thank you. I’ve always admired your work, and I hope to become a great woman like you, Julie,” Mu Sha said with a smile.
“Haha, I’m not great at all. I’m just doing what should be done.” Julie gave Mu Sha a small flag and pulled her along to walk at the front of the procession.
Because of a moment’s impulse to join this American march, she got to know a Hollywood film empress. This was a happy surprise for Mu Sha.
“You knew Julie would go?” Yu Tang looked at the scene on TV, then turned his head to ask Song Xiao the question.
“En, I specially researched America’s entertainment industry.” Song Xiao didn’t raise his head from where he was reading the book. This was already his third time reading ‘Delicacies Fill The Palace Hall’. Every time he read it, he discovered brand new delights.
Since he had to inherit his family’s theatrical troupe, he had to be thoroughly prepared. This year in America, Song Xiao had always kept a close eye on America’s entertainment circle. From A-list celebrities and domestically famous directors, to screenwriters, producers, and entertainment companies, he learnt of them all. Only in this way would he be able to make the correct decision at the appropriate moment.
“Is there anything you can’t do?” Yu Tang came over and trapped Song Xiao in his arms. His family’s empress was too capable, and he couldn’t help much.
“You…” Song Xiao replied unthinkingly, then froze and coughed. It was all because of this book. It was too funny, and made him copy some of the cat emperor’s manner of speech.
Yu Tang narrowed his eyes slightly. “So it turns out that the empress has always been wanting to do this.”
“Cough, it was a slip of the tongue.” Song Xiao hurriedly stood up and made his salutations, hoping to be forgiven by His Majesty the emperor and that the punishment would be a lenient one.
As a serious monarch, however, how could Yu Tang tolerate an empress who harboured such intent to offend him? The empress had to be carried back to the room and reeducated.
Mu Sha used the march to present her face to the American public. Many young people pointed at the person on TV and exclaimed, “Who’s this beauty?” The film wasn’t completed yet, but because of this, Mu Sha gained some fame in America, and even became good friends with Julie.
After the end of the march, Julie took the initiative to ask for Mu Sha’s contact details. The next day, she went to find her and they went for a stroll together.
Sam’s crew had taken a beating, but they didn’t dare say anything. Because of this, Robert’s reputation had taken a hit, and he was fiercely cursed out by women online. He had no choice but to make a personal appearance to clarify the matter. He posted a message on social media and said that he hadn’t said anything excessive; it was just that Miss Mu Sha’s English wasn’t good, and she had misheard him.
Many of Robert’s fans believed this; however, Julie posted a message to reply, “Mu Sha lived in the UK for seven years. Her English is better than yours.”
Robert had said ‘English’, but Americans spoke American English, which was a little different. Julie had grabbed onto this point to mock him, her meaning being that his explanation was weak.
Because the great queen had spoken, Robert was promptly attacked by even more people. He still didn’t dare acknowledge it after creating this mess, how truly irresponsible. A user left a middle finger emoji online and everyone below followed suit, leaving a long line of middle fingers on Robert’s homepage.
After the end of Mu Sha’s matter, Song Xiao began to concentrate on the making of ‘Delicacies Fill The Palace Hall’. His cat design had just been an idea. To make a complete film, they still needed a professional artist to flesh it out. Following along that line, the artist very quickly came up with the design for the entire cat imperial family.
Xiao Zhengqing arranged for Song Xiao to be part of the production team and requested that he come to LA every week, which Song Xiao agreed to. Because Yu Tang was worried about his wife, they went to LA together every week, and would return to the ancestral home on the way to cultivate their relationship with Yu Tang’s grandfather.
Because Yu Tang returned often, laoyezi clearly started to like him more and more, which caused the originally most pampered ninth uncle, Yu Lang, to lose favor.
“Since you come to LA every week, I’ll hand over the businesses here to you ba.” Yu Taixian gave Yu Tang a file of materials. These were some of the properties the Yu family had in LA, which laoyezi was personally involved in.
“Okay.” Yu Tang didn’t decline in the slightest, and directly accepted it.
Sitting on the side, second uncle narrowed his eyes and exchanged looks with Yu Lang. The two of them walked out together.
“Recently, I found out that Yu Tang’s little boyfriend comes to LA with him every week.” Yu Lang took out a few photos and pa.s.sed them to second uncle.
“Xiao Lang, what do you mean by giving these to me?” Second uncle looked at him coldly.
The photos had probably been taken in secret, but there were clear shots of Song Xiao’s face.
“Nothing much, just telling er-ge some gossip,” Yu Lang said as he beamed.
Author’s note said her chapter was locked and she didn’t know what was wrong, so she changed some things.