Chapter 236: Downfall
Director Liu didn’t even need to ask where Zhou Jingan had gotten the information, because the screen recording proved everything.
“That Ding Mengfei!” The director was angry.
There was no reason for him not to believe it. Even if there had only been the screenshots, he would’ve bought it also.
The main reason the director was so furious was the fact that Wei Zhiqian had had to waste his time on someone as worthless as Ding Mengfei.
“The thing she just did is taboo in this industry,” the director then informed them.
It was usual for someone like Ding Mengfei to contact news agencies or paparazzi to help boost her own popularity or to ruin a person’s future, mostly those who were her rivals or someone who had offended her.
It would be fine for an actor if what they did could remain hidden, but if people learned about it, no one would be able to forgive them, especially not when what Ding Mengfei had done had almost ruined the entire drama and a whole lot of careers.
Director Liu didn’t even have to ask why Ding Mengfei did it.
He did notice that her screen time had been cut after she kept bothering Tan Jinqi, and he knew what had happened.
Tan Mo was basically doing what she could to avenge her brother.
However, instead of making the script worse for her own personal reasons, the script became even more refined after her alterations.
On the other hand, Ding Mengfei wasn’t an outstanding actor to began with. If she were to have more screen time, it would’ve impacted the drama negatively.
Since what Tan Mo did also gave the more refined and experienced actors more screen time, Director Liu had been happy with the result and didn’t get involved with their personal feud.
In the end, even if Tan Jinqi and Tan Mo hadn’t been from the prestigious Tan family, their values were still much better than Ding Mengfei’s.
They were even more valuable now that their family business was the drama’s sponsor.
Another reason Director Liu hadn’t asked about it was that he didn’t want to sour his relations.h.i.+p with Tan Jinqi.
“She has to go.” Director Liu decided before Zhou Jingan could say anything.
That was the real purpose of Wei Zhiqian sending his personal a.s.sistant over. He was worried that Director Liu was reluctant to make the harsh decision as it would slow the filming process down. He was afraid that Director Liu would feel that he had no choice but to keep Ding Mengfei.
Zhou Jingan was there to persuade the director otherwise.
What surprised Wei Zhiqian’s personal a.s.sistant was that Director Liu had already made the decision before he could even say anything.
“She almost ruined the whole production just because of some personal feud. Even if I found a way to calm her down now, she could still do something similar once she feels like she wasn’t getting what she wanted from the drama. Rather than keeping a ticking time bomb with us, I would rather have her gone this instant,” Director Liu said, and turned to his a.s.sistant. “Song, go and get Jinqi a list of actors. Find some who are suitable to replace Ding Mengfei and contact them to see if any of them are free and are willing to take on the role. It shouldn’t be hard to replace her since she doesn’t have much screen time.”
“All right, yes, sir,” Song and Tan Jinqi replied simultaneously.
“I’ll go talk to Ding Mengfei and that manager of hers personally tomorrow.” The director then sighed, angry at these two people for causing him so much trouble.
He was fortunate enough to have Tan Mo and Tan Jinqi by his side. It was because of them that he could get support from TanYue and Wei Zhiqian, or else this drama would have had to go into the trash by now.
The director was completely beat. He couldn’t believe that he would have run into so many problems just a few days into the shooting process.
…
When Director Liu arrived at the studio the next morning, he spotted Ding Mengfei in the dressing room getting her hair done.
“Ms. Ding, can you spare me a minute please. I have something to talk to you about,” Director Liu said. He’d decided that he would at least not embarra.s.s the actress in front of everyone else.
Ding Mengfei got up with an anxious expression since she knew that she’d done something that she shouldn’t have done. However, her expression quickly returned to normal as she was sure that no one would be able to find out what she had done.
She was confident in the people that her manager had contacted to keep her ident.i.ty a secret as that was a part of their job. If they were to expose their sources’ ident.i.ties, no one would dare to contact them again.
Ding Mengfei kept telling herself to calm down and tricked herself into thinking that the director wanted to talk to her about her screen time.
With her mind set, Ding Mengfei followed Director Liu to a break room.
When she entered the room, she was surprised to see her manager in there as well.
“L…Lin?” Ding Mengfei’s heart began to race once again.
Song was there as well. As for Tan Jinqi, he was filling in for Director Liu as the latter was settling the problem with Ding Mengfei.
Keeping Tan Jinqi away from the actress was probably a good idea as well since she might make a scene if he was there.
“The reason I called you both here is because I found out who leaked information concerning this production,” Director Liu explained.
Ding Mengfei’s heart immediately skipped a beat.
“Oh? Really? Who did it?” Lin asked as she acted innocent. “But, then again, why are you telling us this?”
“Ms. Lin, a smart person knows when to drop the act. There’s no use hiding it anymore.” The director sighed. He didn’t bring the evidence out since those were things that could ruin Ding Mengfei and Lin’s futures. He didn’t want to cause any more damage than had already been done. “Did you really think I wouldn’t find out who leaked the information? Ms. Ding, I’m still showing you respect now, and I don’t want to embarra.s.s you, but I hope you can withdraw from this drama of your own accord. I don’t care what you tell the press about the reason, and it can be an injury or that you can’t work well with one of your co-stars. You decide. I’m giving you a chance to leave without ruining your name.”
“D…director, there must be some misunderstanding here…” Lin continued to struggle.
“There’s no misunderstanding here. Do you think I would talk to both of you if I didn’t have any concrete evidence? If you don’t withdraw by yourself, I’ll just put the evidence online using my own account. I’m still confident of the impact that I have among the netizens. Let me ask you this, what happens if a director accuses one of their actors of misconduct?” Director Liu scoffed. “Even a normal director could ruin an actor’s career by doing that. What do you think will happen if a director of my caliber does that? Do you want the name Ding Mengfei to disappear from the entertainment business forever?
Director Liu paused and continued, “Ms. Ding, you might think that a director might not be able to do anything to you, so you went all out, but have you ever thought what would happen if you offended Journey Films? Do you think they’ll just let this slide? If they learn about this, they’ll forever ban you from entering the entertainment scene again.”
Ding Mengfei’s face was now as pale as a ghost.
She knew the consequences of what she had done, but she never thought people would ever find out as she had been doing the same thing over and over again ever since she decided to become a celebrity.
She’d never thought that this time would be her downfall.