Chapter 219 - Unwilling To Pair Up
At that time, he had worked hard in the entertainment industry and didn"t have much income. However, Li Juekai had given up his ident.i.ty as the young master of the Li family and gone through a few ups and downs just to act in a good movie.
However, for the sake of the Li family"s business, he had had no choice but to retreat and return home to help the Li family out of their predicament. Then, something happened to his leg…
How could Gu Qingqing not feel sorry for her husband? What had happened over the years had limited his life.
Seeing that he refused to eat, Gu Qingqing said, "s.h.i.+ Jin is coming soon."
"Bring the food over. I"ll eat first," Li Juekai said immediately.
He didn"t want his daughter to worry.
Gu Qingqing laughed. "Alright, after my daughter came back, I guess I lost any influence I had."
"My wife is also very important." Li Juekai reached out to hold her hand.
When s.h.i.+ Jin came in, she saw her parents talking intimately.
Gu Qingqing felt a little embarra.s.sed in front of her daughter. She retracted her hand and called out to s.h.i.+ Jin. "s.h.i.+ Jin, come over quickly. Have some soup with your father."
s.h.i.+ Jin sat down to drink the soup and asked about Li Juekai"s condition.
Happiness was written over Li Juekai"s thick eyebrows. "Very good. The situation has always been good."
"I"ll give you some more acupuncture," said s.h.i.+ Jin.
Gu Qingqing immediately helped to lift the blanket and support Li Juekai.
The two of them cooperated with s.h.i.+ Jin. They would do whatever she wanted. Even if it didn"t have any effect, it would be fine as long as their daughter was happy.
When s.h.i.+ Jin was performing the acupuncture, she saw the script that Li Juekai was hiding under the pillow.
She smiled. "I guess I won"t have to give a part to my father for a while."
When she was performing the acupuncture, she said slowly, "It should be fine if you take care of yourself. Dad, you have to have confidence in yourself."
"I do." Although Li Juekai had regrets regarding his career now, with his children by his side, his regrets were shrinking.
Not everyone was as lucky as him to have such good children and family.
s.h.i.+ Jin put away the needle and said gently, "Rest well then. If you feel anything in your legs, tell Big Brother immediately."
She walked out and happened to see Gu Jingyuan, who was wearing a white coat, walking by hurriedly.
Recently, Gu Jingyuan had also been very busy.
When they found out that he had returned to China, many wealthy and powerful people had come to him just to get a diagnosis. Even though some of them had illnesses, ordinary doctors were skilled enough to deal with them, but these people had both money and power. They valued their lives more than anything else.
Gu Jingyuan"s schedule was packed everyday.
Even so, Gu Jingyuan still insisted on staying in the hospital for at least half a day to consult and treat ordinary patients.
This was the benevolence of a doctor. He studied medicine not only for the sake of money, but also for the sake of power.
s.h.i.+ Jin had always admired her brother for this.
When he saw s.h.i.+ Jin, Gu Jingyuan stopped in his tracks. An extremely faint smile appeared on his righteous features before he quickly retracted it.
He knew that s.h.i.+ Jin had never been able to fully acknowledge him as his big brother. He had been responsible for leaving her behind all those years ago. He had spent three months preparing for an important exam and had missed the chance to pick her up, and he was behind his father"s injury. He only hoped that s.h.i.+ Jin would accept his care now.
"Brother." s.h.i.+ Jin walked over. "Please pay more attention to Dad"s leg injury tonight."
Gu Jingyuan took a deep look at s.h.i.+ Jin. He also predicted that Li Juekai"s leg injury would improve tonight, but he was still surprised that s.h.i.+ Jin could predict it too.
He nodded. "I will."
s.h.i.+ Jin saw that he was holding an ancient Chinese medicine book in his hands and her gaze fell on it for a few seconds.
Gu Jingyuan didn"t manage to hide it in time and looked a little uncomfortable. "It"s not mine. It"s for my colleagues."
"If your colleague is still interested, I have a few good books. I"ll bring them to you in two days."
"Mm…" Gu Jingyuan"s tongue touched his teeth. "Let me ask my friend first. "
"Alright, I"ll leave first." s.h.i.+ Jin turned around and left.
Gu Jingyuan saw that she was wearing a bracelet on her wrist. It looked rather familiar.
He thought about it and remembered that it was a gift for s.h.i.+ Jin the last time he hurt her ear.
At that time, she had said that she would never accept this gift. The entire box had fallen to the ground and shattered into pieces. He was injured and had no time to care about the gift, but s.h.i.+ Jin was wearing that bracelet now?
Gu Jingyuan pursed his lips slightly. "s.h.i.+ Jin!"
s.h.i.+ Jin turned around. When she faced her brother, her usually calm face had a sincere smile. "Yes?"
Gu Jingyuan shook his head. "Nothing."
s.h.i.+ Jin retracted her gaze and continued walking out.
***
After "Sing My Life" went viral, Jinxin"s script, "Burning Sun, Long Sky", attracted many investors.
Quite a number of actors were also doing business and planning to take part in this production.
The most desperate ones were Chu Ling and Wen Yaoming.
After Chu Ling plagiarized from Xia Peifeng, his reputation had been tarnished. Even though few people brought this up now, it was not easy to remove the mark on him.
He was very eager to use a good work to consolidate his character profile and stabilize his fans.
There was no need to mention Wen Yaoming. He had acted in "Sing My Life" before and had a powerful family background. There was no reason for him to be indifferent to such a huge potential boon.
Liu Ning was the first to get the script. Since the funders couldn"t find Jinxin, they naturally placed their attention on him.
The compet.i.tion was intense. Liu Ning decided to hold a press conference to publicly prepare for the filming of this movie.
At the press conference, he naturally invited s.h.i.+ Jin over as well. "s.h.i.+ Jin, I think you still have the right to decide what role you want to use. Didn"t you choose "Sing My Life" the last time?"
"At that time, no one was acting, so I had to go out personally to find them. I"m afraid things will be different this time," s.h.i.+ Jin said.
"There are indeed a few companies that are planning to invest a large sum of money in sending their artistes over. For example, the Xiuli Entertainment company that Chu Ling is in, the Wen family that Wen Yaoming is in, and a few well-known TV series actors, w.a.n.g Lei, Yu Li, and so on. They are all fighting for it." Liu Ning was already dazzled.
As a producer, he had never been so busy before.
s.h.i.+ Jin said calmly, "I wrote this script for Li Juekai."
There was no need to talk about the others. It was normal for them to fight for it.
Who cared about Chu Ling? s.h.i.+ Jin couldn"t think of any role suitable for Chu Ling.
"Li Juekai?" Liu Ning looked surprised and happy.
***
This was supposed to be a press conference for the new movie, but it was actually just a c.o.c.ktail party to give everyone a chance to interact and fight for their own rights.
At the press conference, Wen Yongwei arrived. She was here to fight for the chance to play the theme song of "Burning Sun, Long Sky".
She and Wen Yaoming held their wine gla.s.ses and had just taken a sip when they saw s.h.i.+ Jin talking to Liu Ning.
Wen Yongwei"s heart skipped a beat. Had s.h.i.+ Jin already settled Liu Ning?
Wen Yaoming saw through her thoughts and said, "Liu Ning isn"t someone who can be moved by money and beauty. We still have a chance."
Wen Yongwei smiled calmly. "I also think that we should fight for it with our own strength."
"Yes." Wen Yaoming agreed.
It was precisely because Liu Ning wasn"t an easily swayed person that even though the Wen Family had decided to invest in this movie, they were only fighting for the supporting role for Wen Yaoming, not the main character.
The road had to be taken one step at a time.
As the two were talking, they heard someone say in a low voice, "Chu Ling is here!"
As a top idol, Chu Ling naturally had extraordinary popularity. Even if his popularity was damaged, his status as a top celebrity was not something ordinary people could compare to. His arrival still caused a small ripple.
Wen Yongwei and Wen Yaoming looked at him and saw that he was wearing a custom-made suit. He looked very humble, and there was a man in his forties accompanying him.
"It"s Jin Sui!"
"The new Best Actor of the Changning Film Festival!"
Everyone recognized the man. He was Jin Sui, the new Best Actor at the Changning Film Festival.
Jin Sui"s acting skills were outstanding. When it came to his acting career, it was not an exaggeration to say that he was the eldest brother of Xiuli Entertainment.
When he came with Chu Ling, some people understood that Xiuli Entertainment was planning to send a Best Actor to fight for the role of "Burning Sun, Long Sky" in order to give Chu Ling a chance to join the cast.
This was more touching than investing a large sum of money or giving Liu Ning a beauty or two to work with.
With Jin Sui accompanying him, even if Chu Ling didn"t have any experience, he would still be trained by Jin Sui, right?
She wondered how Xiuli Entertainment was going to a.s.sign Jin Sui and Chu Ling their roles.
Even Wen Yaoming broke out in a cold sweat. How could the Wen Family"s investment compare to the Xiuli Entertainment"s huge spending? They would directly use the Best Actor award in a trade for Chu Ling"s resources!
The moment Jin Sui and Chu Ling walked in, many people went up to greet them.
Currently, one of them was the Best Actor, while the other was a top celebrity. Naturally, the attention they attracted was self-evident.
Chu Ling greeted them with a nod. He had a smile on his handsome face which showed a hint of estrangement as well as the politeness of a junior. He knew his limits well.
Although Liu Ning didn"t think that Chu Ling had a suitable character, he still went up to greet Jin Sui and Chu Ling.
"Best Actor Jin, Chu Ling! Thank you for coming to support us!" Liu Ning came forward to greet them.
"Producer Liu, why do you call me that? It"s too much. I still remember that my first movie was a collaboration with you," Jin Sui said in a humorous tone. He also mentioned his relations.h.i.+p with Liu Ning.
Liu Ning"s smile widened. "Hahaha, that"s ancient history. I didn"t expect you to remember."
Chu Ling smiled at the two of them. He glanced and saw s.h.i.+ Jin standing not far away.
She was still wearing the same white s.h.i.+rt and washed-out jeans as before. It was a simple outfit, but it was extremely outstanding, as if the clothes were specially made for her.
She was holding a gla.s.s of red wine and looked distant and calm. Her bright eyes were filled with the lights of the press conference, making her look even more dazzling.
For some reason, Chu Ling"s heart skipped a beat.
It was just like he first remembered. He heard the elders on both sides jokingly say that he and s.h.i.+ Jin were engaged and that they would get married when they grew up.
It had been a long time since he felt this way, especially after getting to know s.h.i.+ Xuexin, but at this moment, this feeling was a little sweet.
"What is s.h.i.+ Jin doing here?" This question surfaced in Chu Ling"s mind.
Naturally, he knew that since s.h.i.+ Jin had already debuted, she would definitely come to such an occasion to look for opportunities to work together, but why here and not somewhere else?
An idea popped into his head. "Is s.h.i.+ Jin here to see me?"
Once this thought appeared in his mind, he could not shake it off.
"Chu Ling, the roles for Producer Liu"s new movie haven"t been decided yet. Aren"t you going to give Producer Liu a toast and then find some time to talk about the role?" Jin Sui"s words pulled Chu Ling back from his thoughts.
Chu Ling immediately controlled his expression with the most proficient movements and said to Liu Ning, "I shall. If I can work with Producer Liu, it will be my greatest honor."
Liu Ning glanced at s.h.i.+ Jin and said, "An outstanding young man like Chu Ling would definitely not be willing to be a partner, right?"
Jin Sui and Chu Ling were elated. Did Liu Ning mean to let Jin Sui be the main lead?
Actually, it was a very good choice for Jin Sui to be the main lead and Chu Ling to be Jin Sui"s partner.
Jin Sui was capable and held awards. If he were the main lead, the market would definitely not have any objections.
As a junior in the same company as Jin Sui, Chu Ling was a match for him. The outside world would only say that Chu Ling respected his seniors and learned humbly from them. It was a beautiful story for both of them.
Chu Ling didn"t want to be a match, but he didn"t want to be paired with anyone outside the company.
Chu Ling immediately said humbly, "There are no big or small roles. All roles are necessary in movies. It"s my honor as a junior."
He looked at Jin Sui and said with a smile, "Senior Jin, if I could be your partner, it would be worth a thousand gold coins."
"Hahaha, Chu Ling, you are too modest." Jin Sui smiled and agreed.
"I"m telling the truth. You have acted in countless outstanding productions and is the undisputed Best Actor of the Changning Film Festival. In terms of movies and acting skills, I"m still far from you," Chu Ling said sincerely, hiding his arrogance.
After the plagiarism incident, he had indeed restrained his arrogance.
Jin Sui patted his shoulder. "As long as young people like you are willing to learn, sooner or later, they will be able to defeat us."
Judging from their expressions, it seemed that they had decided that it was time for them to take part in the movie.
Wen Yaoming had been paying close attention to the situation. Hearing this, he stepped forward and said, "Best Actor Jin and Chu Ling are really good partners. However, I wonder if there are two suitable roles in "Burning Sun, Long Sky" for them?"
Jin Sui and Chu Ling couldn"t help but look at Wen Yaoming.