novelPut on Airs
| ← Ch.0745 | Ch.0747 → |
Lin Momo sighed, "I want to make an advertisement for Lin's Jewelry to enhance its influence, so I invited a superstar when I was still in Shanghai. But it hasn't been made yet."
"So I had to stay in Shanghai a few more days and did not get here on time."
Qin Haodong asked, "Why? Is it troublesome to make an advertisement? We can just put more money into it."
"It's quite simple to make an advertisement, but the superstar is annoying. We've already fixed a time, but he always changes it because he was too busy and has a tight schedule. It's obvious that he doesn't take our advertisement seriously."
"I just received a call from his agent, saying that he is available at nine o'clock tonight. So we made an appointment to make the advertisement today at Screen City."
Qin Haodong frowned with dissatisfaction. He had heard that some stars liked to put on airs, but he always thought that these things had nothing to do with him. But he actually met one of them today.
"It's not safe for you to be alone at night. I'll go with you."
Then he got in the car with Lin Momo and headed to Screen City.
Lin Momo was very happy to have Qin Haodong with her.
She was busy with her work and had not yet broken through the bottleneck of the Holy Stage, but she was a ninth-level grand master and no one dared to hurt her. She knew that Qin Haodong was just making an excuse to stay with her.
After getting in the car, Qin Haodong asked, "He's so annoying. Why do we have to invite him? Can we just ask someone else to make the advertisement? After all, the payment is the same and we can work with someone more approachable."
Lin Momo explained, "The main character in our advertisement is a swordsman who gets a piece of jewelry from the Lin's Group after a fierce fight. And then he gives it to his lover."
"In order to get the best results, we need a famous martial arts star. Tong Shaowu is our best choice."
"In fact, nearly all the famous stars are the same as Tong Shaowu and they just like to put on airs. So if we invite someone else, we might just be wasting time. It is better to work with Tong."
"He has changed our appointment so many times and I guess we can finish it this time. After all, he won't want to miss the opportunity of making money."
Qin Haodong nodded. He also knew about Tong Shaowu since he had watched this man's film in the dormitory.
He was not practicing martial arts at that time, so he thought Tong Shaowu was a good practitioner. But as a warrior, he realized that Tong's moves were quite useless during combat situations.
They drove to Screen City and chatted with each other along the way.
Although it was already late at night, the whole of Screen City was still crowded. Many crew members were working overtime here to shoot movies.
It was Qin Haodong's first time to visit this place. He looked around and saw many stars whom he only saw on TV.
When they arrived at the filming site, the studio had already been set up. They walked inside and found that the background, curtains, lights and cameras were all ready.
A middle-aged man wearing a cap and sporting a thick beard was talking with two prop people. He was wearing a green vest that had a lot of pockets. Obviously, this man was the director.
He found it quite interesting that all the directors dressed in the same way. He wondered if this was the rules or something else.
"Oh, Miss Lin, welcome here!"
At the sight of Lin Momo, the bearded director immediately came over and greeted them politely.
"Let me make an introduction. This is Director Xue. This is my boyfriend Qin Haodong, a major shareholder of our Lin's Jewelry. He is my boss."
Xue Kui, the director, was quite surprised when he heard that Qin Haodong was the boss of Lin's Group. Then he quickly stepped forward and shook hands with Qin Haodong."Mr. Qin, you are really a promising young man!"
Qin Haodong also greeted him politely and then asked, "Hasn't Tong Shaowu come yet?"
"He's coming. You know, the traffic jam here is quite bad and he might be a little late."
Director Xue was a nice man. He didn't put on any airs at all. He asked his assistant to bring a few stools and poured a cup of coffee for Qin Haodong and Lin Momo.
Maybe all directors were that talkative. Xue Kui, Qin Haodong and Lin Momo sat together and talked. Time flew by and more than half an hour had passed.
Qin Haodong checked the time and found that it was already 9:30. They had arranged to meet at 9 o'clock, but Tong Shaowu had not shown up yet.
Qin Haodong frowned in anger. This man had changed the schedules many times and they finally managed to find a suitable time. But now he was late again. How dare he?
Director Xue was quite discerning and he noticed Qin Haodong's dissatisfaction. So he quickly took the script from his assistant and said, "Mr. Qin, is this the first time you are here? I can explain the script to you and I'd like to get some advice and see if there's anything wrong with the story."
Qin Haodong knew that the director was also in a dilemma. So he tried to control his anger and let the director explain the story. By then, another hour had already passed.
He said, "Director Xue, could you please make a phone call and ask them when they will arrive?"
"Okay, Mr. Qin. I'll call him now."
Qin Haodong was the investor's boss and Xue Kui did not dare to offend him. He immediately called Tong Shaowu's assistant.
Two minutes later, he came over and said with a big smile, "Mr. Qin, please wait for a moment. Mr. Tong's assistant said that they were stuck in traffic."
Qin Haodong did not know what to say now. Although the traffic jam in the capital was bad, it was already late at night and there was no hold-up when he and Lin Momo came here. Now two hours had passed. How could there be a traffic jam?
But Xue Kui looked quite embarrassed and he had also made the phone call. Qin Haodong did not say anything else and thought that they might arrive after a while.
However, more than an hour passed and it was already midnight. They had drunk several cups of coffee but Tong still had not shown up.
Qin Haodong completely lost his patience. He put down the coffee cup and said to Xue Kui, "Director Xue, call him again to see what's going on."
Xue Kui also thought that they had waited too long. He called the assistant once again.
As soon as Director Xue got through, Qin Haodong took the phone from him and said, "I am your investor and I'll wait for another half an hour. If you don't arrive at Screen City within half an hour, the contract will be officially terminated."
Then he directly hung up and gave the mobile phone back to Xue Kui.
Tong Shaowu was a superstar, but Qin Haodong did not want to humor him. If Tong did not arrive on time, he would terminate the contract and invite someone else.
Xue Kui did not expect that Qin Haodong, who looked gentle and polite, to have such a hot temper.
He took the mobile phone, hesitated for a moment and then said, "Mr. Qin, Tong Shaowu has signed up with a film company recently and the boss has an impressive social background. Please don't make things difficult for him when he comes."
"Do you know who the boss is?"
Anyway, it was boring to wait, so Qin Haodong asked out of curiosity.
He wanted to know who the boss was and why Tong Shaowu could be so arrogant and did not even take investors seriously.
Xue Kui said, "Well, I don't know that. You know, I'm just an insignificant director and don't know much about the inside story. I just heard that his new company—the Dongsheng Film Company—has a strong backer."
"I see."
Qin Haodong responded casually and did not take his words seriously. Even the Seven Great Families in the capital were under his command now and he did not care who the backer was.
The phone call was effective. In less than half an hour, a young man in his thirties walked in. The workers in the studio could smell the strong alcohol on his breath before he even came up close.
This man was Tong Shaowu. He stumbled along the way and would definitely have fallen without the help of his assistant.
"I'm only a few minutes late. Why do you have to call me all the time? Don't you want to work in the entertainment circle?"
Tong Shaowu vented his anger with dissatisfaction and the smell of alcohol grew even stronger as he spoke.
Xue Kui immediately said with a smile, "Boss Tong, please don't be angry. Let's finish the work as soon as possible and you can also go back and have a rest."
Tong Shaowu should have accepted this and started work, but he did not take the director's advice. He turned to look at Lin Momo and said, "Girl, you're the investor, but so what? I'm just a few minutes late and why are you urging me all the time?"
Lin Momo's schedule had been changed several times and she had finally managed to fix a time with Tong Shaowu. But this man was drunk when they were ready to shoot the advertisement.
She said coldly, "Mr. Tong, according to the contract, we should have finished filming a long time ago. You changed the schedule several times and even got drunk today. Do you think you can finish the work?"
Hearing Lin Momo questioning him, Tong Shaowu immediately lost his temper and shouted angrily, "It's none of your business. I have a lot of friends here in the capital and I love drinking with them!"
The contradiction between them seemed to have intensified. Xue Kui immediately stepped forward to stop them, "Please, let's calm down and not get angry. Please don't argue with each other. Since Mr. Tong is here, let's get started and finish the work!"
He was just an unknown director and it was particularly difficult for him to resolve the contradictions between the big stars and investors. He could not afford to offend any of them.
Lin Momo said angrily, "Look at him. He's dead drunk. Can he still work now?"
Tong Shaowu's face was bright red and he was completely drunk.
Xue Kui said, "Trust me, he can work now. I'll ask the make-up artist to do his face carefully. It won't affect the shooting."
There was nothing they could do now. Lin Momo snorted and did not say anything more.
But Tong Shaowu cried again, "Hurry up and don't waste my time! You only have half an hour. I'll go back to sleep whether you finish it or not."
"What? Half an hour? That's not enough! You should be working for three hours according to the contract!"
Lin Momo could not control her anger now. Half an hour was not even enough for them to put on his makeup.
"The contract? That doesn't work for me and I don't care about it!" Although Tong Shaowu was drunk, he was still arrogant."I'm telling you, I will only work for half an hour!"
He staggered forward while speaking and suddenly noticed Lin Momo's beautiful face.
"Hey girl, I didn't expect you to be so beautiful. If you agree to have sex with me tonight, I can work for you for three hours..."
Before he could finish his words, he suddenly felt someone grabbing him by the collar. Then he flew up and fell to the ground with a bang.
Qin Haodong had hoped to leave the affairs to Lin Momo, but this guy was too irritating. He had to teach him a lesson today.
Tong Shaowu felt dizzy and did not know what had happened. He struggled to stand up and shouted, "Who is it? Who dares to beat me?"
Xue Kui was stunned. He did not expect that this gentle young man would suddenly beat up Tong Shaowu. And he seemed to be good at martial arts. Tong Shaowu was famous for his fight scenes and he was very strong. He weighed at least 85 kilograms.
But Qin Haodong dumped him on the ground so easily as if he was a mere plastic bag.
"Mr. Qin, please calm down. Boss Dong is drunk today, please don't be angry with him..."
Qin Haodong sneered, "Is he drunk now? Well, I'll help to sober him up."
| ← Ch. 0745 | Ch. 0747 → |