Chapter 144: Cooperation Matters, And The Film Queen’s Appearance

“Who was the person that walked in with you just now?” On set, Xiao Yun asked Gu Xiqiao in front of the vanity mirror.

Gu Xiqiao rubbed her chin as she thought about it. “I don’t really know.” For some reason, that person acted as if they were already acquaintances.

Xiao Yun stared at Gu Xiqiao coolly. “You don’t know who he is and yet he smiled at you like that?”

“I’m pretty confused too.” Gu Xiqiao picked up the script laying by Xiao Yun’s hands. On it, each line was highlighted in different colors, an indication of how hard Xiao Yun was actually working.

“But I do know who the person by his side was.” Xiao Yun recalled the peculiar look in Gu Xiqiao’s eyes. “That person was Qin Heng, a secretary working for Tang Enterprise. Besides the president, he’s the one making the calls in their business.

Gu Xiqiao flipped through a few pages of the script before returning it to Xiao Yun. “Have you become dumb or something? Apart from the president, is there anyone else he would treat with so much respect?”

Xiao Yun’s senses suddenly returned to her. “Then h-h-h-he’s… the boss of Tang Enterprise? Our boss?”

Gu Xiqiao of course, was not going to answer such a retarded question.

Tang Qingqiu’s arrival instilled cautiousness throughout the entire film crew. Because of Qin Heng, many of them had a rough idea of who this man actually was. The Tangs were a secretive bunch and this was their first time seeing the man behind the scenes, and a young man at that!

“Why do you only have your assistant here? What about your agent?” Gu Xiqiao scanned around the room to find no signs of Xiang Kun anywhere. What a bother. She had already bribed him but his performance at the job was way too crappy for what she paid.

Gu Xiqiao’s fingers twitched. She started wondering if she should retrieve the obsidian beads right now?!

“Mr. Xiang’s went over to welcome the Film Queen’s arrival.” Xiao Yun’s eyes lit up with anticipation. “Song Guanjing, you know her? She’s the female lead of this film. I’ve only seen her on the TV screen. Wonder what she looks like in real life.”

Song Guanjing debuted at the same time as Li Yu. She, too, once worked under Xiang Kun. As it has been a while since they last met, Xiang Kun was given the task to welcome her back to the country this time.

A new thought popped into Xiao Yun’s mind. “Say, you think that guy from Tang Enterprise is here to meet Song Guanjing?” The more she thought about it, the higher the likelihood that she was right.

Many of the people working here thought the same thing too. The president could have come here at any point in time but why specifically today? He must be here to see the film queen himself; there must be something going on in the dark between them.

Xixi flew off from Gu Xiqiao’s shoulders, as the film crew continued chasing it enthusiastically.

If he wanted to meet Song Guanjing, wasn’t meeting her at the airport much easier? Why did he choose to do it on the set? This, Gu Xiqiao felt, was a clear indication that he wasn’t here for that reason.

“Xiao Yun, your scene’s coming up. Chop chop!” One of the crew members pulled open the dressing room’s door to hurry her.

Gu Xiqiao went with Xiao Yun to the set. She observed the filming process before leaving to find Cheng Zhou. This was her main objective for being here today. She wanted to sell the services of post-production by a bunch of great gods from Nine Heavens to the director.

Tang Qingqiu was conversing with Cheng Zhou when she approached them.

Tang Qingqiu had an air of elegance around him. It was obvious that Cheng Zhou was behaving unnaturally while speaking to him. His hands were stiff, making the director stick out of the scene awkwardly like a sore thumb. There were lots of nobles with whom the director had interactions with in the past and this case should not be any different either. This was where the oddity was found.

Fortunately, the president’s eyes were locked onto the cameras and he didn’t talk a lot in the conversation. This made Cheng Zhou feel slightly better.

Although Tang Qingqiu was the biggest partner of this film project, Cheng Zhou never expected to meet with the man himself throughout the entire process. After all, the president was notoriously secretive. He kept a low-profile, appearing rarely in mass media. In fact, this was the director’s first time meeting Tang Qingqiu in person. Apart from fear, Cheng Zhou also felt a sense of disbelief.

“Miss Gu.” Tang Qingqiu was surprised to see Gu Xiqiao approach them.

Perhaps it was the way he spoke, or the way he reacted but Cheng Zhou noticed a stark difference in how Tang Qingqiu interacted with Gu Xiqiao and himself. For some reason, he was much more respectful when addressing Gu Xiqiao.

‘Wait, did my senses get messed up?’ thought Cheng Zhou to himself in the dark.

Cheng Zhou was already able to sense this difference in attitude, what more to say of Qin Heng, who had worked with Tang Qingqiu for the past decade. He suspiciously eyed his own boss before turning to look at Gu Xiqiao. Something set her apart from any other person. This was the first person he had seen Tang Qingqiu acting so friendly towards someone. It was almost as if he was kissing up to her?

“Nice to meet you,” said Gu Xiqiao once more.

She had said the same exact words back at the entrance to the film site. However, why did he know her name?

Tang Qingqiu was deep in thought for a moment before he replied with a dead serious expression, “Pleasure to meet you for the first time. My surname’s Tang. I’m Tang Qingqiu.”

Qin Heng was shocked upon hearing his boss say that. The outside world only knew of Tang Enterprise, not who it belonged to. Tang Qingqiu was quite an arrogant person. This was his first time seeing him reveal his name in front of a stranger. Even in front of his own employees, bringing up the name ‘Tang Qingqiu’ was a rare occasion.

Which begs the question, just who was this girl standing in front of him?

‘Tang Qingqiu? Why does that sound so familiar?’

A transparent board materialized in front of Gu Xiqiao’s eyes, on which was displayed every bit of information the system could find about Tang Qingqiu.

Gu Xiqiao then warmed up to him by directing a smile at him. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Tang.”

He was Tang Qinghong’s brother, Yin Shaoyuan’s cousin, and Tang Yanling’s nephew.

Though, Gu Xiqiao speculated that Tang Qingqiu must not know about her relationship with Tang Yanling. So why did he know who she was?

“Director Cheng, I’ve something to tell you,” said Gu Xiqiao to Cheng Zhou.

Tang Qingqiu responded swiftly. “Well then, I’ll leave you and Miss Gu to speak alone. I’m going to head out and take a look at things around here.”

This confirmed Qin Heng’s suspicion that the boss was treating this girl differently from any other person.

“Boss, you know who this Miss Gu is?”

“Know?” Tang Qingqiu searched his mind for a while. “Not exactly. But, I have been her admirer for quite a while now. As expected, she was just like what the rumours had alleged.”

The aura that she emanated was definitely imposing, especially her mental strength. The only other person comparable to her was Jiang Shuxuan.

Qin Heng was thoroughly shocked upon hearing what his boss had said. He was perfectly aware of Tang Qingqiu’s unusual identity. Back then, while their company was still in its infancy, he and Tang Qingqiu had met with many state leaders and administrators. Surprisingly, these men treated Tang Qingqiu with incredible respect, which was also why Qin Heng had stayed so loyal to the company.

Never has it crossed his mind that Tang Qingqiu would treat another girl with so much respect. He even said he was an ‘admirer’ of her.

Qin Heng looked back at the young girl who was speaking to the director.

‘Seems like another person I can’t afford to offend in the future,’ thought Qin Heng to himself.

Suddenly, the phone in his pocket started ringing. Qin Heng glanced at the caller ID before walking over to one side to pick up the call.

His expression was dull but there was a deep sense of bitterness coming off of his body. It was so strong that even Tang Qingqiu picked up on it.

“Whose call is that? Why the long face?” Tang Qingqiu asked.

“It’s my assistant. Apparently, Bai Enterprise has just announced their bankruptcy.” Qin Heng’s voice sounded as sober as it ever gets.

He felt reluctant when answering the boss’ question. Qin Heng recalled the bet he had made with Tang Qingqiu, and the seven-day vacation that he got for himself. It had only been a matter of hours and the Bai family was going bankrupt? Even giving birth wasn’t so quick right?

Tang Qingqiu’s head turned around. “They’re going bankrupt?” There was disbelief in his voice.

Although he knew that the person behind Nine Heavens was incredibly powerful, this speed was simply impossible, no? According to his estimation, it would take Nine Heavens at least one month to completely shatter the Bai family. That also included the time it would take to resolve issues they would face with acquiring sufficient financial capital.

He never expected to hear such news so soon from Qin Heng’s mouth.

“Yeah, Bai Ting is just a complete disappointment!” Qin Heng said bitterly. His seven-day vacation was gone. Also, how the hell did a family so large and well-established go bankrupt in such a short span of time? Where was their emergency funds? Where are the assets passed down by their ancestors?!

While he was frustrated, Qin Heng also realized how powerful Nine Heavens was. The Chen family’s downfall was expected but the Bai family? Who in the right mind would ever expect this to happen? Now that they were brought down, who else would dare to look down on this company?

Wasn’t it only an insignificant startup company? How did they manage to pull such a huge feat off? Qin Heng admitted to himself, the person calling the shots in this company was quite a powerful one. He wondered when in the future would this demon finally emerge from the dark.

“And you were so optimistic about trying to acquire Nine Heavens?” Tang Qingqiu thought back to Qin Heng’s pompous speech earlier in the morning. This was the perfect time to tease him about it, he thought.

Acquire Nine Heavens? Qin Heng shuddered. “No, I said that because I wasn’t aware of how powerful they were.”

His assistant had sent over a detailed report on the current situation. Qin Heng flipped through it for a while before telling Tang Qingqiu, “The one in charge of Nine Heavens is a master tactician. Their offensive against the Bai family was flawless. Although the Bai family was bankrupt, it had been structured so that anyone who is planning to predate on their assets would get utterly crushed by Nine Heavens itself.”

Bai Enterprise was a big fat goat. The goat might have died but its meat was still plenty edible. Everyone wanted a piece of its fatty meat and they were all looking at this incident unfold with keen eyes.

And yet, Nine Heavens has already issued a warning that they still possessed a mighty trump card. Whoever that dared to steal a piece of meat for themselves would be sent straight to jail.

Of course, no one knew whether this was true or not. But at this point, there was virtually no one who dared to challenge Nine Heavens’ authority. After all, the fight had just concluded with the Bai family’s complete annihilation. As such, no one truly dared to defy their warning.

“Boss, I don’t think it’s wise to declare Nine Heavens as the enemy,” said Qin Heng solemnly. “We can only join them as an ally.”

Be their enemy and you won’t even know who to look for after being destroyed.

Tang Qingqiu turned back to look at the set. “You can stop thinking about that now. You know how vicious their company is. You’re lucky enough to have escaped unscathed after what you’ve done against them. And now you’re still thinking about being their ally?”

“…”

‘Maybe he’s right?’ thought Qin Heng to himself.

“But…” Tang Qingqiu sighed helplessly. “I would really like to meet the person behind the scenes at Nine Heavens.”

Every move they made was well-calculated to further increase the capability of their company. You could drive them into a corner and they would turn the tide every time at the last second.

Qin Heng nodded his head. “Yeah, it’s hard to find someone who’s more mysterious than you.”

Although Tang Qingqiu was secretive, everyone knew who he was. His involvement in the entertainment industry was no longer a secret.

However, the leader of Nine Heavens had yet to reveal their face, what more to say of their identity, or whether they were a man or a woman. Nothing was known about who the puppetmaster was.

Only a wise old geezer could handle maintaining such a low-profile, thought Qin Heng.

***

Gu (Old) Xiqiao (Geezer) explained her inventions to Cheng Zhou. It took the director quite a while to react to her statement. “So you are offering to help find a post-production team?”

“Yeah. Aren’t you aiming for the film award at the end of November?” Gu Xiqiao smiled at him. “But filming would end by October at the earliest, no? You think you can still make it after adding post-production to the equation?”

This was a burning issue Cheng Zhou was facing right now. He did have a post-production team working for him but it would take him quite a while to get the final product right. That also included some major editing done to some of the scenes in his film.

If he was to release the film just in time for the awards, he would have to compensate by sacrificing the visual quality of the film.

He was incredibly excited when he heard Gu Xiqiao’s offer to find him a post-production team. However, he was a little skeptical when she said how amazing their work was. After all, it would take at least one to two years for even the most seasoned team to perfect a complete Hollywood blockbuster.

Just what could a team complete in a single month?

He tried to turn her down indirectly.

Gu Xiqiao still maintained that smile on her face. “Do you remember the surveillance footage I gave you a few days ago? Alright, I’ll be honest with you, after my friend infiltrated into the surveillance system of the filming site, we managed to restore the footage after locating it. Wouldn’t you want such a talented post-production team working for you, for free? Anyways, it’s just an alternative. If you’re not satisfied with their work, you could also use the post-production team you have working for you.”

Cheng Zhou was surprised after hearing Gu Xiqiao bring up the surveillance footage matter. “You’re saying they’ll do it for free?”

The post-production process for a film was no walk in the park. It involved picture splicing, adding realistic sound effects… also, they needed to pay attention to the effects used in the film overall. In short, a lot of effort goes into this and yet Gu Xiqiao’s saying that they’ll do all that free of charge?

“Free of charge?” Gu Xiqiao raised her brow. “Not really. The main objective is to bribe you.”

“Bribe me?” Cheng Zhou looked at Gu Xiqiao with a puzzled look on his face. He didn’t understand what she meant by the word ‘bribe’, nor did he understand why she said the word so calmly.

“Well, it’s like this Director Cheng. If you think you have any good projects coming up in the future, you have to get Xiao Yun to work for you. She’s a hard-working pretty girl, don’t you think?” Gu Xiqiao looked at Cheng Zhou with a genuine expression.

What would you feel when a moe-moe girl gives you this look?

Cheng Zhou thought to himself, ‘Crap, I’ve been defeated by moe power. That hit must’ve caused at least 10k HP in damage.’

“To tell you the truth… I was hoping that you would bribe me for your own sake.” Cheng Zhou’s thoughts were in line with Xiang Kun in this regard.

He was willing to give the newbie a try. He admired Xiao Yun’s abilities; even if Gu Xiqiao did not ask him to, he would undoubtedly still give her a shot at a successful career in acting. However, he did not feel like talking to Gu Xiqiao as of now.

In front of the camera lenses, it was like Gu Xiqiao’s purpose of being born into this world was to become an actress. Cheng Zhou was hurt when he realized that the bribe was for Xiao Yun and not herself. Cheng Zhou disappointedly waved his hand. “Fine, fine, I’ll send all the film clips to you in the end. You should go now.”

At this point, he didn’t feel like looking at her face too.

Gu Xiqiao glanced at Cheng Zhou. It didn’t seem like he took her post-production proposition seriously. This, she felt, made her heart ache.

Sigh. Hopefully, Yu Ning would impress the director with his editing skills.

Yu Ning, who had just received a deciphering route from Gu Xiqiao sneezed in his lab. He scratched his head.

‘Who’s thinking about me?’

Her main objective here was to tell the director about this. She felt that her offer would feel much more sincere if she was to give it in person. She waited for Xiao Yun’s scene to end before bidding her farewell.

Because the cutie pie of the set had arrived, Cheng Zhou made sure to add a couple of scenes with Xixi acting.

Its owner truly was born to act. Even her pet was a great actor. What’s more, the bird was far more enthusiastic in front of the camera than its owner. Cheng Zhou sighed with a dejected look on his face. He didn’t want to think about this matter anymore; his heart would only ache even more.

He added a lot of scenes for Gu Xiqiao and he had even promised to change the script to accommodate her character and yet, this lazy slob rejected his offer just because of her studies?! She was walking around town every day like a hobo and yet she dared to mention her studies?

Cheng Zhou felt depressed thinking about it.

‘Aren’t you a med student? Don’t think I don’t know about you secretly making oil paintings at home! If you’ve so much time to do that, why don’t you have the time to appear on camera for just a couple of minutes?’

And so, the wounded Cheng Zhou continued babbling on in his heart.

“Director Cheng, Guanjing has arrived.” The producer told him over the phone.

In an instant, everyone on set knew about Song Guanjing’s arrival.

***

“Boss, Miss Song is here.” Seeing Tang Qingqiu’s listless face, Qin Heng had to remind his boss about the situation.

“Oh,” responded Tang Qingqiu absent-mindedly. He was staring at the red bird that was flapping around in front of the cameras.

He had seen it perched on Gu Xiqiao’s shoulder just now. For some reason, the unique bird seemed familiar to him.

Just then, he recalled the divine beast, the Vermillion Bird that was recorded in ancient scripture!

He saw the Vermillion Bird flying in front of Gu Xiqiao, before she reached out to smack it gently with her pale, delicate hand.

Stop doing that girl! That’s the Vermillion Bird! Tang Qingqiu watched in horror as Gu Xiqiao nonchalantly smacked the bird down onto the ground.

The Vermillion Bird rarely made its appearance. It seems like Gu Xiqiao was its current owner. But why was she abusing it like that? Also, wasn’t it a sacred creature? He knew a great deal of people who would treat this bird like a precious gem, unlike Gu Xiqiao.

Wasn’t she afraid of angering the bird? The Vermillion Bird could spout enough fire in one breath to engulf the entire filming site in flames.

And yet, the Vermillion Bird didn’t seem to mind her abuse as it got up from the ground. In fact, it looked like it had already grown used to being abused by her. It flapped its wings and flew up to her shoulders, continuing to act like a cute little songbird.

Just like Qin Heng from before, Tang Qingqiu was dumbfounded. He finally understood how he felt back then.

***

Song Guanjing followed Xiang Kun into the filming site. She had been working in a fantasy blockbuster in America recently and had just landed back in her home country hours ago. She did not expect to see the boss, Tang Qingqiu so early on after coming back to China.

She couldn’t believe her eyes. She looked at Xiang Kun, recalling how her ex-agent was acquaintances with Tang Qingqiu.

Xiang Kun glanced back at her, then at the familiar figure of Tang Qingqiu. In an instant, his eyes lit up before he shuffled over excitedly.

“President Tang.” Xiang Kun could afford to ignore Tang Qingqiu but Song Guanjing could not.

She was lucky enough to meet with Tang Qingqiu a few times while working under Xiang Kun but of the times they met, he would always be cold and unapproachable. However, Song Guanjing acknowledged the difference in their social statuses and thus, did not want to forcefully approach him.

After all, he was way too influential for her own good.

Tang Qingqiu silently nodded at Song Guanjing as a greeting.

As the multi-purpose secretary, Qin Heng stepped in and spoke with Song Guanjing for a while, even asking her for an autograph for his daughter back home.

Song Guanjing did as requested before leaving to look for Xiang Kun. She wanted to ask just why did Xiang Kun ignore Tang Qingqiu like that.

“Miss Gu!” Because there was filming going on, Xiang Kun called out with a hushed voice. Song Guanjing eavesdropped on him. Apart from excitement, his voice sounded… respectful?

Song Guanjing was shocked. She knew that Xiang Kun stood toe-to-toe with Tang Qingqiu but for him to use honorifics, just who was this girl he was talking to?

She turned her head to see a face that was hard to describe using words alone. She had been working so long in the entertainment industry but she had never once laid eyes on such a pretty face before.

Her face was like white jade and her eyes, as clear as crystal, or like a breath of fresh air. She sparkled underneath the lights, appearing so beautiful that it hurt to stare at her directly.

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