LBC |Love Beyond Control/Chapter 24

Chapter 24

After resting for one night, the swelling on Xin Yuan’s face finally went down, but the wound along his jawline became even more obvious.

Luckily, Xin Yuan had no scenes that day. By the time he went to work the next day, a thin, shallow scab had already formed.

The makeup artist carefully spent a long time touching up the concealer before the marks were finally covered.

“Good morning, Xin Yuan laoshi～”

“You’re here, Xin Yuan laoshi. They’re still preparing inside, so please wait a little longer on our side.”

As soon as he arrived on set, several staff members who had never spoken to him before took the initiative to greet him. Xin Yuan nodded with slight confusion. Before he had even taken two steps forward, another wave of greetings came one after another.

Xin Yuan did not understand what was going on, but Xiao Nuan, standing beside him, straightened her back and waved back smugly the whole way.

“Xin Yuan laoshi, thank you for treating everyone to the buffet truck this week.”

Just then, the A group stage manager happened to walk over and said with a smile, “I’ve been in the crew for so many years, and this is the first time I’ve ever encountered such a luxurious food truck. You really spent a lot on us.”

…Food truck?

What food truck?

“Did you deliberately hide this from me just to anger Qiu Yu and arrange all this?”

Once they got to a place where no one else was around, Xin Yuan immediately grabbed Xiao Nuan and asked.

Xiao Nuan gave a careless “mm-hmm.” “Xiao Yuan ge, in a crew like this, it’s a place where people size others up and act accordingly. If you don’t put on some kind of show and build yourself up, even if there’s no Qiu Yu, sooner or later someone else will still bully us.”

Xin Yuan frowned, his expression making it impossible to tell whether he agreed or not. “…Then, how much money would all this cost?”

Xiao Nuan had not expected Xin Yuan to be concerned about that. “If it’s for one day, equipment fees plus ingredient costs, it’s probably around thirty to forty thousand.”

“So expensive!”

Xin Yuan’s eyes widened instantly. He shook his head. “No, no, at most you can treat everyone for two days. A whole week is too much.”

Xiao Nuan burst out laughing. “What are you thinking, Xiao Yuan ge? Of course this isn’t using your own money. The company will reimburse it in full, you don’t need to feel bad.”

The company’s money belonged to Xin Jianye, and the reimbursement approval had to go through Xiang Zhuifeng. Neither of those two looked like people willing to throw down several hundred thousand just to back him up on set.

“Stop overthinking,” Xiao Nuan patted her chest. “With me here, I won’t let you get bullied.”

Actually, when she sent the message to Xiang Zhuifeng that night to complain, Xiao Nuan herself had not been very sure.

Although Xiang Zhuifeng was Xin Yuan’s boss and seemed to treat Xin Yuan fairly well, she had been in the industry for so many years and had seen all kinds of people who were only good at putting on a show. If she were to say a boss truly treated an artist well, there really were not many.

She just had not expected that at eleven-thirty that night, only a few seconds after the message was sent, Xiang Zhuifeng would directly call back.

Xiao Nuan vividly recounted the entire process. At first she was still speaking very energetically, but after sensing that Xiang Zhuifeng’s pressure was getting lower and lower, she restrained herself a little.

“Qiu Yu borrowed the scene to vent his anger, deliberately slapped Xiao Yuan ge a few times and that was that, but he also hid razor blades in the gaps between his fingers. With one slash, the wound on Xiao Yuan ge’s face was still bleeding even by evening…”

Xiao Nuan held her breath, waiting for the other side’s reaction.

There was no response from the receiver for a long time, only a faint sound like paper being crumpled.

Several seconds passed. Just when Xiao Nuan was almost about to give up hope, she finally heard Xiang Zhuifeng say:

“Figuring out how to arrange things in the crew most appropriately should be something you know better than I do. Just report the necessary expenses to the company for reimbursement directly.”

Xiang Zhuifeng’s voice did not rise or fall at all, but for some reason Xiao Nuan got goosebumps all over her body. “Also, before I finish dealing with this matter, do not let any more accidents happen.”

Xin Yuan had originally had little appetite, but when he thought about the fact that several tens of thousands had already been spent, he still could not help going to the food truck and taking a pretty little cake, trying to trick himself into eating a bit.

The attempt to trick his mouth was only halfway through and not going smoothly when it was interrupted by a shout from behind.

“Xin Yuan, was it you who had someone do this?! Ah?!”

There were other staff members around the food truck, but Qiu Yu had already completely lost all sense of decorum. He gripped the script and pointed at Xin Yuan. “My scenes are clearly written in the script. No one even notified me of any changes last night, so why did they all get changed by the flying pages as soon as I arrived on set today?”

There was still a bit of cream on Xin Yuan’s mouth. His face was blank and innocent, which only made Qiu Yu even more furious. He rushed up, ready to tear apart that hypocritical face.

“Hey, can you be reasonable or not?!”

Xiao Nuan stepped forward at once and blocked Xin Yuan behind her. “You’ve been filming for so many years, don’t you even know that flying pages are changed by the screenwriter and director discussing it on the spot? If you have any objections, go find the screenwriter, go find Director Wang. What does this have to do with our Xin Yuan?”

Qiu Yu refused to accept it. “Then why didn’t they change so many scenes, why did they change the one I’m in specifically, and even gave all those highlight scenes to Xin Yuan?!”

Oh ho? Xiao Nuan was secretly delighted.

It seemed that Xiang Zhuifeng’s methods were even more powerful than she had imagined. He could even keep in check the forces behind Qiu Yu.

Thinking of that, her words grew even more confident. “Maybe this is filming a movie, not a magazine shoot. It’s useless just to have heavy makeup. You need good acting if you want more screen time.”

“You! You two—!!!” Qiu Yu’s eyes were red, and yet he could not spit out the next words for a long time.

Xin Yuan stiffened his body and silently swallowed the half piece of cake stuck in his throat, ready to pull Xiao Nuan and run at the first moment if Qiu Yu came to hit someone again.

But before Qiu Yu could really rush over, his assistant already wrapped both arms around Qiu Yu’s waist and softly tried to stop him:

“Qiu Qiu, did you forget what your brother said yesterday? Don’t have a direct conflict with him for now. There’s still plenty of time later, no need to rush this moment.”

After Xin Yuan slapped him back, Qiu Yu had been so angry that he did not sleep all night. He went home crying and making a scene, looking for his brother and insisting that his brother help him vent this bitter anger.

His brother could never stand it when he cried, and had already agreed to help him. Who knew that the next day he would suddenly change his mind again, saying that this seemingly inconspicuous Xin Yuan was actually the youngest son of the boss of Hanhai Group.

Their group had a project cooperation with Hanhai recently, and after grinding for a long time, they had only just officially finalized it.

Coincidentally, the project person in charge was also Xin Yuan’s company boss, Xiang Zhuifeng.

At a time like this, no matter how great the resentment, they absolutely could not make trouble and create extra complications.

As for the matter of suddenly being given extra scenes, Xin Yuan was also very puzzled.

According to Xiao Nuan’s explanation, it was simply because he performed well and Director Wang liked it, and the plot needed it. Otherwise, with such a big production, how could they possibly adjust things specifically for him alone.

Xin Yuan faintly felt it was not as simple as Xiao Nuan said, but he could not find any other reason to refute it.

Inside the crew, Xin Yuan began urgently preparing for the newly added scenes.

On the other side, in Hanhai Group’s office, Xiang Zhuifeng also did not have a single moment free.

He had just finished following up on a new project in the morning, and in the afternoon he immediately rushed to the court to handle the final trial of Lin Sheng’s lawsuit.

Because the contract involved in Lin Sheng’s case was very complicated, the originally planned half-day hearing was directly extended to continue the next day. By the time all the procedures were finished, it was already the evening of the second day.

Although the ruling still needed some time before it would come out, there was no doubt that Xiang Zhuifeng had handled another very beautiful job.

In the eyes of outsiders, Xiang Zhuifeng’s rise was fast to an unbelievable degree. Just a few months ago, he had only just graduated as a graduate student, and a few months later, he was specially approved by Xin Jianye and became the person in charge of an eight-figure project.

Only Xiang Zhuifeng himself knew how many times Xin Jianye had secretly tested him during this period, how many traps he had laid for him, and how much disgust and hatred he had to suppress while turning himself into a version even he hated, just to slowly gain the trust of that old fox Xin Jianye.

Every minute and every second of pretending by Xin Jianye’s side felt like being dismembered in hell.

Every time he thought of the truth beneath Xin Jianye’s feet, every time he thought of how Xin Jianye could erase another person’s life without effort, Xiang Zhuifeng wanted nothing more than to drag him to die together.

But Xiang Zhuifeng also knew clearly that anger alone, relying on a momentary impulse, would not change anything. Only by hiding longer and burying himself deeper could he get more useful chips.

The temples started throbbing with pain again. Xiang Zhuifeng sat in the car, rubbing his brow in irritation.

In half an hour, he still had to rush to a dinner banquet.

Qiu Yu’s brother, Qiu Xing, felt especially apologetic because of Qiu Yu’s matter.

To express his apology, Qiu Xing specially picked a day when the crew finished work early, and invited Xiang Zhuifeng, Producer Zhang, and Director Wang to have a casual meal as an apology.

Recalling the night Xin Yuan was injured, Xiang Zhuifeng had been suffering from a headache and insomnia, and was flipping through the only photo left behind by his grandmother and younger sister, when he suddenly received a message from Xiao Nuan.

Seeing those glaring bloodstains, Xiang Zhuifeng’s heart instinctively tightened for a second. But then he thought of how his grandmother and younger sister had fallen in a pool of blood, and he only felt endless mockery.

Xin Yuan had only suffered such a tiny, insignificant injury, and yet someone stood by his side to take care of him and worry about him.

But until the moment they died, no one had ever cared how desperate or afraid his grandmother and younger sister actually were.

Xiang Zhuifeng turned off his phone and pretended he had not seen it.

But immediately after that, when Xiao Nuan sent the whole beginning and end of the matter, Xiang Zhuifeng started feeling inexplicably irritated again.

Although he really did not want to admit it, even at this very moment, he was still bothered by Xin Yuan’s injury.

But fortunately, Xiang Zhuifeng quickly found a reasonable explanation.

The root cause of his irritation was not Xin Yuan, but He Ye behind Xin Yuan.

Ever since Xin Yuan joined the set, He Ye had been watching him closely, wanting to find his flaw so he could find a reason to kick him away from Xin Yuan’s side.

This matter now was neither big nor small, but once he handled it badly, He Ye would definitely seize the opportunity to make a scene in front of Xin Jianye and cause him even bigger trouble.

Just as he was about to get ready to drive to the appointment, the phone beside him vibrated several times in a row.

At this time of day, it was usually the pictures and videos Xiao Nuan sent.

Before and after wrapping work every day, Xiao Nuan would send over some rough-cut clips and daily behind-the-scenes footage. On one hand, it was to report the situation to Xiang Zhuifeng, and on the other hand, it was to prepare marketing materials needed for Lin Sheng in advance.

Xiang Zhuifeng opened it in a routine way, preparing to glance through it casually.

However, the moment he opened the first video, his brows immediately drew down.

On the screen, Xin Yuan’s face was flushed red, his eyes hazy. The camera slowly pushed toward his scattered collar, focusing on his porcelain-white skin.

And he, seemingly unaware of what he looked like at that moment, leaned into Ren Song’s arms like a cat, wrapping one arm around Ren Song’s neck while constantly rubbing upward.

Within seconds, Xiang Zhuifeng’s breathing sank at once. He did not even carefully look at the next few clips with even greater exposure before violently throwing the phone toward the passenger seat.

However, the next second, the phone rang again.

Xiao Nuan directly called, and the first thing she said was a cry for help:

“Xiang Zong, Xiao Yuan ge filmed a drunken scene today, and as a result he accidentally really drank too much. Now he’s crouching on the ground watching ants move house, and he’s been looking at them for half an hour without moving at all. I can’t even pull him up. It’s about to pour rain any moment now, can you help me come up with a solution!”