Chapter 103

  Since he is about to play the role of "Lando Baserolo", a secondary protagonist, he naturally has some concerns about who will play the role of "Raymond Vice". After all, it's the main character and male second lead, with countless scenes together. If he doesn't prepare well in advance, he fears that he will make a fool of himself due to unfamiliarity. So these days, he has been thinking about this issue - not that he hasn't asked the producer of Mandero, but the other party's response was very vague, as if the current actor is a bit difficult to deal with, and he is still in the process of persuasion.

  At this time, ignoring the various English sound effects coming from the computer, a young man with black hair sat at the desk, propping up his chin with one hand, thinking of all the male actors in Hollywood who could match this image. However, for some reason, Jiang Chuan's completely mismatched face appeared in his mind. At the same time, the young man's face stiffened, and he shook his head, staring at the computer screen, only to see that the screen had changed from color to black and white. A sentence of scolding from a teammate jumped out from the bottom left corner of the screen: [Are you an idiot, standing there spacing out? Tell me what you're thinking!]

  “……”

  It wasn't until now that I realized I had been distracted for too long and accidentally sent a personal head.

  A head worth 300 gold coins is equivalent to half a set of equipment. Sending out a few heads will put some pressure on the ADC who is responsible for one road - Just as he was about to send "Sorry" quickly, their ADC suddenly said: [I haven't even spoken, what's your hurry?]

  While speaking, he decisively took down the opposing support and ADC by himself. His teammate sent out six dots ("......"), then completely lost their voice. The chat channel was once again flooded with system notifications, and no one continued to speak. At this time, Jian Ran revived back to the city, quickly bought equipment with his remaining gold, and before rushing back to the front line, he couldn't help but stare at the dialogue box for a long time, looking at the ID of that teammate who rarely spoke up.

  He certainly knows what Jiang Chuan is called in the game.

  He had also secretly created an account and hired a substitute player, occasionally logging in as a stranger to flirt with him and ask for his guidance - at first it was just for fun, he never thought that now this has become the last means of communication between him and Jiang Chuan, without even any verbal exchange, just logging in at fixed times every day, waiting for the man's invitation, the two playing games together, not saying a word to each other.

  Sometimes Jian Ran simply felt that Jiang Chuan was actually the one on this end of the computer.

  This feeling has become even stronger since what happened earlier.

  However, he knew that as long as Jiang Chuan didn't expose him, he wouldn't go ask. Because before he and Jiang Chuan could get along normally, it seemed like communicating in the game was still okay for now. Even just looking at the two game characters running shoulder to shoulder in the game made him feel slightly satisfied.

  He knew his behavior was somewhat abnormal and a bit silly.

  But for now, he can't think of a better way either.

  After finishing the game, it was already 2 o'clock in the morning. After they got off the game, they thought about it calmly and still couldn't help but send a message to Jiang Chuan's game ID: [You're up late today too, busy with work?]

  The other side was silent for about a minute before slowly responding: [Family matters.]

  If you're feeling troubled, feel free to tell me about it, I'm your big brother who knows your heart haha!

  Dissatisfied with what I'm doing now, my family is busy introducing me to women in the hope that I can settle down.

  He stared blankly at the screen, his face stiff as he gazed at the other person's response. Suddenly, he felt a bit tired and didn't want to think about anything anymore; his mind was a complete blank. He shut down the computer, stood up, and suddenly felt a pang of emotion, just like Jiang Chuan had said before - he really was old. His whole body ached with back pain as he lay down on the bed, not wanting to get up again, wishing that when he opened his eyes next time, it would be the end of the world outside.

  So he doesn't have to be so entangled anymore.

  Yawned and rubbed his eyes, reached out to the bedside table to grab his phone, pressed the screen and found several unread messages, all from Fang Yu.

  See the message and give me a call back.

  "Damn it, are you playing games again? At your age, playing games every day, are you still human?"

  I don't care, anyway your brother has already informed you that next Wednesday there's a banquet related to your maritime movie, mainly to pull in some investors. I heard they'll be announcing some other unconfirmed cast members at the time. In short, as the lead actor, you have to attend. The location is still Berlin. I know you don't want to go back to that place, but since you're not answering your phone, you've lost the right to resist. That's it, see you then.

  Jian Ran: "......"

  As soon as he saw the two words "Berlin", his eyes hurt - whether it was ten or twenty years ago, this city had never brought him any good memories. The painful experience of having a big fight with Jiang Chuan on Valentine's Day and still being in a cold war period made him hate this city so much that his teeth were itching, although he knew that thinking like this was completely unreasonable.

  If possible, he hoped that in this life, he would never set foot in that city again, even half a step.

  However, the matter involved that navigation film, and as a workaholic, he had no way to refuse, so even if he resisted in his heart, he had to muster up the spirit, enter WeChat and notify everyone about his upcoming trip to Germany again. After notifying all relatives and friends, he hesitated for a moment before sending a brief message to Jiang Chuan: I'm going to Berlin next Wednesday for a new movie fundraising party.

  Knowing that Jiang Chuan would definitely not respond, she sent the message and then stuffed her phone under the pillow, didn't even take a bath, wrapped herself in the quilt and fell asleep.

  On Wednesday of the second week, I stepped off the plane and stood on Berlin soil, and the first news I received was crushing.

  The producer of Mandrake sent him a message, the largest investor in the film about to enter the shooting period suddenly announced its withdrawal. If this becomes a reality, they will face a huge financial hole and may even lead to the birth of the entire movie.

  Seeing this message, Jian Ran's whole body didn't feel quite right. He muttered a curse under his breath that even the Pharaoh of Egypt would have to step aside. He immediately called Mandala and as soon as the phone was picked up, before anyone could say anything, Jian Ran hastily asked: "Why?"

  "For no reason, just because I have the money to be reckless." Mandro said with some entanglement on his side, "Tomorrow night's banquet, I'm just attending as an invited guest, and I've found someone else to play the role of producer, so tomorrow night I definitely can't be too proactive in persuading investors not to withdraw their funds. Of course, we also can't expect a temporary actor to have extraordinary eloquence to convince those wealthy people... otherwise, he wouldn't need to be a temporary actor, just a negotiation expert would be fine. But you, tomorrow, will be shouldering the heavy responsibility, I hope you'll shine and dazzle the crowd..."

  Jian Ran: "......"

  Manderley: "After all, your performance in 'The Mysterious Seed' was so great that the whole Hollywood is going crazy for you now."

  "...such pleasant words at this time seem particularly unconvincing, you know," Jian Yan said with a headache, "I definitely can't do this."

  "Everything has a first time, those who like you will definitely listen when you speak."

  He hung up the phone with a gloomy face, and at this time, Fang Yu, who had been eavesdropping on him all along, saw that he was confused and hesitated for a moment before asking: "Do you want me to arrange a dance performance for you tomorrow?"

  “……”

  "After all, it has captivated everyone."

  "Get out."

  He was so depressed that he felt like dying, and couldn't understand why everything had been going wrong since the new year started. Was it because of his New Year's opening ceremony that offended some deity? Just as he began to carefully recall if he had done anything wrong during his New Year's worship, Fang Yu suddenly chimed in with a nonchalant tone: "My suggestion is quite feasible, I heard you and Jiang Chuan haven't spoken for half a month now. Why don't you try winning him back with a passionate dance?"

  Suddenly heard in his own brain "pa" sound like something went wrong: "Jiang Chuan also go?"

  Fang Yu: "Huh, didn't he tell you? Oh wait, I forgot that you two haven't spoken in half a month."

  He restrained his urge to beat Fang Yu to death: "Why did he go?"

  His expression suddenly paused on his face, revealing an unnatural expression, but soon he restrained it under the cautious and suspicious gaze. He let out a long sigh and said in a tone that was obviously trying to downplay the matter: "Actually, you also invited Jiang Chuan to star in this movie Mandrake..."

  After careful consideration, it suddenly occurred to him that Mandrake had indeed mentioned this matter at the premiere party of "Mysterious Seeds" before. At that time, he thought Mandrake was just talking casually, but unexpectedly, the guy really took action for this?

  "But Jiang Chuan has not agreed yet."

  "What's he pulling?"

  "I also think he shouldn't have a reason to refuse, after all this is really a good opportunity - thinking about the content of this movie, it's likely that just domestically those fans of yours will contribute an amazing box office... so his hesitation in agreeing should be due to some other reason, since you returned home he has been staying in Germany and hasn't come back, probably something happened at home that needs to be taken care of, and the contract from Claire's company only received your copy..."

  In the midst of Fang Yu's murmurs, his thoughts had already wandered far away. A sentence "Probably something happened at home that needs to be dealt with" made him feel frightened and nervous, and he couldn't help but imagine some terrible things such as Andrei really taking action against Jiang Chuan's family, ruining their business, so that he had to stay behind and spend the difficult times with his family...

  When he finally reacted, his eyebrows were already furrowed so tightly that it hurt his entire brain.

  Spent a sleepless and restless night in Germany.

  The next morning, Mandro came to Jianran's hotel room to pour out his troubles. Seeing the young man with black hair sitting on the bed with a pair of huge dark circles under his eyes, he looked more collapsed than Jianran, as if he really expected Jianran to bring in hundreds of millions of euros in investment by just showing up tonight - Jianran was quite speechless about this. He got out of bed, glanced at his phone and strongly suppressed the urge to send a text message to Jiangchuan asking if he was okay, then threw down the phone and floated into the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face.

  On one side, Mandrake was talking about the background of the investors who had withdrawn their funds arbitrarily behind him.

  In short, it's roughly a powerful mafia family branch in Germany, giving money is a favor, not giving money they can't afford to offend.

  "Aren't all Mafia from Sicily? Are there any sidelines here?" Jian Yan asked vaguely while brushing his teeth.

  This issue has again triggered a series of popular science about that black hand party family, dizzying to listen to, in short, it is known that the people of that family are extremely rich, have power and have the right to reverse heaven, the main members are indeed concentrated in Italy, but other collateral lines have penetrated most of the surrounding developed countries, long-term monopoly on arms and weapons imports and exports, while business involves food, pharmaceuticals and high-tech industries and other lucrative fields, so even if it is just a collateral branch, speaking is also quite weighty.

  Moreover, it is said that the heir of the main family has recently had some problems. In comparison with peers and abilities, the heir of the collateral branch in Germany may take this opportunity to thoroughly surpass them.

  In short, the feasibility of the previous idea of "putting a knife to his throat and letting him pay" is less than negative infinity.

  "Is there any other way to persuade him?" Jian Ran asked perfunctorily.

  "Go on, go and plead with him." Mandro stared at the dark-haired young man shaving in front of the mirror, "Maybe that young master will take pity on you for a moment—"

  "What were you thinking?" Jian Ran said with a mixture of laughter and tears.

  "I heard you two get along pretty well." Mandro was taken aback, "Don't we?"

  He burst out laughing, almost spitting out last night's dinner: How could Mandro possibly come up with such an absurd statement? He was just a small local star, how could he possibly know someone so awesome and have a good relationship with them? Why would he be anxious about making a movie for someone like that? He should have been killed by euros long ago; why would he be here because of the cold treatment of a secret crush? He should have used an AK47 to make Jiang Chuan propose to him...

  "Rumors, rumors." He shook his head solemnly and said, "Where did you hear such terrible rumors?"

  Mandoro didn't say a word, his face was as pale as death and his eyes were vacant.

  Because it was a banquet, so early on, every male participant was informed that they needed to bring a female companion - Jian Ran originally wanted to casually grab a domestic female celebrity with a period and take her for a walk, but before he could do so, Mandro had already thoughtfully given him the girl who would play the female lead in the entire movie as his companion - As for why this movie, which is said to be all male, still has a female lead, according to Mandro's meaning, it's probably that they still need to take care of the feelings of straight male audiences (......).

  So that night, Jin Yan escorted the girl who was wearing high heels and was almost as tall as him into the banquet with his head held high and chest out, facing the gaze of the crowd, he felt the malice of the world - he was at least 1.76 to 1.78 meters tall, but for some reason, once he went abroad, he suddenly became an unnoticeable small man.

  The heroine's name is Winsley, a young girl in her early twenties with blonde hair and green eyes, wearing a light blue evening dress, which attracted the attention of most men as soon as she entered the scene - including Jiang Chuan who had arrived early.

  As soon as he entered the banquet hall, he saw Jiang Chuan.

  Tonight, the man was wearing a deep blue formal suit, with exquisite tailoring and fabric that perfectly outlined his broad shoulders, perfect waistline, and straight long legs. At this moment, he stood among a group of people who looked like rich young masters, holding a glass of red wine in his hand, swaying gently, without speaking, but always giving the illusion that everyone around him was talking about him.

  When they walked in, the atmosphere of the party underwent a subtle change due to Windsor's appearance. The young masters surrounding the man turned their heads one after another to look at her with interest. Jian Ran noticed that the man who was originally absent-mindedly lowering his head to look at the wine glass in his hand also raised his head and glanced over at them.

  Also watching is Windsor Lily.

  Then he quickly withdrew his gaze, raised his hand and pulled at the collar of his shirt, loosening the perfectly knotted tie - this behavior in front of investors was somewhat rude and casual, but strangely, no one around Jiang Chuan seemed to feel uncomfortable with it. It's unknown why Jiang Chuan, as an actor, could quickly get familiar with these investors, because by now, the woman he brought tonight had already stuck herself back to his side.

  That was a beautiful girl, probably also a star. When she spoke, her mouth would unconsciously pucker slightly. She leaned against Jiang Chuan's ear and talked to him, while the man turned his head and patiently replied in a low voice.

  Suddenly and inexplicably thought of Jiang Chuan saying that his family was arranging a "blind date" for him in the game a few days ago.

  He was a bit hungry before entering the banquet hall, but now he felt like he had no appetite at all.

  With a lack of enthusiasm, Windsor arrived at the center of the banquet hall. Originally not very familiar with that girl, Jian Ran only stood together and chatted for a while when the party had just started. Before long, other guys who looked like investors invited that girl to dance away - because their main purpose tonight was to swindle money. Regarding the fact that his female companion for the night was invited to leave, Jian Ran showed great magnanimity in time...

  Or he simply doesn't care.

  He seemed absent-minded all night.

  Even his most hated person came before him and he didn't notice ——

  When the red wine glass was taken away, he was stunned for a moment, and when he looked up, he found that the shadow cast by the person standing in front of him at this time completely enveloped him. He met the amber-colored eyes opposite him, and after a brief pause, he immediately frowned and lowered his voice to say: "Mond."

  "You look like you have a lot on your mind." The blond man cracked a smile, "I just happened to hear some rumors, is it because of the investor pulling out? I heard that if you can't turn things around tonight, this movie might be stillborn, what a shame..."

  Before he could finish speaking, a young man with black hair who was originally sitting in his seat suddenly stood up and glared at him: "Was it you?"

  Andre's face showed a look of surprise - in fact, he was really surprised, but it was obvious that any reaction he made at this time would be seen as hypocritical by Jian Ran. He quickly realized the disgust in the black-haired young man's eyes and suddenly thought that he had indeed joked about similar topics not long ago, couldn't help but sigh that this was simply a case of reaping what he had sown, being framed for his own misdeeds. The blond man collected his surprise and showed a helpless smile: "Believe it or not, this time I really have nothing to do with it, since the last time, a certain someone has refused to let me be their spokesperson again..."

  He said, pausing for a moment: "Later on, he himself got into trouble, provoking his stubborn old man and causing the backyard to catch fire, so this movie of yours was unfortunately withdrawn from funding——"

  His mind was a complete mess, and he couldn't understand what Andrei was saying. At this moment, he was just fiercely staring at the guy in front of him: "You said so much, and you managed to clear yourself up so cleanly. If you're not an investor, then why are you showing up here tonight?"

  "Although I'm no longer an endorser for others, I can still make some small investments based on my own interests. A few hundred million euros is not a problem, at least it can support your crew's smooth start." Andre smiled, shaking the wine glass he had taken from Jian Ran's hand earlier, and then, under the latter's slightly narrowed gaze, he deliberately drank the remaining wine in one gulp, put down the glass, and reached out to touch the face of the person in front of him. "The condition is that you spend a night with me."

  Bang.

  Accompanied by a scorching pain, Andre looked at his slightly reddened back of the hand, his smile on his face unchanged, and re-looked at the expressionless black-haired young man above him, only to find that his amber-colored eyes had become slightly darker.

  "However, I really regret that at the time, I was softhearted and didn't play my cards according to common sense. Otherwise, within the first week of our formal relationship, you should have been in my bed."

  "Thanks for your kindness back then," he said calmly. "But it doesn't make sense to talk about this now, excuse me, I need to go to the restroom."

  Andre smiled: "What I said before counts, you can consider it. It's not uncommon for actors to sleep with investors for funding either—"

  He hadn't finished speaking, but the person who was originally standing in front of him had already straightened up and walked past him towards the direction of the restroom without looking back - his face didn't have even a hint of emotion, cold as if he were a robot, that slender, obviously non-Western physique, yet unexpectedly stood out even in the crowd.

  The blond-haired man standing in place casually swept his gaze around the surroundings, and then slightly narrowed his eyes. Whether or not the black-haired young man noticed, the people present tonight, from start to finish, had their gazes fixed on him, no less than those on Windsor Sylvia.

  As he thought about it, he seemed to have thought of something and turned his gaze, starting to search for a certain corner of the banquet hall.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, in a certain place in the banquet hall, the man who was originally leaning against the window and chatting lazily with the people around him suddenly stopped smiling. He raised his head and glanced in the direction where the young black-haired person had just disappeared, then casually put down his wine glass, straightened up, said something to the woman accompanying him, and ignoring her slightly unhappy expression, he withdrew his arm from hers and followed with a steady pace, walking out of the banquet hall.