My Landlord is an Idol Singer - Chapter 155

Gu Zhinan tried to call to explain, but the landlady refused to answer and directly hung up on him.

Seeing Xia An’ge sitting at the dining table with a cold expression, Cheng Mengying nervously whispered to Ruan Ying, “See? You’re always controlling An’ge-jie’s diet. I think she’s upset because of that!”

Ruan Ying noticed too and cautiously approached. “An’ge-jie, I didn’t mean to be so strict with your diet. It’s just that your weight has really gone up compared to before… We can skip late-night snacks from now on so we don’t tempt you anymore, okay?”

Xia An’ge shook her head. “I’ll stick to the diet.”

It wasn’t the snacks that had upset her, it was that brute Gu.

The snacks never offended her… but Gu Zhinan did! He actually asked if she “liked looking at that stuff too”? It’s fine if he secretly enjoyed those posts in the comment section, but he didn’t know how to keep it to himself. And he even left a comment!

His whole comment section was getting less and less proper just like him!

“I’m full. I’m going to bed.” Xia An’ge quietly cleared her plate and went back to her room.

Ruan Ying glanced at Cheng Mengying, who blinked back. Neither of them had any idea what was going on.

In her room, Xia An’ge stared at the blocked contact of Gu “Brute” Zhinan on her phone. She remembered him holding her hand on the Ferris wheel, his face pale with fear, yet he still braved his fear of heights to watch fireworks with her.

She almost reached out to unblock him… but when she recalled his last message, anger surged again. She flipped her phone over and pulled the blanket over herself.

I don’t like seeing that stuff! And I don’t like you looking at it, either!

Meanwhile, after several failed attempts to reach her, Gu Zhinan finally gave up. The landlady’s moods were always unpredictable.

What’s wrong with appreciating stockings? He figured maybe he’d been too blunt. Who knew the landlady didn’t like wearing them, but still liked seeing them? Maybe they could research this together sometime…

Three days later, on the afternoon of November 4th. Lai Jingming arrived downstairs at the small apartment. Gu Zhinan carried his backpack, which held his precious laptop, his meal ticket.

The crew was ready. The actors were already on their way and expected to arrive by evening. Lai Jingming had come to pick up Gu Zhinan. 

“This is my second time coming here and you still won’t let me up for even a glass of water. Your landlady’s upstairs, isn’t she?” Lai Jingming glanced upward, full of curiosity.

“Water my ass. Aren’t you in a hurry?” Gu Zhinan rolled his eyes. The landlady hadn’t even unblocked him yet. For three days straight, he’d sent her an emoji daily to test if she’d removed him from the blacklist. Every time, rejected.

“The actors we found in Hengdian are all confirmed. The highest-paid is ten thousand, but I personally checked their acting skills. This is a quality production, after all. When it’s their scene, they’ll be notified a day in advance.”

Gu Zhinan nodded. If they really planned to challenge Lu Gao Chi after the New Year, time was tight.

On the way, Lai Jingming mentioned that Lu Gao Chi and Lan Fang had held their opening ceremony yesterday and announced their cast.

“The male lead’s some hot young idol named Lu Chuanhan, yeah, from the same agency as Lu Gao Chi. A newly hyped star from China Star Entertainment! But guess who the female lead is? You’ll never believe it, it’s someone from your landlady’s company. Her name’s Yue Wen!”

Lai Jingming glanced at the surprised Gu Zhinan, equally puzzled.

“Starlight Entertainment invested ten million at first, then raised it to fifteen million, with the condition that Yue Wen would play the female lead. I don’t get it. Isn’t your landlady, Xia An’ge, way prettier than Yue Wen?”

“She’d never take an acting role.” Gu Zhinan knew her well. She only cared about singing. Even when she did appear on variety shows in the past two months, she was quiet, introverted, like a decorative vase.

“That Yue Wen… I looked her up. Veteran singer, acted in a few TV dramas. But jumping straight into a film lead role? Bold move. She even trended first on the hot search yesterday!”

As for ambition, Gu Zhinan didn’t know. But Starlight Entertainment was obviously betting big on Yue Wen, investing 15 million just to make her the lead.

They probably threw in all the profits from Summer Wind, maybe even took a loss. And now his landlady was back to being a diligent worker while they focused on movies, she’d be grinding away at album sales to make money.

Damn capitalist contracts. Why did the landlady even sign that deal back then?

“It’s become a 65 million investment now. Feeling the pressure, Fatty?” Gu Zhinan grinned.

“We can’t even match their spare change.” Lai Jingming scoffed. “They claim it’ll be the most spectacular sci-fi romance ever. Pfft! Movies aren’t about who spends the most. And with 65 million, who knows how much will go into actual effects?”

“But money does buy freedom.”

“…Hey, Zhinan, this is your film too. Why do you sound like you want them to flop?” Lai Jingming frowned, noticing how Gu Zhinan kept praising the competition and belittling their own. Gu Zhinan ignored him as usual, telling him to focus on driving. He leaned back for a nap, he’d been pulling all-nighters.

They arrived at Natural Entertainment by late afternoon. As soon as Gu Zhinan dropped his bag off on the third floor, Lai Jingming came up. “They’re here. Waiting downstairs.”

So fast? Gu Zhinan was surprised. They’d sent Situ Hongwei to pick them up, he was clearly more reliable than Fatty.

Following Lai Jingming down to the first floor, they found Yun Yinxue and a few other girls sitting gracefully on the only two sofas. Standing nearby were a nervous Chen Yuze and the brash Meng Xingye.

When they first arrived and saw the company was just a small building on Hangcheng’s outskirts, some of the girls hesitated. But then they remembered what Yu Lei had told them, never underestimate talented people. The script’s been reviewed, and if filmed seriously, this might be a breakthrough.

They steeled their resolve.

“Director Gu! Director Lai!” Yun Yinxue greeted sweetly the moment she saw Gu Zhinan. She trusted him completely and didn’t care that this was a small suburban company.

“Hello, everyone.” Gu Zhinan kept calm and steady. As the one in charge, he had to project confidence.

“Hello, Director Gu, Director Lai!” Everyone greeted in unison as Gu Zhinan and Lai Jingming nodded. Situ Hongwei’s staff had the next two days off, so making tea fell to them.

On the second floor’s small tea room, Lai Jingming and Situ Hongwei stood guard by two printers spitting out contracts nonstop.

No one in that room, not even Gu Zhinan, was leaving without signing.

“Now that everyone’s here, if there are no objections, we’ll sign the contracts shortly. Filming starts tomorrow. Director Lai wants to hit a New Year’s release.” Gu Zhinan explained.

“New Year’s release?” Yun Yinxue was surprised. Like Situ Hongwei, she’d expected something around Labor Day, not this soon.

“Yeah… if we can get a theater slot.” Gu Zhinan didn’t dare promise. After all, the post-New Year period was packed. Small productions like theirs weren’t guaranteed a spot.

“We believe in ourselves! No problem! Next year’s box office is ours!” Before the actors could even respond, Lai Jingming stormed in with the contracts, pumping up the room.

“Director Gu here isn’t just a director, he’s also a damn good musician and a top-notch author. With him in charge, we’re golden!” Lai Jingming couldn’t stop once he started, rambling passionately for several minutes. The mood lightened.

“Yeah!” Meng Xingye chimed in, having only recently learned how amazing Gu Zhinan was, his confidence surged.

“Let’s do this!” Faces flushed with excitement, everyone shouted together.

Gu Zhinan could hardly believe it. Good thing this was still daytime… or they’d really seem like some cult gathering.