67: The old saying

"Director Zhang, I heard that you were bitten by a rat during the filming of demi-gods and semi-devils. Could you tell us the details?"

At the premiere press conference, just after the introductions, a reporter asked this question as the media interview session began.

Big Beard Zhang's face darkened instantly. He loved hype, but he didn't like being the subject of it himself.

"No such thing, those are all rumors," he flatly denied, refusing to admit his mouth had been gnawed on by a rat.

The other actors had various expressions, everyone was holding it in, but Li Xiuwu and Zhou Xiaowen didn't care and had smiles on their faces.

Many reporters at the scene were sharp; seeing these expressions, they could more or less guess the truth.

"Director Zhang, I heard you said someone intentionally harmed you. Is that why you kicked Director Zhou out of the post-production team?"

This question caused everyone's expression to change, and they all looked at Zhou Xiaowen.

This question was almost equivalent to asking if the injury on his mouth was caused by Zhou Xiaowen's punch.

The media photographers stared intently at their cameras, recording everyone's expressions.

Li Xiuwu glanced at Zhou Xiaowen. Zhou Xiaowen looked completely unperturbed; he had already moved past demi-gods and semi-devils and had no desire to deal with Big Beard Zhang, only wanting to get through today's premiere.

Big Beard Zhang's expression was unsightly. At first, he also felt that Zhou Xiaowen or Li Xiuwu was harming him.

He had just argued with Zhou Xiaowen in the morning and screwed over Li Xiuwu, and then he was injured that night. How could there be such a coincidence in the world?

He continued to suspect this while recovering, but the fact that a rat injured him was something he couldn't quite understand.

Can a person drive a rat to do things?

He had looked into rat-training techniques around the world; at most, they could do simple tasks.

But to remotely control a rat to enter his tent and precisely bite his mouth was almost impossible to achieve.

So he began to have doubts about his injury.

As for later driving away Zhou Xiaowen, one reason was that he had anger with nowhere to vent, and another was the issue of post-production funding.

Money was the top priority for Big Beard Zhang.

"Those are all crew rumors. I hope everyone is cautious; spreading rumors is illegal," Big Beard Zhang warned the media.

He would not admit to it.

Seeing they couldn't get anything out of that question, the media changed the subject.

"Wire work is too exhausting. Hu Jun and Gao Hu's legs were chafed raw. Teacher Xiuqing was once suspended on wires for a whole day without even unfastening them for lunch; by the time work finished at night, his waist was a bloody mess."

When asked, Li Xiuwu only spoke of the hardships and persistence of others.

Although Li Xiuwu's speech didn't mention his own contributions, it earned him several friendly looks. The media reporters filmed him, thinking this young man was truly modest.

After the interview ended, the crew prepared a dinner gathering. Zhou Xiaowen refused directly, and Li Xiuwu had no desire to stay either.

Just as he and Liu Yifei came out, a voice came from behind.

"Li Xiuwu, Liu Yifei, wait for me!" Jiang Xin chased after them.

"Sister Xinxin." Liu Yifei turned back and looked at her with a smile.

"Where are you guys going?" Jiang Xin asked them.

Liu Yifei subconsciously looked at Li Xiuwu.

"It's getting late, we're going to eat. Want to join us?" Li Xiuwu invited Jiang Xin.

"Sure, it's been a long time since we met," Jiang Xin readily agreed.

She walked beside Liu Yifei, chatting with her while occasionally glancing at Li Xiuwu.

Li Xiuwu got into the car, while Liu Yifei and Jiang Xin sat in the back, continuing their conversation.

A girl's friendship is very strange; they might become best friends who tell each other everything the moment they meet, or they might suddenly stop speaking forever because of some small matter.

He arrived at a hotel he often frequented and entered a private room.

"I heard about the 'The Promise' incident. Are you okay?" Jiang Xin brought it up.

"I'm fine, it's over now. My teacher said he'll compensate me," Li Xiuwu said with a smile.

He was the victim, after all. Zhang Jun had personally comforted him and promised him satisfactory compensation.

He hinted that Zhang Yimou was also preparing a blockbuster and would get him an important role, telling him not to make a fuss.

He also hinted at a direct path from a doctoral student to a doctoral supervisor and professor; if he wanted, his seniority could start counting this year.

It almost tempted the system into coming back to life to make him a Sect Elder.

Unfortunately, modern schools do not classify students' identities, so in the system's detection, he had always been an Outer Disciple.

Otherwise, he could have surely been ranked as the Holy Son of the Hehuan Sect, with all the female cultivators in the sect as his reserve cauldrons.

"That's a bit of a pity," Jiang Xin sighed, feeling sorry for Li Xiuwu.

This movie directed by Chen Dakai had an investment of 300 million; participating in it would lead to instant fame.

"Yeah, yeah. If it were up to me, you should have hugged the teacher's leg and cried," Liu Yifei said.

She also felt it was a great pity. If it were her, she would definitely hug Wang Jinsong's leg and sit on the ground crying until he agreed.

Who in the class didn't look at this second male lead role in 'The Promise' with envy and jealousy?

"As the old saying goes: 'To gain it is my luck, to lose it is my fate.'"

"As the old saying goes: 'What is lost at sunrise is regained at sunset.'"

"As the old saying also goes: '...'"

"Just eat," Liu Yifei picked up some food and stuffed it into Li Xiuwu's mouth.

Jiang Xin looked at the two of them being so close and felt a bit dejected. She composed herself, but watching them from so close, she felt a slight heartache, like sand slowly slipping through her fingers.

"Sister Xinxin, do you have any work next year?" Liu Yifei changed the subject.

She keenly sensed that the way Jiang Xin looked at Li Xiuwu wasn't right—different from Jiang Yiyan, but it made her even more vigilant, so she acted very close to Li Xiuwu.

"I do," Jiang Xin smiled. "I've accepted a script called 'The Joyous Seven Fairies'," she said, talking about the script she had taken.

"Seven Fairies?" Liu Yifei was surprised.

"Sister Xinxin is going to play a fairy?"

"Yes, the Fourth Princess of the Heavenly Court, the Green Fairy."

"Wow, Sister Xinxin is already so beautiful; playing a fairy is just perfect," Liu Yifei said.

Jiang Xin smiled and said to Liu Yifei, "The director originally said he wanted to invite you to play the lead, Xiao Qi, but none of us agreed. The six of us went to the director and said if he invited Liu Yifei, we would go on strike."

"Why?" Liu Yifei was actually a bit interested in playing a fairy alongside several beautiful women.

"How could we be as beautiful as you? If you played Xiao Qi, wouldn't it become 'The Celestial Maiden and Her Six Maidservants'?" Jiang Xin said with a laugh.

"That's not true," Liu Yifei retorted, then quickly realized, "Oh, Sister Xinxin is just teasing me."

"I'm being serious. You are beautiful, and your acting has improved tremendously. I was stunned when I saw you in 'Chinese Paladin'."

"I'm not as amazing as Sister Xinxin says," Liu Yifei said, feeling embarrassed by Jiang Xin's praise.