Little assistant was extremely efficient. She knew it would be very troublesome to contact popular actress Sis Qin in the normal way by going through her agent's work email, and it would take dozens of hours to get a reply from her agent.
Remembering what Director Yuan said that "the entertainment industry is all about connections", she had to use her own "personal connections".
...
"Let me tell you this math question, and you do me a favor."
Ye Jiahe went back to school specially for work, and caught the sleepy Qin Wei in her advanced math class.
"I can still help you even without solving questions for you. Ah no, I can't lend you money, but if you have urgent needs, I can make an exception..."
Ye Jiahe interrupted her words:
"I don't want your money. Can you call Qiao Sixiao?"
Qin Wei looked at her guardedly:
"What tricks are you trying to pull again? If I call her and then you, her diehard fan, start chattering away..."
"No, don't think randomly. Director Yuan wants to take her out for a meal and talk to her..."
Qin Wei: "!!!"
Ye Jiahe frowned:
"Why are you looking at me like that? Are you angry? Hey? Now you look wronged???"
Qin Wei felt very wronged: "Director Yuan said he wanted to treat me to a meal but has been putting it off. And now he wants to take her out for a meal instead..."
Ye Jiahe felt a buzzing in her head.
That said, after school, Qin Wei still called Qiao Sixiao reluctantly.
A nonchalant voice came from the other end of the phone:
"Yeah, what do you want?"
Qin Wei spoke very formally to her:
"Hello Ms Qiao, I'm..."
The other end started to become impatient:
"Say it if you have something, otherwise don't bother me."
"Oh, Director Yuan wants to take you out for a meal, together with me and the agent. You can skip the agent, but you need to bring..."
"I'm not going."
The other party rejected her flatly and hung up the phone.
Beep beep beep——
"This is awkward now."
Qin Wei showed her the phone screen.
Ye Jiahe thought for a while:
"Can you let me have a minute with her? I'll talk to her."
It was only because Ye Jiahe made this request that Qin Wei was willing to swallow her pride and plead with her again, which she wouldn't do normally.
After the call connected, Qin Wei said a few words into the phone and then handed it to Ye Jiahe, whispering to her:
"She was working late into the night yesterday, and has just gone home to sleep now. Please be quick, she has a nasty temper when she wakes up..."
Ye Jiahe took the phone and went aside to talk to Qiao Sixiao. Right on the minute mark, she came back with the phone:
"Thank you, I'll get going first."
"Did she agree?"
Ye Jiahe nodded:
"Tomorrow morning. I sent you the meeting venue on WeChat, but I was afraid to open it in case I saw your private messages."
"Okay, let me take a look..."
Qin Wei looked calm on the surface, but her heart was racing. Ye Jiahe was right - luckily she didn't casually open WeChat to check her messages. Not long ago, she sent Qiao Sixiao some risque selfies. If she opened WeChat now, there would likely be a high chance of seeing those photos.
"The address is..."
...
The next morning, the upscale restaurant. Yuan Xintong went to the appointed meeting place on time alone.
The restaurant manager personally welcomed her at the entrance and brought her upstairs to the second floor.
Qiao Sixiao had arrived earlier. Sitting by the window, she was drinking coffee and frowning at her phone.
Qin Wei was really unbelievable. She put on the collar without even asking and sent her selfies.
【v: Is this a choker?[View photo]】
【Qiao: This is a freaking dog collar, take it off!】
【v: Then why did you give it to me? (;_;) I can't take it back now, can you delete it? 】
【Qiao: Keep it. Looks good on you, I like it. Brands might see it and want to have you model a pet product line.】
【v: No way, too weird. You're weird too.】
...
"Ms Qiao, pleased to meet you. I'm Yuan Xintong, film director."
Director Yuan walked over and took the initiative to greet her.
"Shall we sit here?"
She said, glancing outside the window.
Qiao Sixiao stood up to shake her hand and then invited her to sit down:
"The glass has been specially treated and people can't see inside from the outside."
"It took some trouble arranging this meeting with you, but now that I've met you in person, I feel it's worthwhile," said Director Yuan as the manager brought her a cup of coffee.
At the same time, He Hong walked over and enthusiastically introduced herself and her client's agent status. She then apologized to Director Yuan:
"I've long admired your reputation in the industry, Director Yuan, but never had a chance to meet until now. Here's my business card. I'm truly sorry that you had to take the initiative to contact us this time. Please call me directly in the future for anything, 24 hours a day, and I'll always pick up."
After exchanging business cards, Director Yuan got straight to the point:
"I rarely socialize, so I'll skip the pleasantries. Ms He, I'm preparing a new film with a role that I feel would be perfect for Ms Qiao here. My purpose today is to sincerely invite her to join the cast. Filming will be grueling, but I've reviewed Ms Qiao's file and admire her professional dedication.
As for remuneration, my team will liaise with your company directly to try our best meeting your requirements - that's my sincerity."
Accustomed to the back-and-forth haggling in business, such transparency right from the start was indeed rare. He Hong still had a radiant smile as she replied to Director Yuan:
"I'm well aware of your reputation in the industry, Director Yuan, and I'm also very touched by your words. It's not that I don't want her to act for you, but my artist was recently injured and your film has a lot of fighting scenes, so she may have difficulty coping..."
To show sincerity, He Hong also spoke frankly, transparently telling Director Yuan the reasons in hopes that even if they miss working together this time, there will still be opportunities in the future.
"Can she dance?"
Director Yuan ignored He Hong's polite rejection and asked Qiao Sixiao directly:
"Dances like Feathered Exile, can you do them?"
Qiao Sixiao answered truthfully:
"No problem with dancing, fighting scenes might be a little tiring. Mainly my wrist still lacks flexibility. The doctor said to avoid re-injury."
"We can modify the moves," Director Yuan compromised.
"My collaborators are top action choreographers, they can customize..."
Even He Hong was shocked hearing this. For a rising director like Yuan Xintong to compromise again and again showed how perfect she felt Qiao Sixiao was for this role.
He Hong said:
"Shall we think about it again? We'll give you an answer within 24 hours."
That was the best she could do...
Yuan Xintong couldn't insist. She only told them:
"The investors prefer Chen Xinya more. Her qualities are indeed good too. In terms of looks I feel she doesn't match acting alongside Little Qin. I have high standards for the visual texture of my films... Mainly so far I don't like how she looks at people."
"Actually I considered letting Little Qin act earlier, but her gaze doesn't allure... Let me explain: I like closeups of the actors' eyes, so I care a lot about how they express with their eyes... If there's really no other way, then it'll have to be Chen Xinya. *sigh* I didn't think I'd have to bow my head to capital like this one day..."
...
On the balcony, Qin Wei was watering flowers, too lazy to acknowledge her returning roommate. Humming a song, she plucked some blooming jasmine, when suddenly her roommate grabbed her chin from the side.
"Holy cow! True but you shouldn't grab like this!"
The abruptness shocked Qin Wei into dropping the little flowers in her hand all over the floor.
Her roommate stared straight at her, expression indescribable.
Qin Wei squinted back at her:
"What's up? Your eyes hurt?"
Her roommate asked:
"Alluring?"
Qin Wei pushed her hand away:
"Creepy. You look like some demon sizing me up to be your dinner."
Her roommate pondered then asked her:
"So what do you think would be an alluring gaze?"
Qin Wei gave an ambiguous smile:
"Like being near-sighted but not wearing glasses, when looking at things."
She even demonstrated for her.
Qiao Sixiao covered her forehead with one hand, asking Qin Wei to stop performing. No wonder Director Yuan didn't want her to act much - alluring and seductive have differences after all.
