Chapter 49

Xia Hou Zhongying looked up at the man who had come to interrupt their conversation. The man had his hair slicked back, his eyebrows arched, a faint smile on his face, and he was dressed in a suit and tie, gently swaying a glass of red wine in his hand. He looked quite the dandy.

"A pretty boy, a bit effeminate," Xia Hou Zhongying thought to himself.

"Cheng Shao, it's you," the woman sitting next to Xia Hou Zhongying said, her smile fading as she responded coolly.

"Chori? So this woman's name is Chori," Xia Hou Zhongying muttered to himself.

"Hey, Chori, what's in your hand? Are you smiling so happily because of this?" The man called Cheng Shao, seemingly oblivious to Chori's coldness, sat down beside her with interest. He first transferred the wine glass from his right hand to his left, then combed his already neat hair from his right temple to his ear, before asking.

"Thick-skinned, self-satisfied, and narcissistic," Xia Hou Zhongying thought, giving another definition.

"Oh, this? It's a script," Chori replied coolly, not wanting to engage much with Cheng Shao.

"Are you going to shoot this script? Why don't I invest in it too?" Cheng Shao said with a smile.

"It's not mine, it's his," Chori smiled and pointed at Xia Hou Zhongying.

"You want Chori to act in this script?" Cheng Shao glanced at Xia Hou Zhongying, took a sip of his wine, and asked in a condescending tone.

Xia Hou Zhongying frowned, feeling a strong dislike for this man. He usually ignored people who acted superior. He picked up his wine glass and took a sip, not even bothering to respond.

Seeing the awkwardness, Chori, though she didn't like Cheng Shao, had to smooth things over. She explained, "This is a script he's preparing to shoot. I'm just looking at it."

"You're shooting it yourself?" Cheng Shao was taken aback, looked Xia Hou Zhongying up and down, and asked with a mocking smile, "Are you trying to raise funds recently?"

"How did you know?" Chori asked, slightly surprised.

"Chori, you might not have heard, but in the past month, there's been a joke in Seoul's fashion industry. A boy of about 14 or 15, with a script he wrote himself, is trying to self-produce a movie and is raising funds everywhere, almost running through all the big and small fashion companies in Seoul," Cheng Shao said mockingly, then looked at Xia Hou Zhongying and asked, "Is that you?"

"It's me," Xia Hou Zhongying replied coolly, his face expressionless.

"So, you couldn't get funding elsewhere, so you came here to raise funds?" Cheng Shao sneered, "By the way, how did you get in here? You shouldn't be here, right?"

In Cheng Shao's mind, someone who ran around raising funds had no right to be in this high-class noble club.

"Is he your friend, sister?" Xia Hou Zhongying asked Chori, frowning, without answering Cheng Shao.

Though Xia Hou Zhongying didn't say much, his expression clearly showed his disdain for Cheng Shao.

"Yes, an acquaintance," Chori replied, her face slightly flushed, feeling embarrassed by Cheng Shao's behavior. She was also quite angry at Cheng Shao's rudeness and decided to deny the friendship, only acknowledging him as an acquaintance.

Cheng Shao's face stiffened when he heard Xia Hou Zhongying call Chori "sister." He forced a smile and asked, "Chori, he's your brother? Why didn't you say so earlier? If I had known, I would have given him the funding right away."

"Chori, you really should have told me. Your brother is trying to raise funds for a movie, and you didn't even let me know. That's not treating me like a friend," Cheng Shao said in a scolding tone, then pretended to be generous, took out a checkbook, and asked Xia Hou Zhongying, "How much more funding do you need for your movie? Is 100 million enough? If not, I can add more."

"Big brother, you're so generous," Xia Hou Zhongying said with a grateful expression.

Cheng Shao smiled, thinking that a kid just wanted to play with movies, how much could it cost? He felt a bit disdainful of Xia Hou Zhongying's excitement over 100 million, and subtly curled his lip.

Chori's face turned bright red with embarrassment, wishing she could disappear into the ground. She knew Xia Hou Zhongying was a rich second generation, so 100 million was nothing to him. Fortunately, the environment was dim, and no one noticed, making her feel better.

"100 million in funding, that's a lot, enough for my living expenses for a year," Xia Hou Zhongying said with a sigh.

Cheng Shao's face turned a deep red, and the pen he had taken out of his pocket stopped in mid-air, unable to write on the check.

Chori couldn't help but giggle, then quickly covered her mouth. After a few seconds, she managed to control her laughter and said, "Little brother, you're really something. How can a student spend so much money? What have you been up to?"

"Uncle also told me that your monthly living expenses of 10 million are not enough, and you often max out your credit card," Chori said in a lecturing tone, "You're still young and can't earn money yet. When you grow up and can earn money, you can spend it however you like."

"I'm just trying to make money by shooting a movie," Xia Hou Zhongying said obediently, but with a hint of defiance in his voice.

"Your acting is pretty good, and the way you配合得真好，还有那表情，那神态，让人看了都会觉得他们两是真的姐弟," Chori thought to herself.

"Alright, I don't want to argue with you anymore, sigh," Chori sighed and continued, "By the way, why did you only approach fashion companies for funding, and why did you get such a bad reputation?"

"Hey," Xia Hou Zhongying slapped his thigh and said with a sour face, "When I talk about this, I get so frustrated. I already talked to the school, and they gave us some funding. We also got some equipment sponsorship, but the last thing we needed was the costumes. I ran around for over a month, and not a single fashion company was willing to sponsor us. I guess I was just unlucky."

Chori almost burst out laughing, her stomach churning with suppressed laughter. "Those fashion companies?" The way he described them made them sound like street vendors.

Cheng Shao couldn't stay any longer, feeling thoroughly embarrassed by the two. He quickly got up and said, "I have something to do, I'll leave first," and hurriedly left, disappearing in a flash.

Chori couldn't hold back any longer and burst into laughter, lying on the sofa and covering her mouth, tears streaming down her face.

After Cheng Shao left, Xia Hou Zhongying also couldn't help but laugh, lying on the sofa and covering his mouth, feeling much better. If it weren't for the decorum of the club, he would have laughed out loud without restraint.

Xia Hou Zhongying stopped laughing after a minute, but Chori continued for five minutes, occasionally bursting into laughter again.

"Sister, why do you have such a low threshold for laughter? Do you want to laugh all day?" Xia Hou Zhongying asked, feeling annoyed.

"It's just too funny, I couldn't help it," Chori said with a smile, "I haven't laughed so freely in a long time."

"By the way, sister, your name is Chori?" Xia Hou Zhongying asked after Chori calmed down.

"Yes, you can call me Chori sister," Chori smiled.

"Hey, little guy," Chori started to say something, but seeing Xia Hou Zhongying glare at her, she quickly changed her words, as if talking to herself or to Xia Hou Zhongying, "Alright, Xia Hou Zhongying, why does calling you by your full name sound so strange? I'll just call you Zhongying."

"Zhongying, I think your script is quite interesting. How about giving me a role?" Chori asked after seeing Xia Hou Zhongying nod.

"Sister, there's no suitable role for you in my script," Xia Hou Zhongying shook his head.

"Oh, I think the teacher's role would suit me," Chori said.

"That's a male role," Xia Hou Zhongying replied.

"Can't it be changed to a female teacher?" Chori asked nonchalantly.

"Hmm, that might work," Xia Hou Zhongying nodded.

"You agree?" Chori asked with interest.

"Sister, my actors don't get paid. Are you willing to do it without pay?" Xia Hou Zhongying asked.

"No pay?" Chori was taken aback, then asked, "If you don't pay, who would join your crew?"

"Well, we're just a group of friends playing around. All the actors are my friends," Xia Hou Zhongying smiled.

"I don't care about the pay, but if it's just a group of friends, will any cinema be willing to show your movie?" Chori asked, speechless.

"We're not making a commercial film. We'll release it online," Xia Hou Zhongying said.

Chori was speechless, realizing she had agreed to participate without fully understanding the situation. She must have been quite bored recently.

"Alright, tell me more about your movie," Chori thought this boy was quite interesting, and his script was also intriguing. It would be fun to tease him a bit.

Xia Hou Zhongying explained his movie's concept, how it would be produced, the composition of the crew, and the general content of the script, then asked Chori, "Sister, do you understand now?"

"Yes, I understand. It's quite interesting. How about it? Can I join?" Chori asked.

"You?" Xia Hou Zhongying looked Chori up and down, then asked doubtfully, "Can you do it? Have you studied acting?"

Chori felt like she wanted to bang her head against the wall, wanting to shout at this boy who doubted her acting skills, "I'm a star, a star..."