chapter 34

Fang Lizhe had never seen Chan Zhou, and wondered, ‘Who is this?’

Chan Zhou immediately took out his business card and handed it to him. He then introduced himself politely, “Agent Fang, my name is Chan Zhou. I graduated from the directing department here. I met you once in a production crew before.” He suddenly remembered that Fang Lizhe had broken away from Feng Hui, and looked at Su Yuanyuan and changed the subject. “Agent Fang, is this your dog?”

“Xiaobai isn’t a dog. She’s a little fox.”

“Ah?” Chan Zhou and Liu Lan turned to each other in surprise, and looked at Su Yuanyuan at the same time. They felt that she wasn’t much different from a Pomeranian. Thinking about it, Chan Zhou decided to fight for it anyways, “Agent Fang, it’s like this. I’m preparing a web drama with a cute puppy as the main character. The story revolves around him, his owner, and some friends he would meet during the adventure. Your little fox is particularly in line with the image we are aiming for this role. I wonder if I can ask your pet to play this role?”

Liu Lan immediately gave the script in her hand to him and said hopefully, “Please agree, it just fits too well! You can read the script first!”

Fang Lizhe never missed any chance. Although he had no knowledge of the two of them, if a script was delivered to him, he would subconsciously pick it up. Looking at his watch, it was almost time to eat. So, he invited them to eat together at a nearby restaurant. It had become a habit for him to talk things over the wine table, so he could read the script quietly.

In the restaurant’s private box, Su Yuanyuan quietly lied beside Fang Lizhe and ate the fried chicken being served. From time to time, she would drink warm water from the disposable water cup beside her, appearing so cute it made Liu Lan’s eyes glow. Chan Zhou, on the other hand, seized the opportunity to chat with Fang Lizhe as he strongly recommended the script and expressed his enthusiasm for shooting a film and planning for the drama series.

Fang Lizhe carefully browsed the script. In his eyes, this drama will definitely be explosive. Although the pet genre wasn’t mainstream, this script was full of comedy, and contained deep friendship between the owner, the pet, and the small animals. There is the main plot of searching for the owner, and many small events distributed throughout the story that added joy and fun. It is a story with laughter and tears, and anyone who has had pets or loved pets could resonate with it and enjoy this drama.

He was a little surprised that the script hit a wall at every front with such a script with high potential, and immediately questioned Chan Zhou about it.

Chan Zhou took a sip of beer and laughed bitterly, “Agent Fang, a small person like me simply couldn’t meet anyone with any weight. Often, I get rejected before I can even explain my script clearly. At best, they would pretend to give me some face, and at worst, they would just drive me away. I know that big IP’s are popular nowadays, and traffic is hot, so small productions like mine are easy to flow without fans to support it. But… I’m really convinced that this is the most promising script I’ve ever seen!”

(TNote: IP = Intellectual Property; IP could be a complete story or a concept, which has the potential to be developed further in different fields. They are successful in China because most already have a fixed fan base, etc.)

Liu Lan hit him under the table and smiled apologetically to Fang Lizhe. “Sorry Agent Fang, Chan Zhou drank too much and is talking nonsense.”

Fang Lizhe shook his head as he gave Su Yuanyuan a piece of spare rib and laughed, “Chan Zhou is right. I am also very optimistic about this script. As it happens, my family’s Xiaobai loves to perform. If the environment isn’t too harsh, Xiaobai can participate in the show, but I will follow the whole crew to take care of Xiaobai.”

As soon as he heard that, Chan Zhou’s eyes lit up and he immediately took Fang Lizhe’s hand and thanked him, “Great! Thank you very much. With Xiaobai playing Susu, my confidence is almost doubled. Thank you, Agent Fang!”

“Don’t be so polite. Since we now know each other, just call me by my name. I also want to thank you for not rejecting me because of my scandals.”

“Brother Fang, I’ve met you before this, and I know how good you are to your artists. I believe that those who spread those scandals online are blind.” He patted his chest. “Brother Fang, don’t worry. I’m a little guy. I’m already at the bottom of the well. Can I fall any lower? This time, let’s fly together to the sky!”

Seeing his fervor, Fang Lizhe was reminded of himself in the old days. He smiled lightly and toasted, “Okay, I wish us a happy cooperation!”

Su Yuanyuan saw that they had settled on an agreement, smiled and squinted as she said to 001, [Isn’t it useless that I got 5 million yuan before? Let’s just use it this way. Now, you make it into a legacy for Fang Lizhe to inherit, so that he could invest in the drama. If it gets popular we can make a lot of money, and we won’t lose anything even if it doesn’t become popular.]

[Didn’t the host say that you wanted to keep it to buy roast chicken, fried chicken and smoked chicken? You really want to give it away to Fang Lizhe?]

[Give it to him! How can I let my people have no money? Besides, I’m going to work hard to make a film. I can’t let another investor earn all the hard-earned money!]

[Okay, I’ll arrange it right away.]

It happened right away. Before Su Yuanyuan had enough to eat, Fang Lizhe received a phone call saying that one of his elders had left an inheritance to him before she died, and asked him to go through the inheritance formalities as soon as possible.

Fang Lizhe put down the phone. Some unknown relative left an inheritance? And gave it to him? He thought about it carefully. He really did meet the elder, but it was when he was only a few years old. Why did she suddenly give him her inheritance after over 20 years of no contact???

Regardless, this was a godsend. Without much thought, he said goodbye to Chan Zhou and went home with Su Yuanyuan in his arms. The next day, he took all the documents and drove to the elder’s city. 001 had arranged it perfectly, and Fang Lizhe learned of the elder and the circumstances surrounding her death from her lawyer. It turned out that the elder lost her husband and son a long time ago, and she died alone. A few days ago, the old woman accidentally saw some news on the Internet insulting Fang Lizhe. She recognized him as her own relative, and felt sorry for his suffering, so she left this will before she died.

Before the old woman’s funeral, Fang Lizhe immediately took over and gave the old woman a splendid funeral. His feelings for the elderly in his heart were very complicated. He was touched and grateful, with some respect for this elder. He lost his parents a few years ago, and had little contact with the relatives in his family, so he didn’t expect an elder to care about him when he hit rock bottom and give him such a relief.

When Fang Lizhe bowed to the tombstone of the old woman, Su Yuanyuan unexpectedly got 5 wish points. She looked at Fang Lizhe from a distance, and guessed that Fang Lizhe should have gotten the warmth of family and the ability to turn over from this incident, so he gave as many as 5 wish points all at once. Although Fang Lizhe misunderstood the origin of these 5 million yuan, Su Yuanyuan felt that it was the best way. She had to thank the old woman because she borrowed her name, and the best result was when everyone was happy.

With this 5 million yuan, Fang Lizhe didn’t hesitate to invest in Chan Zhou’s online drama. Now, Chan Zhou was grateful to Fang Lizhe! He no longer had to play the grandson and worship the ancestor everywhere, and with Fang Lizhe as an investor, it won’t interfere with his drama filming as this person won’t command at random. He felt as if he was hit by a big pie on the head!

(TNote: play the grandson and worship the ancestor everywhere = metaphor; act submissive like a grandson to every bigshot and beg them to help.)

Although not the whole 5 million yuan is used to make the drama, since they are a small-scale production team, they wouldn’t need special effects or flashy scenes. At most, they would just have failed takes when their small animals didn’t cooperate or actors’ acting skills were so bad. 5 million yuan was enough. With an investor now, Chan Zhou’s confidence was boosted, his eyebrows more relaxed, and he began to quickly recruit people.

Fang Lizhe also joined the ranks of people interviewing staff and auditioning actors, just in time to see if there were any artists who wanted to sign with him. Next, since Su Yuanyuan is the main protagonist and her owner being the second protagonist, the actors must look very compatible with her. If they don’t match the scene at all, they were immediately rejected, so she also became one of the ‘main examiner’ of the audition.

At first, Su Yuanyuan felt it was very novel. Looking at this and that, she felt that acting was unique and fun. But after 10 days of auditioning, she still didn’t choose an ‘owner’, and wasn’t satisfied. Every time, they wanted an actor to hold her and play with her. After repeating it for 10 days, she could almost throw up, okay?! Where would they find a fox as cooperative as her? She doesn’t want to do it. Just choose whoever they like. Anyway, don’t look for her to accompany those people!!

When Liu Lan saw that Su Yuanyuan was in a gloomy mood, she couldn’t help but say, “Let’s choose the best one from the people we already have. All of them are new to the industry, and those with even a bit of fame won’t come to our crew. Waiting for more people to come and audition isn’t necessarily good.”

Chan Zhou frowned but didn’t say anything, while Fang Lizhe looked at the script expressionlessly. He watched Su Yuanyuan play with those people these days, and felt extremely uncomfortable, feeling as if his most precious belonging had been touched by others. Fortunately, it was only an audition without too much contact. Otherwise, he might directly go back on his word and disallow Su Yuanyuan from playing the lead role.

With time to spare, Fang Lizhe turned over the script, and saw that there were scenes in which the master kissed Susu, bathed Susu, played with Susu, fed Susu, and so on, making him feel even more stifled. As soon as he thought that Su Yuanyuan would be held in someone else’s arms and spoiled, he felt like beating that person up!

After realizing his possessiveness for Su Yuanyuan, Fang Lizhe suddenly gripped the script and wondered if he was ill. He rubbed his eyebrows wearily, looked at Su Yuanyuan, and suddenly said, “Chan Zhou, let me give it a try. If I play it properly, I think we can change the role to someone a little older. What do you think?”

Chan Zhou and Liu Lan both looked up in amazement. “Brother Fang, can you act?”

Fang Lizhe stood up, took off his suit jacket, rolled up the cuffs of his white shirt, and looked at Su Yuanyuan with his lips hooked up as he said, “I did graduate from the acting department, but my dream is to be an agent. Anyways, I’ll just give it a try.”

Fang Lizhe clapped his hands, and Su Yuanyuan jumped into his arms. As he tried to remember his lines, he looked at Su Yuanyuan with a warm sunshine smile on his face, “Susu! Why are you here? Are you here to pick me up?”

Su Yuanyuan immediately rubbed his cheek excitedly, and Fang Lizhe laughed lightly and said while dodging, “Stop it! It tickles! You little villain, if you make trouble again, I’ll give you one less chicken leg!”

Su Yuanyuan hurriedly stopped and licked at his face fawningly. She then jumped to the ground and looked back at him with a cheerful light bark and took the lead in running forward.

This was the warm daily life of a pet waiting for their owner at the station, a very common scene, but one that requires tacit understanding between the two. Otherwise, the happiness and warmth wouldn’t come off as genuine. After watching their interpretation of a master and his pet, Chan Zhou quickly stood up, patted the script, and excitedly said, “Brother Fang! You are my true benefactor! You’re really my man, the show starts in 3 days! I’ll eat the script if this drama doesn’t explode!”

Liu Lan was also excited and wrote something crazily on the paper then shouted, “3 days, 3 days is enough! I want to change the script! I’m so inspired right now, I’m sure it’ll be way better than before, and I’ll start rewriting it tonight!”

Fang Lizhe shook his head, picked up Su Yuanyuan, and petted her, his eyes deeply tender. Chan Zhou said that he is his benefactor, but wasn’t Xiaobai his lucky star? It was with Xiaobai that he became so lucky. Even if someone came looking for Xiaobai in the future, he can’t afford to give Xiaobai back, right?

Su Yuanyuan could feel the joy in their voices. She raised her head and gently rubbed it around Fang Lizhe’s neck, barking like a spoiled child.

The readers of this story wished that Fang Lizhe would become a gold medal agent, punish Feng Hui to death, then let him fall into the mud. Now that she has taken the first step of turning over, she must continue to work hard to make Fang Lizhe realize his dream and stand at the top of the entertainment circle. She was the best guardian! As for Feng Hui, the little punk, when she’s free, she will give him a good ‘greeting’ and pay back the way he dealt with Fang Lizhe a thousand times over!