“Go do what you want. If you make a profit, it’s all yours. If you lose, it’ll count as my money that’s lost.”

Ye Zhen furrowed her brow. Her heart felt a touch of sourness. She didn’t want to admit that she felt touched. “Why are you so good to me?”

Lu Beichuan just vaguely said, “I believe in your vision.”

Holding that seemingly heavy check, Ye Zhen didn’t know what to say. All sorts of feelings had welled up in her heart.

“What’s wrong?”

Ye Zhen thought of the strange coincidences that led up to this point. “If I had obstinately clung to the idea of leaving you back then or if I had insisted on aborting Zhouzhou, would you still treat me so well?”

Lu Beichuan stared at her. “Did something happen?”

“It’s nothing. I just saw You Jing expressing his feelings to Meng Jie today at the parking lot when I was outside. He blacklisted her for four years. She’s something that he’ll never get. He threatened me too. CEO Lu, if it was you…”

Lu Beichuan slightly furrowed his brow and looked at Ye Zhen with narrowed eyes. “What did You Jing say to you?”

“... It wasn’t anything serious. Just that I would lose all my money if I step foot into the entertainment industry. Don’t worry about it though. By the time I make buckets of money, he’ll have already lost it all.” Ye Zhen was extremely curious. “If I wouldn’t give up on leaving with Zhouzhou back then, what would you have done? Would you have imprisoned me?”

Lu Beichuan found her question amusing. He really wanted to know what Ye Zhen was thinking about all day to think of this question. “Don’t let your imagination run wild. If there’s nothing else, go rest. Let’s go home together when I’m done with work.”

Ye Zhen shrugged and quietly said, “Overbearing CEO.”

Lu Beichuan lowered his head. His smile deepened.

***

Early next morning, right after Lu Beichuan stepped into office, he received an entertainment circle news from the PR Department. On the top, there was a photo of Ye Qing coming out of Heaven on Earth. She was smiling and chatting with the person next to her.

Everyone knew who was in the photo, but the headline of that tabloid was: Is it the older sister or the younger sister entering and leaving Heaven on Earth late at night?

This ambiguous title let one’s imagination roam.

Lu Beichuan was unhappy as soon as he saw this news. He called Qin Zhiyin into this office.

“First, deal with this matter immediately. You don’t need to tell me about this type of news in the future. The PR Department should autonomously deal with it. Second, I don’t want to see Ye Zhen’s name appearing in newspapers, magazines, or online. I don’t want to see any media mentioning Ye Zhen in the same breath as Ye Qing either. Third, contact Ye Qing’s agency and get them to put restrictions on their actress’s conduct.”

“Okay, got it.”

Qin Zhiyin had noticed there were a lot of recent news about Ye Zhen and Ye Qing posted online. Those two looked identical, and the reporters insisted on referring to Ye Qing as Ye Zhen on the grounds that no one could tell them apart. If Ye Zhen or Ye Qing came forward to declare the reporter was wrong, the pertinent media could shirk responsibility by saying that it was a case of mistaken identity.

However, Qin Zhiyin had a wealth of experience in handling online entertainment circle incidents. She was now working in Lu Corporation, and she was like a fish going back to water when it came to handling this sort of thing.

Thus, this specific entertainment circle report was hastily deleted by the pertinent media two hours later. At the same time, all of the online negative news about Ye Zhen was also deleted.

But at this moment, Ye Zhen had no idea about any of that stuff. She was on her way to meet the young director, Ning Yang, after Meng Jie had invited her.

Ning Yang was there before them. She didn’t know how long he had been waiting.

“Director Ning, sorry to keep you waiting.” Ye Zhen smiled as she put her hand forward to shake hands with him.

Meng Jie was also smiling as she introduced Ye Zhen, “Ning Yang, this is Ye Zhen. I mentioned her to you before.”

Ning Yang hastily smiled and got up to shake hands with Ye Zhen when he saw her.

Ning Yang looked young. He was dressed professionally in a suit. When he smiled, he looked loyal and honest, but he avoided looking Ye Zhen in the eye. Ye Zhen deduced that he might be feeling inferior.

In the novel, one of the reasons why Ning Yang had given up on being an actor was due to his height. It hadn’t been obvious when he was sitting, but once he stood up, Ye Zhen finally understood. She roughly estimated that he was under 1.6 meters.

“Hello Miss Ye.”

After the two finished shaking hands, they sat down, and Ye Zhen got right to the point.

“Director Ning, let’s dispense with formalities. I presume that you’ve already heard from Miss Meng that I want to invest in your latest work on behalf of Lu Corporation. Have you seriously considered this matter yet?”

Ning Yang was very clear about his position. He was a nobody that had just started his career. How could a new director without any fame or influence be worthy of an investor having confidence in him without any reservations?

During this period of time, Ning Yang had contacted many investors and producers, hoping that they would invest in his movie. However, as soon as the other party heard that he wasn’t a well-known director, they weren’t even willing to see him, much less invest in his movie.

He hesitated on making a decision. He wasn’t sure if he should move forward with saying yes. Ning Yang didn’t believe that such a good thing would happen to him. On the contrary, he was more willing to believe that Ye Zhen was joking with him.

“Miss Ye, did you get an understanding of me as well as the preparations I made for this movie before deciding to invest?”

“Of course. I stayed up through the night to read Director Ning’s script. Otherwise, do you think I would spend 50 million yuan just to play around?” Ye Zhen smiled.

“50 million yuan?” Ning Yang was shocked.

Ye Zhen nodded. “I did a rough calculation. When all is said and done, 50 million yuan should be enough to pay for the preliminary preparations, inviting actors and actresses, filming, post-production, and promoting. However, if Director Ning wants to hire popular stars, my investment might not be enough to pay those stars’ salaries.”

“N-No… It's not that I think 50 million yuan is a small sum. Miss Ye, aren’t you worried…” Even Ning Yang didn’t have the confidence in himself to recoup that cost.

50 million yuan! Most famous directors’ budgets didn’t exceed that amount! This Mrs. Lu was so liberal with her money. She actually wanted to invest that much money on him?

“If I was worried about not being able to recoup the cost, I wouldn’t have come here. I’ve read your script, and I’m very optimistic about it. I think there’s definitely a market for your movie.”

Ning Yang mockingly smiled at himself. For a while, he didn’t know what to say.

He had been preparing for this movie for so long, but except for Meng Jie, Ye Zhen was the only other person that gave him such unreserved encouragement and praise. The pressure to succeed doubled when he received this boost to his morale.

“Do you have any thoughts on who you want in the movie?”

Ning Yang wryly smiled in embarrassment. “I’m not afraid to tell the truth and be embarrassed in front of Miss Ye. I’ve been rushing around for the past two months looking for actors and actresses, but as of now, I’ve only signed agreements for the female protagonist and two supporting roles. I’m still in the discussion process for the male lead as well as several important supporting roles.”

Although he said he was in the discussion process, he hadn’t actually gotten there yet. He was still looking.

Without fame or money, it was difficult to find any actors and actresses with good acting skills willing to sign on to his movie, much less heavyweight stars.

Ning Yang had contacted his former classmates, but most of them weren’t optimistic about Ning Yang’s situation, so they tactfully refused.

Meng Jie had also tried to help him by contacting actors and actresses that she had previously worked with and given them the script, but nothing had come of it.

Not everyone had Ye Zhen’s daring. Most people weren’t willing to gamble on a movie that they obviously couldn’t see a future for. Moreover, there was the added disadvantage of Meng Jie playing the part of the female protagonist.

“How about this? Don’t worry about finding actors and actresses for your movie or the post-production and publicity. You just need to put all your energy on filming, and I’ll take care of everything else.”

Ning Yang briefly thought it over. “This… Those are the responsibilities of the producer. Miss Ye…”

“Hmm? I can’t take the role of the producer? We’re all inexperienced the first time. There’s no second step without taking the first step. I’m confident that after the filming of this movie, we’ll both gain experience. What do you think?”

Ning Yang had been looking partially away, but under Ye Zhen’s gaze, he couldn’t resist looking her in the eye.

Strangely, Ning Yang felt unprecedented resolve and confidence in her clear gaze.

People’s emotions were contagious. Ye Zhen’s ubiquitous confidence and uplifting fighting spirit infected Ning Yang. At this moment, the frustration and near exhaustion he felt from repeated rejections faded away.

“Yes, we’ll each gain new experience. I’m very much looking forward to working together with you.” Ning Yang calmly stood up and reached out to shake hands with Ye Zhen. “I wish us a happy collaboration!”

Ye Zhen stood up and shook his hand. “Happy collaboration.”