SABA Chapter 24

Chapter 24: “Don’t think about it, he’s very busy, no…”

Chapter 24: “Don’t think about it, he’s very busy, no…”

Chu Qingchao’s gift for Jiang Tiao, brought via Jiang Mingyan, was a small lion sculpture by a famous French installation artist. It was cute yet majestic, standing on a mountaintop, gazing at the rising sun, full of vitality.

Jiang Tiao loved it, admiring it with great fondness for a long time. Finally, he carried it into his room and cleared a space in the display cabinet, placing it perfectly, content.

Jiang Tiao knew Chu Qingchao had been troubled lately, so he wanted to return the favor with a gift to cheer Chu Qingchao up. He pondered it for a few days. One evening after dinner, while walking with Huo Shen in the garden, the moonlight filtered through the maple trees, casting a glow on the lily-of-the-valley flowers by the wall, like scattered silver. The pure white lily-of-the-valley swayed in the breeze, quiet and pure. The evening breeze carried a delicate floral fragrance, like being in a secluded valley. Bunches of white lilies stood quietly under the trees, elegant and silent, as if waiting for someone to look back.

Jiang Tiao suddenly thought of Chu Qingchao for no particular reason.

Lily-of-the-valley symbolizes the return of happiness, good fortune, and can represent joy.

The next afternoon, Chu Qingchao was in his company office when his secretary knocked and entered with a large bouquet of blooming lily-of-the-valley. The pure clusters of flowers, paired with sky-blue wrapping paper, were exceptionally elegant, like a silvery-white paradise.

Jiang Mingyan raised an eyebrow slightly and teased, “Oh, which admirer is sending flowers all the way to the office? Lily-of-the-valley, a very thoughtful choice.”

Chu Qingchao couldn’t immediately recall who it was. He took out the card nestled among the lilies.

“Brother Qingchao, thank you for your gift. The little lion is very majestic, I really like it. Wishing you happiness too – Jiang Tiao.”

A smiling Snoopy was also drawn in the bottom right corner of the card.

The fresh, delicate floral fragrance silently filled the entire office, subtly easing the furrowed brow that Chu Qingchao had carried for days.

Jiang Mingyan was somewhat surprised. Since his return, Chu Qingchao hadn’t had a single day of ease, as if shrouded in perpetual rain. His oppressive aura made Jiang Mingyan constantly worry that he might do something drastic at any moment. Because of this, he had privately instructed Chu Qingchao’s secretary and driver to be cautious and not let him drive recently.

Jiang Mingyan lounged on the sofa where guests were received. “It seems this person has great potential? That’s good, saves me the constant worry about your lifelong affairs.”

Chu Qingchao’s face turned cold. “Is my being single bothering you? Every time I have even a moment of free time, you’re practically desperate to transform into a matchmaker, stuffing five or six people into my bed daily so I can find a suitable partner and get married tomorrow?”

Jiang Mingyan’s expression darkened slightly. An invisible undercurrent seemed to flow between them, silent yet turbulent, and a slight misstep could draw them in, leading to unforeseen and irreversible consequences.

Seeing Chu Qingchao’s bloodshot eyes from handling matters for days, Jiang Mingyan sighed and made the first move to de-escalate.

“That’s not what I meant.”

Chu Qingchao pressed his temples. To stay awake, he had been drinking coffee almost like water these past few days. The large amount of caffeine stimulated his nerves, helping him stay alert, but also made him irritable. He knew he had spoken out of turn just now.

He calmed his emotions slightly, a faint, gentle smile appearing on his lips. He handed the flower card to Jiang Mingyan. “It’s your brother.”

Jiang Mingyan glanced at it, his eyebrows rising. He snorted and grumbled unhappily, “This little rascal! My mother worked so hard to tend the garden, and he just cuts flowers to give away as gifts. Hmph, I’ve given him plenty of good things, why hasn’t he ever tied a bouquet himself and given it to me?”

Chu Qingchao chuckled, “Your brother knows how to be more diplomatic than you.”

The two tacitly dropped the topic from earlier, neither mentioning it again, as if his careless words had never existed, much like that night filled with ambiguity and mistakes years ago.

Jiang Mingyan glanced at his watch. Seeing that it was getting late, he said, “You still haven’t signed the contract I gave you earlier.”

Chu Qingchao had been swamped lately. He knew Jiang Mingyan meant well, but he didn’t want to mix business with personal matters and have Jiang Mingyan make such significant concessions on the contract. “Leave it here. I’ll look at it when I have time.”

Jiang Mingyan was amusedly angered. “As the CEO of such a large company, I personally came to your company to deliver a contract, and you want to wait and look at it later? President Chu, are you this accommodating with your other partners?”

Chu Qingchao smiled. “You barged into my office without an appointment and delayed two of my meetings. The fact that I didn’t ask you to leave is already giving you a lot of face. I still have a stack of contracts to review here, you’ll have to wait in line.”

Jiang Mingyan was both angered and amused. “Chu Qingchao, I’m really giving you too much credit.”

Chu Qingchao ignored him, continuing to review the draft of the next magazine cover.

Sunlight streamed through the large floor-to-ceiling windows, falling on Chu Qingchao. Jiang Mingyan gazed at the strand of Bordeaux red hair on his head, reminiscent of the fragrant and finely textured Bordeaux red wine.

He felt inexplicably thirsty.

Jiang Mingyan drank the tea on the table in one gulp, then stood up and said, “Alright, take your time reviewing it. Remember to have someone send it over once it’s signed.”

Chu Qingchao perfunctorily bid farewell and did not see him out. He looked at the draft of the next issue’s magazine, but after ten minutes, he hadn’t turned the page. He leaned back wearily in his chair, raised his arm to cover his eyes with his wrist, and fell into a silent contemplation.

…

Jiang Tiao hadn’t expected Guan Qing to send him the script so quickly.

“So fast? Didn’t you say the script was still being adjusted that day?”

Guan Qing’s reply was slow.

“Yes, the main storyline’s pacing is still being adjusted. What I sent you is the character script; the plot may be deleted or revised at any time, so just take a casual look for now.”

This was… too casual.

Jiang Tiao had no memory of acting, so he didn’t know if other film crews or directors were this casual. However, since Guan Qing had sent him the script without even having him sign a non-disclosure agreement, compared to that, the matter of plot revisions seemed less surprising.

Jiang Tiao opened the file. To his surprise, Guan Qing’s next project was a historical suspense genre.

A county town where a series of murders occurred, and several young people meet here. They come here either for justice, for personal feelings, or for revenge. This is the starting point of everything that happened years ago. Some are searching for the truth, some are moving cautiously, some are entering the fray themselves. From confronting and testing each other to working together, they eventually uncover the truth of the major case that shocked the court and caused all the tragedies.

Jiang Tiao was to play a leisurely prince who, under the guise of sightseeing, came here to find evidence of an injustice from the past. On the surface, he acted absurd, ostentatious, and lazy, always dressed like a peacock, frequenting brothels. He would throw tantrums, pretend to be crazy, and even argue with shrewish women.

Jiang Tiao didn’t understand why Guan Qing felt this character’s temperament matched him.

Was his image perceived this way by others???!!!

Jiang Tiao didn’t want to think about it; he feared that overthinking would only cause him sorrow.

Guan Qing: “Have you finished reading it?”

Jiang Tiao: “Mm…”

Guan Qing: “What do you think? Are you interested?”

To be honest, putting aside Guan Qing’s comment about the character’s temperament matching him, he quite liked this type of character who was outwardly absurd but inwardly clear-headed and had their own plans.

Jiang Tiao: “But this kind of role is very difficult to portray.”

If played even slightly poorly, they would turn into genuine fools or overly flamboyant characters.

Guan Qing: “Yes, someone sent me some clips of your previous acting. I watched a bit, and it was indeed somewhat beyond my expectations.”

Jiang Tiao: “”

So Guan Qing hadn’t actually seen his acting before and didn’t know how his acting skills were!

Jiang Tiao really didn’t know what to say.

But someone sent it to him? Did this “someone” know that Guan Qing favored him for the role and deliberately sent Guan Qing his previous poor acting to make Guan Qing change his mind?

Guan Qing: [Personal Contact Card]

Guan Qing: “This is a teacher who teaches acting at the Film Academy. She’s very good at training actors who aren’t from professional schools.”

Jiang Tiao thanked him and asked for clarification on which parts could be shared with his agent and which needed to be kept confidential from his agent.

Guan Qing: “Besides the script, everything else is up to you.”

Jiang Tiao: “……”

Alright, he finally understood. This world was just a giant makeshift stage.

Jiang Tiao took some time to call Nie Jin.

Nie Jin had just entered the company elevator, and the signal wasn’t very good. She had just finalized a new announcement and was in a good mood. “I was just about to call you. What’s up?” Nie Jin paused, then quickly opened Weibo on her phone, her tone still carrying a threat, “You’d better not tell me you’ve gotten into trouble again!”

Jiang Tiao felt he was more wronged than Dou E. “What do you mean ‘again’?”

He had never gotten into trouble before!

Nie Jin didn’t see any trending negative searches about Jiang Tiao on Weibo, so her worried heart finally eased by half. Hearing Jiang Tiao’s innocent tone, as if he had amnesia, she became furious. “Have you forgotten the ridiculous things you’ve done before?”

Jiang Tiao: “……”

Alright, he truly couldn’t remember, and had forgotten that he had amnesia.

Nie Jin: “Besides, even if we don’t talk about the distant past, there’s the recent past. Someone secretly took photos of you at the airport a few days ago!”

“???” Jiang Tiao was shocked. “Are you blaming me for this too?”

Was he supposed to magically disable all the phones pointed at him?

Nie Jin’s tone held a hint of amusement. “Mm, no blame. I just wanted to ask what your friend does. Are they interested in considering entering the entertainment industry?”

Jiang Tiao was speechless. Nie Jin had circled around, scolding him and bringing up past grievances, all to lead up to this topic.

“…Don’t think about it, he’s very busy, it’s impossible.”

Nie Jin said “Oh,” with a tone of regret. From an agent’s perspective, that person’s image and demeanor were truly excellent. If they entered the entertainment industry, success would be inevitable.

Jiang Tiao didn’t want Nie Jin to continue dwelling on Huo Shen, so he quickly mentioned Guan Qing looking for him.

“Really?!” Nie Jin was immediately distracted, her tone carrying a hint of excitement. “Wait a moment, I’ll go into my office and then we can talk.”

Why does the entertainment industry value connections so much? Because connections equal information, and information equals being one step ahead. There was still no whisper in the industry about Guan Qing’s next film, and Nie Jin didn’t want this phone call to make it public knowledge. She strode into her office in her high heels, closed the door, and then let Jiang Tiao continue, “You said his next movie is planned to be a historical suspense?”

Jiang Tiao: “It’s not a movie, it’s a TV series, around eighteen or twenty episodes.”

“???” Nie Jin found it difficult to understand. The entertainment industry had its own hierarchy; the film industry looked down on television, and television looked down on variety shows. She had only seen directors who were very successful in television transition to the film industry, never a director who had just won an award in the film industry and then went to make a TV series.

Jiang Tiao was also surprised when he learned of it, but his reaction was far less extreme than Nie Jin’s.

Nie Jin: “Directors who have become famous tend to cherish their reputation more. Guan Qing became famous overnight, and many people are waiting to see him fail. He doesn’t lack investment or popularity now; he could completely wait for a good script for a movie.”

Jiang Tiao recalled Guan Qing’s words, “While I still have fame and people will invest in whatever I make, why not splurge a bit?” and smiled.

“I feel he might not care about these things. Whether it’s a movie or a TV series, for him, they are just forms of storytelling. He might just feel that this story couldn’t be told properly within a short two-hour movie, so he wants to make it into a TV series.”

Perhaps all geniuses are willful. Nie Jin felt that as an ordinary person, she shouldn’t worry about them.

“Setting aside other aspects, this might not be a bad thing for you right now. A movie makes the director famous, and a TV series makes the actor famous. Compared to movies, TV series have a wider audience. Director Guan making a TV series inherently brings discussion and popularity, so there’s no fear of it not making waves. What you need to do now is work hard to secure this role.”

“I’ll contact a few acting coaches for you and see if they’re available recently.”

Jiang Tiao felt a mix of amusement and exasperation. “You and Director Guan are really on the same page; he also recommended an acting coach to me just now.”

Nie Jin’s face turned dark. Her artist had a famous director proactively recommend an acting coach; she felt extremely embarrassed.

Jiang Tiao chatted with Nie Jin for a while longer. He remembered what Nie Jin had said at the beginning of the call and asked, “By the way, Sister Jin, you said you had something to tell me earlier?”

Nie Jin finally remembered. “Oh, right. You distracted me so much I forgot. I’ve accepted a variety show for you, ‘Starry Weekend.’ I heard Chu Xu’s side is also in talks, but I don’t know if you’ll be guests on the same episode.”