Chapter 42 Part 1
Life inside the hospital was peaceful and quiet, however, the news of the accident was growing bigger and bigger.
Cheng Jiang and Lu Qing were near the point of the explosion and suffered the brunt of the blaze. Both of them had burns over 30% of their bodies. The movie production now faced the immense burden of compensating for the damages. At the same time, the movie itself was having trouble wrapping up. Related news about the movie <The Watcher> occupied the hot search list for over a whole week. Among all the news, the fact that Ye Qiao had shielded Jiang Yu from the fire received the most coverage. The attention she received from the incident was even more than the premier of any of her movies; some of the lesser known films she had acted in were dug up and began to trend.
After Ye Qiao left the hospital, her agent arranged for her to appear in several highly rated talk shows and variety shows. With those appearances, the name “Ye Qiao” became well known. When Director Wang Qingming announced the actors he’d chosen for his movie, <Innocent City>, Ye Qiao was the most well received.
In three months after she had been released from the hospital, Ye Qiao was busy with appearances and filming. She was hardly at home and kept contact with Zhou Tingsheng only with an occasional phone call.
Three months later, at the premiere for <The Watcher>, Zheng Xishuo performed the theme song of the movie and went down the stage to sit next to Ye Qiao at the special guest area.
Zheng Xishuo had makeup for the stage performance, with glitter at the corners of his eyes. His smile glistened in the light and he began to chat with Ye Qiao: “You’ve recovered well!”
Ye Qiao smiled back and listened to his rambling: “While you were in the hospital, I went to visit you several times. Does your cousin have some kind of grudge against me? Everytime I went, she said you were asleep!”
Ye Qiao knew instantly who had instructed Qianxi to do so, she secretly laughed at the Zhou Tingsheng’s childishness but still replied: “I was sleeping a lot back then.”
Zhen Xishuo had no interest in getting to the bottom of the issue. Instead, he sulkily asked: “I heard that you had gone to reshoot some scenes for <The Watcher>?”
“......”
Zhen Xishuo couldn’t believe it: “It can’t be, Qiaoqiao. Are you really this generous? Gu Jin is in a pitiable plight now. The compensation is one thing; if he couldn’t get the film released, not only would all the production cost go down the drain, the pressure from all the investors would also crush him. Even if he can survive the blow this time around, any of his future projects will have difficulty finding any investors. If <The Watcher> doesn’t release, he’d be totally destroyed.”
Finally Ye Qiao opened her mouth: “So you think I should kick him while he’s down?”
“I don’t mean that.” Zheng Xishuo exasperated that Ye Qiao missing his point: “I mean, you’re already kind enough not asking for any compensation nor terminating your contract with him. Why do you keep shooting scenes for him so that he can complete the film?”
“If I don’t, then I’m kicking him while he’s down, right?” Ye Qiao pretended to be kind hearted: “If I tell you that he had given me a sum of money for the breakup earlier and I had returned it after the accident, would you feel like not having me as a friend?”
Zheng Xishuo really wanted to nod: “......”
Ye Qiao chuckled: “Am I that stupid?”
She took her time to explain: “I agreed to reshoot certain scenes not because I wanted to help. It’s because if the film can’t be completed then all my effort for the last four months would be wasted. My attitude won’t have much effect on what’s already happened, but it’s very important to me. There’s no need to hurt myself just to get even with him.”
The accident had been a huge impact on Gu Jin’s finances and reputation. Even if he could make a lot of money with the release of <The Watcher>, it would still be hard to make up for the huge shortfall. But for Ye Qiao, this film had become a milestone in her acting career. Not only would she do any reshoots, she would do them as well as she could.
Zheng Xishuo dejectedly said: “Then how about the breakup fee?”
Ye Qiao replied with a smile: “Just because I don’t want to owe him anything.”
The host of the premiere happened to call on the main actors of the film to go on stage. Because of the reshoot, Ye Qiao’s part in the film became more prominent. She was indeed the first female lead in the film. Xu Yingshan had become the supporting actress and was so annoyed by the change of circumstances that she refused to attend the premiere.
Chapter 42 Part 1
Life inside the hospital was peaceful and quiet, however, the news of the accident was growing bigger and bigger.
Cheng Jiang and Lu Qing were near the point of the explosion and suffered the brunt of the blaze. Both of them had burns over 30% of their bodies. The movie production now faced the immense burden of compensating for the damages. At the same time, the movie itself was having trouble wrapping up. Related news about the movie <The Watcher> occupied the hot search list for over a whole week. Among all the news, the fact that Ye Qiao had shielded Jiang Yu from the fire received the most coverage. The attention she received from the incident was even more than the premier of any of her movies; some of the lesser known films she had acted in were dug up and began to trend.
After Ye Qiao left the hospital, her agent arranged for her to appear in several highly rated talk shows and variety shows. With those appearances, the name “Ye Qiao” became well known. When Director Wang Qingming announced the actors he’d chosen for his movie, <Innocent City>, Ye Qiao was the most well received.
In three months after she had been released from the hospital, Ye Qiao was busy with appearances and filming. She was hardly at home and kept contact with Zhou Tingsheng only with an occasional phone call.
Three months later, at the premiere for <The Watcher>, Zheng Xishuo performed the theme song of the movie and went down the stage to sit next to Ye Qiao at the special guest area.
Zheng Xishuo had makeup for the stage performance, with glitter at the corners of his eyes. His smile glistened in the light and he began to chat with Ye Qiao: “You’ve recovered well!”
Ye Qiao smiled back and listened to his rambling: “While you were in the hospital, I went to visit you several times. Does your cousin have some kind of grudge against me? Everytime I went, she said you were asleep!”
Ye Qiao knew instantly who had instructed Qianxi to do so, she secretly laughed at the Zhou Tingsheng’s childishness but still replied: “I was sleeping a lot back then.”
Zhen Xishuo had no interest in getting to the bottom of the issue. Instead, he sulkily asked: “I heard that you had gone to reshoot some scenes for <The Watcher>?”
“......”
Zhen Xishuo couldn’t believe it: “It can’t be, Qiaoqiao. Are you really this generous? Gu Jin is in a pitiable plight now. The compensation is one thing; if he couldn’t get the film released, not only would all the production cost go down the drain, the pressure from all the investors would also crush him. Even if he can survive the blow this time around, any of his future projects will have difficulty finding any investors. If <The Watcher> doesn’t release, he’d be totally destroyed.”
Finally Ye Qiao opened her mouth: “So you think I should kick him while he’s down?”
“I don’t mean that.” Zheng Xishuo exasperated that Ye Qiao missing his point: “I mean, you’re already kind enough not asking for any compensation nor terminating your contract with him. Why do you keep shooting scenes for him so that he can complete the film?”
“If I don’t, then I’m kicking him while he’s down, right?” Ye Qiao pretended to be kind hearted: “If I tell you that he had given me a sum of money for the breakup earlier and I had returned it after the accident, would you feel like not having me as a friend?”
Zheng Xishuo really wanted to nod: “......”
Ye Qiao chuckled: “Am I that stupid?”
She took her time to explain: “I agreed to reshoot certain scenes not because I wanted to help. It’s because if the film can’t be completed then all my effort for the last four months would be wasted. My attitude won’t have much effect on what’s already happened, but it’s very important to me. There’s no need to hurt myself just to get even with him.”
The accident had been a huge impact on Gu Jin’s finances and reputation. Even if he could make a lot of money with the release of <The Watcher>, it would still be hard to make up for the huge shortfall. But for Ye Qiao, this film had become a milestone in her acting career. Not only would she do any reshoots, she would do them as well as she could.
Zheng Xishuo dejectedly said: “Then how about the breakup fee?”
Ye Qiao replied with a smile: “Just because I don’t want to owe him anything.”
The host of the premiere happened to call on the main actors of the film to go on stage. Because of the reshoot, Ye Qiao’s part in the film became more prominent. She was indeed the first female lead in the film. Xu Yingshan had become the supporting actress and was so annoyed by the change of circumstances that she refused to attend the premiere.
