Yu Xuezheng expressed her thanks and left, but Xiao He rubbed his temples with a headache.
This production team was more complicated than he had imagined.
Back in the "Record of Chasing the Wind" production team, Xiao He basically just had to be an actor. As long as the money was right, that Director Deng wouldn't cause him much trouble either. And Yuan Sitong, the female lead he initially thought would be a big headache, had also been surprisingly quiet, her work attitude much more proper, without causing too much trouble.
But this production team—
Yu Xuezheng had a backstabbing agent behind her, the director was skilled at smoothing things over, and although Le Yuanbai was the male lead, he had just affiliated with Jiaxing Entertainment, so he was new and his words carried little weight. He also wasn't exactly a silver-tongued orator. And then there was that Producer Luo, who seemed to have more than a few issues...
Xiao He frowned.
Even without using his Same-Kind Smell ability, he felt this Producer Luo was no good. Just the look in his eyes carried a lot of unpleasant malice, and Xiao He really didn't like it.
Oh right, there was another guy—
"Brother Xiao!"
Speak of the devil. Xiao He had just remembered there was another "acquaintance" in this production team when he heard a call from behind.
Xiao He had no choice but to stop and turn around.
Sure enough, Jiang Chifei and his agent Bao Xin were walking over.
—Right, he had almost forgotten. The production team also had someone with whom he had some entanglement. That would be the person right before him, the culprit whose own fans picked up the wrong flight and chased him all over the place.
"Hello, Brother Xiao! Welcome to the production team today! I was in the makeup room earlier and didn't get the message about your arrival here. Please forgive me."
Jiang Chifei was quite polite to Xiao He.
This time, Jiang Chifei didn't have that aloof, cold aura he had at the airport last time. He was wearing the disciple robes of an immortal sect, his hair wrapped in an ancient-style wig. The whole look did give him a somewhat ethereal, immortal-like feeling.
Xiao He had originally thought this guy had a bad temper, but after the incident where he proactively apologized last time, Xiao He had gained a new impression of him.
"Hello."
Xiao He also greeted him amiably.
Bao Xin looked behind Xiao He and, seeing that only his assistant Xiao Chen was following him, smiled and asked, "Sister Liu didn't come to the set with you today? I was just thinking it's been a while since I've seen her, and wanted to invite her to catch up."
"Mm, she'll be arriving a bit later."
Xiao He explained.
"I see. Well, let Jiang Chifei show you around then. I imagine after what just happened, the production team might need a little time to adjust."
Bao Xin nudged Jiang Chifei forward, acting like a relative visiting and promoting their own kid.
Xiao He felt this agent and this Jiang Chifei weren't too foolish, so he didn't refuse and followed Jiang Chifei's lead.
There wasn't really much to tour around the production set. At most, you could check out the distribution of the restrooms, look at the set decorations and props, and see the other main cast members.
Xiao He was running between two production teams, but his focus was still on the "Record of Chasing the Wind" side. So he was destined not to stay in this production team for long, making familiarizing himself with the environment not very meaningful for him.
So after walking for just a short while, Xiao He began to seem disinterested.
Jiang Chifei then proactively led Xiao He to sit down to the side.
"This Producer Luo, when did he arrive?"
Seeing Jiang Chifei looking like he wanted to make conversation but didn't know what to say, Xiao He simply opened a topic he himself wanted to learn about.
"Producer Luo? Luo Zesheng?"
The first to answer Xiao He was still agent Bao Xin.
Xiao He nodded. "Right. I heard the previous producer was detained because of Wang Shaoqi's incident. I didn't know this new Producer Luo before, so I was just curious and asking."
Bao Xin immediately took on a very responsible tone and introduced, "Producer Luo is one of the shareholders of Jiaxing Entertainment. He usually mainly oversees web dramas. This time, Xingchen Entertainment caused too much trouble, so after discussions, the producer was replaced with someone from our Jiaxing."
Xiao He's expression was complicated.
How to put it? The producer position indeed manages both people and money. If it's someone arranged by the main investor, their power can even be greater than the director's. So Wang Shaoqi wanting to curry favor with the producer before did have its reasons.
But swapping them around only to bring in another problematic producer... isn't that just too much of a trap?
Xingchen Entertainment had its pitfalls, and this Jiaxing Entertainment side was just as bad, a pot calling the kettle black.
Xiao He was now genuinely feeling some regret about joining such a production team midway.
Indeed, taking advantage comes with a price.
"What's wrong? Did mr Xiao have some conflict with Producer Luo?"
Bao Xin was a shrewd person. Seeing the strange expression on Xiao He's face, he cautiously probed, "Producer Luo is indeed not an easy person to get along with. If he did something inappropriate, please be more forgiving, mr Xiao."
"Uh, okay, I understand."
Having learned what he wanted to know, Xiao He found a random excuse to leave. "I have a shoot later, so I'll go get my makeup and styling done first. Goodbye."
Seeing Xiao He had to attend to work, Bao Xin felt it inappropriate to keep him talking and could only watch as Xiao He left.
Jiang Chifei, who had been sitting properly, now slumped his shoulders with a deflated expression.
"These people's minds are so hard to guess."
Jiang Chifei muttered and grumbled.
Bao Xin, however, sighed. "I also didn't expect Luo Zesheng to come to this production team. I don't know what the company was thinking, why they arranged for him to come."
Luo Zesheng's reputation wasn't exactly good. People in the industry might only know a little, but as someone also from Jiaxing Entertainment, Bao Xin knew the full picture clearly.
"Probably even Liu Rulan doesn't know yet that Luo Zesheng came to this production team."
He said worriedly, "What if the production team starts their power struggles again later... can our drama even continue filming..."
"Why think so much about it." Jiang Chifei said with an indifferent look. "Anyway, let them fight their battles, we'll film ours."
Bao Xin gave Jiang Chifei a helpless look. "We're in the same production team. If they start causing chaos, how can we possibly stay unaffected?"
"If the sky falls, the taller ones will hold it up."
Bao Xin: "...Anyway, you stay away from that Luo Zesheng. The farther, the better. He's not a good person."
"Alright, alright—"
-
Xiao He returned to the makeup room and happened to run into Liu Rulan.
Lao Qi was standing beside Liu Rulan, and the two were talking about something. Her expression was clearly not good.
"Sister Liu."
Xiao He called out, and Liu Rulan immediately looked over at the sound.
"Don't get involved in Yu Xuezheng's matter."
Liu Rulan went straight to the point.
Xiao He glanced at Lao Qi, confirming that Lao Qi hadn't told Liu Rulan about Zhou Junhao seeking him out alone. So he smiled and explained, "I know. This matter blowing up wouldn't be good for the production team anyway. I'm certainly not going to become the 'target of public criticism'."
He just did a good deed when he could, it wasn't like he was foolishly charging into battle for someone.
"That's good then."
Liu Rulan breathed a sigh of relief.
"But I also ran into Jiang Chifei and his agent just now. I casually chatted with them about our production team's current producer, Luo Zesheng—" Xiao He paused, then asked, "This Luo Zesheng, I heard is also from Jiaxing Entertainment. Sister Liu, do you know him?"
"Luo Zesheng?"
The expression on Liu Rulan's face, which had just softened, suddenly turned ugly again.
"How did Jiaxing let that piece of shit come here?"
Xiao He: ...Okay. It seems this matter really won't be simple.