FIMA Ch36: Hidden Passion

“Gu… Gu Siyuan?” Xie Jinzhao was momentarily stunned by the sudden action.

But then, he pretended to be calm and blinked, smiling lightly and leisurely, “What, do you also think my suggestion is worth considering?”

Gu Siyuan looked at the person beneath him, whose eyelashes fluttered like startled butterflies, yet he still stubbornly stared with wide eyes and spoke harshly. Gu Siyuan couldn’t help but chuckle softly a few times.

Xie Jinzhao was genuinely angered and embarrassed now, “You… why are you laughing?”

Suppressing his laughter, Gu Siyuan spoke in a low, deep voice, “I laugh because the ancients did not deceive me. The beauty described in ‘Wei Feng’ truly exists. Jinzhao, you are like that. I just don’t know for whom your ice-like skin and jade-like bones will be pitied…”

“My ice-like… jade-like bones?” Xie Jinzhao glared at him, his smile enchanting, his tone deliberately drawn out, “How do you know about that?”

Gu Siyuan snorted, his large hand gripping the slender waist and gently rubbing it a few times, “Mr. Xie, your memory is really poor. Have you forgotten the first time we met? When I gave you a bath, I already saw your entire body. When I dried you off, I even measured every inch… with my own hands.”

By the time he finished his last sentence, his voice had gradually become soft and ethereal, accompanied by the warmth of the large hand on his waist, as if directly drawing the person into an illusory memory, where he was being caressed inch by inch by this person’s rough large hand.

“……” Xie Jinzhao.

Damn.

From the very first meeting, Gu Siyuan had always looked aloof, noble, and unapproachable, but it turned out he was just pretending. Inside, he was a thorough introvert.

Has society and human nature become so complicated now?

At this moment, Gu Siyuan’s hand on Xie Jinzhao’s waist moved again, pushing Xie Jinzhao and the blanket to the inner side of the bed.

Then, he took another blanket from the cabinet, covered himself, and lay down on the outer side.

“Tell me, what is it?”

Xie Jinzhao tugged at the blanket that had been warmed by this person, slowly saying, “I’m nervous.”

Gu Siyuan was momentarily confused. After a while, he asked, “Nervous about going to the film set tomorrow?”

Xie Jinzhao nodded, “Yes.”

Gu Siyuan turned his head to look at him, “This isn’t your first film, and the investment isn’t large. Why are you so nervous? Is it because of the aftereffects of the last film?”

Xie Jinzhao said nothing.

Gu Siyuan understood.

The film that aired two months ago was an adaptation of a popular IP, a female-centric workplace drama.

Of course, despite being labeled as a workplace drama, everyone knew that the workplace aspect was highly unrealistic, and the main plot was actually a romance. The original work was diluted and adapted beyond recognition.

The lead actress was Qian Yi, an actress with higher seniority than Xie Jinzhao. Qian Yi, thirty years old, debuted in a popular costume drama and later starred in several major dramas, achieving high national recognition.

Previously, wanting to broaden her acting range and enhance her commercial value, she turned to filming several movies, but there truly is a barrier between TV and film markets. Regardless of her role, the movies all flopped, failing at the box office and even within the industry.

This female-centric workplace drama was Qian Yi’s return to the TV market after a year of silence following her movie failures.

Initially, it attracted a lot of attention, but the outcome was disastrous. Various foolish scenes and nonsensical dialogues were mocked widely.

However, Qian Yi had representative TV works and high national recognition, so people weren’t too harsh on her. But the negativity had to be vented somewhere, and Xie Jinzhao, the male lead with a large following, naturally became the best target.

Although this drama was produced by Qian Yi’s company, and the supporting actors and the screenwriter were all from her company, the audience didn’t need to see that. No matter what, it was all the fault of the popular actor.

Whenever mentioned, people would remember Xie Jinzhao as the lead in that terrible drama. Many haters even took the opportunity to trend the topic #XieJinzhaoGetOutOfTheEntertainmentIndustry.

It was precisely because of the poor reception of this drama that Xie Jinzhao wanted to fade from the public eye for a while.

In the original timeline, after the scandal of Xie Jinzhao’s explicit photos broke, he was instantly ostracized with no chance to fight back.

This was because the drama had just finished airing, leaving the audience with a very poor impression of him, making them quick to react negatively.

Thinking of Xie Jinzhao’s final fate in his past life, and seeing the vibrant and proud Xie Jinzhao now.

Gu Siyuan felt a surge of undeniable affection for the person beside him.

He raised his hand to touch Xie Jinzhao’s cheek, his fingertips gentle, then placed his hand on his head.

Xie Jinzhao’s heart softened, feeling he had misunderstood Gu Siyuan. This guy also had a very gentle side.

However, in the next moment, the large hand on his face exerted a little force, making Xie Jinzhao turn his head to look at Gu Siyuan, as the familiar cold voice rang out, “In that case, are you planning to leave the entertainment industry?”

Xie Jinzhao was stunned, stammering, “No… not to that extent.”

Gu Siyuan snorted, “Although you were discovered through a college singing competition, I’ve seen your singing and stage performances. You don’t have any advantages in the entertainment industry, purely relying on your looks. Most of your fans were drawn in by that hit campus drama. If you don’t continue acting, they’ll soon leave. What will you rely on to stay in the entertainment industry, thick skin?”

“……” Xie Jinzhao.

He came here for comfort, right?

Why does it feel like he’s worthless and his life is hopeless?

Gu Siyuan asked again, “Are you afraid that after this drama is aired, you’ll be scolded again?”

Xie Jinzhao puffed his cheeks, saying nothing.

Gu Siyuan said, “If you’re so scared, why not leave the entertainment industry? Is it because you can’t let go of the fast money?”

Xie Jinzhao glared at him.

Gu Siyuan seemed oblivious to his look, continuing, “If you’re really that scared, just quit. Don’t worry about money. I can pay you annually based on your average income from the past years.”

Xie Jinzhao pulled off the hand pinching his cheek and suddenly pounced on Gu Siyuan, sitting on his waist and glaring fiercely, “I love acting.”

Gu Siyuan raised his hand again, pressing down on Xie Jinzhao’s neck, coldly staring at him, “I’ve never seen anyone afraid of something they love.”

Xie Jinzhao, pressed against Gu Siyuan, felt his waist ache and his heart hurt.

He suddenly felt a wave of boundless grievance, “But I do love it.”

Gu Siyuan’s arm relaxed slightly, his tone softening a bit, “We discussed this a few days ago, but it seems you’re still slow. What is the primary duty of an actor?”

Gu Siyuan nodded: “Then it’s enough. This is the limit of what an actor can do. By the way, do you know why, out of so many actors in the last show, you were the only one who got scolded the most? Because you don’t shift the blame.”

Xie Jinzhao furrowed his brows, feeling that Gu Siyuan was about to say something earth-shattering.

Sure enough.

Gu Siyuan’s tone remained calm: “Since there is no problem with the script now, and you are also fine, if the show still turns out bad after it airs, and people still scold you, you need to learn to shift the blame to avoid being scolded. When the time comes, spend some money to buy some press releases, saying that your manager forced you to act in a subpar script for money, that the director and screenwriter kept adding and changing scenes for their connections, and that you are purely a victim. You have so many fans, this kind of news will spread easily. What are you afraid of?”

Xie Jinzhao was dumbfounded.

This maneuver was really something, his manager was impressive.

Gu Siyuan looked at him: “Any more questions?”

Xie Jinzhao shook his head, reacting quickly: “No.”

“Very good.” Gu Siyuan nodded, then slightly raised his chin, indicating that the person sitting on him could get off.

Xie Jinzhao was stunned by him.

Just as he was about to climb down from the person’s waist, suddenly, he lightly curled his lips, lowered his gaze to look at the extremely handsome face, and said in a long tone: “By the way, you mentioned giving me money every year. What do you mean by that, Mr. Gu? Are you trying to… keep me?”

“…,” Gu Siyuan.

Young people nowadays look decent, but their minds are so vulgar?

What are they thinking about all day?

…

That night, Xie Jinzhao slept very well, with all his inner hesitation and fear gone.

The next morning when he woke up, he found himself curled up in Gu Siyuan’s arms. Facing the person’s questioning look, he calmly flirted back.

After breakfast, he and Gu Siyuan took the luggage they had packed early and boarded a flight to the film city.

The drama “Jin Yi Yu Jing” is a fictional historical costume drama, with the main storyline revolving around the male and female leads working together to solve cases and eventually uncovering the real culprit.

There were no particularly beautiful outdoor scenes, so staying in Hengdian Film City the whole time was sufficient, which also saved a lot of costs.

After arriving at the hotel and having lunch, Gu Siyuan and Xie Jinzhao met formally with the director and others.

Director Wang had not paid much attention to actors like Xie Jinzhao before, so when he saw Xie Jinzhao and Gu Siyuan together for the first time, he couldn’t tell who was the actor, as both had such exceptionally good looks.

It wasn’t until Gu Siyuan spoke up to call him that he snapped back to reality. This voice had become very familiar to him during this time, almost like a lifesaver’s voice.

The pre-shoot meeting went very smoothly.

Xie Jinzhao has always been easy to please. As long as the script was fine, he didn’t make any demands on the crew. To facilitate communication, he even stayed in the same budget hotel as the other cast and crew members.

Director Wang and others were greatly relieved and their impression of popular actors changed a lot.

What excited Director Wang even more was that after seeing their initial shooting plan and the venue and costumes, Gu Siyuan actually decided to invest more money.

“Jinyi Yujing” is an A-grade investment drama produced by Director Wang’s company and broadcast on the Green Fruit platform, with a total investment of 110 million yuan, including post-production promotion and marketing costs.

Over 100 million yuan sounds like a lot, but in this era of skyrocketing prices, the daily venue rental and the costs for hundreds of extras and workers amount to nearly a million yuan.

Therefore, the scenery and costumes couldn’t be as exquisite.

On this point, the perfectionist Gu Siyuan couldn’t agree.

Gu Siyuan looked at Director Wang: “I can invest an additional 50 million yuan.”

The director’s eyes widened.

Now, on trending searches, you often see some actors complaining about their acting skills but having no good scripts to shoot or not being approached by directors or producers, especially those top-tier actors.

But to be honest, they have been in the entertainment industry for so many years. Even if they don’t have tens of billions, they definitely have several billions, and their connections are extensive. If they wanted to produce good scripts, they could definitely fund it themselves.

So why do they only talk about it and never take any action?

Because they are afraid of taking risks.

Data shows that film and television investment has the highest loss rate among all investments.

As an actor, as long as they follow through and finish shooting a series, they can earn tens of millions as a fixed salary. Even if the show is bad and they get scolded, for those well-established top-tier actors, it doesn’t hurt much.

But if they fund and produce it themselves, if the project fails, the money they lose is real. Who would want to take on that worry and risk when they can earn stable money?

Director Wang rubbed his hands and couldn’t help but ask again, “Are you serious?”

“Hmm.” Gu Siyuan nodded.

Director Wang, overly excited, hurriedly asked, “Don’t you need to discuss this with Jinzhao?”

Gu Siyuan calmly said, “I can decide for him.”

At this moment, Gu Siyuan asked, “How much is the final promotional budget for this drama?”

Director Wang held up one finger, “Fifteen million.”

Gu Siyuan continued, “No need. Change it all to production costs. I will handle the subsequent promotions. Add the promotional budget and the fifty million to the investment shares.”

“Really?” Director Wang was so excited he rubbed his hands repeatedly, wanting to rush over and hug Gu Siyuan and call him ‘Daddy.’

“Great, great.”

In the past, he filmed anti-war dramas and shows for older women. These didn’t need any promotions. As long as they aired on TV, the elderly would watch if they found it good while channel surfing.

So honestly, he didn’t have any special promotional channels on new media and the internet and was at a loss about the subsequent promotions.

As the agent of the highly popular Xie Jinzhao, Gu Siyuan undoubtedly had the connections and experience in this area. When it came to operation, he would definitely do better than a first-timer like Director Wang.

After inspecting everything related to the drama like an emperor, Gu Siyuan prepared to leave.

He called for Xie Jinzhao, exchanged a few words, and said he would come to see him again tomorrow.

The female lead, Lu Ruowen, was rehearsing lines with Xie Jinzhao. Seeing Gu Siyuan leave, she curiously asked, “Teacher Xie, isn’t your agent staying with you?”

“…” Xie Jinzhao.

How should he explain that his agent couldn’t bear hardships and chose to leave him, a top-tier popular star, to stay at the town’s only five-star hotel?

That’s just how extravagant he is.

Six days later, which was the auspicious date Director Wang had someone pick, was the official start of filming for “Jin Yi Yu Jing.”

The night before filming began, the episode of “Who is the King of Adventure” featuring Gu Siyuan and Xie Jinzhao was aired.

That night, Gu Siyuan also put aside his noble demeanor and squeezed into Xie Jinzhao’s room to watch the episode together.