Chapter 26: Terrible! Absolutely Terrible!

Normally, when a film crew promotes a project, the first choice is always the male and female leads, as they are the biggest selling points of the show. However, Director Chen is no ordinary person. This time, he adopted a completely different promotional strategy, directly shutting down the press releases prepared by the female lead’s side.

In fact, there was a bit of Director Chen’s personal agenda in this. He wanted to teach the female lead a lesson. The focus of this drama was not the romantic storyline, so there were quite a few actresses in the industry who were suitable and capable of taking on the role. This actress was also within the scope of consideration. The investor wanted to please his mistress, so Director Chen conveniently gave the investor a favor. This was a win-win situation for both parties. However, as an actress, if she didn’t show respect to the director, the director naturally had countless ways to deal with such a person.

The actress delayed the progress of the crew during her very first scene, and later, she was outright rude to the crew members. How could Director Chen possibly have a good attitude toward someone like that?

There was a night scene where everyone was exhausted, hungry, and sleepy. Director Chen took the initiative to pay out of his own pocket for coffee and snacks for the crew. Everyone received the same portion and the same brand. When they went to deliver the snacks to the female lead, she glanced at the coffee, and her assistant immediately poured it out.

“Our Sister Bai doesn’t drink such cheap coffee. Are you assistants blind? Buying this kind of coffee to appease our Sister Bai? And these snacks? Sister Bai is on a diet. Do you have any common sense? Buying such high-sugar food? Are you all pig-brained?”

The staff member’s face turned green on the spot. Director Chen’s crew wasn’t just a temporary hire; most of them were his regular team. This incident immediately offended Director Chen, and he wanted to replace the actress on the spot. However, he was stopped by the assistant director, as changing an actor after so much had already been filmed would result in significant losses.

But Director Chen kept this incident in mind. That’s why this promotional launch wasn’t about the romance between the male and female leads. As for the investor, Director Chen wasn’t someone to be trifled with either. The investor had already pushed one actress into the project, and Director Chen absolutely wouldn’t allow them to interfere in other matters. After all, the investor wasn’t the only one involved.

In the morning, the female lead had just finished shooting an advertisement. When she saw this promotion, she was so angry she almost lost her temper.

She slammed her tablet onto her assistant: “What are you all doing? I’m the female lead of this drama! How could some unknown nobody take the spotlight? Are you all just freeloaders?”

The others cowered, not daring to speak.

“Well, well~ Who’s made our little darling so angry?” A middle-aged man walked in. Among other things, his shiny bald head was particularly noticeable.

“Mr. Zhang, you’re finally here! What else could it be? Look at this promotion. I’m clearly the female lead, but there’s not a single mention of me here. Isn’t this just humiliating me? And most importantly, they didn’t even consider your face either.”

Bai Shan’s voice was so affected, it was as if she had just been trained to act that way, enough to make anyone’s skin crawl.

The man called Mr. Zhang didn’t pay attention to anything else. His eyes were completely glued to Bai Shan’s prominent figure.

“Ugh, if you keep doing this, I won’t pay attention to you anymore,” she said, but her body leaned closer to the man.

The man couldn’t wait to get his hands on her, and the assistants, understanding the situation, quickly left the room.

“My darling, don’t worry, I’ll make it up to you. I’ll buy you a trending topic later.”

Hearing the man avoid the topic of the drama, Bai Shan knew he had no intention of helping her with this matter.

She moaned softly, but her eyes were cold. This old man had taken plenty of advantages but had never actually helped her with anything important. If it weren’t for his money, how could such a man ever be her intimate companion?

In the afternoon, the female lead finally reposted a Weibo post, adding the caption, “Xiao Qu’s acting is amazing! Everyone should support us~” Since there was already buzz, she naturally wouldn’t miss the chance to ride the wave. However, she also felt the need to teach Tang Qu a lesson, to let him know the difference between respect and disrespect.

Bai Shan remembered that there were several others who had competed with Tang Qu for the role. Among them, there was one she had heard about. In the same circle, no one was inherently superior to anyone else, and that person probably also had some grievances against Tang Qu.

Bai Shan called her assistant in and instructed her to contact that person. Tang Qu’s reputation was already mixed; with a little more fuel added to the fire, they could easily destroy this rootless person without much effort.

As for the drama, what impact could a third male lead possibly have?

Tang Qu was completely unaware of the female lead’s schemes because, at that moment, he was being held up at the set by Yu Ting.

Here’s what happened: Yu Ting’s comment on Weibo about coaxing their Master wasn’t just a simple joke. Originally, Tang Qu didn’t have any scenes scheduled for the morning since he had been filming night scenes and was resting at home. But Yu Ting called, saying there was a last-minute addition to his scenes. Tang Qu, gullible as ever, quickly packed up and went to the set with Du Yan.

When he arrived, Director Chen looked at him in surprise, and Tang Qu realized he had been tricked by Yu Ting. Yu Ting arrived late, saying, “Today is the scene where I, the Demon Lord, ascend the throne. How could my Master not witness it in person?”

Tang Qu: “…”

Du Yan: “…”

Looking at Yu Ting, Tang Qu felt the urge to beat him up.

In the end, Tang Qu couldn’t resist Yu Ting’s persistence and stayed on set to watch him act.

Director Chen, seeing Yu Ting’s improving performance, was practically beaming.

Yu Ting’s chubby assistant approached Tang Qu and said, “Brother Qu, I’m sorry. Brother Yu isn’t feeling well today and refuses to take his medicine. He insisted that seeing you would make him feel better, so he came up with this plan.”

Tang Qu frowned. “If he’s not feeling well, get him some medicine! Calling me over just to keep filming—this is ridiculous!” Tang Qu was angry, not because he had been tricked, but because of Yu Ting’s childish behavior. It was like when a child is sick and doesn’t want to take medicine, only wanting to be held by an adult. How could that help?

The assistant, seeing Tang Qu’s imposing demeanor, suddenly felt as if he had seen this same aura in someone else before.

Seeing Yu Ting approach, the assistant stepped back, silently wishing him luck.

Yu Ting, noticing Tang Qu’s displeased expression, felt a pang of unease in his heart.

“Didn’t you want me to watch your performance? Now that it’s over, aren’t you going to ask me how I, the audience, felt about it?” Tang Qu sat on Yu Ting’s chair, holding a cup in his hand.

At this moment, Yu Ting could no longer care about his special seat being taken by someone else. He shuffled over to Tang Qu in small steps, tugging at Tang Qu’s sleeve, just like in the play where Yu Ze would tug at Pure Profound Venerable’s sleeve whenever he made a mistake.

“So, Brother Qu, what did you think?” Xiao Qu didn’t even dare to call him that anymore.

Tang Qu sneered, “Terrible! Absolutely terrible!”