The filming of “Hello, Friend” is progressing smoothly, with only two and a half days of shooting per week, so it hasn’t significantly affected Jian Ran’s work on “Twenty Years.”

Initially, some crew members had complaints, but since Lu Yan also participated in the filming, those murmurs of dissent were quickly silenced.

Whether it was due to Lu Yan’s team’s guidance or not, the program crew remained very low-key, with the shoot not even making it to trending searches, and no promotion on Weibo.

Because of Yu Chen’s engagement banquet, Yu Yan didn’t oversee Jian Ran’s filming but instead went to pick him up from the set after his shoot was done.

When Yu Yan searched for Jian Ran on set and couldn’t find him, he asked the director, only to finally see Jian Ran stepping out of Lu Yan’s nanny van.

“Why are you getting out of his van? Didn’t I arrange a car for you through the company?” Yu Yan frowned.

He had seen how crazy paparazzi could get, snapping photos from trees several miles away with cameras.

Jian Ran already had the label of “riding on someone else’s fame” hanging over him, and if this got out, it would worsen his reputation.

Jian Ran explained, “The company said the nanny van was needed by someone else, so after filming, someone would pick me up.”

Yu Yan immediately understood. The company staff judged people by their status. Even though he had instructed them to provide Jian Ran with a nanny van, they gave it to someone else when they noticed he wasn’t around to oversee things.

Many small artists didn’t have their own nanny vans and had to share with others; this was common in the entertainment industry. But Yu Yan hadn’t expected someone under his own wing to experience it.

“Sorry, it’s my fault. I’ll make arrangements for a car to be sent over and assign you a dedicated driver,” Yu Yan said after some thought. Then he added, “It’s best if you don’t ride in Lu Yan’s nanny van. If paparazzi catch this, it’ll be another media storm.”

“Understood,” Jian Ran nodded obediently.

“What does it have to do with you? It’s not like I forced him to get in the van,” Lu Yan shot him a glare, muttering how meddlesome this man was.

Where did this guy even come from?

Yu Yan’s eyelids twitched. He had deliberately checked the surroundings to confirm that Lu Yan wasn’t nearby before saying those things.

So this man had been hiding behind the car door all along, eavesdropping on his conversation with Jian Ran, just to chime in with a rebuttal at the critical moment.

“Enough!” Jian Ran almost hissed the word through clenched teeth, dragging Lu Yan away.

Yu Yan was speechless. “Can you think about Jian Ran for once? Do you want him to face online harassment?”

“Why wasn’t the last scandal suppressed? Was it because your team didn’t react in time, or because they deliberately let the matter escalate under your instructions?” Yu Yan questioned sternly. “You’re in your twenties now—how can you still be so reckless?”

Yu Yan had previously inquired about the last scandal from Lu Yan’s team, but they had dodged the issue without giving a clear answer. Their inefficiency didn’t align with the expected standards of a professional team managing an A-list actor.

Combined with Lu Yan’s recent overly protective behavior toward Jian Ran, Yu Yan suspected that the previous scandal was intentional—a way for Lu Yan to signal to the industry that Jian Ran was under his protection.

Lu Yan’s tone was harsher. “None of your business. If you’re so free, why not go bother Cao Yuanye?”

“Fine, I will,” Yu Yan snorted, ignoring him.

After all, Lu Yan was only trying to help Jian Ran in his own way, so Yu Yan decided to let it slide and focus on other matters.

Cao Yuanye was notoriously stubborn. Yu Yan had approached him several times but hadn’t made much progress—barely exchanging a few words each time.

The Ziwei Star wasn’t so easy to recruit.

Knowing your enemy and yourself is key to winning battles. After much contemplation, Yu Yan decided to gather more intel. He zeroed in on the crew’s go-to gossip source—Assistant Director Zheng Gui.

In less than ten minutes, Yu Yan had uncovered all the entanglements between Cao Yuanye and Chen Hao.

Chen Hao’s family wasn’t particularly wealthy. His second uncle was a clinical pharmacology expert specializing in immunopharmacology research.

Leveraging this connection, Chen Hao’s father ventured into the pharmaceutical business, owning a private hospital and a small pharmaceutical company.

Years ago, Chen Hao had entered the entertainment industry through a low-budget web drama. Without resources, his career started off poorly, but his skill in action scenes, dedication, and charitable image eventually earned him a foothold in the industry.

Chen Hao’s most famous moment was a viral video of him performing a sword slash while suspended on wires. The video earned him over 400,000 new followers.

However, the person who filmed that scene as a stunt double was Cao Yuanye. Since it was a vision shot with the character wearing a mask, no one could recognize him.

Cao Yuanye’s mother suffers from chronic kidney failure and requires regular dialysis. Chen Hao offered free treatment for her at his family’s private hospital, removing Cao Yuanye’s financial burden. In return, Cao Yuanye signed an exploitative contract with Chen Hao.

Yu Yan processed this new information, finally understanding why Cao Yuanye was unwilling to entertain him—this was the reason.

Zheng Gui lowered his voice, advising, “You should stop bothering Cao Yuanye.”

“Even Liu Bei visited Zhuge Liang’s cottage three times. Maybe if I ask a few more times, he’ll say yes,” Yu Yan replied.

He didn’t want Cao Yuanye to end up like in the original story. He could resolve all of Cao Yuanye’s problems and let him pursue his career in the entertainment industry without worry.

Yu Yan could find a private hospital better than Chen Hao’s and wouldn’t force him into exploitative contracts. Instead, he would pour resources into him.

As for Chen Hao’s connections…

Yu Yan believed his older brother could handle them.

Resolving to approach Cao Yuanye again, Yu Yan searched the set but couldn’t find him, so he sent several WeChat messages.

Lately, he had occasionally contacted Cao Yuanye, but the latter rarely responded—when he did, it was only to refuse him.

Half an hour later, there was still no reply from Cao Yuanye.

Predictably, Yu Yan wasn’t surprised. After wandering the set a bit more, he learned from Zheng Gui that the outdoor and indoor shoots were separate, and Cao Yuanye and Chen Hao were filming outdoor scenes.

The filming location was quite far, and with the recent snowfall, the roads were wet and slippery. A thirty-minute drive took a full hour and a half, and by the time they arrived, the sky had already darkened significantly.

Due to the weather, the set was almost deserted.

The crew and extras were wrapped in thick military coats and down jackets, while Cao Yuanye only wore a green military-style sweater.

The sweater was old, dirty, and full of holes, offering no warmth at all.

Cao Yuanye’s bronze skin was covered in goosebumps from the cold, and he was faintly trembling, his lips pale and bloodless.

Yet during filming, he gave his all—his fighting moves and the force he applied were perfectly controlled.

When the director called “cut,” someone from the props team immediately handed him a down jacket.

Chen Hao suddenly spoke up, “Director Fang, I don’t think the last take felt right. Let’s do it again.”

Director Fang frowned. “It was already great.”

“But I still feel like something’s missing.”

“Why don’t you take the camera yourself?”

Chen Hao gave an awkward laugh. “I just want the shots to look perfect. My positioning didn’t match Cao Yuanye’s earlier, and if we edit it like this, it’ll look like a continuity error.”

Director Fang reviewed the footage again and noticed the positioning was indeed off. No matter how they edited it, viewers would see it as a glaring mistake.

Chen Hao had banked on Director Fang’s perfectionism and unwillingness to let flaws slip through, which is why he made the suggestion.

However, it was below freezing, and Cao Yuanye had already been filming for two hours.

Director Fang didn’t say anything and instead looked at Cao Yuanye to seek his opinion.

Cao Yuanye took off the jacket he had just put on and set it on the chair. “Let’s do it again.”

Director Fang’s face darkened. “Chen Hao, you film first. Cao Yuanye, watch his positioning carefully.”

Even Director Fang’s patience was wearing thin. If it weren’t for Chen Hao’s financial backer investing heavily in the project, he wouldn’t have let someone like this appear in his production.

The cold wind howled, and Yu Yan silently tightened his scarf.

Chen Hao’s personality might be lousy, but his acting was passable. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have made it into Twenty Years. As for Cao Yuanye, being a professional stunt double was enough to speak for his skill.

Both of them weren’t new to the industry, and they had worked well together in recent years. There was no way it should’ve taken over two hours to film such a simple fight scene. Clearly, Chen Hao was deliberately looking for excuses to give Cao Yuanye a hard time.

An indescribable feeling churned in Yu Yan’s chest, like a heavy stone pressing down, making him uneasy.

If it weren’t for him pestering Cao Yuanye multiple times, Chen Hao wouldn’t be intentionally making things difficult for him.

If he had done his homework and reached out to Cao Yuanye less conspicuously, none of this mess would’ve happened.

Yu Yan clenched his teeth, his hawk-like eyes fixed on Chen Hao.

This time, the shoot wrapped up successfully. Chen Hao didn’t pull any tricks during filming, but after the shoot, he intentionally bumped heavily into Cao Yuanye, knocking the down jacket he had just put on to the ground.

Cao Yuanye didn’t argue with him. He simply picked it up, patted off the dust, and put it back on.

“Well, well, the young master is here to poach someone again?”

Chen Hao had appeared in front of him at some point, his tone dripping with sarcasm.

Yu Yan sneered coldly. “That’s right. Is your image crumbling already? Feeling anxious?”

“Impossible.” Chen Hao gritted his teeth.

Yu Yan took a deep breath, tongue pressing against the roof of his mouth to suppress his anger.

“Try me, and we’ll see.”

Chen Hao scoffed but said nothing more, turning around and heading back to his van.

Yu Yan guessed he was probably going to seek help from his older sisters. That was all Chen Hao ever seemed capable of doing.

Cao Yuanye happened to walk by, slowing his steps briefly in front of Yu Yan. He paused for a second or two but ultimately said nothing and walked away quickly.

This time, Yu Yan had seen it happen. Who knew what Chen Hao had done to bully Cao Yuanye when no one was watching?

After causing him so much trouble, Yu Yan felt a twinge of guilt and didn’t call him back.

When he got back to the car, Yu Yan quickly opened the “Safe and Healthy Family” group chat.

[Yu Yan]: Mom, can you give me the contact information for our family doctor?

[Jiang Mo]: Baby, are you feeling unwell? Mommy will take you to the hospital.

[Yu Lin]: Come home first.

[Yu Chen]: What’s the address?

[Yu Yan]: I’m fine. I just have some questions I want to consult about.

Worried that Jiang Mo would call him any second, Yu Yan sent a voice message explaining the situation and that he wanted to help find a doctor for Cao Yuanye.

[Yu Chen]: Minghua has a top-tier private hospital. You can ask Shen Yuchen about it.

Yu Yan replied with a “got it” sticker and then opened Shen Yuchen’s chat.

[Yu Yan]: Bro, have you been busy with work lately?

Thinking about how Shen Yuchen had rejected several dinner invitations before, Yu Yan almost developed PTSD.

But things were different now. He considered his relationship with Shen Yuchen to be much closer than before—close enough to call them friends. Surely Shen Yuchen wouldn’t refuse him this time, right?

After hesitating for a moment, Yu Yan added a few more messages to break the ice.

[Yu Yan]: Yuchen, want to grab a meal together?

[Yu Yan]: Yuchen bro, Western or Chinese cuisine? You pick, my treat.

[Yu Yan]: Bro, how about it? If not, I can even cook for you myself. I’m pretty good in the kitchen.

[Yu Yan]: Cat-holding-paws.jpg