Zhao Zhenxun added, “The new song has been confirmed to be released on the 6th, at 6 pm on Weibo, Le Play, Penguin Music and other online platforms. You need to go to Penguin Music to do a music interview that’s been tailor-made for you. I used my connections at Manju to get you two auditions, one for the second male lead in an online drama. It has six episodes in total, with an estimated shooting time of 20 days. The other audition is for the 4th male lead in a workplace drama. The role isn’t too light or heavy. If you pass that audition you will need to join the crew for about 1 and a half months. These two dramas are both high quality and have a good crew. If you try to win, you’d better win both. If you pass the auditions this month, you can be on the screen by the middle of next month.”

The customized music interview, two high quality auditions at once, and the premiere of a music program on a major local TV station, these resource specifications could only be described as “highly sought after”. Qi Cong gently squeezed his schedule and told Zhao Zhenxun, “Brother Zhao, thank you, I will try my best to pass.”

Zhao Zhenxun liked Qi Cong’s serious attitude so he smiled and continued. “The two scripts will be delivered in two days, so you should read them when they arrive. Also, your schedule isn’t set, so it might not follow the table exactly. If the feedback from your new song is good, I will take care of the extra itinerary for you. You should prepare psychologically. You might be very busy and tired for a while.”

“I don’t have a problem with that, just look after the schedule, Brother Zhao.”

Zhao Zhenxun nodded in satisfaction and talked about some of the things to pay attention to in terms of itinerary, then he finally said, “You are free to move around during your break on the 10th. If you do go out with some troublesome people, remember not to be too high-profile. Understand?”

Qi Cong understood in a second who the troublesome person Zhao Zhenxun was talking about was. Remembering the holiday movie appointment he had set with Gu Xun, he suppressed a little disturbance and uneasiness in his heart, and nodded honestly. “If I go out, I will pay more attention.”

After finishing the communication with Zhao Zhenxun about the schedule, Qi Cong went to the dressing room to change out of his costume, removed his makeup, and then returned to the rest area to find a seat in the corner.

It was just after 4pm and all the main actors finished their daily scenes, were putting on makeup and changing into their costumes to prepare for the heaviest and final scene in Prince Rui’s mansion – the investigation of Prince Rui’s death .

The actors taking part in this scene were taking their places one after another as the set was being redecorated. While the surrounding area was very lively with people coming and going, Qi Cong looked at Shen Jia sitting not too far away. He was seriously reading his script while letting Yuan Yuan do his makeup, so Qi Cong decided not to go over and disturb him. He took out his own script that only had two pages left and seriously read it.

By now, most of his scenes in “Legend of Youth” have been completed, and only the last two group scenes remained to be shot. Namely, the scene of being ridiculed and bullied at tomorrow’s Qionglin banquet in the Royal Garden, and the conspiracy scene in the villain’s hideout for which no filming date had been set yet.

He pulled out the scenes to be shot tomorrow and looked them over carefully, consolidating some points that should be paid attention to, and was about to put down the script when a man suddenly leaned over.

“Mr. Qi Cong, is this sheet yours? It was blown over there by the wind.”

Qi Cong looked at the unknown staff worker who came over and glanced at the itinerary he was holding in his hand, somewhat confused.

It was blown away by the wind? He clearly remembered the schedule was put into his backpack. He looked at the backpack hanging on the back of his chair and saw that the zipper on the outer layer of the backpack was actually open. Falling silent he thanked the staff member and put the schedule back into his backpack.

After the crew member left, Qi Cong looked at the place where the staff had just pointed and frowned slightly.

Was he careless because he was too busy? He clearly remembered he zipped up the….

He looked down again to check his things in the backpack, saw that they were all there, shook his head and put the backpack aside.

At dinner time, Qi Cong was once again approached by a young actor. The other person was frowning and looked very confused, as he hesitated to say, “Mr. Qi Cong I think I saw Lian Pengxing’s assistant Xiao Liu. I just saw her back so I’m not sure. Mr. Qi Cong, did you see Xiao Liu today? “

Qi Cong suddenly remembered that his schedule was “blown” out of the backpack and instinctively asked, “When and where did you see her?”

“Just ten minutes ago, I was on the other side of the prop group, but when I asked the others, they all said they didn’t see Xiao Liu again. Did you see Xiao Liu today? Did you see her too Mr. Qi Cong?”

Qi Cong shook his head, looked at Lian Pengxing’s rest area not far away, and ended the topic after appeasing the young actor.

In the evening when several main actors gathered to shoot the night scene, Qi Cong carefully observed the formation of Lian Pengxing’s side of the group and found that Lian Pengxing had extra staff beside him. He saw a newly arrived assistant, but he didn’t see Xiao Liu anywhere.

He withdrew his eyes, thinking that he might be too sensitive so he gathered his thoughts and stopped thinking about it.

At 9:00 p.m., all the scenes at Prince Rui’s mansion were finally filmed and everyone finished work and went back to the hotel. On the way back to the hotel, Qi Cong received a call from Qi Yin.

“Cong, the An family is finally ready to terminate the marriage contract between An Xiahe and Jiang Zhaoyan.”

Before Qi Cong answered the phone he was familiarizing himself with the complete accompaniment of “Delusion” so his brain didn’t process the new information for a moment. In seconds he remembered that Jiang Zhaoyan and An Xiahe had a fiancé- future husband relationship. 

He asked, “ An Xiahe agreed to break off the engagement with Jiang Zhaoyan?”

“It doesn’t matter whether he agrees or not. It was the decision of his parents.  Cong, you and An Xiahe, what is going on between you?”

Qi Cong remembered his absolutely unpleasant conversation with An Xiahe and replied, “I don’t know what happened to him, and I don’t want to know. If I can, I don’t want to have anything to do with him. “

At ten o’clock in the evening, the official Weibo account of the Amber Design Company suddenly issued an announcement, which was brief and could be summarized in one sentence: In view of Mr. Jiang Zhaoyan’s various deceptive behaviors towards Mr. An Xiahe during the relationship, as well as his suspected mentally abusive character, after some careful consideration, Father and Mother An believe that Jiang Zhaoyan isn’t a good match for their son. The Jiang family wasn’t a family to tie the knot, so they decided to break off the marriage contract between their two families. From now on the two families will have nothing to do with each other.

The announcement was directed at Jiang Zhaoyan and the Jiang Family, implying that Jiang Zhaoyan had deceived An Xiahe by pretending to be a good person, and indirectly confirming Jiang Zhaoyan’s malicious mental abuse of Qi Cong. This was the same as completely tearing his face. Onlookers rushed to eat melons, amazed, then began to dig deeper into the inside story revealed between the words of this announcement.

In his hotel room, Qi Cong clicked out of the announcement, exited Weibo and didn’t bother to read the frantically growing comments below.

It was nothing unexpected. The Amber Design Company will also completely cut off their established cooperation with Yanhuang after breaking the engagement between Jiang Zhaoyan and An Xiahe.

The Yanhuang company was already wavering and it was hit hard again so he was afraid.

Qi Cong put down his mobile phone, moved to his laptop and opened it. Entering the background of the Jiangtian.com website author’s page he opened the income withdrawal page to have a look.

At the beginning of September he withdrew the earnings of the novel for the first time. After a day of review and two days of waiting for the end of the weekend, the Jiangtian.com Finance Department finally passed his withdrawal application that morning and gave him the money according to the process.

His total of four hundred and twenty-five thousand, after deducting taxes, came to about three hundred and ninety thousand. Due to his bank account, the money withdrawn today won’t arrive until the early hours of the next morning.

Qi Cong’s hand on the touch pad squeezed tightly and then quickly relaxed, with a little joy between his eyebrows and eyes.

Three hundred and ninety thousand, it was enough to do a lot of things.

He moved to the novel management page and looked at the stocked manuscripts and new chapter comments in the stock box. Seeing that people were enthusiastically discussing the next story plot, the corners of his mouth hooked. Closing his laptop, he picked up his phone and wallet before going out of the room.

Five minutes later, outside the gate of Building 2, Qi Cong saw Gu Xun leaning against a pillar. He froze for a moment, then quickened his pace and asked, “Why are you waiting here?”

Gu Xun was again in the low-profile black t-shirt and pants, without a hat on his head and he carried a plastic bag in his hand. He immediately smiled when he saw Qi Cong and handed the plastic bag to him as he replied, “I went to buy this. I was afraid that it would melt, so I came here and waited for you to eat it.”

Qi Cong looked in the bag and saw that there was a box of ice cream inside and probably to prevent it from melting, there was some crushed ice placed beside it. His heart softened as he looked up at Gu Xun and said, “Thank you.”

Gu Xun suddenly narrowed his eyes and came a little closer. “Did something good happen?”

“What?”

“I noticed that you are in a good mood.” Gu Xun straightened up again, raised his hand and casually held Qi Cong’s shoulder. Walking Qi Cong towards the first floor, he asked, “Can you tell me about this good thing?”

Qi Cong slowly walked forward with the hand still on his shoulder and just raised his hand to touch his face.

Was it so obvious that he was happy?

There were indeed good things that happened.

Remembering the proceeds, he pinched the crushed ice in the bag and replied, “I’m off on the 10th.”

The casual and discreet smile on Gu Xun’s face immediately tightened and he looked at Qi Cong.

Qi Cong met Gu Xun’s gaze and continued, “I have a whole day off, so I want to see some movies. Are you free that day?”

“Yes.” Gu Xun smiled again and answered in the affirmative. “The filming of ‘Above the Dynasty’ in Hengcheng will be over by the 8th, and I should be resting at home in Beishi on the 10th. Shall we go see ‘Heaven Asked” on the 10th?”

Qi Cong nodded.

The two men walked past the flower bed and headed for the entrance to Building One. Then Qi Cong suddenly called out, “Gu Xun.”

Gu Xun tilted his head in a good mood and said, “Hmm?”

“There’s also something else I want to see.”

Gu Xun smiled gently. “What else do you want to see? I’ll arrange it.”

“I…want to see your past photos. Last time you said that they are all on your computer at home.” Qi Cong tried to make himself look calm and casual as he looked at Gu Xun. “May I see them?”

Gu Xun’s footsteps paused unnoticeably as he turned his head to look down the road. Then he turned around and smiled at Qi Cong, replying, “Of course. You can see whatever you want. “

 

…….

 

That night Qi Cong couldn’t sleep. He closed his eyes, but sleep never came. Finally, at 01:10 in the morning, his cell phone on the bedside table rang.

He immediately sat up and unlocked his phone and looked into a text message that had just come in.

[Your savings card with the number 6514 on September 5… withdraw income…]

Qi Cong unconsciously held his breath, repeatedly confirming that string of numbers as his shoulders relaxed. Smiling silently for a moment, he raised his hand and pressed his eyes. After which, he put down his hand and continued to look at the text message.

390,000.

This was only part of the story. “Chivalrous Bones” hadn’t come down since the last time it climbed the Gold List, and with the advancement of the plot, “Chivalrous Bones” data and earnings were still increasing ferociously. It could be expected he would earn another 200,000 until the end of the story. After the novel was completed, he would still receive an additional 100,000 website reward and since he was about to start his artist schedule, each activity would earn him money. His debt of 1.5 million yuan and the funds for the reconstruction of Sanmu would soon be earned.

He could finally see some hope.

Qi Cong couldn’t help looking toward the window. Under a surge of emotion, he lost his usual propriety and calmness and in that moment, to Qi Yin and Shen Jia, he transferred 150,000 and 200,000 respectively . 

He was a little closer.

He put down his phone and looked at the window again.

He needed to continue.

 

Edited by: Antiope1

 

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