Chapter 280: Contract Expiration
She recalled her past experiences of constantly running around for a few hundred yuan. That time was much more miserable than now, with no money to pay rent and facing the problem of hunger. The fatal thing was that at that time, she wanted to pursue her dream, which also cost money. She was extremely poor then, and a few hundred yuan was already quite a luxury for her.
But now, a few hundred yuan could no longer satisfy her, nor could it bring her any substantial change. Her guest appearance in the scene was like a playful one-off. She herself had no intention of acting.
“You’re pretty good. As expected of someone who’s been in the entertainment industry.”
However, hearing this sentence from Tang Yumeng’s mouth didn’t make her happy at all. One had to know that her acting back then was terrible, and she couldn’t even manage a decent smile. Even now, her acting hadn’t improved much, but to her, none of that mattered anymore.
“Senior Sister Yumeng, you keep up the good work.”
She silently sent her blessings.
No matter what, Tang Yumeng’s career had already taken off. It was unknown whether she would become a big star in the future, but Yu Linna hoped that she could achieve decent results in this industry. There were very few people in the entertainment industry who were untainted. People like Tang Yumeng, who spoke with their strength and were unwilling to accept the treatment of a popular celebrity, were already rare.
There were still quite a few popular celebrities in the mainland entertainment industry. These people had no acting skills to speak of, but they could always attract attention by relying on their large number of fans and good looks. This made it very awkward for capable veteran actors to appear, and some capable young people also couldn’t get a chance to stand out because of this.
Now that Tang Yumeng had finally gotten an opportunity, she cherished her hard-won chance more than anyone else. Yu Linna believed that she could realize her ideals.
After filming Yu Linna’s scene, Director Murong Yan continued to be busy filming several other sets of scenes. He had originally been an art-house film director, but now he had also transitioned to commercial films. When he saw the current Yu Linna, he was filled with emotion, but he didn’t know about Yu Linna’s current identity and status, and Yu Linna herself didn’t mention it.
…
After that, Yu Linna waited on the set for Tang Yumeng to finish work. Tang Yumeng’s time in Guangnan was very short. After finishing her scenes in Guangnan the next afternoon, she had to rush to Xiangchuan City. It could be said that she was very busy.
While waiting, Yu Linna scrolled through Weibo out of boredom and found that many people were @-ing her, and they were all official accounts. She was at a loss. Looking closely, she found that she was on the hot search again. The official Weibo account of Chenghe Film Company had @-ed her from the West, asking for her opinion on Nangong Ying.
“Sister Nangong said that if there is a chance, she would like to film a movie adapted from your work, sensei. What are your thoughts? [Smile]”
Yu Linna: “???”
She clicked on it to take a look and found a video link. The cause was that Nangong Ying had been on a TV show and had talked about the currently most popular novelist, Shion-sensei. She had publicly expressed her desire to film a movie adapted from Shion-sensei’s work.
“If there is a chance, I would very much like to play a role in a movie adapted from Shion-sensei’s work, even if it’s just a supporting role.”
“So, is Miss Nangong also a die-hard fan of Shion-sensei?”
“I like Shion-sensei’s novels very much. I hope her works can be adapted into movies, and at the same time, I also hope to play a role in a movie adapted from her work.”
The video was only about a minute long, but after watching it, Yu Linna found it very ridiculous.
Below, there were actually so many likes, especially from fans, countless of them. Nangong’s fans, her fans, were all liking it. Although there were also people flaming, in the end, there were more harmonious voices.
Nangong Ying, just how shameless do you have to be to be satisfied?
Originally, staying away was the best choice, but this person always had to come back shamelessly. Just how low would she stoop?
She very coldly closed Weibo.
It’s best to just ignore this kind of thing.
Not long after, Ye Zhiyun’s phone number called. It had been a long time since she had received a call from her. Yu Linna answered it at the first opportunity.
“Seen Weibo?”
“Seen it.”
“Isn’t it so? It’s all over the entertainment headlines. She’s deliberately making a big deal out of it. You’re already mysterious and won’t show your face. With her doing this, well, the Wenqing building is now crowded with reporters. You be careful.”
“Mmm.”
This Nangong Ying, so despicable.
To not hesitate to use such means just to get Yu Linna to look at her a few more times, so selfish, without a single thought for whether her life would be inconvenienced. She only wanted to live well herself, and didn’t care about the life or death of others.
“Nana, I have to go now. I’m about to get off the plane.”
“Okay.”
Hanging up the phone, Yu Linna sighed. She wondered how to deal with this kind of thing better. Because Nangong Ying had deliberately made such a scene on the show, the entertainment headlines were now all her news. Everyone had clearly focused their attention here, which was very troublesome. Fortunately, she had not appeared in public, otherwise the problem would be even bigger.
“What’s wrong? You look so sad.”
Tang Yumeng had just finished a scene. When she was on a break, she saw Yu Linna sitting there, looking at her phone, her expression very unsightly. Clearly, something was wrong.
“Have you seen Weibo?”
“Not yet. What happened?”
Tang Yumeng opened Weibo and logged in to take a look. It would have been better if she hadn’t looked. The moment she did, her anger flared up.
“Damn, what is this little bitch trying to play?! So shameless.”
“The power of public opinion is always very terrifying. You see, there are even gossip reporters saying that Nangong Ying is interested in me, showing her love for me in public. This kind of report is simply absurd.”
Thanks to this news, Yu Linna’s popularity was now at an all-time high, even higher than the young fresh meat. The popular celebrities were once again squeezed out by her. And Nangong Ying, because of this incident, had made the heat of her yet-to-be-released movie even higher. Many people even felt that she was using this incident to create hype and increase people’s attention on her.
But in a sense, it also helped Yu Linna once. The premiere of Yu Linna’s new animation, Ballad of the Enchantress, was approaching. This entertainment headline made many onlookers pay attention to Shion-sensei, and the attention on the Ballad of the Enchantress animation also increased, which was a good thing.
And what about Nangong Ying herself? Her doing so naturally caused dissatisfaction from Chenghe Company, but the company couldn’t interfere too much. Nangong Ying’s status was not what it used to be. She was now a big star. When she went out for an autograph, the fans could queue from Hong Kong to Shenzhen. Even if Chenghe was dissatisfied, they couldn’t do anything to her.
Besides, Nangong Ying had already filmed three of her film contracts with Chenghe. At most, she could film one more. After the contract expired, she would no longer be bound by Chenghe. She could go to other places to film movies. Some people at Chenghe were also trying to renew her contract, but Nangong Ying only agreed to renew for one movie, and not to film it immediately. In short, after Nangong Ying finished filming the fourth movie in her contract, she would no longer be under Chenghe’s control. When Nangong Ying first filmed Chenghe’s Storm Chronicle, her salary was only 500,000. Later, her salary increased, and now her highest salary was 5 million for one movie.
If Nangong Ying went to other places to film movies, other companies offered her a salary of 10 million for one movie. It was self-evident which side was more attractive.
“Nangong’s contract is about to expire, and she’ll leave immediately. Can’t we keep her?”
Chenghe clearly didn’t want to let go of this cash cow, Nangong Ying. The box office of the movies she starred in was very high. Even the box office of her guest appearances would not be lower than 400 million. Such a cash cow, who would be willing to just let her go?
As a high-level executive at Chenghe, Yu Tianchen also tried hard to retain her, even offering a high salary of 30 million for one movie. What kind of salary was this? Only the super A-list stars in the entertainment industry could get such a high salary!
Of course, the popular celebrities who took a hundred million salary without any real strength were not counted.
But generally speaking, those who could get such a salary were all big shots in the entertainment industry.
However, Nangong Ying was unmovable and only agreed to renew for one movie, not intending to sign for more. This made Chenghe very angry. And this renewed movie was also coaxed back by Yu Tianchen with a high salary of 30 million.
In other words, Nangong Ying herself had no intention of signing with Chenghe, nor did she plan to cooperate with them long-term.
“This Nangong Ying is simply outrageous, ungrateful! She doesn’t even think about who made her famous!”
“Seeing profit and forgetting righteousness!”
Chenghe’s side was having a headache. The fact that Nangong Ying wanted to go solo was already known to everyone in the entertainment industry. Although the media hadn’t reported it, everyone in the circle knew that Nangong Ying would not stay at Chenghe to continue selling her life for them.
“It’s not without reason that she wants to leave in a hurry. First of all, to join Chenghe, she sold Yu Linna to us, and we also got a profit of eighty million from her.”
Yu Tianchen pushed his glasses and said faintly.
“As it stands now, the possibility of her staying is very low, because she must still hold a grudge against us in her heart. In my opinion, there’s no need to retain her. It’s useless to retain her.”
“Then what should we do?”
“Let her continue to go out and film movies. We won’t interfere. If she really has the strength to prove to us that she still has strength after leaving us, that’s her ability. But if she leaves us and can’t support the box office, I think she will come back to find us.”
This analysis did make some sense, although it wasn’t a good method.
Doing so was also a last resort. The fact that Nangong Ying was leaving Chenghe was already a foregone conclusion. At most, she would finish filming Chenghe’s movie at the beginning of next month. After the New Year, she would leave. The movie she had renewed for was already scheduled for filming in the year after next. Next year, Nangong Ying would not be filming any movie produced by Chenghe.
Nangong Ying was linked to Chenghe. She and Chenghe were almost tied together. If she didn’t film Chenghe’s movies, then what she would become was really hard to say, and the media would not be easy to fool.
Nangong herself signed the contract for her last movie in her own office. Then she had to go to start filming. It was expected to be finished before the year’s end. After that, she would no longer stay at Chenghe. This place, Chenghe, had given her a lot, but had also taken a lot from her. It was impossible for her to continue to stay here.
She also really wanted to see Yu Linna now, but she wouldn’t see her. Nangong Ying also knew that it was quite difficult to see her now.
“Little Ying, I hear your contract is about to expire. Do you have any new ideas for the future? Do you want to hold a concert?”
Li Yuexin pushed open the office door and chatted with her about her contract. Nangong Ying just sat there, not saying a word.
No one knew what she was thinking.
