Chapter 997: Everyone Was Looking For Her
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Lin Che and Nan Gongyu found a place to sit down. Since both of them did not like socializing, they preferred to sit down and get a drink.
However, when other people saw Lin Che sit only with Nan Gongyu and ignore everyone else, they felt that she was indeed very arrogant.
In the past, Lin Che still tried to make herself seem a little more sociable. However, she no longer thought that way now. The people who liked her would ultimately like her no matter what. As for the people who did not like her, they would not like her even if she tried to pander to them. Also, if she appeared unsociable, she still made many more friends in the industry. Furthermore, the friends that she had made in this way were all temperamentally compatible with her, like Nan Gongyu. She felt more at ease this way.
But now that Lin Che had won the award, it was not just her fans and the media that were paying attention to her. Others had begun paying attention to her as well.
They felt that she was equivalent to a cash cow since she had won the award recently and was at the peak of her popularity.
Thus, while Lin Che was sitting with Nan Gongyu over here, a big-bellied man took the initiative to walk up to them.
With a Hong Kong or Taiwanese accent, he said from beside them, “Oh, Miss Lin. Nice to meet you.”
Lin Che looked up politely. “Ah, nice to meet you… can I know who you are…”
“My surname is Hu. My name is Hu Kaizhuang. I’ve been in the film industry for two years, but I’ve never had the honor of collaborating with Miss Lin.”
So he was a businessman. It seemed that he was probably able to come here as a guest because he was an investor.
Hu Kaizhuang sat directly beside Lin Che and looked at her. He was a picture of refinement and had the slight air of a businessman.
However, Lin Che momentarily felt uncomfortable around him. She did not know if it was because she had met many businessmen like Gu Jingze.
Nevertheless, Lin Che did not want to appear too anti-social, nor did she want to seem too arrogant. After all, there were so many media representatives here.
She felt that her eyes had gotten wrongly accustomed to rich men from wealthy families like Gu Jingze and Lu Beichen. That was why she felt that businessmen should be like them. However, in actual fact, most businessmen were probably like Mr. Hu in front of her. They were ordinary men who were cautious and conscientious when doing a bit of business.
It was just that Lin Che’s starting point was way too high; she was actually living together with Gu Jingze. That was why she felt that all other businessmen did not seem so great.
He looked at Lin Che and said, “Miss Lin, congratulations on winning the award this time. I’ll give you a toast here right now.”
Lin Che smiled. She looked at the glass of red wine in his hand and picked up her own glass of fruit juice.
Seeing this, Hu Kaizhuang hastily said, “Eh. Today is your big day. How can you drink fruit juice? Seriously. I’ll get my secretary to come here with some red wine.”
Lin Che immediately replied, “No need, Sir. I don’t drink alcohol.”
Hu Kaizhuang said, “How can that be? Is the wine here not to your liking? Don’t worry. How can I have you drink the wine here? The wine here is indeed average since it was sponsored by domestic wineries. I’ll ask my secretary to go to the car and bring my wine over here.”
“Ah, no. Sir, you’re mistaken. I don’t want to drink any alcohol at all…”
“Hey… Miss Lin…” His face began to dull slightly in awkwardness. The fair flesh on his cheeks seemed to tense a little. “Are you looking down on me?”
Nan Gongyu was still beside her. At this moment, he caught the man’s eye instantly and said, “Mr. Hu, it’s normal for girls not to drink. If you want to drink, I’ll drink with you.”
Hu Kaizhuang was an ordinary businessman. Although he had been in the film industry for more than two years, in actual fact, he only knew a smattering. He had invested a lot of money but had not enjoyed returns. As the movies that were produced were all terrible movies, no one bought them at all.
There were many businessmen like him now. They felt that television series and movies were money-making investments and the media industry was booming more and more, so they wanted to dabble in it. However, they were indeed outsiders to the industry. The only thing they knew was that they could make money as long as they invested money to hire some famous celebrities for the productions. But all the money they invested was used to employ famous celebrities. On the contrary, they did not care about everything else; the director could be changed casually, as could the scriptwriters. Everything else could be improved, except that the cast chosen had to be famous.
A commonality among them was that they did not really care about directors.
Thus, he looked at Nan Gongyu, scoffed and asked, “Who are you?”
After all, Nan Gongyu had been in this line of work for a long time, so he had met many bosses like this one.
He smiled. “Who I am isn’t important. The important thing is that she doesn’t want to drink.”
Lin Che did not want the matter to blow up either. There were so many reporters around. It would look bad if the issue blew up. Furthermore, it would not be good for Nan Gongyu to offend others for her sake too. Thus, she stood up and said, “Mr. Hu, why don’t you look for someone else if you want to drink? I really don’t drink.”
Hu Kaizhuang was completely humiliated. He glared at Lin Che from where he was and said, “Fine, fine. You won’t give me face, right? I’m telling you. Don’t let this opportunity slip by. Even though you’re the Best Female Lead right now and you’re the queen of the film industry, there’s a new queen every year. Will you still be so popular next year? Hmph. You’re just an entertainer.”
Lin Che smiled. “I don’t know how I will be next year. But I can distinguish opportunities from what I don’t want. So, my apologies. You and I are probably not a very good fit. When words get sour, adding words is useless. Please.”
Hu Kaizhuang froze. He had never met a celebrity who was so disrespectful.
Typical celebrities would still speak nicely when they met investors. After all, investors were different from other people. They had money in hand. It was better to have more connections than it was to offend someone. What if, at some point in the future, they invested in some blockbusters? Then, they would have opportunities.
1But this Lin Che was actually so unbridled in her arrogance.
He said, “Ha. Fine. Good for you. Don’t say I didn’t warn you. I was just preparing to invest in a huge production. It’s a huge IP work. You’ll regret it when the time comes.”
Lin Che smiled. She actually did not regret it at all. When she selected scripts, she also looked at whether she could get along with the production crew.
Seeing that she seemed to have no intention of changing her attitude even after he had said so, he huffed and walked away.
Nan Gongyu tugged at Lin Che to sit down. “Enough. There are plenty of people like him. They think of themselves as God just because they have money. They behave as if they can buy anything with money.”
Lin Che said, “There are a few wealthy people I know that aren’t like this.”
Although they were equally arrogant and considered themselves unexcelled in this world, they did not believe themselves to be infallible.
She shook her head, picked up her glass of juice, and continued drinking it.
As for that Hu Kaizhuang, he started swearing after leaving the venue.
“What the hell? She’s just an actress. I’ve definitely never met one as arrogant as her. All she did was win an award, and she thinks she’s some big shot who dares to offend anyone.”
Yang Ling overheard Hu Kaizhuang’s complaints from beside him. Her eyes darted to him before she walked up to him and asked, “Ah, what’s the matter? Aren’t you Boss Hu?”
She was acquainted with an unusually large number of such people since she participated in many dinner gatherings. She was always able to meet several bosses at such meetings.
Of course, Hu Kaizhuang knew who she was too. He immediately said, “Good gracious. Miss Yang. It’s just that movie queen. She’s so full of herself and doesn’t show anyone respect.”
Yang Ling was all smiles as she said, “Seriously. How can she be like this? People who can enter this place are definitely not ordinary investors. How can she lack this basic common sense?”
2