ATAMMDO 5

Chapter 5

 

The car parked there abruptly, and it seems to them that it blocked their vehicle intentionally.

 

Guo Qifan did not know who it was and was about to call the driver out when Jiang Liu Cheng recognized that it was the landlord’s car. 

 

The next second, the landlord really got out of the driver’s seat.

 

Jiang Liu Cheng doubted that the landlord would arrive here in such a timely manner just about when he was about to move.

 

“Jiang Liu Cheng.” The landlord called out as she walked toward him. She is in her fifties but looks as if she is only in her forties due to proper care and maintenance.

 

Jiang Liu Cheng usually sees the landlord with a smile and all dressed up. Although she is not that polite in terms of rent collection, he has no bad feelings towards her. Even if her son also pulled out trouble for him. 

 

But today, the landlord does not only walk toward him without her usual makeup, she also looks much more haggard than normal. Her state doesn’t look that good. Not to mention the fact that she also looks gloomy.

 

After she saw Jiang Liu Cheng, her lips quivered deeper with a hint of mixed anger and frustration. 

 

At first, because Jiang Liu Cheng was good-looking, she thought that the young man is also kind in nature. She wouldn’t suspect that he is the rascal that would send her son to prison. If her son hadn’t told her about it then he would be the least that she will suspect. 

 

“Jiang Liu Cheng, let’s talk.”

 

Jiang Liu Cheng nodded. Even if the landlord didn’t come to him, he would have found her for himself to inform her that he won’t be renewing his rent and he would have to ask her to return his deposit.

 

Jiang Liu Chengs asked Guo Qifan and the driver to wait for him for a while, and then he proceeded to follow the landlord to the other side of the road.

 

“Are you the one who filed a case against my son?” The landlord asked. She is not usually the direct type who would ask such questions as an opening line, but her son is in a serious predicament already that she just lost his patience.

 

Jiang Liu Cheng looked at her with a puzzled look. “Why do you think that I did it? If I have this ability, let alone afford it, then I wouldn’t be renting here in the first place.”

 

When the landlord heard him denying it, she immediately scowled and leaned back closer to him. “Wang Jiajun told me. You don’t have to deny it.”

 

“What did he tell you?” Jiang Liu Cheng tucked his hands into his pockets and loosened his posture a little bit. In fact, he probably guessed that Wang Jiajun did not dare tell his mother that he was impersonating him and that got him into trouble.

 

“He said that he was arrested because of you.” The landlord answered impatiently. “How can you let Wang Jiajun say what you want?”

 

Jiang Liu Cheng also lost his patience with her as he looked at her coldly, his eyes gazing like a sharp knife that could cut bamboo into two.

 

In his view, Wang Jiajun was caught in the final analysis because of his own wrongdoing. Even if he did not meet Qin Lu, it would not change what he had done. And obviously, he should pay for what he had done wrong. 

 

“Mrs. Wang, it’s not me that you should be looking for. I’m not the one to decide whether he should stay there or not. Wang Jiajun broke the law and the law is the one to decide what happens to him.”

 

The landlord looked at him coldly. “Jiang Liu Cheng, do you have to do this? I only have one son. I am willing to do anything for him.”

 

Hearing the threat in her words, Jiang Liu Cheng was no longer in the mood to struggle with her.

 

No one can ever wake a man who pretends to sleep.

 

“Mrs. Wang, Wang Jiajun will come this far, but you don’t have to take responsibility for it. Besides, I am not the one he offended. Your son probably lied to you. If you don’t believe me then ask him again.” Jiang Liu Cheng said, readying himself to leave when he suddenly remembered that there is another matter he needs to straighten out.

 

“By the way, remember to refund me with my one month’s deposit.”

 

The landlord didn’t stop him from leaving. In fact, she knows her son so much that he hates to admit that what he said was true. At that time, she saw that there was something he was not telling her, but he didn’t want to talk about it, so she didn’t ask any more questions.

 

Guo Qifan saw the landlord hurriedly drive her car away from the scene. “What did she say to you? Her expression was a little scary. It feels like she was going to eat you! She didn’t want to keep you here, did she?”

 

As soon as he finished talking, Jiang Liu Cheng hit him on the shoulder. Guo Qifan immediately lets out a yelp. 

 

“Shit! Why did you hit me? Are you trying to kill me?”

 

“Who told you to talk nonsense?” Jiang Liu Cheng replied. “Something happened to her son. She just wanted to know what happened like any other mother would do.”

 

“That’s true.” Guo Qifan commented.

 

The truck drives into the community where Guo Qifan lives, which is called Simming Community. With the help of the moving company, Jiang Liu Cheng’s things were quickly moved up within the day.

 

The reason why it went so well is because he moved to the place where Guo Qifan is currently renting out now. 

 

Guo Qifan’s last tenant expired, did not renew his lease, and moved out. As soon as it was vacant, Guo Qifan encouraged Jiang Liu Cheng to move over.

 

It just so happens that Jiang Liu Cheng doesn’t like living with strangers, so he agreed.

 

As soon as the man from the moving company left, Guo Qifan’s cell phone rang. He grabbed to check his phone.

 

“It’s Lao Zheng. He is probably asking if we have finished moving yet.”

 

Guo Qifan picked up the call and said a few words to the other line before hanging up. “Lao Zheng said that we should all go out for dinner to celebrate your housewarming.”

 

“After we graduated, everyone went their separate ways and that’s quite saddening if I say so myself. But now that you moved here, I feel like we are back in our college days! Unfortunately, Qiao Mei has chosen to return to his province in hopes to help develop his hometown. If not for that then the four swordsmen of our dormitory might’ve returned!”

 

“Mhmmm.” Jiang Liu Cheng hummed showcasing a little bit of nostalgia as well. Being in college together- those were the days when they were so young and free as if they could do anything so long as they set their mind to it. They lived a very vigorous and vibrant life back then with no pressure whatsoever. 

 

After reminiscing about college, Guo Qifan helped Jiang Liu Cheng move his things into his room, most of which are books. 

 

There are books from college and others that must’ve been purchased after graduation. In addition to Jiang Liu Cheng’s books and notes from the university, there are also books about acting and performing. And then there are many disks containing movies and TV dramas. 

 

Jiang Liu Cheng is not an orthodox actor from an art school, and he didn’t even want to make a living in the entertainment industry before he graduated last year.

 

But later, he accidentally entered the entertainment business and needed some matching strength to continue on, so he began to study how to characterize a role and relay others’ acting skills to himself, but it happens that it’s actually irrelevant to his state now.

 

The roles his company finds for him are small supporting roles that do not need acting skills at all. Those roles are just often needed for formality, and even face the risk of being cut off from the final edit.

 

“I can’t believe you took so many notes.”

 

When Guo Qifan was moving books, he accidentally found several thick notes, which were all his experiences and feelings recorded while watching the film.

 

“Once you take notes, you will remember them earlier. Plus, you can flip through them anytime.” He responded. Jiang Liu Cheng recorded a lot, including which film and which plot impressed him, and even intercepted the clip and stored it in the computer so that he could read it at any time.

 

“A high achiever student is really a high achiever student. It is a pity that you have studied so hard and yet you still haven’t been able to use it. What’s wrong with your company? It’s been a year and you still haven’t gotten any decent roles yet. When they signed you, they said that it wouldn’t take a year to get you to fame.”

 

Jiang Liu Cheng shook his head. “You believe in this kind of empty promise?”

 

Guo Qifan: “If you are so rational, then why did you go there?”

 

When Jiang Liu Cheng returned to the dormitory, he suddenly told them that he was going to be an actor, which startled all three of them.

 

Although they had said before that he could be an actor in the entertainment industry with his appearance, it was just a joke. Who knew he actually went there when he was about to graduate.

 

Jiang Liu Cheng thought for a moment and said, “At that time, I didn’t know what I was going to do after graduation, so I thought I could give it a try. I then went and signed as an actor for two years. Don’t worry, I only have one year left.”

 

At that time, the entertainment company still wanted to sign with him for more than five years, but because he didn’t want to, and the other party didn’t want to let him go, he finally agreed to a 2-year contract.

 

Guo Qifan: “It’s the same. If they don’t give you good resources, they’ll cancel the contract a year later. With your strength, you won’t be afraid to find a job, so if you really can’t, you should go back to graduate school. The old professor in our school really likes you.”

 

There is no teacher who doesn’t like smart and enterprising students.

 

……….

 

In the evening, Lao Zheng finally got home and called them down. When they went downstairs, they saw the familiar black BMW.

 

“If busy people get off their work earlier than usual then that means that they’re really busy.” Guo Qifan joked as soon as he got into the car.

 

Jiang Liu Cheng sat in the side seat to prevent others from thinking that Lao Zheng was their driver.

 

Lao Zheng looked at Jiang Liu Cheng with a smile plastered across his face. “Since I want to celebrate Jiang Liu Cheng’s arrival, we should be early, and that only means my work is done no matter what.”

 

Lao Zheng is categorized as the richest of the four swordsmen in their dormitory. Not only did he come from a rich family, but he also started a company when he was in college. Although the company is not very large, it is said that the income is good. 

 

After graduation, Lao Zheng left his house near the university and moved to live in Simming Community.

 

However, the rich will always be different from the commoners. Instead of renting, they ought to buy the house or the property as a whole. 

 

“How about we go eat hot pot this evening?” Lao Zheng asked as he drove the road.

 

Neither of them has a problem with it.

 

……….

 

Just as they were eating hot pot, someone previously found that the video on the Internet had been fermented for a period of time and accidentally got the tail of a hot search on the home page.

 

The reason is that Qin Lu attended an event where a reporter suddenly asked who the young man in the video was when he was asked a question.

 

Before Qin Lu opened his mouth, the agent, Zhou Wenbin, quickly jumped out and interrupted, leaving the reporter to ask only questions related to the activity.

 

Other people think it’s okay, but Qin Lu’s fans are keenly aware that there is a problem since their husband is not a newcomer in the industry. This kind of interview has been done countless times, but the agent interrupted him so anxiously still. Is he afraid that their husband would say something he shouldn’t have?

 

I have to say that fans really know too much about their idol’s agent. Zhou Wenbin is afraid that Qin Lu will reveal something he should not disclose when he is happy.

 

Because of his unobtrusive behavior, he stirred up the fans’ interest.

 

If it was just curiosity at first, it’s serious now.

 

As a result, this group of people searches for people with similar angles that will hopefully match the mystery guy’s face.

 

It’s just that there are too few pictures of Jiang Liu Cheng showing his face to the public. Even if he occasionally gets a good part in a set, he will be cut off for fear that he would be stealing the spotlight from the main character. Thus, they didn’t find out who the man was across Qin Lu.

 

Just when Qin Lu’s fans are getting restless, no one knew who it was but someone posted a photo of Wang Ye on the top stream, saying that his side face was a bit like the young man across Qin Lu and there’s a bit of a chance that it was him.

 

And then, several marketing groups reposted it making its rounds all over the net faster than normal.

 

The post and its shares naturally aroused discontent from Qin Lu’s fans.

 

Do they really think Qin Lu needs Wang Ye for publicity? His fans are not yet dead.

 

And so the fans from both sides tore each other apart

 

Qin Lu’s fans speculated that Wang Ye is so shameless that he obviously bought a marketing account to advertise him as the person across Qin Lu just so he could share the limelight. Meanwhile, Wang Ye’s fans defended that Wang Ye doesn’t need the traffic from Qin Lu. His fanbase alone is enough to keep him relevant and famous.

 

And so as the quarrel began, the popularity of the video also reached new heights since some people also wants to see if the young man really looks like Wang Ye.

 

However, if anyone would take a closer look, they will find out that only the angle is similar, but the posture and the curvature of the face are more than different from each other.

 

Xiao Wang, an employee of Zhongmian Entertainment, is responsible for following popular searches on Weibo and some developments on the Internet.

 

She accidentally saw the topic and went in with the mentality of just jumping on the bandwagon.

 

When she got into the post, she realized that there were still people in the comment area arguing about who is the young man across Qin Lu. When she took a closer look, her whole body froze.

 

Why is this man so much like an artist in his company?

 

Because this is only a hunch and she is not sure, she thought that it may not be a big deal. After all, that person does not come to the company too often. He has been signed for a year but hasn’t had that much of a breakthrough.

 

Xiao Wang thought that it can’t be the person. If he knew a big shot like Qin Lu, then he wouldn’t need a small company like theirs to hone him for a year. 

 

Because it was no big deal, she didn’t take it to heart and didn’t tell the company.

 

Meanwhile, the agent informed Qin Lu that the video about him speculated more drama than they expected and suddenly became hot in a blink of an eye.

 

“I called the marketing agency to take advantage of the loophole, but I didn’t expect this.”

 

The agent was very annoyed. He complains about how the fans were so sensitive as they quarrel about who is hotter between Qin Lu and Wang Ye.

 

Qin Lu paid him no mind as he continued reading the document in his hand before signing his name on the last page afterward.

 

“How are you doing with the thing I asked you to do?”

 

The agent was stunned for a moment as he thought of his progress. He remembers that Brother Qin told him to do something yesterday, but it was a day later. He didn’t realize that it was supposed to be on his list of top priorities.

 

“Time is a little tight. I already found a candidate that is the most suitable, but you need to give me more time to find out more.”

 

Qin Lu: “…..”

 

“Director Chang Qinghua, a 32 years old man. He has no bad habits and has been single to date. It has been said that he prefers to date a man.”

 

Zhou Wenbin originally wanted to find an ordinary partner for Jiang Liu Cheng, but Brother Qin asked him to look from his circle of friends, so he immediately thought of the said director.

 

Qin Lu and Cheng Qinghua worked together on a film, which was Cheng Qinghua’s debut. Later, he had won more than a dozen of awards that Cheng Qinghua became the hottest young director at the time, making the two of them old acquaintances.

 

Besides, it was not only long ago when Cheng Qinghua approached and hoped to collaborate with Qin Lu again, so this is very timely. He is planning to do his second film, but he doesn’t have a leasing actor yet. He always thought that Qin Lu is very suitable for it.

 

It’s just that Qin Lu hasn’t picked up any movies for a year, so he didn’t agree when he came to the door before.

 

The agent has not mentioned it today, mainly because he knows that once they go to Cheng Qinghua, the other party will certainly mention that Qin Lu should play the leading role in his new film.

 

Qin Lu also guessed this but still said without hesitation, “Contact him and say I’m going to invite him to dinner.”

 

As soon as the agent heard this, he knew that Brother Qin had made up his mind, and hesitated to say “but” again and again.

 

Qin Lu interrupted him, “There is nothing to say. Since Cheng Qinghua is suitable under Jiang Liu Cheng’s requirements, we should contact him.” He said with all finality.

 

The agent had to swallow all of his unspoken words.