Chapter 599 Invitation from the crew of Grandmasters!
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At home.
He kept waiting and waiting for the Lucky Halo’s effect to happen. But from the morning until afternoon, then evening, after god knows how many hours had passed, he still did not experience any changes at all!
Phone call? There weren’t any!
News? He didn’t get reported about either!
The doorbell? It stayed quiet!
Everything was just as it was before!
There wasn’t even a message on his phone telling him he had won a prize to offset his cell phone bill!
With 30 million reputation points spent, of course Zhang Ye would have some expectations. But after waiting left and right for something to happen, he could no longer just sit around waiting anymore. So many reputation points had already been used up, so how could it be that he did not even see a hint of its effects? What’s happened? Could it have been a scam? Zhang Ye, who had been waiting in front of the television, felt that the news on television might be too limited and so decided to return to his room to check the internet instead. He wanted to see if there were any news related to himself as he wasn’t convinced that the Lucky Halo did not have any effect at all. It must have caused something to happen, somewhere, just that he wasn’t aware of it yet.
There were no updates on Weibo.
There was also nothing on the forums.
Any news of him was still related to Do You Remember since the past few days Zhang Ye had not had much of a presence in public except for his new program. As Zhang Ye was not the only person in this crowded entertainment circle, the media couldn’t possibly only revolve around him alone. There were many others who were much more popular and well-known, as well as more newsworthy than him. News about whoever was having an affair, involved in a scandal, switching agencies, committing suicide, and what not, there was no lack of news going on around the entertainment circle. Every day, there were all kinds of celebrities getting involved in all kinds of incidents. Zhang Ye was just a small part of these very common incidents of the entertainment circle. Like right now, the biggest news today was about a celebrity who was caught in a drug crackdown operation.
“Shocking! ‘Brother Shui’ caught in a drug crackdown!”
“Chang Chishui was arrested in his house!”
“The eighth case of the year. Is drug use becoming fashionable among celebrities?”
“Grandmasters wraps up filming, Brother Shui gets arrested. Grandmasters’ film crew gets dealt a heavy blow!”
Zhang Ye wasn’t exactly interested in such news, but was slightly taken aback when he caught mention of Grandmasters. So he clicked on the link. Old Zhang had mentioned to him that she had taken part in its filming. Production was wrapping up, the post-production stages already taking place. The film crew had also announced at its celebratory feast that a premiere would happen soon, with a date seemingly set as well.
The news stated very clearly that this was not a rumor. The police had also verified that the arrest had been made. Even the urine test results had been exposed by the media, and coincidentally, Chang Chishui who had previously won a best supporting actor award for his role as a junkie was now arrested for drug abuse. He had been doing quite well in the film industry and was cast as an important supporting role in the film Grandmasters, so it could be said that he was irreplaceable. If the media reports were true, then according to the SARFT’s Decree #43, if the Grandmasters film did not delete the scenes in which Brother Shui appeared, then it would surely be faced with the danger of being unable to get released in theaters.
The netizens also reacted chaotically.
“Impossible! How could Brother Shui be abusing drugs too?”
“Are there any good people left in the entertainment circle?”
“Hai, what a pity, another star has fallen!”
“I don’t care what happens to Brother Shui, I’m more worried about Grandmasters. I’ve been waiting for this movie for a year already, for my Sister Zhang and Dalong. It shouldn’t affect the premiere right?”
“It’s done for unless they delete all the scenes that Brother Shui appears in.”
“He’s the third male lead? How could they delete anything then!”
“If they delete his scenes, then this movie would become unwatchable and the whole story would become incomplete!”
“How exasperating! Damn this Chang Chishui, causing so much trouble for everyone!”
“I heard that the Grandmasters film crew is already studying the possibility of that. Sister Zhang had flown to the south yesterday after finishing all her scenes to attend several television program recordings to do promotions for the movie. But I understand that she was recalled this afternoon to the set. The director is really anxious and furious about the whole incident! Hai, to have this kind of an incident happening, who wouldn’t be frantic with worry? It was already so close to the premiere, but somehow, it might not even make it to the big screen now!”
“What can be done?”
“I was really looking forward to watching Grandmasters!”
“This movie had an investment of 50 million RMB, right? If it really gets pulled, then it would be such a pity with all that money going down the drain. I don’t think the actors would be able to bear such a loss too!”
After reading a little, Zhang Ye already understood what was going on. He got off the internet as he really couldn’t be worried about others now. He was only thinking about where the effect of the Lucky Halo had gone too now. With so many of his reputation points spent, there surely had to be an answer!
His parents were still not home from work yet, so Zhang Ye paced around the house with his hands behind his back.
Where was the luck?
Where did my job go?
Suddenly, his cellphone rang.
When Zhang Ye saw the caller ID, he was a little surprised, because the person calling was none other than Zhang Yuanqi. Zhang Ye wondered why she would call him now in the midst of all that was going on, instead of focusing on her own problem.
Oh well, just answer it.
Zhang Ye thought that Old Zhang was looking for him to drink with her again, and since he didn’t have anything to take his mind off his worries, he was ready to have a drink as well. He answered the call: “Hello, Sister Zhang, are you refusing to take part in some social event again? I’ve already read the news. No worries, just come and we’ll have a drink together, but it’s not convenient at my place today, so why don’t you suggest another location instead?”
However, Zhang Yuanqi stiffly rebuked him: “Why are you always thinking about drinking?”
“Ah?” Zhang Ye almost fainted, remembering how it was her who forced him to drink with her the previous time!
The next moment, she said: “There’s a temporary job that just came up. Do you want to take it?”
Zhang Ye wondered what it was about, so he asked: “What job?”
She simply said: “The film crew for Grandmasters has decided to cut all of Chang Chishui’s scenes from the movie after some discussions. They need to reshoot all those scenes and need a replacement actor. Do you think you can do it?”
When he heard this, Zhang Ye nearly died from happiness: “I can! Of course I can! What role is it? Is it an important character in the movie? It’s not a bit part, right?”
She coldly replied: “If it’s not an important character, they’d have just deleted the scenes and that would be it. Would they still need to find someone to be a replacement? This character places fourth overall in terms of importance and screen time in the whole movie. It is the third male lead, and also the antagonist in the movie!”
“Third male lead? Antagonist?”
“Do you want to take the role or not?”
“Yes! I will take the role!”
“Alright then, I will recommend you to the director. Come over tomorrow for an audition.”
“Sure then, thanks so much, Sister Zhang. You’re really something!”
“The crew has called a few other professional actors to try out for the role, so you might not even get the job. I can only recommend you. I don’t care about the outcome.”
“Alright.”
“I’m hanging up now. My manager will send you the details about the timing and location.”
After hanging up, Zhang Ye laughed loudly. He quickly went online to check out the overall situation and information for Grandmasters. As expected, this was a big production; production had started in the middle of last year, with the filming taking up a good six months of the schedule. The amount invested into this movie was 50 million RMB and seemingly needed an additional 20 million RMB in additional funding later on, coming up to a total of 70 million RMB. As for how much it really cost to make this movie, no one really knew the exact figures as every industry insider would know that these numbers were generally exaggerated. However, it was still safe to say that it was a big production, since the director was also quite well-known, having helmed two movies that had box office earnings of at least a few hundred million RMB before. Together with the Heavenly Queen Zhang Yuanqi and popular movie star, “Dalong,” “Brother Shui,” and many others, it helped to garner even more attention to the movie prior to its release. It could be called as one of the few big productions in recent times.
Large investment.
Big name director.
An impeccably assembled cast.
Even if the movie did not turn out to be as good as expected, or even if it turned out terrible, under the commercial business decisions and appeal to the market, the box office earnings would definitely not do worse than 100 million RMB. With Zhang Yuanqi holding the fort, it was as good as guaranteeing a good box office earning!
For such a big production, actors would definitely fight for their right to get cast. Zhang Ye, being an outsider to the film industry, had actually gotten a chance to fight for this right to be the third male lead? He had a chance now to formally step into the film industry? For Zhang Ye, this carried a great significance! Yes, although it was just an audition tomorrow in which his chances to secure the role were still not guaranteed, he had to grab this opportunity at all costs!
This was just too rare of an opportunity!
It looked like his decision not to accept those small commercial performances were correct. Just look at this, look at it! Didn’t he finally get a great surprise by waiting patiently?
Eh? Surprise?
Wait, could it be?
Zhang Ye was suddenly stunned as he seemed to remember something. He went online to check the news and purposely clicked on the link to a news report about Brother Shui’s arrest. He found out the exact time that Brother Shui had been arrested at home.
In the morning at 8:25 AM?
Wasn’t that the same time as when he had activated the Lucky Halo?!
Zhang Ye suddenly understood what was going on. It was the damned Lucky Halo’s effect that had gotten this chance for him. He was still wondering why the old version of the Lucky Halo’s effect had been so obvious, while there was seemingly no effect from this upgraded version.
When he made a comparison.
It was truly worth every reputation point spent!
In the past, whether it had been the Lucky Bread or the old version of the Lucky Halo, the effects had all been quite useful and helped Zhang Ye through many situations before. For example, like how the wrong name was announced for the Silver Microphone Awards, the time when “Woman Flower” was played in error at Lee Anson’s concert which helped to further smack his face, and also all the times when he activated the Lucky Halo during his lottery draws to get the items that he really needed, and many others. But now that Zhang Ye’s reputation had become much greater, he was also on a different level from before. If he continued using those items for their minor effects of good luck, then it would surely not be enough to satisfy Zhang Ye’s requirements now. Play a song in error to smack someone’s face? That was nothing. Gaining a better chance at the lottery draw? Because it did fail him a few times before, Zhang Ye was especially looking forward to using this upgraded version of the Lucky Halo. Looking at the effects of using it today, he was totally not disappointed!
It might be expensive to use!
But its effects are vastly different from the old version!
Zhang Ye was only a host, and at times also considered a poet or a mathematician, so even though he had done some acting before in The Great Pugilistic World, that was only considered the most trivial of trivial roles. It wouldn’t be too far to even consider him just an extra in the crowd. Strictly speaking, it could not be considered his movie debut as his name didn’t even appear on the main cast list. Logically, a big production like this should not possibly have even let him try for the audition as there were surely many more candidates out there who were better qualified for the role. Yet a cast member had gotten into some trouble thus giving Zhang Ye a chance to audition for the role. This already explained the effect the upgraded version of the Lucky Halo had and how it was well suited to his current work environment level!
Unfortunately, though, the reputation points it consumed were really too high. Otherwise, Zhang Ye would have used it a few more times to enable to him to get a role in a big production every now and then or even become a lead actor for a movie that could have a box office earning of hundreds of millions of RMB. A film was considered a top distributed mass media in the entertainment industry, so if that happened, wouldn’t Zhang Ye’s popularity shoot through the roof??
Translator’s note: Some news update for everyone, I’ve started my Patreon, so you can check it out here
For every $50 increment in total pledges, there will be 1 chapter accumulated for release in the following month. Thank you for your support!
On top of this, until the end of April, for every increase of 10 patrons, up to 80 patrons, regardless of amount pledged, 1 chapter will be released within the day of hitting the milestones. This will run concurrent to item 1. (The next is the 30 patrons milestone/2 more to go!)
There are plans for advanced chapters sometime next month, so watch out for the announcement!