Although Li Xiaoheng really wanted to continue feeding dog food with Tao Mu, but the nature of their work did not allow them——Tao Mu had to go back to the police academy for training, and if possible, Tao Mu also wanted to foster a friendly relationship with the other bigwigs in the crew. Li Xiaoheng had more things to do in Hong Kong this time. In addition to visiting Tao Mu, he also needed to investigate the investment environment of Hong Kong.
Due to the impact of the global economic crisis, the Hong Kong stock market was also affected by mini-bonds, and the economic situation was very sluggish at one point. Xiaoheng Capital had been shorting in the international market before, and naturally, Hong Kong had not been spared. But this time, Li Xiaoheng brought the negotiating experts of Xiaoheng Capital, not for shorting, but for several acquisitions.
That night, Li Xiaoheng and Tao Mu talked about the details of the acquisitions in the hotel for the entire night. Based on his memories from his previous life, Tao Mu gave several key data points for the acquisition case given by Xiaoheng Capital, as well as a few secrets that may not be noticed now, but were well known in the industry in later generations to help with the acquisition case. Assistant Jiang also sat and listened on the side, recording Tao Mu’s suggestions one by one, in preparation of having the investment department investigate it all later. If it could be confirmed that what Tao Mu said was true, then the details of the acquisition plans would have to be adjusted.
After talking until two o’clock in the middle of the night, Li Xiaoheng pressed Tao Mu to sleep. He knew that Tao Mu had sensitive nerves, and would wake up with the slightest sound when he was sleeping. So he took the negotiating team and Assistant Jiang to the next suite to continue the meeting.
Because no one disturbed him, Tao Mu’s sleep quality was not bad. When he was sent back to the police academy by Li Xiaoheng the next day, he was in good spirits.
Before getting out of the car, Tao Mu glanced at the gossip paparazzi squatting at the gate of the police academy and couldn’t help but think of his poor response to the nightclub matter.
“What’s the matter?” Li Xiaoheng looked at Tao Mu, who frowned slightly, and asked with a light smile, “Can’t bear to part from me?”
“No, I was just thinking about how my brain circuits got short-circuited.” Tao Mu pocketed the photo of Li Xiaoheng close to him. Just as he was about to get out of the car, he heard Li Xiaoheng ask, “Are we going to have dinner together this evening?”
According to the agreement between the crew and the police academy, the A-list stars who have come to the police academy to experience life in the past few days would definitely eat and live in the police academy. Some entertainment media would also be stationed at the police academy, responsible for taking photos and writing news. If it was before the relationship between the two was confirmed, Tao Mu would definitely choose to participate in the activities with everyone. First, it would allow him to integrate into the collective life as soon as possible, and second, he could build a good relationship with everyone. The most important thing was also not to give the gossip paparazzi a chance to write random things, lest some people speculate that Tao Mu did not get along with the crew, or that he was acting like a bigshot and preferred to be alone.
But now, Tao Mu looked at CEO Li’s purposefully pitiful expression, and couldn’t help complaining: “I found out that you also love acting.”
Li Xiaoheng said innocently: “My expression comes from the bottom of my heart, and it is an uncontrollable instinct. What could I do?”
Quite the smooth-talker!
Tao Mu looked at Li Xiaoheng helplessly, and couldn’t help but smile: “Okay. After training this evening, I’ll call you.”
Li Xiaoheng immediately answered, “I’ll come pick you up.”
Tao Mu nodded, and because there were gossip paparazzi staring at him outside, the two did not make any intimate moves. After getting out of the car, the paparazzi who were guarding the gate of the police academy immediately surrounded them and asked while taking pictures, “CEO Tao asked for leave yesterday to serve as a tour guide for CEO Li? I heard that you two toured together in Hong Kong and went to many temples to burn incense and pray for blessings. Can I ask what you were praying for?”
“I heard that Xiaoheng Capital came to Hong Kong this time to acquire several established companies. CEO Tao, as a partner of Xiaoheng Capital, what do you think about the current investment environment of Hong Kong?”
“CEO Tao is a businessman and an actor, how do you usually balance these two identities?”
“How would you rate the other actors in the same crew as you?”
“I heard that you don’t get along with Yan Sheng, is it true?”
“I heard that film king Yan has an ambiguous relationship with a newcomer in the crew. And that newcomer and CEO Tao are good friends. What do you think of the relationship between the two?”
Tao Mu looked at the paparazzi in front of him with a half-smile. If it weren’t for the latter questions, Tao Mu almost thought that these gossip paparazzi had changed their careers to do financial reporting instead.
“No comment.” Tao Mu casually dispatched the paparazzi who were guarding the gate.
Although the crew of “Black and White” wanted to promote the film, Tao Mu was still not interested in gaining attention through revealing a scandal, particularly a low-end publicity model like revealing a same-sex scandal. Even more so, he was disinterested in being the whistleblower.
The group of paparazzi reporters looked at Tao Mu who walked into the police academy with bitter faces, but they didn’t dare to follow because of the luxury car parked behind him.
Li Xiaoheng was the founder of Xiaoheng Capital and the eldest son of the Li family in Beijing. With such an identity, the Hong Kong gossip tabloids were afraid of causing trouble, so naturally they dared not talk nonsense when reporting. So even though Li Xiaoheng and Tao Mu spent a whole day strolling around, praying to God and worshipping Buddha, chartering a yacht to go to sea, riding a ferris wheel together, and staying in the same hotel room at night, anyone with a discerning eye could see that something was up. But those gossip paparazzi still didn’t dare to reveal too much for gimmicks. They just published a few photos of the two of them touring together, waxing poetic at the personal friendship between Li Xiaoheng and Tao Mu, and teasing the two bosses for being unexpectedly superstitious. Listing examples of the temples most prosperous in Hong Kong and by the way, guess at how much of an impact Li Xiaoheng would make on his visit to Hong Kong this time.
And even like this they didn’t dare to put it on the front page, just put it on the inner page or the second page of the newspaper. When Director Xu and several other actors saw the newspaper, they also teased that there actually came a day when Tao Mu would not make the headlines. Only Shen Yu felt envious after seeing these reports.
“I also really want to go out and play.” Shen Yu looked at Tao Mu, who had just returned from outside: “I’ve been in Hong Kong for so long, and I’ve stayed at the police academy for training this whole time, and there’s no time to go out for a walk. Mu Mu, did you and Mr. Li have fun?”
“Yeah, it was very fun.” Tao Mu just confirmed his relationship with Li Xiaoheng, and was in a very good mood. Seeing Shen Yu was not as upsetting as before. He even had the patience for a casual chat: “The claypot rice was good. The morning tea was also delicious.”
When Director Xu heard these words, he laughed and said, “Tao Mu, you sure know how to eat. Our morning tea in Hong Kong is very famous. But you ate it in a hotel which is not authentic. I will treat you to Hong Kong’s oldest and most authentic Cantonese restaurant when I have a chance. The shrimp dumplings, spare ribs and chicken feet are especially delicious.”
“Then I’ll thank Director Xu in advance.” Tao Mu replied with a smile. He didn’t have many vices in his life, but eating was the most important.
Shen Yu’s eyes lit up and turned to look at Yan Sheng. He also wanted to have morning tea.
Yan Sheng frowned slightly without a trace. Recently, there have been frequent gossip paparazzi reports of his close relationship with Shen Yu. Because the two have collaborated on a film before, it could be understandable that the relationship was a little closer than others. But if they were close enough to play and have morning tea together, there was no guarantee that those gossip paparazzi would come up with some sensational headlines for the sake of sales. They were not Tao Mu and Li Xiaoheng after all.
Although China passed the same-sex marriage bill. However, the domestic public opinion environment was still relatively conservative, and Yan Sheng’s acting career was currently on the rise. He didn’t want any unfavorable rumors to spread at this critical juncture to jeopardize his position.
But he couldn’t reject Shen Yu with such a clear attitude either.
In these brief seconds, Yan Sheng thought a lot. However, in the eyes of everyone, Yan Sheng just pondered slightly, and then said: “The crew will start to film soon. We should focus on filming. Xiao Yu, haven’t you been worried that your poor acting skills will drag everyone down? We can use this time to train well and prepare, and when the crew starts filming, you can also impress everyone.”
Shen Yu hesitated for a while, but finally nodded obediently. He also hoped that after the crew started filming, he would perform better than before.
Tao Mu glanced at Yan Sheng in surprise. This kind of response was not the same as what he remembered of the other’s compliant attitude towards Shen Yu in the previous life.
Yan Sheng also looked at Tao Mu and said, “I heard Director Xu say that Mr. Tao has done a lot of research on the role of Zhou Yuanting. You also suggested that during filming, fight scenes should be used to reflect the character’s inner transformation. My role is also an undercover cop, and there are quite a lot of fight scenes for me as well. If there’s an opportunity, I would love to discuss it with Mr. Tao. “
Tao Mu smiled and said, “There will be plenty of opportunities.”
Wang Jinsheng and Luo Daming looked at each other and smiled, they thought it was very interesting. It looked like this time filming would be very fun!
The film crew of “Black and White” would start filming on June 6th. Considering that Tao Mu was still a student of Beijing Film, the crew allowed Tao Mu to delay for half a month until the summer vacation to join the crew. However, the launch conference was still to be attended.
The day before the launch press conference, all the actors of the cast of “Black and White” all arrived. Xu Musen fulfilled his promise, and sure enough, he treated the whole crew to have breakfast at a well-known Cantonese restaurant.
Because she had met Tao Mu before, Fang Ruoti sat next to Tao Mu very familiarly after entering the private room. She also didn’t forget to joke: “CEO Tao is indeed that man who causes a storm in the entertainment industry. I thought before that my encounter with CEO Tao in the nightclub would definitely make headlines, and I was so frightened that I asked Sister Ying to contact the gossip tabloids to suppress the photo of my smeared makeup look. Only to find that when the news was published, no one cared at all. I even wondered whether I have become too old and lost any beauty, so my charms were no longer attractive.”
Tao Mu smiled and said, “Teacher Fang can just call me Tao Mu directly. Teacher Fang doesn’t have to doubt that you are the goddess of the screen in the eyes of all men. Whenever and wherever you appear, you are always radiant and beautiful.”
After a pause, Tao Mu also teased: “Even if your eye makeup is smeared, there is still a kind of charm to it.”
“I said before that you mainland men are very unromantic.” Fang Ruoti gave Tao Mu an eyeroll: “You are like this, so is Yan Sheng. It’s so boring.”
Hearing Fang Ruoti mention his name, Yan Sheng shook his head with a wry smile: “I’ve always been boring. I’m so very sorry.”
Shen Yu, sitting next to Yan Sheng, was a little lost and nervous. He also wanted to join the conversation. But he never liked such occasions. When he used to be with the Shen family, because his parents, his elder brother and sister doted on him very much, they wouldn’t force him to do things he didn’t like. People who wanted to make friends with him would also take the initiative to find conversation topics, so Shen Yu didn’t have to worry about what to say.
Not anymore. He must take the initiative to integrate himself into everyone.
After thinking about it for a long time, Shen Yu quietly encouraged himself, raised his bubble milk tea, stood up, and said seriously, “Teacher Fang, I also really like your acting. I grew up watching your movies since I was a child.”
As soon as the voice fell, the whole room suddenly fell silent. Fang Ruoti couldn’t hold back and almost showed a hideous expression on her face.
What do you mean by that!!! Are you saying I’m old??? F**k you!
Comment