It was noon.
Most of the actors were eating boxed meals from the crew.
Lin Zu was no exception.
Already famished, he grabbed his lunchbox and quickly found an empty spot, plopped down on the ground, and opened his lunchbox, ready to eat.
Just as he picked up a piece of meat to eat, footsteps sounded beside him.
Someone was approaching.
Then, a familiar voice entered his ears: "Want to eat a copper pot hotpot, and have two bottles of ice-cold beer?"
Lin Zu trembled, looking up in surprise at the person beside him.
"A Feng?"
Chen Feng walked up to him and smiled: "Surprised?"
"Holy crap, why are you here?"
Lin Zu suddenly stood up and looked at Chen Feng: "Why did you come over? Did you sign with a crew? Do you have a role to film?"
"Yes, I have a role to film."
Chen Feng smiled and nodded.
"Damn it, I knew you'd make it big after this variety show."
Lin Zu excitedly slapped his arm: "Quick, tell me, which big director signed you? What kind of show are you filming?"
"The director is Liu Boguang, ever heard of him?"
"Who? Liu Boguang?"
Lin Zu looked bewildered: "Isn't Liu Boguang our alumnus? The one who seems to have a good relationship with Su Yuehong, from the directing department, right?"
"You really know everyone."
Chen Feng said with a smile: "Yes, it's him."
"You... are you kidding me?"
Lin Zu murmured: "You're such a big star, playing with Liu Boguang? What good stuff can he film? Are you serious or not?"
"Serious."
Chen Feng nodded earnestly: "Su Yuehong introduced him, and I've already signed the contract. It's a background role, playing a thief."
Lin Zu: "..."
He looked strange.
Chen Feng: "What's wrong?"
Lin Zu: "You only signed a background role?"
Chen Feng: "Yes."
Lin Zu: "And it's a thief?"
Chen Feng: "Yes."
Lin Zu: "You really don't care about your reputation, do you?"
Chen Feng: "What do you mean?"
Lin Zu: "A Feng, you have popularity now, you know? You have a price. You should be looking for those big directors and major company platforms. You should be the lead, filming some high-end roles to gild yourself, understand?"
Chen Feng: "Like who?"
Lin Zu: "Like Lao Mouzi, Director Kaige, or Director Ning, Director Jiang Wen, or even those big directors from Hong Kong and Taiwan would work."
Chen Feng: "Do you think I have that capability?"
Lin Zu stared: "Damn it, of course you do. If I were to package you, I'd strike while the iron's hot and guarantee you become a powerful actor of the new generation."
Chen Feng chuckled: "Thanks for the flattery. What you said made my heart pound. Let's go, let's have hotpot together. We can discuss it properly."
Lin Zu: "Discuss what?"
Chen Feng: "Packaging me."
Lin Zu: "What the hell am I going to package you with? I myself am..."
At this point, Lin Zu suddenly realized, looking at Chen Feng suspiciously: "You... you know about my situation, don't you?"
Chen Feng nodded: "I know."
Lin Zu stopped talking.
He lowered his head to look at the boxed meal in his hand, then sighed: "I was dumped."
"I know."
Chen Feng reached out and pulled his arm, turning to leave, saying as he walked: "Let's go, let's eat hotpot. We can talk more over dinner."
Lin Zu: "..."
...
A few minutes later.
The two found an old-fashioned hotpot restaurant nearby.
In the dead of winter, hotpot was the most suitable meal.
An old-fashioned copper pot, burning charcoal, with plates of beef and lamb slices, and other ingredients like tripe and duck tongue piled up, making Lin Zu's eyes turn green.
He was truly craving it.
Ever since returning to work in film crews, he hadn't had a single good meal.
It was basically all boxed meals.
Sometimes, if he was lucky, he could get a luxurious version of the boxed meal worth fifty yuan.
But most of the time, it was just the meager ten-yuan version.
It tasted terrible.
Now he was truly starving.
Mainly because during the time he was with Song YaWen, he had eaten delicacies, and no meal had cost less than four digits.
The disparity was too great.
After the two sat down.
The soup was already boiling.
Chen Feng directly placed a bottle of beer in front of Lin Zu, then picked up his chopsticks and gestured: "Eat first, then drink when you're satisfied. Come on, don't be polite with me."
"Then I'll eat."
"Eat."
Lin Zu said nothing, picked up his chopsticks, and started to blanch the meat.
Dig in!
The two of them ate with gusto, neither of them talking business, only praising how good the copper hotpot was.
After eating for more than ten minutes.
Lin Zu finally poured himself a beer, satisfied.
It was iced.
He picked up his glass, clinked it with Chen Feng's, and then chugged it down.
Then, he let out a burp.
A look of contentment on his face.
"Phew, I've really been craving this, it's awesome."
"Good, right?"
Chen Feng also took a sip of beer, then looked at him and casually asked: "Tell me, what exactly happened? When you were in Macau, you and Song YaWen seemed to be so affectionate, why did you suddenly break up? Did she fall for someone else, or did you have an affair?"
Lin Zu picked up duck intestines to blanch, and while doing so, he said without looking up: "How could I possibly have an affair? She fell for someone else."
"Do you know who it is?"
"I know."
Chen Feng looked at him in surprise: "You know who it is? Where are they from? What do they do?"
Lin Zu dipped a large clump of blanched duck intestines in sauce and directly stuffed it into his mouth. After chewing a few mouthfuls and swallowing, he grinned and said: "She fell for you."
"Pfft!"
Chen Feng spat out all his beer.
Lin Zu continued to eat.
Chen Feng coughed twice and scolded angrily: "Damn it, speak properly."
"I'm serious."
Lin Zu looked up at Chen Feng for the first time, not dodging at all: "A Feng, ever since she found out about your background, about what you did in Macau, she fell for you."
Chen Feng: "..."
He was completely stunned.
Lin Zu continued: "She didn't hide it from me, she directly laid it all out. She said she fell for you, so she couldn't continue with me. She gave me two million, and we broke up."
Chen Feng: "..."
Lin Zu ate two slices of meat, took another sip of wine, then said: "I transferred the money to my younger sister back home so she could finish high school and go to college. I didn't keep any money myself, so I came back to Hengdian to continue working in film crews. That's all there is to it."
Chen Feng's face darkened.
He put down his glass and wiped his face hard.
What kind of situation was this?
It was both funny and frustrating.
Lin Zu, across from him, glanced at Chen Feng and suddenly laughed: "A Feng, don't feel burdened, at least I don't have any thoughts about you."
"Get lost, you bastard."
Chen Feng cursed angrily: "What the hell kind of burden do I have? I didn't go and hook up with her. If you have any thoughts about me, I'll make you scram immediately."
Lin Zu chuckled.
He lowered his head and continued eating.
Chen Feng took a sip of wine and frowned, asking: "Why didn't you just come to me? You know I have the ability to help you."
Lin Zu scratched his head: "It's not that I didn't want to find you, but I didn't dare to. How would I know if your affairs were stable or not? What if you got taken out in a couple of days?"
Chen Feng: "..."
Lin Zu shrugged: "To be honest. And, I also didn't have the face to find you. I've become such a mess, it's embarrassing."
Chen Feng blinked: "So what are your plans for the future?"
"No plans."
Lin Zu said helplessly: "For now, I'll just keep muddling along like this. I'll keep running around film crews for a year or two, and if there's really no opportunity, I plan to go back to Yanjing."
Chen Feng nodded, raised his glass, and asked: "Azu, come work with me."
"What?"
"Come work with me."
Chen Feng looked at him seriously: "I'm planning to open a company. If you're interested, come and work with me. If you're not interested, after this meal, you can continue with your film crews. You decide."
Lin Zu was stunned.