IPCFS: Chapter 74 Part 1

Ji Li heard his distinct heartbeat and gulped dryly without a trace.

He hadn’t felt this nervous when he first started acting, the first time he accepted an award, or when he encountered public opinion.

Now he was under Qin Yue’s control and he inexplicably felt nervous.

The other person leaned his head sideways against Ji Li’s shoulder and even his breathing was warm and sultry.

Ji Li didn’t dare to move. He was afraid that if he struggled slightly, the two of them would have even more intimate contact.

Ji Li tightened his heartstrings and asked, “Brother Yue, are you drunk?”

The force of Qin Yue’s grip on his wrist increased slightly and he asked clearly, “Do you want me to be drunk or not drunk?”

Qin Yue was testing the will of the young man while also restraining his impulses.

He deliberately took advantage of Yuan Yifei and the others to get a bit drunk. Then while talking to the young man, he came here temporarily to rest.

Ever since the moment he stepped into the rest room, he had been staring at the door.

He was betting on whether the young man had the slightest affection for him.

The moment the knock on the door was heard, a sense of satisfaction that Qin Yue had never felt before filled his heart. He almost impulsively wanted to poke through the thin layer of relationship paper.

Then in the next second, he felt Ji Li’s tense body.

The young man seemed cautious and didn’t dare to struggle drastically.

Qin Yue’s rationality that was disturbed by alcohol quickly returned and he was inexplicably confused—he seemed to have scared the other person.

“……”

Ji Li was silent.

In the adult world, some things could be understood even if it wasn’t said thoroughly.

Ji Li didn’t deny that his affection and concern for Qin Yue was beyond the normal range, but he attributed this all to the other person’s excellence.

After all, Qin Yue’s appearance, words, and ability were there. He was an existence that countless people admired.

However, it wasn’t more than that.

Ji Li was determined to focus on his career again and love never appeared in his considerations.

He didn’t want to ruin a friendship that could last for a long time with a momentary emotional impulse.

The most special thing was that the friend who made him care was Qin Yue.

What would their relationship be once they both regained their rationality after sobering up?

He couldn’t figure it out for the time being, so he couldn’t mess around.

Ji Li pursed his lips and said in a low voice, “…I brought you hangover medicine, but you knocked over the water glass.”

Qin Yue chuckled helplessly. “Blame me.”

Blame me for being too impulsive.

He loosened his suppression on the young man and got up. “There is mineral water on the coffee table. What about the hangover medicine?”

Ji Li took out the tablet that was tightly held in the palm of his hand and muttered softly, “Fortunately, I held it tightly. The hotel employee said that only this tablet is left.”

Qin Yue was amused by him, as if the depression from being politely rejected had dissipated a lot. He stared at the young man’s tablet and sighed. “My hands are suddenly a bit sore.”

“……”

Ji Li saw his intention and felt a bit helpless for a while.

He tore open the separate outer packaging of the medicine and held it to the man’s mouth while complaining, “It is only a three year old child who needs to be fed when taking medicine.”

A trace of satisfaction flashed in Qin Yue’s eyes. He didn’t refute the other person’s whisper. He quickly walked to the side of the coffee table to pour himself a glass of water and swallowed the tablet.

Qin Yue rubbed his swollen and aching temples and sat down on the sofa in a slightly tired manner.

Before attending the finale banquet, he had been working continuously for nearly 20 hours.

Qin Yue’s capacity for alcohol wasn’t bad, but it was true that he would feel drunk after drinking so many glasses of wine.

“It is too noisy outside. I guess there will be some commotion. Please sit here with me for a while?”

“Okay.”

Ji Li was never the type to act coy and simply responded.

The episode just now was tacitly ignored by the two of them. It was just a momentary impulse provoked by drunkenness.

The two of them sat on the long sofa. Qin Yue loosened the top button of his black shirt and breathed out. Then he squinted and leaned back against the sofa.

Ji Li saw his tiredness. “Brother Yue, have you been busy recently?”

“There was a movie project where the foreign director of the pre-production team suddenly ran away. The schedule has been delayed so much that it is causing a headache,” Qin Yue explained.

The movie filming was originally expected to start in September in the second half of the year, but it was now estimated to be postponed until the end of the year.

“What about the intervening period? Do you have any ideas about joining a crew?”

The filming of Qin Yue’s last movie, ‘Country and the World’, had taken place in the first half of last year.

“It isn’t easy for me to find a script with transcendent quality.”

A trace of suppressed helplessness flowed from Qin Yue’s eyes when he mentioned this.

“How many pairs of eyes are staring at me from inside and outside the circle? In addition, how many people are catering to me on the surface but are actually waiting behind the scenes to see me be a joke?”

If he didn’t accept a movie, then people would say that he was going downhill.

After receiving a movie, if the director made a mistake with the rhythm, the screenwriter’s plot had loopholes, or the crew was negligent in production, the one facing the pressure and criticism would be Qin Yue, the famous star.

Ji Li heard this and there was a flash of understanding in his eyes.

The higher a person stood at the top of the movie industry, the more cautious they were when considering a script.

Ever since Qin Yue’s debut, he had never been overturned when it came to any step he took. This made him deified by the public, but he endured greater and heavier pressure.

It was just that Qin Yue had a strong heart and was used to covering this up with calmness.

“In fact, there is no need to worry. It isn’t bad to give yourself a long vacation.”

Ji Li spoke with soft and meticulous reassurance.

“Your status is already there. No one can slander you even if you retreat behind the scenes.”

–If you hadn’t suddenly appeared in the circle, I would’ve already announced my retirement and left.

Qin Yue thought silently, his eyes a bit confused and lazy. He asked with a smile, “Am I so powerful?”

Ji Li was overwhelmed by his gaze. “Of course, you are powerful.”

Qin Yue was pleased by him and simply changed his posture. He rested his drowsy head on the young man’s shoulder.

“…Qin Yue?”

“Don’t move.” Qin Yue’s voice was full of exhaustion and it made people find it hard to resist. “Just let me borrow your shoulder for half an hour. I’m a bit tired.”

Ji Li was silent for two seconds before relaxing his body as if accepting his fate.

Qin Yue didn’t speak and his lips curled upward slightly.

Just wait.

As long as you don’t alienate me, sooner or later, there will be a day when we will hold hands and hug each other.

***

Early the next morning.

Yu Fuya looked at the thick documents printed out by Baozi and her eyes were full of excitement. “H-How is this possible?”

“Sister Yu, the facts are in front of you.” Ji Li’s expression was equally serious. “The content of the script of this ‘The Long Song of the Southern Dynasty’ has copied a lot of unpopular novels. Some of the plots and dialogues haven’t been changed at all.”

The thing that Yu Fuya was holding in her hand was the comparison material that Baozi spent nearly three days sorting out.

At lunch that day, Baozi accidentally noticed something wrong with the plot of the script.

Ji Li trusted his assistant completely and simply asked Baozi to take the script home to check and verify similar facts.

Baozi knew that this matter was related to Ji Li’s future work and reputation, so he took it very seriously.

Except for the finale banquet with Ji Li yesterday, he spent the rest of the time in front of the computer.

Baozi flipped through the entire script and used a search engine to look it up.

It wasn’t known when he didn’t check it but he was shocked when he checked it.

There were seven or eight core, large plots in the script and he could find similar or even the same logic chain on the Internet.

“Sister Yu, time was too tight and I could only check the big plots. All the small plots were omitted,” Baozi added in a low voice.

It was a cursory check but he still found so many.

The workload was huge. At this moment, the dark circles under Baozi’s thick glasses couldn’t be covered.

“Based on Shen Yanda’s reputation and prestige, how can he do such a thing?” Yu Fuya flipped through the comparison document and was puzzled.

The big hits ‘Exquisite Bones’ and ‘Fenglan’ were all written by Shen Yanda. They had received so much attention and there had never been a similar controversy.

It was a new work after five years. How could there be such a serious problem?

“Sister Yu, can you contact Teacher Shen or the production team?” Ji Li asked.

He expressed his thoughts. “The script framework and settings are good. If they can correct it so that these problematic plots don’t exist, I can accept it.”

“Ji Li, I understand what you mean.” Yu Fuya maintained the rationality and sense of proportion that an agent should have.”I’ll call Shen Yanda’s team right now and ask for a meeting. We will talk about the situation further in person.”

They had signed a preliminary cooperation intention, which could be regarded as a tacit acceptance of the next cooperation between the two sides.

They originally thought that this ‘male protagonist’ was a sure result and both sides had already started to prepare to enter the crew. The sudden occurrence of something that touched their bottom line did catch her a bit off guard.

“Fortunately, I listened to you at the beginning and we didn’t officially sign the contract yet.” Yu Fuya thought of this and secretly felt it was lucky.

Otherwise, the matter of ‘terminating the contract this close to when filming starts’ was even more difficult.

“Sister Yu, I have to trouble you again.” Ji Li apologized.

“It is nothing troublesome. Your persistence isn’t wrong.” Yu Fuya affirmed his choice.

She looked at Baozi and sighed emotionally. “If Baozi hadn’t read the script before signing the contract, who would’ve expected the absurd things in the script?”

There were very few readers who liked this type of imperial court strategy online novels these days. If it wasn’t noticed by a publishing house then it could only accumulate dust in the unpopular online literature section.

Therefore, the average actor’s team wouldn’t detect it at all.

However, they had discovered it so they couldn’t pretend to be ignorant and accept the script with no conscience.

“Sister Yu, Brother Ji, I’m too sleepy. I will sleep for a while.” Baozi scratched the back of his head and yawned uncontrollably.

“Okay.”

Yu Fuya smiled slightly before her serious expression returned. “I’ll make the call first.”

“Yes.”

---

TL: Advance chapters are available over on my Patreon. You can go check out the details on my Patreon page.

Proofreader: Azure