Male Sing and His Pet Owner: Chapter 90

Ren Jiayuan frowned and said: “Cut.”

Outside the filming area, someone had already aimed their phone at Song Yiming, preparing to secretly film a video of him throwing a tantrum. One of Song Yiming’s assistants spotted this alertly and immediately rushed over with a ferocious expression to stop them. Several others went on set to help the person up.

Everyone reined in their emotions. Yu Wenrong bent down to pull Song Yiming up, coaxing him gently, but the other person slapped his hand away. Yu Wenrong’s expression instantly became quite something to behold.

Song Yiming was clearly on the verge of a complete breakdown. After roaring a few times, he even threw aside the umbrella his own assistant had handed over, shouting at them: “Don’t bother me! All of you fuck off!”

He wiped the rainwater from his face, his eye sockets red. Like a madman, he grabbed a tree trunk and stood up, his feet slipping, nearly falling again. Zhan Hang nearby truly couldn’t stand watching anymore, reached out to grab him by the back collar, pulled him back, and said unceremoniously: “Enough! Stop acting crazy!”

Song Yiming was the youngest among them. He had never suffered for such a long time while filming before. When he learned he had to shave his head into a crew cut upon joining the production, he had already felt some hidden aversion. However, he couldn’t defy his own manager, so he had to grit his teeth and keep working. By now, he had been pushed to his absolute limit and completely exploded. He had never made such a fool of himself before, and immediately felt he couldn’t save face. He swung his fists and kicked and hit wildly at Zhan Hang before him, completely without technique, like an elementary school student.

Before everyone could react, Zhan Hang, out of instinctive self-protection, reflexively turned sideways and elbowed him in the chest and abdomen. Song Yiming’s vision went black from the pain, nearly collapsing on the spot. Zhan Hang frowned, grabbed him by the back collar again, and also lost his temper: “Still not done? I’ll really hit you.”

Those who reacted sucked in a cold breath. Several assistants rushed forward in a panic to help the person up, only to be wildly thrown aside. The others wisely retreated from the set, making some room.

Song Yiming clutched his stomach, feeling like the whole world was against him. He was cold, in pain, and unlucky. His whole body felt uncomfortable. Any random person could shout at him, and his manager didn’t think much of him either. He felt utterly wronged.

“I fucking quit filming!” Song Yiming cried out without any dignity: “Whoever wants to film, go film!”

Zhan Hang: “…”

Ren Jiayuan showed no sign of backing down, and said calmly: “Go, go tell your manager that you’re quitting midway, not filming anymore, and you’re going to breach the contract.”

Zhao Kaile: “…”

Director, you’re too heartless!

Song Yiming trembled with anger, pushed through the crowd gathered before his eyes. All the noise by his ears transformed into a buzzing hum, annoying him so much he just wanted to find a place to clear his head. So under the dumbfounded gazes of everyone present, he alone rushed headlong into the dense forest along the small path. The set immediately exploded into chaos. Several assistants fell into disarray. Some went into the rain with umbrellas and bags to search for him. Some desperately cursed at others to put down their phones and stop filming. It nearly became a tense battlefield.

Zhan Hang also hadn’t expected Song Yiming to be so stubborn, and only looked hesitantly at Ren Jiayuan. Zhao Kaile hurried over to hold an umbrella for him and pull him toward the rest tent.

“This is bad, this is bad.” Zhao Kaile said with lingering fear: “Those two moves you just made are going to be taken out of context and spread around again.”

Zhan Hang wiped his hair with a towel, and scoffed at this.

In another rest tent, Yu Wenrong’s complexion still didn’t look very good. One of Song Yiming’s assistants came over to apologize in a servile manner, saying repeatedly: “Sorry, sorry, Brother Wenrong. Yiming has been under too much pressure lately. Something also happened to him privately. His mental state wasn’t very good to begin with, and he had a bit of conflict with Sister Min, so…”

Yu Wenrong said without expression: “What kind of young master temper is this, coming out to film? Look at how this is going to end now, so many people waiting for him alone?”

He didn’t mention at all that he had been pushed by Song Yiming, as if he was completely standing from the perspective of the group to look down and criticize Song Yiming’s actions, completely absolving himself. His words were watertight.

That assistant complained bitterly: “We’ll find him and bring him back immediately. We’re truly sorry.”

Yu Wenrong nodded, took the towel his own assistant handed over, and said lightly: “Apologizing to me is useless. Better go apologize to the director.”

Ren Jiayuan was someone who couldn’t be swayed by either soft or hard approaches. Seeing Song Yiming’s assistant approach with an apologetic smile, he directly waved his hand, sat in the director’s chair, and said with complete composure: “Wrap up for now. When Song Yiming comes back, that’s when we’ll film.”

That assistant had no choice but to swallow his words of apology, resigned to his fate to go search for the person. When stepping on that path, his feet slipped and he nearly fell.

Hearing this, the producer couldn’t sit still anymore. He came over and said to Ren Jiayuan: “Jiayuan, waiting like this isn’t a solution. Are there any scenes that don’t need Song Yiming? Move them up first, film them and talk later.”

“What you say sounds easy.” Ren Jiayuan smiled insincerely: “How do we move them? Move them to where? Why don’t you guess why we specially braved the rain to come up the mountain today?”

The producer was also choked by his words, and could only say irritably: “Fine, then we’ll all wait.”

He paced around under the rest tent a few times, then frowned and shouted at the people around him: “What are you all standing around for? Anyone with free time, go help find him!”

“Teacher, the rain is too heavy.” A staff member with some connections said helplessly: “Whoever lost the person, let their people go find them.”

The producer glared at him, his face dark as he returned to his own seat.

Zhao Kaile wiped Zhan Hang’s face while whispering to him: “Director Ren really has a stubborn temper.”

“Pulling this kind of stunt is meant to intimidate us.” Zhan Hang sat in the chair, closing his eyes and letting Zhao Kaile do as he pleased: “Meaning once you’re in his crew, you have to listen to him. Even if the King of Heaven comes, it won’t work.”

Zhao Kaile clicked his tongue and said: “Now I understand why no one invested money in this film before… Could it be that he doesn’t have good relationships in the industry?”

“Yes.” Zhan Hang said: “But the TV dramas he directed are all decent enough. If you casually flip through any vegetable leaf, they’re all above the passing line.”

Zhao Kaile thought for a moment, then nodded: “Masters all have a bit of a strange temper. It’s understandable.”

When Zhan Hang heard him mention investing money, he naturally thought of that anonymous investor who had been chasing after investments behind the scenes, and couldn’t help falling into contemplation.

The rain grew heavier. Between heaven and earth was a vast curtain of water. Nearly an hour passed, and everyone waiting on set grew anxious.

Ren Jiayuan also furrowed his brow, and asked the person standing beside him: “Why is there still no news? Notify Song Yiming’s manager in the group chat, have their company send people to help search together.”

“Oh, okay.” That girl nodded, and hurriedly lowered her head to send a message to Song Yiming’s manager.

Since entering this profession, Zhao Kaile had never encountered such a rare incident where an artist collapsed halfway through filming, cried and made a scene and went crazy, then ran off alone. He couldn’t help but pull out his phone and scroll through Weibo. There was no related news for the time being, presumably being suppressed to death by their company.

He looked up at the gloomy sky, and couldn’t help but sigh.

Zhan Hang asked: “Pitying him?”

“A little.” Zhao Kaile rubbed his nose, and said: “Isn’t he only twenty years old? A few years younger than me. Um… If I ask myself honestly, if I had to film at such high intensity for a month, I probably couldn’t endure it either.”

Zhan Hang mocked: “With the little money you make, of course you couldn’t endure it. This little brother earns more than you, little brother.”

Zhao Kaile also self mockingly curled the corner of his mouth, not really arguing.

Zhan Hang continued to say lightly: “How he goes crazy in private, no one cares. Going crazy on set is equivalent to telling everyone he doesn’t want to work anymore…”

Zhao Kaile looked up at him, and asked: “Brother Hang, are you under a lot of pressure?”

Zhan Hang pointed at the faint dark circles under his eyes, indicating he should figure it out himself. Zhao Kaile couldn’t help but laugh. Zhan Hang looked at him without expression, but there was a gentle helplessness in his eyes.

“Anyway, I think he must have encountered something these past two days.” Zhao Kaile propped his chin and said: “Otherwise how could he suddenly explode? People’s emotions only suddenly go out of control when they’ve received a huge stimulus.”

Zhan Hang said: “He had a fight with his manager, that’s all. He didn’t want to join the crew to begin with, and the more they filmed, the more rebellious he got.”

Zhao Kaile nodded in realization, inexplicably thinking of Ou Xiaoqin.

There were too many young faces in this industry standing in the corners of the stage, unable to reach the spotlight. The moment they slightly broke through, they would be controlled by artists and companies, becoming commodities on the assembly line. Before their own names became famous, they practically had no choice at all, and even less freedom. Once the thought of giving up arose, what they would face was astronomical breach of contract fees.

Zhao Kaile said with emotion: “Sister Li is actually quite good.”

Zhan Hang made a noncommittal hum from his nose, not answering.

Two hours passed, and everyone couldn’t sit still anymore.

Yu Wenrong was the first to say to Ren Jiayuan: “Director Ren, waiting like this isn’t a solution. Why don’t we withdraw down the mountain first, and when the person is found, we can continue filming.”

Ren Jiayuan looked down at the weather report, knowing that if they still couldn’t find the person, they would miss the optimal filming period. He had no choice but to frown and nod, saying to everyone: “Everyone head back first.”

The rain gradually calmed. The people on set successively moved equipment to prepare to go down the mountain. Song Yiming’s company people had all dispersed into the mountains to search for him. His manager had also arrived, standing before Ren Jiayuan with a livid face, arguing vehemently about something. Ren Jiayuan’s expression remained bland and indifferent, rebutting with ease.

Zhao Kaile held an umbrella for Zhan Hang while turning back to look at them a couple times, wishing he could press his ear right next to the two of them.

Zhan Hang saw that his arm was stretched out and truly getting tired, so he naturally took the umbrella, put one arm around Zhao Kaile’s shoulder, and the two walked shoulder to shoulder like brothers along the muddy mountain path. He said in his mouth: “Still looking, still looking. If you like gossip so much, why don’t you become a paparazzo.”

Getting pulled into an embrace like this by Zhan Hang, Zhao Kaile’s brain directly crashed. He forgot what he was going to say just now, his eyes blinking nonstop, covering up with a heavy “mm” sound.

“She definitely can’t take the blame onto herself. When an artist has an incident in the crew, of course it’s the crew’s responsibility.” Zhan Hang said: “No need to think about it.”

Zhao Kaile: “…”