I want to have a normal campus romance

"It's been a while--hiss, damn, why did you step on me?"

Just as I took a deep breath and opened my mouth to say half of my words, I felt my foot being stepped on by the other person. This sour and familiar feeling made me immediately regret why I was wearing mesh shoes today.

When Xia Xiaoyao heard what I said, she was stunned for a moment, but she was so stunned that I was confused.

Why didn't you know why you suddenly stepped on me?

But she quickly came back to her senses. When she saw me squinting at her, she seemed a little embarrassed and used her fingers to twirl her hair at the temples. But soon, as if she had thought of something, she put her hands on her waist and slowly said to me:

"This... This is retribution for taking advantage of me on the phone last time."

what?

After hearing her words, I was stunned at first, but soon reacted. The experience of accidentally calling her on video a few nights ago, apart from the memories of late-night chats, was the white under the collar of her bathrobe, and the bright red...

"What are you thinking?"

"Huh? I...I wasn't thinking about anything?"

Feeling Xia Xiaoyao's resentful gaze, I felt guilty for a moment and didn't dare to look her in the eye. I just slowly turned my head to the side, secretly sighing that she had outwitted me.

"Cough cough cough-"

But just when I was looking for an opportunity to change the subject, I heard a sudden cough from behind Xia Xiaoyao. I was startled by the sudden sound.

Oh my god, there is someone else in the room!

But why didn’t Xia Xiaoyao tell me earlier?

But I soon discovered that Xia Xiaoyao was not much better than me. Her whole body trembled as if her tail was suddenly stepped on, and her facial expression froze, as if she remembered something. The expression on her face slowly turned into panic, and her little face turned red. She turned her head back stiffly like a rusty robot.

I took the opportunity to lean over to the side and slowly looked behind her. I saw a very smart and capable woman sitting on a chair not far away. She slowly pushed her glasses up, then coughed twice as if very deliberately, and then slowly said:

"Seeing is believing. I think this person must be Mr. Lin."

"Ah?...Yes, it's me."

After I heard what the woman said, I nodded blankly, and then quickly whispered to Xia Xiaoyao who was standing next to me:

"Who is this person?"

After Xia Xiaoyao heard what I said, her expression suddenly became a little embarrassed, but she still whispered to me:

"she is..."

Before she finished her words, the woman stood up, stretched out her hand and began to introduce herself to me:

"Hello, I'm Xia Xiaoyao's agent - Zhou Ling."

!!!

After hearing this, I was immediately shocked. You know, celebrity agents rarely follow celebrities around. After all, they are not celebrity assistants and basically will not appear around celebrities unless required by work.

Judging from her posture, she is definitely coming for me!

Thinking of this, I immediately swallowed my saliva. Although I had mixed feelings in my heart, I suppressed them. I forced myself to smile calmly, walked forward, shook hands with her, and said with a smile:

"Sister Zhou Ling, hello...I wonder what brings you to the crew?"

To be honest, I originally wanted to call her Sister Zhou, but after I called out this name, the figure of a certain "Zhu Chongzhi" always appeared in my mind, so after thinking about it, I decided it would be better to call her by her full name.

This name is neither too unfamiliar nor too intimate, just right.

"Oh, there is something indeed. I didn't sit down to talk about it."

As she spoke, she loosened her hand and spoke in a businesslike manner. After hearing her words, I sat down opposite her. What I didn't expect was that Xia Xiaoyao also sat down with me and sat next to me.

Shouldn't she be sitting with her manager at this time? There was clearly a seat next to Zhou Ling.

Logically speaking, Zhou Ling should be very unhappy at this time. Even though she is very good at facial expression management as a manager, she should have revealed some emotions in her eyes at this time.

But...why didn't she show any special emotions after seeing Xia Xiaoyao and I sitting together, but instead looked like she didn't care?

Seeing this, I felt a little unsure. After all, others seemed to know everything about me, but I knew nothing about them. This asymmetric information was very bad. So, while Zhou Ling turned around and looked for something in her handbag, I quickly turned my head and whispered to Xia Xiaoyao:

"Why is your agent here suddenly?"

"I don't know. I just received the news from my assistant that Sister Ling would come."

"Ah? Didn't she tell you in advance?"

"Well, although Sister Ling is very nice to me, sometimes she doesn't tell me everything. We are more like a cooperative relationship."

After hearing what Xia Xiaoyao said, I felt even more uncertain.

After all, I heard that many of the agents of big stars are blood relatives to prevent problems. After all, the relationship between agents and stars is more often a cooperative relationship of exchanging resources. Of course... it sounds good to call it cooperation, but it sounds bad to call it exploitation.

Although Zhou Ling was very polite in her speech and attitude towards me after meeting me, I could feel the temperament in her, which was a unique temperament of a businessman.

This temperament is very similar to that of Mo Fushan, but her scheming is not as deep as Mo Fushan's, because I can vaguely feel that she has something to ask of me, or that she values ​​me very much!

At this time, Zhou Ling seemed to have found something and took out a cowhide bag from her handbag. She slowly opened the file bag, then took out a stack of white paper from it and handed it to me with a smile.

"Mr. Lin, this is the contract I drafted, please take a look."

contract?!

Chapter 127 Uninvited Guest

After hearing what Zhou Ling said, I was immediately confused, but I still took the contract she handed to me. I took a quick glance at it and found that this contract was a draft agreement for me to play the male lead in the MV.

After I saw this contract, my originally complicated thoughts suddenly became much clearer. Thinking carefully, my participation in the MV as the male lead has always been a verbal agreement. Now that the MV shooting is gradually on track, it is not surprising to give me a paper contract with legal effect.

But why did she choose such a time to give it to me when she didn't give it to me earlier or later? Thinking of this... I subconsciously glanced at Xia Xiaoyao who was sitting next to me, and saw a little surprise on her face, as if she didn't know about this matter.

Logically speaking, as the lead singer of the MV, Xia Xiaoyao's agent should have informed her of this matter, right? But now it seems that Xia Xiaoyao was not aware of this and seemed to be kept in the dark.

Although I wanted to have a conversation with Xia Xiaoyao, Zhou Ling was sitting opposite me. No matter how careful I was, she couldn't fail to see it. Besides...it seemed like Xia Xiaoyao didn't know much given the situation.

"Mr. Lin, are you dissatisfied with this proposed agreement?"

It seemed that Zhou Ling had seen my little action of peeking at Xia Xiaoyao. She suddenly smiled and spoke to me slowly. After hearing her words, I had to retract my gaze, then smiled and waved my hand, and looked at the contract in front of me carefully.

As a business school student, I know a little bit about contracts, but I didn't study business law, and even if I did... with my non-professional knowledge, I probably wouldn't be able to see the possible pitfalls.

But I can still understand some necessary clauses, such as the benefits I will get and the obligations I have to pay. After understanding these, I can at least understand what the other party's attitude is. As for whether to sign or not... I can find someone who really knows the business to help me look at it.

The entire contract was nothing more than some basic confidentiality agreements and various professional terms that I couldn't understand, but it wasn't until I saw the clause about benefits that my eyes widened.

One, two, three, four, five... five zeros? Fifty thousand dollars?!

Isn’t it five thousand?

"Why? Mr. Lin...are you dissatisfied with the contract?"

I shook my head when I heard Zhou Ling's words. Although I hesitated for a moment, I thought it would be better to confirm this matter. I returned the contract to her, pointed to the clause and said:

"I'm not dissatisfied, but I have some questions."

"What questions?"

"I remember the price I agreed on was five thousand, why is it written as fifty thousand here?"

After hearing what I said, Zhou Ling did not show much surprise, but just smiled and said to me slowly:

"The original price was indeed five thousand, but that was the price negotiated within the company at the beginning. Later, Xiaoyao kept coming to me and said that she wanted to increase your salary... After discussion and negotiation within the company, it was decided to raise the price to fifty thousand."

"what?"

After I heard Zhou Ling's words, although I knew it was a little inappropriate, my body still turned uncontrollably to look at Xia Xiaoyao who was sitting next to me.

After all, although I knew that Xia Xiaoyao and I had a pretty good personal relationship, I never expected that she would go to such lengths for me, someone who might just be a casual acquaintance of hers in the future.

Although the price of fifty thousand may not sound like much, it is still a huge sum of money for a student like me. Of course, I also know that... if some young and handsome actors were to star in the film, the price might have to be increased by another zero.

But for me, this is already a very high price. After all, I can't bring much to the entire crew. There is no so-called traffic bonus, nor so-called acting bonus. For someone like me, let alone offering a high price of 50,000, even if I give the crew 50,000, the crew may not want me.

After seeing that I was staring at her blankly, although Xia Xiaoyao's expression did not change much, her ears turned a little red, and she was rubbing the hem of her skirt with her hands under the table. It was obvious that the expression on her face was just a disguise.

Just when I was a little dazed, I felt my leg kicked, then I realized it was Xia Xiaoyao who kicked me, and then I came to my senses... and found that Zhou Ling was looking at Xia Xiaoyao and me with an intriguing look.

"Mr. Lin, it seems that you have a very good relationship with Xiaoyao."

"no!"

"no!"

When I heard Zhou Ling's words, I immediately felt something was wrong, and the words almost came out of my mouth, but what I didn't expect was that the moment I opened my mouth, Xia Xiaoyao also said in unison with me.

When we both heard each other's voices, we were both startled, and then we turned to look at each other. For a moment, an unspeakable embarrassment gradually spread in our eyes, while Zhou Ling laughed and said slowly:

"I will not interfere too much in your private lives, but I would like to ask both of you to be more careful in public. It is better not to do certain things in public, otherwise... it will easily cause some difficult public relations problems."

After hearing Zhou Ling's words, I immediately understood that she was alluding to the paparazzi who had secretly taken photos of Xia Xiaoyao and me. However, I always felt that...she didn't seem to be disgusted by the delicate relationship between Xia Xiaoyao and me.

On the contrary...she also has a sense of deliberate connivance in it. If you only know...stars like Xia Xiaoyao have many male fans, and there are many fanatical fans. Logically speaking, she should be strongly opposed.

Moreover, I always feel that she did this on purpose for some unexplainable reason.

Seeing me staring at her, she didn't say anything, but just gave me a meaningful look. After hearing her words, Xia Xiaoyao's breathing became a little rapid, but she didn't say anything, just muttered and stepped on me.

"Hiss—why are you stepping on me?"

"Humph!"

Xia Xiaoyao gave me a look that said "you know the answer but you still ask?", and then turned her head to the other side as if she was angry. Zhou Ling didn't say anything when she saw this, but just smiled and didn't say anything.

"Um, Sister Zhou Ling... Can I take this contract back with me? I'll give you a reply after considering it."

"Of course, just give me an answer in the next few days and we can discuss it."

Zhou Ling didn't seem surprised by my answer. Instead, she handed me the file bag with a smile, as if she had expected it.

At this moment, a melodious ringtone sounded. After hearing the sound of the phone, I immediately looked in the direction of the sound, and saw a mobile phone quietly placed on the table in front of me. This phone was neither mine nor Xia Xiaoyao's Huawei. It could only be Zhou Ling's phone.

After seeing the caller ID, Zhou Ling's eyes became serious and sharp, while Xia Xiaoyao showed a gloomy look. It seemed that the caller... was an uninvited guest.

Chapter 128 Dedicate oneself to art

Although I don't like to pry into other people's affairs, I have a feeling that this call is related to me, because I clearly saw Zhou Ling subconsciously glance at me after seeing the incoming call on the phone.

Even though it was a brief, even casual, glance, I still happened to catch it. She smiled at us, then picked up the phone and left the lounge, as if she didn't want me to hear the conversation.

Of course this is normal. If I were her, she would not let a "temporary worker" like me find out some internal matters. Even if I wanted to know what was discussed on the phone, it would not be convenient for me to chase after them, unless I took the risk of being discovered and eavesdropped.

But this kind of request does not exist for me, because I can directly ask Xia Xiaoyao who is sitting next to me.

"Senior, who called just now?"

After hearing what I said, Xia Xiaoyao seemed to be hesitant about whether to tell me or not, but in the end, out of trust in me, she looked at the closed door and whispered to me:

"The person who just called was Producer Liu. As a producer, he has always been against Director Yang and I's decision to choose you as the male lead. However, due to our frequent collaboration, he did not directly interfere. He is just putting pressure on the company."

When Xia Xiaoyao said this, her tone became a little strange, as if she had thought of something. After thinking for a moment, she continued to say to me:

"He originally wanted to replace the male lead with a popular star, but for some reason, his attitude recently seems not as tough as it was at the beginning, as if he is afraid of something."

After hearing what Xia Xiaoyao said, I immediately felt confused. As the investor, the producer can be said to be the most powerful core person in the entire crew.

After all, as investors, money means power... What's more, they are often the bosses of large companies, or agents of investors. The producers even have the power to dismiss people from various positions in the crew at will. Even the director cannot go against the decisions made by the producer.

Could it be possible that such a big shot would have something that he was afraid of?

Thinking of this, I slowly buried this matter in my heart. Although I wanted to continue speculating, the information I had was too little. Making inferences at this time would be completely subjective.

So instead of wasting time making inferences...or imagining things, it is better to take care of the things in front of you.

As if influenced by me, Xia Xiaoyao also seemed to start thinking about the matter, but she didn't know much and couldn't figure it out. So in order to avoid the atmosphere becoming dull, I coughed twice and then slowly asked:

"By the way...what are we shooting today?"

After hearing what I said, Xia Xiaoyao suddenly remembered something, then took out a stack of things that looked like a script from the documents next to her and handed it to me.

"All the content of today's shoot is here, but Director Yang was very satisfied with the result of the last cover shoot, and it seems that he has added a few more clips because of inspiration."

After hearing what Xia Xiaoyao said, I slowly took the script she handed to me. I took a quick look at the old script. It was nothing more than a script about youth, dreams, and love.

The plot arrangement is not very good, but it doesn’t matter. After all, this is a MV, not a movie. The highlight is mainly Xia Xiaoyao’s new song.

"That's perfect... After I finish reading the script, we can rehearse the newly added scenes and try to shoot a few more takes today."