Song Yuanxi stared at Liang Han, blinking blankly, not quite reacting: “…”
What did these words mean?
Liang Han raised an eyebrow: “You don’t want to terminate your contract anymore?”
He was so disappointed just now, yet now he looked so silly and dazed, his joy written all over his face; he didn’t look at all like someone with sophisticated schemes.
Song Yuanxi quickly came to his senses and replied: “I do! Of course I do!”
Because he was a bit excited, his voice grew a few notches louder without restraint.
Song Yuanxi hurriedly sat back, looking at Liang Han earnestly, still unable to believe it: “…Teacher Liang Han, have you agreed to help me terminate my contract?”
It felt a bit like a dream; the transition had come so fast that he was afraid of being startled awake, so he urgently needed confirmation.
“…”
Liang Han looked at his face, which was leaning in quite close. The pale complexion from the disappointment just now had recovered slightly, even turning a faint red due to excitement. His eyelashes trembled, yet they couldn’t hide his clear eyes.
Originally, his opening of the mouth had been a bit impulsive; his self-consolation was only because of the role, not wanting to miss out on such a suitable candidate.
After all, he had high standards for filming dramas and disliked flaws.
Without a company involved, it would be easy for him to sign someone into the project team to act; it would only require the person’s consent.
But with a management company standing in the middle, this matter became difficult to handle.
When the time came, he would probably have to settle for just anyone to play the part.
That was why he had a momentary soft heart, thinking of giving him a hand.
But in truth, he was a bit unhappy. The boy had clearly come to him to beg for help, yet after just one rejection, he had given up so directly.
Without even a bit of a struggle, he had turned around to get out of the car, as if he didn’t view Liang Han as very important.
But at this moment, seeing Song Yuanxi’s excited reaction, his mood suddenly cleared up along with it.
It seemed that a momentary soft heart wasn’t a bad thing.
He nodded slightly: “Mm.”
Song Yuanxi’s eyes instantly lit up like a lamp had been lit inside them, frighteningly bright.
“Don’t overthink it,” before Song Yuanxi could express his gratitude, Liang Han poured cold water on him again, saying: “I still won’t sign you to the studio.”
The words he said just now weren’t a lie, so he wouldn’t change his orders overnight.
Furthermore, helping with a contract termination wasn’t a big deal, but signing him into the company involved many issues.
Not only would he have to plan his direction, but he’d also have to help him handle various problems that arose.
Wouldn’t that give him even more space to harbor crooked thoughts? If the boy became entangled with him in every matter, even if he didn’t have other ideas at the start, it would be easy for such ideas to be bred.
Song Yuanxi blinked, feeling a bit confused.
He agreed to help him terminate the contract, but wouldn’t sign him—what did that mean?
Could Liang Han be teasing him? He asked in a small voice: “If your studio doesn’t sign me, how will you help me terminate the contract?”
Liang Han’s tone took a turn: “If I don’t sign you, you can’t terminate? If it weren’t for me, were you planning to stay in that company forever?”
Song Yuanxi froze: “…That’s not it either.”
Unless he couldn’t find a new boss, as long as someone reliable was willing to help him, he definitely wanted to leave his current company.
Liang Han glanced at him and said: “I can help you pay the termination fee. Just consider it as me lending it to you; you can pay me back once you’ve made money in the future. You just go ahead and terminate your contract.”
Song Yuanxi understood: “Oh.”
Seeing his flat reaction, Liang Han arched an eyebrow: “You’re not willing?”
He was starting to suspect that the reaction Song Yuanxi had shown before him just now was an act. He agreed to help him terminate the contract, yet the boy was this calm.
Then why did he show such a disappointed expression just now?
Song Yuanxi shook his head: “How could I be? No, I’m absolutely not unwilling.”
He was actually extremely excited in his heart; he was just a bit dazed from the impact of this good news.
Only now was he slowly recovering.
He stared at Liang Han, his eyes curving as he smiled at him: “I just feel that Teacher Liang Han, you are too good a person! I have never met anyone better than you!”
Liang Han: “…”
He gave an “mm,” turned his face away, and avoided the gaze.
Song Yuanxi took a deep breath. He grabbed Liang Han’s hand, holding that hand tightly with both of his in a very devout expression: “Thank you so much! For being willing to help me! Rest assured, I will definitely work hard to make money and pay you back as soon as possible. I will also act well once I join the cast!”
Song Yuanxi simply had no path to get the money to break free from the company’s shackles, which was why he wanted to use his future as a bargaining chip to find a boss.
But if someone was willing to directly lend him the money for the termination, then not finding a boss wasn’t a problem either.
Furthermore, Liang Han was such a good person; if he couldn’t be his boss, being his creditor shouldn’t be a bad thing either.
Liang Han paused, his eyes fixed downward on the hand being tightly held by the other, dazing out for a moment.
Song Yuanxi’s hand wasn’t considered small, but compared to his own hand, it appeared very small.
At least a size smaller, with very thin fingers. He probably hadn’t done any rough labor; there were no calluses on the hand, and the palm was very smooth and soft, and not cold.
It carried a bit of warmth, and perhaps a bit of sweat from the inexplicable panic when he was getting out of the car earlier, slightly sticky.
It made one very uncomfortable.
Liang Han stared at his own hand. After a two-second delay, he still didn’t pull it away.
Song Yuanxi sensed nothing amiss; he simply held the hand tightly between his palms and shook it up and down. He didn’t think much of it and had no reservations, letting go after a moment.
Liang Han withdrew his hand and placed it in front of his chest, his fingers curling to clench his palm. He took a deep breath and asked calmly and with restraint: “Roughly how much is your penalty for breach of contract?”
It was unclear if he said this because he wanted to shift his own attention.
But Song Yuanxi’s attention was indeed drawn over: “Maybe over ten million?”
Liang Han’s gaze sharpened: “Maybe?”
Song Yuanxi blinked and said in a small voice: “I’m not very sure either. The contract originally said it would be calculated based on the remaining years of the contract and the money earned during the execution of the contract. I signed for ten years and have debuted for two. I made a lot of money early on, but the company never told me the specifics; it was all just transferred to me through my manager.”
And of the money he earned, the amount that actually stayed in his hands was less than one-tenth.
Besides the company taking a portion of the profits and the manager taking a cut, a portion was also used on the studio. Although he wasn’t the one in charge of that studio, the company had assigned it to him, so the employees’ salaries and expenses were all deducted from his end.
The marketing and publicity fees spent by the company also deducted a lot, plus the various expenses for attending events; what remained was then partially taken by his family.
The final small portion that fell into his hands to be saved up wasn’t much.
If he earned five million a year, he could only save about two or three hundred thousand.
Counting the two years, he had a few hundred thousand in savings, but the penalty was over ten million; he couldn’t afford the termination at all.
Liang Han frowned. If that were the case, it would take some calculation to find out; it was normal not to be clear.
Looking at the young boy, he didn’t seem very experienced either.
He looked toward Song Yuanxi’s small black backpack: “Did you bring the contract? Are there any other clauses?”
If one didn’t know the industry, there were many traps inside a management contract impossible to guard against.
“The contract?” Song Yuanxi raised his hand to touch his bag, a look of shame on his face. “The contract is at my residence; I didn’t bring it.”
When he came here, he hadn’t thought he could persuade Liang Han in one go; he had only thought of moving him.
He hadn’t gotten around to considering the matter of the termination contract so quickly.
Song Yuanxi was very apologetic, feeling that he had wasted Liang Han’s time again: “I’m sorry, I should have brought it, but I forgot. Don’t worry! I will definitely bring it next time!”
Seeing that he didn’t know anything, Liang Han didn’t say more: “It’s fine. Wait until you go back and clarify the terms and clauses of the contract, then we’ll talk about this matter again.”
“Okay, then I’ll go back and study the contract well, then go talk to the company to get it clear. When there’s a result, I’ll tell you.”
“Mm.”
Liang Han gave a sound of affirmation and added: “No need to call me ‘Sir’ [honorific ‘you’]; it makes me seem very old.”
Although such a form of address had a sense of distance which was a good thing—it sounded inexplicably unpleasant to his ears.
“Sorry, I’ll pay attention in the future.” Song Yuanxi looked at Liang Han, thought for a bit, and fished out his phone: “Then, can I add your contact information?”
Liang Han looked down at it and casually recited a phone number: “WeChat is the same. If there’s something, you can send a message or call me.”
“…”
Song Yuanxi nodded seriously, dialed the number, and said in a small voice: “This is my number.”
Liang Han saved the number, typed in Song Yuanxi’s name, and after thinking, added a sentence: “Don’t disturb me when there’s nothing going on.”
Song Yuanxi nodded seriously again: “I know.”
He didn’t say anything more, turned his head, and prepared to open the door to get out: “Then… Teacher Liang Han, I’ll head back first.”
He had originally wanted to call him “Boss,” but since the man was unwilling to sign him, it wasn’t right to claim that relationship.
Liang Han waved his hand: “No need for the trouble, I’m going back too. Where is your residence? I’ll take you there on the way.”
“Is that okay?”
Song Yuanxi was a bit pleasantly surprised; this was Liang Han’s luxury car!
He had seen gossip online before saying that Liang Han had many luxury cars.
When he saw this car today, he had studied it once while waiting outside.
The appearance looked very low-key, but the configuration was top-tier; it was a famous “low-key luxury” version of a high-end car.
He liked this style very much. Just now upon entering the car, he was focused on discussing business and hadn’t observed the interior closely.
At this moment, hearing that Liang Han was willing to drop him off on the way, he was suddenly a bit excited and thrilled.
“Can I really ride in this car back? That’s too great!”
After he finished speaking, he felt he was a bit too “joy-written-on-the-face,” which gave off a bad impression.
Liang Han was soon to become his creditor; he couldn’t let the man dislike him.
Song Yuanxi restrained his expression a bit more and said to Liang Han: “Teacher Liang Han, your taste is really good, low-key and meaningful, very high-class!”
After finishing his flattery, he expressed his gratitude again: “Thank you! I’ve never sat in such a good car before!”
Liang Han glanced at him. It was obvious that Song Yuanxi liked his car very much.
But then again, who doesn’t like a good car? Everyone who sat in his car for the first time would praise it a few times.
It was just that Song Yuanxi’s tone sounded different from others; it gave off a feeling of great sincerity.
And the focus of the praise wasn’t the car, but the person.
It was as if he didn’t like the car, but liked the owner of the car, and thus loved the house and its crows.
Liang Han inexplicably felt in a slightly better mood: “Mm, then sit well and enjoy it.”
Liang Han drove the car away from the office building. On the other side, a black van followed from a distance.