Lin Yi turned his head just in time to see Lu Jinghan knock the spoon out of Ah Yun’s hand.
He looked at the two childish figures, one big, one small, sitting at the table and couldn’t help but laugh.
Thanks to the interruption, Lin Yi realized that the aroma of the food had already wafted over. He set aside his wrist terminal for the moment and went to eat.
As Lin Yi sat down at the table and was about to dig in, Lu Jinghan suddenly reached out and pushed a small bowl in front of him.
Lin Yi lifted the lid. Inside was… a serving of crème caramel.
The steaming, soft, wobbly custard looked appetizing, almost indistinguishable from the one Lin Yi had made himself.
“For me?”
Lin Yi looked up in surprise and met Lu Jinghan’s calm expression, as if making this dessert was nothing more than an insignificant matter to him.
But Lin Yi didn’t miss the faint flicker of amusement in those golden eyes.
“I heard you from outside during your livestream that day,” Lu Jinghan said casually, glossing over it.
He pushed the crème caramel a little closer to Lin Yi. “Taste it and see how it is.”
He made it sound effortless, but having watched various fan fail videos over the past few days, Lin Yi knew well that making a good crème caramel as a beginner was no easy feat.
Lin Yi didn’t say anything more. He quietly took a bite and offered a sincere compliment: “It tastes great.”
And it did. The soft, sweet custard brightened Lin Yi’s mood, which had been somewhat weighed down by the recent storm on the Star Network.
After finishing the meal, Lin Yi immediately turned his attention back to his wrist terminal without a moment’s pause.
Just then, a hand gently tapped Lin Yi on the shoulder.
He turned to see Lu Jinghan looking at him calmly. “Don’t be too tense. If any problems arise, come find me.”
Lin Yi nodded, noticing that Lu Jinghan had a pair of deep, understanding golden eyes, very much like the man himself.
Lin Yi logged into his account and immediately frowned.
The situation had escalated faster than he had imagined. Just a few hours ago, this matter had barely qualified as fandom infighting.
But thanks to the notorious fighting power of Su Qing’s fans, within a short span of hours, more and more bystanders had become aware of the issue, and many curious onlookers had joined in.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, many of Su Qing’s fans cherry-picked a few shaky, blurry shots from Lin Yi’s video and placed them side by side with clips from one of Su Qing’s TV dramas for a disparaging comparison.
Lin Yi’s video was already of poor quality, and with the malicious selective editing by the fans, it naturally couldn’t compete with Su Qing’s professionally made-up, studio-shot drama scenes.
Beneath this comparison video, many of Su Qing’s fans, as if by prior agreement, began tagging Director Lu one after another, commenting: “The difference is clear to anyone with eyes. Why is Director Lu favoring an amateur? Please give a reasonable explanation.”
Once this comparison was released, combined with the confident claims of Su Qing’s fans, many bystanders who were unfamiliar with the situation and hadn’t watched Lin Yi’s full video began to blindly believe that Lin Yi had used underhanded means to steal the role.
Even though Lin Yi had already declined the role long before this incident, that still couldn’t stop the rumors and the suspicions festering in people’s minds.
It was around this time that Director Lu finally noticed something was wrong on the Star Network. He immediately sent Lin Yi a friend request. After Lin Yi accepted, Lu promptly sent him a barrage of messages.
Lin Yi opened them, only to find that instead of text, there was a long series of voice messages.
Lin Yi: ?
He played one of the voice messages and heard an unfamiliar male voice tearing Su Qing apart in the most blistering terms.
Startled by the sudden loud outburst, Lin Yi quickly turned down the volume, feeling exasperated. Who knew that the renowned Director Lu could be so… explosively hot-tempered in private?
Amidst the stream of profanities, Lin Yi finally managed to extract the key information he needed: Jungle Assault had actually already passed its first round of auditions, and most of the major roles had been cast.
Only the second male lead remained unfilled. Director Lu had invited many people to audition, but he couldn’t find an actor who fit the role as he envisioned it. And since he was the type who insisted on perfection in everything, he refused to start filming until he found the right second male lead. As a result, the production of the film had been delayed for a long time.
In other words, Su Qing had actually auditioned for the second male lead a long time ago, but he hadn’t passed.
To maintain his carefully crafted persona and so-called acting talent, Su Qing had quietly concealed this fact from his fans.
Everything he and his fans had done was built on a lie.
At the end of the long string of voice messages, after finally venting enough about Su Qing, Director Lu sincerely apologized to Lin Yi, saying he didn’t expect his impulsive move to cause so much trouble.
He stated that he would immediately go public, clarify the false rumors about Lin Yi, and reveal that Su Qing had already auditioned and been eliminated.
But Lin Yi didn’t feel much relief. After thinking for a moment, he replied simply in a private message: “Please don’t release any information just yet. If you trust me, let me handle this.”
Although Director Lu was part of the entertainment industry, he relied on his talent, which came with the straightforwardness and honesty typical of geniuses, he didn’t understand all the twists and turns.
Lin Yi knew very well that the fans and bystanders, whose emotions had already been stirred up, didn’t really care about the truth of the matter. They simply needed an outlet for their emotions. If Director Lu stepped in to explain at this point, it would likely backfire and make people even more suspicious of the fairness of the casting process.
Moreover, even if the fact that Su Qing had failed the audition were made public, Su Qing would still have countless excuses to easily absolve himself and justify his actions.
The time wasn’t right yet.
The truth was Lin Yi’s biggest trump card. Only when the outcome of the game was already decided would revealing that trump card deliver a fatal blow.
Lin Yi needed more evidence. Without absolute certainty, he might as well let the haters run wild for a while.
After all, a sudden reversal after everyone thought they knew the truth would be even more effective. Wouldn’t it?
He sent another message to Director Lu:
【May I ask if you’ve ever met an actor named Si Han?】
To his surprise, the other side fell silent. It was a long time before Director Lu replied:
【Yes.】
Seeing the uncharacteristic silence from Director Lu, Lin Yi knew it was more complicated than just having met. He didn’t rush. Sure enough, after another moment, Director Lu sent a second message:
【Not only have I met him. Back then, I was involved in his audition.】
According to Director Lu’s recollection, the role that Su Qing and Si Han had been competing for three years ago was precisely the lead role in the production he was working on at the time.
The two actors shared about thirty to forty percent similarity in appearance and temperament, which was why they were both auditioning for the same role.
After these few messages, there was another long silence.
It was a considerable while before Director Lu sent another message: 【Back then during the auditions, I personally preferred Si Han’s performance.】
【At the time, I recommended to the screenwriter that we choose Si Han. But back then, I was still a little-known assistant director without any real say in the production. So aside from offering my suggestion, I couldn’t influence the final decision of the director and the investors.】
【All I know is that there was a rare deadlock in the production over who to cast as the lead. All the other roles had been decided, only this one remained undetermined. The debate centered on Su Qing and Si Han. Although I thought Si Han was better, matters of taste are ultimately subjective. Besides, Su Qing’s audition wasn’t bad either.】
【And that was precisely when Si Han was suddenly hit by a scandal alleging he had used improper relationships with investors to secure his audition opportunity.】
【After that scandal broke, the production quickly distanced itself from Si Han and chose the other candidate, Su Qing, for the role.】
【The drama was a huge success after it aired. Everyone involved, the main cast and even me, the nominal director, gained considerable popularity and opportunities from it.】
【It was precisely after that drama became a hit that I began to make a name for myself in the entertainment industry. And later, fortunately, I managed to produce a series of blockbusters, which led to where I am today.】
【As for Si Han… the next time I heard his name was when I learned… that he had withdrawn from the industry.】