At nine in the evening, the city of Shangjing was alive with the roar of cars and the buzz of people. The originally ink-black night was now dazzled with the display of colorful lights.
Qi Zhi, after finishing the script, let out a long sigh. His mind was still savoring the plot he had just read.
'Full Moon 2' told the pure love story between Yusheng, who was left with only one personality, and the bright girl Jingyue.
After a long absence, it finally provided the audience with answers to the mysteries left in the original 'Full Moon'.
It was a BE literary work.
In the end, Jingyue still passed away from illness in the hospital room next to Yusheng.
After finishing the script, Qi Zhi rubbed the point between his eyebrows, feeling an indescribable ache and bitterness rising in his chest for Yusheng and Jingyue.
Suddenly, Qi Zhi's phone rang and his eyelids fluttered slightly. He lightly swiped across the screen with his fingers: "Hello?"
Qi Zhi's voice was still a bit hoarse, obviously still immersed in the world of 'Full Moon'.
"Qi Zhi..." It was a call from Li Mengfu.
Li Mengfu has a strong ability to empathize. While reading the script, she immersed herself in Jingyue's character and continuously shed tears as if she was experiencing it herself.
Across the screen, Qi Zhi heard her crying voice, choking with tears: "Wu…wu… I've finished reading the script, Jingyue… Jingyue wu…wu..."
Qi Zhi's office was very quiet, so quiet that only Li Mengfu's and his own faint breaths could be heard.
He shut down his computer, raised his legs and strode out.
"Why did Jingyue have to die?" Li Mengfu said resentfully, "It's really hard to accept."
While in the darkness, Jingyue yearned for the light and strived to pursue her ideals.
In the prime of her youth, after meeting the boy who captured her heart, it should have been a warm and romantic time for this bright young girl. But the illness stole everything away.
Qi Zhi comforted her, "Novels are all fictional."
After chatting with Qi Zhi for almost half an hour venting, Li Mengfu added resentfully, "It tortured me to death, Guan Laoshi is really wicked!"
Suddenly, Qi Zhi's light laughter came from the phone, "Mengfu."
"Hmm?" Li Mengfu made a nasal sound, her voice soft and sweet, as if she was unconsciously acting coquettish towards him.
"Come out, look outside."
Hearing what Qi Zhi said, Li Mengfu blinked her eyes twice to hold back her tears.
Through the narrow window of her dormitory, she could see the hazy crescent moon hanging high in the branches under the hazy night sky. The curved moon was like a hook, and the stars sparkled like frost.
The story of Yusheng and Jingyue always took place under this waxing and waning moon.
"The moonlight is so pretty tonight." Li Mengfu murmured, and then remembered the potential meaning of it and hastily added: "Although it's just a crescent moon." [The term is used as an indirect confession of love, using “moonlight” to express “love”.]
After saying that, Li Mengfu walked out to the balcony outside.
There, she saw Qi Zhi standing like a tall pine tree below the dormitory building.
"Qi Zhi!" Li Mengfu shouted in delight, drawing the attention of her roommates. In the next moment, she dashed downstairs wearing slippers only.
Qi Zhi stood outside the door of the girls' dormitory. Passersby were coming and going on the road. He stood alone in front of the flower bed in a white shirt, motionless.
A few seconds later, Li Mengfu's brisk and lively figure appeared at the door of the dormitory.
Qi Zhi's gaze was locked on her as he waited for her to walk up to him.
With a blink of his eye, all the bitter and paranoid emotions stirred by the script in his heart were replaced by the soft and gentle glow in his eyes.
Qi Zhi's lips curled up slightly, and his exquisite features appeared obscure yet soft in the moonlight: "After finishing the script, I was thinking."
"What were you thinking?" Li Mengfu took a big step forward and stood in front of Qi Zhi.
Without makeup, her bright eyes and white teeth made her look like she had just washed up. A faint, cool fragrance entered Qi Zhi's nose.
"Thinking of seeing you."
*
As soon as the project for Qi Zhi Entertainment's 'Full Moon 2' was officially approved, it immediately caused an online sensation.
Four years ago, Qi Zhi won the International Best Actor award with the role of Yusheng in 'Full Moon', skyrocketing to peak at the beginning of his career - everyone said he was the Ziwei star sent from heaven.
[紫微星 (Purple Emperor Star)—the celestial equivalent of the Emperor also known as Polaris, North Star, Pole Star or Dhruv Tara.]
Despite subsequent setbacks with a few projects and continuous ridicule, he managed to redeem himself with his outstanding performance in the 'Old Shadows of the Republic'.
【Although, usually sequels are not great works.】
【To put it bluntly, it's just a dog's tail.】
[狗尾续貂 (gǒuwěixùdiāo) - lit. to use a dog's tail as a substitute for sable fur (idiom) / fig. a worthless sequel to a masterpiece.]
The achievements of the first part of 'Full Moon' were too high. It featured a renowned director, a well-known author, and even brought forth a young film emperor. Even with the original crew reuniting, some people still remained skeptical about 'Full Moon 2'.
【The acting skills of Qi Zhi and Li Mengfu in 'Full Moon' are acknowledged by all, and with Wu as the main director, I believe the sequel's quality won't be worse.】
【I agree with the comment above. The scriptwriter is Guan Laoshi, this husband-wife duo is indeed a strong collaboration!】
With Director Wu and Guan Laoshi joining hands, they already gave a reassuring pill to the fans of 'Full Moon'.
【I've asked around, the main investor this time is Qi Entertainment. With the heir of Qi as the male lead, the other investors wouldn't dare to meddle and stuff random people. Sisters, you can rest assured!】
【Having money is really great—investing and starring in yourself. Money goes in your left pocket and comes out your right pocket】
Not long after, Qi Entertainment and the official Weibo account of 'Full Moon' announced Qi Zhi and Li Mengfu as the male and female leads of 'Full Moon 2'.
'After four years, the original cast returns!'
With just these words of promotion, the 'Zhi Meng' (Qi Zhi x Li Mengfu) CP fans were boiling with excitement!
【Ahhh! My Full Moon CP!】
【Starting from 'Old Shadows of the Republic', the two of them have been interacting a lot recently, and I've already been overwhelmed with happiness.】
【Looking forward to Yusheng, looking forward to Jingyue. Heart jpg.】
【It's near Chinese new year, Zhimeng CP will do a lot of business!】
With the lingering warmth of 'Old Shadows of the Republic' still there, the news of 'Full Moon 2' came out, and the fanbases of Qi Zhi, Li Mengfu and the Zhimeng CP began surging rapidly.
It was only until today that a large group of Zhimeng CP fans flooded into Qi Zhi's comments section, and he realized their existence.
Qi Zhi clicked in and discovered that the fans had been noticing the small interactions between him and Li Mengfu.
Photos, behind-the-scenes tidbits, and even their natural interactions during interviews—every interaction between the two was carefully organized in the CP fan page.
Qi Zhi spent half a day scrolling through it all.
Finally, he saw an ID called "Green Lemon" had drawn an anime-style couple avatar of him and Mengfu, Qi Zhi smiled knowingly and silently saved the picture.
In the golden autumn of October, 'Full Moon 2' had entered the initial stage of filming.
Because Qi Zhi and Li Mengfu were still in school, aside from weekends, their time together for shooting was limited, which resulted in an irregular filming schedule for the entire movie.
Fortunately, Qi Zhi wasn't short of money. He discussed with Director Wu to extend the movie's production period.
Meanwhile, Qi Zhi took advantage of his spare time and kept a close eye on Jiaxin Films.
Until early November, an artist from Jiaxin Films was exposed for having infidelity and domestic violence against his wife.
Qi Zhi seized the opportunity and continuously released a series of scandals of other artists from Jiaxin Films. Then he used the same methods on them, hiring water armies to hype up scandals and manipulate public opinion against Jiaxin Films.
In just a month, scandals frequently broke out from Jiaxin Films, even causing its stock price to plummet greatly.
Inside the crowded office building in Shangjing City where every inch of land was worth its weight in gold, the door to the conference room of Jiaxin Pictures was tightly closed, and everyone inside held their breath, not daring to take a breath.
Crash! A loud sound echoed as the chairman of Jiaxin Fims threw a stack of documents onto the huge conference table. A cascade of A4 papers with bold black letters slid and scattered across the table.
He kept slapping the table with his palms, raised his eyebrows coldly, and said angrily: "Who the fu* provoked Qi Zhi in the first place, making him bite at me like a mad dog!"
With Qi Zhi targeting Jiaxin Films on such a large scale, the higher-ups of Jiaxin naturally sensed something, and now the chairman was furious.
The senior executives of Jiaxin Pictures were looking at each other, maintaining an indifferent attitude as if it had nothing to do with them, all waiting for someone to take the blame.
Among them, sitting in the third seat on the right side of the conference room, a big headed man with a portly figure smiled ingratiatingly: "Qi Zhi is just a brat, in our industry..."
"A brat? You call the person who made our stock price plummet a brat?"
Chairman of Jiaxin sneered and glanced sideways at Vice President Liu, who was so frightened that he immediately fell silent.
The chairman's tone suddenly changed as he asked about Ye Manting: "How many years does Xiao Ye have to spend there?"
"Three years." Vice President Liu's face twisted in an instant.
Ye Manting was not only an artist groomed and highly promoted by Jiaxin but was also Vice President Liu's nephew. He knew about all the shady dealings behind Jiaxin Films.
By sending Ye Manting into this situation, Qi Zhi was not only targeting Jiaxin but also humiliating Vice President Liu.
Qi Zhi dared to act like this when he just started in the entertainment industry, so Vice President Liu wanted to teach him a lesson.
Who would have thought that Qi Zhi was actually a vengeful madman who was determined to take revenge, and had been staring at Jiaxin Pictures for several months.
"It's not good to provoke anyone. Why not pick a fight with Qi Ye's son?"
The chairman sneered, shooting Vice President Liu a fierce glance before ordering: "You first take a few people to have a chat with Qi Zhi. We're all in the same industry now and will cross paths regularly. Make him understand that a peaceful coexistence is more profitable."
"Qi Group doesn't have much interaction with our industry. In the end, Qi Zhi is just a young master coming to play in the entertainment industry. Why should we..." someone disagreed with the chairman's approach, expressing it subtly.
Qi Group focuses on daily chemicals. In terms of interpersonal relationships and resources, how could Qi Zhi, a young man who just established his company not long ago, compare to Jiayin Films which had strong capital and was a large enterprise.
The chairman thinks too highly of him.
"What do you know?!" the chairman scolded angrily, then his expression softened and he continued in a low voice:
"In recent years, relevant departments have strongly supported national enterprises. Qi's ability to emerge successfully among two internationally renowned daily chemical companies has already gained favor from the higher-ups."
With such connections and support from the higher-ups, could Qi Group be compared to ordinary enterprises?
This also boosted the status of Qi Zhi, as the only heir of Qi Group, making him wary.
After hearing this, some people realized the situation.
Qi Corporation operates low-key and close to the people, which caused many in Jiaxin Films to look down on it, thinking it was still a grassroots enterprise that got started by promoting and advertising in various villages. Who would have thought that today's Qi Corporation had grown into a towering tree!
"I understand. I will find someone to set up a call tomorrow and ask Qi Zhi to come out for dinner and shake hands to make peace as soon as possible." Vice President Liu's expression became solemn, immediately agreeing to the plan.
Having hit the iron wall, how could he remember to avenge his nephew at this point, not continuing to provoke more trouble for Jiaxin was now most important.
After all, in their industry, the best way is to solve the problem over a meal.
Just as Jiaxin's high-level meeting decided to temporarily suffer the heavy losses caused by the sharp drop in stock price, a secretary hurriedly walked in:
"Chairman, the TV drama project we were negotiating with Yunluo Entertainment last week has been snatched away."
This project was one of Jiaxin Entertainment's key plans for the coming year. They were in the process of finalizing the contract with Yunluo Entertainment, and now, the duck they got actually flew away from their hands?
Jiaxin Chairman became furious upon hearing this and asked: "Who did it?"
"Qi Zhi."
As soon as the secretary said this, the entire conference room fell silent.