Chapter 71: The Beginning of the Scandal

Words : 1314 Updated : Sep 12th, 2025

Chapter 71: Chapter 71: The Beginning of the Scandal On Friday, Zhou Yun attended the grand opening of a new shopping mall, purely because the remuneration offered was high enough. Having also scheduled a meeting with the producers and director of "Eighth Heartbeat", as soon as the event ended, Zhou Yun had to rush to the appointed location without delay. Sister Lan hurried over from the company and met up with Zhou Yun at the entrance of the restaurant. The online uproar still hadn’t subsided, with many people going to Zhou Yun’s Weibo every day to curse her. The curses were absurd; they called her scheming, a ’green tea bitch’, and their whole premise was that she seduced the world’s most innocent boy, Song Chi. Zhou Yun could only roll her eyes and suppress the urge to retort, taking screenshots to send to Song Chi and asking: What kind of love potion did you give them to make them think you’re the world’s most innocent boy? I want to throw up when I see this adjective. Song Chi replied with a line: Am I not innocent? Zhou Yun: Haha. Zheng Xiaojue turned to see the cold smirk on Zhou Yun’s face, not knowing what had upset her again, and asked, "Sister Xiao Yun, is something angering you again?" "Witnessed someone’s shamelessness." Although Zhou Yun was complaining, a hint of amusement glinted in her eyes. Zheng Xiaojue was even more puzzled, not sure if Zhou Yun was angry or not. "Sister Xiao Yun, here is the information about the producer and director of ’Eighth Heartbeat’. Sister Lan asked me to print it out for you to have a look." Zheng Xiaojue handed over a stack of materials. Sister Lan was always very thorough in these matters. Zhou Yun took the materials and glanced through them. Suddenly her phone vibrated, with a message from Song Chi: What’s this haha about? Innocent boys like me are rare. All Zhou Yun wanted to do was continue ’haha’. She said: I can’t talk now, I’m looking at some materials. Song Chi: What materials could possibly be more charming than this big star? Zhou Yun: Would you die if you were not narcissistic? Song Chi: Isn’t it a fact? Zhou Yun: I should rename your contact to ’Peacock’. Zhou Yun found a gif online of a male peacock spreading his feathers around a female peacock to attract her attention and sent it to Song Chi: Your kind. What Zhou Yun didn’t expect was Song Chi’s reply: By sending this gif, are you implying something? Zhou Yun: ? Song Chi: Are you hinting that I should confess my feelings to you? Zhou Yun: Is your brain waterlogged? Song Chi: Tsk tsk, seems you also covet my beauty. Zhou Yun: Song Chi, do you believe I’ve already picked up my one-meter long machete? Song Chi: Violence doesn’t solve anything. Zhou Yun didn’t want to reply anymore, to avoid getting trapped by Song Chi’s words and getting furious. Song Chi’s WeChat messages continued to haunt her: You still haven’t told me what materials you’re looking at. Zhou Yun: What I look at is none of your business, okay? Song Chi: I am, after all, your senior. I should take a look at it for you. Zhou Yun: Scram, scram, scram. She immediately set Song Chi’s contact to "Do Not Disturb" mode and turned off her phone. Pushing Song Chi out of her mind, Zhou Yun seriously studied the information on the producer and director of "Eighth Heartbeat". The producer was named Liu Pinran, and the director was Lu Yuan. Zhou Yun had already met Liu Pinran. As for this director named Lu Yuan, his background seemed quite extensive according to the information, but he didn’t have any notable works – the highest rating of his works did not exceed six points. After reviewing the material, the corner of Zhou Yun’s mouth twitched. Indeed, she shouldn’t have held any hopes for this film. The restaurant was booked by Liu Pinran; it was a private establishment in a rather secluded location. Zhou Yun bumped into Zhou Lan at the entrance. "What do they want to meet us for?" Zhou Yun asked. "To talk about the script and the roles," replied Zhou Lan. "They usually first discuss it with the lead actors." "Really? Looking at the films they’ve made in the past, I thought they had no standards when it comes to quality," Zhou Yun remarked sarcastically. "When you meet them, don’t be so harsh. They are a direct branch of Yuehai Network. If you want to continue doing Yuehai Network’s shows, don’t offend them," Zhou Lan reminded. "Forget it, if Yuehai Network really considers them as a direct branch, they might as well sell them to someone else soon. They’ll surely collapse within three years," Zhou Yun became increasingly cutting. Zhou Lan helplessly said, "Don’t take it so lightly. Lu Yuan is the younger brother of President Lu of Yuehai Network who is in charge of film and television production." "Ha, another nepotism case," Zhou Yun sneered. "No wonder they insisted on me acting in this film; turns out it’s because there’s someone they don’t want to offend in the company." "Look at it from another angle—If you can establish a good relationship with Lu Yuan and get to know his brother Lu Hongjie, then even if you’re not popular anymore, you won’t worry about not getting roles. Why do you think so many newcomers with no fame still get lead roles one after another?" Zhou Yun’s brows furrowed with some irritation. "Miss Zhou is here!" Liu Pinran stood up, his face breaking into a smile. "Director Liu," Zhou Yun’s irritation vanished, replaced with a bright smile, "we meet again." "Let me introduce you, this is Lu Yuan, the director of ’Eighth Heartbeat’," Liu Pinran introduced to Zhou Yun. The man standing slightly behind Liu Pinran had longer hair pulled back, wore black-framed glasses, a simple jacket, and jeans, looking like just an ordinary man. "Miss Zhou," Lu Yuan extended his right hand and shook Zhou Yun’s hand. Zhou Yun greeted with a smile: "Hello Director Lu, I’m Zhou Yun." The four exchanged pleasantries for a while before sitting down. In such an occasion, Liu Pinran deliberately avoided mentioning past unpleasantness, but brought up Zhou Yun’s scandal instead. "Miss Zhou, are you really dating Song Chi?" Liu Pinran asked. Zhou Yun chuckled lightly, shook her head, and said, "That has been clarified already. We’re just ordinary friends." "It must be a little closer than ordinary friends, Song Chi has never been so close to other female celebrities before," Liu Pinran said with a smile. "Is that so?" Zhou Yun said with a smile, "Actually, I am not very familiar with Song Chi; we’ve only met a couple of times, and it just so happened that the paparazzi caught us on both occasions." After some light-hearted conversation, Lu Yuan suddenly asked, "Miss Zhou, I heard from Director Liu before that you aren’t very keen on filming my movie?" Zhou Yun was taken aback. She hadn’t expected Lu Yuan to be so direct. Liu Pinran also looked surprised, as if he didn’t anticipate this. He patted Lu Yuan on the shoulder and said, "Old Lu, why bring that up?" Lu Yuan remained unmoved, looking at Zhou Yun, "I want to know, do you really not want to film it?" Zhou Yun instinctively looked towards Zhou Lan, who also looked just as astonished. "Director Lu, Xiao Yun was initially unsure because she hadn’t read the script. It’s normal to have some reservations about taking on roles without seeing the script," Zhou Lan tried to smooth things over. "But Xiao Yun definitely wants to film this movie, otherwise why would she have accepted it?" "Is that so? I thought Miss Zhou looked down on this insignificant director like me."

Chapter 71: The Beginning of the Scandal

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