This is a super long chapter that is three times longer than the regular chapter. So I am breaking this into two parts.
In an instant, Jiang Yu’s face turned ashen at a visibly rapid speed.
Cheng Ran squeezed his hand tightly, trying to give him some support, but was pushed away by the gloomy Jiang Yu.
Staring blankly at his own slapped red arm, Cheng Ran felt his eyes grow somewhat sore. He didn’t know if it was because of the sweat earlier, but tears kept streaming down uncontrollably.
The auctioneer had already started calling out the price.
“95 million, going once!”
Jiang Yu’s already ugly expression turned even darker than the bottom of a pot. He even started resenting Jiang Tingyuan in his heart.
If he was the legitimate eldest son of the Jiang family, if he had inherited the Jiang family business, if it was him who was valued by old man Jiang back then…
The more Jiang Yu thought about it, the more he felt his heart being pulled and torn apart little by little.
“95 million, going twice!”
Just when Jiang Yu was overwhelmed and dragged into near collapse by the negative emotions, suddenly, his phone vibrated slightly.
It was a message on his phone.
Jiang Yu didn’t intend to check it at first, but in order to divert his attention away from the auction, he eventually took out his phone.
Two short messages, one from Jiang Changsong and one from the bank.
“95 million, going…”
“One hundred million! I bid a hundred million!” Jiang Yu suddenly stood up from his seat and shouted loudly, interrupting the auctioneer.
The auctioneer had to put his gavel down again.
After hearing Jiang Yu’s bid, Ye Zhou, whose heart had been hanging, finally let go of his worries.
No matter the final outcome, at least this matter could prove that the storyline of this book doesn’t have to follow the plot. As long as he was capable enough, breaking the plot was not impossible.
From this moment on, Ye Xiao, the cannon fodder, added another goal for himself right after. [Try my best to spend all of Boss Jiang’s money before he goes bankrupt].
[Try my best to save Boss Jiang and change the plotline before the protagonist gong and shou become winners in life!]
As depicted in the storyline, the budget that the woman from Xing Rui had prepared to bid for “Battle City 2” today was 100 million. Bidding higher than this amount would impact the company’s finances.
But Jiang Yu had already called out this amount before her. Unless she bid again or the item went unsold, even if she also had 100 million, she would be unable to continue bidding.
The woman shook her head and sighed softly, a hint of fatigue showing on her delicate face.
Although she had been maintaining a calm and elegant demeanor, this bidding war was clearly not easy for her either.
Despite not obtaining the masterpiece she wanted, she was very gracious to be the first to applaud Jiang Yu, both to congratulate him and to show her intention of withdrawing from the bidding.
With her taking the lead, the other guests also started applauding.
In any case, this was truly an intense bidding war, one that also set a record for the highest transaction amount for domestic film and television copyrights.
The muffled sound of the gavel signaled the settlement of this transaction.
In the tide of applause, Ye Zhou clapped along very sincerely, even clapping until his palms turned red.
Seeing Ye Zhou’s childlike behavior, a flash of helplessness went through Jiang Tingyuan’s eyes. He reached out to press down on the boy’s paws, stopping him from continuing his self-harm.
Caught up in elation, Ye Zhou didn’t react at all initially. His mind and vision were filled with his extremely bright future, which was simply too wonderful for words.
By the time he finally came to his senses, the venue had quieted down again.
The auction was still ongoing, but after the earlier frenzy, many guests had lost their enthusiasm, just waiting for the auction to end sooner so they could go out and have a good chat about what happened with their friends and family.
Ye Zhou stared at his own hand being held by Jiang Tingyuan for a good dozen seconds or so before subconsciously twitching it, wanting to retrieve his paw.
Jiang Tingyuan hadn’t been using much strength to begin with, so Ye Zhou easily pulled his hand back. But the lingering warmth on the back of his hand seemed to constantly remind him of what just happened.
In the past, when he was nervous, Ye Zhou liked to hold his breath to empty his mind and relieve the tension.
He took a deep breath, then firmly shut his mouth, held his breath, and started his usual routine to dispel embarrassment.
However, for some reason, the breath-holding method that had been tried and tested in the past didn’t seem to work at all today.
Not only did it not work, but it also even… even turned his face, nose tip, and ear tips red!!
This was just asking to be laughed at. He did not want to lose face. QwQ!
In order not to become a boiled lobster, Ye Zhou tried to relax himself and focus his attention back on the auction as much as possible.
But even the most interesting things would start to feel tedious after doing it for a long time. The auction was no exception.
The auction had really dragged on for too long. Ye Zhou went from initial novelty to later excitement, then to agitation just now, and now finally to fatigue.
Previously, he had been highly strung up all this while, so he didn’t feel tired. But now that he relaxed, Ye Zhou felt he couldn’t cheer up his spirits anymore…
Just as he was about to say he had lost interest in the auction, a glance at the stage made him unable to take his eyes off it anymore.
Hmm, so attractive.
The auctioneer professionally roused his spirit and started a new round of promotion: “Up next is a very interesting work.”
“This one is called ‘I Was Reborn Again,’ another masterpiece by author Bian Jing after ‘Black Hole.’ This is Teacher Bian’s first attempt into the fantasy genre…”
The auctioneer’s introduction was quite interesting, yet Ye Zhou didn’t absorb any of it at all.
The reason was simple. When Ye Zhou glanced at the name of the work being auctioned just now, he suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
He had seen this book before, he had heard this title before. He even knew the plot and developments clearly.
To be precise, the “he” here didn’t refer to Ye Zhou himself but to the original owner of this body.
Yet it also felt like something was very off.
Ye Zhou took out his phone to search for information about this book and studied it for a good while before finally realizing what the problem was.
If the original’s memories were correct, this book should not have been written by this Bian Jing person, but rather…
It was written by the original’s college boyfriend.
Emmmm.
With this string of connections, Ye Zhou suddenly recalled that pretentious-looking young man he encountered in the restroom earlier. He seemed to perhaps maybe probably…
Be the original’s first love!
Apart from their relationship, however, Ye Zhou didn’t find any other useful information. This scumbag original seemed to have already forgotten his first love boyfriend long ago.
And in this book, the original was merely a cannon fodder, only existing to advance the plot and the protagonists’ relationship and to highlight the male lead’s excellence. The author naturally wouldn’t waste words on someone like him.
Just to emphasize the original’s scumbag nature, he was given a first love who had his heart broken by a scumbag.
The original’s memories about this first love were also erased, either by the storyline settings or his own forgetting.
In any case, other than knowing he seemed to be a writer who wrote a book during their college days, everything else was forgotten.
But no matter what, when Ye Zhou first laid eyes on this book for the first time, he inexplicably determined that it must be written by the original’s first love.
Ye Zhou felt it was a bit ridiculous, but before he could think through what was going on, the bidding had already started.
Recalling the young man’s attitude towards him in the restroom, in order to get to the bottom of this, Ye Zhou decided to win the copyright first before anything else. As long as he had the copyright, how could he not find the person?
The bidding wasn’t intense. Ye Zhou successfully won the work for 1.5 million, concluding this auction.
Ye Zhou actually felt a little guilty. After all, he was spending Boss Jiang’s money. Using the big boss’s money to buy his original’s ex-boyfriend’s work…
He wondered if the big boss would get so angry after learning about this that he’d tie Ye Zhou up and lock him in the small dark room again.
…Hmm?? He actually felt a bit inexplicably excited?
As expected, after the auction ended, the outside of the venue was surrounded three layers deep by the media who had rushed over after receiving the news, cameras ready to capture footage anytime.
Fortunately, the venue was well prepared and had opened a VIP exit. Ye Zhou followed Jiang Tingyuan and left the venue.
Due to the unexpected situation with “Battle City 2” at the auction, it ended up dragging on for over an hour more than expected before finishing.
Ye Zhou had a late dinner with Boss Jiang. By the time they returned to the villa, the sky had already gone completely dark.
After being excited for a whole day, Ye Zhou swiftly stripped himself bare, took a quick shower, and hopped into bed.
Early the next morning, Ye Zhou’s phone kept ringing like crazy. Even if he buried his head in the pillow, it had no effect.
With dark eye circles, Ye Zhou picked up the call very impatiently. “What’s the matter?”
“Director Ye, this is bad! There’s a crowd of reporters surrounding our filming location. They are all here to block Liu Yunlan. Please come over quickly!”
The background was very noisy. The voice on the other end of the phone was full of anxiety and panic, stumbling over his words.
Having just woken up, Ye Zhou’s mind hadn’t caught up yet. “Who’s Liu Yunlan?”
The security manager of the filming site, who was driven mad by the reporters, almost tripped and fell over.
“Liu Yunlan is our female lead!” He took a deep breath. “About when can you get here? We’re really at our wits’ end now. If this continues, we won’t be able to film today!”
Accompanying the security manager’s yelling were the voices of reporters asking questions, fans screaming, and guards shouting scoldings. It really was chaos.
The noise gave Ye Zhou a headache. He checked the time on his phone and said, “Alright, alright, I got it. I’ll be there in about half an hour. Just keep an eye out first.”
With the security manager’s reminder just now, Ye Zhou finally recalled who Liu Yunlan was.
Liu Yunlan was a budding starlet who suddenly became popular through a variety show recently. She was well-known but had no outstanding works, a so-called variety show celebrity.
The purpose of cooperating with the original this time was to make up for this shortcoming – first, to add some gold plating to herself, and second, to pave the way for her future transformation from a variety show star to a serious actress.
Her idea was good, she just picked the wrong script and director.
But she wasn’t a fuel-efficient lamp1不是省油的灯 means someone who is not easy to deal with or someone who causes trouble. It is derived from the analogy of a lamp that consumes a lot of oil and is hard to maintain. The literal translation of the idiom is not a lamp that saves oil. either. No, she was the cause of this morning’s incident.
Ye Zhou logged into Weibo. He didn’t even need to search for it himself. The second hot search item already had Liu Yunlan’s name, with the title:
#Liu Yunlan’s Mysterious Boyfriend#
With a title like this, Ye Zhou already guessed the content accurately without even clicking in.
Recalling the anxious tone on the phone earlier, Ye Zhou picked out a T-shirt and jeans from the original’s fancy wardrobe and jogged off to head to the filming location.
According to memory, filming was halted for a full three days because of this matter, which was no different from burning money. Although he had fooled a reliable financier last night, Ye Zhou was used to being thrifty and knew the value of accumulating small gains over time. He would absolutely not allow something like this to happen right before his eyes.
Ye Zhou trotted out the door, originally planning to take a taxi to the filming location. But as soon as he stepped outside, he ran into Boss Jiang.
“Good morning, Yuan-ge!” Ye Zhou waved at Jiang Tingyuan.
Seeing Ye Zhou looking refreshed and energetic, Jiang Tingyuan inexplicably recalled his red ear tips at the auction yesterday.
Jiang Tingyuan hid the emotions in his eyes and asked very naturally, “Where are you going so early?”
Ye Zhou: “I just got a call from the crew saying something urgent came up, so I’m heading over.”
Right then, his phone rang again. Ye Zhou glanced at it – it was the security manager again, probably calling to hurry him.
He waved his phone at Jiang Tingyuan: “Yuan-ge, I’m going to run first. They’re rushing me over there.”
“Have the driver take you,” said Jiang Tingyuan softly. But to Ye Zhou, it sounded heavenly.
Ye Zhou had already started running off, but hearing this made him stop suddenly. He jogged back to Jiang Tingyuan’s side and said sincerely, “Oh, thank you, Yuan-ge!”
Jiang Tingyuan watched as Ye Zhou nimbly pulled open the car door and dove into his car the moment he spoke. He was silent for a few seconds but still didn’t chase the boy out.
The driver turned his head when he heard the noise and looked at Jiang Tingyuan with questioning eyes. Only after getting tacit approval did he slowly start the car, asking Ye Zhou for the exact location before driving towards the filming site.
Eliminating the time required to take a taxi, the expected half-hour drive was suddenly shortened to ten minutes. Ye Zhou thanked the big boss and bid him farewell before running towards the filming location from the original’s memories.
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