Early the next morning, Cheng Lele called Brother Duan back.

Last night, she had thought for a long time about why Brother Duan was so insistent on having her reshoot scenes. After replaying the conversation several times in her mind, she remembered Brother Duan’s comment that the executive producer had a good impression of her.

Perhaps the executive producer had specifically requested her to act.

She had heard from Chen Xiaomu that the executive producer’s surname was Jiang. He was the film’s main investor and had the title of executive producer attached to the project.

Since she had an investor backing her, she had bargaining chips for negotiation.

“Cheng Lele, how did you think it over last night?” When Brother Duan received her proactive call, her voice was quite pleased.

Cheng Lele didn’t answer directly. “Brother Duan, can I discuss this matter you brought up directly with the executive producer?”

Cheng Lele felt that Brother Duan wasn’t someone who could make the final decision to change the filming location. Rather than going back and forth with feedback that might ruin the deal, it would be better for her to face the producer directly.

Brother Duan was silent for two seconds and seemed to chuckle twice. “You mean Producer Jiang? I’ll ask for you.”

Cheng Lele said thanks and hung up the phone.

Not long after, Brother Duan sent a message with Producer Jiang’s contact information, then said meaningfully, “Producer Jiang is currently staying at the Hilton Hotel in your provincial capital. That’s not far from you, right? He has a flight to Beijing this afternoon. If you have business to discuss, you need to arrive before two-thirty.”

After a while, she sent another message: “The business discussion might take quite a long time. It’s best to arrive before one o’clock. You understand.”

In the phrase “you understand,” Cheng Lele saw a lot of information hidden behind the text. But it wasn’t really Brother Duan’s fault—a bit-part actor requesting to meet the executive producer could easily make people’s minds wander in the wrong direction.

Taking the intercity bus from Taixi to the provincial capital required two hours, and buses departed only once every hour.

Cheng Lele had come to the cinema this morning to get business cards. She wasn’t home now and didn’t have time to go back for the ring, so she stuffed a pile of materials into her bag, first took a taxi to the passenger transport center, and when she got there, she bought a ticket for a bus departing in five minutes. So when she arrived at the Hilton Hotel, it was just after ten in the morning.

She called Producer Jiang, but he didn’t answer. Ten minutes later, he still hadn’t picked up.

If she called again, it would seem like a spam call.

She sent Producer Jiang a text message: “Hello, Producer Jiang. I’m Cheng Lele, an actress from ‘Fleeting Moments.’ I have a matter to earnestly discuss with you. I’m waiting for you at the table in the far southeast corner of your hotel’s restaurant. I hope you can spare some time to meet.”

Then she sent a photo of her seat.

Three sides of the Hilton Hotel’s restaurant were floor-to-ceiling glass windows. The sun was still brilliant today. Cheng Lele’s position wasn’t in direct sunlight, but she could feel the warmth of the light.

Through the glass window, Cheng Lele looked down at the fountain built of marble. Under the sunlight, the water columns returning toward the center refracted brilliant rays of light. Next to the fountain was an artwork made of steel. Cheng Lele had studied art as a child and had a certain degree of artistic appreciation, but she still couldn’t understand what it was trying to express.

She waited idly for a long time. Her eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and finally she lay down on the table and fell asleep.

After Jiang Litao knocked on the table several times, he saw this girl—who was so carefree as to sleep in a restaurant with people coming and going—slowly open her eyes, close them again for two seconds, open them again, lift her head, adjust her pupils’ focus, then stand up in a fluster. She handed over a business card with both hands and bowed halfway, saying, “I’m so sorry, Producer Jiang!”

There were still imprints on Cheng Lele’s face left by the wrinkles of her clothes. Her whole person displayed a naive foolishness.

Jiang Litao seemed to recall someone. He looked back at her but didn’t show any anger, saying, “Sorry to keep you waiting.”

Jiang Litao was a middle-aged man around forty. Like Huang Tiangou, his tear troughs were dark, the whites of his eyes were yellow, and his lips had no luster. Colleagues said this was the appearance of excessive indulgence.

But Jiang Litao wore exquisitely tailored clothes, wore expensive cufflinks, had a straight nose bridge, and combed his hair back, making his forehead appear full and prominent. Combined with his confident bearing of having everything under control, he easily brought to mind the cover figures of entrepreneur magazines.

After sitting down, he didn’t directly cut to the main topic, saying, “I saw the segment you acted in. It was very good.”

Cheng Lele thought this was obviously speaking with eyes wide open and telling lies, but she shamelessly accepted it. “Thank you for your appreciation, Producer Jiang.”

After speaking, she suddenly remembered the assistant director’s assessment of her: “What on earth did you act?” She felt it was a bit embarrassing to climb up the pole like this. “There’s still a lot of room for improvement in my acting.”

“It’s fine. You’re beautiful—you can get by in the entertainment industry.”

Cheng Lele waved her hands honestly. “I’m not young anymore either.”

“Age isn’t a big deal. It can be changed.”

Cheng Lele paused, feeling that Producer Jiang’s words were going in a somewhat off direction. She said, “Producer Jiang, actually I came this time specifically to discuss cooperation.”

As she spoke, Jiang Litao lit a cigarette. Cheng Lele thought to herself, isn’t this a no-smoking area?

Jiang Litao asked through the grayish-white smoke, “Cooperation? What kind of cooperation?”

As he asked, his gaze began strangely looking Cheng Lele up and down, sticky and viscous, like the trace left by a swimming snake crawling across skin.

Soon Cheng Lele realized that Producer Jiang had misunderstood again.

She was very afraid Producer Jiang would name a price for “long-term or short-term arrangements,” so she quickly pulled out several promotional flyers from her backpack. “Producer Jiang, I heard that the reshooting was proposed by you. I presume you’ve seen the reshooting script. One of the scenes is to be filmed in a cinema. I came to discuss with you whether the location could be set at our Star Cinema. Star Cinema is an old cinema with over ten years of history. The most recent renovation was ten years ago. I checked the dates, and they match up with the requirements in the script…”

For a few minutes, Jiang Litao’s expression froze. He knew that some women wanted it both ways. Or perhaps it was a certain kind of flirtation—they would put on the pretense of discussing business to chat with him, to demonstrate their chastity and propriety. He would sometimes reluctantly indulge them with some back and forth, but the one before him was acting much more genuinely than she had in the movie.

After receiving the business card, he hadn’t looked at it carefully. Now he took it out to look again. Written on it clearly was the position “Star Cinema Store Manager.”

It even looked quite serious.

Jiang Litao held the business card and asked, “Star Cinema—where is it?”

Cheng Lele said in a cheerful tone, “In a county town with beautiful scenery, just like the place where the male lead lived as a child. Actually, for the second scene of climbing the mountain to pray to Buddha, I also recommend Jingping Temple in our Taixi. But for this, you’d need to arrange for someone to handle it. I can help with the contact.”

She handed over another document. “This is a promotional page released by our Taixi County government.”

Jiang Litao wasn’t interested. Without even flipping through it, he threw the several pages of paper on the table, refusing very thoroughly. “Not interested. The location has long been decided.”

“Oh, I see.” Cheng Lele looked disappointed.

Jiang Litao tapped his finger on the table. “Let’s chat about something else.”

“Chat about what?” Cheng Lele took a sip of water and looked at him.

“Of course, chat about something I’m interested in.” Jiang Litao’s smile was somewhat deep.

“Chat about something you’re interested in.” Cheng Lele thought for a moment and said, “Producer Jiang, I read the entire script, and I feel like the male lead in it seems to overlap somewhat with your resume. The script couldn’t be your personally written autobiography, could it?”

When she said this, Cheng Lele supported her chin with both hands, widened her eyes, and tried her best to release signals of reverence. Her acting wasn’t very good, so she wasn’t very confident that the other party would receive them.

Jiang Litao tapped ash from his cigarette and said, “I didn’t have time to personally handle it, but I controlled the overall framework.”

He didn’t say it was an autobiography, but he didn’t refute it either. Of course art had elements of processing and exaggeration, but Cheng Lele still very cleverly understood why she had become the specially designated white moonlight.

Still supporting her head, she continued asking, “Producer Jiang, can you tell me about your first love?”

Jiang Litao smiled, as if he had guessed the routine. “You young ladies all love hearing about these things, don’t you?”

Cheng Lele just smiled without speaking.

The entire script for “Fleeting Moments” was lackluster, full of male-perspective self-absorption. A literary film supposedly targeting female audiences spent more than half its time singing praises and describing how the male protagonist went from rags to riches and became all-powerful. The remaining small half was composed of lowbrow plot devices. The few female characters who appeared on stage functioned mainly to tempt and tease the male protagonist, and their mutual scheming and struggles were also heavily emphasized. As for the white moonlight living in the male protagonist’s memory, her personality was vague. Aside from being beautiful, there was no other description—as thin as a character cutout.

Cheng Lele had reason to suspect that the male protagonist’s lingering attachment was only due to the regret of not having conquered her back then, or perhaps just to make his copper-stinking self appear sophisticated, pretending to be immersed in his meager romantic experience.

In any case, it had nothing to do with that white moonlight at all.

If this movie went online, nine out of ten chances it would flop, possibly even just a one-day cinema tour. After all, the box office appeal of traffic stars was just that—nothing special. She didn’t know what this man surnamed Jiang was feeling so smug about.

Cheng Lele also thought about how her judgments about box office results were often surprisingly consistent with data platforms like “Maoyan Prediction,” and considered whether she might develop potential in this area in the future.

She could entertain so many random thoughts because under her expectant gaze, Jiang Litao spoke at length about his past with his first love before making his fortune.

Jiang Litao spoke eloquently without any pause, suspected of having lectured in this manner in many places, intending to shape his image as a romantic lover, worthy of being accompanied by Li Ronghao’s song “If I Were Young and Promising.”

Cheng Lele was having a very difficult time concentrating. The successful man’s memoir was affected and pretentious. Some details didn’t match the era, and there were contradictory places, just like that clumsy script. She guessed that many people after hearing it would realize this problem, as if he were wearing the emperor’s new clothes—no one pointed it out to his face, then they laughed about him behind his back. A little pitiful, but not worthy of sympathy.

Cheng Lele quietly listened to him finish, very naturally flattering him. “Producer Jiang, the woman you’ve thought about all your life must be very beautiful, right? I’d really like to meet her in person.”

Jiang Litao very cooperatively said, “About as beautiful as you.”

Perhaps it was flattery, but Cheng Lele very naturally picked it up. “No wonder you think so highly of me and insist on having me reshoot scenes. So I’m a stand-in.”

Jiang Litao didn’t refute, looking at her with what he thought was an affectionate gaze. “You’re a bit thinner and taller than her, but your temperaments are very similar, especially when you turn your face to the side.”

“Is that so?” Cheng Lele turned her head.

Jiang Litao said, “At this angle, it’s almost exactly the same.”

“Then if I reshoot, I’ll try to use this angle.”

“Mm.”

“Alas, what a pity.” Cheng Lele sighed, looked at her watch, and said with feigned surprise, “Oh my, we’ve chatted away and it’s already this time. Producer Jiang, you still have to catch a flight later. I won’t delay you. Thank you, Producer Jiang, for taking time today to share a beautiful love story with me. When the movie is released, Star Cinema will definitely arrange as many screenings as we can within our capabilities.”

As she spoke, she stood up and pushed her chair under the table.

Jiang Litao thought he had seen through her pretentious tricks and asked in a frivolous tone, “You’re leaving just like that?”

Cheng Lele said, “Yes. My boyfriend came to pick me up.”

Jiang Litao was used to women’s feigned refusal and saying one thing while meaning another. With a half-smile he said, “Let your boyfriend wait. My story isn’t finished yet. How about going upstairs so I can continue telling you?”

“Thank you, Producer Jiang, but I really have to go. I originally came to discuss cooperation, but I didn’t expect Producer Jiang to flatly refuse our Star Cinema’s opportunity to reach for higher branches. Fortunately, I heard Producer Jiang’s deeply moving love story, so it wasn’t a complete waste.”

Jiang Litao had already explicitly issued an invitation. Even the most pretentious person should remove their mask, but she acted as if she had put on another mask. He sat in his seat without moving, his tone gradually turning cold. “Cooperation? The location change you mentioned? With just a cinema, what do you have to cooperate with me?”

Cheng Lele widened her eyes. “Producer Jiang, didn’t I express myself clearly just now? I hope the crew will film at our cinema. The crew hopes I’ll continue playing your first love. We each have what the other needs—how could there be no possibility of cooperation?”

Jiang Litao was stunned. Half an hour ago he had already rejected her proposal. She hadn’t pestered him but started having him talk at length about his romantic history. When he thought it was just another woman’s clumsy performance, after extracting information, she returned with a counterattack.

Jiang Litao sneered. “Miss Cheng, you want to obtain a pass to an acting career and also secure benefits for your cinema. You want a bit much, don’t you? I prefer one-for-one equal exchanges.”

Cheng Lele replied, “Producer Jiang, with your abilities, if I secure benefits for the cinema, my acting career will end with this scene. This cooperation is you using a mere location to obtain your ideal actress, while I sacrifice my acting career—consider it my thank-you gift.”

Jiang Litao fell silent. He had seen many women who schemed and maneuvered to fight for roles, but someone like Cheng Lele who discarded an opportunity that came to her door like worn-out shoes while fixating on benefits that seemed insignificant to him—he had never encountered before.

Jiang Litao made a final reminder. “Miss Cheng, don’t pick up sesame seeds and lose the watermelon.”

Cheng Lele said persistently, “Producer Jiang, the watermelon is not what I desire—the sesame seeds are what I’ve dreamed of.”

“Putting the cart before the horse. Obstinately clinging to your course.” Jiang Litao evaluated.

Cheng Lele felt that Jiang Litao probably wanted more to curse her for being ungrateful.

The negotiation between the two was at a stalemate. Neither was willing to yield a step.

“Producer Jiang, please don’t be angry. Actually, I even brought my boss. We’re very sincere.” As she spoke, Cheng Lele gestured toward the table beside them.

Jiang Litao hadn’t noticed when someone had sat down at the empty table next to them. That person had a tall and upright build and a handsome face, seeming like a celebrity. However, he couldn’t immediately recall having such a figure in the industry.

Then that person walked two steps and arrived before him, extending his hand very mechanically toward him. “Producer Jiang, hello. I’m the owner of Star Cinema, Chen An.”