Chen An only saw Cheng Lele’s WeChat message after the meeting ended. She said she had come to the provincial capital to discuss cooperation, sent a location pin, and took a photo of her seat, asking him to come pick her up when he was free.

After reading the WeChat message, he immediately drove over. When he entered the restaurant, he saw a man in a well-fitted suit sitting across from her, as if they hadn’t finished talking yet.

Cheng Lele signaled him with her eyes, telling him to find a place to sit, so he obediently sat at the side position of the adjacent table.

However, as soon as he sat down, he saw the man examining Cheng Lele with quite meaningful eyes, like a male lion eyeing prey and waiting for the right moment to strike. Cheng Lele, on the other hand, was like a pure little white rabbit, opening innocent eyes and inducing him to tell a vulgar story full of fantasy.

Given the lesson from Tianhe Technical School before, he didn’t arbitrarily drag her away and even waited with maximum patience to hear the whole thing through, finally waiting until Cheng Lele called him over.

For the first time in Chen An’s life, he felt like a tool person.

Because there was no prior context, he only half-understood what he heard, but the conclusion was clear—Cheng Lele wanted to fight for an opportunity to film and shoot scenes at Star Cinema.

Chen An truly admired Cheng Lele. Where on earth did she get the energy to stir up so many incredible ripples from a small cinema?

Jiang Litao looked down on Chen An. Just a cinema owner—nothing more than a local nouveau riche from a small place. He symbolically touched Chen An’s hand and said, “I really dislike being threatened by people.”

Chen An said, “Producer Jiang, you exaggerate. Store Manager Cheng was sincerely seeking cooperation—her methods weren’t quite right. When we go back, I’ll definitely educate her properly.”

Actually, he wanted more to educate the man before him, but he knew that as a tool person, what he needed to do now was play the good cop and give the other party a way out.

It’s just that he wasn’t very good at this. He said rather flatly, “Producer Jiang needn’t force yourself. Where you film is just an insignificant trifle to you, not worth your attention. This movie is your autobiography and must embody your heart and soul. You should prioritize the role and see if there’s a better backup option. We’ve disturbed you today. Since you’re in a hurry to leave soon, next time you come to the provincial capital, I’ll be the host to make amends. If you’d honor us with your presence, we can have a meal.”

Then Chen An put his arm around Cheng Lele’s shoulder, said “farewell,” and walked out.

After the two got in the car, Chen An didn’t immediately start the engine and drive away.

He had just exercised extreme restraint in treating politely a man who had ill intentions toward his girlfriend, and now he still had to restrain himself from losing his temper too much to avoid quarreling with this little ancestor beside him whose thoughts were too active and who constantly created endless situations.

As Chen An was working hard to adjust his emotions, Cheng Lele had already nimbly knelt on the leather passenger seat, raised both hands above her head like a child being punished by parents, and said completely without dignity, “Don’t scold me. I was wrong. Please forgive me.”

Chen An thought about what an ordinary girl would be like in this situation. Probably she would explain a bit, and if the boyfriend was petty about it, they might have a big fight. She would say something like “I was just doing it for work,” then leave in a huff, waiting for the boyfriend to come and coax her.

There probably wasn’t anyone who would slide and kneel like Cheng Lele.

Cheng Lele seemed to find it very easy to admit fault to him. Seven years later when they met again, she was asking for forgiveness the very next day, as if face wasn’t worth anything. But if she hadn’t stated her position so quickly, he might not have accepted her so quickly either.

Thinking of this, even his emotions were suppressed by more than half. Chen An could only pull down her suspended arms. “What do you look like doing this? Sit properly first.”

Cheng Lele immediately sat properly and obediently.

Chen An said, “Tell me, what exactly is going on? Have you acted before?”

Cheng Lele’s eyeballs rolled around as she said, “Mm. I filmed it when I was young and ignorant.”

Seeing that Cheng Lele was about to joke around and digress again, Chen An couldn’t help but raise his volume. “Think clearly before you speak. When you were young and ignorant, you were right under my nose.”

Cheng Lele perked up and said, “It was at the beginning of this year. It was just for fun, purely recreational—I just thought it would be interesting. After filming, I even forgot about it. Yesterday they suddenly called me saying they needed to reshoot. I said unless they film at our cinema, I wouldn’t agree. They couldn’t decide, so they had me come talk to the producer. I didn’t expect the producer would try to use unspoken rules on me, so I quickly called you over. The entertainment industry is really too filthy. Fortunately, little brother, you came.”

“Really? I didn’t see you looking panicked at all. You even had the leisure to set a trap for someone?”

“Once you came, I had confidence to negotiate. If you hadn’t come, I would have run away long ago.”

Chen An didn’t respond. Cheng Lele was actually a little fox. Just now she fooled the male lion, and now she was playing mind games with him, speaking in a mix of truth and falsehood, picking out what he liked to hear to smooth his fur.

He started the car and drove it out of the parking lot. As the barrier lifted, he said, “I don’t want you to play someone else’s white moonlight in their autobiography.”

“Oh… when I accepted the role, no one told me it was white moonlight…”

Chen An stepped on the gas and said, “I’ll temporarily treat you as an actress, respect your work, and tolerate it this one time.”

“Okay.”

“When reshooting scenes, I need to be present.”

“Okay.”

“Don’t contact this producer again. If there are situations where communication is unavoidable, leave it to me to handle.”

“Okay.”

“Do you need to report to me about the reshooting script?”

“Okay.”

“Cheng Lele!”

Cheng Lele had stayed up all night last night reading the script. She was really tired now. Startled by Chen An’s suddenly louder voice, she instantly came alive for two seconds. “Report, yes, report.”

Cheng Lele thought, men’s mouths are really deceptive ghosts. When confessing, he was as low as dust in the ground, but not even two days later, he was full of paternalistic flavor. She should have recorded that confession and played it on loop in the car.

Chen An stopped the car. The red light ahead had just started counting down. He turned his head and asked with some uncertainty, “You said before you wanted to explore future possibilities. One of these wouldn’t be becoming an actress, would it?”

Chen An looked ahead. “If that’s the case, you don’t need to think about sacrificing your acting career for reshooting. I’ll solve this trouble.”

Cheng Lele said “Ah?” “Please, little brother, I can’t sing, can’t dance, and I’m old and losing my looks. What would I do mixing in the entertainment industry?”

Chen An secretly breathed a sigh of relief. “If you’re not mixing in it, then you’re not mixing in it. Why talk about yourself like that?” Then he asked very nervously, “Are there kissing scenes in the reshooting?”

Cheng Lele widened her eyes. “How is that possible? That’s a different price.”

Chen An suddenly rubbed her head. “Don’t play slippery. Let’s make it clear first—the family member doesn’t agree. Don’t play the game of acting first and reporting later like you did today.”

“Tsk, just now you were telling me to explore the path of becoming an actress.”

“That’s different. If that’s your dream, I’ll step aside. If it’s just for cooperation, then everything is strictly regulated.”

“Little brother, let’s not talk about this anymore. The reshooting matter isn’t even settled yet.”

“It will be settled. For someone like him who feels so good about himself that he wants to film his own autobiography, if he has a first choice, how would he consider others?”

“Really?”

Chen An glanced at her. “Why are you pretending to be confused? Didn’t you dare to challenge and negotiate precisely because you figured out this bottom line? Otherwise, were you really listening to that ‘deeply moving love story’?”

Cheng Lele smiled, closed her eyes. “If it really works out, the person acting opposite me this time is Liang Yuchao. Huang Wei will go crazy, right? When filming, I’ll need to have someone tie Huang Wei up—I’m afraid she’ll have a seizure.”

Her voice grew lighter and lighter. Before long, Cheng Lele had fallen asleep.