Liam Liang's Battle Behind the Scenes Chapter 3

Those who participated in the investment of "Darkest Choice" were all friends of Ethan Cao. They didn't really join forces to tear him down. It's just that friends are friends and business is business. After chatting for a long time, no one took the initiative to mention the need for additional investment for reshooting.

"So you guys are considering the candidates for the reshoots, right?" Ian Lin asked, "Who do you think of now?"

"All of them..." Ethan Cao frowned slightly, recalling the candidates Adrian Xu had mentioned to him in the morning. However, except for Liam Liang, he had completely forgotten the other two names. He turned to Ryan Zeng and asked, "Who were you talking about this morning?"

"Zhao Qian, Yan Jia, and Liam Liang." Ryan Zeng said.

"Ha, Liam Liang is great!" Zhao Chengdong, who was sitting next to Ian Lin, took the initiative to bring up the matter of additional investment. "I tell you, if you can really invite Liam Liang to reshoot, I will double my investment. I'll keep my word."

"That's not easy to invite," Ian Lin said with a smile, "How expensive is Liam Liang now?"

"We have to hire him no matter how much it costs," Zhao Chengdong said excitedly, "Just think about it. If we hire Liam Liang, the film will become a hot topic and attract more attention. Not to mention the final effect of the film, why do we have to worry about the box office? It's a sure-win business."

He Fangwen, who was sitting opposite him and always looked down on him, interrupted coldly: "It's easy for you to say that. Can you hire Liam Liang just because you have money? I have worked with Liam Liang before. If he likes a movie, he will pay for it. If he doesn't like it, he will give you back whatever hundreds of millions you throw at him."

Zhao Chengdong was humiliated and raised his voice to He Fangwen: "He's just an actor, how can he be so arrogant---" Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by Ethan Cao: "Alright, alright, you're taking such a ridiculous matter so seriously. Xu Yunchu has already refused, there's no chance." He stood up, "I'll leave after we've finished discussing this. I have a headache and I don't want to hear you guys quarreling anymore."

Ian Lin looked up and said, "Such a big thing has happened, why don't you come together to appease us?"

"Who will comfort me?" Ethan Cao smiled, "Maybe some other time. Remember to do it on my head first."

On the way back to the company, Ethan Cao sat in the car with his eyes closed, wanting to take a nap, but his mind was filled with all kinds of messy things and he couldn't fall asleep.

I simply started thinking about reshooting and changing the cast. I went through all the male actors I could think of, but still couldn't think of a suitable candidate, except Liam Liang.

It must be said that, apart from other factors, Liam Liang was indeed the best candidate for this reshoot. No wonder the name Liam Liang appeared in his ears no less than twenty times this morning.

When Hong Kong star Wong Chien-shek announced his entry into the mainland market two years ago, several media outlets predicted that there would not be much time left for Leung Sze-che to be willful. Some media outlets even compared and analyzed the two from multiple angles, concluding that within two years, Wong Chien-shek would become a high-cost-effective version of Leung Sze-che, gradually eroding Leung Sze-che's popularity and market in the mainland.

The reason is simple. Awards, acting skills, appearance, temperament, Huang Qianshi seems to have all the necessary hard qualities. It's just that his development has been confined to Hong Kong in the past few years, and he lacks some audience appeal in the mainland.

One of the media outlets that was paid for the job said that Huang Qianshi, who had just arrived in the mainland, was polite and cooperative, and never made things too awkward. Therefore, compared to the true-hearted actor Liang Sze-che who would cause a scandal every now and then, the law-abiding Huang Qianshi would obviously be more popular with investors.

But no one expected that the tune was so high. Two years later, the "well-behaved" Huang Qianshi would fall so thoroughly that his reputation was completely ruined.

Liam Liang, on the other hand, is still the willful and self-willed person he was two years ago. He can't be said to be very popular with investors, but no investor would say that they don't want to cooperate with Liam Liang.

It is not impossible to try to invite Liam Liang to come for the reshoots. Just send the script over and he can come if he wants to, or refuse if he wants to. It sounds simple, but... Ethan Cao closed his eyes and sighed, wishing things were that simple.

The next afternoon, Derek Cheng sent another list of candidates for reshoots. Almost all the male actors of the right age in the entertainment industry were included, and the key candidates were marked in red. At a glance, a series of "unsuitable" people popped up in Ethan Cao's mind.

He typed two words to Derek Cheng: "Think about it."

Derek Cheng replied with a miserable expression, and above the kneeling figure's head there were three big characters: "Ancestors..." The tone was exactly the same as Adrian Xu's. Presumably, the two of them shared emoticon resources.

Ethan Cao put his phone aside and looked at the financial statements for the new quarter on the computer screen.

After a while, the phone on the table vibrated again. Ethan Cao looked down and saw another new message from Derek Cheng: "I have worked hard to come up with this list. If you think none of them are good enough, then I can't do anything about it."

Ethan Cao thought about it and sent a voice message, saying lazily: "Then you come and convince me."

A few minutes later, Derek Cheng opened the door of Ethan Cao's office and walked over to him, saying, "Once a person has a favorite candidate, all other candidates become compromises." He sat across from Ethan Cao's desk and pushed the printed list of candidates in front of him. "Today's chicken soup has been cooked for a day. Do you want to taste it?"

Ethan Cao tapped his fingers on the paper a few times: "I don't think I like Huang Qianshi that much."

Derek Cheng shrugged: "Huang Qianshi is out of favor, but I'm not talking about him."

Ethan Cao nodded, not looking surprised: "Oh."

"It seems that I don't need to say more. We all know who the best candidate is. Mr. Cao," Derek Cheng looked at him, grasping the measure between words, "why don't we give it a try? If the best plan doesn't work, then consider other alternatives. Let's not mention anything else, just send the script to him and take a look. I'll send it. I have his contact information. It's his business whether he comes or not..."

"It's not that simple, Derek Cheng," Ethan Cao pushed the candidate list aside, sighed, and looked up at Derek Cheng, "When the film was about to be cast, you proposed to test Liam Liang's willingness to act. I didn't raise any objections at that time, did I? But now this matter is different. It involves many aspects, reshoots, gambling agreements, online public opinion... It has changed. If Liam Liang agrees now, do you think he will agree just because of the film itself? This is unfair to him. With Liam Liang's status, there is no need to wade into this muddy water. It can even be said that under this circumstance, we sent the script to Liam Liang and invited him to reshoot. This is not a transaction, but more like... a kind of human affection and kidnapping. Do you understand what I mean?"

"I understand," Derek Cheng nodded with a wry smile, "but the problem is that this circle is full of favors, and you, Mr. Cao, know this better than anyone else." Seeing Ethan Cao shaking his head on the opposite side, he did not interrupt his words and continued, "Besides, we just let him take a look at the script. How do you know that Liam Liang will definitely accept the invitation? Maybe he will refuse? Or maybe, he accepted it just because he likes this script and the team is not bad..."

Ethan Cao interrupted him at this time, ignoring the second half of his sentence: "He will come."

Derek Cheng couldn't help but feel curious: "Why are you so sure?"

The phone on the table vibrated with a buzzing sound. Ethan Cao picked it up and took a look. Then his face changed and he cursed: "Fcuk."

"What's wrong?" Derek Cheng's heart skipped a beat. "What happened again?"

Ethan Cao didn't respond, but stared at the phone screen with a frown. After a long while, he moved his gaze to Derek Cheng's face: "It's okay, as you wish, Liam Liang will come."

Derek Cheng was stunned: "Come to reshoot "Darkest Choice"?"

"Well, 90% likely, he's reading the script."

Although it was good news, Ethan Cao didn't look relieved at all. Instead, he looked more worried. As a result, although Derek Cheng was a little excited, he could only restrain himself from showing it on his face.

"Ah." He briefly expressed his inner feelings, but he couldn't help snapping his fingers under the table. With a crisp "thump" sound, the joy in his heart was self-evident.

Seeing Ethan Cao looking at him with a bad face, he immediately said wisely: "I'm leaving, you go do your thing."

As soon as he came out of Ethan Cao's office, Derek Cheng couldn't help but smile.

Just think about it, if Liam Liang really accepted the invitation to reshoot, the public opinion on the Internet would change drastically, and those people who lit candles on Weibo early in the morning would be stunned.

This is truly a textbook blessing in disguise.

---That’s Liam Liang.

Ethan Cao's assistant Meng Xianxi caught a glimpse of his high-spirited look and asked curiously, "Mr. Cheng, what's the good news?"

"How do you know something good is going to happen?" Derek Cheng asked with a smile.

"You look completely different now than when you walked in ten minutes ago."

"Ah, that's good news, very good news," Derek Cheng nodded with a smile, "but I can't tell you now. Let's wait for your young General Cao to announce it himself."

In a room separated by a door, Ethan Cao supported his forehead with one hand, and placed the fingers of his other hand on the screen of his mobile phone, swiping them up and down absentmindedly.

On the screen that was still on were the messages that Ian Lin had just sent:

"Ethan Cao, I just contacted Liam Liang, and he agreed to read the script."

"He didn't seem too interested at first, so I had to mention you. But don't worry, I didn't mention Director Cao. I just said that you were the main investor of this film."

"I'm sorry to borrow your favor without telling you, but it's good news anyway, right?"

Bullsh!t, Ethan Cao thought. After a while, he typed a few words slowly with his fingers: "What did you say?"

A few seconds later, Ian Lin sent two screenshots of the chat between him and Liam Liang--- "The situation is roughly as above, so now there is only one option left, which is to reshoot. Yesterday, several of our investors got together and proposed several candidates but could not reach a consensus, so we had no choice but to come to you shamelessly."

"Here's the project book. Although it's a reshoot, the script and the crew are all top-notch. Would you mind taking a look?"

Liam Liang's reply was clearly a tai chi move: "Okay, I'll forward it to my agent Xu Yunchu, and she'll contact you later."

"Si Zhe, I understand this is an excuse. I'll tell you the truth, Ethan Cao's company contacted your agent early in the morning, and she rejected it, so I had to bypass her and contact you directly."

When Ethan Cao reached the end of the chat screenshots, his expression darkened. He suppressed his anger and scrolled to the second one:

Liam Liang: "Did Ethan Cao's company also invest in this film?"

Ian Lin: "I'm not saying anything bad about you, Liam Liang, but your news is so delayed."

Liang Sze-che: "I have been filming overseas for nearly a year, so I haven't really paid much attention to the relevant news."

Ian Lin: "Well, Ethan Cao did invest in this movie, and he was the main investor. This movie also involves the bet agreement for their company's listing. He has been very worried these days."

Liam Liang: "...You guys are really unlucky."

Ian Lin: "Who says it's not true?"

Liam Liang replied after a few seconds: "Okay, send me the script."

The second chat record was also scrolled to the end, and Ethan Cao's anger had risen to his throat.

This is called "only mentioned it once"? Who is Ian Lin trying to fool?

This is just short of saying "Ethan Cao asked me to beg you", right? !

A myriad of thoughts and anger merged into one sentence in Ethan Cao's mind. He quickly typed a few words and sent them over - "Ian Lin, Fcuk your uncle."

After the message was sent, a few seconds later, Ian Lin replied in a mean way: "Yezi, I'm so happy for you. You're so angry that you're not even homophobic anymore. When I get home tomorrow, I'll definitely ask my uncle if he's interested in this."