The Secret Realm of Time, His and Her Life Through the Changes

Chapter 145 The Investor is an Old Acquaintance

Shang Yibo's expression was calm, making it hard to tell whether he was happy or angry, but there was a glimmer of light in his eyes: "That's right, let them scheme and plot as they please. We just need to remain calm, do what we want to do, and not let others lead us by the nose."

Seeing Shang Yibo so calm and composed, Zhou Yanruo couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief and feel a sense of comfort.

There was a knock on the door of the van. Ding Jiajia opened the door, and Zhang Xiaoguang stood in the doorway. "Jiajia, the food from Zhuofu Grand Restaurant has arrived. I've already had them set up a buffet table in the No. 2 rest area."

Zhou Yanruo said, "Xiao Guang, why don't you get in the car? Come on up and let's talk."

When Zhang Xiaoguang heard Zhou Yanruo invite him to get in the car, he was very happy and quickly climbed into the van. "Sister Yanruo, I saw that you were all in the car, and I was afraid of disturbing your conversation."

He held a transparent Lock & Lock cup filled with light brown cold brew tea and handed it to Shang Yibo. "Teacher Shang, don't drink orange juice, it's too sweet. I've made some cold brew tea, you can drink this tea. The filming these past few days has all been done on location, it's hard on your voice."

Shang Yibo took the tea. "Okay, thanks."

Zhou Yanruo said, "The food has arrived, let's go over and have lunch with the crew in a natural and open manner."

Ding Jiajia said, "That's right. We're treating the whole crew to dinner. We can't let others do the good work when we've spent the money."

Zhou Yanruo asked in surprise: "Who's so blind as to buy 'good'? Whose 'good' are they buying?"

Ding Jiajia raised an eyebrow and said, "You'll see when you go and see for yourself whether I'm right or not."

As they were talking, the group got out of the car. Zhou Yanruo's phone rang. She glanced at the caller ID and saw that it was President Fang. She gestured for Ding Jiajia to go first, then swiped to answer, "President Fang."

Fang Xichen said, "Yanruo, you've already met Yibo, right? How did it go? Did the meeting go smoothly?"

Zhou Yanruo replied, "It went very smoothly; everyone's ideas were highly aligned."

Fang Xichen said, "Judging from your tone, it not only went smoothly, but also achieved very good results."

Zhou Yanruo said, "Yes, I relayed your words to Shang Yibo. He is such a smart person that he made up his mind without needing to say anything more."

Fang Xichen said with relief, "That's good. Is Yibo with you? His phone is off. Is it convenient for him to answer the phone now?"

Zhou Yanruo explained, "His phone is always off when he's filming. When I contact him, I call Ding Jiajia. We were together just now, and I missed you because I was on your call. They were walking ahead of us, and we were just about to go eat. Oh, by the way, I booked a buffet today to treat the whole crew."

Fang Xichen praised, "Well done! Great job!"

Zhou Yanruo said, "I'll go and let him answer the phone. Please wait a moment, don't hang up."

Fang Xichen said, "Okay."

Zhou Yanruo quickly caught up with Shang Yibo, gently tugged at his sleeve from behind, and covered the phone with her hand, saying, "President Fang wants you to answer the phone."

Shang Yibo hummed in agreement and took the phone from Zhou Yanruo's hand. "Mom, you wanted to talk to me? Wait a minute, I'll talk to you in the car."

He didn't want to go to the buffet with the film crew anyway. He only reluctantly got out of the car with them to give Zhou Yanruo face. If his own people didn't support him, who knew what they would say later. Answering the phone now was a perfect excuse.

He pointed to the phone at Zhou Yanruo, then turned and walked back.

Once back in his car, he spoke into the phone, "Mom, I'm back in the car. What did you want to see me about?"

Fang Xichen said, "You haven't been home for over a month. You're filming in Zhuocheng, which is so close to home, and you still don't have time to come back?"

Shang Yibo said, "The schedule is indeed very tight. I also want to focus on the atmosphere of the character, because I'm afraid that if I lose focus, the scene will fall apart."

Fang Xichen said, "It's good to take it seriously, but don't put too much pressure on yourself. If everything is fine at home, don't travel back and forth if you don't have time."

Shang Yibo said, "Don't worry. We should go back when we finish here and move on to another location, probably next weekend. It's not confirmed yet, I'll let you know when it is."

“Okay,” Fang Xichen added, “If I told you that the new investor for ‘Legend of Huizhou Merchants’ is Rongyi Pictures?”

Shang Yibo said, "Yes, she told me that Rongyi Pictures is backed by Rongchang Capital."

Fang Xichen asked, "What do you think?"

Shang Yibo replied calmly, "I haven't thought about that. Since I've decided to continue filming 'The Legend of Huizhou Merchants,' I'll focus on making a good film first, and we'll talk about the rest later."

Fang Xichen said with relief, "That puts my mind at ease. I was worried that you might be upset and it would affect your mood. It seems that Yibo has matured. It's important to focus on filming, but being happy is even more important. Okay, I won't keep you any longer. Go have a meal with the crew."

"Okay, Mom, I'll hang up now." Shang Yibo hung up the phone and didn't rush to find Zhou Yanruo and the others, but sat down instead.

Now he was alone in the car. He had been fully immersed in filming that morning, and then, as soon as filming ended, he was bombarded with news from Zhou Yanruo. Now, he finally had a moment of peace and needed to calm down and sort out his thoughts.

At first, Zhou Yanruo mentioned that Rongyi Pictures had invested in the film and also told him that the investor was Rongchang Capital, owned by Jianzheng. Shang Yibo took it as a coincidence and didn't think much of it. Fang Xichen's words on the phone just now, seemingly to show concern for him, but the casual mention of Rongchang Capital seemed more like a deliberate reminder.

Last month, Shang Yibo ran into Jian Zheng by chance. The two old friends recognized each other after a long separation. Besides catching up, their entire focus was on the bizarre events. Shang Yibo was preoccupied with figuring out "why he became Wang Jie," while Jian Zheng probably also wanted to understand "why Wang Jie is Shang Yibo." Neither of them had a chance to mention what they had gone through over the years. Afterwards, Shang Yibo went to filming, and he didn't have the energy to think about anything else.

What is Jian Zheng up to? What exactly is Rongchang Capital up to? Recalling what Chu Fanqing said in the study that night, Fang Xichen kept finding opportunities to remind him. Even Shang Yibo, though slow to realize it, noticed that both of them were worried about Jian Zheng getting close to him. Little did they know, he and Jian Zheng had a different connection.

Shang Yibo was torn between contacting Jian Zheng and asking what to say. Should he ask if Jian Zheng had invested in "The Legend of Huizhou Merchants"? Zhou Yanruo had just said that Rongyi Pictures had recently invested in several big-budget films, not just the one he was involved in. Besides, it was just normal business investment; what right did he have to question it?

After thinking a lot, Shang Yibo felt a bit irritable. His phone on the table vibrated twice; it was a WeChat message. He subconsciously picked up the phone, tapped it a few times but couldn't unlock the screen. Only then did he remember that this phone belonged to Zhou Yanruo.

"I should return the phone to Zhou Yanruo, so as not to delay her business." Thinking this, he got up to get out of the car.

As soon as I opened the car door, I saw Shen Qing standing in front of it. "Shen Qing? Did you come to see me?"

Shen Qing was in the No. 2 rest tent, looking at the dazzling array of food on the table. Most of the crew members had arrived, but Shang Yibo was nowhere to be seen.

Having just signed an actor management contract with Yihua Entertainment, she needed to cultivate a good relationship with Shang Yibo, the company's top star. Besides, they were currently acting opposite each other in the same drama series; if they did good promotion when the show aired, their popularity would skyrocket.

Now was the perfect opportunity, so she came over to invite Shang Yibo to lunch. Just as she was about to knock on the car door, Shang Yibo opened it from the inside.

She lowered her raised hand and said softly, "Teacher Shang, I see the buffet over there is already set out. I've come to invite you to dine with me."

Shang Yibo glanced at her, quite surprised. Although they had been working together for over a month, they didn't interact much off-screen. Now, Shen Qing's sudden gesture of goodwill, coinciding with the script's adjustment to include more scenes for her, left him momentarily flustered. He could only manage a weak reply: "Ah? Oh, thank you."