Chapter 182: Requesting Her to Become a Guest
She was the one who led Liu Man into the real film industry. Liu Man should be grateful and think of Qiu Jing as her benefactor.
Otherwise, Liu Man could only be a low-tiered cyber star. So what if she had lots of fans and got very popular on the internet? She would never have made it into the main circle. Real film companies would never consider letting a cyber star participate in their movies; it would drag down the tier of the entire film.
After the scandal calmed down, and Qiu Jing was sure there was nothing between Tang Tu and Liu Man, she finally thought of using this advertising method.
Qiu Jing had a self-centered personality. Tang Tu saw her as an elder and must respect her. He debated against himself for a while and finally called Liu Man.
The chance for Liu Man to return the favor came very unexpectedly.
Tang Tu invited her to be a guest at his solo concert, and he wanted her to play “Sound of the Wind” with him.
“Professor Qiu said we are playing this together to advertise the movie. It is a requirement for your part-time job. I don’t mean anything else, so don’t overthink it,” Tang Tu’s tone carried a hint of carefulness.
He felt helpless. He didn’t want Liu Man to mistaken him, “Just think of it as returning the favor.”
Liu Man felt conflicted.
She did not know Qiu Jing’s impression of her fell dramatically because she stubbornly asked for her salary; neither was she aware that Qiu Jing would never consider her as a candidate for future Galaxy Films projects.
She had always appreciated Qiu Jing for giving her a part-time job so she could earn money. She was able to gather enough money on time and extenuate Zhang Pei’s urgency.
She could never refuse Qiu Jing’s request, of course.
But Liu Man had to cooperate with Shen Mozhen and play a piece with Shen Mozhen’s ex-boyfriend. She felt very ambivalent.
“I’ve already agreed to play with Senior Mozhen on stage in her concert,” Liu Man said.
Shen Mozhen had already told Tang Tu about inviting Liu Man. She said she liked Liu Man and no longer had any interest in him. Naturally, she did not mind the fact that he had a crush on Liu Man.
In his whole life, Tang Tu had never lost anything, but he fell flat on the ground because of these two girls. He had just realized that his charisma only had so many influences.
Neither Shen Mozhen nor Liu Man was the kind of woman who would stop because of a man. They did not focus their lives on being in a love relationship.
Tang Tu told Liu Man, “I’ll call Mozhen later. I think she won’t mind. Her concert is on the 30th while mine is on the 31st, so you can come to both.”
As if he was scared Liu Man would still reject his invitation, he continued to say,
“I am aware that you now have a boyfriend. Don’t worry; I won’t have any other thoughts,” mentioning this point, Tang Tu’s expression seemed a bit disappointed and sour.
“We only need to partner up and play ‘Sound of the Wind’ with each other, like we did that day in the high school music classroom in Shanghai. It’s all right as long as we reach the goal of advertising the movie and satisfying Professor Qiu. Besides, I want to draw a perfect period-mark on my college life in the last moments before I leave school.”
Liu Man was the first girl he liked; he wanted to save this piece memory as a souvenir.
“I need to get my boyfriend’s permission first,” Liu Man felt that this was not something she could decide on.
“Okay. Ask for his opinion first before replying to me,” Tang Tu pretended that he didn’t care.
After hanging up his call, Liu Man immediately called Yu Zhan.
Liu Man said, “Professor Qiu, the one who introduced me to the part-time job before, wants me to perform the movie’s theme song on stage with Tang Tu as the film’s . What do you think? Should I agree?”
“I don’t mind. Go; it’s part of your job.”
Yu Zhan’s response was very resolute.
Of course, on his inside, he was reluctant to have Liu Man get in any contact with Tang Tu. But fate let his girlfriend enter the entertainment circle. Sometimes, actresses had to get in physical contact with actors, and Liu Man and Tang Tu were only playing the piano on stage under everyone’s watch. He didn’t have to get envious because of this. He was already glad that Liu Man called him to ask for his opinion because this was enough to show she respected him.
Besides, one didn’t look at the fact that Tang Tu liked Liu Man,
Tang Tu himself had very rare and unique musical talents. He and Qiu Jing must have been willing to invite her because they admire and recognized Liu Man’s talents. If Liu Man was a bad performer and went on stage with him, people would laugh at them because their levels of skills didn’t match.
The two of them were simply partners as co-performers, so Yu Zhan naturally tolerated her.
“The concert time is set to the 31st. Do you want to come and watch?”
“Of course, of course,” Yu Zhan said, not hesitating at all.
“I won’t have any burden if you’re in the audience,” Liu Man sighed in relief.
But Yu Zhan still felt a bit strange. Liu Man’s attitude towards Tang Tu seemed to have changed slightly because, after almost half a year, Princess Man followed Tang Tu’s Wei Bo again and liked all his recent posts.
Yu Zhan was very confident with himself, and he believed in Liu Man. He did not worry at all that Liu Man would cheat on him.
He felt that there must be some hidden story behind it all.
However, he couldn’t ask. If Liu Man wanted to tell him, she would’ve said it a long time ago.
He respected Liu Man.
He didn’t expect Liu Man to take the initiative to tell him in this call, “To be honest, I owe Tang Tu a favor from before. His lawyer helped my family a lot.”
“Is it something related to your father?” Yu Zhan was quick at reacting.
“Mhm. After my dad’s incident, he had been locked up in the detention center all along… His case from February still isn’t closed. When Tang Tu’s lawyer stepped in, the problem got solved quickly. My dad should be out by July 1st…”
Yu Zhan was now her boyfriend. Liu Man felt he had the right to know the truth, so she told him everything. She felt like it was best to explain everything about her relationship with Tang Tu, or else Yu Zhan might become skeptical.
In Zhang Pei’s chat with Yu Zhan, she did not give as many details as Liu Man did.
Yu Zhan had always assumed Liu Man’s father was now in jail because of the driving accident; he had never thought the court didn’t even give him a fair trial. If Liu Man had told him earlier, he would also have found someone to rescue her father. She didn’t even have to owe Tang Tu a favor.
But it was useless to entangle on it now after it already happened.
Besides, in Yu Zhan’s perspective, Liu Man’s father did deserve punishment. The entire world was against driving after drinking, but he was leading this crime. No matter if his being drunk was the main cause of him hitting someone in his car, he was not mistreated when he got arrested. In other words, one could say he deserved getting arrested.
Locking him up in the detention center for some time would make him remember his mistake. Or else, in the future, he would still drag Liu Man down.
Translated by: Sydney