I Really Didn’t Want to Be Famous - Chapter 31
Chapter 31: Lu Yuan, Sign with My Company!
Translator: Lordbluefire
Editor: Lordbluefire
Standing under the telephone pole next to the east main street, Lu Yuan finished smoking and threw the cigarette butt into the rubbish bin. Looking at the tobacco shop at the side, after much hesitation, he decided to buy a pack of ‘Huaxia’ worth a hundred dollars.
‘Huaxia’ had a smell and price similar to that of ‘Chunghwa’, which Lu Yuan used to smoke before he teleported here. If it were usual days, Lu Yuan would not have bought it. Firstly, he was not used to the smell. Secondly, the price was too expensive. However, today was a special occasion.
Lu Yuan heard from Fatty Wei that [Subway Station]’s director Zhang Tong was also a smoker. In fact, he was a standard smoke pot.
In the entertainment business, Zhang Tong was considered a director with true ability. Lu Yuan felt it would not be appropriate to offer him a packet of ‘Red Orchid’, which was only worth eight dollars.
It would be embarrassing.
In any case, despite not having any fame, Lu Yuan was still considered a director. He must never be reputed as a shallow man.
Hence, Lu Yuan bought a pack of ‘Huaxia’ to satisfy his ego.
After waiting for roughly thirty minutes, a Volkswagen Phaeton stopped in front of him.
“Little Lu?”
“Yes, I am, old man.”
“Get in the car. Why did you change your style of clothing?” Old man Chen Guanxiong winded down the car window and looked at Lu Yuan with squinted eyes.
The sunlight was a little strong and he couldn’t see Lu Yuan clearly. To make it even worse, Lu Yuan was wearing a suit and a pair of glasses. That was why the old man couldn’t recognize him.
“This set of clothes makes me look more formal.” Lu Yuan pushed his glasses purposely.
He was quite satisfied with his set of clothes.
Before he came, he looked into the mirror and felt that he looked handsome and refined. With a glance, he was like a scholar with great knowledge.
He felt that people had to change for the better.
Lu Yuan was actually self-reflecting. He had been mixing too much with low standard people like Fatty Wei, which affected his glory. Moreover, Fatty Wei had always been calling him Barbarian Lu, and it indeed sounded very shameful.
“This set of clothes does not go well with your temperament.” The old man came near and stared at Lu Yuan for a long time, shaking his head eventually.
“Eh, really? Is it not refined enough to bring out my temperament?” Lu Yuan felt strange and furrowed his brows.
“No, I don’t mean it that way.”
“Huh?”
“In ancient times, you would belong to the group of bold and unconstrained people who didn’t care about little details. You certainly did not belong to the group of scholars who spoke with the four grammatical particles of Classical Chinese,” the old man spoke gently with relatively reserved comments.
After speaking, the old man looked out of the window.
“So, I belong to the group of intellectuals who didn’t care about little details?”
“Hmm, there’s a phrase which suits you more, but you probably wouldn’t like to hear it.” The old man shook his head.
“Ah? Old man, don’t keep me in suspense!”
“Sl*tty thing.” Old man Chen Guanxiong looked at Lu Yuan’s face and determined to get to the bottom of things.
“…”
After Lu Yuan heard those two words, his initially joyful face stiffened.
It felt as though he was interrupted right before he climaxed.
It annoyed him immensely.
“Hahaha, I am a straightforward person, please don’t mind me.” Seeing Lu Yuan’s gloomy expression, Chen Guanxiong laughed heartedly. Now, he was refreshed. All those cooped up anger from when Lu Yuan refused to give him a call had disappeared.
He even felt a sense of a gloat.
“…” Lu Yuan was helpless and didn’t know what to say.
(Am I really not suited to dress formally?)
(But I think I look good!)
The driver looked into the rear mirror, and there was a bit of surprise in his eyes.
The old man always had a stern face, so the driver had never seen the old man let out such a hearty smile before.
Moreover, it was toward a young man.
It seemed like this young man was made of something.
Sitting in the car that was slowly moving toward the city, Lu Yuan felt like smoking, but considering that the old man was beside him, he decided not to.
The car was moving steadily on the expressway.
“Little Lu, let me tell you…”
Two hours felt quite long. Thus, after the old man finished laughing, he started to talk high and low about his glorious experiences in the past.
Lu Yuan struggled to open his eyelids and stopped himself from letting out a yawn. Instead, he tried to act as if he was very interested.
This Old Man had an extraordinary status in the entertainment business. Even if Lu Yuan felt that he wouldn’t be able to stay long in this business, he couldn’t afford to offend him.
Lu Yuan didn’t have a hole in his brain.
Finally, after the Old Man finished expressing his thoughts and introduced a lot of songs that Lu Yuan hadn’t even heard of, the car stopped in front of a big building in the center of the city.
After he stepped out of the car, Lu Yuan felt as though he had a new soul and took in a deep breath.
He didn’t care even though the air was very polluted.
“Let’s go, little Zhang is already waiting for us.”
“Yes. Ok.”
When Lu Yuan saw a middle-aged man wearing white-framed glasses standing in front of the building, he suddenly let out a relieved smile.
(It felt like my life has been restored!)
Zhang Tong was a big director, and [Subway Station] was a big film.
When the strongest people met, many things would start to have qualitative changes.
Zhang Tong’s ambitions weren’t small.
He wanted to bring this film to Berlin for it to be judged.
Since it was to be judged there, he had to pay attention to the smallest detail.
He especially spent a lot of effort into choosing the soundtracks for the movie.
“Director Zhang, want a stick?” Lu Yuan took the initiative to hand a cigarette over after the old man introduced both of them to each other.
“Little Lu, you are so addicted to cigarettes.” Zhang Tong could smell the tobacco.
The tobacco smell gave him some sense of familiarity.
The familiarity of being similar.
“I’m ok, I have smoked for seven or eight years.”
“Haha, you better quit it, smoking isn’t good for your body, I’m prepared to quit as well.”
“Ok, I understand, I’ll take one for now and quit in the future.”
“Yes.”
Lu Yuan’s impression of Zhang Tong was not bad.
Wearing a pair of white-framed glasses, he seemed refined, fashionable, and energetic at the same time.
The most important point was how Zhang Tong looked like a good-mannered guy to Lu Yuan.
Even though he had said to quit smoking, his hand reached out faster than anyone else. He squinted his eyes as he took in one puff of smoke, looking as if he was a god.
Even though cigarettes were not considered the good stuff, they were able to bind people together.
“This guitar is not bad.”
“Yes, it’s good, made of red cotton.”
“It’s not cheap, right?”
“Not so expensive, just a bit over one hundred thousand dollars.”
“…”
When Zhang Tong had handed him the guitar, Lu Yuan felt as though he had been f*cked.
Not expensive…
Just over a hundred thousand dollars…
Zhang Tong, this fella, revealed a sense of grandeur every time he spoke.
Lu Yuan felt that his own posturing skills were far below Zhang Tong’s.
After all, it was too risky for him to posture when he had absolutely nothing.
Was there any chance to start posturing now?
(Wait, am I such a narrow-minded person?)
“Can we start now?” Lu Yuan took a deep breath and tried his best to put away those posturing thoughts.
“Yes, let’s start, recorder, equipment guy, soundtrack… ready….”
“Yes.”
Lu Yuan came into the recording studio after tuning his guitar. He closed his eyes and after waiting for the prelude to start, he exhaled a deep, long breath.
Then, he opened his mouth to sing.
“That is the person whom I think of and love deeply through the days and nights….”
Lu Yuan was engrossed in singing.
Meanwhile, Zhang Tong was engrossed in listening and even felt like crying when Lu Yuan sang the chorus.
Old man Chen Guanxiong stood outside the recording studio, his gaze complicated. He was shaking his head and sighing from time to time.
He didn’t feel that Lu Yuan was bad at it.
In fact, he felt that Lu Yuan had sung so well it could stir one’s emotions.
Everyone had been young once, everyone had lived their life to the fullest once.
A young man who was wearing golden-framed glasses stood beside Zhang Tong. He was very agitated.
His gaze toward Lu Yuan became deeper and deeper.
In fact, greed could be seen in his eyes.
The song came to an end.
Lu Yuan cleared his throat.
“Little Lu, the recording was not bad, I think we can start to talk about…” Zhang Tong looked at Lu Yuan with excitement.
However, at this moment…
“Lu Yuan, come sign with our company! We will definitely invest in you and put in our best efforts to make you popular! I will give my uncle a call right away!”
“…”
Zhang Tong had not even finished his words, but the wind already started stirring at his side.
This young man had agitatedly rushed into the recording studio and interrupted Zhang Tong’s words.
Zhang Tong opened his mouth. Looking at the young man who was shaking Lu Yuan’s hand, he looked as though he was about to swallow the young man.
His entire body shook!
(I haven’t even spoken, so what is this guest trying to do here?)
(Trying to snatch my guy?)
(When you first came in, what did you tell me? You said you would only look and listen but wouldn’t speak, so what about now?)
(Was everything you said nonsense?)
