Chapter 91 - The Breakup
"This kid really is a porcelain bumper, and he specifically likes to bump into you …"
Amélie Jiang came to Yuan Ge's side and surveyed Qiuchen's pretty face with the opera makeup on. Although it was hard to see his face underneath the makeup, she could tell that he had gradually regained consciousness after falling into Yuan Ge's arms.
She was about to ask him if he was suffering from low blood sugar when she heard Yin Fenghua's voice coming from a distance.
"Has he been caught? Where is he? I won't fucking let him get away with it. I'm going to fucking beat the shit out of him!"
Amélie was alarmed and winked at Yuan Ge anxiously. Yin Fenghua had taken quite a beating today and she feared he would never let it go easily.
Rong Qiuchen came around at that moment, and hearing Yin Fenghua's angry shouts, he looked at Yuan Ge and spoke slowly, "I cannot allow him to belittle the Jinyu Troupe like that, to insult the two masters and my brothers, to belittle me and to humiliate you! I can't allow him to be so rude and disrespectful to the Peking Opera!"
Without saying anything more, he struggled to his feet and was about to leave. Yuan Ge pulled him back and said earnestly, "Don't go! You are still very weak. You can't go on like this in such cold weather! Besides, I need to talk to you …"
Rong Qiuchen glanced at Yin Fenghua limping towards them with a vicious look on his face, and knew that the beating he gave him earlier must have caused a lot of trouble for the crew. He gave Yuan Ge a deep look, clasped his fist and saluted him, broke away and darted off, disappearing into the darkness of the night.
Yuan Ge thought back to Rong Qiuchen's words, and for a moment, he was a little bewildered. Then he heard a cold laugh from Yin Fenghua behind him, "Yuan Ge, what kind of director are you? How much longer do you want to keep up the charade? You are clearly in cahoots with this fake! I saw you hugging him and talking to him! Don't think I don't know what games you're playing! For the sake of Brother Run, I let you off the hook for your rudeness yesterday and reluctantly returned to the set to continue shooting for your lousy film. But I didn't expect you guys to hire this kid to kidnap me, beat me up, impersonate me and mock me! You are always crying about being poor, but how much did you pay to get a student from the NATA to act as a decoy and thug!"
Before Yuan Ge could retort, Mr. Lee, who had just arrived on the scene, spoke up first.
"You deserve to be mocked! You think you're a big pop star, but your performance level is not even one tenth of that kid's! Whether it's the appearance, the singing, the posture or the martial arts skills, you are no match for him. The performance of Du Shiniang just now was something that even the professors in our department could not do. I am afraid that even the best Dan actors in the country may not be able to compete with him. So you don't need to bring NATA into it, because we wouldn't dare to boast that we can produce such a good student. And don't wrongly accuse Director Yuan either. If he could have hired such a decoy, he certainly wouldn't have wanted you. He would have replaced you ten thousand times already!"
Yin Fenghua had never been ridiculed like this before, and he spluttered hatefully, "Old man, who do you think you are, daring to lecture me?! You can sing opera, so bloody what? A declining craft, no one gives a damn about, and you still think you're great?! You've been picking on me every day and I've long since had enough! How dare you urge Yuan Ge to replace me? Without my star appeal, do you think anyone will still watch this crappy movie? With this lame plot, a few amateur actors, a head-in-the-cloud director, and a Beijing Opera theme no one cares about, you think it's going to be a box office hit? No way! Just wait until you lose your last penny!"
Seeing him spouting such rampant nonsense, Yuan Ge's anger from yesterday was rekindled.
"Yin Fenghua, you don't need to insult the word 'art' by talking nonsense here! If you don't want to act, then don't act. No one wants to have you back. I'd rather not shoot my film than have you continue to trash it."
Yin Fenghua didn't expect Yuan Ge to be so tough this time and actually put his words so adamantly. He was so angry that he pointed his finger at him and said through gritted teeth, "Fine, you want to replace me, right? Fine, just go ahead and try! I'd like to see how you guys can explain to the media and the fans! I'll have my agency expose you tomorrow for hiring thugs and beating up the lead actor! Not only will I expose it, but I will get a medical certificate for my injuries and report it to the police! Yuan Ge, just wait for the court summons! When your company goes bankrupt, I'll see how you're gonna beg for mercy on your knees!"