Professional Body Double

Chapter 29

The New Year's holidays were just around the corner. Zhou Xiang noticed that Yan Mingxiu's mood was worsening these days. He would often shut himself in the study and not come out. Sometimes he would sit in front of the TV and silently daze out.

    One day, Zhou Xiang finally couldn't take it anymore and asked Yan Mingxiu what was wrong with him. Was his company not going very smoothly? After all, things were relatively busier at the end of the year.

    Even now, Zhou Xiang still didn't have any concrete idea of what Yan Mingxiu did. It seemed to have something to do with finance and investing of that sort, but Zhou Xiang didn't understand that stuff, and was always too lazy to ask. He just knew that Yan Mingxiu had a pretty good salary. He always bought the best when he was shopping. They didn't split their living expenses; both of them just paid whenever something needed to be paid, and never haggled over it. Thanks to Yan Mingxiu, Zhou Xiang had also gotten to use a lot of good stuff. Generally, companies needed to focus on and settle with backlogged work at the end of the year, so being busy was a given. Even Zhou Xiang who usually didn't need to go to the company office was dragged away to prepare for the company's annual party these past few days. Seeing Yan Mingxiu's state, Zhou Xiang guessed that he was suffering from exhaustion.

    Yan Mingxiu shook his head. "It's nothing." He said and entered the room with a gloomy face.

    Zhou Xiang wanted to help him but was helpless to do so.

    Zhou Xiang went to the company again at first light. Cai Wei had made him an assistant, helping to plan and prepare the annual party. It was difficult to book hotels at this time of the year. Zhou Xiang went around to quite a few hotels with Xiao Zhang from the Planning Department, and still hadn't been able to book a suitable one.

    He had just stepped into the building when Cai Wei saw him from far away, pulled him over, and said to him with a cautious face, "A'Xiang, I never expected that you were so capable."

    Zhou Xiang was utterly confused.

    "Did you know? Director Wang nominated you to be in his new movie. He said that he wants to give you a supporting role."

    Zhou Xiang responded with shock, "Really?"

    "Really, how did you subdue that old lunatic?"

    "I have no idea. Maybe it's because I'm relatively good at taking a scolding."

    Cai Wei snorted with laughter, "That's possible. At any rate, you definitely can't pass off this opportunity. So many people are scrambling for the chance to show their face in his movie. If you accept this character, you might not need to be a body double anymore."

    Zhou Xiang was already thirty. For a few years when he first started, he had also dreamed of bumping into a good role and shooting to fame. After being in the circle for a long time, he had seen a lot and learnt that even if someone was equipped with everything, they would probably never, in their entire lifetime, be able to borrow the east wind and become famous [1], say nothing of someone ordinary like him. He never imagined that this sort of opportunity would really arrive.

    Zhou Xiang actually didn't have a strong desire to be a celebrity, but he liked earning more money. Improving one's lifestyle was a man's natural instinct. Although Zhou Xiang wasn’t materialistic, he didn't want to give up the opportunity to earn money.

    "But Wang Yudong..."

    "Hey, why are you worrying about him? You're not going to be his body double this time. It's Director Wang who invited you. You two aren't acting the same character, it's not worth his notice. You also have Chief Wang’s strong support. He's planning to invite the screenwriter out for meal, and to get them to add more screentime for you and Lan Xirong. Cai Wei happily patted his arm. "A'Xiang, Wei'ge has always hoped that he'd be able to take you to better places, you’re alone and have no family, you must save up a lot of money when you're young."