116. Disaster! The heroine has fled!

“Changming Ji! Is this how you handle things when I ask you to get them done properly?!”

Tiankuo Zhao kicked the tea table in front of him, sending the polished wooden piece sliding sharply across the smooth floor, screeching in protest.

The exquisite tea set shattered on impact, porcelain shards scattering everywhere as tea spilled in a wide arc.

“My sincerity in recruiting Fanstella Ji has already been more than enough! And you?! You made all these grand promises at the start, so what’s going on now?!”

“Investing in my film is absolutely the right choice, I guarantee the box office will not be less than two billion.” Changming Ji gritted his teeth as he spoke.

“Two billion box office? What grounds do you have to guarantee that?!” Tiankuo Zhao’s fury blazed as he pointed a finger at Changming’s nose. “Do you even realize how many projects I turned down and how many resources I committed for this film? Either return the money to me or bring the actor here—choose one!”

Changming Ji took a deep breath. No matter what, he would never beg that bastard Fanstella Ji. As for the money… he had been preparing the film Undercover for five years, and now filming was about to begin. He absolutely could not give up!

“President Zhao, I’m willing to sign a wager agreement with you.” After a long pause, he said solemnly, “If the box office fails to reach two billion, I will compensate you twice the loss.”

He had absolute confidence. Once the film was successfully made, it would overturn the crime genre not only in Longguo but across the entire world.

Tiankuo Zhao narrowed his eyes slightly, studying Changming as if weighing the truthfulness of his words.

“To show my sincerity,” Changming paused, as though making a difficult decision, “I’m willing to downgrade Sheng Xue’s A-level contract to C-level.”

A glint appeared in Zhao’s eyes. Although Sheng Xue was no match for Fanstella Ji, her conditions were still decent. Lowering her contract from A to C would bring considerable profit to the company.

“Fine!” Zhao slammed the table and agreed abruptly. “I’ll trust you this time, but I want to extend Sheng Xue’s contract to fifteen years!”

Fifteen years — almost the entire prime of an actress’s career and the maximum period Zhao intended to extract profit from her.

Changming bit his lip and nodded heavily. Thankfully, Sheng Xue was always sensible; she would surely understand his intentions. He would make amends to her in the future.

After Xi Yuyang cheerfully delivered the contract to the boss, he noticed the mess in the office. He called in the cleaning staff to tidy up before slinking away sheepishly.

Everyone at Fengxing knew better than to cross President Zhao’s path.

“Wow, this Fanstella Ji is really something…”

Suddenly, Xi recalled that Shen Zhiyao, the agent from their archrival Jiangshan Entertainment, had flown all the way from Haishi to the capital just for Fanstella Ji.

“Heh heh, finally I get to watch that diva fail.” Xi Yuyang gleefully dialed a number.

The call was answered swiftly.

“Oh, Agent Shen! You came all this way to the capital and didn’t tell me? To thank you for taking me last time, dinner’s on me…”

“Xi Yuyang, get to the point.”

“Did you hear? Fanstella Ji wants to go solo. I was at the Ji residence when it all went down—what a spectacle! Too bad you wasted your trip.”

“Humph.” Shen Zhiyao set down the contract in her hand and sneered coldly.

“What’s so funny?!” Xi asked, puzzled.

“You went to their doorstep and came back empty-handed. I can’t figure out how you earned the title ‘top agent’.” Shen’s tone was calm but cutting to the bone.

Xi’s expression stiffened, feeling his mockery turned back on him. “You…”

“If there’s nothing else, I’m hanging up.” Shen ended the call with an iron face.

After putting away the phone and double-checking the contract details, she signed the fifty-million-yuan agreement in front of her with a flourish.

Then she stood and politely extended her hand.

“Miss Ji, I look forward to a pleasant cooperation.” When she couldn’t sign the talent, she found other ways to collaborate and maximize profits in the shortest time—Shen Zhiyao’s principle.

“Pleasure to cooperate.” Fanstella Ji shook Shen’s hand. One song was ten million, five songs in total amounted to fifty million. She was very pleased with her first business deal with Huaxia Media Studio.

After bidding farewell, Fanstella Ji skillfully evaded the paparazzi and returned to the Imperial Court Hotel. In her suite’s living room, Ning Ze had already laid out the meal.

“You’re back?” Ning Ze looked over and invited her to sit. “This hotel is truly five-star, and the food is excellent. Here’s your favorite squirrel fish. Try some.”

Fanstella Ji casually placed her bag on the table, quickly sensing something was off with Ning Ze’s mood. “What’s wrong? Trouble?”

Ning Ze gave a bitter smile. “You caught me.”

He sighed helplessly as he sat opposite her. “The director just called—The Treasure Legend’s female lead has run off.”

“Run off? What happened? Didn’t you finish filming?” Fanstella Ji frowned. The Treasure Legend was the film Ning Ze had been shooting recently in the mountains.

“My scenes are done, but the female lead missed a few key shots. She refused to go into the mountains and only agreed to shoot in the studio for later compositing. But then she joined an S-level ancient costume drama, and the schedules clashed. No matter what, she won’t come back.”

Ning Ze’s tone was filled with helplessness and self-mockery. “The female lead’s screen time was never much, and the investment was low. There’s no way the production quality is good…”

“So what now? Can you find someone else?”

“No. There’s no time. Besides…” Ning Ze hesitated, his voice growing even more bitter. “This film barely has investment. Those somewhat famous actors won’t touch it. And now, only a few difficult action scenes remain.”

“The company’s deadline is looming. Director Ye is looking for actors everywhere, but who knows the outcome.”

The Treasure Legend was a standard fast-paced film, essentially a ‘flop’ designed to be released quickly and make a quick profit.

For actors, it was a black mark on their résumé; the more of these they shot, the harder it was to redeem themselves.

Fanstella Ji doubted they’d easily find a replacement.

She looked at Ning Ze, who had lost a lot of weight for the film.

Under Teng Hai’s wager agreement, if the films Ning Ze made failed to air or suffered poor box office, the investment losses would be counted against him.

As a male lead film, Ning Ze would bear a heavy financial burden.

That was unacceptable!

Losing the wager before it even began was not Fanstella Ji’s style!

“Ning Ze, contact Director Ye. Tell him, if he still hasn’t found an actor, could I reshoot the female lead scenes?”