Chapter 0217: Little Secrets

Tragedy, in essence, is the act of relentlessly showcasing the beautiful side of things, only to shatter it before people's eyes when they are eagerly awaiting happiness, completely destroying it, thereby evoking a sense of regret and melancholy.

Take emotions, for instance; it's largely the same.

The relationship between women and emotions is like that of cats and mice. A young girl treats emotions like a newborn kitten: every mouse she sees, she thinks it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, eager to swallow it whole. If she loses it, she cries heart-wrenchingly; if she catches it, she worries about losing it.

Only as they age do women gradually mature, like a Persian cat that has seen all kinds of mice and rarely chooses a man easily.

Originally, Zhou Feifei thought she was mature—after all, she had been an actress since childhood and had seen all kinds of men: handsome, mature, wealthy. But when she experienced heartbreak, she realized how naive she had been.

So she started to like drinking, because alcohol numbed her nerves and made her forget everything.

Yet, for some reason, Zhou Feifei, who had always prided herself on reading people, suddenly felt that the Zhao Fusheng before her was someone she couldn't quite see through.

Zhou Feifei was quite confident in her appearance. Not to mention anything else, being admitted to the Central Academy of Drama itself proved her outstanding looks. Over the years, many had expressed interest in her, and even so-called bosses had taken the initiative to invite her for various things. If not for Wang Jinghua's intervention, they might have succeeded.

But even so, this was the first time Zhou Feifei had encountered someone like Zhao Fusheng, as if her beauty had no effect on him at all.

In fact, she didn't really understand Zhao Fusheng; if she did, she probably wouldn't have thought that way.

Zhao Fusheng, although somewhat迟钝 in matters of emotion, had a natural male inclination toward beautiful women. But the problem was that Zhou Feifei had left too poor an impression on him.

Having been drunk twice, she showed no trace of a star's demeanor. Under such circumstances, it was extremely difficult for Zhao Fusheng to develop any fondness for Zhou Feifei.

After all, whenever Zhao Fusheng saw her, he was reminded of the scene where she shouted 'Open sesame' like a lunatic. Not laughing out loud on the spot was already giving Zhou Feifei plenty of face.

"Alright, since you don't have time, forget it." Zhou Feifei shrugged. It wasn't like she was lacking men, nor did she intend to have anything happen with Zhao Fusheng. She had only invited him on Wang Jinghua's instructions, coupled with a decent impression of him. Now that Zhao Fusheng had chosen to refuse, she saw no need to fawn over someone who didn't appreciate it.

"Mm, don't drink too much. We still have scenes to shoot later." Zhao Fusheng smiled and said to Zhou Feifei.

Zhou Feifei snorted and turned to walk away. Clearly, Zhao Fusheng's words had touched a sore spot, since getting drunk and making a fool of oneself wasn't exactly a glorious past.

Watching the actress leave, Zhao Fusheng curled his lips. He found it hard to approve of certain lifestyles among entertainment industry people. Now, with the paparazzi industry still underdeveloped, he looked forward to the day when gossip reporters would thrive, and he wondered how many scandals stars like Zhou Feifei would have exposed.

But then again, it was hard to say, since Chinese paparazzi were notoriously unscrupulous and unreliable worldwide.

"Keep an eye on things. I'm heading back." Bored with watching the shoot, Zhao Fusheng found it uninteresting. Unlike Dong Chenxi, who was full of curiosity, he had seen too many commercial shoots in his past life, so none of this held any appeal for him.

Dong Chenxi looked at Zhao Fusheng speechlessly. "Are you sure it's okay for you not to be here?"

Zhao Fusheng smiled. "You're the producer; I'm just your assistant. Does it make any difference whether I'm here or not?"

Hearing his words, Dong Chenxi rolled her eyes and suddenly felt that she had found herself a boss who was unreliable to the extreme. How could anyone be this lazy?

"Alright, I'm off. Call me if anything comes up." Zhao Fusheng stood up, waved at Dong Chenxi, and said softly.

Dong Chenxi nodded, thought for a moment, and asked, "But what if the director or Brother Hua want to see you..."

After all, Zhou Li and Liu Dehua seemed quite interested in Zhao Fusheng. If they really wanted to find him after filming, it would be inappropriate for him not to be there.

Zhao Fusheng smiled. "It's fine. If they want to see me, we can talk back at the hotel in the evening."

Whether it was Zhou Li or Liu Dehua, they both needed something from him, so Zhao Fusheng wasn't in a hurry.

At this time, Haidong Province was not yet the resort destination it would later become. It was said that a decade or two later, people would joke that eighty percent of Haidong's population came from the northeast, and you could easily run into a fellow townsman.

But now, it was still a province in the midst of development.

"Actually, if you have spare cash, buying property or building a hotel here wouldn't be a bad idea," Zhao Fusheng muttered to himself as he walked, looking around.

In his previous life, when he was drifting in Beijing, he had never actually been here. He had only heard people occasionally talk about the real estate frenzy of the early 1990s, and it was said that there were many stalled projects in Haidong.

Speaking of real estate, Zhao Fusheng had always felt it was a huge pitfall. Not to mention anything else, those who could play the real estate game all had connections reaching the heavens. For a family of ordinary background, breaking into the real estate industry was simply impossible.

Whether it was Vanke, Wanda, or Evergrande, behind every famous real estate company were intricate webs of interests.

Zhao Fusheng knew he didn't have the connections or background, so even though he knew property prices would become ridiculously high in the future, he dared not get involved. At most, when he had money, he would buy a few houses in Beijing or Shanghai and wait for them to appreciate.

But that was a story for later. For now, Zhao Fusheng could only dream, since most of his funds were tied up in Future Advertising.

Speaking of which, it suddenly occurred to him that he hadn't yet collected his planning fee from this project.

"Hey, President Han, where are you?" Thinking this, Zhao Fusheng dialed Han Bin's phone.

"Beijing. What's up? How's the shooting going in Haidong?" Han Bin was a bit surprised to receive Zhao Fusheng's call, wondering what this guy wanted.

"Not bad. I wanted to ask, how much did your dad give you for my planning fee?" Zhao Fusheng didn't beat around the bush and asked directly.

Han Bin was taken aback, then laughed. "What, didn't your President Zheng tell you?"

Hmm?

Zhao Fusheng suddenly felt that there was something he didn't know.