Chapter 175: Chapter 175 What the Hell Is This Crap? Chapter 175: Chapter 175 What the Hell Is This Crap? Investors and Wu Mu weren’t enemies, however, there was a minor grudge between them.
Over the past few years, various financial platforms had started to enlist celebrities for endorsents and advertising, and many stars had been courted for financial advertisent endorsents.
Naturally, investor Li Hu was no exception. One could even say that a part of his reason for investing in the entertainnt industry was to pull in celebrities to endorse his platform.
His company had approached Wu Mu before and was rejected by Wu Mu’s side without hesitation.
Therefore, Li Hu was sowhat irked by Wu Mu, and now seeing that Wu Mu acted as if he couldn’t even rember his company, Li Hu was even more displeased.
However, despite appearing to be a bigshot in the underworld on the surface, Li Hu was in fact a very cautious person inside, and he had a asure of magnanimity, not so petty as to actually trouble Wu Mu over sothing so trivial.
After giving Wu Mu the cold shoulder, he simply acted as if Wu Mu didn’t exist, skipping over him and moving on to make acquaintance with the next person.
Yang Rongfa, having a keen sense of the situation, didn’t dwell on the matter either and continued to introduce Li Hu to the next person.
This caught the eye of Zhou Yu’s agent, who seed intrigued.
After finishing the introductions of the project’s main creators and getting to know each other, it was ti to eat.
There were quite a few guests at this banquet, not just investors and people from partnering companies, but also Yang Rongfa’s own company, the drama crew’s staff, and various confird actors and actresses, filling up six or seven large tables.
As the composer for the series, plus his own significant fa, Wu Mu was also seated at the main table.
Actually, since Li Hu wasn’t too fond of Wu Mu and Wu Mu himself was a bit prickly, Yang Rongfa hadn’t wanted to place Wu Mu at the main table, but he was worried that putting Wu Mu elsewhere might offend him, so in the end he had no choice but to do so.
This simple matter of arranging seats represented each person’s status within the industry, and a poor arrangent could easily cause offense.
Fortunately, to his relief, Wu Mu didn’t make any scene after he sat down; he quietly ate his al and caused no trouble.
The core individuals at the main table were naturally investor Li Hu, Yang Rongfa, and a few others, all showering Li Hu with conversations.
Pleased by their flattery, Li Mu was jovially talking about his “legendary” up-from-nothing entrepreneurship journey, acting as if he was giving everyone a discount and a chance to make money by offering them investnt shares in his company’s lucrative new projects.
Wu Mu, of course, didn’t involve himself in their affairs, focusing on his al and keeping a low profile.
Sun Yueqing sat beside him, not getting much involved either, mainly chatting with him about his different activities over the past six months, including… helping Wu Mu dodge drinks.
After once again shielding Wu Mu from a round of toasts from other tables looking to get acquainted, Sun Yueqing was sowhat exasperated:
“Co on, didn’t you use to drink? Suddenly, why don’t you drink anymore? You used to cover for , and now it’s who has to cover for you!?”
Just now, people from other tables had co over to toast, but Wu Mu simply said he didn’t drink, and could only return the toasts with a soft drink or plain water, naturally drawing everyone’s attention.
Those of lower status didn’t dare press him, but those not much lower than Wu Mu were urging him to drink using excuses like “I toast you three glasses, you drink one,” and the like.
Wu Mu still refused to drink, no matter how they persuaded.
Seeing how this would likely irritate people, Sun Yueqing had no choice but to step in and help Wu Mu out.
Wu Mu chuckled, “I used to drink, but now I’ve quit.”
In reality, he never drank.
The one who could drink a little bit was his predecessor.
Ever since his past life, he’d always been completely teetotal.
It wasn’t because of alcohol allergies or any psychological trauma.
It was simply the many little rules he’d set for himself during his teenage years, like not drinking and not smoking, which he had continued to maintain in order to demonstrate his resistance to “worldly” influences and to stay true to himself.
And then, he had kept it up for over thirty years, by now having beco a habit.
What more could Sun Yueqing say? She could only roll her eyes at him, “I owe you one.”
Wu Mu had intended to keep a low profile throughout, but unexpectedly, soone wasn’t going to let that happen.
Zhou Yu’s agent, having just toasted investor Li Hu and deeply engaged in conversation with him as if suddenly recalling sothing, called out to Wu Mu, “Wu Mu, co sing a song for President Li, your ‘The Brightest Star in the Night Sky,’ coincidentally President Li’s new project is nad the Spark Plan, it could bring good luck!”
To have Wu Mu co out and sing?
Everyone was surprised as they turned to look at Zhou Yu’s agent—was he stepping on Wu Mu so blatantly?
Not even pretending?
Even Li Hu himself gave Zhou Yu’s agent an odd look, this person was so obviously using him to make trouble for Wu Mu?
If there wasn’t a feud with Wu Mu, Zhou Yu’s agent’s suggestion would have upset him.
But since he already disliked Wu Mu and considering the powerful company behind Zhou Yu’s agent—which traced back even to investnts from the mighty ‘Penguin’ corporation, a much larger giant than his own—especially for this project where one critical aspect particularly needed the support of Zhou Yu’s company, if he didn’t want his investnt to go down the drain, he’d actually have to rely a bit on Zhou Yu’s company.
Thus, Li Hu simply went with the flow, remaining silent but directing his gaze at Wu Mu, waiting expectantly for Wu Mu to perform.
It would be nice to see him perform and take him down a peg or two. After all, he didn’t even rember him upon eting, nor did he co over to apologize proactively to ease the situation.
Li Hu mused to himself.
Now, everyone’s eyes were also on Wu Mu, their expressions sowhat peculiar.
Under normal circumstances, a star performing a bit for investors was nothing out of the ordinary; even many social gatherings would require the stars to perform as a way to liven up the atmosphere.
Stars may shine brightly in the eyes of the ordinary people, but to those who wield the capital, they’re truly just entertainers.
How does it matter how famous or good at singing you are? If they tell you to dance, you dance; if they want you to sing, you sing.
Even this sort of demanding and deliberately humiliating request, ninety percent of the stars in the industry wouldn’t dare refuse.
Everyone had heard that Wu Mu, who had made a coback after his career collapse, seed to have beco not so easy to talk to.
But however difficult he was to talk to, he wouldn’t be foolish enough to lose face with the investors under such circumstances, would he?
After all, it was just about singing a song and bowing his head a bit, and it wouldn’t cost him much.
That’s what everyone was thinking.
Yet Wu Mu, the focus of the crowd, felt sowhat helplessly amused.
He had been keeping a low profile and not saying a word; how could soone still co out and trample on him?
But sotis there’s just no way around it. This industry is a downright vanity fair where people have deep conflicts of interest with him, and without a company backing him anymore, he can hardly threaten anyone. So when an opportunity arises, it’s only normal for them to seek him out for so trouble.
Wu Mu sighed, attempting to smooth things over, “Sorry, my throat’s been in bad shape recently; I can’t sing.”
So Wu Mu really isn’t bowing down, people at the side thought with surprise. Of course, anyone with half a brain would understand the excuse about the bad throat.
Wu Mu intended to ease the situation, but Zhou Yu’s agent wasn’t having it, “No worries, just sing a couple of lines. It doesn’t matter if it’s not good, just do it to liven things up.”
Who really wanted to hear him sing? What they wanted was his submissive attitude.
If it were any other star in the industry, Zhou Yu’s agent believed that anyone with a brain would bow their heads and muddle through with a short performance.
After all, just singing a couple of lines and bowing your head, what’s the big deal with that? As an actor, you surely don’t think too highly of yourself, do you?
But Wu Mu…
Zhou Yu’s agent secretly looked forward to seeing if Wu Mu was really as tough as the rumors said.
Well, Wu Mu was sowhat more compliant. “I really can’t sing. If I do with my sore throat, I’ll only spoil Mr. Li’s mood.”
He said with an earnest expression.
Say what you will, but pushing any further would make the investors seem inconsiderate, considering what is a pretty normal occurrence within industry circles.
However, when it cos to causing trouble, there’s always an excuse or rationale to be found.
Zhou Yu’s agent turned the tables, “If you can’t sing, then we won’t force that on you, but since you can’t sing, not offering a drink to Mr. Li would be quite inappropriate, right? You’ve been avoiding drinking because of your throat, but let’s go for sothing red instead of white.”
Toast with a drink?
Everyone’s faces were filled with awkwardness, as it was well known that Wu Mu had declared he didn’t drink. Now Zhou Yu’s agent was pressing Wu Mu to drink, clearly still trying to trouble him.
But still, in the grand sche of things, it really was a small matter. If Wu Mu simply lowered his head, it wouldn’t actually be a great loss.
Moreover, while Zhou Yu’s agent seed to be stepping on Wu Mu on the surface, looking at how the investor Li Hu remained silent, it was obvious he was pleased.
So, no one dared to dampen the investor’s spirits by intervening.
Except for Yang Rongfa and Sun Yueqing.
Yang Rongfa, already quite unhappy, was upset by Zhou Yu’s agent’s troublemaking. With the investor enjoying the show, he, as the overall producer of the project, obviously wouldn’t be happy, considering that conflicts could delay their own company’s project.
Even though he viewed singing a song or having a drink as a fairly standard request.
But what to do when Wu Mu was a thorn in the side and not entirely without his own backing, especially with Lin Qingyue still on his side?
Yang Rongfa played peacemaker, “Alright, alright, let’s not press Wu Mu to drink if his throat is uncomfortable.”
Sun Yueqing also stood in Wu Mu’s defense, “I’ll drink on behalf of Wu Mu to Mr. Li; he really isn’t feeling well and can’t drink.”
As she spoke, she picked up a wine glass and stood up, intending to smooth things over for Wu Mu.
But just as she was about to lift the glass to drink, Wu Mu caught her wrist.
The seemingly well-intentioned toasts he could let Sun Yueqing shield, but for those clearly aiming to step on his face, letting her drink on his behalf—what kind of behavior would that be?
Wu Mu sighed internally, What ridiculous situations these are.
It just goes to show the reputation of the exacting social circles of the industry is well-earned. Staying out of socializing might be fine, but once you start, a bunch of people eager to step on you to prove their superiority co jumping out.
Wu Mu took the wine glass from Sun Yueqing’s hand, and with her looking on stupefied, he smiled at the investor Li Hu, “Mr. Li, is this drink a must today?”
Investor Li Hu looked visibly displeased. What kind of tone was that—did this man really take himself too seriously?
But he would give Yang Rongfa face.
Li Hu’s expression was indifferent as he picked up his glass, “No need for you to toast . I genuinely like your music, and it’s a pity I can’t listen to it today. Let toast you instead.”
Saying this, he went ahead and downed the bit of wine in his glass.
In his eyes, he had already given Yang Rongfa enough respect by conceding a great deal and not making things difficult for Wu Mu.
But from his words, Wu Mu understood that he wasn’t getting out of drinking today.
Holding the glass, Wu Mu sighed with a smile, “What if I can’t drink?”
Li Hu still had an indifferent face, exuding an air of superiority, “Give so face.”
Alright, you want face, huh? You need to bow down, right?
Wu Mu held the glass up for everyone to see.
Then, just when everyone thought he was going to concede.
He flipped his palm, spilling the white liquor bit by bit onto the ground.
“Here’s to you, Mr. Li.”
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