Chapter 306: When in Doubt, Call Fang Zhao
Translator: Min_Lee Editor: Tennesh
In their hearts, both Woo Tianhao and Zaro viewed the other as a stumbling block in their path to superstardom.
Given their similar lineages, they were often compared. They themselves liked to draw the comparison.
Achievement-wise, Woo Tianhao didn’t think he was inferior to Zaro, but Zaro had the upper hand in one area. Zaro was backed by the governor of Leizhou, who doted on him. Everyone knew this. As long as Zaro didn’t go too far, someone would clean up his mess. Meanwhile, Woo Tianhao had to watch himself. Even though the Woos were the most prominent family in Tongzhou, the governor of Tongzhou was a straight arrow. He never played favorites when dealing with the younger members of his family.
Secure in the knowledge that he had backup, Zaro was especially carefree, and he loved to mouth off. Every time Woo Tianhao saw the uninhibited look on Zaro’s face, it drove him nuts, and now Zaro was always being held up as an example by Roman. That pissed Woo Tianhao off even more.
Meanwhile, from Zaro’s end, the reason he disliked Woo Tianhao was simple: anyone more good looking and more pretentious than he was ended up on his sh*tlist.
The fact is that there were many reasons Zaro and Fang Zhao had become close. Fang Zhao had helped Zaro out, and they were business partners on several projects. Fang Zhao also wasn’t double-faced around him and wasn’t easily riled. Of course, as far as Zaro was concerned, there was another important factor—Fang Zhao wasn’t as good looking as he was.
Zaro had gushed secretly more than once. Haha, Fang Zhao isn’t as handsome as I am!
When Fang Zhao had invited Zaro to invest in Wai, Zaro had been motivated mainly out of curiosity and the planet’s prospects. They had been business partners. Back then, he’d had few folks he could shoot the breeze with and Woo Tianhao’s dojo had seemed interesting, so he had liked looking Woo up when he was free.
Now things were different, especially after they had joined the same production. It was as if they were facing off in a coliseum.
They liked comparing themselves and competing on everything. Take the current dispute, for example. As far as the others were concerned, who picked up the tab was a trivial matter, and yet the two of them were butting heads and refusing to concede one inch, as if being able to pay the bill was a major victory.
Childish!
That was what everyone else present thought.
Judging that the feud was going nowhere, Fang Zhao, who had been a quiet bystander, asked a waiter for a pen and a piece of paper.
The waiter was curious, so he looked on. He couldn’t follow Fang Zhao’s finger, but before he knew it, the piece of paper had been transformed into a small piece of dice. Fang Zhao used the pen to mark its six surfaces with an increasing number of dots.
"Let’s use this to decide," Fang Zhao said.
The two parties in the cockfight-like standoff looked over.
When he figured out what Fang Zhao was holding, Woo Tianhao gave a knowing smile. Ah, so we are kindred spirits.
Fang Zhao smiled and said, "The decision of who to pick up the tab is still up to you. How about the one who throws the odd number pay the bill?"
Woo Tianhao was about to smile, but he suppressed himself. He glanced at Zaro. "I’m OK with this."
"So am I," Zaro said.
Fang Zhao handed them the paper dice.
Woo Tianhao gestured at Zaro with his chin. "You first."
Zaro abruptly withdrew his hand, which had already reached out for the dice. "I don’t need any favors from you. You first!"
This time, Woo Tianhao didn’t refuse. He took the paper dice from Fang Zhao, weighed it and fumbled with it, then tossed it casually onto a neighboring table with a confident smile.
After rolling on the table a few times, the dice landed with one dot on top.
The smile on Woo Tianhao’s face instantly grew. "It’s settled, then. This meal’s on me."
"What are you so cocky about? I haven’t tossed yet." Zaro weighed the paper dice in the same manner as Woo Tianhao without seeming to reach any conclusions. He tossed it on the table. The dice rolled from one end to another, dropped to the floor, and rolled a few more times before stopping.
Woo Tianhao looked and burst out laughing. "It’s two! You have nothing to say now, do you? Unless you want to play foul?"
Zaro was indeed about to propose a rematch, but he caught himself. "I’m not that type of person."
Fang Zhao said, "Then this meal is on Woo Tianhao. Next time, Zaro will pick up the tab."
The others in the party were incredulous. Uh, will there be a next time?
But in fact, Zaro was feeling much better. So be it—I’ll treat next time, then. I threw a two, after all, a larger number than Woo Tianhao. That line of thinking improved his mood.
It was finally their turn to be seated. They were all young men, so naturally, they craved meat. All they ordered were meat dishes. They also asked for a barbecue platter.
Good food always served as a mood-changer. Despite being on the verge of a fistfight just moments ago, the two rivals were now bullsh*tting together.
After downing a few glasses of alcohol, the actors invited by Woo Tianhao also loosened up. They started chatting about the "Founding Era" storyline and when each character ended up with a bento box.
"Those were tough times. We are just acting. We’re probably experiencing only one-tenth of the hardship our characters felt in reality."
"How would we have survived if we actually lived in the Period of Destruction?"
Zaro was engrossed in bullsh*tting with Woo Tianhao when that comment caught his attention. He interjected, "There’s an old saying, ’a lone cat will always die young and a flock always thrives.’ In other words, once a community reaches a critical mass, their chances of survival improve vastly. If I were born in that era, I’d definitely band together with other folks." Zaro then turned toward Woo Tianhao and said, "You were the one who told me the saying."
Woo Tianhao went blank. "Wait, when did I tell you that?"
"It was definitely you. You were telling me about this novel at your new dojo, the title was ’Soaring in the Skies and Escaping the Earth’ or something like that. You mentioned quite a few couplets. That’s when you told me that saying. I remember it clearly." Zaro pointed to his skull, then pointed at Woo Tianhao. "What’s wrong with your head? Your memory is deteriorating."
Woo Tianhao fumed, pounding his palm on the table. "Bullsh*t! I swear I never said that."
The actor sitting next to Woo Tianhao tried to suppress his laughter in vain. He whispered, "What he means is ’a lone wolf always dies young and a pack always thrives,’ right? I think we learned it in Chinese class."
The table went silent. All eyes shifted to Zaro.
Zaro rubbed his chin, not the least bit embarrassed. "Maybe. Oh, it’s the same thing."
The others stared at Zaro as if he were a lone mushroom thriving in a desert.
What an oddball!
Woo Tianhao: "Pig brain!"
"Haha, glad you realized you’re a bit pig-brained. Quick, eat some more so you’re properly nourished," Zaro said.
Woo Tianhao’s hands, which he had placed on the table, slithered toward the edge of the table.
He tried to flip the tabletop.
No luck.
Desperately wanting to shove all the dishes on the table onto Zaro’s face, Woo Tianhao tried again. Still no luck.
That’s weird. The table definitely wasn’t bolted to the ground.
Woo Tianhao scanned the other folks seated at the table, his gaze eventually landing on Fang Zhao’s hand, which was placed on the tabletop. He squinted.
Fang Zhao returned Woo Tianhao’s glare with a friendly smile. He took the fresh dish being served by a waiter with his other hand, withdrew the hand pressing the tabletop and started serving the barbecued meat to everyone in clockwise order.
He served Woo Tianhao the biggest chunk on the plate.
Woo Tianhao glanced at Fang Zhao, then gave Zaro a look. He gauged the mood and felt his rage subside.
Why bother with an idiot like Zaro? Be classy! Be generous. People are watching. A veteran actor was sitting at the next table, as was an actress Woo Tianhao had the hots for. Can’t leave a bad impression! If he actually flipped the tabletop, he would have no class left. Damn, I was almost blinded by my anger at Zaro.
As for Fang Zhao, Woo Tianhao had mixed feelings. Members of the Woo family had the utmost respect for people who were competent, especially folks who were good fighters, and judging from the situation, Fang Zhao didn’t mean to instigate him.
Fine, I won’t cause trouble today.
So Woo Tianhao kept chitchatting with Zaro.
Fang Zhao was pleased. These two kids are well behaved tonight.
He had noticed that even though the actors invited by Woo Tianhao hid their emotions well, they were still a bit depressed because they were still in character. Although they were enjoying a day off, they were still in a bad headspace. The argument between Woo Tianhao and Zaro provided a timely distraction. Their thoughts were diverted elsewhere.
After the meal, Woo Tianhao paid the bill and left with his entourage. He threw Fang Zhao a knowing glance before he took off. "Fang Zhao, let’s have fun together some time when we’re free."
"Have fun doing what?" Zaro asked.
"None of your bloody business!" Woo Tianhao bolted without looking back.
Zaro was going to press Fang Zhao for details, but he got a call from his agent about a possible endorsement deal, so he dropped the line of questioning and headed back to his dorm room first.
Fang Zhao also returned to his dorm room, but he decided to jog back instead of catching a ride with Zaro.
The dorm complex was quite empty when Zaro arrived. The cast of "Founding Era" was on vacation. The actors were either resting in their rooms or binge-eating at Gourmet Food City.
Zaro was about to head upstairs when someone called his name.
"Sorry to bother. Could I have a few minutes of your time?"
Zaro looked over. The man who had just spoken was quite good looking, just slightly less handsome than he was. Yup, he’s on my sh*list!
"Who are you?" Zaro asked.
The man choked a bit. He probably hadn’t expected Zaro not to recognize him. He was quite popular in Yanzhou and had a sizable fan base around the world. Even if Zaro couldn’t recall his name, surely Zaro should recognize his face, no? But Zaro glared at him as if looking at a stranger.
"My name is Si Lu. I’m an actor who appears in the Yanzhou chapter." Si Lu had been about to give a lengthy self-introduction, but Zaro clearly wasn’t in the mood, so he kept things short.
Zaro became slightly less confrontational when he realized the man wasn’t an actor from Leizhou. "Oh, you’re from Yanzhou. What is it?"
"I’ve run into some trouble with my acting. I was wondering whether the methods you used to improve your acting might come in handy," Si Lu said.
While Zaro’s recent rise had its doubters with some senior figures in the industry questioning his technique, the success of the third season of the Leizhou chapter had silenced most critics. Zaro’s performance had clearly turned out well.
Si Lu was struggling with his role, and his main scenes were about to come in the fifth season. He wasn’t in his element. He had just returned from asking fellow actors for pointers, which had turned out to not be very helpful, when he had run into Zaro. So he had decided to give Zaro a shot too.
Zaro glared at his fellow cast member like was looking at an idiot. "Of course they come in handy, but they might not be useful for you. Also, why don’t you look up Fang Zhao? He’s from Yanzhou too. It’s much easier talking to him. You Yanzhou actors are weird. Isn’t it common sense to ask questions if you have trouble with something? And you have someone available for that purpose, yet here you are seeking out an outsider."
In fact, Zaro simply didn’t want the hassle. He was in a hurry to get back to his room. He was worried about the potential endorsement deal his agent had mentioned. Also, Zaro was convinced that his secret weapon worked on him alone. That was what Roman had said. He wasn’t making stuff up.
Si Lu froze, and Zaro waved him off and said, "OK, go look up Fang Zhao. He’s an actor and an official consultant to the production. He’s also filming on the same set as you are." With that comment, Zaro bolted. He mumbled as he left, "Something wrong with his head!"
Si Lu stayed put. His face twitched when he heard Zaro’s parting comment. He was in a bind. He wanted to consult Fang Zhao, but they weren’t signed to the same company. He was signed to Neon Culture, one of Silver Wing’s traditional rivals. His agent had warned him before his shoot to stay away from Silver Wing artists lest he get conned without knowing.
So should he approach Fang Zhao in this case or not?