MACRM Chapter 4

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Even after being led out of the conference room by Zhong Yao, the now-acquainted Lin Zhu still hadn’t figured out what Zhong Yao should call him.

While Zhong Yao pressed the elevator button, Lin Zhu quickly pulled out his phone and sent a message to Lin Song, who was still in his office.

Bamboo Shoot: [Gege gege gege gege gege gegeeee]

Bamboo Shoot: [_(q□q∠)_]

In the the President’s office, Lin Song, who’d spent half an hour searching for his younger brother, had learned his lesson from last time. This time, instead of replying with just a cold question mark, he snatched up his phone and replied in seconds: [Here here here here here here here.]

It seemed he’d finally figured out the trick, because not long after, his phone lit up again.

Bamboo Shoot: [Emergency!]

Bamboo Shoot: [Ge, what’s the nickname you saved me under?]

President Lin, sitting in his office: …

Lin Zhu was anxiously waiting for backup, gripping his phone in nervous anticipation. Just then, he looked up to see Zhong Yao turning back toward him. He hurriedly put his phone away, snapped his hands to the seams of his trousers, straightened his back, and stood up ramrod straight.

Zhong Yao smiled. “Don’t be nervous.”

Lin Zhu wasn’t nervous, exactly. His heart was just pounding so fast that he felt a bit lightheaded. He nodded along obediently. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Zhong Yao reach out a hand toward him. Instinctively, he held his own hand out in return.

Zhong Yao looked a little surprised; his brows lifted slightly, and a faint trace of amusement flickered in his dark eyes. He firmly took Lin Zhu’s hand.

“Please take good care of me from now on.”

Lin Zhu’s hand didn’t exactly match his overall look.

It wasn’t that his hand was unattractive — on the contrary, it was a beautiful hand: fair, slender, with clearly defined knuckles, the nails neatly trimmed and smooth. It felt slim and cool in the grip, giving off an impression of obedience and gentleness.

But that same hand bore more than a few old scars.

Though they’d mostly faded with care, faint traces still remained, scattered across the back of his hand, faintly visible between his knuckles, and one faintly raised line running across his palm, catching lightly between the two hands as they clasped.

Boys always tend to be more reckless when young, so a few scars weren’t so strange. But Lin Zhu, despite his lively personality, looked like he’d be an obedient and easy to manage child. Zhong Yao couldn’t help wondering how the young agent ended up with so many little injuries.

The actor let his mind wander for just a moment before drawing it back. Taking advantage of the handshake, he leaned in and reached out to remove the staff card hanging from Lin Zhu’s neck, swiping it on the elevator panel.

The elevator chimed with a soft ding, finally beginning its slow descent.

---

The phone in Lin Zhu’s pocket started buzzing repeatedly. As Zhong Yao turned back around, Lin Zhu snapped back to himself, feeling his whole body flush hot from head to toe.

Zhong Yao had reached out his hand, asking for his staff card…

The elevators in the company only operated by card swipe, and since Zhong Yao hadn’t shown his face in three years, of course he didn’t have a card to use. On the way up, a senior executive had helped swipe the elevator for him. But now, with that said exec stuck raging in the conference room, no one had thought to get Zhong Yao a card to ride back down.

Realizing what that flicker of surprise in Zhong Yao’s eyes had meant back then, Lin Zhu raised a hand to cover his face, almost wanting to squeeze himself into a crack in the elevator to disappear.

Zhong Yao, a former film emperor who’d seen it all, didn’t find it strange to shake hands again. As the elevator neared the first floor, he turned back, ready to return the staff card.

Lin Zhu, meanwhile, was hunched over his phone, typing furiously, looking so crestfallen he seemed ready to sprout a little patch of mushrooms on his head.

Zhong Yao called him softly. “Lin—”

He got only one syllable out before pausing, considering a more suitable way to address him.

“Mr. Lin” was far too formal, but “Lin Zhu” sounded too stiff and serious.

Back in the conference room, Lin Zhu hadn’t managed to spit out the rest of his introduction either. He’d noticed the senior executive’s looming meltdown and had no choice but to stop and pull Zhong Yao away.

Zhong Yao hesitated for a moment. 

Lin Zhu was still reeling over the shocking nickname his big brother had saved him under, hammering out a long rant on his phone. He was just about to hit send when Zhong Yao gently tapped him on the shoulder.

Lin Zhu instantly hid his phone with a swish.

Zhong Yao looked slightly amused, then chuckled and hung the staff card back around his neck before striding out of the elevator. “Tell me, what plan does Agent Lin have for me?” 

His tone was gentle. Though his smile faded almost as soon as it appeared, it lingered in the depths of his eyes.

Lin Zhu’s eyes lit up. He quickly followed, steps light.

“I’ve got a few options lined up: two dramas you can choose from, one historical, one modern. And there’s a variety show at the end of the year, it’s a competition format that really tests professional skill. They’re inviting quite a few veteran actors…”

Talking about work made about 70% of his nerves melt away. His words flowed smooth and sure. It was clear he had every detail of his resources down cold.

Zhong Yao listened, and slowly, an unexpected emotion stirred in his chest.

The resources Lin Zhu listed off sounded as if they’d been tailored just for him.

His old fame still carried some weight, after all; even though he’d been out of the spotlight for three years, there were still people trying to offer him olive branches. 

Zhong Yao had once skimmed through those offers but quickly realized the quality and nature of the roles were nothing like they’d been three years ago. Sifting through the junk to find something truly worthwhile was much harder than before.

No one would ever know his needs better than he did. He’d planned to negotiate with the company and carefully pick through for anything at least passable.

Yet what Lin Zhu had just laid out was clearly not the usual sloppy filler.

Because he’d put in the same effort himself, Zhong Yao knew just how rare resources like this were, and how much work and tenacity it took to secure them.

In the spacious lobby, he came to a stop, looking at the young agent speaking so confidently about business. His posture straightened unconsciously, his expression turning more and more solemn.

“If you don’t like these, that’s fine too. We’ll pick out some others, whatever you’ve got your eye on, I’ll go get it.”

Seeing Zhong Yao’s serious face, Lin Zhu assumed he was unimpressed. Instead of feeling discouraged, he puffed up his chest and thumped it with one hand. “Don’t worry. There’s never been a resource I couldn’t get.”

Zhong Yao had never seen Lin Zhu look so much like a little bandit. He felt a surge of curiosity, about to speak, when the lobby doors were suddenly flung open with a bang.

In stepped a strikingly handsome young man.

Lin Zhu glanced up and his expression changed instantly. He leapt forward in a flash, positioning himself firmly in front of Zhong Yao.

Zheng Yi.

In the past three years, Zhong Yao had been completely out of the loop, so he had no idea who this newcomer was. Before he could ask, the young man had already spotted them both, his pretty face twisting into an incongruous sneer.

“Lin Zhu, so you finally latched onto a big shot, huh? I was wondering how you kept losing artists one after another. It turns out this was your plan all along, hitching yourself to a bigger fish…”

For an agent, either managing a red-hot celebrity or helping an established name stage a comeback was the quickest way to stand firm in the industry.

Lin Zhu had known from day one that people would gossip about this. He wasn’t interested in arguing with them. Instead, his mind turned to what he’d read earlier from the senior executive’s thoughts.

—Zheng Yi’s career path mirrored Zhong Yao’s. The company clearly wanted to use the tactic of stepping on one to boost the other. Leveraging Zhong Yao’s name for buzz and pushing Zheng Yi’s standing higher to open up new territory.

Lin Zhu had hinted at it earlier. Zheng Yi showing up here now clearly meant that Vice President Li had called him in to discuss countermeasures.

Lin Zhu held his ground in front of Zhong Yao, the glint behind his glasses flickering as he effortlessly read every thought flickering through Zheng Yi’s mind.

Zheng Yi didn’t know much.

He’d been on vacation and had been called back to the company by phone. When he heard that his original plan was disrupted by Lin Zhu’s unexpected interference, he spoke rudely to vent his anger. 

Zheng Yi had been heavily promoted by the company for a while and had grown used to being propped up high, never feeling there was anything shady about such tactics. He was so unguarded that he didn’t even feel anything when Lin Zhu read his mind.

Seeing that Zheng Yi didn’t know any deeper details or next steps, Lin Zhu quickly lost interest and was about to dismiss him when a hand rested lightly on his shoulder.

Lin Zhu instinctively looked up to see Zhong Yao stepping around him to stand in front of Zheng Yi.

Zheng Yi’s face changed immediately. A flicker of wariness crossed his features and he subconsciously stepped back half a pace.

When Zhong Yao’s expression turned cold, his aura was intimidating enough on its own. He barely needed to exert any extra pressure before Zheng Yi felt himself falter, unable to force out another word of mockery.

Seniority meant everything in this industry. Zhong Yao had debuted very early and his seniority was so high it was intimidating. Zheng Yi had no desire to pick a fight with him and turned to leave in haste, but Zhong Yao leaned forward slightly and turned to Lin Zhu at his side.

“A little… fresh meat[mfn]it has a bit of a derogatory connotation btw. Like, this kind of celeb got popular relying solely on their youth/freshness and pretty face, not their actual skills.[/mfn]?” 

He wasn’t quite familiar with the term yet; even his pronunciation of it carried a hint of uncertainty, but he didn’t bother to lower his voice.

Zheng Yi heard every word, his eyes twitching violently.

Lin Zhu blinked, caught up in the odd intimacy of this hushed exchange. He couldn’t help but lean in and mutter back, “His name’s Zheng Yi, he’s been quite popular these past six months. He’s got decent resources, basically copying your old career path. He starred in [Side by Side] and [Red Bean], and now he’s about to take the male lead in [Cang Lang[mfn]沧浪; probably from 沧浪亭 (cang langting), the Surging Waves Pavillion in Suzhou, Jiangsu[/mfn]]…”

Zhong Yao said, “Sun[mfn]again, 笋 / bamboo shoot. It feels weird for ZY to call LZ with “Bamboo Shoot” in English, so I used the pinyin ver.[/mfn], I watched TV when I was abroad too.”

After a pause, he added, “I’ve only seen anything rated 8.5 or higher.”

It was the first time he’d called him so warmly and naturally. Because they were whispering so close, the faint scent of cold pine and snow on Zhong Yao’s body seeped through the thin fabric, wrapping Lin Zhu up completely.

Lin Zhu stiffened, flushing hot from head to toe again. His brain turned to mush as he stammered on, “Who watches TV nowadays? You’re behind the times — these are all web dramas, they push the actor not the show, none of them even rate above a 7…”

These days, one couldn’t judge a project’s value by ratings alone. As long as it had the potential to go viral, even a trashy show could be counted as a A-tier resource.

Web dramas could be brilliant too, but Zheng Yi’s projects were all designed to prop him up. They’re full of cliché plots and weak scripts, so much so that he didn’t even have one decent representative work. That was why the company was so desperate to use Zhong Yao as a stepping stone to boost him.

It was an open secret in the industry, but hearing Lin Zhu bluntly expose it made Zheng Yi snap. He stepped forward, voice sharp. “Lin Zhu! What the hell do you mean by that—”

“Xiao Zheng, hello there.”

Zhong Yao calmly raised one hand to block him, the sharp edge of his aura dissolving instantly. He broke into a hearty, almost old-school veteran smile and gave Lin Zhu’s shoulder a pat.

“This is my agent. Since you two know each other, there’s no need to be so polite and call him ‘Agent Lin’. Just call him Lin-ge.”