Xu An scratched his head awkwardly and said, "Sorry, I got it wrong. It was Du Hui who was fooling around with some woman in a hotel and got caught in bed by her husband?"
Du Hui had a good look and physique, so why was he into that kind of thing? He must have skipped worshiping Guan Yu in favor of Cao Cao, huh?
"Yeah, that's pretty much why he didn't show up. And that's how they ended up finding you."
The assistant director hadn't expected Du Hui to be that kind of person, though he wasn't particularly surprised either.
After all, in this industry, getting resources required making certain compromises.
Leaving aside those with a background, for a grassroots newcomer trying to climb the ladder, unless they had exceptionally stellar acting skills or vocals, they were bound to sacrifice something.
Du Hui came from an ordinary background, was handsome, but had mediocre acting and singing skills. If he wanted to make it big, he naturally had to make trade-offs.
Everyone turned a blind eye to these things, but you shouldn't let them mess up your actual work.
If Du Hui hadn't crossed the line this time and delayed the recording, the show definitely still would have cast him as a guest.
"Du Hui's manager went to talk to the director, but out of courtesy, the director didn't press the issue. Who would have thought he'd run over to your place instead? Sorry about that."
Xu An didn't believe for a second that Fang Lan hadn't known about this. Innocent and apologetic as the assistant director looked, he had probably figured it out long ago.
After all, Fang Lan's temper was notoriously awful in the industry, but Xu An didn't take it to heart.
Her temper might be foul, but Xu An wasn't made of clay either.
He had already traveled through time; if he kept enduring things like he did in his past life, what was the point of transmigrating? To come here and play the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?
"It's fine, no need to apologize. We're bound to run into each other sooner or later anyway. Since we got the cursing out of the way now, we won't need to do it later." Xu An didn't care at all.
This reply left the assistant director dumbfounded, though upon second thought, the delivery was crude but the logic held up.
"Then you..." The assistant director was about to speak when a knock on the door rang out.
Xu An felt a bit puzzled. When did his RV become so popular?
It certainly wasn't this lively when Du Hui was here.
The two of them turned simultaneously toward the RV door.
They saw a pair of long legs clad in skinny jeans step onto the vehicle, followed by the appearance of Chu Xingjun.
As Chu Xingjun boarded, she was followed by a young girl wearing round myopia glasses and a ponytail. The girl had above-average looks and a somewhat dazed expression.
"Ms. Chu?" The assistant director asked in surprise, quickly standing up from his seat.
Xu An remained seated on the bed, though he turned his head and shot the assistant director a slightly curious glance. The man's form of address was quite interesting.
Chu Xingjun nodded, her red lips parting slightly: "Sorry to interrupt. Are you two done talking? I need a word with him."
With that, she raised her right hand and pointed at Xu An.
"We're done, we're done. You guys talk, I'll take off first. I still have a mountain of things to do." The assistant director said this and immediately left, closing the RV door behind him as he stepped outside.
Xu An looked at the assistant director speechlessly, as if Chu Xingjun were some sort of ferocious beast. Was she really that terrifying? She was quite pretty, after all.
"You're looking for me?" Xu An looked at Chu Xingjun, slightly baffled as to why she would seek him out.
Chu Xingjun didn't speak. She walked straight over to the spot the assistant director had just vacated, glanced down briefly, and sat down. She then crossed her legs, stretching the already tight skinny jeans even tauter.
This gesture made the corners of Xu An's eyes twitch slightly. How was this anything like the rumors outside?
Weren't people saying Chu Xingjun was the queen of ladylike behavior? What kind of lady crossed her legs like that?
The bespectacled girl who followed her sat down not far away, lowering her head to play with her phone with an expression of intense concentration.
Xu An thought her crossing her legs was dramatic enough, but who would have thought an even more dramatic move was coming.
From goodness knows where, Chu Xingjun produced a pack of women's cigarettes in a white box covered in Korean text.
She pulled one out, held it between her fingers, lit it herself, and took a deep drag.
The smoke she exhaled was drawn completely back into her nose. And you have to hand it to her, she looked quite striking doing it.
What was that saying again? A pleasing sight to the eyes—when someone is that gorgeous, even if you pee on the street, people will praise you for pissing far!
"You mind?" Chu Xingjun asked, exhaling a plume of smoke as she looked at Xu An.
Xu An shook his head, thinking to himself: *Would it matter if I minded? You've already lit up.*
"Want one?" Chu Xingjun said, pushing the pack of cigarettes toward Xu An.
Xu An shook his head again, pulled a pack of five-yuan Red River cigarettes from his pocket, pulled one out, and stuck it between his lips. "Yours are too thin. I'm not used to them."
He then pulled out a lighter and clicked it on. The smoke entered his lungs, instantly reviving his spirit.
Looking at the crumpled cigarette pack in his hand, Chu Xingjun frowned slightly. "You should smoke less of this cheap junk. Leaving aside whether the raw ingredients are any good, the flavorings they use definitely aren't."
At that, Xu An could only roll his eyes. *I'm already smoking, and now you care about this?*
*Don't I know expensive cigarettes taste better? It's just that I'm broke.*
"So... you came all the way here just to tell me that cheap cigarette flavorings are bad?" Xu An wasn't quite sure what she was getting at.
Judging by their brief encounter, the internet's evaluation of Chu Xingjun was absolute garbage.
Ladylike, mature intellectual beauty, well-behaved, sensible—in his view, only one of those descriptions hit the mark: mature intellectual beauty.
I must say, Chu Xingjun's look was genuinely fierce. If she threw on a black trench coat and silk stockings, wouldn't that send otaku into orbit?
Chu Xingjun took two more puffs, stubbed out the cigarette—which still had more than half left—in the ashtray, and looked at Xu An. "Was that song, Watching the Murals, written by you?"
*What a terrible waste! She just put it out like that? There were still several good puffs left!*
Xu An pulled his regretful gaze away from the ashtray and looked at Chu Xingjun. "What, have you heard a different version on the market?"
"Not really, just wanted to confirm." Chu Xingjun replied casually, then continued, "Are there any similar songs?"
"What are you getting at?" Xu An didn't quite catch her drift.
"Nothing much. If you have any, I can buy them. I feel that the song you sang earlier was good, but the flavor was a bit lacking. It would probably sound better with a female vocal."
Chu Xingjun didn't beat around the bush; she was direct and straightforward.
Sell a song?
Xu An had certainly considered doing something like that, but it was just a passing thought.
Even though his brain was packed with countless classics, he didn't want to ruin them by handing them to the wrong person.
Selling was fine, but he would only sell if the other person suited the song.
Take the song Woman Flower, for example—even if Chu Xingjun offered a fortune, he wouldn't sell it to her because it simply didn't fit.
It wasn't that Xu An was putting on airs, but rather his earnest attitude toward music. Even though he was plagiarizing, in this world, who would ever know?