Chapter 163: Rewriting the Script
Yin Chengjue sat in the chair, legs crossed and hands folded together.
"You didn't tell me everything earlier, did you?" Yin Chengjue looked down at the clothes thief tied up and sitting on the ground.
Yin Chengjue: "There were a lot of people earlier, some things were inconvenient to ask. Now it's just you and me. Tell me who exactly went and informed 'The Chase' crew, and I'll let you go."
Hearing this, the man's eyes lit up: "Really?"
Yin Chengjue nodded: "Really."
The man's eyes darted around: "You wouldn't be tricking me, would you? Liars should be punished!"
Yin Chengjue, however, did not give a direct answer. Instead, he said expressionlessly, "I think you should understand your current position clearly. Right now, you only have two choices: tell me who the informant is, or I send you to the police station. Either way, you stole from our crew and deliberately delayed our filming schedule."
Upon hearing "police station," a flash of panic crossed the man's eyes, which he then tried hard to conceal, pretending to be calm as he snorted, "If you want to threaten me to pay compensation, I'll go to the hospital for a medical examination first! Look at these injuries all over me! The medical fees you'll have to pay are definitely more than the value of the clothes I stole!"
After saying this, the thief seemed to think he had a point and immediately became emboldened: "Go ahead! Hurry up and send me there! See if I don't sue you until you're bankrupt! For you people making films, it must be really troublesome if news gets out about you injuring someone, right?"
Yin Chengjue raised an eyebrow slightly, put his foot down, and stood up from the chair.
The room was quite narrow, with only one window, which was behind Yin Chengjue. When he stood up, his tall frame blocked a large amount of light, casting a shadow over the clothes thief.
Yin Chengjue took long strides, step by step, walking towards the thief, his fists cracking audibly.
"You, what are you going to do?"
Yin Chengjue twisted his neck: "Nothing much. I've never seen anyone make such a request before. Injured, is it? I'll oblige!"
Clothes Thief: !!!
However, when Yin Chengjue grabbed the man's clothes and hauled him up, he noticed with a sharp eye that the thief, who had appeared bruised and battered and in a sorry state outside, now only had some dirt on his face, with none of the blue and purple marks visible.
Yin Chengjue was taken aback and ripped the man's shirt open. Examining his body again, there was not the slightest trace of any serious injury.
Yin Chengjue then threw the man directly onto the ground. "It seems you won't be able to extort that medical compensation after all. What a pity."
The thief also clearly noticed this and his expression changed slightly.
Yin Chengjue's throw sent the thief crashing to the floor. Hitting some unknown wound, he cried out in pain again.
"Stop pretending. There are no injuries. I think you're just doing this on purpose. Since you don't want to talk, I won't force you. Anyway, you're here. I'm not worried about finding the mole." Yin Chengjue curled his lips slightly: "Let's see who will be the first to lose patience and come in here to rescue you."
Yin Chengjue left the room where the thief was being held, instructing people outside to watch and note anyone trying to approach, all of whom would be added to the suspect list.
After temporarily arranging things here, Sally also arrived. Actually, she had already been outside the filming location for a while, but was delayed due to some uncontrollable factors.
Seeing Sally with her hair mussed up, clothes out of shape, and little white shoes stamped with several footprints, Yin Chengjue felt a rare pang of sympathy and handed her a pack of wet wipes.
Although Sally looked disheveled, her complexion was not bad at all; in fact, it was excessively good. She appeared radiant and full of energy.
"Oh! My goodness! So handsome! My idol is truly the best!" Sally clasped her hands together as if in prayer.
Yin Chengjue even felt he could read the phrase "a maiden in love" in her eyes.
Yin Chengjue silently twisted open a bottle of mineral water, poured a little into his palm, and brought it up to rinse his eyes.
After finishing her "love-struck" moment, Sally happened to see this: "...President Yin, can you tell me what you're doing?"
Yin Chengjue pulled out a tissue, meticulously wiping the remaining water from his hands, his tone flat: "Can't you tell? I'm cleaning my hands."
Sally: "..." The look in your eyes just now was clearly disgust with me!
If it were in the past, Sally would usually be too lazy to argue with Yin Chengjue. In her eyes, Yin Chengjue was just a little brat she'd watched grow up, not worth her time. But now, she felt it necessary to defend the honor of the idol she pursued: "President Yin! Don't think that just because you're slightly handsome, your looks are slightly above average, you can do whatever you want! Let me tell you! My idol, Brother Dong's looks are the ceiling of this industry! Even standing next to him, you'd just be a foil!"
Yin Chengjue: "..." Did I say anything disparaging about your idol just now?
As she spoke, Sally started fangirling again: "I saw Brother Dong earlier. He smiled at me across the vast sea of people. He smiled at me. You have no idea, his figure, his charming eyes, his flowing hair~ Oh~ My heart is about to leap out~"
Yin Chengjue: "...I heard he came fully disguised today. You could still recognize him like that?"
Sally glared at Yin Chengjue: "What do you know? Even if Brother Dong were fully disguised, I could recognize him even if he turned to ashes by the smell!"
Yin Chengjue: "..." Why does that sentence sound somewhat familiar?
"And you don't know, Brother Dong came carrying two kids today, one in each arm. Honghong and Baibai were both wearing little sunglasses today, they were so adorable they killed me!" Sally again struck a pose of a beauty clutching her heart: "And Sister-in-law Dong's outfit today was so cool too! They're such a perfect match! Ah! kswl! This love is so damn sweet!"
[磕死我了 (kē sǐ wǒ le): lit. (shipping this couple) has knocked me dead; fig. "I'm dying from how sweet/perfect this couple is," showing extreme excitement over a pairing].
Yin Chengjue: "...Are you finished? What about the investigation I asked you to do?"
Sally: "...Is this how you speak to a lady? No wonder with a face like yours all these years, there hasn't been a single bit of romantic activity around you."
Yin Chengjue: "..." You pursue your star, why attack me personally?
Sally opened her purse, rummaged inside, pulled out a file folder, and slapped it directly onto Yin Chengjue. Yin Chengjue had to catch it to prevent it from falling to the ground.
"Hmph! I'm not putting up with your attitude anymore. It's more enjoyable to go watch Xiao Yu act."
Sally clacked away in her high heels. Yin Chengjue, holding the file, was speechless for a moment. He then took out his phone, carefully looked at his own face, and searched online for a picture of Donghuang Qingyan.
"Really more handsome than me?" Yin Chengjue's gaze was scrutinizing as he flipped through several photos, muttering, "With that white hair of his?"
"What white hair?" A familiar voice came from behind. The expression on Yin Chengjue's face involuntarily softened. He turned around: "Are you done filming?"
Rong Yu's gaze swept over Yin Chengjue's phone screen: "What are you looking at, Brother?"
Yin Chengjue conveniently held his phone screen up to Rong Yu: "Someone just told me this person is more handsome than me. What do you think?"
Rong Yu didn't hesitate: "Of course brother is the most handsome."
Yin Chengjue's mood instantly improved: "Mm."
"By the way, brother, did that person confess? Is there really a mole among us?" Rong Yu asked curiously.
Mentioning this, Yin Chengjue's expression darkened: "Actually, not necessarily. When notifying actors about auditions, their agents, assistants, and close contacts could all potentially have access."
Rong Yu: "Then what should we do? Wouldn't that make it even harder to find?"
Yin Chengjue rubbed his temples: "Let's try bluffing them first. If we can flush the person out, that's good. If not, then we'll just have to rewrite the script."
"Rewrite the script?"
"Yes. Since the 'The Chase' crew already knows, there's no guarantee they won't leak it to others, especially those marketing accounts. They haven't publicly exposed the script now, probably because they plan to wait until after we wrap filming, right before the release, to reveal it and catch us off guard. By then, it would be too late to rewrite the script and reshoot."
Rong Yu: "But how do you plan to change it? If we can't find the mole, no matter how we change it, the 'The Chase' side will still know."
Yin Chengjue: "I'll discuss this with Director Mo. Filming can continue, but the scripts everyone gets won't be complete—only their own lines and story background. Also, the shooting order will be completely scrambled, and then pieced together in post-production editing."
Rong Yu was shocked: "Is that possible? Then wouldn't even the actors not know what they're filming?"
Yin Chengjue smiled: "Wouldn't that make it more mysterious?"
They acted immediately. After Yin Chengjue discussed it with Director Mo, Director Mo promptly informed the actors that due to the script leak, the screenwriter needed to rewrite the script on short notice. Everyone should take a day off, and the revised script would be sent out once ready.
Given the circumstances, the actors and crew had no objections.
The clothes thief locked in the room still refused to talk. Yin Chengjue didn't pressure him further, directly sending him to the police station. Director Mo seized the opportunity to add: "This is someone Mr. Xi asked to be sent to you."
The two officers holding the thief were momentarily stunned. Their gazes at the thief then held more scrutiny. One of the officers immediately said, "Understood, we'll take it from here."
Since they only had one day, Yin Chengjue threw himself into the major task of rewriting the script as soon as he got home.
Actually, for most other types of scripts, there wouldn't be such strict precautions, needing to rewrite just because of a minor leak. But this was a suspenseful, supernatural film aiming for box office success and ratings, naturally requiring more rigor. Otherwise, without the element of mystery, the audience's viewing experience would greatly diminish. Furthermore, the focus of discussion would shift from the plot to the actors' looks or other aspects. The audience demographic would also likely skew more towards fans coming for their idols, rather than viewers genuinely interested in the story itself.
Yin Chengjue sat in front of the computer, repeatedly deleting and revising, finally managing to deliver the script to Director Mo before the next day.
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