Huayu Entertainment: Starting with Exorcising Evil from a Film Queen

Zhang Ze waved his hand dismissively, "If you really want to thank me, just saying it won't do."

He then changed the subject, half-jokingly and half-seriously saying, "How about you arrange a role for me in your production?"

Yang Mi was taken aback upon hearing this, and blinked her beautiful almond-shaped eyes. "You're an actress too?"

Zhang Ze laughed, "If I weren't an actor, what would I be doing in Hengdian? On vacation?"

"Hey." Yang Mi was amused by him, revealing two small dimples. She tilted her head and looked Zhang Ze up and down. Her bright eyes darted around, clearly she was quickly calculating something.

"Well done, you've kept it well hidden."

She chuckled, "But let me make this clear first: I may have some influence on the set, but I can't guarantee that I'll let you join the crew."

"I need to go back and ask the director, and also Mr. Cai, the boss of Tangren Media."

Zhang Ze was not disappointed.

If Yang Mi is willing to pass on a message, it would be enough to give Zhang Ze a chance.

"It's okay. Just give me a call if you have the chance. If it really works out, I'll treat you to dinner!"

The two of them started chatting back and forth.

The restaurant owner served the dishes quickly: smashed cucumber, Mapo tofu, and twice-cooked pork, all steaming hot on the table.

While eating, Yang Mi told Zhang Ze that she would be staying in Hengdian for a week this time.

During this time, she showed an extremely strong interest in Zhang Ze's miraculous Taoist skills.

"Hey Zhang Ze, do you think I can learn that from you?" She pointed to her nose with the tip of her chopsticks, "You know, the kind where you can predict the future, that's so cool!"

Zhang Ze picked up a piece of twice-cooked pork with his chopsticks, ate it slowly and deliberately, and then said, "Cultivating the Tao is not an easy thing. It depends on fate and requires long-term perseverance and a certain level of enlightenment."

Looking at Yang Mi's curious face, he deliberately made the matter sound mysterious.

"Moreover, cultivating the Tao is very arduous."

"Every day before dawn, we have to get up to do morning prayers, reciting the 'Taishang Laojun Shuo Chang Qingjing Jing' and the 'Wenchang Dadong Xian Jing'. This is just the beginning."

"Later, I will also need to study the *Tao Te Ching*, the *Zhuangzi*, and the *Chongxu Jing*, as well as talismans, rituals, and fasting ceremonies. Each of these will require eight to ten years of dedicated study."

Zhang Ze casually rattled off the names of a few scriptures and then gave a haphazard description of the daily routines of a Taoist priest.

"Moreover, doing all this is merely a means of cultivation."

Whether one can ultimately reach the threshold of the Tao is anyone's guess; it all depends on individual opportunity and luck.

Yang Mi was stunned. Just the names of those scriptures she had never heard of before gave her a huge headache.

She was naturally an active person, and making her sit and chant scriptures all day would be worse than killing her.

"Then... let's forget about it." She decisively abandoned this unrealistic idea.

Instead of getting up before dawn every day to recite those sleep-inducing scriptures, it would be better to have her spend a day on wires in a film crew.

However, she was quick-witted; if she couldn't learn it herself, there was a ready-made one sitting right in front of her.

Once we've won over this expert, we can simply go to him for advice whenever anything happens. Isn't that a hundred times better than figuring things out on our own?

Having figured this out, Yang Mi's attitude instantly became three times warmer. She picked up the serving chopsticks and diligently put a large piece of twice-cooked pork on Zhang Ze's plate.

"Brother Ze, eat meat! Eat meat!"

"You've been in Hengdian, so you must know that there are a lot of messy things going on in the industry, and you might fall into a trap at any time."

She began to talk incessantly about the gossip in the industry, from which director had a bad temper and loved to curse, to which actress sabotaged others behind their backs to get roles, describing it all vividly.

When she got excited, she couldn't help but complain about the boxed lunches served on her film set.

"You haven't seen the lunch boxes on our set. The vegetables are all yellow, and the meat slices are so thin you can see through them. I seriously suspect that the person in charge of logistics on set has embezzled all the food budget."

As she spoke, her face fell, and she looked unhappy.

"My agent keeps an eye on me every day, telling me what not to eat and what not to eat, saying that I need to maintain my figure so that I look good on camera."

She angrily poked at the rice in her bowl with her chopsticks, "I'm already so thin I'm practically a lightning bolt! What's the point of dieting anymore!"

Zhang Ze's gaze followed her words and unconsciously swept over her.

She is indeed thin.

The white T-shirt looked a bit bare, and her collarbones were so prominent they could hold fish.

His gaze shifted downwards, lingering briefly on that magnificent place.

Yes, the current scale is indeed incomparable to the magnificent scene that will unfold a few years later.

He silently complained to himself.

In his opinion, the online discussions about secondary development in later generations were pure nonsense.

To put it bluntly, once you become famous and make money, your diet improves, and you get proper nutrition, so naturally you gain weight in the places where you need to.

There's no such thing as so much metaphysics.

While Zhang Ze was thinking about all sorts of random things, he nodded seriously in agreement.

"She is indeed too thin."

He looked compassionate and said, "Being too thin can affect your luck, especially your wealth."

Yang Mi's eyes widened when she heard this.

"Really? Is that even possible?"

"Of course." Zhang Ze said without batting an eye. "Look at the mistresses of wealthy families in ancient times. Weren't they all plump and radiant? That's a sign of good fortune."

Yang Mi was stunned by his words and subconsciously pinched the flesh on her arm, which seemed to be really thin.

She quickly picked up two large chopsticks of twice-cooked pork and stuffed them into her mouth, as if each extra bite would earn her an extra million.

Zhang Ze found it amusing to see her greedy and easily fooled appearance.

I never expected this girl to be so obsessed with food.

So, the two of them took a complete 180-degree turn from discussing mysterious Taoist practices and entertainment gossip to exploring the food map of Hengdian.

"Let me tell you, there's a donkey meat sandwich shop on the street outside the north gate of the film studio. It's amazing! The owner is from Hebei, and the sandwich is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and the stewed donkey meat is incredibly fragrant!"

"And another thing, that Chongqing hot pot place on the east side, their beef tallow broth is so spicy it makes your scalp tingle, but the more you eat, the more you want to eat!"

When Yang Mi talks about food, her big eyes sparkle, and she comes alive, completely losing any of her celebrity airs.

Zhang Ze was also surprised to find that Yang Mi was like this in private, and that she was a hidden foodie. The two of them found they had a lot in common when they talked about food.

"You're so knowledgeable about food, why don't you become a gourmet?" Zhang Ze teased.

"I'd love to!" Yang Mi slapped her thigh. "But first, I need to make money! Once I become a big star and financially independent, I'll invest in and open a nationwide chain of hot pot restaurants!"

She brandished her chopsticks, ambitiously outlining her own business empire.