Inside a dorm shared by three young men, Daren Wang pressed to hang up on the call. He threw his phone back on his side table, ruffled his hair, and sat up. All the sleep he was trying to catch up to was gone all because of a single call.
The door to the bathroom was pulled open and his roommate came out with a towel wrapped around his waist and another rubbing his short dark hair dry.
Seeing Daren's scowl, his roommate laughed as he glanced at the wall clock, "Good morning, though it's a miracle! You're awake at 9 in the morning."
Daren scowled even more and harrumphed. "It's not a good morning, Xian Yue."
His roommate, Xian Yue, laughed even more and squinted his eyes at him, "Oh no… Could it be that you wet the bed?"
Daren Wang threw a pillow at his roommate, who skillfully evaded the attack, but unfortunately lost the towel around his waist.
"Ah!" Xian Yue squealed as he tried to cover his manhood from his roommate's eyes.
"Fuck!" Daren cursed almost at the same time. "My eyes have been spoiled because of you now!"
After a flurry of movements inside their dorm, Xian Yue was now well covered while Daren Wang was completely awake.
"So, what happened to you?" Xian Yue sat on his own bed and faced his roommate.
"Nothing. Just almost fell for a spam call."
"Oh? That's weird."
"What is?"
Xian Yue: "It's strange they targeted you when you're the poorest inside our dorm room."
Daren didn't take the insult as it was the truth. Getting angry at the truth will only make one more miserable. Besides, Xian Yue never filtered his words to a point where he gets slaps from his girlfriends and gets beaten up by almost everybody in their previous university.
"So, what did they tell you? Did they ask for money? Or are they selling some shady products to you?" Xian Yue was extremely bored since he was the earliest to wake up. Now that Daren spared him from his usual boring mornings, he wanted to hear some interesting stories.
Daren also didn't want to keep it from him and so, he spilled what he had just experienced to his roommate.
After listening for a short moment, Xian Yue exclaimed loudly, "Shit! The scammers nowadays are really shameless! They even used a celebrity's identity to scam people now?"
Daren nodded solemnly, completely agreeing with his roommate.
Xian Yue wanted to continue cursing at all scammers in the world, but he suddenly halted mid-conversation. He abruptly stood up, marched to his roommate's desk, searched for something before taking out a thick bundle of A4 bond papers.
He held up the bundle of papers in his hand in the air before gasping loudly. Daren stared at his strange behavior but he heard Xian Yue screaming, "Fuck, fuck, FUCK! Dude, you're screwed!"
Daren was confused but before he could ask why he was screwed when he hung up on a spam call, Xian Yue threw the bundle of papers on the bed before grabbing his collar.
"It isn't a spam call. There's no scammer who would announce who they are and tell you the name of the script you wrote a few months ago!" Xian Yue screamed at the top of his lungs. "The only people who know about your script are the entertainment companies and directors you've sent the script to, there's no way a scammer would have had your script in their hands!"
Daren blinked his eyes a few times, still couldn't comprehend what his roommate was saying. But then, the conversation he had with the scammer on the phone was also strange.
The caller was a female and they mentioned the name of his script. Besides, the character Rosie Chang was also included in their words.
"Does… that mean I was talking to Ran Xueyi?" Daren said in a slower manner.
Xian Yue grinned at him and nodded. "Yes, you prick! Now, go and pick up your phone. Call her and beg her if you must for the mistake you did!"
Daren hurriedly did what his roommate had told him to do. He grabbed his phone and dialed the number that had recently called him.
"Hello?" the female voice that he had spoken to half an hour ago spoke. "Director Daren?"
Daren's hands shook tremendously and his body became stiff all over. Xian Yue was staring at him with large eyes and when Daren didn't speak for a few seconds, he couldn't help but pinch his chest.
"Ugh!" Daren cried out in pain.
On the other side of the phone, Ran Xueyi looked at the phone with a strange expression on her face. Did she call at the wrong time?
"Excuse me, is this Director Daren Wang?"
Daren Wang snapped out of his daze at once. "That's me! You –you're really Ran Xueyi, right? The one who called me earlier?"
Ran Xueyi had been a mega star in the entertainment industry since she became a child actress. At the Film and Media Academy, she was a legend. She didn't lose her fame and popularity after retirement, she made a great comeback! There was no shortage of news about her on the Internet and the TV. Recently, everyone had been raving about her marriage to an unknown and mysterious man.
"It's really me, Director Daren. I received a copy of your script from a friend of my manager. She told me about it and after I read the script, I couldn't stop thinking about it. Is the role of Rosie Chang available for me to take?" Ran Xueyi was affable and humble.
Even though she was a first-rate actress in the world of acting, she didn't speak to him in an arrogant tone or broadcast how important she was.
Daren struggled to hide his excitement. The smile on his lips became genuine that even Xian Yue was scared out of his wits after seeing his dull and cold roommate grin like a fool!
"Are –are you sure you want to take this role?" Daren still couldn't help but feel like this was a dream.
When he sent out the copies of the short scripts to twenty people, 16 copies were returned to him and were rejected by many entertainment companies. Some directors approached him and called him to talk about them assuming the script to be theirs, buying the rights and ownership of the script for a price of 1 million yuan.
A million yuan was not little but compared to the hard work he had placed on crafting the script, Daren couldn't just give it away. Directors laughed and insulted him, telling him that he was being too ambitious if Daren thought that any director would work with him. It was better if he sold the full copy of the script to them rather than waste his time.
Yet, Daren was not reconciled. He decided to do the film by himself and direct it. However, when he asked for people to appear and take the role in his film, they were interested at first. However, when they heard he could only pay 100,000 yuan for their time and the film, they immediately threw the script at his face and stormed away.
But Xian Yue and his other roommate, Mo Xiang, helped him gather 3 million yuan. Their help gave him some confidence to film it.
But who would have thought that a heavenly pie was sent down to him?!
"I only have 3 million to spend to film this!" Daren confessed.
Of course, Daren didn't want to deceive himself. He was certain that the moment the amount of payment for the film will be asked by Ran Xueyi, she will definitely hang up and forget about this encounter. He also didn't want to lie to her about his current situation.
There was silence on the other side of the phone. Ran Xueyi was quite surprised when she heard that he only has 3 million to spend for the film. Filming an entire movie or TV drama requires a lot of money. It wasn't only because of the license and registration for the film to be shot, there are the main, sub-main, and extra actors and actresses that need to be paid for their effort to act in front of the camera. Most importantly, the equipment to be used to shoot the film.
Daren knew that there was no way Ran Xueyi would accept such a disadvantageous situation and low-budgeted film. There were rumors that she received 30 million to 50 million for being the female lead in a film. Compared to what she usually received and to what he might give to her, it was like heaven and earth!
But he swore that he would do his best to film it and make her shine brightly if she decided to take part in his film!
"Miss Ran… Are –are you still interested in the role of Rosie Chang?" Daren nervously asked again.
"Yes," said Ran Xueyi. There was no need to keep up the suspense. "I don't mind not being paid for my role. Instead, use what you will pay me to buy what is needed for us to shoot the film."
Ran Xueyi had enough money in her bank account. What she cared about in the industry was not the payment that she'll receive from playing her roles. It was the joy of reenacting the roles and reliving their lives.
As for the money that'll really help Daren Wang film the entire film without a problem, Ran Xueyi left that matter in Song Yu Han's hands.