The Wheelchair Scum Alpha Has Something to Say (GL) - Chapter 17

Facing Bai Yue’s sudden defiance, Wang Yao and the male Beta assistant seemed well-prepared. Wang Yao even put away her notebook and asked Bai Yue: “Understood, Miss Bai. What are your plans now? CEO Chen has told me everything. The purpose of your investment is to cause trouble for Miss Su Xi. How should we proceed?”

“…” Bai Yue had prepared herself for Wang Yao’s astonishment when she raised the rebellion, but Wang Yao spoke with such extraordinary excitement, her eyes sparkling, that it made Bai Yue wonder—Did Wang Yao accept the role of my villainous sidekick too quickly, and is she already eager to assist in my evil deeds?

After some consideration, Bai Yue answered: “I want to replace one of the actors.”

Wang Yao’s eyes lit up even more: “Alright, who does Miss Bai want to replace?”

“The Alpha lead.” Bai Yue initially wanted to say the name of the rising star Alpha male celebrity, but she couldn’t recall it immediately. However, even if she couldn’t remember his name, she knew exactly what role he played.

She thought that to mess with such a big deal, Wang Yao and the male Beta assistant would surely try to stop her. Yet, Wang Yao and the male Beta assistant’s eyes shone brighter. Wang Yao even said directly: “Just as CEO Chen said, you two truly share a telepathic connection. You want to do almost the same thing.”

“Ah?”

Bai Yue was genuinely confused, but Wang Yao’s eyes held a hint of admiration, which prompted Bai Yue to play along: “Yes, you are right. My thoughts are indeed the same as Chen Mengyi’s.”

In reality, their thoughts were completely different. Bai Yue’s intention was purely to sabotage the film, while Chen Mengyi had considered many factors. Primarily, she considered Bai Yue’s desire to “play.” She felt that although Bai Yue wanted to “cause trouble,” she wasn’t a malicious person, so she wouldn’t do too much damage.

Matters like production, promotion, scheduling, and so on were crucial, and since Bai Yue didn’t understand them, she definitely wouldn’t mess with those. After careful thought, replacing a cast member was the most suitable way to “cause trouble.”

Bai Yue definitely wouldn’t touch important personnel like the director or scriptwriter. Bai Yue didn’t know the behind-the-scenes staff, and she knew their work was hard, so she wouldn’t touch them either. The other roles were filled by veteran actors or minor characters who rarely got screen time, so Bai Yue wouldn’t replace them.

That left only the Alpha actor who was inserted by another investor as the suitable person to be replaced.

Upon learning that Bai Yue wanted to interfere with the movie Love Before the End of the World, Chen Mengyi conducted a thorough review of the entire production crew and clearly understood the internal situation. They were indeed not short of investment. Putting Su Xi aside, they had another major sponsor. However, like Su Xi, that sponsor insisted on a specific lead actor, requiring that celebrity to play the main Alpha role.

In reality, this male actor had zero acting skills. The director could only accept him, holding his nose, for the sake of the investment. In the early stages of filming, the actor not only acted like a big shot and was late several times, but he even abandoned the set midway, claiming he had other scheduling conflicts.

Furthermore, his appearance didn’t quite match the character in the script, forcing the scriptwriter to make adjustments based on the actor.

Chen Mengyi felt that Bai Yue could definitely step into a production crew like this. She started working on this yesterday afternoon, even slightly pushing back some headquarters business. She negotiated with the production crew and the influential investor behind the male Alpha star. In just an hour, Chen Mengyi successfully inserted Bai Yue into the production crew of Love Before the End of the World as an investor, granting her a certain degree of authority.

Chen Mengyi’s demands also seemed unreasonable to the production crew: she insisted the crew comply with Bai Yue’s little whims, or she would prevent the film from even reaching the big screen. Under heavy pressure and temptation, the crew had no choice but to begrudgingly accept.

Fortunately, Chen Mengyi was very generous. The investment amount was a staggering 150 million, three times the previous investor’s contribution. With that kind of money, they couldn’t possibly refuse. Chen Mengyi also took the lead, talked with the other investors, and gave the crew time to start over, encouraging them to take their time and do a good job.

Chen Mengyi’s exact words were: “As long as Bai Yue has fun, everything is negotiable. Including your next movie, I can invest in that one too, and I won’t say a single word.” With Chen Mengyi saying all this, what could the crew do? Even if they had to accompany the princess on her play-date, they had to finish this movie.

In fact, Chen Mengyi didn’t think the movie would flop. Bai Yue claimed she wanted to cause trouble, but given Bai Yue’s personality, she wouldn’t commit any major evil deeds. She wouldn’t insert a big-name, talentless face like the previous investor. Chen Mengyi had also vetted the director and scriptwriter; their skills were on point. With her help ensuring a smooth path, there was no way this movie would flop.

Chen Mengyi had also pre-briefed Wang Yao about Bai Yue’s likely action, and unsurprisingly, Bai Yue wanted the same thing as Chen Mengyi.

Although their motivations were different, the final outcome was the same: they wanted to replace the Alpha protagonist’s actor.

That’s why Wang Yao was so excited. She thought that both Bai Yue and Chen Mengyi must have realized the problem with the current lead actor and seen the film’s potential, which is why they threw in a huge amount of money and wanted to replace the most crucial and least motivated person.

Because Bai Yue wanted to change the casting, she brought Wang Yao to the set to investigate. The assistant from Haiyin Entertainment Company also came along, as they were the nominal contact point with the production crew.

Facing the new influential investor, the production crew was on high alert, and even Su Xi was present.

Su Xi, with her noticeably “white flower” appearance, was the female lead. Her looks surpassed any celebrity; she stood out among the group of actors. She walked toward Bai Yue and extended her hand: “Miss Bai, I didn’t expect us to meet again so soon.”

Seeing Su Xi’s outstretched hand, Bai Yue felt a bit awkward. It had only been a few days, and the last time they met, she had splashed her with lemonade. Bai Yue managed a faint “Mm.” She originally wanted to apologize for the incident, but remembering she was the villain and was here to cause trouble today, she swallowed the apology. She simply maintained a detached expression and shook Su Xi’s hand: “Indeed.”

After letting go, Bai Yue felt she should adopt the face of a malicious villain. She looked around and started to find fault: “What’s going on? Why aren’t you working?”

Bai Yue’s words weren’t too harsh, but Wang Yao, standing next to her, fully embraced the malicious sidekick role: “What time is it? Why are you all standing around? The equipment is on, but no one is working. Isn’t that burning money? Our CEO Bai and CEO Chen’s money isn’t for you to play around with.”

“…” Too much, too much. Your words are too sharp and mean.

After speaking, Wang Yao glanced at Bai Yue, her expression seeming to ask: How was that, CEO Bai? Did I do well? Wasn’t that authoritative?

Bai Yue didn’t know why Wang Yao was so enthusiastic, but Wang Yao was quite clear. They were here to replace an actor. Wang Yao had done her homework and knew the rising star Alpha male’s character. Now, everyone was standing idle. While it might be that they were waiting for Bai Yue, Bai Yue hadn’t given any prior notice, so why would the equipment be on?

This meant that there was supposed to be a shooting schedule! So why was there a filming schedule that hadn’t started yet?

The answer was obvious: because the actor hadn’t arrived yet!

The culprit, apart from that arrogant playboy, required no further guessing.

Although Chen Mengyi had pre-instructed Wang Yao that Bai Yue would likely replace that person, she hadn’t told the production crew. The crew had no idea what Bai Yue planned or that she was going to replace someone, so they were definitely very uneasy.

Now that this hiccup had occurred, the director could only step forward to mediate, saying: “It’s like this, the male Alpha actor got caught in some traffic on the way, so he hasn’t arrived yet. He’ll be here soon.”

The filming studio definitely wouldn’t be in the city center; it was in the suburbs. To say there was traffic on the way here was utterly ridiculous. Bai Yue also realized this and let out a sudden laugh: “Oh, he’s late again?”

Bai Yue felt a bit of schadenfreude, the kind of feeling when a pillow appears just when you’re sleepy. She was worried about not finding a reason to cause trouble, but the male actor just handed her one. Bai Yue couldn’t suppress the smile at the corners of her mouth. She originally wanted to look profound and sinister, but she was too happy to pull it off.

Unbeknownst to her, her smiling, gentle demeanor was very similar to the image Chen Mengyi projected—A smiling tiger, indeed!

Bai Yue lightly coughed. Still smiling, she said: “Since he doesn’t value this job so much, I guess he doesn’t really need it. If that’s the case, I think we should just replace him.”

In Bai Yue’s original prediction, after she said this, the entire production crew should have an expression of “Your Majesty, you absolutely must not!” But to her surprise, not only did they not object, but the worried frowns that appeared when they first saw her, fearing she would cause trouble, actually relaxed a little.

Su Xi’s eyes were sparkling; her smile was even more brilliant than Bai Yue’s.

“Are you going to replace him?”

“Ah…” Bai Yue was still wondering why everyone’s expressions were different from what she expected, but hearing Su Xi’s question, she still answered: “Yes, I am. Do you have an objection?”

Bai Yue was thinking: Quickly, have an objection, and then I can continue to cause trouble for you!

Who knew Su Xi would vehemently shake her head: “No, I don’t object. That’s great.”

“…”

This, this isn’t right?!