Chapter 55: Shen Weiming, Tianyu Pictures, Tianyu Entertainment Group, and Daily Intelligence

"Xiao Ren."

Fang Lihua, who couldn’t contain her curiosity, suddenly called out. Standing next to Lin Haoren, the doubts in her heart were like an itch that needed scratching.

She had to ask.

"Yes, Director Fang?"

"Have you offended anyone in the industry before? Like, Director Shen Weiming, for example?"

Lin Haoren immediately frowned with confusion upon hearing Director Fang’s question.

Director Shen Weiming?

"Director Shen from Tianyu Pictures?" Lin Haoren frowned as he recalled this person.

"Besides attending quite a few auditions at Tianyu Pictures, I’ve only seen Director Shen from afar and never interacted with him personally."

"Where would I get the chance to offend Director Shen?" Lin Haoren honestly felt at a loss.

Since Director Fang brought up the topic, there must be a reason behind it.

Could Director Shen be the reason why he could never land a role, despite his countless auditions, and not due to his lack of ability?

Was he actually blacklisted?

But why?

How?

"Not Director Shen?" Fang Lihua frowned in thought.

She suspected that even if Lin Haoren didn’t offend Director Shen, he might have offended someone related to him.

Otherwise, Director Shen had no reason to ruin a nameless actor’s career before it could even take off.

"Can you think of any other instances where you might have offended someone? Perhaps during your studying years at Jinhai Academy of Drama?" Fang Lihua pressed.

"During my studying years?" Lin Haoren muttered with a wry expression and said, "That seems even more impossible, Director Fang."

"I was so inconspicuous at Jinhai Academy of Drama due to my small presence. My classmates might have even forgotten I existed."

"I’ve never sought trouble, nor have others troubled me either. No one ever paid attention to me at all," Lin Haoren said.

Fang Lihua was even more confused after hearing this.

"Are you sure about that?" Fang Lihua asked, adding, "Otherwise, you’re telling me that someone just didn’t like the look of you and troubled Director Shen to blacklist you?"

"I have really been blacklisted by Director Shen?" Lin Haoren confirmed with a dumbfounded look.

"See for yourself," Fang Lihua passed Lin Haoren’s portfolio to him.

When Lin Haoren reached the industry remark section, he was even more astonished after reading Director Shen’s damaging remark.

He has never interacted with this person.

Why did Director Shen try to ruin him? Just how did he offend this person?

Wait...

Director Shen of Tianyu Pictures... Was this person related to Shen Beichen? Did he act on behalf of Shen Beichen?

But before today, he hadn’t interacted with Shen Beichen either!

What the hell, man!

What’s going on?

Lin Haoren tried asking the system through the Query function, but it was such a low-level question that the system disdained answering.

Query only answered interstellar-level questions.

Seriously...

Hm?

Although Shen Beichen was two years his senior, he also seemed to be a graduate of Jinhai Academy of Drama.

Could it be true?

Shen Beichen didn’t like the look of him then and asked Director Shen to blacklist him back then, cutting off his career path?

What the hell, man?

Lin Haoren felt angry, but there was nothing he could do about this hidden blacklisting with his current capabilities.

As long as it existed, no one was willing to offend Director Shen to hire him as an actor.

After all, Tianyu Pictures was a subsidiary of Tianyu Entertainment Group, and the chairman of this giant entity was also surnamed Shen.

Fortunately, he didn’t remain stubborn in securing an acting role and used a workaround plan to enter the industry.

He didn’t have high hopes of securing a role in A Thousand Lifetimes With You.

Simply establishing a connection with the renowned figures in the Film Crew, like Fang Lihua, was already a major gain.

Fang Lihua’s directing experience wasn’t necessarily worse than Director Guo’s.

She has just been too comfortable as an Assistant Director under Director Guo and didn’t have any representative works she could call her own.

However, it was also precisely because Fang Lihua had worked with Director Guo for so many years that Lin Haoren believed her skills weren’t necessarily inferior.

She only lacked confidence and an opportunity, not experience.

That said, if given a chance, Lin Haoren absolutely preferred getting acquainted with Director Guo, who has won the Best Director Award for three consecutive years.

Besides Director Guo, Xu Minghao, the Director of Photography, and Luo Zhen, the Action Director, were also renowned figures with multiple awards.

They were all great people with solid backgrounds and characters.

Lin Haoren had wanted to work with such people for a long time. Unfortunately, he never had the opportunity. Simply visiting the film set was enough to satisfy one of his wishes.

Buzz!

Suddenly, Lin Haoren felt his phone vibrate. It was a text message left by his Smart Assistant AI Lumi.

Lumi: Master, I sensed Xeraphi’s AI accessing Xinghai Film City’s network. Don’t worry, Master. I managed to retreat before my existence was discovered.

What?

Lin Haoren was shocked after receiving the news from his adorable AI.

Xeraphi’s AI was truly a Sword of Damocles hanging over everyone’s head. He didn’t know why it decided to visit the local network, but it couldn’t be good news.

Was it because the cyber attack on Xinghai Film City failed?

Did it come to investigate?

Although Lin Haoren figured this was likely the case, he couldn’t be certain whether Xeraphi’s AI would do anything else besides investigation.

The uncertainty gnawed at his heart, making him restless and uncomfortable.

However, he was fortunate enough to have x3 Daily Intelligence.

’Please give me what I want to know!’ Lin Haoren silently prayed before using the first Daily Intelligence.

Ding!

[Daily Intelligence: Today, at 2:46 PM, Xinghai Film City, Tianhe Historical District, Yunxi Village Area, the motorized wire rig will malfunction, causing Qin Feng to plummet head-first and break his neck.]

Lin Haoren instantly cursed Xeraphi’s AI with hundreds of crude words, a mix of Mandarin and broken English, in his mind.

What he feared was going to happen!

Checking the time, it was 2:43 PM!