488 I've Been Waiting for Her for So Long

Lu Man turned towards the source of the sound and called out in surprise, "Teacher Ji <anno data-annotation-id="1ab3fba8-50ae-4493-866a-db3d70a244ce">Cheng!"</anno>

Ji Cheng walked over and shook Lu Man's hand. "Hello, Lu Man."

"Teacher Ji Cheng, it's a pleasure to meet you. I didn't think that you would come down personally to meet us," Lu Man said in surprise.

"Haha," Ji Cheng laughed. "You have helped me out a great deal. Otherwise, this dream of mine would probably have been crushed. You rushed down here in a hurry, so of course, I will have to personally come and fetch you, and also to let Mr. Han and Brother Sun rest assured."

As Ji Cheng spoke, the assistant he brought along took the luggage from Lu Man and her people.

"It's alright, we can carry them on our own," Lu Man hurriedly declined.

"Please don't stand on ceremony with me." Ji Cheng smiled politely.

Hence, Lu Man didn't continue to refuse.

"Let's head to the hotel first. We've been shooting for half a day today. In the afternoon, the scriptwriters and I will walk you through your scenes. We'll officially start shooting tomorrow, is that alright?" Ji Cheng said after that got into the car.

"Sure."

When they reached the hotel, Ji Cheng let the three of them settle in. After they had some rest, he came over with the scriptwriters at 3 in the afternoon.

Earlier, on their way to the hotel, Ji Cheng informed Lu Man that they would be filming in the suburbs of Xihai, there they had built a temporary set for the film.

Since there were no hotels in the suburbs, they would have to travel between the main city and the suburbs every day.

The shooting conditions were a little harder for this film, but Lu Man didn't really mind.

At around 3 p.m, Ji Cheng brought three scriptwriters along with him.

Just as they were talking about the script, Ji Cheng's cell phone rang.

When he took a look at the caller, Ji Cheng was gleeful and didn't hurry to pick it up. Instead, he said to Lu Man, "It's a call from Lu Qi."

Lu Man instantly understood. "She's probably asking you about the pay from the film. Thinking about how many days it has been, it's about time now."

Ji Cheng rubbed his hands. "I've been waiting for this for so long!"

Hu Zhonghui: "…"

He Mengmeng: "…"

The three scriptwriters: "…"

Ji Cheng was really holding it back so hard!

After composing himself, Ji Cheng answered the call. "Hello."

"Hello Director Ji," Lu Qi greeted, "I'm Lu Qi."

"Oh, Lu Qi, hi." After Ji Cheng greeted her, he didn't say anything else.

Lu Qi refused to believe that Ji Cheng didn't know the reason for the call. How dare he still play dumb in front of her!

Thus, Lu Qi simply decided to be straightforward and confront him. "Regarding the problem, I've already discussed with you about the pay for the film, have you been thinking about it? You must be waiting urgently to start shooting your movie, right? The earlier we settle this, the earlier I can join the crew."

Ji Cheng held onto his phone and scoffed sarcastically. Even until now, she was still dreaming of a pay hike and joining the crew?

Wasn't she just threatening him with her words?

How shameless!

"Yes, I haven't started filming yet. The entire crew is still waiting for the female lead. Truth be told, I really couldn't find anyone else. I was really happy and earnest when I found you. However, your requested pay of 3 million yuan is really too much. You can't compare it to your pay when you're filming a drama. A female celebrity that earns around 100,000 per episode would only earn about 2 million yuan for a movie too. Based on what I know, you don't even earn 100,000 yuan per episode, right?"

Let alone 100,000 yuan, she wasn't even earning 10,000 yuan.

"Moreover, my budget really can't handle it, I've already put the funds that I can move onto the production," Ji Cheng said in remorseful, helpless tone, "Miss Lu, I did genuinely and sincerely invite you. How about this, why don't we settle your pay at 1.5 million yuan then? This is already the highest pay an A-list budding starlet would earn when they switch to filming a movie."

The corner of Lu Qi's mouth curled up in glee and delight. Originally, Xia Qingyang had just randomly asked for 3 million yuan.

Even at the peak of career, she wouldn't even earn this amount.

Even back then, it was already a lot for her to have a pay of one million yuan, let alone this amount.

Although Ji Cheng had already halved her requested pay, it was already much more than what she had expected.

<annotations style="display: none;"><ol class="tinymce-annotation-container"><li data-annotation-id="1ab3fba8-50ae-4493-866a-db3d70a244ce">In China, some people are referred to as "Teachers" even though it might not be their actual profession as a form of respect because they are very experienced.</li></ol></annotations>",