Chapter 59: Gratitude for Past Assistance

The wall clock in the office pointed to eleven o'clock. Jiang Ye tucked his phone into his pocket, giving the screen a final tap with his fingertip.

The three WeChat messages sent to Chen Duling still remained in the "delivered" state, without even a grey "typing" indicator popping up.

He frowned, pulled back his chair, and stood up.

What's going on with Dudu? Why isn't she replying to my messages?

Feeling a bit uneasy, he planned to head over to the hotel to check on her...

As the high-speed train pulled away from the platform, Chen Duling switched her phone to airplane mode. The constant stream of messages from a certain someone was getting a bit annoying...

The scenery outside the window drifted backward, mirroring her chaotic state of mind at the moment.

When she woke up at seven in the morning and scrolled through her phone, the overwhelming flood of news almost made her swallow her mouthwash.

"Go Princess, Go breaks streaming record"
"Director Jiang Ye's talent recognized by the industry"

......What is going on?

Wasn't this person just looking utterly depressed yesterday, saying he was in a bad mood and might bomb again?

Chen Duling bit her lip, her cheeks burning hot as she recalled how she had rushed over from thousands of miles away last night.

"Jerk..." she muttered under her breath, yet she couldn't help recalling their hands intertwined while watching the movie last night.

This contradictory feeling of being both angry and sweet made her even more irritable!

Escape. She had to escape.

As the high-speed train approached the Nanjing Station, Chen Duling stared at the black screen of her phone, pressing her fingers against it repeatedly.

In the end, she couldn't resist and turned off airplane mode.

The moment the signal restored, Jiang Ye's messages flooded in.

"Where are you?"
"No one is at the hotel. Where did you go?"
"Reply to me when you see this!"

She took a deep breath, her fingertips typing furiously: "Something came up at school. I'm back."

The prompt for successful transmission popped up. Staring at that line of text, the irritation in her heart flared up again.

After deleting, rewriting, and editing, she sent another one.

"Don't contact me anymore unless it's necessary!"

The moment she pressed the send button, she tapped on his profile picture.

She changed his contact nickname to a pig's head, which finally made her feel a bit better...

Tucking her phone back into her pocket, Chen Duling gazed at the familiar street view outside the window, the corners of her mouth twitching downward uncontrollably.

Whatever, anyway...

If he really dared not to contact her, she had her own ways of dealing with him.

...

Receiving Chen Duling's text message, Jiang Ye finally understood that this girl was angry!

But there was nothing he could do right now. He would just slowly coax her later...

He still had serious business to attend to...

After spending the entire afternoon carrying large and small bags through the school gates, he heard a few muffled screams from not far away.

"Look quickly! It's Junior Jiang Ye!"
"Oh my god, it really is him! The director of Go Princess, Go!"

A few acting department girls hid behind the wutong trees, stealing glances and whispering excitedly to each other, their eyes shining as if they had discovered some rare animal.

Jiang Ye pretended not to notice, lowered his head, and walked quickly toward the teaching building, only to be stopped after just a few steps.

"Director Jiang!" A girl with a high ponytail directly blocked his path, her smile blindingly bright. "I'm Lin Feifei from the acting department's class of '12, and I'm a huge fan of yours! Can I add you on WeChat? We have a short film assignment and would love to ask for your advice!"

Three or four other girls followed closely behind her, every single one of them with gleaming eyes, their phone QR codes already pulled up, just waiting for him to scan.

Before Jiang Ye could open his mouth, another male student squeezed in from the side: "Junior! I'm from the directing department! The metaphor with the durian prop in your show was absolute genius! Can you tell us about your creative thought process?"

It took Jiang Ye an immense amount of effort to break free from the enthusiastic encirclement.

Those burning, adoring gazes and extravagant flattery were nothing more than a passing breeze to his ears.

He didn't care about these things at all!

Jiang Ye's pettiness depended on the person; toward those who had wronged him, he would retaliate fiercely.

His stinginess while shooting before was purely because he had no money; to get the show made, he had simply had to grind away shamelessly.

Now that he had made money, he wouldn't be ambiguous when it was time to show appreciation.

After all, when it comes to money, you have to give some to get some.

Certain resources and personal favors were far more precious than money anyway.

The first office door he knocked on was that of Department Head Wang Xi.

Wang Xi was grading documents when a sudden fragrance of tea wafted over.

Looking up, he saw Jiang Ye holding a carved wooden box, standing at the door: "Teacher, Dahongpao tea from Wuyishan. I heard this is your favorite."

"Nonsense!" Wang Xi put on a stern face, though the corners of his eyes crinkled with smile lines. "Take it back! Don't you know the rules of the department?"

Jiang Ye had been prepared, pulling out a receipt: "It's nothing expensive, just two cans of tea. The receipt is right here, 298 yuan. It's quite cheap!"

"Besides, the success of a student's show is also thanks to the teacher's support..."

Wang Xi was amused. Did Jiang Ye really think he couldn't tell quality?

However, he didn't expose him, simply pulling a stack of documents from the drawer: "The show's results are good, but don't get arrogant!"

"Beijing Film Academy has an Outstanding Student Creation Award every year, specially established for students with prominent works produced during their school years."

"Your Go Princess, Go meets the criteria in both viewership numbers and word-of-mouth. I've already filled out the recommendation form for you. This is the official application form—fill it out and submit it tomorrow."

Jiang Ye's eyes lit up: "Thank you, Teacher!"

...

When Professor Hou opened the door, his reading glasses were still perched on the bridge of his nose.

Jiang Ye handed over a beautifully packaged book box: "The original edition of Film Language that you've been talking about for years. I asked a friend to bring it over from France."

"You brat!" Professor Hou snatched it away, flipped open the cover, and couldn't tear his eyes away. "How many years has this edition been out of print..."

Yet, he suddenly looked up alertly, "Don't think this means you can skip classes!"

Jiang Ye smiled and said, "Rest assured, Teacher, I've completed all the notes for the classes I missed."

...

Equipment Room

Old Zhang was tallying up equipment when a bulging cloth bag was suddenly shoved into his arms.

"What on earth is this?" Opening it up, he found two packs of Zhonghua cigarettes.

Watching Jiang Ye's receding figure in the distance, he smiled happily, "This brat..."

There was also Professor Li Mei who lent out costumes. In short, everyone who had helped him received a gift, leaving none out.

Even the students who had previously helped out were each given a supermarket shopping card worth 1,000 yuan.

As for Tian Zhuangzhuang's share, Jiang Ye planned to deliver it to his home tonight and familiarize himself with the location along the way...

That left only the last person!

Jiang Ye stood downstairs at the acting department building, holding a dark blue velvet gift box in his hands.

He deliberately waited until the class-ending bell rang before walking slowly toward Rehearsal Hall No. 3, where Meng Ziyi usually practiced her routines.

Pushing open the door, she was practicing her posture in front of the mirror, wearing a high ponytail with a bare face, sweat droplets rolling down her jawline into the collar of her practice uniform. Her voice reciting lines was crisp and full of energy.

Hearing the commotion, she turned her head. The moment she saw Jiang Ye, the water-sleeve in her hand dropped to the floor with a soft slap: "A-Ye? Why are you here?"

"I'm here to pay off a debt." Jiang Ye smiled as he walked closer, handing over the gift box. "Open it and see."

Meng Ziyi untied the ribbon doubtfully, and the moment she lifted the lid, she gasped softly.

The gift box was lined with dark red velvet, resting inside a silver hair comb adorned with tiny pearls between the teeth. The most exquisite part was the back of the comb.

Tiny diamonds formed the shape of a butterfly spreading its wings, with a tiny seal-script character for "Meng" carved onto the wing, only visible upon close inspection.

Jiang Ye had arranged for this to be custom-made a long time ago...

No matter what, this silly girl had provided the greatest help to his production!

Some things didn't need much explanation for a man.

Since she chose to break into the entertainment industry, helping her secure more resources in the future would be much more practical than any flowery words!

Originally, Jiang Ye had planned to give this gift when he returned the money, but yesterday's Christmas gift had been used in an emergency, after all...

Before Jiang Ye could say anything more, Meng Ziyi suddenly took a step forward, stood on tiptoe, and planted a quick kiss on his cheek.

"Thank you, A-Ye. I love it!"