Chapter 48: Supermodel and Little Actor

  Just as Zhang Zilin returned the phone to He Mu, he wanted to settle the bill and leave. However, after touching the money in his pocket and looking at the various famous wines that had been swept away by him, He Mu finally felt a sense of "drunkenness".

  In front of him, there were only two options: either drink the expensive wine or ask someone to send money. Just as he was weighing the pros and cons of these two options, He Mu glanced at Zhang Zilin beside him. After being carefully taught by Dolly, He Mu had a certain understanding of clothing brands. With just one glance, he judged that this beautiful woman came from a wealthy family, had excellent taste, and was an ideal candidate to be deceived. That's why the previous scene happened. As for betting with the bartender, it was completely nonsense, his goal was to make the bartender mistakenly think they were in a romantic relationship.

  After Zhang Zilin and her sisters had enough fun, they were about to leave. As the eldest sister and a well-known young rich woman, it was natural for Zhang Zilin to pay the bill. Just as she was paying, the bartender brought over He Mu's bill and looked up at Zhang Zilin, saying: "Miss, would you mind taking care of this bill too?"

  "What makes you think we should buy?" Lao San jumped out and questioned.

  The bartender explained to Lao San: "That drunk gentleman is this lady's boyfriend, he has no ability to pay the bill now, so let this lady pay."

  "Sister, isn't it? You've confirmed your relationship so quickly, this is your first love, right? What's his name?" Laosi exclaimed.

  Zhang Zilin got a headache, and judging from their performance just now, the bartender must have been convinced of her relationship with that handsome guy. But that handsome guy was drunk and couldn't explain himself clearly. "Forget it, forget it, I'll pay for the bill, and I'll explain to you guys when we get back." Earlier, she hadn't told her sisters the truth, only saying that she had captivated the man with her irresistible charm, causing him to hand over his phone number voluntarily. But now, it seemed that bragging wasn't as easy as it sounded.

  "8,888!" Zhang Zilin was shocked when she saw the bill. The four sisters had only spent a few hundred, but that guy alone had drunk so much, no wonder he passed out, serves him right!

  "Old Big Brother, why is your face twitching?" asked Old Fourth.

  "Is it because there's not enough money?" asked Lao Er.

  "Unless we pool our resources," said Lao San.

  Zhang Zilin waved his hand and took out a card: "Swipe your card." She agreed, after all, she had his phone number, and he wouldn't dare to welch on the bill.

  After settling the bill, Zhang Zilin and others were ready to leave.

  "Miss, isn't it a bit bad to leave your boyfriend here? Although we are open all night, this place is crowded and mixed with all kinds of people. It's not very safe for him to be drunk." The bartender reminded warmly.

  Consider it a debt I owe him! Zhang Zilin helplessly said to his sisters, "You all go back first, I'll take a look at his phonebook and call his friends to come pick him up."

  He Mu's body was full of the smell of wine, and it was a mix. Although his head was still relatively clear, his stomach had already turned upside down. When Zhang Zilin's slender figure with a faint fragrance approached He Mu and one hand reached into his pants pocket to search, He Mu suddenly jumped up and rushed into the bathroom.

  Dad said that men should learn to endure, but Grandpa also said that a real man endures no more, doesn't need to endure anymore. This time he listened to Grandpa, in the bathroom He Mian vomited profusely, his face turned white. However, after vomiting, he felt much more comfortable, feeling light and easy, walking out of the bathroom with a light step, He Mian first saw Zhang Zilin, couldn't help it, too dazzling.

  "Are you okay?" asked Zhang Zilin who stood up from behind the counter.

  He Mu glanced at her and found that she was almost as tall as him, maybe even a little taller, and the woman was wearing flat shoes. "It's okay, let's go, we'll settle the score later."

  Settling accounts? Zhang Zilin looked at He Mu with suspicion, had he already known that he helped him pay the bill?

  As soon as they left the bar, a gentle breeze blew, and He Mu instantly recovered to full health. He looked at the beautiful woman beside him: "Thanks for earlier, not only did you help me pay the bill, but also took care of me when I was drunk. It's hard to find someone as kind as you now, so how much do I owe you?"

  "You all know, right? Aren't you drunk?" Zhang Zilin asked two questions in a row.

  He Mu rubbed his head with some embarrassment: "If I said I was pretending, would you be angry with me?"

  Zhang Zilin nodded, she didn't like being deceived by friends, but it seemed that this man wasn't quite her friend.

  "Sorry, I had a reason. The money I brought with me was not enough, so to get out of the situation smoothly, I had to drag you down," He Mian said frankly. "From the moment you called me 'husband', you were already in my trap. Honestly, at that time I was quite pleased with myself. But please believe me, I didn't have any malicious intentions. I'll return the money to you sometime."

  "How can you cheat others and still be so calm," Zhang Zilin didn't get angry, but was instead amused by He Mu's confidence, and couldn't help but laugh. It wasn't until they left the dimly lit bar that Zhang Zilin noticed how young He Mu looked, probably not very old, but spoke with a mature and experienced tone, "What do you do for work?"

  "He Mu proudly said: 'Actually, I am an actor, He Mu, Mu of Shui Mu, nice to meet you.'"

  Facing He Mu's solemnly extended right hand, Zhang Zilin lightly shook hands with him, "Actually, I'm a model, Zhang Zilin. Didn't expect to see that you're not very old, yet an acting talent."

  "As I expected, with your height advantage, it's a pity if you don't become a model." He Mu said seriously.

  Zhang Zilin smiled: "Don't change the subject, say it, when will you return my money, a total of 8,700, I don't know how you can drink so much."

  "It was you who asked about my job first," He Mu muttered under his breath, "I didn't expect to drink so much, I temporarily can't afford such a high debt, can you give me a few more days?"

  "Do you think I should believe you?" Zhang Zilin, who was usually kind to others, rarely wanted to make things difficult for this little guy. "Aren't you an actor? How can you not even take out this small amount of money?"

  "Sister, you're a model, so you should also know the huge difference in salary between top models and ordinary models. It's not hard to imagine that in this industry, there are those who are wealthy and noble, but also people like me who can't even afford three meals a day. I'm not pretending to be poor, I'm really poor!" He Mu vented his frustrations, thinking that after receiving the payment for "Soldiers Sortie", he must learn how to manage his finances and never waste money again.

  This Zhang Zilin deeply resonates with, when she first started looking for work and walking shows, one show would come down to a labor fee of only one or two hundred yuan. Later, after signing with Li Xiaobai's Xin Silk Road, Zhang Zilin began to stand out and gradually became the most popular new model in the country, with a salary second only to that of top domestic female models. So Zhang Zilin can very much understand the difficulties of He Mu's life as a small actor who has not yet made a name for himself, in her imagination, He Mu is that kind of person who learned some acting skills but spends his days hanging around drama crews hoping to get the director's favor but to no avail.

  "Never mind, you can pay me back when you have money. You have my number in your phone and I know yours too, don't think about welching on the debt! With Zhang Zilin's current status in the modeling circle, she doesn't care much about this small amount of money. However, if she gets cheated by He Mu, she will be very angry. After all, they are acquaintances now. Being cheated by a stranger is one thing, but being deceived by a friend would make her very unhappy. Unbeknownst to herself, Zhang Zilin has already considered He Mu as a friend."

  He Mu liked to make friends with people who were straightforward, and Zhang Zilin was a straightforward person, very much to He Mu's liking. "Don't worry, I've never welched on a debt in my life," he said. "From now on, I'll call you every day to make sure I don't forget about the money I owe you. If there's ever a time when I stop calling, you can pretty much go to the police to solve the problem."

  Zhang Zilin smiled and said it wasn't necessary to go through so much trouble, but He Mu was very insistent. Zhang Zilin had no choice but to go along with him. Unexpectedly, as soon as they arrived at the dormitory, He Mu called her, making all the girls in the dormitory giggle. When she told them about the process of getting his phone number and their conversation on the way back, Lao Er said with a confident expression: "Sister, you've hit the jackpot! That handsome guy must be interested in pursuing you! I used to think that borrowing books was a good way to chase girls, but it turns out that borrowing money is also effective!"

  Was He Mu really going to pursue this female model who looked even taller than him? He didn't know, but one thing was for sure: the next day he received over 20,000 yuan from the company as his talent fee, but he still hadn't returned it to Zhang Zilin.

  The next morning after drinking, He Mu used millet porridge to nourish his injured stomach. He had planned to sleep in for half a day, but Xiao Fang called him with a phone call and asked him to come to the company.

  "Director Xiao, what can I do for you?" He Mu asked seriously, as there were also Deputy Director Zong Lei and several high-level executives in Director Xiao's office.

  Xiao Fang put down his work and laughed: "I heard that you are now so poor that you can't even afford to pay your mobile phone bill?"

  "No, that's a rumor." He Mu denied it firmly. Last night, he ran to several places and finally paid the phone bill. In order to test whether the call can be made, he also dialed Zhang Zilin's phone number by the way.

  "Shut up, Mi Min has already told me about your misbehavior," Xiao Fang waved his hand, "You have time to check your card, I've already asked the finance department to pay you the salary for 'Soldier Assault' in advance, so that people won't think our company, Hu Lang, mistreats its employees."

  "Thank you, Director Xiao, I'll take my leave then."

  "Wait, there's something else I want to tell you," Xiao Fang called out to He Wu, "Uh, tomorrow you'll still be undergoing training, I think it would be better if you used this money to buy some nutritional supplements for yourself, don't neglect your own well-being."

  What does this mean? Why did He Mu see an emotion called "Schadenfreude" in Xiao Fang's eyes, was it just an illusion?

  After He Mu went out, Xiao Fang's face turned serious and asked Zong Lei: "What did Zhang Jiming say?"

  He said he liked the popular young actor Ren Quan to play Kangxi. Zong Lei said that Zhang Jizhong did not call Xiao Fang, but instead passed on the message through him as the deputy general manager, "He said he could let He Mu play Zheng Kesha, this is the biggest concession, after all He Mu doesn't have much fame yet."

  "Never mind, you all go out first, Jian Jie pay more attention to 'Soldier Assault'...". Xiao Fang pointed a few more names and instructed them on the company's next focus.

  After all the employees left, Xiao Fang turned around with a somewhat desolate expression. "The old guys are starting to lose face!" He sighed and his eyes fell on a book, which was the one given by He Muo. He had never had time to read it, so he picked it up casually...