743 Contract and Commission (1/2)

Following Zian's way down south, the remote and quiet seaside town was gradually left behind.

It was hard to avoid yearning for the pastoral life when one lived in a big city. While it would always be good to experience the pastoral lifestyle for a short period, the inconveniences of the pastoral lifestyle would be magnified during a longer experience.

It was the same for Zhang Zian. Living in a seaside villa was really comfortable, but it was also too quiet and inconvenient; a drive down to the supermarket would take him an hour, which had him miss the liveliness and convenience of the big city.

Zian was aware that he was a laity––he was unable to be a master who lived in seclusion.

After he got up that morning, Zian received a message from Feng Xuan, urging him to return to Berlin as soon as possible. He urged him to attend the film festival's closing ceremony awards ceremony that would be held later that night. Even if there was bad chemistry within the film crew, it was, at the very least, necessary to maintain harmony within the crew in order to avoid unfounded speculations made by the reporters.

Even if Feng Xuan did not mention anything, Zhang Zian was still going to rush back. After attending the closing ceremony, he would have to catch an overnight plane and return to Binhai City the night after––back to his cozy home.

Everything was alright in the pet shop, though.

According to Lu Yiyun, the number of customers had increased in the past few days. Even the aunties in the neighborhood committee had caught wind of the news and came forward to give their cordial regards to Zhang Zian. They had also generously proposed to reduce the health and management fees for the year after, obscurely reminding Zhang Zian to be sure to mention during the interview that he was able to achieve today's results with the support of the neighborhood committee…

Invitations for business partnerships were also coming in quick succession. For example, a certain brand of dog food wanted to invite Famous to advertise their brand. However, the reputation of the brand had always been bad and the amount of money offered was also not that high, so after Zhang Zian and Famous had a discussion, they decided to turn down the offer.

Commercial advertisements were all exclusive. For example, if one accepted the position as the endorser for Red Cola, they could no longer endorse for Blue Cola. Therefore, Zhang Zian was very cautious about the choice of dog food advertisements. He would rather refuse to take on any offer than endorse a product with problems.

Zian has been conversing with Pi daily. Their exchange timings were once in the morning and once during the night––after all, there was a time difference. Pi was also safe and sound, typing, reading books, exercising its body, sleeping. It had a disciplined lifestyle.

After a few hours of traveling, Zian arrived to Berlin at noon.

He first made a detour to Reina's pet shop and handed her the things Karl had entrusted him with; he then briefly mentioned his interactions with Karl over the past few days before he bid his farewell.

He randomly picked a restaurant outside to fill his stomach, before he headed back to the hotel where the crew stayed and happened to meet Feng Xuan who was sending off a guest.

”Xiao Zhang, you're back! How was it relaxing by the beach? You look full of vim and vigor, so I guess it must have been great?”

Feng Xuan observed Zian's face. All along, he had thought that Zhang Zian took the time off just to relax and have some fun.

”It was indeed pretty nice. Director Feng, you don't look so good… Are you tired?” Zhang Zian asked.

Feng Xuan sighed. ”Cough. Don't mention it. I've been busy the past few days. Several scripts have been handed to me and some were through connections, so I had to take a look at them out of courtesy. There wasn't even one that I was satisfied with, though… I should have taken the time off and went to the beach with you.”

Although he was sighing, Zian could still see the little pride and relief between his brows. If he hadn't of gotten famous, who would remember a second or third-tier director who had not been active for a very long time?