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Gerald just stood there behind Lance. He looked at the male supporting actors who were slowly walking towards Lance, a smile appearing on his face.

The female lead walked to his side, pulled his hand, and looked at him with some worry.

Her voice was very low, “Who are they?”

He glanced at Lance’s back and turned slightly, “This is my elder brother. He will stand up for me.”

The female lead still seemed a little worried, pursing her lips without speaking.

During this time, everyone could feel that these male actors were ostracizing Gerald because he was very handsome and had also become the first male supporting actor.

In fact, the female lead had also heard some gossip. Someone wanted to sleep with Gerald, but Gerald refused, so they became somewhat angry out of shame and had these people unite to teach Gerald a lesson.

They wanted to use this method to tell Gerald that if he wanted to complete this movie smoothly, the best way was to listen to them.

The film industry itself was monopolized by a few production companies. Although there were also many small filming companies, overall, those big box-office movies often came from those few film companies.

They had a lot of say in this industry, especially certain capitalists who often appeared on the big screen.

That guy was not a good man!

They were used to playing the role of the lower class in movies to please the public, but in their actual work, they were definitely qualified capitalists.

They knew how to exploit and oppress those workers; they only showed the side they wanted to show.

Although this industry was still in its early stages of development, it was already as “dirty” as the opera field.

For some large-scale operas, the kind with famous opera actors, if you wanted to play a role in them, you often had to pay a very high price.

They never selected actors based on whether you had outstanding acting skills, but based on how much you were willing to give up, or whether you had any power behind you.

“White lotuses” like Shayna were extremely rare. If it weren’t for her uncle’s influence in the opera field and his connections in Congress.

She would most likely have been used by many people for the role she was currently playing, even used together.

The female lead was very worried about Gerald. He was clearly very talented and good-looking, but his acting career seemed to be coming to an end here.

This made her very sad, although she was also one of the victims.

The producer at this time was staring dumbfounded at the male lead lying on the ground, too weak to even scream. Looking at the gash on his face pulled by the tip of a leather shoe, his entire face turned a little pale.

Even though Hiram’s gun was pointed at his head, he showed an extremely complex expression with a slight hint of schadenfreude, “You’ve caused trouble!”

Lance turned his head and glanced at him, “Who caused trouble?”

The producer seemed to have gained some courage from somewhere, and his voice became a little louder, “I don’t know what your name is, but you, and these friends of yours, including Gerald, you have all caused trouble!”

“He is an actor the company is very optimistic about. We just signed a big contract, and there’s a big shot who likes him very much!”

“The wound on his face will leave a scar. You’ve offended many people, understand?”

“You’ve caused trouble!”

Even if the wound on the male lead’s face healed, it would definitely leave a scar. Who the hell would like a male lead with a scar on his face?

Perhaps if he got a scar after becoming famous, it would make people think he was very manly, but when people didn’t really know him yet, a scar on his face would only make people think he was disgusting.

Lance shook his head and looked at Hiram, “Make him smarter!”

The producer still didn’t know what this sentence meant when Hiram hit him hard on the head with the butt of his gun!

He immediately felt a piercing pain, his head was a little dizzy, and a warm stream flowed down his forehead.

He raised his hand to wipe it, and the crimson color made him a little frantic.

He seemed unable to stand steady, leaning on the director’s chair and slumping to the ground, his face deathly pale, “I’m bleeding, call an ambulance, quick, I’m going to die!”

Hiram looked at the producer like this. He suddenly had an indescribable thought. He put the gun back into its holster, walked over, and raised his foot.

He kicked hard while shouting—

“Bleeding?”

“Ambulance?”

“Going to die?”

“F—k!”

Lance smiled and turned his head to look at the several male supporting actors who had walked over, “I don’t know why you bullied my brother, but now, it’s time for you to pay the price.”

He turned his head to look at Gerald, “How do you want to punish them?”

Gerald looked at these few supporting actors, the satisfaction in his eyes flashing by, but soon he also started to rack his brains on how to deal with these people.

Gerald was not a particularly ruthless person, otherwise his ass would not have been in danger on the ship.

In the end, he still cast a pleading look at Lance. Lance gave them a chance.

“If you can get Gerald’s forgiveness, I will let you go. Otherwise, I will have someone break your legs.”

As he spoke, he took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and beckoned to the director.

The director was introduced by Alberto, so Lance wouldn’t make things difficult for him, but the director might not have realized this. “I haven’t hurt Gerald.”

Gerald also quickly added, “Yes, the director is actually quite nice to me.”

Lance spread his hands, “Come on, do I look like such an unreasonable person?”

“Come over, director, let’s talk about this movie.”

The director bit the bullet and walked over. Lance gave him a cigarette, and the two of them talked right next to the filming set. Although everything here seemed very comical, no one was sure if this was actually filming, or if it was a scene from the plot.

“How much was invested in this movie?”

The director held Lance’s cigarette, not knowing whether to light it or not, but soon the flame in Lance’s hand left him with not many choices.

“The total investment is about one hundred thousand dollars, Mr. Lance.”

“You know me.” Lance shook the match a few times. After confirming the flame was out, he threw it on the ground.

The director nodded, “Mr. Alberto said that you were the one who introduced Gerald.”

“But he was bullied here.” Lance looked at him as if questioning him.

The director was also very helpless, “I’m just an employee, and their bullying him was decided by the boss. I can’t change anything.”

Lance could be considered to agree with his statement, “This movie most likely can’t be finished.”

“But I don’t want Gerald’s first movie to fail like this. I plan to invest to let you finish filming it.”

“But I have one condition: Gerald must be the male lead.”

The director was originally very depressed. The male lead’s face was ruined, the producer was beaten, and the male supporting actors had also lost all their face.

No need to even think, not even waiting for tomorrow, they would leave here overnight. This movie was screwed!

He didn’t care about the dirty dealings and conflicts between the production company and Lance’s group after it was screwed. What he cared about was that his job was also screwed.

If he wanted to find such a good job again, it definitely wouldn’t be easy.

Sometimes, if you are one step slow, you will be slow every step of the way.

By the time he went to raise investment again, prepare for filming, and they were able to start shooting, maybe others’ first sound films would already be playing.

This one step ahead was like the first snowball thrown from the top of a mountain. It would continuously gather more snow as it rolled down the mountain, forming a huge behemoth!

It would be very difficult for latecomers to catch up with the first snowball in terms of scale.

Now many people were starting to shoot sound films because everyone realized that this would be an important reshuffle in the film industry!

Just when he was very desperate, after Lance pushed him into the abyss, he pulled him out of the abyss again.

“Are you sure?” The director seemed a little excited. “This is a hundred thousand dollars.”

“It’s only a hundred thousand!”

“What I care more about is, if we reshoot, how much time do you need?”

“We probably need to find some new actors and so on. Do you have a way for that?”

“Of course!” The director was too excited to speak. “Mr. Lance, the streets are full of young boys and girls who are eager to become stars. I guarantee that everything will quickly get back on track…”

He took a step closer. He originally wanted to get even closer, but he met Lance’s gaze, so he only took one step.

“There are countless girls who are willing to climb into your bed to become a star, Mr. Lance.”

“As long as you are willing, they will start queuing outside your room door from tonight…”

Lance smiled and shook his head, “I don’t like to force or threaten others, and I also don’t want unsuitable people to join our plan in this way.”

“I’m looking for you because of my relationship with Alberto, and on the other hand, I believe you can make money for me.”

“You can take the money I give you to find prostitutes. The phone book has their numbers in addition to the genetic material of homeless people.”

“But I don’t want you to choose an unsuitable role because you can’t control your d—k. Do you understand what I mean?”

“I’m not those big companies. If you cause them losses, they can only pinch their noses and accept it.”

“If because of you, my investment fails, either Angel Lake or the East Ocean will become your home!”

The director wiped the non-existent sweat on his forehead, “Mr. Lance, no one can guarantee that a movie will definitely make money.”

Lance agreed with his point of view, “But at least I want to see that you are all working hard, right?”

The director hesitated for a long while and finally made up his mind, “I accept this job…”

As they were speaking, the male supporting actors had already obtained Gerald’s forgiveness. Just as Lance had guessed, he was not a ruthless person.

So when these people knelt on the ground, crying and telling how they were actually coerced, and slapped themselves a few times, crying and repenting, Gerald forgave them.

It seemed like they were let off lightly, but there were many staff members from this industry on site. What happened here today would spread.

Those film crews would most likely not hire these actors anymore to avoid trouble.

After all, they were just filmmakers, not a gang!

In other words, unless their skills were particularly good, they were most likely finished in this industry.

Lance patted the director’s arm, “You go and sort all this out. I’ll be here for two days.”

The group got into the car and left quickly. However, this matter did not end immediately, because after Lance and his group left, the producer suddenly got up from the ground, rushed out to find a phone booth, and then dialed the police.

Soon, the Valley City Police Department intervened in this case, and Gerald was directly taken into custody.

The director had already decided to stand with Lance, so he had someone inform Lance of this—Lance had told the director the hotel he was staying at before he left.

After hearing this news, Lance scratched his head. He picked up the phone and dialed Imperial Precinct Chief Bruce’s number.

“Do you know the police chief or someone like that here in Valley City?”

Precinct Chief Bruce was a little confused, “I know them, but why would you need their help?”

Lance laughed, “Because I’m in Valley City!”

A dozen minutes later, two plainclothes police officers arrived at the hotel. They went directly to Lance’s room and knocked on the door, “Is Mr. Lance here?”

The door opened. There were five people in the room. The two men outside the door saw Lance standing in the middle of the room at a glance.

“Please come in.”

Lance invited them in. The man walking in front always maintained a smile, “I’m West, the precinct chief of the Fifth District.”

Valley City originally had seven administrative districts, which meant seven police departments, but as it was continuously drained by Golden Port and more and more people went there, the scale of Valley City was constantly shrinking.

Two years ago, they kept the seven administrative regions but merged several of the police departments. Now there are only five police departments, and West is the precinct chief of the Fifth District.

“Bruce told me that you are a very generous and friendly person who likes to make friends.”

“I heard you’ve run into some trouble?”

Lance nodded and explained what had happened. Precinct Chief West frowned, “This matter is not easy to handle.”

He looked at Lance, “You injured someone, and they called the police and arrested your friend.”

“Your friend might be accused of instigation or hiring thugs, and I don’t know much about the person who reported it…”

Lance asked with a smile, “How much?”

Precinct Chief West’s eyebrows raised slightly, “What?”

“How much money would make this matter go from ‘not easy to handle’ to ‘easy to handle’?”

He looked at Lance as if confirming what Lance had said, then frowned slightly.

Although Valley City was very close to Golden Port, the “economic situation” here was not good. The police department not only received few protection fees, but their ability to generate independent income was also not very good.

The whole city seemed to have no vitality, no energy. Even the criminal organizations here seemed to be in retirement.

So he needed to think about how to open his mouth.

After hesitating for a few seconds, he gave a number he wasn’t sure about himself, “Three thousand dollars?”

He didn’t know how generous this Mr. Lance’s “generosity” was. He could only tentatively give a number he thought was a bit large to observe Lance’s reaction.

In fact, his psychological price was one thousand to one thousand five hundred dollars. If Lance wanted to bargain, he could also accept it.

This was the advantage of starting with a high price.

But to his surprise, Lance did not bargain.

“I can give you three thousand dollars, but I hope this three thousand is worth the price.”

After a brief moment of surprise, Precinct Chief West showed a more sincere smile, “What do you want, Mr. Lance?”

“I want my friend to appear before me unharmed, and then I want to find out the identity of the producer and the people behind him, including their addresses and where they are now.”

West was obviously a little troubled when he heard he had so many requests, because for things like the informant’s information, he definitely had to investigate to find out.

To figure out this information, he would definitely have to coordinate with other precincts, which might be noticed and recorded by some people. He seemed very hesitant.

Lance said with a half-smile, “Chief West, you don’t think I’m giving you three thousand dollars just to get my friend out of the police station, do you?”

“If I just wanted to get him out, five hundred dollars to find a lawyer would be more than enough.”

“Show me your value, otherwise I can only say, you won’t get a single cent of this three thousand.”

The police officer brought by Precinct Chief West seemed a little angry because he had never met such an arrogant gang member. He just wanted to tell Lance that they would not be threatened.

But the next moment, the two guys standing behind Lance lifted their coats, revealing the submachine guns inside.

Precinct Chief West quickly raised his hands, “Calm down, calm down, brothers!”

“No problem, completely no problem. I think what you said makes a lot of sense. Three thousand dollars should indeed have its value.”

Lance nodded with great satisfaction, “I’m glad you understand this point. So, do you want cash, or a transfer?”

Precinct Chief West hesitated for a moment and lowered his voice slightly, “Cash would be more appropriate.”

Cash was easy to hide.

It wasn’t noticeable for a precinct chief to spend a little money here and there, but if it was a check, it would be a bit troublesome for him to handle, because he would have to go to Golden Port to cash it.

Although Valley City and Golden Port were very close, just a three or four-hour drive, but for a precinct chief to run to Golden Port to cash a check for a few thousand…

I’m afraid everyone would know there was something wrong with this!

“No problem, but I don’t have that much cash with me right now. I’ll arrange for someone to send it over.”

Lance stood up and extended his hand, “You are Bruce’s friend, which means you are our friend. Just as Bruce said, once we get to know each other for a long time, you will find that I am a very generous person.”

“But my generosity is only for friends. I hope we can become friends, what do you say?”

West also shook Lance’s hand tightly, “Yes, I firmly believe that.”

Lance nodded, “Then I’ll wait for your good news?”

“The good news will come soon!”

***

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