Liang Sizhe was also quite surprised when he received the shortlist news from Zheng Yin.
After the completion of "Red Boy, Red Girl", Cao Xiuyuan did mention the matter of signing up for the Academy Award, but then the film could not be released.
During that half year, he was filming in retreat abroad and paid little attention to domestic news. The actors on the same crew probably took into account his relationship with Cao Xiuyuan, and deliberately avoided him when discussing this matter.
So it wasn't until mid-April that the film was finished and Liang Sizhe flew to Hong Kong to attend the Academy Awards ceremony, that he discovered that the domestic entertainment industry had changed.
At this time, it has been a full month since Zhang Minghan accused Cao Xiuyuan of molesting. With the attention of the whole society, the police launched a case to investigate the matter, but perhaps because after four years, many key evidences were insufficient, and the investigation results were delayed. It hasn't been announced yet.
After learning the news, Liang Sizhe immediately read the news for nearly a month, but apart from Zhang Minghan's statement several times that he would insist on pursuing this matter to the end, there was not much valid information, and Cao Xiuyuan never came forward to explain. .
Cao Xiuyuan and Zheng Yin did not arrive in Hong Kong until the day of the award ceremony. They went back to the hotel to take a rest and did not plan to participate in this year's red carpet.
Liang Sizhe was sitting on the hotel sofa at the time, flipping through relevant reports with a pad. Xu Yunchu knocked on the door and reminded him: "Director Cao and Producer Zheng are here and are resting in room 1305. Would you like to visit?"
"Okay, I'll go right now." Liang Sizhe responded, put the pad in his hand aside, got up and walked out of the room.
On the way to the room, Liang Sizhe was still thinking about Zhang Minghan.
He never believed that Cao Xiuyuan would make such an act of lewdness. He and Cao Xiuyuan have worked together in two dramas. The shooting cycle was very long. The time spent together inside and outside the drama was almost four years. Any behavior that goes beyond the norm, and all physical contact is due to the director's normal instruction to the actor.
Liang Sizhe could see that what Zhang Minghan said in the interview was intended to guide the media to pay attention to the illegitimate relationship between him and Cao Xiuyuan.
It's ridiculous, Liang Sizhe thought, based on this alone, he can conclude that what Zhang Minghan said was pure slander.
—Just... Did Cao Ye also see those news? Will he believe Zhang Minghan's accusation? His father, who had always admired but was estranged, was suddenly identified by many as a criminal who molested minors. No one felt bad, right? I hope he doesn't believe Zhang Minghan's nonsense.
Liang Sizhe walked to the door of the room, raised his hand and knocked on the door.
Zheng Yin came over to open the door. He shared a suite with Cao Xiuyuan and seemed to be talking in the living room at this time. Maybe the conversation was unpleasant, but Zheng Yin didn't look good. He had always controlled his emotions properly, and when he became serious, he almost seemed to be a different person.
"Si Zhe is here," Zheng Yin said slowly, "Go and sit in the living room."
Cao Xiuyuan's face didn't look any different, so Liang Sizhe sat opposite, briefly asked him what movie he was filming, and said that the film "Rise of the Wind" was a good choice, and the time was just right to be in front of the public, and we can do more in the future Pick up some genre films of good quality. It’s easy to kill yourself if you only perform literary and artistic films, but you should have a broader vision and pick up a few more films of different types.
Liang Sizhe responded one by one. He didn't meet Cao Xiuyuan much outside the play, but every time they met, Cao Xiuyuan would give him a few words.
After chatting for a few words, Cao Xiuyuan didn't seem to have any interest in continuing the conversation after he finished speaking.
In the past, Zheng Yin started talking on the side, but today Zheng Yin didn't talk much. He kept typing on his mobile phone with his head down, as if he was sending a message.
Neither teacher nor apprentice was someone who had nothing to say, so Liang Sizhe planned to get up and leave.
Just as he was about to speak, Zheng Yin, who had been standing beside him without saying a word, raised his head and said, "It's negotiated, 10 million."
Cao Xiuyuan didn't speak at first. After a few seconds, he took a cigarette and bit it in his mouth. After he lit the fire and took a breath, he sneered, "I won't give him a penny."
"Don't talk too much," Zheng Yin said calmly, "you have to pay a price for this."
Cao Xiuyuan turned his face away and smoked a cigarette, waving his hand to disperse the white mist, "Si Zhe, you go out first."
Liang Sizhe responded, then got up and walked out of the room.
When he opened the door, he heard Zheng Yin say from behind, "I'll go to the bank later."
"I told you to leave it alone." Cao Xiuyuan said slightly angrily, "If you dare to give him this money, don't follow me in the future."
With a "click", Liang Sizhe closed the door. The sound insulation of the room was very good. As soon as the door was closed, all the sounds in the room could not be heard.
Ten million? Is it for Zhang Minghan? What does Zheng Yin mean by "paying the price"? Could it be that Teacher Cao has indeed acted lewdly towards Zhang Minghan? Liang Sizhe shook his head, no, Teacher Cao would not be such a person, and listening to his tone, he didn't seem to think that he had done anything wrong.
The awards ceremony that night was extremely competitive. "Red Boy and Red Girl" had great momentum but suffered from Waterloo and only won the Best Photography Award.
When returning to the hotel, Liang Sizhe was in a nanny car with Cao Xiuyuan and Zheng Yin. Before closing the door, a reporter tried to put the microphone in and asked, "Liang Sizhe, as the most popular actor candidate, how are you feeling now?"
Liang Sizhe didn't speak, and Cao Xiuyuan, who was sitting beside him, said coldly, "What mood can he be in? Act less in the future, live longer, and I'm not afraid that there will be no actor to take it." After saying that, he closed the car door and put all the Journalists are locked out.
Zheng Yin turned his head several times and hesitated to speak, but Cao Xiuyuan urged in a nonchalant tone: "If you want to say something, say it quickly."
"I'm not talking about you," Zheng Yin restrained his tone, "you talk to the reporter a little bit, I wish Mr. Qingyun in his 90s, you are a junior, it's inappropriate to say this, and the media don't know how to add fuel to it when you look back. ."
"Is there any challenge for an actor in his 90s to play an old man in his 90s? In the end, he won the best actor. This is a joke."
"You're in your 40s, don't be so self-willed." Zheng Yin began to talk, "I analyzed it for you when I was applying for the Academy Awards. I wish the old man will also participate this year. No matter how much the acclaim committee can't award him the award, and the best film is also, you don't get the dragon logo to enter the competition. The jury dares to award this award to you only after eating a bear's heart and a leopard. It gave you enough face, but if you don't listen, you have to sign up. That's fine, you won't be able to develop in the mainland for the next five years..."
Cao Xiuyuan interrupted him impatiently: "The awards ceremony is over, what's the use of you talking about it?"
"The award is over, but Zhang Minghan's business is not over. He finally played the second male lead in your film. He has been struggling for more than a year, and he is trying to make a comeback with this film. You signed up for the competition. , the film won't be available in the mainland within five years... In order to rectify Si Zhe's name and let him win another actor, Zhang Minghan's efforts for more than a year have been in vain, can he balance his heart?"
"He may not be able to turn over when that film is on."
"Whether it can be turned over is his business, and whether it can be screened is up to you. If you want me to tell you, you will spend 10 million. Zhang Minghan dares to do it now, but he is sure that you will not be in the next five years. Inland development, there is no way to take him, from the time he changed his age, I could see that his mind was not right, I have persuaded you long ago, let you be on guard..."
"Okay," Cao Xiuyuan closed his eyes, "I told you to leave it alone. If you want to talk about it, just get out of the car and talk."
"Okay, then I'll get off." The car stopped at the traffic light intersection, Zheng Yin simply pushed the door and got out of the car. At that moment, the light changed to green. Beeps sounded one after another. Liang Sizhe turned his face and looked out the window. Zheng Yin, who was standing there, strode through the gap between the vehicles and hurried across the road.
After a while after returning to the room, Liang Sizhe was about to fall asleep when someone knocked on the door outside, and Zheng Yin's voice rang from behind the door: "Sizhe, it's me."
Liang Sizhe walked over to open the door: "Uncle Yin."
Zheng Yin seemed to return to his usual gentle appearance: "Si Zhe, don't take the words you heard today, don't guess, and don't spread it."
"I won't spread the word," Liang Sizhe said, but he frowned slightly, and after a while he still expressed his concerns, "But Teacher Cao..."
"How could he be lewd?" Zheng Yin heard his concerns and smiled disdainfully.
"I don't think Teacher Cao will either." Liang Sizhe said. Although he believed that Cao Xiuyuan would not make lewd actions from the beginning, he was still relieved when Zheng Yin said this.
The next day they flew back to China, and Zheng Yin arranged for security to pick them up at the airport in advance. After leaving the VIP hall, reporters flocked and tried to pass the security guard and put the microphone in front of Cao Xiuyuan:
"Is the breach of contract to fulfill the promise to let Liang Sizhe win the best actor?"
"Zhu Qingyun's family asks you to apologize in public, will you agree?"
"Is it because you dare not face the molestation incident?"
"Have been banned from filming for five years, what do you plan to do in the future?"
Cao Xiuyuan never responded to the reporter, and walked in the direction of the elevator without saying a word. After entering the elevator, another reporter asked loudly, "Zhang Minghan exposed a text message from four years ago this morning, is the content of the text message true? "
Cao Xiuyuan looked at the reporter: "What text message?"
The reporter tried to squeeze into the elevator, but was stopped outside by bodyguards. When the elevator door closed, Cao Xiuyuan said to Zheng Yin, "Check what text messages they said."
Zheng Yin lowered his head and typed on his mobile phone, and handed the search results to Cao Xiuyuan.
Cao Xiuyuan took it over and looked at it for a while, the expression on his face was unresponsive, and he returned the phone to Zheng Yin.
Liang Sizhe got into the nanny car sent by the company to pick up the plane. The assistant immediately searched out the report just mentioned by the reporter and handed it to Liang Sizhe: "Is this true or false?" Carefully added another sentence, "It's easy to forge text messages..."
Liang Sizhe took over the phone and looked at the screenshot of the text message provided by Zhang Minghan - "Come to the Janis Hotel 2208 at 11 o'clock in the evening." The sender's information showed "Director Cao", the time of sending the message was October five years ago, and it was Zhang Minghan Di. A time to shoot Cao Xiuyuan's film.
Some people in the comments below pointed out that the "Garnis Hotel" is the property of Cao Xiuyuan's brother Cao Xiuyuan. Cao Xiuyuan chose to work in his own hotel. No wonder Zhang Minghan could not provide clear evidence.
Looking further down, there are two other news headlines related to this news:
""Red Boy, Red Girl" returned with a feather, Liang Sizhe regretted losing the battle for the best actor"
"The 91-year-old actor Zhu Qingyun won the Academy Award for Best Actor, and Cao Xiuyuan said it was only because of 'live long'"
Liang Sizhe returned the phone to his assistant, closed his eyes and wanted to rest for a while, but he kept thinking about this in his mind.
Are text messages real? That straightforward tone is indeed Cao Xiuyuan's style, but Cao Xiuyuan doesn't seem to have the habit of calling actors into the room to talk about plays. If this text message is true, then why did Cao Xiuyuan let Zhang Minghan go to a private hotel to see him so late
Liang Sizhe thought again of the conversation between Zheng Yin and Cao Xiuyuan in the room on the day of the award ceremony. It seemed that he had negotiated with Zhang Minghan and spent 10 million to calm things down, but this proposal was rejected by Cao Xiuyuan.
An idea suddenly popped up—Zheng Yin said that Cao Xiuyuan would not do obscene behavior, which should be true, but could it be... What really happened between Cao Xiuyuan and Zhang Minghan
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At the end of May, Cao Ye accompanied Li You back to China.
Li You has advanced lymphoma and has been in hospital for nearly a year for treatment. A month ago, she suddenly proposed to go back to China. The flight from the United States to the country took more than ten hours. The doctor suggested that she should rest in the hospital, but Li You was determined and quickly asked a friend to help with the discharge procedures.
The disclaimers from the hospital and the airport were all signed by Cao Ye. Cao Ye took over the documents and couldn't bear to read any more after reading only a few lines. All the disclaimers stated that if Li You had an accident on the way, all responsibility would be with the hospital and the hospital. Airline doesn't matter.
When signing the signature, Cao Ye wrote his name stroke by stroke. He realized that Li You might leave at any time. This fact made him powerless and hopeless, but he could only try his best to restrain his emotions and couldn't let himself be in front of Li You. Showing any signs of collapse.
After Li You returned to China, Cao Ye's grandfather, Li Xianda, immediately sent someone to go through the hospitalization procedures for her, and then hired a nurse for her, and temporarily transitioned to a domestic hospital these few days.
Li Xianda also had a son, who was an officer in the army. After Li Xianda divorced his first wife, he married a wife who was nearly 20 years younger than him. He had a son. When Li You was born, he was nearly 40 years old. Eighty years old. The old man was very old and could not stay in the hospital for long every day. Most of the time, Cao Ye and Li You's boyfriend stayed in bed in shifts.
After the awards ceremony, Zhang Minghan began to release the evidence of the year one after another, and there were various opinions in the outside world, but Cao Ye deliberately did not pay attention to this matter.
He only hoped that Li You could spend the last leg of his life peacefully and no longer have anything to do with Cao Xiuyuan. As for Cao Xiuyuan, whether he slept with Zheng Yin or molested Zhang Minghan, it had nothing to do with their mother and son.
The second day after returning to China, Cao Ye drove to his grandfather's house to pick up food and sent it to Li You's ward, but he pushed open the door and walked into the ward, only to find that Li You was not there. .
Cao Ye put the insulation box on the bedside, leaned on the table, and looked through the old photos brought back from his grandfather's house. All of them were photos of Li You when he was young. At that time, Li You was bright and moving, and was the most beautiful in the flowering period. when.
Cao Ye flipped through the album from beginning to end, but Li You still didn't come back. He called Li You, and Li You was quickly connected. There seemed to be the sound of Western musical instruments playing on the phone. Li You said that she would come out to meet him. A friend, I'll be back soon.
After hanging up the phone, Cao Ye opened the drawer and just wanted to put the photo album in, but at a glance he saw the newspaper in the drawer and the words "Cao Xiuyuan" on the front page title.
"My mother is reading this newspaper?" Cao Ye picked up the stack of newspapers and asked the nurse who was packing.
"Yes," the nurse smiled at him, "Mr. Li's eyes were so uncomfortable that she couldn't see the electronic screen, so I went to the newsstand downstairs to buy newspapers to relieve her boredom."
Cao Ye didn't say anything. He lowered his head and scanned the contents of the newspaper. Zhang Minghan threw out new evidence. The accompanying image was a photo of him on the set four years ago. He was naked and thin, with only a bath towel on his body. , the lower body was slapped by the media, Cao Xiuyuan put a hand on his waist and was talking to him with his head down.
A staff member who was in the props team also stood up to speak for Zhang Minghan, saying that when Zhang Minghan was filming, he was forced to shoot a lot of nude scenes, but the final film was deleted, leaving only a few frames, I don't know. Did Director Cao do it on purpose
So disgusting. Cao Ye felt a little uncomfortable with the feeling of vomiting pouring out of his chest. He thought of the sound of "Yuan Ge" that Zheng Yin called outside the door that day, and the image of their bodies overlapping, and then the man under him. Becoming Zhang Minghan, Cao Ye closed his eyes for a long time, forcing himself not to think about those pictures.
He opened his eyes and stared at the report, thinking, what would Li You think when he saw this report? It just gets worse, right
He had to persuade Li You to go back to the United States as soon as possible and stay away from these disgusting things, but Li You would need to fly back for more than ten hours. Can his body bear it
"Don't buy her a newspaper in the future," Cao Ye said to the nurse, "if she wants to read it, tell me, and I'll buy it."
"Hey, good." Seeing that his face was wrong, the nurse responded carefully.
He took out his mobile phone and was about to call Li You's boyfriend and ask him about Li You's current situation, when the phone suddenly vibrated.
Seeing that it was an unfamiliar number, Cao Ye didn't answer and hung up.
But the number was called again soon after.
Cao Ye picked it up this time, and the other end said, "Cao Ye, I'm Zhang Minghan, have you returned to China?"
"What's wrong?" Cao Ye asked coldly. Even if Zhang Minghan was the victim of this incident, he couldn't have any sympathy for him. He only felt that everything that was related to Cao Xiuyuan was disgusting.
"I want to meet you," Zhang Minghan said. "Cao Ye, I don't think you should be kept in the dark. I will tell you a lot of truths you don't know."
"What truth?"
"For example, have you ever thought about the relationship between your dad and Zheng Yin?"
"I don't want to know." After Cao Ye finished speaking, he hung up the phone.
The phone call from Zhang Minghan made Cao Ye feel very bad. Cao Ye was about to turn off the phone when the phone shook, and the screen showed that a message had been received, which was a recording sent by Zhang Minghan.
Cao Ye stared at the recording. For a while, he raised his thumb and wanted to delete the recording, but his fingers trembled a little, so he clicked play.
Cao Xiuyuan's voice sounded: "Come here." Then he seemed to laugh, "What are you afraid of, haven't you done it?"
Then Zhang Minghan's voice also sounded, and the voice sounded low, as if a little scared: "It hurts... Mr. Cao, wait for a while, don't... "