Chapter 55: The Enemy of My Enemy Is My Friend

Chen Mo still decided to give face to the top talent agent in the entertainment industry and agreed to a meeting.

The two arranged to meet at a teahouse.

When Chen Mo arrived, Wang Jinhua was already waiting.

"Ms. Wang, I'm not late, am I?" Chen Mo asked with a smile.

"Not at all, not at all. It's just that I arrived early," Wang Jinhua said, standing up to welcome him with a smile.

"That's good!" Chen Mo nodded with a smile and sat down.

Shortly after, Wang Jinhua asked with a curious expression, "Is Director Chen really not considering returning to acting? It would be such a pity to give up acting with your appearance and physique."

Chen Mo was somewhat surprised. She truly lived up to her reputation as the top agent in the entertainment industry, delivering flattery so seamlessly and quietly.

Well, being complimented on his handsome looks—even through such a roundabout approach—still made Chen Mo quite happy.

After a round of polite and conventional mutual praise, the two finally got down to business.

"Ms. Wang truly lives up to your reputation as the industry's top agent. Your information network is impressive; you found out just as *Love is Not Blind* was finalized," Chen Mo said with a smile.

"I have no choice. With so many artists under my management, as an agent, I naturally have to keep a constant eye on trends within the circle. That goes doubly for the trends of rising directors currently drawing the most attention, like Director Chen," Wang Jinhua said with a helpless expression, before immediately offering another compliment to Chen Mo.

"I specifically went to read the novel for *Love is Not Blind*. I must say, Director Chen's vision is truly unique. No wonder you are able to continuously produce such excellent works as *Let's Watch the Meteor Shower* and your pioneering internet movie *Mr. Zombie*," she continued closely behind.

"Ms. Wang, there's no need for such talk. Why don't you get straight to the point? Which artist are you hoping to recommend to me?" Chen Mo interrupted Wang Jinhua.

"Bai Baihe. Here is her portfolio; Director Chen can take a look," Wang Jinhua said as she took out Bai Baihe's documents and handed them to Chen Mo.

Chen Mo casually flipped through a few pages, then looked up and said, "Ms. Wang, I can offer an audition opportunity, but I cannot guarantee the outcome."

This was clearly not the result Wang Jinhua had hoped for. Or rather, if it were merely a chance to audition, she wouldn't have gone out of her way to leverage her connections with Galloping Horse to secure a meeting with Chen Mo.

"Director Chen, Baihe is truly suited for this role. Huang Xiaoxian's personality shares many similarities with her own, such as her persistence and stubborn drive..." Wang Jinhua continued.

However, Chen Mo remained unmoved.

The world would keep spinning no matter who was missing. Yes, the original performance by Bai Baihe was indeed quite good, but that did not mean Chen Mo was strictly bound to use her.

Finally, looking as though she had been prepared all along, Wang Jinhua hesitated for a moment before speaking up, "Does Director Chen still remember Wang珞丹?"

Chen Mo couldn't help but look at Wang Jinhua in mild surprise. "Of course. One of the female guardians of the 'Knife-Stabbing Sect'—how could I possibly forget? Could it be that she is also an artist under Ms. Wang's management?"

"No, no, no, she is not my artist. However, her career does not seem to have been overly affected by the online defamation case. Last year, she was even shortlisted for the Golden Eagle Award for Favorite Actress and became the Golden Eagle Goddess for the 3rd Golden Eagle Festival," Wang Jinhua shook her head, then looked at Chen Mo as she spoke.

She had to admit, her words left Chen Mo somewhat silent.

In last year's online defamation case, the ones who suffered the greatest impact were Fang Xiaoxiao and Du Chun. As for the other actors, although they also experienced some fallout, perhaps because of the sheer number of people involved, the matter quickly faded from the public eye.

Take Wang Luodan, for instance. She suffered some initial impact, but afterward, she went right back to winning awards whenever they came up.

It just went to show that Chen Mo's personal influence was still far too weak.

"What is Ms. Wang implying? Are you here to make a joke of me?" Chen Mo said indifferently.

His reaction caught Wang Jinhua off guard. In her preparations, she had thoroughly researched Chen Mo's character. Judging from the past online defamation incident and the Yu Youde affair, she had concluded that Chen Mo was the type of person who would hold grudges and seek immediate payback.

That was why she had taken the risk of bringing up Wang Luodan, one of the guardians of the Knife-Stabbing Sect, to probe him. Yet Chen Mo's reaction was far calmer than she had anticipated.

"Of course not. Doesn't Director Chen think Bai Baihe and Wang Luodan look very much alike?" Wang Jinhua asked with a smile.

Chen Mo understood immediately. She truly lived up to her formidable reputation, actually coming up with such a roundabout tactic.

To be fair, upon careful thought, Wang Jinhua had indeed hit upon a weak spot in Chen Mo's mind.

Looking back at his past life, many people genuinely couldn't tell Wang Luodan and Bai Baihe apart.

However, Wang Luodan's starting point was indeed much higher than Bai Baihe's. It was only starting with *Love is Not Blind* that Bai Baihe began to eclipse Wang Luodan, keeping Wang Luodan suppressed afterward, largely because they possessed identical faces.

So, if *Love is Not Blind* hadn't come along to shoot Bai Baihe to massive stardom, might things have gone the other way around?

Without Bai Baihe as an identical competitor, would Wang Luodan have developed even better? Chen Mo didn't know, but honestly, it was quite possible.

Thinking about it further, using Bai Baihe wasn't out of the question. Besides, scandals like the "One Finger Zen" incident—what did they have to do with him? That was going to happen years later anyway.

Upon reflection, viewing the original version of *Love is Not Blind* starring Teng Huatao as entirely tainted because it happened to feature actors involved in affairs or drug use was indeed somewhat biased.

Realizing that choosing not to use Bai Baihe might mean depriving Wang Luodan of her biggest career rival—wasn't that essentially helping Wang Luodan?

With that thought in mind, Chen Mo nodded and said, "You're right, they do look quite alike! True to form, Ms. Wang, I admit you've somewhat persuaded me. But that's still not enough."

"Shall we consider that I owe you a favor?" Wang Jinhua's eyes lit up upon hearing this, and she smiled as she spoke.

"Have her study *Love is Not Blind* thoroughly. Oh, and when she has time, have her communicate and exchange thoughts with the original author." In the end, Chen Mo decided to use Bai Baihe. Compared to Wang Luodan, a guardian of the Knife-Stabbing Sect, Bai Baihe had no prior beef with him, Chen Mo. As for personal character issues—hell, this was the entertainment industry; who didn't have a bit of dirt on them? Besides, it wasn't some unforgivable crime, and fundamentally, it had nothing to do with Chen Mo. Furthermore, while Wang Jinhua's favor might not be useful right now, she was, after all, the top agent in the industry with very extensive connections, which might come in handy in the future.

This arrangement was fine too; it saved him the trouble of exhausting himself trying to find a substitute.

*Love is Not Blind* was actually a work with a relatively strong personal style—referring, of course, to the style of the original author.

One could say that the greatest strength of this work lay in its dialogue, and Chen Mo certainly couldn't remember every single line.

Therefore, he had asked the original author, Bao Jingjing, to help write the screenplay.

Meanwhile, regarding the cast, the crucial roles in this film were really just a few: Wang Xiaojian, Huang Xiaoxian, Big Boss Wang, and so on.

Since Huang Xiaoxian had been settled, Chen Mo had no intention of looking elsewhere for Big Boss Wang; the original actor, Lao Zhang, played the part quite well.

As for the role of Wang Xiaojian, Chen Mo indeed had a specific candidate in mind, though it remained to be seen whether the person would be willing to take it on.

It wasn't that the actor was too big of a star, but rather, quite comically, the person had previously made a name for himself by playing an "effeminate man" character. However, that role had dealt a heavy blow to him; out of fear of being pigeonholed, he had turned down similar scripts because he didn't want to keep playing effeminate roles, which resulted in him going without work for a long time.

Chen Mo didn't know whether he would be willing to play Wang Xiaojian.

Yet, based on his performance in *Ugly Wudi*, Chen Mo genuinely believed he was a perfect fit for the role of Wang Xiaojian.