Chapter 799: 789. Rich people are just pretentious_1

Not until Xiaoyu and Yanyan had left did Lun Chuan open the suitcase.

He hadn’t lied; indeed, the majority of its contents were bottles and jars, but mainly made of lightweight materials. Even so, if a plastic bag contained both rice and sauce, it would not be considered light.

After he had arranged his things and gotten clear directions to the gym and swimming pool, there was a knock on the door–it was the chef who had been assigned to him.

The chef was middle-aged, and well-prepared for the various finicky and troublesome requests of clients. He even brought a tablet with him:

“Hello, Mr. Lun. I am Chef Zhong Wenwu, at your service. Just call me Old Zhong.”

“I’ve heard that you have many dietary restrictions and allergies. May I know which items I should avoid when preparing your meals?”

He opened his notepad, clearly ready to take serious notes, but Lun Chuan nodded slightly and gestured for the man to come into the room:

“Mr. Zhong, thank you for the trouble.”

“I apologize, I have no allergies, and I can eat most basic ingredients. I’m just rather picky and prefer to eat my own food. I mentioned having complex allergies to make communication easier.”

Talking about this, Lun Chuan felt quite distressed.

He was not a picky eater; while he often reminisced about good food, it did not usually affect his ability to eat. But as items from the other side kept arriving in abundance, somehow, he became more and more dependent on them.

Because of this eccentricity, he even, with a guilty conscience, conducted professional food safety tests.

However, this revelation was too disheartening to share with anyone, so he kept it to himself, knowing only that the food was exceptionally good and that it had high micronutrient content. The data showed it was ten times higher in quality than what was available on the market.

Now, it wasn’t that he absolutely couldn’t eat regular food. But it felt like having steaming, fresh meals readily available and yet insisting on consuming the burnt, bitter failures instead.

Causing inconvenience to himself or to others… With reasonable compensation involved, Lun Chuan chose the latter without hesitation.

At this moment, facing Chef Zhong’s expressionless and professional demeanor, Lun Chuan pretended not to notice, but went straight to the point, taking out a container of soybeans:

“During my stay, I would like you to use these to make 300 milliliters of lightly sweetened soy milk every morning at 7:30.”

The container was a typical kitchen storage box, and the soybeans inside looked quite ordinary, but Chef Zhong took it very seriously and quickly made a note:

“Rest assured, it’s quite common for our hotel guests to bring their own ingredients. Both safety and privacy are guaranteed.”

Of course, Old Zhong, being the clever person he was, never mentioned how everyone else’s self-supplied ingredients were top-end. The ones flown in fresh, the imported organic farm produce, and so on.

Lun Chuan paused, thinking that wasn’t his concern. But in the end, he stooped down again and took out a large container of white rice: “For the staple, use this.”

Old Zhong immediately noticed the misty sheen on the common long-grain aromatic rice, which was clearly new rice that hadn’t been polished. Only unpolished rice with its germ layer would have this appearance.

He understood then–

This was not about being finicky or picky; it was all about savoring a sentiment!

Ugh, the whims of the wealthy!

But Old Zhong was professionally trained, so he didn’t let it show at all, instead taking the tablet to make another conscientious note.

Next came the white fungus, black fungus, dried cowpeas, dried eggplants, chili peppers…

Old Zhong went from a face of professionalism to a face of numbness and finally brought over a hotel service cart: “Mr. Lun, will you be needing lunch prepared for you today?”

Lun Chuan paused, then took out his phone, “Hang on, let me confirm.”

…

Director Zhang was arguing with the producer about the necessity of props, their dispute heating up when suddenly his opponent checked a message and huffed,

“This original author puts on quite the airs.”

But Director Zhang sighed with relief–they didn’t really want to fight; it’s just that both were short-tempered, which made it hard to hold back. He quickly took the opportunity to ease the tension by asking,

“Really? He seemed pretty stable in previous communications. What did he do?”

The producer paused, “He says he’s got a sensitive constitution; he can’t eat this, he can’t eat that. Yanyan messaged me asking if we could arrange a suite with a kitchen.”

Director Zhang immediately laughed, “But that’s a health issue on his part–is that even a demand to make? Any minor star in this film city can be more demanding.”

“Besides, Yanyan is your niece. If she’s asking you, the other party must be polite about it.”

The producer had been hot-headed just moments ago but now considered, Right, that’s true.

It was just unfortunate timing. Their competitors at Arctic Circle Company also had a top-tier S-level production this year, offering eight-figure salaries to attract big traffic stars. The area around the film city was bustling… swarming with fans wherever you went.

No sooner had they discussed the issue than they received a message saying all the rooms were booked. They only asked for meal allowances to be raised to cover the costs of hiring a personal chef from the hotel.

Alright, alright.

They had bought a big IP because of its inherent traffic and hype; their project had already gained a lot of attention on Weibo, making for an auspicious start. With this in mind, showing the original author a bit more respect wouldn’t hurt… it wasn’t like they were planning to butcher the story.

If that were the case, why even bother inviting the author to discuss details? They aimed for excellence.

With this mutter, the previous incident was picked up once again, this time with a calm and peaceful approach.

It was then that Director Zhang received another call, which also amused him,

“The author is asking where to meet up… pretty proactive. Come on, come on, let’s not stay here where it’s all chaotic with people taking photos everywhere. Call the scriptwriters and the other directors, project team included? Let’s get together and have an initial meeting at the hotel.”

The group left the film city in cars, and upon reaching the main gate, they saw throngs of young girls huddled outside, waiting with banners, dolls, and all sorts of stuff.

Director Zhang wasn’t oblivious to the power of popularity and at that moment felt envious, “If only the dramas we film could attract this many fans of powerful actors…”

The assistant directors laughed, “Wishful thinking! If he had so many fans, do you think he’d still do his own stunts?”

“Exactly! With salaries of tens of millions, I wonder how the company even manages it… The budget for our few lead and supporting actors combined is only that amount!”

To be precise, Arctic Circle Company wasn’t too generous with salaries, and the budget might still need to be cut. However, their dramas did tend to make actors famous upon release, hence the company was still highly sought after.

Director Zhang was also amused, “Stop that chatter! Hurry up, when the original author arrives, we need to cover all our bases in one meeting and aim to start shooting as soon as possible–don’t get me any last-minute script changes, I can’t stand that mess!”

Meanwhile, the scriptwriters looked worried, “Easier said than done… turning written scenes into visuals isn’t something you can solve in a few sentences!”

Who would understand their plight? They weren’t only tasked with considering the plot but also the budget!

Ah, money’s hard to earn!