The three of them went in and saw that Emily Foster was packing her luggage. She didn’t seem surprised to see them.

Steven Grant restrained his tone and asked, “Emily, I heard from Old Reed that you’re going back to Beijing. What’s going on?”

“Oh, my dad is sick. I have to go back to buy him medicine and take care of him.”

Emily Foster repeated the reason she’d given Samuel Reed.

Steven Grant thought this was complete nonsense, but still tried to persuade her: “Emily, you know we’re at a critical point in filming right now. Tomorrow—no, actually, today, we’re supposed to shoot your scenes. You’re the female lead, you really can’t leave!”

“Mr. Grant, I know all that, but my dad is sick and there’s no one with him. I really can’t stop worrying, so I can only say sorry.” Emily Foster was very firm.

“You—!”

Steven Grant was about to lose his temper, but Richard Morgan quickly pulled him back.

“Miss Foster, do you mind if I say a few words?” Richard Morgan said.

As the senior member of the crew, Emily Foster still respected him. She said, “Mr. Morgan, go ahead.”

“We have to solve problems when they come up, not act like children and throw tantrums. Let me ask you, what do you really think? If there’s something, just say it. We trust you, and you should trust us. Let’s communicate properly—it’s all for making a good film!”

Emily Foster was silent for a while, then put down what she was doing and said, “Mr. Morgan, Mr. Grant, have a seat.”

She didn’t even glance at Andrew Clark.

Emily Foster’s hometown was also in the Northeast, so she and Andrew Clark were technically from the same region, and they were the male and female leads, with many scenes together. But except for exchanging a sentence when they first met, she’d never spoken to him again, let alone rehearsed together.

Andrew Clark knew she didn’t think much of him, but he didn’t make things awkward. He still greeted her when they met and kept things polite.

The three of them sat down. Andrew Clark grabbed a small stool for himself and quietly played the bystander.

“Mr. Morgan, I think my role—calling it the female lead sounds nice, but there’s too little screen time and nothing special about it. I don’t think it’s worth acting.” Emily Foster thought for a moment before speaking.

“Miss Foster…” Richard Morgan suddenly got emotional as he listened, but his Mandarin was terrible, and the more anxious he got, the more jumbled his words became. Suddenly, he grabbed Steven Grant’s shoulder, stared at him, and said, “You tell her—how did the Hong Kong producer evaluate this role?”

Steven Grant was stunned for a moment, but quickly caught on and said to Emily Foster, “Emily, even though Hu Meimei doesn’t have a lot of scenes, her importance—in some ways, she’s even more crucial than Xiao Wu…”

Then he launched into a long-winded explanation about story structure and feminism, which Andrew Clark listened to as if it were gibberish.

While he was rambling on, Emily Foster’s expression remained unimpressed.

Seeing this, Steven Grant stopped wasting his breath and couldn’t help but say, “Just say it straight. We all know what’s going on.”

“Fine! I’ll stay, but you have to give me that ten thousand yuan up front.” Emily Foster finally got to the real issue.

She was a student, but she’d seen the world. Looking at this group—could you even call it a film crew? The director didn’t even know what a monitor was, the cinematographer carried the only camera around and shot whatever he wanted, there was no lighting, she had to do her own makeup, and the male lead was a total amateur…

She was just worried this ragtag crew would fall apart at any moment and wanted to get her pay first.

Steven Grant didn’t answer, but glanced at Andrew Clark to see his reaction.

The male lead’s pay was only two thousand, while the female lead’s was ten thousand—a fivefold difference.

Andrew Clark didn’t even bat an eye, just focused on playing his part as a background character. He heard the ten thousand yuan part, but thought it was normal—she was a top student at Beijing Normal University, while he was just a junk collector. Two thousand was already generous for him.

“Miss Foster, you know that’s not how things are done. You’re putting us in a tough spot.”

Richard Morgan kept trying to persuade her, but Emily Foster’s attitude was clear: no money up front, no deal!

They tried to talk her around for a while, but it was useless. In the end, they had to take Andrew Clark back to Samuel Reed’s room.

By now, he’d calmed down. After hearing what happened, he sneered and said, “I knew it would come to this!”

“Old Reed, what should we do? Should we pay her first?” Steven Grant asked.

“No way, absolutely not!”

Samuel Reed looked serious. “None of the other crew members have gotten a cent—why should she? That’s the rule, no exceptions! Maybe things won’t work out, but we can’t treat our friends unfairly!”

He sighed and continued, “Besides, with the little money we have, we don’t even know if we can finish shooting.”

Hearing this, Steven Grant fell silent, and Richard Morgan hadn’t said a word since coming in.

Andrew Clark knew he couldn’t help. He liked these people and considered them friends. If his buddies were in trouble, even if he couldn’t do anything, he wanted them to know he was on their side. So even though it had nothing to do with him, he stayed with them.

Samuel Reed smoked one cigarette after another. Steven Grant joined him, and Andrew Clark joined in too. Soon, the small room was filled with smoke, and the air grew heavier.

By now, it was past six in the morning. David Cooper had gotten up too. When he heard what happened, he didn’t know what to say.

The four of them sat in silence, all crowded into one room.

It seemed the situation was beyond saving.