Chapitre 118: The Traitor (2)

Lee Mu coughed and flashed a smile at the reporter. Joann was the only one who noticed the smile did not seem to reach his eyes.

Lee Mu said with a tone thick with apology, "Dear Sir, I am so sorry to have missed your question. My attention was elsewhere. Do you mind repeating it for me?"

Lee Mu was the picture of a gracious and elegant movie star.

"Of course…" The reporter looked at his notepad and repeated the question.

"Thank you for your question. I looked up performances from other great actors before me to seek inspiration from them and apply the things that I have learned in my own acting."

"Thank you." The reporter sat down.

Since Lee Mu had just answered a question, it was his turn to pick the next question. The reporters in the room all raised their hands to grab his attention.

Lee Mu bit on the corner of his lips like he was coming to term with a difficult decision before raising his finger to point at one of the reporters. His choice caused some of his co-stars to freeze because he had just selected one of the representatives from XX Tabloid.

Out of Lee Mu's sight, Joann frowned, pondering what was on her friend's mind that it had distracted him so that he did not even notice they had been trying to avoid giving the people from XX Tabloid the opportunity to ask any questions.

Down the table, hidden from view, an impish grin appeared on Qing Qing's innocent face.

The weasel-looking man stood up from his seat and a wicked smile accompanied his rise. It was quite obvious to everyone there that the man probably had some slanderous or incendiary question up his sleeve. Another assumption everyone shared was, this man was going to direct his question at Joann.

Joann's co-stars had read the piece in the tabloid and so they knew this XX Tabloid had Joann in their crosshairs for some unknown reason. They didn't enquire Joann about this because they didn't want to make the situation awkward. Other than Lee Mu and Qing Qing, none of them were close enough with Joann to ask her about a piece that featured her naked body.

The reporters knew of them as well since they were technically from the same profession. However, even reporters from approved papers looked down on these people because they were considered of a lower stock among reporters, they were the dreaded paparazzi. Some of them even wondered among themselves, how did these people manage to gain entry into this event. Who let them in?

As the man stood up, Joann sucked in a deep breath surreptitiously, bracing for impact. The man was probably going to trip her up verbally with some kind of easily-misunderstood question or statement. Joann calmed herself and tried to keep her mind as clear as possible. She knew she needed to be of sound mind to face the challenge that was coming.

However, all her groundwork still failed to prepare her for what was coming.

Joann could have sworn she saw the man from XX Tabloid smirk at her before he turned unexpectedly away from her.

'Wait, the question isn't for me?' thought Joann with surprise. 'Perhaps I have misunderstood them all along?'

"Thank you for the chance, Mr. Lee Mu," began the man with a tone that could be heard throughout the hall. No matter what the content of his message was, he made sure everyone in the room could hear him clearly. The man continued, "Actually, I have a question for you. Would you be so kind to answer it?"

Joann, alongside most of the people in the room, were shocked. The man had a question for Lee Mu and not Joann?!

However, beyond that, Joann was sure she could hear the undercurrent of a threat lying underneath the man's question. Even though his statement was phrased in the form of a question, it sounded like he was not going to give Lee Mu a choice to answer it or not.

Lee Mu's mouth twitched imperceptibly before he recovered and his easy smile returned. "Of course, ask away, sir."

"This movie is not the first time you've worked with Miss Joann Fong. How does the working experience this time differ from others? I hear you guys will be working together again for the sequel, what is your opinion about that?" The man asked.

It was a fairly simple and straightforward question. Joann sighed in relief, so did the director who was ready to call the security to haul the man and his cohorts out. Lee Mu should be able to handle a question that was as direct as this. After all, they had faced similar question in the past.

However, Joann was the first to notice something was wrong. Instead of answering the man directly, Lee Mu went silent for a beat or two and Joann saw a fleeting flash of pain cross her co-star and good friend's face.

Before she could make sense of what that was, Lee Mu straightened himself and spoke something completely unexpected into his microphone. "Working with Joann has been the worst experience in my life. I would not have wished that hell on any other person. The woman is insufferable and impossible to work with."

There was an audible gasp in the room. The other reporters soon came out of their shock and they quickly pulled out their voice recorder. This was headline-worthy news!

Lee Mu was not done. "Joann demands the best treatment like she is the queen of the world but her acting skill and professionalism are definitely lacking. I do not even understand why the crew and the director even entertain such horrible behavior from the woman.

"She comes late to the set every time and lacks the bare decency to even memorize her lines. It baffles me how she even manages to keep her acting career to this day considering how unprofessional she acts."