Chapter 966: It

PS: It's the start of the month, so I'm taking my usual two days off. Everyone, no need to wait for updates tomorrow.

Thanks to book friend Mercury's Masked Rider for the book coin tip. Thanks for the support!

Main Text:

On the night of the premiere, Gao Liang attended the ceremony at the venue. It was mainly because it wasn't far from home, just a half-hour drive.

During the ceremony, Director Ming, as the director, mentioned more than once the help Gao Liang provided for the film's production.

Besides his superb acting, he also corrected many common-sense errors in the script and taught everyone true British court etiquette.

Although Director Ming had researched quite a bit of material to make the characters in the book appear elegant and high-class, it ultimately wasn't as accurate as Gao Liang's firsthand account.

Gao Liang wasn't a prince, but he was definitely more favored by the Old Lady than most princes.

If the Old Lady had to choose between Gao Liang and that grandson who married an American Black woman, she would undoubtedly choose Gao Liang without hesitation.

Having grown up in Buckingham Palace, he remembered court etiquette and such quite clearly.

Although he hated these tedious formalities, they were skills he had learned since childhood, and they had reached the point where he couldn't forget them.

So when Gao Liang saw Director Ming's incorrect depiction of aristocratic etiquette in the script, he immediately corrected it with an instinctive reaction.

And Director Ming was very receptive, thinking that having a proper aristocrat teach everyone etiquette was truly a great convenience.

Besides that, Gao Liang also told Director Ming what real rich people were like.

Current rich people generally fall into two categories: one is the old aristocracy like Gao Liang's grandfather, who manage family businesses, and these are often real industries.

The other category is the younger "nouveau riche," who usually make their fortunes through virtual industries on the internet.

In Gao Liang's view, whether it's the old aristocracy or the nouveau riche, neither would treat themselves poorly.

Foreign media often tout that some richest person or internet tycoon only wears shirts costing a few dozen dollars and only flies economy class, praising them for being frugal and austere.

Yet they don't see the million-dollar luxury watch on their wrist or the private jet parked in the hangar.

So-called austerity is actually just a persona created for marketing; there isn't a single billionaire on the rich list who is genuinely frugal.

Therefore, the vast majority of billionaires are showing off their wealth, just in different ways.

The nouveau riche's way is often more superficial, which is putting on the latest luxury goods and traveling in various supercars.

Gao Liang frankly admitted that when he was young, there was a period when he was that kind of person, but he realized later that no matter how much money he had, it couldn't satisfy his spiritual needs.

So he moved to another realm, which was throwing himself into rap, and his dress style also began to follow the local customs—that is, the sunglasses, T-shirt, and big gold chain look.

But because this style was too tacky, he was often teased by his sister.

That's the nouveau riche type. As for the old aristocracy, their clothing and style are often quite low-key; the clothes on their bodies look no different from what ordinary people wear, but in reality, they are still luxury brands.

Keeping a distance from ordinary people in an understated way—this is the style of the old aristocracy.

They won't show off their wealth as high-profile as the nouveau riche, but whether it's the clothes they wear or the things they say and do, they are constantly revealing, in a subtle way, that we are not the same kind of people as you.

The above is the analysis Gao Liang provided to Director Ming to make the film's character settings more three-dimensional and realistic.

During the analysis, he used himself, his dad, his grandfather, his wife, his wife's dad, and his wife's grandfather as examples, which was well-reasoned and convincing.

As for his dear sister Luo Quan, in Gao Liang's words, she was in yet another realm.

As one of the richest women in the world, his sister controlled a massive fortune totaling tens of billions of dollars.

But even with so much money, she could manage to consume just like an ordinary person.

For skincare, she didn't use Chanel, Dior, or Balenciaga, but rather Dabao, which she had used for years, and it was the family-sized discount version.

It's no exaggeration to say that a scoop she took from Mia's bottles and jars would be more expensive than that stuff.

Besides that, although she had the privilege of wearing Chanel clothes whenever she wanted, her usual loungewear was always those few pieces, and she would only have someone replace them when they were worn out or didn't fit.

If it were anyone else with such privileges, they would probably have changed their style every day, not repeating a look for a whole year.

So Gao Liang had always found his sister's lifestyle style hard to understand.

Clearly, she wasn't a stingy person; she gave others the best food and things possible, but when it came to herself, she saved wherever she could. It was truly incomprehensible.

But perhaps it was because her realm was too high; it was normal for a mere mortal like him not to understand, so Gao Liang didn't include his sister in the analysis.

In short, as a supporting character with little screen time, Gao Liang provided quite a few guiding opinions during the filming of *Tiny Times*, making many unreasonable settings in the original film reasonable.

At the same time, he also clarified for Director Ming the way of showing off wealth suitable for this film.

For a commercial film, it certainly wasn't suitable to use the old aristocracy's way of showing off wealth.

The high-profile and luxury of the nouveau riche was the optimal solution. Although "nouveau riche" sounds a bit uncomfortable, that was the character setting for the heroine Gu Li's dad.

And the main wealth-showing responsibility in this drama was Gu Li's family.

Speaking of the bits and pieces during filming, Director Ming was full of desire to express himself.

This was his third directorial work, and the first time he had invested such high capital, so his heart was full of anxiety and anticipation.

Many people in the entertainment industry were crossing over to be directors; actors changing careers, singers changing careers, and writers becoming directors wasn't the first time either.

As for the results of these career changes, most of them flopped, and the successful ones were few and far between.

Director Ming didn't know if he could succeed, but as far as the current situation went, the trend seemed pretty good.

The premiere lasted until about 11:30. After it ended, Gao Liang declined Director Ming's invitation to dinner and got into a BYD on the side of the road.

"Finished?" Luo Quan had originally been lying in the car playing on her phone. Seeing Gao Liang get in, she immediately raised the seat and started the car, preparing to go home.

"Sister, you came to pick me up specially; this really makes me feel flattered." Gao Liang sat in the passenger seat, smiling very happily.

"Who came to pick you up specially?" Luo Quan also smiled. "I went to the supermarket to buy things, and since you happened to be nearby, I just gave you a ride on the way."

This time she came out to buy cat food and dog food. She had two pets at home, but she had never seen these pet essentials, and over time it was easy to arouse suspicion, so she came out to buy some food.

"Sigh, it seems I was being sentimental." Gao Liang shook his head, pretending to be sad.

"By the way, for your film premiere, don't you plan to buy a ticket to support it?" Luo Quan controlled the steering wheel and asked without turning her head.

"Nothing worth supporting. I'm too lazy to watch it in the cinema. Let's talk about it after it's on mobile."

Gao Liang lay on the chair and stretched: "I think this Director Ming has a problem."

Luo Quan smiled: "What problem? Don't tell me you think he's short?"

"How is that possible? Who would care about that kind of thing?"

Gao Liang immediately shook his head: "I mean, he is a bit too enthusiastic toward me and the other male actors in the crew."

"Haha, men who do art are all like this. As long as he isn't a sissy, it's fine."

When Luo Quan said this, she almost couldn't hold back her laughter.

If Director Ming really were a sissy, that would be fine, but unfortunately, he wasn't. There were quite a few legends about him in the entertainment industry, but she hadn't mentioned them to Gao Liang.

However, according to common sense, Director Ming wouldn't dare do anything to Gao Liang.

After all, with this little rap king's temper, if Director Ming really dared to use his position to do something to him, he would probably be known globally by the next day.

So Luo Quan wasn't worried at all that her brother would suffer a loss.

"Forget it, I still have to be a bit careful."

Gao Liang revealed a look of lingering fear.

It wasn't just because of Director Ming, because before this, he had encountered similar people.

Whether male or female, if they are too good-looking, they are very easily liked, and the people who like them also include both men and women.

Sister Luo Quan, as the most beautiful in the world, is known for being able to kill men, women, old, and young alike.

As the most handsome in the world, Gao Liang is actually not far behind.

Because of this, when he first debuted, he was harassed by many men both online and offline.

The key was that in the American environment, he didn't dare to lose his temper too much, otherwise he would be considered discriminatory and politically incorrect.

But as a die-hard straight man, Gao Liang actually found this situation very disgusting.

The good news is that in recent years, these types of people have become much fewer.

And he is now in China, so he doesn't have to worry about whether it's politically correct or not when complaining about these people.

Of course, he wouldn't spray them for no reason; as long as they didn't provoke him, it didn't matter.

Although Director Ming had that tendency, what he showed was just being a bit more enthusiastic toward these male actors.

In fact, he was also quite enthusiastic toward the actresses, and his relationship with them was even better; calling him a "male best friend" wouldn't be an exaggeration.

This was also the reason Gao Liang was willing to stay in the crew.

And just as the siblings were riding home, the highly anticipated *Tiny Times 1* was finally released.

Undoubtedly, this was a work that would go down in film history.

Although many unreasonable plots and common-sense errors had been corrected, it was still a rotten film with a chaotic pace and a fragmented story.

But this was compared to those classic films in film history. If compared to the rotten films of recent years, the image of *Tiny Times 1* immediately became tall.

As a commercial film, at least it still had something to watch.

At the very least, the actors were all handsome men and beautiful women, unlike some ancient costume xianxia films that were always "the most beautiful in the three realms" and "the most handsome in heaven," and then invited some actors with high looks but completely mismatched acting to play them.

Not to mention the poor acting, they were also ugly, which belonged to the category of rotten films with absolutely nothing to watch.

And *Tiny Times 1*, besides the actors' looks being off the charts, also showed off wealth to the hearts of the audience.

Hundreds of top luxury clothes, bags, and jewelry, scenes as gorgeous as a crystal palace, and dazzling supercars.

These luxury goods that people are familiar with were all shown off by *Tiny Times 1* in the most naked way.

The original work of the film had been criticized for being full of money worship.

And Director Ming didn't hide it anymore, directly embodying the two words "money worship" in every aspect of the film.

For example, one of the heroines, Gu Li, said at the beginning of the film how luxurious her life was.

Even in Shanghai, where the economy is the most developed in the country, she would feel allergic if she went to a region with a relatively average economy.

And her family's industry was no longer the mere one or two billion from the original work.

Director Ming was writing the book in 2008, and to him at that time, over a billion was already worthy of being called a super billionaire.

It can only be said that poverty limited his imagination, and after Gao Liang came, he told him not to be so restrained.

Anyway, it's filming a movie, why not be a bit more unrestrained?

Just set it to half of his sister's net worth, which is over 60 billion RMB.

Only a company of this scale is worthy of being called a wealthy family.

And Gu Li, who possessed such wealth, would not seem so outrageous after saying those words.

But these were not the most inhumane parts of this film; the part where the budget was truly explosive was still on Gao Liang.

This newly crowned Oscar Best Actor, driving the Lamborghini Veneno borrowed from his sister, every frame he appeared in was burning money.

No one knew what Gao Liang's salary was, but China's salary cap only applied to Chinese and foreign-born Chinese, not including foreigners.

So online speculation was that Gao Liang's salary was mostly over 100 million.

And his total screen time in the film was only about five or six minutes.

Calculated this way, one second was hundreds of thousands, which truly deserved to be called the biggest show of wealth.

However, expensive things have their reasons. Gao Liang, with his impeccable looks, caused a tidal wave of exclamations from the girls in the cinema.

Many viewers posted on Weibo after watching the film, saying that just watching Gao Liang was worth the ticket price.

Of course, where there is praise, there is naturally scolding.

Many viewers felt that the plot and character relationships in this film were a bit inexplicable, and the plot development was stiff, the climax was too melodramatic, and it was embarrassing to watch.

Besides that, the values were also problematic; it was completely promoting money above all else, not positive energy at all.

Criticisms like this also gained quite a lot of agreement on the internet.

Soon, the rating for *Tiny Times 1* came out, just stuck at the 6.0 position, which was a pass.

But not long after, the rating fell to 5.0, which was mixed reviews.

A film critic gave this evaluation of the film:

As a film for fun, *Tiny Times 1* didn't complete its mission very well, and as a rotten film, it wasn't rotten enough; at least in terms of costumes and props, the crew spent a lot of money.

This led to the fact that despite spending so much money, it still turned out to be a rotten film.

But the actors' acting was pretty good, making it watchable, but after watching it, one realized the plot was bullshit.

My evaluation is that it's rotten, but not entirely rotten. ===== CHAPTER 967 =====