Chapter 116: The Plan to Ambush Lu Chuan and Winning the Golden Eagle Award

Inside the hotel room, after a bout of intimate affection, Ceng Li leaned her entire body against Wei Jin's chest, her face still flushed with a lingering glow:

"Xiao Jin, I missed you so much."

Since returning from Cannes, Ceng Li had gone traveling with her close friend; first to relax, and second to avoid the media's pursuit. She only returned for the Shanghai Magnolia Awards, but was soon arranged by the company to go abroad for promotions. The two of them hadn't been intimate for quite some time, but that was just how the entertainment industry was—gathering little and parting much was the norm.

"Li Jie, I missed you too. How did it feel to go out for a walk this time? You're famous all over Asia now."

Wei Jin stroked Li Jie's smooth skin, finding it hard to keep his hands off her.

After *Star Ni* was broadcast in surrounding Southeast Asian countries, it was met with huge popularity, and in South Korea, it even set a 30% viewership rating. It is no exaggeration to say that Ceng Li and Qiao Zhenyu have already become red-hot Asian superstars.

"It's just that I'm too famous; I don't have much private space anymore."

Ceng Li felt a bit troubled. Originally, she only wanted a bicycle, but who knew Wei Jin would arrange a Lamborghini for her directly? This was a happy problem.

Ceng Li was not a signed artist under the company; she belonged to a "hanging" cooperative arrangement, where she only needed to pay the company a 20% management fee each year.

However, she had always felt that her success today was entirely due to the support of Wei Jin's resources. Since there was an opportunity to earn money and give back, she usually wouldn't refuse the company's arrangements.

Don't underestimate that 20% management fee. Given Ceng Li's level of popularity this year and the number of products she currently endorses, she could bring the company at least tens of millions in profit this year.

"How about this, I'll have the company reduce your schedule a bit so you can rest more."

In fact, Ceng Li's scheduled activities were already few among top stars of her level, but since Li Jie didn't like it, Wei Jin naturally followed her wishes—anyway, money could never be earned in full.

"Don't, I was just saying. You already take good enough care of me; I don't want the management to have opinions about you."

The rules of the entertainment industry were like this: if the company made you famous, it had to earn enough profit from you. Ceng Li didn't want to make things difficult for Wei Jin.

"I'm the boss, after all. Who would dare to have an opinion? Listen to me."

Wei Jin's words were somewhat domineering. Aside from a formal title, he was willing to give the women around him the best he could.

However, Qiao Zhenyu, who was equally popular, didn't have this treatment. During this period, he had been receiving so many endorsements and schedules that his hands were soft from exhaustion, yet he still appeared tireless.

Regarding this, besides urging him to take care of his health, Wei Jin was also very happy. According to Qiao Zhenyu's management contract, he would earn the company at least thirty to fifty million this year. It was no wonder so many people were unwilling to leave this path; it was simply too profitable.

"Mm, I'll listen to you."

Although Ceng Li was already thirty, she had no plans for her own path. Seeing that Wei Jin had made up his mind, she naturally followed her man's arrangements.

"Li Jie, do you really listen to me for everything? Right now you need..."

The "sage time" passed, and Wei Jin's interest was piqued again. The gentleness of his older sister was truly addictive... After a night of madness, the two didn't get up until nearly noon.

To avoid being seen by others, Wei Jin went to the hotel restaurant alone, preparing to bring some food back for Ceng Li.

Unexpectedly, he ran into his senior brother Ning Hao. During this time, he was here serving as a judge for the short film segment and also had to be an award presenter, keeping him quite busy.

"Senior brother, where is your new script? I'm still waiting for it. Don't become decadent just because you have money."

Seeing that he had been resting for nearly half a year, Wei Jin also wanted to add some burden to his worker.

"Coming soon, coming soon. Give me a few more months; I can't just make up the numbers."

Ning Hao didn't mind; scripts were indeed things that needed polishing:

"But what about you? Not going to the film festival but running to the TV festival instead—what will those committee members at the Hundred Flowers Awards think?"

As a famous director, Wei Jin was naturally on the invitation list for the Hundred Flowers Film Festival, but he had refused on the grounds of being busy filming. He didn't want to go and carry the sedan chair for others.

"Heh, those old fogies. When the matter between me and Lu Chuan happened, they jumped out to take sides, and even wanted to find our teacher to pressure me. Why go? To kiss their feet?"

Speaking of this, Wei Jin was a bit angry. The feud with Lu Chuan had nothing to do with those old guys, yet one by one they jumped out to accuse Wei Jin of not respecting his seniors. To hell with seniors—is that guy Lu Chuan even worthy?

Fortunately, his mentor Tian Zhuangzhuang helped Wei Jin withstand the pressure and directly made them shut up; those with opinions should go win a Palme d'Or first.

"Then you have to be careful. That guy Lu Chuan doesn't seem to have left yet. You don't know, that bastard is just too good at putting on airs..."

As a short film judge for this year's Golden Eagle Festival, Lu Chuan was naturally here these past two days. It disgusted Ning Hao to no end, and he rarely complained to Wei Jin about it.

"He's the one who should be careful. If we really meet, I could take on ten of someone like him."

Wei Jin made no secret of his contempt for Lu Chuan. If they really met, Wei Jin would have to spit in his face—what a piece of work. "You say his new film is real or fake? Is China Film Group crazy or is Star Mei stupid? Two hundred million for him to shoot this kind of film?"

After the opening ceremony ended last night, Lu Chuan was holding forth in front of the media, saying that his new film *Nanjing* was planned to start filming at the end of the year, with a total investment reaching two hundred million, and so on. Ning Hao didn't believe it at all.

You have to know, the current domestic box office ceiling was the 378 million set by *Painted Skin*. If *Nanjing* really invested two hundred million, how much box office would it need to break even?

Plus, films with this kind of subject matter were hard to sell copyrights for; just relying on the domestic box office to break even? How could that be possible?

Perhaps it was because Wei Jin had broken the box office record early, making many directors in the circle feel confident. When *The Banquet* was released, Feng Dapao also clamored about breaking the record.

As a result, after one month of release, the total box office was 130 million, and overseas copyrights were said to have only sold for 5 million USD. Compared to the 20 million USD cost, Huayi lost a fortune.

That wasn't all. Perhaps Huayi was just having a run of bad luck; *Baby Project*, a collaboration with Emperor Group, had an investment of 130 million HKD, with a Mainland box office of 95 million, and the Hong Kong box office was even worse, at only 23 million HKD.

However, Cheng Long still had appeal in Asia, and the total Asian box office actually reached 150 million RMB, finally reducing the loss a little.

But even so, after two films, Huayi still lost at least tens of millions. The money Wei Jin helped them earn in North America was lost in the domestic market in the blink of an eye.

This also made many companies in the industry sober up; not everyone was like Wei Jin, and the entire film market hadn't exploded yet. For a time, many directors or film and television companies considering big films retreated, and who knew where that idiot Lu Chuan got his confidence.

"Han Sanping likes to shoot big films, but not to the point of letting a director who has never shot a commercial film handle such a large amount of capital. But who knows, maybe some idiot will invest for the sake of his father?"

Wei Jin didn't remember the investment for this film being that large; it was mostly bragging. However, a bold idea popped into his head:

"Tell me, should I prepare a film and hold it back, specifically to ambush him?"

"That idea is very exciting. I support you, junior brother. For this kind of fool, you just have to crush him; he acts so arrogant all day long."

Ning Hao was also someone who feared no chaos, and he genuinely thought Wei Jin's idea was great. The two of them, ignoring everyone else, went back and forth disparaging Lu Chuan... After complaining and despising the fool Lu Chuan with Ning Hao, Wei Jin returned to the room feeling refreshed to feed Li Jie.

In the evening, Wei Jin and the *Lurking* crew arrived at the Provincial Radio and Television Center, which was the venue for this year's Golden Eagle Festival.

After accepting interviews from enthusiastic media, the group found the seats arranged by the organizers and sat down, waiting for the awards ceremony to begin.

After a dull process, the awards began to be presented.

The Golden Eagle Festival had numerous awards, divided into long-form TV drama awards, medium/short-form TV drama awards, individual TV drama awards, TV arts program awards, TV arts column awards, TV arts individual awards, and many smaller awards.

*Lurking* was naturally participating in the competition for the long-form TV drama awards.

However, it was a pity that it only won the Outstanding Long-form TV Drama Award, sharing the honor with 11 other dramas including *Drawing Sword*.

The highest award of the Golden Eagle Festival, the Best Long-form TV Drama Award, was given to *Ren Changxia*. This was a TV drama with a very strong mainstream theme, and it was produced by the China Television Drama Production Center; losing to it was normal.

However, perhaps out of a consideration for compensation, *Lurking* won the Best Screenplay Award among the individual TV drama awards, which was something Wei Jin hadn't expected.

Fortunately, he had already given his acceptance speech countless times, so Wei Jin did not suffer from stage fright; he stood on the stage and spoke eloquently, and although the content was devoid of substance, he did not fail to thank a single person he should have.

As the awards were gradually presented, this year's Golden Eagle Festival came to a close, and Wei Jin did not rush to leave, returning to the hotel to enjoy some private time with Li Jie, whom he had not seen for a long time.

He also took the opportunity to watch the live stream of the Hundred Flowers Awards online; Yifei was indeed wearing that same shimmering golden outfit, and the young girl's aesthetic sense really needed some improvement, though this photo could be saved as evidence to tease her about her taste later.

Seeing the final awards segment, Wei Jin felt very fortunate that he had not attended the Hundred Flowers Awards.

Xie Feng had defeated Liu Tianwang and Wang Qingxiang to win Best Supporting Actor.

How many years had Liu Tianwang been in the industry, and he had even won Best Actor before; Wang Qingxiang was also a National Class One Actor, yet they had just lost to Xie Feng from New Police Story?

The waters of domestic film festivals were truly too deep, and Wei Jin made up his mind never to attend them again unless that bunch of old stubborn fossils all retired.

The subsequent entertainment pages were mostly about this Hundred Flowers Awards; Sun Li took home Best Newcomer and thanked her boyfriend Deng Chao, while Xie Feng took home Best Supporting Actor and thanked his new wife Zhang Baizhi.

The news about Yifei was no less frequent than that of these people, all of it reports about her dancing; it seemed her dark history could not be washed away.

However, these pieces of news had nothing to do with Wei Jin; he and Ceng Li had not left their hotel room for two whole days, entangled in passion. The new book is now online, here is the first update of the day, I humbly request all readers to kindly provide subscriptions and bookmarks, thank you everyone!

(End of this chapter)