Chapter 314: The Grand Gift from Enlight Media, Bullying the Celestial Beauty

To be honest, Wei Jin did not take the scheduling of *The Warlords* to heart at all, but he could not stand the media looking down on it.

After all, ever since Chen Kexin debuted, he had carried a significant halo.

Starting in the 90s, Chen Kexin began directing independently; *Comrades: Almost a Love Story*, which became a hit across Asia, brought him both fame and fortune, and later he even directed the romance film *Amour* for Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks.

In terms of box office, Chen Kexin had *The Warlords*, which grossed over 200 million, and in terms of awards, Chen Kexin was only one step away from achieving the honor of a Three Gold Grand Slam director; his works were naturally worth looking forward to.

By comparison, the production cost of *The Raid* was no more than 20 million, and Lin Chao-xian's films over the past two years, *The Stool Pigeon* and *The Informer*, had all flopped at the box office; although it was a script written by Wei Jin, the "Wei content" was truly too low, and it was simply not in the same weight class as *The Warlords*.

Coupled with the fact that Enlight Media released news early on that *The Warlords* would be the grand finale at AFM, the world's largest film trading market, the overseas rights were expected to sell for a sky-high price, pushing the film's momentum to its peak.

For a time, the outside world seemed to collectively begin to sing a dirge, and even the lead actor of *The Raid*, Wu Jing, had no confidence in himself.

"Director Wei, is there really no problem?"

"And what if there is a problem? Do you want me to change the release date? Soldiers come, generals block; water comes, earth covers—that's all. If you have this spare time, you'd be better off thinking about how to promote the film; there are only two or three months left."

Wei Jin was not worried in the slightest; he had seen the film *The Warlords*, and it was undoubtedly a hodgepodge of a trash film.

Chen Kexin wanted to express too many things, resulting in *The Warlords* being neither an action film nor a martial arts film; it had a flavor of fantasy mixed with suspense, and if you pondered it carefully, it even had a damn hint of a traditional Chinese medicine educational film—it was purely a "four-unlike" creature, absolutely a soft persimmon.

"By the way, I heard you and Xie Nan are together?"

Wei Jin recalled the gossip he had heard from Liu Yan and teased him over the phone.

"Cough, still working on it..."

On the phone, Wu Jing was uncharacteristically embarrassed.

"You haven't won her over yet? You're really doing poorly." Wei Jin roasted him mercilessly.

"How about this, Director Wei, teach me a couple of tricks?"

Wu Jing said with a tone of seeking advice; after all, Wei Jin's philandering was known throughout the industry, and his methods must be very impressive.

"Forget it, I have no experience in this regard; it's always the girls chasing me..."

Wei Jin leaned back tactically and did a bit of low-key bragging; soon, a "goodbye" came from the other end of the phone, and he hung up in a hurry.

"Sigh, why does no one believe me when I tell the truth?"

In the Shanhe Building, inside the chairman's office.

"Alright, Chairman Wang, let's get together again when we have time, um, goodbye."

Wei Jin hung up the phone with some emotion; Wang Changtian had really sent over a grand gift.

A subscription right for 10 million original shares, plus a role in *The Four*—Old Wang had truly gone all out this time.

However, Wei Jin could understand; Enlight Media was seeking to go public, and having himself, the top commercial director, appear in the list of shareholders would naturally bring a lot of attention, just like Huayi did back then.

As for the role, that was even more normal; the artists under Enlight Media simply couldn't carry a film, while most of the artists at Starry Sky Culture were first or second-tier actors, which would definitely be a bonus for the film's quality, and he could also give a favor for free—this abacus was calculated quite well.

Regarding Old Wang's overture, Wei Jin did not refuse; although this project did not include Enlight Media, it did not mean they wouldn't cooperate in the future—for some medium-sized productions or Golden Harvest projects, he could still let Enlight Media play along.

To be honest, Wei Jin actually admired Old Wang a bit; he had heard quite a few stories about Old Wang from Liu Yan.

This person was very frugal; not only did he insist on arriving and leaving work on time every day, but he also brought his own lunch to work, and when eating at noon, he would just heat it up in the microwave and make do.

He had no hobbies or expenses in his daily life, just drinking tea and reading newspapers, living like an ascetic monk.

Although Wei Jin admired this kind of thing, he admitted he couldn't do it; isn't the whole point of this damn struggle to enjoy life?

By comparison, the Wangs of Huayi, who shared the same surname, knew how to enjoy themselves, especially Wang, who really knew how to play.

Basically, if he wasn't drinking tea and chatting, he was partying at cocktail events; it was said he was even a "double-plug," quite the player.

The elder Wang was not far behind; although he wasn't particularly fond of women, this guy had an extraordinary yearning for the lifestyle of his ancestors, spending tens of millions to build a private horse farm in the suburbs of Beijing and raising dozens of purebred horses.

In addition, he was a fan of collecting, frequently making moves at major auctions and spending money like water to acquire paintings by famous masters.

As the saying goes, what the superior likes, the inferior will like even more; it was no wonder Huayi's public relations ability was second to none in the circle.

Conversely, Enlight Media, influenced by Wang Changtian, played it very plainly; the few times Wei Jin ate with Old Wang, it was so damn plain it made him drool.

Withdrawing his thoughts, Wei Jin began to ponder the roles for *The Four*.

Although Old Wang acted very generously, Wei Jin was not someone who didn't know what was good for him, so he only asked for two of the female roles.

Those projects of Enlight Media, although Wei Jin didn't think much of them, were enough to raise the status of female artists.

As for who specifically to give them to, Wei Jin still had to consider it... Entering mid-March, *The Banquet* started filming; Lu Chuan, that guy, was truly shameless, his words like passing gas.

He had previously publicly announced a nationwide open audition for the most beautiful Yu Ji, and a large number of students from art colleges participated enthusiastically.

Then, after auditioning for so long and attracting a massive amount of attention, he achieved the goal of promoting the film.

In the end, he used someone from the investors, a female actress with no fame and no works.

That would have been fine, but fooling the media and the public for hype was a trick many crews had used; the key was that when the actress's makeup stills were released, they were simply eyesores.

"Such a big build, playing Yu Ji?"

"How much money did Lu Chuan take? Any female student from the three major art schools would be prettier than her, right?"

Wei Jin had seen the photos; to tell the truth, such looks could be considered outstanding among ordinary people, but in the entertainment industry, they really didn't make the cut.

It wasn't that he had a bias against looks, but since she was playing a beauty as peerless as Yu Ji, at least the appearance should be convincing, right? But people who bring capital into the crew just don't reason.

However, Lu Chuan, that guy, was truly stubborn; facing the netizens' questioning, he actually responded publicly: "Men who see her will have their families broken, women who see her will feel ashamed of themselves; in my eyes, she is the most beautiful Yu Ji."

The netizens didn't indulge him; the internet was filled with uniform abuse, exactly the same as during *Nanjing! Nanjing! *.

There were many in the circle watching the fun, and *White Vengeance* even hurriedly took makeup photos of Yang Mi and released them directly to slap Lu Chuan in the face.

As the saying goes, there is no harm without comparison; Yang Mi might not be considered a top-tier beauty, but compared to the actress on Lu Chuan's side, she was simply crushing her by several blocks.

Netizens also began to stir up trouble in various ways.

"Originally I thought Yang Mi wasn't pretty enough, but seeing these photos together, it actually gives me a feeling of a peerless beauty..."

"Both are Yu Ji; Yang Mi has a slender waist and delicate temples, while Du Juan is broad-shouldered and thick-waisted—amazing!"

For a time, Lu Chuan and *The Banquet* became a joke again. Wei Jin left the company and went straight to Liu Yifei's villa; the script was ready, so this time he would let her choose first. Entering the house, he saw Shu Chang was also there; the latter had her hair in a single ponytail and was sitting on the sofa with Liu Yifei eating snacks, not acting like an outsider at all.

"Ah~~ Director Wei."

Hearing the *tata* sound of shoes hitting the floor, Shu Chang turned her head to see Wei Jin, looking as if she had been startled.

"Sit down, am I that scary?"

Wei Jin changed his shoes, came to the sofa opposite the two girls, and sat down, unable to resist teasing them.

"Or is it that while I was away, you spoke ill of me in front of my Yifei?"

Upon hearing this, Shu Chang hurriedly stood up to explain.

"No, no, absolutely not."

"Alright, Changchang, he's just teasing you."

Watching her best friend's reaction, Liu Yifei hurriedly comforted her, then gave Wei Jin a sidelong glance.

"Brother, you're the same way. It was hard enough for Changchang to get a break from the film crew and come specifically to see me, yet you ruin the atmosphere as soon as you arrive. Hmph."

Wei Jin smiled at her words and began chatting with the two young girls.

"Is it that *Magic Mobile Phone 2*?"

"Mm." Shu Chang nodded concisely.

Wei Jin was somewhat informed about the situation of this show.

The show *Magic Mobile Phone* was filmed in 2006, and once it aired on CCTV in 2008, it set a viewership rating that broke 4 on average and peaked at 5.76%, making it a rare blockbuster television series.

Originally, the production company, Television Production Center, had long wanted to launch a sequel, but although the show had good ratings, its reputation was quite poor.

Major media outlets criticized it severely, netizens hurled all sorts of abuse, commenting that the plot insulted their intelligence, the character personalities were idiotic, and the styling was outrageous; the show was given a low score of 3.9 on Yinxiang Net.

Now, more than two years later, the public has gradually become more rational, its reputation has slowly warmed up, and the rating has risen to 5.5, which prompted the Television Production Center to approve the project last year and continue developing it.

"Brother, do you think this show will become a blockbuster like the previous one?"

Although Liu Yifei was a bit of a couch potato herself, she still cared about the career of her good friend Shu Chang; even though they had some unhappiness before, their years of friendship meant they had long since stopped minding those little things.

"Hmm, it's hard to say. I heard the script has been cut and revised, and compared to the first one, I'm afraid it's a bit weak..."

Wei Jin gave his judgment conservatively; because of the Television Production Center's carelessness, this production failed to lock in the schedules of the original cast in advance, leading to a small number of actors being unable to perform.

Among them was one of the most important leads, Jiao Enjun, who was already recording his first album, *Mr. Vincent*.

Therefore, the screenwriter Jiunian spent a lot of time directly cutting and modifying the script; such last-minute operations naturally wouldn't lead to very good results.

"Yeah, I saw the script and also felt it was a bit strange. But Uncle Jiao's face is truly big; the crew would rather abandon this character than find someone to replace him."

Shu Chang spoke with some emotion; she didn't know when she would reach the level of Jiao Enjun.

"You're being modest. Fool Girl is also irreplaceable; it's too deeply rooted in people's hearts."

Speaking of this, Wei Jin and Liu Yifei looked at each other and recited that classic line in unison.

"Chinese brand 2060 model mobile phone, Fool Girl is at your service, hahaha."

Subjected to the teasing of this "wretched couple," Wei Jin and Liu Yifei, Shu Chang was incredibly annoyed.

But after this commotion, the relationship between Shu Chang and Wei Jin became much closer, which made Liu Yifei very happy; she knew this was the man taking care of her feelings.

In the evening, as usual, Liu Xiaoli cooked in person; it was still the Sichuan cuisine that Wei Jin liked, and Shu Chang also tagged along for a meal.

During dinner, Liu Xiaoli had a hesitant look on her face; Wei Jin understood in his heart and took the initiative to speak up to put her mind at ease.

"Auntie, Yifei has been resting for half a year now. I've prepared several scripts for her; you two can choose later."

As soon as Wei Jin said this, both Liu Xiaoli and Liu Yifei showed surprise on their faces, and even Shu Chang on the side revealed an envious look. To have several scripts to choose from—if the actresses in the entertainment industry knew this, wouldn't they go crazy on the spot? "Haha, Wei Jin, eat your food."

Coming back to her senses, Liu Xiaoli hurriedly greeted Wei Jin, secretly thinking that this kid was sensible; it seemed the weight of her daughter in his heart was getting heavier and heavier, which was a good thing.

"Brother, are you directing this one?"

A look of anticipation appeared on Liu Yifei's face. When she saw the man nod, she was even more excited than words could express. Seven years, seven whole years, she could finally be Wei Jin's leading lady again. If they weren't at the dinner table, she would have taken the initiative to offer a sweet kiss.

This also made her feel for the first time that living at home was so inconvenient, and she pondered finding an opportunity to purchase a cozy little nest that belonged only to the two of them.

In the bedroom, after the clouds and rain, Wei Jin lit a cigarette.

Liu Yifei leaned on Wei Jin's shoulder, a sweet look appearing on her pretty face. After dinner, she had already read the script, and all of them were roles where the female lead's part was very brilliant; this man was truly too thoughtful.

Thinking of this, Liu Yifei snuggled closer into Wei Jin's embrace, enjoying their happy time together.

Wei Jin held the girl, also feeling emotional in his heart about Liu Yifei's choice; the young girl still had quite a bit of ambition.

"Yifei, the character in this script has a great contrast. You need to study it carefully during this time. Once I finish the project in my hands, I will start it, probably around July..."

Listening to the man's words, Liu Yifei raised her head and answered very seriously.

"Mm, Brother, I will definitely put my heart into it."

Looking at the young girl's serious face, Wei Jin couldn't help but tease her.

"Yifei, this time you have such a long time to prepare. If you still don't perform well on set, I will be scolding people. At that time, don't go crying, haha..."

Although she knew the man was teasing her, thinking of the scene years ago where she was violently dominated by Wei Jin on set, Liu Yifei still "sat up" with a start, her face full of stubbornness.

"I won't! This time I will definitely act well."

Wei Jin stubbed out the cigarette butt, wrapped his hands around the girl's slim waist, and wore a look of mockery.

"That's not necessarily true. How about this, this director will show mercy tonight and give you some pointers on your acting."

As he spoke, Wei Jin's hand slid downward to a mysterious place, the meaning self-evident.

"Bad person, you only know how to bully me."

That night, Liu Yifei contributed the peak acting of her career, making Director Wei very satisfied. (End of chapter)