Chapter 339: Time is Running Out, Venice

The Huabiao Award Award Award Award Award Awards, full name "Huaxia Radio, Film and Television Award - China Huabiao Award Award Award Award Award Film Award," is a film award hosted by the National Radio and Television Administration, held every two years.

The eligibility for this year's submission is for films that obtained a film public screening permit between July 1, 2009, and June 30, 2011, were publicly screened in national cinema chains, and generated good social and economic benefits.

As a commercial blockbuster with a box office exceeding 300 million, *Brotherhood of Blades 2* naturally met the criteria and was successfully nominated for the Outstanding Feature Film Award and the Outstanding Film Technology Award.

As the female lead of the film, Yang Mi naturally would not miss this all-star feast.

Early on, with the help of her team, Yang Mi got herself looking beautiful.

A blue and white off-the-shoulder long dress, cinched tightly at the waist and abdomen, further highlighted her perfect curves; the skirt's slit reached the top of her thigh, paired with a pair of white high-heeled sandals, bringing out the advantage of her proud, beautiful legs to the fullest.

Looking at herself in the mirror, Yang Mi revealed a smile; she was confident that today's event, if not outshining everyone, would at least stun the crowd.

"Let's go, Mimi, Director Lu notified us to gather outside the venue."

"Mm, let's go, Jia Jie." — Arriving at the venue, the Beijing Exhibition Center, they saw the film crew had already arrived.

"Director Lu, Brother Xiaoming, you are really early."

Yang Mi greeted them sweetly; whether it was Director Lu Yang or Huang Xiaoming, who had already transformed into capital, both were targets she needed to unite with.

"It's not that we're early, it's that you girls are too slow, haha."

Huang Xiaoming had high emotional intelligence; although he had waited for a while, he was not impatient, but instead laughed and made a joke.

"It seems Brother Xiaoming is very experienced, haha."

Yang Mi's counterattack left Huang Xiaoming with no choice but to shake his head and smile bitterly; he was indeed experienced, as when did he not have to wait for Yang Ying for half a day whenever they went out? Watching the two chatting and laughing, Lu Yang signaled everyone to start walking the red carpet.

Outside the massive exhibition center, a sea of people was blocked on both sides of the isolation barriers, leaving a three-meter-wide, dozens-of-meters-long red carpet in the middle.

"There are too many people here, right?"

"It's normal."

Lu Yang was not surprised; in terms of professionalism, the Huabiao Award Award Award Award Award Awards were definitely on the lower end, but when it came to subdivided awards, they were absolutely the best among all major domestic awards. Basically, every film crew that came received an award, and coupled with its nature, there were far too many people coming to show support.

This also destined the star lineup of the Huabiao Award Award Award Award Award Awards to be absolutely top-tier domestically.

"Is that Big Brother Cheng Long?"

"Mm, he should have rushed over from *Chinese Zodiac*."

"Why are there so many film crews? *White Deer Plain*, *Sacrifice*, *The Sorcerer and the White Snake*, *The Great Magician*, *The Grandmaster*... these haven't been released yet, right?"

"They should be here to promote their films. Alright, it's almost our turn."

As the film crew stepped onto the red carpet, the fans at the scene erupted into another round of enthusiastic cheers.

"Mimi fly bravely, Bees follow forever!"

"Mimi, I love you."

"..."

Walking along the red carpet, the continuous cheers made everyone in the film crew secretly click their tongues.

"Mimi, your popularity is really high now."

Huang Xiaoming said with some emotion; the performance of *Snow Sword Stride* breaking 4 directly promoted Yang Mi to a top-tier first-line young actress, and with the second round of broadcasting starting recently, her popularity was truly terrifying.

"Not at all, compared to you, Brother Xiaoming, I'm still far behind."

Although Yang Mi was humble with her words, she felt as sweet as if she had eaten honey inside.

After entering the venue, Yang Mi saw many familiar industry celebrities.

Stars from the Mainland and Hong Kong/Taiwan, famous directors, Chen Shiren and his wife, Feng Dapao and his wife, Wang Quanan and his wife, Gu Changwei and his wife, Jiang Wen and his wife, Wu Baige and his wife... seeing this luxurious lineup, Yang Mi couldn't help but feel fortunate that she had joined Starry Sky Culture; otherwise, with the strength of her previous agency, she feared she wouldn't even have the qualifications to enter here.

"Director Lu, do we have any hope of winning an award today?"

"Hard to say."

Lu Yang had self-awareness; although it was said that the Huabiao Award Award Award Award Award Awards had a fifty-percent winning rate, they mainly favored mainstream films and famous big-name directors. Although he had risen to become a commercial director, he still lacked a lot in terms of seniority.

To be honest, Lu Yang hadn't planned to register this time, but he couldn't resist the persuasion of his school teachers, and since his boss didn't mind, he came to show support. Regarding whether they would win or not, he felt no ripples in his heart.

Sure enough, the awards ceremony at the scene did not exceed Lu Yang's expectations; after two hours, it was completely a matter of sitting in rows and dividing the fruit.

The Outstanding Feature Film Award was given to *Aftershock*, *The Founding of a Republic*, and *Sacrifice*.

In the end, *Brotherhood of Blades 2* only took home an Outstanding Film Technology Award.

"At least we got an award, so it wasn't a wasted trip." — In the film market, *The Piano Tuner* pushed its potential as a dark horse to the limit; it had entered its third week, the box office had already broken 230 million, yet the daily box office was still stable at seven or eight million.

*Aftermath* also performed decently; after being released for ten days, the box office had already broken through 130 million.

Under these circumstances, the producers directly started holding celebration banquets and shouted out a target of 300 million.

Films scheduled to be released in early September had already increased their promotional efforts, with *Love in Space*, *My Kingdom*, and other films leading the charge.

Unfortunately, their luck wasn't very good; they were hit with a sucker punch before they were even released.

Because following *Captain America* and *Norwegian Wood*, several more imported films were parachuted into the September schedule, one of which was *Source Code* produced by Summit Entertainment.

This made the various small and medium-budget domestic films completely unable to accept it, and many even complained directly to the General Administration.

Regarding this, Han Sanping didn't care at all; with such a reasonable operation, how could the General Administration have any objections? Were they supposed to put big imported blockbusters in popular time slots?

"Hmph, this bunch of people, they have no other skills, they only know how to cry and complain."

In the office of the General Administration, Han Sanping complained to Director Tong.

"Alright, Old Han, just pretend you didn't hear it."

Director Tong also wore a bitter smile on his face.

"These people are crying now, but they'll have plenty to suffer later."

Han Sanping was startled upon hearing this and looked sharply at Director Tong.

"Mm? Director Tong, are the negotiations about to start again?"

"Mm, the opening this time is estimated to be quite large; you should prepare yourself mentally."

Hearing this, Han Sanping couldn't help but feel worried; the time left for domestic film production companies was not much. — Wei Jin naturally didn't know about Han Sanping's worries, nor was he in the mood to pay attention to them.

These days, he had taken Liu Yifei to visit Italy's famous attractions, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Sicily, St. Peter's Basilica, Piazza Navona... and finally, on the day before the opening ceremony, they arrived in Venice, this city on the water.

The Venice International Film Festival was founded in 1932; it is the oldest film festival in the world and the first international film festival in the world, so it is also hailed as the "father of international film festivals." Because the Venice International Film Festival primarily takes "film serving serious art" as its tenet, takes "improving the level of film art" as its main purpose, and uses "artistry" as its evaluation standard, it cannot be compared to the Cannes Film Festival of the European Big Three in terms of scale or status, and it can be considered a fellow sufferer with the Berlin International Film Festival, which has a colder climate.

But it is one of the European Big Three after all; every year from late August to mid-September, the small city of Venice, Italy, instantly becomes lively.

When Wei Jin and Liu Yifei came out of the airport, they could clearly feel the liveliness and vitality of this city.

Venice is truly the City of Water, with blue skies, clear water, and fresh air.

Once they arrived at this place and saw the blue sky and white clouds, the fatigue of the journey seemed to be swept away for both of them.

Before long, Wei Jin saw Chen Zhiming, who had come to greet them.

"Mr. Wei, Yifei, over here."

Nodding, Wei Jin held Liu Yifei's hand and walked toward Chen Zhiming.

"Lao Chen, how is the situation?"

"Quite good. With the cooperation of China Film Group, many things are very convenient. Besides, many film crews from back home have also arrived."

Following Chen Zhiming's report, Wei Jin understood quite a bit of the situation.

The exhibition of *Thieves* has already begun, and many distributors have already come to inquire about prices, while the premiere time for *Whiplash* has been scheduled by the film festival officials for September 6th.

The group chatted as they headed toward the official hotel.

It is worth mentioning that in the city of Venice, cars are prohibited; travel relies entirely on boats, and the main modes of transportation are water buses and water taxis.

Sitting in the "taxi," looking at the buildings that were clearly a cut above the surroundings, Wei Jin felt it was quite marvelous.

After looking around for a moment, Wei Jin suddenly let his thoughts wander and thought of something, so he asked the "driver."

"There are no traffic lights on this water; won't it be chaotic when passing through?"

Listening to Wei Jin's authentic Italian, even though Chen Zhiming knew his boss had a powerful talent for languages, he still felt it was incredible. Counting them up—English, German, Korean, French, Italian—what exactly was there that the boss didn't know? Liu Yifei was already used to this; when she first arrived in Italy a few days ago, she had also been astonished.

The young girl asked herself, her own language talent was already considered quite good—proficient in English, and slightly familiar with French and Japanese—but this talent she was proud of was simply vulnerable in front of Wei Jin. Sometimes she really couldn't help but want to open this man's head to see what exactly was inside.

The "driver" was also surprised; one must know that most tourists who come to Venice only speak English. This oriental man's accent was quite pure. So, the "driver," who was about forty years old, pointed toward the shore.

"Respected sir, look, the traffic light is right there."

Everyone looked in the direction of the driver's finger, and a traffic light was installed on the wall of a building on the shore.

After looking closely for a moment, Liu Yifei couldn't help but click her tongue.

"Brother, his eyesight is too good, isn't it?"

Wei Jin nodded. The messy colors on the surface of the buildings on both banks made this so-called traffic light very inconspicuous; if you didn't look carefully, you couldn't see it at all.

Carrying their curiosity along the way, everyone successfully arrived at the hotel designated by the film festival—the Westin Hotel.

This hotel could not be called the best, but it was only 100 meters away from the Film Palace, which was considered very convenient. Of course, many people were arranged at the Hotel Excelsior Venice, which was also the only five-star hotel on the Lido; many stars and artists were willing to stay here.

It must be said that the European Big Three film festivals are still quite snobbish.

With Wei Jin's current status and position, attending the Venice International Film Festival for the first time, the officials directly provided five rooms for the crew to use; the treatment was considered quite good.

Arriving at the room, Wei Jin looked it over carefully and nodded in satisfaction.

This suite of over forty square meters was full of classical flavor and could be considered to have a unique charm.

After lunch, it was already past one o'clock, nearing two.

Wei Jin and the young girl were lovey-dovey in the room for a while, and just as he intended to smoke a cigarette, he was stopped by her. He couldn't help but sigh inwardly that women are troublesome; she was managing more and more things lately.

Resentfully coming to the balcony, Wei Jin lit a cigarette and sat on a chair, blowing the slightly salty sea breeze, feeling very comfortable.

Taking advantage of the time spent smoking, Wei Jin took out his phone to check the news from back home.

*Xuan-Yuan Sword* had started filming location shots, and Miss Cai had held another press conference, even releasing photos of Wei Jin visiting the set, making it seem as if this drama was produced by Shanhe Media.

The posters for *Xuan-Yuan Sword* had also been released online; there was no need to mention the familiar faces among the actors.

Along with the character poster for the newcomer Rouba, two versions of photos of the Nüwa Descendant were also released.

Liu Yifei's Zhao Ling'er and Zhang Li's Zixuan—especially Liu Yifei's stills—had the highest quantity.

It must be said that Miss Cai had a knack for promotion and could always grasp the traffic code.

Although this tactic was old, the effect of riding the coattails of popularity was very good. After a series of operations, it directly attracted massive attention and media coverage for the newcomer.

However, seeing this poster also reminded Wei Jin of something, so he immediately took out his phone.

There was a 7-hour time difference between Venice and back home; it was night over there at this moment, and the call was connected quickly.

"Hello, Chairman Wang, I want the female lead for *The Patriot Yue Fei*, Tangren Media's Liu Shishi."

"No problem, Brother Wei, I will communicate with the other investors and also give a heads-up to the crew."

Upon hearing this name, Wang Changtian immediately felt relieved and agreed readily; she was a popular young actress, after all, and could carry this drama.

"Then many thanks, Chairman Wang."

"Brother, you're being too polite. These are small matters. By the way, remember to come to the premiere."

"Rest assured, I will definitely show my support."

Hanging up the phone, Wei Jin stubbed out the cigarette butt and returned to the room, only to see that the young girl had already taken a shower and was wearing a silk camisole nightgown, full of temptation.

As the saying goes, one thinks of carnal desires when full and warm; Wei Jin was instantly interested. In two or three steps, he pressed against the girl's curvaceous back, his large hands began to make mischief, and in a few moves, he stripped the young girl clean.

"Brother, stop messing around, we still have to go out for a stroll later."

"Yifei, the film festival will last for ten days or so; we have plenty of time."

Wei Jin's hand techniques were very formidable; before long, he had shuffled the cards and started the game.

"Ah, oh~~~ Brother, slow down~~"

Having already lost the position, Liu Yifei could only let the enemy forces run wild, her hands supporting the back of the sofa to steady herself, her perfect body presenting an alluring curve.

"Alright, Yifei, whatever you like, I will follow your lead."

The advantage of a standing position was that it could fully bring out the advantage of Liu Yifei's long legs; Wei Jin liked this method very much.

Soon, the sound of two-person applause echoed in the suite. (End of chapter)