Chapter 227: The Jade Rabbit's Bearing

The two chatted until very late; Fang Hong fell asleep listening, and Liu Tianxian quietly hung up the phone without disturbing him.

When she's gentle, she's very gentle—but when she hits someone, she really hits them.

Actually, she understood exactly what her mother meant: nothing more than "murder and arson bring golden belts, building bridges and mending roads leave no bones behind."

In other words, good people don't get rewarded.

What she needed was someone like that to do the dirty work for her—to make those who smeared her shut up, and make those who tripped her up afraid.

That way her path in the entertainment circle would be smooth, and she'd do very comfortably.

That meant letting Fang Hong play the bad guy and take those people down, but deep down she was unwilling.

She'd rather bear it herself than do that! She was afraid Fang Hong's methods would be too ruthless, that he wouldn't be able to stop and would crush people to death, and might even drag himself down in the process.

On June 16th, Fang Hong and Liu Tianxian arrived at the Shanghai Grand Theatre, where this edition of the Shanghai International Film Festival would kick off.

Sina Entertainment and Movie Channel would broadcast the whole thing live.

The festival would run for nine days, with film screenings from all over the world every day, along with movie promotional press conferences.

Besides these, there were all sorts of events and forum discussions.

Things like film industry forums, master classes, new wave film discussions—basically filmmakers and directors from both sides of the strait and Hong Kong sitting together shooting the breeze.

Put simply, it was a film forum.

When Fang Hong arrived, he also spotted Gewara's promotional banners and ticket-purchase entrance—that was Tu Piaopiao's competitor, both belonging to the online ticketing platform space.

Their headquarters was here, after all, so of course they'd favor the local company.

Of course, Tu Piaopiao could also sell tickets, just not as conspicuously.

At 3:30 in the afternoon, the Golden Goblet Hall of the Silver Star Crown Plaza Hotel—the Golden Goblet Award jury media meet-and-greet.

This edition's Jury President was a Frenchman named Jacques Annaud.

The jury members came from various countries; from China there were only Li Bailian and Zhang Yang—the rest were filmmakers from the United States, Iran, South Korea, Hungary, and other countries.

Li Bailian had now risen to jury-level status.

Worth mentioning, she graduated from Shanghai Theatre Academy, and could be considered a figurehead—she showed up at all sorts of occasions.

Inside a super-large glass hall, the place was packed shoulder to shoulder; looking around, it was all people.

All those men and women stars in suits and fancy dresses, along with various filmmakers and reporters.

Zhang Baizhi, Huo Siyan, Yang Mi, Huang Bo, Lin Zhiling, Gao Yixiang, Chen Kun, Zhang Yuqi, Zhao Wei, Liu Kaiwei, Zhou Xiuna, Cheng Long, Liang Hanwei, Xu Fan, Zhang Hanyu, Duan Yihong, Fan Wei, Li Qian, Zhang Dongjian, Zhou Runfa and his wife, Huang Xiaoming, and of course Hu Ge—how could this place be missing him! Anyway, there were truly a damn lot of people, around four hundred-plus, all squeezed in here, forming all kinds of little circles, with noisy chatter filling the air.

Stars were doing whatever—taking photos, posing for group shots, chatting.

Liu Tianxian was busy posing for photos with everyone, whether she knew them or not—she'd snap one with anyone, then exchange a few words.

At this moment she was posing for a photo with Huang Xiaoming, but had little interaction with Hu Ge.

Nearby, reporters carrying cameras were taking photos and filming.

It wasn't time for the red carpet yet, so many stars and crews could only wait here.

Luckily the place was big enough, otherwise it would have been stifling to death—there was nothing for it; the Shanghai Film Festival wasn't very professional at running ceremonies like this, lacked experience, and had too few volunteers.

They were too stingy to recruit people to handle volunteer duties like this.

Fang Hong was among them too, with his own circle—together with Zhang Songwen, Xie Miao, Zhu Yilong, Guo Jingfei, Zhou Yiwei, and others.

Song Jia hadn't come; she was walking the red carpet with other people.

These were all actors from the crews of "Lucy 1" and "Cold War."

Later they'd just stroll the red carpet briefly and make an appearance.

Honestly, this film festival didn't do much to help films—you still had to rely on yourself.

People have to rely on themselves! "Principal, hello!"

"."

The group exchanged greetings and handshakes.

Zhang Songwen, Xie Miao, Zhu Yilong, and Guo Jingfei had all met Fang Hong before, and were all familiar with him to varying degrees.

Only Zhou Yiwei was working with Yu Tu for the first time.

It was Xie Miao's first time at such a grand occasion, and he couldn't help looking around curiously; seeing Fa Ge chatting and laughing heartily in the crowd, he didn't show much expression.

It was all childhood stuff.

"Have you guys finished filming that movie?" Fang Hong asked casually, referring to Cold War.

"Wrapped."

Zhang Songwen leaned close to Fang Hong and whispered: "Principal, a lot of people are looking at you, with hostility."

Fang Hong looked over and saw that the guy in red pants and Fa Ge would glance his way from time to time—the hostility was obvious, and the stars around them didn't have much goodwill toward him either.

"Xie Miao, you know martial arts, right?" he said.

"I'm just flashy moves, no real skill." Xie Miao was baffled, not knowing what he meant.

"That's enough, better than ordinary people. If someone loses control and tries to hit me, you have to protect me."

Fang Hong's words made the others present burst out laughing.

They knew he was joking—how could anyone actually start a fight at an occasion like this? That would be utterly irrational.

"What are you all laughing about?"

At that moment Liu Tianxian walked over.

She wore a light blue gauze gown, with her shoulders, arms, and back exposed—the back was held together by just a few strings, though luckily her long hair hung loose and covered her back.

Beautiful earrings dangled from her earlobes; overall she looked light and ethereal! Deng Chao was beside her too, reaching out with a smile: "Principal, I never imagined that when we met again I'd be working for you."

He was currently filming Yu Tu's "American Dreams in China" and had come over specifically to say hello—after all, the man was his boss and financier.

"Don't put it that way—it's a partnership."

Fang Hong shook his hand, then looked Liu Tianxian up and down, frowning: "You're showing way too much skin."

"What's exposed? It's always been like this."

Liu Tianxian didn't see anything exposed. She looked at the top of his head and couldn't help but laugh: "Who did this hairstyle for you?"

This man's hair was slicked back into a glossy, shiny pompadour. "My idea. Do I look handsome or what?" Fang Hong gave his head a casual swipe.

"Not bad. Very handsome."

Liu Tianxian smiled, wanted to reach out and touch it but held back — too many people around, not appropriate to touch a man's head.

She turned and smiled at the others in greeting: "Hello, everyone."

"Hi, Yifei!"

"."

The few of them shook her hand politely, couldn't help stealing a few extra glances — a casual yet courteous person really was beautiful.

The nice thing about greeting a celebrity was that no introductions were needed; everyone already knew everyone else's name.

At that moment, a reporter walked up to them with a camera: "How about a photo, everyone?"

"Sure!"

Liu Tianxian gladly agreed, pulled Fang Hong over to stand with her, and tilted her body slightly closer to him.

The others stood behind or to the side.

One group photo was frozen just like that. Such scenes were common here — everywhere people were taking individual photos and group photos.

"What's that in your hand?"

Fang Hong saw Liu Tianxian holding a small silver box, like a glasses case.

Liu Tianxian handed it to him to look at, without a word! Fang Hong took it and glanced inside — a phone, some sample cosmetics and the like, and conspicuously, something transparent like silicone.

He zipped it shut right away and handed it back to Liu Tianxian, to avoid any accidental exposure.

That thing was a silicone bra pad — who would have thought Liu Tianxian wore a gown without a bra, using these things instead. No wonder no shoulder straps were visible.

The group here chatted casually.

"I have to walk the red carpet soon, I'll head over first!" Liu Tianxian patted Fang Hong's arm.

She was going to walk the red carpet with the *Four Great Constables* crew.

"If you leave, my team won't have a single woman — how monotonous!" Fang Hong gestured.

"It's not monotonous! All men is what makes it commanding!"

Liu Tianxian said with a smile, then walked off with Deng Chao toward the *Four Great Constables* crew.

At 6:30 in the evening, the sky hadn't darkened yet — it would be another hour or so before dark. The red carpet show officially began.

The red carpet show had a stage set up right at the entrance of the Grand Theatre, with a road in front of it.

Fans were kept behind barriers.

The celebrities were arranged by staff to get into cars, but the red carpet venue wasn't far away — just a couple of steps. A bit like taking off your pants to fart.

But the cars were sponsors, after all — they still needed exposure.

Because there were so many people, they went up in groups by crew to walk the red carpet, saving time. Of course, big shots could also go up as a pair.

Xiao Wang, General Manager of Huayi, and Xu Laoguai walked the red carpet arm in arm, shoulders pressed together — so intimate, anyone who didn't know would think the two of them were together.

Fang Hong hadn't seen these two earlier; they must have been somewhere else.

The red carpet also had hosts announcing, for example, when Liu Tianxian's *Four Great Constables* crew walked the red carpet.

The host announced: "This is the red carpet scene of the opening ceremony of the 15th Shanghai International Film Festival. Now let's welcome the crew of *Four Great Constables*."

The moment Liu Tianxian stepped out, people would shout "Liu Yifei" and "Wife!"

The most lavish was still the *Painted Skin 2* crew — Cheng Kun, Yan Zi, Yang Mi, Chen Guofu, Wu Ershan, Feng Shaofeng — all heavyweight figures.

Soon it was Fang Hong's group's turn. The moment they stepped out, the presence was instantly different.

Fang Hong and the others were seen wearing black suits, black sunglasses, all in black from head to toe, striding down the red carpet with chins up — paired with those pompadours, it made quite an impression.

Zhang Songwen and Xie Miao had originally planned to play it safe, but Fang Hong insisted they wear sunglasses on stage, saying that was the Jade Rabbit's signature look.

Even so, fans beside them were still screaming "Ahhhh!"

At an event like this, even a dog walking down would get cheers — no one knew what they were shouting anyway.

"Now walking toward us are the crews of *Lucy 1* and *Cold War* — a very commanding crew." The host announced.

Fang Hong and the others waved toward the sides, quickly walking up the red carpet steps. A staff member brought over a tray with several pens on it.

Fang Hong took one and drew the character "洪" on the signature wall — the calligraphy was quite artistic.

"Please accept our interview." The three hosts gestured.

Fang Hong and the others lined up in a row, while reporters in front clicked away with their cameras.

"May I ask, how did you come up with this look for walking the red carpet?" the host asked Fang Hong.

"There are too many big names at the Shanghai Film Festival — us small fry can only try to grab attention." Fang Hong said.

"Hahaha, Principal really is humorous." The host laughed heartily.

This was a compliment about how grand their film festival was — a nice thing to say! "Song Wen seems to have been working with the Principal since his debut." The host held the microphone up to Zhang Songwen's mouth.

He did have some fame — *Beijing Meets Seattle* had made him popular for a while.

"Actually, I've been acting for a long time. It's just that the Principal let me play my first truly meaningful leading role — I'm very honored." Zhang Songwen said flatteringly.

At that point the host stopped asking questions and started making polite small talk. The others all stared straight ahead, expressionless.

The others weren't famous, had no real recognition — asking each one would simply not leave enough time.

More people came after the red carpet — Yang Shoucheng, Zhong Xintong, A Sa.

Fang Hong and the others headed back to the backstage area.

The backstage area was part of the event venue — a place for socializing. That's how celebrities were, constantly networking.

Except this social gathering had turned into Huayi's home turf — they had so many big-name directors and stars collaborating with them.

Red Pants, Fang Long, Xu Laoguai, Jiang Wen—add Yang Shoucheng, and you've got nearly all the big names from the two shores and three regions lined up.

Unlike Jade Rabbit, which plays alone and hasn't boosted anyone's fame; the celebrities it invites are barely known.

It's normal—Huayi has risen again, and can show off once more!

(End of Chapter)