Chapter 255: Go Up and Shout It Yourself, Then

The three of them played off each other and kept the Macau leaders very happy; Han Jianü was the normal straight man, allowing them to film their scenes here with peace of mind.

Building good relations with the city leaders would make things much more convenient next time they came to film.

She was a qualified Producer, and so was Chen Zhixi.

Liu Tianxian had a bit of a "husband leads, wife follows" vibe—whatever Fang Hong said, she would echo along.

The Macau leaders took a look at the crew and then left, without affecting the filming; during their visit, the crew continued working as usual.

It was impossible to shut down the whole crew just because someone showed up!

They weren't that big a deal—just the leadership team of a place like Macau.

Their main goal was to build a good relationship with the Jade Rabbit, to boost the local cultural industry and tourism, and to give their film festival a hand.

In any case, everyone had different things on their minds.

This was much better than the attitude next door in Hong Kong—Fang Hong couldn't even be bothered to go there.

After they left, Now You See Me continued filming as usual; Han Jianü and Fang Hong chatted casually for a few words, then each went off to handle their own business.

Producers—money, everything—had to go through their team; they were swamped.

"Last night I heard Liu Tianxian call the Principal 'Gouzi,' I laughed myself to death."

"Really? Hahaha."

"."

Just as Fang Hong and Liu Tianxian were seeing the leaders off and walking back, they overheard a few art-design students standing together chatting, and they were chatting quite happily.

Fang Hong was speechless and immediately walked toward the group.

Liu Tianxian didn't move; instead, she pressed her lips together, holding back a laugh—she was the one who had shouted it out.

When the art-design students saw the Principal walking toward them, their faces all changed; they shut their mouths and used eye signals to warn Li Anran.

Li Anran had his back turned and didn't notice, still chatting away enthusiastically: "We've given the Principal a new nickname now, Fang Gouzi."

"Have you?"

Fang Hong patted his shoulder and turned his head around to face him.

Li Anran's previously cheerful look instantly turned into a miserable one: "P-P-Principal."

"Looks like you guys are pretty free!" Fang Hong said.

"Not free, we're very busy."

After saying that, Li Anran ran off; the other art-design students followed him and fled, not daring to stay there any longer.

Fang Hong walked back to Liu Tianxian's side, saw her face struggling to hold back laughter: "It's all your fault!"

"You were the one who scared me that day. If you hadn't scared me, I wouldn't have said it out loud—your fault." Liu Tianxian still remembered that incident.

About that incident—Fang Hong recalled it and felt he had gone too far; he could feel the loneliness and fear Liu Tianxian had felt at the time.

It was just that Liu Tianxian never spoke about it.

Seeing him go quiet, Liu Tianxian held his arm: "You don't mind, do you?"

"What would I mind? It's just a nickname." Fang Hong didn't care.

He hadn't taken it to heart.

Every celebrity gets nicknames—Fortune Ma, Knockoff Ma, Nothing-to-My-Name Wang, Don't-Know-How-Good-My-Wife-Is Liu.

"That's good then, be generous." Liu Tianxian affectionately rubbed his head.

"A man's head can't be rubbed just by anyone." Fang Hong said.

"Hey, I'm not rubbing anyone else's, I just love rubbing yours." Liu Tianxian leaned her little head closer, speaking quite insistently.

The two of them were still as usual; time quickly reached September, and it was once again the day of the annual Charity Bazaar!

As long as Liu Tianxian had time, she basically went every year, and naturally Fang Hong was dragged along by her, willing or not.

"Doing a bit of charity won't do you any harm; at the very least, it won't give people something to criticize." She said.

"I just feel that donating money isn't worth it." Fang Hong said.

After this edition of the Bazaar Charity, a lot of scandals would emerge—not celebrity scandals, but charity scandals.

Fang Long's foundation and Yanran's foundation were both reported.

Huge sums of donations unaccounted for, misuse of funds, illicit kickbacks—a whole series of problems.

There was also suspicion of money laundering.

Whether true or not, in any case someone reported them; as for what happened after, a small nobody like me isn't worthy of knowing the follow-up.

And this edition of the Charity Bazaar donated through a poverty alleviation foundation, with the funds going to three parties: the Fang Long Charity and Public Welfare Foundation, the Yanran Angel Foundation, and Huayi public welfare short film production.

Although Fang Hong didn't consider himself a good person, he felt that with such opaque matters, donating might as well be not donating—it would only make the rich richer.

"We just need to do our own part well, don't worry about others; as long as we have a clear conscience, that's enough." Liu Tianxian told him.

She naturally knew what this man meant, but those were other people's business; they couldn't manage it, nor did they have the ability to—they could only take care of themselves.

And she only needed to take good care of this man!

Fang Hong nodded; on this point he naturally listened to Liu Tianxian—she had always done very well in this area, and it was one of the reasons she stayed popular for so long.

It made people feel she was a very kind person, beautiful inside.

And this time Chen Sicheng was also going; he was attending the event together with Yaya.

After saying goodbye to the crew, the three of them flew from Macau back to BJ; flying back to BJ only took three hours.

Now You See Me continued filming as usual, just shooting some dialogue scenes.

It wasn't really holding things up either; the Charity Bazaar was only half a day, and they could rejoin the crew the next day. Besides, the crew was about to relocate to BJ for filming anyway.

And this wasn't a female-lead-driven film, so Liu Tianxian didn't need to appear constantly.

This edition of the Charity Bazaar was held at the BJ 798 Art Museum, which is on Jiuxianqiao Road in Chaoyang District.

This year marked the tenth anniversary of the Charity Bazaar, co-hosted with CCTV's Finance Channel and broadcast on CCTV—it could be called a grand occasion.

The scale was no less than that of a mainstream film awards ceremony!

The Bazaar Charity of these years was not yet entangled in the later negative publicity; it was far livelier than the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards, and on a higher tier as well.

In this era, the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards basically had few big-name stars attending; even many award winners were absent — you could say it had no prestige at all.

But the Charity Bazaar was very lively. Celebrity charity — it sounded so nice to say out loud, and it still carried a certain class.

The red carpet event began at four in the afternoon. At this time it was still daylight, fans at the scene were shouting, and reporters were shouldering their long lenses and flashing their lights.

Wang Fei appeared on the red carpet with Li Yapeng. Wang Fei still had that cocky look, dressed casually and plainly — just a grey suit and that was it.

Completely different from the others in their grand gowns. Take Jing Tian, for instance — she appeared in a dazzling starry-sky dress, fair-skinned, with an outstanding air; truly gorgeous.

And Wang Fei, the whole man, also wore an unsmiling expression, as if he didn't give a damn about anyone — probably a less-than-harmonious marriage!

Fang Long was still his usual fiery-red look, warm to everyone. Facing the reporters, he also took the chance to promote his year-end film "Chinese Zodiac."

Really busy — not only representing the foundation, but also promoting his film. Xu Ruoxuan came in on the arm of Xiao Wang, probably an artist their company was pushing; it's just that her butt, well, hard to describe.

Before she could really be pushed, she went and got married!

Many people came: Chen Sicheng and Yaya, Sha Yi and his wife, Da Heiniu and Zhang Yuxi, Nini and Feng Kuzi who were still dating.

Jay Chou, Huang Xiaoming, Liu Jialing, Guoji Zhang, Li Bailian, Han Geng, Xie Na, Zhang Jie, Wenzhang, Ma Yili, Yao Dazui, Deng Chao, Yan Zi, Lang Lang, Deng Ziqi, and a whole host of other big names all made appearances.

In her past life, Liu Tianxian basically had no presence at such occasions—very few camera shots, not even an interview segment.

Only because there were too many big names; any one of them outranked her in status.

But in this life, with several works under her belt, her fame was no longer confined to China, and her standing had naturally risen.

She appeared on the red carpet with wavy hair, in a red V-neck gown, her arm linked through Fang Hong's, looking mature and alluring.

On the left of the red carpet were advertising boards; on the right, reporters shouldering their long lenses, clicking away at the two of them.

Behind the reporters was the audience, shouting and screaming, holding up all sorts of signs.

Liu Tianxian kept a smile, holding a small silver box like a glasses case in her hand, and waved to the audience.

Fang Hong's expression was as usual. He glanced at the audience area below — no one was holding up a sign with his name on it.

He wasn't a star, had no marketing; his exposure was limited to films. Films don't nurture stars — the people who pay to watch your films are basically all quite rational.

The only role where Fang Hong stood out was "Young Master Zhao"; the others weren't particularly remarkable, all just serving as a backdrop for Liu Tianxian.

But online there was still a dedicated fan forum for him, and fan communities gathered on forums.

Just nobody managed them—all spontaneous behavior!

Put it this way: even the super-fans couldn't dig up a single piece of news about Fang Hong.

The information about Fang Hong online was just "farmer," "Principal of Beijing Film Academy," and some gossip about Liu Tianxian — that was it; everything else was all negative.

Unlike the fan groups who watched stars, those star-artists and business bosses were all watching Fang Hong.

They knew — this was the one who held the resources!

When the two reached the end of the red carpet, the host asked them what their thoughts were on participating in this charity — basically every big star got asked the same.

After editing, it would be released.

"Being able to contribute what little I can to charity, to help more people — I feel very honored," Liu Tianxian replied.

The microphone was passed to Fang Hong. He said simply: "A pretty meaningful thing."

"Thank you, thank you both." The host took back the microphone and gestured for the two to enter the venue.

The stars inside the venue were all fairly well-behaved. Once inside, they were arranged to their seats, though there was also some mutual greeting and networking.

Yet they all put on a gentle smile—still considered fairly polite.

It was because this Charity Bazaar had ordinary audience members and fans admitted; the ring-shaped second and third floors above were filled with ordinary spectators.

Basically, they had sold a batch of tickets.

So these stars were all very well-behaved, completely unlike last time when they were so outrageous it hurt the eyes.

Even so, the most eye-catching were still Xiao Wang, Fang Long, Feng Kuzi — these big shots, big stars, big directors — surrounded by a crowd.

"Principal."

The moment the two came in, someone greeted Fang Hong. The person was Huang Xiaoming.

"Hello!" Fang Hong nodded.

Fang Hong had seen this person at various occasions — this was the first time the other had actually greeted him.

Before, it had always been a blank look and then walk on past!

Actually, Huang Xiaoming wanted to build some connections. Deng Chao, Huang Bo, Tong Dawei, Wang Baoqiang, Duan Yihong, Fan Xiaopang — they all got Jade Rabbit's resources, yet he had been forgotten.

And these people were basically all from the Huayi system, and had some connection with Huayi.

Everyone else wasn't afraid — what was there for him to be afraid of!

Worst case, he'd just cozy up to that side again. Anyway, Huayi hadn't given him any resources for a long time; he'd long since struck out on his own!

Huang Xiaoming looked at Liu Tianxian: "Yifei, what have you been busy with lately?"

"Filming non-stop recently, pretty busy," Liu Tianxian chatted.

The two weren't the closest of friends, but they were friends.

Just as the three were chatting, Deng Chao, Huang Bo, Zhou Dongyu, Tong Dawei, Ni Ni, Fan Xiaopang, Yaya, and a host of other stars gathered around.

Yaya was there because her boyfriend had a good relationship with Jade Rabbit!

"Principal!"

"Boss Fang."

"."

For a moment greetings came one after another. Behind them, some third- and fourth-tier stars who were about to become famous, or would be famous in the future, craned their necks to look.

Fang Hong nodded in response to each. When someone reached out a hand, he shook it. When he got to Fan Xiaopang, he said: "Has that Xing Ni Ni Ni finished filming?"

"Finished filming. I heard it'll air at the end of the year," Fan Xiaopang said with a smile, and deliberately glanced at Liu Tianxian.

"That's good." Fang Hong said casually.

He had only asked in passing, and wasn't keeping close tabs on the progress of *Star You*.

The others also chatted casually for a bit, limited to ordinary matters. Fang Hong knew these people were all here for social pleasantries.

Otherwise, when he came last year no one paid him any attention, but this year he had defeated Huayi with absolute strength, so now everyone was being nice.

Liu Tianxian, watching him being so well-received, was happy for him too, regardless of whether the others were sincere or not.

It all proved this man's success!

Jiang Jianzhu, watching from afar, saw the Principal in high spirits and wanted to come over and say hello, but didn't dare approach. She still remembered how the Principal had once slapped her across the face.

That incident had left her utterly humiliated, with no face left at all.

If the Principal embarrassed her in public, ignoring her, how would she have any face to see anyone, with so many people around?

More and more stars gathered around Fang Hong's side, dimming the starpower around Xiao Wang's quite a bit.

But that side had its own base too — Li Bailian, Fang Long, Feng Kuzi, these people were still considered big shots.

Gathered around them were Feng Shaofeng, Zhang Hanyu, Lin Gengxin, Bai Baihe, Li Xiaolu, and others, also with plenty of people around them.

Some people, after greeting Fang Hong, went over to greet Xiao Wang, Fang Long, and the others as well.

This circle was just like that — everyone was shrewd.

"Seeing that smug face of his, I really want to slap him a couple of times." Feng Kuzi gazed toward Fang Hong's side.

Xiao Wang glanced at him — how was it that every single time it was the same old line? If you've got the guts, go up there and slap him!

He didn't say that out loud, after all he also found the Principal annoying, and this could just stir up Feng Kuzi's fighting spirit to make a good film.

Half of Huayi was propped up by Feng Kuzi!

(End of chapter)