Chapter 114: Taking advantage and still acting innocent

A break?

According to Chen Nuo's understanding, Liu Yifei is already considered a first-tier young actress in China, especially since *Chinese Paladin* started airing on satellite TV in the middle of the year. Wang Yuyan, Zhao Linger, and the upcoming Little Dragon Maiden—it's basically a rhythm of sweeping up the dream goddesses of all men born in the 80s and 90s. Logically speaking, shouldn't she be advancing rapidly? Why suddenly take a break?

He didn't know if Liu Yifei had this experience in his previous life, so he couldn't help but ask in surprise: "Does your mom agree? And your agency? What do they say?"

I don't know why, but just with this simple question, Liu Yifei actually burst into tears. Large tears kept sliding down from her eyes. For a moment, it made Chen Nuo flustered. He was comforting her and handing her tissues. After working for a long time, Liu Yifei finally calmed down.

It made the waiter who brought the meal look at Chen Nuo with strange eyes, as if he didn't understand why someone would make such a cute girl sad.

"I don't care about them, I just want to rest. I don't want to film, and I don't want to sing. I don't want to do anything right now." Liu Yifei looked at the vegetable salad in front of her and said as if she were sulking.

Chen Nuo didn't know what happened either, but it wasn't easy to ask, so he had to say: "That's true, you've debuted for so long, filmed so many TV series, and filmed several movies. You're much harder working than me, so you should take a break."

A sneer appeared on Liu Yifei's pretty face, and she said: "That's also called a movie?" After saying this, she rang the bell on the table. After waiting for the waiter to come over, she said again: "I want to order wine, please give me the wine list."

Chen Nuo couldn't understand now—it turned out that Liu Yifei's brilliant smile when they first met was all acted out, which is why it seemed slightly exaggerated. This person clearly had something on her mind. He hesitated for a moment, but still persuaded: "Drinking at noon isn't very good, right? And you drove. We aren't even 21 yet."

Liu Yifei glared at him and said: "Are you going to drink with me or not?"

Chen Nuo still had lingering fears about the drunkenness in Hong Kong not long ago, but seeing Liu Yifei like this, he had to nod.

Fortunately, this restaurant probably didn't dare sell hard liquor to minors; it was just low-alcohol dry red wine. The two drank slowly, so they weren't too drunk. Eating and drinking, they unknowingly drank more than half of the bottle.

Chen Nuo's face was a bit red at the moment, and his body was a bit hot. Looking at Liu Yifei, her whole face was like a pink peach, her eyes were watery when looking at people, and there was quite a bit of charm in the movement of her eyes.

Actually, Chen Nuo had started persuading her twenty minutes ago, but he couldn't stand that she wouldn't listen at all. When he spoke urgently, she even looked like she was going to turn against him.

This time, Chen Nuo firmly held down the wine glass. "Alright, that's enough."

Liu Yifei seemed to be truly drunk and giggled. "Chen Nuo, do you know why I like hanging out with you?"

Damn it, she's really drunk. Chen Nuo had a headache. He didn't know what to do with this young lady. Should he really treat her like Xia Yehe and throw her in a hotel and ignore her? Or call her mom and let her come pick her up? No matter which method, it seemed to be trouble.

He had to sigh and ask: "Why?"

Liu Yifei said: "Because only you truly treat me as a friend."

Although Chen Nuo had filmed a total of three movies since his debut, two of which were art films, he really couldn't be considered an art youth. Hearing Liu Yifei's very artistic words, he could only honestly play the role of the straight man. "What does that mean?"

Liu Yifei didn't seem to know how to explain it either. After thinking for a long time, she said: "In short, in your eyes, I can tell that the way you look at me is different from others."

Chen Nuo understood a bit.

Isn't it just that other young people haven't seen much of the world and can't hold their own in front of beauties? Seeing Miss Liu, they are all like sycophants, which naturally makes her very uncomfortable.

This actually isn't strange. His aesthetic had been tempered in 2024. Returning to the early 2000s, in his eyes, whether it was Liu Yifei or Yang Mi, their clothing and makeup were actually slightly strange most of the time.

In this era, if a woman wants to move him, the less clothing she wears, the better; it's best if she wears nothing at all.

*Cough. *

Hearing Liu Yifei say this, Chen Nuo smiled: "Actually, men are all the same. I also get moved when I see beauties; don't think I'm some saint. Do you want to come over and touch? Like eating alone with you like this, how fast my heart is beating."

This girl Liu Yifei was truly drunk. When Chen Nuo said this, she really stood up at once and reached out to touch him, which made Chen Nuo panic. Like a young lady being teased, he covered his chest and said: "Okay, I was wrong, don't touch."

Liu Yifei then snorted and sat back down. "Don't think I don't dare. Let me tell you, I'm different from before."

Indeed, she was different. Recalling the girl who didn't even dare to speak loudly and always hid behind her mother's back just over a year ago, and then looking at this young woman who was full of feminine charm and free and easy, Chen Nuo couldn't help but sigh. It turned out that it wasn't just him who changed rapidly in time.

Just then, his phone rang; it was Qi Yuntian calling.

Regarding Liu Yifei, Chen Nuo really had no guard. He answered and asked: "How is it, is it negotiated?"

Qi Yuntian said indignantly: "No, they sent an old hag to grind with me. It's been a whole morning, saying either $1 million or $500,000 plus a 0.1% share."

Chen Nuo asked: "Then what are you going to do next?"

Qi Yuntian said: "One word: hold on. At this time of psychological game, I got high marks when I took business negotiation classes. In short, at this time, we must never think about our disadvantages. If you want to think, think that besides you, where can they find another Joker! *Batman Begins* had a global box office of $370 million. For this sequel, we want $500,000 plus a 0.2% box office share. Is that greedy? *Hehe*, Warner wants to pick up cheap goods, keep dreaming!"

Chen Nuo said: "I think at the appropriate time, $500,000 can be less, but the 0.2% commission cannot change, you know?"

Qi Yuntian said: "Unhuh, you have so much confidence in your own box office?"

Chen Nuo, borrowing the strength of the alcohol, said disdainfully: "I PK'd Heath Ledger, what do you think? Now you'd better not mention the word confidence in front of me; I'm afraid I'll explode on the spot."

Qi Yuntian laughed: "That's the logic. Okay, then that's it. I'll go eat a burger with our lawyer and go back to grind with them. You wait for my news."

"Hmm."

The phone hung up. Without waiting for Liu Yifei to ask, Chen Nuo took the initiative to say: "Negotiating a new film, negotiating the contract right now. The salary hasn't been negotiated yet." Liu Yifei had just heard what Chen Nuo said. In her drunken state, she didn't understand anything else, but she heard $500,000 clearly. She felt a bit uncomfortable for the other party and said indignantly: "Asking you to film a movie and only giving you $500,000? You are a Berlin Film Festival Best Actor, and the male lead of a Wong Kar-wai movie!"

Chen Nuo was shocked by Liu Yifei's tone.

Damn it, I thought my speed of making money was fast, and my salary is okay now. It looks like I'm nothing in front of others.

Damn, when Zhang Jizhong said he guaranteed that he was the highest-paid actor in the whole show, was he lying to a fool?

"What? Is it very little?" Chen Nuo's voice became much smaller.

Liu Yifei's cheeks were flushed, and she said with drunkenness: "Of course it's little... Let me tell you, it's only one-third of mine. Hey, you still need to take more commercial blockbusters in the future, you know? *Perhaps Love* is not bad, but your screen time is too short, which doesn't help much in raising your market value. You need to find a way to take some films by directors like Zhang Yimou or Chen Kaige; that's better for your career. Otherwise, you won't even be able to take commercial performances, let alone make money. You know?"

Ridiculous. I thought I was doing pretty well before and could treat Liu Yifei to a good meal. Now it seems the Joker is really myself.

Chen Nuo was actually 50% drunk, and Liu Yifei was at least 70-80% drunk. Neither of them scrutinized what the other was saying, so Chen Nuo's self-esteem was truly hit.

Just a moment ago, he felt he was going to heaven. Now he felt he wasn't even qualified to polish Liu Yifei's shoes. Chen Nuo felt a stinging pain of being humiliated all over his body. He picked up the phone and dialed Qi Yuntian again.

Qi Yuntian seemed to be eating a burger and said vaguely: "Hello, what's wrong?"

"You go tell Warner this afternoon: $1 million, plus a 0.2% share. I won't take it if it's a penny less. Let them love whoever they want. I'm eating with Liu Yifei right now, and she thinks that if we take this little money to film, we're like beggars; it's better to go back to the country. I can't afford to lose this face."

Qi Yuntian started coughing when he heard the three words "Liu Yifei," and later seemed to have drunk several sips of beverage before stopping the cough. "How can you be with Liu Yifei? When did she come to the US?"

"Don't worry about it, did you hear what I said?"

Qi Yuntian hesitated: "Did Liu Yifei really say that to you?"

"Do you think I'm joking with you?"

"Are you sure you want to go hard against Warner's people?"

Chen Nuo slapped the table with a *pop-pop* sound. "Go hard! Just go hard! Let me tell you, no matter who comes today, it won't work. If there's any problem, let Barry Meyer call me personally." Barry Meyer had been the CEO of Warner Bros. since 1999.

As soon as the words fell, the waiter came over. "Sir, please do not disturb other guests' dining."

Chen Nuo then noticed the surroundings. Sure enough, the foreigners around were looking over with surprised eyes. He then came to his senses and said to the outside: "Sorry."

Afterward, a woman whistled and said: "It's okay. Chinese, speaking Mandarin, right? Handsome boy, I actually don't mind you chatting for a while. I actually feel like I'm watching a Chinese version of *Friends*."

As soon as she said this, the people around all laughed at once.

"Yeah, I think so too."

"I think he looks quite like Qian Delei."

"No, no, no, I think he's much younger and more handsome than Qian Delei."

"Is that his girlfriend?"

"Should be."

"What a pity..."

Chen Nuo ignored these foreigners, sat down, lowered his voice a bit, and said to the phone: "Did you hear?"

"Yes, my boss."

After finishing the meal, Chen Nuo felt his head was particularly heavy, and his eyelids were almost unable to open. Liu Yifei in front of him had long been lying on the table without moving.

The white-bearded waiter who entertained them when they entered came over and asked: "Sir, do you need help? Do you want me to call Miss Liu's mother?"

Chen Nuo breathed a sigh of relief and said: "OK, then you go. I'll wait here."

Waiting and waiting, he also fell asleep.

Brothers! Five chapters released at once! Isn't it awesome! Can I get a good review?

Starting tomorrow, the original morning and evening update times will be restored.

Under normal circumstances, 5,000 in the morning and evening.

Occasionally three updates, 3,000 per chapter.

OK?

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 115 =====