Chapter 153

This year, Li Er didn't say much about Chen Nuo's career, only expressing approval for his decision to pause his acting career and return to campus.

As for Chen Nuo's emotional speech at the Golden Horse Awards, Li Jiaoshou didn't mention a single word.

However, that little traitor Qi Yuntian had sold her out completely.

He had already told Chen Nuo that during that time, Li Jiaoshou had been harassed quite severely by paparazzi, finding it annoying all day long, yet she was actually quite happy—it was a rare period where she didn't argue with him.

Chen Nuo and Qi Yuntian's career paths seemed to no longer require anyone to worry, so the other aspect naturally became the focus.

When mentioning Wen Wen Yingshan, Li Er's assessment was that her character was acceptable, but in other areas, her foundation was too poor. However, the good thing was that she knew the problem, and it wasn't too late to mend the fold.

After the New Year, if she entered the vocational class and studied hard, she might not necessarily fail to become a good actress in the future.

That's right, a Hong Kong/Macao/Taiwan identity was ultimately not as valuable as an American one.

Americans didn't need to take cultural exams; if their professional skills passed, they could attend Beijing Film Academy.

But Hong Kongers had to take the joint entrance exam for Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, which was at the end of June. Even if they passed, they could only enroll the following year.

The result of Li Er and Chen Nuo's discussion was that, anyway, they didn't care about a diploma; studying in a vocational class was enough to learn things.

Wen Wen Yingshan didn't know anything.

For her, being able to enter Beijing Film Academy to study acting, and at the same school as Chen Nuo, was already very satisfying.

What vocational or non-vocational? As a Hong Kong girl, what did she know?

She even swore to go back and prepare well for the February Beijing Film Academy entrance exam, promising not to let Li Jiaoshou and her darling down.

Little did she know, Beijing Film Academy's undergraduate admissions were under the public eye, making it hard to pull strings.

But for things like vocational classes, for Li Jiaoshou, who now had the air of an academic power-broker, did arranging for a student to get in really require professional scores to pass?

Heh heh.

Speaking of Wen Wen Yingshan, Pan Pan Chengrong also had something to say: "Actually, I really like this girl Wen Wen Yingshan. It's mainly her personality; I feel she's very much like me—gentle on the outside but firm on the inside..."

Chen Bi coughed: "Gentle on the outside..."

Pan Pan Chengrong took a deep breath, acting as if she hadn't heard, and continued: "I think she can manage a household and keep people in line in the future. She also has genuine feelings for Chen Nuo. Li Jiaoshou, you don't know what Chen Nuo was like before..."

Now it was Chen Nuo's turn to cough.

Fortunately, Pan Pan Chengrong didn't dwell on this topic, mainly because as Li Er listened, her gaze landed straight on Qi Yuntian.

If she kept talking, they might not have a good New Year.

In the end, the two families had a harmonious meal and chatted for a long time. When Chen Nuo left, he really took that copy of "People's Literature" with him. Anyway, Qi Qi Yifei was quite invested in it and had actually bought several copies in advance. He had agreed with Qi Yuntian that they would both read the novel.

Read it, my foot.

In his past life, he had seen the movie "The Message" and knew that this was the work that completely established Mai Jia's reputation as the King of Spy-War.

Although he hadn't paid much attention to the box office back then and didn't know exactly how much money Poly Huayi Brothers made from this film, it was definitely just a matter of making a lot or a little.

Otherwise, why would it have been adapted into a TV series?

Come to think of it, who starred in the TV series?

He hadn't watched it, so he really didn't know...

A bun delivered to his mouth, he would definitely eat it; there was no need to read any novel.

However, Qi Yuntian took the "let's read the book together" comment seriously. The next morning after 8:00, Chen Nuo was still having a sweet dream about sleeping in the same bed with someone, when he was woken up by the phone ringing.

Qi Yuntian's voice sounded very energetic, not at all like someone who hadn't slept all night.

"Chen Nuo, we must secure this project!"

Chen Nuo yawned and said listlessly: "Is that so?"

Qi Yuntian said angrily: "Have you not even flipped through it yet? Forget it, I spent the whole night reading it, and I think this novel is tailor-made for our studio!"

"How so?"

"The artists we have now—you and Fan Fan Fan Binbing. And Wen Wen Yingshan, didn't you say you were going to terminate her contract with her company when you go back? This movie happens to be a dual-female lead setup—isn't that perfect for us?"

Chen Nuo smiled: "Perfect what? One listen and I can tell you don't understand movies. How can Wen Wen Yingshan and Fan Fan Fan Binbing work together? First of all, the age gap isn't right. Do you understand what 'CP chemistry' is? Do you know that if 'The Message' is filmed, one of the big selling points is the 'bromance' and 'yuri' elements..."

"Forget it, I'll teach you slowly later. You go ahead and buy the adaptation rights first. If we're really going to do this project, we definitely need to cast it. In any case, it's impossible to have those two act together."

Qi Yuntian's voice on the phone was extremely shocked: "No, Chen Nuo, did you actually read the book?"

Chen Nuo wouldn't say that what he just mentioned were insights from watching the movie in his past life, so he said calmly: "Flipped through a couple of pages. This kind of thing relies purely on intuition."

Amidst Qi Yuntian's scoffing, Chen Nuo hung up the phone.

By the afternoon, Qi Yuntian's call came again, his voice on the other end extremely high-pitched.

"Chen Nuo, damn it! Do you know how much our box office was yesterday?"

……

……

"Clang!"

The sound of things breaking echoed in Wang Wang Zongjun's home again. This time it wasn't a water glass, but an ashtray. So the sound was louder and even more frightening.

This time it was Wang Wang Zonglei trying to persuade him: "Brother, calm down. It's the New Year, don't let the family hear."

Wang Wang Zongjun was stern and roared: "Calm down? How can I calm down? On the third day, their box office is actually catching up to ours? We dropped to 9 million, and they actually rose again to over 7 million! What is the reason for this? Have the people in the marketing department investigated? Have they asked for results?"

Wang Wang Zonglei shrank his neck and said cautiously: "The marketing department people said they would report to me by phone later this afternoon."

Wang Wang Zongjun said: "Later? How much later? Are we waiting for their movie with a few million in investment to crush our movie with over 100 million in investment, letting everyone in the circle watch us make a fool of ourselves, laughing their heads off, before they report? Call them now and tell them that if I don't see an analysis report within an hour, they can all get lost after the New Year!"

Sure enough, pressure creates motivation. Poly Huayi's investigation report reached Wang Wang Zongjun's computer 53 minutes later.

The dozen-page report could be summarized in one point: A comedy like "Crazy Stone" was simply too suitable for the Spring Festival market, while Director Feng's "The Banquet" was simply too unsuitable. One plus one minus, plus word-of-mouth, led to a chain reaction.

Poly Huayi's marketing department even predicted in the report that during the seven-day Spring Festival holiday, "Crazy Stone" might very well surpass "The Banquet" at the box office.

This made Wang Wang Zongjun gnash his teeth in anger, wishing he could eat these traitors one by one.

(End of chapter)