Chapter 308: Finished, Shoes Lost

Chen Nuo didn't know what kind of mood Teacher Zhang Guoli was in when he hung up the phone,

or what kind of mood he was in afterward to welcome his "drug son" who had been fired by the crew.

Would he use money or power to find trouble for him in the future?

Not only was he unclear.

To be honest, he didn't care.

Not only because the relationship between Teacher Zhang Guoli and him seemed to be eight poles apart,

but also, this wave of capital was about to sweep in, why should he still think about so much?

By then, countless cold and hot money would wash the various patterns of the current entertainment industry into pieces.

In the great changes of the entertainment industry that hadn't been seen in thirty years, some people would soar to the sky, and some would be defeated.

With him, a butterfly, flapping his wings in it in this life... who would soar and who would be defeated was even more unknown.

Under these circumstances, if he didn't even dare to seek fairness, could he still be considered a person?

Moreover, at the arrival of this tide, he had already used his own rebirth advantage to take a small step forward.

On August 28, 2009, when the crew moved to Guangdong, Chen Nuo asked Director Jiang Wen for a day off.

So, on this day, he brought his team and secretly came to Sina headquarters in Beijing, signing his name on a top-secret contract.

Except for the Sina board of directors and Chen Nuo, Qi Yuntian, and the lawyers of both sides, no one knew the specific content of the final terms of this brand promotion contract.

And the plan for 10% common stock that Chen Nuo initially proposed did not come to fruition as expected.

In the difficult negotiations of the past few days, even Qi Yuntian's father participated as a consultant, and finally, just before the public testing of Weibo, the contract was signed.

The cooperation conditions written in black and white between Chen Nuo and Sina were:

Sina used 5% common stock and 5% preferred stock in exchange for Chen Nuo opening an exclusive domestic social account on Sina Weibo.

Thereby prospering and suffering together with Sina.

In fact, regarding the amount of shares, a basic consensus was reached in the first week, and what took most of the month to negotiate was a special guarantee right written into the contract.

That is, in the future, when Sina Weibo, as a subsidiary of Sina, faces various situations that may lead to significant dilution of equity, such as subsequent rounds of financing, implementation of equity incentive plans, etc., Chen Nuo's side has the priority right to contribute capital to subscribe for shares according to the established rules at that time, so as to ensure that the proportion of common stock he holds in the company's total share capital can be maintained at 5%, avoiding damage due to equity dilution.

On the other hand, for the 5% preferred stock he holds, Sina also promises to strictly follow the established preferred stock agreement terms in core preferred stock rights such as preferred stock dividend distribution and priority compensation for liquidation assets.

Simply put, as long as Chen Nuo has money,

The moment Chen Nuo and Cao Guowei both signed their names on the contract, the Sina executives present, who were observing the ceremony, were all beaming with joy.

It hadn't been easy. The matter of Tencent offering a signing bonus of tens of millions had, after secret verification, indeed proven to be true; it wasn't something Chen Nuo had used to bluff them.

Later, Mr. Ding from NetEase had also aggressively entered the fray.

In the end, no one knew what this big star was thinking—why he didn't want the money, why he didn't follow the deep-pocketed Tencent or NetEase, and why he had such a soft spot for their "junk" Sina, acting as if he were determined to become a permanent, stubborn shareholder.

Could there be some trap in this, or some hidden agenda? In the future, with an extra chair on the Sina Weibo board of directors, would it ultimately be good or bad? Would it cause any problems?

These were things only the big shots on the board would consider.

As for these high-level "corporate cattle" laughing and applauding at this moment...

Who cares?

They only knew one thing.

With this big star joining, perhaps in the future they would be able to work less overtime, get scolded less, and hear fewer complaints from their wives and children at home compared to the "cattle" at Tencent, NetEase, or Sohu.

Although the news of Sina and Chen Nuo signing was temporarily kept confidential, it inevitably reached the ears of some people who needed to know that very day.

In Shenzhen, Hangzhou, and Beijing, big shots in luxurious, spacious offices smiled and said a few words after hearing their subordinates' reports.

The accents and details varied, but the meaning was much the same.

"Since that's the case, there's no need to force it. Do your own jobs well; who will ultimately win remains to be seen. The power of a mere individual is nothing in the face of commercial competition of this scale."

Having been through many battles, the big shots naturally wouldn't be discouraged by a minor setback.

But their subordinates couldn't help but start grumbling.

Especially in Shenzhen, the Tencent employees who had been anticipating this for a long time couldn't help but whisper among themselves.

"If it were me, I would've given it to him."

"Heh."

"I don't know what the higher-ups are thinking."

"How do you not know? It's Mr. Ma we're talking about; he only takes other people's shares, when has it ever been his turn to give his shares to others? Besides... no matter how you put it, Chen Nuo is just a star."

"Haven't you seen how many followers he has on FB?"

"That's abroad, those photos he posts overseas. If you ask me, if he really tried to copy that here in China, it's not certain how many people would actually like it. The main thing is, people don't understand it. Those people in America and Europe like visiting art galleries and doing all that 'art' stuff, but who in our country likes that? Not many people can truly appreciate his kind of hazy, post-modern style."

"Judging by what you're saying, if it were you, you wouldn't be willing to give it either?"

"I..."

Before the sentence was finished, the two employees gossiping and slacking off outside the restroom suddenly changed expressions, lowered their heads, shut their mouths, and went their separate ways.

Because someone had just walked out of the restroom—it was Zang Tao, the person in charge of the newly established Tencent Weibo business group, who had been responsible for contacting Chen Nuo's side.

Standing by the sink and listening for a long time, he had no expression on his face. Returning to his office, he called in a few subordinates and said, "Chen Nuo signed with Sina today. What do you think?"

The subordinates, who had also participated in the negotiations, were clearly prepared after receiving the news. Facing Zang Tao's question, they spoke up one after another, unhurriedly.

"I don't think it matters. If he doesn't work out, there are so many stars in the entertainment industry; we can find someone else. Especially some Hong Kong or Taiwanese stars—the kind that ordinary people in the mainland usually have a hard time reaching—they aren't actually much worse than him."

"That's right, Mr. Zang. Asking for shares? No matter how big a star he is, that's impossible."

"From the beginning, I actually didn't think it was necessary to spend so much money to hire him."

"Right, his follower count now can't compare to before. Sina thinks they've found a treasure, so let them think that."

"Just like the higher-ups said, we'll just walk our own path."

Zang Tao listened for a while, then nodded and said, "Seeing that you think this way, I'm relieved. You're right; no matter how awesome Chen Nuo is, he's only one person. Furthermore, his reputation now isn't what it used to be—it's no exaggeration to say he's plagued by negative news. This is actually the core reason why we decided to reject his request for shares."

"Mr. Ma said that since they've already signed with Sina, we'll just take a different path."

"Next, you all go and contact those big and small stars in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the mainland. Sign as many as you can, and sign as many as possible."

"As the saying goes, two fists are no match for four hands. He didn't want the 30 million, so we'll just scatter it to others. We'll see who ends up regretting it!"

"Sina thinks they've won? Actually, I feel that Chen Nuo signing with them might not be a bad thing for us! What 'Superstar Project'? How many followers can one person have? How much influence can he really have?"

As he spoke, Zang Tao sneered, "When the time comes, we'll see who's better than whom. Heh. Ungrateful."

Chen Nuo didn't know that Tencent, which had viewed his request for shares as an unreasonable demand and ultimately rejected him, was already psychologically prepared to compete with him and had begun corresponding strategic deployments.

He was in a pretty good mood now. After signing the papers and chatting with the Sina executives for a while, he specifically walked over to the office area of the "corporate cattle" to cheer everyone on.

Liu Yifei had only just acquired 2% of the shares in Huanxin Company, and Liu Xiaoli already had a strong sense of ownership.

He, however, had 10% of Weibo's shares; as long as he was thick-skinned enough, it wouldn't be too much to say that Sina Weibo was his own company.

Comforting the employees of his own company and giving the "cattle" more strength to grind the mill and push the cart was a duty he should fulfill as a shareholder.

At this moment, he was seen standing next to a desk in the office area, leaning against a partition, surrounded by layers upon layers of people who had come upon hearing the news.

It was very much like the feeling of being surrounded by onlookers at China Film Group last time, only this area was even larger, and there were even more people coming to watch the spectacle.

Facing various questions, Chen Nuo was quite experienced; answering one after another, sometimes vaguely and sometimes truthfully, he remained unhurried and organized.

"... I don't actually have many hobbies. Besides watching movies, I like reading... What kind of books? Recently, I've been reading *The Interpretation of Dreams*. Oh, so many of you have read it... No, no, let's not discuss the content; after all, so many people haven't read it yet. Let's not have any spoilers."

"No. As for Liu Yifei, we don't live together normally. It's just that occasionally she comes over, and we have a meal together at home... As for that, actually, I'm just like everyone else—two eyes and one mouth. Falling in love is about the same, right? Taking walks, chatting, watching movies, and so on..."

"We have common ground... It's not just because of acting. Everyone knows she spent a lot of time running around outside before, visiting more than half the globe. She even went to Africa to volunteer for a long time, protecting those wild animals. These are things I admire about her, so, unknowingly, we ended up together."

Sure enough, throughout history and across the world, the thing people are most curious about is gossip. Once this topic came up, the questions came one after another.

Just as Chen Nuo finished making things up, a middle-aged man in glasses who had been following him the whole time suddenly said, "Everyone, just listen to what Mr. Chen is saying now, but don't spread it outside. Remember the company's confidentiality policy."

With his interjection, the "cattle" in the office area suddenly went quiet, and the previously relaxed and lively atmosphere became a bit tense.

Chen Nuo smiled, waved his hand, and said, "It's okay, Manager Tian. Since I said any question could be asked, then any question really can be asked. I'm not afraid of it spreading after I answer, and there's nothing shady about it."

Once he said this, the Sina employees were all beaming with joy.

"Nuo Nuo, I love you!"

Someone suddenly shouted.

No one knew who had yelled it from the outer circle, but it immediately caused the whole room to burst into laughter. Because it wasn't a woman shouting, but a burly man with a rough voice roaring at the top of his lungs.

Chen Nuo laughed along and said, "Thanks, brother."

It had to be said that Chen Nuo's performance was truly spot-on.

Especially when he was about to leave, he pointed with great interest at a computer screen at a nearby workstation and asked with genuine curiosity, "Is this someone slacking off at work to look at beauties?"

This won him even more favor.

So, the big star up in the clouds also knows about slacking off!

Immediately, someone laughed and explained that they weren't slacking off to look at beauties; they were translating entertainment news from Japan. These twins were members of a Japanese group called AKB48, which was currently holding some kind of general election.

The twins were a pair of sisters who were quite popular within AKB48.

Among the ACG (anime, comic, and game) crowd in China, they also had quite a bit of fame.

Because the two sisters liked to wear Chinese-style clothing and cosplay as characters like Chun-Li or Akane Tendo, it had actually attracted quite a lot of attention when the images were uploaded domestically.

So, they would also translate relevant news.

Currently, the younger sister was competing with Atsuko Maeda for the top spot in the general election, and this news item was about that.

Seeing Chen Nuo listening with great interest, the chubby male employee couldn't help but boast that he had a signed photo of the two sisters, which he had spent a lot of effort to get someone in Japan to obtain for him.

When he said this, it caused quite a few people to jeer.

It seemed that Caihua and Caixia were indeed quite famous now; at least in the eyes of these entertainment media professionals, they could be considered well-known Japanese teen idols.

Watching the chubby guy's proud expression, Chen Nuo couldn't help but feel a bit emotional.

Calculating the time, it had been over a year since he last went to Tokyo.

He hadn't paid attention to news from there either.

Unexpectedly, without him noticing, that pair of little sisters actually had their own careers and their own fans.

Looking at the photos of them wearing JK uniforms, he almost didn't recognize them.

However, for this shoot of *Inception*, the first scene would take place in Japan.

When they met again after a long separation, there should be plenty of nostalgia to talk about.

On August 30th, Chen Nuo began filming his final scene for the *Let the Bullets Fly* crew at the Meijia Courtyard in Duanfen Town, Taishan, Guangdong.

After finishing the shoot, he didn't linger.

He said goodbye to Jiang Wen, Sister Jialing, Ge You, and the others, left the crew, and happened to brush past Tong Liya.

Tong Liya truly hadn't expected Chen Nuo's scenes to be filmed so quickly.

After all, the entire crew had only relocated on the 28th; in her mind, there was no way he would finish filming in just one or two days, right?

And she had specifically arrived three days early because she wanted to talk face-to-face.

Talk about what?

After experiencing over half a month of losing her appetite and sleep, she felt she still wanted to ask clearly in person and seek a reason.

If the man's behavior that day was truly because he didn't like her, she would be able to give up on this obsession.

But if it wasn't...

She really didn't want it to be because of some misunderstanding that made him so cold toward her.

For example, would he think she wasn't a virgin, and therefore despise her?

But she was truly a late bloomer.

She hadn't dated before this, and the reason she didn't bleed like other girls was because she had been riding horses since she was a child.

He was truly her first man, and truly, truly... the first man she had ever loved.

Sigh, without a doubt, the state of mind Tong Liya was currently trapped in was the most pitiful and tragic in the world.

After being treated unfairly, instead of leaving immediately, she tried every possible way to excuse the other person, find reasons for them, and give them a way out.

More than a decade later, people would contemptuously call this state of mind a "simp."

However, every simp is a pitiful person, so there's no need to be overly harsh.

Especially when Tong Liya walked up to Jiang Wen...

Jiang Wen turned back from the monitor, was stunned for a moment, and then smiled and said, "Little Tong, you're here so early? Hey, you didn't give a heads-up; your master just wrapped up and left."

Do you know the feeling of walking outdoors in a snowy winter without shoes?

That was exactly what Tong Liya felt at that moment.

Even the most cold-hearted person couldn't see a beautiful young girl walking barefoot in the snow, trudging along, her feet frozen purple and her whole body shivering, blocking their path, and call her an idiot, right?

Because even an idiot would remember to wear shoes in minus 30-degree weather; there was only one reason someone would do this:

Her shoes were lost.

However, Jiang Wen didn't seem to understand anything about shoes, nor did he seem to notice that Tong Liya's suddenly pale face was due to the extreme cold in her heart.

He still laughed heartily and said, "Come, come, come, let's watch your master's acting together; we're just enjoying it right now."

Hearing him say this, Tong Liya finally noticed that there were two other people sitting in the chairs nearby: one was the famous actor Chen Kun, also from the Beijing Film Academy, and the other was Jiang Wu.

In the past, she would have definitely smiled, greeted them respectfully, and perhaps even felt a little excited.

Chen Kun, after all, was a young idol often talked about by students like them.

But now, let alone smiling, Tong Liya wasn't even sure she could cry.

"Okay," she squeezed out a word through her teeth.

"Then come sit."

"No need."

At this moment, Chen Kun turned his head and glanced at her, seemingly sensing that something was wrong with her.

However, Jiang Wen still didn't seem to notice anything.

Perhaps, as some unknown internet troll once said, "Jiang Wen doesn't know a damn thing about women."

Seeing that Tong Liya wouldn't sit, he didn't force her and turned back, saying, "Come, play it again, let's watch."

And so, on that small monitor, Tong Liya finally saw the person she had traveled thousands of miles to see, only to miss.

"Sixth Master, you ate two bowls of noodles but only paid for one," Chen Kun said expressionlessly.

"Bullshit!" He looked so agitated; through the light behind him, one could even see his spit spraying into the air, "I only ate one bowl of noodles and paid for one bowl!"

Jiang Wen paused the video.

He said with great emotion, "At the time, I wanted to yell 'cut' right there. I felt the emotion was building up too high, and there would be no way to handle it later. As it turned out, after we finished the shot and asked..."

"Nuozi said he felt the emotion of this scene shouldn't follow that gradual, low-to-high approach."

"It had to be that the moment he looked up, it was already a high mountain. And after that, it had to be mountain after mountain, each higher than the last."

"Right up until the end, the mountain had to be higher than the sky!"

"What does that mean?"

"It means that from the very beginning, you have to push that indignation to a high level. Don't slowly lay the groundwork; you have to let the audience be dragged into the drama all at once. Establish the crazy tone from the opening, soar all the way, and act out that out-of-control, demonic state so the audience believes it. Only then can they follow along and be angry, feel the injustice, and feel the pain together."

"Otherwise, how could a normal person possibly cut open their own stomach to dig for jelly noodles?"

"It doesn't make logical sense, and it won't convince the audience."

"Only someone driven insane would do such a crazy thing."

"I thought he was right, so we just went with it."

Having said that, they continued watching the drama.

Tong Liya then saw, with Chen Kun and Jiang Wu playing off each other,

a character who was shaped from the start as being pushed to the edge of an emotional cliff, and then running wildly until he was completely insane at the end.

"... Since the county magistrate's son is taking the lead in being unfair, then the county magistrate's words are nothing but bullshit!"

"Fuck your mother!"

"One is one, two is two; I only ate one bowl of noodles today!"

"Tell me, are you an honest man? Then tell the truth! Exactly how many bowls of noodles did I eat!?"

"You're a villain. Want to compare who's more evil? I'm fucking more evil than you!"

"Since you don't believe me, I'll give you proof today. I'll cut open my stomach right now and take out the jelly noodles. Is it only one bowl or not?!"

Tong Liya saw him holding a knife and stabbing it into his own stomach.

Fresh blood splattered everywhere, and he was still forcefully cutting horizontally.

His eyes were bloodshot, and the pain distorted his features, squeezing them together.

His hand seemed to reach into his belly, digging for that bowl of jelly noodles.

Finally, he found it and used his hand to lift up a bowl of noodles stained red with blood.

He said, "See it? See it? Is it only one bowl of noodles?! Is it... only one bowl of noodles!"

He cried and screamed.

A minute later, the playback ended.

Actually, the few men had already watched it several times. Everything that needed to be said had been said before this, so they went quiet.

Chen Kun had a half-smile on his face, his gaze flickering, and no one knew what he was thinking.

Jiang Wu didn't feel much of anything.

As a third-rate actor, if he was overshadowed, he was overshadowed; he didn't have fans, and no one would think he shouldn't be.

At this moment, he looked back and said to Jiang Wen, "Brother, the acting is good, but I think you were right before. If a person acts like this and ends up dying so miserably..."

"Look at that little girl; she couldn't bear to watch and ran away. I think she was crying."

"What if the audience has the same reaction? If they all run away one by one, what then?"

"Aren't you worried?"

Jiang Wen stared silently at the young man on the monitor, lying in his arms with his face covered in blood.

He had seen plenty of dead people in dramas, and he had seen dead people outside of dramas too.

But he hadn't seen many actors who, after dying in a scene and without the director's request, would use half-open, half-closed eyes to act out that look of "dying with a grievance" from outside the scene.

Damn... this isn't even about talent anymore. Fuck, Beijing Film Academy is really something.

He didn't say a word for a while.

After a while, Jiang Wen said, "She didn't run away because of the scene."

"Then why did she run away?"

"I guess... she must have lost something."

Liu Xiaoqing, who was 11 years his senior; the rebellious and playful Ning Jing; the exotic beauty Sandrine; Zhou Yun, who was 18 years his junior.

Just counting the big and small beauties from home and abroad, there were these four.

How many others had he dated while at school, played with while working, or spent time with when bored? Jiang Wen probably couldn't remember himself.

Who said he didn't understand women?

That was just a load of crap.

If he didn't understand them, why would he let Tong Liya audition for the female lead and steal his own wife's role?

And just now, when watching the playback, he wouldn't have said so much nonsense just to teach Tong Liya.

Wasn't all of this for the sake of someone else?

Jiang Wen shook his head inwardly.

And looking at Little Tong like this, it didn't seem as simple as he had previously thought. She was beyond saving. In the future, she would probably have plenty of suffering to endure...

Afterward, he frowned. Damn, women are simple. This drama... what should he do?

He was truly fucking worried.

(End of Chapter)