Chapter 340: 2009 Forbes Ranking

March 17, 2010, 11:00 PM, a cinema in Chengdu.

"Now, let us invite back the film's creative team: Director Zhang Yimou, Liu Yifei, Jiang Ruijia, and Teacher Professor Xi Meijuan Meijuan. Let's give them a round of applause."

In the largest Hall 1 of the Chengdu Jinjiang Chengtian Cinema—the very place where Chen Nuo had once followed Zhang Yi to attend the premiere of *The Zhang Zhang Yaba*—enthusiastic applause erupted instantly.

Compared to before the film started, the intensity of the applause was likely 20 to 30 percent higher.

This made it impossible for Director Zhang Yimou to hide the smile on his lips as he walked onto the stage.

Although the response after yesterday's premiere in Jingcheng was good, and today's media feedback was mostly positive,

receiving such warm feedback from the scene once again made him feel more at ease.

It was mainly because the psychological shadow from Berlin was too deep, leaving the old director with lingering fears.

After the *Under the Hawthorn Tree* creative team took the stage, the male host from Chengdu TV said with a beaming smile, "Director Zhang, are you satisfied with the applause everyone just gave?"

Zhang Yimou laughed, "Quite satisfied. Thank you all for your love for this film."

"Oh? Director Zhang, only 'quite' satisfied?"

"It's mainly because I'm getting old and my hearing isn't what it used to be, haha." The director cracked a joke.

Who said Director Zhang lacked a sense of humor?

If he lacked a sense of humor, why would so many actresses like him?

Could it be that they loved Director Zhang's money and power?

However, there were no actresses in the audience, so not many people laughed.

The host said loudly, "Did you hear that, everyone? Let's make our applause even louder. Let Director Zhang Yimou feel our love for the film and the passion of us Xichuan people, okay!"

Liu Yifei was wearing a simple and refreshing dress today, with a light green coat over it, matching the style of the pure and cute character she played in *Under the Hawthorn Tree*.

Amidst the applause, she maintained a standard smile, revealing two small dimples.

But the big toes of both her feet were constantly squirming restlessly inside her sneakers.

This was definitely influenced by someone.

Otherwise, how could the "celestial" Liu Qianqian make such an unrefined gesture of curling her toes into the ground in public?

After the second round of applause subsided, the host, who usually moonlighted as a hype-man at Jiuyan Bridge after work, smiled and said, "Thank you, thank you all. I believe Director Zhang should be satisfied now, right?"

"Satisfied, satisfied. Thank you all very much."

"Just now, while watching the movie, I noticed many audience friends wiping away tears with paper. I think, after watching such a touching film, everyone must have a lot to say. Next, let's hand the microphone to the audience. If you have any questions or feelings you want to express, you can raise your hand now."

The first person picked by the host was a girl in yellow. She took the microphone and, without stage fright, asked very skillfully, "I want to ask Director Zhang Yimou, after watching the movie, my mood is very agitated, especially the last scene, which touched me deeply. I want to ask you, this *Under the Hawthorn Tree* of yours let us see a different love story; how did you think of filming such a movie in the first place?"

Zhang Yimou showed a kind smile and answered smoothly, "Actually, when I first saw this novel, I was very moved..."

The director delivered the long passage of lines he had prepared backstage—hundreds of characters—without a single slip. He was worthy of being an actor who had won Best Actor at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

Next, the second, third, and fourth plants, all following the original arrangement, asked questions to the other three actresses, ensuring that every actor who came to the scene was not left out.

They asked Jiang Ruijia how it felt to work with such a great director and actors, asked Teacher Professor Xi Meijuan Meijuan how she evaluated Liu Yifei's acting, and asked Liu Yifei how it felt to film with Director Zhang.

Everyone answered well, including Liu Yifei.

"Director Zhang Yimou has actually always been my idol. It can also be said that for us graduates of the Beijing Film Academy, Director Zhang's status is irreplaceable. Filming with Director Zhang this time was a precious opportunity for me. He taught me a lot. Without Director Zhang, there wouldn't be the Jingqiu you see. Here, I also want to say a word of thanks to Director Zhang. Thank you, Director Zhang."

When saying these words, Liu Yifei was sincere. Her toes stopped curling into the ground.

However, for some reason, the director's toes squirmed several times at this moment.

The few plants arranged ended there.

Actually, for this roadshow, there was a hidden surprise that needed to be brought out by audience questions.

However, neither the production side nor the cinema side had specifically arranged it.

Because everyone's common opinion was that no arrangement was needed.

The host pointed to a girl in the second row who raised her hand.

The girl stood up. Her Mandarin wasn't as good as the previous plants; she had a distinct local accent. "I want to ask Director Zhang or Liu Yifei, is Chen Nuo not coming back to China for the promotion this time?"

As expected. The host smiled and said, "Why don't we leave this question to Miss Liu Yifei, who has a very close relationship with Chen Nuo, to answer."

"Whoa!!!!"

The previous applause and cheers combined probably didn't even reach half the volume of this heckling.

After waiting a good while for it to subside,

Liu Yifei's face was a bit red, though it couldn't be seen from far away. She maintained her smile; after all, this had been anticipated. "Yes, he is filming in the United States, so he can't come back."

"Then did he entrust you to bring anything back?" the host followed up.

"Yes, he recorded a message."

The host let out a loud "Wow," "It seems the audience here today is in luck! Chen Nuo actually recorded a video for everyone! This is a treatment that audiences elsewhere don't have! Does everyone want to see it?"

"Yes!!!"

"Say it again, do you want to?"

"Yes!!!!!"

The host finally stopped and said with a grin, "Alright, then please look at the big screen. Let's listen to what Chen Nuo, far away in Los Angeles, has to say to us."

At this moment, the big screen went black and then lit up, and the upper body of a man appeared on it.

The recording was about 30 seconds long and finished quickly.

It was actually all standard talk, but perhaps because he said a little Xichuan dialect, after it finished playing, the atmosphere in the cinema was extremely enthusiastic. The awkward atmosphere caused by the previous forced questions and answers was completely swept away, and no one was whispering behind their backs that this idiot host had a hole in his head.

In the enthusiastic atmosphere, two more audience members were picked, both asking Liu Yifei questions about "someone."

After that, only the last question remained, and then it would be time for a group photo.

After the group photo, this roadshow would come to an end.

The host scanned the room and casually pointed to a male youth in his 30s sitting in the middle, who had raised his hand rather perfunctorily.

Why point to him?

Because during the previous hype-man segment, he was the only one who hadn't made a sound, at most moving his mouth slightly, which was very eye-catching.

This man seemed completely unexpected to be picked. He first froze for a moment, handed the down jacket he was holding to his companion, and then stood up.

He was wearing a brown sweater, looked to be in his 30s, had triangular eyes, downturned eyebrows, a slightly crooked mouth, and a crew cut. He looked unremarkable.

Holding the microphone, he nervously tugged at his sweater and, unexpectedly, didn't ask Liu Yifei, but instead said to Zhang Yimou, "Director Zhang, hello, I want to ask..."

"Cobb, this is the only way." The woman's voice trembled in the gale on the high-rise rooftop, revealing a trace of determination. "We must wake up and break free from this endless nightmare."

"No! Mal, don't! This isn't real! Listen to me, all of this is fake! Don't leave me, I beg you!"

"I love you, Cobb." Her voice was as light as a feather, yet it landed heavily on his heart, tearing it apart.

"But this is the only way. Only then can we truly wake up."

The woman was wearing a white dress, her face hidden in the mist.

Her skirt fluttered in the wind.

She took a step forward.

Like a bird with broken wings, she fell suddenly within his field of vision.

"I love you, Cobb, but this is the only way."

Was this Keira Knightley's voice or someone else's? Chen Nuo couldn't be sure.

He also forgot what he dreamed about.

Only this voice echoed in his ears.

And when he woke up from the darkness, his whole heart really felt like it had left him; it was a piercing pain.

After a good while, his wildly beating heart finally calmed down.

Chen Nuo also knew,

this was the result of his final stage of immersive filming for a month.

Since sending off his family and friends on March 10 and returning to the *Inception* crew, he had eliminated all outside interference, letting himself fully commit to the final stage of filming.

He hadn't even made his daily calls to Liu Yifei, letting himself return to the state he was in before going to Berlin.

In that last phone call, Chen Nuo knew the girl on the other end didn't seem happy about it.

But so what?

Chen Nuo felt that if his sloppy treatment led to the film flopping and losing money, and also meant not seeing the *Inception* crew on the Oscar stage next year... he would probably be even less happy.

So he didn't care about her.

And it wasn't just Liu Yifei; he hadn't contacted Fan Fan Binbing, Wen Yongshan, or Xia Yehe either.

During this month, he thought about Keira Knightley's square face every day, eliminating all distractions, not caring whether she had anything down there or not.

Finally, as the grand finale of the emotional arc in the film, the heavy scene where he and Keira Knightley had their final confrontation,

he shot one take, backed it up with another, and it was done.

It made Christopher Nolan, the guy who once mocked him for not understanding the love between a husband and wife, have to say that he truly captured a husband's deep and fiery love for his wife in his eyes.

Chen Nuo was slightly proud of this.

However, there was a price to pay for doing this.

Even though he had wrapped up yesterday, he still woke up from nightmares at night.

Chen Nuo was used to this, though.

When he was filming *The Dark Knight*, the days he lived were actually even more terrifying.

Those ink-black dreams and pain—he hadn't told anyone about them to this day, and hadn't he survived?

This little bit of insomnia was nothing; it would naturally get better in a few days.

Checking his watch, it was past 4:00 AM, so he simply didn't sleep. He got out of bed, turned on the desk lamp, and started reading the script Quentin Tarantino had sent him a week ago.

It had been a week; he hadn't read it because he was filming, but now it was time to take a look.

The script didn't have a title yet; something like *The Rescued Chinese Laborer* was clearly something Quentin made up on the spot.

The story inside probably wasn't finalized either, but it should be enough for initial communication with the actors.

Actually, logically speaking, Chen Nuo should be reading the *Twilight 3* script right now to prepare for filming soon.

But as a straight man, with the *Twilight* and Quentin's new scripts in front of him, how could he possibly read *Twilight 3*!

After reading for about an hour, Chen Nuo put down the paper script.

He opened his laptop, logged into his email, and started writing.

"Hi, Quentin. I've read part of your script. I don't agree with some of the plot settings inside; here are my opinions..."

He typed away furiously.

Anyway, Quentin Tarantino told him to speak his mind, so he was direct and spoke his mind.

He read the first short segment and confirmed that this was indeed another version of *Django Unchained*.

It just changed the protagonist from a black slave to a Chinese coolie with a pigtail. Indeed, there was no difference between the two in any respect.

Structurally, if Chen Nuo hadn't seen the original, he wouldn't have felt a hint of awkwardness; he even felt this story might be even more exciting.

Some say Quentin Tarantino is a first-rate sycophant, a second-rate screenwriter, and a third-rate director. But a second-rate screenwriter, even with a script that was still in the draft stage, could make him lose himself in it.

If a first-rate sycophant started licking feet... tsk tsk, can't think about it anymore, makes me want to vomit.

The script was good, but after reading the first half, there was one thing that bothered him.

"As a Chinese person, I must say, I strongly agree with your approach of using the cutting of the pigtail as a symbol. From then on, Zhou breaks through his spiritual shackles and becomes a free man."

"However, I don't think such a psychological transformation must rely on Dr. Schultz in the film. That seems a bit thin."

"My personal view is that it could be conceived in the direction of self-awakening."

"Dr. Schultz playing this role only provides some instruction at the skill level."

"And the protagonist's true inner liberation should stem from some kind of cultural awakening; it's a change from the inside out."

"The benefit of shaping the protagonist this way is..."

"Also, you should know my thoughts on the Oscars, right?"

"Let's be more ambitious!"

"By the way, making this film into a simple commercial movie, I think, is an underestimation and waste of your genius creative ability."

"So, Quentin, make it great, not just outstanding!"

Chen Nuo felt that Quentin's white superiority complex with a savior mentality was understandable.

But if he took this role, he didn't want to be treated like a lost lamb needing a white daddy to save him.

And based on his understanding of Quentin, this guy hadn't been beaten by the 996 work culture, so he should be very susceptible to this kind of "chicken blood," so he racked his brains and added some elementary school essay-style content.

By the time Chen Nuo finished writing and sending the email, it was already dawn.

So he changed clothes, went out, and started running.

By the time he finished running and sat down with Qi Yuntian in the buffet restaurant for breakfast, it was already 8:10 AM. Qi Yuntian had also just come out of the gym, sweaty.

Running and the gym, in a sense, were the difference between a straight man and a gay man.

The two wolfed down their food first, and only then did Qi Yuntian wipe his mouth and bring up work: "Zhang Weiping called me earlier, saying he wants you to call him when you get back; he wants to treat you to a meal."

"... A meal?"

"Yes, a meal." Qi Yuntian smiled and said, "Just a meal."

Chen Nuo knew what Qi Yuntian meant, but he didn't care.

After all, he had purely done it for Director Zhang Yimou's sake, and it had nothing to do with Zhang Weiping.

The pay for *Under the Hawthorn Tree* wasn't too low, tens of millions, which was a bit more than a beggar.

And he had won a Berlin Best Actor award because of this film, so he couldn't complain.

Although people had said Zhang Weiping should have given him a red envelope, Chen Nuo wasn't really a beggar, and he wouldn't have taken it even if offered.

This was different from the time with Zhang Yi.

Even though the box office of *Under the Hawthorn Tree* was indeed very good.

Chen Nuo had forgotten how much *Under the Hawthorn Tree* made in his previous life.

But when it finished its run last week, it had a Douban rating of 8.1 and a box office of 213 million.

Not only did it break all box office records for art films, but it also entered the top 15 of the Chinese film box office rankings.

Several Hong Kong films released in the same period in April, like *Gallants* with Simon Yam and Sandra Ng, *All's Well, Ends Well 2010* with Raymond Wong and Sun Li, and *Beauty on Duty* with Charlene Choi and Lu Yi, were all considered qualified commercial films.

Under these circumstances, *Under the Hawthorn Tree*, as a small, fresh art film, being able to sell over 200 million in the middle... just as Qi Yuntian said, many domestic media used the "spring of art films" to describe this wave.

It not only made New Pictures and the various investors rich, but it also successfully gave Director Zhang a "good start" for his first film after the Olympics.

He won an award, the director gained fame, and Mr. Zhang and IDG gained profit.

Everyone had extra gains.

Currently, it seemed the only one who felt empty-handed, as if she hadn't gained anything besides a few million in pay, was the lead actress Liu Qianqian, who had followed the roadshow for nearly half a month.

Although the awards season at the end of the year hadn't arrived yet, but...

Sigh.

Poor Qianqian.

Thinking of Liu Yifei, who didn't know he had wrapped up, Chen Nuo decided to call and ask about the situation tonight.

After breakfast, in the gap while waiting for guests, Chen Nuo took out his phone and started refreshing Sina Weibo.

That's right,

on March 12, 2010, Sina Weibo finally launched its mobile version based on iOS.

At this time, even Twitter and FB had only launched mobile web versions. For him, this was definitely a cause for celebration.

Needless to say, Mr. Cao Guowei of Sina was someone who could listen to reason; it wasn't in vain that Chen Nuo had said so much and talked to him for so long.

It's just that in this month, Chen Nuo had been filming and hadn't really browsed it.

Now, holding the iPhone 3GS, clicking on that familiar little icon, and waiting for that familiar page to pop up, Chen Nuo leaned back...

He couldn't help but silently sigh; after so long, he finally found the feeling of lying on the sofa in his previous life, slowly browsing Weibo.

The control of his Weibo account also officially returned to his own hands through this action.

At this time, his Weibo account, named "Chen Nuo" with the bio "A film actor, representative works: *The Zhang Zhang Yaba's House*, *Batman 2: The Dark Knight*, *My Blueberry Nights*, *Twilight Series*, *Mother*, *Under the Hawthorn Tree*," had posted less than ten posts in total.

Except for the first three, which had content, the rest were all reposts promoting products he endorsed.

The number of people he followed was 0, not a single one. The number of people following him was quite high, totaling 5.12 million, up about 1 million in nearly 2 months compared to the 4 million-plus during the Spring Festival.

This should be some traffic brought by the Berlin Best Actor award and his appearance at the Oscars.

Chen Nuo was also sure that these 1 million-plus were real people.

In his previous life, he had gone through this stage of brutal competition and knew that to make data look good, the favorite thing for several companies' Weibo accounts was to brush a bunch of zombie followers for some big Vs or celebrities.

Just like Tencent Weibo, Li Lianjie's follower count was about to break 20 million.

Speaking of which, his 5 million followers were only a quarter of theirs.

Sina actually prepared to brush some for him, but he refused.

Chen Nuo was someone who knew the outcome; even if you brushed 10 billion zombie followers, those who should be alive will be alive, and those who should die will still die.

And when people understood more later... like Li Lianjie, hehe, just wait to be laughed at.

Even now, those with a discerning eye could naturally see it.

Li Lianjie, with 20 million followers, posted a Weibo about collaborating on a new movie with Sylvester Stallone, and the comments below were only two or three thousand.

And the comments under the latest Porsche ad that Li Jing helped him repost in March were already over 11,000.

But why were there so many?

Chen Nuo was a little puzzled. He clicked into the comment section and looked at the top-liked comments, only then realizing that the latest Forbes China Celebrity List had been released around March 10.

However, the reason so many people commented under this post wasn't because his ranking on this list had skyrocketed this year.

You know, on last year's mainland version of the celebrity list, he ranked second, only behind Yao Ming. On this year's China celebrity list, which integrated Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, he still ranked second.

But the one in front wasn't Yao Ming, but Jackie Chan, a world star who left three handprints on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

This was definitely not shameful.

You know, the comment Forbes gave Jackie Chan for this celebrity list was: "The first person to hold a solo concert at the Bird's Nest."

This, indeed, was a bit more awesome than a young man like him with "three European Best Actor awards in hand."

Bird's Nest! Solo concert!

For him, it was likely a scene that would only exist in dreams.

However, many fans still comforted him in the comment section, saying that ranking third with an income of 141 million on the Forbes Celebrity List was already very good, and he was still young and would have a chance to top the list in the future.

Chen Nuo naturally couldn't leave a comment saying, "Brother earned over 400 million last year."

Because who didn't have some hidden income?

The Forbes list wasn't something released by the US IRS combined with the Chinese tax authorities.

So, truthfully speaking, his 400 million-plus might not necessarily be the top.

The reason he could rank ahead of Jay Chou, whose *Era* album sold over a million copies this year, and Liu Liu Dehua, who ranked second on the internet search list after exposing his "hidden marriage," wasn't because of income.

It was entirely traffic!

It was because of the Spring Festival Gala, because of Cannes, because of Berlin, and because of the Oscars, which made his internet and media exposure from last year to now rank first among everyone, allowing him to maintain this status as the "eternal second."

Regarding this, whether Chen Nuo was happy or unhappy, glad or sad,

he had finally lived into the appearance he feared most—likely the celebrity with the most traffic in China at the moment.

"Sigh..."

Qi Yuntian looked at him strangely, "Why are you sighing? Do you feel second place is a grievance?"

Chen Nuo shook his head and didn't answer.

In this regard, no matter how well Qi Yuntian understood him, he wouldn't understand.

Because there was no such thing as "traffic celebrity" or "internet influencer" yet, and no one would be like him, having been drowned by traffic in his previous life.

Therefore, no one would understand the repulsion in his heart.

Besides, the internet has a memory.

Just thinking about some boring people reviewing the past and saying that some "war" or "blog" were all his disciples and grand-disciples?!

Isn't this fucking shameful, and makes people unable to live?

No, I must think of a way later. Chen Nuo secretly decided.

But for now, let's continue reading Weibo.

After the fourth-ranked Mr. Liu Liu Dehua, it was the first place on the previous China Forbes list, Mr. Yao Ming.

Actually, Yao's income last year was still 255 million, ranking first among everyone.

The reason he dropped to fifth this year was that he suffered a left foot fracture in 2009 and only played two games in the entire NBA season.

Thus, his internet search volume dropped to 27th, hence he only ranked fifth.

After Yao, it was sixth-ranked Zhang Ziyi, seventh-ranked Zhao Benshan, eighth-ranked Fan Fan Binbing, ninth-ranked Jolin Tsai, and tenth-ranked Donnie Yen.

Qi Yuntian looked at the list with him.

At this time, he likely noticed his gaze lingering on the eighth-ranked Fan Fan Binbing for a while.

He suddenly interjected: "By the way, there's something I haven't told you. Last week, Bingbing called and said she plans to take a break for a while."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 341 =====