Chapter 443: Big Shot

"Xixi, stop urging." Shu Chang saw Liu Yifei pick up her phone again and hurriedly persuaded her.

Liu Yifei then put down her phone and said somewhat embarrassedly: "Changchang, I'm really sorry, I didn't expect him to be delayed for so long."

"It's okay, it's okay, it doesn't matter," Shu Chang said hurriedly, "Business comes first."

Liu Yifei sighed and said: "Hey, if you ask me, it would actually be better to tell him not to come, so that everyone doesn't have to wait for him for so long."

Shu Chang couldn't help but smile bitterly.

Both of them had been acting in the entertainment industry since they were young, but she had learned the ways of the world, while this young lady didn't know anything.

Sometimes she was truly envious of this best friend of hers from the bottom of her heart, even jealous, and had to sigh, this is all fate.

She looked around.

It was almost 10 o'clock at night.

Her birthday banquet started at 6 PM. According to the process, first dinner, then cake, blowing out candles, singing birthday songs, taking group photos, giving gifts, speaking of which, it should be time to disperse one after another.

But today... she had to arrange an extra small cocktail party, allowing everyone to chat, taste wine, and wait for people here.

Fortunately, although the time was late, there were still people to wait for.

If she had really followed the meaning of this young lady next to her who didn't know the hardships of the world at the beginning, saying "If you can't arrive on time, then forget it, don't come," she really didn't know how to explain to the distinguished guests tonight.

When she knew that Liu Yifei had sent the WeChat message telling the other party not to come before the banquet started, she almost fainted. Fortunately... after her tactful persuasion, this one sent another one.

"Did he reply to you later?"

"No."

"Xixi, do you think, could it be, he took what you said before seriously?"

"No, don't worry, if he doesn't come, he will say so. He should be busy now. Hey, I don't know what time he will be busy until. So annoying."

Hearing Liu Yifei's tone, Shu Chang was startled and said again: "It's okay, it's okay, don't urge, as long as he can come, as long as he can come."

After saying this, she couldn't help but feel a little uneasy in her heart.

Liu Yifei said it confidently, but she was really worried.

If the other side finally said they couldn't come, what should she do!?

At this time, a middle-aged woman covered in jewelry brought a little girl over.

The noblewoman was very thin, looked quite beautiful, dressed elegantly and luxuriously, and was well-maintained, looking only thirty-something. The girl beside her was wearing a pink Valentino small dress, about eleven or twelve years old, a little fat, with small eyes and a big face, but she was still quite cute.

She hurriedly pulled Liu Yifei, then stood up and said with a smile: "Sister Ma."

"Little Shu, hello. That, I'll ask, how much longer until Chen Nuo arrives?" The woman named Sister Ma opened her mouth with a smile, her tone sounded relaxed, but her eyes carried a slight impatience.

Shu Chang's smile remained unchanged, and she responded softly: "Should be soon, Sister Ma."

"Okay." Sister Ma obviously knew Liu Yifei, so she smiled at Liu Yifei and said: "Miss Liu, I'm sorry, I'm not urging, it's mainly because my Brenda has to go to class tomorrow, so I came over to ask."

Liu Yifei smiled: "It's okay."

"Brenda, come, say hello to people." Sister Ma turned her head and said to the girl beside her.

The girl named Brenda looked at Liu Yifei, then avoided her gaze, shook her head and whispered: "No."

Sister Ma didn't force it after hearing it, smiled politely at Liu Yifei again, and said: "Then you guys chat." After speaking, she took the girl and left. They didn't seem to have any intention of gathering with others, and sat down on a sofa in the corner.

Shu Chang was a little embarrassed. After they walked a little further, she pulled Liu Yifei to sit down and whispered: "Sorry Xixi, the little girl doesn't understand, don't be angry."

Liu Yifei shook her head and said: "I'm fine, it's normal. Changchang, who is this? Is she your friend? I've never seen her before."

Shu Chang whispered: "It's the wife and daughter of the Baidu chairman."

"Ah? Baidu chairman? Is it, that, called, Li... surname Li, right?"

"Right, Li Yanhong."

"Ah, yes, yes, it's this one. I saw it on the internet before, Changchang, how do you know them?"

"I... just met at an event before, so I knew them. Sister Ma is quite nice, this time I heard it was my birthday, so, hehe."

Shu Chang's words were half-true and half-false.

The truth was that she met at a commercial performance event, and after being pointed out by someone, she went up to curry favor, left a phone number, and had met once.

The lie was that she sent text messages for greetings during festivals, but the other party never replied. Whether the person was nice or not, she really didn't know.

This time, her brokerage company suddenly received a tactful reminder from a certain channel, and then immediately took the initiative to contact the other party, and even sent a beautifully crafted invitation, so this person "reluctantly" brought her daughter over to attend her birthday party.

Tonight, people like Ma Dongmin were actually not a minority.

Like Chen Jianbin and Jiang Qinqin, the couple standing over there, she just had a good relationship with Chen Jianbin when filming "Qiao's Grand Courtyard," and never contacted again after that. They didn't even have each other's phone numbers. Unexpectedly, they called a few days ago, saying they wanted to come and wish her a happy birthday.

And Li Bingbing who is talking to Chen Jianbin over there. The two just met in the backstage of the 2009 Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards, and didn't even say a proper word. Unexpectedly, she also wanted to come and celebrate her birthday.

And for example, the niece of the ministry leader and her friend over there—it is said that they have considerable influence in the capital circle and the literary circle, no less than a big Buddha of Baidu. She hadn't even met them, they were introduced by the private relationship of her brokerage company boss.

Two tables of twenty people, except for her cousin, Liu Yifei, and You Xiaogang who were his closest friends, almost all the rest were like this.

Flattered, or expected?

She couldn't tell herself.

But regardless, the purpose of the big investment in press releases and hot searches by her brokerage company was indeed achieved.

For this reason, the blurry photos that will appear on the entertainment section and the Weibo headlines of financial bloggers tomorrow will be accompanied by words like "Shu Chang's birthday banquet is full of stars" and "Capital executives appear at private banquet."

After tonight, in the eyes of those snobbish crews and producers in the circle who look at people according to their status, she, Shu Chang, will no longer be the little child star and little actor who has no background, no connections, and nothing.

Consequently, she will no longer be worried about being targeted by people wherever she goes, otherwise, she would have to suffer cold eyes, accompany smiles, accompany drinking, and even open or secret humiliation for the sake of a role, just to barely win an audition opportunity.

Thinking of this, Shu Chang couldn't help but get excited.

But she began to worry even more—

That person, when will he arrive?

Because, only when he is paparazzi-snapped outside and walks in personally, can this play be considered to have truly reached its climax. If he doesn't come, then all this will be her moon in the water and flower in the mirror.

"He's here, he's here, he's here." Suddenly, Liu Yifei said while looking at her phone.

Shu Chang raised her head suddenly, her eyes brightened, and she asked in surprise: "Ah? Really?"

"Hmm, look." Liu Yifei nodded and handed over her phone.

Shu Chang looked closely, only to see Liu Yifei's WeChat interface, a series of unreplied messages, from the initial "Forget it... don't come," to "Then we won't wait for you, started eating," "Changchang started blowing out candles," "When are you coming?"

The other side had been silent, with no response.

Until just now, a new message finally jumped out at the bottom of the screen, the time was 21:51: "Coming, on the way. 20 minutes."

After Chen Nuo signed the contract, the first thing he did was to flip through the unread messages stacked together on the lock screen of his phone.

After enthusiastically saying goodbye to Hastings and the others in the underground parking garage, wishing them a smooth journey tomorrow, and making an appointment with Luo Rui Eisner to go to Hong Kong the day after tomorrow, they separated and got into their respective cars.

At this time, he clicked on the lock screen, entered WeChat, and typed a reply to Liu Yifei.

It was too late, and it was a private matter in private time, so he didn't let Guli Nazha or Qi Yuntian follow, only took Linghu with him, told him the location, and rested in the back seat while thinking about things.

Hastings' words just now really touched him in some way.

Although "watching TV is not cool, so I want to overthrow News Corp to create Netflix" is definitely a fantasy, but, according to the experience of the previous life, the development of Netflix is indeed shaking the traditional Hollywood system.

As a latecomer, Netflix caused a huge impact on old giants like Time Warner, Paramount, Universal, and Disney in the next ten years, and also made Murdoch sell most of the entertainment assets of 21st Century Fox to Disney in 2016 or 17.

These are all historical events that he truly experienced in his memory.

Then, in this life, he stood at the starting point of this great change that hasn't happened in a hundred years early, and in the process of the traditional six major Hollywood studios becoming five, can he produce any effect?

This is truly a grand proposition.

He just thought about it in the car, and hadn't thought of anything yet, when Linghu stopped the car and turned back and said: "Chen Zong, we are here. It's just that there are quite a lot of paparazzi outside."

Chen Nuo came back to his senses and looked out from the car window.

The Chinese restaurant where Shu Chang invited guests was quite high-end, but there was no underground parking garage.

The doorman and security guards at the door were obviously greeted by someone in advance. Seeing this Porsche coming, they seemed to realize something and greeted them one after another.

At the same time, in the public area on both sides of the restaurant, there were also some paparazzi holding long guns and short cannons pointing this way, as if they knew he would come in advance.

He now hates these paparazzi deeply.

Even the yellow rumors about him and Han Zong's daughter—although not explicitly stated, he suspected that Han Zong might have had a stroke because of this when he saw Han Zong's wife looking at him strangely when he went to the hospital this morning.

It's simply lawless.

Letting them take photos to make money, how can that be worthy of Han Zong on the hospital bed?

"Coming, coming, coming!"

"Quick, quick, quick!"

"Waited all night, finally here."

"Haven't seen this license plate, is it him?"

"Porsche, he endorses it, it must be him!"

When that Porsche Cayenne arrived at the door of this Chinese restaurant, and no one got off for a long time, the paparazzi who had been waiting all night were all excited.

Among them was Huang Hongwei who returned from Shanghai.

Those dozen exclusive photos taken at the airport not only allowed him to pay the rent in Beijing in one breath and change to a better Nikon camera and lens, but also made him favored by someone, joined a professional gang called "Fengxing Studio," and became a professional paparazzi with a position and salary.

The boss of the studio, a man surnamed Zhu

The boss of the team, a studio owner surnamed Zhuo, gave him only one task, which was to track and photograph this person who had quite a connection with him.

Today, he also received the news early, moved from downstairs of Huanxin Company to here, and occupied the best position.

At this moment, holding his new camera, he rushed up.

"Back up, back up!"

"Don't come over, stop."

"Stop, stop, stop, did you hear me?"

"This is the entrance to our restaurant, private property, you..."

The security guards shouted fiercely while forming a human wall to block the front.

Huang Hongwei completely turned a deaf ear to this bullshit. Seeing a familiar face get out of the driver's seat—it was the driver and bodyguard that person took everywhere—his blood boiled.

It was clear he wasn't the only one who recognized the driver; as Huang Hongwei rushed forward, the others also swarmed up. Just at this moment, the driver opened the back door, and a figure familiar to Huang Hongwei walked out of the car. Huang Hongwei almost subconsciously pressed the shutter button wildly, taking more than twenty photos in less than ten seconds. It wasn't until Chen Nuo disappeared into the entrance and the restaurant door closed that he took the camera away from his face.

"Damn, Brother Nuo isn't giving us brothers a way to live, covering up so tightly?" A paparazzo next to him said loudly.

The security guard in front of Huang Hongwei couldn't help but laugh out loud and said in a low voice: "Serves you right."

Huang Hongwei gave him a cold sneer; each serving their own master, there was nothing to say. He turned and walked to the side, lowering his head to flip through the photos in his camera.

At this time, someone leaned over to his side and asked politely: "Big brother, what should we do? Can these photos be used?"

Huang Hongwei tilted his head to look; it was a very young guy with a lot of acne on his face, probably someone who hadn't been in this line of work for long. He replied: "No problem." Then he turned his head back and began to pick out suitable photos.

"Ah? These are no problem? Eyes, nose, eyebrows, can't see anything. Really, big brother?"

Huang Hongwei asked casually while pressing the playback button on the camera: "First time photographing Chen Nuo?"

"That's right, brother." The young guy flattered him and handed over a cigarette, "I've always followed the group with Chen Kun and Zhao Wei, I've really never photographed Chen Nuo. This time it was just a coincidence that I was nearby, I heard about it and came to take a look, didn't expect to actually run into him. Does anyone really want these photos I just took? I just heard that, I thought..."

Huang Hongwei took the cigarette, leaned over to the young man's lighter to light it, took a puff, and said indifferently: "Hehe, the person who shouted just now is either incompetent or malicious, don't believe it. You go contact your superior and say you photographed Chen Nuo, but you can't see anything. Hat covered the head, clothes covered the face, eyes, nose, eyebrows, nothing was revealed, just ask them if they want it. If they don't want it, you give it to someone else. Listen to what they say."

"Alright brother, I'll go ask right now. Thank you, brother. Brother, my name is Zhao Wu'er, please take care of me in the future."

Chen Nuo had a flash of inspiration, pulled the zipper of his cotton jacket to the very top, pressed his baseball cap down to his brow bone, and buried his entire face almost completely into the collar, leaving only a small slit in front of his eyes to let light in. Under these circumstances, he could only ensure his head wouldn't hit the wall, and in the end, he relied entirely on Linghu to lead him inside the restaurant.

As soon as he entered the door and pulled down the zipper of his jacket, revealing his face, he heard someone outside shouting something about Brother Nuo not giving them a way to live, and he couldn't help but smile.

It seems that the trick Leonardo uses to deal with paparazzi is really useful, I'll follow this routine in the future!

Snap, snap, snap, without even showing my face, I'll let you photograph the air!

At this time, several waitresses were already standing at the entrance, all looking at him with bright eyes. A restaurant manager in her 30s said: "Mr. Chen, hello, please come with me."

Chen Nuo nodded and said: "Okay, sorry for the trouble." Saying this, he followed the manager upstairs.

The restaurant manager probed as they walked: "Mr. Chen coming here today makes our South Beauty restaurant shine. Um, Mr. Chen, may I ask a presumptuous question, our boss is also here with us today and would like to meet you, I wonder if you could spare a little time to meet?"

Chen Nuo said: "Forget it, this is my friend's birthday party, it wouldn't be right to steal the spotlight. Tell your boss, let's talk about it next time."

"Ah, okay. Sorry, Mr. Chen."

"It's nothing."

Chen Nuo said, following the restaurant manager all the way forward, finally stopping at a doorway. Waiting for her to push the door open, Chen Nuo lifted his foot and walked in.

Shu Chang felt that this moment was probably the most glorious and happiest moment of her life.

When the eyes of the whole room converged, seeing that face she had only ever seen on the screen, at a distance of one step from her, apologizing while handing over a small gift.

The gift was light, and her body was also light, as if in the clouds.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that her agent, Old Huang, was holding a phone and snapping wildly to the side.

After greeting him, she very tactfully retreated to the side, giving up her position.

Afterwards, she stood in the corner, watching Sister Ma and her daughter replace her position immediately, without even considering that Xixi was also preparing to go up.

That little miss from the Baidu boss's family seemed like a different person at this moment, not at all like the cold little girl who was saying "no" to them half an hour ago.

Her face was flushed, extremely excited, and she didn't know where she pulled a gift box from, packaged quite nicely, definitely something only found in high-end luxury stores, and she was handing it over with both hands. However, the young man opposite her didn't take it immediately, but turned his head to say something to her mother.

This caused Brenda to show a wronged and sad expression, her little mouth pouting, looking like she was about to cry.

Shu Chang was watching comfortably when she suddenly heard a low voice: "I'll send the photos to you, you post them on Weibo right now."

"Ah?" She turned her face to look at her agent, "Now?"

"Yes, now, strike while the iron is hot, while the person is still here."

"... Should I tell Xixi?"

"Don't. You post it directly. It's just normal interaction between friends right now. Do you understand what I mean? Don't think so much."

Shu Chang took a deep breath and suddenly became nervous.

She nodded and said: "Understood."

Chen Nuo didn't expect that so many miscellaneous people would come to Shu Chang's birthday party.

Li Yanhong's daughter, a former China Film Group employee who now works in some ministry, that "official second generation" Little Miss Liu whom he hadn't seen in a long time, people in real estate, car sales, and internet business.

Shu Chang was actually so widely connected, which he hadn't expected at all, causing his own social circle to expand a bit as well.

As for people in the industry, quite a few came as well.

Among them were many seniors, directors, and producers, some he knew and some he didn't.

He greeted them one by one, which was quite a test of his social skills.

Fortunately, these people weren't star-struck fans; they shook hands, said a few words, and took a photo with him, then politely took their leave, so it wasn't really a bother.

Even so, by the time Li Bingbing walked over, it was already nearly eleven o'clock at night.

"We meet again." Li Bingbing said with a smile.

Chen Nuo also nodded with a smile: "Yeah, what a coincidence."

Li Bingbing, however, said frankly: "Not a coincidence, I actually came specifically to find you."

"Oh? Something up?"

"Um... I want to ask you, but it's hard to explain clearly over the phone."

"What is it?"

"That movie, are you still filming it?"

Hearing her say this, Chen Nuo immediately understood. Back at his home in Los Angeles, this lady had very actively recommended herself to Quentin, and he had been standing on the side, seeing it clearly.

"Yes. But not now. You should have seen the news online, right? I guess we'll have to wait until this wave of controversy passes before we can continue."

Li Bingbing asked again: "I guessed as much. Then about how long do we have to wait?"

Chen Nuo thought for a while and said: "Maybe a year."

Li Bingbing let out a sigh of relief and said: "That's fine, a year, I can afford to wait."

Looking at her expression, Chen Nuo was also touched in his heart. It seems this Bingbing is truly serious about this role. However, whether she can ultimately get that role? To be honest, he wasn't very optimistic.

But that's a story for another time.

The guests left one after another. Shu Chang stood with Liu Yifei in front of the restaurant entrance, and seeing Chen Nuo make himself look like a riot police officer before going out, they couldn't help but laugh.

"Isn't this too exaggerated?" Liu Yifei said while laughing, "It looks so strange."

"You don't understand, this is what you call flawless." Chen Nuo's voice came from inside his collar.

Shu Chang heard this and had a different opinion.

The reason, well, was that she had actually made it to the trending topics for the first time in her life tonight.

Her Weibo followers had actually increased by over 100,000 in just one hour, and as for the comments, likes, and reposts, as soon as she opened Weibo, they were all bright red numbers of 999+, which was definitely a grand occasion her account had never had before.

There were also some peers she had collaborated with on TV series before who popped up, leaving comments under her Weibo one after another, and those who hadn't followed her before also followed her. It could be said that this hour was the most glorious hour of her acting career; in the world of Chinese entertainment, the name Shu Chang had probably never been so prominent.

And what had she done? The only thing she did was upload nine birthday photos, one of which happened to be a photo of her and Chen Nuo together.

So, is not showing your face considered flawless?

How could it be that simple, unless the whole person was invisible.

However, she naturally wouldn't interfere in the interaction between the little couple.

As she watched Chen Nuo walk out alone, the paparazzi guarding the entrance suddenly rushed over like crazy...

Shu Chang looked at her best friend beside her.

Her agent was right to remind her; Liu Yifei and he should have left separately. It seems that's really the case now, otherwise, she really didn't know how crazy the paparazzi outside would have become.

The things she racked her brains for were, in fact, just their daily routine.

"Alright, I'm leaving too, bye-bye Changchang. Happy birthday."

"Thank you, Xixi. Remember to say thank you to Mother Xiaoli for me, tell her I super love her gift."

"Haha, okay, bye-bye."

"Bye-bye."

After the two hugged, Liu Yifei checked her hat and sunglasses and also left under the escort of security guards, welcoming the baptism of the paparazzi's flashbulbs.

Finally, watching Liu Yifei get into the car and drive away, Shu Chang felt a complex mix of emotions in her heart.

"Miss Shu."

At this moment, a gentle voice sounded.

Shu Chang turned her head to look and saw a man in his early thirties wearing glasses, dressed in a crisp suit, looking gentle and elegant, with measured manners, and a bit handsome.

He smiled slightly at her, reached out his hand and said: "Miss Shu, hello, my surname is Wang."

The hotel manager next to her introduced: "Miss Shu, this is our South Beauty boss, President Wang."

Shu Chang was stunned. South Beauty had recently become popular all over the country, and she knew it was a strong woman surnamed Zhang in charge, but she didn't know when the boss had changed. Looking at his age, could it be mother and son?

She reached out politely to shake his hand: "Hello, President Wang, is there something?"

The elegant President Wang smiled and said: "It's like this, you held a banquet here tonight, which is a great honor for our South Beauty, so I decided that all your consumption costs tonight will be waived, as a thank you for your support of our store."

Shu Chang was startled.

You have to know, she invited two tables of guests for this birthday party tonight, all custom menus, plus drinks and the buffet party afterwards, which would cost at least over 100,000. For her, this expenditure wasn't easy.

She hesitated and said: "This... wouldn't be right, would it?"

President Wang smiled and said: "It's fine, your patronage is South Beauty's honor, a few tables of food are not worth mentioning."

"Ah... then thank you." Shu Chang said, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"Then I won't disturb you anymore, Miss Shu, goodbye."

"Okay, goodbye."

President Wang turned and walked two steps, then suddenly turned back and asked: "By the way, Miss Shu, would it be convenient to leave your WeChat?"

(End of chapter)