Chapter 57: Liu Yifei

Chen Nuo wasn't surprised that Qi Yuntian knew about his date with Xia Yehe.

Before she came out with him now, she would always ask Qi Yuntian first. Just like on his birthday last time, it was also Qi Yuntian who told her she could come before she did.

These two seemed to really treat him as some kind of public figure, but in Chen Nuo's view, it was purely worrying about nothing.

Although the mourning period was over, the passing of a relative was by no means a scar that could be easily erased. Xia Yehe still didn't wear bright clothes, just simple black tight jeans and a black hooded sweatshirt with a gray cotton jacket. On the chest of the sweatshirt was a portrait of Maggie Cheung.

Seeing Chen Nuo, Xia Yehe ran over, jumping and skipping with a smile, and threw herself into Chen Nuo's arms: "Tell me, did you miss me, and knowing I was back in Shanghai, did you come to find me on purpose?"

Chen Nuo said seriously: "If it weren't for Qi Yuntian stopping me, I would have come yesterday."

Xia Yehe giggled and took Chen Nuo's arm. "I was still in my hometown during the day yesterday; I only arrived at night."

Chen Nuo asked in surprise: "Night was what I wanted; why would I look for you during the day?"

Xia Yehe pinched his arm not too lightly or too heavily. "Little rascal."

Chen Nuo looked sideways and saw the girl's eyebrows like paintings, her round face, large black-and-white eyes, and skin even whiter and more tender than the Maggie Cheung on her clothes, just like a freshly peeled egg, without a single fine line. She was completely different from the heavily made-up woman he first saw.

"Is Sister Cindy afraid I'll tease her? Cindy is so powerful, she's practiced dancing since she was a child, and her waist is more flexible than a snake's. I'm the one who should be afraid."

Xia Yehe blushed and smiled. "Being afraid is right. Hmph, no matter how much you call me sister tonight, I won't let you off."

"Heh, I'm telling you, by then, even if you scream to the heavens, I won't~"

Xia Yehe couldn't handle this old scumbag Chen Nuo and pinched his waist hard. "No being a rascal. Where are we going now?"

Chen Nuo said he wanted to go to the Bund, but Xia Yehe disagreed.

"Too many people. What if someone recognizes you... that's not good."

Chen Nuo almost laughed out loud. "Wow, you really treat me like a big star? Believe it or not, even if I take off my clothes on the street right now, not many people will take a second look."

"No~" The previous spicy royal sister turned into a milky-voiced cute girl, Xia Yehe grabbed Chen Nuo's arm and shook it back and forth. "Let's, let's go back to the hotel, okay~"

Chen Nuo frowned at the sky and said righteously: "It's so early; I'm not sleepy."

Xia Yehe stood on tiptoe, not caring that this was the streets of Shanghai in broad daylight, whispered into Chen Nuo's ear, and said slowly: "Are you, um~ really~ not~ sleepy?"

Chen Nuo was indeed not sleepy.

It was not even 5 PM yet. He slept at 10:30 PM and woke up at 7:30 AM, having 9 hours of sufficient sleep. He hadn't done anything today, just sat on a plane and drank tea, hadn't sweated a drop or shed a drop of blood. Why would he be sleepy?

But he didn't mind resting.

From the first second he returned to the hotel room, Chen Nuo started resting. Not having seen each other for a few days, Xia Yehe also accompanied him to rest. This girl seemed to be really trying to gain weight, having gotten fatter than the last time Chen Nuo saw her. Her originally thin little butt had a little bit of meat, and her femoral head wasn't so prominent, so Chen Nuo wouldn't feel pain in his lower abdomen when resting.

Finally, Chen Nuo and Xia Yehe rested together for over an hour before talking about business.

Xia Yehe used her tongue to draw circles on Chen Nuo's chest. Her face was sweaty, and it seemed they hadn't rested very well just now.

"Are you leaving tomorrow?"

Chen Nuo also looked a bit tired, his chest rising and falling: "Mm, going back to review. There are only 2 more months until the Gaokao."

Xia Yehe bit him lightly: "Then why did you come here? Our play is almost finished filming. I can go to Xichuan to find you then."

Chen Nuo touched her hair: "It's okay. To see you, nothing is important."

Xia Yehe was stunned, suddenly pinched Chen Nuo's waist, and twisted hard. "Liar, you're not that kind of person. Honestly, why did you come here? Was it Chen Kexin who asked you to come and reshoot scenes? I was almost fooled by you. Hmph!"

"Ouch, take it easy." Chen Nuo held her hand and said: "You were wearing that piece of clothing; I thought you knew."

"What does it have to do with my clothes?"

"You really don't know? Didn't Sister Qi tell you?"

"No, I just send him a text message to ask if it's convenient before I see you."

"Then why don't you ask me directly?"

"I'm afraid you won't tell the truth. Hehe. Hurry up and tell me, why did you come to Shanghai?"

"To meet the director of that movie."

Xia Yehe frowned, blinked, a bit confused, and a bit suddenly enlightened. "... Which movie?"

"The one on your clothes. I just watched it last night. *Days of Being Wild*."

Chen Nuo didn't expect Xia Yehe to be a fanatical fan of Wong Kar-wai. Her reaction to hearing he came to meet Wong Kar-wai was even bigger than hearing he won the Berlin Silver Bear award. It kept him from sleeping almost all night.

As a result, at eight o'clock the next morning, Wang Zhihan's phone woke him up. This person came to report good news.

Wang Zhihan told him on the phone that the Anxiang Vocational School had hung eight banners, repeating the fact that Chen Nuo got into the Beijing Film Academy and won the Berlin Best Actor award eight times.

The whole school, and even the whole county, knew that the vocational school had produced an international talent.

If he went back to study, he would definitely be treated like a panda.

In this way, his last bit of hesitation about taking *The Return of the Condor Heroes* seemed to have been dispelled.

Then let's film it.

Filming while studying, a mere 400 points, I don't believe it's that hard.

The next day, Chen Nuo and Qi Yuntian rushed back to Jingcheng.

On one hand, Director Zhang's contract was almost drafted, and they had to go back to discuss it face-to-face.

On the other hand, before signing the contract, there was still a procedure to go through.

Zhang Jizhong wanted them to go to the studio that afternoon to take makeup photos, and he would call the female lead over as well to see if the two matched.

In the words of more than a decade later, it was to see if there was any "CP chemistry."

If it didn't look like that, naturally, what was discussed before would fall through.

But Zhang Jizhong's way of saying it wasn't like this. Director Zhang was indeed stingy with money, but his attitude was still very sincere: "Actually, it's just to go through the motions and have everyone meet. You are alumni, right? You're about the same age, so you should have a lot in common."

Since that was the case, after discussing the contract terms in the morning, Chen Nuo and Qi Yuntian were too lazy to toss back and forth at noon, so they just found a small restaurant near the studio to eat lunch.

After eating, Qi Yuntian sighed while picking his teeth: "This person is too stingy, OMG, 10,000 yuan per episode, 40 episodes is only 400,000, and it takes half a year. Director Chen Kexin gave us over 200,000 for less than a month of filming... It seems we should cooperate more with Hong Kong directors in the future. If one day you can really enter Hollywood, that's where the big money is. The only drawback is that the Zha-jiang noodles in LA are terrible; they're all Korean Zha-jiang noodle shops."

Chen Nuo said: "You like Zha-jiang noodles very much? Then why did you order the twice-cooked pork over rice just now?"

Qi Yuntian glanced at him sideways and said: "Is it interesting for you to talk to a beauty like this?"

Chen Nuo said: "Watch your image, beauty. Pick your teeth if you want, but don't pick your feet, OK?"

Qi Yuntian spat at him: "Is that picking feet? I'm giving my feet a beauty treatment!"

Chen Nuo actually had the same view as Qi Yuntian. 400,000 for half a year was really a bit little. Chen Kexin had also raised his appetite.

However, he didn't agree with Qi Yuntian's view. What big money in Hollywood? It looks like that now, but that's because Qi Yuntian doesn't know how the Chinese economy will take off in the next 20 years. The domestic market, domestic advertisers—these are the real potential stocks.

The two sat in the restaurant waiting for time, not caring how many times the landlady rolled her eyes. Their butts were stuck to the stools as if they had been glued with 502, and even if they had to pee, they were as steady as Mount Tai.

Finally, it was almost time. As soon as the two stood up, the first thing they did was rush to the toilet. After solving it, they walked over, and it was exactly three o'clock when they went upstairs.

The female lead and her mother had already arrived. When Chen Nuo and Qi Yuntian went over, Zhang Jizhong was talking to the two women in the conference room.

"You should all know this person. Speaking of which, he can be considered your junior, Yifei. I've watched his acting; although he doesn't have as much experience as you, objectively speaking, his acting is better than yours, so you should learn more from him."

Her mother said: "Director Zhang, don't worry. Xixi and I talked about it before we came; our mindset is quite right—it's just mutual learning."

Zhang Jizhong nodded and added: "This person, after contacting him, gives me the feeling of being a bit arrogant. But he's young and just won an award, so it's quite normal. I hope Xixi, as a senior, will be more tolerant."

Her mother said: "Director Zhang, we've cooperated before, and you know Xixi's temper; she's very magnanimous."

Zhang Jizhong nodded: "I know. I hope you can create a good atmosphere between colleagues. Don't wait for others to coax you. He's a Berlin Best Actor, why should he? Right?"

Liu Yifei lowered her head slightly, her face calm, just saying a light "Mm."

But she was almost furious inside.

If he doesn't coax me, do I have to coax him? She is a girl, how to coax? She grew up in the palm of her mother's hand, and the boys around her have always treated her like stars holding the moon. When has she ever done such a thing?

Zhang Jizhong was stroking his beard and about to say something else when he caught sight of Chen Nuo and stood up with a "whoosh," welcoming him to the door with a smile: "Chen Nuo is here. Come, come, come, let me introduce you to each other. This is Chen Nuo, the latest Berlin Best Actor, and this is his agent, Xiao Qi. Chen Nuo, this is our female lead, Liu Yifei, who plays Little Dragon Maiden, and this is her mother, Ms. Liu."

Liu Yifei raised her eyelids slightly and glanced at the boy in front of her.

It seemed different from the men who had come to audition before. He wasn't that old, smiling, ordinary, and had an indescribable feeling. Looking at her, it seemed to carry a bit of curiosity.

"Senior, hello, I'm Chen Nuo." The boy said with a smile, extending his hand.

Liu Yifei looked up at the other party and said: "Hello..." Speaking of this, the grievances she had suffered before surged up, and she said: "You haven't been admitted yet."

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 58 =====