[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-starting-from-stealing-the-role-in-1995-huayu":3,"chapter-starting-from-stealing-the-role-in-1995-huayu-starting-from-stealing-the-role-in-1995-huayu-chapter-313":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Starting from Stealing the Role in 1995 Huayu",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2321302,4540,"Chapter 313","starting-from-stealing-the-role-in-1995-huayu-chapter-313",313,"\u003Cp>As for the male lead Li Xiaoyao, Cai Yinong originally wanted to pick one of the F4 to boost popularity, but not a single one showed up.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huang Xiao wanted to act in serious dramas now and outright refused the role. Zhong Hanliang felt Li Xiaoyao wasn’t his style. Qiao Zhenyu had already played Duan Yu and thought Li Xiaoyao’s loud, impulsive persona didn’t match his image. Wu Kequn was fully immersed in music creation, preparing for his new album.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So Cai Yinong simply went straight to new talent and signed Hu Ge, still a student at the Magic City Drama Academy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Yuchen sighed inwardly—fate was truly strange; he hadn’t interfered at all, yet the male and female leads of The Legend of Sword and Fairy still ended up being these two. But he remembered this project was still a collaboration between Cai Yinong and Li Guoli; given their taste and vision, their choosing the same actors as in his past life didn’t seem so odd.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though Zhao Linger and Li Xiaoyao remained unchanged, some other cast members had shifted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For example, the other female lead, Lin Yueru, was originally played by a Taiwanese actress named An Yixuan. But now, because The Legend of Sword and Fairy was produced by Miracle Pictures—far more powerful and prestigious than Tangren in his past life—many mainland actresses were taking great interest in this drama.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ultimately, the role of Lin Yueru went to Chen Zihan. Hmm, she used to be called Chen Shasha, but had since changed her name to something more poetic. Still, Wu Yuchen thought Chen Zihan lacked the memorability of the old Chen Shasha.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Over the past few years, her career had progressed fairly well: she co-starred with Huang Xiao in The Emperor in Han Dynasty as Princess Pingyang, played Yin Li in The Heaven and Earth Sword, and now Lin Yueru was her heaviest role yet—she was a true female lead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Yuchen considered Chen Zihan’s acting and found it decent. Whether as Yin Li in The Heaven and Earth Sword, Guo Fu in The Return of the Condor Heroes, or Lü Zhi in The Myth, she delivered each role well—too bad none of those characters had much audience appeal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But this time was different: Lin Yueru was a golden opportunity for her. If she performed well, she’d definitely attract a huge fanbase.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thinking of Chen Shasha, Wu Yuchen couldn’t help but recall her dorm’s other two golden flowers, Yin Qiaoqiao. This girl had gained fame a few years ago playing the Peacock Princess in Journey to the West: The Sequel, and her career had progressed fairly smoothly since.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But what Wu Yuchen really wanted to gossip about was whether she and Yu Dong had gotten together.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Speaking of Yu Dong, he’d resigned and gone solo about half a year ago, right after the SARS epidemic ended—he was ambitious, after all, and wanted to carve out his own path. Over the past few years, he’d built up a vast network of connections at Miracle Pictures, which would greatly aid his future ventures.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Yuchen wasn’t overly concerned, though. Miracle Pictures’ publicity department had matured through years of experience and no longer depended on Yu Dong alone—work still got done.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In this wild, rapidly developing era of Chinese cinema, Wu Yuchen had already declared: Who shall rule Chinese cinema?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Yuchen smiled and asked the woman beside him, “Yuanyuan, how’s the filming of Kung Fu Hustle going?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After SARS ended last year, Kung Fu Hustle began shooting, wrapping in three and a half months. Gao Yuanyuan played the mute girl. As for Huang Shengyi, let her do as she pleased—her ultimate goal was to marry Yang Zi, so don’t waste resources on her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“At first, I wasn’t used to it—the whole crew was mostly from Hong Kong, communication was tough, and Zhou Xingxing’s Mandarin was terrible; he’d get frustrated halfway through sentences.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Huh? He yelled at you?” Wu Yuchen raised an eyebrow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Yuanyuan shook her head: “No, not at all! But Zhou Daoyi is extremely serious on set—I often saw him scolding people, he’s got a short temper, and eventually he broke ties with the Hung Ga clan.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Yuchen had heard about this, though not the details, so he asked Gao Yuanyuan: “What exactly happened?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Yuanyuan fed Wu Yuchen another cherry as she spoke: “From the start, Zhou Xingxing and Hong Jinbao disagreed. Hong’s team designed a set of action sequences, but Zhou wasn’t satisfied. Then Hong designed two more versions, and he still refused to use them.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I heard Zhou said Hong’s action designs were too ‘Hong-style’—they clashed with his film style and violated his belief that every shot must be new. That’s when they started clashing.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So they just broke up over it?” Wu Yuchen chewed the cherry lightly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Yuanyuan shook her head:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No, Hong didn’t react at first. But Zhou had a bad temper—he’d often halt filming, claiming the action was flawed. Hong’s crew grew resentful, thinking he was deliberately picking fights.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So Hong Jinbao directly asked Zhou for leave, saying he’d been bitten by mosquitoes three hundred times and needed hospital treatment.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Yuchen chuckled—he understood immediately: Hong Fatty was using a disguised strike to pressure the director!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I’ve done so much for you and you’re still not satisfied? I’ve got a whole team behind me—how am I supposed to save face? If I don’t reclaim some dignity, how will I command respect? Since you’re unhappy, I’ll just quit—see how you handle it!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“And then?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then Hong went to the hospital. Zhou turned green with rage. After about five days, Zhou brought in the Yuan family’s team and told Hong’s crew: ‘You don’t need to come back anymore.’”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Yuchen laughed and patted Gao Yuanyuan’s thigh: “I bet Hong Fatty’s face turned green now!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Yuanyuan rolled her eyes: “I was terrified! Hong Jinbao was furious—his hair stood on end, and he led his whole crew. I feared they’d start a brawl with the crew!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Yuchen shook his head smiling, rubbing her chest: “You’re overthinking. He’d never dare lay a hand on anyone—that’d be suicide in the industry.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Yuanyuan nodded, then covered her mouth and giggled: “Before he left, he pointed at Zhou Xingxing and yelled: ‘You’re the only human on this set—we’re all dogs!’”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Yuchen shook his head laughing: “That Hong Fatty! Did any of his action designs get kept?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Yuanyuan nodded: “Yes, they kept them—the big fight between the three masters against the Axe Gang and the sparring scenes were all his designs, and they weren’t reshot.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Yuchen thought about it—those action sequences weren’t bad at all. He’d watched Kung Fu Hustle more than once in his past life; the three-masters fight choreography was solid. Hong Fatty’s technical skill was decent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But still, a stunt coordinator walking off to pressure a director—no matter the context—is wrong. The reason Hong Hongbao got so much backlash in Hong Kong wasn’t because he was right—it was because Zhou Xingxing was so unpopular.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Yuchen shook his head. Zhou Xingxing’s poor reputation had reasons. He asked: “Yuanyuan, did Feng Xiaogang make a cameo?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes, I thought Feng Daoyi was hilarious—he was so funny!” Gao Yuanyuan couldn’t help smiling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Yuchen also recalled Feng Xiaogang as the Crocodile Gang boss and asked again: “Didn’t he and Zhou Xingxing agree to help each other out?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I think so.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Then I bet Feng Daoyi will be disappointed—Zhou Xingxing will probably break that promise.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Huh? It’s just a cameo—surely not that serious?” Gao Yuanyuan was surprised.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Yuchen shook his head smiling: “He’s brilliant on set, incredibly talented and original in filmmaking. But in personal relationships, he only wants to take, never give.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Take Feng Xiaogang and Zhou Xingxing’s arrangement: they agreed to help each other, but when The World of No Thieves came around, Zhou backed out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Feng didn’t bring it up at first. At the premiere of Seven Swords years later, he still showed up to support Zhou’s promotion. But two years later, when Aftershock premiered, he invited Zhou to the premiere—and Zhou refused again.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This time, Feng publicly announced he was cutting ties with Zhou Xingxing in an interview: “No one’s ever been like Zhou Xingxing—I helped him twice, and he never returned a single favor!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So with Zhou Xingxing, keep it strictly professional—don’t even think about being friends, or you’ll end up furious.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Gao Yuanyuan nodded in agreement: “Zhou Xingxing really is talented. During filming, most performances—the landlord’s lecherous peeking, the landlady mimicking Bruce Lee, the Axe Gang dance, many scenes—he personally demonstrated them, step by step.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Yuchen wasn’t surprised. Kung Fu Hustle perfectly showcased Zhou Xingxing’s cinematic genius—no wonder people admired him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He then smiled and asked Gao Yuanyuan: “By the way, how was your next movie?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You mean Alone in the Crowd? I didn’t even feel like I was filming—it was just hanging out with friends, everything flowed naturally.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just a month or two ago, Gao Yuanyuan accepted the invitation to play Liu Rong in Alone in the Crowd—the “dream girl” the male lead pursued.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alone in the Crowd was also funded by Miracle Pictures—a down-to-earth urban romantic comedy. And its director, Wu Fatty, was an American—better than any Chinese director at understanding contemporary Chinese youth’s love and life. Who could’ve guessed?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Yuchen hugged Gao Yuanyuan, grinning: “Our Yuanyuan’s now everyone’s ‘dream girl’!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He bit into a cherry, then pressed his lips to hers. They tangled around the cherry for a long time, neither sure who finally swallowed it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Moments later, their lips parted, and Wu Yuchen began savoring Gao Yuanyuan…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I can’t forget the feeling of holding you close.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Warmer than the fire hidden in my heart.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I forgot the icy north wind outside.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Once again, tenderness and affection overlap.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your red lips cling to everything I am.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your thoughtfulness reignites my passion.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Your endless tenderness melts the ice and snow.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“...”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Last year, Wu Yuchen didn’t return home for the Spring Festival due to Oscar promotion for The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas—he only called home.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So this year, even if it slowed down the post-production of Pirate King 2, he made sure to come back. Though the Spring Festival’s festive spirit faded each year, being with family still brought a deep sense of fulfillment.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wu Yuchen watched the TV screen where Zhao Benshan, Fan Wei, and Gao Xiumin—the iron triangle—made everyone laugh the moment they stepped on stage. Even though their skit “The Water Delivery Man” wasn’t among their best, it was still far superior to the dull skits of the future.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Compared to audiences twenty years later, these viewers were already incredibly lucky—language-based shows and skits were leagues ahead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Too bad, if he remembered correctly, this was the iron triangle’s final public performance. After this, they’d permanently break apart—no matter how strong their bond, prolonged unfair profit distribution would eventually erode it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But during the holiday, Wu Yuchen also attended a quiet signing ceremony: Miracle Pictures and Warner Bros. International Cinemas signed a cooperation agreement to jointly build a series of top-tier multiplex cinemas in China. Miracle Pictures holds 51%, handling local policy issues, while Warner Bros. holds 49%, providing full technical support for design, construction, and post-opening management and operations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yes, in 2004, China lifted restrictions on private capital entering cinema chains. Wu Yuchen had been waiting for this day for years!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He’d prepared long ago—already taken minority stakes in several target cinemas. When the policy opened, he immediately acquired these chosen targets through transactions, mostly prime locations in first- and second-tier cities.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now, the reason Miracle Pictures partnered with Warner Bros. was simple: Wu Yuchen wanted to freeloading off Warner Bros.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In his past life, Warner Bros. assumed China would open its cinema chains to foreign capital, so they partnered with Wanda, offering design, technical support, and management training—all their effort and money—to enter the Chinese market.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But when the cinemas were built, the government never opened the market to foreign capital—they even issued an official document clarifying this. Warner Bros. was stunned. With no choice, they sold their shares to Wanda and withdrew from China.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So Wanda, the number-one cinema chain, had essentially freeloading on Warner Bros.’s labor and investment. How could Wu Daoyi miss such a golden opportunity?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>You little Wanda, stay out of the way—this time, it’s Miracle Pictures, the big brother, who goes first!\u003C\u002Fp>",2069,"2026-06-20T16:09:30.828Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","445458c09c0871980d573e98682d99cf3b71a9da46fa7bd31a63ced95e640789","starting-from-stealing-the-role-in-1995-huayu-chapter-314","starting-from-stealing-the-role-in-1995-huayu-chapter-312",335,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fstarting-from-stealing-the-role-in-1995-huayu-cover.jpg"]