Chapter 1125: The Trip to the Capital; Good Luck!

Compared to the grand birthday of superstar Liu Liu Yifei half a month ago, Lin Nan's birthday as both family member and behind-the-scenes worker seemed rather too quiet and deserted.

There were no fans flooding Weibo with birthday wishes for him, and the number of industry insiders close enough to send blessings could be counted on one hand — truly cold and deserted, without a ripple.

"But there will always be one person who remembers to call you on this day, even if they're not good with words and end up talking about other things — that affection is wrapped up inside, impossible to hide…"

Liu Liu Yifei said softly with a smile on her face. Her jade-white fingers slid gently across the tablet screen, scrolling through the comments tagging Lin Nan.

Every now and then, she would also look up to watch Director Lin Da pacing outside the door, and the smile on her own face would involuntarily grow even brighter.

Her Lin Nan was on the phone, a call from back home — at this moment he didn't look at all like the big director who could summon wind and rain in the industry, but rather like… a child.

"During the ten minutes I was talking to you, it was all soft-spoken laughter. But when you chat with me, it turns into all kinds of nagging." Not long after, Lin Nan returned to the living room. Looking at Liu Liu Yifei's blossoming smile, he couldn't help but sigh and mock himself.

"But I clearly feel like you really enjoy this kind of 'nagging,' don't you? That's parental love!" Liu Liu Yifei said with a grin, certain of it.

She knew very well that this wasn't just a feeling for her, but genuine empathy — because she and Lin Nan were also about to have their own child.

This complete transformation in mindset and psychology cannot be fully acquired through childhood education alone, nor can it be wholly understood through experiencing just one side of the identity — that of being a child.

It must come through empathy: being both a child and a parent! Only when one simultaneously holds both identities can one truly understand a parent's love for their child.

Hearing this, Lin Nan looked at Liu Liu Yifei like that, seriously studying her face that was beautiful enough to glow. "Right now you suddenly give me a feeling."

"What feeling?"

"So sacred!" Lin Nan said with a chuckle he couldn't hold back, affirming it — he saw an obvious glow of motherhood emanating from Miss Liu.

"Get lost, hahaha…"

In the phone call just now, Watching Lao Lin also told Lin Nan his schedule and arrangements — he planned to rush to the capital in mid-November.

Before that, he would first take care of the restaurant: have the staff do a thorough cleaning, shut off all water and electricity, then lock up and close for business.

Most importantly, he would give all employees a two-and-a-half-month early New Year holiday, and fully paid at that.

Don't ask why — if you must, it's because the boss is happy!

"I need to talk to Mom in a bit too, so Grandma and the others arrive at the same time. Otherwise if the two sides arrive too far apart, they might overthink things…"

"Wow, Liu Liu Yifei, why is your Yun Qi completely different from everyone else's?" Lin Nan exclaimed with exaggerated surprise, his expression dramatically shocked.

"Director Lin, what do you mean by that?" Someone blinked, the corner of her mouth lifting slightly, very smoothly picking up the thread.

"Other people get pregnancy brain for three years, but you actually spend most of your time sharp-minded, and now you can even be this careful!

Tell me — were those months when you were acting all silly just you playing dumb and fooling me? Making me wait on you hand and foot…"

"Hehe, guess."

……

"'Mermaid 2' wrapped last July, and as of today it's been a full fourteen months.

And now Zhou Zhou Xingchi is telling me the finished film needs at least another three to six months! What was that year-plus before? Six hundred million in investment, and this is the efficiency?"

"Director Ren, good food is never too late. After all, it's not some fast-food flick like 'The New King of Comedy,' and on top of that there really are a lot of special effects shots — understandable."

Wang Wang Zhonglei laughed and played peacemaker, trying his best to prevent cracks and infighting within the production side.

After all, "Mermaid 2" was Huayi Brothers' biggest life-saver — he could only choose to accommodate Zhou Zhou Xingchi in everything right now.

But this scene also struck him as utterly absurd, and he sighed at how fickle fate was.

Because he had never imagined that one day he would be speaking up for Zhou Zhou Xingchi — and that too when he clearly found the man disagreeable. Well, it's all for profit.

Hearing Wang Wang Zhonglei's words, Director Ren's expression didn't clear up at all. Because the meeting had just ended, and Zhou Zhou Xingchi was the first and only one to make an excuse and leave early.

This attitude of "running away" made him unable to hold back his temper, so he vented some dissatisfaction. In fact, he really was dissatisfied — furious to the extreme.

"Hong Kong directors really are all birds of a feather. With a production cost of six hundred million, this efficiency makes it hard not to suspect that at least more than half of it went straight into his own pocket.

So much money, such slow efficiency — isn't it just like Wang Wang Jiawei? Isn't it exactly like Chen Chen Kexin? No, this time he's even more ruthless than those two!"

"Director Ren, since Starlight has already given the final deadline, let's just wait. Or we could discuss the release window in advance, prepare ahead of time.

No matter what, this is a film we've placed great hopes in — who knows, it might just be the fourth domestic film to break the five-billion mark. For that result, putting up with Director Zhou's other flaws isn't out of the question…"

Someone from Modu New Culture also spoke up with a smile. Actually they also had complaints about Zhou Zhou Xingchi, but at this stage, the film had to come first; at worst they could be stricter in future collaborations — there would always be a day to settle the score.

Sure enough, the moment talk turned to release windows and the five-billion-plus box office expectation, Director Ren immediately reined in much of his anger.

"He says it still needs three to six months to finish the film, which means the windows we can pick include next year's summer slot…"

"I think we should just go straight for the Spring Festival window? After all, most of the previous Chinese-language box office records were born during the Spring Festival window."

"Either way, we'll still have to see if there are any big films in the same window — we need to plan this carefully…"

At the same time, Shanghai Film Group.

In less than a single day, Wang Wang Jiawei had already had someone deliver the shortlist of candidates for the male lead of "Blossoms Shanghai."

This efficiency, in Chairman Ren Da's eyes, was undoubtedly laughable — as expected, people like Wang Wang Jiawei had to be given a rap on the knuckles, otherwise they wouldn't be efficient!

"China Film's 'Mermaid 2' — wasn't it wrapped last July?" Chairman Ren Da, who was flipping through actor résumés, suddenly recalled something he had previously overlooked.

"It wrapped in early July last year. The online buzz was quite strong back then, because the lead was…"

The secretary's voice cut off abruptly, his expression panicking in an instant. He looked at his boss, his voice trembling slightly: "Director Ren, this project?"

"Sigh, let's wish our Director Ren good luck!" Ren Ren Zhonglun's expression was grave — he almost felt tragic for China Film's side.

At this point, it was no longer appropriate to give them a heads-up — no, it was absolutely impossible to give them a heads-up.

Because if they didn't warn them, the project might still slip through, but once they did, countless people would be caught in an impossible dilemma.

The six-hundred-million film project was probably almost finished by now, right? If problems broke out at this stage, how would China Film handle the fallout?

Undoubtedly, the well-meaning person who went to warn them would definitely earn the enmity of everyone involved!

"How many people went to do the background check before?"

"Including me, three in total. But our Shanghai Film Group people don't have the habit of shooting their mouths off — if it's none of our business, we absolutely won't stick our noses in." The secretary answered hurriedly.

"Mm, but it's still best to remind them again, so we don't get remembered by others. I'm retiring in the first half of next year." Chairman Ren Da nodded. Of course, he wouldn't underestimate those capitalists' ability to control the narrative.

"Understood."

"Alright, I've finished looking at these actors." As he spoke, a stack of résumés was pushed in front of the secretary.

"Then what do you mean?"

"Let's settle on Hu Ge. Among the actors in the Shanghai circle who are the right age, he's the only A-lister."

……

In the blink of an eye, four days had passed. On the morning of the 13th, *Jade Dynasty 1*, a joint production by Huaying and Xinli, opened in theaters with great fanfare.

The combination of a major IP and newly crowned top-tier star Xiao Zhan sent the film flooding Weibo and dominating headlines across the entire web.

No one in the industry could help but sigh — the traffic brought by a newly crowned top-tier star was truly terrifying. The only question was how much of that torrential traffic could be converted into box office.

Meanwhile, Bona's *The Bravest* officially announced zero daily box office.

Its one-month extension had only run through a third of the time, yet it could already be called a job well done, because its total box office had reached 170.6 million.

"High-grossing films will still get heavy coverage even after leaving theaters — after all, there are even livelier celebration banquets to come. Films that end up as cannon fodder are doomed to be ignored."

What Lin Nan was referring to was Liang Jiaqiang's *Shenyeshitang*. That film had also been pulled from theaters yesterday.

Twelve days in release, total box office just over 24.19 million, yesterday's take supposedly around 1,500 yuan… in short, the results were very, very bad.

"This is Teacher Liang Jiaqiang's first directorial work, and most likely his last as well. After all, he lost that much."

"At the premiere, I chatted with him. He took the director's seat himself because he really liked the original work — it was a passion project. He probably won't direct again. After all, he's already over sixty."

At this point, Lin Nan couldn't help but think of Zhang Zhang Yimou once more; at this moment, he felt he had to learn from Director Zhang. Hmm, in terms of stamina and energy!

"Oh, a rare guest!" Suddenly, Liu Liu Yifei let out a cry that startled Lin Nan half out of his wits.

He turned his head toward the door and saw Yue Jun walk in with a smile, led in by Liu Liu Xiaoli.

"I was just about to leave the estate when I saw Director Yue pressing the doorbell outside, so I invited him in. You two chat — I need to hurry off." Liu Liu Xiaoli smiled. She was going to the National Theatre to watch a stage play that morning.

"Mom, drive carefully."

"Mm, I know."

Watching Liu Liu Xiaoli leave, Lin Nan and Liu Liu Yifei finally turned to look at Yue Jun, who had already taken a seat across from them.

"You show up at someone's door without even bringing a gift — isn't that a bit improper?" Lin Nan teased. Liu Liu Yifei followed right behind, nodding with a smile: "Exactly."

"I didn't come here on purpose. I was about to head to school, and since I was passing by, I thought I'd drop in."

"The Film Academy?" Liu Liu Yifei asked to confirm.

"Yeah, the School of Management invited me back to give a lecture to the seniors. I agreed. It starts at two in the afternoon and runs about two and a half hours."

"You're pretty dedicated — leaving this early in the morning." Lin Nan couldn't help but rib him.

"Don't I need to get there early to prepare? And have a meal with old acquaintances, catch up." As he spoke, a look of reminiscence and nostalgia came over Yue Jun's face.

He was a graduate of the School of Management, had worked at the Qingying Factory, and several of his classmates had stayed on to teach at the school. On top of that, it was a teacher at the academy who had recommended him to Lin Nan. So to put it sincerely, he had more affection for the school than Lin Nan, Ning Hao, Han Cui Jian, Director Lu Yang, Guo Fan, and the others.

"That's nice." Lin Nan nodded absently. But the next second, he suddenly perked up — because he'd thought of something important.

"You actually reminded me. After you get to school today, talk it over with the School of Management, and set up a dedicated campus recruitment session later. Give priority to internal referrals from the School of Management — undergrads and grad students both…"

In an instant, both Liu Liu Yifei and Yue Jun picked up on what Lin Nan meant.

"The theater chain?"

"Reserve management talent for the theater chain?"

"Right, we've got to stockpile people for the theater chain."

Hearing it was serious business, Yue Jun immediately grew solemn. He frowned slightly and said, thinking it over:

"I'd suggest not recruiting only from the Beijing Film Academy's School of Management. The Central Academy of Drama and Shanghai Theatre Academy both have relevant programs too.

It's best to recruit students from all three schools in film and market management. In fact, at the Central Academy and Shanghai Theatre Academy combined, we could take more than two-thirds — seventy to eighty percent.

That naturally forms three factions, and avoids the situation where everyone is a Beijing Film Academy alum and cliques form to exclude outsiders.

After all, that's exactly the situation in the production department — Beijing Film Academy graduates make up the majority, which led to several incidents before where Beijing Film Academy actors were clearly favored and Central Academy actors were pushed out…"

"Mm, good suggestion!"

"Senior Yue Jun, you absolutely must not let the School of Management's leadership hear that idea. Otherwise they'll definitely say you've forgotten your roots…"

Liu Liu Yifei was nearly in stitches. Mainly because Yue Jun had just been putting on a tender, nostalgic act toward the School of Management, and now here he was already playing defense against them.

"Forgotten my roots? Over the years I've donated several million to the School of Management and the Qingying Factory. They're in no position to have an opinion — hahaha…"

Yue Jun said he was just dropping by in passing, but he'd also brought two premiere invitations: *My People, My Country* on the 25th and *The Climbers* on the 26th.

As for the premiere of his own *The Captain*? Heh, the premiere date had already been changed this morning — moved from the 25th to the 27th, to give way to the tribute films.

Of course, films from small companies don't have to give way. But films from big companies — especially one led by an industry frontrunner like Lin Nan Pictures — have no choice but to step aside.

After all, those films carry the "70th Anniversary" banner, so you have to give them face. You can't steal their thunder!

……