Chapter 242: Spending Other People's Money to Handle Your Own Business?

"These days, is the bar for becoming a director really this low? What a weirdo…"

"He is pretty arrogant."

"These fans are killing me—'Director Guo will reign over the entertainment industry,' hahaha…"

……

What Zhu Zhu Yawen, Luo Jin, and the others were discussing was the news about Tiny Times.

Guo Guo Jingming publicly called out to the entertainment industry on Weibo, announcing that he had secured 300 million in investment, and would next adapt his Tiny Times into a film script, spending three to five years shooting it as a series.

And just like his previous bold claims, both the director and screenwriter of the film would be Guo Guo Jingming himself.

Lin Nan was very curious what kind of people this guy's fans were—every single one of them was mindlessly praising Guo Guo Jingming.

As if the moment Guo Guo Jingming entered the film industry, he could surpass the fifth-generation directors, crush the sixth-generation directors, and stand alongside the country's great directors!

Lin Nan sat beside Liu Liu Yifei, watching the makeup artist apply her makeup.

Zhu Zhu Yawen, still laughing nonstop, walked over:

"Lin Dao, come take a look—you're the one that 'Great Director Guo' says he wants to learn from and catch up to, hahaha…"

Lin Nan's face immediately darkened. Isn't that just cursing him?

Liu Liu Yifei really wanted to take a peek at the newspaper, but she was having her makeup done right now and couldn't move, so she could only steal glances from the corner of her eye—very uncomfortable.

"…As fellow post-80s generation, whether in international awards or box office, I regard Lin Dao Nan as the goal I want to learn from and catch up to in my directing career. My favorite of his and Liu Liu Yifei's works is The Fault in Our Stars…"

Before Lin Nan could reach for the newspaper, Zhu Zhu Yawen had already started raising his voice, reading aloud Guo Guo Xiaosi's interview transcript with the media.

Hearing this, Miss Liu was very happy and couldn't help but smile—then got scolded by the makeup artist for making facial expressions.

Lin Nan felt something strange in his heart, an inexplicable chill somewhere on his body, everything felt off, and it gave him the creeps!

…………

"Ready, cton!"

Zhu Zhu Yawen's scene began.

According to the script's setting, he and Liu Liu Yifei were the only two scholarship recipients—academic overachievers from single-parent families, with even worse financial situations.

The two represented the school together in a competition, and the female lead discovered this was a classmate who worked harder, was more frugal, and more rigid than even her own father.

As expected, the two won first place.

Zhou Xun rushed over during a break in promotional activities for The Great Magician's crew, making another cameo.

"Congratulations to you both. Next year abroad there are two full scholarships for study abroad—after going, you can do a continuous bachelor's-master's-PhD program. The school thinks you two are the most suitable candidates…"

Just as Liu Liu Yifei and Zhu Zhu Yawen broke into smiles, the principal's next words made their faces go pale in an instant.

"But unfortunately, our school only got one slot. Not long ago you were teammates, now you're opponents. It is… indeed a bit stimulating, isn't it?"

Zhou Xun used a joking manner to ease the awkward atmosphere on set.

After one shot, Zhou Xun said hello and left directly.

It seemed The Great Magician's side was indeed quite busy—she didn't even have the mind to joke and complain with Lin Nan.

After the scene transition came the footage of Zhu Zhu Yawen going home to help with chores. The house chosen for this location was even shabbier than the female lead's home from before.

……

The cameo actor took his place, tugging at Zhu Zhu Yawen and hoping the latter would let him cheat off him during the grade-wide exam.

"I did take that piano lesson too, but I can't remember their complicated signals…"

"What signals?"

"Ah, nothing. I can give you money—how about a thousand?"

Zhu Zhu Yawen walked away without looking back, refusing.

……

"Next shot is the cheating scene for the grade-wide exam. Get everyone ready in advance."

Lin Nan shouted to the logistics team, then took a break.

"You get two days off for New Year's. Have fun in Hong Kong, go watch Pacific Rim—Director Jiang will bring the tickets over."

Hearing Lin Nan's words, the few of them were first delighted, then paused.

"We have fun? What about you?"

Liu Liu Yifei was the first to question, frowning. The others also waited for Lin Nan's answer.

"This year's New Year's Eve, we might have to spend it on set. I'm planning to go back to my hometown for New Year's Day."

As he spoke, Lin Nan looked at Liu Liu Yifei, his tone gentle: "Liu Qianqian, will you come with me?"

"Ah? Mm, I'll go with you."

A smile immediately bloomed on Miss Liu's face, her eyes curving into crescents, as she said with a slight nod.

"Ugh… so cheesy."

Watching Shu Chang and the others all jeered together, faces full of disdain.

…………

The camera was in position again—over a hundred students for the exam shot.

Zhu Zhu Yawen finished far ahead of everyone else, only to discover that one question actually asked what type of test paper he had—A or B?

"Teacher, what's the situation with question 40?"

"For this grade-wide exam, students from the same class can't sit together. There are two sets of test papers. To prevent cheating, you only mark your paper type in the middle of the exam…"

As the words landed, the female lead played by Liu Liu Yifei quickly flipped a page back and saw that question—she was paper B.

All the students from the "Piano Tutoring Class" instantly panicked, but thankfully the answers hadn't started being passed around yet.

Next came the various hand signals between "accomplices," indicating their paper types.

The cameraman gave a close-up to Zhu Zhu Yawen, who saw the classmate who had earlier asked him to help cheat, glancing toward Liu Liu Yifei.

More than ten minutes later.

Zhu Zhu Yawen walked toward the podium with the test paper, answer sheet, and so on, deliberately loosened his grip beside Liu Liu Yifei, and squatted down to pick up the test paper.

"The one next to you is peeking at your answers."

After muttering softly, making sure Liu Liu Yifei heard, Zhu Zhu Yawen stepped forward to hand in his paper, unable to resist making a report.

"The buzz-cut guy in the third row is peeking at the answers of the girl next to him."

"Mm, I'll keep an eye on it in a bit. If there's nothing else, you may leave the exam room first."

…………

Filming continued.

Zhu Zhu Yawen sat down next to Lin Nan.

"The character I'm playing is really dumb—everyone else had agreed in advance to copy answers, and I still went over to kindly remind them!"

"There's still half an hour before the exam ends…" the proctor called out.

At that moment, Liu Liu Yifei's fingers began moving on the desk—the meaning was very clear: the A-paper first.

When only twenty minutes remained in the exam, all the "tutoring class" students with B-papers had pale faces and tense expressions.

At a certain moment, a group of A-paper examinees stood up and handed in their papers together, blocking the proctor's line of sight.

Liu Liu Yifei instantly swapped test papers with the boy beside her. In the close-up shot, the name field on the test paper Liu Liu Yifei handed over was filled in with the boy's name.

She needed to re-fill the answer sheet for the B-paper, since she had already done most of it once and only a few questions differed and needed recalculating. This time she finished and filled the sheet in just ten minutes, then immediately passed along the B-paper answers.

At the very last moment, all the "tutoring class" people successfully completed their cheating.

"Cut! Good work."

Liu Liu Yifei rolled her wrist and walked over to Lin Nan:

"I was filling the answer sheet the whole time, my fingers tapping the desk to a rhythm—don't cut it too harshly in post."

"Can't say for sure. It definitely has to be edited tight, with a stimulating rhythm, plus the score—that kind of tense, every-second-counts battlefield atmosphere has to come through."

Lin Nan took hold of Liu Liu Yifei's wrist. "Let me massage it for you?"

"Mm, okay."

"Tsk tsk tsk, Liu Qianqian, my wrist is sore too."

"Your shot didn't come out well—want to do the close-up again?"

"Heh, just kidding, I'm not sore, not sore at all." Watching Shu Chang hurriedly begged for mercy.

…………

New Year's Day was right around the corner.

All the films set to release in January were poised and ready.

Among them, Pacific Rim shone the brightest, followed by The Great Magician, The Viral Factor, and the Hong Kong and Taiwan regions' already-finished run, dark-horse hit You Are the Apple of My Eye.

But Lin Nan was paying close attention to another short film.

The Chopstick Brothers' "Father"—a very heartfelt micro-film, especially the song "Father."

He even promoted it on Weibo, "The micro-film is great, the song is great," and tagged the main creators.

The two main creators specifically replied to thank him, and a flood of viewers' comments and messages were all the same, very sincere: the film was moving, the song made them cry……

…………

"Lin Dao, someone wants to see you."

Having just returned to the hotel that afternoon, Jiang Jiang Xuerou ran over and said to Lin Nan.

Zhu Zhu Yawen and the others pretended not to hear and went back to their rooms.

Liu Liu Yifei looked at Lin Nan with a face full of curiosity.

"Who?"

"Someone from the bank."

Hearing this, Lin Nan seemed to guess what it was about.

"You go handle your business, remember to have dinner together later." Liu Liu Yifei gave him a reminder, then turned and went back to her room.

Lin Nan nodded and answered. Then he said to Jiang Jiang Xuerou, "Invite him to my room."

…………

How to put it—the bank people really reacted fast; they actually came straight to Hong Kong Island without even giving a heads-up.

"Lin Dao, long time no see."

"You coming all the way from the capital—I really didn't expect it. Logically speaking, you have a branch here on Hong Kong Island."

"Then that business wouldn't be mine, heh heh……"

Hearing this, Lin Nan couldn't help wanting to laugh.

The other party spoke up.

"Quite a bit of overseas funds have come in on your end these past two days."

"Not legal?"

"Of course it's legal, but you're transferring it out again, so this……"

"Not legal?"

"Legal. Of course commercial transactions are legal."

"Then I'm baffled—money comes in legally, you don't ask. I'm sending it out legally, and you come to inquire?"

Lin Nan was genuinely a bit impressed by the man in front of him. If things kept going like this, he'd have to switch to another bank to work with.

"Lin Dao, you've misunderstood. With funds this large, why not consider taking out a loan—use other people's money to do your own business?"

"Don't worry, the interest rate will absolutely be the lowest. I've also worked with you for all these years now—hasn't every one of your film projects' funds gone through our bank……"

Now Lin Nan understood—deposits and loans, so this was about asking him to boost their performance figures. He'd only made the appointment yesterday, and here they were today—some speed.

"This is my personal investment, nothing to do with Lin Nan Pictures. I need the money urgently soon. Are you sure the loan process won't hold things up?"

Lin Nan was conservative by nature; he didn't like living under debt. All these funds were meant for buying back Tudou shares and supporting Tudou's development.

But if the interest rate was low enough and the efficiency high enough, of course he'd be willing to use other people's money to handle his own affairs!

"Haha, don't worry, Lin Dao. The moment you nod, every procedure will be wrapped up within a week, and the funds will arrive no later than that. What do you say?"

…………

(End of chapter)