Chapter 244: Break His Legs

When Lin Nan got up in the morning and walked out of his room, he was stunned!

Liu Liu Yifei was carrying a plate of dishes, walking over from the back kitchen.

She raised her eyebrows at Lin Nan as she came up to him and said in a crisp voice, "You're up. Breakfast is ready."

A bad premonition instantly surged into Lin Nan's heart.

He saw Lao Lin wearing an apron, carrying a big plate out of the back kitchen, and giving Lin Nan a sour look the moment he spotted him.

He opened his mouth, seemingly about to take a jab at Lin Nan, but held back. In the end, he scolded softly, "The moment you come back, you act like some lord of the manor…"

Good lord. Lin Nan glanced at Liu Liu Yifei, his eyes questioning: You stabbed me in the back, didn't you?

Miss Liu lifted her chin, looking every bit the part of someone who had no idea what he was talking about.

…………

After breakfast, Lin Nan and Liu Liu Yifei couldn't help checking the news on Pacific Rim.

As expected, every major portal site and movie-info outlet was full of New Year's Day box-office figures for the big releases.

"Pacific Rim's opening-day box office is staggering—57 million!"

"Theaters say that, limited by screening slots and prints, Pacific Rim's box office could have been even higher; a huge number of audiences couldn't get tickets…"

"The Flowers of War dropped sharply to ten million on New Year's Day."

"Flying Swords of Dragon Gate reported eight million on its first New Year's Day…"

"Zhang Yi and Miss Jing Tian, piloting a Huaxia-style mecha!"

"Pacific Rim's global box-office numbers will have to wait until the opening weekend wraps."

……

……

The industry was abuzz: if the numbers keep going at this pace, Pacific Rim hitting 1.2 billion isn't impossible.

All the pressure now landed on New Picture's side.

Zhang Zhang Weiping had once talked tough, saying whether The Flowers of War could reach a billion would be clear after New Year's.

But the reality now was that, on New Year's Day, not only did the daily box office fail to grow, it was squeezed and plunged to ten million!

The bold talk and target of a billion at the domestic box office had gone up in smoke.

On top of that, a piece of film news relayed from Hollywood sent New Picture straight to hell.

"Hollywood Daily: The Flowers of War's North American box office is locked at 320,000 dollars, with daily intake under a thousand."

Those in the industry knew that this time, Zhang Zhang Weiping's New Picture was ninety-nine percent going to take a massive loss.

The only slim chance of a turnaround was if The Flowers of War could snag an Oscar—particularly a major award.

Then, through rights deals, recoup the costs and even turn a profit! But what were the odds? Maybe high, maybe next to nothing.

……

Lin Nan took Liu Liu Yifei and made the most of the three-day New Year's holiday to sightsee. After all, vacation time was running short.

The main reason was that, starting in the morning, people from the cultural-propaganda side kept coming by to pay visits.

After dealing with two batches, Lin Nan and Liu Liu Yifei immediately ran for it.

He had come back to visit family and take a break; he had no intention of getting into work matters with officials.

Besides, they kept elevating everything to the level of ideology and morality—clearly trying to "hijack" Lin Nan…

No need for entertainment reporters to sneak photos anymore. Lin Nan and Liu Liu Yifei started uploading pictures themselves—selfies and couple shots of the two of them eating, drinking, and sightseeing…

In no time, plenty of actors and stars in the entertainment circle were liking, reposting, and commenting.

"Lin Dao, Liu Yifei, that matching down-jacket couple's outfit looks great on you!"

Huang Huang Xiaoming sure knows how to talk—better not to next time.

"Stop slacking and get back to the set." Shu Chang, Zhu Zhu Yawen, and a few others all left the same comment.

"The girl's meeting the parents?" Zhou Xun went straight for the kill!

……

…………

This year's Weibo Night was hyped up big, because Sina was already the top dog in this space.

When they got back in the evening, Lin Nan and Liu Liu Yifei saw the internet in an uproar.

Mainly it was Liu Liu Shishi's fans versus Yang Mi's fans.

Among the Most Influential TV Actresses of the Year announced by Weibo, the two of them were the hot contenders.

One was Palace: The Lock Heart Jade, the huge hit from early last year; the other was Scarlet Heart, from September.

Even the year-end spread and influence of Legend of Zhen Huan couldn't match those two earlier dramas, even though the latter was the better quality.

Lin Nan suddenly noticed that Liu Liu Shishi's fans were incredibly "organized and disciplined," and this time the "Bees" were even showing signs of steadily losing ground.

Thinking about Cai Cai Yinong's hype tactics over the years, Lin Nan got it—this guy's use of "water armies" was simply masterful!

After all, she was his own artist. Lin Nan made a call to check what the final "answer" for Weibo Night would be.

The result was good: it was Yang Mi.

Lin Nan had already prepared himself—if it wasn't Yang Mi, he'd ask Cao Cao Guowei to make a small adjustment. This saved the trouble; no adjustment needed.

…………

Over in the capital.

"I've already spoken to Director Yue; he'll handle it. Tang Ren really has no shame…"

Yang Mi didn't say anything. In her eyes, Chinese Paladin 3 was ancient history. Of everyone, Liu Liu Shishi had done the worst for herself.

Trying to catch up for good with just one Scarlet Heart—impossible.

So now the only option was to drag down the actresses ahead of her. And this kind of disgusting tactic—Cai Cai Yinong was very skilled at using it.

The phone rang abruptly, and Ceng Jia picked it up.

"Hello, Director Yue. Mm, mm, I understand…"

After hanging up, Ceng Jia instantly became very excited. "It's locked in now."

"What do you mean?" Yang Mi was a bit confused.

"Lin Dao said that award is yours."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. Director Yue said this was the result of Lin Nan personally inquiring with Cao Dong. Have you forgotten? Isn't the rumor in the industry that Lin Dao has shares in Weibo…"

Yang Mi nodded. There was that talk, but neither side had ever come out to clarify.

"Looks like it's true, then?"

"It should be true!"

After attending the Weibo Night ceremony, Yang Mi was about to go abroad with the "Finding Mr. Right" production crew.

She thought it over, and decided to go all in.

In no time, Yang Mi's Weibo was updated:

"After 'Palace,' I played the female lead in 'The Assassins,' the female lead in 'The Grandmasters'… Next I'm joining the cast of 'Finding Mr. Right,' playing the female lead.

Thanks to the company, I'll work hard. I won't be acting as the female lead and then end up going back to playing a supporting role on a TV drama! Shi Shi, let's keep it up together…"

……

When Lin Nan saw Yang Mi's Weibo post, he didn't even know what to say.

This was plainly mocking Liu Liu Shishi for going back to play a second female lead on a TV drama after "Bu Bu Jing Xin."

Now things were even worse — both sides were stirring up even more heat.

Because Yang Mi knew the final result of the award, she now seemed even more brazen.

Lin Nan couldn't be bothered with all this either.

"Pacific Rim" reported 64 million on its second day, with a two-day box office of 121 million.

This number made the film circle think of "Avatar" from two years ago.

But compared to "Avatar," "Pacific Rim" was, after all, two years later in time.

The latter benefited from the expansion of the domestic market, and because it was a co-production, it drew domestic audiences even more.

The industry had already automatically set aside those differences. In everyone's view, "Pacific Rim" was really about to explode at the domestic box office — 1 billion should be no problem, 1.2 billion was definitely worth a shot!

…………

"Have you thought about when you'll get married?"

The night was deep and quiet. Liu Liu Yifei had already gone to sleep.

Lin Nan was called out by Watching Lao Lin, and the two sat in the yard, talking.

The weather was quite cold…

Lin Nan widened his eyes, looking at his own father — was the "marriage nagging" starting already?

"You're 27 already, time to start thinking about this."

Watching Lao Lin took a sip of hot water as he spoke — was this the rhythm of an all-night heart-to-heart?

"I…"

Lin Nan opened his mouth, but didn't speak. Instead, he couldn't help but laugh.

He glanced in the direction of Liu Liu Yifei's room:

"This is a matter for both families. I think it shouldn't be too long."

"Mm?"

At Lin Nan's noncommittal answer, Watching Lao Lin furrowed his brow, but ultimately said nothing. He could tell that Lin Nan had his own thoughts and plans.

"I've met her twice in total. I can tell this girl is a good one. In the future, don't bring any other girls in front of me…"

"What do you mean?" Lin Nan didn't catch on for a moment.

"What do I mean? The literal meaning! I hope that when you get married, it's still her.

Don't mess around. I read the news too — your industry is just too messy…"

After saying this, Watching Lao Lin stood up, ignored Lin Nan completely, and went back to his room.

"Hehehe, thinking way too much. How could I mess around? In my eyes, there's only that one tree."

Lin Nan muttered with a smile.

…………

Domestically, the luxurious feat of 190 million at the box office in 3 days put "Pacific Rim" on the front page of every major media outlet.

Still on vacation, Han Han Sanping called Lin Nan, his joy already written all over his voice.

"Warner says the North American numbers are great too. I've decided — no matter what the final domestic box office is, the celebration banquet has to be a big one!"

"Alright, I'll follow Director Han's lead. By then, my 'Bad Genius' should be wrapped."

"I heard you and Wanda, Enlight are working on some project?"

"Where did you hear that?" Lin Nan was a bit speechless — this kind of thing should be kept confidential.

"Don't worry about where I heard it. What project is it, sneaking around like this?"

"A video website. We're preparing to take over Tudou."

Lin Nan simply laid it out. Tudou was half-dead at this point anyway, so probably no one was watching it.

"Can China Film get a piece of it?"

"No." Lin Nan refused decisively.

"Why?"

"Because China Film is a state-owned enterprise. Chairman Han, you'll have to step down eventually..."

At that moment, Lin Nan spoke plainly: once a state-owned enterprise entered the shareholder base, the uncertainty became too great.

Han Han Sanping instantly understood. "Alright, I get what you mean. If you need any help, just say the word."

"Thank you, Chairman Han, but I suggest you reconsider the project for The Tai Ping Lun. Titanic isn't that easy to replicate."

"Haha, you're being overly cautious. I'm very confident in this project—the contract's already signed..."

Well, if he was going to be like this, Lin Nan wished he'd never spoken up.

…………

"If he mistreats you, call me—I'll fly over and break his damn legs!"

"If he's fooling around outside, don't even call me—just break his damn legs yourself..."

Lin Nan, standing beside them, listened to Lao Lin's words to Liu Liu Yifei and felt utterly speechless.

Why does he keep talking about breaking legs? What did his legs ever do to him?

Liu Liu Yifei glanced at Lin Nan with a challenging look, as if to say: See? I've got backup. You'd better not cheat on me...

Lao Lin rambled for over half an hour before finally stopping.

"Alright, I'm done. You two hit the road."

Lao Lin waved his hand, his face showing no sign of reluctance.

Only after Lin Nan and the other had driven off did he sigh, his posture suddenly slumping as if weighed down.

…………

(End of Chapter)