Chapter 377: Seamless Transition

Early morning—probably one or two o'clock?

Lin Nan had just drifted into a hazy half-sleep when suddenly, it felt like someone was pulling back his blanket?

In an instant, his whole body jolted as if a current had run through him, scared wide awake.

"Ah, don't move, I'm so sleepy."

Hearing Liu Liu Yifei's familiar cooing voice, Lin Nan's soul, which had nearly flown out of his body, finally settled back down.

Someone squeezed into his arms—it was Miss Liu's familiar body fragrance.

"You scared me to death. Weren't you at Changchang's place?"

"I couldn't sleep. I missed you."

Hearing this, Lin Nan was suddenly filled with an indescribable sense of satisfaction. "Then how did you get in?"

"I brought the room card…"

"Haha, you really are clever. Mhm, let's sleep."

Lin Nan tightened his hold on the person in his arms, and together they drifted off into dreamland.

……

When eating breakfast in the morning, Lin Nan only then realized that quite a few people had slept in.

The restaurant was sparsely occupied, with fewer than ten people scattered about.

Of those Lin Nan knew, there were only two: Han Han Sanping and Tong Tong Liya.

"What's the plan for today?" Han Han Sanping asked, looking at Lin Nan.

"Going out to play with them for the day. It was planned long ago."

"Then bring Jianü along. You go with them too—young people should stick together."

Han Han Sanping casually said this to Tong Tong Liya beside him as well, and the latter glanced at Lin Nan with some hesitation.

"Come along," Lin Nan said.

"Mm, alright. Thank you, Lin Dao."

Lin Nan was eating when he saw Shu Chang come out with a long face.

"I'm disowning Liu Qianqian."

Plopping down beside him, Shu Chang said huffily, clearly "hurt."

"Why?" Lin Nan asked, knowing full well.

"Past three in the morning, I noticed she was gone. In all these years, it's the first time. See, best-friend love has faded!"

As she spoke, Shu Chang even glanced at Lin Nan. "You two really are a pair, and you're still playing dumb."

The two weren't speaking loudly, and the people around didn't pay much attention, taking it for idle chatter.

"Hahaha, go have a fight with her—consider it revenge."

"You—you're really ruthless. You want me to get beaten up?" Shu Chang was instantly at a loss for words.

"Oh, right, the Grand Matriarch Tong can't beat Little Dragon Girl."

Lin Nan patted his forehead and teased.

"Today we're not just skiing, we're having a snowball fight too." Shu Chang nodded, having thought up a way to get revenge.

……

Liu Liu Yifei got up quite early—earlier than when the crew started work, at nine-thirty.

Han Jianü had also only been up for less than half an hour, and was eating something at the moment.

Looking at Shu Chang's aggrieved face, Miss Liu couldn't help but laugh.

"That bed, I'm just not used to it."

This excuse was clearly meant to fool a fool, making Shu Chang huffily indignant again.

Professional skiing gear, one set per person. Everyone headed out into the mountains around ten, along with a few assistants.

Thanks to Liu Liu Yifei's coaching, Lin Nan was now thoroughly practiced at this sport.

From the village where "Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy" was filmed to the constructed Tiger Fortress, they chased and raced one another.

Just as Lin Nan and the others were holding their skiing race, the industry was hit by another big piece of news—top-tier gossip.

Once, International Zhang had said a line that had drawn mockery and contempt from many in the industry.

It was at the premiere of the film "Dangerous Liaisons," where she said through tears: All I want in this life is to find a good man, an honest man, and marry him…

Now it seems, Little Sa might not be a good man or an honest man?

Around August or September last year, to promote this "Dangerous Liaisons," Little Zhang Zhang Ziyi publicly revealed her boyfriend, sparking countless discussions both inside and outside the industry at the time.

Back then, a flood of netizens teased, saying Little Zhang Zhang Ziyi had changed her taste—no longer loving "wealth," but starting to love "talent"?

Many industry insiders even stated bluntly that the two wouldn't last, because the man simply couldn't rein in the woman's ambitions.

Moreover, whether in wealth, income, or cultural cultivation, the two were extremely mismatched.

Now it seems, the spectators really do see clearest. The two have truly broken up.

The all-powerful media had already dug up the important reasons for their breakup.

First, the woman's annual income was over seventy times the man's, even over a hundred times. This huge disparity caused serious inequality in their relationship.

Second, the woman's parents and elder brother looked down on the man entirely, even despising him, whether in income or fame. In their eyes, he was a freeloader taking advantage.

Most importantly, International Zhang really did listen to her parents and elder brother quite a bit; her own inner convictions weren't firm at all.

Poor Little Sa, dumped just like that.

But this was all just incidental side news, dug up along the way.

The biggest news was that paparazzi had captured photos of Wang Feng and Little Zhang Zhang Ziyi having an intimate family dinner together, looking extremely harmonious and close.

Especially the intimate scenes between International Zhang herself and Wang Feng were caught on camera.

At this point, Little Sa had no choice but to take the initiative and admit that the two of them had just broken up recently. Little Zhang Zhang Ziyi followed up with a post, acknowledging her new relationship.

Seamless transition?

International Zhang is something else — just broke up with the last one, and now she's seamlessly moved on to Wang Feng!

And from the looks of it, the woman's family is extremely satisfied with Wang Feng, in terms of both income and fame.

As for learning and cultivation, that seems to be the most worthless thing of all… dispensable.

Both the entertainment circle and the internet were drawn in by this big news, sparking a flurry of discussion in an instant.

Led by that Eagle, a large number of people from the music circle liked and congratulated the post.

The film and television circle was much calmer — after all, Little Zhang Zhang Ziyi was also a seasoned hand at stepping on the low and lifting the high, with plenty of rivals and no shortage of enemies.

The internet was the fiercest of all, full of people cursing International Zhang — this seamless-transition behavior made it obvious at a glance that her character was no good.

Add to that all the dirt from her time abroad, and there was basically nothing nice being said.

……

A snowball went whoosh and smacked Watching Shu Chang — Liu Liu Yifei's aim really was excellent.

"Come on then, Chang Chang — didn't you say you wanted revenge?"

"I'll fight you to the death!"

Watching Shu Chang scooped up the snowballs he'd packed in front of him and launched a fierce assault, but his stamina was no match for Liu Liu Yifei's, and he was pinned down.

Even the two helpers, Han Jianü and Tong Tong Liya, were likewise suppressed by Miss Liu.

Lin Nan hid behind a tree, supplying Miss Liu with "ammunition."

After who knows how long, the girls were finally panting and worn out from playing.

Lin Nan also sat down against the tree to rest for a bit.

Suddenly, everything around them went very quiet.

By the time Lin Nan reacted and looked up, he saw a huge clump of snowballs coming straight down at his face.

……

Miss Liu brushed the snow off Lin Nan while giggling nonstop.

"Just consider it taking one for me."

"If you put it that way, then no problem at all."

While letting Liu Liu Yifei straighten his collar, Lin Nan also shot a glare at Watching Shu Chang and Han Jianü, who were gloating at the side.

"We've played enough for today, we should head back. Teacher Huang will be back by evening at the latest. We've been going wild all day, so get some rest early — we still have filming tomorrow."

Hearing this, the others all nodded. Packing up their gear, they headed toward where the car was parked.

……

By this point, "Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy" had actually already filmed its final fifth.

But that remaining fifth of the plot might take a very long time, and it's also the bulk of the special-effects work.

The shelling of Eagle Beak Peak, the giant boulder smashing through Weihutang; and the ending where Zuo Zuo Shandiao escapes by piloting a plane — all of it has to be done with special effects, to be rendered.

"You can get in touch with Hu Ge and have him prepare to come over. The modern-day scenes will be filmed here in Mudanjiang, in the city. At the end, we'll have a New Year's Eve dinner that crosses time and space with all the squad members — that'll be the finishing touch on the film."

In the hotel, Lin Nan instructed Han Jianü — as the assistant director in charge of liaising with actors, this was her duty.

"No problem, I'll go make the call in a bit."

Huang Huang Xiaoming came back at four in the afternoon, and was chatting with everyone at the moment.

"Haven't congratulated you yet — the brand-new 500-million-box-office leading man."

"Lin Dao's too kind. I'm still waiting for 'Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy' to push past a billion, so I can have a billion-box-office film on my resume, hahaha…"

Huang Huang Xiaoming said with a smile, then pointed at everyone present:

"Liu Yifei and Shu Chang have 'Bad Genius' at the top of the box office chart, 1.4 billion;

Li Li Bingbing has 'The Thieves,' 900 million; Zhang Zhang Hanyu-ge and Director Han are the male leads on opposite sides, I'm just tagging along to catch some of the light — a billion-box-office supporting male lead will do…"

Now that's some real emotional intelligence — what's this "male leads on opposite sides" mean? It means they're both male leads, of course!

Han Han Sanping had a smile on his face. He had a premonition that, although he was about to retire, there was a high probability he'd still end up with a billion-box-office film on his resume.

He'd worked in every position in film production, and his career held no regrets.

Most importantly, his daughter was also very likely to have a billion-box-office film as an assistant director on her resume. This would lay a solid foundation for her future career, and a very high starting point at that.

……

Lin Nan was scrolling through the news — quite interesting.

"'Badges of Fury,' opening-day box office 24 million, mixed reviews!"

"The plot has zero logic, not a trace of deduction to be seen — where exactly is the 'divine detective'?"

"Pure popcorn movie, can't ask for too much — recommend everyone leave their brain at home when going to watch it."

"Liu Liu Shishi's acting questioned again — no emotional detail to be seen, completely outclassed by Chen Chen Yanxi and Liu Yan…"

"'Tiny Times' premiere imminent — over forty theater chains nationwide pledge strong support for 'Tiny Times' screenings!"

"'Badges of Fury' and 'Tiny Times' are headed for a head-on clash over the next three weeks…"

"Wang Feng publicly declares love for Little Zhang Zhang Ziyi — both have remarkably colorful romantic histories…"

……

Lin Nan really had no idea how much Enlight Pictures had invested in this "Badges of Fury."

But thinking about it, Jet Li plus Wen Zhang — it probably wasn't cheap.

Whether the film ended up making money or losing it, was really hard to say.

But looking at this opening-day box office data, and the film's word-of-mouth, it was probably still a bit dicey.

The news about Little Zhang Zhang Ziyi and Wang Feng, though, left Lin Nan quite reflective — so he'd already run into it.

"That's true too — why look for an honest, decent man? You don't fancy that type anyway.

Just find someone roughly suitable now. Even if they have a marriage history… at least the families are well-matched!"

…………

(End of chapter)