Chapter 62

"This month, Qianqian is holding her birthday party; you all must come over then."

Mother Liu said to Lin Nan and Zhu Yawen with a smile.

"Don't worry, Auntie, we will definitely be there."

"That's good. You all chat; I'll head in first. Changchang, drink less iced orange juice."

Shu Chang and Mother Liu had a very good relationship, just like she was another one of her daughters.

"I know, Auntie."

Shu Chang replied while still sucking on her straw.

"You girl."

Mother Liu shook her head with a smile and entered the villa.

"If you ask me, you should just call her godmother," Zhu Yawen said.

"Good idea," Liu Yifei agreed.

"Auntie is just fine. If I called her godmother, I'd really have to let Qianqian be my older sister, and I'm not doing that."

Shu Chang shook her head, grinning.

"You're quite the calculator," Liu Yifei teased.

"You bet."

The downward trend of *Seven Swords* was becoming unstoppable.

For a blockbuster with such a huge investment, looking at the current box office situation, let alone making a profit, even recovering the costs was difficult.

Xu Ke had long been a Best Director at the Golden Horse Awards, and the cast for this *Seven Swords* was even more formidable.

Before the release, during the promotion, they had emphasized that he had spent several years carefully polishing the script. Now, it was a mess; the plot was the biggest failure, and there was no way to fix it.

The production team stepped up and added another round of promotion, with all the big stars appearing. Relying on the strength of the cast, the media was very accommodating and provided plenty of coverage, but the results were not very optimistic.

Film critics and the audience were once again on opposite sides. The former praised the exquisite acting, gorgeous visuals, and the effort put into filming, but the audience mostly said they didn't understand it and only remembered that there were many stars.

The box office could not be saved.

After the revenue sharing for *Blind Mountain* was settled, and China Film Group deducted the promotion and distribution costs according to the ratio, it was equivalent to a 50-50 split with Lin Nan's side.

This film never expected much box office from the start; fortunately, both sides were considered to have made a profit.

Lionsgate was currently settling the revenue share for *Dead Silence*, which would be coordinated with Lin Nan according to the contract. Future screenings, discs, and other continuous profits would also be accumulated and shared.

From the moment Huayi admitted that Wang Jinghua had left, the industry had been very concerned about her whereabouts, especially since she had dozens of mature artists, actors, and stars behind her.

Whoever could recruit Wang Jinghua meant they would be lying down and winning, because the most important step of investing resources and cultivating artists was saved; this was a team that could make money directly.

The news gradually became clear, and the media photographed Wang Jinghua meeting with Orange Sky executives.

As soon as this news hit the papers, news came from the other side as well.

"Orange Sky welcomes the addition of Wang Jinghua's team. We respect Ms. Wang's opinions on team management and accept some of her plans that could not be implemented before.

The company will jointly establish an agency with Ms. Wang, which will be controlled and independently managed by Ms. Wang Jinghua. We will do our best to help make the new company the largest and most professionally operated performing arts agency in the country..."

This announcement directly stabbed Huayi in the lungs.

Wang Jinghua's announcement to the media was even more direct: "Thanks to Orange Sky for their selfless trust in me. The new company has been established, and the office address has been chosen at SOHO Modern City. We also welcome past partners, major sponsors, and film and television companies to come and discuss cooperation..."

He didn't know what the reaction of the two Wang brothers at Huayi was, but Lin Nan was amazed at this efficiency. If someone said Wang Jinghua and Orange Sky hadn't discussed this beforehand, he wouldn't believe it even if he died.

Subsequently, all the artists who left with Wang Jinghua spoke up one after another, and the business negotiation address was also set at the new company's address.

No wonder everyone said Huayi had been hollowed out; this was practically eighty percent of it gone. The newly established agency immediately jumped into the top three in scale in the country, and the artists under its banner were at least third-tier.

A cocktail party invitation was sent to Lin Nan's company, signed by Shiba Culture and Orange Sky; the former was the name of Wang Jinghua's new company.

They announced the establishment of the new company one moment and were holding a celebration cocktail party the next. In reality, this was also a commercial move. It was said that many people in the circle were invited.

Lin Nan decided not to go; the reason was easy to find.

The main reason was that he didn't want to have any intersection with Orange Sky. Furthermore, he had just made a profit from Huayi, so they were considered partners, and he had to be somewhat considerate.

Judging by what Zhu Yawen said, although many people went to the cocktail party that day, there were very few big names. Many of the invited directors, producers, and film and television companies did not show up, or only sent their deputies. Huayi's influence could not be underestimated.

This cocktail party to build momentum was not a success, but it was still hyped up in the media; clearly, money had been spent.

A few months ago, the Shanghai International Film Festival had invited Lin Nan, but he found an excuse to decline. Mr. Ren was quite unhappy about it. Not long after, he received an invitation from the Huabiao Awards. To save face for the Shanghai Film Festival, Lin Nan declined that as well.

The Huabiao Awards ceremony was at the end of this month at the Beijing Exhibition Center, and Lin Nan specifically took a look at the nomination list.

Good heavens, it was worthy of being an encouraging film festival; just for the Outstanding Feature Film Award, seventeen films were nominated.

Looking at the situation, it was truly a rhythm of giving awards to whoever showed up, because its purpose was to encourage, and multiple winners were the norm.

Ning Hao was sighing because the Shanghai Film Festival had hurt him. Later, when Lin Nan asked him again if he was going to the Huabiao Awards, he refused without even thinking. Now that he saw it, he was dumbfounded; the Huabiao Awards were preparing to wholesale trophies. Although the gold content wasn't high, they were still official awards.

When Lin Nan arrived at Bad Monkey, Ning Hao still had a bitter face, while Xing Aina was laughing at him on the side for not being able to let go.

"Why did you come over?"

"Just came to see. Is a Huabiao Award worth it?" Lin Nan joked.

"It is. I don't have a proper film festival award yet; before, they were all short film awards. With the results of *Crazy Stone*, I should have at least had an individual award if I had gone."

Ning Hao said irritably, and then thought that it seemed he was the one who refused, which made him feel even more uncomfortable.

"Sit down quickly, I'll go get you some fruit." Xing Aina turned and left.

"Thank you, Sister Na."

"Don't be so polite."

Lin Nan leaned back in his chair casually. "Last time I came, I saw you working on the MV proposal. Why hasn't it been finalized yet?"

"The lyrics and music are still being revised, and I will definitely have some adjustments on my end, but the framework is fixed. Once they finish recording the song, I'll start working on my end."

Speaking of work, Ning Hao was instantly energized.

Xing Aina brought over a fruit platter, and the few of them chatted while eating.

Mentioning this year's film festivals, one had to talk about the timing issue between the Golden Horse and the Golden Rooster; the award ceremonies were back-to-back.

Originally, the authorities had already held a meeting and decided that after this year, the Golden Rooster would be changed to once every two years, staggered with the Hundred Flowers Awards.

Sanya was the host of this year's Golden Rooster, a tourist destination that had already prepared to go all out to boost the economy. As a result, the Golden Horse side directly threw out their event dates, starting earlier than the Golden Rooster and ending later.

In terms of influence, at this stage, the Golden Rooster was far behind the Golden Horse.

The invitation lists sent out by the two film festivals overlapped to a large extent. In terms of time, one could definitely only go to one place. How to choose was easy to decide, and the Golden Rooster was in a very awkward position.

Lin Nan had promised to go to the Golden Rooster and incidentally helped Ning Hao make the decision as well. The latter only had *Crazy Stone* to enter, so Lin Nan could make this decision.

"Sigh, I just hope there's a good result then," Ning Hao said.

Lin Nan's reason for choosing the Golden Rooster was largely because he wanted to pick up the scraps. Since everyone was running off to the Golden Horse, wouldn't the chances of *Blind Mountain* winning an award be higher?

There were many companies looking to cooperate with Ning Hao. In the short time Lin Nan stayed, several invitation calls came in—for films, for meals, for meetings. Lin Nan even heard about Xiaoma Pentium.

"You have more business than I do," Lin Nan teased.

"My business is even more than Zhang Yimou's. The scale is different; can they be compared? You guys always do one big thing," Ning Hao retorted.

"Exactly. Ning Hao is called the director of *Crazy Stone*, but isn't he still working for you?"

Xing Aina followed her husband's lead and laughed.

Lin Nan had no choice but to cup his hands and beg for mercy.

There was a commotion outside, and someone from Ning Hao's studio ran over. "Director Ning, Sister Na, President Lu is here, in the reception room."

Ning Hao realized and picked up the manuscripts on the table.

"I thought he would come later. Lin Nan, you sit for a bit, I'll go over."

Saying that, he left.

"Sister Na, who is that?"

Lin Nan asked.

"The boss who is looking for Ning Hao to shoot an MV. I guess that little girl is here too. She's a very polite girl."

Lin Nan didn't take it to heart. Xing Aina, however, started talking about *Seven Swords*. She was a professional screenwriter, and her opinion was almost the same as Lin Nan's: Xu Ke's script adaptation was too poor; it was a serious mistake.

Before long, Ning Hao came over alone, looking at Lin Nan with some embarrassment.

"What's wrong? With that expression, I'm feeling a bit nervous."

Lin Nan felt a bit creeped out by Ning Hao's look.

"It's that boss I mentioned last time I'd introduce you to. Hearing you were here, he wanted to meet you. I came to ask for your opinion."

"Just say what you have to say. I thought it was something major," Lin Nan said, taking a deep breath.

"He's just like that."

Xing Aina also complained about Ning Hao.

Lin Nan didn't expect to meet this President Lu, the boss of Starlight International, in this setting.

"Director Lin, hearing your name is not as good as meeting you in person. I'm very happy to meet you. You really are the youngest big director."

"Hello, President Lu."

Lin Nan shook the other party's hand.

"Tiantian, this is Director Lin Nan. Didn't you say you wanted to meet him? Why are you stunned now that you've seen him?"

Lu Zheng said to the girl beside him with a smile.

"Ah, Director Lin, hello, I am Jing Tian. I really like your movies."

The girl seemed to wake up from a daze and spoke very quickly. One could see her cheeks were slightly red.

Lin Nan looked sideways. The girl before him had bright and upright features, a high nose bridge, large eyes, fair skin, and a heart-shaped face. She was a beauty with typical oriental charm.

Lin Nan looked at the girl's outstretched hand, touched it lightly, and let go. "Hello."

Lin Nan had never paid attention to who Ning Hao was filming music videos for before, but now he finally knew who was releasing an EP: it was the Jing Tian standing right before him.

It had to be said that Jing Tian was truly very similar to Liu Yifei; because of their family backgrounds, both had been heavily promoted since their debuts, sharing similar beginnings, similar rumors and gossip, and the same passion and seriousness toward their work.

He had originally come to see Ning Hao, but in the end, he had chatted more with Lin Nan.

Lu Zheng intentionally or unintentionally mentioned that Jing Tian loved the acting profession very much, giving her and Lin Nan a chance to talk.

The girl was indeed trying hard to find topics of conversation, and her awkward demeanor actually made Lin Nan laugh.

He discovered that Jing Tian's personality and the way she spoke were very similar to Liu Yifei's—a straight shooter, very blunt.