Chapter 62: Miss Jing Tian Tian

"This month, Qianqian is holding a birthday banquet. You all must come when the time comes."

Liu Mu 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 go in first. Crystal, drink less iced orange juice."

The relationship between Watching Shu Chang and Liu Mu was excellent, just like she was another one of her daughters.

"Got it, Auntie."

Watching Shu Chang replied while still sipping on her straw.

"You girl."

Liu Mu 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."

Watching 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.

As a blockbuster with a massive 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 powerful.

Before the release, during the promotion, they had emphasized that he had spent years painstakingly polishing the script. Well, now it was a mess; the plot was the biggest flaw, and there was no way to fix it.

The production team stepped up and added another round of promotion, with all the big stars coming out. Relying on the strength of the cast, the media gave them face 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 the 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 Zhongying deducted the promotion and distribution fees according to the ratio, it was equivalent to a 50/50 split with Lin Nan's side.

From the very beginning, this film wasn't expected to have much of a box office, but fortunately, both parties could be considered to have made money.

Lionsgate was currently settling the revenue share for *Dead Silence*, which would be reconciled with Lin Nan according to the contract. Future re-releases, disc sales, and other continuous profits would also be accumulated and shared.

Ever since 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 lying down and winning, because the most important step—investing resources and cultivating artists—was saved. This was a team that could make money immediately.

The news gradually became clear; the media had photographed Wang Jinghua meeting with the senior management of Orange Sky.

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 the plans she couldn't implement 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 utmost 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 heart.

Wang Jinghua's announcement to the media was even more direct: "Thank you to Orange Sky for their selfless trust in me. The new company has already 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..."

I don't know what the reaction of the two Wang brothers was, but Lin Nan was amazed by this efficiency. If anyone said Wang Jinghua and Orange Sky hadn't negotiated 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 their business negotiation addresses were also set to the new company's address.

No wonder everyone said Huayi had been hollowed out. Wasn't this 80% of it? The newly established agency immediately jumped into the top three in the country in terms of scale, and the artists under its banner were at least third-tier.

A banquet 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.

Having just announced the establishment of the new company, they were holding a celebratory banquet right after. In reality, this was also a commercial move. I heard that many people in the circle were invited.

Lin Nan still 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 fortune from Huayi, so he could be considered a partner and had to show some consideration.

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

This banquet to build momentum wasn't a success, but it was still hyped up in the media's writing; 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, and President Ren had quite an opinion about it. Not long after, he received an invitation from the Huabiao Awards. To take care of the Shanghai Film Festival's face, Lin Nan declined that as well.

The Huabiao Awards were 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 truly lived up to its reputation as 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 encouragement, 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, seeing this, he was dumbfounded. Huabiao was 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, and 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*, if I went, I'd at least have an individual award, right?"

Ning Hao said indignantly, and then thinking that it seemed he was the one who refused, he felt even more uncomfortable.

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

"Thank you, Na-jie."

"Don't be so polite."

Lin Nan leaned back on the 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'll definitely have some adjustments on my end, but the framework won't change. Once they finish recording the song, I'll start working."

Speaking of work, Ning Hao instantly had energy.

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

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 higher-ups 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, and they were already prepared to hold it in a big way to drive a wave of the economy. As a result, the Golden Horse side directly threw out their hosting time, starting earlier than the Golden Rooster and ending later than the Golden Rooster.

In terms of influence, at the current 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 very embarrassed.

Lin Nan had promised to go to the Golden Rooster and helped Ning Hao decide 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 when the time comes," Ning Hao said.

The reason Lin Nan chose the Golden Rooster was largely because he wanted to pick up scraps. Everyone ran to the Golden Horse, so wouldn't the chances of *Blind Mountain* winning an award be greater?

There were many companies looking to cooperate with Ning Hao. In the short time Lin Nan stayed, several invitation calls came in—inviting him to film, to eat, to meet. Lin Nan even heard about Galloping Horse.

"You have more business than me," Lin Nan teased.

"My business is even more than Zhang Yimou's. The scale is different; can we compare? You guys always do something big," 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 could only cup his hands and beg for mercy.

There was a commotion outside. Someone from Ning Hao's studio ran over: "Director Ning, Na-jie, President Lu is here, in the reception room."

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

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

Saying that, he left.

"Na-jie, who is that?"

Lin Nan asked.

"The boss who asked Ning Hao to film the MV. I guess that little girl came 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 view was almost the same as Lin Nan's: Xu Ke's script adaptation was too poor; it was a serious mistake.

Not long after, Ning Hao came over alone, looking at Lin Nan with some embarrassment.

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

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

"It's just that boss I mentioned last time who I wanted to introduce to you. He heard you were here, so he wanted to get to know you. I came to ask for your opinion."

"Just say what you have to say. I thought it was something incredible," Lin Nan said, drawing out his words.

"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 Shining, in this scenario.

"Lin Dao, hearing your name is not as good as meeting you. 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 Lin Dao 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, Lin Dao, hello, I am Miss Jing Tian Tian. I really like your movies."

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

Lin Nan looked sideways. The girl in front of him had bright and upright features, a high nose bridge, and very large eyes. Her skin was fair, and her melon-seed face leaned towards a heart shape. She was a typical beauty with oriental charm.

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

He hadn't paid attention to who Ning Hao was filming the MV for before. Now, Lin Nan finally knew who was going to release an EP: it was the Miss Jing Tian Tian in front of him.

If one had to say, Miss Jing Tian Tian was really very similar to Liu Yifei. Because of family reasons, both had people supporting them from their debut. They had similar starts, similar rumors, and the same enthusiastic and serious attitude towards work.

Originally, they were looking for Ning Hao, but in the end, they chatted more with Lin Nan.

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

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

He discovered that Miss Jing Tian Tian's personality and way of speaking were very similar to Liu Yifei's—straightforward, very straightforward. ===== CHAPTER 63 =====