Chapter 76: Zhang Zhang Yimou Ascends to Godhood, the Graduation Spectacle

The Olympic opening ceremony is just around the corner.

Large numbers of reporters are camped out at the airport.

News and photos on portal websites are updating constantly, all featuring domestic and international stars.

Liu Liu Dehua did not choose to remain low-key this time; instead, he braved the pressure and brought a female companion.

Honestly, La Hua looks quite gentle and refined.

Jackie Chan received extremely high treatment—he held an album release event in the Olympic central zone.

He is the only male artist among all Chinese worldwide to be officially invited to release an Olympic album, with unparalleled influence.

In the afternoon, Lin Nan had already waited early in Liu Liu Yifei's garden, chatting idly with Zhu Zhu Yawen, one sentence at a time.

Several cats and dogs circled around the two of them.

Liu Liu Yifei and Shu Chang had originally planned to simply tidy up and leave—people naturally beautiful don't need makeup.

But Liu's mother forcibly held them back; tonight at the Bird's Nest, there would be many insiders, and they couldn't be so casual.

Half an hour later, Liu Liu Xiaoli finally emerged with the two girls.

Loose jeans, a pure white T-shirt with a pattern, a palm-sized wine-red sunglasses on their delicate faces, and intricately braided, beautiful hair.

Their fresh, bright look could absolutely grace a fashion magazine.

Their outfits were nearly identical; Liu's mother wore a spacious, casual outfit.

"If you don't look closely, you'd really think you two are sisters," Zhu Zhu Yawen teased, glancing at Liu Liu Yifei and the other girl.

"Alright, let's go—there will be a huge crowd today."

Zhu Zhu Yawen had already tacitly accepted the role of driver and went to the driver's seat on his own initiative; Lin Nan took the front passenger seat.

Outside the Bird's Nest, it was bustling—stars from all walks gathered here, while hordes of media reporters rushed to interview and photograph.

Zhang Zhang Ziyi and her foreign fiancé.

Music industry figures like Wang Feng, Han Hong, Cui Cui Jian, Zhou Zhou Jielun.

Jackie Chan's family, Xie Xie Tingfeng, Rong Zu'er, Zhang Zhang Manyu, and other Hong Kong representatives, plus Europeans, Americans, Southeast Asians…

A lineup of hundreds of first- and second-tier stars, dazzling to behold.

Yet one could faintly discern that celebrities had formed several distinct circles among themselves.

Lin Nan parted from Liu Liu Yifei and the others because Tian Tian Zhuangzhuang was waving at him.

"Teacher."

"Seeing you here, I'll just mention it—remember to find time to return to school and finalize your graduation project."

Among all the graduating students next year, the academy is most focused on you."

Lin Nan felt a moment of daze—was graduation really coming this soon?

A school official beside him smiled. "You can't use The Martian as your graduation piece."

"Of course not, haha."

Though he said that, Lin Nan had genuinely considered using it as his graduation project.

But now that it was pointed out to his face, there was nothing he could do.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Lin Nan walked away and saw Liu Liu Yifei and the other two being interviewed, while Zhu Zhu Yawen was with Wang Wang Jinghua and the others.

"Lin Dao."

"Big Brother Lin."

Lu Zheng walked over with Lan Lan Yingying, smiling brightly; Lin Nan instinctively glanced toward the distance.

Before Lin Nan could speak, Lu Zheng said: "Lin Dao, my company recently invested in a major drama—when the press conference is held, please come by."

"What drama?" Lin Nan grew curious.

"Historical epic—The Grand Biography of Sun Tzu," Lu Zheng said with confidence.

"The female lead?" Lin Nan glanced at Lan Lan Yingying.

"Yes, Lan Yingying plays the female lead."

"We'll see about the schedule—I'll be very busy from now on," Lin Nan replied evasively.

Lu Zheng could hear Lin Nan's meaning and didn't press further.

But Lan Lan Yingying looked disappointed, having received no definite answer.

…………

Watching Lin Nan's retreating figure, Lu Zheng finally spoke.

"Lan Yingying, your career path can perfectly replicate Liu Liu Yifei's."

"We can even use resources to shorten this process."

"Uncle Lu, are you sure this will work?"

"Trust me, it's no problem—the film and TV industry works this way."

"Acting skills and experience—we can pile on resources to accelerate it, faster than learning slowly in school?"

As Lu Zheng spoke, he looked utterly certain.

Tonight's Bird's Nest is said to hold one hundred thousand spectators.

Those who managed to buy tickets treasured them deeply.

The best central seats were not sold through any public channel—Lin Nan's five tickets were of this kind.

Of course, the extremely rare VIP boxes are separate—they're for hosting foreign dignitaries.

As night fell, the Bird's Nest was packed with people.

Lin Nan and his four companions found their seats; looking left, right, front, and back, they saw nothing but industry giants—led by Han Han Sanping.

Of course—after all, these were China Film Group's tickets.

Liu Liu Yifei and Watching Shu Chang were a little worked up, chattering away nonstop.

The opening ceremony performance officially began.

The Olympic opening design that had been kept secret for so long met the world's audience for the first time.

Whether it was the 2,008-person beating of the ceramic jars in the "Ceremony" segment, or the twenty-nine footprints in the "Fireworks" segment, they only made people's eyes light up briefly.

It was not until that ink-wash scroll unfurled that the five-thousand-year foundation truly lifted its veil, breathtaking beyond words.

All the remaining performances would unfold and bloom within this scroll.

"So beautiful."

Beside them, Liu Liu Yifei and Watching Shu Chang were exclaiming in wonder; Liu Liu Xiaoli gazed at the dancers on the scroll, her eyes full of memories.

"Holy crap, Director Zhang is badass." Zhu Zhu Yawen came across as crass by comparison.

Next came "Writing," "Opera," "Silk Road," "Rites and Music"…

Every new segment sent the nearly one hundred thousand spectators in the venue into a frenzy.

Lin Nan knew that after tonight, Old Schemer would be crowned a god.

Sarah Brightman's singing was truly ethereal; she and Liu Huan completed the performance of the theme song.

Only the torch-lighting segment was a little underwhelming — after all, the Barcelona Olympics' torch-lighting method was just too iconic.

The three-and-a-half-hour opening ceremony performance ended on a high note.

One could be sure that tonight, the number of people too excited to sleep was absolutely, definitely a lot.

Sure enough, the next day's news was all about the opening ceremony.

Zhang Zhang Yimou's reputation reached an unprecedented height.

A large number of celebrities who had watched the opening ceremony became Zhang Zhang Yimou's fans.

"Director's fee: twenty million…"

This was the film and television industry's latest quote for Zhang Zhang Yimou.

Only Zhang Zhang Weiping flatly denied it, and also refused to reveal how much he had paid Zhang Zhang Yimou in fees over the years.

The fees of several big directors in the film and television circle were also dragged out by the media and netizens for discussion.

Lin Nan's director price tag was placed in the very front tier, second only to Zhang Zhang Yimou, Li An, and others.

A new record for domestic films was born; "Red Cliff: Part One" stopped at 322 million.

That was only the domestic box office; across the island nation, it was nearly six hundred million more in US dollars.

This film's reputation was nothing to write home about, but it would definitely make money; domestic films had officially entered the three-hundred-million era.

"Lin Nan, next it's up to your 'The Martian.'

Although 'Red Cliff' broke the record, its reputation is really too bad…"

Han Han Sanping was right; many netizens were roasting "Red Cliff," regretting going to the cinema.

And they began looking forward to the upcoming "The Martian" knocking "Red Cliff" off its perch.

Wu Wu Yusen was now the first and only three-hundred-million-box-office director in the country.

But letting a single "Red Cliff" carry such an honor — whether industry insiders or audience movie fans — everyone felt it was an embarrassment.

Various competitions unfolded one after another, and the nation's emotions soared without limit.

Lin Nan was planning to send screening invitations to European and American distributors; these were all contacts left over from the Berlin Film Festival.

The rights deals for "The Martian" had to be carried out in advance.

Liu Liu Yifei had been watching the Olympic competitions recently, and rushed over in a frenzy to tell Lin Nan something.

Cyberbullying is a knife that kills without drawing blood; Miss Liu knew this from deep personal experience.

Four years ago, what Zhang Zhang Yimou faced upon returning from Athens was endless cursing; Liu the Flyman received boundless praise and honor.

Now the two had swapped places, except the cursing was more, harsher, and uglier.

After reading some of the comments online, those people seemed to wish him dead.

Many celebrities and public figures supported Liu the Flyman, but public opinion was almost entirely one-sided.

All those championships and gold medals were seen as nothing; people just latched onto this withdrawal and refused to let go.

He apologized.

The one who was hurt had to apologize instead — how truly ironic.

……

Lin Nan made a trip back to Beijing Film Academy; to graduate on time, he had to submit his graduation play before June of next year, as required.

Before "The Martian" finished its theatrical run, he definitely wouldn't have time to deal with this.

And a film, from shooting to post-production completion, takes quite a bit of time, so the choice of subject matter was very important.

"It's only you who aren't in a rush, still needing Director Tian to remind you.

Everyone else started preparing over a year ago — come on, fill out this form."

Old Jiang held his thermos cup, taking a sip every now and then, grumbling at Lin Nan.

"Red goji berries are useless; you need to get some black goji berries." Lin Nan said with a smile.

It seemed he'd hit Old Jiang's sore spot — his face immediately darkened.

Picking up the pen, Lin Nan began filling out the graduation play commitment form: independently completed, runtime no less than…

"I say, this doesn't look like a commercial film, does it?"

"With this little time left, what commercial film could I shoot?

I can't exactly shorten post-production just to graduate on time — that would be worse than not shooting at all."

Lin Nan said without looking up.

"Mm, makes sense."

Just as the two were talking, Zhao Zhao Yanzi arrived at the directing department's graduate school.

"Mentor Jiang, Mentor Lin."

Lin Nan nodded politely. Old Jiang pointed with his finger. "She's inside. Go on in."

"Thank you."

Zhao Zhao Yanzi knocked on an office door, then went in.

"Back then Director Tian didn't take her in — that was quite a stroke of luck."

"What happened?" Lin Nan asked curiously.

"Do you know what she came here to do today?

Apply for a delayed graduation."

Without waiting for Lin Nan to speak, Old Jiang answered his own question.

"Delayed graduation?" Lin Nan was a bit dazed.

"That professor inside must be feeling pretty glum. At the institute meeting, he didn't praise Zhao Zhao Yanzi any less.

Now his student has applied for delayed graduation — his old face as a mentor is completely lost."

Old Jiang was somewhat gloating; he was part of Tian Tian Zhuangzhuang's direct lineage.

Lin Nan was also happy to watch the show.

That same afternoon, the news from Beijing Film's directing department graduate school was released.

Zhao Zhao Yanzi, as a frontline actress, applying for delayed graduation — that was quite a slap in the face. She has time to film but no time to do her graduation project? It's said her mentor even flew into a great rage.

But what the industry cared about even more was Lin Nan.

What is his graduation play? Does he need actors? When does it start filming? Is there a chance to audition?