Chapter 777: Righteous

In late October, the temperature in Shanghai was only around twenty degrees, comfortable and pleasant, perfect for outings.

And Lin Nan's group was undoubtedly blocked by a large number of paparazzi outside the airport, because the film promotion itinerary was open and transparent, and even announced in advance.

"Lin Dao, Lin Dao, what is your take on Director Feng Xiaogang flying into a rage at the small film seminar at Central China Normal University today?"

"Regarding Director Feng Xiaogang's behavior of escalating this conflict to the entire city of Wuhan and regional discrimination, do you, who are also promoting a film, have any different opinions?"

"The incident of Fan Bingbing being forcibly driven away from the film seminar site is now the hottest film and entertainment news on the entire internet..."

"The official Weibo of CCNU has been stormed by countless netizens brought on by public opinion, and they should still be posting various abusive comments now!"

"Following the crew, the writer Liu Zhenyun and the writer Fang Fang—the former publicly mocked the school, and the latter followed Director Feng in yin-yang regional discrimination..."

Surrounded by a large group of entertainment reporters and paparazzi, with chaotic questions thrown at them all at once, not only did Lin Nan feel annoyed and have a headache, but Liu Yifei and the others were also confused and puzzled.

"Sorry, we just got off the plane. We don't know anything about what you're talking about; we haven't had time to know yet."

"Make way, make way, don't obstruct airport traffic..."

"Everyone, please do us a favor. We are here to work today. It's really inconvenient for Lin Dao to express any views on things he doesn't understand..."

The security personnel responsible for picking them up and the assistants accompanying Lin Nan's group forcibly pushed the large group of reporters away together;

And Lin Nan protected Liu Yifei, and together with Ning Hao, Zhang Hanyu, and Zhu Yawen, they passed through quickly with smiles on their faces but silent throughout, walking toward the pickup vehicles.

"What kind of nonsense is Huayi pulling again? Feng Xiaogang is really awesome this time, actually fighting with someone else's university! And publicly engaging in regional discrimination?!"

Once in the car, Ning Hao couldn't wait to gossip.

"Wait, let me flip through the news online to see what the hell is going on?" Zhu Yawen also hurriedly opened his phone and flipped through Weibo.

Watching these two acting "embarrassing," Lin Nan was truly speechless. "I remember the *I Am Not Madame Bovary* crew did have promotion today, in Wuhan."

"But the gossip you can see now must only be the one-sided story of Feng Xiaogang and Huayi. Let the bullets fly for a while longer."

"What the situation is, we still have to see how the Normal University responds, or even wait for the response after the relevant official departments and public security organs come forward." Lin Nan smacked his lips and said with a smile.

But obviously, these two didn't listen to Lin Nan, but continued to watch the excitement and gossip online with relish and schadenfreude.

Lin Dao turned his head, good fellow, Miss Liu was also looking at the trending news. Fine, she was a Wuhan girl!

In a stretched business car, only the four of them were sitting, and three of them were eating melon. No, Liu Yifei had already started to curl her lips, a bit angry:

"What is this, leaving an indelible impression on Wuhan? What impression? A bad impression?"

"Let me see." Seeing his wife's tone and appearance, Lin Nan couldn't help but lean over...

Not looking, he wouldn't know; good fellow, Director Feng has been getting more and more arrogant lately, his Weibo is really firing map cannons!

He even fired a map cannon once in front of a group of university leaders, media, and some students at the scene.

"... Bingbing had only appeared for ten minutes when they forcibly demanded that she leave immediately, and threatened that if she didn't leave immediately, they would immediately cut off the power to the multimedia equipment, lights, and sound of the film seminar!"

"After Bingbing was forced to leave, they asked me to continue talking about comedy. I no longer had the mood to talk about comedy. The atmosphere of the conversation was destroyed, the exchange meeting ended here, and I refuse to continue the exchange."

"I am also half a Hubei person, my wife is a Hubei person. I will report this matter to her when I go back. This is the first time since I started filming that I have seen such a vicious thing, leaving me with an indelible impression of the city of Wuhan, and I will never come again..."

"Little Steel Cannon is worthy of being Little Steel Cannon. This is a serious key university, not an art school where he can 'fire cannons' unscrupulously!"

"Tsk tsk tsk, you guys look at Screenwriter Liu's words again, a cultured person is a cultured person, without dirty words: 'Bingbing became an interlude today, I think CCNU is really humorous'!"

Ning Hao's uncontrollable fire of gossip was burning fiercely, and his tone was full of excitement.

"Hey, there's more. You guys look at this Fang, her Weibo is also yin-yang:

... I can't think of any huge reason not to allow her to stand on the stage and talk to her audience, and even threatened us... I can't believe such a thing would happen in Hubei, in Wuhan, in the CCNU I like!"

"It is precisely this rough action that caused the seminar to die halfway... Everyone should go watch the movie, put the reality of reality into the movie, and we will find that we are actually living in absurdity!"

Zhu Yawen, like Ning Hao, was also sharing the news with schadenfreude, well, and the Weibo of a certain female writer.

In general, the four of them naturally didn't believe the one-sided story of Feng Xiaogang's group, because Little Steel Cannon's character and reputation were too poor.

"Since he won the Golden Shell Award at the San Sebastian International Film Festival with *I Am Not Madame Bovary*, he has finally become famous. Whether it's a good reputation or a bad reputation, anyway, his 'voice' is several times louder, and he is even more high-profile than before, and can even be described as 'crazy' and 'arrogant'." Lin Nan evaluated with a smile, just telling the truth.

"Huayi has 'got what it wanted'. Feng Xiaogang made such a fuss, hijacking public opinion to scold CCNU, and even a large number of netizens attacked the place, regional discrimination... The promotional effect of *I Am Not Madame Bovary* can be considered directly full, known to the whole country! Look, it's not just film and entertainment news, even serious daily news is reporting it."

Ning Hao handed his phone to Lin Nan, and sure enough, it was "out of control".

"Then wait for the official statement. The bigger the matter, the higher the efficiency." Lin Nan was waiting to watch the excitement.

……

The predetermined location for *Operation Meigonghe* to promote in Shanghai this time was not the Shanghai Theatre Academy, but the Shanghai Grand Theatre.

This had already been reported to the relevant departments before, and public security organs would be on-site to personally supervise and maintain order.

Well, all large-scale gathering activities in China are required by regulations to be reported in advance, and can only be held normally after approval; and when the activity is held, there must be police on the sidelines to prevent accidents.

When the staff was communicating with the Grand Theatre about the afternoon promotional press conference, Lin Nan's group had already arrived at the hotel. Tang Yan also came to greet them as promised.

"After the promotional press conference, we will go to Ms. Tang Tang's meal. Everyone will definitely be a bit hungry by then."

Liu Yifei held Tang Yan's hand and teased everyone with a smile. Two women over 1.7 meters tall standing there, don't say, really dazzling!

"Lin Dao, a call came from there, it will officially start at 2:30, we have to leave at 1:30. Should everyone hurry up and eat something first?"

"Okay, then fill your stomach a little." Lin Nan nodded, and the assistant immediately went to arrange it.

It was because the hotel was relatively close to the Grand Theatre, otherwise the time would be very tight, and Lin Nan's group might not have time to eat a little.

"Alright, now I really have to look forward to your big meal, Tang Yan."

"Luo Jin is not here, don't be stingy!"

"No problem, Lin Dao, Director Ning." Tang Yan smiled and nodded, this was a great honor.

The news online was still messy, and public opinion was still arguing. It even suppressed all relevant information about the *See You Tomorrow* film press conference in the morning, as if it were silent. At Shanghai Film Group, Ren Zhonglun was also eating lunch.

He had asked his secretary to push away other things this afternoon a few days in advance, because he was going to support the promotional press conference of *Operation Meigonghe* in Shanghai.

"What kind of people are these? I don't believe he didn't have the intention to hype it! This method is not only low-class, but also 'there is no silver three hundred taels here'. Are they treating everyone else as fools?"

"Chairman Ren, aren't the vast majority of people online just fools who only know how to follow blindly? Huayi took the initiative, and public opinion naturally stood on their side; plus Fan Bingbing was indeed driven away, her popularity and number of fans can completely achieve full-network attention."

"However, for this film *I Am Not Madame Bovary*, there is Director Ang Lee's *Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk* in front, and Lin Dao's *Operation Meigonghe* behind. Feng Xiaogang naturally won't be as confident and eager as he says. It's understandable to have this operation today, right? He is under pressure, because he still has a bet on his back!"

The secretary said everything Ren Zhonglun didn't bother to say.

The latter was immediately happy, nodded and joked: "At the afternoon promotional press conference, I estimate Lin Nan won't be able to hide, he will definitely be asked about this gossip!"

At 3:00 PM, the Shanghai Grand Theatre was packed.

You know, this was the venue that had hosted the closing ceremony and awards ceremony of the International Film Festival, so today's film promotional press conference was naturally a big scene without a doubt;

Look, just the police uncles inside and outside the venue, there were more than twenty.

Other films occasionally show one or two finished films when promoting, but Lin Nan would never do this; what he brought out was always a short film after editing, and today was the same.

Creative intention, creative process, casting considerations, filming process, character conception... Lin Nan and several main creators took turns on stage, and under the host's citations, they connected and responded perfectly.

Speaking to the back, Liu Yifei even mentioned the whole crew eating "mushroom pot" together in Yunnan, suggesting that everyone could go there to play... the scenery is very good.

Lin Nan noticed the person beside Ren Zhonglun, if he wasn't wrong, it should be the leader of the propaganda department in Shanghai.

It can only be said that the treatment given by Shanghai today is really nothing to say, very important.

"Lin Dao, we all know that your previous mainstream commercial film *The Taking of Tiger Mountain* was the first domestic film with a box office exceeding 2 billion yuan;"

"Two years later, *The Mermaid* at the beginning of the year suppressed *Detective Chinatown*, and directly brought Chinese films into the 3 billion yuan box office era."

"This time, do you have any certainty, or have you ever expected to take back your own box office record from Director Stephen Chow?"

After the serious film promotion session ended, the first thing thrown at Lin Nan was the box office question. Liu Yifei on the side was covering her mouth and "giggling", looking at him with bright eyes.

"It's been almost 3 years since *The Taking of Tiger Mountain* was released? To be honest, I haven't thought about comparing the box office with *The Mermaid*;"

"Just like the promotional song *Invincible* written and composed by Director Stephen Chow himself in *The Mermaid*, it is very lonely and boring to be the box office champion for a long time."

"I have been a bit repelled by the two terms 'box office champion' and 'box office record' before. But I believe that the box office of *Operation Meigonghe* will not be low, because its quality is there."

Lin Nan smiled and put down the microphone, and there was a round of applause at the scene.

Liu Yifei on the left also smiled brightly, clapping her fair hands, her eyes burning.

And Ning Hao on the right turned his body, lowered his voice and complained to Lin Nan, "Not bad, pretending to be a good force!"

In the blink of an eye, two hours passed, and a group of reporters added up, asking a total of more than a dozen questions.

After 5:00 PM, after perfunctorily responding that if there are suitable works in the future, they will definitely be brought to the Shanghai Film Festival, the question that Lin Nan's group had been waiting for and didn't want to hear was finally asked.

"Lin Dao, regarding the incident at CCNU this morning, Director Feng Xiaogang..."

Lin Nan's group, who hadn't paid attention to the news outside since lunch, was "popularized" by reporters about what happened this afternoon at the venue.

CCNU fought back!

Including many college students, they clearly accused Feng Xiaogang and the *I Am Not Madame Bovary* side of calling a deer a horse and blaming others... hijacking public opinion, harboring ulterior motives, deliberately hyping...

According to the school's statement, Huayi had submitted an application to hold a film seminar to them some time ago, but the school was worried that Fan Bingbing's arrival would turn the small film seminar into a large fan meeting, which had greater safety hazards, so they directly rejected Huayi's request.

But later, Huayi contacted the school again, and promised quite sincerely that Fan Bingbing would not be present, so the school agreed to the application of the *I Am Not Madame Bovary* crew to hold a small film seminar on campus, and provided all the support it could provide.

However, under such circumstances, the *I Am Not Madame Bovary* crew secretly crossed the sea, and in order to increase influence, brought Fan Bingbing to the school low-key. The school security was anxious at the time and directly blocked Fan Bingbing outside the school gate. Because once Fan Bingbing entered the venue, the news spread on campus, tens of thousands of students would swarm, and it would instantly be a "large gathering" scene in a "small venue", and safety hazards would increase sharply...

And the most important point is that this "large gathering" was not reported to the public security organs in advance, and the police did not arrange police force to be responsible for security matters on site... Once it was held smoothly, the consequences would be very serious...

Originally, there was no problem blocking Fan Bingbing outside the school gate, but in the end, a fan who was also a teacher in the school, who was confused, secretly took Fan Bingbing from the side door to the concert hall, and then the students in the school were completely chaotic... The school had no choice but to confront the crew for a while, and even used the means of "threatening" to cut off the power, before forcibly driving away Fan Bingbing, who had entered the venue for 17 minutes and had not been arranged a seat...

"Lin Dao, just now, the official Weibo of Ping'an Wuhan updated the announcement, supporting CCNU: their police did not receive the filing application, which also means that the film seminar of CCNU does not belong to large-scale mass activities... They will not take the blame for the accusations of Feng Xiaogang and the *I Am Not Madame Bovary* crew and unrelated personnel, this public opinion is purely the film crew making trouble out of nothing..."

After the reporter finished speaking, the venue became abruptly quiet. The eyes of nearly a thousand people were all looking at Lin Nan. Including Ren Zhonglun and others in the front row, they were also waiting for his comments.

Lin Nan looked left and right, and the eyes of Liu Yifei and Ning Hao were full of "worry". Because they could see that Lin Nan was set up here; and there were so many people at the scene, he couldn't help but respond!

Lin Nan gave his wife a reassuring look. Isn't it just "righteous" straight talk? Anyway, the two films are opponents, and the two hills are even more incompatible, he doesn't mind beating a drowning dog at all.

Thinking that Enlight and Wanda must be happy to see it happen, and will definitely add effort to kick Feng Xiaogang and Huayi while they are down...

When Lin Nan raised the microphone, none of the nearly a hundred media at the scene were not focused, and all the audience who were let in were also in a similar state, faintly a bit excited.

Because Lin Dao is famous abroad, after all. What kind of fame? Naturally, the fame of being "righteous" and outspoken. How many people and how many matters in the industry has he lashed out at? So many, so many!

"As a well-known director, and now a well-known 'international director', after so many years, Director Feng Xiaogang has definitely held no fewer large and small press conferences and meetings! He must be very clear that the nature of such large gatherings and small activities is different, and he is also clear that this is related to safety issues, and even more clear whether to report to the public security organs!"

"In order to save trouble, he used fraudulent means, secretly crossed the sea, ignored the advice of security personnel, ignored safety hazards, violated the agreement and attempted to bring actors into the venue... and still has the face to complain about the school? Even more face to sarcastically say that the local people are not enthusiastic enough?"

"I don't know if this was done by him or the company? But anyway, he must be clear that doing so is wrong. But he still said those inappropriate remarks, incited the emotions of the onlookers who didn't know the truth, leading to public opinion getting out of control... The school, the police, and even the local masses were scolded..."

"To be honest, his film is promoted. But this behavior is really losing the face of film people! Well, this is my view."

"Look, everyone, look at our venue again. Isn't that the police comrade who is working hard to look after the scene and avoid safety hazards? Thank you for your hard work."

When Lin Nan said the last sentence with a smile, and waved to the direction of the outermost part of the venue. Thunderous applause appeared immediately, and the two were compared, complete victory!

Lin Nan glanced at the expressions of Ren Zhonglun and the leader of the Shanghai propaganda department in the front row opposite, these two people smiled "playfully", as if teasing him:

"Lin Dao Nan, you are truly vicious, haha..."

…………

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 778 =====