Chapter 386: The Most Reliable Ally

"City by the Sea" had no special effects, no grand scenes, and the plot wasn't complex, so there was no difficulty in post-production.

If not for Cao Yang playing tricks with the editing and having higher demands for the soundtrack, the post-production for this film could have been finished in a dozen days or so.

However, even with Cao Yang's high demands, the entire post-production of the film was completed in less than a month.

Cao Yang walked out of the Qingying Studio and let out a sigh of relief.

This film was faster and easier than expected.

Compared to commercial films, these art-house films without grand scenes are better to shoot; the production cycle is short, and it's less of a headache to make.

The only pity is that it's getting hard for art-house films to achieve high box office numbers domestically; given a choice, most audiences will definitely still go watch big-budget commercial blockbusters that stimulate the senses.

In the future, the polarization of art-house films will be extremely severe; if the director isn't famous, they won't be able to hire big-name actors, and even if the resulting art-house film wins awards, it will be hard to get a high box office.

But for a highly influential big director like Cao Yang, even if the art-house films he makes don't use big-name actors, the core audience is definitely still guaranteed.

After a film is finished, what is the first thing to do?

Go, go, go, who said hurry up and submit it for review.

The first thing is, of course, to relax.

A man's way of relaxing is actually about the same; those with girlfriends find their girlfriends, and those without girlfriends are nothing more than the same old things.

As it happens, Gao Yuanyuan returned to Jingcheng two days ago.

Because she knew Cao Yang would come over in the evening, Gao Yuanyuan actually cooked herself—she heated up a few dishes made outside and set them on the table.

Originally, she wanted to have a candlelight dinner, with red wine, candles, flowers, and music all prepared, but then she thought, wouldn't doing that make it seem like she was being a stranger?

She wanted to live a domestic life with Cao Yang; if she made it so romantic, it would be like a date or a marriage proposal. What if she scared Cao Yang away?

That shameless Li Xiaoran, that "Second Mistress Li," would be dying for her to scare Cao Yang away.

No way, she definitely couldn't let "Second Mistress Li" get the upper hand.

Hmph, just thinking about those two papaya-like things on her chest is disgusting; hers are so much better, and Cao Yang can always keep them in his grasp.

Gao Yuanyuan ultimately didn't have a candlelight dinner; instead, she just put the dishes on the table, set out the chopsticks, thought for a moment, and put on an apron.

She spun around in front of the mirror to take a look.

Perfect, once the apron is on, the housewife series...

Pfft, pfft.

Gao Yuanyuan couldn't help but laugh; it was all that stinky Cao Yang's fault. Why did he show her those things for no reason? She used to be such a pure person, and now she couldn't help but think of these messy things.

By the way, what did he say last time?

Don't wear anything under the apron...

Pfft, pfft.

Gao Yuanyuan quickly stopped these thoughts; it was all that stinky Cao Yang's fault for saying that the more tricks two people play, the more perverted they are, the more certain it is that they will never separate in this lifetime.

Look at that, what kind of talk is that? Who says things like that?

Although she thought this, Gao Yuanyuan still couldn't help but tie her hair up into a high, perky ponytail.

Afterwards, she changed her long pants into a short skirt.

She thought about it; it was early December now, so wearing a short skirt at home like this wasn't quite right. Even though she wore it on purpose, she couldn't let Cao Yang know she wore it on purpose.

So, she added black silk stockings under the short skirt.

Short skirt, black silk, perky ponytail, and an apron tied around her waist—all set.

Perfect!

Past nine in the evening.

Cao Yang was in the middle of an in-depth discussion with Gao Yuanyuan about the material of the short skirt, the black silk, the perky ponytail, and the lifted apron.

His phone, however, rang at this inopportune moment.

"D-dear, wait a moment, y-your phone is r-ringing..."

Gao Yuanyuan said intermittently.

Cao Yang looked toward the direction of the phone; he and Gao Yuanyuan were currently at the kitchen entrance, and the phone was on the coffee table next to the sofa, a bit far away.

"Forget it, don't worry about it, we'll talk about it later."

Cao Yang was a bit unwilling to answer the phone now; at this hour, who could be calling?

His first reaction was that it was very likely one of the few women he was close to, so he definitely couldn't answer the phone at this time.

"W-wait a moment."

Gao Yuanyuan stopped holding the kitchen door frame with both hands, turned her head to look at Cao Yang, and said, "What if, what if it's an important call?"

Cao Yang smiled and gave what was "in his grasp" a squeeze.

"How about we go over together, let's go over together just like this."

After saying that, he did something mischievous.

Gao Yuanyuan rolled her eyes at Cao Yang.

I'm not falling for that; that would be too embarrassing.

"H-hurry up..."

After the two finished their research on the material of the apron, Gao Yuanyuan went to take a shower.

Only then did Cao Yang pick up the phone and take a look.

It wasn't the call he had imagined; it was actually an international call from Robert Iger, the CEO of Disney.

Seeing this call, Cao Yang could roughly guess what it was about; it was nothing more than the screenwriters' strike and the release of "New Pirates of the Caribbean."

According to the previous plan, "New Pirates of the Caribbean" would be released four days before Christmas this year, which was December 21st, a Friday.

The week or so around Christmas is the North American Christmas release window; this window is crucial for the film market because it is the peak period for family reunions and movie-going, similar to the Spring Festival release window domestically.

In North America, it is considered the best release window outside of the summer season.

He checked the time; it was 10:30 PM, which converted to 7:30 AM in Los Angeles. It seemed Robert Iger had gotten up quite early; when he made the call, it should have been just past 6:00 AM over there.

Cao Yang called him back.

"My dear Mr. Director, thank goodness, you finally returned my call. I thought you had already gone to sleep, so I didn't have the nerve to call you a second time."

As soon as the call connected, Robert Iger began to ramble on.