Chapter 81

Gao Yuanyuan walked out of the suite, and the few people in the room were all stunned for a moment.

She paired her knee-high boots with an off-white overcoat, which looked like a ray of sunshine in winter; the tailoring of the garment perfectly outlined her figure, highlighting her charming, slender waist.

She carried a cowhide bag on her shoulder that harmonized well with the color of the coat.

All of this was quite good.

However, she had applied light makeup to her face, and her hair, which wasn't long to begin with, had been permed into instant noodle curls—the young girl had transformed into a married middle-aged woman in a second!

She had the maturity, she had the "married" look, and anyone who could pull off this hairstyle without it looking like a bird's nest must certainly still have a somewhat privileged life...

Teacher Huang... had completely fulfilled Cao Yang's requirements, but it just felt strange.

"This film is about a married woman who has a child; her husband cheated on her and then died in an accident. The woman refuses to face it, and in order to escape, she takes her child and returns to a small town..."

Cao Yang had only just reached this point when he saw Gao Yuanyuan lower her head, seemingly wiping away tears; when she looked up again, her eyes were a bit red.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry Cao Dao, I... I think this story is too sad, I couldn't help it, I'm really sorry."

Are you afraid you've become too emotionally involved? You're really sensitive right now.

"It's alright, I'll give you a rough outline of the plot, and later you can just try out a scene for me to see."

"Okay, okay, please continue, Cao Dao."

Gao Yuanyuan took the tissue handed to her by Teacher Huang and whispered a thank you.

"In that small town, the woman opens a piano training class and sends her son to kindergarten, but then her son is kidnapped and killed because the ransom wasn't enough..."

Then, he saw Gao Yuanyuan's tears start to flow uncontrollably again. Are you made of water? This mental state... is very suitable.

"I... I'm sorry, I'm sorry Cao Dao, I... I..."

Gao Yuanyuan apologized hurriedly, thinking to herself that it was over, she had ruined the audition, and for a moment she felt disheartened, which only made her tears flow even more uncontrollably.

"Do you think you can play this character?"

Once she had calmed down a bit, Cao Yang asked.

"I... I can, right?"

Gao Yuanyuan felt that she definitely couldn't play such a complex character, especially since she had ruined the audition, but even if there was the slightest bit of hope, she didn't want to give up—this was, after all, Cao Dao's film.

"Hmm, go back and wait for news; whenever you have time, think more about what I said."

Cao Yang gave the instruction, feeling that Gao Yuanyuan could understand his meaning—since he had told her to ponder the plot and characters whenever she was free, this role was basically hers.

Gao Yuanyuan returned home feeling a bit dejected, thinking that her chances weren't high, and then she began to think about the meaning of the words Cao Yang had said.

"Which words did Cao Dao want me to think about?"

So, she went through every single word Cao Yang had said today from beginning to end, and suddenly she felt a jolt—she understood a little.

"Was Cao Dao using the film's plot to give me advice? After all, we've known each other for a while, and Cao Dao is a very good person."

"In the script, the woman is betrayed by her husband and cheated on, which is similar to my own situation... And because the woman tries to escape, it ultimately leads to her child's death. So, was Cao Dao telling me that escaping won't solve the problem, and will only make things worse?"

Her reading comprehension skills were still quite good.

Unconsciously, Gao Yuanyuan's tears flowed down again; deep in her heart, she both wanted to escape and wanted to firmly break up.

However, someone as capable and intelligent as Cao Dao must have a point in what he said; one cannot just blindly escape, as escaping won't solve any problems and will only make them worse.

Thus, Gao Yuanyuan summoned her courage and solidified her determination to break up.

Break up, immediately, right now, she must break up; she couldn't be a hesitant and muddled woman. The film Cao Yang was going to shoot was called "Secret Sunshine"; Miryang is a small town in South Korea, but in the film, it represents secret sunlight.

Actually, "hidden sunlight" is more accurate—the places where the sun cannot shine.

So this is a tragedy that runs through from beginning to end; the female lead is in a corner where the sun cannot shine, a person forgotten by happiness, a person abandoned by luck.

Cao Yang hadn't even finished selecting the cast when Sony Pictures Classics and MK2 came looking for him.

They wanted to buy out the foreign rights in advance.

From this, one could also see that Cao Yang's status had indeed changed.

It was only because Cao Yang hadn't released news that he was selling the rights; otherwise, it wouldn't just be Sony Pictures Classics and MK2—it's estimated that every company in Europe and America with any strength would have joined the competition.

But for an art film like this that aims for awards, you can't get the rights just by offering more money; what's valued more is the strength behind them and the effort they are willing to invest.

Selling the rights in advance has this one benefit: if you want the film to earn you more money, then you must campaign for more awards to make the film more influential, which is the only way to sell more tickets and earn more dollars.

This time, to show his sincerity, Ehrmann directly offered a copyright fee of 3.2 million dollars; MK2 was a bit lower—art films that win awards in Europe are long-term investments, but after all, the market can't compare to the US, and there aren't as many ways to profit as in the US, so they only offered 2.6 million dollars.

!

Not bad, it's much higher than before he won the Golden Lion; the European side increased by one million, and Sony Pictures Classics directly doubled it.

Ever since "3-Iron" won the Golden Lion, Wu Qihua's salary as one of the main actors had been rising steadily; his asking price to the outside world had jumped from the previous 300,000 to 1.5 million, a five-fold increase.

He was now among the top tier of second-line actors.

Moreover, ever since "3-Iron" was released in Hong Kong, invitations had been constant, and there were even a few scripts that directly invited him to play the lead.

Wu Qihua's agent had been very happy during this time, feeling that the initial choice was truly incomparably correct.

He was just discussing with Wu Qihua which script to take when Wu Qihua's phone rang.

"Hello, Producer Cheng."

"Really? Yes, I have, I've said it before, as long as it's Cao Dao's film, I always have availability."

"Okay, okay, thank you Producer Cheng, sorry to trouble you Producer Cheng."

"Goodbye, Producer Cheng, I'll treat you to a meal when I go to Jingcheng."

After hanging up the phone, the agent looked over with expectant eyes.

Wu Qihua couldn't help but grin, "It's Cao Dao's go-to producer, Cheng Jianye."

"Cao Dao has a new film?" The agent perked up and asked happily.

Wu Qihua nodded, his grin widening, "Producer Cheng said this time it's a lead role, but most of the screen time is still on the female lead; Producer Cheng told me to be mentally prepared."

"Don't worry about that."

The agent waved his hand dismissively and said with quite a bit of emotion: "A while ago, the Four Heavenly Kings and Liang Chaowei were all calling out in public that they wanted to work with Cao Dao, even joking that they would do it for no salary. That Cao Dao thought of you first when he had a new film shows that he is a person who values old friendships."

"Yeah, Cao Dao is super nice; except on set, I rarely see him lose his temper, he's polite to everyone, his character is truly excellent."

The agent nodded along, then discussed: "How should we charge for the salary this time? Still at the previous price?"

Wu Qihua replied without hesitation: "Just let Cao Dao decide; if he gives too much, we'll return it, at most we'll just take the 200,000 salary from last time."

The agent nodded, "No problem, the company won't quibble over this."

Thanks to "Ru Qian Nian Yi Hou Zai Liao" for the tip, thanks to the brothers for the monthly tickets and recommendations, sincerely thank you all for your support, thank you!

(End of chapter)