Chapter 116

The cocktail party after the film festival is naturally inevitable.

Nowadays, Boss Lu has also temporarily entered such an upper-class place by virtue of the name of the Golden Lion Award winner.

Hey! In fact, there is no lack of low-class things to talk about.

For example, Takeshi Kitano and Quentin in front, Seeing Lu Kuan is hesitating whether to join in.

He is worried about being photographed by Western media with the three of them, and then crowned with the name of the world's three major sex-maniac directors.

How unjust! He hasn't done anything yet!

"Lu! Here!"

Quentin has sharp eyes and greets him from far away.

Boss Lu helplessly shows a harmless smile and instructs Liu Yifei beside him.

"Follow me, don't talk, don't run around."

"Don't worry about it, I'll find something to eat myself later."

Liu Xiaoli is not suitable for attending such occasions; only Seeing Lu Kuan leads her to gain some knowledge, and by the way, acts as his female companion.

It is clear that the social venue has become her cold meal party again.

Takeshi Kitano hugs Seeing Lu Kuan's shoulder: "Seeing Lu Kuan-san! Very excellent result! Come, let's toast together!"

After all, these two people helped him promote and build momentum; Boss Lu can't just forget the person who dug the well after drinking water, and immediately wants to toast and drink heavily.

"What are you guys talking about!"

The three directors look at it; it is the white-skinned pig Harvey who walks over from a distance with a silly smile, a pair of small eyes looking up and down at the stunning Liu Yifei.

Liu Yifei hides behind Seeing Lu Kuan with disgust and asks quietly: "Who is it?"

Boss Lu turns his head secretly: "Jewish An Lushan."

"Lu, you are really a mysterious Oriental; I have to say I misjudged you, hehe."

"Mr. Takeshi Kitano, Quentin, can you let me talk to Lu alone?"

The two big directors naturally know that this is buying a film; hearing the string song and knowing the elegance, the tool people exit in an orderly manner.

Seeing Lu Kuan leads Liu Yifei and Jewish An Lushan to sit opposite each other.

"Lu, let's talk, about your *Whiplash*."

Boss Lu laughs: "Oh, talking about movies, I thought you came to me to tell fortunes."

Liu Yifei sweeps a glance at Boss Lu in surprise; this has developed the business to foreign countries?

Harvey laughs: "I considered it after I went back that day; you should have inferred the amount based on limited data; I won't be fooled a second time."

"Whatever, then as you wish, let's talk about movies."

Not fooled a second time?

Definitely let you eat a trench and then eat a trench.

Harvey says with a straight face: "1 million US dollars, copyright for the whole US region."

"Heh!"

Seeing Lu Kuan sneers disdainfully: "4 million US dollars, not a penny less."

The Jewish businessman is furious: "The cost of *Hero* is 30 million US dollars, and I only offered 20 million; your film costs at most 1 million US dollars, how dare you ask for 4 million?"

"Chinese, don't be too greedy!"

Greedy? Is there anyone greedier than you Jews?

"Your 1 million is the price offered for art films; *Whiplash* is definitely not a pure art film; I believe in its box office value."

Harvey stares at the other party's arrogant face, so angry that his beard and hair are standing up.

Film festival transactions in this day and age are buyer's markets, especially for a young director like Seeing Lu Kuan; how dare he be so rude to himself?

Boss Lu of course dares, because he knows the nature of these Jews best; as long as you have value to him, you can step on their faces with your soles.

Maybe Harvey will stick out his tongue to lick your toes.

If you don't believe it, you can refer to Quentin.

Liu Yifei looks at the evil-looking An Lushan and is a bit scared, holding Seeing Lu Kuan's sleeve under the table.

Didn't expect this Jewish businessman to be like a weather forecast, instantly turning from cloudy to sunny.

"Haha! Interesting guy."

"Last time I told a Jewish proverb, you didn't seem to agree; I think I can still teach you a truth."

"Your Hong Kong's richest Chinese, Mr. Li, once said that if a business can make 12 yuan, he generally only takes 9 yuan; you have to leave some room for your partners!"

"Lu! I'll add 1 million US dollars, 2 million US dollars, how about making friends?"

Boss Lu glances at him strangely; you are Teacher Luo, I'm making friends with you.

"You will gain the friendship of Miramax, the friendship of Hollywood; I even want to invite you to Hollywood to make films."

Boss Lu ignores his sugar-coated bullets: "Harvey, what you said makes sense, then 3 million, don't talk about the rest."

His expectation for the North American copyright of this film is just that much; before *Hero*, this can be considered an astronomical price.

If you consider that there is only a cost of 4 million RMB (deducting product placement), it is not an exaggeration to say that gold fell from the sky.

Harvey almost bites his back teeth; coercion and inducement, this Oriental seems to be a wall that is airtight.

In later generations, the global box office of *Whiplash* was less than 50 million US dollars, but that was around 2014, and it was a Hollywood local film and local actors.

But with Harvey's film-reviewing level as a Hollywood old oil, he doesn't doubt at all that this is a work that can make him make a lot of money.

2 million or 3 million, for an ordinary film merchant, is not a gap like a natural moat.

But for a Jewish film merchant, not taking advantage is more painful than suffering a loss.

The white-skinned pig puts down the wine glass heavily, making a gesture to leave.

"Lu! I'll take a step back, but you can't push your luck; 2.8 million, this is my final price!"

Boss Lu looks at his artificial posture and frowns, suddenly turning around and asking Liu Yifei in Chinese.

"Little Liu, how much did I spend on buying the courtyard house that day?"

Liu Yifei is still immersed in high-end business negotiations; didn't expect him to ask such an irrelevant question.

"Ah? Oh, excluding decoration, buying the house is probably more than 12 million."

It's not that her memory is good, it's that Liu Xiaoli and her daughter also saw the hunt and were happy, and later found Xu Kaitong to see a few houses.

Boss Lu nods understandingly; forget it, just treat it as you, Jewish An Lushan, being a big brother on the list once and giving me a house.

"2.8 million! I require full payment at once."

Harvey is happy: "Lu! You Chinese are always so cautious; would I still default on your money for such a little bit?"

Boss Lu shakes his head at him with a straight face; he knows too well what kind of virtue this person is.

Buy your copyright for 2.8 million, pay 200,000 deposit first, pay off within 3 months.

3 months time is up, the film festival is long over, and the quotas of buyers from various film companies are used up; he asks you to sell for 500,000 US dollars.

Don't sell, 200,000 is given to you for nothing, you earn 200,000.

Sell, you earn 500,000, there is no other choice.

In the previous life, Little Steel Cannon publicly opened fire on Harvey because of this, which was a joke.

But this time it was really Boss Lu's villainous heart; Harvey is still quite optimistic about this young Oriental director.

He feels that Seeing Lu Kuan has the talent of Quentin.

For talent that is valuable and still in the stage of wild growth, he never hesitates to release his goodwill.

Still that sentence, when you are successful, there are good people around you.

After lingering in Venice for two more days, he sold the European copyright to Luc Besson's EuropaCorp through Takeshi Kitano's introduction, for less than 1.6 million US dollars.

He is preparing to find Jiang Zhiqiang of Edko for the distribution rights in other parts of Asia, and wants to discuss it after returning to the country with the big award in hand.

Boss Lu returns fully loaded.

September 13, 2002, Beijing Rose Garden.

"Boss! Wake up!"

Boss Lu opens his eyes hazily, looking at his luxury villa in confusion.

Rented.

The courtyard house decoration has just ended, and it will take some time to move in.

He holds his forehead in pain, taking the cold boiled water handed over by Afei.

Glancing at the Little Mian Zhenghe in front of him, he is sure that he didn't transmigrate back.

He drank too much wine and had too many dreams these past few days.

From the cocktail party at the end of the Venice Film Festival, drinking happily with Sister Gong Li, to the bar carnival with Takeshi Kitano and Quentin.

Drunk on the plane, went around Hong Kong to see Mei Yanfang, and held a small celebration banquet at home.

Back in Beijing, he had dinner with entertainment industry figures he met when he was humble, such as Zhang Jizhong, Zhou Xun, Chen Kun, Zhang Yadong, and Li Dawei.

And the flowers and plants that met together.

Several male and female actors of *Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils* brought by Zhang Jizhong; this is to rub popularity, and they had to pester Boss Lu to guest star in a role or two in their words.

Zhang Yadong brought Da Meiyuan to the banquet, but with Boss Lu's ability to see people, there must be some estrangement between these two.

Gao Yuanyuan changed her previous polite treatment in Sanlitun, enthusiastically chatting and reminiscing with Boss Lu; those who understand, understand.

Chen Kun brought his good friend Li Bingbing to the scene, introduced her to Seeing Lu Kuan, and the two Bingbings were safe and sound during the banquet.

The latter also disdains to compete with her again; after all, the essence has been successfully taken.

Does Boss Lu's achievement need you to praise it?

My mouth is the ruler!

Don't I know it!

Of course, there is also a big carnival among the crew members; Boss Lu generously gave everyone red envelopes.

Before, he was still in the stage of starting a business, but this time the film hasn't been released yet, and there are already 2.8 million US dollars sent by big brother Harvey on the list.

Treating everyone to a full meal is also the meaning of the question.

So Boss Lu successfully hungover for several days, until this morning, he barely got up.

Today is the day Beidian starts school.

"Afei, is Wenwen here?"

"Sister Sun is waiting for you outside; the speech draft is ready."

"Hmm."

Boss Lu finished washing up quickly, put on a formal suit, and talked about official business with Sun Wenwen waiting in the living room.

"Boss!"

"Sit, Wenwen, have you had breakfast?"

"Ate, boss."

Sun Wenwen still has a capable short hair, but she has lost a lot of weight; it seems that sitting as a cow and horse is tiring, especially working for the capitalist Boss Lu.

She skillfully took out several documents from her briefcase and classified them for Seeing Lu Kuan to review.

"This is the speech draft for you to attend the opening ceremony this morning."

"This is the notification form from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange that the financial accounting is correct; 2.8 million US dollars have arrived."

"These are the invitation letters sent by Sugarman, Xiangtai, and Zhouyi regarding the TV series adaptation project of *Chinese Paladin*."

Boss Lu first signed the financial documents and let her put them away, and then opened the speech draft helplessly.

"Is it really Principal Zhang's arrangement?"

"That's right, the principal's office called personally."

Sun Wenwen hesitated, but still revealed: "According to Secretary Liu, Beidian specially postponed the date of the freshman opening ceremony this time just to match the day you returned to the country."

"The chairman's office of Wenjie Media and the principal's office of Beidian have met several times for this."

Boss Lu sighed helplessly; it was okay to pretend to be cool at the film festival, but a stage like Beidian could no longer satisfy him; it's boring.

At the beginning, taking the Beidian exam was just to get a skin, so as to seize the resources of the Beidian system.

He counted his schedule for the next few months, which was really more tiring than a dog; where would he have the time to attend the opening ceremony?

Top priority: The film won an award and needs to be released in the country, organize a screening, find a distributor, run publicity, sell Hong Kong and Taiwan or package the copyright of the entire Asian region.

Secondary priority: Several dramas like *Chinese Paladin* that have just been hoarded need to find partners to develop; in this day and age, it is best to find satellite TV cooperation for TV series.

Next is his next film, which is still pondering the script; after it is determined, he still needs to survey the scene, draw storyboards, make budgets, and find actors.

Every one of these makes his head ache.

Wenjie Culture must continue to recruit people; at least for the TV series sector, he needs a leader who can take the lead.

This hasn't even mentioned the blog network; fortunately, Wang Xing and Senior Brother Zhuang Xu are managing it; Boss Lu is already considering persuading Senior Brother to resign and go to the sea to help himself.

The stall is getting bigger and bigger, and more and more professional talents are needed.

He understands the entertainment industry, understands hype, understands public relations, understands film and television production, but other industries are at most some foresight predictions.

Therefore, the blog network must be handed over to professional internet talents to operate, and he grasps the direction.

If talent reserves are not well prepared from now on, every subsequent move will be difficult.

The morning peak in Beijing in 2002 was not so exaggerated; Afei was already used to the left rudder and skillfully shuttled through the traffic.

Boss Lu sat in the car and closed his eyes to rest; the wrapping of the back seat of the Toyota LC95 was very strong, and the space was large, very suitable for...

Still missing an NPC.

This car will be discontinued next year, and the subsequent version will reach LC120, which is the Prado that everyone is familiar with.

It won't be discontinued until 8 years later, and 150 will be born; this is the version evolution of the whole Prado series.

Seeing Lu Kuan likes old cars; he was curious about Wang Minhui's Lexus LS400 in Hong Kong before; this one is a private car purchased in the name of the company.

The car just turned to Jimen Bridge; Seeing Lu Kuan instructed Afei to pull over and got off first.

Be high-profile when you should be high-profile, and be low-key when you should be low-key.

Bastards like Liu Zeyu were staring at him before he became famous; now that he is famous and pretended to be cool, I don't know how many eyes are waiting to pick on him.

Entering the eyes is a wide banner hanging on the school lintel.

"Warmly celebrate our school's 2002 freshman Seeing Lu Kuan for winning the Golden Lion Award at the 59th Venice Film Festival!"

Well, Zhang Huijun has a bit of meaning to lean towards Zhang Jizhong; he hasn't even enrolled yet and has already rubbed it.

Seeing Lu Kuan suspects that if his cultural class doesn't pass, he should be able to go straight to Beidian with this Golden Lion Award.

Seeing Lu Kuan arrived at Tian Zhuangzhuang's office familiarly, and without being polite, pushed the door and entered.

"Huo! Teacher Tian, are you going to light this room?"

He hurriedly pushed open the window to disperse the smoke in the room.

Old Tian frowned deeper: "Hey, Principal Zhang insisted that I speak, it's really troublesome."

Boss Lu laughed loudly, Old Tian, you i-person also have this day.

The teacher and student smoked for a while and then walked side by side to the auditorium, which was already packed.

It is said to be a freshman opening ceremony, but many seniors and senior sisters from the directing and acting departments swarmed in to appreciate the style of the young genius director who is in the limelight.

"Coming, coming!"

"Is this Seeing Lu Kuan?"

"So handsome! Is that his grandfather next to him? Why did he bring his parents?"

"Get out, that's Teacher Tian!"

(End of chapter)