Chapter 19: Giving Gifts

"Boss Lu, what do you do for a living? How..."

Seeing Lu Kuan laughed: "Li Dao, you're more than twenty years older than me. Just call me Little Lu."

"I'm not any kind of boss. I'm also in the circle—an actor. But I'm quite interested in the directing profession and know a little bit about it."

His suggestion to Li Yang about using handheld photography came from his study experience at USC in his previous life. It was a mock-documentary teaching shoot that imitated *The Blair Witch Project*, which required visiting several slums inhabited by Black communities.

Due to the complex and ever-changing shooting environment, large-scale equipment was difficult to use to meet flexibility requirements, and handheld photography was actually better at highlighting authenticity.

"To be honest, we had considered it before, but we were afraid the clarity would be too poor, and there's too much dust inside the mine. Lighting is also a problem."

Seeing Lu Kuan laughed: "Li Dao, you are 'in the mountain and don't see the mountain.' Lighting is the least of your problems."

"You mean...?"

Li Yang's brow was tightly furrowed. He had completely forgotten his previous contempt for this excessively young investor and was now treating him as a filmmaker of equal standing.

"Yes, exactly—miner's cap lamps!"

"The dust environment and the oppressive atmosphere require the use of 16mm film with an ISO of only 500. Although it doesn't have the high definition of 800, it should be extremely appropriate when paired with the searchlights on the miners' helmets."

Seeing Lu Kuan described a world at the bottom of a mine that saw no sun, with dust drifting everywhere.

The slightly shaky handheld camera shots, the rough graininess, and the dim lighting would present a real and dark mining conspiracy before the audience's eyes.

Brilliant!

Li Yang slapped his thigh in excitement and looked at the investor in surprise: "Boss Lu, could I invite you to be the executive producer of our film?"

To have such insight after just flipping through the script once—he believed that with their combined efforts, they could definitely brainstorm even better suggestions for the film.

Seeing Lu Kuan pondered without speaking. The filming cycle for this film wasn't long, but it was full of twists and turns, and working at the bottom of the mine carried a certain level of danger.

"Li Dao, my schedule probably won't allow for it, but you can come to me anytime you need anything. I'll invest 1.5 million yuan in this film!"

Li Yang's heart, which had gone quiet because of his refusal, came alive again. 1.5 million—this almost solved all his worries!

With the extra budget, he could be more at ease regarding film trial-and-error and the safety of the creative team, without worrying about the project dying halfway through.

The remaining money could also be used to run promotions at film festivals. In his previous life, Li Yang had mobilized a group of old friends and acquaintances in Berlin to promote the film out of love, handing out flyers by hand.

"I'll transfer 400,000 yuan to you in the next two days. Let's sign the contract, and the subsequent funds will be in place very quickly according to your filming progress."

Film production funds had special accounts. Under the industrialized process of Hollywood standards, they were even monitored by investors and completion guarantee companies, and funds were not provided in a lump sum. Li Yang understood this.

He sighed heavily. Although he hadn't managed to invite this knowledgeable young man to help, he had at least solved the bulk of the budget.

Seeing Lu Kuan, sitting in a taxi, also sighed heavily. Where was he going to find the rest of the money?

Just like pyramid schemes and insurance, one had to "slaughter" those they knew. He would have to find his senior brother, Sister Jiang, Xun-ge, and others to do some networking for the remaining million or so.

CICC's compensation was generous. A cousin of the author joined as an undergraduate in 2004 and received a salary package of 180,000 plus bonuses that year. In some years, this bonus was even higher than the annual salary.

And that year, the average annual salary of urban employees nationwide was 16,000...

By the time the sponsor system was introduced later, it became as common as drinking water for investment banking elites to have a net worth of over a million overnight. This system was also jokingly referred to as "a production line for the middle class."

Having worked for more than four years, it shouldn't be a problem to borrow 500,000 from his senior brother to spend.

Having finalized the investment intention, Seeing Lu Kuan rushed to Wuxi without stopping, preparing to find a good opportunity to "beg for favor" from his two good sisters.

If a bald donkey can beg for favor, why can't I, a Daoist priest?

After getting off the plane, Seeing Lu Kuan specifically found an exquisite, high-end Western restaurant, not fearing that the two actresses would be surrounded and disturbed while eating, and it was also convenient for them to talk.

"What is this?"

Jiang Qinqin and Zhou Xun looked at each other, staring at the two elegantly colored gift boxes on the dining table.

"A gift! Open it and see."

"Tiffany?" Jiang Qinqin opened the packaging in surprise; it was a pair of diamond stud earrings.

The platinum-set, round brilliant-cut diamonds were superb in size, color, and clarity, and the style was vastly different from the jewelry currently available domestically.

Zhou Xun's was a classic 1980s Tiffany graffiti series rose gold pendant necklace, which was at the cutting edge of fashion even in 2001, twenty years later.

Jiang Qinqin had signed with a Taiwanese agency in her early years and had studied jewelry more than Zhou Xun.

At this moment, she was playing with the earrings, unable to put them down, and asked with a smile: "Little Lu, where did you buy Tiffany? It wouldn't be a fake, would it?"

Seeing Lu Kuan pretended to be angry: "How can you look down on people! This store just opened. I queued for a whole night in Beiping to buy these!"

This was half-true and half-false.

Tiffany had just opened its first mainland store on Wangfujing in Beiping this year, and the jewelry brand, which claimed a century of heritage, had officially entered the mainland market.

Saying he queued for a whole night was purely flattery. The two pieces of jewelry, totaling over 30,000 yuan, were not something the average consumer could touch at this time, so where would there be a need to queue?

Zhou Xun had already let Jiang Qinqin put the pendant on for her, and she was stroking the unique heart-shaped design with a small arrow, finding it quite interesting.

For the two actresses, these were light luxury embellishments for daily wear; they couldn't be paired with evening gowns for formal occasions.

"Why did you give Sister Jiang earrings and give me a pendant?"

The little Daoist priest began to play the mystic again: "Xun-ge, you belong to Metal and Fire, and Sister Jiang belongs to Water. This is matched for you from the perspective of the Five Elements, which is beneficial to your fortune!"

"And the day you got drunk, Sister Jiang and I were exhausted taking care of you. Her earrings were lost that night because we weren't careful."

Two red clouds flew onto Jiang Qinqin's pretty face. She shot him a charming, sideways glance, and thinking of the intimacy of that night, a trace of itchiness rose in her body again.

Little Daoist priest, it was clearly bitten off by you...

She calmly extended her jade foot under the table and lightly stepped on Seeing Lu Kuan, telling him not to talk nonsense anymore. Zhou Xun was an experienced person; it was easy to see clues.

Seeing Lu Kuan chuckled, the waiter served the appetizers, and the three of them chatted while eating.

"Little Lu, did you invest in Li Yang's movie?"

Jiang Qinqin had always been a relatively indifferent person, but for some reason, she was always very concerned about the little Daoist priest's spending.

"Yeah, I invested 1 million."

Seeing Lu Kuan skillfully cut his steak, not avoiding the destination of his expenditure.

"What? Where did you get the money?"

Now even Zhou Xun couldn't remain calm. In this day and age, coal bosses and internet capital hadn't entered the market on a large scale, and the salaries of top actors were nowhere near as exaggerated as the future "one Shuang = 160 million."

In the early 2000s, some famous actors in China at the same time, such as Li Baotian, who was filming *Miracle Doctor Xi Lai Le*, were paid 80,000 per episode, Wang Zhiwen was 60,000, and Ning Jing was 60,000.

In *The Legend of the Condor Heroes*, Zhou Xun and Li Yapeng received the top rate of 80,000, while Jiang Qinqin and Zhou Jie were both around 60,000.

This 1 million wasn't a lot for Zhou Xun, but it was far from something Seeing Lu Kuan could spend easily without batting an eyelid.

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 20 =====