Chapter 268: Beidian Textbook Acting Fragments

Guests at the cocktail party arrived one after another. Having held premieres and roadshows in Xiangjiang several times previously, and now being a major boss at Wenjie Jiahe, Lu Kuan was brought around by Li Li Shoucheng to socialize, and he had basically become familiar with every aspect of the Xiangjiang circle.

The two discussed this year's collaboration and the topic of Zhou Zhou Xingchi; one important plan for this trip was to poach him to serve as a teacher at the Pan-Asia Film Academy.

"I'm not actually that familiar with him; this person is too strange."

"What has Zhou Zhou Xingchi been busy with lately?"

Huo Huo Wenxi, who was by his side, answered for her boss: "He's filming 'Kung Fu Scholar', a TV series with the same name as 'Kung Fu'."

Li Li Shoucheng laughed: "Mr. Lu, it seems your purchase of the TV rights for 'Myth' and his filming of this are works of similar ingenuity, aren't they?"

"You are both outstanding commercial film directors with very keen instincts."

Although the box office for the later film version of 'Myth' was average, its reputation was quite good.

It possessed both cruel and realistic war scenes and was full of exotic charm; later, Yinghuang made great efforts to develop this major IP, digging into its potential and reaping a rich harvest.

Among these, not only was the TV version of 'Myth' a hit in the mainland, surpassing 'Legend of Sword and Fairy 3' from the same period, but the MP3 previews, downloads, and ringtones of the theme song also brought in nearly 100 million.

Even the "Infinite Starry Sky Music" behind it rose to prominence because of this, and Fang Long also successfully fought his way back into the mainland film scene relying on this IP.

Lu Kuan caught the meaning in his words; this was an attempt to curry favor again, right?

I know that you and Zhou Zhou Xingchi are both making money by riding the trend of these TV-version IPs, and I still sold it to you; shouldn't you also bring Yinghuang along to have some soup?

After Huo Huo Wenxi left, Lu Kuan spoke some private words to Li Li Shoucheng: "Let's keep Yinghuang as the primary focus on the surface for 'City of Trauma'."

Boss Li nodded and smiled; in his view, this was Lu Kuan, a fellow traveler, secretly promoting his own woman Fan Fan Bingbing while not wanting to create extra complications.

How could he have imagined the many schemes behind it?

"By the way, I just saw a kung fu actor from the mainland named Wu Jin; the company happens to have a script that is quite suitable for him."

"Oh? A kung fu film?" Li Li Shoucheng was somewhat interested.

"Yes, it tells the story of Li Lan Xiaolong's master, Ye Wen; if the first one is a hit, we can film sequels."

Li Li Shoucheng naturally had an understanding of kung fu films: "For action choreography, we can find Hong Hong Jinbao and He Ping; there are many candidates for director. As for the lead, is this Wu Jin suitable?"

"Xu Ke and Zhen Zhen Zidan just came over to have a drink with me; if his 'Seven Swords' performs well, perhaps we could consider Zhen Zhen Zidan?"

Lu Kuan guided him patiently: "Wu Jin's professional ability and dedication are both very strong, and he has more of an audience in the mainland than Zhen Zhen Zidan; his several TV series were all huge hits in terms of ratings back then."

"Good, then it's settled."

Li Li Shoucheng was naturally happy to accept his words; except for the first film, 'Drummer', which had complications, their subsequent collaborations had never even seen a small profit, let alone a loss.

They were all overflowing with wealth!

"Mr. Lu, you're familiar with Jiang Wen, right?"

"I'm okay with him."

"He is looking for investment recently for a script called 'The Sun Also Rises'; it's an art-house film, and I'd like to hear your advice."

Lu Kuan's heart stirred, but he remained calm on the surface: "That's fine, have Chairman Li send it to me."

He had agreed verbally, but he didn't intend to intervene in anything; there was no need to create extra complications in a world line that didn't concern him.

That would be unfair to Jiang Wen, and unfair to Li Li Shoucheng as well.

After all, if you don't stumble in other places, how could you be completely locked in with Wenjie?

"Chairman Li, excuse me for interrupting you both, I'm planning to head back first; I still have training tomorrow."

Tian Liang walked over somewhat cautiously to greet them, and seeing Lu Kuan turn his head, he enthusiastically reached out: "Director Lu, hello, I've seen all your films; they are too brilliant!"

"Especially 'Whiplash', Coach Ji Hong of the swimming team likes it especially, and often uses that line of yours to instruct us."

"Haha, thanks for the support."

Watching Tian Liang walk away, Lu Kuan said with some surprise: "Hasn't he already been kicked off the national team? Why does he still have to train?"

Li Li Shoucheng smiled: "Being an athlete is his label; he can't lose it. His current official position is with the Shaanxi swimming team."

Tian Liang broke out after winning gold at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and also won the ten-meter platform gold medal at the Athens Olympics that just ended last year; he was called the "Diving Prince" because of his handsome appearance and flawless entry into the water.

And since Yinghuang shifted its development focus to the north in recent years, it signed Tian Liang in January of this year as part of a strategy to diversify its artists; it is said the signing fee was 10 million.

Tian Liang's advertising value was very high, but his communication and handling of matters within the team were biased, and his emotional intelligence was not as good as another Ms. Guo.

To avoid affecting other team members, the diving team's iron-fisted figure, Coach Ji Hong, decisively expelled Tian Liang a few days ago and demoted him to the Shaanxi team as a warning to others.

But Tian Liang was determined to transition and would retire soon.

In later life, he filmed two TV series organized by Yinghuang, married the Super Girl Ye Yixi and had a daughter, and then became a huge hit on the variety show 'Where Are We Going, Dad?'.

Personal choice, nothing to do with right or wrong.

The cocktail party ended, and everyone exchanged pleasantries and said goodbye. In the car, little Liu was wailing listlessly: "So hungry, so hungry, so hungry!"

"You don't really want to go eat at the night market, do you?"

Liu Liu Yifei was having an intense ideological struggle in her mind, but ultimately decided to give up.

"I just saw Ceng Ceng Zhiwei at the cocktail party; is he also part of the Xiangjiang charity football team?"

"Yeah, the spherical lightning," Lu Kuan said with a sharp tongue.

"But it's very strange; he just nodded to Li Li Shoucheng, came over to say two words to Sister Mei, and then left."

"They have a grudge."

"Ah? They have a grudge and still came to the cocktail party?"

Lu Kuan laughed: "At the Golden Rooster Awards last year, didn't I also chat and laugh with Wangda Army? It's the same principle."

"Although Xiangjiang isn't big, these forces are all very complicated."

She instinctively used the mindset of 'Dragon Slayer': "Which ones are enemies, and which ones are friends?"

The young girl gently poked the arm that had just been throwing heavy punches: "Lu Kuan, tell me about it."

Lu Kuan touched the painful spot with lingering fear: "Little Liu, if you force me to choose a way of communicating between your acting spoiled and your physical abuse, I would rather choose the former."

As long as it didn't involve the sensitive issues that both of them knew well, the way Lu Kuan and little Liu got along was still quite harmonious and loving.

But if it involved his money and her feelings, the scene would instantly be on the verge of firing, starting an intense quantum entanglement.

"The big entertainment companies in Xiangjiang now are probably TVB, Ceng Ceng Zhiwei and Principal Tan's Oriental Magic, Yinghuang, China Star, and Lin Lin Jianyue's Media Asia."

"Overall, you can view it as the Spring and Autumn and Warring States period; their interests are intertwined, and they fight openly and secretly."

Liu Liu Yifei asked: "Then why is Ceng not on good terms with Boss Li? Principal Tan didn't even come? He's the captain of the football team."

"Heh, it's a long story; this has to start with an 'old friend' of ours."

"Who?"

"Chef Xie."

The former PR company boss was well-versed in these industry past events.

"In 2001, Oriental Magic wanted to hire the then-popular Xiangjiang teen idol to film, but Boss Li wanted to stuff Zu'e in and was rejected, so he simply didn't let the teen idol appear."

"Oriental Magic was founded by Ceng and Principal Tan; Ceng couldn't control his mouth and said on a show that Zu'e had buck teeth and sausage lips, and he also caused trouble at Sister Mei's birthday party."

"Later, because he brought disaster upon himself with his words, he was taught a lesson, and that's where the grudge was formed."

Little Liu had now experienced the "bloody storms" of the entertainment industry; she thought of Lu Kuan's crazy revenge on Yanda Huayi some time ago.

"Did Oriental Magic have a response?"

"Of course, the spherical lightning used his status as vice-chairman of the Artists Association to plan an operation, causing 'Dong' to close, resulting in a loss of over 100 million Hong Kong dollars."

Liu Liu Yifei nodded: "What about the others?"

"Media Asia has a good relationship with Liang Liang Chaowei; the latter used Media Asia to compete with Yinghuang, and in the end, it was a draw."

"Currently in Xiangjiang, only Media Asia and Yinghuang are capital scales of 10 billion; TVB's glory is long gone."

"The Xiang family has a special background, and their current industrial focus has also gradually shifted to real estate and the gambling industry."

Lu Kuan thought for a moment and still cared enough to say to her: "There are still some things here that cannot be brought to the table."

"When you come to Xiangjiang in the future, if you encounter an accident, you must protect yourself first."

"If there's something you can't solve, find Huo Huo Wenxi and Wang Wang Minhui; they will find the Xiang family to help."

"Mm, I know." Little Liu listened very receptively, feeling that as long as he was by her side, her heart was full of a sense of security.

Lu Kuan's schedule in Xiangjiang was very tight; the next morning, it was first the unveiling ceremony for Mei Mei Yanfang's wax figure.

At the Madame Tussauds Xiangjiang, the unveiling of the Mei Mei Yanfang wax figure with the theme "Queen of the Stage" took place.

The style was chosen from her outfit at a concert in the 1990s, a dress style, showing her glamorous and outstanding side.

Lu Kuan, Liu Liu Yifei, and others ascended to the Peak Tower on Taishan; the wax museum, originally from the UK, opened here in 2000 and is currently the only one in the country.

The one in Modu opened in 2006, and the one in Jingcheng didn't open until 2014.

The group visited along the way, looking at the sections of Glamorous Xiangjiang, Music Stars, Famous Figures, World Premieres, and Sports Giants in turn.

Liu Liu Xiaoli said with envy: "Sister Xixi, I hope that in the future, your footprints will be left here and on the Avenue of Stars."

"Forget it if it costs money; it doesn't feel very worth it!"

Liu Liu Yifei still remembered going to the Avenue of Stars with Lu Kuan; those stars and handprints and footprints all required cleaning and maintenance fees.

Yang Yang Siwei laughed upon hearing this, and Liu Liu Xiaoli patted her daughter with annoyance; she was becoming more and more crooked now.

"Madame Tussauds doesn't cost money."

"How do you know?"

Boss Lu showed off his sense of superiority: "Because after winning Best Foreign Language Film last month, their manager Alan asked me through Sister Mei."

"Hmph, very impressive, huh!" Little Liu was very unconvinced.

After the group finished visiting, they went to the Music Stars exhibition area to meet up with Mei Mei Yanfang; Zhou Zhou Jielun had just arrived.

"A-Kuan!"

The two hugged affectionately: "The injury on your head is healed, oh."

"It's fine, I thank you on behalf of the children of Shuimo Town for the 2 million you donated."

Compared to previous years, Zhou Jielun was clearly much more lively, perhaps because he had completely established himself in the Asian music scene, which gave him enough confidence.

Starting from the collaboration on *Whiplash*, in 2002, *Eight Dimensions* sold 1.7 million copies in Asia, becoming the Asian sales champion.

In 2003, *Ye Hui-Mei* sold 3 million copies, the Asian sales champion;

In 2004, *Common Jasmine Orange* sold 3.5 million copies, the Asian sales champion...

And this year's *November's Chopin*, if nothing unexpected happens, will continue to top the charts.

This is an era where the music scene is a battle of gods, but Zhou Zhou Jielun is truly the only real god.

Zhou Jielun joked: "I do good deeds, but I expect a return, right? This return should be given by you."

"Let's hear it?"

"*Initial D* premieres in June, will you come to show your support? And Golden Harvest's distribution in Southeast Asia, you know what I mean."

Liu Liu Yifei giggled on the side, not expecting that even the thick-browed, small-eyed Zhou Jielun had learned this trick.

In later times, *Initial D* invested over 80 million RMB and had an Asian box office of around 190 million, making Emperor Motion Pictures a huge profit.

Come to think of it, Teacher Chen also had a role in it, but just like Xie Xie Tingfeng, they are now far from being on the same level as everyone else.

Boss Lu, who sits on equal footing with the big shots of the imperial court and the martial arts world like Emperor Group and China Film Group, has long since stopped seeing these once-mischievous little ants in his eyes.

Zhou Jielun counts as one of his few good friends, so Boss Lu has to give him this face.

Little Liu was more concerned about another topic of his: "I see rumors about you and Hou Peicen everywhere on the blog network, is it true?"

"Shh!"

The little heavenly king pulled the two of them a few steps away, feeling a bit guilty: "The company is making us handle it coldly right now."

He looked around, acting like a thief again: "I'll bring her to Beijing to eat with you guys next time."

Little Liu teased: "Why be so secretive? Doesn't the girl have any objections?"

"Then what about you and Lu Kuan? Don't you guys have rumors flying everywhere too?"

Liu Liu Yifei raised her eyebrows: "Hmph, I have nothing to do with him!"

Boss Lu could not let this topic continue, otherwise, it would lead to quantum entanglement again: "When does your contract with Alfa Music end?"

"2007."

Zhou Jielun's expression was a bit gloomy: "To be honest, the cooperation right now isn't very pleasant."

"The differences in musical style, creative philosophy, and development planning are too great, and the company doesn't have many resources in film and variety shows."

As mentioned before, in the period from 2005 to 2010, when internet copyright protection was extremely weak, life was not easy for Chinese singers, except for the few at the very top.

Besides those with super high popularity like Zhou Zhou Jielun to fall back on, the others were basically losing money just to shout for attention, and weren't even as well off as people like Pang Long who lived off ringtone copyrights.

During this time, the fastest way for singers to monetize was to go on talent shows to gain traffic and take on endorsements and commercial gigs, or to appear on variety shows and TV dramas.

But for Zhou Zhou Jielun, piracy during this period was actually a form of accumulating strength, why?

Because piracy increased the popularity of his songs, and after entering the era of copyright protection later on, he was basically making money while lying down.

In the 2018 copyright war between Tencent and Alibaba, Tencent's subsidiary TME took the three-year copyright for all his songs for 570 million RMB.

So now, the only advice Lu Kuan can give him is this: "Whether you want to terminate the contract early or not renew it when it expires, just keep the song copyrights in your own hands."

A round of applause came from not far away. Mei Mei Yanfang had finished her speech and waved at Lu Kuan: "Little brother, come join me."

The scene was dense with cameras and microphones. Mei Mei Yanfang and Boss Lu unveiled the wax figure together, and the whole audience applauded and cheered.

"Brother Zhou Jielun, can I ask you for a favor?"

Zhou Zhou Jielun looked at her and Boss Lu on the stage strangely, thinking to himself, is there anything Lu Kuan can't solve?

"I have a friend, can you invite her to be a guest singer at your next concert? Her professional skills are absolutely no problem!"

Little Liu just reacted: "Oh right! You know her, Zhang Zhang Jingying, didn't you praise her during the Super Girl finals?"

"Oh, no problem, just have her contact Da Ni."

"By the way, the Pepsi Music Chart is next month, you can let her see if there are any performance opportunities."

Liu Liu Yifei nodded: "Her boyfriend is named Feng Ke, he seems to be a professional in music, I'll ask and see."

Two o'clock in the afternoon, No. 1 Sports Road, Happy Valley, Hong Kong Stadium.

The stadium's specifications are second to none in Hong Kong, but the attendance for the usual charity matches is not high.

The Hong Kong charity football team is an entertainment charity event; people who actually like watching football aren't interested, and since there are no betting odds, gamblers aren't interested either.

This leads to the fact that those who actually buy tickets to enter are mostly female fans of various male stars.

However, due to the attendance of Lu Kuan, Liu Liu Yifei, and others, as well as superstars like Fang Long and Liu Liu Dehua, who hadn't participated in matches for a long time, invited by Mei Mei Yanfang.

The 40,000 seats in the stands were basically full, except for the pillars and the back rows with poor views.

Star players kept running out of the locker room to wave and warm up, stretching, passing the ball, and doing rondos on the grass, doing preparatory work.

"Big Brother is here too, he hasn't played in a long time, he's just holding the title of honorary captain!"

"Cheng Guoqiang is here too, he didn't go to TVB to pick a concubine today."

"Gu Zai! Gu Zai! So handsome!"

Not only were the spectators at the scene cheering, but the viewers watching the live streams on Travel Satellite TV and Wenjie Video were also full of excitement.

Saturday at two in the afternoon is the lazy time when one wakes up from a nap; this kind of mindless, bland program is perfect for killing time.

Lu Kuan was late because he was processing OA workflows on his computer at the hotel, and he walked in from the VIP passage with Liu Liu Yifei, Yang Yang Siwei, and others.

"Little Liu, your outfit is quite well-matched today? Did you put it together yourself?"

The mudslide of the domestic entertainment industry: "Of course not, it was Wang my lord's suggestion, haha."

"This T-shirt is a new product from his studio, I had her send it over directly in my size to try on."

Boss Lu glanced at the "alexanderwang" label and smiled. It seems she has a lot of contact with Wang my lord?

It is quite a bit, and it started after Liu Liu Yifei found clues in Fan Fan Bingbing's blog post and extorted that RV from him.

It can only be said that no matter what their personality, when female stars use their wits, they are all female warriors; none of them are pushovers.

"Lu Kuan, we're going to the stands, I'll cheer for you later!"

Little Liu waved at Boss Lu, who was heading to the away team locker room, and leaned on the railing closest to the away team players' seats to look at the field.

This place belongs to the excellent "family viewing area."

The reason it is called the family viewing area is that after players on the field score a goal, they can easily run here to celebrate with their families, and hug and kiss their wives or girlfriends, which is very common abroad.

"Yang Siwei, I'm so nervous!"

Yang Yang Siwei looked at her speechlessly: "What are you excited about? It's not the World Cup, just a charity friendly match."

"I crammed on football knowledge again yesterday! I wonder how Lu Kuan will celebrate if he scores later?"

She had watched the scene where Beckham ran to the sidelines to kiss Victoria after scoring a goal in the Premier League.

The man was handsome and the woman was beautiful, in front of the whole world, so romantic and so enviable...

Liu Liu Yifei seemed to be rambling: "Yang Siwei, are there football matches at your Communication University? Have you ever joined any football clubs?"

"No, does my figure look like I'm interested in this?" The slightly chubby agent was still holding a cup of cola, looking speechless.

"Hey, it's a pity that neither Lu Kuan nor I have ever spent time in school properly. I really want to experience university life!"

Yang Yang Siwei didn't want to talk anymore. You want to experience university life? You want to experience university romance, right?!

That's right, Little Liu had already started YY-ing a pure love plot.

In the morning, Lu Kuan, winner of the Golden Lion, Golden Bear, and Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, and president of the domestic entertainment industry leader Wenjie, was waiting for his girlfriend downstairs at Liu Liu Yifei's 2002-class dormitory building.

He held the love-filled breakfast he had carefully prepared, sliced fruit, peeled eggs, and looked at the dormitory exit with immense anticipation.

The dormitory aunt glared at him, stopping his rude peeking.

Liu Liu Yifei came out after dressing up carefully, her eyes clear like water, smiling, indescribably charming and cute.

The two held hands and walked to the study room, and the students of the Beijing Film Academy along the way cast envious glances.

The easy morning and afternoon classes were over, and in the afternoon, Liu Liu Yifei cheered for her boyfriend who liked to play football on the playground.

After a beautiful goal where he dribbled past five people, Lu Kuan ran to the sidelines to hug and kiss her.

The figure of the campus couple entangled in the sunset, that was her beautiful youth...

"Bang!"

"Ah!"

Little Liu closed her eyes to feel the breeze and romance, when a ball flew over unexpectedly, hitting the hand she had placed on the railing.

Then Boss Lu walked over with a grin: "Oh, I haven't played in a long time, my foot is off, you didn't get hit, did you?"

Liu Liu Yifei seemed to have been woken up from a beautiful dream and forcibly booted up; she felt an extreme anger and fiercely threw the ball from the stands back at him: "Are you even capable of anything?!"

Can you even shoot?

Liu Liu Yifei sat down in a huff; any romantic thing becomes uninteresting when it encounters this washing machine!

Yang Yang Siwei giggled on the side, how interesting it is that the washing machine in your fantasy personally ended your fantasy!

"Wah Jai! Wah Jai!"

In the first row of the audience, a female fan of Liu Liu Dehua with a mainland accent acted as if she were crazy, her shouting shaking the sky, making the audience on the left and right look at her.

The girl's father had no choice but to pat her gently: "Yang Lijuan, keep your voice down, everyone is watching."

Yang Yang Lijuan turned her head in dissatisfaction: "Go back to your own seat, stop bothering me! It was so hard for me to come here once, really!"

The old father's face was lined with deep wrinkles; he turned and walked away with an embarrassed smile.

In order to scrape together money for his daughter to chase stars, the family had lived a very hard life over the years.

Last year, when Liu Liu Dehua followed the *A World Without Thieves* crew to Gansu to film, Yang's father sold his property to support her with all his might.

In later times, in 2007, he jumped into the sea in Hong Kong after leaving a suicide note, protesting with his death, hoping that Liu Liu Dehua would see his daughter once, which caused a sensation and heated discussion at the time.

Music started inside the Hong Kong Stadium, the star guests in the first row of the stands arrived one after another, and charity slogans and materials were placed on the grass.

Mei Mei Yanfang walked near the kickoff point and briefly introduced the guests, players, and mainland visitors who arrived today, as well as the details of the charity donations.

The director gave the camera one by one to the star players, supporting guests, and the details of the donations already recognized at the scene.

The camera cuts to Liu Liu Yifei on the stands, holding the railing and looking full of youthful vitality; fans are flooding the screen with comments!

"Damn Washing Machine, what kind of good deeds did you do in your past life?"

"Hey, I'm pretty good at soccer too, it's just a pity there's no girl like Liu Liu Yifei here to watch."

"Did you watch the latest episode of *A Date with Chen Luyu*? Washing Machine and the Fairy Sister were flirting with their eyes; my heart is broken!"

With the charity work's preamble fully covered, the camera turns to the players on the field.

The Mainland Celebrity Team lines up in a 4-3-3 formation.

Captain and goalkeeper Zhao Zhao Benshan, center forward Lu Kuan, left winger Wu Jin, and right winger Chen Chen Yufan—these are the three who can actually play, so they are placed directly in the front court.

In the middle is the intercepting midfielder Sun Nan, with Wang Piku and Hu Haiquan as the left and right fullbacks, and the rest are reinforcements from the Xiangjiang Celebrity Team.

Everyone understands how a charity match works; it's about playing a tacit game of give-and-take, avoiding tackles and fouls unless necessary, and just acting like monkeys being led around to provide some entertainment for the audience and fans.

Zhao Zhao Benshan and Principal Tan flip a coin to choose sides, the referee for the Xiangjiang League blows the whistle, and Lu Kuan rolls the ball under his foot for a full rotation before passing it back and then sprinting forward.

They had already discussed the tactics on the whiteboard in the locker room just moments ago.

Since their side has almost no experience playing together, they abandon ball control and resort to long passes and crosses.

Relying on the 185cm height of Boss Lu to bully the three opposing defenders:

59-year-old, 175cm tall left fullback, Tang Monk—Luo Luo Jiaying;

34-year-old, 180cm tall right fullback, Lu Xiaofeng—Zhang Zhang Zhilin;

46-year-old, 178cm tall center back, Zhan Zhao—He He Jiajing.

Sun Nan receives the ball and dribbles, shaking off Liu Liu Dehua who came to challenge, prompting Yang Yang Lijuan in the stands to curse his bad luck!

Boss Lu has already penetrated into the opponent's penalty area, where the goalkeeper for the Xiangjiang Celebrity Team is Big Fool Cheng Kuian.

"Mark him! He wants the ball!"

Sun Nan carries out the tactical instruction, ignoring Chen Chen Yufan who is sprinting up the right flank and signaling for the ball, and instead sends a long pass directly to the high point in the penalty area, Lu Kuan.

"I'll head it, fight for the first touch!" Luo Luo Jiaying isn't tall enough and doesn't participate in this defense, but that doesn't stop him from directing Zhang Zhang Zhilin and He He Jiajing to compete with Lu Kuan for the header.

"Wow!"

Liu Liu Yifei on the stands seems to have forgotten the speechlessness of being hit by the ball just moments ago and is shouting excitedly.

No wonder Washing Machine likes watching soccer; when there's someone you care about on the field, it's exciting to watch!

"Foul! Foul! How can they have two people crowding Lu Kuan alone!"

Yang Yang Siwei is speechless, standing up to pull her back: "My dear lady, can you not embarrass yourself? Just cheer for him and be done with it."

Lu Kuan jumps high, but loses his balance after a light shoulder-check from behind by the experienced He He Jiajing, failing to reach the first ball.

Zhang Zhang Zhilin, who was covering, clears the ball.

He He Jiajing smiles and pulls up the fallen Lu Kuan: "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, let's go again!"

Boss Lu is rarely this relaxed and has no celebrity baggage at all, continuing to run around the front court, though to no avail.

He seizes an opportunity to whisper to Wu Jin: "In a moment, I'll switch to the left to draw He He Jiajing and Zhang Zhang Zhilin away; you come to the middle to find an opportunity."

"Got it!"

To deal with the opponent's man-to-man tactics, switching positions is the best solution.

The first opportunity for both teams appears in the 15th minute of the first half; Chen Chen Yufan's cross from the right flank is a bit too strong, and Boss Lu, receiving the ball at the far post, dribbles horizontally.

Zhang Zhang Zhilin and He He Jiajing follow their tactical discipline to mark and cover.

Lu Kuan suddenly feints a shot but passes instead, poking the ball with his toe to Wu Jin, who has successfully beaten the offside trap; the Kung Fu Kid fires a furious shot, and the ball enters the net!

"Nice!"

"Goal!"

"Holy crap! Is that Wu Jin? Haven't seen him in a long time!"

"Ah Fei's sword is very fast!"

Liu Liu Yifei on the stands turns a deaf ear to Yang Yang Siwei's persuasion and starts jumping and celebrating!

"Lu Kuan played well! Good job!"

Yang Yang Siwei: Please, he didn't even score, you only have eyes for Washing Machine, don't you...

The young lady is a bit over-excited, her throat dry from shouting, and she sits back down in her seat.

"Yang Siwei, Lu Kuan played quite well, right?"

"Heh."

She hugs her water bottle and takes a big gulp, her interest piqued: "I didn't expect that even though he smokes and drinks all day, he runs quite fast and jumps quite high too!"

Another round of cheers; on the field, Boss Lu is excitedly high-fiving and hugging his teammates to celebrate—he scored.

Da Vinci's stamina fails him and he is caught off guard, allowing Boss Lu to successfully ambush the old comrade.

The referee blows the whistle for the first substitution of the match; Luo Luo Jiaying is replaced by Mo Shaocong.

The Xiangjiang team, trailing by two goals, is the first to make adjustments.

Fan Shaohuang, the "Riki-Oh" who originally played as a right midfielder, drops back to play defense, and his goal is simple: keep an eye on this Boss Lu who is darting around in front of the penalty area like a loach!

Good grief, everyone thought you were joking when you said before the match that you were "better at soccer than directing," but it turns out you actually can play!

"Wow! Director Lu is so handsome!"

A shout in Mandarin from diagonally in front catches Liu Liu Yifei's attention; she looks up, puzzled, and sees a long-legged beauty clutching her small fists tightly.

Liu Liu Yifei sizes her up suspiciously from behind; the girl has a ponytail and is quite tall.

"Who is this?"

"An artist from Emperor Entertainment, right? Isn't she sitting with Huo Huo Wenxi?"

Yang Yang Siwei keeps her eyes fixed on the action on the field, glancing over from a distance.

Liu Liu Yifei is noncommittal; how does an artist from Emperor Entertainment speak Mandarin, and so coquettishly at that?

Tang Yan leans against the railing, looking at the young figure on the field with admiration.

Even among charismatic men who have long been famous like Guo Guo Fucheng and Liu Liu Dehua, he is not overshadowed at all.

Since their parting at the Mei Family Banquet in Beiping, she had failed to successfully "make an offering" due to a twist of fate, failing to realize her own "united front value."

But this tacit hint from Huo Huo Wenxi instead made Tang Yan focus even more of her attention on this young director afterward.

For an actress like her who is just starting out in the entertainment industry, admiring the strong is the most normal psychology.

Especially for someone like him who, aside from the "biological habits" that Liu Liu Yifei finds slightly lacking, is outstanding in every aspect.

"Hey, how are you?"

Tang Yan is startled; she turns her head and it's actually Liu Liu Yifei!

"Ah... hello, Liu Yifei."

Little Liu looks around with her beautiful eyes, sizing her up: "Do you know me? Is your surname Huang?"

"My surname isn't Huang, I'm Tang Yan, an artist from Emperor Entertainment."

The current Tang Yan doesn't have much confidence standing in front of the "long-famous" top young actress Liu Liu Yifei, her voice tinged with timidity.

Especially after the two news stories came out: 【Lu Kuan injured, Liu Liu Yifei sheds tears at the hospital】 and 【*A Date with Chen Luyu*, the popular young actress speaks with hidden meaning】.

The rumors about this young man and woman show signs of gradually becoming reality.

Will the shout she just let out involuntarily be heard by her...

"Oh, oh, you're Zi Xuan from *Chinese Paladin 3*, right? I think I've seen your character poster on Blogcn."

Tang Yan smiles, pursing her lips; she herself is also looking forward to this opportunity, just like the girl opposite her did for Zhao Linger.

Even if she can't soar to the sky and become super famous, she will at least have a role she can show off, and won't be asked if her surname is Huang the moment she meets someone.

"Has your crew started filming? You should be familiar with Yang Mi, right? We know each other too."

In the past, Liu Liu Yifei would have said they were friends; now, downgrading it to "knowing each other" is generous enough.

She still hasn't figured out what happened that day.

"Mi Mi? We see each other every day; she plays Long Kui, and I've heard her mention you too."

It's just that there wasn't anything very positive said, just envy, jealousy, and hatred.

After chatting for a while, she really didn't see anything suspicious, so Little Liu takes out her phone: "Let's exchange numbers? Let's keep in touch later."

"Oh, oh, okay."

Tang Yan has no reason to refuse; this is also an opportunity, even if it just helps her popularity later when she posts a photo with her.

The young lady returns to her seat, satisfied, and looks unexpectedly at the score, which has been leveled.

"When did they score two goals!"

Yang Yang Siwei says unhappily: "While you were out playing scout."

"This Washing Machine, he slacks off if I don't supervise him for a moment; he needs to be whipped!"

Liu Liu Yifei takes advantage of the fact that Boss Lu can't hear her to act tough.

The second half reaches the 70th minute; Cheng Guoqiang replaces Old Long, and the entire audience applauds and cheers.

Principal Tan, who has already left the field to act as a temporary coach, gives him tactical instructions.

"Guoqiang, you play as a defensive midfielder, don't worry about anything else, protect the first landing spot at the arc, and try not to give Lu Kuan a chance to receive the ball with his back to the goal or set up plays!"

"Don't worry, he was still a middle school student when I was playing ball."

Cheng Guoqiang is full of confidence; people like them, the first and second generations of Xiangjiang, are very keen on such public activities to build a down-to-earth and approachable persona.

Like certain generations who frequently appear on domestic variety shows in later years.

Boss Lu has been battling for nearly 80 minutes and is already somewhat exhausted, walking around on the field and bringing Cheng Guoqiang along to "conserve energy."

Suddenly, he lets the ball pass him to dribble past, but Cheng Guoqiang is faked out and fails to keep up; unfortunately, the exhausted Boss Lu's shot is soft and weak, and is easily collected by the goalkeeper.

"Oh my! Lu Kuan's stamina is so poor, he's already failing after just 80 minutes!"

Boss Lu:???

Liu Liu Yifei looked dejected; even she could see that this should have been a guaranteed goal, and she felt a sense of frustration at his inability to live up to expectations.

Principal Tan on the sidelines was getting into the role: "Mark him, Cheng Guoqiang! Don't lose focus!"

Cheng Guoqiang felt resentful inside, and seeing Liu Liu Yifei cheering for him on the sidelines made him even more annoyed, so his hand and foot movements became a bit rougher.

"Holy shit!"

Boss Lu was secretly jabbed in the ribs by his elbow and fell face-first into the mud.

Might as well take the opportunity to rest for a bit, it's so damn tiring!

Even more tiring than Fan Fan Bingbing and Scarlett Johansson!

The referee blew the whistle: "Watch your conduct!"

The score was deadlocked at 2-2; if one side had suffered a crushing defeat or there was a clear gap in strength, everyone would have started playing it safe by now.

But today's team lineups were truly evenly matched, and both sides played with increasing seriousness, neither wanting to lose.

Cheng Guoqiang was dribbled past again, and with his blood boiling, he stretched out his leg to trip Boss Lu from behind.

Lu Kuan looked at him in surprise: "Can you tone down the aggression?"

Cheng Guoqiang spread his hands helplessly: "I don't want to either, but it's football, there are always going to be some bumps and scrapes."

Emotions on the pitch are impossible to suppress; this is a competition of overflowing hormones between men, inherited from the law of the jungle in ancient times.

Book friends with sports experience all have this realization: even the best of friends can get into a fight on the pitch, often over the most trivial of things.

Not to mention Cheng Guoqiang, who already wanted to challenge this young director because of Liu Liu Yifei.

He could maintain a friendly facade while attributing these moderately aggressive physical actions to legitimate physical confrontation on the pitch.

Cheng Guoqiang gave him a sinister look and gestured toward Liu Liu Yifei not far away on the sidelines: "Mr. Lu, get up and keep going. Having a woman cheer for you is quite impressive."

Boss Lu looked at him for a few seconds and smiled: "Very good."

I heard you're the godson of that guy called Cucumber, right?

He stood up, adjusted his shin guards, and caught his breath in preparation for the final sprint.

"Why are they still chatting?"

Liu Liu Yifei ignored Yang Yang Siwei's confusion: "Is Cheng Guoqiang's conduct really not a foul? He's sticking to Lu Kuan like glue, and he keeps tripping him!"

"How hateful!"

The stadium broadcast sounded: "There will be 5 minutes of stoppage time for this match."

After all, it was the home turf of the Xiangjiang Celebrity Football Team, and at this moment, the chorus of Principal Tan's classic song "Friends" echoed throughout the stadium.

Zhao Zhao Benshan kicked off from the backfield, loudly encouraging his teammates: "Score one, score another one!"

The closer it got to the end, the stronger the desire to win became on both sides.

Added to the earlier minor disharmony between Boss Lu and Cheng Guoqiang, the atmosphere of the friendly match had soured, and the adrenaline of all 22 players on the pitch was surging!

Sun Nan, who had already been substituted, watched Wu Jin get the ball on the wing and sprint forward, excitedly directing: "Lu Kuan is in the middle, at the arc! At the arc!"

Cheng Guoqiang had been following Boss Lu step for step, but was suddenly shaken off by a feint; by the time he restarted, it was too late, and he wasn't even close enough to reach out and grab his jersey!

In the stands, Liu Liu Yifei clutched her hands tightly to her chest, eyes wide as she watched Boss Lu leap high in front of the small penalty area and flick his head!

"Big Fool" Cheng Kui'an dived for the save but was too late, watching the ball fly past his ear and into the net!

Goal!!!!!

The stadium atmosphere immediately mimicked the style of foreign commentators to highlight this last-minute winner.

Little Liu in the stands was naturally jumping for joy like a female college student with no idol baggage, waving her baseball cap vigorously and shouting Lu Kuan's name.

The singing of "Friends" throughout the stadium faded slightly, and the volume of comments on the Wenjie video surged!

"Awesome! Washing Machine!"

"Is there something wrong with this Cheng Guoqiang guy? He turned a perfectly good friendly match into a grudge match."

"He just has no sense of propriety; he wouldn't last two episodes in a TV drama."

It was just a pity that before the commenters could finish praising Boss Lu, they saw a scene that made their eyes pop.

Boss Lu took off his shirt to celebrate and ran toward the sidelines, with Chen Chen Yufan, Wu Jin, and others laughing as they followed; even old Zhao in front of the goal was a bit uncomposed.

Huh? Why is he running toward me?

Little Liu recalled the video she saw yesterday of Beckham running to the sidelines to kiss Victoria after scoring a goal...

Could it be???

Liu Liu Yifei felt her pretty face burning, her heart pounding "thump-thump," completely "a deer bumping in her heart"!

Watching Lu Kuan run closer and closer, revealing his toned upper body.

The aura of a CEO and artist she saw in him daily was cast to the back of her mind; now he was just a twenty-four-year-old, walking hormone!

Liu Liu Yifei leaned on the railing in anticipation, the sea breeze messing up her hair and also messing up the young girl's heart.

She couldn't help but lean forward slightly; even though she knew a kiss was impossible, she still looked forward to some potential intimate gesture...

It was just a pity that she was hit with a critical strike by Boss Lu's words...

"Quick, keep celebrating for me, help me piss off that idiot Cheng Guoqiang! Damn it!"

This man's terrifying desire to win!

It must be said that Liu Liu Yifei's Grotowski physical training was very solid, as she managed to force a change in her intended movement path.

She frowned slightly, and just as she was about to curse, she remembered the presence of the cameras and scolded him in a low voice:

"Celebrate your head!"

"Put on that ragged shirt of yours, do you think your body is that great? How shameless!"

Impotent rage, impotent rage.

Boss Lu looked at her, bewildered, as she turned around and sat down, hugging her water bottle and drinking with a blank expression to strategically save face; he had no idea of the emotional journey Liu Liu Yifei had gone through in those short ten-plus seconds.

If the one-shot take from just now were edited and paired with commentary, it would surely become a demonstration teaching material for the Beijing Film Academy's acting department.

Fang Lan Xiaolong from the previous chapter has been removed and replaced with someone else; if you have questions, you can look back.

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(End of chapter)