Huayu: I'm reborn, but you still force me to be a scumbag?

Chapter 603 I don’t want to work hard anymore

dong dong dong.

No one answered.

dong dong dong.

Haruka Ayase knocked again.

The door in front of me was still closed, but the door next door was open.

"The boss went drinking with the director and the others, didn't you know?"

A girl in pink pajamas leaned against the doorway, looking over with a half-smile.

Ayase Haruka paused for a moment.

She only learned from her agent that Chen Nuo had returned early and even came to the set to watch her performance for a while after filming wrapped up. At the time, she was too nervous and focused to notice anything else.

She quickly bowed and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't know. I'm sorry to bother you. Good night."

Just as she turned to leave,
"Wait up!" the girl called out again.

Ayase Haruka stopped and turned around, puzzled.

The girl's smile held a hint of strangeness: "The boss said that if you come, he'll let me tell you that the course is over and you don't need to come back."

Ayase Haruka looked into the girl's eyes to make sure she hadn't misheard. She paused for two seconds, then bowed again and said, "Hi, I understand. Thank you, goodnight."

"Good night."

With a "snap," the girl closed the door and went inside.

But Ayase Haruka didn't leave immediately. Instead, she stood there for a while before turning around and slowly walking back.

……

……

A dark, gloomy villa corridor.

Although there was light, it was clear that the oil lamps of 19th-century America could not penetrate the layers of darkness to give this tomb-like place any real light.

Ayase Haruka, dressed in a Western-style long dress, followed behind a white woman holding a candlestick, her head slightly bowed.

Accompanied by melodious and gentle music specially played for this scene, like lovers whispering, the two walked through corridors, stairs and hallways, and finally arrived at the door of a room.

"Knock, knock, knock." The white woman knocked on the door.

A one-armed white man then opened the door. James Remar gave a forced smile and said, "Ladies."

The white woman immediately smiled broadly and said, "Mr. Spike, I brought her here. Look, isn't she even more beautiful than before? Hong, say hello to Mr. Spike."

Ayase Haruka stared motionlessly at the ground ahead, tears welling in her eyes.

If meeting the director's requirements previously required some mental preparation, then today, for some reason, everything went so smoothly. She didn't need to do much; as she stood there, the sorrow and humiliation in her heart surged towards her like an endless tide, and the tears the director wanted to see naturally appeared in her eyes.

At that moment, she even forgot about the camera.

Only after the white woman glared at her fiercely did she return to her rhythm, looking at the other woman with resentment and saying in a low voice, "Mr. Spike."

James Remar looked her up and down with a complicated expression.

The white woman winked and smiled, saying, "Don't you recognize me?"

James Remar forced another smile and said, "Yes, if I had known this day would come, I don't think I would have sold her to you."

"Hahahaha." The white woman laughed.

Remar stepped aside and said, "Alright, please come in. I think Mr. Lang is already impatient."

Ayase Haruka walked into the room step by step.

Remar slammed the door shut, leaving the white woman outside.

He then walked over and said in a low voice with a complicated expression, "Miss Hong, first of all, I would like to ask for your forgiveness. It was all my brother's idea back then, and he has already paid the price for it."

Haruka Ayase looked at him coldly.

Remar said with a worried look, "I mean it... I'm really sorry about what happened back then. I hope you can put in a good word for me later."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You'll find out soon enough. Please wait a moment, I'll go and fetch Mr. Lang." With that, Remar walked into the inner suite.

Haruka Ayase stood still and waited quietly.

Then, with a "thump," the door opened, and a person wearing a silver mask appeared before her.

She gripped the knife hidden in her sleeve tightly.

The next moment, the person uttered two Chinese characters: "Your Highness".

When Ayase Haruka heard that voice, she froze, and tears streamed down her face. Her chest heaved violently.

At that moment, a profound and genuine sense of injustice surged within her.

She didn't say anything, she just stared straight at the other person.

The man removed his mask, revealing a stubble-covered, tired face bearing gunshot wounds.

Ayase Haruka dropped the knife from her hand with a thud.

Her body swayed, and with a thud, she collapsed completely to the ground.

"CUT!"

"Perfect! OMG, this is fucking art! What are you waiting for? Go help her up!"

……

……

"So, Mr. Chen, you said that for today's main event?"

"No, not really. What I could have taught you, I already did. The rest... it's not really a matter of acting."

They stood on the porch of the motel, each holding a can of beer.

Upon hearing Chen Nuo's words, Ayase Haruka smiled, her face flushing slightly. She turned her head away, looking shyly to the other side.

Chen Nuo glanced at her and said, "It's normal, isn't it? You're such a beautiful woman with a great figure. If I didn't feel anything while you were naked in front of me all the time, that would be abnormal, don't you think?"

“Hi,” Ayase Haruka said softly, “I understand, Chen-kun, you don’t need to be bothered by this.”

"Haha. Come on, let's have a drink."

Chen Nuo reached out and touched hands with Ayase Haruka, took a sip of his drink, and said, "Thank you for your understanding."

Ayase Haruka smiled and said, "Chen-kun, you think differently from me."

"Oh? What's different?"

"You are more than I thought... I don't know how to express it in Chinese, but in Japanese it would be 'I love you'."

Chen Nuo said, "Ordinary?"

Ayase Haruka said, "It's not just ordinary, it's warm and genuine. You're not like what I imagined, nor like what you're portrayed in the news. When I met you, Mr. Chen, I could feel the most genuine and gentle warmth between people. To be honest, and please don't mind, I don't think you're like an idol star."

Chen Nuo laughed and said, "An idol? You already have a kid, how can you be an idol?"

Ayase Haruka said, "That's not what I meant. It's just that—like in Japan, I'm always happy when other people like and admire me, but I've noticed that you, Chen-kun, don't feel that way. Tell me, isn't it something to be happy about to receive other people's affection?"

Chen Nuo glanced at her, recalling how she had earnestly given him advice the night before, helping him to escape smoothly. He thought for a moment, then said:

"Because I'm lustful, greedy, and promiscuous—I have all the bad habits a man should have. The persona I present in newspapers and the media isn't the real me. The person others like is different from the real me."

I often think, what if I accept all of this and it gets exposed one day?
Actually, many people I know are like that. In front of the public, they are celebrities and directors, but in private, they gossip, make dirty jokes, fart, and talk nonsense.

Ultimately, we're all just ordinary people.

He paused, his gaze falling on the swaying lamp in the night: "People always like to create gods, and then destroy them with their own hands. I don't want to be a god, because that would be exhausting. I don't want to be destroyed either, that would be terrible. I just want to be a human being, to stay away from all these things, that's all."

After he finished speaking, he felt a little embarrassed.

Actually, many people had asked Ayase Haruka this question before, but he had never answered it because he genuinely disliked revealing his true thoughts. Unexpectedly, he blurted it out in the heat of the moment, which made him feel a sense of shame, as if he had been laid bare.

He downed the beer in one gulp, crushed the empty can, and tossed it away casually.

"Alright, I have filming tomorrow, time for bed."

After saying that, he turned and walked towards the room.

Just as he reached the door, Ayase Haruka's voice suddenly sounded behind him, "Chen-kun... if someone knows the truth about you, but still finds herself in love with you, what should she do?"

Chen Nuo paused for a moment, then walked into the room without turning around and closed the door.

……

……

August 1, 2013, Beijing. The summer wind blew in through the window, but Wang Zongjun felt a chill.

He stared at the statistics in his hand, speechless for a long time.

"Brother, let me take a look," Wang Zonglei said anxiously.

Wang Zongjun handed over the paper in his hand.

Wang Zonglei was shocked when he saw the box office figures and exclaimed, "Over ten million? That's so much less than yesterday!? What are we going to do, bro! After three days of release, the box office hasn't even reached 6000 million. If this continues, we're going to lose a fortune on this film! What will happen to our stock price when the third-quarter report comes out...?"

Before he could finish speaking, Wang Zonglei turned his head, and with a whoosh, a thick notebook flew past his ear.

Wang Zongjun's face turned ashen, and he roared, "What to do, what to do! You've been back with the company for a year now, and when something goes wrong, all you can say is 'what to do'! You're the general manager now, and you set the schedule! I should be asking you what to do, not you asking me!"

Wang Zonglei's chubby face immediately turned red, and he stammered, unable to utter a single word.

Wang Zongjun cursed, "You don't do any real work, all you do is play around with women all day long. You'll die on a woman's belly sooner or later. Get out of here and see when the box office results for 'Tiny Times' come out!"

Wang Zonglei left without saying a word.

About five minutes later, he pushed open the door and entered, his face pale, holding an A4 sheet of paper.

Upon seeing this, Wang Zongjun, who was smoking a cigar in a chair, looked even more displeased and asked, "How many did they sell?"

Wang Zonglei stammered, "More than 9800 million."

Wang Zongjun's eyes widened immediately. "How many did you say? Say it again!"

"Over 998 million!"

"Fuck your mother!" Wang Zongjun shouted angrily, throwing his cigar at Wang Zonglei. "Wang Zonglei, is this the one you said you could beat?!"

Wang Zonglei's face turned ashen. Even when a cigar fell on him, burning a black mark on his LV T-shirt, he didn't even look down. He stammered, "Brother, I didn't expect that either."

"I never expected this, I never expected this!" Wang Zongjun stood up angrily. "What did you say back then? Guo Jinming is just a novelist, what does he know about movies? He said that movie was full of pretty faces, useless, that that guy surnamed Chen only appeared for two seconds, it was just a gimmick! He said if he came, we'd go head-to-head! And what's the result now?! They made 3 million in three days! And us?! I ask you, what about us?! A movie with a budget of 2 million, can it even break even now? We've lost so much money, are you going to risk your life to make up for it? Wang Zonglei, don't say I didn't give you a chance, right now, immediately, rearrange the publicity, have all those people go city after city on a roadshow, go to every movie theater to canvass for votes! You go too!"

……

"To be honest, it's really unfair of me to you, brother. We all made the decision together, so why should you be the only one responsible?"

Looking at the beautiful woman in front of him, who was 19 years younger than him, pouting and looking dissatisfied, Wang Zonglei's heart melted.

Despite some painful past experiences, there is no doubt that this former model from Hong Kong has completely captured Xiao Wang's heart over the past year.

Every smile, every gesture, seemed to possess a captivating allure, leaving even a seasoned womanizer like him utterly defenseless.

"Why don't you come with me?" Wang Zonglei reached out and tried to grab the woman's hand on the table.

As a result, the woman pulled her hand back, preventing him from touching her.

"Why would I go and place betting money? I don't know anything about it. If I go around with you, people will think I'm someone special to you!"

"Baby, if you're willing, you can be my girlfriend."

"Then can you break up with all your other women, cut off all ties with them, and let me check your phone all the time?"

“This…” Wang Zonglei’s expression froze.

The woman pouted, feigning anger, and said, "If you can't do it, then don't say such things. I don't want to become a haggard housewife. By the way, how long are you going to be gone this time?"

"About two and a half weeks."

"so long!"

"Sigh, there's nothing we can do. This time, the company has been forced into a corner. If this trend continues, we'll lose at least 5000 million. You know, we already lost a lot on '1942,' and if we lose even more this time, the company won't be able to handle it."

Are you blaming me? If you are, just say so.

"No, no, I'm not blaming you. I know you're doing this for my own good. But you didn't expect that guy surnamed Guo to cobble together such a makeshift crew and actually manage to fleece so many people, right? Damn it, everyone online says it's a PowerPoint movie, but a PowerPoint presentation actually sold 3 million in just 3 days! I really don't know how there are so many idiots in this world! Alright, Ying, you stay in Beijing and wait for me to come back."

"Okay, by the way, I've recently come across a bag I've got my eye on."

"Okay, okay, we'll go buy it later!"

"Forget it, you go and do your important business. I can't afford to take up your time. Just transfer the money to me."

"Baby, you're so sweet~ Can I come over to your place tonight?"

"No, I'm on my period, let's do it another day."

Half an hour later, the two came out of the coffee shop and parted ways, one on the left and one on the right.

The woman then took out her phone and made a call. "Hello, is this Qida? They don't seem to be planning to withdraw their applications. It looks like they're still going all in... Yeah, I know. I'll contact you as soon as I have any news."

After hanging up the phone, the woman's expression returned to calm, and she quickened her pace on the streets of Beijing.

……

In the blink of an eye, it's August 21st again.

It's still the same office as it was 20 days ago.

But this time, there wasn't even the lively sound that had been there three weeks ago.

Inside and outside the large desk, several people remained silent.

Finally, the fat man whispered, "Brother, I'm sorry, I'm prepared to resign."

"Would resigning be useful? Would resigning revive the film and make an extra 5000 million?" Wang Zongjun glared at him and demanded repeatedly.

"Chairman Wang, Mr. Wang really did his best this time. We were all running around together the whole time, but there was really nothing we could do. The cinema managers also said that no one expected that the spending potential of young audiences would be so strong. Many people booked entire theaters, and some even watched the movies multiple times, especially the 'glutinous rice' fans... Actually, I went to see it too. Chen Nuo really only had two seconds of screen time, and I thought the filming was pretty average, but it's really abnormal for just those two seconds of screen time. Sigh, under these circumstances, it caused a herd mentality, which ultimately squeezed our box office. Nobody could have predicted that." A marketing vice president sitting next to me mustered up the courage to interject.

Wang Zongjun said with a gloomy face, "Forget it, things have already come to this. Consider this film a mishap, but from now on, we must not make any more mistakes in other matters. Zonglei, don't mention resigning. Right now, your priority is to make the TV series a success. This is Huayi's first TV series, and we've invested so much in it. We can't afford to fail under any circumstances."

"Okay! Brother, I understand!" Wang Zonglei knew that the matter was over and immediately perked up.

"And for 'Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons,' you need to coordinate with Stephen Chow's team and finalize the release date as soon as possible. If you ask me, either put it on New Year's Day or before the Lunar New Year, let him choose."

"Know!"

“Your focus going forward will be on these two projects. Our chances of turning things around depend entirely on them… um.” Wang Zongjun paused mid-sentence and asked, “Any news from Chen Nuo lately? How’s his new movie going? When will it be released?”

Wang Zonglei laughed and said, "Brother, don't worry. He only starts filming in June, so it will take until at least the end of the year. The release will probably be in the first half of next year. It definitely won't clash with our release."

Wang Zongjun said, "That would be best. In short, the overlap between Tiny Times' release date and ours really gives me a bad feeling. I hope it's just a coincidence."

Just as the Wang brothers were discussing their future opportunities to turn their fortunes around, a celebratory luncheon for "Tiny Times" surpassing 5 million yuan at the box office was in full swing in the lobby of a hotel in Shanghai.

Without a doubt, Tiny Times' outstanding performance has shocked all Chinese film critics over the past 20 days.

It is the third Chinese-language film in history to gross over 3 million yuan in three days, the fastest Chinese-language romance film to reach 2 million yuan, and the first phenomenal blockbuster starring young idols. In the past twenty days, this idol film, which was initially met with little optimism, has surprisingly broken several records, earning widespread recognition.

Therefore, at this luncheon, when Sister Honey, Director Guo, Dilraba Dilmurat and Amber Kuo, along with producer Angie Chai and Li Jing, the general manager of the investor Huanxin Entertainment, all raised small hammers and smashed the "5 million" ice sculpture, there were an unusually large number of flashes from the cameras.

During the subsequent Q&A session, director Guo Jingming and the main cast answered one question after another with great enthusiasm. Besides the director, the most attention was drawn to Sister Mi, who answered more than half of the questions.

However, apart from Sister Mi, Guo Caijie and others were overshadowed by a fresh-faced senior student from the Beijing Film Academy.

The "Sweet Potato Girl" from years ago seems to have been blessed with a halo at this moment, transforming from an amateur into a filmmaker. Her Weibo followers have also increased from millions to several million. The feeling of becoming famous overnight has made Dilraba feel cramps in her lower abdomen every night.

No one calls her Sweet Potato Sister anymore; her fans, moviegoers, and reporters all call her Didi.

"Didi, what's the scene that left the deepest impression on you while filming the movie?"

Dilraba isn't stupid. The director and Sister Honey had both answered this question before, so when it was her turn, she was even less likely to come up with a different answer. Everyone knows that reporters love to hear them praise someone because it makes headlines much easier to write, and movie fans love it even more.

Immediately, Dilraba spoke into the densely packed microphones: "My sister, the director, and I felt the same way. When Chen Nuo came to the set that day, I was incredibly excited. Although he's my company's boss, we rarely interacted privately before. The only time he criticized me was when we were at the Beijing Film Academy or recording a variety show. Being able to see him act on set felt like a dream. The last scene in the movie was truly my own reflection, not an act."

"Many movie fans now believe that it was the brief few seconds of footage of Chen Nuo getting out of the car that made the name 'Tiny Times' possible. Do you agree with this statement? What are your thoughts on this?"

“I agree,” Dilraba said without hesitation. “Because Senior Chen Nuo is one of the most striking figures of this era. His final appearance signifies that the curtain has been raised on Tiny Times. However, without the director, I don’t think there would be such a classic scene, so I would also like to thank Director Guo.”

"One last question. We all know that you, Didi, are an employee of Huanxin Company, while Chen Nuo is currently in New Orleans filming Quentin Tarantino's new movie. Has he told you when filming will wrap up and he will return to China?"

“I know the answer to that question,” Honey Sister suddenly interrupted before Dilraba could speak.

Sister Mi said with a smile, "He will be back before the first snowfall in the capital."

Her words, coupled with her expression, immediately caused a stir among the reporters, who bombarded her with questions.

"When did he tell you that you were together?"

"Does Liu Yifei know that you two were chatting privately?"

Have you been in contact recently? How is his filming going?

Watching Sister Honey answer all sorts of questions with a smile, Dilraba's thoughts drifted away without her realizing it.

She didn't believe it at all—the first snowfall in the capital.

He's not the type to say things like that at all. It's probably just that Sister Mi saw how many questions she answered, so she used this trick to boost her own status and steal the spotlight.

Although she felt somewhat uncomfortable, she couldn't say anything. After all, the whole of China knew about Honey's relationship with him. Many people said that this was the main reason for Honey's recent success in the entertainment industry, saving her 10 years of hard work.

During this promotional period, after witnessing Mi Jie's glamorous life and daily routines, Dilraba suddenly wondered when that person would return, and she no longer felt like making any effort.

(End of this chapter)