A grand feast for the Chinese entertainment industry

Chapter 80 See You Again
Early morning, in the hotel room.

Lin Jianlu went outside and ran for about ten kilometers before returning to the suite's living room to practice boxing.

Hearing him return, Su Huilun groggily got out of bed, wearing only a tank top and underwear, and nestled on the sofa watching him violently unleash a strangely awe-inspiring boxing routine.

She refused to go wash up and just stayed there watching.

After finishing her boxing and doing push-ups, she gradually began to wake up. Suddenly, she had a mischievous idea, ran over, and climbed onto Lin Jianlu's back—so she did push-ups on her back.

It's effortless.

Later, she started showing off with one hand, exclaiming "Wow!" repeatedly.

Finally, I carried her into the bathroom.

After tidying up and making sure everything was clean and tidy, they went to have breakfast together. Then she drove Lin Jianlu to the company—today was the day to record "What's Left".

Obviously, everything went smoothly.

In just one morning, they recorded "What's Left"—her producer, Bao Xiaosong, was very satisfied. Although Lin Jianlu only wrote two songs, she would take a 2% royalty share from Su Huilun's album, which was to be called "Duck," their entire production team was still very happy.

Everyone felt that "Duck," which continued the ideas and style of "Lemon-tree" and even the lyrics of "Duck" by Lin Jianlu, was bound to be a hit!

Su Huilun was also full of confidence, clenching his fists and looking very determined. As soon as the recording ended, he openly shouted, "I'll punch Lin Jianlu and kick Chen Shuhua!"

Lin Jianlu responded with a cold laugh.

Chen Shuhua burst out laughing on the spot, "You can hit him, I'm not popular lately, don't kick me!"

…………

Teaching singing. Recording. Book signings. Socializing.

After working for about seven or eight days, things started to get less hectic. Even the recording of Chen Shuhua gradually found a comfortable rhythm for everyone, and things gradually became less complicated.

Finally, Lin Jianlu had some time and invited Jia Jingwen to dinner.

He had a very good impression of this girl, not only because she was really beautiful, but more importantly because he really liked her resilient, brave, and sweet side.

It was the same street. After agreeing on a time, Lin Jianlu took a taxi there. Just as the sun was about to set, she saw her waiting in front of a convenience store.

She had definitely dressed up carefully, wearing a bright green fitted T-shirt paired with a cream-colored knee-length pencil skirt and a ponytail, looking both refreshing and radiant.

"Have we been waiting long enough? I suspect the driver took me on a long detour!"

"No, I was just waiting for a little while."

"Actually, I've been here for a week, but I've been so busy with so many things that I only had time today. ...You didn't have any work scheduled that day, so why did you go to queue for autographs?"

"I took leave! I just wanted to go see you in person!"

"Hey! How's work lately? Are you still working as hard as you always have?"

"Yes! I've always worked super hard! I'm currently filming another movie, it's a small role! My scenes have already wrapped up, I had about a dozen shots, and it brought in 15,000 yuan!"

"Wow, that's great!"

As we walked and chatted, we soon arrived at the entrance of a noodle shop. "Look, this is it! I absolutely love their shrimp and fish cake noodles, but their beef ball noodles are also delicious!"

Let's go in and have a taste.

It's basically the same way of making ramen, but the broth is indeed delicious and refreshing.

When the noodles arrived, Lin Jianlu was full of praise.

So Alyssa Chia was especially happy, and her smile was exceptionally bright.

Lin Jianlu finished two bowls herself, both of which were the flavors she highly recommended. After she paid the bill, the two of them went out together and took a walk along the street. It had been cloudy for two days in a row recently, and the temperature was not high. There was a bit of wind in the evening, so the walk was unusually comfortable and pleasant in the summer in Taiwan.

Lin Jianlu is a big star, and can be considered the most popular rising star in the entire Chinese entertainment industry this year. Jia Jingwen is a small actress and assistant host, currently working to pay off her debts. But that's okay, Lin Jianlu can empathize with her. He is just an ordinary person. In his previous life, he spent ten years in Beijing and did not do much better than Jia Jingwen is now.

Listen to her talk about her recent work, the joy of paying off her 300,000 yuan debt, her mother and younger brother, and the gossip that happened on set recently—big shots bullying newcomers is a common occurrence. Of course, there are plenty of people in the industry who love to show off or are just inherently bad, but actually, many times, it's not necessarily intentional bullying, it's just that the feeling of being crushed is too easy to create the impression that the other party is "acting like a big shot" or "bullying people."

She's alright. She's just a small-time actress, practically invisible. People don't feel any sense of accomplishment when they bully her.

Therefore, the Eight Trigrams are simply the Eight Trigrams.

But Lin Jianlu still told her, "If you are bullied, call me. I don't know many people in Taiwan, but I can still help you a little."

She smiled sweetly and nodded, "Thank you, Brother Lu!" There was a coffee shop on the street corner, so she asked Lin Jianlu to wait a moment, went in and bought two iced Americanos, but before she could even take a sip, Lin Jianlu stopped her, "You should drink less iced Americanos, it'll make you have menstrual cramps!"

"puff……"

She was slightly embarrassed, but also found it a little funny. "How do you even know something like this? Really?"

"It really will!"

So Lin Jianlu went back in and bought her a hot Americano. He himself had an iced Americano in one hand, while Jia Jingwen had to hold the hot Americano, which was even burning hot, and kept turning her head to look at him.

Sometimes I try not to laugh.

Yes, 21 or 22-year-old Alyssa Chia is truly stunningly beautiful.

"Do you stay in hotels every day? Why don't you consider buying a house here?"

"It's expensive! Housing prices in Taiwan are too high!"

"You think it's expensive? But you're not short of money! Your albums have sold over ten million copies. I heard on a show that you earn at least several hundred million NT dollars from each album! That's tens of millions of US dollars!"

"Then I won't buy it! I'm here in Taiwan on a business trip, and Lao Duan from Rolling Stone reimbursed me for the cost of a hotel suite, so why shouldn't I stay here! Do I really have to spend my own money to buy a house?"

"Pfft... You're so different from the celebrities around here. As far as I know, after they make money, they all want to buy houses, the more the better, the bigger the better. Everyone says that houses appreciate in value!"

Ah, right? Liu Ruoying fell into a mortgage trap.

Su Huilun had been working on a house before, but now things are different. With the success of "Lemon-tree," which easily sold over a million copies across Asia, she's about to make a fortune. She's calculated that after the royalties are settled, she can easily pay off her mortgage without any pressure. Actually, she should have saved enough for a house long ago after five or six years in the industry, but she was greedy and bought a penthouse duplex, a low-density one at that. Using modern terminology, it should be called an upper-level duplex, which is why it was so expensive.

Yes, Lin Jianlu is planning to stay at her house for a couple of days.

But it's almost impossible for Chen Shuhua's family to get rich—she became wealthy much earlier. Before she was twenty, her parents decided to buy a villa. At that time, Taipei's housing prices were cheap, and villas weren't too expensive. A few years ago, she suddenly became popular again, and the villa was renovated. However, she still lives with her parents.

“The logic is that buying a house should still allow it to appreciate in value, but I don’t care. I only come to Taipei for one or two to three months each year. What am I supposed to do if I leave the house there all the time? I’d even have to hire someone to look after it. It’s better to stay in a hotel; it’s more convenient and less hassle.”

"That makes sense. Can I come to the hotel to see you another day?"

Ah, I dare not agree to that—Chen Shuhua has been arguing with her mother lately. She wants to rebel, but she's also afraid of upsetting her mother, so she has to go straight home after work every day and hasn't been to a hotel for several days. But Su Huilun often sneaks over to stay there. It would be terrible if she caught them!
"Sure! Give me a call if you want to go! But be extra careful. See those sunglasses and hats? I have to be extremely careful to avoid being watched by paparazzi when I go out for a meal!"

We chatted and chatted.

The conversation gradually turned to various gossip.

It seems that Alyssa Chia is also very keen on finding out all sorts of gossip.

Then I'll just agree to her request.

"Of course we could have Su Huilun film it, but it's not that simple. Su Huilun, Liu Ruoying, and I are all very good friends. They're both singers with Rock Records, so it wouldn't matter who we use. But Liu Ruoying's manager is Zhang Aijia! And she's also my manager! So you have to think about it..."

"And Liang Yongqi! ...No! At least up to now, I can tell you with 100% certainty that I'm not dating her, but she's an artist under my other agent, Ge Fuhong. I'll just give her a hand! Anyway, I have plenty of scandals, so one more won't make a difference. I'll just help her out!"

"You see, the entertainment industry is actually a kind of 'jianghu' (江湖, a term referring to a world of martial arts and chivalry). But jianghu isn't all about fighting and killing; it's about human relationships and social interactions!"

"Yeah, I saw it too. Rumors, sigh, rumors all the time! But she's actually just my assistant! She's also an artist under my manager, Ge Fuhong. Oh well, I'll just have to make do. If she doesn't mind and is willing to keep working for me, even for a year, I'll use my connections to find her a role with some weight. Then, she'll have a bright future, and I'll have given her a beautiful gift. Perfect!"

"Haha, you want to be my assistant? My assistant's salary is so low, it's not even enough to pay off your debts!"

"Alright, alright, how about this? Forget about being an assistant. I'll introduce you to a role. I'm currently investing in a drama in mainland China, something like 'The Emperor's Adventures,' you've seen it? It's divided into several episodes. If you're willing to film it in mainland China, I can help you get the female lead role in one episode. But let me make this clear, the pay isn't much! That production team will be very poor, with a total budget of four million. Just the custom-made costumes and props will cost hundreds of thousands! Your role in a few episodes will only get you a maximum of ten or twenty thousand RMB, which is around sixty or seventy thousand NTD!"

"Okay! It's a deal, I'll try to get it for you!"

It has to be said that as they chatted, they felt increasingly close, and gradually, she even started to act coquettishly, wanting to be Lin Jianlu's assistant—but being an assistant was not an option, as Lin Xilei was very happy with her job and showed no intention of quitting to go to auditions, so even if it was just for Ge Fuhong's sake, she couldn't be dismissed.

However... it was a small favor, and I was also trying to help out a little, so Lin Jianlu offered her a role.

Although we still don't know when "Kangxi's Private Visits" will actually start filming!

But, how should I put it, he really likes Jia Jingwen.

Based on what he saw and knew, in the early twenties, which is actually the right age to get married, she and Jiang Qinqin were probably the two most beautiful women.

The female lead in a unit of a drama that we invested in ourselves is a minor character, and she's probably just a pretty face. If we can give her a role, we should give her one, just to bribe her!

I doubt the two old Zhangs would have much of an opinion.

Although the investment has actually been transferred to the soon-to-be-established Forbidden City Film Company, as the largest individual shareholder and vice chairman, he should still have some face to save.

(End of this chapter)