A grand feast for the Chinese entertainment industry

Chapter 89 Very White
Shopping, buying things, eating.

The two girls gradually became more familiar with each other, and at least when discussing clothes and offering each other aesthetic opinions, they were able to exchange a few words.

I bought a lot of things for Zuo Xiaoqian, basically replicating the approach I took when I bought things for Jiang Qinqin yesterday. In the end, I gave her a beautiful bracelet, also made of platinum.

At first, she hesitated, unlike Jiang Qinqin who seemed to accept it so readily yesterday. But when she was asked to try on clothes and buy what she liked, she stopped refusing. She got used to it by the time she bought the bracelet.

I'm still a little embarrassed, though.

After buying everything, not counting the bracelet, the clothes alone cost over ten thousand yuan—far more than the fee she received for shooting a music video for Lin Jianlu.

Then, after shopping, eating, and shopping, we drove them both back to school.

Seeing the two of them wary and scrutinizing each other around me was unbearable.

It's afternoon, so I'll go take a look at my family's courtyard house.

The agreed construction period was still a couple of months away, but looking at the site, it's already basically in the final stages. The master craftsman explained with a smile, "The final polishing may seem insignificant, but it takes a lot of time. We have to finish all the little details for you so that you can live comfortably without any rough edges!"

Alright, Lin Jianlu had already figured it out. This team must have been pulled from some unit. Taking on private jobs is nothing new, and Lin Jianlu couldn't care less. As long as the work was done well, he would even be happy to hire this master craftsman again for the next job.

After wandering around for more than half an hour and looking around, I ran into two neighbors who had come to see what was going on. I greeted them, but they were both quite old. The old man didn't recognize Lin Jianlu, but he kept praising the craftsmanship of the courtyard.

Then I went to Rolling Stone Records.

After being away for over a month, I naturally had to come back to see how my dance team was doing.

They are rehearsing, and they are even wearing "formal attire" for the rehearsal.

Wow, the door opened, and there was a whole row of people in suits, long legs, and high heels...

The jump was very white.

Before leaving, I had instructed Lao Xue to be in charge of arranging outfits for them, five or six outfits for each person. This is just one of them, designed to be an alluring office lady.

With this outfit alone, Lin Jianlu dares to guarantee success across Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and Japan/Korea...

On the contrary, you can't dress like this in mainland China; it's considered indecent.

Upon seeing that Lin Jianlu had returned, the girls' movements were slightly affected, and they became a little out of shape for a moment. There was also a small disturbance in the group, but they quickly regained their composure and, to the rhythm of "Cold to the End," successfully completed the entire dance.

Lin Jianlu clapped her hands by herself, "Well done, and the dance was great!"

It's clear that the dance moves aren't complicated. For these highly professional dancers, there's almost no difficulty, and they're already quite skilled. What they're getting used to now is high heels—high heels are familiar to most girls; most shoes have a little heel, but that little heel is completely different from the nine-centimeter heels they're wearing right now.

It's impossible to go on stage without getting used to those high stilettos.

Since she was already there, she decided to learn it herself. After greeting the dance instructors, Lin Jianlu simply asked them to play the accompaniment again so she could learn and dance along. It wasn't complicated; in fact, it was based on the same routine that Lin Jianlu herself had danced in the "Bei'er Shuang" MV.

If you trace it back to its roots, it's really just street dance, mixed with elements from Korean girl groups.

After learning it twice, Lin Jianlu felt he was getting the hang of it, so he decided to join in and stand in the empty space left for him in the middle, singing and dancing. This was just a rough idea; the choreography would need to be adjusted for formal performances and even concerts.

Most importantly, you need to integrate him into the group. You shouldn't let him take on too many group activities, but at key moments, you should let him take the spotlight.

They practiced for an hour or so, and before they knew it, it was almost five o'clock. Old Xue had been standing at the door watching for a long time. Lin Jianlu took the initiative to stop them, and said with a smile, "That's enough for today. Everyone take a break, change your clothes, and I'll treat you all to seafood tonight—all you can eat is Australian lobster!"

"Oh!"

"thank you boss!"

The girls were overjoyed and immediately the room was filled with their sweet cries.

Lin Jianlu laughed and walked over to Lao Xue, patted him on the shoulder, and chatted briefly. Lao Xue then offered to send someone to arrange the Australian lobster dinner immediately.

After he left, Lin Jianlu turned back and took the initiative to chat with the girls.

Oh my, every time I see her, I can't help but sigh. No wonder Li Xiao's descendants had the beautiful nickname "Li Dabai" (Li the Great White). It really is well-deserved. That delicate, pale skin, those big breasts, that slender waist, those long legs, every time I see her, even if I don't actually have any good feelings towards her as a person, I can't help but get a little hard.

Liu Dan's smile was as sweet as ever.

You know what, that round face, paired with that sweet smile, is really beautiful, a pure and innocent beauty.

Talk to this person, talk to that person.

Eleven people were selected initially, and Lin Jianlu could remember the names of more than half of them at the time. Now, more than a month later, he has forgotten many of them, but with a little prompting, he can quickly remember a few more.

The girls gradually went to change their clothes, and Lin Jianlu then approached Liu Xiaoli, who had been staying at the back. "How's it going?"

"pretty good."

The mother-in-law smiled gently and reservedly, not as assertive as her daughter after she turned thirty. In fact, she was more in line with the image of a virtuous wife and loving mother in the minds of Chinese people. However, her current outfit added an indescribable brilliance to her appearance.

"Have you all settled in? How's life going?"

"Everything's settled. Thank you! I've already written an IOU for your money!"

As she spoke, she opened her palm and handed over a piece of paper.

Oh, no wonder I didn't see her earlier, she must have gone to get the IOU.

Lin Jianlu took it without even looking at it and stuffed it into her pocket. "Alright, don't worry, I'll take you guys out for a spin later, and you can pay me back when we get back!"

She smiled, very happy, "Thank you!"

Lin Jianlu waved her hand, "Go change your clothes! Let's have a big meal!"

She readily agreed, "Yes!"

Surprisingly, once she received the IOU and put it in her pocket, she seemed to suddenly feel a bit more at ease.

You're overthinking it. How could I not answer?

…………

The dinner that night cost a substantial sum of over ten thousand yuan.

Actually, Lin Jianlu hired eleven girls and the coach he hired, but Australian lobsters are really expensive in the capital these days, costing 680 yuan per kilogram. For an average office worker in Beijing, even a decent one, that's about the monthly salary. Honestly, it's outrageous!
However, there are advantages to luxury; the girls all ate with great enjoyment.

No matter what time it is, why should anyone follow you? To put it bluntly, they just want your food, your drinks, and your money. Once you've spent the money, no one will think you're a fool; they'll just think that following you is a promising career path.

…………

The banquet started the next day.

Small gatherings are the main focus.

Feng Xiaogang became increasingly obsequious, and Xu Fan treated him with great hospitality.

Actually, putting Xu Fan aside for now, the main issue is Feng Xiaogang. Based on Lin Jianlu's understanding of the domestic film and television industry, especially in the capital, his position is actually quite awkward.

The domestic film and television industry has its own academic school, which is basically equivalent to the art film school at present. That school is the so-called path of a certain generation of directors. At present, the fifth generation has been established. Chen Kaige, Zhang Yimou and others are typical representatives. They can't make a living at the domestic box office. Their school now mainly accepts investment from foreign film funds and sells their films abroad.

Get paid, make a film, send it out to film festivals, sell it, and then it gets banned in China... Well, that's pretty much the way it goes! In this day and age, if you're a fifth-generation director and your films haven't been banned, you're practically invisible!

So they don't really expect to make much money selling domestically!
However, Feng Xiaogang's new film was halted halfway through production, and he himself has been semi-banned, forbidden from directing any more films. It's barely considered a ban, but he still can't attend events.

The people in China who actually make art films look down on him!
He's a self-taught artist, a graphic designer, so what does he know about art? That's pretty much the gist of it.

People like Zhang Yang and Zhang Yibo, although they are both graduates of the Central Academy of Drama, are not artistic enough. Zhang Yibo is just a director who shoots commercials and music videos. Zhang Yang wasn't much in the past either. His current directorial work, "Spicy Love Soup," doesn't feel artistic at all. They are all unworthy of consideration.

In the past, Feng Xiaogang associated with Wang Shuo. Wang Shuo was from a privileged family and was quite shrewd. He just wanted to make money, so his work was very down-to-earth and popular, and easily adapted into movies and TV series.

But now, Wang Shuo has clearly lost his composure.

Feng Xiaogang is on the rise, but he can't rise any higher. He's not qualified for art films, and most likely he genuinely doesn't know how or isn't good at it. On the downside, he's been blacklisted, and if he doesn't find a way out, he might starve. Where else can he go? —"You're overthinking it. Hong Kong has no shortage of directors. We're from the north; if we went to Hong Kong, we wouldn't understand their way of life, and the films we make wouldn't be liked by the locals! Don't even think about it!"

But in the end, he still agreed. He said that when the opportunity arose, he would help him get some information out of Han Shanping and see if the director of the Beijing Film Studio would be willing to put in a good word for him. Even if the film was rejected, he shouldn't be prevented from taking on any more work. He needed to be able to make a living. He was already extremely grateful for that.

The next day, they went to Gu Changwei and Jiang Wenli's house for dinner.

Old Gu's life was so-so, but he was actually in the core circle of the fifth generation, and to be honest, he wasn't short of work.

It's just that the couple are both quite resourceful and willing to associate with Lin Jianlu more often, thus preparing an alternative path.

So, the wine was actually quite enjoyable to drink.

I didn't remember much of what Lao Gu said, except for one thing: after drinking a little wine, my sister-in-law's face was flushed and her beautiful eyes were sparkling; she was really damn tempting.

(End of this chapter)