A grand feast for the Chinese entertainment industry

Chapter 93 Passion
When I came back from my morning run, I thought my daughter was still asleep, but when I opened the door, I heard noises. I changed into slippers and went to the bedroom door, and there she was, busy making the bed.

The quilt was already folded up, the sheets were crumpled into a ball, and the pillowcases were patted flat.

A series of movements, clean and efficient.

Surprisingly, she seemed quite skilled at housework.

Turning around, she saw Lin Jianlu. "Oh! You're back!" she exclaimed. Putting down her things, she ran over in a few steps, wrapped her arms around his neck, and, ignoring Lin Jianlu's sweaty body, gave him a quick kiss. "I was just about to wash up... Oh, tofu pudding! I like it salty! I don't eat cilantro!"

Lin Jianlu laughed, "What a damn picky one! It's good enough that they only cater to your stutter!"

She laughed, "That won't do! As the old saying goes, a woman marries a man for food and clothing. The boyfriend I found is the most awesome man in the world. I have to eat well and dress well! Otherwise, wouldn't I be embarrassing him?"

Unable to resist, she made him laugh, and he slapped him on the bottom. "Eat!"

"Alright! Give it to me!"

The girl readily took the two large plastic bags of breakfast and quickly set the table with a clatter of bowls and chopsticks. After Lin Jianlu took a quick shower, she urged Lin Jianlu to eat first, "I'll go wash the sheets. They'll be washed by the time I finish eating, and they can be hung to dry. It won't interfere with what we need to do this morning! Eat first!"

After saying that, she twisted her slender waist and went to the bedroom.

It was a bit...unexpected.

Lin Jianlu never expected that this girl would have such a domestic vibe. Chen Shuhua's temperament was supposed to be closer to that of a gentle and virtuous wife, but she was not like that at all. She became famous at the age of eight and has been popular for thirty years. She also has a mother who takes care of her at all times. She really doesn't lift a finger and doesn't know how to do any housework. Her specialty is instant noodles.

But surprisingly, this woman, known as the "Princess of Beijing Circle" and the "White Moonlight" of the domestic film industry, is actually quite adept at managing household affairs. Just by looking at how efficient she is, you can tell that she does this quite often.

After she finished washing the things and came back for dinner, I asked her about it. She laughed and said, "Why shouldn't I know how? Isn't this normal? Everyone has to live. To live... you definitely have to do these things!"

She then brought up her maternal grandmother, saying, "I learned all these things from my maternal grandmother! Even folding quilts! Oh, and I also know how to make soybean paste. Today I'll be in charge of making the soybean paste, and you can roll out the noodles! I'll let you taste the soybean paste my grandmother taught me! I just don't know how to make noodles. My maternal grandmother is from the south, and our family has eaten rice for many years!"

"It's okay, I can learn. You can teach me later! I promise I'll learn quickly!"

Hey……

Last night I was a little impulsive and couldn't resist this woman's enthusiasm, so I slept with her. I wouldn't say I regret it, it was really great, and I want to do it again. But when I was running, I thought about the future, especially considering what I promised her last night, and I couldn't help but feel a little overwhelmed. But who would have thought that when she actually lived with me, she would not only be sweet and lovely, but also not have the spoiled princess attitude I had imagined!
Very reliable!

After finishing her meal and tidying up, she noticed the washing machine was still running. She went to take a look, then came back and said she was going downstairs first. When asked where she was going, the girl grinned and said, "I washed my underwear. I can't just go around naked like this forever, can I? I'm going out to buy a new pair to tide me over."

Lin Jianlu jumped at the sound, then slipped his hand inside the girl's jeans from behind, and...

The girl bit her lip and laughed.

…………

"Hey, Brother Han..."

It's normal to have sex on a whim when you're in the heat of passion. After you're done, the girl is too weak to move, and you might even have to go downstairs to buy her underwear. But once everything is settled and you have some free time, you still have to call Lao Han back.

Last night's gathering was actually convened by Han Shanping.

Although I believe I am completely innocent in terms of reason and morality, I probably have to admit that I ruined someone else's plans.

I hung up on him last night, so I should at least make amends today. That's Lin Jianlu's way of doing things. "Hey, no, I was driving when you called yesterday! I got busy and forgot to call back!"

"Yeah, hey, it's nothing, it's over. I gave him a good scolding too! That bastard deserved to be scolded as well, so we're even!"

"Hahaha, why is it like this? You guys do your thing! You're not kids anymore. Why can't you play with me just because you can play with him? No way, he's a big director after all. You should collaborate!"

"Right! Forget about Forbidden City Film Studio, I don't like them! Last night was your doing, if it were someone else, I would have beaten them up! Hey, it's over, just tell that bastard to stay away from me, I can't be bothered with him!"

"Hmm, hmm, I understand. Yes, it has nothing to do with Ni Ping. She's a really nice person, but she shouldn't even think about covering for him here. It's impossible! When I release an English album and sell it at his so-called Grammys, I'll spit a mouthful of phlegm in his face! That's it, what's the point of trying to cover for him!"

After finishing the call, the girl, finding it uninteresting, finally got up, went to the bathroom to clean herself up, changed into new underwear, and came out bare-legged. Seeing Lin Jianlu lounging on the sofa, she lay down next to her, plopped her upper body against hers, and rubbed her head against her, making Lin Jianlu feel incredibly aroused.

He slapped her on the butt again, saying, "I'll die on you sooner or later!"

She chuckled, her tone both haughty and sweet, "If that day ever comes, I won't say I'll remain a widow; I'll go down with you!"

"Hey...you got the fucking sweet talk spot on! I'm no match for you!"

She laughed, particularly pleased with herself, "Truth!"

After spending some time together, I don't know why, but we ended up talking about Ni Ping. Whether she's beautiful, intelligent, or a face of CCTV, those are secondary. The main thing is that Ni Ping has an excellent reputation in the capital's social circles.

With just one thing, she will always be invincible.

Two years ago, Chen Kaige's father passed away. Ni Ping was just his girlfriend at the time, but she was busy with everything from beginning to end. She practically single-handedly handled the entire funeral process for Chen's father. The famous director Chen was not good at these mundane matters and reportedly did not get involved much from beginning to end, leaving everything to Ni Ping.

Just based on this one point alone, the fact that she's already handling this kind of thing as a daughter-in-law before even marrying into the family is something everyone in the industry has seen and agrees on. If Chen Kaige didn't marry her, he'd be acting like he had no conscience.

This principle is particularly valued in Chinese society, or rather, by Chinese men!
However, "He's not exactly an honest man!" Xu Qing clearly knew a lot about Chen Kaige's gossip. "Back in '90, when we were filming 'Life on a String,' the one I starred in with Huang Lei, he was pursuing me. At that time, he was still married to his wife! I wasn't completely unmoved back then; I thought he was incredibly talented! But he had a wife, and I couldn't stand that! What did I lack that I would become his mistress?"

"Later, the media all said that his divorce from his wife was because of me. Pshaw, come on, what does it have to do with me? He was the one who was chasing after me! In the end, I ignored him and after filming, I made sure he couldn't find me. Then he turned around and went after Zhou Jie again! Don't you know Zhou Jie? She's a dancer. She played Yang Guifei in the 92 movie 'Yang Guifei' directed by Chen Jialin."

"In the end, Zhou Jie ignored him. It's said that he chased her all the way from the capital to Shanghai. Sigh, they got divorced because of this! Later last year, when he was filming 'Temptress Moon,' he still invited Zhou Jie to play a role. It's said that they agreed that after filming this movie, he would stop bothering her. Even so, Ni Ping was still very angry!"

“Ni Ping has been with him for four or five years. She's well-liked, and everyone in the industry speaks highly of her. Plus, she's very patient; she's put up with things several times already. At the beginning of this year, he was still pursuing Chen Hong, you know? The one who played Diao Chan in 'Romance of the Three Kingdoms,' but Chen Hong didn't dare to agree and ran off to America in fear. I heard he had already bought his plane ticket to go to America to continue pursuing her, but Ni Ping stopped him at the airport, and they had a huge fight!”

"..."

Lin Jianlu, holding a tender grape in her hand, listened to her gossip about Director Chen's romantic history. Suddenly, she asked, "Hey, if you don't want to be his mistress, why can I?"

She looked up and smiled, "Want to hear me praise you? What do you look like? What does he look like? Is he even worthy of carrying your shoes? He's certainly good at making movies, but you sing well! You're much more talented than him! 'Oriental Jackson,' I've seen that magazine! Besides, I'm not your mistress, I'm your girlfriend! You agreed!" "Fine! Girlfriend! Girlfriend!"

…………

I was originally planning to leave soon, but I stayed for several more days because of this girlfriend.

Oh my, it's so incredibly delicious!

Xu Qing even took Lin Jianlu to the house she bought herself. Lin Jianlu entered the Beijing Film Academy in 88 and officially debuted in 90 with the film "Life on a String". Later, she was sent to Singapore for exchange and filmed several Singaporean TV series. She also has representative works in China such as "The Imperial City" and "East Side Sunrise, West Side Rain". Last year, she also collaborated with Jiang Wen and Ge You on the movie "The Emperor's Shadow", directed by Zhou Xiaowen. She recently asked Dou Wei to compose the score for the movie. It can be said that although she doesn't earn a lot of money, she is still a wealthy person in China today.

She revealed that acting doesn't make money, but shooting magazine covers does.

Those little magazines, don't underestimate them. They're sold everywhere, from newsstands to street stalls. They have circulations of hundreds of thousands or even millions of copies per issue, so they sell very well. For example, Xu Qing's going rate is 200,000 yuan for taking a set of photos for them, allowing two photos to be used on the cover in two separate sessions!
She's considered a popular actress in the industry, and she's so beautiful. Before, she only earned 1500 yuan per episode for a TV series, but recently the scripts for her have gone up to 2500 yuan. She earns less than 100,000 yuan for a whole series.

Filming Zhou Xiaowen's "The Emperor's Shadow" took four months and only cost 100,000 yuan!

Moreover, there is still 20,000 yuan that hasn't been settled!

Compared to the 200,000 yuan spent on a set of photos... it's clear that whoever's goods sell well is willing to spend more money!
Movie tickets may not sell, but the faces of movie stars are still very valuable!

Of course, the little money she had earned over the years was clearly not enough for Lin Jianlu, and Lin Jianlu didn't care about her house at all. "Keep it, there's no need to rent it out and let others take advantage of it, just leave it empty! I'll go out and earn money for you during this time. You can go around the East and West districts and pick out a good house, I don't mind the price! Pick the best villa, once you've chosen it, I'll come back and pay for it for you!"

The girl wasn't coy at all; she readily agreed.

However, before leaving, there was an unexpected drinking session. Liu Huan suddenly called and, without any beating around the bush, said directly, "I have a friend, a writer I met when I sang the theme song for a TV series, named Haiyan. You must have watched that TV series when you were a kid, 'Plainclothes Policeman'! Yes! We happened to talk about it the other day, and he asked me to introduce him to you."

Lin Jianlu was a little surprised. The original owner must have read "Plainclothes Policeman," but after so long, Lin Jianlu definitely didn't remember it now. However, he could recall the name Haiyan.

As far as I can remember, a lot of old, trivial things happened afterward, and it seems that they were related to sexual orientation.

Of course, as a writer, he must have adapted many works into TV series. In my memory, the Empress was made famous by one of his TV series—it doesn't matter. I can probably guess the other party's intentions. But things are different now. Lin Jianlu has unknowingly discovered that he is getting closer and closer to the domestic film and television industry, and can even be considered half an insider. So it wouldn't hurt to meet him.

So before leaving, we arranged to have lunch together.

Not only Liu Huan and Haiyan came, but also a familiar face from later generations, Ma Weidu.

During our conversation, I learned that they had been working together since 94, when they ran a business called Haima Film and Television Studio. Of course, they soon parted ways. Ma Wei was very polite, saying, "I heard from Liu Huan that you also enjoy keeping birds and love collecting cages. Let's meet up sometime, and I'll give you a cage as a gift! Please don't be offended!"

Wow, the fact that I love playing with birds has spread so far!

However, he accepted all offers without hesitation, first thanking the sender and then explaining that it was his father who liked them—that old man Guo Baochang had insisted on giving him a pair of cages before, and after bringing them home, oh my, his father loved them so much!

The rumor was wrong, but that didn't stop Ma Wei from making goodwill, so they got along well and ate and drank together.

After several rounds of drinks and dishes, Haiyan took the initiative to reveal his intentions.

He and Ma Wei are planning to jointly start a professional film and television company. They've already been contacted by an advertising company called Hairun Advertising. They previously collaborated on a ten-episode TV series called "Police True Colors," which received a decent market response, so they've decided to take it seriously. But then…

Well, Lin Jianlu was quick-witted, and she understood the general meaning very quickly.

The owner of Hairun Advertising is Liu Yanming. He is also optimistic about the future development of the TV drama industry and is very optimistic about the direction of adapting Haiyan's works. Haiyan is also willing to continue the cooperation. However, the other party is the investor and is quite powerful. With the cooperation of "Police True Colors" as a test, he knows that he will not have much say in the cooperation. Therefore, he intends to introduce other companies or cooperate directly with other companies, but they must agree to give him a certain degree of control. Alternatively, he wants to cooperate with all three companies. He wants to gain more say by virtue of his status as the original author and the screenwriter of the adaptation.

As for Ma Weidu, he was the one who brought him in, intending to work together. The general idea was that he wanted to increase the weight of the screenwriter's output.

Speaking of this, Lin Jianlu was a little unsure—that's just his personality; he doesn't like doing things that cause conflict with others, and with a huge amount of music resources at his disposal, he's not worried about not making money. Although he's now considered to be in the film and television industry, it's just something he does for fun, so he's even less willing to cause any trouble in the film and television circle.

But it's okay, he still has connections.

In front of the three people, he made a phone call and first asked Zhang Zien, who was closest to him, and learned a little about Liu Yanming. Liu Yanming had previously worked as the production director of some program in the arts department of the Capital TV station. Later, he went out on his own to run an advertising company and made some money. He had previously invested in "Prime Minister Liu Luoguo" through Zhang Heping's introduction. So, within this small circle, it was easy to make connections.

However, he was just a peripheral investor who stumbled into his first venture; he was no remarkable figure.

Then he called Old Gu's go-to socialite, Old Gu's sister-in-law Jiang Wenli. She was even more direct, "There is such a company, they do advertising, and after making some money they started making TV dramas. I remember they invested in a police-themed TV series, but I'm not very familiar with them. They... are outsiders, right? Why would you care about someone like that? You even pointed your finger at Director Chen and cursed him, and he didn't dare to talk back! Now everyone in the capital knows your reputation! Don't even mention this low-class person, even the biggest star wouldn't dare to mess with you!"

Lin Jianlu laughed heartily, hung up the phone, and immediately asked, "How much money do you need?"

The two were overjoyed and immediately expressed their intention to prepare a TV series, which would be adapted from Haiyan's own novel published in 1994, called "A Romantic Affair". They planned to make a 20-episode urban drama, which would not cost much, estimated to be just over two million yuan!

The only problem is that the two of them want to partner with Lin Jianlu to form a company together to prepare and manage the production of the show. If the show is successful, they can continue to collaborate using that framework.

Specifically, Haiyan wanted to contribute the adaptation rights and script of "A Romantic Affair" as equity, asking for a price of 200,000 yuan. He was also prepared to put in another 200,000 yuan of his own money. Ma Weidu planned to contribute 100,000 yuan to join in and help with the preparations. He was an editor by training and was familiar with the capital city. He was good at dealing with people, and Haiyan hoped that he could participate in the production and preparation.

In other words, this company invested a total of 250 million to produce "A Romantic Affair".

After only a slight hesitation, Lin Jianlu agreed.

It's only 200 million. Although I don't have much of an impression of this person's dramas, and even if I have watched them, I've probably forgotten them completely, it's certain that this person became quite successful later on—so let's collaborate!

If he can collaborate with Zhang Guoli, and with Beijing Film Studio and the Municipal Bureau of Culture, then of course he can collaborate with Haiyan.

And so, they hit it off immediately.

Even on the spot, Lin Jianlu had already considered who she needed to keep an eye on this matter for her—Xu Qing, of course. She's been in the industry for five or six years, acted in movies and TV series, and is smart. These kinds of things in the industry can't be kept from her. Maybe she didn't care much before, but once she has a career to pursue, it'll be a different story—look, I'm not just giving you a house and keeping you as a mistress! I'm giving you a career, letting you, my girlfriend, take the lead for me!
I value you so much!
Moreover... most actors, after a few to ten years in the industry, will want to become directors and try making their own films. Even those who don't have such great artistic ambitions are quite addicted to becoming producers and managing a production crew!
Let her give it a try. She's a beginner anyway, so it doesn't matter if she makes a profit or a loss. It'll be good practice!

The cooperation was successful, and toasts were raised continuously!
Lin Jianlu casually invited, "Brother Huan, I'm probably going to do a concert tour next year, with 30 to 50 shows all over Asia. I need a lot of guest performers. I'll let you know when the time comes, so you have to come!"

Liu Huan laughed heartily, "It's just a matter of a word from you!"

(End of this chapter)