Huayu: A Commercial Director

Chapter 73 A Feast is Held, and the Daughter-in-Law
"have time?"

Chen Shouzhe thought for a moment and then made a phone call.

"What? Missing me?" It was a woman's voice on the other end of the phone, surprised that Chen Shou was calling.

"I'm about to start the fire in my new house. Are you free? Come over and have a meal," Chen Shou said.

"Huh? You didn't tell me when?"

"today."

"You didn't even tell me beforehand. Luckily, I'm in the capital now. Do you need to buy anything when I get there?"

"No need, don't buy anything, just come and have a meal."

"Okay, I'll be there in a bit. By the way, where is it located?"

Chen Shou gave an address before hanging up the phone.

On the other end of the phone, a woman on set handed her phone to her assistant and walked toward the director.

"Director, I'd like to ask for lunch break!!"

Chen Shou made a few more calls. He suddenly realized that he had quite a few friends. China Film Group was a state-owned enterprise and it was difficult to hire people. He didn't plan to hire people from Shanghai Film Group. So he called Ye Ning, Wang Gongzi, Wang Changtian, Huo Wenxi, Jiang Wen, Zhang Hanyu, Huang Xiaoming, Zhou Xun, Li Baibing, Yu Entang, Shen Teng, and Ma Li.

Everyone who received his call was surprised; some were out of town and couldn't come, while others said they would arrive later.

However, everyone was secretly complaining about Chen Shou, thinking that he was too strange. He only brought up this matter on the day itself, while others had notified him well in advance. He should at least have considered everyone's schedule.

The sudden invitation caught them off guard; one could only say that directors are all a bit eccentric.

However, these kinds of people are easy to get along with. Their motives are pure and simple, and they are very comfortable to be friends with.

Finally, Chen Shou couldn't remember anything, so he picked up his phone and looked through his contacts.

"Hello, Director Chen?" A lazy voice came from the other end of the phone, sounding like he hadn't woken up yet.

"Liu Yifei, are you free?" Chen Shou asked.

"What are you doing so early in the morning?" The person on the other end of the phone was Liu Yifei, who was wearing an eye mask and lazily talking while snuggled in bed.

"Early in the morning?"

Chen Shou looked up at the sky and then at her watch. It was almost 11 a.m. Was this really early in the morning? Her schedule was similar to that of the actors in Deyun Society.

"My house is all renovated and will be put on fire today. Are you free? Come over for dinner," Chen Shou said.

"Oh, the house is ready, let's eat..."

Chen Shou had a feeling that the girl would fall asleep soon, but after thinking about it, he decided not to bother and told her the time.

Around noon, people started arriving one after another. They were all fellow apprentices from the Deyun Society, and their parents also came from their hometown. After all, their son now owned a house, and they were there to urge him to get married.

The first person to arrive surprised Chen Shouzhe; he came in wearing large sunglasses and carrying two bags.

"Aunt Xun!"

Chen Shouzhe saw the petite woman rushing in and smiled as he went up to hug her.

"Get lost. Here, take this. Is this how you notify people? We don't have anything else, but we'll bring you two bottles of wine."

Hearing Chen Shouzhe call her "aunt," Zhou Xun was furious and shoved the bag in her hand into Chen Shouzhe's arms.

"What wine?"

"Drinkable alcohol."

Chen Shouzhe then remembered that Zhou Xun's home was also relatively close to here, and she had asked Chen Shouzhe before coming to confirm that Li Baibing and the others were not available.

Chen Shou really didn't want to complain about these big-flower things.

Compared to male actors, although there is competition between them in private, they won't make things too difficult for each other on the surface.

However, these big shots not only fight each other in private, but also avoid each other in public as much as possible, wishing the other would die sooner.

The competition among female entertainers in this industry is far more intense and fierce than that among male entertainers.

You can't succeed in the entertainment industry without ambition and cunning.

The so-called "naive and innocent" type is just for the audience; each of them knows their own true nature perfectly well, just like a mirror reflects their own heart.

After Zhou Xun, Jiang Wen and her husband came together, also bringing wine. Later, Yu Entang also arrived, again bringing wine. Huang Xiaoming, who was not in the capital, had two cases of red wine delivered by someone. The leader's conduct is impeccable, after all, he is nicknamed the "Mainland Liu Dehua" (a reference to a famous Chinese comedian).

The only difference was that Zhang Hanyu sent over a calligraphy and painting, a work by a famous artist.

There were quite a few people, all eating, drinking and having fun. Chen Shou prepared a mahjong table, and they all played mahjong together, or went to see a movie.

The biggest expense in the entire villa was the movie theater he built for himself. He had arranged it with Wanda to use the best screen available, and the effect was comparable to any movie theater. It could accommodate dozens of people.

Yang Mi arrived late, bringing two cases of baijiu (Chinese liquor).

When Yang Mi arrived, the expressions of the people present became amused. It was an open secret in the industry that Chen Shou and Yang Mi were having an affair.

Liu Yifei also arrived late. She lived in the same neighborhood. I called her around 10 a.m., but she didn't arrive until 4 p.m.

Around 5 p.m., a group of people arrived at the restaurant they had booked by car.

"Come on, let me take a picture of you," the master's wife suddenly said. "Master's wife, let me do it," Chen Shou hurriedly said.

“You’re the main character, how could I let you take pictures? Your master’s wife will take them for you.” The master’s wife slapped Chen Shou’s hand away.

"Let your master's wife take the photos," the master said.

"No, please sit down, Master's wife. I'll have Xiao Meng come and take the photos." Chen Shouzhe pulled his master's wife to a seat, took the camera, and went next door to call Meng Hetang over.

Meng Hetang adjusted the angle and took a picture of everyone.

Many people from Deyun Society came, and Chen Shouzhe arranged for them to stay in another private room.

Apart from Chen Shouzhe's elders, everyone in their private room was an important friend.

The photos weren't posted randomly, but the news that Chen had guarded the house and then burned down still spread within the circle.

"Director Chen, you don't treat me like a friend at all. You didn't even tell me when the house was on fire."

The caller was Yu Dong. Chen Shou thought to himself, "If you hadn't sent me money, I probably wouldn't even acknowledge you. You two-faced person."

Chen Shou laughed it off, and people like Ren Zhonglun, people from Xi'an Film Studio, and some celebrities he had worked with called and sent messages to congratulate him.

"Director Chen, you didn't invite me? Are you looking down on me?"

Just as I hung up Ren Zhonglun's call, my phone rang again; this time it was Tian Tian.

"Aren't you filming out of town?" Chen Shou asked, making up an excuse. He really hadn't thought about inviting Tian Tian.

“I’m in the capital, not out of town. You’re just looking down on me,” Tian Tian said.

"No, no, I didn't want to make a big fuss, so I just invited some family and friends."

"So, you mean I'm not your friend anymore?!"

"I didn't mean that. I'll treat you next time."

"Okay, I remember, you owe me a meal."

"Row."

After seeing off the guests, only the three of them remained in the villa.

"A big house is nice, but it's too quiet," sighed Zhang Fengjiao, the mother, sitting on the sofa in the living room.

Alright, as soon as she opened her mouth, Chen Shouzhe knew what she was going to say: it's too deserted, there's hardly anyone around, the pressure to get married has begun.

"Mom, an auntie will be coming over in a couple of days," Chen Shou said.

"What kind of behavior is this, Auntie? I want a daughter-in-law, I want a grandson! Your Aunt Liu next door already had a grandson last year, a big, healthy boy, and she takes him to the park every day. Look at you, you're so unkempt. Last month I thought you looked somewhat presentable, but now you've gone back to this. I don't care, just get married quickly so I can have a grandson..."

Chen Shouzhe sensed the monkey's pain. His mother was definitely better at chanting sutras than Tang Sanzang. She kept repeating the same words for more than ten minutes.

“I think that Liu Yifei is quite nice, very well-behaved. What do you think, Old Chen?” Zhang Fengjiao said at the end.

Old Chen, who was suddenly mentioned, nodded: "That guy named Yang Mi seems to be closer to him."

Old Chen noticed when Yang Mi entered that the way the others were looking at the two of them was strange.

“Yang Mi? Not bad either, very pretty, and with an even better figure.” Zhang Fengjiao nodded.

"Alright, you guys are all friends. I have something to do, so I'll go upstairs to work first. You guys get some rest," Chen Shou said, yawning.

He was afraid that if he continued talking, even Zhou Xun could become his daughter-in-law.

Seeing Chen Shouzhe go upstairs, the couple shook their heads helplessly. In fact, they did not want Chen Shouzhe to marry an entertainment star; they preferred him to marry someone from a more down-to-earth family.

After all, celebrities in the entertainment industry may look glamorous, but there are still too many rumors and gossip. They don't want to be pointed at and talked about on the street, with people saying things like "how their daughter-in-law is doing this or that."

Since both his parents were there, he couldn't very well let them stay overnight at the villa, so he slept alone in the big bed tonight.

The next day, the elderly couple made his favorite beef noodles and drove to the horse farm.

He was the headline of the entertainment news first thing this morning.

However, it wasn't about his house last night, but rather a joint announcement from four companies.

The film "Let the Bullets Fly," co-produced by Bu Yi Yue Hu, China Film Group, Emperor Motion Pictures, and Shou Zhe Pictures, has officially been greenlit. The film is written by Chen Shou Zhe and directed by Jiang Wen, who also stars in the lead role.

The casting for the movie "Let the Bullets Fly" is currently more than halfway complete, with main actors including Jiang Wen, Ge You, Zhou Juanjuan, and Liu Jialin...

[Director Jiang Wen reveals the cast of her new film "Let the Bullets Fly," featuring three award-winning actors.]

[It is reported that the film was written and directed by Chen Shouzhe. Originally, Chen Shouzhe intended to direct the film himself, but due to being in the later stages of production of "The Martian," he did not have time to direct. Later, director Jiang Wen learned of this and "snatched" the filming rights.]

Director Jiang Wen stated that upon seeing the script, he knew it belonged to him.

In response to accusations of stealing the script, director Jiang Wen stated that this was untrue; the script was tailor-made for him by Chen Shouzhe, and he strongly suspects that Chen Shouzhe wrote it himself.

When asked about his relationship with Chen Shouzhe, Jiang Wen said that in the presence of outsiders, he is Chen Shouzhe's uncle; when no outsiders are present, they are brothers, each with their own relationship.

[Recreating iconic scenes from "Goodbye Mr. Loser," director Jiang Wen and director Chen Shouzhe are grandfather and grandson, and also like brothers; each has their own perspective.]

(End of this chapter)