1979: The child's mother is a celestial being.

Chapter 36 Old Han, the Child of Destiny?

"Holy crap, Lao Han, what brings you here?"

Chen Fusheng opened the door and saw Han Sanping standing at the door. He thought he had gotten up too fast.

"Haha, you didn't expect me to come, did you?"

"I really didn't expect it."

"How was your delivery? Did your sister-in-law give birth to a boy or a girl?"

As Chen Fusheng invited Han Sanping into the house, he replied:
"Yes, everything went smoothly, it's a girl."

After Han Sanping entered the house, he found that there were quite a few people there.

Because Chen Fusheng's father-in-law and brother-in-law had just arrived yesterday.

In addition, his parents came over this morning.

Indeed, the room was full of people.

"Let me introduce you to Han Sanping—the artistic director of Emei Film Studio and the director of 'Cow Fighting'."

"Director Han, thank you for taking care of my family's Fusheng on set. You are welcome to come to my home."

"Thank you, Auntie. This is my first time directing a camera by myself. Actually, Fusheng helped me a lot on set."

Chen Fusheng introduced her from the side: "This is my mother, her surname is Yang."

"Hello, Aunt Yang."

"Hello, hello."

Chen Fusheng introduced his family members to Han Sanping one by one.

"This is my daughter, Chen Qian, nicknamed Qianqian."

Chen Fusheng held his daughter and raised her little hand to greet Han Sanping.

"Come on, Xixi, say hello to Uncle Han—Hello, Uncle Han."

The little one was not even a month old, so naturally she couldn't understand human speech. Instead, she looked up at her old father.

"This little niece is so cute!" Han Sanping couldn't help but hug her.

"If you like daughters so much, why don't you have one yourself?" Chen Fusheng joked.

"My wife and I are both busy, and there would be no one to take care of the baby after it was born, so we have discussed that we are not planning to have a child for the time being."

Han Sanping's viewpoint was naturally refuted and persuaded by several elders in the room. However, in Chen Fusheng's opinion, Old Han was a very principled man. Once he made up his mind, he would not be easily persuaded by outsiders.

Moreover, this was a family matter, and seeing that his mother was determined not to stop, Chen Fusheng quickly stepped in to smooth things over.

After chatting about various topics for about half an hour, Chen Fusheng realized that Han Sanping had come all this way to see him, and it couldn't be just to congratulate him on becoming a father.

But when asked, he wouldn't say, so he guessed that it was because there were many people in his family and it wasn't convenient for him to talk.

"Well, it's almost lunchtime. Director Han and I are going out for a drink, so you don't need to worry about our lunch." "It's not like we're starving at home. Director Han came all this way to see you, and you're taking him out to eat? What kind of talk is that? Sit down."

Han Sanping quickly added, "Thank you, Auntie. But don't trouble yourself. I'll go out to eat with Fusheng. I have some things to discuss with him since I'm here."

Since Han Sanping had already said so, no one dared to persuade him further. After conveying their meaning, Chen Fusheng still took Han Sanping out the door.

"Tell me, Lao Han, what brings you here? Are you here to act as a mouthpiece for your Emei Film Studio again?"

When they arrived at the same private restaurant, Chen Fusheng ordered the food, poured Han Sanping a glass of beer, and then asked him directly.

"Haha, let me keep you in suspense for a moment, guess where I came from?"

"Where did you come from? Didn't you come from Emei Film Studio?" Chen Fusheng asked curiously.

"No, I came from the capital."

“That makes sense. Since you just said that the post-production of the movie ‘Cow’ was finished, it makes sense for Emei Film Studio to send you to deliver film reels to China Film Group,” Chen Fusheng guessed.

Seeing that Chen Fusheng still didn't believe he could send the film out, Han Sanping decided to stop beating around the bush and be frank: "To tell you the truth, I didn't go to Beijing to send any film to China Film Group. I went to find connections to get 'Cow' onto the international stage."

"really?"

Why would I lie to you?

Seeing that Han Sanping didn't seem to be lying, Chen Fusheng asked with both surprise and anticipation, "So what was the result?"

"That's my second reason for coming to see you."

Chen Fusheng remained silent, continuing to stare at Han Sanping.

He paused deliberately before saying, "Congratulations, our film has been successfully submitted to the Venice International Film Festival."

Chen Fusheng froze in mid-air, his hand still holding the wine glass. After a long pause, he finally processed the news and asked, "Next year?"

"How could it be next year? It's this year."

“How could it be this year? It’s already August. As far as I remember, the Venice Film Festival is starting in less than a month, right?” Chen Fusheng felt that he had been too happy for too long and began to doubt Han Sanping’s words again.

"I didn't expect you to know so much about the Venice Film Festival, but I'm not kidding you."

Han Sanping then described his experience of this trip to Beijing to Chen Fusheng.

“After I persuaded the factory leaders last week, the factory booked me a plane ticket to Beijing. As soon as the plane landed, I went to the Beijing Film Academy to see Senior Cheng Ying. I didn’t expect to be so lucky. After watching ‘Cow,’ Senior Cheng Ying was willing to help me. So the next day, he recommended me to Deputy Director Shi of the Film Bureau. This Deputy Director Shi is also a visionary leader. He also agrees that if Chinese films want to progress, they need to connect with the international standards. He even quoted Wei Yuan’s ‘Learn from the barbarians to control the barbarians’ to describe the future development of Chinese films. We talked for two hours that day. After he finished watching the film, he took the film reel and told me to wait for news.”

Han Sanping continued, "I thought I would have to wait a long time, but on the morning of the fourth day, they called me to the Film Bureau again and told me that 'Cow' could be sent to the Venice International Film Festival. I couldn't believe it at the time."

"What did Deputy Director Shi say?" Chen Fusheng was starting to believe it again, because he felt that Han Sanping wouldn't make up such a story to deceive him.

“Deputy Director Shi said that after I left, the bureau held a special meeting about my matter. He didn’t go into details about the results, but I guessed they weren’t very good. The next day, however, he took my film to the president of Xinhua News Agency, who was in charge of foreign affairs. I heard that it was through the connections of that old revolutionary comrade that they got in touch with the president of the Venice International Film Festival. The president then contacted the Venice Film Festival’s selector in Asia, Marco Müller. I watched the film with him, and after watching it, he excitedly grabbed my hand and said that the Venice Film Festival needed excellent films like ‘Cow’.”

"Actually, I wasn't sure either, because I knew that 'Cow' had missed the deadline for submitting to the Venice Film Festival this year, so like you, I was prepared to wait a year."

"I accompanied that foreigner to the movie on the third day. Unexpectedly, the next morning, Deputy Director Shi's secretary called me to the Film Bureau and told me some good news. He said that after receiving Mark's opinion, the Venice Film Festival organizing committee, in your words, gave 'Cow' the green light."

After hearing the whole story, Chen Fusheng's wine glass was still hanging in mid-air, and he stared in shock at Han Sanping in front of him, wanting to say something like:
Are you some kind of chosen one?
(End of this chapter)