Huayu02 started by making films.

He thought for a moment and said, "It's not much, three million will do." He then gave an OK sign.

"How much? Three million?!"

Fan Xiaopang jumped up, and Grapefruit trembled. She exclaimed in surprise, "You didn't just almost there! You didn't even get close!"

Han Yi pulled her back to sit beside him, took her hand with his left, removed his gold-rimmed glasses with his right, stared intently into her eyes, and said softly:

"My dear chubby sister, you can't say that. I'm just borrowing your money to register a studio, not spending it all. I'll pay you back next month when I get back from Cannes, what are you afraid of?"

He gently cupped Fan Xiaopang's small hand in his own, adding slowly, "Little Fatty, you wouldn't want anything to happen to your Venice Film Festival Best Actress, would you?"

Fan Xiaopang thought for a moment: That makes sense. After all, that's how the sixth generation of directors operated. As long as a film is nominated, it can make money. If it wins an award, it will make even more money.

Looking into Han Yi's deep eyes, a sudden surge of heat rose within her. She instinctively shifted her body and said:

"Little brother, you'd better keep your word. I'm really looking forward to your Venice Film Festival Best Actress award."

After saying that, she took out a bank card from her bag and handed it to Han Yi: "This is my savings card for my commercial performance income. You can take it first."

Han Yi took it and casually asked, "What's the password?"

Fan Xiaopang leaned close to his ear and whispered, "Good little brother, you were able to deduce that 'Taomei' is my studio based on my family's information. How about you try guessing my bank card PIN?"

After she finished speaking, she looked at Han Yi's smooth earlobe and, as if possessed, lightly licked it: "If you can guess it, you can unlock all the 'locks' on my body."

"He really is Daji reincarnated," Han Yi thought to himself, subtly adjusting the gear shift with his right hand.

He quickly stood up: "Little Fatty, that's enough for today. You'll come with me tomorrow to register the studio, and then I'll talk to you about the script. This role demands extremely high acting skills. I don't expect you to be as good as Gong Li or Maggie Cheung, but you certainly can't be worse than Ziyi, right?"

Fan Xiaopang was provoked: "I was taught by Teacher Xie, I'm definitely no worse than them!"

"I hope so," Han Yi said skeptically.

"Believe it or not, I'm going to quit everything and just audit classes at the Central Academy of Drama!"

"Then why don't you come to our Beijing Film Academy?"

"You know..."

The following day, Han Yi took Fan Xiaopang to complete the registration procedures for the studio. She paid for it, and Han Yi was the legal representative. The studio was named "Ruoxing".

At Fan Xiaopang's insistence, Han Yi treated her to Peking duck as a thank you. At the dinner table, he wrote an IOU on the spot.

"In order to register the studio, I have received RMB 3,000,000.00 (¥3,000,000.00) from lender Xiaopang (ID number XXX... via bank transfer), interest-free, and will repay it on...

This shall serve as the basis.

Borrower: Han Yi. ID Number: XXXX. Contact Address: XXXX. Contact Phone Number: XXXX.

Fan Xiaopang carefully folded the IOU and put it into an envelope. Han Yi noticed that it was the same envelope he had sent her a letter before.

At the dinner table, the two also finalized the follow-up arrangements: Starting tomorrow, Fan Xiaopang will go to the Central Academy of Drama at his own expense to attend classes and hone his acting skills, waiting for Han Yi to return from Cannes at the end of May so that filming can officially begin.

On April 13th, a bombshell news broke in the entertainment industry: a chef had been arrested.

When Han Yi received the news, he was on his way to the Beijing branch of Daewoo Information, "Huanyu Company".

His purpose in this trip was to secure the film and television adaptation rights for games such as "The Legend of Sword and Fairy" and "Xuan-Yuan Sword".

After some negotiations, Han Yi finally acquired the film and television adaptation rights to the two games for one million yuan, with an option to purchase subsequent sequels.

In the days that followed, Han Yi returned to student life. During this time, Teacher Dai helped him apply for a passport, expediting the process in the name of the Beijing Film Academy.

After nine more days of classes, it was finally the night before the May Day holiday. Han Yi dialed the phone number back home:

"Hey, hey, Mom! I'm not going home for May Day. I'm going abroad with the school after the holiday... Yes, you can call our teacher and ask if you don't believe me."

What for? It's hard to explain in a few words over the phone. Go to Erdan's house and have him search for the latest news about our school on his computer; my name is in it. Yes, yes, that's it."

During the seven-day holiday, Han Yi dragged Du Zhe all over the mountains around Beijing, including Xiangshan, Yudushan, and Mangshan. But none of them were suitable as filming locations for "Selaginella".

The two searched all the way to Shexian County in Handan, fifty ring roads outside Beijing, before finally stopping in a remote village. After conducting an on-site investigation,

Han Yi negotiated with the village chief and bought the filming rights for June for 5,000 yuan. He also rented several empty rooms as temporary accommodations for the film crew.

On the morning of the 12th, Han Yi, dragging his luggage, boarded a flight to Cannes with Teacher Dai.

On the plane, he encountered Section Chief Jia, who had already graduated. Jia was with his new book, "Ren Xiaoyao," and his girlfriend of many years, Zhao Tao, who was also his leading lady.

Having all graduated from the literature department, the group quickly became acquainted.

Section Chief Jia lamented, "They banned me because they didn't want my hometown streets to appear on the screen, but they are there, they really exist."

If I were to film human suffering solely for foreign audiences, then I believe all great works of art in the world are, in fact, stories about human suffering.

Han Yi laughed: "Don't foreigners also film their own suffering? All crows are black."

Section Chief Jia advised him, "You absolutely mustn't follow the same path as our generation of directors; it's tough. The Film Bureau won't allow us to film here today, and they won't let us do post-production there tomorrow."

Zhao Tao chimed in, "Yeah, Han Yi, you're still young. Don't go down that path with my section chief..."

"How can I get ahead if I don't learn from you guys?" Han Yi muttered to himself, saying nonchalantly:

"So even true stories can't be filmed?"

Seeing that the two were getting more and more excited, Teacher Dai couldn't help but interrupt, "Alright, that's enough, or you'll get banned."

"Whatever." Han Yi shrugged.

Zhao Tao stood to the side, seemingly wanting to say something but then stopping himself.

After a flight of more than ten hours, the plane landed at Nice Côte d'Azur Airport. The group then took a taxi to Cannes.

As soon as I got out of the car, the cool Mediterranean breeze hit me.

Cannes has a mild climate with warm winters and cool summers.

This place was originally a fishing village, which developed into a resort in 1834, and then founded the Cannes Film Festival in 1939 to compete with the Venice Film Festival.

Upon arriving at the hotel and checking in, Han Yi shook hands with Section Chief Jia in the lobby to say goodbye.

Due to limited funding, the school only approved the cost of one double room and reimbursed round-trip travel expenses and meals during the film festival. The Department of Literature even advanced the money first.

In the room, Teacher Dai carefully put away the plane tickets and accommodation receipts.

Adhering to the principle of "taking advantage of any opportunity and never spending a penny of his own money," Han Yi chose a bed by the window as soon as he entered the room, took a shower, and went to sleep.

My butt hurts from sitting on a plane.

Teacher Dai knew that he hadn't spent all of the 300,000 yuan he had, but he was too embarrassed to ask the student to book another room, so he had to sleep on the bed next to him.

Nothing happened that night, and the next morning...

Han Yi obtained a detailed schedule from the Cannes Film Festival staff and confirmed that "I'm glad you're dead now" was scheduled for May 25, with all short films to be screened in sequence.

The awards ceremony started the day after I watched it. Short films have no rights, Han Yi thought to himself.