Reborn in the Chinese Entertainment Industry: You're a Director, But You're a Casanova?

Liu Xiaoli closed her eyes, preparing to grit her teeth and force the bottle of poison down her throat.

"Oh, Sister Liu, don't be so dramatic, okay?" Xiao San Mimi rolled her eyes as she twirled her hair with her freshly manicured fingers, speaking in a cloyingly sweet voice.

"Mr. Wang invested 1000 million to make such a high-class art film. Giving your little girl a chance to shine is incredibly lucky. A little wine is nothing compared to that!"

"We're in this industry, and we don't know any of the rules. How can we expect to get resources?" Boss Wang patted Mimi's thigh and laughed heartily.

"That's right, we Shanxi people always discuss business over drinks. Liu, I'm only doing this because I admire Director Zhang's artistic talent and his ambition to win a major award at Cannes. If you drink to your heart's content tonight, your daughter will be the third female lead."

Director Zhang leaned back in his chair with a smug look on his face, took out a letter of intent for investment from his bag, and threw it on the table.

"Mr. Wang is right. As long as you sign here, our masterpiece that will go down in film history will be officially approved."

Upon hearing that his name would be recorded in film history, Mr. Wang's every ounce of wealth surged with excitement, and he raised his voice:

"Give me a pen, I'll write you this check for 1000 million right now."

Liu Xiaoli closed her eyes in despair and raised the wine bottle.

At this critical moment, a white towel that had just been used to wipe hands flew through the air in an arc and landed on the letter of intent with a whoosh. The towel was still stained with vinegar from wiping hands, instantly soiling the pages of the letter of intent.

Most afraid of the air suddenly quiet.

All eyes turned to Niu Yuehua, following the direction from which the white towel had flown.

"Where did this little prickly brat come from? Are you blind?" Mimi was the first to react.

"This is Director Zhang's hard work; can you afford to pay for it if you ruin it?"

Director Zhang also got angry and slammed his fist on the table.

"Uncle Gong, is this the apprentice you brought? Does he know the rules?"

Feng Gonggang was about to speak up to smooth things over, but Niu Yuehua calmly pressed his hand down, signaling his master not to get involved, and then he stood up.

"Mr. Wang," Niu Yuehua said.

"Since your hometown is in Shanxi, where you run a mine, before you dig for coal, you'll need to hire a few people to measure the thickness of the coal seam and calculate whether this area is suitable for drilling a well, right?"

Mr. Wang was already furious, but this sudden question caught him off guard, and he instinctively said:

"Of course! They won't go down the mine unless they see black gold. No business is done blindly!"

"Isn't that settled?" Niu Yuehua chuckled.

"Look at the empty promises these bastards are making for you. This movie is called 'Scars and Cries,' and the protagonist runs around naked for two hours on the Loess Plateau in Northwest China, just to find some bullshit, empty soul."

"Mr. Wang, let me be frank with you, this thing is a complete scam. They don't actually produce any coal."

The people in the private room gasped, finding this guy terrifying; he had completely dismissed the art films of Beijing-based directors as utter garbage.

Director Zhang, enraged, roared, "You're talking nonsense! Do you even know what long take aesthetics are? Do you know what the French New Wave is? This is pure art, what do you, a student, know?"

"You're talking nonsense about art!" Niu Yuehua rolled his eyes.

"Ordinary people work all day, carrying bricks on construction sites, and are exhausted like grandsons."

"People painstakingly save up a few dozen yuan to buy a movie ticket and bring their wives, children, and elderly parents to the cinema just to watch you whine about running a marathon naked with no bottom in the middle of nowhere?"

"What do the audience want to see? It's a feeling of complete and utter relief."

"It's the kind of show where you can laugh out loud in the first 15 minutes, cry your heart out in the middle 45 minutes, and still feel like you got your 30 yuan for nothing when you walk out the door." Niu Yuehua stared coldly at the group of people.

"Your film has been nothing but a pie-in-the-sky PowerPoint presentation since the project was first introduced. Even if you throw in ten million, nobody will buy it."

"The theaters won't even schedule it. It's like throwing something into the water—you won't even hear a sound. You still want to go to Cannes?"

"If you go to Cannes to beg for food, people will complain that the broken bowl with the long lens you're carrying is too shabby."

Mimi was so angry that she stomped her feet and shook Mr. Wang's arm back and forth.

"Look at him, Mr. Wang. He's just a country bumpkin who comes here to cause trouble."

Mr. Wang did not move.

This nouveau riche, who risked his life in coal mines to amass a fortune of hundreds of millions, may lack formal education and artistic knowledge, but he possesses a simple and brutal business intuition.

He was previously fooled by these scammers who used a bunch of incomprehensible artistic terms, and he almost spent money trying to appear cultured.

Now, Niu Yuehua's simplistic and crude theory is like a bucket of ice water, extinguishing the artistic dreams in his mind.

Yeah, if no one watches what these bastards make, my 1000 million will be wasted.

Mr. Wang pushed Mimi away from leaning against him. His nouveau riche grin vanished, and his eyes regained their shrewdness.

He stared at Niu Yuehua and asked, "Young man, are you in this line of work too?"

"Isn't this a coincidence? Actually, I was just about to start doing this."

"To be honest with you, Mr. Wang, I don't talk about art when I make movies; I only talk about emotions and commercial value. If you give me a budget of 200 million, I can definitely use the most extreme script to squeeze the audience's emotions to the limit."

"I guarantee that the box office revenue will at least triple for you, Mr. Wang. That's what we call low profit, high volume, and high turnover."

"That's great! I love your temper!" Boss Wang slammed his hand on the table.

"I like your honesty; doing business has to be profitable. Your emotional value theory sounds much more promising than their naked nonsense."

Mr. Wang turned around, his face darkening, and the thuggish air of a coal mine owner immediately emanated from him.

"Damn it, trying to swindle my hard-earned money with a few scraps of paper. Bodyguards, throw these bastards out!"

Several burly bodyguards rushed in from outside and dragged Director Zhang and Producer Li out.

"Mr. Wang, you can't treat us like this. This is art, you'll regret it. This industry can't tolerate nouveau riche like you anymore." The pitiful voices of these swindlers echoed in the corridor.

Mimi was terrified. Seeing that her sugar daddy had turned against her, she quickly switched sides and swayed her hips to get close to Niu Yuehua.

"Oh, handsome young man, I was blind to your talent just now. Do you need a leading lady for your film?"

Niu Yuehua stepped aside, looking disgusted: "Sister, your chin is too sharp. It'll easily pierce the lens when you're filming my scenes."

Mr. Wang laughed heartily and immediately signed a check for 200 million.

"Young man, you taught me a lesson today and helped me stop a 1000 million loss. Take this 200 million and go for it. If you need more, just ask me."

Niu Yuehua nodded, poured himself a full glass, and downed it in one gulp.

"Mr. Wang is very generous; you'll see a return on your investment within three months."

It wasn't until this moment that Liu Xiaoli, standing on the other side, came back to her senses from that suffocating feeling.

Her worldview had just been shaken by an earthquake and completely shattered.

Niu Yuehua walked around the table, stood in front of Liu Xiaoli who was still trembling, and looked her up and down.

"Auntie, put the bottle down. Drinking too much alcohol will damage your liver. Your daughter's face is not worthy of such a terrible performance as her going into the mud pit."

"After school starts, bring your daughter to my company to sign the contract." Liu Xiaoli stared at him blankly, her eyes filled with nothing but awe and obedience.

"Sign what?"