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

"I don't understand what you're talking about?"

Liu Yuehua felt that Li Yun'er was bluffing him, because he couldn't figure out where he had gone wrong.

Lee Yoon-ah smiled mysteriously and said two words to Liu Yuehua: "Slippers".

Then he walked forward without looking back.

Liu Yuehua pondered for a moment, then suddenly realized.

I thought the cleaners had cleaned it up in the morning, but I never imagined that this little girl had secretly hidden it.

What should I do? Should I try to explain myself?

No, explaining is just covering up. Let's pretend nothing happened.

Liu Yuehua also walked forward. Li Yun'er looked back and saw that Liu Yuehua was still the same deadpan, as if he was not embarrassed at all by being exposed. She couldn't help but become curious.

"Aren't you worried I'll tell Liu Yifei?"

Liu Yuehua raised an eyebrow.

"Tell her what?"

"You and her mother..."

As Li Yun'er spoke, she deliberately lowered her voice and slowed her pace, watching the expression on Liu Yuehua's face.

Liu Yuehua laughed, realizing he was indeed bluffing me.

"What happened between me and her mother? Tell me!"

Lee Yoon-ah shook her head upon hearing this.

"Indeed, slippers don't prove anything, and there's no direct evidence."

"I knew you weren't a good guy all along, that's what makes it interesting."

"If you're just an ordinary, law-abiding, honest person, I won't cooperate with you."

Liu Yuehua said as he walked.

"Cooperation is possible if there are shared interests, as long as principles are not violated."

"After all, our ancestors fought against the Japanese together, and you are not the little princess of the Rakuten family. There is no hatred that cannot be resolved."

"You help me, I'll help you."

Lee Yoon-ah was still wondering what was wrong with Rat-dae.

Liu Yuehua had already sped past the landmine and reached the exit.

……

"Old Liu, here you are."

Outside the arrival gate, Feng Chengcheng saw Liu Yuehua come out and quickly went to greet him.

Liu Yuehua glanced at the empty space behind Feng Chengcheng and asked in an annoyed tone.

"Are you alone? Where's Nursery Rhyme?"

Feng Chengcheng waved his hand.

"Hey, didn't so-and-so go in?"

"I don't know what kind of entanglement Tong Yao has with their family, but she's been hiding at school and refusing to come out lately."

"I don't know what's going on. You should call and ask when you have time. I don't dare to contact them anymore."

"Okay, let's go. You came alone, didn't you drive?"

"Why are you still driving? All your working capital is going towards utilities and internet bills."

"Our previous movie box office revenue hasn't been settled yet, and the revenue sharing is slow. My dad said that Chairman Han has personally inquired about it, but the response he gets is that it's just going through the motions."

"Alright, alright, let's take the airport bus back today."

As soon as the two sat down at the back of the bus, Feng Chengcheng, like a thief, secretly pulled a newspaper out of his pocket.

"Old Liu, the fire is almost burning through the roof."

Liu Yuehua opened the newspaper.

This is a fairly influential publication in Beijing. The headline on the front page is "Beware of the erosion of unhealthy foreign subcultures: A critique of the misguided direction in co-production film projects."

The article's authorship section was densely filled with twenty or thirty names, with Lu Taro's father at the top, followed by a whole host of old-timers from the Beijing entertainment circle who held titles such as veteran artist, senior screenwriter, and association director.

The article is written in a highly political and scathing style. It is full of confrontation and criticizes certain young directors who, under the guise of commercial success, are shamelessly remaking Japanese car racing culture in order to cater to the market.

The article criticizes this behavior as glorifying violations of discipline and law, inciting violent tendencies among young people, and calling it a poisonous weed.

"Those old bastards!" Feng Chengcheng gritted his teeth.

"They didn't write this for the common people. My dad said that this newspaper is sent directly to the internal reference of the higher-ups. They're trying to cut off our livelihood at the root."

Liu Yuehua glanced at the familiar newspaper name.

I remember when we were in Hong Kong, Mr. Han also used this newspaper to stir up trouble for himself. Why is this media so fickle? They just sway whichever way the wind blows?

"What did Master say?"

"My dad said that the relatives and friends he can influence won't take sides. The situation can be somewhat controlled within a small area, but the rest is up to you to handle."

"After all, there's been talk of a leadership change in the group recently, so it's best not to make any big moves."

"I understand. The higher my mentor goes, the more stable my future will be. I can't let small things cause me to lose big ones."

"Where is Chairman Han?"

"Chairman Han initially supported you, and even had an argument with some people during a meeting."

"They stopped expressing their opinion a couple of days ago, and I don't know why."

……

In China's film censorship system, this is called "setting the tone." Once a film is labeled as having questionable guidance or poisoning the minds of teenagers, it is done by dozens of veteran industry insiders jointly making this determination.

For safety reasons, the censorship department will never easily stamp the film with the dragon seal that determines its fate, no matter how well it is made or how flawless it is.

Whoever dares to affix their seal will bear the political risk.

"Yuehua, when are we going to get this film put on hold?"

Liu Yuehua took the newspaper, read it over and over twice, and then burst out laughing.

"Old Master Lu's writing is truly masterful. His choice of words and sentence structure makes me feel like I'm a heinous bastard."

"If Rikutaro had even one-tenth of his father's skill, he could probably have surpassed him and become a great poet."

"Yuehua, how can you still laugh?" Feng Chengcheng said anxiously.

"Huanya has gone crazy. They called me eight times while I was waiting to pick them up at the airport."

"They said if this film can't be released in mainland China, they'll lose money."

"They even suggested cutting all the car chase scenes and replacing them with the male lead delivering tofu on a bicycle on Mount Akina. How the hell would that be watchable?"

Liu Yuehua sneered.

These capitalists are greedier than anyone else when they want to make money, but at the slightest sign of trouble, they're as timid as mice.

Hong Kong capital has always had a natural fear and superstition regarding the mainland's review mechanism.

This was formed under the action of some external force.

They've been away from the mainland for too long and don't understand the ecological logic there. They always think that a single sentence from above can determine life or death. When faced with such a report, their first reaction is always to pay money to avoid trouble or to cut off their own arm to survive.

However, this is indeed an opportunity.

Liu Yuehua discovered the blind spot.

Just then, Liu Yuehua's phone rang, and the caller ID showed it was the CEO of Huanya.

Liu Yuehua muted the phone and put it back in his pocket.

"Why aren't you answering?" Feng Chengcheng asked.

"What are we going to do? Let the dust settle. The longer it drags on, the more we make."

An hour and a half later, the two returned to the studio.

Liu Yuehua had just sat down and hadn't even had a chance to pour himself a cup of tea when the phone rang again.

This time, Liu Yuehua finally accepted the offer.

"Hey, Director Liu, you finally answered the phone." The owner of Huanya spoke in broken Cantonese-accented Mandarin on the other end of the line.

"President Lin, I'm sorry, I was in a meeting discussing countermeasures and didn't notice."

"What countermeasures are you discussing? I heard that dozens of veterans in Beijing are going to petition to ban our show."

"It's a co-production between Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. We invested 3000 million yuan, and now it's all going down the drain."