Huayu 2015, the Artist of Light and Shadow

Chapter 178 "Bureau 749" and "The Killer's Shopping Mall"! The boat girl insisted on cutting my nails.

No wonder Hu Lianxin has been acting like she's withdrawn these past few days, remaining silent in the group chat.

It turned out that she had been abandoned.

Clearly, after seeing He Shiyu, Lu Yunzhou immediately banished Hu Lianxin to the sidelines.

However, for the girls in the group, it's all just for fun anyway.

She had only written two chapters of her short essay when the story was exposed. The whole internet knew that she had definitely gotten the female lead role in Lu Yunzhou's new film.

To help her better understand the character, Lu Yunzhou asked her to write short stories about the character.

Let's look at the whole story from the female protagonist's perspective.

This is essentially an enhanced version of a character biography.

At this moment, He Shiyu felt a little uneasy being teased by netizens, and sent a message to Lu Yunzhou saying, "Brother, I think I've been exposed."

Lu Yunzhou quickly replied: "It's okay. Let them watch the show if they like it. Keep writing. Chapter 2 is very well written, immersive, with solid details, as if you were experiencing it yourself."

These details were not included in the script.

However, when the screenwriters went to Naples to research the city, they would naturally write some additional details.

It might not be filmed in the TV series, but if you can fill in the gaps in the TV series' setting through short essays, it can have an unexpected effect on the promotion of the TV series.

Especially when told from the perspective of the female protagonist, He Shiyu, the sense of immersion that viewers feel is absolutely unprecedented.

However, there is a problem here.

He Shiyu is so young, yet he writes such good essays.

What will happen when she grows up?

Beijing Film Academy.

It hasn't been long since the start of the semester.

On the first day of class, most people were not in the school mindset and kept dozing off in the classroom, unable to concentrate at all.

As a rising idol and popular celebrity, Wang Junkai has a very busy schedule in September.

-

In the first week of school, he had three photoshoots to do. On September 6th, he also had to attend the ELLE 30th Anniversary Style Awards.

However, despite his busy schedule, he managed to carve out time to attend classes at school.

"Finally, get out of class is over."

"What should we eat for lunch?"

"I heard there's a new restaurant that opened across from the school. How about we try it out later?"

As soon as the bell rang, the other students packed their bags and discussed what to eat for lunch.

"Jingjing, should we go together?"

Zhang Jingyi's roommates were also discussing where to have lunch.

But at that moment, Wang Junkai took the lead and found Zhang Jingyi in the crowd: "Jingjing, what do you want to eat today?"

"It's my treat."

Seeing Wang Junkai's determined look, the others immediately scattered.

Several of Zhang Jingyi's roommates even winked at her knowingly, saying, "Since someone's treating, we won't bother you any longer."

They all thought Wang Junkai was pursuing Zhang Jingyi.

Faced with this situation, Zhang Jingyi was too lazy to explain. He glanced at Wang Junkai and said, "Big brother said that the autumn weather is crisp and clear, and the hairy crabs are very plump and delicious this season."

"Hairy crabs, is that right? No problem."

Wang Junkai was overjoyed to hear this.

How much does Zhang Jingyi's lunch cost? He's such a big star, surely he can afford it? Flattering Zhang Jingyi is more important than anything else.

Zhang Jingyi packed her schoolbag and quietly followed Wang Junkai out.

Wang Junkai bustled around, even asking Zhang Jingyi if she needed an umbrella, as the sun was quite strong outside and he didn't want her to get sunburned.

After all, Zhang Jingyi wasn't very fair-skinned to begin with.

"Wang Junkai, if you say I'm dark-skinned again, believe me, I'll beat you up!"

Zhang Jingyi clenched her fist and glared at Wang Junkai with annoyance.

"No, no, Your Highness. This way please."

Wang Junkai quickly apologized and served him attentively.

Seeing this, the other students were already used to it, though their expressions were somewhat disdainful.

"They went on another date right after the start of the semester."

"Wang Junkai is such a loser. He's a celebrity, after all. He must have millions of female fans online, right? He's shamelessly fawning over Zhang Jingyi all day long."

"What is it about Zhang Jingyi that makes him so servile?"

"You can't say that. Zhang Jingyi may not be the most beautiful, but she has a great older brother. Her cousin is Lu Yunzhou. Haven't you heard? Yun Jingyan is preparing a domestic visual fantasy blockbuster and is looking for a male lead from Chongqing. Wang Junkai and Wang Yuan both meet the requirements."

"But Wang Yuan's agent said that if he could act in this movie, he wouldn't need a salary."

"Now, the pressure is on Wang Junkai."

"If he can flatter Zhang Jingyi and get her to say a few good words to Lu Yunzhou, he might be able to get a leading role."

"If it were me, I would kneel down before Zhang Jingyi and drink her foot bath water in order to win the male lead role! I would even praise how sweet the water was."

"Get out of here! We're about to eat, and your words are absolutely disgusting."

17

"I'm disgusting? Ask those female classmates if Lu Yunzhou were to cast them as the lead actresses in a movie, would they be willing to drink Lu Yunzhou's foot bath water?"

Upon hearing this, the female classmates were displeased and retorted, "You're disgusting. Brother Zhou would never do that. Do you think this is the old society, where people practice slavery? Our Brother Zhou is a Shanghai-style man; he wants talent, not slaves."

The group of students went outside to find food while making a lot of noise.

Suddenly, they spotted a familiar figure. Some of the male students immediately stopped joking around, while others deliberately straightened their hair, wanting to show off their most handsome side to the girl opposite them.

Because at the end of the corridor, where they were going down the stairs, they met Zhou, the school beauty from the third year of college.

This is the real school beauty, the most beautiful girl in the whole school.

Zhang Jingyi was not—they once thought that Zhang Jingyi's title of school beauty was marketed with the help of Lu Yunzhou.

After all, Zhang Jingyi does look a bit unsophisticated in person.

She wasn't particularly slender; in fact, she was rather stocky. Her legs weren't especially long, and her calves were a bit thick.

These students from Beijing Film Academy see all sorts of beautiful women on campus every day, so they are completely unmoved by Zhang Jingyi's looks. However, under certain camera angles, Zhang Jingyi exudes a certain charm that other offline beauties simply cannot match.

However, Zhou is different.

Both online and offline, it's equally beautiful.

Everyone in the school knows that Zhou is currently single. It's only the first day of school, and suddenly someone came to their class to ambush them—that's interesting.

Immediately, many people, out of curiosity, asked, "Senior, who are you looking for? Do you need my help?"

Zhou tiptoed over the crowd and peered into the classroom: "Is Zhang Jingyi here?"

Upon hearing this, the students all chimed in, "Zhang Jingyi and Wang Junkai went on a date. Senior, do you need to see her?"

"What kind of talk is that? Can't I come see her if there's nothing wrong?"

Zhou lowered his eyes slightly, and a cold aura immediately emanated from his body.

Before she went to see Meng Ziyi during the summer vacation, she had just finished filming "Better Days," and now she would unintentionally reveal that cold and arrogant temperament.

Before leaving, Zhou added, "Please tell Zhang Jingyi that I'm going to see her tonight. Tell her to wait for me in her dorm room."

Hearing this, the other students couldn't help but feel anxious for Zhang Jingyi.

"No way?"

"Does Zhou intend to beat up Zhang Jingyi?"

"She seemed quite angry when she couldn't find Zhang Jingyi?"

"I heard that Zhou signed with Hesong. Hesong is Li Bingbing's company—Li Bingbing and Zhou Xun didn't seem to get along very well when they were at Huayi Brothers."

"Won't the grudges of the older generation carry over to the next?"

"When Jingjing comes back, we'll tell her to be careful. Zhou doesn't seem to have a good temper."

Hearing the murmurs behind him, Zhou was speechless.

I just came to chat with my future sister-in-law and catch up, how did it turn into me bullying Zhang Jingyi?

Do I look bad?

A restaurant near the entrance of Beijing Film Academy.

"Jingjing, how's the food at this place?"

"The owner said that the hairy crabs are all transported from Yangcheng Lake — I don't know if it's true or not, but anyway, my classmates say that this place tastes the best."

Wang Junkai himself barely ate anything, but he was busy serving Zhang Jingyi.

"Thank you, Wang Junkai. You treated me to another delicious meal. But this is the last one. Don't treat me to meals again in the future."

"You always treat me to meals, and our classmates all say we're dating. You're an idol, after all, and this isn't good for you."

""

Wang Junkai comes to see her every day, which is quite annoying for Zhang Jingyi.

She likes to be alone in peace and quiet.

However, she didn't want her classmates to see the spectacle.

Therefore, every time Wang Junkai takes the initiative to talk to her, she wants to get rid of him in the shortest time and in the simplest way.

But over time, she felt the rumors were becoming more and more outrageous.

It's time to put an end to this.

"Jingjing, don't be like that. It's only right for good friends to share food. Besides, we're from the same hometown."

Zhang Jingyi is from Hunan, and Wang Junkai is from Chongqing. How can they be considered fellow townsmen?

Wang Junkai also knew that his statement was untenable.

He suddenly had a bright idea and said, "By the way, Jingjing, I heard you're going to film 'The Sky of Wind and Dogs' next, playing a girl from Chongqing. I'm from Chongqing. I know what Chongqing girls are like. I'll tutor you for free. How about it?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Jingyi looked up at Wang Junkai and asked, "Then what do you want?"

Between adults, every transaction involves the exchange of chips.

No one is kind to you for no reason.

Apart from Lu Yunzhou.

"I don't want anything."

Wang Junkai said this against his conscience.

Just then, Zhang Jingyi's phone rang.

Upon seeing that the caller ID showed Lu Yunzhou, she immediately answered the phone with a beaming smile: "Big brother, what made you think of calling me?"

Lu Yunzhou, on the other end of the phone, laughed and said, "Coconut just told me that you went out on a date with Wang Junkai again. Our Jingjing is really charming. Far beyond my imagination."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Jingyi immediately became anxious: "What do you mean? Big brother, don't listen to Zhou's nonsense. What's wrong with her? Why does she like to gossip about me behind my back?"

Zhou believed that Zhang Jingyi was Lu Yunzhou's cousin.

Zhou felt that as her future sister-in-law, she should care about her cousin's relationship, so she shared the gossip she had heard at school with Lu Yunzhou.

Otherwise, she and Lu Yunzhou would have nothing to talk about.

However, Zhou's behavior of smearing her reputation and defaming her behind her back made Zhang Jingyi hate him to the core.

Because she knew that Zhou was trying to steal her boyfriend!

"Let's not talk about Zhou anymore."

Sensing that Zhang Jingyi was a little uncomfortable, Lu Yunzhou changed the subject: "Since Wang Junkai is your friend, he's naturally my friend too. As for the male lead in 'A Writer's Odyssey,' I'll talk to Sister Ji and Lao Dong, and we'll choose him."

Although the voice coming from the other end of the phone was not loud.

But only Wang Junkai, Zhang Jingyi, and one of Wang Junkai's assistants were in the private room.

At this moment, apart from Zhang Jingyi, the other two could hear the sound coming from the phone's receiver—

"be mine!"

"I'm going to shoot a special effects blockbuster!"

At this moment, Wang Junkai was so excited that he grabbed the hand of his assistant next to him and almost made the assistant cry.

At this moment, Lu Yunzhou continued, "However, I don't know much about Wang Junkai's acting skills. Could you ask him if he could spare some time to make a cameo appearance in the movie 'Killer's Shopping Mall,' even just a small role?"

Whether an actor is good or bad can be improved through training.

But the biggest problem is how they treat each other.

Given Wang Junkai's current status, he might not accept minor roles, as it would affect his commercial value.

So, this is a small test.

Zhang Jingyi looked up and glanced at it.

Wang Junkai nodded instantly: "I'm willing—Jingjing, could you ask my older brother if it's 'My Mysterious Uncle'?"

"That Xiao Jun who appeared inside?"

Zhang Jingyi said into the phone, "Brother, he said it's okay. He also asked if it's the second installment of 'My Mysterious Uncle'."

The Xiao Jun that Zhang mentioned?

"It seems he really cares about me."

Hearing this, Lu Yunzhou couldn't help but laugh: "Alright. He seems like a thoughtful person. He doesn't seem like a fool either."

"However, the filming schedule for my drama may conflict with that of 'Bureau 749,' so he can only choose one."

"Let him figure it out himself."

After saying that, Lu Yunzhou hung up the phone.

Zhang Jingyi put down the phone and turned to look at Wang Junkai: "You heard everything? For a small role, you have to give up the male lead in the movie '749 Bureau.' Are you really willing?"

Wang Junkai nodded repeatedly: "Of course I'm willing!"

Then, he began to analyze for Zhang Jingyi: "The title '749 Bureau' sounds like a mysterious subject, which seems pretty good."

The question is, can the director handle this kind of mysterious subject matter? Does he have the ability?

"He didn't."

"Even if I had to choose 100 times, I'd still follow the boss!"

In most of Lu Yunzhou's film and television works, he plays the male lead himself.

Therefore, his company only signs actresses.

However, Lu Yunzhou was born in 92, and in a few years, he will be playing middle-aged people—while Wang Junkai was born in 99, and is a new generation.

There is no competitive relationship between him and Lu Yunzhou.

He can play Lu Yunzhou's apprentice, younger brother, or assistant—in short, there will be suitable roles for him in Lu Yunzhou's movies.

As for the director of "Bureau 749", that big director has a deep background and can film all sorts of messy subjects—but his directing skills are really limited.

To date, he has no representative works.

Every film I make gets criticized.

This renowned director has a powerful background and works behind the scenes; as long as he can secure investment, he can start a new film at any time.

But as an idol, Wang Junkai can't afford to lose.

He'd rather play a classic minor role than act in a bad movie.

Bad movies can cause immense damage to idols.

"Besides, didn't my older brother save me the male lead role in 'A Writer's Odyssey'? I've already read that novel several times."

"Lu Kongwen, I feel I can act!"

The protagonist of "A Writer's Odyssey" is named Lu Kongwen — Wang Junkai felt that this name sounded like Lu Yunzhou's underling.

To express his respect for Lu Yunzhou, Wang Junkai couldn't help but say, "By the way, Jingjing, my starring role in 'The Eagle and the Pit' aired a few days ago. Have you seen it?"

"I watched a few episodes. What's wrong?"

Zhang Jingyi asked with some doubt.

Wang Junkai immediately perked up: "Jingjing, the second female lead in this drama is quite pretty, her name is Jiang Yiyi. What do you think?"

"It's alright."

Zhang Jingyi didn't think much of it and casually said, "You like that Jiang Yiyi? If you like her, go after her. What's the point of talking to me? Do you want me to give you advice? You can't be that bad, can you?"

No, no.

Wang Junkai chuckled, "That Jiang Yiyi really likes you, Big Brother. Her phone wallpaper is full of your photos. Even her WeChat chat window is filled with pictures of your back. Isn't Big Brother single? How about I introduce Jiang Yiyi to him as a way of showing my filial piety?"

I think you want to die!

Is there still a filial piety in him?

Zhang Jingyi's face immediately darkened, and she said irritably, "That Jiang Yiyi is quite ordinary-looking and doesn't deserve you, Big Brother. Don't introduce people to others so casually."

Upon hearing this, Wang Junkai nodded in agreement: "That's true. My brother's conditions are really too good. Finding him a suitable sister-in-law is also a problem."

On the plane from Shanghai to New York.

For flights that last more than 10 hours, Lu Yunzhou usually falls asleep as soon as he hits the pillow, and wakes up to find himself at his destination.

For Lu Yunzhou, New York Fashion Week is a regular annual event.

It's long since lost its novelty.

However, it was Wang Ran's first time attending New York Fashion Week, and she kept asking Lu Yunzhou what she should pay attention to once she arrived in New York.

Won't people laugh at me?

No, it won't.

Lu Yunzhou gently held Wang Ran's hand: "Everyone knows you're the queen of LDC Jewelry. Although you can't compare to the Estée Lauder family, in New York, we're not there to be chosen; we're there to choose others."

Many celebrities attend fashion shows in New York, but they are actually being selected by the brands to see who is qualified to become their brand ambassador and for future fashion collaborations.

Lu Yunzhou's trips to New York were always as a friend of the renowned director and designer Tom Ford, to watch Tom Ford's films.

The New York fashion show.

His identity is not that of a celebrity, but rather that of a fellow professional from Milan's high-end fashion industry.

Everyone knows that Cora, who has risen to fame in the past two years, has already plunged Dolce & Gabbana into a quagmire under his management.

Lu Yunzhou invested all the money he made from his gold and jewelry business and his film projects into the marketing of Kourui.

This has given this century-old haute couture fashion house a new lease on life.

Especially in Northern Italy, Coral has regained its brilliance, becoming the third most popular high-end fashion brand among young people in Northern Italy, after Gucci and Prada!

Fourth on the list is Dolce & Gabbana.

Fifth on the list is Versace.

Of course—there's a qualifier here: "young people".

If ranked by brand value, Coral could only be in the top 10 at best—while the top 10 gatekeeper, Ferragamo, has a brand value of around 10 billion euros.

The brand value of Kourei is probably about the same.

However, the growth of Kou Rui in recent years has been terrifying.

Unfortunately, Lu Yunzhou knew that a major event would occur in a few years, so he forcibly restricted Kou Rui's production.

Otherwise, if production increases now but then dries up in two years, the labor, machinery, and factory costs will be a huge burden.

Currently, due to Lu Yunzhou's "reluctance to sell" strategy, Kourei is becoming increasingly scarce.

In this context, anyone who can wear a Chloé haute couture gown to various banquets demonstrates their unique taste and strong network of connections.

Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to get Chloé's haute couture gowns at all.

Under such strict production control, the brand image of Kourui has been elevated beyond its original level, forcibly raised to a much higher level.

"By the way, brother, when you were sleeping just now, Nazha came to see you. When she saw that I wasn't asleep, she gave a silly smile and slunk away."

"Also, Yang Mi came to see you."

"Although she didn't say anything, I know what she wanted to say—she wanted to ask you if you could add a role for her in 'A Writer's Odyssey' so that she and Zhao Liying could compete and see who has better acting skills."

"Finally, Jing Tian also came to see you."

"She came over excitedly, but when she saw me holding you, she didn't say a word—also, she's such a strange person, she kept staring at your fingers, and before she left, she inexplicably asked me if I usually trim your nails?"

"nerve."

"I have no idea what she's talking about."

As they spoke, Wang Ran took Lu Yunzhou's hand and looked at his fingernails: "However, you really should pay attention to the length of your nails. Aren't you going to be filming action scenes soon? It would hurt a lot if you accidentally ripped your nail off."

"Brother, let me cut your hair."

As she spoke, Wang Ran took out a nail clipper from her makeup bag and trimmed Lu Yunzhou's nails neatly, bit by bit.

I even used a file to sharpen it for a long time.

As Lu Yunzhou watched Wang Churan struggle with her fingernails, he couldn't help but say, "That day, I never intended to shield her from a bullet."

I was just raising my hand to shake out my clothes when I was accidentally hit by a stray bullet.

"I have clarified this many times online."

"However, everyone thinks I should be a hero. They deny all my clarifications and insist on pinning the title of 'hero saving the damsel in distress' on me."

Lu Yunzhou has clarified the matter from back then several times.

But netizens disagree.

They felt that Lu Yunzhou wanted to keep a low profile after becoming a hero.

They wouldn't allow Lu Yunzhou to be so low-key; they insisted on giving him a story about taking a bullet for Jing Tian.

Furthermore, after Lu Yunzhou was shot in the right hand, he awakened a painting ability in his left hand similar to that of Leonardo da Vinci. This makes the whole story even more mysterious.

Hearing Lu Yunzhou deny it again, Wang Ran raised her head and looked at Lu Yunzhou deeply: "Brother, if another shooting happens in New York, I'm willing to take a bullet for you."

"So that you'll never forget me for the rest of your life."

Wang Churan suddenly realized why Jing Tian asked if Lu Yunzhou's nails were trimmed properly.

What kind of nail clippings should men cut?

Jing Tian herself kept her nails neatly trimmed, probably because she picked at her pimples every night.

Moreover, Jing Tian lives downstairs from my apartment.

Perhaps she even installed a megaphone and stuck it on the ceiling, so she could hear the sounds coming from her and Lu Yunzhou's room every day.

Damn!

I really want to stomp Jing Tian to death!

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