Huayu 2011: Starting with Hilarious Men

Follow Zeng Jia into Huanrui Century Company.

In a rehearsal room, Zheng Nan saw Yang Mi.

Yang Mi wore a bright pink strapless short dress, a style that was both vibrant and subtly sexy. As she sat reading the script, her cleavage was particularly prominent due to her forward-leaning posture.

Zheng Nan focused on examining Yang Mi's face. At this time, Yang Mi had not yet had her chin shaved and still had a square face with baby fat.

2011 was a breakout year for Yang Mi.

At the end of January, "Palace" premiered and became a hit across the internet.

Thanks to this top-tier time-travel drama, Yang Mi has become a leading actress, and the entire internet was abuzz with discussion about her. QQ Space, Baidu Tieba, and Weibo were all filled with posts and pictures related to Qingchuan.

The song "The Power of Love" went viral online. If Yang Mi hadn't sung so badly off-key, she could have easily made her way into the music industry with "The Power of Love".

On July 8th, "Mysterious Island" was released.

This low-budget, low-quality fake horror movie managed to rake in 700 million yuan at the box office on its opening day, solely thanks to Yang Mi's influence and career storyline, despite having no established intellectual property.

It grossed 2400 million yuan in its opening weekend, taking the top spot for the week. After only 5 days of release, it grossed over 3400 million yuan, breaking the box office record for domestic horror films.

The film "Mysterious Island," which cost only five million to make, ultimately grossed nearly ninety million at the box office.

From a commercial perspective, Far Cry was a success, with a return on investment that once exceeded 1:20.

From a critical perspective, "Mysterious Island" flopped so badly that even its own mother wouldn't recognize it, scoring only 3.3 on Douban, and even making Yang Mi a box office poison for a time.

In addition, this film set a bad precedent by pioneering the concept of "fan films," which had a profound impact on the marketing and production of later domestic films.

It's quite amazing, actually. Yang Mi, who is well-connected in Beijing and has all sorts of resources in the capital, ended up playing Tang Xuejian in "Chinese Paladin 3" by sheer coincidence.

"Mimi, Dilraba and Director Zheng Nan are here," Zeng Jia reminded them.

Upon hearing this, Yang Mi put down the script and looked over.

Yang Mi recognized Reba as the first person she saw.

When Dilraba participated in the audition for the role of Yu Ji in the movie "The Last Supper", she caught the attention of Yang Mi.

Yang Mi's first impression of Dilraba was that she was a very beautiful little girl with long, straight black hair, quiet, like a doll, and with a very distinctive appearance.

Many people are beautiful, but they remain relatively unknown in the entertainment industry because they lack distinctive features.

Yang Mi glanced at Reba and then noticed Zheng Nan following behind.

Yang Mi usually pays close attention to the entertainment industry, following whoever is popular.

Zheng Nan has been very popular these past few days, so Yang Mi has a deep impression of her.

"Hello, Sister Mi." Zheng Nan greeted Reba first.

"Hello, both of you, please have a seat." Yang Mi smiled and looked at Zheng Nan curiously, asking, "Director Zheng Nan, what brings you here?"

"I came to accompany Dilraba to her audition, and also to record 'Big Shelter Chat' for Sohu." Zheng Nan placed Dilraba in an important position between the two things, which moved Dilraba deeply.

Yang Mi rolled her eyes inwardly. This kind of talk might fool young girls, but I definitely wouldn't believe it if it were a grown woman.

"Two people?" Yang Mi asked Zheng Nan, feigning surprise, about her relationship with Reba.

Reba was too embarrassed to answer, so she nudged Zheng Nan with her finger.

"We're currently classmates," Zheng Nan replied succinctly.

Since they had just met, Yang Mi didn't ask any further questions. After chatting with Zheng Nan for a few minutes, she turned the conversation back to Dilraba: "We meet again, Dilraba. I was very impressed with you when you auditioned for 'The Last Supper'."

Dilraba auditioned for a role called Wu Anpo, whose character in "Micro Era" is a school beauty and an arrogant young lady.

The tsundere persona won't be popular in 2026, but it was quite popular in 2011.

Yang Mi gave Dilraba a short script with lines from Wu Anpo's dialogue, asking her to familiarize herself with it for five minutes and then perform it on the spot.

Five minutes later, Dilraba adjusted her state and began to play Wu Anpo.

Dilraba raised her chin slightly, her eyes filled with disdain, and spoke her lines arrogantly: "Do you think I came here for you? Nobody needs to worry. Although I, Wu Anpo, always cause chaos wherever I go, I'm definitely not here to cause trouble this time."

"Miss Lu, humility is a virtue, but being too humble is hypocrisy."

"I have never known what fear is, and I have never submitted to anyone."

"Only when I'm with you can we create a love that belongs to us. Because we have the same background and upbringing, only I understand your pride and dignity."

"You think I want to talk to you? If it weren't for... never mind, I can't be bothered!"

These are very old-fashioned and standard lines from romance dramas.

The three women present didn't think anything was wrong, but Zheng Nan got goosebumps all over.

Putting aside the dialogue, Dilraba's acting skills in switching between lines were excellent.

From the shy Dilraba to the arrogant, haughty, and sharp-eyed Wu Anpo, she perfectly conveyed the aura and personality tension of a young lady in just a few lines of dialogue.

"Quiet yet explosive, very talented, and her acting skills are also very good compared to her peers." Yang Mi gave Dilraba a very high evaluation.

"Thank you." Stepping out of her role as Wu Anpo, Dilraba returned to her shy demeanor.

Yang Mi and Zeng Jia exchanged a glance, and after a brief exchange of glances, Zeng Jia spoke.

"Dilraba's image is indeed a good fit for the role, but there are other actors who haven't auditioned yet, so we can't finalize the casting decision immediately. By the way, Dilraba, have you signed with a company? Do you have any artists you'd like to sign with?"

Zeng Jia's question made her meaning clear; she was verbally extending an olive branch.

As long as Dilraba Dilmurat isn't signed with a company yet, and is willing to sign with Yang Mi's company in the future, the role of Wu Anpo is yours.

Before yesterday, Reba might have been tempted by Zeng Jia's offer.

After all, Yang Mi is now a golden brand. If you can sign with Yang Mi, you might not get big roles, but you'll definitely get no shortage of minor ones.

Don't underestimate small roles; many actors and artists have to compete with many other people to get even small roles.

But after having a heart-to-heart talk with Zheng Nan on the high-speed train, Dilraba didn't want to leave him. And since Zheng Nan's focus was still in Shanghai for the time being, Dilraba naturally wouldn't sign a contract with Beijing.

"I'm ready to sign with a company," Dilraba replied confidently.

"Which company? Dilraba, don't be fooled by a shell company." Yang Mi was a little surprised. A company wanted an unknown sophomore?

"Sennan Entertainment Culture Co., Ltd."

"I've never heard of this company name before, Jia-jie, have you?" Yang Mi searched her memory but still couldn't recall the company name, so she looked at Zeng Jia.

Zeng Jia shook her head; she hadn't heard of it either, and guessed it was just a shell company.

"Well, Sennan Entertainment is my company," Zheng Nan quickly said, seeing Yang Mi and Zeng Jia's troubled expressions.