Huayu: I rely on hit-movie tactics to interweave...

Chapter 78 Late Night Snacks

Summers in Los Angeles are much drier than in BJ.

When Liu Yu came out of the airport, the sun was still high in the sky, making the asphalt in the parking lot soft, and he could feel his shoes sinking slightly when he stepped on it.

He stood at the door waiting for his car, lit a cigarette, took a couple of puffs, and heard footsteps behind him. It was Mark, a tall, thin production assistant sent by Lionsgate to accompany him.

"Director Liu, Michael said there's a small screening tonight, and he'd like you to see the final cut of 'The Witch'."

Mark spoke quickly, with a Hollywood-style efficiency. "Also, the script for 'Insidious' has been sent to your email. Michael said to take a look when you have time. If you're interested, you can move forward with the pre-production work on both projects at the same time after you finish filming 'Lucy'."

Liu Yu stubbed out his cigarette and tossed it into the nearby trash can. "Okay, what time tonight?"

"7:30. Michael will bring the editor to the company's small screening room."

At 7:30 p.m. sharp, Liu Yu appeared in Lionsgate's small screening room.

The hall wasn't large, with only forty or fifty seats, and the screen wasn't big either, but the sound system was well-tuned.

Michael had arrived, wearing a light blue shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms, holding a cup of coffee. When he saw Liu Yu come in, he stood up, shook hands with him, and then sat down in the first row.

The lights dimmed, and the screen lit up.

The final cut of "The Witch" was much tighter than the rough cut Liu Yu remembered. The editor removed a scene of about six minutes, pushed forward the pace of several action scenes, and added a quick cut to the ending to make the ending more concise.

Liu Yu watched the entire film in the dark without moving an inch. He kept turning the bottle of water on and off without drinking it.

As the screen went dark and the lights came back on, Michael turned to look at him. "How is it? This is the final version."

Liu Yu paused for a moment, then said, "It's better than I expected. The editor has a good sense of rhythm; some transitions are much smoother than the original."

Michael chuckled. "Then this version will do. Lionsgate plans to go to the Venice Film Festival this year and then release it in November."

After leaving the screening room, the two stood in the corridor and chatted for a while about "Lurking".

Michael outlined the overall framework of the project, with a budget of approximately two million US dollars, and the selection of a director was still under negotiation.

After listening, Liu Yu nodded and said he would take a closer look at the script after returning to Beijing and then give him an answer.

It was already past ten o'clock when we got back to the hotel.

After taking a shower and lying in bed, my phone screen lit up. It was a message from Liu Yifei. There was no text, only a photo: she was lying face down on the floor of the training hall, her forehead against the mat, looking like a dried-out salted fish, with a half-empty sports drink next to her.

The caption below the photo read: "Director Liu, I practiced for four hours today. Teacher Hong said my legs aren't even my own anymore."

Liu Yu looked at the photo and smiled, then replied, "Whose leg is yours?"

She replied instantly: "It's probably someone else's. Anyway, it doesn't really obey my commands."

Another message followed: "When are you coming back?"

"the day after tomorrow."

"Okay. I'll practice for two more days, and I'll show you my new skill when you come back."

"What new skill?"

"It's a secret. I'll tell you once I've mastered it."

Liu Yu put his phone on the bedside table and turned off the light.

A sliver of light from the Los Angeles nightscape filtered through the curtains. He closed his eyes, his mind still replaying "The Witch."

I watched the finished film footage and the project framework of "Lurking" for a while, and then I fell asleep.

Three days later, Liu Yu returned to Beijing.

When he left the airport, he deliberately took a longer route, exiting through the side entrance of Terminal 3 to avoid the reporters with their long lenses and microphones in the arrival hall.

After getting in the car, he sent Zhong Lifang a message: "Arrived. Not stuck in traffic."

Zhong Lifang replied with a thumbs-up emoji.

He returned to his apartment, put down his luggage, washed his face, changed his clothes, and checked the time; it was a little after three in the afternoon.

He figured they were still practicing at the training center, so he decided to drive over there anyway.

Upon arriving at the training hall, before even pushing open the door, I could hear Sammo Hung's voice coming from inside.

"Pull in your stomach! Let's do it again! Don't give up!"

Liu Yu pushed open the door and saw Liu Yifei standing in the center of the field, wearing a dark blue training uniform. Her hair was soaked and stuck to her cheeks, and sweat dripped down her chin, spreading out on the wooden floor.

There was a soft mat about half her height in front of her, and it looked like she was going to do a series of vaulting moves.

She took a deep breath, ran up, jumped, flipped half a circle in the air, braced her arms on the edge of the mat, and landed with her knees bent, without falling and standing still.

Sammo Hung clapped twice from the side, "Not bad this time. Much more stable than last week."

Liu Yifei turned around and saw Liu Yu standing in the doorway. She paused for a moment, then smiled.

"Director Liu, you're back." She didn't go over, but stood there wiping the sweat from her face. "Did you see what I did just now? I flipped over."

"I saw it. The landing was more stable than last time."

"I've been practicing for a week." She walked to the bench next to her, sat down, unscrewed a bottle of water, and took a sip. "When you left last week, I could only flip over and fall onto the mat, but now I can stand up. Teacher Hong said that if I practice for another week, I won't be able to flip over without the mat."

Liu Yu walked over and sat down on the stool next to him. "Didn't you say you were going to demonstrate a new skill? Is this it?"

"This is just the first step." She put down the water bottle, turned her head to look at him, and said, "There are still several more steps to go. I'll show you when we've practiced them all."

"So mysterious?"

"It's not that it's mysterious, it's just that I'm afraid of being embarrassed if I can't master it." She laughed after saying that, then seemed to remember something, "Oh, right, there's something I wanted to ask you. Yesterday, Sister Zhong sent me a document saying that several magazines want to do an interview with me, and they asked if I have..."

I don't have time. Should I answer?

"What magazine?"

"Harper's Bazaar, Marie Claire, and another book is China Screen."

Liu Yu thought for a moment, "I can take 'China Screen,' but the other two aren't urgent. 'Lucy' hasn't started filming yet, and doing too much exposure in the fashion industry now could lead to audiences making preconceived notions about your role. Tell them to wait until the promotional period before scheduling any more dates."

She nodded. "Okay, then I'll talk to Sister Zhong." She paused. "Brother Liu, you always talk like that. You have a clear line in your mind about what you should and shouldn't do. It's hard for me to draw that line. Sometimes I feel like I can do this and I can do that, and in the end I just exhaust myself."

"That's because you put other people's expectations before your own," Liu Yu said. "You always feel like others want you to do this or that, so you want to take on everything. But you need to figure out first what you want to do and what you don't want to do. If you don't want to do something, just refuse directly, without explanation, and without affecting anything."

After hearing this, she remained silent for a while, as if she were replaying the words in her mind. "What if I reject someone, and that person never wants to work with me again?"

"Then let's not cooperate. You'll miss some opportunities and avoid some trouble. In the end, those who are truly worth cooperating with will be the ones who remain."

She didn't say anything more, but bent down to screw the cap off the water bottle and placed it at her feet. The air conditioner in the training hall hummed, and sunlight streamed in through the high windows, casting a long strip of light on the floor. Tiny dust particles floated in the light, like suspended gold dust.

"Brother Liu, are you coming again tomorrow?"

"Come on. I have a meeting tomorrow morning, come over after it's over."

She nodded, stood up, walked back to the center of the field, readjusted her starting position, took a deep breath, and began the next set of training.

In mid-July, Ning Hao finished filming his music video.

That day, Liu Yu had just finished some business near Bad Monkey Studio and stopped by for a while.

Ning Hao was staring at the screen in the editing room, while Xing Aina was eating a bowl of cold noodles next to him while watching.

When Liu Yu pushed the door open and entered, Ning Hao didn't even turn his head. "You're here? Have a seat."

Liu Yu sat down in the chair next to him and glanced at the screen.

"Finished filming?"

"Filming is finished." Ning Hao leaned back in his chair, rubbed his eyes, and said, "It took two days to film. The young lady is quite hardworking."

There was a scene where she had to jump from a height, and she practiced it more than ten times, even though her knees were bruised, she didn't ask to stop.

"She came from the Beijing Dance Academy, so she has a solid foundation."

Ning Hao turned to look at him. "How did you know she's from the Beijing Dance Academy?"

"The one you mentioned last time, the Affiliated High School of Beijing Dance Academy."

"Oh right, I forgot." Ning Hao turned back to look at the screen. "By the way, that girl's agent contacted me again a couple of days ago, saying she wanted me to help introduce you."

"Introduce what?"

"I wanted to see you," Ning Hao said casually. "They know we're good friends. I neither agreed nor refused, just said you're busy right now, and we'll talk again when we have a chance."

Liu Yu leaned back in his chair. "There's a ton of stuff going on with 'Lucy,' and the pre-production preparations aren't even finished yet. We'll talk about it later."

"Okay, that's my reply to her." Ning Hao dragged the editing progress bar forward a little, and the scene on the screen started moving again. "By the way, what did you think of that barbecue place Huang Bo went to last time? He said he wanted to go again in a couple of days, bringing along some of his old buddies who used to sing there with him, saying it would be more fun."

"Sure. He can just let me know when he wants to."

One evening at the end of July, Huang Bo's barbecue party arrived as scheduled.

This time the location changed; it's a barbecue skewer shop located in a courtyard house outside the East Fourth Ring Road. The shop isn't big; there are several stalls set up in the courtyard.

A low table, with several strings of small light bulbs hanging overhead, cast a warm yellow light that made the whole courtyard look like a miniature night market.

When Liu Yu arrived, Huang Bo was already there. He was wearing a floral shirt, shorts, and slippers, looking like he had just returned from a beach vacation rather than coming from a film set. Two people were sitting next to him, a man and a woman. The man wore round-framed glasses and looked to be about the same age as Huang Bo, while the woman was younger, in her early twenties, with a ponytail and eyes that curved like crescent moons when she smiled.

"Director Liu, come, come, sit here." Huang Bo stood up and greeted him. "This is Lao Liu, he used to sing with me at the bar, now he has his own band. This is Xiao Wen, Lao Liu's apprentice, he sings."

Liu Yu greeted the two men and sat down on the plastic stool next to Lao Liu. On the table was already a plate of edamame, a bunch of grilled meat skewers, a plate of grilled chives, and several bottles of beer that had been opened.

"Director Liu, let me tell you, I used to come to this restaurant all the time." Huang Bo picked up a skewer of mutton, used his chopsticks to peel the meat off the skewer, and drizzled some vinegar on it. "Back then, we were poor. We'd sing all night and earn a few dozen yuan. After the show, we'd come here, order ten skewers of meat, two bottles of beer, and a bowl of fried noodles. We felt so energetic."

Old Liu chimed in from the side, "Now that you have money, why are you still here?"

"We're here to reminisce about the past and appreciate the present," Huang Bo said, putting a freshly grilled skewer of meat into his mouth. "And to be honest, the taste of this kind of hole-in-the-wall restaurant is something that high-end hotels can't replicate."

Liu Yu picked up a skewer of grilled chicken wings, blew on it to cool it down, and took a bite. The skin was crispy and the meat inside was tender. The flavors of cumin and chili powder exploded on his tongue, carrying the unique smoky aroma of charcoal.

"The taste is indeed very good."

"I wasn't lying to you, was I?" Huang Bo proudly gestured with his chin towards Lao Liu. "See? Director Liu said it was delicious."

Xiaowen quietly ate her grilled chives, occasionally glancing up at the conversation of the people at the table before looking down and continuing to eat.

She didn't say much, but her demeanor was natural; it wasn't as if she was deliberately keeping silent, but rather as if she was listening attentively to everyone.

After taking a few sips of wine, Huang Bo became more talkative, recounting amusing anecdotes from his days as a bar singer. "Once, a guy got drunk and rushed up to me, insisting on singing 'Too Softhearted' with me. I told him I sang rock, but he didn't understand. He just sang one song on stage and left, throwing a hundred dollars on the stage before he left, saying, 'I didn't sing well, just a token of my appreciation.'"

Old Liu laughed out loud, "I was there that time too. After that guy left, the boss said, 'You two can split this hundred yuan.' I said, 'This was given to Huang Bo by someone else, I won't take it.' But Huang Bo took it and immediately bought twenty skewers of meat, saying, 'Let's share the good fortune.'"

Huang Bo waved his hand, "Let's not talk about those old stories, things are different now. Now we have a proper job, making movies."

After he finished speaking, he glanced at Liu Yu and said, "Director Liu, don't you think so? You never know when life will take a turn for the better. When I was singing in bars back then, I never thought I would act in movies, let alone act in a movie that you invested in."

Liu Yu raised his beer glass and clinked it with his, saying, "The best is yet to come."

After several rounds of drinks and several changes of the grilled skewers on the table, Lao Liu and Xiao Wen left first, leaving Liu Yu, Huang Bo, and...

Ning Hao and two others arrived later.

A night breeze blew by, causing the small light bulbs overhead to sway gently, making the shadows on the ground appear to grow longer and shorter.

Huang Bo leaned back in his chair, twirling a beer bottle cap in his hand. "Director Liu, when do you start filming for 'Lucy'?"

"By the end of August, the actors' training camp will be almost over, and they'll go straight to the production team then."

"How's Liu Yifei's training going?" Ning Hao asked from the side. "I haven't seen her post much on social media lately; she's been spending all her time in the training hall."

"She's doing well. Teacher Hong said she's progressing very quickly, about two weeks ahead of schedule."

Huang Bo placed the beer bottle cap on the table, flicked it with his finger, and the cap spun a few times on the surface. "Director Liu, to be honest, I really admire you. You're several years younger than me, but you've done many more things than I have. When I was your age, I was still singing 'Goodbye Kiss' in bars."

"When you sang 'Goodbye Kiss,' I was folding blankets in the army. Everyone takes a different path, and you're not slow either. All in all, it's only been four or five years since you graduated from vocational high school, and you've already landed a leading role on the big screen. That's quite fast."

Huang Bo felt a little embarrassed by what he said. He lowered his head, took a sip of his drink, and when he looked up again, his expression became more serious. "Director Liu, if you have any good roles in the future, think of me. I'm not picky, but I want to play roles that are interesting and thought-provoking."

Looking at his face, that face illuminated by the interplay of light and shadow, Liu Yu suddenly felt that Huang Bo was more than he appeared on screen.

What you see on the screen is more solid.

On screen, he is completely at ease, with an amazing sense of relaxation, while in real life he has a different kind of sincerity, the kind of sincerity that is not used as gossip.

"Okay. I've got it."

Huang Bo smiled; it wasn't a big smile, but it was warm enough.

It was almost midnight when the show ended that night.

There were two tables of guests left in the courtyard. One table was occupied by young people playing rock-paper-scissors, and the other table was occupied by a couple sitting in a corner talking quietly.

As Liu Yu stepped out of the courtyard, a night breeze blew in his face.

He took out his phone and saw a message Liu Yifei had sent an hour earlier: "Finished practice today. I can finally do somersaults without a mat."

The accompanying picture shows her standing on the floor of the training hall, hands on her hips, her hair still wet, with an expression that says, "I finally did it."

Liu Yu looked at the photo, smiled slightly on the Beijing street late at night, and replied, "Congratulations. I'll bring you a mung bean popsicle tomorrow."

She replied with a smiley face instantly, then added, "Then message me when you arrive, and I'll pick you up at the training hall entrance."