Huayu: Enjoy Yourself

Chapter 22 I won't take him next time

Three days later, the group, having assembled, boarded the plane.

They then met the "Feng Yue" film crew, who had arrived earlier and were also led by Han Sanping.

Upon entering the cabin, Chen An also saw the crew of "Feng Yue" chatting with Han Sanping.

This film, directed by Chen Kaige, a senior fellow student of Chen An and a renowned poet, is an art film starring Gong Li and Leslie Cheung, and was also nominated for the main competition at Cannes.

As Cannes's core team that won the Palme d'Or just a few years ago, they are still riding high and have called up these heavyweight actors to make another run for the Palme d'Or.

Upon seeing Chen An leading the "Run Lola Run" crew into the theater, Han Sanping happily introduced them:

"Brother Chen, I believe you also know this Director Chen. You both have the surname Chen, so you might even be from the same clan."

Chen An stepped forward, greeted the group with a smile, and said, "How could I not know you? Director Chen is my senior, and the teachers at school often say they want to learn from him."

The sedan chair was carried by people, but when Chen An got on, he wasn't carried and he said things that Chen Kaige liked to hear.

Chen Kai was pleased to hear his junior brother praising him. He nodded, thinking that the young man was promising and that he was like himself. He was young and had entered the main competition of Cannes, and was very talented.

Han Sanping pulled Chen An aside and spoke to him one by one, and Chen An uttered his own eloquent words.

Chen An recognized everyone present; they were all heavyweight actors from both leads across mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Leslie Cheung was a superstar, and Gong Li is now the undisputed number one actress in mainland China.

After greeting everyone, Chen An also started chatting with Gong Li.

"Director Chen is truly young and promising; he was only a sophomore in college and yet he was nominated for Cannes."

"No need to be so polite, Sister Li, I'm a big fan of yours. Just call me Chen An. I'm telling you this secretly, but don't tell anyone else."

Chen An leaned close to Gong Li's ear and whispered:

"To be honest, my first choice for this movie was Gong Li, but your salary is higher than my investment, otherwise I would have begged you to star in it no matter what."

He could only say this to Gong Li; if Ning Jing heard it, she would probably explode, since he had told her it was designed for her.

"That's a real shame, but we can work together again when the opportunity arises."

Gong Li didn't feel anything. She has plenty of film offers now and doesn't need him.

"Of course, I'd love to make a movie with you, and bring Ge You along, just like in 'To Live', so you can team up again. When I finish writing the script, I'll contact you first."

Chen An was delighted and extended a film offer to Gong Li ahead of schedule.

"Okay, then bring the script over for me to see when you've finished writing it. If it's acceptable, I'll agree to act in it."

Gong Li didn't refuse, since she hadn't said she had to accept. She agreed first because Chen An was still quite young and had a chance.

After chatting for a while, Chen An left his seat and went to sit with the crew he was leading.

Lying in his seat, leaning against the window and gazing at the scenery outside, Chen An drifted off to sleep without realizing it.

After Chen An was woken up, the plane had already landed in France.

The Cannes International Film Festival, founded in 1946, is one of the world’s most influential and prestigious international film festivals.

It is now the most influential film festival, known as the top of the three major film festivals, although the other two do not acknowledge this.

However, it is indeed a film festival that all filmmakers want to attend. Back then, Chen Kaige risked offending Berlin to pull his film from its release date and move it to the Cannes Film Festival.

Ultimately, Zhang Yimou's "Red Sorghum" won the Golden Bear at Berlin, while Chen Kaige didn't win any major awards at Cannes and even offended the Berlin Film Festival.

However, this also reflects the influence of the Cannes Film Festival.

The 49th Cannes Film Festival in 1996 invited a heavyweight jury, with Francis Ford Coppola, the director of "The Godfather," as the jury president, and Tran Anh Hung, who won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival the previous year, as one of the jury members.

This attracted numerous journalists and buyers to this year's Cannes Film Festival.

Chen An, whose film was nominated for the main competition at this film festival, only felt upon arrival: "Wow, so many people!"

Having already been to the Venice Film Festival once, Chen An looked at the even larger crowds of pedestrians and tourists compared to his previous visit to Venice and couldn't help but marvel at how it truly deserved to be the most influential film festival.

You can tell from the fact that there are more enthusiastic young ladies standing around inviting people to join in, and the prices are much higher here than in Venice.

After all, these things don't lie; the more people buy them, the more popular they become, and the higher the price naturally goes.

"Let's go. The film festival hasn't started yet. Let's go to the hotel we booked first, and you'll have plenty of opportunities to watch it later."

Han Sanping looked at Chen An, who was standing there in a daze by the roadside, and pulled him towards the hotel.

The group following behind Chen An also looked around curiously, except for Lin Dajiang. He didn't care about any of this; he was rather simple-minded and only wanted to make money!

The group eventually checked into the hotel arranged by the film festival.

After that, Chen An couldn't stay idle, just like he had in Venice, he wanted to go out and explore.

With two days to go before the opening ceremony, tourists, journalists, and film distributors have basically all arrived, and this small city in southern France is packed with people from all over the world.

This time, he once again brought along his good partner, Zhao Xiong.

This time, Chen An spent a lot of money, 100 euros to buy a box of unfamiliar cigars at a nearby store. There were only five cigars, which made Chen An exclaim that the merchant was a damn swindler!

Chen An didn't invite his younger brother Duan Long. The guy has become a bit effeminate lately, and whenever the topic of women comes up, he talks about his crush. Chen An didn't want to spoil the mood by bringing him along.

They found a street-side coffee shop and sat outside under a parasol.

Actually, Chen An would have preferred to take a boat ride by the sea, but unfortunately he wasn't Lin Dajiang. Since he didn't have much money in his pocket, he could only decide to find a seaside coffee shop to look at the sea and other things.

The two lit a cigar, ordered a coffee casually, put on sunglasses, and sat there chatting in a pretentious manner.

"Brother Zhao, do you think we saw that blond guy in Venice last time? He looks exactly the same."

Chen An has a bit of face blindness and can't tell faces apart, but he feels like he's seen a scantily clad, enthusiastic young woman on the opposite street before.

"No, much smaller."

Sitting next to Chen An, Zhao Xiong refuted Chen An's words with insightful remarks.

Looking at his confident demeanor, Chen An was filled with admiration. Was this the discerning eye of a mature man? So experienced!

"Brother Zhao is truly experienced, with keen insight. I admire him greatly."

"That's nothing. Last time I saw a DVD at the DVD store called 'Scent of a Woman.'"

"That's an American movie called 'Scent of a Woman,' but it's not about that kind of thing."

"Really? Good thing I didn't buy it."

Zhao Xiong sat in the chair with an air of superiority, took a puff of his cigar, and picked up the coffee next to him and took a sip.

"Why do so many people like to drink this bitter stuff? It's much more expensive than Coke and doesn't taste good at all."

He swallowed it in one gulp, his face contorted with rage, unable to bear the taste any longer, and complained.

A tall, broad-shouldered man wearing a black suit, sunglasses, and smoking a cigar.

The way he grimaced from the bitter taste of coffee amused the two blonde girls at the next table, who chuckled softly.

The two blonde girls were communicating in a language that Chen An couldn't understand.

Zhao Xiong quickly grabbed the ice water next to him and rinsed his mouth to wash away the bitter taste.

A blonde woman at the next table stood up, walked quickly to Zhao Xiong, took out a card and stuffed it into his hand before leaving with her friend.

A little confused by the blonde girl, Zhao Xiong turned around to ask Chen An what was going on.

Not understanding what was going on, he saw Chen An take off his sunglasses.

Seeing Chen An take off his sunglasses, his eyes were red with jealousy, and he was grinding his teeth.

I've decided not to ask for now. I'll ask the translator Lin Dajiang brought later what's written on it.

Zhao Xiong, who was being watched by Chen An, felt extremely uncomfortable. Before long, the two returned to the hotel.

Upon entering the hotel, Chen An saw Zhao Xiong holding a card and rushing to find a translator.

"Damn it, I'm not taking him next time!"

Then, looking at her not-so-strong body, she decided that she should exercise more in the future.

I beg for everything, I beg for us all.

(End of this chapter)