HuaYu: The most muscular director in history!

"Xiang Nan, come, sit down."

On the second floor of Xianyizhai, the radiators inside made it warm and cozy. The window was slightly ajar, and a tentacle of ivy, carrying a chill, reached in, making Xiang Nan feel both hot and cold, just like his current mood.

"Hello, Director Tong, um..."

Xiang Nan turned his gaze to the others.

Director Tong smiled and raised his hand, pointing to a kind-looking middle-aged man with narrow eyebrows and eyes: "This is Zhang Hongsen."

"Hello, Uncle Zhang, um... Uncle Zhang."

Zhang Hongsen's eyebrows furrowed in surprise, and after exchanging a glance with Director Tong, he burst into laughter: "Hahaha, good, good."

If Feng Man were here, she would definitely think to herself: Brother Nan is pretending to be young again!

A young body with an old mind; he's truly unbeatable when it comes to pretending to be young!

Moreover, in order to avoid suspicion, Director Tong deliberately did not introduce the identities of the people.

It's fine if you don't introduce me; I can just go along with it and call you "Uncle"!

Director Tong simply went along with him, pointing to Yang Buting: "This is your Uncle Yang."

"Hello, Uncle Yang."

Director Tong then pointed to Lang Kun: "Uncle Lang."

"Hello, Uncle Lang."

Lang Kun nodded, adopting a somewhat elder-like demeanor. "Hmm..."

After the introduction, the door opened just then, and the waiter came in carrying the dishes.

"I'll do it!"

Xiang Nan stood up eagerly, insisting on serving the dish himself even though the waiter could have simply brought it to the table.

Across from Xiang Nan, Director Tong turned to look at Zhang Hongsen.

How was it?

Zhang Hongsen smiled without saying a word, and returned the glance.

[Excellent! But quite endearing!]

The two nodded simultaneously and fell silent.

"Alright." After all the dishes were served, Director Tong tapped his chopsticks together. "Let's eat, we can chat as we eat."

Everyone started eating.

Xiang Nan glanced at the Da Hong Pao teacup on the table and wondered to himself, "Why don't leaders these days have any Maotai?"

During the meal, Director Tong kept his eyes downcast, holding food in his hands, but spoke casually as he approached Xiang Nan again: "Xiao Nan."

"Ah, I'm here."

Director Tong still didn't look up: "How did you spend that 500 million?"

Xiang Nan's heart skipped a beat, but he remained silent. He picked up a piece of pork and put it in his mouth, muttering, "Ah, off to work on the company, bought a lot of equipment."

"Um……"

Director Tong hummed in response and then fell silent, picking up the teacup on the table and taking a sip.

Zhang Hongsen glanced at Xiang Nan and continued the conversation: "Why did you decide to start an entertainment company? After all, if you stay in the United States, you can pocket a hundred million US dollars."

"clatter--"

Xiang Nan put down his chopsticks, straightened his back, and looked at Zhang Hongsen, who was drinking Da Hong Pao tea: "No matter how good the Meilika is, it's not my home, and white isn't my skin. You may be young, but you understand this."

Yang Buting, who was standing to the side, turned to look at him and said, "That's hundreds of millions of yuan. You're really willing to throw that away?"

Instead of answering the question directly, Xiang Nan started talking about something unrelated: "The first place I rented in Kyoto was near Jizhou Gate. The landlord left during the sea voyage craze, and the house had a brand-new European-style gate on the outside, but the inside was moldy and smelly. I didn't like living in such a place. I always felt that no matter how shiny the gate was, it wasn't as nice as the vermilion gates that all the neighbors in my hometown village had. Those gates even had a half-meter-high threshold, which I heard was for preventing zombies in ancient times, since zombies hop around!"

"what?"

The group of people looked at each other in silence, then suddenly burst into laughter.

"Ha ha ha ha……"

"Heh heh heh, you little rascal!"

Xiang Nan smiled, revealing eight big white teeth.

As the laughter subsided, Director Tong came out at the end to give a summary.

His eyelids remained lowered as he picked up his teacup and blew on the tea leaves: "This Da Hong Pao is truly a fine product; people should drink Da Hong Pao. This Da Hong Pao, despite having 'red' in its name, is actually oolong tea. People hear the word 'oo' and naturally assume it's black, but they're all wrong!"

Director Tong finally looked up at Xiang Nan: "The fact that this tea is classified as 'black' doesn't mean it's black. This Da Hong Pao turns red after just one brew; someone who didn't know better might think it's black tea!"

"Hehehe..."

Another soft laugh rang out from the table.

Director Tong raised his glass to Xiang Nan and said, "Drink more, this is good stuff."

Xiang Nan nodded in agreement, picked up his teacup and filled it to the brim. "Speaking of which, it's a good thing that I got to drink Da Hong Pao tea today. I've already spent all the money I got from my lucky streak, and I can't even afford brick tea anymore."

"Oh?" Director Tong put down his cup and gave Xiang Nan a deep look.

Today's dinner party was indeed a coincidence.

Didn't you see that Han Sanping didn't dare to say a word?

As an artist, Xiang Nan's winning of one hundred million US dollars will definitely attract the attention of some people.

It just so happened that Han Sanping brought her juniors to broaden their horizons, so Director Tong took the opportunity to investigate.

It wasn't exactly an interrogation; he didn't ask in detail about the purpose of the money, but he did mention some red-related matters.

Xiang Nan... is very good. He has seen his achievements at the Taiwan Golden Melody Awards.

But... it's quite interesting that he's complaining about being poor now—the squeaky wheel gets the grease!

This guy is quite frank, and he knows how to conduct himself appropriately.

Thinking of this, Director Tong gave Zhang Hongsen a wink, who immediately looked at Xiang Nan: "What's wrong? Have you encountered any difficulties?"

"Ah!" Xiang Nan scratched his head, looking somewhat embarrassed. "The four hundred million is all gone, and I also wanted to build a film studio, but..."

"A film studio?" Han Sanping finally managed to get a word in edgewise. He tugged at Xiang Nan's sleeve. "Our China Film Studio is also going to build a film studio. Why don't you come and use ours?"

Yang Buting, standing to the side, let out a silent sigh.

Look how excited you are! You're a daughter going to work for someone, not someone's girlfriend. Why would you rush to sell things to her?

"I, um... I still want to build one myself, and then shoot a sci-fi movie."

"Science fiction?"

"Science fiction!"

This was the only time the bigwigs at the table lost their composure today.

Director Tong frowned, his eyelids opening and closing several times before he finally spoke: "How long?"

Xiang Nan coughed and looked frankly into Director Tong's eyes: "Two film studios, one multi-functional and one digital special effects studio. The total cost will be 200 million, and the equipment will cost around 400 million. The plan is to complete them by the end of 2007."

"Hiss..." Lang Kun gasped.

This is such a huge expense! The average national wage in 2004 was less than 3,000 yuan, right?

"Okay." Director Tong nodded and picked up his chopsticks again. "Come see me again before construction starts next year. I'll apply for some government subsidies for you. Also, keep an eye on things at the Huairou government office. Oh, and send the document to GD. Hongsen, keep an eye on it."

"Okay." Zhang Hongsen agreed, then looked up at Xiang Nan: "Just contact me for the script. If you're short on money, you can ask Director Lang; the Spring Festival Gala pays quite well."

Lang Kun finally got a chance to speak. He had wanted to invite Xiang Nan for a long time, but that guy had politely declined. He had no choice but to tag along to Han Sanping's dinner party.

Xiang Nan looked at Director Lang, who picked up his teacup, took a sip, and asked with slight urgency, "Can you take orders?"

Xiang Nan nodded.

"This is from the 05 Spring Festival Gala. You know the number 5, right?"

Xiang Nan nodded again.

Lang Kun was somewhat suspicious and asked again, "You know what I'm talking about, right?"

Xiang Nan smiled shyly, his sunny, boyish charm returning: "Director Lang, I know, it's a revolutionary song, I've already thought of a name!"

"what?"

"Hahaha……"

Lang Kun's expression amused the group of bigwigs.

Han Sanping chuckled and said with a laugh, "Director Lang, you've fallen for that kid Nan's trick again. That kid's really shrewd!"

Xiang Nan waved his hands repeatedly: "No, nothing like that."

Han Sanping said no more, put down his chopsticks and stood up: "Alright, I have something in my stomach now, let's start the second half, I'll go get a case of latrine."

Xiang Nan's eyes widened.

What? Didn't we finish eating?