Chapter 253: Selling Glory to Become Friends: The Emperor, a Superstar, and His Beloved...

"Oh?" Rong Juezhang lowered his eyes, a smile playing on his lips, and asked, "What role are you planning to give me?"

“Your specialty is—'loser'.” Li Sishi winked at him and returned the favor with a word that had a double meaning.

The truth is that there isn't a term like "scumbag" yet, and "bad man" is too simplistic and general for this character, which is somewhat different from the male lead character that Li Sishi envisioned. So, after some deliberation, she could only choose a more interesting Cantonese slang term.

Why is the wording of this proverb considered interesting?

Firstly, this term carries a different kind of intimacy than the commonly used insult or teasing "sad old man" (deadbeat). Secondly, before many bickering couples have broken up, they habitually address each other as "sad old man" and "sad old woman"...

Moreover, these Cantonese slang terms are often used by elderly couples to address each other. Li Sishi has attended many charity events and has seen many elderly men and women addressing each other as "Shuaigong" and "Shuaipo," which has a unique flavor of affection between husband and wife that is not afraid of the wear and tear of age and still remembers to play a little trick on each other. It has a similar meaning and usage to "old man" and "old woman" in Mandarin.

Of course, the word "衰公" can also be used as an insult. However, Cantonese has a very rich vocabulary for insults, so people who are good with words usually avoid using such ambiguous words or use them cautiously, so as not to be caught off guard and turned around.

"Are you kidding me? You're asking me for help right now, and you still have the nerve to call me a loser?" Rong Juezhang pouted in dissatisfaction.

"There's nothing I can do about it, this character is the female lead's husband in this story," Li Sishi said casually, shrugging her shoulders.

“Oh, so that means 'your'...husband?” Rong Juezhang raised an eyebrow.

“Yes, so he’s a ‘loser’.” Li Sishi nodded and briefly explained her story idea, “It was an inspiration that suddenly came to me tonight. I wanted to make a story about a beauty pageant contestant marrying into a wealthy family.”

As for the male lead's character design, which combines the "aristocracy prince's temperament" with the "scheming scumbag" persona, isn't that tailor-made for this handsome guy who often plays scumbag roles?!

In particular, Rong Juezhang's temperament, besides being noble, also carries a childlike stubbornness. Even when playing a scumbag, he makes the audience feel that "he must have his reasons" or "he's too fragile, so we can forgive him." There's no need to worry about the actor being negatively affected by the character's personality.

.

After all, we still prefer virtuous and heroic characters. If you play a villain too well, you might get chased and beaten up by overly enthusiastic fans when you go out in public...

As Li Sishi was thinking this, Rong Juezhang looked at her with an incredulous gaze for a while, then reached out and lifted her chin, gesturing for her to face him directly. At the same time, he pointed with his other hand to the group of men in suits who were vaguely visible through the balcony window: "Comparing me to them is a bit much—I'm much more stylish than them, okay?!"

"It's precisely because you're stylish, handsome, and good-looking that I made you my first choice for the male lead." Li Sishi said without any regard for his pained expression.

Seeing Li Sishi's self-righteous yet defiant demeanor, Rong Juezhang remained silent for a moment before finally waving his hand in defeat: "Forget it, forget it, there really is a generation gap between me and a young woman like you..."

After saying that, he changed the subject again: "However, if you want me to take a role, my agent and I have to read the script first—even if you're my 'Oh, cousin'!"

“I’ll submit it to Ms. Zhuang for review as soon as possible. If she accepts my idea, I should be able to find a screenwriter to polish it into a movie script very quickly.” Li Sishi smiled. “Having a script will make communication much easier, right?”

"Let's see what kind of script you can come up with for me then," Rong Juezhang said with a smile.

Seeing that he seemed to be relenting, Li Sishi nodded heavily: "I will do it as soon as possible. I will organize my thoughts when I get back tonight and submit the report tomorrow."

"Hey, what are you two doing hiding here so quietly?" Just as Rong Juezhang was about to say something, a familiar, slightly boisterous voice came from the doorway.

"You're done dancing, Sister Pei?" Li Sishi turned around and smiled.

"My dance partner tonight is so-so, Lester is more compatible with me, so I'm borrowing him for a bit." Pei Yansang probably drank quite a bit tonight, her cheeks were so red that she didn't need any blush at all.

"What do you mean by 'borrow'? If you want to use him, just take him out. I've already finished speaking, and now we can have some peace and quiet." Li Sishi ignored the accusatory look in Rong Juezhang's eyes and generously stretched out her hands towards him, acting as if "this person next to me is at your disposal."

"Hahahaha! Did you hear that? MayMay is upset that you're bothering her!" Pei Yansang laughed heartily as she pulled the speechless Rong Juezhang outside.

It's probably not good to argue with a drunkard who's already quite drunk, Rong

Jue Zhang finally glared at Li Sishi, who was "selling out her honor to make friends" while putting on an innocent little white rabbit act, and then, with a mix of laughter and tears, was pulled back to the dance floor by Pei Yansang to bounce around.

Li Sishi smiled and waved to him through the window, then turned her gaze back to the night sky, where a crescent moon hung like a hook.

The bright moonlight spilled into the winter night breeze, giving people an uncanny sense of being in another world.

Separated by a wall and a window, inside was a bustling scene of singing and dancing, while outside was a quiet, chilly winter night.

It was as if there was still some unresolved disconnect between her and the world before her.

However, it should be soon—once this film, which incorporates half of her past life, vents her hidden wounds that no one will ever know, the "rebirth" will become more and more obvious as time goes by and the "rebirth" gradually fades away from her.

As the wedding banquet drew to a close, amidst a chorus of congratulatory messages wishing Kong Wei a happy and prosperous marriage, Rong Juezhang's "blessing" was the most both laughable and pathetic: "Wishing you a long and happy life together—but you're such a good actress, don't just get married and stop working, because many people enjoy watching your shows..."

Kong Wei smiled and hugged him to express her gratitude, then shook hands with Li Sishi, who was standing next to her and wished her a happy marriage and all the best. After saying goodbye to the two cousins, she went to Pei Yansang's side at the back.

Pei Yansang and Kong Wei are best friends who met in the early 1990s while filming a movie. They had even made plans to make a movie together, but it never happened due to various factors. Now, Kong Wei has also gotten married in a hurry.

It is conceivable that their dream of collaboration will remain even more distant.

So she specially set aside an entire evening to come here and have some fun with her best friend Kong Wei, who is no longer single, and even the groom's limelight will be temporarily overshadowed by her.

"I can't believe how domineering he is!" Rong Juezhang chuckled as he murmured a curse at Pei Yansang, who had taken over the bride, before closing the car door and driving away.

The next morning, Li Sishi, who had stayed up most of the night organizing her ideas into a script outline, gently knocked on Zhuang Menghua's office door.

"Come in quickly." Hearing Zhuang Menghua's greeting, Li Sishi came in carrying a folder and breathed a sigh of relief as she held her hands up to her chest.

She was already quite busy getting up early in the freezing cold to report on work, but Zhuang Menghua was clearly the first to leave and the last to arrive at work—if it weren't for Li Si knowing that some people in the world are just exceptionally workaholics.

The poem must be a tribute to Zhuang Menghua's dedication to his job.

Look at how energetic she is, being the second-in-command of a big company; this popular young actress can't afford to become sluggish just because of her busy schedule...

"Have some hot coffee, it's freshly made." Seeing Li Sishi warming her hands with her breath, Zhuang Menghua smiled and gestured for her to take one of the three cups of hot coffee on the table.

"Thank you, Miss Zhuang!" Li Sishi placed the folder on the desk, then carefully picked up a coffee cup from the table, warming her hands as she drank.

After Lu Yiting, who arrived late, entered the office, Zhuang Menghua picked up the script outline that she had stayed up all night to finish, under Li Sishi's expectant gaze.

Lu Yiting also leaned slightly to the side, watching as the only sounds for the past few minutes were faint breathing and the rustling of pages turning.

It gives you an inexplicable urge to hold your breath and wait for the result.

"Is this the script you came up with?" After a while, Zhuang Menghua slightly raised her eyes to look at Li Sishi.

"I guess so..." Although it's a creative adaptation based on memories from the future, from today's perspective, this idea is absolutely novel and quite fitting for her debut as a "beauty pageant contestant".

Even in this era where people frequently fly abroad to watch premieres at various film festivals, and then come back to extract the essence and discard the dross, adapting the films with local elements to "learn from the strengths of many," this realistic fantasy genre is still particularly fresh and captivating.

"What do you mean by that, Ah May?" Lu Yiting asked softly.

“Because this idea came to me last night after being inspired by someone at Kong Wei’s wedding banquet,” Li Sishi replied.

"Oh, it's him?" Lu Yiting spread the latest issue of the newspaper on the table. Li Sishi glanced down at it and almost didn't know how to react to the Hong Kong media's wild imagination—

Because this newspaper headline, blatantly in color, read: "Superstar and Miss Hong Kong Spotted Dancing on Terrace, Suspected Good News Imminent?"

The photo accompanying the headline shows Rong Juezhang, slightly tipsy with reddened eyes, looking down at her with a slightly surprised expression. At first glance, it looks like the flirtatious banter between young lovers.

The report even went so far as to speculate whether these seemingly fashionable distant cousins ​​were going to follow the tradition of Cantonese films and stage a "marriage within a family" drama in modern Hong Kong...

After all, Li Sishi's taste leans towards "traditional, old-fashioned" styles like gold.

Isn't that right?

While Rong Juezhang has always been a fashion icon, he's been showing up with his distant cousin Li Sishi a lot lately—if you two aren't in a one-legged relationship, why are you always hanging out together lately?

"Actually, Lester was drunk and stepped on my foot while dancing, but he refused to admit it. If it weren't for the good photo, we could have captured the scene of us fighting on the other side of the screen..." Li Sishi covered her face.

I finally understand the speechless feeling I had when I was interviewed in the early morning about "casually having dinner with a female friend and then being exposed the next day for wanting to get married."

“You don’t need to pay too much attention to these unfounded gossip reports.” Lu Yiting smiled, put the newspaper away, and continued, “However, if you want to cast this ‘male lead’ as the male lead in your movie, you’ll still need to do some explaining.”

“I’ll find time to talk to him about it.” Li Sishi nodded, then looked at Zhuang Menghua. “Then… Miss Zhuang, do you agree…”

“This script is quite creative, and I support you if you want to film it.” Zhuang Menghua herself is a strong woman who has broken free from the constraints of women, and she is very fond of this kind of story that advocates for women’s independence.

Most importantly, the script seems to have an investment amount that can be "large or small"—controlling the production cost of a film as much as possible while still achieving the desired effect is precisely Zhuang Menghua's ultimate goal in managing the accounts.

"So you're planning to use Rong Juezhang as the male lead?" Zhuang Menghua asked, agreeing before Li Sishi could even explain. "Very good. His price isn't high right now, and he might even give us a discount because of your family relationship..."

Of course

Most importantly, he is indeed quite "lucky for his wife." Zhuang Menghua nodded again, recalling that most of the leading ladies Rong Juezhang had worked with had a chance to win the awards they wanted, which was more or less a Hong Kong superstition.