Chapter 139 Watching a Movie Together

Ever since Lin Mengxi decided to become a martial arts apprentice, she'd skip rope and run in her yard every day after school, without Lin Ruoyan's urging. Chen Jun had already accepted Lin Ruoyan's commission as a physical education instructor, accompanying her for an hour of daily exercise, and his salary would double.

This is a great deal. He teaches his children how to exercise. Chen Jun also exercises on a regular basis, so he joins them. Running, skipping, and so on. Once he masters the method and makes time to practice every day, he makes rapid progress.

Chen Jun also found that Lin Mengxi was very suitable for martial arts.

The older generation says it's a case of being born with good physique. It's not as simple as memorizing a move after watching it once. Many smart children can memorize moves, but their bodies can't replicate them. It requires repeated practice; the mind understands, the body can't. However, children with good physiques can achieve mastery in spirit and energy with just one or two repetitions.

Lin Mengxi fell into that category. He wasn't good at sports, having never had the opportunity to practice since childhood. Back in southern China, with the streets just outside his home and the constant flow of traffic, his elders kept a close eye on him, fearing he'd get hurt from running around. He didn't have to do anything in daily life, and his withdrawn nature made him unwilling to play with other children, leading to little physical activity.

After kindergarten, although he had physical education classes, he preferred reading to just muddling through. By first grade, his shortcomings were exposed, and he was far behind other boys, which made him anxious. Now, with a renowned teacher, he is dedicated to training, striving to learn the true martial arts from him. He diligently completes all training, and his physical education grades have naturally improved rapidly.

Lin Ruoyan knew what Lin Mengxi's father did for a living. That man's physique and skills were definitely not comparable to those of ordinary people. Even if such a father neutralized the blood of her mother, who was not fond of sports, her performance wouldn't be too bad. It should be at least average. So she was still confident that her son's physical education grades would improve.

She hadn't anticipated that her son, under the guidance of a renowned teacher, would develop a natural talent for martial arts and make rapid progress. But that was a story for the future. Her son was still a would-be disciple of a martial arts master, diligently practicing rope skipping and running, and practicing horse stance daily to gain a perfect score in physical education.

Lin Ruoyan asked Feng Qiang to find out about the film festival that First Film University was planning to hold. Without her instructions, Feng Qiang had his own way of contacting the relevant personnel.

The next day, Feng Qiang reported the situation to her.

It turns out that the Beijing Film Academy's College Student Film Festival wasn't just about the school itself; it was initiated by an alumnus who later went abroad to pursue careers and immigrated and changed his nationality. With things looking up in China now, many overseas Chinese are also interested in investing in the country.

The main purpose of this event was to promote his newly developed film and television base in the northern suburbs of Beijing. They had originally intended to donate funds to support the event, but the film and television base was short of funds for construction and was temporarily stretched.

Therefore, they are reluctant to invite other companies in the industry to sponsor the film festival, and instead seek out companies whose main business is other types of businesses. This way, there will be no conflict of interest and other opportunities for cooperation may arise.

Just as Lin Ruoyan guessed, Fu Ying was not the one who made the final decision on the film festival. She was just one of the many people who came out to look for sponsors.

Lin Ruoyan found out the inside story and took the initiative to contact Mr. Dai, the boss of Wei Xu's company, to inquire about the relevant situation.

Boss Dai said, "Boss Luo also studied at the Beijing Film Academy, but left school before completing it and went abroad. He wasn't very impressive back then. If he had stayed in China, he'd probably be a stage manager, managing the backstage scenery, at best. He wouldn't have been able to become a director or screenwriter. Unexpectedly, he went abroad to gain experience and finally made some money."

"So what about his film and television base?"

"That's about it. It's newly built, and compared to the other established studios around here, it's new, but not particularly special. We didn't go there for our production, but we did come into contact with them during post-production. Besides the location shoots, their studio also has an office building with several post-production companies."

According to Boss Dai, the film and television base's architectural style is unremarkable, but with its integration into film and television post-production facilities, it resembles a comprehensive, modern film and television base. Larger facilities, like those found in H-stores, bring together upstream and downstream film and television businesses, and also boost tourism and hotel development. The existing film and television bases around Beijing are relatively small and aging, lacking the necessary space to rent out for expansion offices for upstream and downstream businesses.

Lin Ruoyan thought about it and decided to wait until tomorrow to see who Fu Ying could bring to talk and whether she could get in touch with Boss Luo, and then decide whether to participate in the film festival.

After finishing the main topic, Boss Dai said, "Just as Mr. Lin asked, we have an internal film viewing here. The film has been edited. Since you are an important investor, how about taking a look and giving us some feedback?"

Asking her, a non-professional, to watch a film? Lin Ruoyan didn't think she was asking for her serious opinion. It was probably just an excuse to invite her to dinner. Or maybe the post-production costs had exceeded expectations, and she was being asked to invest more.

Lin Ruoyan readily agreed and went to Boss Dai's company that afternoon.

Although Boss Dai's company looked run-down, it was well-equipped inside, with a dedicated movie theater. Work-in-progress films were screened there, and sometimes the company held internal discussions and learning sessions, watching and discussing them.

Lin Ruoyan called Feng Qiang along. Speaking of professionalism, Feng Qiang could still offer some insight. Feng Qiang had been closely involved throughout the filming process and had contacted numerous industry professionals beforehand. If everyone reviewed the initial draft today and found no issues, with a bit of production work, the film could enter the official promotional process. Before the release, there would be preview screenings with those professionals. Having seen the film in advance would give them time to write reviews to support the promotional needs for the subsequent public release.

For this private screening, all of Dai's cast members were present, save for two well-known actors who were unavailable due to other productions. The modest viewing room was packed.

Lin Ruoyan was naturally assigned the most comfortable seat, with Boss Dai to her left and Wei Xu to her right. Feng Qiang was in the back row, flanked by the director and screenwriter. This arrangement clearly demonstrated respect and courtesy for the financial backer.

Lin Ruoyan didn't expect Wei Xu to sit next to her and watch the movie together.

Compared to the last time we met by chance in the hotel lobby, this time Wei Xu was not wearing the elaborate costumes from the drama, nor was he dressed up as carefully as he used to for social banquets. He was just in his casual daily state, as if he was not there to meet anyone specifically, but just to appreciate the movie.

He seemed much thinner than the last time they met. Of course, Wei Xu hadn't been fat before, but now he looked frail compared to his height. However, his eyes were full of spirit.

"You've lost weight." Lin Ruoyan asked proactively.

Wei Xu replied, "Well, the character I'm filming later will look more haggard and thinner than before, so I lost weight."

"So can I gain weight quickly if I want to?" Lin Ruoyan was curious.

"For me, losing 20 pounds or less is still something I can do within a month or two," Wei Xu smiled. "But I'm going to play a frail young man in my next film, and my current weight is just right. The director saw me on the set by chance when they were struggling with casting, and they thought my frail appearance was perfect, so they decided to cast me."

"Ah, you have a new movie to shoot?"

Is this Lin Ruoyan caring about him?

Lin Ruoyan's next sentence shattered Wei Xu's fantasy. She continued to ask, "Is that new crew you're going to join short of money?"