Chapter 801 Please excuse my poor attempt.
Lu Yanhe finally managed to find the time to organize a small gathering after returning this time.
They were all our own people, and there was no personal connection involved.
This is a high-end club that only accepts reservations.
Deep inside this club, Lu Yanhe had booked a private room that could accommodate about twenty people.
The so-called high-end clubs are not only high-end in terms of their environment and food, but also in the fact that the private rooms are secluded from the moment guests enter, so that they will not bump into anyone in the process.
This is very important for public figures like them who value privacy highly in private.
-
"Is the filming of 'In the Clouds' going smoothly?"
"good."
Chen Bige nodded.
“I heard from a friend that you met an unpleasant person on set.”
“She’s definitely not a pleasant person,” Lu Yanhe said. “Do you know Louisa May?”
"We've met once," Chen Bige said. "We're not close."
"I had a little disagreement with her, but it's nothing serious," Lu Yanhe asked. "What about you? Are you still resting?"
"Hmm." Chen Bige nodded. "I've been filming for the past few years and it seems like I haven't had a complete break. I'll take a short rest."
Lu Yanhe: "How's the preparation for Director Wang's movie going? The script has been finalized for so long, why is there still no news about the start of filming?"
Chen Bige: "I don't know, and I didn't ask. Anyway, once everything is ready, they will naturally notify us of the start date."
Lu Yanhe: "Okay, you're right."
Chen Bige asked, "So, are you going to film any more Hollywood movies later?"
"Not for now," Lu Yanhe shook his head. "I'm preparing to act in my own play."
"Hmm?" Chen Bige looked surprised.
“Now that my scripts can replace my acting role, I no longer need to maintain financial ties with film companies by participating in film projects,” Lu Yanhe said.
"A connection of interests?" Chen Bige asked, puzzled.
“Yes,” Lu Yanhe said. “After all, I am Chinese, not a native of Hollywood. In their eyes, I am so ambitious and trying to take away their cake. If I am not held by a few powerful hands, I may not have had enough time to sharpen the knife to such a high level and make it so strong. It would have broken long ago.”
Chen Bige nodded, suddenly understanding.
“Indeed,” Chen Bige said. “You have achieved such great success in Hollywood, you must have taken away some of the pie from others, and there may have been people behind the scenes trying to attack you and suppress you.”
“Yes.” Lu Yanhe nodded. “However, because I have very solid cooperative relationships with Green Valley, Parameter, and D19, and all of them have film projects in preparation and progress, plus now with Soren, we have common interests, so they must protect me.”
Chen Bige smiled with satisfaction.
Lu Yanhe said, "Sister Bige, why haven't you taken on one or two English films in Hollywood? In recent years, you've been frequently featured during North American awards seasons, your popularity has soared, and with the Asian market behind you, Hollywood should have a lot of films coming your way."
"To be honest, I don't know if it's just bad luck," Chen Bige said. "I've actually been in contact with several films, and some of them have even reached the point of signing contracts, but I don't know if it's just that I'm not compatible with Hollywood. Anyway, all the films fell through and were never made."
Lu Yanhe: "..."
He thought Chen Bige had an artist's mentality and looked down on Hollywood movies.
Lu Yanhe said, "Okay."
"Besides, isn't it because I'm thinking about those scripts you have, waiting for you to send me a couple more?" Chen Bige said with a smile. "Chen Pinhe sent me a script not long ago, asking if I'd like to take it."
"Chen Pinhe?" Lu Yanhe's expression immediately changed.
This was a name that completely exceeded his expectations.
Although Chen Bige and Chen Pinhe, filmmakers who have long stood at the pinnacle of the Chinese film industry, certainly know each other and it's impossible that they haven't had any contact, but—
Lu Yanhe and Chen Bige have known each other for so long.
He knew very well that even if Chen Pinhe and Chen Bige had some contact, they were definitely not close.
Why did Chen Pinhe suddenly send a script to Chen Bige out of the blue?
Doesn't Chen Pinhe know that all of Chen Bige's film and television works in recent years have been collaborations with Lu Yanhe?
At this moment, Lu Yanhe had no choice but to use his petty mindset—no, to use it against Chen Pinhe, this petty person. It wasn't petty mindset, it was "fighting poison with poison."
Chen Bige noticed Lu Yanhe's expression and asked, somewhat puzzled, "What's wrong? Is there a problem?"
"Uh, it's okay. Tell me about the script first, Sister Bige. What do you think of it?"
“It’s actually not bad.” Chen Bige nodded. “However, I don’t really want to act in it. It’s another kind of love and ethics movie between a married couple. It’s obviously aimed at film festivals. There are a lot of repressed and complicated parts in the script. If I were to act in it, I would feel suffocated.”
Lu Yanhe immediately smiled.
“Then don’t act. Why make yourself work so hard?” Lu Yanhe said. “It’s not like the script is that moving. Besides, Sister Bige, I think Chen Pinhe has been having bad luck these past few years. You should work with him less often to avoid bringing bad luck down.”
Chen Bige stared at Lu Yanhe, speechless.
She never expected that Lu Yanhe would say such a thing.
This was completely unlike anything Lu Yanhe would have said before.
Luck?
Bad luck?
Withering?
Lu Yanhe smiled brightly, "Just kidding."
Who is Chen Bige?
As a renowned actress, someone with the keenest sensitivity to human emotions, how could she not have noticed the fleeting "seriousness" behind Lu Yanhe's seemingly joking expression?
Some details from past conversations with Lu Yanhe surfaced in Chen Bige's mind.
Indeed, her feeling was correct—
Lu Yanhe's feelings weren't directed at her and Chen Pinhe's collaboration, but rather at Chen Pinhe as a person.
Is Lu Yanhe still angry with Chen Pinhe because of the "Destruction Day" incident?
In the domestic entertainment industry, there is a general consensus that the relationship between Lu Yanhe and Chen Pinhe deteriorated because Lu Yanhe helped Jiang Jun win the male lead role in "Destruction Day" and they have not reconciled.
However, Chen Bige always felt that others were unaware of the situation. In Chen Bige's view, Lu Yanhe was not such a petty person at all.
In the entertainment industry, Lu Yanhe is one of the most understanding people who can ease tensions with others.
wrong.
There must be something else.
Chen Bige keenly noticed Lu Yanhe's deliberate glance to the side, but wisely remained silent and did not press the matter in this setting.
Lu Yanhe's gaze naturally fell on Li Zhibai.
"Why are you so late?" Lu Yanhe thought to himself, "You arrived just in time."
Chen Bige's searchlight-like gaze just now made Lu Yanhe immediately feel uneasy.
Fortunately, Li Zhibai appeared just in time.
"I've been rushing as fast as I could," Li Zhibai said. "Who told the traffic to be so bad?"
He glanced behind Li Zhibai, leaned closer, and whispered in his ear, "Where's Sister Yuqian?"
Li Zhibai: "...She will come in five minutes."
"I knew that even though you two came separately, you must have met up first."
Lu Yanhe had a smug look on his face, as if he had guessed correctly.
Li Zhibai also didn't understand what there was to be proud of.
The next sentence he heard Lu Yanhe say was, "With my quick reaction speed and my understanding of you, it's no wonder Sister Yuqian asked you to ask me."
“…” Li Zhibai glared at Lu Yanhe, “Shut up.”
Lu Yanhe: "My mouth is my own body."
Li Zhibai's gaze was sharp as a knife: "My hands are on my body."
Lu Yanhe: "Damn it, you're actually threatening me with violence now?"
Li Zhibai sneered: "You were the one who shamelessly threatened me first."
Lu Yanhe: "The world is going to the dogs, and people's hearts are no longer what they used to be."
Li Zhibai: "I'm not dead, what's with the 'gu'?"
"..."
-
Five minutes later, Jiang Yuqian, like Sister Feng, arrived with her voice before she did.
"Oh dear, am I going to be the last one to arrive? Sorry, sorry, the traffic was terrible on the way."
Jiang Yuqian appeared cheerfully.
Lu Yanhe greeted him with a smile, "It's alright, you're not the last one to arrive. Yan Liang and Li Yuefeng haven't arrived yet."
"That's great!" Xin Zixing and Huang Kairen followed closely behind. "Luckily, we weren't the last to arrive."
"Oh my, getting married really makes a difference. They're always showing up as a couple, so sweet." Lu Yanhe said, his gaze sweeping over Li Zhibai and Jiang Yuqian beside him.
"You still dare to talk? Where's Siqi?" Chen Bige asked.
Lu Yanhe: "She just received a phone call about some urgent work. She'll be in a bit."
"Tsk tsk, you two are amazing," Chen Bige exclaimed. "Incredible."
"What's amazing?"
"Don't ask, the answer is absolutely right." Chen Bige adopted a mysterious and enigmatic demeanor, as if saying, "It's a secret that can't be revealed."
-
The people who appeared in this room today can be said to be Lu Yanhe's most familiar, closest, and most trusted friends.
But after not seeing him for a long time, Li Pengfei had become as black as charcoal, which was something Lu Yanhe really didn't expect.
"You... did you go to Africa and suffer a calamity?" Lu Yanhe asked.
Li Pengfei's eyes shone brightly against his dark skin, like the white teeth on a tube of black toothpaste: "Want to come with me next time?"
Lu Yanhe: "I respectfully decline."
He looked at Xu Zijun.
"If you walk with him at night now, can you see his face clearly?"
Xu Zijun smiled.
Li Pengfei reached out and grabbed Lu Yanhe by the neck.
"You went on a trip abroad and came back feeling all arrogant, huh?"
Lu Yanhe: "No, you underestimated the impact of your current appearance on me. I'm just expressing the shock I'm feeling."
Li Pengfei: "You can express it by 'shutting your mouth'."
"Okay, Blackie."
Li Pengfei increased the pressure on his hand several times.
Lu Yanhe couldn't hold back any longer and let out a scream.
Chen Bige shook his head and turned to leave.
"Serves you right." That was her concise assessment.
-
After everyone was seated, Lu Yanhe started the conversation. After chatting and laughing for a while, Li Zhibai suddenly remembered something and said, "Aren't you celebrating your birthday in September in advance?"
Lu Yanhe's birthday is in September.
But because he rarely celebrates in a grand manner, not many people know about it.
The phrase "not many people know" refers to the fact that Lu Yanhe's birthday parties and gatherings with friends are always completely private and not made public.
Lu Yanhe said, "My birthday might be at the Venice International Film Festival, so I'm treating everyone to a meal in advance."
“I was saying you prepared such a big feast,” Chen Bige said. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner? I would have come empty-handed.”
"It was just an excuse to get everyone together. It's been so long since we've all gotten together," Lu Yanhe said with a smile. "It has nothing to do with whether it's my birthday or not. Even if it weren't my birthday in September, I would still have gotten everyone together. It's been so long since we've seen each other."
As Lu Yanhe spoke, Li Yuefeng's gaze swept over everyone at the table, and he clicked his tongue inwardly.
These are all Lu Yanhe's true friends from his student days to his time in the entertainment industry.
Li Yuefeng never expected that he would be standing at this table.
He kept insisting that he and Lu Yanhe were friends.
But even among friends, there are differences.
He dared not say that he was the kind of friend Lu Yanhe could be compared to Li Zhibai and Yan Liang.
That's enough.
That's good enough.
After all, neither Su Xiao nor Xiao Yun showed up.
What Li Yuefeng didn't know was that it wasn't because Lu Yanhe hadn't invited them, but because both of them had already made work arrangements in advance and couldn't find the time to come.
The two of them are friends who record "The Days of Youth" with Lu Yanhe every year. In fact, they met Lu Yanhe earlier than Li Yuefeng and became familiar with each other earlier.
"But Yan He, I've noticed you've been writing so many romance-themed scripts lately?" Chen Bige asked with a smile, her gaze falling on Chen Siqi. "Is it because your inspiration comes from life?"
Lu Yanhe thought it was because movie scripts with a romance theme were both topical and easy to control in terms of cost.
Lu Yanhe countered, "Sister Bige, are you thinking of acting in a romance drama? Brother Huang is here too, how about I write a script for you two to work together again?"
Chen Bige said, "Go ahead and write it. If you write it, how can we not act?"
Huang Kairen nodded in agreement: "Exactly."
Lu Yanhe: "Then I really wrote it."
“Write,” Chen Bige said. “I want to see what new tricks you can come up with after writing so many love stories.”
"I'll write the story of a couple of notorious thieves who are on the run," Lu Yanhe said.
Chen Bige's eyes immediately lit up.
"What the heck? You can write it like that?"
Huang Kairen was also stunned.
Lu Yanhe shrugged. “Bonnie and Clyde.”
Chen Bige swore that she really just wanted to make a joke at first.
-
People really do grow.
When Lu Yanhe was lost in thought, he suddenly remembered when he first started out as a plagiarist, and he felt uncomfortable in every way.
That feeling is hard to describe.
Now, he's used to it. Well, actually, his sense of morality isn't that fastidious.
This is another world.
This is the wealth his hometown bestowed upon him.
The pendant lights hanging from the ceiling of the private room are shaped like lush foliage.
Lu Yanhe looked up at the chandelier on the ceiling several times, surrounded by lively sounds.
How much did you drink today?
Did you drink a lot?
When did he learn to drink alcohol?
When did he stop being the one who couldn't handle a single drink?
In a daze, the lively sounds gradually faded into the distance.
"Is this kid drunk?" Chen Bige noticed Lu Yanhe slumped on the table and asked with a smile.
"It seems so." Shang Yongzhou nodded. "I told you not to bother him, but you all still treated him with respect."
Chen Siqi gently patted Lu Yanhe on the back and called out to him.
"Yes," Lu Yanhe replied. "I'm here."
But the sound came from between his head and arms.
The person didn't even look up.
"Hey, you're not drunk yet," Li Zhibai teased.
"I'm not drunk," Lu Yanhe mumbled.
The room erupted in laughter.
-
That evening, Lu Yanhe was quite drunk and was helped out of the club by Li Zhibai and Yan Liang. Because of the privacy of the environment, they didn't have to worry about the paparazzi taking pictures of this scene.
Little did they know, they underestimated the power of the paparazzi.
Although it wasn't photographed at the clubhouse.
However, the scene of Lu Yanhe sitting in the car, leaning on Chen Siqi's shoulder in a somewhat awkward posture, was still captured by an unknown paparazzi with a high-definition high-speed camera.
Then, the photo was exposed online, causing a sensation on three major social media platforms.
The main reason is that although Lu Yanhe usually has a lot of exposure due to his workload, it is very rare to see such a private and completely un-"glamorous" scene like this.
As Lu Yanhe's career became more and more successful and his status rose higher and higher, those fans who had known Lu Yanhe for a long time, or even those who watched Lu Yanhe do his homework on live stream every day, actually felt that Lu Yanhe was getting further and further away from them.
This is not Lu Yanhe's problem, nor is it their problem; it is an objective reality.
It's like when your best friend has unknowingly reached a very high position, and you suddenly realize that the moment is actually the moment when you and he can no longer be "as before".
The same applies to liking celebrities. Many people don't understand why some fans would wish for their favorite celebrities not to be so famous or to be discovered by others.
Ultimately, it's because non-famous celebrities have a misconception that they "belong exclusively to themselves."
As he becomes more famous and gains higher status, he appears glamorous every time he goes out. This will make his "career fans" go wild, but it will also make some of Lu Yanhe's fans feel alienated.
This is a portion of the fans that every celebrity will inevitably lose over time.
This is actually one of the reasons why many child stars find it difficult to transition into adult roles.
The mindset of fans during their child star years is completely different from that of fans after they become adults.
But Lu Yanhe's fans felt a strange sense of comfort after seeing this photo.
There's a feeling that although many things have changed, he hasn't.
"After he fell asleep, he still seemed like a student."
"Yes, he was not contaminated at all."
"Actually, he has never changed. People say that he doesn't need to work so hard anymore."
"Just like when he was preparing for the college entrance examination, even if he had only gotten into a first-tier university, everyone would have been shocked. But he insisted on getting into Zhenhua University. It's the same now. He could have been one of the top filmmakers in China even without working this hard. He's not just an actor anymore. But in order to promote Chinese films and Chinese-language films to be known by more people, he didn't choose to rest. Instead, he continues to burn himself out."
...
Seeing that Lu Yanhe's fans were becoming increasingly exaggerated and emotionally charged, someone had to step forward and say something—
"Lu Yanhe, this isn't from exhaustion, it's a reaction to drinking too much, isn't it?"
One sentence interrupted the fans' "spellcasting".
The next morning, after waking up, Lu Yanhe posted a Weibo message: I drank too much yesterday, sorry for the laughter [tongue sticking out face].
-
That afternoon, someone else ran into Lu Yanhe at the movie theater.
Lu Yanhe went to the movie theater by himself.
Everyone around him, except him, has a job.
In China, Lu Yanhe now basically lets Zou Dong and Wang Biao rest during their non-working hours.
This isn't abroad, nor is it some unfamiliar place, so Lu Yanhe is unlikely to encounter any danger.
Although Lu Yanhe was wearing a baseball cap and a mask, he was still recognized and photographed.
This was something Lu Yanhe himself hadn't expected.
Lu Yanhe came to see the movie because he hadn't watched a movie in the country for a long time.
This summer, there were no films by Linghe, but he did arrange a re-release of "Love Letter". It has now finished its run in theaters. This re-release, which had no publicity, still managed to gross 21 million yuan at the box office.
Lu Yanhe thought to himself that this was only the beginning of the long-lasting impact of "Love Letter".
This movie, however, can still gross tens of millions at the box office even thirty years later.
Getting back to the main point, a rather peculiar scene unfolded in the domestic film market this summer.
There isn't a single film that has taken the lead. So far, the highest-grossing film of this summer season has only grossed 927 million yuan, failing to break the 1 billion yuan mark.
This is quite rare in recent years' summer movie season.
However, it would be a big mistake to conclude that this summer's box office was a failure based on this number alone.
Because this summer, 3-5 top-tier films will be released every week.
The so-called first-tier films are those that are genuinely directed by well-known directors or starred by well-known actors, or are highly anticipated art films, excluding those films that may only gross a little over a million at the box office and are just there to get a theatrical release.
In nearly two months, a total of 34 films grossed over 100 million yuan, and 13 films grossed over 300 million yuan.
In the film industry, where some films are struggling to survive while others are struggling to survive, it's rare to see such a diverse range of films achieving similar box office success.
This is a summer blockbuster season.
Lu Yanhe saw that many people were saying that this was the most unbelievable summer movie season.
Therefore, Lu Yanhe plans to watch all of the dozen or so movies still showing in theaters during the summer season in the next few days.
That's right, a dozen or so. The ability to maintain a certain screening rate for a dozen or so films ensures that viewers wanting to see a particular movie don't have to search the entire city for a single theater showing it.
Such a situation rarely occurs.
(End of this chapter)
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