Chapter 103
At least the public opinion didn't unanimously condemn her.
Hu Zhenzhen simply took it as a good thing.
Anyway, those who left comments were all foreigners, so it didn't affect Hu Zhenzhen, who wasn't planning to go abroad recently.
With this in mind, she got up early to personally take Jiang Chen to school.
Every week, Hu Zhenzhen would personally take him there.
Even when she's too busy with work, she'll still make time to spend a day with Jiang Chen.
On the day Hu Zhenzhen was to take him to school, Jiang Chen would get up early and tidy himself up very neatly.
"Mom, I'm ready."
Hu Zhenzhen turned her head and saw Jiang Chen wearing a suit jacket; the corners of her mouth immediately curled up.
"Wow, as expected of our Xiao Chen, he's so handsome!"
Today is the anniversary of Beiguan Elementary School, and students are allowed to wear their own clothes to participate in the celebration.
Parents can also go to the lobby to watch the school anniversary celebration today.
Each class will put on a performance, and Jiang Chen will also be performing today; it's a short play.
So Hu Zhenzhen made a special effort to watch her son's performance.
Most of the programs for children are childlike and fun.
It's normal that it's not as good as serious dance and drama.
Even though third-grade students have started to listen to their teachers, not all of them are coordinated in terms of body language and speech.
In such circumstances, many unexpected situations may occur during the performance.
Hu Zhenzhen donated a lot of things to the school, and her seat was arranged in the first row. The person sitting next to her was the principal of Beiguan Elementary School.
Before the school anniversary celebration began, the principal took the opportunity to exchange a few pleasantries with her, saying, "President Hu, it's been a long time since I've seen you. Ren has been doing very well at the school recently."
Hu Zhenzhen had heard this kind of small talk too many times. She gave a few perfunctory replies and didn't look away from the stage for a second.
The programs for the school anniversary celebration were divided according to age.
The first performance was given by first-grade students.
A group of tiny toddlers, just over a meter tall, lined up to go on stage and stood scattered in a row in front of the microphone.
"Please enjoy the program, the chorus, I love my motherland."
The host was a sixth-grade student, dressed in a festive red vest over a pure white shirt, looking quite professional.
Sixth graders are already big kids, and their language skills are much better than those of lower-grade elementary school students.
After he finished announcing the program, he voluntarily stepped back off the stage.
A group of first-grade students who were losing their baby teeth started singing. Their voices were loud and clear, and they had a lot of energy, but their pitch was not quite right and their singing was not very synchronized.
"I love my motherland, the winding rivers..."
Hu Zhenzhen immediately noticed the lead singer's smile, which revealed her missing front tooth. It was so cute that she couldn't help but laugh as well.
After the school anniversary celebration officially began, the parents' conversations became much quieter.
The principal stopped talking to Hu Zhenzhen and focused on watching the stage.
Each grade level will only present one program.
After the first-grade students performed, it was the second-grade students' turn to go on stage.
Each grade level put on a different program, but they all had one thing in common: when the students actually performed, it was a bit chaotic yet also cutely orderly.
You might say he didn't do anything wrong, but they just couldn't keep up with the pace.
You might say he made a mistake, but every movement was correct; it's just that everyone's arm movement has a different arc.
In this lively atmosphere, the program also becomes endearing.
The parents present all raised their phones, ready to capture their children's adorable performance.
Hu Zhenzhen even heard the shouts of the parents in the back row.
"Zhang Bohan, smile! Look at your dad!"
In a serious performance setting, such behavior would certainly be looked down upon.
However, this turned into a lovely scene during the school anniversary celebration.
Looking at the little boy with a bitter face on the stage, Hu Zhenzhen immediately understood why the father had made him smile.
Perhaps he was a little scared before going on stage, or something had happened that affected his mood, because Zhang Bohan's face was all scrunched up and he looked like he was about to cry at any moment.
"Zhang Bohan, smile!"
These words only added to the child's stress, and Hu Zhenzhen watched as his face went from wrinkled to extremely wrinkled.
The child used all his strength to hold back his tears.
Hu Zhenzhen used all her strength to hold back her laughter.
After watching the entire program, Hu Zhenzhen was so breathless she almost had a stitch in her side.
The child finally couldn't hold back and broke down in tears before leaving the stage.
The second-grade teacher quickly went up to the stage and led the children down.
When he cried, Hu Zhenzhen felt even more embarrassed to laugh.
I could only force myself to hold it in, and pretended to cough twice.
When she turned her head to cough, she saw the principal's expression and instantly felt relieved.
It turns out she wasn't the only one who wanted to laugh.
Even someone as skilled at cultivating inner strength as the principal couldn't help but laugh at this moment.
Needless to say, Hu Zhenzhen could already hear the laughter coming from the back row of the other parents and teachers.
"Please enjoy the following program, the play 'Searching for Mushrooms'."
The young boy hosting the event was so nervous that he became the most composed person in the entire venue.
Upon hearing the announcement, Hu Zhenzhen immediately raised her phone and prepared herself.
Xiao Chen is about to be born.
Many people shared the same reaction as her, all of whom were parents of third-grade students.
"Once upon a time, there was a legend about a magical mushroom in a mysterious forest. It had vibrant colors and a huge cap. If you ate it, you would meet a fairy who would grant you one wish."
As the narration began, two little mushrooms emerged from the 'forest'.
"Big Mushroom, where are we going?"
"Of course we're going to places where no one else can find us. Do you want to become someone else's dinner?"
No sooner had he finished speaking than the hunter, played by Jiang Chen, appeared on stage.
He was wearing a leopard-print leather armor, which made Hu Zhenzhen laugh as soon as he appeared.
Despite her laughter, she kept the camera steady, following Jiang Chen the whole time.
"mushroom!"
Compared to the other children, Jiang Chen, who has acted on set, looks more professional.
He raised his sword, brandished it a couple of times, and a blue jet of water shot out from the front of the sword, spraying onto the mushroom.
Upon closer inspection, Hu Zhenzhen realized that it wasn't a warrior's sword at all, but rather a large water gun.
After being hit by the water, the two little mushrooms cooperated perfectly, letting out a "whoosh" before collapsing.
Jiang Chen pounced on it, "Hahaha, I finally found the mushrooms!"
He pretended to take a few bites, and the simple little curtain fell down, quickly changing to the next scene.
A fairy wearing a beautiful dress appeared.
"Whoever ate the mushroom, please tell me your wish."
Jiang Chen, playing the hunter, opened his mouth, his face revealing greed, and asked, "Can you grant any wish?"
The fairy replied, "Yes, I can grant all wishes."
"Then my wish is to be able to make three more wishes!"
The parents were very familiar with this kind of overbearing behavior, and Hu Zhenzhen immediately guessed what would happen next.
The fairy agreed.
Jiang Chen's first wish was for a mountain of gold, and his second wish was for a thousand years of life.
The fairy agreed to all of them.
He saved his third wish for now, intending to use it to redeem more wishes.
Jiang Chen, who plays a hunter, is standing proudly in front of the gold mine when disaster strikes unexpectedly.
The enormous mountain of gold collapsed and smashed directly on his head.
The hunter, who possessed a lifespan of a thousand years and a mountain of gold, was crushed to death by the mountain of gold.
After his death, the fairy reappeared and shook her head at Jiang Chen's corpse.
Greed always comes at a price.
For elementary school students, this play is already excellent.
When the curtain fell, Hu Zhenzhen put away her camera, her palms red from clapping.
With her taking the lead, the other parents were generous with their applause.
The parents of the students who participated in the play were so eager to stand up and applaud.
Such a successful outcome has an exceptionally strong motivating effect on elementary school students.
Hu Zhenzhen, sitting in the front row, could clearly see the smile on the face of the little girl playing the mushroom.
The same smile appeared on her son's face as well.
Hu Zhenzhen waved to Xiao Chen, who was looking over, and was extremely happy for him.
Even a small play at school can be a turning point in a child's future.
Every child here will become an outstanding figure in their respective fields in a decade or so.
The school anniversary celebration went very smoothly.
When Hu Zhenzhen brought Jiang Chen home, Jiang Chen, who was holding her hand, was happier than before.
"Mom, did I do a good job performing today?"
"Of course!" Hu Zhenzhen rubbed his face. "Our Xiao Chen will definitely be a movie star in the future!"
Jiang Chen is still young, and many people think he has acting talent, but no one has ever praised him like this before.
"Best Actor" is a term that is too far removed from Jiang Chen's reality.
He was just a teenager, full of interest in acting, and had never thought he would achieve anything in this field before.
Hu Zhenzhen's words opened a new door.
"Mom, do you think I can become a movie star?"
As Jiang Chen asked the question, he was also reflecting on it himself.
Will he act in the future? What kind of roles will he play? What kind of person will he become?
Jiang Chen thought about it more and more and felt that he was capable of being an actor.
Jiang Chen had a very good impression of both Uncle Lu Ye and the other directors in Jianghu Film Company.
He liked the atmosphere on set and the feeling of acting.
If Jiang Chen were to imagine his future life, he would prefer to pursue acting as his career.
"If you want to be an actor in the future, Xiao Chen, Mom thinks you have a great chance to become a movie star!"
Hu Zhenzhen answered very seriously.
Jiang Chen listened very attentively, and in that short time, he also thought about many things.
Thinking about future careers is probably too early for elementary school students.
Jiang Chen was awakened to this concept for the first time.
My ideas about what kind of person I want to be in the future.
"Mom, I want to be an actress."
Jiang Chen tugged at Hu Zhenzhen's hand and said those words earnestly.
Hu Zhenzhen didn't expect him to talk about this issue so seriously at his age.
"Has Xiao Chen made up his mind yet?"
Jiang Chen nodded. "I want to be a good and successful actor, so that the audience will know me and like the dramas I act in. I love acting, Mom."
Hu Zhenzhen squatted down, took Jiang Chen's hand, and solemnly stamped his seal.
"Alright, Xiao Chen, now that you have a wish, go for it boldly. Mom will always be your support."
"Um!"
Jiang Chen's face broke into a big smile, and for the first time he had a clear understanding of his future.
"I'll do my best, Mom!"
"But before you can become an excellent actor, Xiao Chen, you need to become an excellent person first. If you study too poorly, you might not even be able to understand the script in the future."
Jiang Chen frowned when he thought about the possibility of the situation Hu Zhenzhen had described.
"Mom, don't worry, I will definitely study hard!"
He recalled seeing entertainment news reports about several older men being laughed at for mispronouncing idioms.
"I will never let you down, Mom!"
Jiang Chen patted his chest and solemnly assured her.
"When I become an actor in the future, I will definitely be a super good actor, and I will never let my mother be criticized online because of me!"
These words made Hu Zhenzhen feel both proud and somewhat amused.
However, she did not dampen Jiang Chen's enthusiasm.
"Great! Then our Xiao Chen will definitely be a big star that everyone loves in the future."
The mother and son talked for a long time.
Hu Zhenzhen never imagined that she would talk to Jiang Chen about the future at his age, but in fact, when they did talk about it, the conversation went very smoothly.
This also made Hu Zhenzhen change her original idea.
Since Jiang Chen likes acting and wants to act so much, she doesn't need to stop him. She can let him spend more time on the film set during his winter and summer vacations.
With that in mind, Hu Zhenzhen went to the film and television base the next day.
Before I even got inside, I encountered a strange person.
He was a foreigner with blond hair and green eyes. He was quite handsome, but his overall demeanor and the dark circles under his eyes added to his overall appearance.
"Hu? Is that you, Hu?"
Hu Zhenzhen glanced at it curiously.
He saw it and became even more agitated. "Hu, I knew it was you! I came here specifically to find you!"
Facing the excited man who was practically pressed against the window, Hu Zhenzhen only had one question to ask.
Who is this person?
Chen Kai, who was standing next to him, gave the driver a hand signal.
"I'm sorry, boss, I forgot to mention that this person has been loitering around the entrance of the film and television base for the past few days, claiming to be your suitor."
A suitor?
Before the car drove away, Hu Zhenzhen glanced at him from head to toe.
"I don't remember seeing him anywhere before."
Chen Kai immediately replied, "He's only seen you on the news; this is actually the first time you've met, boss."
He saw her on TV once and became her suitor?
Hu Zhenzhen simply couldn't understand it.
If he had been more straightforward and said he was in love with her money and wanted to be her gigolo, Hu Zhenzhen would have been more accepting.
"Besides him, you have many other suitors like him."
Chen Kai casually dropped a bomb.
"Many such suitors?"
Hu Zhenzhen frowned now. "Where did all these idle people come from?"
Chen Kai suddenly laughed.
"Boss, you haven't been checking the news on foreign websites lately, have you?"
Hu Zhenzhen really didn't watch it.
Upon hearing Chen Kai's words, she immediately knew where the problem lay and promptly checked the internet on her phone.
On the internet, Hu Zhenzhen once became the foreigner that all Chinese people most wanted to know.
As her popularity grew, Hu Zhenzhen's past actions were also brought to light.
Donating public toilets, donating famous paintings, and aiding in desertification control in Northwest China.
Each and every one of these incidents, if told, would be enough to shock people abroad.
They cherish freedom and advocate for it.
Financial freedom is the foundation of all freedom.
In this situation, no one would be willing to donate large sums of their own money to help with national development.
In their eyes, this was the most foolish thing to do.
【Hey, is she crazy?】
Are the wealthy in Country Z really this crazy?
[Oh my god, I envy people from country Z! In country F, you have to pay to use the restroom in a shopping mall now!]
So this person built a lot of toilets for her country for free? Wow, that's amazing!
To Hu Zhenzhen's surprise, their biggest concern was not the desertification control project for which she had invested the most money, but the public toilets they had built at the very beginning.
"It seems that people abroad have wanted public toilets for a long time, which is why they are so concerned about this issue."
That's human nature; the more you lack something, the more attention you pay to it.
The fact that foreign netizens are so concerned about this issue shows that they have long been dissatisfied with this aspect of their own countries.
But Hu Zhenzhen never expected that they would develop a liking for her because of the public toilet incident.
This is really strange, both in terms of how it's described and how it sounds.
Hu Zhenzhen even saw a picture photoshopped by a foreign netizen.
A picture of her smiling was placed in front of the public restroom, along with a title that made Hu Zhenzhen very embarrassed.
"The mother of public toilets".
Hu Zhenzhen felt ashamed when she saw those words.
She simply couldn't understand how these people connected her with that word.
Fortunately, she soon met with director Lu Ye, who pulled Hu Zhenzhen out of her feelings of shame.
How's the later stages going?
She asked the same question as always, but Lu Ye's expression was somewhat distressed.
"Boss, things haven't been going too well lately."
Ever since Hu Zhenzhen assigned Zhang Tieniu to him, all the good news Lu Ye has heard from him is good news.
Hu Zhenzhen was a little unaccustomed to hearing him say that things weren't going very smoothly.
"What's wrong? What went wrong?"
"The timing wasn't quite right."
Lei Tao poured his heart and soul into the plot of this film, and Lu Ye also enjoyed filming it immensely, capturing almost all the storylines.
Things only got complicated later on.
“We can’t bear to cut any part of the story. If we were to edit it according to the current format, the movie would probably be over two hours long.”
There is no hard and fast rule for the length of a film.
However, there are guidelines to follow.
Audiences are familiar with the length of movies and are generally quite comfortable with a movie length of about one and a half hours.
Lu Ye was worried that suddenly asking these people to watch a two-hour movie would bore them and make them feel uncomfortable.
His concerns were not unfounded.
After all, there have been precedents of well-known foreign directors making feature films that were disliked by audiences.
Lu Ye had high hopes for this film, and Hu Zhenzhen provided a lot of funding.
Even though he knew that the success of a film depended half on its quality and the other half on luck, he still subconsciously wanted to avoid any possibility of failure.
"Boss, please take a look. I'm really not sure which part needs to be cut."
Lu Ye passed the difficult problem to Hu Zhenzhen.
She watched a movie for more than two hours as soon as she arrived.
After Hu Zhenzhen finished reading, she found herself in the same predicament.
She also felt there was nothing to cut, and every part of the story had something to offer.
When Lei Tao was writing the script, he carefully designed each plot point to avoid boredom.
After reading it, Hu Zhenzhen was deeply impressed by the small details.
In this situation, she really couldn't decide which scene to delete.
"Or let's leave them all here."
After hesitating for a moment, Hu Zhenzhen made this suggestion.
Lu Ye had also considered this, "But wouldn't that be too long?"
“There are advantages to being long. As long as each part is exciting enough, being long is not necessarily a bad thing.”
Her words reassured Lu Ye.
The previously rejected revision plan has finally been finalized.
"Keep everything!"
When Lu Ye returned to the office, he said those words with unwavering conviction.
"But boss, what time is it?"
"Don't worry," Lu Ye regained his confidence and was finally able to give his subordinates a definite answer. "President Hu has already seen it, and she also thinks the plot is excellent and supports us in making a feature film."
"Very good!"
The office was filled with jubilation. Hu Zhenzhen, who had been listening outside for a long time, was relieved and left the film and television base with Chen Kai.
As she was leaving, Hu Zhenzhen saw the man waiting at the door again.
He was still waiting there, looking like he was eager to stay.
That was indeed the case, Chen Kai told her.
"This person has been here for a week, just to see you."
Is it because of the toilet incident that she has such an obsessive suitor?
Hu Zhenzhen felt that this was outrageous.
However, keeping this person here indefinitely is not a solution.
The negative impact is a minor issue; if this foreigner has a mental breakdown and gets injured or has some other accident, it could make the news.
We need to find a way to get them to leave.
Thinking this, Hu Zhenzhen opened the internet and read through those comments again.
This time she was truly certain; it seemed there were indeed people on the internet speaking well of her.
Otherwise, there wouldn't be people praising her immediately after the criticisms were made.
Many people on the internet have developed a favorable impression of her because of these kind words.
The fervent admirers at the entrance of the film and television base were also attracted by this affection.
What Hu Zhenzhen needs to do now is to tarnish her good image.
That's too easy.
It's difficult to make a good impression, but it's easy to make a bad one.
Hu Zhenzhen immediately dialed Director Li's number in the capital and asked him to act as an intermediary to contact the military leaders.
Three days later, the military released a new message.
[Thank you, Ms. Hu Zhenzhen, for your support of national defense.]
The short sentence was accompanied by a photo of the latest fighter jet.
Although it wasn't said explicitly, the meaning was quite clear.
This shock naturally extended beyond netizens in China; it also reached those overseas who were following Hu Zhenzhen's case.
There was widespread cheering domestically, but the opinions within the country were much more chaotic.
This time, Hu Zhenzhen herself shattered the foreigners' illusions about her.
Donating to national defense is different from donating to environmental organizations.
Immediately, many foreigners started to echo Hu Zhenzhen's sentiments, urging people to stop blindly loving this Chinese woman.
This was exactly what she wanted.
Seeing comments on foreign websites such as "I'll never love her again" and "Her country's defense is strengthened, and our army is weakened," Hu Zhenzhen actually breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's better if they don't fall too much in love."
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