Chapter 6
Under the efficient and almost ruthless promotion of the top legal team, the details of the contract between Zhou Pingan, Liu Yifan and Lin Na, which was hundreds of pages long and had extremely harsh terms but also extremely protective of the creators, were finalized in just a few days.
It was at this moment when everything was about to come to fruition that Zhou Ping'an conveyed a new, unquestionable instruction to Lin Na and Liu Yifan's team through Su Ying.
The core of the instruction is just one sentence:
"The first phase of the project has a reserve fund of 70 million yuan, with a 70-day period. By the end of the period, all funds must be spent. Excess funds are allowed, but no surplus is allowed."
This instruction was like a huge rock hitting the lake that had just calmed down.
Liu Yifan's team's reaction was more of surprise, but still understandable - after all, it was a consensus that Zhou Ping'an "was not short of money", and this was nothing more than quantifying his determination into a timetable.
But the impact of this instruction on Lin Na was subversive.
After Lin Na hung up the phone with Su Ying, the studio fell into a dead silence. The video materials she had carefully collected on the wall seemed to be silently questioning her.
"Seventy days... seventy million..." She muttered to herself, her fingertips unconsciously sliding across the concept map spread out on the table - on it was the extremely delicate light and shadow composition of her dreams.
The first emotion that came to mind was anger, a sense of humiliation and desecration.
"What does he think this is? A gold quest in a video game?" She almost sneered. The most precious "perfect" quality in artistic creation was being so crudely quantified as "clearing the budget"? It was a complete irony to her lifelong pursuit.
But the anger was soon replaced by a deeper sense of powerlessness.
She slumped in her chair, her eyes unfocused. As a creator accustomed to squeezing out unlimited possibilities within a limited budget, the word "waste" itself made her physically uncomfortable.
Her brain froze, as if it had been crammed with a faulty formula. She even had a dark thought: Why not just pay Liu Yifan and herself the film's salary first?
When the option of "film pay" emerged, she felt intense shame.
It's too simple, too... greasy. Like covering a wooden statue with gold leaf—it seems to add value, but it actually defiles it.
Zhou Ping'an's eyes that seemed to see through everything appeared in her mind, making her feel that even thinking about this plan was a betrayal.
She paced restlessly around the studio, finally stopping at the window to look out at the bustling street below.
At a certain moment, an almost rebellious idea struck her: since he demanded "luxury", why not realize the craziest artistic ideas that would make commercial producers faint when they heard the budget?
She turned abruptly and returned to the table, her eyes ablaze with fire. She stopped thinking about "how to spend 70 million" and instead began frantically listing "how to use 70 million to buy irreplaceable reality."
When she wrote down the items such as "forming a top historical advisory team", "1:1 restoration of a specific time and space", and "traditional handicraft customization and months of natural aging", her breathing became rapid.
She realized that Zhou Ping'an's instructions had opened a door to ultimate creative freedom for her. The plans she had once fantasized about late at night, but knew would never come to fruition, now had a chance of being realized.
A tremor of excitement, challenge, and a huge sense of responsibility spread throughout her body. She picked up the phone and called Su Ying. Her tone was no longer anxious, but the determination of having found a way out: "Tell President Zhou, yes!"
Liu Yifan listened to Yang Wei's excited report but didn't respond immediately. She put down the silver kettle she was using to water the plants and walked to the French window. The cherry blossoms she had planted in the courtyard had already passed their blooming season, leaving only lush green leaves.
Her first reaction was not joy, but a deep, almost compassionate understanding.
She remembered the bottomless loneliness in Zhou Ping'an's calm eyes when he said "preserve youth".
To her, the instruction to "spend 70 million in 70 days" did not sound like an order, but more like a lonely cry - a person with enormous energy trying to use his most familiar method to fight against the thing he was most powerless against, the roughness brought by the passage of time.
Immediately, a strong, long-lost urge to create surged in my heart.
She turned around, her back to the window, the light and shadow outlining her quiet figure. She said to Yang Wei on the other end of the phone, her voice not loud, but with a rare clarity and power:
"Sister Wei, I may understand him a little bit."
"He's not just throwing money around, he's... buying time for all of us. He's forcibly freeing us from the constraints of release dates, box office, and trending searches."
She paused, a complex light flashing in her eyes, as if she was talking to herself:
"Over the years, we seem to have forgotten that acting can be polished."
Having said this, she even smiled gently, self-deprecatingly.
That smile showed her helplessness towards the past and her cherishment of this crazy opportunity. She said to Yang Wei decisively:
"We should discuss the salary according to the rules, but don't make a fuss about it. Our opponent is not money, but time and the depth that this film can ultimately reach."
After hanging up the phone, she didn't feel relieved. Instead, a heavy, sweet sense of responsibility weighed on her shoulders.
Zhou Ping'an used the most brutal means to remove all the business obstacles for her, and at the same time removed all the excuses for her poor acting skills.
She walked to the desk where a monograph on the body language of classical drama lay. She took a deep breath, picked up a pen, and solemnly wrote two words on the title page: "Return to Zero."
Then, she sent Lin Na that message. She knew that from this moment on, she was no longer an actor passively awaiting the script and the director's instructions. She had to become the most devout and resilient pillar in this "Temple of Light and Shadow."
Zhou Ping'an's order to "burn 70 million in 70 days" was like a silent beacon, urging the entire project machine to start running at unprecedented efficiency.
Three days later, the first script workshop of the core project team was quietly held in a specially decorated conference room.
There were no flowers, no greetings, and the long conference table was piled high with various materials, concept drawings and various drinks. The atmosphere was as serious as a pre-war command center.
Lin Na, the director and the author of the script, sat at one end near the whiteboard. She wore a simple black sweater, her hair casually tied up, and her face was clearly tired, but her eyes were unusually bright and focused.
Somewhat surprisingly, she didn't take the main seat, commanding the proceedings, like a traditional director. Instead, she took the initiative to blend in with the team. To her left sat the furrowed historical consultant and literary planner, while to her right were the production manager and script supervisor, constantly tapping away on their computers. Liu Yifan and her agent, Yang Wei, sat opposite.
In the shadows in a corner of the room, Zhou Ping'an and Su Ying sat side by side on two temporarily placed chairs, like silent observers, not intervening in the discussion at all, just listening quietly.
"Time is of the essence, so I'll skip the polite words." Lin Na got straight to the point, her voice a little hoarse but remarkably clear. "The time and resources Mr. Zhou has given us are a luxury, but also a cruel one. We must build the skeleton of this story as quickly as possible, and we must build it solidly."
Lin Na stood up and walked to the whiteboard. Her eyes swept over everyone present. Her voice was steady and clear, with an unquestionable certainty:
“Before we get into the specifics of the plot, I want to explain the creative roots of this project.” She paused, making sure everyone had their attention.
"The core of our project stems from the concept of 'overwhelming beauty' proposed by President Zhou. But in my opinion, 'overwhelming beauty' is not just about the pinnacle of a woman's beauty. More deeply, it explores a reversal of power – what happens when a person, especially a woman who has always been defined as the 'object of observation', suddenly realizes the power inherent in 'observation' and begins to actively wield this power?"
"I hope to construct a story about 'gaze' and 'counter-gaze'. The heroine will gradually awaken from her initial passive 'being watched' to become an active 'watcher', and ultimately use this power of 'watching' to challenge and even subvert the fate imposed on her."
"This inspiration, to a large extent, also comes from President Zhou's initiation of this project." Lin Na's gaze became profound. "He redefined the rules of this collaboration in a way that was...almost absolute. It reminded me of those seemingly absurd events in history that were powerful enough to shake the power structure—for example, 'The Beacon Fire Trick'."
"I chose to set this story against the backdrop of the Western Zhou Dynasty's historical allusion of setting beacons to amuse the princes. It's more than just a superficial narrative of 'a beautiful woman's smile leading to the downfall of a nation'; underlying it lies the profound question of how power can be toyed with and subverted through extreme, irrational focus. This aligns perfectly with our theme of 'the power of the gaze,' and provides a stage brimming with tension and capable of carrying the pinnacle of aesthetic perfection."
She turned around and wrote a few key words on the whiteboard: being watched -> watching -> resisting | power reversal | lighting beacons to trick the princes (metaphor).
"So, our choice of this subject is not accidental. It is both an inherent need of artistic expression and a profound response to the theme of 'overthrowing a nation' and the origin of the project."
She paused, her gaze becoming extremely sharp and profound, as if she were contemplating the essence of creation. Then, in a tone that was almost declarative and full of power, she spoke:
"More importantly, we must realize that the way Mr. Zhou initiated this project—his unconditional pursuit of perfection, regardless of cost or reward—is itself a modern-day 'playing tricks on the princes.' The creative process of our film will be the most direct witness and transformation of this performance art."
“Therefore, our work is not just about telling a story, but about completing an artistic act that is permeated from beginning to end with the same paranoid spirit.”
The conference room was silent, with only Lin Na's voice clear and firm:
"…Therefore, 'playing tricks on the princes with beacon fires', in our context, implies how one person, through extreme behavior, can reflect and even challenge the absurdity of a system. This is the deeper meaning of 'overthrowing a nation'."
Her gaze swept across the crowd, finally landing on Liu Yifan. "So, the core of our story is: how does an object being watched seize the power to define reality through 'counter-watching'? Does anyone have any fundamental concerns about this direction?"
There was a brief silence. The historical consultant adjusted his glasses, a flicker of scholarly excitement behind the lenses: "'The juggling of power'... This requires that the rules and regulations must be delicate and contradictory, providing leverage for the heroine to pry."
The literary planner nodded immediately, tapping his fingertips on his notebook. "Then her awakening must be gradual. We need to find the most powerful dramatic moment for each psychological turning point."
Liu Yifan met Lin Na's gaze, her eyes clear and focused. She leaned forward slightly, her voice clear and steady, "Director Lin, I understand. Especially the 'power of performance'—this means that every look and reaction she makes later in the film will go from passive acceptance to an active, premeditated 'release.' I understand the performance fulcrum here."
Lin Na turned to the art director and the veteran production director, her tone suddenly sharp. "This means we're not just building a set, we're constructing the illusion of a dynasty on the verge of collapse. Every inch of silk weave, every glaze of roof tiles, must simultaneously convey both ultimate luxury and inherent decay. Money isn't an issue, but time is. I need you to provide me with concept plans and a budget breakdown for the three core scenes within 48 hours. Any questions?"
The art director's eyes lit up with the excitement of facing the ultimate challenge: "Sure! But you need to immediately authorize me to utilize the best craftsmanship teams and material suppliers nationwide. This requires breaking the conventional procurement process."
The veteran production director's brows knitted together, "Director Lin, this... this is impossible! The time it takes just to customize the materials is..."
"There's no 'impossible'." Lin Na interrupted him, her tone unquestionable. "As for the process issue, you should contact President Su Ying directly. President Zhou has given her the highest authority. What I want is a solution, not a list of difficulties."
The atmosphere in the meeting suddenly became tense, and the meeting went from a clash of ideas to a real competition for resources and a race against time.
At this tense moment, Liu Yifan's voice sounded calmly, but it was like a stone thrown into a torrent:
"Director Lin, I have an idea." Everyone looked at her. "If 'reverse viewing' is the core, then the film's opening... could it be her gaze, not her face? The first shot would be her reflected in the mirror, calmly observing the world behind her that's 'viewing' her?"
The idea was so striking that it brought the entire conference room back to silence. It perfectly visualized the concept and immediately brought the focus back to the performance and the image itself.
Lin Na looked at Liu Yifan deeply, and for the first time, a genuine smile appeared on the corner of her mouth, which was filled with admiration and the feeling of meeting a worthy opponent.
"That's settled. The opening plan will be further developed around this idea," she decided, then looked around at everyone. "Alright, we're united in our thinking and have a clear direction. Now, adjourn the meeting and take action immediately!"
The meeting came to an abrupt end, and everyone quickly left to join the battle. The pace was so fast that there was barely a moment to breathe.
Zhou Ping'an, who was in the corner, watched Liu Yifan's departing figure. He leaned slightly towards Su Ying and muttered in a low voice that only the two of them could hear, "Look, as soon as I talk about how to look best in front of the camera, this woman gets all excited. Her brain works faster than a server."
Su Ying was stunned at first, then couldn't help but roll her eyes, her lips curling up unconsciously. She leaned back in her chair, smiling and shaking her head, "Mr. Zhou, if Miss Liu heard you, she'd probably get angry with you. They're engaged in serious artistic creation."
She paused and said, "Besides, Miss Liu's eyes are really beautiful."
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