Chapter 243: The Excited Xiao Yanhan
In September, military training was still ongoing. But it was worth mentioning that something happened in September that brought the third or fourth-tier actress, Tang Yumeng, into the public eye.
That was the fiery release of the movie Dream Life.
The film was positioned as an art-house film from its initial release, with little publicity. In September, it also had to face the threat of a Hollywood blockbuster. Although the director had walked the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival in the last century, in the eyes of the younger generation, he was an outdated old man, and no one was optimistic about his new work. The industry also believed it would flop.
To everyone’s surprise, Dream Life, which had a real-time box office of only 10 million on its first day, began to turn the tables on the third day, going head-to-head with the Hollywood blockbuster. In the end, the film’s box office was a full five hundred million. Although it couldn’t compare to a commercial blockbuster, considering its production cost of less than twenty million, it was quite a profit.
The film also had a high score of 8.8 on Douzi and reached 9.0 on Maomi. The box office was not high, but it touched people’s hearts, especially the young people who were currently drifting and searching for their dreams. It made these people willing to pay for it because the film talked about dreams, about life, and more about reality. It told people that no matter how difficult the road was, no matter how unsatisfactory reality was, they still had to walk on. The story ended with an open ending, with the male protagonist packing his luggage, seemingly going to a new place, or perhaps going back to his hometown, leaving behind infinite room for imagination.
As an art-house film, it was already qualified.
Only then did people exclaim that Director Wang Weifan was truly worthy of his reputation, his skills still sharp. In recent years, this director had been trying to transition to commercial films, but it had always been unsuccessful. This time, he returned to his roots and created an art-house film, and unexpectedly, it allowed people to see the ability with which he had dominated the domestic film industry in the last century when the film market was not yet mature.
And most importantly, Tang Yumeng’s fame was opened up.
She played the male protagonist’s ex-girlfriend in the drama, with only thirty minutes of screen time. She portrayed the selfishness, heartlessness, and yet helplessness of a woman in reality very well. Although the audience outside the drama disliked this character, they genuinely admired the actress’s acting skills. The increase in Tang Yumeng’s number of fans on Weibo was the best proof.
The drama became a hit, and Wang Weifan received an invitation to a talk show, something he hadn’t had in a long time. They wanted him to talk about the story behind the creation of this story. Wang Weifan also agreed. On the day of the recording, Wang Weifan put on a formal suit. He probably never thought that at his age, he would still have the opportunity to be interviewed. He had already prepared for the fact that no program would be willing to invite him for the next few years.
“Director Wang, hello. It’s been a long time. You still look very young.”
“Haha, I’m almost old. If I didn’t come now, I’m afraid I’d be coming up with a cane.”
Wang Weifan had often been on this kind of show at the end of the last century. At that time, there were no such fancy talk shows on the mainland. He usually went to Hong Kong and Taiwan. Twenty years had passed, and the development on the mainland had already surpassed that of Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.
“Congratulations on the big success of your new movie. I heard that the movie is very likely to be nominated for a Golden Horse Award. What are your thoughts on this?”
“Only one thought: it’s really been so many years.”
Wang Weifan said with emotion. When was the last time a movie of his was nominated for a Golden Horse Award? He had almost forgotten. He remembered that at his most glorious, a movie he directed was nominated for an Oscar. Although it didn’t win in the end, that was indeed the peak of his career. After that, his life declined rapidly. From then on, things got worse and worse, the box office got worse and worse. The most recent time, he had even caused the investors to lose several hundred million. After that, not many investors looked for him. Everyone said he was old and couldn’t keep up with the times.
Actually, he really wanted to continue making movies, to continue filming.
“Director Wang, I want to know about this theme of ‘if life is not as you wish, then you might as well dream.’ How did you come up with it?”
Wang Weifan was stunned for a moment, then smiled wryly.
He thought of the day he was down and out, when he had unintentionally gone to a park bench for a while, picked up a crumpled piece of paper, saw the story inside, and had an impulse. And then there was Dream Life. Come to think of it, his life was also like a story, full of incredible things.
He didn’t even know who had written that story.
“Perhaps it’s a kind of fate,” he replied.
“Life is always full of many stories, many helplessness. When things are not going well, when you’re sad, when you’re in pain, people always want to dream. Just like young people say, ‘in dreams, you have everything.’ This is the so-called dream life.”
That’s right. Life is always a dream, a dream you can’t control.
…
Yu Linna didn’t go to see the movie because of military training. Their military training was almost over. The drill instructor proposed to hold a cultural performance, and the first one to be selected was Fang Jiangning. Because Fang Jiangning had been a streamer, she was quite good at singing. Although she wasn’t a professional, at least she sounded pleasant to the ear. Actually, Yu Linna wasn’t bad at singing either. She had practiced with Nangong Ying for a week before to participate in a singing competition. She still knew a little. But she didn’t want to stand on stage and gave the opportunity to Fang Jiangning. Fang Jiangning even asked her, “Didn’t you used to be in the entertainment industry? Aren’t you the one who most wants to stand on stage?”
She replied with one sentence.
“It’s no longer necessary.”
After military training, Yu Linna yawned, feeling a little sleepy. These days of military training finally had an end in sight. She wanted to end this damn military training as soon as possible. She also wanted to work hard and make up for the work she had fallen behind on.
She went back to the dorm, took a shower first, changed into clean clothes, and climbed onto her bed to type on her keyboard.
Xiao Yanhan went on the QQ group again, making her presence known.
◇ Yan Yu: I suddenly realized that school has started for a long time, but there’s still no news of my idol, Shion-sensei! Isn’t he a university student too? Why won’t Wenqing reveal where he’s studying? I really want to know!!
She believed she wasn’t the only one with this thought. In fact, many people were very interested in the mysterious Shion-sensei, who never showed his face or accepted public interviews. But people were also disappointed. Because Bai Chen-sensei, who was from the same period as him, had already given a public interview and had even become an idol author with his looks, even starting to take on commercial endorsements like Air-sensei.
The biggest possibility for Shion-sensei not showing his face was that he was not confident in his looks. The fans thought that maybe their idol was too ugly and was too embarrassed to show his face, so he never appeared in public.
If it weren’t for this, why wouldn’t he appear?
Thinking like this, the fans were very sad.
But it also strengthened their determination to be his fan. It doesn’t matter if the sensei is ugly. We are his die-hard fans. We don’t judge by looks.
However, there were also many haters online, flaming this Shion-sensei for being ugly and not daring to show his face. The fans were furious when they heard this and started to fight with them. The battle was quite fierce.
And so, Xiao Yanhan had just finished a fight with a hater and ran to the group to chat with her friends, looking for news about her idol at the same time.
◇ Yan Yu: My idol is too low-key! We should support him more. Even if he’s not handsome, we have to use our actions to tell others that we are not animals that judge by looks.
◇ Lazy Cat: Meow, the haters don’t care about that. They just want to win with their mouths.
◇ Yan Yu: The officials never say where the sensei is studying, only that he’s the same age as us! Dammit, I really want to stake out Shion-sensei’s school gate and ask for his autograph!
◇ Kong Que: Isn’t there a comic con in Shanghai this month? A limited edition of a thousand autographs, first come, first served. I’ve already bought my plane ticket.
◇ Yan Yu: Ah! That’s too cunning! I haven’t bought my plane ticket yet! I have to book it quickly!
◇ Tuzi: As someone who lives in Shanghai, I’m never flustered.
Thinking of the mere thousand autographs at the comic con, Xiao Yanhan didn’t want to miss it. Even if she had to queue, she had to buy it. That was the first edition autograph. She absolutely couldn’t miss it. Who knew when the mysterious Shion-sensei would release another autograph, and it wasn’t even certain that he would show his face. She had to take this opportunity to buy the autograph, no matter what.
“Yanhan seems very excited these past few days. Is it because military training is almost over?”
Fang Jiangning had just finished washing her clothes, wiped her sweat, and was surprised to see her roommate so excited. They had been roommates for almost half a month. They weren’t particularly close, but they weren’t strangers either. She had never seen her so excited and jumping around.
“Didn’t she say she’s flying to the Shanghai comic con as soon as military training is over?”
Lan Ranyan said while scrolling through her phone.
Fang Jiangning made a small hammer with her right hand and tapped her left palm.
“Oh.”
She understood. It was the power of her idol.
Lan Ranyan and Fang Jiangning both looked at Yu Linna on the bed. Yu Linna was stared at until her hair stood on end. She took off her headphones, her face full of pain.
“It’s none of my business…”
Although she indicated that she could produce an autograph anytime, as many as she wanted, she didn’t dare to confess to Xiao Yanhan. In the end, it was because she was too much of a coward.
“Everyone, I’m going to Shanghai! Is anyone coming with me! I’m going to queue to buy my beloved Shion-sensei’s autograph!”
Xiao Yanhan was particularly happy this day. Thinking that her military training life was about to end, she was so happy. And she could go to the comic con. She had already saved up money for this day, and she had to book her plane ticket.
Yu Linna felt very guilty. She hid in her bed, silently looking at her computer. Perhaps she should buy a bed curtain. Having a die-hard fan in the dorm felt particularly uncomfortable. The main thing was, she was too much of a coward and didn’t dare to tell her.
“I’ll pass. I don’t have any money recently, and Shanghai is too far away,” Fang Jiangning said, squinting her eyes.
“I’m not going either. I don’t want to run to Shanghai. With this vacation, I’d rather have fun here in Guangnan.”
Lan Ranyan, the Beijing girl, said she didn’t want to go to Shanghai. She wanted to stay here and play.
“I don’t have time…” Yu Linna said directly.
Alright, no one was going. Only Xiao Yanhan was left.
“That’s too much! You’ve all abandoned me! Hmph, I’ll ask someone else. I’m going to buy my plane ticket first!”
Xiao Yanhan sat down at her seat, puffed up with anger, and prepared to snatch a plane ticket. Tickets to Shanghai were very expensive, and there were many people trying to get them. She had only been on the site for a few minutes when all the tickets were gone.
“Ahhhhh, I’m going to die! There are no tickets left! The tickets for the three days before and after are all gone! You guys are not human!!”
About ten minutes later, a desperate voice came from under the bed. The voice had a hint of a sob. The three of them poked their heads out and saw Xiao Yanhan on the verge of tears, a pitiful sight. This is bad, this is a big deal, the three of them thought in unison.
