Chapter 483: Honeyed Confidence
Nangong Ying’s days in Hong Kong were a little lonely. She didn’t know anyone, but she was willing to endure hardship and start from scratch. Slowly, she also got along quite well, and gradually got to know some of the big shots in the Hong Kong film and television circle. These were all representative figures of the glorious period of Hong Kong cinema in the last century. And she had also learned more martial arts in Hong Kong. With a famous martial arts instructor helping her, she had learned a lot more.
As her new movie was preparing to enter the mainland, she also wanted her career to be a little longer. There was still time before her ban was lifted. She needed to film another movie in Hong Kong. After she returned to the mainland and finished filming the two movies with Chenghe, she would be a free agent. At that time, no one would be able to do anything to her.
Yes, she wanted to become the number one action superstar in the country.
“Nangong, the director told you that he’s confirmed to sign you. But the salary might be a little lower. Can you accept that?”
“That’s no problem. I can accept it.”
Nangong Ying was communicating with her assistant here in Hong Kong in Cantonese. She was originally from Guangnan, and Cantonese was also her local dialect there, so it was not difficult to speak this language.
She would occasionally scroll through Weibo and look at that person’s information. Although she knew that it no longer belonged to her, people are always contemptible. She still wanted to take a look.
On the contrary, she had accidentally scrolled to some news about Ye Zhiyun.
The new movie directed by Ye Zhiyun was going to enter the June slot. At this time, there would be many strong rivals. For her, it was a huge challenge. During the movie’s promotion, Ye Zhiyun had also accepted an interview with a reporter, talking about her new movie.
“Director Ye, this is the third movie you’ve directed, right? I hear that this time it continues your previous style, focusing on a romantic comedy?”
“Yes, this time we’ve changed our way of thinking to film. I’ve discovered a lot of interesting things. Actually, besides telling the audience that love is very beautiful, I also wanted to convey a little private message, and that is to please cherish your lover, even if she is not perfect. This is a little easter egg that I’ve buried inside.”
“Director Ye, in this cast, you’ve chosen all newcomers. The only one who is slightly famous is the female lead, Han Ying. What was the reason that prompted you to choose her?”
“As for that, there’s a bit of a private reason. I met Han Ying in Japan. At that time, it was for work reasons, and she hadn’t made a name for herself in Japan at that time. Later, I wanted to film a movie, which is the script I have in my hands. There was no suitable candidate for the female lead, so I wanted to try and find her. I think she is very suitable for the role of the female lead. I believe she can play it well.”
Ye Zhiyun was talking freely to the reporter. In the past, she had not been very receptive to interviews, but now she had slowly become an old hand. Facing the reporter’s questions, she could also express some of her views. In the past, she had become popular through the hype of her scandal with Zhu Yiqian. This time, she wanted to use her strength to prove that she was not bad.
Yu Linna had also used her phone to watch this news live stream when she was in South Korea. The bullet comments in the room were few and far between, but she had still insisted on watching it. It wasn’t because she was nostalgic for something. She had just watched this live stream because she was simply bored.
“Director Ye, the relationship between you and Zhu Yiqian is well-known. What are your thoughts on her?”
“What relationship? What relationship do you say it is? Is it up to you to say?”
“No, no, Director Ye, you’ve misunderstood.”
“I’ll reiterate once more. My relationship with Zhu Yiqian is purely a working relationship. We don’t have a very big relationship. Please don’t randomly label me.”
Ye Zhiyun had directly rebuffed someone in a live stream. No one would have thought of rebuffing someone in public, especially in that live stream. But Ye Zhiyun had actually dared to do so. The heat of the live stream had thus been hyped up.
Of course, doing so would also bring her too much controversy, and there would surely be negative effects. But Ye Zhiyun didn’t care.
If she didn’t even have this ability to withstand pressure, then she didn’t have to be a director either. She could just go home. And this time, it was really a do-or-die battle. The entire film had been invested with 30 million, and a lot of that money was a bank loan. If she lost money this time, then her company could only close down. The remaining debts, she, Ye Zhiyun, could only choose to go home, otherwise she would never be able to pay them off.
“So you think this schedule is favorable to you?”
“I never thought it was favorable. But a movie is never decided by a single schedule. What’s good is good, and what’s bad is bad. There are no excuses.”
“Hehe, then what do you think your chances are this time?”
“Three or four out of ten, maybe.”
Ye Zhiyun was quite restrained in front of the reporters. She would not exaggerate her claims, nor would she excessively flatter herself.
But her meaning was also expressed very clearly.
She was very confident.
…
Yu Linna had finished watching the news in a foreign country and had turned off her phone. Unconsciously, she had also begun to embark on the path of her dream. Whether she could succeed still depended on herself.
Perhaps Ye Zhiyun had also doubted herself countless times, wondering if she had the ability to be a director.
But what could judge whether a person had the qualifications was never a simple movie.
…
Yu Linna had come to South Korea, but her novel’s promotion was not going smoothly. The South Korean side was not very willing to promote it, nor was anyone willing to buy it in. After all, the South Koreans were not very interested in a novel written by a Chinese person. And this was a capitalist market. For something that couldn’t make money to rush in was a loss-making business for any merchant.
It was precisely because of this that Yu Linna’s novels simply couldn’t break into the South Korean market. The South Koreans had no enthusiasm for her either.
At most, everyone just knew that she was the screenwriter of a very popular Japanese drama. But how could a screenwriter’s fame be as important as a director’s or an actor’s? Therefore, Yu Linna’s fame could not be said to be very high.
The novel’s advance had failed. Yu Linna had thought about whether to write a script to open up the South Korean market, but she had later chosen to give up. Because to write a script for someone in South Korea, in any case, it would have to be written in Korean, just like when she had gone to Japan to write a script before. But the problem was, she did not plan to stay in South Korea for long, and there was no need to learn Korean. It was not like that time in Japan.
She had then chosen to continue to gather material, to understand the South Korean esports circle, and also the esports culture. She had been to many famous places, had interviewed many famous people, and also retired South Korean players, and had learned about the development of these esports. In this country, South Korea, esports had always been highly valued. Important esports competitions would also be broadcast on TV, and the government had also vigorously promoted the esports culture. And this situation, in China, was almost impossible.
In China, esports had been linked to games for a long time and had been regarded by people as a flood and a fierce beast, even a drug. The situation at that time was very bad. Almost everyone hated esports, except for the young people. Yu Linna had seen a lot of it when she was a child. She herself did not play games, but the adults around her were always particularly disgusted with the children who played games and would then curse the people who had invented games. Even now, there were still people who thought that young people were harmed by these online games. If it had been their era, they would absolutely not have been addicted to games.
And the time when esports had really started to change in China was in a certain year, when a Chinese esports player had won the world championship and had gone on stage to receive the award, draped in a red flag.
And with the Chinese division winning various game world championships in recent years, the esports culture had slowly improved.
Yu Linna wanted to write an esports player theme. She had first thought of using the story of the number one esports player in the country as the theme, to write a legendary story. But before that, she had to first understand the South Korean esports circle, and then also to understand the European esports culture, and finally, China’s esports.
“You say this woman is a writer, but why do I look at her and see a certain actress? Are you sure she’s not an actress?”
Yoon Jeong-eun was drinking coffee and pointed at Yu Linna, who was using a tablet to search for various related esports content. Kang Hyun-ah also carefully looked at her idol’s face. You say she looks like a star, and she does seem to be one. But if you were to really talk about it, in fact, she was not a star at all.
“That’s fine. The key is, my idol is very cute.”
Kang Hyun-ah was drinking her coffee and had accidentally said something that had made a certain person extremely unhappy.
“Are you saying she’s better than me?”
Yoon Jeong-eun was particularly unhappy, her face full of resentment.
“No, no, no, that’s not what I mean. An idol is an idol, and a lover is a lover. It’s different. In my heart, of course you are the most important!”
“See you at the old place tonight.”
“…It’s been two weeks. Let me rest for a few days…”
“No.”
Yu Linna, on the other hand, had not paid much attention to the two of them and was concentrating on her own things. After all, she couldn’t understand Korean, let alone know what they were talking about.
…
When Yu Linna returned to the hotel, she would occasionally fall into a brief loneliness from living alone. There were no familiar people around, and this was a foreign country. It was inevitable that she would feel a little homesick. Although she had lived a life of wandering since she was a child, so many years had passed, and she had not really gotten used to this kind of life.
What she had always wanted was a stable and warm life. She had once thought of being with Ye Zhiyun for a lifetime, but had found that they could only be together for a period of time and could not last forever. Thinking about it carefully, it was also true. At that time, when she had accepted Ye Zhiyun’s confession, it was more that she had been forced by Ye Zhiyun to date her than that she had thought it through. And in the process of dating Ye Zhiyun, she had indeed discovered that she liked Ye Zhiyun. But when she had discovered this feeling, their feelings had long since been exhausted, and had slowly come to an end.
Actually, even to this day, she had not been able to let go.
She took her phone, pressed WeChat, and started to chat with someone.
◇ Yu Xia: I hear you went to South Korea? Bring me back some local specialties!
Yu Linna looked at that familiar avatar, and she smiled.
◇ NA Nana: Alright, you come over and I’ll give you some to eat.
◇ Yu Xia: Then I’ll give you a surprise!
◇ NA Nana: What surprise?
◇ Yu Xia: You’ll know soon enough.
At that time, Yu Linna had not paid any attention to these things and was just thinking about how to spend this lonely period of gathering material in South Korea. Who would have thought that in just one day, a message from Yu Xiayue had come.
◇ Yu Xia: Hello, I’ve come to South Korea! Want to play together!
Yu Linna was completely bewildered. She had carefully checked on Weibo to find out that Yu Xiayue’s movie was going to be promoted in South Korea. Knowing that she had been tricked, Yu Linna was both angry and amused. But she still kept in touch with Yu Xiayue, ready to see her at any time. After all, they hadn’t seen each other in a while.
