"This... Miss Duan, the company is—"
"Changed owners?"
"The boss hasn't changed; a partner has been added."
"That's alright. Making movies is about making money, not about acting out of spite."
He specifically requested that peonies be brought to him.
"Song Mudan?"
“I also reminded him that Ms. Duan would be unhappy. He said he knew what he was doing, that movies are also a business, and that one must be business-minded.”
"The red ones step aside, the black ones force their way in—is this some kind of business acumen? Who is he?"
"His instructions are hard to say."
Upon hearing this, Duan Pingting felt a surge of anxiety, but then she realized she would surely lose her composure. Despite her unease, her alluring eyes didn't forget their identities, and she probed for answers:
“Now that I have another boss, I should at least know whether this is a trivial matter or a private one, given our relationship?” Seeing that he didn’t answer, she said, “You really won’t tell me? I refuse to play along.”
"Don't do that, it'll upset everyone."
"The contract also states that 'performers may not refuse to perform,'" Ms. Duan said.
"But it was noted that it 'cannot be lent out'."
In other words, if she doesn't want to act, she shouldn't act for three years; the company will blacklist her. Duan Pingting suddenly realized: That must be it! Shi Zhongming heard that Jin Xiaofeng was planning to allocate another 200,000 yuan from the bank to make a movie and felt it was very risky.
Not long ago, he used funds to buy a plot of land on Zhejiang Road and built a batch of alleyway houses. The houses weren't finished, and the money wasn't coming back. Although the transactions were all speculative, just a way to recoup funds, however—
"Zhongming, I have my own ideas, don't interfere!"
It turns out that this Mr. Zheng Zhilian is neither wise nor honest. He is a son of an official, a playboy who loves wine, and knows nothing about business, especially risky industries. Jin Xiaofeng thought that he had a large amount of cash in his hands, so he also tried to take him over.
He deliberately said:
“Nowadays, any exchange with poor credit will go bankrupt. Opening one carelessly is tantamount to throwing money into the Huangpu River. How can we explain this to the public afterward?”
After much persuasion and refusals, he reluctantly accepted the money, transferring it to the Day and Night Bank as an investment to develop its business. Thus, the bank became wealthy again overnight. Shi Zhongming watched silently.
With cash on hand, making the movie will be much easier.
Even if Dandan read the script and wanted to change, add, or subtract parts, he let her have her way. He only wanted to make a good movie for her, one that she would remember for a lifetime.
Dandan changed the male protagonist's background.
Shugen, Hei Niu's childhood sweetheart, had become an unstable, reckless, and cowardly nobody. Even though he had once been so simple and innocent, when the war broke out, he became opportunistic, betraying his countrymen and betraying them by collaborating with the Japanese. He had become a traitor, oppressing his fellow countrymen and forgetting all their past friendship. Hei Niu despised him and hated him to the core. When she joined the resistance against Japan, she seized enemy weapons and shot him dead.
Yan Tongyi revised the script according to her wishes.
Dandan is like a naive leader; she knows her power because he gave it to her.
Tang Huaiyu accepted the role, but things went increasingly wrong as the performance progressed.
The situation got worse and worse. He didn't refuse the role because he was confident he could play any character well, but he ended up playing a villain and couldn't recover.
"Action!" the director yelled, and the scene officially began. Dandan gritted her teeth and cursed Huaiyu.
The black woman in the play is driven by national hatred, but in reality, who is so noble?
It's all about personal feelings, like those between lovers. Some worries unrelated to people's livelihoods, long-standing ailments, haunting me, deep-seated resentment, impossible to shake off. Like a burning fire, it's something I can't escape, a small, persistent tearful ailment that lingers throughout my life.
Jealousy breeds hatred, and the failure itself creates a surge of emotions, making it easy to get caught up in the drama.
Upon seeing him, she was enraged and panicked.
She cursed:
"Shugen, you despicable scoundrel! You betrayed yourself and betrayed your country by joining the Japanese. What kind of beasts are they? They persecuted your parents and relatives and invaded your country..."
"Blackie, I didn't—"
"Don't think I don't know that you want a promotion, you want to protect yourself, and you want to live a good life under the enemy's protection!"
"—" The tree root lowered its head in shame.
The black woman had changed. Her nostrils flared with anger from her inner turmoil, and her eyes flashed with the fury of a gambler who had lost everything, mixed with despair and frustration. Her face was contorted, and her voice grew increasingly urgent:
"Have you forgotten how good I was to you! I've been waiting for you to come back!"
"I really don't know—"
She used all her strength to slap him across the face, like a thunderbolt striking his head, causing Huaiyu to stagger.
She cried:
"You said you'd steal some dates for me to eat during the Mid-Autumn Festival..."
"Ahem!" the director shouted, "The lines are wrong. 'You said you'd buy me a pair of shoes with a thousand-layer sole,' but the next line is 'I'd rather go barefoot than wear shoes stained with the blood and flesh of my compatriots!'"
Dandan's face turned deathly pale. She was so naive; no matter how ruthless she pretended to be, her true feelings would be revealed in a moment of crisis. She was completely immersed in her role, unable to extricate herself. She wept uncontrollably, tears streaming down her face. She finally looked up—
Suddenly seeing Mr. Jin visiting the set, she rushed into his arms, clinging tightly to him, saying, "I missed you so much!"
"Xiao Dan, I came just because you ordered me to!" he soothed in her ear.
"Everyone, while the boss is here, I have something to say—"