Global Film Emperor

Chapter 70, "Youth in the Capital," is finished filming.

"I hereby announce that filming for 'Capital Youth' has officially wrapped!"

The set was filled with jubilation, with applause and shouts echoing for a long time. The theater staff were a bit tired lately, but they were still making money, so their smiles weren't really that genuine.

Cheng Yuan, who was originally in his early fifties, now has a lot of white hair. Just by looking at his sparse and pale hair, you can tell what kind of life he has been living lately.

But now his smile was genuine, Lu Ze could tell. Cheng Yuan was probably thinking, "Damn it, I've finally cleaned up this mess."

Han Tian and Zhang Yushi remained expressionless. They had no shortage of acting opportunities, but they were well aware of their own abilities. They were probably not yet prepared for the impending storm of ridicule.

In short, filming for "Youth in the Capital" has wrapped up. After nearly four months, the production, featuring eight male leads and three female leads, has come to a complete end.

Lu Ze stretched and gulped down a bottle of water. It was already summer, and the last scene was quite tiring. He had been running for a long time and had sweated a lot.

Zhou Zhilin, standing beside Jiang Wenshu, was tearfully saying goodbye. The two girls had gotten along quite well during this time. Ever since they saw Lu Ze come out of his room that night, they had been walking together.

"Go back and rest. Tianyue is hosting a banquet tonight, and everyone must attend. That's all for now!"

Cheng Yuan waved his hand, and Lu Ze and the others said goodbye to Cheng Yuan and left. They went back to their rooms, took a good shower, and then took out their notebooks from their bags to write a summary of the filming wrap-up.

Lu Ze's writing is similar to a diary, but it only records the mistakes and highlights on set. He writes down the good things to practice diligently and writes down the bad things to avoid in the future.

In summary, he gave himself a score of 90, saying that his performance was fairly stable, but the acting of his co-stars was sometimes not up to par and would sometimes pull him out of the scene, so he deducted 10 points for his focus.

He closed his laptop, let out a breath, put on his bathrobe, got into bed, and prepared to sleep for a while. He set his alarm for 6:30, thinking he could sleep for another three and a half hours.

Wearing a white shirt, a black suit, and leather shoes, Lu Ze had a great physique and didn't look thin. His broad shoulders made the suit look good. Apart from being very serious in his daily life and looking a bit like a black gang member when he had a straight face and no smile, he was quite perfect.

After washing his hair again, giving it a quick blow-dry, and fixing his hairstyle with hair clay, Lu Ze washed his hands, put his phone in his pocket, closed the door, and turned around. He happened to run into Zhou Zhilin and Jiang Wenshu, who were also coming downstairs.

Both nodded, and Zhou Zhilin didn't dare to speak. She only knew that Lu Ze had lied to her that night, saying he was going to see his sister, but he stayed in his room. After that, Jiang Wenshu, who was originally very enthusiastic, gradually cooled down, and their communication was no longer as frequent as before.

Lu Ze and his group were staying at Tianyue Hotel, so they only needed to go down to the banquet hall on the fourth floor to start eating. Zhou Zhilin took a deep breath of fresh air after getting out of the elevator; it was indeed too oppressive inside.

The crew of "Youth in the Capital" had a total of more than 170 people. There were eight people per table, so a total of 22 tables were set up. The even number was for good luck, but in reality, there were only 21 tables used for the meal.

There was a large dining table inside. While the other tables were covered with light gold tablecloths, that table was gold. It was the dining table for the big shots, including the director, producer, executive producer, and assistant director.

Secondly, there's the actors' table, which is closest to the main table, but it's the same size as the other tables.

When Lu Ze entered the banquet hall, there were already quite a few people seated. When Cheng Yuan saw Lu Ze and his companions enter, he waved to them with a smile.

"Daze, come here, it's time to hand out red envelopes."

The red envelope was placed on the table where no one was eating. After Lu Ze and his group went over, a staff member handed the red envelope to Lu Ze. He squeezed it gently and found it to be quite thick, probably containing twenty or thirty thousand yuan.

"Thank you, Director Cheng. You've worked so hard these past four months."

The three thanked him, and Lu Ze noticed that Zhou Zhilin's red envelope was thinner than his own. It seemed that the actors' red envelopes were also clearly categorized by social class.

"What are you talking about? Aren't you tired these past few months? Alright, go back and sit down. Tonight, we're not leaving until we're drunk!"

About half an hour later, Han Tian and Zhang Yushi also arrived. Cheng Yuan checked the number of people and found that everyone had arrived. Several bigwigs began to give speeches.

After a long speech, the director raised his glass, and everyone stood up to wait for Cheng Yuan to speak. They then downed a cup of baijiu (Chinese liquor). After Lu Ze sat down, the six main actors at their table were seated in a rather awkward arrangement. Han Tian and Zhang Yushi sat on the east side, Lu Ze and Jiang Wenshu sat opposite them, next to Lu Ze was Du Junze, the number one simp from "Capital Youth," and next to Jiang Wenshu was Zhou Zhilin.

"Let me start by raising a glass. I've had a great time filming with everyone over the past four months, and we've gotten along very well. So, I'd like to toast you all."

Han Tian poured the wine and said a bunch of nonsense to the other five people. Lu Ze and the others gave him face and clinked glasses with him.

Afterwards, everyone took turns speaking, and what they all said was nonsense. They drank a little and then started toasting the big shots.

To be honest, Lu Ze had only been to a few of these dinner parties, which was enough. But once you enter this industry, you have to follow the rules. Helpless, Lu Ze waited until Zhang Yushi returned to her seat, and after waiting for a while, he got up and went to Cheng Yuan's table.

"Hey, Lu Ze, come sit down, come sit down. Let me introduce you. You know President Sun, President Zhao, and the others. Let me tell you, Lu Ze is a very outstanding young man. He meets all the requirements. He solved a problem for me in this drama, and he solved it perfectly. Really, President Sun, if you have any new dramas or any difficult roles to play, you can consider him. I don't know where he learned all his skills."

This was a well-intentioned act, helping Lu Ze connect with people. Perhaps it was because Lu Ze was the actor in the crew who understood Cheng Yuan the most, and also had the connection with Shen Jinghan, so Cheng Yuan helped Lu Ze.

"Director Cheng, you're too kind. It was a privilege to film under your guidance; I really learned a lot. Let me toast you first."

Unlike Han Tian and Zhang Yushi, he toasted each of the big shots with a cup, because he was no match for Han Tian at the moment, and this was also to give face to the big shots. After drinking eight cups, Lu Ze took his leave.

After the toasts were finished, no one at Lu Ze's table touched any more alcohol. Nobody was stupid enough to believe the nonsense about drinking until they were drunk; they were celebrities, and they had to maintain their image.

A dozen minutes after Lu Ze returned to his seat, Han Tian and Zhang Yushi left one after the other. Lu Ze was a little hungry, so he ate some food. After he finished eating, he said goodbye to the director and left the banquet hall.

Back in the room, I opened the red envelope. Inside were two stacks of 100-yuan bills, each stack totaling 10,000 yuan. I checked the ones that weren't tied up, and the total was 28,888 yuan.

Lu Ze put the money in the deepest part of his backpack, planned to brush his teeth and go to bed, and return to Shanghai early the next morning.

"dong dong dong"

"Who?"

"I am Jiang Wenshu."

Lu Ze went to open the door and could tell she was in trouble just by looking at her flushed face. He frowned and asked, "What's wrong?"

"I want to talk to you."

"It's too late, let's talk about it tomorrow."

But you're leaving tomorrow!

"Let's talk on the phone then. I'm going to sleep now. You've had too much to drink, so you should go home and rest early too."

She stared intently at Lu Ze, her gaze unwavering, as if she wouldn't leave without speaking to him today.

"I'm not drunk. Can you talk to me? An hour? Half an hour is fine too. It's only eight o'clock. You can't possibly go to sleep this early, right? Is that okay? Even just fifteen minutes?"

Lu Ze looked at her, and she clasped her hands together, still staring intently at Lu Ze.

"Ugh."

Lu Ze put on a coat, took the room key, and went out with her.

(End of this chapter)