Fooling Huayu for Thirty Years

Chapter 349 Secretary He Qing? The Lunar New Year Film Season Starts Early!
What have you been doing all this time?

"Time to film a movie."

"But, there doesn't seem to be any particularly special role."

"At my age, what special role do I need?"

"But I can tell you're still a little unwilling."

"What can I do even if I'm not willing to accept it?"

When He Qing said this, her face showed an undeniable weariness.

Since Ma Xun has run into them, he should treat them to a meal.

But He Qing wanted to go for a drink.

The two of them already had a very special relationship, but since they were both busy with their careers lately, they decided to find a bar and have a couple of drinks.

But as they talked, Ma Xun clearly sensed that something was wrong with He Qing.

I remember the last time we parted ways, Ma Xun also made some arrangements.

The woman in front of me, who has acted in all four classic Chinese novels, is still very beautiful, but it is undeniable that she has passed her peak.

It is currently in a very mature state.

The heat of Shanghai meant she could only wear light, airy dresses, which perfectly accentuated her voluptuous figure.

Mature women should have this kind of figure; being too thin is not very appealing.

Ma Xun's idea came to him really quickly.

"Didn't I provide some resources?" Ma Xun said casually, trying to cover up his mistake.

He Qing sighed again after hearing this, "I should be grateful, please don't doubt it, it's from the bottom of my heart. But, nowadays, it's very difficult for me to get good roles, and what I'm talking about... you understand, right?"

She had been drinking, and her face was flushed. There was a sense of sorrow in her voice. Sure enough, even an old A8 is still an A8.

Ma Xun could only say, "I understand, you feel that playing a minor role hurts your self-esteem."

These words were originally intended to provoke He Qing.

Unexpectedly, He Qing paused for a moment, then said, "You're right."

Admit it? !

This is not quite right.

Ma Xun, of course, had no idea how He Qing had managed to get through those days.

Indeed, Ma Xun provided He Qing with some resources, but the problem is that those resources weren't enough for her to play any young girl roles.

In other words, He Qing can no longer play the role of the female lead in most current film and television dramas.

She's almost forty this year. If she were to play a teenage girl at that age... cough cough, she's not the type like Grandma Qing.

Simply put, He Qing herself would no longer play teenage roles, and there are very few dramas with middle-aged women as the main characters, so she can only play minor roles in the production.

Well, to put it simply, she started her era of playing mothers in movies and TV dramas.

Starting with "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" and "My Sassy Girl", whenever a production team approached her, it was to play a mother.

There's no way around it; the mothers in "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" and "My Sassy Girl" were quite successful.

Therefore, He Qing felt very uncomfortable.

She was unwilling to accept it.

In the 1980s and 1990s, she was a top-tier actress.

Back then, the concept of "leading roles" wasn't really emphasized, but there was still a distinction between primary and secondary characters in many plays.

The rules governing mainland China's film and television industry are quite different from those in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

For TV series like "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", the first step is to determine 12 main actors.

Going back further, works like "Journey to the West" and "Dream of the Red Chamber" are all similar.

He Qing is always the lead actress.

Although, she may not be the 'main' one in that play.

Now, in the 21st century, she has fallen directly from her peak, and it seems that she can no longer even be considered a second-tier star.

In fact, He Qing was prepared; she knew what an actress's greatest enemy was.

It's about age.

To be honest, her decline has been relatively slow. In this industry, many big names only become famous for one or two films or TV series.
However, during this period, she still found it difficult to accept such a difference.

I've told myself to be more open-minded.

Actresses are all like that.

But I still can't get over it.

As a result, she stopped accepting many of Ma Xun's projects and didn't consider other roles either.

While filming at the Shanghai Film City, she decided that she would retire after filming was completed.

Now, from Ma Xun's words, she could tell that Ma Xun was joking.

But this opportunity is not bad.

"I want to retire."

He Qing felt a special sense of relief as soon as she said those words.

Ma Xun could naturally hear this feeling, but he also felt it was a great pity.

Looking back at the original timeline, He Qing was actually always filming, but it was indeed very difficult for her to get any good resources.

Hmm, do you remember the movie "The Double-Gun Granny"?

Let's not even bother criticizing this name; it's clear that her resources have been severely downgraded.

This is probably her last time playing the lead role, while in fact, she had already been playing various supporting roles before.

The story of a female actress's downfall is vividly portrayed in He Qing's life.

But that doesn't make sense. Does it mean that if I hadn't shown up, she would have continued acting?
Now that I, Ma Xun, have come and helped her a lot, she has retired from the entertainment industry ahead of schedule?

Then I came for nothing!
Oh, this idea sounds a bit strange, doesn't it?
It's not that I came for nothing, it's that she... Ma Xun probably guessed it.

"I've noticed that you're a bit arrogant."

What is the intended meaning of these words?

"What do you mean?" He Qing's face flushed even more.

She was talking to Ma Xun and taking sips of wine every now and then.

"It means very simply that you'd rather be the head of a chicken than the tail of a phoenix."

Is this phrase appropriate here?

Thinking about it carefully, it does seem somewhat appropriate.

He Qing frowned. "Are you saying that I'm not content to be a supporting character? Fine, say whatever you want."

Unexpectedly, she turned out to be quite difficult to deal with.

Ma Xun had no choice but to say, "How about this? I'm actually short-staffed here. As you know, I travel all over the country for business and there are many things that need to be done, but as a man, I'm really bad at that."

"Aren't assistants common in our industry, like personal assistants? Since you're not acting anymore, why don't you become my personal assistant?"

"A personal assistant?" He Qing couldn't help but roll her eyes at Ma Xun. "Don't think I don't understand your filthy thoughts!"

Did they fail to fool him?
Ma Xun laughed, "How am I disgusting? When we were in bed, you were clearly the one screaming louder."

That's a bit harsh; it left He Qing speechless.

Ma Xun pressed his advantage, "To outsiders, your role will be that of a secretary. I'm not lying, I'm really short-staffed. If you can also master some other skills, such as computers or accounting, you can help me even more."

He wasn't joking.

He Qing was speechless for a while, but still retorted, "I understand what you mean. You don't want me to retire, so you're forcing me like this?"

Ma Xun looked puzzled. "How did I force you?"

He Qing said directly, "Isn't it true that if I don't agree, you can publicly reveal some of my..."

At this point, she became quite embarrassed.

Ma Xun laughed again, "I'm not that despicable. Besides, I do need someone like that to help me. And don't you understand that having someone like He Qing as my secretary would be beneficial to me?"

"Benefits?" He Qing already understood in her heart.

But Ma Xun still had to say it, "It's prestigious to take him out."

Good guy!
That's what he said to Lin Jianyue back then.

He Qing had no idea what Ma Xun had said about others back then; she was just very angry at the moment.

"I do appreciate your help, but I'd rather not be your secretary."

After saying that, he simply left.

Ma Xun left behind several large bills and then chased after them.

Another tailing incident?

Ahem... She's such a beauty, and she's drunk late at night. Ma Xun is just protecting her safety.

Although Ma Xun himself was He Qing's source of insecurity, he was absolutely unaware of it.

Sure enough, He Qing had drunk quite a bit; her steps were unsteady, and after turning two or three street corners, she had to lean against the wall. Ma Xun simply went over and picked up the 'old A8'.

"you……"

"Shut up!"

He Qing was deeply shaken by Ma Xun's domineering presence.

Not long after, the two of them returned to Ma Xun's house on Wukang Road.

Ma Xun threw He Qing directly onto the bed.

Watching this mature woman, who was drunk, writhing on the bed like an ejaculator.

Ma Xun swallowed.

He had originally intended to uphold his principles, but now he simply took off his clothes.

He pounced on it.

……

The next day.

"I won't be your secretary, and I don't want to be your secretary."

She left a note, mentioning He Qing, who had been displaying her allure on this large bed last night.

They just left like that.

Ma Xun looked at the note and a playful smile appeared on his face.

He had a strange feeling that this stubborn, mature woman would most likely come back.

After all, she absolutely enjoyed it... He Qing's expression last night couldn't fool him.

And next...

Just as Ma Xun was planning to continue watching the filming of "Kung Fu Hustle" in Shanghai, Ye Quanzhen called him.

"My good prince! You are amazing!"

"What's wrong? How am I so amazing?"

"Our 'Love Through Time' has completely surpassed that 'Storm Riders 2,' didn't you know that all along?"

"Oh, maybe."

"No! You must know! You must be extremely confident!"

"Alright then, I'll say I'm confident."

"Your Highness, please don't be so absent-minded."

"No, it's because you guessed right all along!"

Ma Xun's words were absolutely impeccable.

Of course, he knew from the beginning that "Storm Riders 2" was really poorly made, but he couldn't say it directly, so he just left Ye Quanzhen with room for imagination.

Ye Quan was overjoyed and wanted to celebrate properly with Ma Xun.

However, Ma Xun felt that it was too early to rush things.

"In fact, there is still a lot to explore in the film 'Time Travel'. We are only just beginning. I think we have not made enough money."

Didn't earn enough?
These words served as a reminder to Ye Quanzhen.

Indeed it is.

Although "Love Through Time and Space" also features Jingwen and Yuanyuan, and the overall cast is quite good.

However, it is, after all, a rather innovative play.

In other words, it's a time-travel drama.

In the realm of time-travel dramas, our series certainly cannot be considered the originator.

If I were to go into detail, it would be the TV series "A Step into the Past".

There is also a movie called "Love in Time".

But both of these films were actually made in 98.

However, if we're talking about mainland China, "Love Through Time" is at least one of the top-ranked time-travel dramas.

It's clear that many advertisers are actually quite unsure about this kind of bold and creative TV series.

To put it bluntly: the previous investment attraction efforts were not very good.

It probably only achieved a single ad placement worth over 2000 million.

This is still due to the fairly good cast, the screenwriter from Pumpkin Studio, and the prestigious reputation of investor Ma Xun, among other things.

Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to reach that amount.

In Ma Xun's opinion... no problem!
If the initial broadcast's advertising revenue is mediocre, then let's teach the advertising agencies a lesson with the ratings!

Therefore, Ma Xun's meaning was very simple, and Ye Quanzhen naturally understood it as well.

“I will talk to those advertisers, but…”

"You really want me to help?"

"My lord~"

The voice on the phone was so sweet it made my heart flutter.

Ma Xun laughed heartily, deciding he had no choice but to not disappoint the beauty.

But immediately after he met up with Ye Quanzhen, someone brought him some news.

"The Wang brothers are now going to do some pre-release promotion for 'Cellphone,' which will be released during the Lunar New Year holiday."

The person who contacted Ma Xun was General Manager Li, whom he hadn't seen for several days.

Ma Xun found this statement very strange.

"Isn't this standard procedure?"

But Mr. Li replied with a smile, "What I mean is, they want to do something high-intensity!"

Is the intensity being increased?

Ma Xun nodded to President Li, "About this film, it's easy to discuss."

His meaning was very clear: Mr. Li, you helped me this time, so I should return the favor.

If you're using a trailer for the movie "Love Through Time," the price is negotiable.

Mr. Li was very happy; that's exactly what he wanted to achieve.

Currently, Xiaoma Benteng mainly focuses on advertising.

He then added, "I heard they're also planning a film screening."

Ma Xun nodded in agreement.

Ye Quanzhen saw these things and became somewhat curious.

"So next, we..."

"Let's not talk about that now, let's talk business first."

Ye Quanzhen certainly dared not disobey Ma Xun's words.

But I'm still very curious.

Of course, she had no idea that Ma Xun was secretly overjoyed!
The Wang brothers have finally taken the bait with Feng Xiaogang!
It's clear that they're organizing this preview screening and preparing for a high-intensity, large-scale investment in promotion.

It must have been inspired by the movie "Hero".

Feng Xiaogang is a rather arrogant guy. He rarely holds preview screenings; if he does, they are usually special film screenings.

Ma Xun could guess that this guy was going to hold a large-scale preview screening.

That's great!
I can start right now!

However, Ma Xun has a special arrangement at the moment.

He planned to take care of some things and then go to the Western Film Studio and Yulin.

It's very simple; the SA-RS will start soon.

I remember a few big cities, those were... Going to the west would be perfect for filming "Warriors of Heaven and Earth".

Not only could he act as a supervisor, but he could also keep Jiang Wen in check; otherwise, Hong Jie's director position would definitely have been snatched away by this guy.

As for the season for filming, filming in the desert in winter is actually much better than filming in the desert in the middle of summer.

In the desert, people have to wear armor, which is extremely uncomfortable.

Of course, we try to choose times when the weather is good to take the photos.

These details were left unmentioned.

And now Ma Xun must launch this major battle in the Lunar New Year film season!

It must have been the strangest war ever.

So, I simply called Gong Li.

"They're about to make their move, so you should start too."

This year's Lunar New Year film season has started early!
(End of this chapter)