This actor has something

Chapter 341 Where did all the money go?
silence.

The only sound in the van was He Daqi pressing buttons on his phone.

Zhou Huimin did not snuggle up to He Daqi. At this moment, she was holding the cat, and her eyes were filled with confusion, disbelief and incomprehension.

They were already halfway back when Vivian Chow suddenly spoke up.

Where did the 350 million yuan production cost of "The Promise" go?

"Don't ask me, I don't know either."

He Daqi gave a perfunctory reply. He had already reached the final level of the Sokoban game on his phone and was currently in the midst of a brainstorming session, so he didn't have time to pay attention to Zhou Huimin.

Zhou Huimin turned her head suspiciously to look at He Daqi, staring at his profile and asking, "Did you know that The Promise turned out like this, so you scheduled Crazy Stone to be released a week after The Promise?"

"Don't talk nonsense. I haven't seen the finished film, how could I know the plot? Don't forget, I wasn't even in the venue when the movie was being shown just now."

Hearing He Daqi's denial, Zhou Huimin became even more puzzled, because what He Daqi said made sense; he had indeed gone out with Han Shanping and had not been at the venue to watch the movie.

However, Zhou Huimin couldn't understand how Chen Kaige dared to squander 350 million yuan in such a wasteful way, wasn't he afraid that the investors would eat him alive?

That's 350 million! Even if there are fabricated costs involved, it couldn't be much lower.

She had a very difficult time watching the event, and even after getting into the car, she still seemed a little dazed.

I wanted to have a chat with He Daqi, but that bastard went out right at the start of the movie and didn't come back until almost the end. When he came back, he grabbed me and said goodbye, without even glancing at the screen once.

So now Zhou Huimin has countless complaints she wants to vent, but she doesn't know how to start, because this bastard next to her has no idea about the plot. Even if she tells him, it's like talking to a brick wall.

This feels awful!
However, it was precisely because of her discomfort that Zhou Huimin's little brain started working very fast. A flash of inspiration struck her, and she suddenly thought of something, glaring at He Daqi.

"No! I remember now, you did the voice acting for this movie! When you were doing the voice acting, you came back and said that the movie was hard to judge, I'm absolutely sure I remember correctly! You said that, and you also said that I would know after watching it myself. Well, so you were waiting for me here. I was wondering why you were out for almost two hours. You knew it was going to turn out like this, and you still made me suffer in there?"

Hearing Zhou Huimin's machine-gun-like complaints, He Daqi thought to himself that he was in trouble and knew he couldn't keep up the act. He put his phone away, turned his head and started to chuckle to himself.

"This annoying thing is really annoying!" Zhou Huimin angrily punched He Daqi.

"Couldn't you have called me and told me to come out too? You left me speechless inside for almost two hours? What were you and that Chairman Han from China Film Group talking about that could last two hours?"

"We talked about movie investment, and then we chatted about the plot of 'After the Flowers Bloom, All Others Wither.' You know what the most interesting part was? Hehehe... We ran out of things to talk about, hehe... We both... We both realized that the other didn't want to go in and watch the movie again, so... hehe... So we started chatting idly, talking about all sorts of things, and even made plans to go fishing together sometime."

As He Daqi was talking, he couldn't help but laugh. He would laugh a couple of times and say a few words, leaving Zhou Huimin speechless. After hearing this, she also laughed, but her laughter was somewhat absurd.

"I give up," Zhou Huimin sighed.

He Daqi finally finished laughing and said, "But Wuji's words also served as a reminder to me. Do you know what they are?"

"what?"

"That means you can't just pick any special effects team. I talked to Han Shanping outside the door. The bulk of Wuji's cost is special effects and advertising. He didn't say how much the special effects cost, but the advertising cost nearly 100 million. Think about it, he put the special effects before the advertising. How much must the special effects have cost? In short, I will absolutely not use the special effects team that Wuji used this time. The visuals are indeed good, but it's not worth it. It's not like I haven't shot special effects blockbusters before, like Kung Fu Hustle and The Host. But when you compare them, you can see the cost-effectiveness. I guess Wuji was ripped off by the Bald Eagle special effects team."

After hearing He Daqi's explanation, Zhou Huimin frowned slightly and asked in a somewhat uncertain tone, "Then why did you say you were planning to use a lot of special effects in 'After My Flowers Bloom, Hundred Flowers Wither'? If we calculate it this way, won't we end up spending just as much as Wuji?"

"No, that's why I said Wuji got ripped off earlier. There are many kinds of special effects. The special effects we need are different from those Wuji needs. We use green screen keying and animation rendering, while Wuji mostly uses landscape painting. To put it this way, we're similar to Kung Fu Hustle, while Wuji is similar to Heroes."

The difference is that *The Promise* used far more special effects than *Hero*. *Hero* mostly handled color rendering with props, while *The Promise* relied heavily on special effects. This demonstrates Zhang Yimou's impressive skill.

We'll learn from Zhang Yimou, achieving the same effect using manpower and props. Only special shots will require a special effects team, so our costs will definitely be much lower than Kung Fu Hustle's—probably less than a tenth—but the final result will be indistinguishable.

Looking at He Daqi, who was answering questions earnestly, Zhou Huimin suddenly felt that he had a unique charm at that moment.

"Daqi, I didn't expect you to be so knowledgeable about this. Did you start paying attention to this kind of thing a long time ago?"

He Daqi boasted smugly, "No, that's not it. I was just bored while filming The Host, so I sat on the sidelines and learned from them. After The Host was finished, I felt like I knew more than the director. I often watched the director's filming notes, and the special effects team didn't hide anything from me when they discussed things. I knew all the ins and outs. How about that? I learn things quickly, right?"

"What a scoundrel!" Zhou Huimin rolled her eyes coquettishly at He Daqi's smug expression.

……

……

The aroma of light tea filled the room.

Yan Jiu and Li Yixin were chatting and laughing in Korean.

Just now, Yan Jiu had finished boasting about his skiing skills. He noticed that Li Yixin was looking at him with starry eyes, which gave him great satisfaction. He smiled and made a promise to Li Yixin that he would take her skiing when he had time.

The two chatted and laughed without any regard for others, making the other person in the room feel like a third wheel and a little uncomfortable.

Zhao Wenzhuo was somewhat bewildered.

Seeing the two people next to him chatting and laughing so happily, he became even more bewildered.

What's going on? What is Ya Yue doing? Are those two receptionists? I'm not mistaken, why are they chatting so enthusiastically? Isn't anyone going to keep an eye on them? Weren't they supposed to audition today?
Could it be... that there are other people vying for this role, so they're waiting for someone to come and audition together?
When Zhao Wenzhuo received the audition notice for Asia-Pacific last week, he felt like he had received a windfall. The Asia-Pacific project was already widely known in the industry, starring He Daqi and with Cheng Long in a major supporting role. It was said to have a high investment and was Asia-Pacific's most important project next year.

For this reason, Zhao Wenzhuo has been getting himself into the right shape these past few days, getting his body in top condition. After all, there's no doubt that he'll be cast in action scenes, and it's unlikely he'll be cast in dramatic scenes, since there are too many stand-ins available.

He arrived early this morning and was amazed by the simple yet elegant decor of Yonghui Qiming. He was then led to the interview room.

As a result, the two receptionists made themselves a cup of tea and then ignored them, starting to chat passionately and becoming completely absorbed in their conversation.

Let alone Zhao Wenzhuo, anyone would be stunned if they encountered this situation.

After all, who would have thought that Yonghui and Qiming don't start work until 9:30? Nobody else is here yet, except for these two people with connections. Because they're dating, they arrive at the company early every day, exuding the sweet smell of romance, and get together to be all lovey-dovey.

So now things got interesting. Yan Jiu and Li Yixin had no idea why Zhao Wenzhuo had come. They assumed he was there to discuss business. They made him a cup of tea, led him to the reception room, and planned to tell the person in charge of the business after everyone else had started work. Then the two of them would sit there and chat.

They were having such a good time chatting that they even forgot they hadn't asked Zhao Wenzhuo what he was there for.

Finally, Zhao Wenzhuo couldn't hold back any longer.

It's already past nine o'clock, and I've been sitting here for over an hour while these two next to me keep chatting away, especially since they're speaking Korean. I can't even catch a glimpse of what's going on. What kind of situation is this?
I'm a celebrity, you know. Usually, people are the ones who talk to me. How come these two are even more arrogant than me today? They treat me like I'm invisible as soon as I don't initiate a conversation?

Zhao Wenzhuo gave a friendly smile, and while Yan Jiu and Li Yixin were chatting and laughing, he very politely asked, "Excuse me, gentlemen, what time do auditions usually start here?"

"Are you here for an audition?" Yan Jiu and Li Yixin asked in unison, the only difference being that one had a southern accent and the other had a foreigner's accent when learning Chinese.

It's unbelievable that neither of them, one from Macau and the other from South Korea, recognizes Zhao Wenzhuo.

Before Yan Jiu came to Beijing, he spent his days wandering around his family's various entertainment venues, occasionally begging for pocket money. He never watched movies and his mind was entirely focused on his carefree life of "this movie is on Yan Gongzi's tab".

Li Yixin, being a young woman, couldn't possibly be watching Hong Kong kung fu movies in South Korea, having afternoon tea with socialites every few days, following her new idols whenever she felt like it, going to races frequently, and going to nightclubs several times a week. With all that busyness, how could she possibly know who Zhao Wenzhuo is?

So both of them are quite surprised now, thinking, "You're here to audition?"
Zhao Wenzhuo's smile froze.

Damn it! Damn it!

Why didn't you ask sooner? Why did you have to act like a celebrity?
So what are these two scoundrels doing?
The three looked at each other, speechless for a moment.

Yan Jiu coughed and asked somewhat embarrassedly, "Um...you're here for an audition, right? Who did you contact beforehand? Didn't you call before you came? We don't start work until 9:30, and auditions require advance appointments. The people who decide the actors aren't usually in the company."

"That's not right. The person who contacted me is your general manager, Liu Ying. She contacted me through my agent and told me to come to your company when I have time this month, without needing to contact me in advance."

"Are you Zhao Wenzhuo?" Yan Jiu clicked his tongue and asked, as if he had just thought of something.

Zhao Wenzhuo was speechless for a moment, and gave a wry smile and hummed in agreement.

"You don't need to audition, just sign the performance contract. Wait a moment, I'll get the contract and then find a lawyer to come down and explain it to you."

Yan Jiu wanted to get the contract and call the lawyer down, but before he could stand up, Zhao Wenzhuo stopped him. Zhao Wenzhuo was a little intimidated and asked quite seriously:

"Wait a minute, I need to make sure. This performance contract refers to the project between Ho Ta-kai and Jackie Chan, right?"

"Correct."

"That's fine then. Let's leave it at that for today. I think it's best to have my agency come and discuss the contract."

What the hell is going on?! This company seems pretty reliable, so how come the employees are so unreliable? Zhao Wenzhu shook his head, got up, and walked out.

As luck would have it, Zhao Wenzhuo had just stepped out of his room when he saw the elevator doors open. He Daqi, Zhou Huimin, Wang Jinghua, Ning Hao, and Liu Ying were chatting as they walked out of the elevator, and the two groups met face to face.

"Mr. Zhao, you're here so early? You might not know me, but I was the one who contacted you earlier. Perfect timing, we can talk about the schedule directly," Liu Ying said with a smile.

The two sides were not familiar with each other, but seeing that Zhao Wenzhuo looked confused and did not respond, He Daqi and the others smiled and greeted him, even though they did not know the reason.

After a long while, Zhao Wenzhuo finally came to his senses. He smiled speechlessly, then turned to Yan Jiuchao and He Daqi, who were following behind his men, and asked, "Let's not talk about the schedule for now. I just want to know what this friend does in your company?"

He Daqi glanced at Yan Jiu in surprise.

Yan Jiu shrugged and didn't explain anything.

“This is my personal assistant. He used to do other jobs and only recently became my assistant. Mr. Zhao, is there some misunderstanding between you two?” He Daqi asked with some confusion.

"No misunderstanding, I roughly know what's going on," Zhao Wenzhuo replied with a sigh.

So all that dog food I've been eating all day was my own fault. This guy is He Daqi's assistant, so that woman couldn't possibly be a hostess. After all, in Beijing, no one would hire a Korean who can't speak Mandarin as a hostess.

A moment later, after learning the whole story, Liu Ying led Zhao Wenzhuo to her office, while He Daqi and the others went to the small conference room.

I came to Yonghui Qiming so early today mainly to discuss the release of Crazy Stone, how to arrange the roadshow route, and how to market Crazy Stone online.

Online marketing is experimental in nature. We'll test the waters and see how it goes before the film is released. If it works well, we'll launch a large-scale online campaign to boost the ratings of other films released in the same period.

(End of this chapter)