This actor has something

Chapter 346 Circle
Joking aside, it's all in good fun, but it won't go too far.

These people have known each other for so long that they all know each other's temperaments and are aware of the limits of joking around, so they changed the subject after a few teasing remarks.

After all, Chen Kaige is still lying here. You can't just come to his bedside and argue with him just to prove who's better, can you? That wouldn't be visiting someone in the hospital; that would be picking a fight.

No one mentioned the bloodshed caused by a steamed bun anymore, and everyone tried to avoid this sensitive topic when chatting, just rambling on about all sorts of things.

A group of middle-aged people, especially those who have achieved some success, when they chat, they either reminisce about their glorious past or criticize the current state of society. In fact, if you really think about it, men and women are the same. Once they get into a conversation, there is no end to it. It's just that the topics are different.

At this moment, He Daqi was having a hard time, as he, a young man, couldn't connect with these people at all.

What are other people talking about? Back when we were sixteen, seventeen, or eighteen, we rode around on our old bicycles, getting into fights everywhere. Today this guy was the older brother, tomorrow that guy was the older brother, those carefree, youthful days of eating and drinking to our hearts' content.

And what about He Daqi? He was already eighteen when he transmigrated, in Hong Kong, still confused, and then he picked up a wife, and then started filming movies like Infernal Affairs 1, Young Emperor, Lust is Emptiness, and If Love Has a Destiny.

Before he knew it, he turned 18. What could he possibly talk about? His daily life on set?
So while the group was having a great time chatting, He Daqi unconsciously yawned because he had gotten up too early that morning.

Of all these people, only Feng Kuzi kept a close eye on He Daqi. He couldn't ignore him, because He Daqi was the male lead in the movie he was going to make this year.

It took two years of invitations to finally secure the male lead; who can understand the bitter tears Feng Xiaogang shed?

"Daqi, did you not sleep well? I remember you usually get up around noon, right? Haha, did you get up so early today specifically to visit someone in the hospital?" Feng Kuzi turned to He Daqi and asked with a smile.

He Daqi was lazily peeling a banana when he heard this. He looked up and smiled, "Hey, I'm not very consistent either. Sometimes I get up early and sometimes I get up late. When I'm resting, I'm too lazy to get up, but when I'm filming, I get up early. My biological clock is already messed up."

After saying that, he quickly stuffed a banana into his mouth, chewed it a few times, and swallowed it in no time.

He's really toughened up; at least his skin is much thicker than before. There was only a small bunch of bananas on the bedside table of Chen Kaige's hospital bed, just five bananas. In just a short while, He Daqi had wasted four of them. Anyone who didn't know better would think he came here to freeload on fruit.

"Young people shouldn't stay up late all the time, or you'll regret it when you get to my age," Feng Kuzi advised, speaking from experience.

After they exchanged a few words, the others noticed and the topic shifted to the health problems of middle-aged people. Their sighs and lamentations made them look like they were in their seventies or eighties.

"Sigh, that's why I say, middle-aged people have their troubles, and young people have theirs. I know a young girl who's only 19 this year. A couple of years ago, when she was naive, she signed a terrible contract with a company for 15 years. They paid her so little, it wasn't even enough for her living expenses. And when she wanted to terminate the contract, guess what? Hey! The company demanded 200 million yuan in breach of contract fees and banned her from the film and television industry for 20 years. Can you believe a human being would do that? And this is a company in Beijing! I'm ashamed to even tell anyone." The writer surnamed Wang revealed this juicy story during their conversation.

Others thought this was a common occurrence; unfair contracts were rampant these days, and nobody spoke up to criticize them. He Daqi, fearing they'd ramble on about the 1980s, played the straight man and asked, "So how was it finally settled? Did they really pay that much?"

"Loss my foot! I couldn't stand it, so I took over the case. We're in the middle of a lawsuit. This is outrageous! This young woman came to Beijing with her dreams and worked so hard. Is it possible that after years of hard work, she not only loses money but also ruins her future? There's no justice in this world."

Writer Wang, with his righteous and indignant demeanor, seemed to be the embodiment of justice. It's a pity that his round face is too comical; otherwise, he could easily play Bao Zheng.

Seeing this, He Daqi was too embarrassed to ask if the girl was pretty, he just gave her a thumbs up and said, "You're so kind!"

It seems his compliment touched the heart, because Writer Wang smiled and waved his hand, his aura instantly becoming much more approachable to He Daqi.

At this point, Chen Kaige chimed in: "Sigh! I really don't understand young people these days. They have so little knowledge and are so impetuous. When I was doing a promotional tour, a college student asked me why he and his classmates couldn't understand the plot. How would I know why? I filmed it so clearly and directly, and he still said he couldn't understand it. What could I say? I could only say that no one will be able to understand The Promise in the next five years. I didn't expect that sentence to be picked up and reported in the newspapers every day. That made me so angry!"

Seeing that Chen Kaige was getting carried away again, Feng Kuzi quickly reassured him, "It's not that serious, it's just how young people are. Daqi, tell me, can you even understand Wuji?"

"Yes, definitely!" He Daqi nodded immediately. No one understood Wuji better than He Daqi, after all, He Daqi had actually gone in and experienced it.

"Honestly, we don't understand the tricks young people play these days. Take that Daqi thing they came up with this time, what was it called? A joint promotion, right? Who would have thought it could sell movie tickets like that? But look, they didn't even need to advertise on TV. Just this one event and the box office exploded. At first, the media predicted that Zhang Yimou's 'Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles' would at least gross 100 million yuan. But look at it now? It hasn't even reached 20 million. They've lost a fortune." Zhang Guoli sighed.

When this was mentioned, Chen Kaige actually laughed: "It's alright. I'm not so badly off. Zhang Yimou is much worse off than me, 20 million... hahaha."

Look at him, no wonder he's a successful director. He really has a knack for adjusting his mindset.

Feng Kuzi hesitated, wanting to ask He Daqi about the joint event, but knowing it wasn't convenient to ask here, he didn't speak.

Everyone was quite busy, so we chatted there until about eleven o'clock before saying goodbye and leaving. If we didn't leave soon, we would have been eating Chen Kaige's lunch for free. It's not like we came to visit someone in the hospital. Didn't we see that He Daqi had already finished his banana and peeled two oranges?

As He Daqi, wearing a mask and sunglasses, walked out of the hospital and was about to head towards his van, Feng Kuzi patted his arm and gave him a wink.

So He Daqi slowed down, said goodbye to the others, and then followed Feng Kuzi to the big poplar tree at the entrance of the hospital.

"Daqi, I just wanted to ask you about the process of that collaboration event you organized. If I want to do something similar, who should I contact?"

"Director Feng, we're on the same side, so I won't hide anything. You should know what relationship Yabo.com has with me. This is just an experiment, and it's free. It's similar with Tencent, but they've paid for it. If you're interested, you can contact Tencent. Yabo.com probably won't be taking on this kind of activity for a while."

After hearing He Daqi's explanation, Feng Kuzi understood.

In fact, part of the credit for the promotion of Crazy Stone came from the homepage promotion on video websites that He Daqi bought.

However, Feng Kuzi didn't ask about this, because he knew that once He Daqi was the first to try promoting this service on the homepage of video websites, there would be a constant stream of others following suit.

Feng Kuzi had already inquired about this new film promotion channel and knew the general situation, so he only asked about the joint promotion.

After figuring it out, Feng Kuzi grinned and then pinched He Daqi's arm. "Not bad, Daqi, you work out often? I was going to talk to you about building muscle, but I didn't realize you were so strong. That's good, just keep this physique. I'm planning to shoot a war movie in the second half of the year, and your hairstyle will be short hair. Are you going to wear a wig or just cut your hair short?"

Was it filmed in the summer?

Feng Kuzi knew what He Daqi was asking, so he thought for a moment and replied, "Late summer, I guess. My movie, The Banquet, is scheduled to be released in September. By the time I finish the promotional tour, it will be October at the earliest. By the way, the filming location has been chosen. It's in Northeast China."

"Then I'll wear a wig. It's not hot in Northeast China, and it's not easy for me to grow my hair long. Besides, I'll probably be going abroad for a cameo role for about a week, and the character I'm playing has long hair, so I won't cut it."

Feng Kuzi hummed in agreement, then exchanged a few more words with He Daqi about the general plot. He even wanted to invite He Daqi to have a meal, but He Daqi politely declined. The two then said goodbye under the big poplar tree.

He Daqi wasn't lying when he said he was busy; he really did have something to do.

After getting into the van, he took out his phone and called Ning Hao.

"Hey, senior brother, are you back in Beijing yet?"

"Yes, I just got home."

"Have you eaten yet? If not, let's eat something together later, and I can help you out while I'm at it."

Ning Hao is quite shrewd now. After hearing He Daqi's words, he didn't even talk about eating and went straight to asking, "What kind of help?"

Judging from her tone, she was planning to find out what was going on before deciding whether to go out for dinner.

"My senior brother has become mercenary; he's no longer on my side!" He Daqi lamented the state of the world and people's hearts, completely ignoring his own problems.

"Isn't this the preparation for the 'After the Flowers Bloom, All Flowers Wither' drama crew? I'm thinking of going to the Beijing Film Academy to find you an assistant director. I'm going to have you interviewed to see if you're suitable."

"Find me an assistant director?... Hmm... Sure, come pick me up. By the way, where should we eat?"

"old place."

"The usual place?" Ning Hao was taken aback on the other end of the phone. Did he and He Daqi really have some kind of "usual place"?
……

He Daqi is quite busy today, but some people are even busier than him.

Also in Beijing, Zhang Weiping was at a barbecue stall, sipping a lonely drink.

Zhang Weiping hadn't eaten at a barbecue stall in a long time. Ever since he became rich, whenever he wanted to eat barbecue, he would either go to Kaorouwan or Kaorouji, and he had to have a sip of authentic Guinness dark beer with it, otherwise the food wouldn't taste good.

However, he has now discovered that roadside barbecue stalls also have their advantages: they are full of lively atmosphere and the prices are cheap. In the dead of winter, sitting under the awning with the wind whistling by and a sip of 'room temperature' beer is just the thing.

There's nothing I can do. My finances are tight lately, so I don't need to be too picky about food. But I'm just being greedy; I crave barbecue even in winter. So I guess I have to experience what it's like to be broke.

Before the owner brought out the barbecue, Zhang Weiping took out his phone and started making a call.

"Hello, Manager Zhou, this is Zhang Weiping."

"Mr. Zhang, what's the matter?" came the indifferent reply from the other end.

Zhang Weiping cursed under his breath. When the movie was released, these theater managers called him "Brother Zhang" all the time, being incredibly affectionate and calling him every day to say hello. Now that the movie's box office performance was not ideal, these bastards were all changing their tune on him, their tone as curt as could be.

"Um, Manager Zhou, could you perhaps raise the issue of screen time? I believe that the problem with 'Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles' is that the promotion wasn't done well, but the movie itself is still a good one. If you increase the number of screenings, the box office might go up."

"Mr. Zhang, it's not that I'm being disrespectful, it's just how things are. It's winner-takes-all. We can't expect Crazy Stone to make money while we reduce or increase screenings, can we? Besides, you know what's going on with The Promise. Even now, it still holds the lion's share. We can't touch The Promise, but we need to increase Crazy Stone's screenings. Even if you hadn't called me, I was going to. The company has given us a notice that 'Riding Alone for a Thousand Miles' might be..."

Manager Zhou didn't say what might happen, but Zhang Weiping understood.

Neither of the two people on the phone spoke. If it weren't for the faint breathing sounds, one might have thought the call had ended.

After a long pause, Zhang Weiping suddenly asked in a low voice, "Can we get the ticketing done? We can discuss it."

Manager Zhou was silent for a moment, then suddenly raised his voice: "Tickets? What tickets? I don't understand what you're saying. Crazy Stone is a joint event now. Fans must get tickets to participate in the event. If they don't get tickets, they'll cause trouble. Calling the police won't help. Movie tickets are now distributed through official channels. What did you mean just now?"

"What do you mean? I don't mean anything! If you can't talk about the screening schedule, then don't talk about it. What are you yelling about?" Zhang Weiping shouted back, as if he were competing with the other party in shouting.

Both sides understood each other's meaning, but neither wanted to explain it too clearly over the phone.

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Weiping's face was frighteningly cold. The other party had already explained things very clearly. They couldn't manipulate the box office of Crazy Stone. This joint promotion had kept the theaters completely under control.

The wind began to howl again, making the tarpaulin rustle loudly. The construction workers in the shed looked at Zhang Weiping with curiosity, wondering why this guy, dressed so smartly, was eating at the barbecue stall next to the construction site. And why was he making such a racket, even louder than the workers?

(End of this chapter)