Huayu: When the director changed his major

The whole family likes the name Cheng Guo very much.

Li Xiaoran, in particular, is now constantly talking about "Guoguo" (a type of fruit), which shows how much she likes the child.

Having gained everyone's approval, my mom's gaze softened a little.

Cheng Yuechang, the father, had a big smile on his face.

He never imagined that the celebrity he usually liked to see on TV would actually become his daughter-in-law.

Where can we go to reason with this?

But I'm still very happy.

With a granddaughter and a successful son, our in-laws haven't given us any trouble yet.

On the way here, Guiqin and I were discussing how to apologize to our in-laws.

They were even prepared to put on a mixed doubles match in front of their in-laws.

However, now that his son is earning more and more money and has a higher and higher status, he simply can't bring himself to do it.

Seeing Li Guiqin holding Li Xiaoran's hand and chatting happily, I felt happy too.

So Cheng Yuechang said to Cheng Xi:

"Hey kid, come on, let's go buy groceries. Today's a good day, I'm going to cook something nice for Xiaoran!"

"Wow, this tomato beef brisket is delicious!"

"My dear in-law, your cooking skills are amazing! You're better than many restaurant chefs!"

After dinner, everyone praised the culinary skills of the veteran chef, Cheng Yuechang.

The signature tomato and beef brisket dish immediately won over everyone's stomachs.

After all, I've been in New York lately, and I haven't been able to find authentic Chinese food.

The others only know how to order home-style dishes.

The sudden arrival of a professional chef truly satisfied everyone's culinary cravings.

Li Xiaoran ate several bowls of rice.

Everyone who watched it was very happy.

After all, it's just the two of them eating now.

Although Li Xiaoran's parents were highly educated, they did not look down on Cheng Xi's parents for coming from a small county town in the slightest.

In this respect, they surpass many in-laws.

After showcasing her culinary skills that evening, it was clear that Li Xiaoran's family's impression of Cheng Xi's family had improved considerably.

After the Filipino maid finished cleaning up the dishes, Cheng Xi arranged for her parents and cousin to rest at a hotel a few dozen meters away.

It will be convenient for me to come here to take care of Li Xiaoran.

Cheng Xi was originally planning to return to the film set, but her mother ordered her to go and take care of Li Xiaoran.

"You just named the child today, aren't you going to be with him, as the father?"

"I spent the whole afternoon with them."

"You want to get beaten up, don't you?"

"."

Having no other choice, Cheng Xi had to return to Li Xiaoran's place.

As soon as the two entered the room, Li Xiaoran hugged Cheng Xi tightly.

"Da Cheng, do you think Guo Guo will be pretty when she grows up?"

"Of course! It has to be your choice. I'll just need to match your height genes."

"Haha, and intelligence genes are also very important."

"Alright, let's join forces. I just wonder which brat will benefit from this."

Even before his daughter was born, Cheng Xi was already worrying about things like an old father.

There's no way around it; the thought of a teenager calling me "Old Deng" more than a decade from now is unbearable.

That makes me feel uncomfortable all over.

Li Xiaoran laughed when she heard this, never expecting Cheng Xi to be thinking about things 20 years in the future.

So he added insult to injury:

"Yes, I can't let myself be fooled by guys like you anymore. I need to find someone who is devoted to me."

Cheng Xi: “.”

This is like bringing up a sore subject.

The two chatted for a while, and Cheng Xi looked down at the beauty in his arms.

My heart suddenly started pounding.

Unfortunately, Li Xiaoran is now nearly seven months pregnant.

It was at its most magnificent moment.

If he was Baymax before, he's now Giant Baymax.

Li Xiaoran was dressed in loose clothing, giving her a unique and striking appearance.

How could Cheng Xi not have any ulterior motives?

But
Her belly was too big, so Cheng Xi didn't dare to do anything reckless.

So, in an awkward situation, I wanted to watch it but also told myself not to.

"Uh, Da Ran."

"Um, Da Cheng, what's wrong?"

"Stop."

Who is Tingting?

Li Xiaoran asked the question knowingly, blinking her large, bright eyes at Cheng Xi.

This feeling is something that cannot be explained to outsiders.

To be honest, Cheng Xi was actually missing "Yunjian Xiaoxi" back home at that moment.

After all, that place holds more memories for the two of them.

Over the next few days, Cheng Xi took both sets of parents around to explore the area.

The task of filming was assigned to Xin Yukun. However, apart from her cousin, the others clearly weren't very interested in New York.

Li Guiqin wanted to spend more time with Li Xiaoran, which was the most important thing.

Li Xiaoran's parents have visited New York several times already.

A week later, Cheng Xi sent her parents home.

Only her cousin remained by Li Xiaoran's side as a representative, so that it would be convenient for her to take care of her.

After her family left, Cheng Xi began the cleanup work in New York.

First, I was invited to participate in the filming of Taylor Swift's song "Wildest Dreams" music video.

At first, Cheng Xi was not very willing to agree, but Taylor Swift used her cameo appearance in a movie for Cheng Xi and her square dancing as a bargaining chip.

Cheng Xi had no choice but to agree.

This is Cheng Xi's first time performing under the lens of another director, although most of the time it doesn't require much acting skills, since it's just a music video.

But when it came to filming kissing scenes with Taylor Swift, I still felt a little awkward.

Taylor Swift: "Cheng, you're shy. Is this a uniquely Eastern form of reserve?"

Cheng Xi: "I'm just not used to being in front of other people's cameras."

Cheng Xi's words were not an excuse. Although he had appeared in films before, they were all films he directed.

On set, as long as you don't feel awkward, no one else dares to say anything.

I already have the image in my mind, so I just need to shoot it.

But before they could even film a few scenes and get to know the MV director and crew, they started filming kissing scenes.

This made Cheng Xi feel a lack of control.

The music video for this song was filmed entirely in the wild, and even lions from the zoo were borrowed for the shoot.

We'll create a montage later, putting the lion and Taylor Swift together to show the theme of the song.

Cheng Xi's Eastern features are quite suitable for this kind of wild style of music video.

Taylor Swift: "It's okay, it's just a performance."

Cheng Xi: "You don't seem to be acting."

Taylor Swift: "That's because my partner is you, Mysterious Cheng, so of course I'm very invested."

The two bickered, which eased the awkwardness somewhat.

Gradually, the MV shooting went smoothly.

Because the scenes were relatively fixed, all the footage was shot in just two days.

I guess many Chinese people will be surprised when they see themselves passionately kissing Taylor Swift.

I wonder how my female confidantes would feel if they saw this.

Especially Dilraba and Gulnazar.

Nazha will probably tease Cheng Xi a bit, and as for Dilraba, well...
Let's talk about it when we get back.

I'm just an actor.

After finishing the music video shoot, Taylor Swift was very happy and immediately invited executives from DC Comics to have a new round of negotiations with Cheng Xi.

After several days of negotiation, a cooperation agreement was finally reached.

Cheng Xi acquired the film adaptation rights to both "Joker" and "Aquaman".

However, a rather stringent condition is that both works must be adapted into films within five years, otherwise they will be invalid.

As for the film's revenue sharing, Cheng Xi's side will take 70% of the total investment, while DC will take 30%.

If DC also wants to invest at that time, the shares will be redistributed according to the investment ratio.

However, other copyrights still belong to DC Comics. For items like merchandise and DVDs, Cheng Xi can only promise to hand them over to DC for distribution.

The profit split is 50/50.

DC believes this cooperation agreement is already very much in favor of Cheng Xi.

The only significant limitation is the two films allowed within five years.

This is why DC Comics was willing to offer such favorable terms.

Their analysis suggests that a Chinese director could adapt two films in five years without a script.

Being able to modify even one machine is already considered quite efficient.

Therefore, they all agreed that DC made a profit, since Cheng Xi spent a considerable amount of money to buy the copyright.

In their eyes, Cheng Xi is just a young man with lofty ambitions who doesn't understand the difficulty of adapting the story.

However, they overlooked one thing: the script was already in Cheng Xi's head.

DC is completely wrong to think that Chinese directors don't understand comics and superheroes.

Cheng Xi also deliberately made it seem like he could argue his case over a five-year period.

Finally, pretending to have no choice, he accepted the condition with great reluctance.

This further convinced DC executives of their idea.

Since it was Taylor Swift who orchestrated the arrangement for both parties, after the successful collaboration, DC treated Cheng Xi and Taylor Swift to a lavish meal together.

That very night, while Cheng Xi was with Taylor Swift, upon hearing that Cheng Xi had received such harsh conditions, she flipped him over and pinned him beneath her, shouting:
"What!"

"Cheng, you've been fooled! Five years isn't enough to adapt two movies."

Cheng Xi did not answer, but just silently continued working.

"What, you also think I'm under your control?"

"Actually, it's not certain who controls whom. There's an old Chinese saying: 'He who laughs last laughs best.'"

Taylor Swift listened as Cheng Xi continued to describe the negotiations with DC using their relationship as a metaphor.

Unconsciously, his temper flared up, and he began to act willfully.

Cheng Xi sighed inwardly:

Fortunately, I have abs.

He can handle things.

Otherwise, people would be flattened from sitting on them. (End of Chapter)