Entertainment: Who still wants to fall in love when there are cheats?

Chapter 172 The Director on a Cocktail Pep Test

"I never expected you to still be acting, and now you're even making a movie! I thought you were going to retire from the entertainment industry!" Li Xiaoran said with a sigh.

"Starting a company is just for making money; acting is my hobby and interest, and I can't give it up," Li Boda explained with a smile.

“…It’s only because of you. If it were me, I would never go back to acting.” Li Xiaoran shook her head.

After all, acting is a job that brings in money quickly, but it's still very hard work. Sometimes, filming goes on until the early hours of the morning or even later. Putting everything else aside, the fact that you have to stay up all night is something that many people can't stand.

However, Li Xiaoran was quite happy that Li Boda had not given up acting and was still making films.

Because if Li Boda gives up acting and focuses all his attention on company management, it won't be so easy for Li Xiaoran to see him again.

Unlike now, as long as you work together on a certain film, you can see each other often. Even if you don't work together, you can still visit the set as friends. At worst, you can just fly there to see someone off.

Thinking about these things, Li Xiaoran felt a slight warmth in her heart.

It had been a long time since she last had a relationship with Li Boda. They didn't see each other usually, and it was fine since she was focused on filming or making her way in the entertainment industry. But when she saw Li Boda again, she couldn't help but feel lustful.

"I'll come to your room tonight," Li Xiaoran whispered in Li Boda's ear.

“Okay, I’ll wait for you.” Li Boda naturally wouldn’t refuse, after all, Li Xiaoran was a great beauty, and he really missed her after not seeing her for so long.

After making the agreement with Li Boda, Li Xiaoran turned and walked away with a smile.

After Li Xiaoran left, Jiang Wenli came to Li Boda's side with a smile.

"Boda, it seems like there's more than just a relationship between you and Li Xiaoran," Jiang Wenli said with a smile, showing no signs of jealousy or displeasure.

But that's normal, after all, Jiang Wenli knows exactly what the entertainment industry is like.

Moreover, she was also aware of her relationship with Li Boda.

Ultimately, it's just about the physiological needs of men and women; as for feelings or love, that's obviously impossible.

Of course, Li Boda could provide her with great emotional value, and then transition from the physical to the spiritual level, so Jiang Wenli still liked Li Boda quite a bit. She was very willing to provide Li Boda with connections whenever he needed them, such as when he wanted to become a movie star. Jiang Wenli did not hesitate to provide Li Boda with connections and help him win the title of movie star.

However, this was merely a matter of goodwill combined with a transaction.

It doesn't involve anything like love or romance.

After all, what other relationship could Li Boda and Jiang Wenli have besides this one? At most, they could only be described as good friends; legally, they had absolutely no relationship.

Therefore, Jiang Wenli has no reason to be jealous of Li Boda.

In fact, Jiang Wenli had long since let go of these things and didn't care about feelings or love at all.

Even the reason she made a scene on her husband's film set and slapped Zhang Jingchu wasn't because she was jealous, but simply because she couldn't save face.

After all, she and her husband each do their own thing, but they still have to maintain appearances to some extent.

Unfortunately, her husband and Zhang Jingchu were too bold when they were having an affair, so the news spread quickly and reached Jiang Wenli's ears. Jiang Wenli had no choice but to step in. If things hadn't blown up so much back then, even if Jiang Wenli had heard the news, she wouldn't have bothered to slap Zhang Jingchu. It wasn't worth it, since her husband had plenty of other women.

Similarly, Jiang Wenli's attitude towards Li Boda was the same.

Each person should handle their own relationships. As long as Li Boda is available when needed, that's fine.

If possible, Jiang Wenli would even be willing to try something more exciting.

For example, when filming "Apple", Jiang Wenli was able to establish a relationship with Li Boda through Fan Bingbing's connections. The three of them would sometimes even play cards together.

Li Boda was aware of Jiang Wenli's attitude, so when he heard Jiang Wenli ask Li Xiaoran, he casually smiled and said, "It's alright, we've actually collaborated quite a few times." "So you're quite close? In that case, let's find an opportunity for the three of us to play cards together," Jiang Wenli said with a smile, trying to extend the invitation through Li Boda.

Jiang Wenli did this partly because it was exciting, and partly mainly because Li Boda was a beast.

Although Jiang Wenli is now at an age where she can suck up dirt while sitting down, Li Boda is a freak. Jiang Wenli can't even carry him, so she doesn't mind letting Li Boda carry the legs of two people at the same time.

When Li Boda heard Jiang Wenli's invitation, he nodded and said he could sound out Li Xiaoran and ask her if she would like to play cards or Dou Dizhu.

Of course, these are all private matters, things that happen behind closed doors.

During filming, Li Boda, Jiang Wenli, and even Li Xiaoran were all very serious about their work.

Li Boda's acting skills are undoubtedly superb. Although he is now a boss, his passion for acting has not been extinguished. At the same time, he has not put on airs because of his changed status. When filming, he shouts when he needs to, cries when he needs to, and curses when he needs to, making his performance incredibly realistic.

Jiang Wenli is also a very talented actress. Although she entered the cast of "Farewell My Concubine" through connections when she was in college, it is undeniable that her performance in the film was a classic. She perfectly portrayed the image and temperament of the woman of the night.

With her years of experience and expertise, Jiang Wenli can be considered one of the top actresses in China, especially in acting. As long as she can focus and have the right mindset, she will have no problem filming.

On the contrary, Li Xiaoran's acting skills are inevitably a bit raw.

However, the character she played was a pretty but terrible actress, so using her not-so-great acting skills to play this role actually made her performance quite good.

Zhao Liying is the only exception; her acting skills are truly immature.

Fortunately, she borrowed money from her studio to hire a professional teacher before filming, so although she was a bit green and struggled a bit, she was still able to get through it.

Director Yeh Wai-man is also exceptionally serious and focused when it comes to filming.

Of course, Li Boda did use some underhanded tactics in this matter.

Actually, Ye Weimin was quite serious about taking on this role from the beginning.

From the very beginning, he never intended to be perfunctory; he simply wanted to make the best film possible.

However, this is, after all, the first film invested in by Li Boda Studio, and it is also a script that Li Boda specially commissioned. The director role in the film was one that he had worked hard to find, and he really didn't want to miss it.

If the director or any other aspect causes a problem, resulting in poor film quality and a dismal box office performance, failing to trigger the "golden finger" effect, then all the effort put into this film will have been wasted.

So after joining the crew, Li Boda used a little trick to add a condition to Ye Weimin, making Ye Weimin particularly focused, serious, and even passionate while filming. He had no other distracting thoughts except to make the film well.

It was under these circumstances that Ye Weimin unleashed two hundred percent of his enthusiasm and three hundred percent of his ability.

Under Ye Weimin's command, the entire crew operated very smoothly.

If filming continues at this pace, aside from that one extremely long shot that's uncertain in terms of how it will be filmed and how long it will take, the rest of the scenes could probably be completed in about two months.

Even someone as experienced as Jiang Wenli couldn't help but admire the filming speed and the smooth production of the crew, praising director Ye Weimin's abilities.

"Director Ye and his fellow Hong Kong directors are quite capable. It's just a pity that most of them come to the mainland only to make money and don't really care about making movies. As a result, almost all of their films are bad. In the end, the domestic film market is still supported by directors like Zhang Yimou and Feng Xiaogang. When I first heard that the director of our film was Ye Weimin from Hong Kong, I was a little worried that he would be another money-grubber. But I didn't expect that this time he really came to make a serious film. His enthusiasm for filming is even greater than when my husband made his first film. I don't know how you persuaded Director Ye to be so serious."

Seeing that Ye Weimin seemed to be on steroids every day, working himself to the bone, Jiang Wenli couldn't help but whisper to Li Boda about Ye Weimin's condition.

"The main reason is that Director Ye wants to achieve something. Although he has directed movies like 'The God of Cookery' before, when he was filming in mainland China, he mostly co-directed with others, and always as an assistant. Last year's 'The Warlords' made a fortune for director Chen Kexin, but Ye Weimin didn't get much benefit. So this time, Ye Weimin plans to take a gamble and make our movie a success, hoping to make others look at him differently." Li Boda said with a smile, trying to persuade him.

Of course, this was actually the idea that Li Boda instilled in Ye Weimin.

(End of this chapter)