Huayu: A Commercial Director

Chapter 118 Chen Caiyu

The annual closing performance of Deyun Society has begun. Chen Shou did not perform. It was not that he did not want to, but the elders felt that he was no longer suitable. Besides, he was not an actor of Deyun Society and did not need to perform unless necessary.

Chen Shouzhe was still backstage, but he didn't go on stage.

Since last year, Master Yu Qian has stopped letting him perform on stage. If you like, go to the bookstore to enjoy yourself, but don't go on the big stage.

There's a better path to take, so why turn back?

Learning crosstalk is too tough. Chen Shou was beaten as a child. The elders can understand this feeling. It is a very painful thing when a person learns something from childhood and has to give it up when they grow up.

For example, Guo Qilin's success is not due to Guo's superior parenting style, but rather because Guo Qilin persevered and endured the challenges, which led to his success.

On the day of the closing performance, Chen Shouzhe watched them go up from backstage. Apart from the elderly couple and some other elders, even his childhood friends and fellow apprentices treated him with awe and respect, and dared not joke around.

"Your smoking habit is even worse than your master's." Old Guo had just come down from the stage when he saw Chen Shou with a cigarette in his mouth, writing something, and said with a smile.

“You were a heavy smoker back in the day,” Chen Shou said.

"I gave it up for the sake of my voice. I'm not your master." Old Guo smiled.

"Crack!"

As they were talking, Yu Qian, who was standing next to him, lit a cigarette and started smoking. The two of them, master and apprentice, flanked Lao Guo on either side as he smoked.

"Alright, I'd better go rest. I can't take this anymore." Old Guo looked at the two cigarettes on his left and right, fanned the air in front of his nose to dispel the secondhand smoke, and then walked a little further away.

"What should we write?" Yu Qian asked.

"I've come up with a script that I think I could give it a try," Chen Shou said.

"Oh." Yu Qian glanced at it and was somewhat surprised to find that it was written in English. After thinking for a moment, he didn't say anything.

There are many people backstage, but only a few can go on stage. The main thing is to create a lively atmosphere. After the grand finale, it's time to rest and celebrate the New Year.

Although Chen Shouzhe did not go on stage, he did appear on the encore at the end.

It was past midnight, but there were still many people in the audience. Chen Shou appeared on the stage, not wearing a traditional Chinese robe, and stood in a corner watching. Although there were many people, he was still spotted.

When the camera focused on him, he waved at the camera, causing a stir.

Those present were surprised to see Chen Shouzhe, a renowned director, on stage. Many people from the film and television industry who hadn't left were also taken aback when they spotted Chen Shouzhe. Had they known he was backstage, they would have gone back to say hello.

Chen Shouzhe didn't perform anything during the final encore; he simply stood alone in the crowd and left with them.

After having some late-night snacks, everyone went their separate ways, and Chen Shou returned to his villa.

The villa was empty except for the housekeeper. Chen Shou brought two Corgis from the horse farm.

And they were Corgis with tails. When they saw him come back, the two dogs rushed over and played with him for a while. Chen Shou hugged the dogs and fell asleep on the sofa. Anyway, the heating was on, so he wouldn't get cold.

Deyun Society doesn't need to go to work anymore, but he still has a lot of work to do. Four movies are in the queue for post-production. For Painted Skin 2, Wuershan took a special effects team to work on the special effects. For A Chinese Ghost Story, it's just post-production, special effects and editing, and it's already half done. The animation team has the most people, and Guo Fan can keep an eye on it without too much of a problem.

The special effects for "Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy" are also in production. Many scenes require special effects, and it is expected to be released at the end of next year. It is unknown whether it can be completed before National Day.

Chen Shouzhe's main focus is on producing "A Chinese Ghost Story." The movie finished filming in October, and now it's February, so it definitely won't be ready by the Qingming Festival. Chen Shouzhe plans to release the movie during the summer season, so he needs to speed up the production. If it does well, he will make a second and a third installment.

The Lunar New Year arrived in the blink of an eye. This year, instead of returning to the Northwest, his parents came to the horse farm. After all, he now has a child there, and the two families are spending the New Year together.

He had seen the same scene when he returned to his hometown; all sorts of relatives would come knocking on his door, which was very annoying, so he simply decided to hide away.

It's worth mentioning that Yang Mi also spent the Lunar New Year at the horse farm. Chen Shouzhe's parents were quite open-minded about the child's mother. In their view, the two couldn't go public because of their professions, and they still treated them as a couple.

When the child was six or seven months old, he was very affectionate towards his biological mother. He stayed at the horse farm for two or three days before hurriedly leaving to go to work.

Starting from the second day of the Lunar New Year, people kept coming to the horse farm to offer their New Year's greetings. The first to arrive was Huang Xiaoming, who personally brought his girlfriend over. The gift was naturally red wine, as he runs a business selling red wine and a hot pot restaurant.

Chen Shouzhe's two films helped him gain international recognition, so he came over early in the morning.

Next came Zhou Xun, Chen Kun, Shen Teng, Zhang Hanyu, Yu Entang, and a group of people who lined up to come over. Including Master's friends, there were fifty or sixty people at the horse farm. There was no other way, so Chen Shouzhe could only contact nearby restaurants to have them pack the food and bring it over, otherwise it would take forever to get all these people here.

Some people sit for a while and then leave, while others stay to eat and drink.

It was supposed to be a quiet place, but it got too crowded with so many people. Luckily, they were all acquaintances and friends, so there wasn't an awkward situation.

Many people were learning for the first time that Chen Shouzhe had a child. Some who had already heard the news prepared gifts such as gold jewelry or jade, while others who hadn't prepared gifts gave red envelopes.

"So cute." Yan Danchen held the child, looked up at Chen Shouzhe, and her eyes held a hint of resentment.

Chen Shou smiled but didn't say anything.

"What is your name?"

“Chen Caiyu, the Yu of Zhuyu,” Chen Shouzhe said.

"Caiyu, that's a beautiful name, and she's pretty too, just like her mother." Chen Shou went to Lao Guo's house to pay New Year's respects. He had many apprentices, a large group of them. Afterwards, Chen Shou went to Jiang Wen's house.

Jiang Wen and her husband were completely unprepared for Chen Shouzhe's arrival.

"I was just planning to come see you tomorrow, what brings you to my house?" Jiang Wen said with a smile.

“You are an elder, how can you come to my door? Besides, I came to see Sister Yun,” Chen Shou said.

"Enough with the nonsense, come in," Jiang Wen said.

Chen Shouzhe came in carrying two bottles of wine, and handed them to his wife Zhou Yun after entering the room.

"How are the preparations going?" Chen Shou asked.

"Filming will start in March, everything is already arranged. What are all these things?" Jiang Wen took out a cigarette, opened it, and handed one to Chen Shouzhe.

Zhou Yun glanced at it but didn't say anything, then turned and went into the kitchen.

Chen Shouzhe took the cigarette, but before he could even take out the Dahai cigarette, Jiang Wen had already taken out his antique lighter and lit it for him.

"The lighter is nice," Chen Shou said.

"Here you go." Jiang Wen lit her cigarette, closed the lighter, and tossed it to Chen Shouzhe.

Chen Shouzhe liked the big letter Z on it, so he didn't care and played with it for a while before putting it back.

“There are several in the family,” Chen Shou said.

"You have one too?" Jiang Wen asked in surprise.

"It was a gift from Yang Shoucheng," Chen Shou said with a smile.

“Mine too.” Jiang Wen smiled.

"Who didn't plead with you?" Chen Shou asked after taking a few puffs of his cigarette.

“They’ve been looking for me since last year. It’s mainly his father. He’s been a friend for decades, sigh…” Jiang Wen didn’t know what to say.

Chen Shou glanced at him and said, "He committed the same offense once back in 12. Although the authorities didn't do anything to him that time, you didn't tell me before you hired him."

"It was my fault. I should have told you beforehand. I will cover all the subsequent expenses and I will complete it as soon as possible by the end of this year," Jiang Wen said, taking a deep breath.

"According to the plan, I intend to release the film during the Lunar New Year holiday season. This summer, there's A Chinese Ghost Story and Painted Skin 2, the National Day holiday, The Taking of Tiger Mountain, and the Lunar New Year holiday is your time to let the bullets fly. If there's enough time, I'll also release my animated film during the Spring Festival," Chen Shouzhe said.

"You're leaving no way out for others!" Jiang Wen exclaimed, her eyes widening.

When Zhou Yun, who was carrying fruit, heard Chen Shouzhe's arrangements, she was also greatly shocked. Was the second half of this year really that dangerous?
Chen Shouzhe's movies are known for their action sequences; if everyone makes the same kind of arrangement, how are the others supposed to compete?

"The market should dictate the success of a film. Who can guarantee that it will make money? Just because they want to make movies doesn't mean I can stop making movies and let them monopolize the market. When Mr. Han went down last year, didn't you notice that more than half of the domestic box office revenue was taken by dozens of foreign films?"

"Other companies can get dozens of films into our market, and they can't handle just a few of mine? The film market is becoming increasingly competitive; trash should be eliminated."

Jiang Wen and Zhou Yun both fell silent. Compared to Chen Shou's high output, his output was very low.

No one in the entire domestic film market is unafraid of Chen Shouzhe. His films are incredibly powerful. Last year, he broke box office records. What about this year?

Although he didn't make any big-budget films, his fame has certainly grown. Many people will go to see his movies because of his reputation. The reason why so many people are waving checks and begging him to make movies is because they value him as a great director.

In Alibaba's era of big IP, Chen Shouzhe is the best celebrity director.

Because of his success, he is a celebrity director and has a certain box office appeal.

If these five films are really released, the film market in the second half of the year is destined to be a bloodbath. It is already the home of domestic films, and now Chen Shou is going to take a bite out of it. Who can stand this?

"Who cares? I'll finish it as soon as possible and release it on time by the end of the year," Jiang Wen said through gritted teeth.

"Then I'll wait for your good news. I'm going to the United States in a few days, and if all goes well, I might not be back until June," Chen Shou said.

"You're not coming back until June, what are you going to do?" Zhou Yun asked, puzzled.

"Our plans for this year are probably not to make any movies domestically, but we might make one or two overseas," Chen Shou said.

The couple immediately understood that Chen Shouzhe was not only famous in China, but also a major director internationally, so it was obviously a foreign language film.

"Have you considered trying your luck in the lottery?" Jiang Wen suddenly asked.

"you guess."

　My house was flooded, so that's two chapters.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)