Nobody knows movies better than me

Chapter 132 The Birth of Fan Bingbing

One of the biggest news stories in the entertainment industry in August was Fan Bingbing's departure from Huayi Brothers.

This was actually foreshadowed.

Rumors circulated last year that Fan Bingbing's contract with Huayi Brothers was about to expire, and the two sides had been negotiating a renewal. After more than half a year of talks, they still couldn't reach an agreement.

Huayi Brothers released a statement saying that the two parties parted ways amicably, thanking Fan Bingbing for her contributions to Huayi over the years and wishing her all the best in her future endeavors.

Fan Bingbing also issued a statement, expressing her gratitude to Huayi Brothers for their support over the years, as well as to the two CEOs and other colleagues, and stating that they will continue to cooperate in new forms in the future.

The official statements were all very eloquent.

But those in the industry know that things aren't that simple.

Huayi Brothers has dominated the industry for years, boasting a vast roster of artists. However, the departure of Wang Jinghua has dealt a significant blow to this sector.

The departure of another artist is definitely a loss for Huayi Brothers.

For Fan Bingbing, leaving Huayi Brothers is also a risk. After all, Huayi Brothers has resources, and no one can guarantee whether she can stand on her own after leaving this powerful company.

So as soon as the news came out, the gossip media went wild.

Some analysts say that Fan Bingbing is going to Orange Sky Entertainment because Orange Sky has been very successful in the past two years and has poached many people from the company.

Some people say she will go to Hong Kong Island to develop her career because she has filmed several Hong Kong movies before and is familiar with the people there.

Some people even say she's going to marry into a wealthy family.

This last piece of news spread the most wildly because it had pictures to prove it.

A paparazzi took a set of photos showing Fan Bingbing having dinner with a middle-aged man. The two were chatting and laughing, and their relationship seemed to be quite special.

The man was balding, overweight, and of average appearance, but was said to be worth over a billion dollars and a tycoon from Hong Kong Island.

So the media started speculating: Fan Bingbing secretly met with a Hong Kong tycoon, suggesting that good news might be on the horizon.

When Zhang Jun saw the news, he was in his office at Chenxing Film Industry, reading documents. Gao Yan brought in the newspaper, pointed to the entertainment section, and asked him if he wanted to read it.

Zhang Jun glanced at it and immediately burst out laughing.

"Who is this?"

Gao Yan replied, "The wealthy businessmen from Hong Kong Island are said to be worth over a billion."

Zhang Jun nodded without saying anything. A few days later, Fan Bingbing handled the matter herself.

That day, she was attending a business event, and the reporters naturally wouldn't miss the opportunity, surrounding her and asking her a whole bunch of questions.

A reporter asked her about her relationship with the Hong Kong tycoon and whether they were really going to get married.

Fan Bingbing originally didn't want to pay attention to these gossips, but for some reason that day, when the reporters kept asking her questions, she got annoyed and just snapped back.

"Marriage? What marriage? I'm not marrying into a wealthy family."

1

The reporters were stunned for a moment, then frantically pressed the shutter button.

One reporter pressed further, "So you mean you're not considering marrying into a wealthy family?"

Fan Bingbing glanced at the reporter and said, "I am a wealthy family myself."

After these words were spoken, there was a two-second silence, followed by another burst of camera shutter clicks.

The next day, this sentence made the headlines.

Fan Bingbing responded assertively: "I don't need to marry into a wealthy family; I am a wealthy family myself."

Zhang Jun was having dinner with Ye Xiaoyi when he saw the news. Ye Xiaoyi handed him the newspaper and asked him what he thought.

Zhang Jun said, "That's quite a strong statement."

That evening, Zhang Jun called Fan Pangbing. Fan Pangbing sounded a little tired, but seemed to be in a good mood.

"Did you see the news?" she asked.

Zhang Jun said, "I saw it. That's quite a powerful statement."

Fan Bingbing chuckled and said, "I was just saying it because I was annoyed by the questions."

Zhang Jun said, "The fact that you can say such things so casually means that's what you really think."

Fan Bingbing paused for a moment, then said, "Maybe."

Zhang Jun asked, "What are your plans next?"

"The studio is already registered, it's in Chaoyang District, not far from you," Fan Pangbing replied.

Zhang Jun nodded and said, "That's great, it'll be more convenient to visit each other in the future."

Fan Bingbing laughed: "So you want me to visit you often?"

Zhang Jun replied matter-of-factly, "Of course, we're neighbors!"

Fan Bingbing's studio opened very quickly.

On the opening day, Zhang Jun sent a flower basket to congratulate Fan Pangbing on establishing her own business.

When Fan Bingbing saw the flower basket, she was chatting with some friends. She glanced at the signature, didn't say anything, but the corner of her mouth curled up slightly.

After the studio opened, Fan Bingbing became extremely busy.

Before, when she worked at Huayi Brothers, many things were handled by company staff. Now that she's on her own, she has to take care of everything herself.

We talked about projects, collaborations, endorsements, and all sorts of other miscellaneous things.

Sometimes, when she's busy until midnight, she'll curl up in her hotel bed and stare blankly at her phone screen.

Then I sent Zhang Jun a text message: I'm exhausted.

Sometimes he replies quickly, sometimes it takes half an hour. When he does reply, it's just one sentence: "If you're tired, go to sleep early."

She replied: You have no conscience.

He replied: I'm not your husband, why should I feel sorry for you?

She stared at that line of text for a long time, her finger hovering over the screen, typing a few words and then deleting them.

In the end, I still sent it: You're not my husband, but you're mine—

It wasn't finished typing, nor was it finished sending.

She deleted the second half of the sentence, placed her phone face down on the bedside table, and turned off the light.

But after two minutes, he picked it up again and glanced at it.

He didn't reply, and Fan Bingbing didn't know what she hoped he would reply with.

These text messages, going back and forth, became an unspoken understanding during that period. No one spoke of it, no one questioned it; it just hung there, like a thread, with one person tied to each end.

Once, Fan Pangbing came to Zhang Jun's place on business and stopped by for a visit.

The receptionist said that General Manager Zhang was in a meeting and asked her to wait in his office for a while.

She pushed open the door and went inside; the office was empty. Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows were the CBD buildings, and sunlight streamed onto the floor, dazzlingly bright.

She sat down on the sofa and casually flipped through the magazines on the coffee table. They were all film-related publications, and several of them featured interviews with him.

After flipping through a few pages, I got bored and stood up to look around.

The bookshelf was quite large, crammed full. There were books on film theory, novels, and a few on astronomy.

She remembered that he graduated from the Department of Astronomy at Tsinghua University, which was his old profession.

There was a calligraphy scroll hanging on the wall. She couldn't quite understand what it said, but she recognized the signature: it was by a rather famous calligrapher.

She was looking closely at the calligraphy when the door opened.

"Have you been waiting long?" Zhang Jun walked in, holding a notebook in his hand.

She turned around: "It's alright."

"Have a seat." He put his laptop on the table and went to pour her some water.

She sat back down on the sofa and looked around. "Your office is nice."

Zhang Jun walked over with a glass of water and handed it to her: "The renovation just finished, and it's not all tidied up yet."

She took the water glass, didn't drink it, but held it in her hands: "Your taste—is alright."

Zhang Jun sat down opposite her, raising an eyebrow: "What do you mean by 'okay'?"

"It's alright." She lowered her head, took a sip of water, and smiled.

Zhang Jun smiled but didn't reply.

She placed her water glass on the coffee table and took out several documents from her bag: "I came here today to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"I have a few projects here, can you help me see which one is reliable?"

Zhang Jun took them and flipped through them. Some were movie scripts, some were TV series projects, and two were requests for her investment.

As he flipped through the pages, he asked, "What are your own thoughts?"

She leaned back on the sofa, watching him flip through the documents: "I'd like to hear your opinion."

Zhang Jun didn't look up and continued flipping through the documents. He picked out two at the end and placed them on the coffee table: "These two are fine, the rest are fine."

She leaned closer to take a look.

One is a film directed by someone with a background in art-house films, whose previous works won several awards. The other is a television series with a substantial investment and a cast of familiar faces.

"The director of this film is quite picky."

She said, "I'm afraid I won't act well."

Zhang Jun leaned back on the sofa: "Being picky is a good thing. The more picky a director is, the more productive he is. You can learn a lot from working with him."

She nodded, then looked at another document: "What about this TV series?"

"With a large investment and a good broadcasting platform, the ratings should be good."

Zhang Jun paused for a moment: "You're playing the female lead, which is a good opportunity to make your name known."

She thought for a moment, then put the two documents away in her bag: "Okay, whatever you say."

You need to know this in your heart.

Zhang Jun said, "Don't listen to everything I say."

She looked at him but didn't say anything.

Two seconds later, she said, "If I don't listen to you, who should I listen to?"

Zhang Jun opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything.

She had already stood up and slung her bag over her shoulder: "Alright, I'm leaving. I won't keep you from your work."

Zhang Jun escorted her to the door. She walked to the elevator and pressed the down button. The elevator hadn't arrived yet, so she glanced back.

Zhang Jun stood at the office door, one hand on the door frame.

She said, "Next time I come, make me some tea."

Zhang Jun nodded: "Okay."

The elevator doors opened, she stepped inside, turned around, and waved to him.

As the door closed, Zhang Jun saw her smiling.

That smile was faint, but it stayed in his mind for a long time.

Later, Zhang Jun started calling her "Fan Ye" in private.

The first time I called her that was at a dinner party. There were quite a few people there that day, including producers, directors, actors, and Fan Bingbing.

When discussing recent trending news, someone mentioned her statement, "I am my own tycoon," and everyone praised her for her domineering attitude.

Zhang Jun, holding his wine glass, said with a smile, "From now on, we can't call you Miss Fan anymore, we have to call you Master Fan."

Everyone at the table laughed.

Fan Bingbing glared at him, but didn't refute him.

From then on, Zhang Jun often teased her with this nickname.

Sometimes when I call, the first thing I say is, "Fan Ye, what have you been up to lately?"

Sometimes when we meet, we'll say, "Fan Bingbing has arrived! I'm so sorry for not greeting you sooner."

Every time he yells like that, Fan Bingbing glares at him, and sometimes she even hits him.

Once at Zhang Jun's house, the two were chatting while leaning against the sofa. Zhang Jun teased her about the nickname again, and Fan Pangbing got so angry that she pounced on him and bit his neck.

Zhang Jun gasped in pain, clutching his neck and backing away: "Are you a dog?"

Fan Pangbing raised his chin smugly, his eyes full of sly smiles: "Let's see you keep yelling like that."

Zhang Jun touched his neck, looked down, and saw a few teeth marks on his fingertips. He looked up at her: "Now look what's happened, how are we going to face anyone tomorrow?"

"That's your problem," Fan Pangbing said confidently, showing no remorse whatsoever.

Zhang Jun stared at her for two seconds, then suddenly laughed, a laugh tinged with helpless indulgence: "Fan Ye, your temper is getting worse and worse."

Fan Bingbing glared at him again, but this time she didn't bite.

She leaned back on the sofa, turned her face away, and said in a lower voice, "Don't call me 'Master Fan' anymore."

"What's it called?"

"Call me by my name."

Zhang Jun leaned back at the other end of the sofa, turning his head to look at her: "Fan Pangbing?"

Fan Pangbing frowned and turned around: "Remove the surname."

Zhang Jun paused, then his voice suddenly softened: "Bingbing?"

Fan Bingbing didn't say anything, but the corners of her mouth curled up slightly.

He hid very quickly, but Zhang Jun saw it.

He didn't say anything, he just looked at her.

The faint sound of traffic outside the window drifted in, and the room suddenly became so quiet that you could hear the air conditioner blowing.

Several seconds later, Fan Bingbing looked away and muttered softly, "That's more like it—"

Fan Bingbing's departure from Huayi Brothers has sparked considerable discussion within the entertainment industry.

Some say she's foolish, abandoning the support of Huayi Brothers to venture out on her own, knowing she'll inevitably run into trouble. Others say she's smart, given the intense internal strife within Huayi Brothers; withdrawing sooner is a good thing.

Some people say she has powerful connections, otherwise she wouldn't dare to do this.

There are all sorts of opinions.

Fan Bingbing herself didn't care about these discussions. After the studio was set up, she took on projects and negotiated collaborations step by step.

Once again, Fan Pangbing was curled up on the sofa, her legs bent and her chin resting on her knees. She stared at the glass of water on the coffee table, which had gone cold, and suddenly asked Zhang Jun a question.

"Do you think I can do it?"

Zhang Jun was looking down at the documents she had brought, and without even looking up, he said, "Whether it works out or not depends on you."

,"nonsense."

She kicked the coffee table leg: "I'm asking you, can't you just give me a straight answer?"

Zhang Jun then looked up at her and asked, "If I say you can do it, does that mean you definitely can?"

Fan Bingbing opened her mouth, but couldn't say anything.

Zhang Jun put the documents on the coffee table and leaned back on the sofa: "Don't overthink it, just get to work."

Fan Bingbing paused for a moment, then smiled. The smile slowly spread from the corners of her mouth, and finally even her eyes curved into a smile.

"Your tone—"

She paused for a moment, then said, "Just like my dad."

Zhang Jun raised an eyebrow: "Then call me 'Dad' and let me hear it."

Fan Bingbing grabbed a cushion from the sofa and threw it at him: "Get out!"

Zhang Jun caught the cushion and casually placed it behind his back, a smile playing on his lips.

Fan Bingbing glared at him, but there was no anger in her eyes.

After hanging up the phone, Fan Pangbing sat on the sofa, staring blankly at the night view outside the window for a long time.

She recalled when she first met Zhang Jun a few years ago; he was still a college student making short films, while she was already a somewhat well-known actress.

At that time, she never imagined that one day she would have so many interactions with this person.

I never imagined that one day I would rely on this person to guide me.

She knew in her heart that Zhang Jun had helped her a lot to get to where she was today. There were some things she didn't say, but she remembered them all.