Huayu: Starting with Hijacking from "The Story of a Noble Family"

Chapter 66 Xu Heng: Just a simp!

"Have you seen this episode of 'China Film Report'? Watch the trailer for Xu Heng's film 'Our Times'."

The photos seem to be pretty good!

"What trailer? It looks more like a music video!"

"The song 'A Little Happiness' is really good, and it's very popular right now!"

"The movie 'Our Times' is really popular lately; many media outlets have reported on it!"

"Between 'Our Times' and 'Jade Goddess of Mercy,' starring Xu Heng (Liu Yifei) and Xiao Yanzi (Xie Tingfeng), I wonder which one will ultimately have a higher box office!"

"Our Times only cost 300 million yuan to produce, and it was entirely made by students at the Beijing Film Academy. Jade Goddess of Mercy cost a whopping 2000 million yuan to produce, and Xiao Yanzi and Xie Tingfeng were more popular than Xu and Liu Yifei. So unless the quality difference is really too big, there's no doubt which movie will have a higher box office!"

"I wonder if 'Cell Phone' and 'Jade Goddess of Mercy' can surpass 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets' at the box office, or even 'Infernal Affairs 3' could, at least they can be considered Chinese-language films!"

"This year, the only domestic films worth looking forward to are Feng Xiaogang's 'Cell Phone' and Xu Anhua's 'Jade Goddess of Mercy.' As for Xu Heng's 'Our Times,' it would be a success if it could break even, considering he'll only turn 20 next month!"

"Last year's 'Hero' was thought to be the beginning, but it turned out to be just a flash in the pan. So far this year, not a single film has grossed over 100 million yuan. Even the highest-grossing film, 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,' only grossed a little over 50 million yuan. If it really becomes this year's box office champion, this box office will not even be as much as 'Hero' before its release."

"6

,,

'

After this episode of "China Film Report" aired, it quickly generated a significant response among movie fans, and the Tianya film and television review section also became a hot topic.

Then, on November 1st, the opening ceremony of the 12th China Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival was held in Zhejiang Province.

The 26th Hundred Flowers Awards ceremony was also held that day, and the list of winners was announced last month.

The film festival closed on November 5th, and the 23rd China Golden Rooster Awards ceremony was held on the same day.

Ultimately, "The Great Waves" and "Warm Springs" won the Best Feature Film award.

Zhang Yimou, the director of "Hero", won the Best Director Award.

Xu Jinglei, director of "Me and My Dad", and Wulan Tana, director of "Warm Spring", jointly won the Best Directorial Debut Award.

Xia Yu won the Best Actor award for his role in "Police Story".

Yu Nan won the Best Actress award for her role in "Awakening of Insects".

Zhao Jun won the Best Supporting Actor award for his role in "July of the Car Watcher".

Xu Jinglei also won the Best Supporting Actress award for her role in "My Beautiful Nostalgia".

Ten days later, on Saturday, November 15th, Xu Heng turned 20.

In the afternoon, Xu Heng's four roommates, Liu Yifei's four roommates, and Shu Chang met up again at a movie theater near the school, and then watched "The Matrix Revolutions," which was released last Wednesday.

The Matrix Revolutions has been showing in China for 10 days now, grossing over 30 million yuan, and its global box office has exceeded 400 million US dollars!

In the evening, Xu treated everyone to a big meal, and afterwards we went to a more upscale karaoke bar.

Liu Yifei and the others naturally prepared birthday gifts for Xu. Among them, Liu Yifei gave a fountain pen worth more than 1 yuan.

She had originally planned to give Xu another digital camera, since Xu Heng had given her iPods as birthday gifts twice in a row, and she was determined to "get back" at him!

But this was Xu Heng's 20th birthday, and besides, Xu Heng hadn't simply given her an iPod as a birthday present, so he didn't do that.

However, when she took out the gift, Liu Yifei was clearly unhappy.

Just yesterday, Xu Heng received an invitation to the "Double Excellence" awards ceremony.

And they specifically told her that she would only receive an invitation if she was named one of the "Top Ten Directors" or "Top Ten Actors" —

A week after the birthday, on November 23, Sina.com officially reported that Zhejiang TV's Economic and Life Channel had purchased the national premiere rights to Zhang Dahuzi's version of "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils" for a high price of 70,000 yuan per episode. This price matched the previous premiere rights price for Zhang Dahuzi's version of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes".

The scheduled broadcast date is December 11th, which is less than a month away.

The report further stated that if Zhejiang TV hadn't reserved the first broadcast rights for 7 yuan per episode during the filming of this drama, the price of the first broadcast rights might have been even higher.

Because at that time, "The Story of a Noble Family" had not yet been broadcast, and Xu Heng and Liu Yifei were not yet famous.

Xu Heng, in particular, was a newcomer back then, but is now a popular leading man!

It was also revealed that Xu Heng might be nominated for this year's Top Ten Actors!

At this time, Xu Heng had already set off for Zhejiang Province, where the third "Top Ten Chinese Television Arts Awards Ceremony" would be held on November 26th.

It will be in the form of a gala, so we need to rehearse in advance.

Xu will arrive in Zhejiang Province on the 24th, and there will be two rehearsals on the 25th and 26th.

The first rehearsal went smoothly. It mainly involved testing the sound equipment and getting familiar with the stage and the flow of the show. He wasn't one of the main performers at the event.

On the afternoon of the 26th, he had lunch at the hotel and then went to the local stadium.

Today also marks the 10th anniversary of the city's founding, so the local government attaches great importance to this event and has specially set up a stage in the local stadium, where several thousand spectators will gather.

Upon arriving backstage, I saw that most of the other directors and actors who had been selected were already there.

These directors and actors did not participate in yesterday's rehearsal; many of them arrived yesterday or even today.

-

Among them, Uncle Benshan even chartered a plane with the entire "Liu Laogen 2" crew to accept the award, and was selected for both the "Top Ten Directors" and "Top Ten Actors" awards.

His presence here at this moment clearly indicates that he has received at least one recognition.

Judging from his attitude, he will most likely win both awards!

Xu Heng glanced around and walked over to Li Dawei. He wasn't familiar with the other directors and actors.

Li Dawei and his mother Liu Guoquan were both selected for the "Top Ten Directors" award, but they shared one spot. Liu Guoquan was not with her son at the time.

"You actually got the award!"

Li Dawei was not surprised to see Xu.

He found out yesterday when he arrived at the hotel that Xu had arrived a day earlier than them.

But Xu Heng must have been somewhat surprised that he was actually named one of the "Top Ten Actors," considering that "The Story of a Noble Family" was Xu Heng's first drama.

However, he knew even better that this was just audience voting; otherwise, if it were judges' votes like other awards, Xu would never have won!

"I don't know either. I just got the award without really knowing what happened. I can't just turn it down, can I?"

Xu Heng said with a grin, but it was the truth.

The "Top Ten" selection doesn't require active registration; the judges insist on including him, and he's also chosen by audience vote.

He doesn't care about these awards, but if they are offered to him, he has no reason not to accept them.

"You little brat!"

Li Dawei shook his head helplessly, wanting to say something but unable to utter a word.

He couldn't do anything about Xu Heng when they were filming "The Story of a Noble Family," let alone now that Xu Heng has completely grown up.

Not to mention that Xu was able to come up with 300 million to make his own movie, even though he thought the movie would definitely lose money, the only difference being how much.

But that still doesn't stop him from not being able to come up with 300 million, let alone having the courage of Xu Heng!

Just then, Dong Jie arrived.

Seeing Li Dawei and Xu Heng, she hesitated for a moment, but still walked over. After all, she was known for her role in "The Story of a Noble Family."

This is why this drama was able to be named one of the "Top Ten Actors" this time.

However, she only greeted Li Dawei casually and completely ignored Xu Heng.

Her relationship with Xu Heng wasn't good to begin with; they barely interacted on set.

After filming "The Story of a Noble Family", she also signed with a Hong Kong company. The boss was Wong Kar-wai, a famous Hong Kong and international director. The same company also had famous Hong Kong stars and film emperor Tony Leung.

After she became famous, Wong Kar-wai promised to promote her.

So much so that even though Xu Heng is now more popular than her, she doesn't take him seriously at all.

She wouldn't even give a second thought to a mainland TV drama director like Li Dawei, who isn't even a big name in the industry.

Then she walked over to Uncle Benshan.

She had previously worked with Uncle Benshan on a film directed by Zhang Yimou, so they had some connection.

In front of Uncle Benshan, her attitude naturally became humble immediately.

"It seems your claim to be among the top ten directors is a bit lacking!"

Xu Heng couldn't help but joke.

"Aren't you the same?"

Li Dawei instinctively retorted.

He never had a very good impression of Xu Heng.

If Xu Heng hadn't been truly suited for the role of Jin Yanxi, he would never have supported Xu Heng in the first place.

But looking at Xu Heng again now, he suddenly felt that he wasn't so disliked after all.

"My relationship with her wasn't great to begin with, so it's normal for her to act this way, but you did help her out!"

Xu Heng didn't care at all.

Li Dawei knew he was telling the truth, but he couldn't help being a little curious.

Moreover, he knew that Xu Heng and Dong Jie's relationship had been bad from the beginning, not just since the second female lead joined the cast.

"What exactly happened between you and her? Did you start something and then abandon her?"

Do you think that's possible?

Xu Heng scoffed, "I'm pretty good at judging people, so I don't want to deal with her!"

He naturally wouldn't say that it wasn't because he had a good eye for people, but because he knew them in his previous life.

Thinking of Dong Jie's attitude just now, Li Dawei couldn't help but nod.

Not to mention that compared to the second female lead, Dong Jie's appearance is indeed much worse.

But then he asked, somewhat curiously, "So, what do you think of me?"

"you?"

Xu Heng gave him a thorough once-over with an expression of disgust and even contempt before replying, "Just a simp!"

He and Li Dawei didn't have any major conflicts.

Moreover, Li Dawei supported his casting as Jin Yanxi and did not deliberately make things difficult for him on set.

Although he snatched the role of Jin Yanxi through the system, he certainly wouldn't be like Dong Jie, using people only when they were needed and discarding them when they weren't.

He simply looks down on sycophants, which was also the main reason he refused to be paired with Li Dawei during the audition.

Moreover, being able to wake up the sycophant through scolding is, if not a great deed, at least a way of helping him out.

Maybe if he comes to terms with it, he can live for another two years.