Huayu: I rely on hit-movie tactics to interweave...

Chapter 83 Refusing to Jump into the Pit

Three days later, Liu Yu flew back to Beijing from Bangkok.

As the plane landed, the view outside the window was of Beijing's evening sky, a grayish-blue hue with the clouds tinged with a thin layer of gold by the setting sun.

He stretched in his seat, his shoulder joints making a slight cracking sound.

The guy next to me slept from takeoff to landing, waking up once to eat two boxes of fruit from the airplane meal before falling asleep again. His breathing was as even as an old-fashioned printer.

As Liu Yu stood up to get his luggage, the man finally woke up completely. He rubbed his eyes, glanced at Liu Yu, and stared at him for a couple of seconds before saying, "You look a bit like that movie director."

Liu Yu paused for a moment, then asked, "Which director?"

The older brother thought for a moment, "It's that guy who starred in 'The Man from Nowhere,' the one surnamed Liu. You two look quite alike."

Liu Yu smiled. "Really? Maybe it's because I have a rather ordinary appearance."

The older brother nodded. "It's quite mainstream."

Then he picked up his bag and walked away without looking back.

Liu Yu stood beside the luggage rack, watching the man's figure disappear at the end of the covered bridge, thinking that there probably wouldn't be a more practical evaluation in his life.

As he stepped off the jet bridge, he habitually pulled down the brim of his hat and glanced at the crowd of people arriving at the arrival hall.

There were no cameras or microphones in sight, only a few drivers holding signs and scattered among the crowd, looking at their phones with boredom.

He relaxed a little and quickly dragged his suitcase toward the parking lot.

Zhong Lifang was already sitting in the car waiting. The car window was rolled down, revealing a smiling face.

"Boss, get in the car. Mr. Han has called twice already, saying he'll call you back as soon as you land." She said as she started the car, the engine making a low rumble in the quiet underground parking garage.

Liu Yu stuffed his suitcase into the trunk, opened the passenger door, and sat down. Before he could even fasten his seatbelt, he said, "Sister Zhong, guess what the guy next to me on the plane said to me?"

Zhong Lifang glanced at him in the rearview mirror. "What did you say?"

He said I look like Liu Yu.

Zhong Lifang paused for two seconds, then very restrainedly said, "Did you tell him that you're not actually that much like him?"

"I said it might be because I have a rather average appearance."

"That gentleman has great insight." Zhong Lifang shifted gears, and the car slowly pulled out of the parking space. "By the way, President Han said he wanted to..."

"Let's talk about a project. Judging from his tone, it seems to be a big production. I've scheduled it for you tomorrow afternoon."

"What project?"

"They didn't say, just that they'd talk about it when we meet. But from what I've heard, it seems to be a period epic directed by John Woo, based on the Three Kingdoms period."

She paused after speaking, then continued, "If you're interested, I can help you find out more information. If you're not interested, I'll cover for you by saying you don't have enough energy during post-production."

Liu Yu leaned back in his seat, his gaze fixed on the flowing street scene outside the window.

Evenings in Beijing are completely different from those in Bangkok. Bangkok's evenings are orange-red with silhouettes of palm trees, while Beijing's evenings are gray-blue with outlines of office buildings.

He returned at the exact time of early autumn; it wasn't completely dark yet, but the streetlights were already on, their orange glow illuminating the dry asphalt and making every pebble clearly visible.

"Let's wait and see. We'll know what's going on when we meet tomorrow."

The next afternoon, Han Sanping arranged to meet at the same Hunan restaurant.

Liu Yu arrived ten minutes early. The proprietress recognized him and said with a smile, "Director Liu, it's been a long time. President Han is already in the private room."

When he entered the private room, Han Sanping was already sitting inside. There was a pot of tea in front of him, and next to the teacup was a thick stack of documents, a complete project proposal, with no writing on the cover.

He saw Liu Yu come in, stood up and shook hands with him, his grip slightly stronger than usual. "Liu Yu, come on, have some tea first. I've had the boss serve the dishes as usual."

Liu Yu sat down, picked up the teacup, and took a sip; the temperature was just right.

"Mr. Han, you made this appointment in such a hurry, is there something good happening?"

"It's not exactly a good thing, but it must be a big deal." Han Sanping said, pushing the document over. "Take a look at this first."

5"

Liu Yu opened the cover, and the title on the first page was four large characters: "Red Cliff Project Proposal".

He turned to the second page, where the line of numbers showing the investment scale caught his eye.

More than 500 million, in RMB.

His finger paused on that line of numbers for a moment, then continued scrolling down.

The project is positioned as a historical war epic, directed by John Woo, and boasts a long cast including Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung, Lam Chi-ling, and Cheung Chun, with a question mark following each name to indicate that negotiations are still ongoing.

The project proposal included a rough shooting schedule, divided into two parts, with an estimated shooting period of eight months, followed by post-production.

Work for six months.

He closed the proposal, leaned back in his chair, and took a sip of tea.

Han Sanping watched him flip through the documents, and only spoke after he put down his cup, "Director John Woo has almost finished the talks with us, and the script has been revised seven or eight times. Now the only thing missing is the funding gap, which is about 30 to 40 million. That's why I thought of you first."

"Mr. Han, the cash flow of Qianlang is indeed quite good at the moment."

Liu Yu pushed the proposal back to the center of the table and lightly tapped the cover with his finger. "But this project is too big. It's an investment of over 200 million yuan, and with marketing and promotion, it will need to be increased by at least 30%, bringing the total investment to nearly 300 million yuan. Qianlang's current size can't support such a large project. If we rush into it and something goes wrong, all the other projects will have to come to a standstill."

Han Sanping didn't reply immediately. He picked up his teacup, took a sip, and then put the cup back on the table, the bottom of the cup making a soft sound as it touched the surface.

"Liu Yu, this project has China Film Group backing it up, John Woo's brand, the popularity of the Three Kingdoms IP, and people like Chow Yun-fat and Leung Chung-wai. The box office won't be too bad."

He paused, as if searching for a more suitable way of putting it, "If you don't participate, and then try to get on board after the film's release and the results, that spot will be gone."

Liu Yu silently flipped through the ledgers from his past life in his mind.

The first part of "Red Cliff" grossed a little over 300 million yuan, and the second part grossed over 200 million yuan, totaling more than 500 million yuan, which seems like a lot.

With a total investment of over 500 million, plus copyrights and revenue from other regions, the profit margin is so thin that it is almost negligible.

In addition, the public's opinion of the situation was highly polarized, leading to the statement, "I need to calm down."

It became the most popular meme of the year, and netizens used it in all sorts of unexpected situations, to the point that no one remembered what the scene was originally meant to express.

He already had a judgment in his mind, but he couldn't directly say that he knew this project wouldn't make a lot of money, so he could only use a more reasonable and face-saving way of saying it.

"Mr. Han, it's not that I don't believe in the project's earning potential," Liu Yu sat up a little straighter. "I just feel that whether a film can make money and whether it's suitable for my investment are two different things. Director Wu's films have their own style and rhythm, and my involvement, besides providing funding, won't be of much help. Besides, my film 'Lucy' has just finished filming, and post-production will take at least another six months. Special effects, editing, sound mixing—I have to oversee every aspect. People only have so much energy; if I divert it to other things, I won't be able to do either well."

Han Sanping looked at him with a complex smile in his eyes. He understood what Liu Yu had left unsaid.

He was silent for a few seconds, then picked up the teapot and poured each of them a cup of tea. "You're getting more and more shrewd with your words these days. You clearly don't want to submit it, but you make it sound like you're afraid of delaying Director Wu's masterpiece."

Liu Yu picked up the newly refilled cup of tea, holding it with both hands. "President Han, I sincerely believe that Director Wu's project should be concentrated on several large companies working together. Having a company the size of Qianlang involved would only cause trouble. China Film Group, Huayi Brothers, Bona Film Group—which one..."

This family is a better fit for this project than the previous generation.

"What you say makes sense." Han Sanping leaned back in his chair, tapping his fingers lightly on the edge of the table. "Since you have your reasons, I won't force you."

He paused, then changed the subject, "But you need to give me a definite answer about the release date of 'The Witch.' China Film Group is involved in the distribution, and if the release date isn't set right, the subsequent publicity and distribution budget won't be approved."

Liu Yu knew that Han Sanping was trying to save face for him, while also steer the conversation toward what he was truly concerned about.

He mentally reviewed several key dates: the summer season was too late, and the Lunar New Year season had Zhang Yimou's "Curse of the Golden Flower." With a film of that caliber scheduled for the Lunar New Year season, other films would have to avoid it.

Following the Lunar New Year film season is the Spring Festival film season, a window of time when imported films are released in large numbers.

There's really not much room left for "The Witch".

"Mr. Han, my idea is the National Day holiday," Liu Yu said. "Late September and early October is a window of opportunity for domestic films, just after the protection period ends and before a large number of imported blockbusters have entered the market. 'The Witch' is action-suspenseful with a fast pace, and audiences are willing to pay for it during the holiday. Most importantly, there are no competitors of similar scale during this period, so we won't be too badly beaten."

Han Sanping leaned back in his chair and thought for a while, then tapped his fingers lightly on the table. "The National Day holiday season—the competition isn't small, but it's definitely much less intense than the Lunar New Year season. What's Lionsgate's attitude?"

"Michael has already spoken to me on the phone. He said the scheduling will be determined by China Film Group and Qianlang Film Studio, and they will coordinate the distribution."

"Other times are fine, as long as it doesn't clash with Lionsgate's own major projects. There aren't many big moves in Hollywood right now; most of their major films are scheduled for the Christmas and next summer holidays, leaving the National Day holiday as a lull in their schedule."

"Then let's set it for National Day." Han Sanping slapped the table. "It'll be released at the end of September, and the promotion period, starting now, is about two and a half months. That should be enough."

"Then I'll have the publicity team start preparing materials. Lionsgate will provide overseas promotional materials and interview videos with the main cast and crew, while China Film Group will handle theater coordination and on-the-ground promotion. Mr. Han, how about we arrange a preview screening before National Day, so that some viewers can see it first and then spread the word?"

Han Sanping nodded. "Okay. Select a few first-tier cities for a few preview screenings. The scale doesn't need to be too large. The key is to let film critics and media see it first. Good word-of-mouth needs to spread in advance. Have Zhong Lifang coordinate the specific plan with our distribution department."

"Okay. I'll have Sister Zhong finish the plan in the next few days."

The dishes were served one after another: stir-fried pork with chili peppers, fish head with chopped chili peppers, water spinach with garlic, and a steaming pot of pork rib and lotus root soup.

Han Sanping picked up a piece of fish head meat with his chopsticks, put it in his mouth, chewed it a couple of times, and nodded. "The taste of this restaurant really hasn't changed. You brought me here once when you were in college, and it's been almost five years now, and it still tastes the same."

"The boss hasn't changed, the chef hasn't changed, so of course the taste won't change." Liu Yu poured himself a bowl of soup, blew on it to cool it down, and took a small sip. "President Han, how have you been feeling lately? I heard from Sister Zhong that you had a checkup recently, and some of your indicators weren't ideal?"

Han Sanping waved his hand, as if dismissing something unimportant. "It's an old problem, blood pressure and cholesterol. The doctor made it sound scary, but I know what I'm doing. I just take some medication to control it." He glanced at Liu Yu. "But you, you've been so busy filming these past two years, have you even had a chance to get a checkup?"

"No," Liu Yu admitted readily. "Every time I think about going, something always comes up. I've just kept putting it off until now."

"Then you should also take some time to get it checked out." Han Sanping's tone carried the concern of an elder. "I just called you when you were sick and hospitalized last time. You said you were fine, but your voice was as hoarse as sandpaper for those two days. When you're young, you think your body is made of iron, but it's too late to take care of yourself when you actually have problems."

"Okay, I'll go after I'm done with this busy period."

Han Sanping picked up his wine glass and raised it towards him as if toasting, "Then it's settled. China Film Group and Qianlang will both promote it during the National Day holiday."

The two clinked glasses.

Liu Yu tilted his head back and drank half a glass. When he put down the glass, he glanced out the window. It was already dark. The red lanterns at the entrance of the Hunan restaurant swayed gently in the autumn wind, casting a warm red glow on the shadows of the entire alley.

He recalled the comments he saw after the release of "Red Cliff" in his previous life, with some joking, "Cao Cao couldn't beat Zhuge Liang, but Zhuge Liang couldn't beat the dialogue."

Someone even made a compilation, piecing together all the lines from the film that were distracting, and the screen was flooded with comments.

He didn't know if Han Sanping had anticipated that outcome, but at least for this moment, they avoided that choice.

When we came out after dinner, the night breeze in Beijing already carried the chill of early autumn.

Liu Yu stood at the entrance of the Hunan restaurant, took a deep breath of the slightly cool air, took out his phone and glanced at the time: 8:40 PM.

The phone screen was quiet, with no new messages. He remembered that when he was in Bangkok, Liu Yifei would send something almost every night, sometimes a photo, sometimes just an emoji.

After returning to China, she became quiet, like a cat that suddenly stopped running and crouched in a corner without making a sound.

He was about to put his phone back in his pocket when the screen lit up.

Liu Yifei sent a photo, a close-up of the wooden elephant carving on her desk, next to a cup of steaming water with a cartoon elephant printed on it. The pink cup looked very soft under the warm yellow light.

The caption below the photo read: "The baby elephant is home. Is your bracelet still on?"

Liu Yu looked at the photo, his lips twitched slightly, and standing in the autumn night breeze, he lowered his head and replied, "Wearing it. Never taken it off."

He raised his wrist and glanced at the blue bracelet, which gleamed softly in the streetlight.

She replied with a smiley face instantly, then added, "That's good. Get some rest, don't stay up late."

Liu Yu stood on the steps in front of the Hunan restaurant. The night breeze blew in from the alley entrance, carrying a slight chill and the lively atmosphere of the restaurant in the distance.

He put his phone back in his pocket, walked down the steps, crossed the road, and headed towards the parking lot.

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