FV: Chapter 229

Yu Jiayou, “????”
What type of joke was this? Since when did Ji Yuxiao have a younger brother?

“A brother who is older than Teacher Lin,” Ning Yu told him.

‘…Are you serious?’

“Seriously, the two of them have a very good relationship!”

Yu Jiayou, “????”
How could that be?
This was Ji Yuxiao. How could he have a good relationship with Lin Luoqing?
He hadn’t been home this year and didn’t know much about Ji Yuxiao, but don’t try to lie to him!

Ning Yu, “……”
Ning Yu held his forehead again. Who was trying to lie to him? Did Ning Yu have the money for it?

Yu Jiayou saw his helpless expression and turned his gaze to Lin Luoqing again in confusion, his eyes subtle.

Lin Luoqing smiled, pulled out a chair to sit down and handed out the contract. “Let’s look at the contract first.”

Yu Jiayou took it. He looked at the black and white words on the contract and read it for a long time. Finally, he looked at Lin Luoqing and Ji Yuxiao and asked them, “I signed the contract. When will Xingyi grant me funding and when will the project start?”

“It depends on you,” Lin Luoqing replied. “If it is fast, you can do it this autumn and winter. If it is slow, it depends on how slow you want.”

“I want to do it soon.” Yu Jiayou had obviously thought about it before coming. “I will go to choose the scenery and support in the next two months and will start filming in October and December. In terms of actors, I can accept Xingyi’s actors but I want them to audition. I absolutely won’t accept them without an audition except for you, of course. I already have a general understanding of your acting skills. Is this okay?”

“Yes.” Lin Luoqing had no objections.

Seeing this, Yu Jiayou added a lot of conditions for the movie and Lin Luoqing agreed to almost all of them. Yu Jiayou was satisfied and took the contract that had been prepared in duplicate. “Then I will trouble you. President Ji, can you sign this?”

He originally wanted Lin Luoqing to sign but since the supreme boss was here, it was better for Ji Yuxiao to sign it.

Ji Yuxiao looked at it and it was basically what he had seen before. He picked up the pen and signed his name.

It was only then that Yu Jiayou signed his name on the contract and accepted the contract from Ji Yuxiao’s hand with satisfaction.

“Finally, I have one request that isn’t really a requirement.” Yu Jiayou handed the signed contract back to Lin Luoqing and said to Lin Luoqing with a smile.

Lin Luoqing was puzzled. “What?”

“Mr Lin, you haven’t talked about me to the other actors you think are suitable for now, right?”

“No,” Lin Luoqing replied.

Yu Jiayou sighed with relief. “That’s good.”

“I want to give myself a stage name so I can start over and gain new luck. Look at my first three works. They either aren’t finished, they are filmed and can’t be released or they are released but the box office is dismal. It isn’t a good sign no matter how you look at it. So change my name and maybe I can change the future.”

Lin Luoqing nodded. This was normal. The entertainment industry always had the habit of giving stage names. Yu Jiayou thought about this himself so he didn’t care.

“Then what do you want to be called, Director Yu?”

“Yu Cheng,” Yu Jiayou said concisely. “The Cheng meaning success. Yu Cheng has the meaning of my success. This time, I definitely will rise!”

Lin Luoqing, “!!!”

The snack that Lin Luoqing had just picked up fell onto the table with a ‘plop.’

He looked at Yu Jiayou in shock and wasn’t in the slightest mood to care about the snack he had just dropped. He said in a trembling manner, “That… Director Yu, have you thought of a name for our movie?”

“I’ve thought of it.” Yu Jiayou was very proud. “It is called ‘Return to Jade’.”

Lin Luoqing, “!!!!!!”

Lin Luoqing’s state wasn’t very good.

Yu Cheng and Return to Jade. God, Ning Yu, are you a Bodhisattva? You can actually invite this great Buddha to enter my eyes.

Who is the cutest person?
You are the cutest person!
Lin Luoqing couldn’t wait to pull Ning Yu to dance the waltz.

At that time, he saw the contract on the desk and the three big characters signed by Yu Jiayou. He felt it was shiny, golden and priceless.

This was too lucky. He actually signed three movie contracts with Yu Cheng. Xingyi was going to fly!

Lin Luoqing looked at Yu Jiayou and nodded with a smile. “Yes yes, there are no problems. Director Yu, as long as you like it.”

Yu Jiayou saw that he had no opinion and smiled. “Then say my stage name when introducing me to others.”

“Okay.” Lin Luoqing still had that gentle look.

This was Yu Cheng! The future Director Yu Cheng!
He had to treat Yu Cheng well!

Lin Luoqing thought of this and was reminded of something else. He couldn’t help looking at Yu Jiayou again.

Lin Luoqing knew the name Yu Cheng from the male protagonist in the novel. At that time, the female protagonist secretly put movie tickets on Lin Fei’s desk. She hoped that Lin Fei would come but Lin Fei was extremely cold. He didn’t go to the theater to find her. The female protagonist watched the whole movie alone while crying.

Later, she left the theater and met the male protagonist at the poster at the entrance of the theater. The male protagonist knew she liked Shi Zheng and wanted to coax her. Therefore, he bought a ticket and re-watched Shi Zheng’s movie with her.

After watching the movie, the two of them were talking and the female protagonist asked him which star he liked. The male protagonist said that he liked Yu Cheng.

At that time, Yu Cheng was already a famous director.

His experience was quite legendary. Combine that with his handsome looks and he had many fans. Of course, the female protagonist knew him but she hadn’t expected the male protagonist to be his fan.

But unlike most girls who liked Yu Cheng’s face and trophies, the male protagonist liked his talent and seriousness.

Yu Cheng made his debut in a literary movie. At that time, he was nameless and no one was optimistic about him. No one wanted to invest in him and no one wanted to play the role of his male protagonist. Yu Cheng once gave up and wanted to withdraw from the movie industry. But in the end, he was still unwilling. He held the mentality that if no one wanted to act, he would act by himself. If no one wanted to invest, he would invest by himself. He completed his farewell movie ‘Return to Jade’ with difficulty.

His original intention was to retire from the circle after making this movie. He never thought that it was this farewell movie that would instantly make him popular and open up his glorious and brilliant directorial career.

Return to Jade was a literary movie. Yu Cheng took it to register for a foreign film festival. He didn’t expect it to be shortlisted, let alone win an award. In addition, he was the director, screenwriter and the starring role. This led him to win the two awards of Best Actor and Best Director at the most prestigious award ceremony.

The moment the news came back, Yu Cheng became extremely popular.

He was already young and handsome. Now he was blessed by the dual identity of actor and director. Many star chasing boys and girls switched to his camp and became his fans. Some directors even extended olive branches to him, hoping that he could star in their movies.

However, Yu Cheng refused. He essentially just wanted to be a director. He had no other way when filming Return to Jade since he couldn’t find the right actor. Now he had a reputation and investors willing to invest in him. There were also actors vying to audition. Why bother acting? Of course, he had to be a director!

So he never starred in his own movies again.

The young Yu Cheng liked literary movies and only acknowledged literary memories. He insisted that movie creation must have a soul, so his output wasn’t high. There was only one work every two or three years, but the quality was very good. He basically could win foreign or domestic awards.

It was only later that the aging Yu Cheng learned to look at the world and the art of movies more gently and tolerantly. He no longer only accepted literary movies and felt it was also an ability to make an audience happy. Thus, he tried to make commercial movies.

The first commercial movie he filmed wasn’t very successful and some people even said that he was exhausted.

Then for his second one, he became the box office champion of the year. It was a multiple plotline narrated story of misadventure.

At that time, he was no longer young but his mentality was still very young. He still maintained the purest love for movies and was exploring how to make his movies better touch people’s hearts.

Lin Luoqing liked the role of Yu Cheng when reading the novel. He was an actor and it was inevitable that when he saw a good director, he yearned for it. He longed for his own encounter and someone he could cooperate with.

However, he never dreamed that they would actually meet and cooperate.

It was just that…

Lin Luoqing looked at Yu Jiayou. In the novel, Return to Jade was the movie that Yu Jiayou used to win the Best Actor Award. Now that it was replaced with him, would this affect Yu Jiayou’s future and prevent Return to Jade from winning awards?

“Director Yu, can I ask you a question?” Lin Luoqing asked tentatively.

“What?” Yu Jiayou leaned back against the chair with folded arms.

“What do you think about acting? Wouldn’t it be better if you were to play the lead role in this movie?”

Yu Jiayou, “????”

“What do you mean by that?” Yu Jiayou sat up straight and looked at him warily. “I just signed the contract and now you want to break the contract? Look at it clearly. The contract is very clear. You must play the male protagonist or you have to compensate me for the breach of contract!”

“I was just thinking that you are the screenwriter and should know your character better than I do. Perhaps it will be more suitable.”

Yu Jiayou didn’t consider it at all. “I’m the director. The director is the director. I don’t want to be an actor, but you…”

Yu Jiayou looked at him with great meaning. “Be honest!”

Lin Luoqing, “……”

Lin Luoqing was speechless and choked up. Was he dishonest?
He was obviously afraid of affecting Yu Jiayou’s brilliant life!

If Yu Jiayou couldn’t become popular with this movie due to his little butterfly wings, how should he compensate Yu Jiayou and the future movie circle?

Lin Luoqing had a bigger headache.

And… knowing that the other person could win the Best Actor award by acting in this movie, Lin Luoqing wouldn’t be able to ignore it as if nothing happened.

So until the end of the meal, Lin Luoqing was still worried about how to return this starring role to Yu Jiayou.

He tried to genuinely persuade the other person.
“Director Yu, I think the role of Xiang Jian in this movie isn’t bad. I want to play this.”

“If you play Xiang Jian, who will play Ye Yu?”

“I think you are very suitable. Ye Yu looks handsome. Aren’t you also handsome?”

Yu Jiayou thought, ‘…It is okay that you think I’m handsome but you can’t hide your heart of not wanting to play the protagonist!

Yu Jiayou replied, “No no! Don’t even think about it.”

Lin Luoqing, “……”

If one plan couldn’t be achieved then Lin Luoqing would make another plan.

He slept and called Yu Jiayou again at noon the next day.

“Director Yu, I had a dream last night. I dreamed that you played Ye Yu and we won awards for this movie! You won two awards: Best Actor and Best Director! You were instantly popular!”

Yu Jiayou thought, ‘…It is pretty good. It is indeed a dream.’

“Then wake up now and don’t think about such a beautiful thing when you wake up.”

“But isn’t this a sign? It means that as long as you are willing to play Ye Yu, we can win two awards for this movie!”

Yu Jiayou, “……”

“So how about following God’s will?”

“No. It was said by you and God’s will is you.”

…Tsk.

On the third day, Lin Luoqing continued to care.

“Director Yu, let me tell you the truth. I don’t think my acting skills are good. I”m afraid that I will affect your performance if I play Ye Yu. So I am willing to be a supporting role. It isn’t that I don’t want to act. I’m just afraid of acting badly.”

“Be confident.” Yu Jiayou advised him. “People need to be confident. If you aren’t confident, shout in the mirror every day that you can do it. Or should I give you a stage name? Just call you Lin Xing. Lin Luoqing, what do you think?”

Lin Luoqing, “……”

On the fourth day.

“I won’t hide it from you. Director Yu, I am superstitious and I calculated the fortune before signing with you. The old master who calculated it for me said that this matter has to come to you. If I do it myself, it might affect your star path.”

“Director Yu, if Screenwriter Ning hadn’t taken this script to me or if I hadn’t agreed after reading it, what would you do? Would you star in it yourself? Then because I agreed, all of this has changed. If the drama really win awards, wouldn’t I have robbed you of the trophies? I will feel guilty.”

Yu Jiayou was a bit confused. “Teacher Lin, filming hasn’t even started yet. Have you already fast-forwarded to winning awards? Aren’t you too optimistic about me? Won’t I feel guilty if we don’t win any awards?”

”That isn’t possible! You will be sure to win awards! You have to win awards!”

Otherwise, wouldn’t he be ruining Yu Jiayou’s life?

Yu Jiayou never dreamed that this person would be so optimistic about him!

He was confident but he just hoped that more people would watch this movie. It was best for it to be shortlisted for foreign or domestic nominations. As for winning awards, Yu Jiayou was very pragmatic and never thought of this.

Now Lin Luoqing had fast forwarded to the point where he had snatched Yu Jiayou’s trophy and was starting to feel guilty. He really settled it in one go!

Proofreader: Jesse