novellhall Chapter 91 Domestic and International - Bingbing and Yuanyuan
Chapter 91 Domestic and International - Bingbing and Yuanyuan
Chapter 92 Domestic and International - Bingbing and Yuanyuan
Yanjing City.
Outside the Third Ring Road.
This was the second day of Wei Yi's scouting trip to Thailand.
Rongxinda Film & Television Company.
Li Shaohong's office.
Yang Mi sat on the sofa with a contract renewal agreement in front of her.
Li Shaohong sat opposite, holding a teacup in her hand, slowly blowing on the tea leaves.
"Mimi, I haven't treated you badly in the years you've been with the company, have I?"
Li Shaohong spoke, her tone as if she were chatting casually.
"Of course not. My godmother treats me very well, and countless people envy me!" Yang Mi quickly replied.
Rongxinda operates in a similar way to Wong Jinghua, creating a godmother-goddaughter relationship for each signed artist.
They attempted to add a thin layer of kinship insurance on top of the contractual benefits.
This was also a common tactic used by most domestic artist management companies during this period.
It has a bit of a family workshop feel to it.
"We all know that I helped you get 'The Return of the Condor Heroes' and 'Wang Zhaojun'. The company has never treated you unfairly. You still have more than a year left on your contract, and the company wants to renew it early because they value you."
"Of course, godmother, I know," Yang Mi said, while looking down at the contract.
The contract is straightforward; in short:
Five-year contract. Guaranteed at least one role as a supporting actress or at least a third lead actress each year. Salary increases in tiers. Company commission reduced from 60% to 45%.
The conditions don't seem bad.
But when Yang Mi turned to the page about breach of contract penalties, her finger stopped.
Eight million.
Noticing her pause, Li Shaohong casually added, "The penalty for breach of contract is just to protect against backstabbers. Just stay put, it's just a number."
Yang Mi closed the contract and smiled, "Godmother, renewing the contract is a big deal. Should I go home and discuss it with my parents?"
"Of course."
Li Shaohong nodded. "Take the contract back with you. No rush, take your time reading it."
Yang Mi put the contract in her bag, got up and said goodbye.
As she was leaving, her agent, Sister Zhao, stopped her in the hallway.
"Honey".
Sister Zhao lowered her voice, "You've been going to Hehuan Film and Television a lot lately, and people in the company are gossiping about it."
Yang Mi glanced at her: "What are you spreading?"
Sister Zhao smiled but didn't reply.
Yang Mi didn't ask any more questions.
Even if Sister Zhao didn't say it, she knew what it meant.
She even felt that her agent was actually sent by her godmother to warn her indirectly.
This made Yang Mi feel very uncomfortable.
On the same afternoon.
Fifth floor of Hehuan Film and Television.
Yang Mi came to "help out" as usual.
Mu Tingting was organizing the script for "Palace" when she saw her come in and looked up to greet her.
"They're here."
"Um.
""
Both of them spoke in a normal tone.
But it was obvious to everyone that it didn't look natural.
Yang Mi didn't go near Mu Tingting; instead, she turned a corner and entered Li Hua's office.
Mu Tingting watched her disappearing figure, gritted her teeth, but in the end, she still focused all her energy on the script.
All she wants to do right now is to play her leading role in this drama!
Yang Mi had just closed the door slightly.
Li Hua was buried in a pile of interview materials when he looked up at her and said, "Mimi's here. No classes today?"
"Senior brother."
Yang Mi cut to the chase, "I have a question for you. Has Director Wei mentioned anything about my contract before?"
Li Hua put down his pen.
"What do you want to ask?"
"Rongxinda offered me a contract renewal," Yang Mi said. "The terms were decent. But it's a five-year contract."
Li Hua thought for a moment and then spoke up: "The boss is in Thailand right now, so this matter can only be decided when he gets back. But there's one thing I can tell you."
Yang Mi looked at him.
"He mentioned it once before, saying that you have a natural talent for acting. So even though you didn't sign with us, we still gave you the second female lead role in 'Palace'."
Yang Mi's expression changed: "He said that?"
"That's what he said."
Li Hua nodded and added, "However, your contract is still with Rong Xinda, so the role can only be considered a collaboration, not a part of Hehuan."
Yang Mi remained silent for a while.
Li Hua glanced at her expression and said, "Mi Mi, the boss has his own rhythm. It's better to ask him when he gets back than to ask me."
night.
Yang Mi's home.
Yang Mi spread the contract out on the coffee table.
Mr. Yang put on his reading glasses and flipped through a couple of pages. Mrs. Yang asked directly, "Why is the penalty for breach of contract so high?"
"Mr. Li said this is to ward off backstabbers."
Mr. Yang took off his glasses and glanced at his daughter: "So if you want to leave, you're a despicable person?"
Yang Mi choked.
Aunt Yang then said, "Mimi, have you been getting very close to that Wei Yi lately? It's all over the newspapers."
"Mom, that's just a rumor."
"Rumors are just rumors."
Aunt Yang put down her bowl. "I've inquired about him. That kid is only nineteen, got a perfect score on the college entrance exam, is already a big-name director, and even owns his own company. He's surrounded by actresses. What good can you possibly get by following him?"
Yang Mi retorted, "What do you mean by 'getting something good'? I'm not even an artist under Hehuan now!"
Yang's father spoke up: "So, do you want to be one?"
Yang Mi remained silent.
Mr. Yang looked at her and said calmly, "If you want to go, the three million yuan penalty for breach of contract should be enough with what you've saved over the years, plus what your family has. But you need to think carefully about whether you can establish yourself there. Will they really support you? Will your career prospects be better than staying at Rongxinda?"
Yang Mi put the contract back into her bag.
"Let me think about it some more."
late at night.
Yang Mi didn't sleep at home; she ran back to school.
The girls' dormitory at Beijing Film Academy.
The lights are off.
Only Zhang Xiaofei's bedside lamp was still on, and she had a face mask on.
Yang Mi suddenly spoke up: "Sisters, Rong Xinda wants me to renew my contract for five years."
Zhang Xuan peeked out from under the covers: "Five years? How much is the penalty for breach of contract?"
"Eight million. If we leave now, it will be three million."
Yuan Shanshan whispered, "Eight million—that's a lot. Three million is also a lot—"
Zhang Xiaofei removed the face mask and said softly, "Honey, you want to go to the aphrodisiac shop, don't you?"
Yang Mi did not deny it.
Zhang Xuan rolled over: "If you really go, you'll be the only one in our dorm to truly enter the Hehuan Sect. We've signed contracts, but we're still nobody now. You could definitely be the female lead."
"It's not even close to being done yet," Yang Mi said.
There was a moment of silence.
Zhang Xiaofei suddenly spoke up: "Mimi, you and Director Wei—is there really anything going on?"
The entire dormitory fell silent.
Yang Mi remained silent for a long time.
His voice was muffled: "I don't know. He didn't say anything. He just told me not to sign it."
This is the strategy of retreating to advance.
During this time, she had been deliberately exaggerating her close relationship with Wei Yi to her roommates.
She was trying to guide their thinking in that direction. So even though they weren't actually in that kind of relationship yet, she had to say it that way.
Yuan Shanshan asked softly, "He only told you not to sign? What does that mean?"
Zhang Xuan said, "It means—let Mimi handle it herself."
Yang Mi didn't say anything.
The others had mixed feelings, a mixture of envy and jealousy, and suddenly lost the desire to speak.
in the dark.
Yang Mi stared at the ceiling.
Something was stuck in her heart, but she couldn't put it into words.
It lasted until nearly 2 a.m.
Yang Mi lay on the bed, her phone screen lit up.
Editing newsletter. Deleted and rewritten, written and deleted.
The last message I sent was just one line: "President Li wants me to renew my contract; the terms are acceptable. What should I do?"
I waited for three minutes.
My phone vibrated.
Wei Yi's reply consisted of only two words: "Don't sign."
There was no "Wait for me to come back." There was no "I'll help you." Nothing at all.
Yang Mi stared at the screen for a long time.
She shoved her phone under her pillow, rolled over, and stared at the ceiling.
He muttered, "Why don't you say a few more words?"
I really can't sleep tonight.
the next day.
Huayi Twelve Floors
corridor.
The scratches on Fan Binbin's face have faded to almost invisible, but he still has a band-aid on his left cheek.
She came to the company today to pick up some documents.
At the same time, he also came to announce his presence and to tell everyone not to think that just because of what happened a few days ago, he was afraid of Hua Yi or Young Master Zhou and dared not come to the company!
No, she's now working for the heir of the Beijing Film Academy.
Huayi is no den of dragons or tigers for her; she can come and go as she pleases!
So today I came, deliberately showing my face in front of many people, and even wandered around the offices of the two kings and Zhou Gongzi.
The two kings noticed her and even came out to chat with her for a while.
Even Young Master Zhou only treated her coldly, unlike last time when he was sarcastic and distant after they met.
Just as Fan Xiaopang was about to leave, he ran into Li Binbin at the elevator entrance.
Li Binbin spoke first: "Bingbing, are you alright?"
Fan Binbin stopped walking: "That's about it. Thank you for that day."
Li Binbin laughed: "What are you thanking me for? You already said we're both called Bingbing. Come on, I'm free now, I'll treat you to coffee."
Fan Binbin hesitated for a moment.
I thought of Li Binbin's behavior that day.
She finally nodded.
Soon, at the coffee shop downstairs in Huayi.
They each ordered an Americano.
Li Binbin spoke first: "Xun Ge'er's punishment only involved the suspension of one commercial activity. You, on the other hand, had three announcements suspended, plus one audition. Don't you think that's unfair?"
Fan Binbin chuckled: "Fair? At Huayi, she's practically the family's daughter now, and I'm almost an outsider. Whatever, it's just how it is anyway."
"What does 'that' mean?"
Fan Binbin did not respond.
Li Binbin continued, "You really want to leave?"
Fan Binbin looked up at her.
Li Binbin stirred his coffee with his head down: "You don't need to be wary of me. I don't like Young Master Zhou either. But I'm not like you. You have Wei Yi behind you now, but I don't."
Fan Binbin put down the spoon.
"Sister Bingbing, just say what you want to say."
Li Binbin also put down his spoon.
"I want to get to know Wei Yi. I don't need a deep relationship, I just want to establish a connection. When he left last time, he said that if you treated me to dinner, he would come too."
Fan Binbin looked at her.
"You want me to help you arrange this meal?"
Li Binbin nodded: "Consider it a favor I owe you. Okay?"
Fan Binbin remained silent for a while.
She picked up her coffee and took a sip.
"Okay. We'll wait for him to come back."
night.
Fan Binbin's home.
When Zhang Chuanmei heard that Fan Binbin had agreed to be with Li Binbin, she frowned and said, "Aren't you afraid she'll steal your man? That's Li Binbin."
Fan Binbin is curled up on the sofa applying a face mask.
"Mom, she'd have to be able to beat me to it even if she wanted to."
Zhang Chuanmei sighed: "You're quite carefree. By the way, VOGUE has officially sent a letter for the September issue cover. The shooting time depends on Director Wei's schedule. Also, Huayi Brothers—Mr. Wang didn't mention suspending your work today, probably because he thinks you've been punished enough."
Fan Binbin removed her face mask and walked to the window.
"Mom, sometimes I feel like my years at Huayi have been like climbing a mountain. When I get halfway up, I look up and see that the top is full of people. Zhou Xun, Li Binbin, Zhang Ziyi, Zhao Junqi, and the others, each of them has climbed a higher step than me."
Zhang Chuanmei looked at her: "And now?"
Fan Binbin turned around and smiled.
"Now I feel like I've entered a different mountain. I've only just begun to climb this mountain, but there's no one else at the top."
7
Zhang Chuanmei looked at her without saying anything.
He thought there was no one else on the mountaintop.
But the number of people climbing up with you is no less than that in Huayi.
Wait until a little later.
Fan Binbin dialed Wei Yi's number.
It rang for a long time before I answered.
The voice on the other end was very quiet, clearly coming from indoors.
"Where are you?" Fan Binbin asked.
"Bangkok. Just finished sightseeing, back at the hotel. Chen Acai has been taking me to eat Thai food for the past few days, I'm almost tired of it."
"Li Binbin wants to invite you to dinner. She said she wants to get to know you."
"She helped you last time, so it's only right that she treats you to a meal. I'll arrange it when I get back."
Wei Yi paused for a moment, then asked, "Does your face still hurt?"
Fan Binbin pursed her lips: "You're only just now thinking of asking?"
"No. I'm tired of Thai food too, and I want to eat Qingdao cuisine."
Fan Binbin wanted to laugh.
She was from Qingdao, and she asked, "So—you're eating Thai food over there?"
"I did have Thai food, but it wasn't what you're thinking of," Wei Yi's voice came through the phone. "I'm sentimental and patriotic; I still prefer domestic food!"
"Hmph! I wonder if it's true or not!"
After saying this in a coquettish tone, Fan Binbin cleared her throat and added, "We'll talk about it when you get back. I'll treat you to all the local Qingdao cuisine! You can't just eat anything there!"
"I know. Didn't I already say I'm nostalgic and patriotic, and only like to eat domestic food?"
Wei Yi hung up the phone.
He had just hung up the international call and was about to call Li Hua to find out about the current status of the preparation for "Palace".
The sound of a door opening came from outside the hotel bedroom.
Wei Yi got up and came out of the hotel suite bedroom, and saw a very beautiful girl coming in.
It was none other than Gao Yuanyuan!
"Ugh, Bangkok is so hot!!"
Gao Yuanyuan skillfully changed into her slippers, and at the same time smiled and looked up at Wei Yi.
"Of course, it's in the tropics."
Wei Yi smiled and stepped forward to hug his girlfriend, whom he had only known for three days.
He's in the entertainment industry.
It's definitely a case of keeping the wife at home standing tall while having mistresses outside!
What? Ordinary people have to go through a lot of trouble to win over a goddess?
I've already said I'm just an ordinary person.
Is Wei Yi an ordinary person?
You have to understand that his image as a talented scholar is so strong it's practically overflowing.
Looking at the entire domestic entertainment industry, and even the global entertainment industry.
In terms of his "talented scholar" persona, no one can surpass him.
Perhaps no one can even match a third of his genius persona.
Even combining Jin Yong, Gu Long, and others doesn't work.
If they're so capable, let them produce a top scorer in the college entrance examination!
At least in China, his status as the top scorer in the college entrance examination is almost equivalent to that of the top scholar in ancient times.
Moreover, in addition to this identity, he also has the titles of genius director, superb cinematographer, and record holder for domestic box office champion, among others.
And his current girlfriend happens to be the kind of artsy girl who's most drawn to this kind of persona.
So on his first night in Thailand, he successfully got her to go out with him.
What happened next was a natural progression.
Yesterday was the second night of Wei Yi's trip to Thailand.
He was "drunk".
Just then, the assistant, Xiao Wang, had a stomachache and asked Gao Yuanyuan to help take the boss back to his hotel room.
Gao Yuanyuan's assistant, a woman, couldn't lift Wei Yi.
Finally, Gao Yuanyuan and her assistant helped take Wei Yi back to his hotel room.
As soon as she arrived, Gao Yuanyuan's female assistant received a call saying that Gao Yuanyuan's rented car in Bangkok was illegally parked downstairs, and she should go down and deal with it as soon as possible.
After that, only Wei Yi and Gao Yuanyuan remained in the room.
What followed was naturally a scene of forced sexual intercourse after drinking, with the woman half-heartedly resisting and half-compliant.
"It's really hot in Bangkok these days. The thought of it getting even hotter in a while, and us having to come here to film a movie, makes me a little uncomfortable." Wei Yi put his arm around Gao Yuanyuan's waist, while thinking to himself how to persuade Gao Yuanyuan to go back.
He no longer wants to give Gao Yuanyuan a role in Detective Chinatown.
It's not that I'm reluctant to part with them after we've gotten together, nor am I afraid of ruining the original Detective Chinatown synopsis.
On the actual day of filming, the female lead, Fan Binbin, will also be there.
Given Fan Xiaopang's personality, she, as a newcomer, might be able to tolerate Mu Tingting's existence.
But the appearance of the third sister, Gao Yuanyuan, whose reputation is not good, is absolutely not allowed.
Because the threat posed by Gao Yuanyuan to her was far greater than that of the insignificant Mu Tingting!
Even if Wei Yi isn't afraid, at least give him some time to adjust.
We can't let Gao Yuanyuan face off against Fan Xiaopang, who is at a very high level, right now.
Although he enjoys watching women fight because it's exciting, and sometimes there's even some explicit content to see.
But he absolutely dislikes watching his women fight.
Unless it's in bed.
It was in front of him, in that form of fighting.
"You're the director, not an actor. You can just sit there and enjoy the fan."
Gao Yuanyuan smiled, looking at her talented boyfriend, feeling that coming to Bangkok for vacation was definitely the right decision.
The man in front of me is none other than the heir to the Beijing Film Academy!
The key is his exceptional talent, just look at his status as a top scorer in the national college entrance examination.
That alone is enough to make any so-called talented person in the entertainment industry pale in comparison.
"Yeah, that makes sense." Anyway, the earliest we can expect Detective Chinatown to start filming is next month.
Even in June.
There's still almost a month and a half left; there are plenty of ways and means to get this silly girl away and busy with other things.
In fact, Ah Xiang's role was just so-so, and Fan Xiaopang is a career-oriented woman.
He could easily send his third sister back to China for a while, and then have her come to keep him company after Fan Binbin finishes filming and returns to China for work.
Upon thinking of this, Wei Yi's Dao heart immediately calmed down.