Huayu Entertainment 1995 started with hijacking.

Chapter 129 Nominal Signature?

After finalizing the details of Cai Yinong's joining the company, Cai Yinong asked:
"Director Wu, may I bring a few people into the company?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Yuchen's heart skipped a beat, and he asked, "Who are they?"

"It's director Li Guoli and actor Li Yapeng from my current company."

Wu Yuchen thought to himself, "As expected," and then said, "President Cai, let's skip Li Yapeng."

Cai Yinong actually thought highly of Li Yapeng, but Wu Yuchen rejected him outright, leaving her with little room to say anything. Moreover, Li Yapeng's previous behavior didn't seem like he genuinely wanted to stick with her.

"However, I still welcome director Li Guoli. His film 'Stock Fever' is really well made!"

Wu Yuchen wasn't just being polite. Li Guoli was one of the earliest Hong Kong filmmakers to have contact with the mainland. In 93, he made a co-production film called "Stock Fever," starring Pan Hong and Lau Ching-wan, and won the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards for Best Actress.

Unfortunately, it was critically acclaimed but not commercially successful. Later, Li Guoli basically focused on making TV dramas. People like him from Hong Kong don't care too much about art awards; making money is the most important thing.

There's one advantage to inviting Cai Yinong: it's like buy one get one free. Because Li Guoli and Cai Yinong have an ambiguous relationship, it was precisely because of this that he strongly supported Cai Yinong in her previous life in establishing Sugar Man Films, which produced a series of classic TV dramas such as "Chinese Paladin".

In his past life, Yu Zheng, that brat, had a falling out with Cai Yinong and exposed her past on Weibo, which is how Wu Yuchen found out the truth.

However, this has nothing to do with Wu Yuchen. Miracle Films benefits from bringing Li Guoli along as well.

With Cai Yinong joining the team, Wu Yuchen will no longer need to worry too much about the production and management of Miracle Films' TV dramas, saving him a lot of energy.

……

After the start of the new semester, Wu Yuchen returned to school to attend classes, which prompted several of his teachers to jokingly remark that it was rare to see him settle down at school for a while.

As he and Chen Er walked through the campus, they frequently attracted the attention of some freshmen. Wu Yuchen was now arguably the biggest celebrity among the students at Beijing Film Academy. With awards like Best Director at Berlin and a 7000 million yuan box office hit, how could he not attract attention?

"Brother Chen, I think you could switch careers and become a star now~" Chen Er joked.

"Hehe, it's fine to have fun once or twice, but celebrities are only glamorous in front of the public. They don't have that much autonomy. Don't they still have to listen to our orders?"

Hearing Wu Yuchen say that, Chen Er laughed. In their directing department, it was often said that actors were like puppets on strings.

Chen Er noticed that more freshmen were whispering in their direction, so he asked:

"Brother Chen, have you visited the freshmen this year?"

Wu Yuchen shook his head: "I don't have time, and I'm not interested."

"I heard that the new students in the performance class were waiting for you to tutor them when they started school this year, but they waited and waited and didn't see you, and many people were very disappointed."

Wu Yuchen chuckled upon hearing this. Last year, when the new students started school, he impulsively went to the 96 Performance Class to show off, and naturally, the story spread.

At first, the students in the 96 performance class were somewhat resentful, but as Wu Yuchen achieved various accomplishments over the past year, his status rose rapidly. Now, everyone in the 96 class calls him Teacher Wu.

Moreover, Chen Kun had already secured roles in "My Brothers and Sisters" and "Love Will Carry On," and Zhao Wei had landed the lead role in the Qiong Yao drama "Princess Pearl." These events were noticed by others at the school, who all felt they were inextricably linked to Wu Yuchen. The newly enrolled Class of '97, specializing in acting, were naturally envious, hoping Wu Yuchen would visit them and they could also establish a connection.

Wu Yuchen smiled and shook his head. Last year, he was quite interested in these fresh and young future stars, which is why he did this. Now, he has long lost interest in them.

Moreover, Class 96 has people like Huang Xiaoming, Chen Kun, Zhao Wei, Yan Danchen, and Zu Feng, which can pique his interest, but who is in Class 97?

Oh, it seems like Hai Bo and Hai Qing are in it, and Li Jie, who plays Lin Pingzhi...

Hello, Teacher Wu!

The crisp sound interrupted Wu Yuchen's thoughts. He turned his head and saw Yan Danchen and Zhang Jiabei. He couldn't help but smile and nod.

He looked Yan Danchen up and down: "Danchen, why are you so much darker?"

"Teacher Wu, I went to the Northwest to film during my vacation, and after two months of sun exposure, I ended up like this..."

Wu Yuchen thought to herself that it must be the movie "Carrying Dad to School" that won her the Best Actress award.

"Good, hard work and perseverance are excellent traditions for actors!"

He gave Yan Danchen a thumbs up, praising her until she was beaming with joy.

But the next moment Wu Yuchen laughed and said, "Danchen, but the food on your set must be pretty good. Why is your little face still so chubby?"

Yan Danchen's face fell slightly upon hearing this: "Teacher Wu, I will definitely lose weight as soon as possible..."

"It's okay, it's okay. Actually, it's quite nice like this. Your round face is so cute, I want to pinch it! Hahaha!"

This made Yan Danchen's face turn slightly red, and she was quite shy.

"Alright, I was just kidding. Goodbye!"

After Wu Yuchen left, Yan Danchen said with a long face, "Even Teacher Wu thinks I'm too fat. No way, I'll start dieting tomorrow!"

Zhang Jiabei hugged Yan Danchen's arm and smiled:

"Didn't you say you couldn't lose weight? I think you shouldn't bother. Teacher Wu said you're super cute! Hahaha~"

After Wu Yuchen and Chen Er returned to their dormitory and sat down, Chen Er handed him a script, grinning, "Brother Chen, this is the script I just finished writing. Could you take a look at it when you have time?"

Wu Yuchen took the script and said, "Finally finished writing it? I've seen you working on this script for a year now."

"Brother Chen, I don't have your talent, nor am I as quick-witted as Lao Wu, so I have to take my time to polish it," Chen Er said modestly. Chen Er is the kind of person who takes his time to produce high-quality work; he spent a whole year polishing the script for a short film, and only now is he finally releasing it.

Wu Yuchen smiled and didn't say anything more. He opened the script and started reading. It was a story about a person who was forced to commit a crime by life and escaped the law.

Sure enough, it was Chen Er's first work in his previous life, "Criminals," starring Xu Zheng and Huang Yi. This 30-minute short film was hailed as "the best graduation project of Beijing Film Academy" and circulated in the industry for many years.

Actually, the praise is a bit excessive, leading many people to feel it's nothing special after watching it. However, for a student's graduation project short film, it's already very, very good, with a high level of completion and a strong personal style of Chen Er.

However, due to its subject matter, it was a banned film and was only shown internally at Beijing Film Studio. It wasn't submitted for awards or anything like that, which is a bit of a shame.

Wu Yuchen looked up and saw Chen Er looking at him expectantly. He smiled and said:
"I think it's great, and the script is very well written, so I won't give you any random suggestions."

So, just like with Lao Wu before, I'll invest 15 yuan in you. You've been involved in setting up the production before, so this time you should plan ahead and get the crew up and running.”

Previously, Wu Shixian (nicknamed Fatty Wu) had already filmed a short film called "East 22nd Street," which tells the different stories of two ordinary people on the same small street. Wu Yuchen invested 150,000 yuan in it at the time. Fatty Wu has now taken his completed short film to a film festival in the United States, hoping to win an award.

Chen Er looked at Wu Yuchen with gratitude: "Thank you, Brother Chen. I will definitely live up to your expectations!"

Wu Yuchen patted him on the shoulder: "Don't be shy, but I have to remind you that the storyline and character relationships in your script are much more complicated than Lao Wu's. I also reckon you're going to use a multi-narrative approach, which is difficult for a newcomer. Make sure you do your homework before filming and draw up the storyboards, otherwise I'm afraid this money won't be enough for you."

Chen Er nodded upon hearing this, carefully remembering Wu Yuchen's instructions.

In fact, besides the two of them, Wu Yuchen also invested in Lao Jia.

Speaking of Lao Jia, after Wu Yuchen gave him a sum of money, he used the money to film "Xiao Shan Goes Home" with a group of people.

However, the final product was a huge disappointment for the team, especially with the masterpiece "Bus 44" preceding it. Both films had the same production team, just different directors, yet the quality of the two films was worlds apart, making everyone realize the importance of the director.

Although no one said anything hurtful, Jia Zhangke wasn't stupid. He could tell from their reactions that they were clearly upset.

Later, he approached Wu Yuchen, wanting his opinion on whether he was suited to be a director. Wu Yuchen didn't say much, but helped him submit his film to the Hong Kong Island Independent Short Film Competition, where it won the Gold Award for Feature Film, greatly encouraging Lao Jia.

After Lao Jia presented him with the script for "Xiao Wu," Wu Yuchen invested another 40 yuan in him. Now he has taken the crew to his hometown in Fenyang, Shanxi.

Wu Yuchen didn't invest money in them for profit; he just wanted to lend a hand out of friendship. They had helped him a lot when he was filming "Car 44." Besides, the amount of money was nothing to him now, and he was happy to help those who had helped him.

When Wu Yuchen got home, he saw his father, Wu Jianping, engrossed in reading a novel. He leaned over and took a look; it was titled "The Golden Age."

When Wu Jianping saw Wu Yuchen return, he raised the book in his hand to him, sighed, and said, "It's such a pity about Wang Xiaobo, he was so young!"

Wang Xiaobo, 45, died suddenly of a heart attack.

Like Hai Zi, Wang Xiaobo was not widely recognized during his lifetime, but became a legend immediately after his death. During his lifetime, many of his works were considered erotic fiction and could only circulate on street stalls. However, just one month after his death, the Museum of Modern Chinese Literature held a high-level symposium in his honor, and his collection of short stories, *The Trilogy of the Times*, and his collection of essays, *My Spiritual Homeland*, were immediately published, quickly selling out, being reprinted, and selling out again…

Wu Yuchen actually admires Wang Xiaobo quite a bit. He was born with congenital heart valve insufficiency, so he always lived a very tiring life, physically tiring, but a romantic soul lived in his sickly body.

"Dad, you should take better care of your health and go to the hospital for regular check-ups for Mom."

"Hey, your dad's in great health!"

Wu Yuchen shook his head inwardly. That's how people are; they don't learn their lesson until they experience pain. Fortunately, his parents in his previous life were never seriously ill, so he didn't have to worry about them much.

……

At Miracle Films, Wu Yuchen, Cai Yinong, Kang Honglei, and others sat down. Wu Yuchen smiled and asked Cai Yinong:

"Mr. Cai, what do you think of what you've been looking at all today?"

Wu Yuchen and Cai Yinong watched the entire completed version of "The Passionate Years" today.

"It's really good! It has such a vintage feel, it's so realistic, I cried several times while watching it! Director Kang is truly talented!" Cai Yinong said this sincerely.

Kang Honglei smiled sheepishly: "It's mainly because the script is so good. It would have been the same if someone else had directed it. Director Wu is truly amazing!"

Wu Yuchen waved his hand: "Director Kang, if someone else were to direct it, they might not be able to capture the same feel. Don't be modest."

"Director Wu and Director Kang are both excellent! With you two here, our company's future is absolutely bright!" Cai Yinong gave a thumbs up.

"Alright, alright, let's stop flattering each other. Now there's a problem: these days, even the best wine needs advertising, so we need to find a good platform to broadcast the TV series. Mr. Cai, Director Kang, do you two have any opinions?"

Kang Honglei shook his head. He had only ever focused on filming before, and had never been exposed to, nor was he good at, negotiation.

Seeing this, Wu Yuchen turned to Cai Yinong and asked, "President Cai, is there any connection between the fact that 'Love Line Between Beijing and Hong Kong,' which you were in charge of, was able to air on CCTV?"

If we could get the TV series broadcast on CCTV, that would be the best platform.

Cai Yinong hesitated for a moment and said, "Director Wu, I can only say we'll give it a try. 'Love Line Between Beijing and Hong Kong' was able to cooperate smoothly with CCTV because it coincided with the major event of Hong Kong's return to China. I can invite people I know to come and watch the filming. With the quality of our drama, I think there is still some hope."

Wu Yuchen nodded: "Alright, then I'll leave this to you, Mr. Cai. If CCTV really can't handle it, we can try Beijing TV."

Cai Yinong hesitated for a moment, then said, "I do have an idea, but I don't know if Director Wu and Director Kang would mind."

"What? Mr. Cai, please speak freely. We're all on the same side." Wu Yuchen asked curiously.

Cai Yinong said, "When I was in Hong Kong, TV dramas weren't judged by who the director was, but by who the producer was. The producer's name was much more useful for a TV drama than the director's. So I was thinking, could we add the title of producer to your name, Director Wu? That way, CCTV and other TV stations would pay more attention to it."

Wu Yuchen was taken aback. Was he going to be nominally the producer and use his own reputation to attract TV stations?

(End of this chapter)