Huayu Entertainment 1995 started with hijacking.

Chapter 337 Old Friend
In the audience, Wu Yuchen sat in the front row, watching the charity auction begin on stage.

The first item auctioned was the leather jacket worn by the male lead, Andy Lau, in the film. After several bids, it was sold to Wang Zhonglei, the second-in-command of Huayi Brothers, for 88,000 yuan.

The host, Liu Yiwei from CCTV's "Everyday Cooking," said, "This is Mr. Wang Zhonglei, one of the producers of this film. Didn't you buy your own stuff back yourself?"

Wang Zhonglei said with a smile, "I'm here on a mission today. My wife is a fan of Mr. Liu Dehua. She's been eyeing it ever since the first day he wore it. She won't let me go home without buying this leather jacket."

Everyone laughed when they heard this. Whether it was true or not, no one knew, but everyone knew that Huayi Brothers wanted to use the number 8.8 to bring good luck, since it sounds like "eight eights bring prosperity"!

Moreover, to be honest, worn items don't have much collectible value. Unless you're a die-hard fan, no one would buy someone else's clothes. So Wang Zhonglei was just trying to save face, afraid that the auction price would be too low.

Following that, there was another auction involving Andy Lau himself, specifically his performance of a song. This song actually sold for a higher price than the leather jacket he wore earlier, with someone bidding 18 yuan to invite Andy Lau to sing "The Days We Walked Together."

After Andy Lau finished singing his thank-you song and left the stage, Li Xiaoran, the female lead, came out from backstage.

Host Liu Yiwei said, "Come on, let's welcome Xiaoran to introduce the auction item she's holding!"

Li Xiaoran held a string of Buddhist prayer beads in her hand and said to the crowd below the stage:
"These are prayer beads that I obtained from a master at a temple when our crew was filming in Tibet. They are also one of the props in the movie. Actually, I'm quite reluctant to part with them because I think they have a lot of sentimental value. But since it's for donating money to a Hope Primary School, I think it's worth selling them."

The female thief played by Li Xiaoran visited a Tibetan temple in the film and knelt in worship, which changed her mindset and thoughts.

"Alright! As you all heard, this is a very meaningful string of Buddhist prayer beads, obtained from a master in Tibet. The starting bid is 1. Please start bidding!"

"2 million!"

"2!"

"4 million!"

Compared to Andy Lau's previous leather jacket, the price of this string of Buddhist prayer beads has skyrocketed.

Buddhist prayer beads have inherent collectible value, and most of the people sitting below, whether from the political and business world or celebrities, are quite superstitious and believe in fate and destiny. Many of them burn incense and pray to Buddha. Now that they hear that the beads were obtained from a Tibetan master, they are even more interested.

Therefore, the price of this string of Buddhist prayer beads quickly reached 14, far exceeding the first item, Andy Lau's leather jacket. However, after reaching this price, the bidding slowed down considerably. When someone bid 15, Wu Yuchen gently raised his hand and said with a smile, "30."

Upon hearing Wu Yuchen double the price, Liu Yiwei's voice immediately rose five decibels: "30! Director Wu quoted 30, doubled it directly! Are there any other guests offering higher prices?"

The others in the room immediately fell silent. On the one hand, whether the Buddhist beads were worth 30 yuan was debatable; they might just be roadside stall goods. On the other hand, it was also to give Wu Yuchen face. Since the great director Wu had made an offer, who in the industry would dare to compete with him?
After Liu Yiwei called out the price three times and saw that no one else was bidding, he directly invited Wu Yuchen to come on stage and take the Buddhist beads on the spot.

When Li Xiaoran saw Wu Yuchen come on stage, she smiled at him and then personally handed him the Buddhist prayer beads. Wu Yuchen chuckled and played with them for a moment before accepting an interview with Liu Yiwei.

"Director Wu just doubled his offer, showing his determination to win. It seems he really likes this string of prayer beads!"

Wu Yuchen smiled and said, "First of all, this money is donated to charity, so even if it costs more, as long as it helps those students, I feel it's worth it. Secondly, I feel that this string of Buddhist beads is connected to me."

Liu Yiwei immediately pressed, "Oh? What did Director Wu mean by that? Where did he get the idea?"

Feng Xiaogang and the others watched with smiles. Xu Fan, who was next to him, leaned close to his ear and said, "Director Wu is really generous!"

Feng Xiaogang laughed and said, "Hey, Director Wu earns US dollars in Hollywood, this is nothing. Besides, it's all about winning a beauty's smile!"

Feng Xiaogang knew all too well about Wu Yuchen and Li Xiaoran's situation, having collaborated with Li Xiaoran more than once.

On stage, Wu Yuchen replied, "I was just planning to go to Tibet to film some scenes, and then suddenly a string of Tibetan prayer beads appeared. Don't you think that's fate?"

"Oh, so that's where it is! Director Wu, could you tell us about your new movie? I think many people are very interested!"

Wu Yuchen chuckled softly and said, "You'll find out when the time comes~"

It's actually about Batman, but they haven't announced yet that it will be filmed in China.

Many people in the audience took Wu Yuchen's words to heart. Was Director Wu going to Tibet to film a new movie? Was there a chance?

Wu Yuchen didn't say anything more. He smiled and walked off the stage with Li Xiaoran. After they sat down, Wu Yuchen put the string of Buddhist beads directly into Li Xiaoran's hand.

Li Xiaoran grabbed his arm and said coquettishly, "Why spend so much money?"

Wu Yuchen said with a smile, "Didn't you say you couldn't bear to part with it? Then keep it!"

Upon hearing this, Li Xiaoran kissed Wu Yuchen on the cheek. Wang Baoqiang, seeing this, finally understood the intimacy between the two and quickly turned his head away, looking straight ahead.

After Li Xiaoran's Buddhist beads were auctioned off, another singer's performance was auctioned off. It was none other than Liu Huan, who has been very popular in recent years. In the end, his song was bid up to 18 yuan, and he was invited to sing "Starting Over".

The next two people to appear on stage were greeted with cheers and applause from the entire audience. They were not the main characters in the film, but Fu Biao, who only played a minor supporting role at the beginning.

Fu Biao, nicknamed "Golden Supporting Actor," was diagnosed with late-stage liver cancer this year. His experience fighting cancer has garnered much media attention. After undergoing a liver transplant, he is currently recovering. His special appearance at this event today has made everyone very happy to see this cancer fighter.

Fu Biao was helped onto the stage by his wife. He expressed his gratitude to everyone for their concern, and then held up a DV camera. This DV camera was the one used at the beginning of the movie to record some bed scenes between him and the female thief Li Xiaoran. Andy Lau used this DV camera to blackmail Fu Biao in the movie for a large sum of money, and the two of them were wanted by the police as a result.

Wu Yuchen bought the DV camera for another 10 yuan. Li Xiaoran glanced at him with annoyance: "Why did you buy it?"

Even though he knew it was fake, Wu Yuchen still said, "It would make anyone else feel uncomfortable."

When Wu Yuchen went on stage, he looked at Fu Biao with a sense of unease, knowing that although Fu Biao seemed to be doing well now, his condition would relapse in a few months, and he might not make it through the year. Wu Yuchen advised him, "Your health is important; you must take good care of yourself!" Fu Biao chuckled and replied, "Thank you for your concern, Director Wu. I just can't stay idle~"

Wu Yuchen patted him on the shoulder and didn't say anything more. Actually, if you look at it from another perspective, if someone only has six months left, then doing something they want to do and being happy is not wrong.

Next up on stage was Ge You, who brought a gold watch that had appeared in the movie. This watch sold for 20 yuan.

Just as Ge You was about to leave the stage, he was stopped by the host, Liu Yiwei: "Someone just suggested that Mr. Liu Huan has particularly long hair, and there are two bald people in the audience, one is Mr. Zhang Guoli, and the other is you. If you two sing a song together, he is willing to pay 10 yuan. Are you willing?"

Ge You quickly waved his hand: "Don't make me embarrass myself. Guo Li is capable, and he comes from a performing arts troupe, so his singing is undeniable!"

After offering a couple of words of advice, Liu Yiwei saw that Ge You was still unwilling, so he didn't press the matter further. He smiled and asked, "I've noticed something: you always play bald characters when you're the lead, but you have hair when you're playing supporting roles. Which do you find more comfortable?"

This time, Ge You's Uncle Li in "A World Without Thieves" has hair.

Ge You unconsciously touched his bald head: "Of course it's more comfortable to be bald. I'm afraid people will get tired of seeing me bald all the time."

After Ge You stepped down from the stage, Yang Kun sang "That Day," the theme song from the movie "A World Without Thieves," which was auctioned off for 10 yuan.

Later, Li Bingbing auctioned off one of her hot dances for 8 yuan, and Yu Quan and Sun Nan also performed on stage.

Wu Yuchen watched the excitement from below, but suddenly heard a familiar name: "Next up is an auction for a song by teacher Tu Honggang. Are there any interested guests who would like to place a bid?"

Tu Honggang was also a little nervous. Originally, everyone was just participating in a charity auction, which was essentially a charity performance, but as it went on, a competitive atmosphere had unconsciously developed among those who went up to sing.

Look at Andy Lau and Liu Huan, they were all asked for nearly 200,000 yuan for one song, and there were even bids of 100,000 or 200,000 yuan. If he bids too low, wouldn't he lose face?

"6 million!"

"6!"

"7 million!"

Hearing someone bid 7, which was still a little short of the previous lowest bid of 8, Tu Honggang felt even more anxious. If he could, he wished he could bid 10 for himself!

It's not about the amount of money; he won't get a single penny anyway. It's about saving face. For Tu Honggang, saving face is everything!
Just then, someone shouted, "20!"

Upon hearing the price of 20, Tu Honggang's spirits lifted. 20 was more than what Andy Lau and Liu Huan earned!
Then he looked at Wu Yuchen, who had raised his hand, and a look of joy immediately appeared on his face!
"Great! Director Wu has bought Tu Honggang's song for 20 yuan. What would you like him to sing?"

Hearing Liu Yiwei's question, Wu Yuchen couldn't help but smile and say, "I'll just request 'The Spirit of Chinese Martial Arts'!"

Tu Honggang smiled as he looked at Wu Yuchen, recalling the time seven or eight years ago when he bought a song and filmed a music video with Wu Yuchen. Back then, he bought it from Wu Yuchen for 2 yuan, and now Wu Yuchen was offering him 20 yuan to sing on stage, which made him quite emotional.

After Tu Honggang took the stage, he sang with great passion and enthusiasm, which drew cheers from the audience.

The auction, which started at 6 p.m., ended at 7:30 p.m., after which 400 more spectators entered the venue, and the movie "A World Without Thieves" started playing promptly at 8 p.m.

At the beginning of the movie, when Mr. Liu, played by Fu Biao, was learning English from Wang Li, played by Li Xiaoran, and tried to take the opportunity to force himself on her, the lust and clumsiness of the middle-aged man made the audience burst into laughter, and also drew the audience into the movie from the very beginning.

It was only at this time that Wu Yuchen realized that the source of learning English was not actually with President Hou, but had already begun at this point.

As the film progressed, the audience erupted in laughter almost every few minutes, especially when Andy Lau's character, Uncle Li (played by Ge You), exposed his disguise, creating the film's second climax. Uncle Li's "revolutionary" dialogue consistently drew laughter and became a staple of the audience's laughs.

However, starting from the second half, the film takes an unexpected turn, and the conflicts between the characters increase. Apart from the bumbling thieves played by Feng Yuanzheng and Fan Wei providing some comedic relief, a heavy atmosphere begins to build, until the tragic ending in the final scene, at which point all the laughter in the audience stops.

As expected, the movie was met with applause from the entire audience after it ended. Feng Xiaogang was overjoyed to see the audience's reaction at the premiere.

"Director Feng, this film 'A World Without Thieves' is excellent; breaking 100 million yuan is no problem!"

Feng Xiaogang was delighted to hear Wu Yuchen's words. Others might be flattering him, but many people would subconsciously believe Wu Yuchen's judgment.

"I have to thank Director Wu for this. Without your script suggestions, this film might not have been made!"

"Don't mention it, it was just a suggestion. Director Feng, you directed it so well!" Wu Yuchen said with a smile.

To be honest, Feng Xiaogang's early and middle-period works were all quite good. "A World Without Thieves" is a good example; it blends humor, story, and action well, making it a breakthrough for Feng Xiaogang. His previous films typically relied on dialogue and witty banter, but this one successfully integrated action and commercial entertainment, making it a commercially successful film.

Putting aside other things, if "A World Without Thieves" were released 20 years later, it would definitely have grossed at least 30 billion yuan, far surpassing films like "Hot Hot".

The Wang brothers originally wanted to invite Wu Yuchen to have a late-night snack together, but Wu Yuchen politely declined.

A moment later, Wu Yuchen walked up behind a figure and patted him on the shoulder: "Brother Tu, are you busy tonight?"

When Tu Honggang turned around and saw Wu Yuchen, he was thrilled to hear him call him "Brother Tu." He hadn't expected Wu Yuchen to be doing so well now. Many people in Beijing's social circles called him "Master Chen" in private and also addressed him as "Brother Tu."

"Hahaha, even if something happens tonight, it has to be nothing!"

Wu Yuchen smiled and said, "Alright, shall we go get something hot to eat? I wonder if Brother Tu has any recommendations?"

Tu Honggang laughed heartily, "Of course! Let's go!"

(End of this chapter)