1979: The child's mother is a celestial being.

Chapter 42 Earning Extra Money

"Lisa, why don't you and Mom go play over there for a while? I'd like to talk business with my uncle, how about that?"

In a coffee shop, David sent his wife and daughter away, then glanced at Han Sanping, who was with Chen Fusheng.

"Should I leave too?" Han Sanping noticed David's gaze and looked at Chen Fusheng.

"No need." Chen Fusheng shook his head. Although Han Sanping couldn't understand foreign languages, in case, yes, in case this David was an intelligence agent and wanted to bribe him, at least Old Han could be a witness.

However, in reality, David only glanced at Han Sanping and had no other intentions.

The reason he sent his wife and daughter away was that he wanted to discuss a business deal with Chen Fusheng, but his daughter was too young to listen.

"Business?"

Chen Fusheng asked, both surprised and curious, "What kind of business?"

At that moment, David took out a business card from his pocket and handed it to him.

"Let me formally introduce myself. I am the owner of Anhe Dairy Products Company..."

David went on and on about his company. After listening, Chen Fusheng made a simple summary: It's a local company, not very big, but it has seventy or eighty workers and its own dairy farm, with a total annual income of around one million.

"Mr. David, if I may ask, is the million you mentioned lira?"

The lira is the currency of Italy, while the euro has not yet been issued.

The settlement exchange rate between the lira and the US dollar was 1573.8:1.
If it's a million lira, it doesn't seem like much money.

"No, not lira. I can't support so many workers with a million lira. I'm talking about a million dollars."

Chen Fusheng nodded upon hearing this, curious about what kind of business deal this millionaire, or even multi-millionaire, would discuss with him.

"Actually, another purpose of my bringing my wife and daughter to this film festival was to find a celebrity to shoot an advertisement for my Anhe Milk."

Chen Fusheng was somewhat surprised: "So David, you've taken a liking to me?"

"Yes."

Foreigners don't like beating around the bush, and they said very directly: "But to be honest, Chen, your image and influence are not actually my choice. However, after watching the movies you've acted in, I think maybe this is God's arrangement."

"So, Chen, would you be willing to film an advertisement for Anhe Milk?"

Chen Fusheng would definitely agree, since he is currently short of money, especially money to spend in Italy.

However, his time was limited, so he had to make things clear with David to avoid reaching an agreement now only to find that the realities of the situation didn't allow it later.

"David, I'm glad you chose me, but I have to explain the situation to you. After the film festival ends here, I will definitely return to China with the team. My country has only recently started to open up, and it's not so easy to go abroad. So you can still back out now."

"This is really bad news, but Chen, I like your honesty, so I still invite you to shoot an advertisement for my Anhe Milk. And don't worry, I only need one day of your time."

“Good job!” Chen Fusheng extended his hand and shook hands with David, thanking him for providing him with a job to earn extra money.

After both parties reached an agreement on cooperation, they began to discuss money.

"I'm willing to pay you $1,000 a day, Chen. Would you accept?"

Paying a celebrity a thousand dollars a day, even a minor one, is honestly too low.

However, Chen Fusheng is not even a minor celebrity in Europe right now; he's just an ordinary person who's as plain as can be.

So a thousand dollars a day is really not low.

This was a friendly price David gave Chen Fusheng because he had a chance to win Best Actor at a future film festival.

However, if Chen Fusheng really does become the Best Actor at this year's Venice Film Festival, then one thousand a day would be too low for him. So David added, "If you win Best Actor, Chen, I'm willing to add another fifty thousand dollars to hire you as the spokesperson for our Anhe Milk, and all you need to do is give me one more day, okay?"

"Is a movie star only worth 50,000?" Chen Fusheng felt that was a bit too cheap; it should be at least 100,000 US dollars.

“Fifty thousand isn’t low, considering you’re not famous in Italy or Europe. Since you think it’s too low, let’s wait until your movie is released in Italy. If the response is good, we can renegotiate.”

Chen Fusheng automatically ignored David's statement because it was simply unrealistic.

"Okay, fifty thousand it is."

At this point, as if remembering something, he added, "What if our film wins other awards?"

David took a moment to process what Chen Fusheng meant and asked curiously, "You have a chance to win other awards?"

“I’m also the screenwriter for the film,” Chen Fusheng replied.

"If you only won Best Screenplay, I'd be willing to pay you another five thousand dollars to do a day of magazine shooting."

"Too low, 20,000."

"No, no, no, ten thousand at most."

"Alright, ten thousand it is."

Later, both parties left the coffee shop and went straight to the print shop to print the contract.

After signing, Chen Fusheng shook hands with David again.

"Chen, I hope we have a pleasant working relationship. See you tomorrow."

See you tomorrow, David.

Goodbye, Uncle.

Goodbye, Lisa.

Han Sanping, who had accompanied them throughout, was completely bewildered until now that they had parted ways. He finally couldn't help but ask:

"Fusheng, what were you chatting about with that foreigner? Weren't you breaking any rules?"

Chen Fusheng explained, "David is in the milk business. After watching our 'Bullfight,' he probably felt that my image was suitable for their products, so he planned to invite me to shoot an advertisement for them and was willing to pay me a fee of one thousand US dollars per day."

"How much?" Han Sanping's eyes widened, and he picked at his ears, but he still thought he was hallucinating.

"You heard me right, a thousand dollars a day."

"A thousand a day, in US dollars? Fusheng, are you kidding me?" Han Sanping's understanding of money was severely shaken, and he still couldn't believe that money was so easy to earn.

"Why would I lie to you? Lao Han, you're coming with me tomorrow. Oh, and let's invite Zhang Fei too."

Although Chen Fusheng's arrangement was somewhat petty, caution is always the best policy.

To be honest, Chen Fusheng's practice of taking on private jobs is indeed a violation of discipline.

So he planned to act first and ask questions later, to make the money first and then worry about the consequences, so that if his superiors disagreed, he would not only break his promise but also fail to make any money.

Han Sanping is a person with a relatively flexible moral bottom line. For the sake of a thousand dollars a day, he was willing to make a mistake with Chen Fusheng.

Of course, the most important thing is that this mistake did not violate his bottom line and principles!
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(End of this chapter)