Feng Nan and Huo Zhiming made an appointment at 8:30. The reason why she chose Huo Zhiming was that before his rebirth, Huo Zhiming had staged a great comeback with "Criminal Suspect", washing away the bad impression left on others by his previous films which were of poor quality.
"The Suspect" begins with female police officer Shen Xunran receiving an anonymous letter saying that someone wants to kill a man named Wu Chunhe. At the same time, the police received a report that a man living alone was found dead in the bathtub of a rental house in the city. The prologue slowly unfolds here.
This movie is one of Huo Zhiming's comeback works. The writing style is delicate, and the cases are closely linked and told in a leisurely manner.
The heroine Shen Xunran in the play is gentle and persistent, full of tolerance and justice, which made Fan Zhiyun, who played Shen Xunran at the time, jump from a popular young actress to a hot star and was loved by the audience.
Feng Nan set his sights on the role of Shen Xunran in "Criminal Suspect" and used it as his capital to become popular again in the entertainment industry, vowing to get this role.
She inquired for a long time, trying to find out about Huo Zhiming's personality and preferences. In her previous life, she had followed Zhao Junhan to deal with Huo Zhiming once. At that time, at a charity dinner, he was looking for investment for "Criminal Suspect", which had just started filming.
He is quite old, stubborn and not easy to deal with.
The reputation of his previous works was not good, and the box office was a mess. In addition, this person had a willful personality. During the filming of a movie, when he was in the mood, he made random changes to the movie, which led to constant criticism after the movie was released.
After several investment companies suffered losses, he was still a top domestic director, but no one dared to invest in his films.
I don't know how Huo Zhiming persuaded Fan Zhiyun's agent at that time to let the actors shoot a clip of about 20 minutes in advance. At that time, he took these movie clips and sold them everywhere to solicit investment, and people in the circle laughed constantly.
Back then, Feng Nan held Zhao Junhan's hand and had also seen Huo Zhiming soliciting investments.
This stubborn old man had fallen into a very embarrassing position, but his temper did not diminish at all. When he was holding the shooting clips of "Criminal Suspect" and asking for investment from the bigwigs in the circle, he refused to bow his head at all.
When others laughed at him, he turned away with a cold face.
Zhao Junhan treated him as a laughing stock at the time, and people in the circle were watching him and making fun of him behind his back.
Feng Nan had also joined others in ridiculing him, but in the end, this old man turned out to be capable, and when no one was willing to invest in him, he took a 20-minute clip of "Criminal Suspect" and found a bank loan, and finally completed the filming of "Criminal Suspect".
After the film was completed, all major cinemas were reluctant to release it, fearing that it would be a loss-making business.
Huo Zhiming has not released any new works for many years. His reputation and prestige had been worn out by the release of his previous films. Even some of his former fans were not optimistic about "Criminal Suspect". Later, he did not give up and reached an agreement to increase the box office share of theaters, which made this movie successfully appear in front of the audience.
As a result, the movie eventually became a hit on the entire Internet, swept the box office, and became an underestimated dark horse that year, helping Huo Zhiming regain the face and self-esteem he had lost.
Afterwards, many people who had rejected Huo Zhiming's investment regretted it. Even Zhao Junhan later lamented several times that he had missed an opportunity to make a fortune.
The ultimate beneficiaries of "Criminal Suspect" were the theaters and banks that released the film. Many investors were extremely regretful and helped Fan Zhiyun, who played the female lead Shen Xunran in the film, to make Huo Zhiming's reputation and status return to the ranks of first-line directors.
Feng Nan was very regretful back then. When she followed Zhao Junhan to laugh at Huo Zhiming, she never thought that this movie that she underestimated would eventually produce such wonderful fruits.
If she had known the result earlier, she would have told Zhao Junhan that it would be Zhao Junhan who would provide the money and she would play the heroine Shen Xunran in the play when Huo Zhiming approached him for investment. She sighed for a long time at that time and felt that fate had played a big joke on her.
But she didn't expect that God would favor her after all.
The opportunity that was lost at that time has come back again after her rebirth.
At this time, "Criminal Suspect" was only in the preparation stage. Huo Zhiming had not yet found Fan Zhiyun to play the leading female role, nor had she yet to go around soliciting investments. Relying on the convenience of rebirth, she still had plenty of opportunities to get the role of Shen Xunran!
Feng Nan had already booked a private room in the roast duck restaurant. There was still half an hour left before the time she and Huo Zhiming agreed to meet. She was in a very good mood, but when she heard the "ding" message alert sound from her assistant's phone, Feng Nan's expression darkened:
"I don't want to hear the phone ringing when I'm talking to Huo Zhiming later."
The assistant looked reluctant as he picked up his phone and was about to turn off the volume, but when he saw the message, he couldn't help but exclaimed "eh". There was a knock on the door outside. Feng Nan glanced at the assistant coldly, and another assistant stepped forward to open the door.
There seemed to be a waitress standing at the door. She was taller than the assistant beside Feng Nan, with half of her forehead exposed. Feng Nan seemed to hear her whispering about the menu with her assistant.
Another assistant holding a mobile phone squatted in front of Feng Nan, "Sister Feng, Huaxia Information has released the evening headlines today. Jiang Se has signed a contract for Cesare's new film."
"... Miss Feng, do you want dessert before or after the meal..." The waitress who was originally talking to the assistant paused for a moment when she heard the assistant in the private room mention the word 'Jiang Se', and then said:
"… up?"
"After dinner."
The assistant did not take her gaffe to heart. Instead, he was somewhat surprised at the appearance of the waiters in this roast duck restaurant.
The assistant took a look at the name tag on her chest, which read "Dai Jia".
This waitress, who is about 27 or 28 years old, wears no makeup, is tall and very pleasing to the eye. Even her ugly waitress clothes cannot hide her delicate features. With such looks, she is not inferior to some female stars in the circle.
Feng Nan stood up immediately after hearing the news that Jiang Se had signed a contract with Cesare's new film.
"impossible!"
She raised her voice a little and looked down at the assistant, who was stopping the waiter at the door and turned around instinctively when he heard the anger in her tone.
At the door, Dai Jia tiptoed slightly and looked into the private room. An assistant was squatting at Feng Nan's feet. She was holding a teacup in her hand, and anger was evident on her brows:
"Didn't Tao Cen already star in Cesare's movie?"
"Yes, it's 'God's Redemption'..." Before the assistant finished speaking, Feng Nan splashed the teacup in her face, and the girl squatting on the ground whimpered. (To be continued)