Chapter 26 – New Owner (1/2)

Two weeks later, the first official photographs from “Outside Gold and Jade” were posted onto the internet.

In the main character Li ChuanQing’s standalone photos, Bai Lang was wearing a tailor’s work uniform and he also had a tape measure around his neck.

His eyes were downcast and there was a light smile on his face. There was a bright light which shone onto one side of his face, however this left a contrasting shadow on the other. It hinted that underneath the main character’s quiet smile there were turbulent feelings hidden. With the addition of the loose shirt which was tucked into fitting suit pants, this angle made Bai Lang’s waist and neckline look very long and seductive. Within his elegant appearance there was a hint of sensuality. These oddities made him look even more beautiful and fascinating.

Zhu Kuan successfully used these contrasts and juxtapositions to imbue the images with a strong sense of feelings. From this, his style from 10 years later could already be seen. Thus under Zhu Kuan’s camera, Bai Lang’s image became much more multi-layered and complex than previously.

When the images were published, it immediately became a hot discussion topic among Bai Lang’s fans. Most of the fans expressed they liked it very much, however there were also those who said they missed Bai Lang’s previous warm and innocent appearance. Luckily those in the former outnumbered the latter. Bai Lang guessed that UNI’s ad also had helped pave the way for this change, otherwise based on his past life, he remembered how many obstacles he faced when trying to change his image after “Partners”.

However Bai Lang actually forgot that after his rebirth, although he was in the body of a 24 year old young person, his everyday actions and dress had already lost the immaturity of a youth. Even in the incident with the photos at the supermarket, the face that Bai Lang had shown the world was that of gentleness mixed with maturity.

Fang Hua also probably had been affected by this. Thus when Bai Lang attended fan meets or during promotional activities, the styling she arranged for him reflected his own personal poise, and so the image was that of someone who was had matured early and was elegant and sensible. This helped a long way in rounding out Bai Lang’s strong initial impression in “Partners”.

After three months, “Gold” had finished approximately two-thirds of its filming. This speed was very fast.

However Bai Lang had been carefully observing the issue of funding this whole time but he hadn’t found any clues yet.

By contrast, Zhu Kuan who was not good at hiding things, had been extremely cheerful as of late.

Bai Lang felt this was a bit odd and so taking advantage of the lunch break, he couldn’t help asking.

“Director Zhu, you seem to be in a good mood recently. Did something good happen?”

On that day, both Zhu Kuan and Que QiMing were surrounding Bai Lang and his large lunch boxes. Bai Lang thus had the opportunity to casually ask this question.

By this time Zhu Kuan and Bai Lang had already become closer. He didn’t hesitate to use his chopsticks to take a third piece of meat wrapped around asparagus. He stuffed it in his mouth and chewed loudly. “Something good really did happen, haha. During the new year I was actually a bit troubled but I didn’t expect that someone would suddenly stuff a pillow under my head as I slept {T/N: Means unexpected help came}. I can’t believe Old Zhao and I actually encountered something like this. Our fortune must be too good.”

“Old Zhao” was his friend Zhao JingXuan, who was the boss of a textile company and who had invited Zhu Kuan back into the country.

Bai Lang immediately stopped eating. Since he had mentioned Old Zhao, then it definitely had something to do with the funding.

He didn’t think that today his casual question would actually yield an answer. Was the incident about the happen?

Que QiMing was also curious. He smiled and said, “Director Zhu, give us some hints so we can be happy as well ah.”

Zhu Kuan’s pudgy face was wrinkled from smiling so much. He said in a pleased manner, “It’s okay to tell you now. Things are already set and won’t change. So I’m no longer afraid it will affect your mood when filming.”

“Affect our mood?” Bai Lang’s heart leapt. He didn’t care about looking suspicious anymore and directly asked, “Could it be that the funding ran into a problem?”

Surprise flashed through Zhu Kuan’s face. “Wow that’s amazing. How did you guess straight away? Or is that you got wind of it from before?”

Que QiMing was also shocked. He said with a grave expression, “If there’s a problem with funding then Director Zhu you really need to let us know the details carefully.”

Based on Que QiMing’s long experience, he knew that one of the primary problems that could arise with a movie funded/owned by industry outsiders was that the investment might dry up.

After all if the owner’s experience was not enough and team did not cooperate well, then it was very easy to exceed the budget. Then the shortfall would have be made up. At this time it would be also difficult to find a new investor. After all the movie had already been shot halfway and had already formed shape. It would be difficult to meet a new investor’s requirements to obtain their funding. And if the shortfall couldn’t be made up, then there was a high chance the entire production end up cancelled.

Because Zhu Kuan had carefully planned and tried to save money throughout “Gold”, the situation should already be good. However after all it was still Zhu Kuan’s first time filming a movie in China. It was his first time getting to know the location, logistics, equipment, pre and post editing requirements, etc. So of course there would many unexpected costs.

Zhu Kuan saw these two people’s faces had changed was a bit annoyed at himself. He smacked his own mouth. “Aiya, my wife always tells that when I’m too smug I always say the wrong thing. She’s not wrong.” He came closer and lowered his voice. “Don’t spread it outside, although everything is okay now, however I don’t want to affect other people’s mood when working.”

Bai Lang immediately said. “Of course we won’t. However is there anything we can help with? Director Zhu don’t hesitate to ask.”

Zhu Kuan didn’t see the genuine panic Bai Lang felt and instead patted his chest and said in a reassuring manner. “Don’t worry, this is your first movie and it’s also mine. You and Old Que have also somehow managed to grasp and express many things that I wanted to show but don’t know how to say. It’s really like the Gods are on our side. No matter what, I will definitely complete this movie well….”

“Then what exactly is the situation that Director Zhu was talking about?” Bai Lang followed on to ask immediately.

“Ai, it’s to do with Old Zhao. Old Zhao’s family has a few factories which are being managed by their relatives. During the new year that group of relatives, young and old, all didn’t go back to their hometown and couldn’t be contacted. After the new year when they went to check the company, they found that they had embezzled all the money from those factories and run away. A total of 4-5million. Some of them were prepaid fees for goods that hadn’t been delivered yet.Old Zhao was troubled to death. And the elders in his family refused to allow him to notify the police. He had no choice but to move funds from the other factories but it really was a big problem getting the money around. So the old people in his family told him to cut us off first.”

“And then?” Bai Lang asked and at the same time he was calculating in his heart how much he would be able to help.

The series of books went on the market last year in November. Now it had already been four months. When Bai Lang had gone on the web forums to check , he saw that the first book had come at at the same time as the holiday season and so it had achieved a very beautiful sales number.

If he sold the copyright now, then compared in the future when the sales of the books should amount to around several tens of millions, he would get much less for it. However even now what he had purchased for 2.3 million should be able to be sold for 3-4 million without any problem.

However he didn’t expect to hear Zhu Kuan say joyfully, “What are you panicking about? The truth is someone actually voluntarily contacted Old Zhao to ask he could cooperate to invest for the movie. The timing is too much of a coincidence, it really scared me to death. Also the investor doesn’t have any special requirements for the role or the script. They just said they saw the photos from the opening ceremony and the information on plot, and thought that the material was interesting.”

Bai Lang’s face was shocked. This was an event that had never happened in his past life. Was it the butterfly effect again? “So the investment is already confirmed? They won’t change their mind?”

“Haha, little brother you really looked even more worried than me.” Zhu Kuan slapped Bai Lang’s shoulders heartily. “Everything is resolved. The contract has already been signed. The other person also paid the large half the amount already, extremely quick and efficient. The shortfall has already been taken care of. And the new investor’s budget outline seems to be much more accurate than Old Zhao’s. From now on we don’t need to worry about money, hahaha.” Every time he got happy he really became careless. Right now his laughter was very loud and definitely showed Zhu Kuan forgot to suppress his voice.

“So good?” Bai Lang frowned.

The Que QiMing sitting beside Bai Lang didn’t have his suspicious personality. After all looking for investors for a movie was a normal occurrence. Although trying to find one halfway through filming really was more difficult. Thus Que QiMing looked relieved. He smiled and said, “So this way it seems like we have a new owner. Can you disclose who it is?”

“If I tell you you guys will definitely get a fright,” Zhu Kuan told them, playfully swinging his chopsticks. “Our new owner is from the famous and powerful Hong family in the capital.”