novelraw Chapter 50 Taken
Chapter 50 Taken
Zuo Xiaoqing left Shen Qing's room and greeted someone in the hallway. Shen Qing opened the door and looked out, only to find it was Yang Mi.
"What are you doing, sneaking around like that?"
Yang Mi didn't answer, but instead ducked and slipped into Shen Qing's room.
Zuo Xiaoqing seemed not to have seen anything, nodded to Shen Qing, and turned to leave.
Shen Qing closed the door and asked Yang Mi, who was already sitting on the sofa, "It's so late, is there something you need?"
"Yuan Shanshan said that Zuo Xiaoqing went into the director's room in the middle of the night. I didn't believe it, so I came to check it out."
"As you saw, she has some opinions about the character and came to discuss it with me. What about you? Do you also have thoughts about the character?"
"You're asking me to leave just because you have no ideas? Are you trying to kick me out?"
"No, but it is indeed very late."
"Shall I leave now?" Yang Mi asked, standing up.
Shen Qing grabbed her hand and pulled her into his arms: "It's so late, Yuan Shanshan is probably asleep. It wouldn't be good for you to go back and disturb her. Why don't you stay?"
Yang Mi remained silent, but Shen Qing urged her to stay one more time before she finally nodded in a barely audible voice.
……
Yang Mi quietly returned to her room at 4 a.m., making so much noise that she woke Yuan Shanshan. She picked up her phone, glanced at the time, then looked at Yang Mi and asked, "You're just getting back?"
Yang Mi nodded.
Yuan Shanshan asked her again, "Did you really give it to him?"
Yang Mi blushed and didn't say anything.
Yuan Shanshan then asked, "Does he know it's your first time?"
Yang Mi blushed even more: "He's not stupid, and he's not blind either."
……
"Ip Man" has officially finished its theatrical run, with a final box office of 1.63 million yuan, significantly higher than the original version in the original timeline. Shen Qing received many congratulatory phone calls while filming "Lost in Thailand".
Most of them are after Shen Qing's next film investment share, whether it's "Taken 2" or "Ip Man 2", both of which seem to be sure-fire projects with extremely high potential for profit.
The crew filmed according to schedule every day, and before they knew it, it was September, and Yang Mi's birthday was approaching.
"Does he know your birthday?" Yuan Shanshan asked Yang Mi after finishing work that day.
"You probably don't know."
"You need to let him know! You can tell how much you mean to him by what gift he prepares for you."
"He's so busy, it's normal that he doesn't buy gifts, right? Look, he still goes to look at sample videos so late every day."
"You even gave him your virginity, your first birthday together, and he didn't do anything in return. Do you think that's acceptable?"
"What should I do then? Should I tell him my birthday is in a few days and he wants to prepare a gift for me?"
"Of course not, watch me!" Yuan Shanshan patted her chest and declared confidently.
The next day at noon, Yuan Shanshan walked up to Shen Qing and said, "Director, there are no scenes for me on the call sheet this morning and afternoon. I'm going out for a bit."
Go ahead, be careful.
"If Yang Mi asks me, don't tell her what I did."
Shen Qing was stunned for a moment, thinking to herself, "I don't even know where you've been, how am I supposed to tell her?"
"Then what are you going to do?"
"Yang Mi's birthday is September 12th, I'm going to pick out a small gift for her."
"Okay, then go ahead."
Yuan Shanshan turned to Yang Mi and boasted, "The director already knows it's your birthday. Let's see how he reacts."
Yang Mi was a little uneasy.
Yuan Shanshan didn't care whether Shen Qing responded or not if she hadn't reminded him; she would have just pretended he didn't know. But now that Yuan Shanshan had specifically reminded him, if he still didn't respond, she might really be very upset.
Shen Qing remembered Yang Mi's birthday and planned to hold a small celebration for her on set that day. Besides that, should he prepare a separate small gift for her?
If I were to give a gift, what would be a more meaningful gift?
……
On September 12th, the crew prepared a cake, and the main cast members sang a birthday song around Yang Mi. Shen Qing felt that the scene was slightly awkward.
After the celebration ended, Shen Qing called Yang Mi aside.
"This is for you."
Shen Qing took out a very ordinary plastic box.
"What is it?"
"Why don't you just open it and see?"
Yang Mi took the plastic box, opened it, and then froze.
"What do you mean by this?" she asked Shen Qing, pulling a needle from the plastic box, her face full of confusion.
It's just a very ordinary sewing needle.
Shen Qing took the needle from Yang Mi's hand and said, "Didn't you play Guo Xiang? In the TV series, Yang Guo gave Guo Xiang three jade needles and promised to help her fulfill three wishes. Now I'm giving you three needles too. No matter what our relationship becomes in the future, bring these three needles to me, and I will do my best to help you as long as it doesn't violate the law or morality."
"Really?" Yang Mi took out another one from the plastic box and asked, "If I use this to ask you for the lead role in a big-budget movie, you'll agree?"
Shen Qing nodded and then said, "Ip Man 2 and Taken 2 won't do. We can't easily change the female lead in a film series. Apart from that, my new big-budget production is fine."
Yang Mi carefully put the needle back into the plastic box, and then took back the one that Shen Qing was holding, also carefully putting it back into the plastic box.
Shen Qing laughed and said, "These needles are industrial products, they're everywhere, and there's no anti-counterfeiting measure. You don't need to be so careful. Even if you lose these three needles, it doesn't matter. I'll keep track of them. Just come find me. As long as you have no more than three needles, it's valid. Any kind of needle will do."
"Mind your own business. I'm going to treasure it carefully," Yang Mi said with a hint of arrogance after giving Shen Qing a disdainful look.
……
Filming for "Lost in Thailand" officially wrapped on September 25th. The entire shooting process lasted one and a half months. The original production budget was 5 million yuan, but it may eventually reach more than 7 million yuan. The extra part is the consumption of film stock.
After returning to Beijing, Shen Qing and Yang Mi were inseparable for a while. Then, they worked on editing "Lost in Thailand" while preparing for the start of filming "Taken 2".
The investment scale of "Taken 2" reached 5000 million yuan, of which Shen Qing's remuneration for screenwriting, directing and leading role totaled 1800 million yuan. Shen Qing invested all of this 1800 million yuan into the film, accounting for 36% of the film's share. In addition, he put out another 1000 million yuan in cash, accounting for 20% of the film's share. In total, Shen Qing's company accounted for 56% of the film's total share.
The remaining shares were jointly funded by several companies, including China Film Group, Berna, Enlight Media, and Dingxin.
Of the 5000 million investment, 1000 million is initially planned to be used for the film's marketing expenses.
While "Lost in Thailand" is still in post-production, Shen Qing is already discussing the film's release date with Enlight Media and China Film Group.
The film will be jointly distributed by these two companies.
I think it should be released during the Spring Festival.
Shen Qing expressed his stance to both China Film Group and Enlight Media.
The Spring Festival film season was relatively quiet during this period, with less competition, so Han Sanping and Wang Changtian both understood Shen Qing's choice.
"Lost on Journey" is not a blockbuster after all. Even if Shen Qing has a high box office appeal, it is not a wise choice to use such a low-budget comedy to compete with blockbusters for the New Year's season.
During this time, Shen Qing and Fan Bingbing got together again, and as soon as they met, she very astutely said that Shen Qing had a new lover.
Why do you say that?
"In the past, whenever I asked you out, you would always come running. But lately, you've been making all sorts of excuses to avoid me. I don't even need to guess; you've been eating somewhere else."