Gun-Ho sent 2 million dollars to Huanle Shiji Production Company. He initially planned to send it after the movie production presentation was over, but since the investment contract was already signed, and Mori Aikko also signed the contract for her role, Gun-Ho decided to send the funds earlier than he planned.
When Mori Aikko arrived in Shanghai, the entire staff of Huanle Shiji Production Company and President Baogang Chen welcomed her fervently. Mori Aikko’s exquisite and delicate appearance seemed to be obviously a perfect fit for the geisha role in the movie—Menghuan Yinghua. Additionally, she was exuding a unique Japanese vibe as well.
“She is certainly a stunning Japanese girl.”
“I can tell for sure that for this specific geisha role in Menghuan Yinghua, Mori Aikko is definitely a better fit than the Chinese top star—Fan Bingbing.”
“We will have to spend 10 million dollars to work with Fan Bingbing! But we only paid 200,000 dollars to bring this gorgeous actress—Mori Aikko. This is an incredible deal.”
The staff was busy talking and making comments when they saw Mori Aikko in person.
The makeup artist who came with Mori Aikko handed several posters to Director Yan Wu. Director Yan Wu opened one of the posters. On that poster, Mori Aikko was posing in a colorful Kimono holding a Wakasa (a traditional Japanese oil-paper umbrella) in her hand. Her face was covered with heavy geisha makeup. It was the poster made with the photo taken during the Matsuri (festival) in Heian Shrine in Okazaki Park last year.
“Whoa, this is an authentic Kimono.”
“We can use this poster during our movie production presentation. We will put it on a large screen as a background during the presentation.”
Director Woon-Hak Sim, who was sitting in a corner quietly, said to Director Yan Wu, “Huanle Shiji Production Company reserved a hotel room for Mori Aikko with Grand Central Hotel nearby Huangpu River. What do you think about arranging a meeting between Mori Aikko and the screenwriter—Ms. Ailing Feng—in the hotel?”
“That sounds like a good idea.”
“We can use Ms. Ailing Feng’s comments and reactions about the meeting with the main female actress—Mori Aikko—in her movie, and her first impression when he sees Mori Aikko for the first time, for the marketing purpose. It should be interesting enough for the news reporters to pick up to publish in their newspapers. We can send the interpreter who we newly hired for Mori Aikko and one photographer to the meeting.”
“Hai Keyi (sounds good).”
News coverage about Mori Aikko already appeared in the evening newspaper that day. The photo of Mori Aikko in a Kimono was shown on it. It seemed that Huanle Shiji Production Company provided them with the photo.
[A Japanese actress—Sen Yingzi (Mori Aikko) Lai Hua (came to China).
Sen Yingzi, who used to be a Yi Ji (geisha), arrived in Shanghai City yesterday in order to attend the movie production presentation of Menghuan Yinghua which is written by Ms. Ailing Feng. In the movie, Sen Yingzi will take the geisha role who falls in love with a Chinese spy during the Anti-Japanese War.]
“It looks good.”
Director Yan Wu smiled broadly when he saw the news article about Mori Aikko; he seemed to be satisfied. Director Yan Wu said to Director Woon-Hak Sim, “Why don’t we head out to Grand Central Hotel? Ms. Ailing Feng will be there.”
“What about the interpreter and the photographer?”
“I’ve already sent the interpreter and the photographer to the hotel.”
“Oh, you have?”
When Director Woon-Hak Sim and Director Yan Wu arrived at Grand Central Hotel, the photographer and the interpreter were sitting on a chair in the hotel lobby. Director Yan Wu said to the interpreter, “Please make a call to Ms. Mori Aikko now, and tell her to come down to the lobby.”
“Yes, sir.”
While the interpreter was giving a call to Mori Aikko, a woman, who looked like she was in her mid-40s, came into the lobby. Half of her hair was covered with gray hair. A large briefcase was slung over her shoulder. Director Woon-Hak Sim could easily guess that she was Ms. Ailing Feng.
“Mr. Director Yan Wu!” She recognized Director Yan Wu first.
“Oh, Ms. Ailing Feng! Please meet Director Woon-Hak Sim here. He is a movie director from Korea. He is working with us for the movie.”
“Oh, really? It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Director.”
Director Sim looked at Ms. Ailing Feng. She looked about the same age as himself, but her hair was almost gray. Director Sim thought that maybe doing her job in thinking and writing a lot led to the development of her gray hair. At that moment, one of the elevators arrived at the lobby floor, and Mori Aikko and the makeup artist showed up. Director Yan Wu waved his hand at Mori Aikko and said, “Mori Aikko! Over here!”
Mori Aikko was wearing jeans. She looked like a young college student.
“This is Ms. Ailing Feng. She is the screenwriter of our movie.”
Mori Aikko gave a deep bow to Ms. Ailing Feng right away.
“Oh, my. She is indeed a Japanese girl. I can tell that she has good manners. I’m Ailing Feng. It’s very nice meeting you.”
Ms. Ailing Feng extended her hand to Mori Aikko for a handshake.
“It’s my pleasure meeting you, ma’am. I’m honored to be part of your movie and work with you.”
The interpreter interpreted what Mori Aikko just said in Chinese.
Ms. Ailing Feng responded, “She is very pretty and very polite. She is definitely different from those arrogant Chinese actresses here. She is perfect for my movie.”
They headed to a café in the hotel. It seemed that Mori Aikko caught Ms. Ailing Feng’s fancy; Ms. Ailing Feng kept holding Mori Aikko’s hand on the way to the café.
“I’ve been traveling to Japan a lot. And, I can tell that Ms. Aikko has a traditional Japanese atmosphere. You have a very delicate face. You are strikingly beautiful. You are a dancing Maiko San, right?”
“Yes,” Mori Aikko replied.
Ms. Ailing Feng smiled broadly and said, “She gives a slight nod whenever she says yes. It’s very Japanese. If I knew that I would be working with a dancing Maiko San, I would have added more scenes of dancing. It’s a shame.”
Director Yan Wu said while smiling, “We will add extra dancing scenes while shooting the movie.”
“That’s good.”
Director Woon-Hak Sim, who was having his cup of coffee quietly, suddenly lifted his head, and gave his business card to Ms. Ailing Feng and said, “Umm, Ms. Feng, if you have your business card on you, can I have one, please?”
“I don’t usually give out my business card… but give me one second.”
Ms. Ailing Feng searched through her large briefcase and then pulled out her purse. She then found her business card from it and gave it to Director Sim. Her business card looked simple. Since she was an independent writer who didn’t have an agency or someone else to represent her, her business card only said ‘Writer Ailing Feng’ with her contact number and email address in a small font.
Ms. Ailing Feng said as she handed the business card to Director Sim, “The Korean screenwriter—xx, Kim—is a friend of mine. I used to visit Korea pretty often. It has been a while since the last time I went there. I’ve been pretty busy these days in writing scenarios and scripts. Haha.”
After finishing their coffee, Director Yan Wu said as he stood up from his seat, “Why don’t we have our writer and our main female actress took a picture together to keep this moment? This is certainly a meaningful moment.”
“Sure.”
Ms. Ailing Feng smiled as she stood up for photo taking. Ms. Ailing Feng and Mori Aikko held each other’s hand and looked at the camera with a smile. They took a photo together at the hotel lobby.
