Yan Huan had just went downstairs when she heard someone knocking on the door. The housekeeper opened the door, and it was no other than Luo Lin. When Luo Lin saw Yan Huan, her eyes shone brightly as though a pile of gold was sitting in front of her.
“Come here and eat with me,” Yan Huan beckoned as she picked up a pair of chopsticks to fill her bowl with vegetables. She ate slowly, which made it seem like she was not hungry at all. However, only she herself knew that she had not had a proper meal for a long time.
Luo Lin came over and sat down without any reservations. She started to dig in after accepting a pair of chopsticks from the housekeeper.
“Where have you been?”
There was an obvious tone of disgruntlement in Luo Lin’s voice. Everyone was busy, yet Yan Huan had gone missing without notifying anyone of her whereabouts. Moreover, she had even turned off her mobile phone. Luo Lin had showed up at her house for more than ten times, but she had not succeeded in meeting Yan Huan even once. If that went on, then she was going to call the police.
Luckily, she managed to locate Yan Huan. Otherwise, she couldn’t even eat.
“Where have I been?” Yan Huan repeated Luo Lin’s question.
“I was hiding from you,” she replied honestly. She did not even consider if her words would hurt Luo Lin.
“You are quite honest,” Luo Lin said bitterly as she took some more food for herself. “I have brought a few scripts along with me, please take a look later.”
“Alright,” Yan Huan answered. She knew of the dramas that might be popular one day, so she would sift through the pile and accept the promising ones. It was such a waste if she did not utilise the resources that she had. Thanks to her foresight, Linlang’s development had already been much better than what she expected.
After having their meal, Yan Huan brought Luo Lin to her room. The room was dark, but Yan Huan did not switch on the light when she entered. Despite the darkness, she could navigate her way through the room just fine, without tripping over any furniture or clutter. She switched on one of the small lamps, accepted the scripts from Luo Lin and sat down.
Luo Lin knew about Yan Huan’s quirks. She disliked places that were too bright, which was why she kept her room in the dark all day long. She did not know what Yan Huan was thinking about these days. She’s not a vampire, so why is she so scared of the sunlight?
Yan Huan went through the scripts and singled out one of them, placing it in front of Luo Lin. “We should focus on this one. I think we can let some of our new actors and actresses make their acting debut in this. Moreover, there might be a sequel too.”
The most important thing was, the investment required was not that much, but its returns would be sizeable and viewership would be high. Of course, their main focus was not on the viewership, as the Linlang’s own productions were quite famous in their own right. Although they were not competitive productions, most of them were acknowledged by experienced players in the field.
A movie, or the definition of success for a movie, depended mainly on the audience. It did not count as an interesting movie just because you said it was. Only the opinions of the audience could be the final judgement.
For now, Linlang’s aim was to bring more of their new actors and actresses onto the big screen. Although Yan Huan was famous now, she would run out of gas one day, just like other actresses. Therefore, Linlang had always been recruiting for new blood.
A good movie or drama was the perfect opportunity for them to establish their reputation.
Yan Huan was willing to give the opportunity to the beginners, for them to improve themselves in a short time. Besides, they would be Linlang’s most precious assets later on.
Luo Lin skimmed through it quickly, and felt that it was a fairly good script. She would start to plan out the timeline as soon as she went back. Coincidentally, Linlang was lacking productions now. It had been a long time since they released their last series. As Yan Huan said, this script had the potential for future development, meaning that there would be a sequel later. There would at least an additional 100 episodes.
Certainly, a drama with more than 100 episodes was the best opportunity for actors and actresses to hone their abilities. However, it had its pros and cons, depending on the quality of the drama production. It would be a success if the quality was good, but if it was not, then their reputation would be tarnished beyond repair.
However, Luo Lin believed in Yan Huan’s words, as she was the box office elixir after all. It would succeed if she said so. If it were not so, then she would ask Yue Ran for help again to cajole Yan Huan into making some cameos to increase the show’s popularity.
“Oh yes, I have something important to tell you today.” Luo Lin had almost forgotten about it. “The film lineup for the upcoming new year had been released, and very coincidentally, it included Su Muran’s ‘The Aster Flower.’ I heard that it was good in all aspects, and it had garnered raucous support on radio and television. When you would like to premiere ‘Before the Beginning’?”
“Most probably after the new year.” Yan Huan had never thought of competing with ‘The Aster Flower’ among the new year movie lineup. The reputation of ‘The Aster Flower’ was pretty good overall, therefore she did not want the fans of ‘The Aster Flower’ to attack her ‘Before the Beginning’. It was meaningless for both parties to attack each other.
Su Muran can have her new year movie, and Yan Huan planned to schedule ‘Before the Beginning’ on the lantern festival. By that time, the hype for ‘The Aster Flower’ would probably have died down. Of course, it could still be very popular, since she has no idea how its box office performance would be.
“In your opinion, how would the box office performance for ‘The Aster Flower’ be?” Luo Lin asked Yan Huan out of curiosity.
“How would I know?” Yan Huan hugged the bolster tightly. She felt too lazy to move, and her long eyelashes fluttered a few times. It seemed like she was almost falling asleep.
Hurriedly, Luo Lin pulled her blanket away. “Take a guess! Are you not curious about it?”
“Nope,” Yan Huan shook her head, “I don’t have the energy to be curious. I’d rather sleep. ”
“I’ve never had an actress like you.” Luo Lin felt that she wanted to beat Yan Huan. She was not being lazy, she was straight up a slob.
“Now you do!” Yan Huan closed her eyes, and did not want to say anything else. She was tired, and needed some rest.
“There are some pretty good advertisements. Are you really sure that you want to reject them?” Luo Lin knew what Yan Huan thought, but she still wanted to ask.
“Nope, don’t want ’em.”
As expected, it was the same reply. Yan Huan rejected them. She rejected everything. Of course, she would still never agree to appear on variety shows.
“Yan Huan, I wished that I could beat you up.” Luo Lin stood up abruptly. “Do you know that these are good opportunities that others could only dream about?”
“Just let them have it, I give it to them.”
Yan Huan pulled the blanket over to her and covered her head. She would not accept any advertising jobs, or reality shows. She just wasn’t interested.
Luo Lin was so angry that her teeth were chattering. Yan Huan was the most difficult one to communicate with among all the artistes she had. Those were such good opportunities, but she just let them go.
Fine, ignore her, leave her to her own devices. Anyway, with her value now, Yan Huan would not go hungry even if she turned down those endorsements.
When she returned to Linlang, she still had to take care of the other matters. For instance, ‘Before the Beginning’ was scheduled to premiere on the lantern festival. The popularity of the new year movies would have simmered down. The lantern festival was an opportunity too. Even if it wasn’t as good compared to the new year movies, it was still much better than other regular periods.
