Chapter 47: What Is Your Relationship with Zhang Yimou?

"Hello, I have arrived!"

Seeing that Chen Jin had not replied to her message for a long time, Bao Jingjing, standing downstairs at the Beijing Film Academy Multimedia Building, couldn't help but send him another direct message.

It was almost 4:00 PM, the time they had agreed upon.

"Hahaha!"

A slightly husky laugh reached Bao Jingjing's ears.

It sounded somewhat familiar.

Subconsciously, she raised her head to look in the direction of the voice, and her expression momentarily froze.

Zh... Zhang Yimou?

Is that Director Zhang Yimou?

As someone who graduated from the Beijing Film Academy, Bao Jingjing naturally recognized this master director, and she couldn't help casting a few extra glances in his direction as it seemed they were waiting for a car.

Shortly after, a commercial vehicle pulled up right in front of Zhang Yimou.

"Director Zhang, goodbye!"

Chen Jin saw Zhang Yimou off into the car, while Fu Lulu blinked at him and gave him a thumbs up.

Shortly after, she also got into the car with Zhang Yimou.

Once the vehicle disappeared from her line of sight, Chen Jin walked toward Bao Jingjing, who was standing nearby.

Bao Jingjing watched with a hint of bewilderment as Chen Jin approached her. She had clearly witnessed the handsome young man chatting and laughing with Director Zhang Yimou just moments ago.

"Senior Bao?"

Chen Jin waved at Bao Jingjing, who was wearing a Mori-girl style top and had a long face with an oval contour. "I am the Grand Viceroy of Wu!"

"Huh?!"

Bao Jingjing widened her eyes, adjusted her glasses frames, clearly unable to believe it. "You... you're the one who made an appointment with me?"

"That's right, my surname is Chen!"

"Strictly speaking, I should be considered your junior!"

"This..."

The drop in Bao Jingjing's expectations was stark, but the moment she recalled him chatting and laughing so familiarly with Zhang Yimou just now, she figured this excessively young junior couldn't be quite so simple.

"Shall we find a place to sit down and have a chat?"

"Alright, su... sure!"

After a brief hesitation, Bao Jingjing agreed.

Mainly because she sensed that Chen Jin's relationship with Zhang Yimou didn't seem ordinary, which sparked a few more speculations in her mind.

"Does Senior know of a cozy place nearby suitable for chatting?"

Chen Jin asked for Bao Jingjing's opinion.

Naturally, this was also to lower Bao Jingjing's guard; strictly speaking, a place chosen by her would be considerably safer.

Before long, the two arrived at a Starbucks near the Beijing Film Academy.

Bourgeois literary girls of this era all loved coming here, and Bao Jingjing was only twenty-three, having just graduated.

"Are you... still a student at the Beijing Film Academy?"

After ordering their coffee, Bao Jingjing couldn't help raising her head to ask Chen Jin.

"Yes, haven't enrolled yet, currently going through the art examinations!"

Bao Jingjing: "..."

"Do you feel like you've been scammed?"

Chen Jin smiled, and Bao Jingjing shook her head. "Not really, it's just quite different from what I expected!"

"Did Senior originally imagine that a well-known actor had taken a fancy to your novel and wanted to adapt it into a film or television project?"

"Exactly!"

Bao Jingjing had nothing to hide, as that was indeed what she had been thinking, and to be honest, she had been quite looking forward to it.

"What kind of person counts as well-known?"

"Does Senior have any ideal actors in mind for the male and female leads in the novel?"

Since they were just chatting idly, Chen Jin wanted to hear the original author's thoughts, even though he already knew who would eventually play the lead roles in Love Is Not Blind.

"Wen Zhang, do you know him?"

Actually, quite a few fans on Douban had asked this question, and eventually, Bao Jingjing had thought of Wen Zhang.

"I know him. The one from Struggle?"

Chen Jin had only come to know this actor through future biographical films.

Wen Zhang wasn't particularly famous at present; let alone first-tier, he barely scraped into the second-tier at best.

His most famous roles should be Xiangnan in the television series Struggle and Xiao Bei in Dwelling Narrowness.

Moreover, both were second male leads.

His starring role in Snow Leopard had just begun filming, and the movie Ocean Heaven, which he shot with his godfather, the Kung Fu Emperor Jet Li, had just locked in its summer release date.

It would take Love Is Not Blind and Naked Marriage Era to propel him onto the throne of domestic first-tier young actors.

After that, taking on a role in Stephen Chow's Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons pushed his fame to its absolute peak.

And after that came the famous "Monday Meeting" scandal, which caused him to vanish from the screen entirely.

"Yes, I feel like he'd be pretty good at playing Wang Xiaojian!"

Bao Jingjing didn't know what she thought of, but she covered her mouth and chuckled softly.

"What about the female lead?"

"I haven't figured out the female lead yet!"

"Did you model this Wang Xiaojian after Wen Zhang?"

"Of course not!"

Bao Jingjing blurted out, and realizing she had lost her composure slightly, she hurriedly added, "Wang Xiaojian is actually based on me, and that Huang Xiaoxian is my best friend!"

"Oh, I see..."

Chen Jin understood somewhat, but then suddenly asked, "Then does Senior think I would be suitable to play Wang Xiaojian?"

"You?"

Bao Jingjing stared at Chen Jin for a moment, then immediately waved her hands. "Not suitable, too tall, and besides..."

"Not effeminate enough!"

"Haha!"

Chen Jin hadn't realized that Wang Xiaojian turned out to be a sissy.

"Actually, I'm quite interested in the role of Wang Xiaojian, and I can secure the investment as well!"

"As for the director, that shouldn't be much of a problem either!"

Chen Jin wasn't boasting; he had the means to earn the investment money.

As for the director... they would proactively come knocking.

The crucial point right now was whether Bao Jingjing would agree.

However, hearing these words, Bao Jingjing interpreted them in an entirely different light, assuming that Chen Jin had the connections to bring in both investment and a director.

Had she heard this earlier, she certainly wouldn't have believed it, but the guy knew Zhang Yimou!

Bao Jingjing didn't doubt what Chen Jin had said.

"As for your point that I'm not a fit, it actually comes down to the actor's own capability."

With the system plus character immersion, Chen Jin could lose a bit of weight if worse came to worst; he could still pull off the vibe of Wang Xiaojian.

When it came to plasticity, Chen Jin basically possessed a system that allowed him to alter his temperament and physique at will.

"What do you say, Senior? Would you consider collaborating to bring this work to the screen?"

Seeing that Bao Jingjing was still deep in thought, Chen Jin hurriedly added, "I can invite you to be the screenwriter!"

"Shooting it now, or further down the line?"

"How much investment can you pull in?"

Bao Jingjing took a sip of her coffee; though a wave of excitement stirred inside her, she still needed to clarify the basic details.

"It can definitely be greenlit and start filming within a year!"

"As for the investment, if I may speak bluntly, tens of millions is out of the question, but a few million should be no problem at all!"

"No, no, no!"

Bao Jingjing hurriedly waved her hands. "I certainly never thought of tens of millions!"

"Then there's no problem at all. Anything under ten million is fine!"

"Does Senior have any suitable directors in mind?"

Chen Jin asked another question.

Bao Jingjing froze for a moment, then shook her head. "No!"

"Then I'll handle the connections here and let you know once it's confirmed!"

"Are there any other issues?"

Chen Jin spoke with crisp efficiency, but Bao Jingjing looked somewhat embarrassed as she asked, "Um... may I... please excuse my boldness, but what kind of relationship do you have with Director Zhang Yimou?"

Her curiosity was simply too intense, bottled up inside her chest until she was about to burst.

"Did Senior see us?"

"Yes, I happened to see you walking out of the multimedia building, chatting and laughing with him!"

"Nothing much, I'm not that close to him!"

Auditioning for The Hawthorn Treehouse was not something that could be casually divulged, especially since he hadn't even been officially selected yet.

"..."

Bao Jingjing wore an expression of utter astonishment. Seeing Chen Jin's deadpan seriousness, not a single person on earth would believe what he was saying!

The more he denied it, the more convinced Bao Jingjing became that he must be extremely close to Zhang Yimou!