Chapter 98

  Arrived at the hotel and rested for a night, also took a closer look at the schedule for the next day.

  The premiere of "Mysterious Seed" was preceded by a dinner party, the main purpose of which was to let the main actors and production team leaders meet with investors before filming began on the second part, in an effort to persuade them to continue investing in the second part - Jian Yan looked at the long list of investor names and felt dizzy, but the first stop in Berlin meant that most of the major investors were gathered nearby. He patiently watched as several big investors' names passed by, then saw a name that almost made him throw his folder in his face when it appeared in second place: Mond.

  For a moment, the young man with black hair looked very unwell.

  He had just finished washing and was sitting on the bed, but now he got up and came to the floor-to-ceiling window. The 40-story high hotel looked out at the entire Berlin night scene, which was like a dazzling starry sky in the heavy snow that had been falling since morning... But the young man with black hair standing by the floor-to-ceiling window had no heart to appreciate it. He could clearly hear the pounding sound in his chest cavity, accompanied by Fang Yu's confused question behind him "What's wrong?" His tightly furrowed eyebrows were getting tighter and tighter. He turned around, leaning against the floor-to-ceiling window: "Fang Yu, call and ask the relevant staff, I want to know what kind of background the top three investors have..."

  "What's wrong?"

  He took a deep breath and said nothing but "Go ask."

  Fang Yu fell silent for a moment, and then seemed to recall something - such as what Jiang Chuan had said at the press conference about Jian Ran's youth before his debut. Although Fang Yu didn't know if those things were true or not, nor did he know what was going on at that time, seeing Jian Ran's reaction now, the expression on his face also became somewhat subtle: "What do you want to ask, just say it directly."

  "Second one." Jian Yan sat down on the sofa, looking instantly extremely tired as he rubbed his face, "Hope I'm just overthinking it."

  He picked up the file he had thrown on the bed, took a look at it, and then closed it slowly, saying: "Although I don't know what happened, but I think the surname Mond is still quite well-known in Germany..."

  He spoke halfway, only to see the black-haired young man sitting on the sofa staring at him with an unprecedented silent gaze. He paused for a moment, thought about it, and finally made a phone call to ask the relevant staff in a subtle way what he wanted to know. The other party seemed to be very happy that Jianran was taking the initiative to understand the situation, and said a lot of things excitedly until fifteen minutes later when he hung up the phone. Only then did he tell Jianran, who was looking at him with a tense face: "It's said to be a big family in the mechanical industry."

  He let out a long sigh.

  Fang Yu saw him relax and didn't know why his heart that had been hanging high also fell to the ground: "Do you know who that Mond is?"

  "To be honest, I don't know," Jian Yan furrowed her brow slightly, "but probably not doing anything serious, although they do have a lot of money... Ah, maybe I'm just too tense, actually it's not that big of a deal."

  At this time, the gentle voice sounds a bit too deliberate and understated - in life he was never a good actor, especially when it came to things that mattered to him... At this point, Fang Yu didn't know what to say to comfort him, so she could only get up and bid farewell, leaving the young man with black hair alone to sort out his emotions.

  ……

  The next day, he got up early to do the preparatory work, followed by other actors to review the premiere ceremony process, have lunch, do styling, and then change into formal wear for the evening banquet - a whole day of busy work made Jian Ran temporarily forget the annoying things that had troubled him almost all night last night...

  Before I knew it, it was already afternoon.

  The sky turned from clear to cloudy, with thick clouds, and the staff sighed in worry that it might snow again tonight, wondering if the event could proceed smoothly. It was unexpected that they could express such concerns directly, if this were to happen in a more superstitious country, the staff who said such things before the premiere would have to face being dragged out and beaten up.

  Dressed neatly and tidily, Jianran followed the crew from the hotel to the premiere ceremony at the giant cinema.

  Berlin in winter is much colder than J City or G City, especially when the sun comes out for a while in the morning and the snow on the streets starts to melt. Even just walking from the car to the venue for five or six minutes makes your teeth chatter with cold - of course, it's also partly because of excitement and nervousness, as you see fans waiting outside the cinema from afar, a sea of unfamiliar Western faces holding up German signs that you don't have time to read, excitedly calling out the name of their favorite actor.

  As several leading actors walked out of the car in front, the crowd's cheers became even more enthusiastic than before - looking around, almost everyone on both sides of the street was stretching their necks tightly staring at every car passing in front of them, with excitement flashing in their eyes, as if they were gift boxes piled under a Christmas tree, and surprises would jump out of them at any time.

  Jen sat in the car, watching Tom Johnson get out first and wave to fans with a big smile, which caused a stir. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat - before that, he had been chatting casually with director Chris in English, but now he suddenly fell silent. Chris caught the unease of the young black-haired man beside him and laughed, patting Jen's shoulder, telling him not to worry because his role as "God's Redemption" already had a large following on social media abroad, and when this trip was announced, many people shouted that they would come to see what "God" looked like in person.

  Chris laughed loudly as if he was amused by himself, while Jian Yan followed with a dry laugh, her mind already in disarray, and her soul had flown away without knowing where it went.

  At this time, their car had already arrived at the destination. The two main characters had successively entered the cinema under the escort of security guards. The scene, which was previously slightly out of control - although it was still lively, but for Jian Ran, it was simply a terrifying silence.

  He heard the sound of the security guard outside opening the car door, and he was thinking "what if there's no applause", "what if the reporters don't even bother to take pictures", "what if everyone looks at him with a confused expression and doesn't know who he is", "what if the scene is so cold that it forms a strong contrast and makes him feel embarrassed and anxious", "damn, why didn't Claire's company hire some water army to come, I'd be willing to pay for it myself" and other thoughts flashed through his mind...

  Until he had a stiff smile on his face and one foot out of the car door.

  He heard the crowd outside seem to suddenly quiet down.

  Suddenly, a voice in his mind went "done", but before he could trigger his awkward fear, he simply raised his hand and scratched his neat hair, looking somewhat at a loss. However, after he finished this action, from the corner of his eye, he saw a young girl with chestnut-colored hair standing very close to him, her face shocked as she covered it with one hand while pointing at him with the other. A few seconds of silence later, a deafening scream suddenly erupted in Jian Ran's ear: "SAATGUT!!!!!!!!!

  He was slightly stunned for a moment because he had done some homework before coming here to promote, so he still recognized the pronunciation of this word, which means "seed".

  When the girl screamed, Jian Ran's heart, which had sunk to the bottom of the icy sea, floated up a little bit. He thought to himself, "Damn, it's really great that I've been recognized! You're an angel!" He immediately turned his head and waved at the direction of the girl who shouted out the word——but what he didn't expect was that after this wave, the atmosphere on the scene suddenly exploded, the crowd became excited, more and more people first showed a shocked expression like the girl, then started screaming the same word——

  “saatgut！”

  People simply repeated that one word, the last character of the name, and when male voices started to join in one after another, it was as if they were about to tear open the gloomy sky!

  I'm really shocked this time.

  Compared with the current situation, the silence at that moment seemed more like everyone was still in a daze.

  And when he walked onto the red carpet in the center of the crowd, everyone's reaction was no less enthusiastic than before, the cameras in the hands of the reporters "clicked" away, various flashlights lit up on his face, and the momentum was absolutely no less than any of his previous experiences walking the red carpet at home.

  But this time, Jian Ran clearly knew that he could get such treatment, and it was all because of his mother's credit!

  After all, his "acting skills" can't be seen at all in that short trailer.

  But Claire's powerful post-production made even Ren Yan himself feel that the scene where he splashed water was stunningly beautiful - but he had no idea that foreign movie fans would buy it so much.

  Under the cheers and applause of the crowd, he walked into the cinema with a smile on his face, chest out and head held high. When he reached a place where there were no reporters or outsiders, the first thing he did was to retract his smile, and inexplicably raised his hand to touch his own face: could it be that without him knowing, he had suddenly turned into a face that was so stunningly beautiful that it could topple cities and states?

  This foolish action finally came to an end when he turned around and saw his own reflection on the glittering pillar in the cinema, he put down his hands with a silly face. At this time, Director Chris also walked into the cinema, seeing the young man with black hair standing there with a blank expression, unable to come back to himself. He laughed loudly and patted Jian Ran's shoulder: "Yes, you didn't see wrong, we foreigners just like your look, and you are more charming than you think! Tonight's task of fooling those investors into throwing money is yours!"

  Chris's voice was a bit loud, and the sound made Sara Muller and Tom Johnson, who were not far away, turn their heads around to smile at him. Sara even learned from somewhere to put her hands together in a "please please" gesture. The surrounding crowd burst into kind laughter, and Chris stood there, feeling like he was standing on the marble floor of the cinema lobby one minute, and floating up to the ceiling the next.

  He couldn't help but slightly raise the corners of his lips, turned around in a circle on the spot, and finally when everyone was entering the banquet hall one after another, he suddenly thought of something and took out his phone to send a text message to Jiang Chuan: I've arrived at the location, the situation is not bad, and surprisingly many people recognized me hahahahahaha!

  He had just finished sending the text message and was about to put his phone away, but before he could even put it back in his pocket, he felt the phone vibrate. He quickly grabbed hold of it and lowered his head to look at it, only to find that Jiang Chuan had replied almost instantly: "Recognized you by staring at your butt?"

  He was taken aback by a black line on his face, and didn't know if the guy was joking or not. He quickly replied with "Your sister!", thought for a moment, then directly dialed Jiang Chuan's phone number - the phone rang twice before being picked up, and the man lazily said "Hello" on the other end of the line. Jian Ran didn't give him much chance to speak, immediately asking: "When are you arriving?"

  ……

  At this time, Jian Ran did not know that in the office about 15 floors above his head, a large armchair turned around and slid to the floor-to-ceiling window behind the man sitting on the sofa. He looked down at the crowded fans and various film crews below, chuckled, raised his hand to adjust his sleeve, and replied lazily: "On the way, but there's a traffic jam, probably going to be late... The banquet will start half an hour later, and guests with invitation cards can enter one after another. What's the hurry?"

  The man's words had just fallen when the office door was suddenly opened from the outside, and the middle-aged man who was called "Bill" yesterday walked in. He wanted to speak, but was stopped by a glance from the person sitting on the sofa. He could only stop immediately, staring at the man with a patient smile on his face as he spoke Chinese on the phone. After finishing the call and hanging up the phone, the smile disappeared instantly, and the azure eyes showed no emotion: "What do you want?"

  "Master, all the crew members have arrived, next is during the banquet——"

  "I'll go again in half an hour."

  Bill hesitated for a moment: "But young master, in half an hour it's time for the guests with invitations to enter..."

  "So I have to give way to them?"

  The man calmly asked back, Bill was stunned again, and immediately realized that he seemed to have misspoken, slightly bowed his head and turned around to leave the room.

  ……

  He then hung up the phone after urging Jiang Chuan to hurry up, and chatted with Jiang Chuan for a while, holding his mobile phone. It wasn't until Director Chris came over to introduce him to other producers that he casually took a glass of red wine from a passing waiter and followed him to get down to business.

  The producer's name is Mandel, an American and a trump card in the hands of Claire Corporation. It is rumored that films that have passed through his hands are basically not flops. Because of his talent and arrogance, Mr. Mandel is also known for being temperamental in Hollywood - people who get along with him well speak highly of him, but those who don't know him well can't help but frown when mentioning his name, saying "he's not that easy to get along with".

  Before this, Jian Ran had never had direct contact with this producer. At this time, he suddenly heard that he was going to be introduced to him and was a little worried that the person would not get along well. However, when he arrived in front of him, he discovered that Mandro was actually an ordinary middle-aged man who was slightly overweight. When he saw Jian Ran, he kindly and proactively raised his wine glass and said: "This is our mysterious seed, Chris. Did you hear the screams of those girls just now? I knew my persistence back then was correct."

  He was slightly stunned at first, then quickly showed the expected shyness... and only through Chris and Mander's conversation did he realize that the one who insisted on finding him was actually Mander. It turned out that Mander had seen an early film starring Jianran, "Dragon Wolf Legend", where Jianran played a gentle and indifferent young man. At the time, he was just a small supporting actor, and his character even died in a torrential rain amidst withered grass roots. Yet it was precisely this wretched scene that caught Mander's eye, making him think that the shepherd boy in the film was very suitable for the role of "God's Redemption Source".

  I was a bit surprised to hear that, because when he filmed that movie, he was only in his early twenties. Although he won a small award for that role, at least in his opinion, his acting skills were not very mature at the time.

  "For Hollywood, your acting is also not mature enough - but that doesn't mean it's a bad thing," Mandro said. "We need fresh blood instead of those old-timers forever active on the screen, audiences need freshness, not eternal box office guarantees and then going through the motions... You see, because of your 'immature' acting, you were extracted from 'Mysterious Seeds: Origins', you're like a person living in another dimension in that world, different from the main characters..."

  “……”

  He thought this guy was talking nonsense in a serious tone.

  However, because he said it very seriously and all the words sounded good, so in the end, she still chose to believe him. She smiled and took a sip of the red wine in her hand. As the smooth liquid slid down her throat, she smiled and said: "It seems that Mr. Mandel is quite satisfied with my performance in the first part for more than ten seconds. If there is another chance to perform in the second part..."

  "Of course they would." Chris smiled slyly. "If the roles were reversed now, those people screaming for you outside would storm Claire's company."

  He burst out laughing, and at this time, seeing that the topic had been extended to the second part, Mandro told him that the second part was scheduled to start in May this year. In the second part, Jianran will have more scenes than the first part, but no lines. From beginning to end, his voice is only arranged for one place standing on the cliff and shouting.

  It's actually more difficult to play a role without lines, as all the emotions and expressions have to be perfectly conveyed, otherwise you'll easily become a walking corpse in the eyes of the audience, with people not even knowing what you're doing.

  Learn to speak with your eyes.

  Thinking of this, Jian Ran felt a bit tired.

  But before getting the script, worrying about these seems too redundant, so I can only temporarily not think about those. At this time, Mandro dismissed Chris with a few words and then mysteriously pulled me aside. When he was sure there were no more people around, he astonishingly said: "Ran, I solemnly invite you to a new movie."

  "Thus:"

  What?

  Mandolo: "I'm tired of the enthusiasm that comes with hearing the name 'Producer Mandolo', it makes me feel like I'm stuck in a bottleneck and can't make new breakthroughs, I don't even know if my skills have improved or regressed over the years..."

  Jian Ran: "......"

  This damn idle American.

  "Sorry, sorry, I don't quite understand, so Mr. Mandrake's meaning is..."

  Mandoro: "In October this year, I will direct a new work anonymously. This work will be launched in Hollywood under the name of a newcomer producer, win awards without any preconditions or word-of-mouth, and then make a big splash."

  Jian Ran: "......"

  It seems this person has gone mad.

  Mandela squeezed his eyes: "Because I'm a new producer, I can do things without being tied up. I can try some things I like - for example, I've always wanted to make a movie without a female lead screaming on the side. It's all about men, sailing, treasure, and dreams - you can play the male lead."

  "...one of many male leads?"

  "Number one male lead," Manduo suddenly changed his usual unpleasant demeanor in front of people, now laughing like a kid, raised his hand and patted Jian Ran's shoulder excitedly, saying "Oh, the script says it's perfect for you, also a young man with flexible black hair, unrestrained and free-spirited, like a jumping monkey, couldn't be more suitable."

  He thought for three seconds whether this guy was making a personal attack.

  But the person in front of him was literally his bread and butter for entering the international market, at this time he couldn't care about so much anymore, and crazily nodded without any dignity, almost saying "yes I do", Mandro looked at him being so cooperative and was also extremely happy, the two stood in the corner of the banquet hall chatting and laughing with great enthusiasm, as if this movie that didn't even have a confirmed name yet, produced by an old producer wearing a cloak, starring completely new international actors, had already won the Hollywood award.

  But at this time they were indeed filled with a beautiful blueprint for the future in their hearts.

  After all, even if this movie flops, Rodman is still Rodman and Yuan Yanyan is still Yuan Yanyan.

  It's really a business where one more doesn't bring in money and one less doesn't lose money.

  He never thought that by just wandering around the banquet hall, he would gain so much. At this moment, he was chatting with a famous and slightly mischievous producer, having a great time. He didn't even notice when someone opened the large doors of the banquet hall behind him, but he felt a gust of cool wind blowing from outside, causing him to shiver subconsciously.

  Then he caught sight of most people in the banquet hall stopping their conversations and looking towards the door.

  He subconsciously turned his head to take a glance, but only managed to see the waiter open the door and respectfully invite a man wearing a white suit to enter - the man was tall and had golden hair, but because he was surrounded by bodyguards at this moment, Jian Ran couldn't even see what he looked like.

  When the man walked in from outside the door, he faintly smelled a light rose fragrance. At this time, he had already turned his head back with a lack of interest and quickly thought to himself "Probably some rich kid brought a bouquet for the actress". So when the fragrance got closer and closer behind him, he still didn't turn his head around.

  Until Rodman suddenly stopped talking and looked back at him with some surprise.

  He blinked strangely and solemnly.

  The next second, a large bouquet of bright red roses was suddenly stuffed into his arms. In the midst of his astonishment, the person who had come up behind him had already grasped his shoulders and swiftly bent down to plant a kiss on the lips of the stiffened black-haired young man.

  "However, it's been twelve years since we last met, and you're still as enchanting."