From the Start, I Talked a Coal Tycoon into Making an Idol Drama [The 1990S]

Pre-release: “From the Start, I Fooled Hong Kong Tycoons into Making a Cop Movie [The 1980s]” Please add it to your collection! 【Sharp, capable big sister x cold-faced, insecure puppy】 After a misstep, Zhu Yu was reborn in 1998. The good news: she wasn’t blind, so she could keep making movies. The bad news: she had just been framed and expelled from film school. Worst of all, the villagers who had sold everything to put her through school were about to come to the capital to see her, their future great director. In her previous life, Zhu Yu ran away in disgrace. This time, she would never let the villagers down. To that end, she had to put together a film crew within three months. Zhu Yu had talent and experience. The only thing she lacked was money. Money! The penniless Zhu Yu set her sights on the campus heartthrob, Luo Xinian. Luo Xinian had a powerful family background, but his acting was just as terrible. To secure his investment, Zhu Yu lied through her teeth. “Luo, you have a real talent for acting. Would you like to be my leading man?” The road to fame for genius director Zhu Yu began with that lie. She made a romance series, and a television executive sneered, “How can this pointless trash even be called a TV drama?” Then the series aired, topped the ratings, and had the whole city glued to their screens. Even the executive’s daughter became a fan of Zhu Yu. She pulled out every trick in the book to wheedle her father: “Dad, I’m such a huge fan of Director Zhu! Please get me her autograph!” The once-arrogant executive had no choice but to swallow his pride and ask Zhu Yu for an autograph. She made a movie, and an industry legend published a scathing article: “Young lady, making movies isn’t child’s play. Stop ruining the big screen!” Yet her very first film won the Cannes Palme d’Or, an award that the critic had spent a lifetime trying and failing to win. Even Charles, Hollywood’s most distinguished director, bowed his proud head and praised her as “a monstrous genius from the East.” Scripts no one believed in earned her hundreds of millions at the box office. Unknown actors became award-winning stars in her hands. Investors brandished checks and begged to work with her, while countless celebrities fought for a role in her movies. Zhu Yu was the brightest gem in the history of Chinese cinema. Zhu Yu was at a loss. In her previous life, all she knew was that Luo Xinian had retired from acting at a young age and gone home, where he crushed all his siblings to become head of the family business. She’d heard he was ruthless and cold by nature, a textbook domineering CEO. But! What happened to being cold by nature? What kind of cold-hearted CEO bursts into tears in front of her at the drop of a hat? Luo Xinian used to hate his tendency to cry uncontrollably. Then he met Zhu Yu and realized she was a sucker for it. For the first time in his life, he thought it might actually be a good thing. He was tongue-tied and bad with words, but his tears could convey the overwhelming feelings in his heart to Zhu Yu. His tears could make Zhu Yu pity him and favor him. His tears could make Zhu Yu give up the whole forest for him, just one tree. The only despicable thing he had ever done was use his tears to beg for Zhu Yu’s love. Reader’s Guide: A parallel universe. All characters are fictional and should not be identified with real people. The story focuses on her career, but romance also plays a substantial role. The male lead is not a background character. The leads are each other’s first love in both lifetimes. There are no other partners; one-on-one romance. Pre-release: “From the Start, I Fooled Hong Kong Tycoons into Making a Cop Movie [The 1980s]” Synopsis: 【A frail tycoon whose old flame reignites x a director who flirts without realizing it】 After transmigrating, Song Cichao found herself back in Hong Kong in 1986. The moment she opened her eyes, a gun was pointed at her forehead. A roomful of fierce-looking thugs surrounded an exceptionally handsome man. Song Cichao went through the original owner’s memories and nearly cried. The original owner had been tricked by her boyfriend into posing as a Chinese-American director, claiming to have a Hollywood film project in the works in hopes of swindling some money from a sucker. Unfortunately, the two had just arrived and knew no better. They’d ended up trying to cheat Baili Mu, a big shot from the Yige gang. The one piece of good news was that Song Cichao had spent half her life as a director. It was the perfect job for her. To stay alive, she put her talent for sweet-talking investors to use, spinning out a wealth of film-production knowledge with impeccable expertise. Seeing that the big shot was finally paying attention, she hurriedly promised, “Boss, give me six months. I’ll have a movie ready for you by then!” Baili Mu looked frail and aloof, his body ravaged by illness, but his words were murderous: “You get one month. After that, either you deliver a movie, or I feed you to the fish.” With a steaming hot 500,000 Hong Kong dollars in her hands and a gang of men following to keep watch on her, Song Cichao set out to make a movie and save her own life. Hong Kong filmmakers heard that Baili Mu had handed 500,000 dollars to a mainland woman. They immediately started a betting pool, wagering on when she’d run off with the money. Who could have guessed that a month later, Song Cichao’s low-budget horror film would hit theaters and scare the whole city of Hong Kong to tears? A 500,000-dollar investment made 11 million at the box office, a 22-fold return! The filmmakers who had started the betting pool all turned red-eyed with envy, waving checks and begging Song Cichao to direct their projects. In an interview, one director sneered, “Horror movies aren’t respectable. And they call this girl a genius director?” Before Song Cichao could respond, Baili Mu had already placed a check for her next film at her side. A year later, Song Cichao’s new movie was released. Her cop film caused a sensation across Hong Kong, and gangs from all over the city lined up to see it. It smashed box-office records and swept the awards. Even Hollywood studios came from far away to invite Song Cichao to Hollywood. Song Cichao figured she’d made Baili Mu a fortune and ought to have earned her life back. She went to say goodbye, trembling with fear, only to see him push all the money he’d made over the years toward her and ask softly, “Would you grant me the honor of being your investor for the rest of your life?” Looking into the man’s sparkling eyes, Song Cichao suddenly realized that somewhere along the way, over the years, something had quietly changed. Theme: Never give up hope.