Chapter 104

  When they arrived, the timing was just right. Li Jin got off at a secluded spot and went to the birthday party alone. After all, his relationship with Li Yiheng had not been made public, and it would be too conspicuous to sit in Mr. Li's car.

  The wine party was held in Mu Lao's villa, and when Li Jin entered, the atmosphere inside was already lively. After the selection of the new singer ended, Qin Yi Ge left the company to go to America, saying that he still had many shortcomings and needed to make up for lost time. As a result, the company was completely handed over to Bei Fuming, and Li Jin naturally became the second-in-command of Art Song Company in everyone's eyes.

  Moreover, when he was Li Yiheng's special assistant, he often followed him to charge into the fray at various banquets, and his old face still gave him a lot of face. As a result, Li Jin was able to navigate the banquets with ease, raising his champagne glass frequently, giving off a bit of a "charmer" vibe.

  The emotional connection was almost there, but the real heavyweight figures hadn't arrived yet. Li Jin knew that those big shots wouldn't show up until just before the opening, he had limited alcohol tolerance and couldn't get drunk without getting to the point, so he made an excuse to go to the balcony for some fresh air. As soon as he pushed open the glass door, he found someone already standing there.

  The other party is in their early twenties, wearing a snow-white suit that makes them look like a complete Broadway stage flower boy. Their face looks like a doll's, with big eyes and long eyebrows, red lips and white teeth, and they smile very innocently.

  For some reason, Li Jin looked at his smile and inexplicably thought of He family's second young master who was full of innocence.

  The wine suddenly rushed to his head, he stiffened his face and smiled, saying "sorry" and was about to retreat into the house. But the other person suddenly stopped him and said: "It's very stuffy in the house, why are you in a hurry to go back and laugh?"

  This sentence made Li Jin feel a completely different atmosphere from He family's second young master, and he stopped in his tracks, turning around to answer crisply: "Alright."

  The balcony soundproofing is not very good, but it's still relatively quiet. The person seems to have been here for a long time, and the clothes on his body look icy cold, but he doesn't seem to want to leave at all. After finishing one cigarette, he lit another one, handed the cigarette box to Li Jin, and asked: "Want one?"

  Li Jindao thanked him, pulled out one, took out a lighter and lit it for the two of them, taking a deep drag.

  Smoke plunged down a large section underground.

  "You smoke like that, you'll get lung cancer."

  "It doesn't matter," Ruo Fei had also said this to him before, so Li Jin returned the favor unchanged, "I haven't gotten lung cancer yet, but I'll die from overwork first."

  He was stunned after speaking - this person in front of him was a stranger, and if he had offended someone he couldn't afford to offend, his words were too rash.

  That person raised an eyebrow, but smiled without any concern: "Well said, after I returned to my country, I often have this feeling. People in the country are always on the road every day, but few people can clearly say what they are busy with. Just like just now, everyone in the venue had a smile on their face, as if today was their birthday, but whether they were happy or not, only they themselves knew. Looking at them, I feel that living is really too tiring."

  Li Jin did not expect that his simple words would lead to this person's great emotional outburst. He thought to himself, "This person is either very simple-minded or just stupid. In today's world, being simple-minded is equivalent to being stupid." So he probed: "Excuse me, were you previously in... a foreign country?"

  "Don't be so formal, I'm Tim," he said, "I've been studying film at CalArts."

  Li Jin, from Art Song Company... Li Jin stretched out his hand and was about to introduce himself when he was interrupted.

  "I know you're the chief broker of Art Song Company. One of my seniors introduced me to you, saying that... you have a lot of experience." Tim extended his hand, but looked at him with suspicion, seemingly not expecting the four words "very experienced" to be used on someone who looked like he was only in his early twenties. "I'm a film director, but I haven't shot any films domestically yet, so you shouldn't know me."

  By now, Li Jin had already known that this returnee's way of speaking was so direct. Without beating around the bush or flattering him to make him feel at ease, he changed the subject and chatted casually: "Then you should have returned to China not long ago? Is the domestic film market completely different from Hollywood?"

  Tim nodded: "The biggest feeling I get from domestic films is that the genre is not done well, and very few films are made in a mature narrative style according to the type of film..."

  He spoke fluently, but his Mandarin was somewhat standard, and he often encountered expression barriers, having to use English to assist in explaining himself. Lí Jǐn had smoked a cigarette down to the butt, and listening to his grandiose talk was already very annoying, so he politely interrupted: "Then have you ever thought of changing the current situation?"

  "It's hard for me alone to change the current situation." Tim pouted.

  Li Jin snorted inwardly, thinking that anyone can brag, but when it comes to actual problems, they shrink away, what's the difference between them and those so-called movie big shots.

  "But I can be the first to try." Tim said suddenly, "My graduation thesis research direction is the future breakthrough of domestic films, and through my graduation work, I made a small attempt, and achieved some results."

  "What's the score?" asked Li Jin.

  Talking about achievements, Tim rolled up a small strand of hair in front of his forehead and became shy: "It was during the middle of the year when my work won the Emerging Director Award at the Madison Film Festival..."

  "Tim Mok?" Lai Jin was shocked, "You're Tim Mok? The youngest director in the country to win an international A-level film festival award at just 23 years old?"

  Tim became even more modest: "Yes... but actually, international awards are not that hard to get. Our school has alumni who receive international awards every year. Compared to them, I'm nothing."

  Considering the status of CalArts graduates in the film industry, winning a few international awards each year is not a big deal, but Tim is just an overseas Chinese student, and his award-winning film is about a Chinese topic, a graduation project, you can imagine how difficult it was.

  For nearly half a year, the film market has been sluggish with one bad movie after another. Tim's award is like a shot in the arm, giving people hope for the future of Chinese cinema. But despite his fame, he never uttered a word or had any photos taken, so Li Jin didn't recognize him at all.

  "When are you going back to your country?" Li Jin frowned, "How long do you plan on staying?"

  Tim scratched his hair: "Just stay there forever." After a pause, he smiled and said, "To be honest, I think the graduation work is not realistic enough. I plan to mix with domestic... for a while, trying to shoot more localized works."

  He seemed quite unaccustomed when he said the word "mix", and Li Jin smiled with him tacitly, asking: "Is there a suitable script at present?"

  "There is, but it's not mature yet." Tim said, "I..."

  The room suddenly fell silent.

  The silence came so suddenly that it seemed as if everyone in the room had stopped talking at once, and the jazz music that had been playing in the background became unusually clear.

  Li Yiheng, dressed in a deep blue suit, stood at the entrance with a warm smile. On his arm, he gently held a slender white hand. Following the wrist to the side, a beautiful woman in a pale pink evening gown, with just the right amount of light makeup, shone brightly, surpassing all the other beauties in the room.