Chapter 41: Two Runners-up on the Annual Box Office Chart

For the next two days, Li Wenyu spent his time either at home working on his novel *Interstellar* or out house-hunting with Fatty Bing.

A two-courtyard compound within the Second Ring Road was entering the transaction phase, though it required a permit for renovations, which was slightly bothersome. Fortunately, he had made quite a few friends by now. In particular, people like Jiang Wen and the executives at Huayi—who had invested in *The Piano Tuner* and were looking to make a killing—were useful connections to have. Even the head of China Film Group had privately invited him to dinner twice, praising him for his significant contribution to the international expansion of Chinese cinema.

Beyond the fully renovated courtyards that were move-in ready, he could also consider purchasing apartment units in the Third Ring area; he could afford them now.

Li Wenyu and Fatty Bing, who was wearing sunglasses, a mask, and a hat, had just stepped out of a residential building’s stairwell when his phone rang. Seeing it was Wang Jinghua, he chuckled and said, "Sister Hua, don't tell me you're calling to recommend another actor for Huayi?"

He made the quip and answered the call without waiting for Fatty Bing to respond.

On the other end, Wang Jinghua exchanged polite pleasantries and congratulations before getting to the point. "Director Li, I know you're busy, so I won't waste your time. I wanted to ask about that 16-year-old, Yang Mi, whom you cast as a supporting actress in your new film."

"Even if it's a small role, she's someone you handpicked for her natural spark. Do you plan on starting a company and signing her?"

Li Wenyu paused for a few seconds. "She hasn't even finished middle school yet; I'd need her parents to sign, right? Starting a company..."

Half a month ago, he had held his first auditions, including Da Meiyuan, Hu Jing, and Li Bingbing. After A-Zhi and Hua-ge stopped by, he had also auditioned A-Zhi separately. Honestly, the acting skills of Li Bingbing and A-Zhi were currently a toss-up, and he hadn't decided between them yet. But a teenage girl?

On December 19, he held the first round of auditions for Yang Mi, Liu Shishi, Re-Yi-Zha, and Zhang Jiani. He gave them a week to prepare, tasking them with finding the emotional state of "a girl who only has a father and a stepmother, only to suddenly learn that her father is dead too."

Internally, Li Wenyu wanted to pick "Little Blind Sister" (Yang Mi). Unfortunately, Shishi was a total disappointment. Among the four, only young Yang Mi had a bit of spark and intuition, having been a child star in a few works, so he settled on her.

He could add points to people's stats... and take them back whenever he wanted.

*Liu Shishi Acting Skill (19/100)!!*

Damn it, what a letdown! Forget it, she was only 15. He wouldn't consider investing in her until she had a few years of professional training and reached at least 50 or 60 points.

Once *The Piano Tuner* began shooting in Hong Kong, he would have to help little Yang Mi get time off to join the production. In the original timeline, that girl balanced school and modeling, and she was signed by Rongxin Da in 2002.

Wang Jinghua was calling to see if she could sign little Yang Mi. Li Wenyu continued with a smile, "I will be starting a company this year, but I'm not sure which month yet."

The structure of *The Piano Tuner* crew was already mostly filled, with a very strong emphasis on veteran acting talent.

Wang Jinghua immediately replied, "Understood, Director Li. Then I'll take her under my wing and cultivate her for a while. Once you open your company, I'll send her over to sign with you. I'm also striving to get Bingbing an 80/20 or 90/10 split at Huayi, with her taking the 80 or 90."

Li Wenyu was amused. "I'll leave it to you then, Sister Hua."

After hanging up, he laughed. "It's settled. Between A-Zhi and Slim Bing, I'm choosing Slim Bing. With Jiang Wen as the main antagonist, plus Liu Ye, Ding Haifeng, Tsui Kam-kong, Irene Wan, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Sharla Cheung, and Sam Hui, the lineup is quite impressive."

He had originally sent offers to Tsui Kam-kong, Ding Haifeng, and Jiang Wu. Jiang Wen had snatched the role from his younger brother, but he had pushed Jiang Wu to be the lead in Director Lu's film. As for Tsui and Ding...

Li Wenyu had cast Ding Haifeng as an ordinary, upright police officer in the station under Jiang Wen's command. Irene Wan played the wife of Jiang Wen's corrupt cop character, and Tsui Kam-kong was made up to look older as the father-in-law of the corrupt precinct chief!

Their screen time wasn't excessive, but they still had their highlights.

For instance, after the corrupt cop committed murder, killed the old celebrity, cleaned up the scene, and disposed of the body, the old celebrity's young wife, Sharla Cheung, misled the public, creating the impression that it was a robbery-homicide in a remote suburb. Since a major celebrity had died, it was a sensational news story, and the police were under immense pressure to solve it.

The precinct chief's father-in-law sat at home with his daughter and son-in-law discussing the case. They had received a report from the old celebrity's neighbor that, besides the piano tuner and the victim, a very muscular man had entered the neighbor's home that day.

Irene Wan, as the corrupt cop's wife, eyes lit up. She seized the opportunity to speculate: "Exactly! She married an old man at such a young age—wasn't it just for the money? There must be a lover. Husband, you're on the case; it must be the lover who conspired to kill the celebrity to seize his estate. Once you crack the case, with all this city-wide attention, you'll definitely get a promotion and a raise."

The father-in-law agreed, "That makes perfect sense. Keep up the good work!"

The daily discussion among the family of three, and the live reaction of Jiang Wen—the corrupt cop and killer who was eating dinner while they spoke—was a pinnacle of dark, deadpan humor. He had committed the murder and disposed of the body, and now, after the fact, he was leading the investigation team, while his wife and the chief's father-in-law urged him to hurry up and catch himself to get that promotion and raise!

Then there was the scene where the wife discovered the corrupt cop was cheating and shouted, "You eat 16 eggs a day just to go serve that woman?" while firing shots at Jiang Wen as he sat on the toilet. Jiang Wen, weak and pathetic, huddled on the toilet tank, begging for mercy.

Among the group of veteran actors, the newcomer Liu Ye played one of the young men in the organ-trafficking ring who appeared later in the film. His character was wicked, yet oddly eccentric...

When the piano tuner—a normal person pretending to be blind—was exposed by Sharla Cheung, they directly blinded him. Later, when the tuner escaped and crashed into a utility pole, passing out on the street, Liu Ye and his mother picked him up and sent him to the black-market doctor’s warehouse, planning to harvest his kidneys for money.

The black-market doctor and Liu Ye’s mother wanted to harvest both kidneys and dump the body, but Liu Ye’s character repeatedly objected, pleading to just take one... so that the victim could stay alive, which set the stage for the tuner’s eventual survival. He then conspired with the tuner to blackmail the corrupt cop, Jiang Wen, and the young wife, Sharla Cheung.

For the black-market doctor, he cast Liu Kai-chi; for Liu Ye’s mother, he chose He Qing. Li Wenyu’s only requirement for He Qing was that she gain 30 pounds. At 38, He Qing would be able to play a somewhat dowdy, middle-aged aunt once she put on a little weight.

At this stage, *The Piano Tuner* was ready to start production at any time. But instead, he was in no hurry. He had already received his director’s fee, which was enough to buy a house, so what was there to rush? Even if he filmed quickly, he wouldn't make the Spring Festival release window. The best slot after that was May Day, which was still a long way off. If he aimed for the summer blockbuster season, he had even more time. He could start production after the Spring Festival and still make either the May Day or summer slots.

This year, he had already wrapped up the publication of two bestsellers and secured the deal with NetEase, so his schedule was quite flexible.

Fatty Bing was in a similar position. If they started after the Spring Festival, she would wrap up *Forget Me Not* in a month or two and then just wait for Stephen Chow’s *Kung Fu Hustle*.

Under his direction, Fatty Bing grabbed her phone and smiled sweetly. "No problem. I'll pass this good news on to Li Bingbing. As the 'face' of the female lead, she'll probably be too excited to eat or sleep well this Spring Festival."

As long as it wasn't A-Zhi, it was good news for her. It was no wonder Fatty Bing was hostile toward A-Zhi; regardless of how much Li Wenyu claimed he wasn't interested in her, she was always openly flirting with "Old Li," trying to steal Fan Xiaopang’s man.

...

Time flew by. On January 8, 2002, when Li Wenyu took Fatty Bing to Hong Kong to purchase NetEase shares, the final results for *The Shallows* were released.

In the mainland, it accumulated another 20 million in box office during its third week, totaling 43 million over 16 days. This already matched the performance of *Big Shot's Funeral*, which had been screening until March 2002, ranking it second on the 2001 box office chart.

In Hong Kong, it reached 42 million HKD, second only to *Shaolin Soccer* and surpassing the 40 million of *Love on a Diet*, placing it second on the 2001 Hong Kong box office chart.