Chapter 45: This Cantonese Teacher is Seriously Fierce

January 29th, the seventeenth day of the twelfth lunar month.

Li Wenyu appeared in his hometown's city in Henan Province, feeling a deep sense of emotion. Considering how miserably he had failed before his rebirth, where did he stand now? Now, he felt thoroughly secure and steady.

From the 15th until now, his accumulated 14 free attribute points had once again been added to fitness, pushing his fitness level to (121/100)!

His hometown was an ordinary prefecture-level city in Henan Province, and quite a few of his relatives and family members were doing reasonably well.

His father was a veteran employee of the tobacco monopoly system, his mother ran a small supermarket, and he had an older sister who was already married and working as a primary school teacher.

On his paternal side, the only older living relative left was his grandmother. Li Wenyu had never met his grandfather in either of his two lifetimes; his grandfather had passed away from cancer in the late 1970s. Like Fan Bingbing, he was born in the 1980s.

His grandmother would live until 2011, passing away after suffering a fractured pelvis from a fall in the snow at the ripe old age of over ninety.

Before that accident, his grandmother had shown some mild symptoms of senile dementia, but overall she remained very spirited, and her legs and feet were quite nimble.

He remembered that in the post-pandemic era before his time travel, his eldest uncle was still absurdly working with a renovation crew. It wasn't that he was short of money; he just couldn't stand being idle, even at the advanced age of eighty-one... Working in interior decoration made many people who needed house renovations worry nervously just looking at his uncle's age.

Aside from his grandfather's unfortunate early demise, his family seemed to possess a strong genetic predisposition for longevity and health.

In the half year or so since his time travel, he had made plenty of phone calls home, especially with *The Shallows* having a phenomenal box office run. It was now entering its seventh week of release in the mainland, yet it still raked in over 18 million in box office revenue just last week.

Its total mainland gross had officially broken the 105 million mark, surpassing the original 2001 annual box office champion, *Pearl Harbor*, by over 200,000.

And this was with less than two months in theaters, as mainland theater chains had reduced its screening percentage to make way for the newly released *Big Shot's Funeral*.

Yet, combined nationwide, it was still steadily pulling in over 500,000 in daily box office earnings!

*The Shallows* had finished its run in Hong Kong with a total gross of 63 million Hong Kong dollars, slightly edging out *Shaolin Soccer*. Frankly speaking, in terms of true artistic quality and craftsmanship, *The Shallows* fell a notch short compared to *Shaolin Soccer*.

However, after a relentless, high-intensity combination of promotional punches, it won.

Just like *The Blair Witch Project* had triumphed over countless cinematic masterpieces!

Its final box office earnings in Europe and America reached 46 million US dollars.

The final tally for South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand was 28 million US dollars. Combined with the other regions, its total reached 577 million Hong Kong dollars.

Overall, *The Shallows* easily shattered the 700 million mark.

*Big Shot's Funeral* had been released on January 18th, and they had even hired online internet armies in advance—no, corrections were needed; they had paid and placed orders with an internet army regiment composed of three classes from the Beijing Film Academy.

After twelve days of release, *Big Shot's Funeral* had accumulated only 19 million RMB in box office revenue.

When Li Wenyu appeared at the entrance of the old residential compound of the tobacco system, he was immediately surrounded by an enthusiastic crowd.

Ever since he, Leslie Cheung, and Fan Bingbing first shattered the 300 million ice sculpture at the celebration banquet, people in other places hadn't paid much attention to the director, and he hadn't actively pushed himself into the spotlight.

However, in this specific prefecture-level city in Henan Province, inside this particular residential compound... among a certain circle of young people, the reaction was something else entirely...

Aside from reuniting with his family after being apart for a year, his return home also served as an early celebration of the Chinese New Year.

......

That very evening, not only did the top figure of the municipal tobacco system pay a visit, but several municipal leaders also personally came to call on him with polite greetings, as they were acquaintances.

It was already 2002, and the mainland's economic environment had improved significantly compared to the early 1990s, but an ordinary prefecture-level city was still extremely eager to attract investment and capital.

Li Wenyu was just an ordinary screenwriting major from the Beijing Film Academy. In his previous life, after more than a decade of failure navigating society, returning home would have meant nothing more than taking over the small supermarket business in the residential compound.

His father wasn't due to retire until the late 2010s, leaving him with a career span of over fifteen years, and the retirement benefits within the tobacco system were quite generous.

Therefore, the sudden appearance in their city of a super powerhouse like Li Wenyu—whose film had exploded globally with 700 million Hong Kong dollars, equivalent to 700 million RMB—was astonishing, especially since it was only early 2002.

At the dinner banquet held by the Li family that evening, Li's father felt as though he had reached a small peak in life; the officials toasting him held remarkably high administrative ranks.

It wasn't until the following day that Li Wenyu confessed to his parents, as well as his sister, brother-in-law, and young nephew who had rushed over upon hearing the news: he was only staying for a week, and he would not be at home for the Spring Festival.

After careful consideration, Li Wenyu decided against going to Berlin, but he would be busy during the Chinese New Year opening his company, selecting personnel, and securing the copyright for *My Love from the Star* as his company's flagship project, while officially signing Yang Mi and scouting for more prospective talents.

Fat Bing had also just returned home to see her parents for an early Spring Festival.

After enduring the initial barrage of curious questions from relatives about the entertainment industry and the celebrity circle, and satisfying their various curiosities, he formally said to his parents, older sister, and brother-in-law, "Real estate prices in Beijing are still relatively reasonable right now."

"If you want to buy a house in Beijing and settle your household registration there, it's best to plan ahead. I'm not saying our hometown isn't good, but Grandma is getting older, and Beijing has the best medical resources."

"My nephew Xiaohu is two years old now. When he takes the college entrance exam a dozen or so years from now, taking it in Beijing to get into Tsinghua, Peking University, or other top universities will require a score threshold significantly lower than in our province."

He wasn't going to directly hand them money to buy a house, but lending them funds or helping with other arrangements was fine—after all, they were his biological sister and nephew.

There was no need for his father to resign just yet, but Grandma would eventually have to live in Beijing, and senile dementia required preventive measures in advance.

The family of several sat in a daze for a moment before his older sister, Li Wenxiang, asked with curiosity, "By the way, Xiaoyun, you've spent so much time with the reigning beauty of the new generation, whom netizens across all of Asia voted for together."

"Did you win her over? You can't miss out on an opportunity like this. Just think about the kinds of men who pursued Maggie Cheung and Michelle Lee back in the last century!"

"If you manage to win over the top beauty of the new generation, that would truly bring honor to the Li family! Am I right, Guo?"

Li Wenyu's brother-in-law, Guo Mingjie, who drove a public bus in the city, lit up with excitement at these words. "I never dreamed our family could produce a great talent like you, Xiaoyun. My standards aren't high: could you get me signed photos of Maggie Cheung, Vivian Chow, Michelle Lee, Joey Wong, and Fan Bingbing?"

Guo Mingjie belonged to the 1970s generation; he had grown up watching Hong Kong films.

A moment later, offering a cigarette with slightly trembling hands, he added, "If those are too hard to get, Brigitte Lin or Chingmy Yau would be fine too; I'm not picky."

Li Wenxiang slapped him across the arm. "You want signed photos, and you're probably dreaming of a real-life photo with them too? If you get one, I want one of Fat Chuy, Leslie, or Andy."

......

Guo Mingjie was momentarily dumbfounded. "Forget it then, I don't want any."

Li Wenyu couldn't whether to laugh or cry. Judging by his own family's good looks, he knew his sister wouldn't fall far behind.

Guo Mingjie and Li Wenxiang had met through a blind date. In his previous life, they had lived quite comfortably right through the post-pandemic period; his sister had become a school principal, while Guo Mingjie stopped driving the bus and ventured into live-stream e-commerce and entrepreneurship.

Following their eldest nephew Guo Xiaohu, another nephew would be born in 2005.

Amid the laughter, his phone rang. Glancing down and seeing a text message, he walked aside to check it. It was from Michelle Lee: *Go quickly and return quickly, big sister will continue teaching you Cantonese, and English is included too.*

Furthermore, Michelle Lee mentioned that her agency contract could also be transferred to the new company he was planning to open, on the condition that the terms weren't unfair to her.

Li Wenyu, "..."

Host: Li Wenyu, 21 years old.
Fitness: (121/100).
Writing: (92/100).
Screenwriting: (86/100).
Directing: (84/100).
Driving: (86/100).
Piloting: (67/100).
Acting: (52/100).
English: (51/100).
Cantonese: (49/100).
......

His fitness attribute was becoming increasingly abnormal. It seemed that surpassing 100 involved some form of brain evolution; while he didn't possess photographic memory where he could scan a book at a glance, he could master certain subjects to a near-professional level within just a few days of study.

Before adding points to English and Cantonese, those attributes had been only in the teens.

During their meal on the 15th, after drinking a little wine and rehearsing a kissing scene, and subsequently learning about his language troubles, Sister Xin had immediately taken on the role of teacher. After all, the famous beauty was quite proficient in English, Mandarin, and Cantonese.