He glanced at Hu Yi. "There’s another copy over there. Go read with them."

Wei Wei and Wan Yi had both already grabbed a script, and were now engrossed. Hu Yi pouted and had no choice but to squeeze in next to Wan Yi. Wan Yi glanced at her and casually handed her the two pages he had just finished reading.

The suite fell silent. Sister Li continued to busily reply to all sorts of emails, while Tan You sat alone, drinking tea. Compared to the others, she had an air of casual elegance.

Not until dusk settled, and after Tan You had gone through two pots of tea, did the others finally finish their first read-through of the script.

Director Qi looked at the three scripts laid out before him. "It’s hard to judge. I can’t pick one. Sister Wen, do you have any suggestions?"

Tan You’s gaze swept over the script in the very center. "I think this one is a good fit for you."

She was referring to the very script Hu Yi had been trying to get her hands on just moments before.

Director Qi seemed conflicted. "The other two are also very good. It’s hard to say which is better."

Tan You shook her head. "Then you should pick it yourself."

Director Qi agonized for a long time before finally picking up the script in the middle. "I’ll go with this one, then. But Old Qi is going to be torn."

Tan You asked, "Are you sure Old Qi won’t fight you for it?"

Director Qi said, "Even if he fights me for it, I won’t let him direct it. These other two are very good as well. It’s not that I can’t direct them, it would just take more time."

"If I contact Old Qi, do you think he’ll fly over immediately?" 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Tan You replied, "Who knows? He’s your father. You should know him best."

Director Qi said, "I think he’ll fly over right away. Good scripts are so hard to come by these days. Do you know how many people envy me? They envy that we get to work together all the time."

Tan You said, "That’s because you’re very capable yourself. Without your talent, these cold words on a page would never become real images on screen. We bring out the best in each other."

"I can only take some pictures, but when it comes to directing a movie, you’ve seen it yourself—my skills are very average."

Director Qi said, "Your aesthetic sense is still on point, but ultimately, you’ve never had any formal training. If you want to be a director, I suggest you get some professional, systematic training."

Tan You replied, "We’ll see. Right now, I just want to manage the company well."

’As for learning filmmaking, I can totally do that after Lu Wen wakes up. At that point, I’ll have plenty of time to study, unlike now, where I have to squeeze time for everything I do.’

As they say, no one knows a father better than his son. Knowing that Tan You had two more scripts, Old Qi couldn’t sit still at home and bought a plane ticket that very night. Unfortunately, news travels fast in their circle. When Old Qi arrived at the airport to board his flight, he saw another major director from the industry, Old Wang.

Old Qi’s expression didn’t change. "Director Wang, what a coincidence. Fancy meeting you here. Are you heading out on a trip?"

Director Wang snorted. "Didn’t Little Qi’s film get nominated? I’m making a special trip to congratulate him. You too?"

"He’s my son. It’s only natural for me to go witness his achievement." Old Qi sighed inwardly. ’News travels way too fast, doesn’t it? And Old Wang... he sure moves quickly.’

"When you see Lu Wen later, don’t you dare say we came together." Since his son worked under Tan You, Old Qi certainly didn’t want to burn any bridges with her. Besides, he was still hoping to get a script from her, so making an enemy of her was out of the question.

Old Wang said breezily, "How many years have we known each other, old buddy? Your son is practically my son. Little Qi’s not playing fair, you know. He can’t just save all the good stuff for his own father. I’ve looked after him a lot, too, as his ’uncle’!"

"You’ve got an answer for everything," Old Qi said, lightly pushing his shoulder. "I’m not putting in a good word for you with Lu Wen. From what I heard from Little Qi, she wants to hold onto them and film them slowly. Good scripts are always hard to come by."

Old Wang was very composed. "As long as you don’t trip me up, we’ll let the best man win."

When Tan You learned that Old Qi and Old Wang had taken the first available flight over, she showed no particular reaction. Right now, they were the ones who needed something from her, so she certainly wasn’t going to be the one to rush things.

So, she slept very well that night. The next day, she went with Director Qi and the rest of the crew to the film festival to watch other outstanding films. That afternoon, after coming out of a movie, Hu Yi seemed a bit worried. "The other films are all so good. Are we really confident we can win?"

"I said it before, our chances of winning are fifty-fifty." Tan You had her hands in her pockets. "Fifty-fifty means one half is winning, and the other half is, naturally, not winning. But no matter what, just getting this many nominations is a victory in itself, and it already makes us far better than most."

"If a film with this many nominations ends up with nothing, that just goes to show you the credibility of this film festival’s awards."

"Who taught you probability?" Director Qi laughed. "That’s not how it’s calculated. There are five films nominated for each award, so our chance of winning is only one in five."

Tan You said, "The way I see it, there are only two possibilities."

Hu Yi seemed to get it too. "It’s like Sister Wen said, just getting nominated is a victory in itself. No matter what, I’m already more outstanding than others."

Tan You glanced at her. "What got you so worked up?"

Hu Yi huffed. "It’s that poll on Weibo, isn’t it? About our movie’s chances of winning."

Wan Yi explained, "She’s upset because the poll shows her chances of winning are very low. After all, her competitors are all too outstanding—they’re all globally famous Best Actresses."

Not to be outdone, Hu Yi retorted, "As if your competitors are any weaker! Just thinking that I’ll get to see all the past Best Actors tomorrow makes my heart pound with excitement."

Wan Yi was very laid-back about it. "I’m already in a zen state about it. No single film ever wins Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actor. Besides, my polling numbers were low to begin with, so I’m not worried at all."

"I’m just going to keep a level head and wait for Sister Wen and the Director’s next movie to start filming. Then I’ll just let Director Qi and Sister Wen carry me to success."

Director Qi shook his head. "You’ve got a great attitude."

Wan Yi shrugged. "I can only blame myself for not trying out for the male lead role back then. The thing is, I never expected things to turn out like this."

The group was chatting and laughing as they came out of the screening room, right when they ran into Old Qi and Old Wang, who had just gotten off their flight. Old Qi barely spared a glance for his own son. He strode over and started calling out from a distance, "Chairman Lu, long time no see! Congratulations on your company’s film achieving such brilliant results!"

Old Wang, not to be outdone, chimed in, "Chairman Lu, your business acumen is as outstanding as your unparalleled talent! If that brat of mine had even a fraction of your ability, I’d have no regrets in this life."

Tan You shook hands with each of the two great directors. "You both flatter me. Did you just get off the plane? Why not go to the hotel and rest? A long flight must be exhausting."

Old Qi was blunt. "Little Qi said you had scripts here. I couldn’t sit still at home, so I figured I might as well come over early."