Qian Youlai immediately expressed his stance. “As long as Master doesn’t mind having me as an apprentice, I’m willing to work with Master all the way!”

Zhu Hongyu laughed, “So, you don’t want to get married?”

Qian Youlai replied, “Of course, I want to get married. We’ll figure it out when the time comes.”

Song Haowen said to Wang Li, “It seems like you’ll have to do the ideological work with your mom.”

Wang Li decisively said, “If it doesn’t work, I’ll run away from home!”

Ren Hua shook her head. “Silly girl, what nonsense are you talking about? In my opinion, instead of running away, it’s better to make the best out of a bad situation. By then, your mom will have to yield, won’t she?”

Wang Li shyly said, “Sis, what are you saying?”

Song Haowen sighed, “Ren Jie, can you stop giving bad ideas?”

Ren Hua widened her beautiful eyes, “What bad ideas? If they truly love each other, does the formality matter so much?”

Song Haowen was momentarily speechless. Zhu Hongyu chuckled, “What the younger sister said makes sense.”

Qian Youlai and Wang Li exchanged a glance, then shyly shifted their gaze away. However, both of them felt that Ren Hua’s words made sense.

The dinner concluded in a relaxed and cheerful atmosphere. Qian Youlai and Wang Li went back to the hotel directly to discuss the profound principles of “making the best out of a bad situation.” Song Haowen and the two sisters returned to the branch to handle urgent matters.

Since the last semester, the electrical appliance repairs in the branch had been primarily taken care of by Zhu Hongyu and Ren Hua. Over the past year, Song Haowen had raised the wages for Zhu Hongyu, Ren Hua, Qian Youlai, and Wang Li four times.

Currently, their monthly income had reached 200 yuan, almost surpassing the salaries of many university professors. While the four of them were quite satisfied, Song Haowen felt it was still not enough. He planned to give them some additional bonuses after a while.

When Zhu Hongyu and Ren Hua rested in the east room, Song Haowen continued his cultivation. After half an hour, when he felt the true energy filling his dantian again, he stopped practicing.

One thing that had puzzled Song Haowen was that the true energy in his dantian mysteriously disappeared the next day.

If it weren’t for him feeling that the time to fill his dantian with true energy was getting shorter, and his strength seemed to be increasing, he would have suspected that his cultivation was in vain. Fortunately, he wasn’t in a hurry for quick results. He considered his practice as a way to stay fit and healthy, adding a pleasant aspect to his life.

The night passed without incident. The next morning at eight o’clock, Song Haowen arrived at the filming location.

Wang Bolong, eagerly awaiting, had halted all his work, waiting specifically for news from Song Haowen. When everyone saw him approaching, they all converged, eager to greet him.

Song Haowen smiled, exchanged greetings with everyone, and followed Wang Bolong to the hotel lobby. When he took out ten checks of one hundred thousand yuan each from his pocket, even though everyone had been expecting it, they were still stunned. Wang Bolong, holding the checks, couldn’t help but shake with excitement.

The accountant quickly brought out the contract for Song Haowen to sign. After looking through it and finding no issues, as the content was in line with the agreement from the previous day, he invested a total of one million yuan and was entitled to seventy percent of the total profits, including box office and advertising.

However, before signing the contract, he made two requests: first, the film must be released in the market during the October holiday this year, or if delayed by a month, East Emperor Film Company would have to compensate him one hundred thousand yuan.

Second, the film must have a theme song and background music, which he would be responsible for, including determining the singer.

As Song Haowen’s conditions weren’t overly strict and indirectly saved the company a large sum in copyright expenses, after discussions between Wang Bolong and the East Emperor company executives, they quickly agreed. With this, Song Haowen transformed into a film producer.

Finally, the film could resume normal shooting. To catch up on the scenes missed the previous day, Song Haowen worked tirelessly until nine in the evening, and even Zhu Lingzi was exhausted.

Despite the hard work, she felt a sense of sweetness. After the scenes were shot, Song Haowen could have gone back to school and waited for the next notification from the crew. However, given his changed status, he needed to discuss some matters with the crew.

So, even though he currently didn’t have any shooting tasks, as long as the crew was still in Beijing, he would come over whenever he had the time.

By the time Song Haowen had dinner with the crew members, it was getting late, so he decided to stay and rest at the film set. In consideration of him, the company upgraded his room to a suite, giving him the same treatment as Sato Ichiro.

He initially wanted to decline, but the company told him that as a producer, if he lived in humble conditions, it would be difficult to arrange things for the key figures in the company, including the director.

Considering everyone’s predicament, for the first time since his rebirth, he checked into the presidential suite.

Entering the splendid room, Song Haowen alternated between lying on the leather sofa, lying on the mahogany bed, and sitting by the crystal bathtub. He silently cursed, “Rich people really know how to enjoy life, this is absolute luxury!”

Lost in thought, the doorbell rang outside. Song Haowen opened the door and saw Zhong Lizhi and Jenny. He immediately invited them in.

Jenny volunteered to serve, pouring tea for Song Haowen and Zhong Lizhi before heading to the study to watch TV, leaving the living room for Song Haowen and Zhong Lizhi.

Since the awkward incident two nights ago, despite constant interaction and several scenes together, including a kissing scene shot today, they hadn’t had a deep conversation.

Considering that Song Haowen would be returning to school the next day, reducing their chances of meeting, Zhong Lizhi finally couldn’t hold back and took the initiative to start a conversation.

“Thank you. If you hadn’t arrived in time that day, I might have made a big mistake. I hope you don’t blame me…” Zhong Lizhi lowered her head, her face blushing, and her voice soft.

A wave of sadness washed over Song Haowen. He wondered how he, in all his modesty, could have prompted this beautiful and lovely girl to contemplate such a significant sacrifice. If a grave mistake occurred, how could he face the world?

“At that time, I heard what Miss Jenny said. It scared me to death. Why would you be so foolish? Did you think that, that beast would listen to your advice? What if he forced you? Luckily, it was stopped in time. Otherwise, if a major mistake occurred, how could I ever repay such a huge debt in my lifetime?”

“It has nothing to do with you. It was my momentary confusion.” Zhong Lizhi’s eyes teared up. “I just wanted to save this movie and protect everyone’s hard work over the past few months.”

Song Haowen knew Zhong Lizhi wasn’t telling the whole truth and understood why she did what she did. Yet, he didn’t dare to break through that delicate layer of understanding.

If he unraveled that relationship, he wasn’t sure how they would interact in the future. In his mind, aside from each other, the Tian sisters were also exceptionally kind to him.

If he chose one, he would undoubtedly hurt the others, all of whom were important to him. This dilemma often troubled him, and for now, the only approach he could think of regarding personal feelings was to temporarily set it aside and let time resolve the issue.

Song Haowen walked up to Zhong Lizhi, using a tissue to wipe away the tears from the corners of her eyes. He tried to control his emotions and said with a smile, “It’s all good now. The dark clouds have dispersed, and it’s a sunny day again. Let’s not dwell on the past. Moving forward, we should continue working hard to make the movie a success. Let’s aim for an early release, a booming box office, and both of us winning the Best Actor and Actress awards at major film festivals worldwide.”

Zhong Lizhi chuckled, and her laughter was truly enchanting and stunning, completely captivating Song Haowen.

“Mr. Song, you really dare to dream. We’ve only filmed one-third of the movie, and you’re already thinking about winning awards…”

Once Song Haowen came to his senses, his face turned red. He knew that the achievements of his previous life were the result of various favorable factors. As the first film shot and released on the mainland after the opening of the port city, it combined popular martial arts themes, scenic landscapes, love stories, mystical elements, excellent music, and attractive actors and actresses.

Now, with all the conditions no less favorable, as long as they could premiere first, success was almost guaranteed. Winning numerous awards was not just a dream.

“Hehe, Miss Zhong, are you willing to bet with me?”

“What are we betting on?”

“Let’s bet on the number of times you win Best Actress at Major Film Festivals after the movie is released.”

“Aren’t you daydreaming? It’s already challenging to win one, and you’re thinking about several?”

“Never mind whether it can be achieved. The question is, do you dare to bet?”

“What’s the bet?”

“If you win Best Actress more than twice at major film festivals, I lose, and you get to make me wash your feet. If not, I win, and you have to wash my feet.”

“Pfft, aren’t you taking advantage of others?”

“Do you dare to bet or not?”

“There’s nothing I won’t bet on… Deal!”

Song Haowen felt a surge of excitement at the thought of the beautiful Miss Hong Kong washing his feet. It was a delightful prospect.

Afterward, they discussed movie matters for a while before Zhong Lizhi and Jenny took their leave.

The next morning, Song Haowen returned to university for classes. During the break between two classes, he went to the Literature Department to find Gu Ziwei, wanting to ask her about the reason for seeking him. Before he found Gu Ziwei, his second sister, Song Huihua, approached and asked if he was looking for her.

Song Haowen explained that he was looking for Gu Ziwei. She had tried to find him twice, but they hadn’t crossed paths. Since he ran into his second sister, he also took the opportunity to ask about the recent situation at home.

His second sister happily said, “I was planning to look for you today, and here you are. Let me tell you some great news: a few days ago, we received a letter from our big brother. In the letter, he mentioned that he might be transferred to the garrison unit in the capital soon. If he becomes a soldier in Beijing, he’ll make time to come home for a visit.”

Upon hearing this news, Song Haowen felt a wave of excitement. Since his rebirth, he hadn’t met his older brother, Song Haojun. He didn’t know how he looked now. In his previous life, after participating in the self-defense counterattack, his big brother had retired as a deputy platoon leader around this time and had gone back to their hometown, serving as the martial arts department head in Zhao Sheng Commune. Eventually, he continued in this position until he took a step back into a secondary role.

However, with Song Haowen’s rebirth, the fate of his entire family had changed. The last time he was at home, he heard that his big brother was going to be promoted to deputy platoon leader. Now, being transferred to a garrison unit, it was a promising development. From the bottom of his heart, Song Haowen was genuinely happy for his big brother.