Chapter 103: Cuìhuā, Bring the Pickled Cabbage!

"Hahahaha..."

The play was so damn hilarious that Wu Xiang and Hai Qing were doubled over in laughter, completely losing all sense of decorum.

It was an incredibly funny, satirical play. It started with Deng Chao appearing in drag, and before long, he transformed into Neo from *The Matrix*. Of course, it was all a parody; in this play, he was portraying a character named Yu Baimei.

Yu Baimei—the moment Wu Xiang heard that name, it sounded familiar. And it wasn't just that; immediately after, the name Ning Caishen was mentioned. There was no need to say more; these were the future titans of the screenwriting world. How did their names end up in this play?

In fact, the story of this play was something Deng Chao and the others had mentioned to Wu Xiang while filming *Emperor Wu of Han*. Deng Chao was only responsible for acting, but the one who was truly the most boisterous was a guy named Wang Yuning, one of the brothers who had bullied Wei Qing earlier.

At that moment, Wu Xiang took a closer look at Wang Yuning and remembered; this guy seemed to have appeared in the later sitcom *Northeast Family*, though it seemed like a minor role.

Thus, the play caught Wu Xiang's attention, and they agreed that after finishing *Emperor Wu of Han*, they would go back to watch the play and see what it was like.

"It’s really good, truly excellent!"

It wasn't just Wu Xiang who thought so; Hai Qing also gave the play high praise. One must know that the plays Hai Qing was currently studying were classics, such as *Thunderstorm* and *Rickshaw Boy*. This current play was something entirely new—fresh and extremely funny.

Since an "expert" had said so, there was definitely potential here, and Wu Xiang felt confident.

However, were there some issues with the play?

When Deng Chao first appeared in drag, that segment was essentially a parody of *The First Intimate Contact*. Of course, the plot was entirely different; they were satirizing the phenomenon of "online dating." Deng Chao played a bizarre, overachieving female nerd—it was too terrifying and too funny.

After parodying *The First Intimate Contact*, they went on to parody *The Matrix*, with Deng Chao becoming Yu Baimei. In any case, the play was as absurd as it could possibly get.

The actors in this production were all from the Central Academy of Drama’s Class of 1998, and the director was their teacher, Tian Youliang. Looking at this lineup, it was quite impressive. Deng Chao was great at comedy, and Wang Yuning went without saying; this guy from the Northeast just loved to crack jokes.

But regarding the names Yu Baimei and Ning Caishen, how could Wu Xiang not know? Could this script have nothing to do with those two? Not even a ghost would believe that!

"Is this... original?" Wu Xiang didn't think so.

"Well, it's like this: we saw it online. The original was called *Diary of a Netizen*, and we modified it." Actually, this was Wang Yuning's idea, so he had to be the one to explain it to Wu Xiang.

"*Diary of a Netizen*?" Although Wu Xiang had made his start by writing novels on the internet, he hadn't been surfing much lately. Even though he knew the internet was developing well, he hadn't read *Diary of a Netizen*.

"I have it right here, take a look." Wang Yuning had already printed out the novel and handed it to Wu Xiang.

"..." Once Wu Xiang read it, he understood. The parody started right from this book, first making fun of his own work, *The First Intimate Contact*, though the plot of the play differed in several ways.

Despite the differences, considering the implications... after finishing it, Wu Xiang said, "Is there an issue with the copyright?"

"Well, it's not a big deal, is it? They parody, we parody, everyone parodies. Even if some parts are similar, just because you're named Yu Baimei doesn't mean I can't be, right?" Wang Yuning's argument actually had some merit.

But Wu Xiang knew it wasn't quite that simple. Still, he thought about it—they weren't exactly famous yet.

After a moment of thought, Wu Xiang made a decision. "This play has potential, a lot of potential. Contact a venue. I can provide the funding. I noticed your props are very simple; they can be refined. Change the costumes too, make them look a bit better for a good stage effect."

"You're serious?" Wang Yuning was thrilled; he had sought out Wu Xiang precisely because he was a capable person.

"I'm serious!" Wu Xiang thought to himself: if this could make me laugh until I was gasping for air, what could go wrong?

"We'll book the biggest theater, run some ads, I'll pay for it, and we'll manage it properly." Wu Xiang was now well-versed in operations. He felt this play was excellent and had high potential, so he decided not to overthink it and just get it done.

"That's great!" Wang Yuning was ready to jump for joy. "So, what should we name the play? *Diary of a Netizen*?"

Wu Xiang broke into a sweat. You guys are even better at bootlegging than I am!

"How about this: *Cuihua, Serve the Sauerkraut!* How does that sound?" Wu Xiang liked the name and made the call.

"Great! That's it!" The name was settled.

"What? It's really happening?" Deng Chao still couldn't believe it.

Wu Xiang laughed, "You turned into a woman, so what else is there to doubt?"

"Right! Just watch! I definitely won't let you lose money!" Deng Chao was the type who was always full of confidence. However, he wasn't blind; he had noticed early on that Wu Xiang had brought a beautiful woman along. "Is this my sister-in-law?"

Wu Xiang felt quite pleased; this kid knew how to talk.

"What are you saying!" How could Hai Qing admit to that?

Wu Xiang hurriedly said, "Call her Teacher Hai. She's an expert in drama I invited."

"Forget it!" Deng Chao wasn't a fool; he couldn't bring himself to say that. "She's about the same age as me, what kind of teacher is she? At most, I'll call her sister. Hello, sister."

"Giggle..." Hai Qing was truly amused by Deng Chao. "You acted well. That part where you played a woman was really great. The body language was spot-on, and many of the small feminine gestures and habits were very accurate. Really, very impressive. Do you usually pay close attention to observing life?"

"Of course!" Deng Chao was happy to be complimented.

"Sure enough, you're both the same type—always staring at pretty girls!" Observing life to play a woman—wasn't that just watching beauties?

"I am not the same type as him!" Wu Xiang immediately distanced himself from Deng Chao.

"Brother Wu, you change your tune too quickly." Deng Chao finally understood someone's true character.

"Giggle..." Hai Qing couldn't help but laugh, but she definitely couldn't let their secret slip at this moment. "Whether you're the same type as him or not, what does that have to do with me?"

She ignored him and walked away.

With the matter settled, Wu Xiang chatted a bit more with Teacher Tian Youliang and the other students. Honestly, this was a great turn of events; Wu Xiang had finally managed to infiltrate the Central Academy of Drama, which was a decent gain.

Having invested in another play, the money in Wu Xiang’s hands dwindled once more. Combined with the budget overruns of *Emperor Wu of Han*, Wu Xiang felt like he was back to square one. It seemed he would have to continue being a miser for a while longer.

But it was alright; his novels were still selling, and he hadn't reached the end of his rope yet. Plus, with *Get on the Bus*, he shouldn't lose money. The investment wasn't that high anyway.

Without realizing it, he had reached a point where a million yuan didn't seem like quite as much anymore. Wu Xiang suddenly felt like he had found the feeling of being a "tycoon."

Forget it, no point in overthinking it.

Managing *Get on the Bus*, helping Huang Bo with his exams, and now managing a play—Wu Xiang was truly busy. But it wasn't over yet; this busy man had to keep going.

Time had now reached the end of the year 2000. There was a major film award at this time: the Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan.

This year’s ceremony was the 37th Golden Horse Awards, scheduled for December 2nd at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in Taiwan. It concerned Wu Xiang because his film, *The First Intimate Contact*, had been nominated—and for quite a few categories.

Best Feature Film, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Adapted Screenplay—a total of four nominations. But for these four, Wu Xiang could just go alone.

They were all related to him, not much to do with anyone else. Still, Wu Xiang reached out to the others to see if they were willing to go; going alone didn't look great. The result was tragic—no one wanted to go. Most were either shooting films, filming commercials, or busy studying hard.

Needless to say, the one studying hard was Hai Qing, who became Wu Xiang’s primary target for persuasion.

"Xiao Hai, why don't you come with me?" If Wu Xiang went alone, it wouldn't look good.

Back at the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival in Nanning, Wu Xiang had already experienced walking the red carpet. That time it was fine, as he walked with his buddies, but without a woman, it felt a bit lackluster. Walking the red carpet—it was all about the male-female pairing. This time at the Golden Horse Awards, that process was inevitable.

"I'm not going!" Hai Qing’s answer was simple. The key issue was that if she went alone with him while no one else was going, people would definitely suspect they were involved. Wouldn't her parents watch the news or read the papers? Wouldn't that expose them?

But then again, if someone else went with Wu Xiang, she couldn't go even more, as that would also be suspicious.

Sigh, a secret romance—it really is frustrating.

However, Wu Xiang truly didn't want to go to Taiwan all by his lonesome. If it were in a textbook, Taiwan might be a paradise, but as a reborn soul who had navigated the television industry, Wu Xiang knew exactly what kind of place it was.

Setting aside the fact that the southern part of Taiwan was similar to a Southeast Asian village, or that Sun Moon Lake wasn't actually that big, even the so-called "metropolis" of Taipei—aside from the 101 building sticking up like a giant scallion—was just left with a bit of "human touch."

Even so, in this day and age, the 101 hadn't even been completed yet, and as for that "human touch," it had long been blown away by tea eggs and restroom doors.

"Just come with me."

"No!"

"Then how about accompanying me to Hong Kong?"

"Huh?"