Rose Manor: Tycoon's Relentless Chase-Chapter 373 - 350: Spending the Night at the Old Residence
Fu Jichen didn’t answer, he led her to their designated seat.
Shen Jianian was surprised to find that the seats with their names were next to each other. She didn’t know if Fu Jichen had arranged it beforehand or if the organizers had planned it cleverly.
Feeling dissatisfied without an answer, Shen Jianian sat down and poked the man’s arm next to her. She knew that many fans and audience members were already in attendance, so she dared only to slightly lean towards Fu Jichen and quietly asked, "Did you invest in this movie because of me?"
Fu Jichen raised the armrest between the seats and held her hand, "The company has a team of professional analysts and evaluators to review whether a project is worth investing in and estimate the expected returns."
Shen Jianian blinked her eyes. His answer essentially meant that the investment in "Western Palace Banquet" was the decision of the company’s evaluation team, not his decision, and had nothing to do with her.
Indeed, she had been indulging in wishful thinking.
Shen Jianian pressed her lips together and remained silent, realizing she shouldn’t have asked.
After a few seconds without hearing Shen Jianian’s voice, Fu Jichen pulled his gaze from the big screen in front of them back to her face, with his other hand covering his lips to hide the slight curve upward: "Are you upset now?"
Shen Jianian drew her hand back, crossed her arms, and stared ahead, "I’m not that petty."
"Really?"
Fu Jichen raised an eyebrow and leaned closer to her face, intending to observe her expression up close to see if she really was having a little mood.
Shen Jianian suddenly reacted as if she were facing a great enemy, reaching out to push him, insisting he maintain their original distance. What was he trying to do?! This was a public setting, not at home; there were countless people in the back row holding up their phones to secretly take pictures, and he was incredibly reckless.
"There are people watching us from behind," Shen Jianian warned quietly.
Hearing this, Fu Jichen turned his head to look at the back rows. The audience was gradually filling up, a sea of people seated darkly, and indeed many were craning their necks to look forward.
The main creative team members were all present, along with some seasoned insiders seated in the first two rows.
Shen Jianian didn’t see Tong Yan at the venue, for reasons unknown. Even male actors with less screen time than Tong Yan were present, so there was no reason not to invite her.
Could it be that Tong Yan was feeling guilty and didn’t dare face her?
She thought that with Tong Yan’s personality, even if she felt guilty, she wouldn’t miss this opportunity to appear...
The movie was about to start, and Shen Jianian cleared her mind, fully immersing herself in the film.
Today was her first time seeing the finished film. Unlike the last movie, where she was hastily pulled into the crew and didn’t shoot many scenes, with few lines, "Western Palace Banquet" consumed a lot of her energy. For two months before shooting began, she was already training in fighting scenes, learning ancient etiquette and pipa skills, and during filming, she constantly challenged her limits. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎
It was exhausting but fulfilling.
Shen Jianian confirmed that she wouldn’t act again, so this film also became her final work. With this thought, the significance suddenly became even deeper.
After a brief display of the logo, the big screen went black followed by a bit of light shining in, revealing a snowy, deep night. A black bird flew across the sky, captured by a long shot that followed its perspective, from the night sky down to an eerie, peaked pavilion in the deep mountains.
At the top of the pavilion, a plain white hand pushed open the window, with slender jade fingers hinting that the occupant was a woman. As the window was pushed open, snow fell rustling down. Before anyone could take in the breathtaking scene for a few more seconds, an arrow suddenly shot through the air, with a long whistling sound, piercing the bird on the window lattice with fierce momentum.
The bird had a slender bamboo tube tied to its leg, meant for delivering messages.
The hand took out the paper from the bamboo tube and slowly unfolded it, but the camera didn’t capture the note, leaving the audience in suspense about its contents, thereby setting the story in motion.
Even as a participant, Shen Jianian, despite knowing the script content, was deeply engrossed by the plot. It wasn’t until the movie ended, and the credits began to roll, that she was somewhat dazed.
Only when murmurs arose from the back row did Shen Jianian realize the movie had finished. The 126 minutes left the audience wanting more.
Shen Jianian thought to herself that her opinion might not be objective since it was a movie she acted in, and couldn’t rule out her biased perspective. So, she sincerely asked Fu Jichen next to her, "What do you think?"
Fu Jichen looked at her, "I’m not a professional film critic."
"Who asked you to write a review?" Shen Jianian said with a slightly exasperated expression, "I’m asking how you feel about the movie as an ordinary viewer?"
Fu Jichen smiled, "Your performance in the movie surprised me."
Shen Jianian wanted to ask if he only noticed her, but swallowed the words, instead asking, "What surprised you?"
"This movie showed me a completely different Shen Jianian," Fu Jichen was sure he wasn’t blinded by love; the character she portrayed in the film was indeed vastly different from her real-life personality, worthy of praise. "I didn’t expect the final result of your action scenes to be... this good."
He wanted to give more feedback, but ultimately it boiled down to the one word "good." He truly thought she was excellent; the movements were smooth and the actions were crisp, not merely showy.
Shen Jianian didn’t have time to respond; the host prompted the creative team to come on stage. Shen Jianian stood up, quickly took off her down jacket, placed it on the seat, and followed the others to the stage for an interview.
The first to speak was Director Wang Kelun, who talked about the film’s creative concept and also discussed some challenges faced during filming and how they were eventually solved. The atmosphere was always lively.
Next was the interactive segment where the host would randomly select some audience members to ask questions and interact with the team on stage.
Fu Feibai was very popular, and several consecutively selected audience members were his fans.
Shen Jianian was listening earnestly to Fu Feibai answering fan questions when the next girl suddenly said, "Can I ask Shen Jianian a question?"
Unprepared, Shen Jianian was momentarily stunned, then quickly lifted her microphone to her mouth, smiling, "Go ahead."
"It’s such an honor to attend the premiere of ’Western Palace Banquet’ today. I loved the role of Ruoyu you played from the trailers online, and after watching the final cut, I’m absolutely enamored with this character. I plan to watch it a second or third time in theaters and promote this film to my family and friends. Will you be in other works?"
Shen Jianian answered clearly, "Firstly, thank you for your love and support. I don’t plan on acting again after this."
The girl, not expecting such an answer before asking, showed a frozen expression of joy and then, three seconds later, expressed regret, subconsciously asking, "Why?"
Shen Jianian said, "Due to personal reasons, acting was a new experience for me, and after trying it, there’s no regret. Comparatively, I am more passionate about the cello."
The girl could understand but still felt it was a pity; her acting was so spirited, completely lacking any artifice, making it easy for audiences to get absorbed. But now, there would be no more films with her performances.
"Then... what was the opportunity that led you to star in ’Western Palace Banquet’?"
The girl got a warning look from the host, realizing she asked too many questions and felt a bit embarrassed. The original rule was one question per person, but since the opportunity was rare, she didn’t want to miss it and couldn’t help but ask two more in her excitement.
Shen Jianian held the microphone thoughtfully, glancing at the man seated below her. "Initially, Director Wu from ’Melody in Destiny’ contacted me, saying Director Wang wanted me to try this role. I didn’t want to participate, but my husband and friends encouraged me, so I decided to give it a shot. Filming was very tiring, my body was slightly overworked at one point, but in hindsight, everything was worth it."
The girl finally seemed satisfied, thanked her, and handed the microphone to others.
That night, after the premiere ended, topics about the film quickly trended online. As Shen Jianian played a significant female role, the discussions were naturally high, with several trending topics under her name—
"Shen Jianian walks the red carpet in a down jacket"
"Shen Jianian and Fu Jichen’s interaction"
"Shen Jianian announces no more acting"
"Film critics review Shen Jianian’s performance in ’Western Palace Banquet’"
Meanwhile, Shen Jianian finished her bath, wrapped herself in a warm blanket. Though it was almost eleven o’clock, she was unwilling to put down her phone, resembling an internet-addicted teen.
Tonight she and Fu Jichen stayed over at the Fu Family’s old house, simply because it was quite late after the premiere, and they spent over an hour having a family reunion dinner for the Little New Year.
The old man put down his chopsticks and casually mentioned, "It’s too late, and it’s snowing outside, driving isn’t safe."
He still had that stubborn, old-fashioned demeanor. He clearly wanted to make them stay but wouldn’t directly say it, preferring to roundabout his intention.
Fu Jichen acted as if he didn’t catch his meaning. "The snow just started, it won’t affect driving."
The old man’s face darkened, his temper flaring instantly, "As you please."
It was Shen Jianian who mediated, taking Fu Jichen’s hand, following the old man’s suggestion, "Grandpa is just thinking of safety; let’s stay the night."
Fu Jichen was afraid she was forcing herself, so he confirmed, "You want to stay here?"
Shen Jianian was puzzled, feeling a bit unsure due to his attitude, "Can’t we?"
Thus, they stayed at the old house for the night.
Fu Jichen just received a work call, so he took his phone to the small living room of the bedroom to avoid disturbing Shen Jianian. However, when he returned after the call, he found that the woman who had just been loudly complaining about being exhausted was still awake, lying on the blanket, holding her phone and giggling, not sure what she had seen.
