Don't Be Humble in Front of Fools

"Teacher Bai, good luck! I'm looking forward to seeing you bring home a major award!"

Host Xiao Liu's energetic cheer seemed to be the only comfort Bai Youlou and Old Zhou had before setting off for the Cannes Film Festival.

The girl was genuinely kind. She had even come to the airport to see them off.

Old Zhou had originally been teasing Bai Youlou, saying things like, "She's being so enthusiastic, while you're acting so calm and indifferent. What are you putting on airs for?"

Bai Youlou ignored him completely. He smiled and waved toward the distance, as if saying goodbye.

Old Zhou was a little puzzled. Hadn't Host Xiao Liu already left? Who was he saying goodbye to?

But when he saw Zhang Xiaorong standing prettily in the distance, he finally understood what Bai Youlou had been pretending about earlier.

Tsk!

What a scumbag!

At the same time, he said sourly, "You even had Teacher Zhang come to see you off? Why put her through all that trouble?"

Bai Youlou shrugged. "No, I just told her to do well in the competition. I didn't even tell her my flight number."

"When did she get here?"

"When we first arrived at the airport, I saw her already there. She'd probably been waiting for quite a while."

This time, Old Zhou was genuinely jealous!

After passing through security, he couldn't help turning back for another look. Zhang Xiaorong was still standing there.

She had come all the way to the airport to see them off, only to fail to exchange even a single word with him.

He couldn't help cursing, "Brother Lou, you're a real bastard!"

Bai Youlou couldn't be bothered to answer him, because his phone rang.

It was a message.

Since they still had to pretend they "didn't know" each other, Zhang Xiaorong hadn't approached him to speak even when she came to see him off.

This time, she had chosen to send her blessings by text instead.

"Have a safe journey."

Bai Youlou thought about it, then replied, "Having favorable winds on a plane isn't a good thing."

When he looked back, he saw Zhang Xiaorong biting her finger from a distance. She seemed to have been stumped by his reply.

Several seconds later, he saw her seriously typing a new message.

The way they were texting despite being not far from each other gave Bai Youlou the vivid feeling of passing notes to a girl back in school.

Zhang Xiaorong: "Ride the wind and break the waves!"

Whoosh~

The plane shot into the blue sky, its imposing form embodying humanity's conquest of the heavens.

Cannes was a commune in southern France, located on the Côte d'Azur in the Alpes-Maritimes department, near the Mediterranean Sea.

It was famous for its beautiful beaches and the film festival held there every year.

However, the lively beaches surrounded by beautiful women and the revelry of various media outlets that had arrived early had nothing to do with Bai Youlou and Old Zhou.

The two of them still had to suffer through finding a hotel first.

Naturally, their accommodation wasn't anything luxurious. Although they had squeezed two million out of Zhen Dongjun, money had to be spent where it mattered, and they really couldn't bear to waste too much of it yet.

That was why only the two of them had come, without Long Ziqiang.

But leaving him behind wasn't entirely to save money. Host Xiao Liu's efforts to persuade them had played a certain role as well.

Bai Youlou had left Long Ziqiang with the program team.

As Old Zhou put it, "That guy doesn't know any foreign languages. Bringing him along would only mean one more mouth to feed and one more room to pay for. He'd be completely useless otherwise."

Poor Long Ziqiang had been abandoned at The Voice program team, losing his chance to walk the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival he had dreamed of visiting.

For Long Ziqiang, this was being "abandoned," but for the other two contestants on Zhen Dongjun's team, it was nothing short of a damn disaster.

Because once Bai Youlou left, Long Ziqiang's "seal" had been lifted!

To make up for his resentment, Bai Youlou allowed him to unleash his ultimate moves in the upcoming competition. We're done with cheesy pop! Show us everything you've got!

Before leaving, he had stuffed seven or eight USB drives into Long Ziqiang's hands and instructed him, "Whenever you run into trouble, open one of these 'secret strategies.'"

Although he had left, Bai Youlou had arranged everything that needed to be handled afterward before going.

Zhen Dongjun would keep that surveillance video hidden until the episode Bai Youlou left in.

He was quite good at teasing the audience and online viewers.

Unfortunately, compared with his ability to command the winds and rain on The Voice program team, Bai Youlou had encountered his own "Waterloo" after arriving in Cannes.

The Cannes Film Festival was a fascinating place. Everyone had their own image of it. Film fans regarded it as a sacred temple of cinema, tourists loved its sunshine-and-beach vacations, and there were free celebrities to see every day.

For film distributors, it was the most direct platform for turning films into money. Don't assume Cannes was only about the red carpet. In truth, that several-dozen-meter stretch of road was a fame-and-profit arena where filmmakers increased the value of their work.

The way to achieve that increase in value was the "film market," which ran alongside the main competition.

According to statistics, last year's Cannes Film Festival had 5,049 companies from 108 countries, with a total of 11,700 participants. There were 397 exhibitors, an exhibition area of 13,000 square meters, and 1,341 film screenings held during the event.

The Palais des Festivals was an interesting place. Upstairs was art, with film masters from all over the world sharing their cinematic philosophies.

Downstairs, however, felt like a farmers' market to Bai Youlou.

He had originally thought that although he wasn't famous in the directing world and probably couldn't sell a film on the strength of his looks, Whiplash had at least been selected for the main competition. Surely it wouldn't be completely ignored.

But the result was that they had arrived a little too early. At that point, there were more sellers than buyers in the film market.

The market was scattered and sparsely populated, with most of the people there being tourists and reporters.

Still, arriving early wasn't entirely bad. For example, they had managed to secure a pretty good spot.

Fortunately, this was only the beginning.

Bai Youlou hadn't spent the money he had extorted from Zhen Dongjun yet, and the "main force" hadn't arrived either. There was no need to rush.

On the third day of setting up their stall, they ran into an "acquaintance."

More precisely, they ran into fellow countrymen.

The "stall" right beside them had a much grander setup. Even its area was far larger, enough to fit three or four of Bai Youlou's stalls.

Old Zhou immediately recognized who they were. "That's Section Chief Zheng. This year, only his film and yours are in the main competition at Cannes among all the Chinese-language films. But he's a regular at these film festivals, and he's much more famous than you—a leading figure among the Sixth Generation directors. He makes his living from art films."

"That's great. Since he's right beside us, we can hitch a ride with his buyers."

"Hey, we really can!"

Before they managed to hitch a ride with any buyers, Bai Youlou and Old Zhou first attracted a reporter.

He was a smiling man who seemed particularly friendly toward Bai Youlou.

"Director Bai, hello. My name is Wang Henshui. You can call me Ah Shui. I'm a reporter for Movie Entertainment Weekly. Would it be all right if I asked you a few questions?"

Faced with the man's enthusiasm, Bai Youlou narrowed his eyes slightly but didn't refuse.

After receiving permission to interview him, Ah Shui's smile grew even brighter. He pulled out a voice recorder and then took out a notebook, looking quite professional.

But the first question the man asked was, "Director Bai, what do you think the chances are of your film winning an award?"

Bai Youlou: Wonderful!

No wonder people said you had to watch out for fellow countrymen when abroad. This guy had smiled so brightly, only to set a trap for him with his very first question.

But Bai Youlou showed no displeasure. "Fifty percent."

"That's incredibly high!" Ah Shui exclaimed. "Why fifty percent?"

"Either it wins an award or it doesn't. There are only two possibilities, so of course it's fifty percent."

Ah Shui: ...

Something was off!

He'd try again!

"As far as I know, this is your first film, yet your debut has already been selected for the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival. Would you say you're a genius when it comes to directing?"

"Of course." Bai Youlou answered without hesitation.

Ah Shui's eyes lit up. "I thought you'd be modest about it."

Bai Youlou gave him a deep look. "Don't be humble in front of fools, because they'll take you seriously."

Ah Shui froze for a moment. He suspected that Bai Youlou was covertly insulting him, but the insult wasn't obvious enough to be certain.