Following Zian’s way down south, the remote and quiet seaside town was gradually left behind.
It was hard to avoid yearning for the pastoral life when one lived in a big city. While it would always be good to experience the pastoral lifestyle for a short period, the inconveniences of the pastoral lifestyle would be magnified during a longer experience.
It was the same for Zhang Zian. Living in a seaside villa was really comfortable, but it was also too quiet and inconvenient; a drive down to the supermarket would take him an hour, which had him miss the liveliness and convenience of the big city.
Zian was aware that he was a laity––he was unable to be a master who lived in seclusion.
After he got up that morning, Zian received a message from Feng Xuan, urging him to return to Berlin as soon as possible. He urged him to attend the film festival’s closing ceremony awards ceremony that would be held later that night. Even if there was bad chemistry within the film crew, it was, at the very least, necessary to maintain harmony within the crew in order to avoid unfounded speculations made by the reporters.
Even if Feng Xuan did not mention anything, Zhang Zian was still going to rush back. After attending the closing ceremony, he would have to catch an overnight plane and return to Binhai City the night after––back to his cozy home.
Everything was alright in the pet shop, though.
According to Lu Yiyun, the number of customers had increased in the past few days. Even the aunties in the neighborhood committee had caught wind of the news and came forward to give their cordial regards to Zhang Zian. They had also generously proposed to reduce the health and management fees for the year after, obscurely reminding Zhang Zian to be sure to mention during the interview that he was able to achieve today’s results with the support of the neighborhood committee…
Invitations for business partnerships were also coming in quick succession. For example, a certain brand of dog food wanted to invite Famous to advertise their brand. However, the reputation of the brand had always been bad and the amount of money offered was also not that high, so after Zhang Zian and Famous had a discussion, they decided to turn down the offer.
Commercial advertisements were all exclusive. For example, if one accepted the position as the endorser for Red Cola, they could no longer endorse for Blue Cola. Therefore, Zhang Zian was very cautious about the choice of dog food advertisements. He would rather refuse to take on any offer than endorse a product with problems.
Zian has been conversing with Pi daily. Their exchange timings were once in the morning and once during the night––after all, there was a time difference. Pi was also safe and sound, typing, reading books, exercising its body, sleeping. It had a disciplined lifestyle.
After a few hours of traveling, Zian arrived to Berlin at noon.
He first made a detour to Reina’s pet shop and handed her the things Karl had entrusted him with; he then briefly mentioned his interactions with Karl over the past few days before he bid his farewell.
He randomly picked a restaurant outside to fill his stomach, before he headed back to the hotel where the crew stayed and happened to meet Feng Xuan who was sending off a guest.
“Xiao Zhang, you’re back! How was it relaxing by the beach? You look full of vim and vigor, so I guess it must have been great?”
Feng Xuan observed Zian’s face. All along, he had thought that Zhang Zian took the time off just to relax and have some fun.
“It was indeed pretty nice. Director Feng, you don’t look so good… Are you tired?” Zhang Zian asked.
Feng Xuan sighed. “Cough. Don’t mention it. I’ve been busy the past few days. Several scripts have been handed to me and some were through connections, so I had to take a look at them out of courtesy. There wasn’t even one that I was satisfied with, though… I should have taken the time off and went to the beach with you.”
Although he was sighing, Zian could still see the little pride and relief between his brows. If he hadn’t of gotten famous, who would remember a second or third-tier director who had not been active for a very long time?
“Oh right, Director Feng––are there any chances of winning an award? It’ll be great if you manage to win the Best Director Award,” Zhang Zian joked.
Feng Xuan looked at his surroundings before he lowered his voice and said, “Speaking of this… Some members of the crew have been asking around and they thought that might really come true. It seemed like Lin Feng had also spent some money for a spot on the trending searches. They are prepared to rally interest and support…”
Zhang Zian had a clear understanding of what was going on. Even an inactive director like Feng Xuan had been garnering a lot of attention. A a second-tier actor like Lin Feng would definitely have film contracts coming in one after the other; his salary would naturally go up, as well.
Zian was able to tell that, although Feng Xuan looked relatively calm on the surface, inside, he must have really been looking forward to the Silver Bear Best Director Award.
Feng Xuan was not young anymore. Every film he shot was one less, so he was really hoping to get a Silver Bear Award for the end of his career. But Feng Xuan was also aware that the competition for the Best Director Award was very fierce, especially against a criminal investigation film director who was also from China––that director had always held a good reputation.
After a light chat, with the excuse that he would like to get some rest, Zhang Zian returned back to his room.
Since it was their last appearance at the Berlin Film Festival, Zian decided to bathe Famous. He hadn’t bathed Famous during their past few days at the beach, so there was a lot of sand and salt caught in its fur. There was even some ash from burning charcoal in the fireplace.
Since they had to catch a plane right after the closing ceremony, Zian kept all the other elfins in his phone instead of releasing them.
Famous stood in the bathtub as Zian wet its fur with the shower head he was holding on to. Zian then put the dog’s shower gel he bought from Reina onto its fur and scrubbed until it was covered in foam. He then washed it off with water and dried it with a blow dryer.
“Famous, Director Feng had mentioned that the commission’s final payment has been credited. What do you plan to do with the paycheck? How about making a big gold chain to wear on your neck? Sunglasses and a big gold chain… Tsk tsk, you might have to walk sideways on the road!” Zian joked around with Famous while giving it a rinse.
Famous was soaked in water. It instinctively wanted to shake its body, but it stopped itself from doing so. Because it was an elfin, it couldn’t behave like the others of its kind, just shaking off the water on its body while getting Zian wet from head to toe in the process.
“It doesn’t matter. I have no need for it, anyway, so you can handle it,” Famous casually replied. It wasn’t really concerned about this issue.
“How is that okay?” Zhang Zian asked seriously. “Although a newbie’s commission isn’t much, this money was earned from your hard work, so it’s rightfully yours to handle. If you have the chance to take on another film, the commission would at least increase in folds.”
“There’s no need.” Famous gently shook its head. “I used to have a lot of money, living well and eating well every day. I used to have a diamond necklace on my neck which was much more expensive than a gold chain, and I had a custom-made car from Ford that would send me around… But so what? I was just a money making tool for someone else, easily replaceable by any other dog… I also probably easily replaced any other dog. Even the diamond necklace and personal car were all just create subjects and act as a gimmick, just like… what Director Feng mentioned earlier, Lin Feng had to spend money for a spot on the trending searches.”
Zhang Zian turned on the blow dryer and started to blow dry its fur.
Under the noise of the blow dryer, Famous slightly increased its volume. “It’s all worth it if this movie is able to help the children suffering from hydatid disease and those threatened by the stray Tibetan Mastiffs. As for the commission and all the other income from future advertisements, you can handle it for me. I believe that you can put the money to better use.”
Zhang Zian saw that its mind has been decided, so he spoke no more. Any more words and it was going to be pretentious.
In fact, Zian had though of a better place to use the money.