70 A Greedy Snake

Seeing a glint of light in Yuan Ge's eyes as he looks at Amélie gratefully, Du Jinghai lets out an exaggerated sigh, "I'm a few years older than both of you, and I've taken quite a lot of beatings from life, so I don't have as optimistic a view of things as you do. Is it really possible to make money standing up these days? It's hard to break into any industry - The moat is wide, the water is deep, and the ceiling is high. Showbiz, in particular, is a murky vanity fair, filled with fortune and fame seekers and all sorts of interest groups, so the water is even deeper, and ceiling is even higher to reach. Does making it to the top really have anything to do with talent, hard work, or the art per se?"

Amélie chuckles at his words, "The way you talk, it feels like you're still the same kind, thoughtful and meticulous senior I had at university. Being away from home, alone in a strange city, and having seniors to watch out for you is such a warm feeling."

"If you hadn't said it, I wouldn't have known that Jinghai also went to university in Canton." Yuan Ge chimes in.

"Isn't fate amazing?" says Du Jinghai, "When Fat Chow, you and I went to Europe to do a location shoot for Eve's Fallen, I thought it would be great if we could get some local help, so I looked in my TweeChat group of university alumni to see if anyone was in Europe that I can get in touch with. Then I found out that Amy was in France - she was the most popular girl in all Canton universities at the time and was a well-known goddess in the School of Economics and Management, so I contacted her straight away. She flew over from Paris to help us and with some clever persuasion from Fat Chow and the lure of you, a hot director, we managed to get her into Dragon Dreams and brought her back to China!"

As the three of them recall the days when they started Dragon Dreams, their hearts are filled with all sorts of emotions. Amélie looks at Du Jinghai and says, "The culprit is still you. When a senior of my university came to sell me the ultimate dream, guaranteeing a bright future, how could I refuse! But look what's happening now that I'm back, Fat Chow is putting almost the entire burden of the company's finances and marketing on me. I'm working my socks off and exhausted every day... he is such a slave driver!"

"Me the culprit? It was obviously our big director who sold you the dream. If you hadn't joined, I'd be content just to remain a freelancer, doing some contract work here and there. I wouldn't have the courage to take the risk of starting a business with you guys in the capital."

"As they say, 'a wrong step results in eternal regret', but now that I've bought a house here, it's too late to change my mind. I'd have to accept the fact and be prepared to be a new Beijinger for the rest of my life."

"So you have to be responsible for me …" Feeling tipsy, Du Jinghai says, his eyes looking longingly at Amélie, "You're the woman who changed the direction of my life."

Amélie follows suit and turns to Yuan Ge, "So you have to be responsible for me too. Without that blast of that passionate scene you gave me when we first met, a lady like me wouldn't be so easily seduced..."

"There is no seduction… I didn't…" Yuan Ge whispers his protest to no avail, then he too follows suit and laments, "Then I'll just have to go to Fat Chow to lodge my complaint and make him own up his responsibility for me. If he hadn't gone to America with his wife to do IVF and come nagging me every day on the set where I was working at the time, there would be no Dragon Dreams..."

"So we are actually a greedy snake[1] with its head and tail joined together. Fat Chow, the head of the snake, is not here, otherwise we would have to punish him severely with a large drink."

Amélie says as she picks up her glass and stands up, "Come, have one more drink and toast. Let the splendour of the world be intertwined with each of us!"

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[1] The snake Amy refers to here is the classic video game concept where the player manoeuvres a line which grows in length, with the line itself being a primary obstacle. The concept originated in the 1976 two-player arcade game Blockade from Gremlin Industries.