The opening of China Entertainment Group gave Jay Chou a head-on confrontation

Chapter 985 Worshiping Heaven, Earth, and the Book of Changes

"Hmm? You mean she also wants to play the role of Pei Rong?"

The capital city, Zhao Wei's home.

Xiao Yanzi, who was preparing to attend the opening ceremony of the Hong Kong Film and Entertainment Expo and the first Asian Film Awards, frowned when she heard the name that had been overshadowing her in press releases in recent years.

To be honest, Fan Bingbing's rapid rise to fame after associating with Zhou Yi, becoming one of the most commercially valuable female celebrities in the Chinese-speaking world in just a few years, was indeed beyond her expectations.

And for various reasons, even Yinghuang gave her face—

Zhou Yi is just too outstanding.

However, due to their different acting styles, apart from the media that frequently compares them for the sake of gossip and Fan Bingbing's own resentment about the past, there is actually no real conflict between the two.

But what did she hear now?
If a fox spirit doesn't play a demon fox, isn't that a waste of her chosen fox spirit appearance?

"That's the information Chen Shufen has released for now. We can't rule out the possibility that they're using a feint to their advantage..." Chen Rong, Zhao Wei's agent and sister-in-law, analyzed the situation logically.

Chen Shufen is a seasoned hype woman; she's adept at using smokescreens to mislead people.

"Whether she's real or fake, I absolutely need this role. Could we arrange to have dinner with the director, producer, and investors?"

Although she has participated in fewer films and television series in the past year because she re-enrolled in the Beijing Film Academy to pursue a master's degree in directing, Zhao Wei is still among the top female stars in mainland China.

Even though she went through a series of scandals, she only fell from her top position.

There's no way around it, she's just really tough.

The annual rerun of "Princess Pearl" has been a hit with everyone from ninety-nine-year-olds to toddlers, who can hum along to a few lines. No one in the entire Chinese-speaking world has escaped the bombardment of "Princess Pearl"—of course, only the version starring her.

Although the ratings for "My Fair Princess" were still very high after the cast was changed, its popularity clearly waned afterward, as can be seen from the current rebroadcast rate on major TV stations.

"I think I can be the director. I've tried the investors and producers. Cheng Hao is the one who organized the project. She brought in China Film Group and Shanghai Film Group to ensure the smooth progress and release of the film project, but she is still the core producer. And she declined."

Although the mainland film industry has always been director-centric, there are exceptions.

For example, the movie "Painted Skin".

The film was co-directed by Chin Wing-keung and Chan Ka-fai, so you can imagine who would ultimately make the final decision when the two directors had a conflict.

In this situation, establishing a connection with Cheng Hao is undoubtedly the most crucial step. However, Cheng Hao is currently maintaining a purely business-like attitude and insists on not meeting with the actors privately before the casting process is completed.

"Let's try contacting two directors first to gauge their interest."

If Fan Xiaopang really wanted to bring up Zhou Yi to challenge her, Zhao Wei would still have the upper hand.

She even hoped that Fan Xiaopang would bring out Zhou Yi as his savior—that way, he would definitely lose points with Cheng Hao and Zhou Yi.

In a fantasy blockbuster of this caliber, a major role isn't something that can be secured simply by connections or underhanded tactics. At best, it's just a woman's body; how much is that worth?

If Fan Xiaopang really dared to claim he was made of gold, she would just laugh herself to death.

How many big-budget commercial productions has the mainland entertainment industry produced so far?
Are you kidding me? Do you really think money isn't money?

While Zhao Wei was still daydreaming, Cheng Hao had already received a rough number from his subordinates, sifted through a mountain of actor information.

Among them are the names of actors such as Gao Yuanyuan, Fan Bingbing, Li Bingbing, Zhang Ziyi, Zhou Xun, Zhao Wei, Lu Yi, Chen Kun, Tong Dawei, Huang Xiaoming, and Deng Chao.

After a long silence, Cheng Hao, rubbing her knuckles, looked up at the photo of her fellow townsman, Fan Bingbing, her expression thoughtful.

It's not surprising that we received her application, but it is quite surprising that she wanted to play the role of Pei Rong in the script of "Painted Skin".

Due to funding issues and the experimentation of investors such as Shanghai Film Group and China Film Group, she did indeed intend to adopt a risky model of having both male and female leads from mainland China, which could be seen as paving the way for the mainland film industry.

Therefore, she was very cautious.

"At least you know not to talk to men..."

They have a good sense of self-awareness.

Cheng Hao first removed Zhao Wei's name from the shortlist.

Having spent a long time by Zhou Yi's side, she was well aware of his indifference towards her.

Although she didn't know why, as a series of scandals involving Zhao Wei were frequently exposed, she felt that her man really had good taste.

Incidentally, she also crossed out Zhang Ziyi's name.

Both of them currently have more negative news than positive news, so it's reasonable for them to be criticized together.

Oh, and Tong Dawei is also in the male cast, I'll cross that off too—

After all, he was the only one with solid evidence in plain sight, and having his car confiscated would have a bad impact.

"It's strange, I heard from a friend that Zhou Jie's new agent was also inquiring about the project at first, but Zhou Jie himself quickly rejected it."

Back home, at the dinner table, when the topic of casting for the movie came up, Cheng Hao mentioned someone—Zhou Jie, who had once crossed paths with Zhou Yi in Taiwan and played Er Kang in "My Fair Princess".

Logically speaking, such a big production should be something that actors would flock to, so why did Zhou Jie have to withdraw his offer?

With strong acting skills, a good appearance, and a relatively young age, isn't he very competitive?

You mean him?

Hearing the name Er Kang again was a rare occurrence, and Zhou Yi paused in his eating. "It's normal. You shouldn't have any contact with him anymore." At this point, he must have become too deeply involved with one side to extricate himself.

Many people thought that Zhou Jie suddenly lost popularity because of news such as "disrespecting Chen Daoming" and "forcibly kissing Ziwei", but in fact, these are all nonsense.

Essentially, it all comes down to a self-balancing scooter that was exposed.

There are almost no people in the mainland entertainment industry who can get involved in news about the national server ranking battle, after all, people don't care about a little Karami, but Zhou Jie is just one of the extremely rare ones.

Zhou Yi had his own divine eye open and there was no backlash, but Zhou Jie was different.

Moreover, the mortal enemy of the young master behind Zhou Jie is none other than the husband of the older sister who introduced Zhou Yi to the Music Association and guaranteed his direct promotion to the council.

Cheng Hao: "..."

I only produced one movie...

Is he really that good?

Finally, Cheng Hao couldn't help but ask in disbelief, "No one would believe this even if it were written into a novel."

Zhou Yi wiped his mouth: "Novels need logic, but reality doesn't. Besides, the connection he made was only with his son."

It's already quite remarkable that Zhou Jie was able to continue running his business successfully and appear on camera for interviews. After all, people in the industry were wary of his extraordinary past, and no one dared to let him lead film and television projects.

If you were the director or producer, you'd probably have some doubts too.

..............................

"What are you muttering about? Come and worship the Book of Changes!"

Early in the morning, Chen He opened his eyes to see his roommate Zheng Kai, along with Du Jiang and Zhang Dianlun, brazenly returning to the dormitory, loudly proclaiming that they had brought out a copy of the Book of Changes and even pasted a poster of it on the wall—

The three of them even looked very devout, each holding three genuine albums, and bowed to the poster pasted on the wall.

"?"

Is it haunted?
"What are you doing? This is the Book of Changes, not a Buddha statue. Are you using this album as an offering?"

"Hurry up and you should also come and pray. Seriously, I'm telling you, Chen He, you really have to pray to the I Ching. It's so effective, I'm telling you."

Zheng Kai, the well-known advertising prince of Shanghai Theatre Academy, looked melancholy: "Do you know, it's also from our school. The person who was selected to participate in the Zhouyi MV with me this time, Li Jiaxing from the class of 06, he got the role, the lead role."

Chen He jumped out of bed in a flash: "What?!"

Zheng Kai acted in Zhou Yi's music video, which everyone in his dorm knew, but it wasn't surprising. After all, Zheng Kai was a well-known advertising star at the Shanghai Theatre Academy, so it was normal for him to be selected.

But who is this Li Jiaxing from the class of 06?

The class of 06 is only freshmen, and they won't be sophomores until the second half of this year. And they're already getting roles and playing leading roles?

He had never heard of Li Jiaxing before, despite his renowned reputation.

"Which famous director is it?"

"I don't know. It seems to be just a TV series produced by a small company. It's said that Japan is involved, but I don't know if it's true. I only heard about it."

The campus is only so big, so any news of filming will definitely get out of the way.

This is the lead actor.

Many graduates from the Shanghai Theatre Academy spend most of their lives without ever landing a lead role in a low-budget TV series, while Li Jiaxing, from the class of 06, got the role while still a freshman. It's enough to make anyone envious.

"Don't tell me it's a rumor."

"What rumors? I've already asked him, and he did receive one."

Zheng Kai recounted what he had gleaned from Li Jiaxing.

They were from the same school, so they were bound to hang out together on set. He was also a good person to get along with, so they got along quite well during the short few days of filming the music video.

It's just that Li Jiaxing has always emphasized that it's not even close to happening yet.

The only notable achievement he has to offer is "participating in the filming of the Zhouyi MV as the male lead".

Although Zheng Kai himself didn't care about such low-budget TV drama opportunities, he couldn't resist the mystical power of the I Ching—

If a junior from the class of 06 can get a lead role in a small production through some kind of mystical means, then wouldn't I, the advertising prince, be able to get roles in big productions?

"I was wrong to scoff at the Emperor's Ziwei Star theory before. I declare that from today onwards, the Book of Changes will forever be the god in my heart." Zheng Kai, who has released three albums, made these resounding remarks.

Li Jiaxing, who was also excited about going home after finishing his final exams, was equally thrilled.

Even if you beat him to death, he never imagined he'd get a role in his freshman year of college. Filming could start as early as the second half of this year, or at the latest, next spring. He was just investing and trying it out anyway.

"Jiaxing, what kind of drama is it?"

"Oh, it's supposed to be a tokusatsu drama."

Li Jiaxing still remembers the title he saw: "Golden Armor Warrior".

(End of this chapter)