1990: Starting from Baojia Street

The next day, Linda rushed to Zhou Yan's studio early in the morning.

She arrived at 8:20 and stayed in the lounge for forty minutes before being taken to Zhou Yan's office by the front desk staff.

When she arrived at the office door, Linda looked at her watch and it was exactly nine o'clock.

I have to say that Zhou Yan has a very strong sense of time. If he says we will meet at nine o'clock, he can be precise to the minute.

In fact, for Zhou Yan, he just had to tell the front desk, "Bring the reporter from Billboard to see me at nine o'clock." The front desk staff would calculate the time to ensure that Linda entered the office at exactly nine o'clock.

Zhou Yan is not a perfectionist. Although it is nine o'clock, it is okay if it is a little later or earlier as long as the difference is not too big.

"Linda, long time no see."

Seeing Linda, Zhou Yan stood up from his office chair and greeted her.

Linda smiled when she heard Zhou Yan calling her name. When she interviewed Zhou Yan for the second time, Zhou Yan called her name. She was a little flattered at that time. Now, when Zhou Yan called her name again, she was still surprised.

After all, for someone like Zhou Yan, who comes into contact with too many people every day, it is not easy for him to remember a reporter.

Linda has interviewed many people, but only a few can remember her after the first time.

"Long time no see, Y." Linda smiled and quickly took out a book and a CD from her bag. "Before the interview begins, could you please sign an autograph for me?"

Zhou Yan took it and took a look. The book was the newly released hardcover edition of "Shutter Island" and the CD was "Rain Bells".

"Are there only these two?" Zhou Yan smiled and directly signed his name on it with a pen.

"Well, I only brought these two."

Of course Linda also wanted to bring more, as she had basically all of Zhou Yan's works, but she was afraid that Zhou Yan would be unhappy if she brought too many. After all, she would be abusing her power for personal gain.

The two things given to Zhou Yan for signing were both brought from the United States. "Shutter Island" has not yet been released in China.

"You can bring more next time we meet."

After signing his name, Zhou Yan returned the things to Linda, "Please sit down. Zhang Youan should have told you that you have one hour."

Linda nodded, "Of course, Zhang told me, thank you."

"You are welcome."

Linda nodded and took out her notebook. "Let's start now."

"Well, if you have any questions, please ask."

“The first question is, will this Forbidden City concert be a stand-alone concert, or will it be part of a themed series of concerts?”

“For now, it’s just a single concert, but I don’t rule out the possibility of making it a series of concerts in the future. I may hold concerts in other famous places around the world in the future.”

Linda nodded and asked, "Will there be songs from the movie About Time at this concert? Although this movie has not been released in the United States, there has been a lot of discussion about the soundtrack in the movie in the United States, and the few songs that have been released are also very popular with fans."

"Unfortunately, there are no songs from About Time at this concert."

Linda nodded again. This answer was within her expectations. Since it was a concert in the Forbidden City, the music should be more oriental, similar to "Memories of the Forbidden City" and "Distant Journey".

“Although the latter question has nothing to do with music, I still want to ask for American movie fans: when will About Time be released in the United States?”

Zhou Yan shook his head. "I can't give you an answer to this question because it's still under discussion. Once it's confirmed, we will announce it as soon as possible."

"As long as it can be released, we will wait patiently."

Although Zhou Yan was unable to give an answer, he did reveal a piece of news that Tang Chen is already in talks with the United States. This is positive news, and it shouldn't be long before the movie is released.

"Titanic has also received a lot of attention in the past two years, and we all know that you have been hired to compose the soundtrack for this movie. Has the soundtrack work started?"

"A theme song has been written." Zhou Yan said. This news does not need to be kept secret.

Linda's eyes lit up. In fact, she had heard before that "Titanic" wrote a theme song, but she was still very happy when Zhou Yan, the person involved, confirmed it personally.

"Excuse me, has Celine Dion been chosen to sing the theme song?"

There were news reports before that Celine Dion would sing the theme song of "Titanic", but this has not been confirmed by the parties involved.

"Yes, it's her." There was nothing to keep secret either. In fact, the news reported earlier was leaked by Fox.

This kind of vague news can be considered as part of the early publicity.

From Fox's perspective, they certainly hope that the official news will come from Zhou Yan's mouth, which will have a better news effect.

Zhou Yan told Linda this now, which was considered to be fulfilling Fox's wish.

Linda smiled and wrote this down in her notebook. This was the first time they received official news.

"Besides the theme song, are other soundtracks ready?" Linda asked.

"Not yet."

"You won the Oscar for Best Original Score for Sense and Sensibility before. Will this collaboration with James Cameron be your second chance to win this award?"

Zhou Yan shook his head. "The Oscars are very popular, but I don't usually pay attention to them. I value the audience's feedback more."

"Am I to understand that you care more about box office than awards?"

"Box office is only part of the story. Audiences have many ways to express their love for the movie. All I have to do is make the music better serve the plot of the movie."

Zhou Yan really doesn't pursue the Oscar Award, because he knows that it is not something he can get just by pursuing it.

In terms of authority, the Oscars are not very authoritative, otherwise, "The Chorus" should have won an Oscar, instead of ending up with nothing.

"Your fans of music and movies definitely hope that you can win more awards. Next question, do you plan to hold a concert in the United States this year?"

"Not yet."

"That's a pity. There are so many of your fans in the United States who are looking forward to your concert."

……

An hour was enough time for Linda to ask questions, so in addition to asking questions, she also chatted with Zhou Yan from time to time to enhance their relationship.

In the past two years, Linda has become the reporter in their agency specifically responsible for Zhou Yan. Now she is responsible for everything related to Zhou Yan in the agency.

It will bring us closer together and facilitate future cooperation.

At 9:59, Zhou Yan looked at his watch. Linda understood immediately and stood up. "Y, thank you for your cooperation. It's time. I'll take my leave now." Zhou Yan also stood up with a smile. "I have something else to do today, so I can't chat with you any longer. How about this, I'll find someone to take you around our park, so you'll have more material to write when you go back."

Linda wrote a lot of positive things for Zhou Yan in Billboard, and Zhou Yan had a good impression of her, so he was willing to give her some convenience.

"Thank you very much."

Linda originally wanted to visit the park, but Zhou Yan had already given her an hour for the interview, so she was embarrassed to make any more requests.

"You're welcome." Zhou Yan smiled, picked up the phone and called Li Hong.

There are not many people in their park who can communicate in English, and Li Hong's English is not very good, but he should have no problem taking Linda around the park.

The key is that Li Hong is a lively guy and can entertain Linda well.

After the call, Li Hong came over quickly.

Zhou Yan said to him, "This is Linda, a reporter from the United States. You can take her around the park and have lunch with her in the cafeteria."

Li Hong scratched his head, "Me?"

Zhou Yan laughed and said, "You can't?"

"It's not impossible..." Li Hong glanced at Linda, "There's nothing in the park that I can't show her, right?"

"No, just take her away normally." Zhou Yan smiled, "You are quite vigilant, you deserve praise."

"That's right, this kind of thing has to be sensitive."

When he said this, Li Hong had a smile on his face and looked at Linda with a kind look.

Seeing Li Hong's kind eyes, Linda also laughed. Although she couldn't hear what the man was saying, she knew from his expression that he was probably assuring Y that he would treat her well.

"Linda, this is Li Hong. He is my assistant director. He has participated in all my films. If you have any questions, you can ask him."

When Linda heard that Li Hong had participated in all of Zhou Yan's movies, her eyes lit up and she thought that she must ask him about it later.

"Excuse me, Mr. Li."

"You are welcome."

Li Hong nodded to Zhou Yan and led Linda out.

……

After leaving the office, Linda tidied her bag and put the notebook for the interview in it.

Li Hong stretched his head and saw the book "Shutter Island" in Linda's bag.

He asked, "Is the book selling well in America?"

"Are you talking about Shutter Island? Of course it sold very well. Although I didn't pay attention to the specific sales data, many people went to the bookstore near my home to buy this book, and many media in the United States reported on the news of this book." Linda said with a smile.

Li Hong nodded and said, "You Americans are very lucky. We Chinese readers haven't even seen this book yet."

Linda smiled and said, "We really have to thank Y for bringing us such a good novel. As Mr. Li said, we are very lucky. Mr. Li, where are we going next?"

Li Hong thought for a moment and said, "Let me take you to our director's office."

"Okay, please."

"You are welcome."

On the way to the director's office, Li Hong asked Linda, "You don't speak Chinese, and you didn't bring a translator with you to China. Aren't you afraid of getting lost?"

"We actually hired an interpreter, but he went out with my colleague. After all, Y knows English, so we can communicate in English without an interpreter. This time, in addition to filming the Forbidden City concert, we also want to take some photos of other places in Yanjing. I asked my colleague to do these things first. Of course, we are a music media after all, so we pay more attention to the music environment in Yanjing, such as what kind of music Yanjing people usually listen to, how many performances there are, and where they are usually held..."

"Of course there is a lot of music. If you want to understand the music of Yanjing, you must go to the bars in Yanjing. There are the most representative music. But I still suggest you learn Chinese so that you won't get lost in China."

"Thank you for your reminder. I have actually been learning Chinese, but I haven't learned much. I only know a few simple words." Linda said with a smile.

"Oh?" Li Hong looked at Linda with interest, "What can you do? Tell me."

"Hello, have you eaten? My name is Lin Lin, I'm from the United States, nice to meet you, see you tomorrow, how much is it..."

Linda spoke more than a dozen common expressions in one breath, and her pronunciation was quite clear.

Li Hong nodded, "Not bad."

Language doesn't need to be very precise. In fact, the words Linda knows, plus some gestures, are enough for her to travel freely on the streets of China.

"Thank you, I'm still learning."

"Learning a language requires an environment. How about this, let's try to speak Chinese in the future. Don't miss such a good opportunity. Maybe after today, your Chinese will improve by leaps and bounds."

"That's fine too."

Linda nodded. She felt that what Li Hong said made sense.

"Then, we will speak Chinese from now on." Li Hong then switched to Mandarin, "We will be there soon."

Linda only understood the word "we", but after seeing Li Hong's gesture, she probably understood what he meant, so she nodded: "Okay."

After that, they continued to communicate in Chinese.

Most of the time, Linda looked confused. Her Chinese was so poor that she couldn't understand what Li Hong said even if she guessed.

Li Hong is very patient. He can repeat a question to Linda more than ten times and is not afraid of trouble at all.

So, although Linda was very anxious, she was still quite touched. She had never met such a patient man before.

But what Linda didn't know was that Li Hong's suggestion to speak Chinese was not to help her improve her Chinese level, but to encourage Linda to ask fewer questions and he to reveal less information.

As for explaining it over and over again without getting tired of it, Li Hong didn't think it was a big deal. It would just be enough to use up the morning time. He wouldn't get bored no matter how many times he said the same thing.

In this way, until half past eleven, an hour and a half had passed, and Linda did not leave their director's office. It took Linda nearly half an hour just to get to know the people in the director's office.

After eleven thirty, Li Hong looked at the time and said with a smile, "Let's go, let's go eat."

Linda didn't ask any questions all morning, and she didn't visit any other places except the director's office, but she was in a good mood.

She thought that she didn't have much feeling before, and Li Hong did promise Zhou Yan that he would treat her well. (End of this chapter)