1990: Starting from Baojia Street

Hardison looked at the huge crowds at the entrance of the Imperial Ancestral Temple and asked his tour guide George, "George, are the performances here always so popular?"

George smiled and said, "Didn't I say that this is the first time the Imperial Ancestral Temple has held a concert, so there is no comparison. But on some special days, the Imperial Ancestral Temple does have a lot of people."

"Today is also a special day."

George nodded, "Well, today is a very special day. Although the Forbidden City Concert will be held for three consecutive days, there are very few seats, only more than 3,000, and tickets are very tight. Many people can't buy tickets. Many people are still here today waiting for others to refund their tickets."

For three consecutive days, tickets for the three concerts were released to the public in three batches, and each batch was sold out as soon as it came out, and no ticket could be kept until the next day.

“No one will refund their tickets, right?”

George laughed. "Other people are not stupid. Even if they can't watch the show because of something else, they will sell the tickets. Without saying too much, if the price is doubled or tripled, someone will buy it soon."

At this point, George thought of Hardison and his friends' tickets.

"In fact, you could have flown directly to Yanjing and bought tickets after you got there. As long as you're willing to pay, you can definitely get one."

Hardison spent 50,000 US dollars on those tickets. When George found out about this, he called it a waste. If he had helped buy the tickets, he could have gotten them for a maximum of 50,000 RMB.

Tickets in China are also being hyped up, but a few thousand yuan per ticket is already the limit. After all, not many people can afford to spend a few thousand yuan to attend a concert.

Hardison smiled and said, "If there are any similar performances in the future, I will ask you for help."

Although Hardison is rich and fifty thousand dollars is nothing to him, who doesn't want to save some money?

As long as he wants to listen to Zhou Yan's concerts and as long as Zhou Yan continues to hold concerts, he and Jessica will have this need.

Next time, he will have someone in China.

"How about you go and look for someone who's willing to buy a ticket? We'll pay for you and you can go in and watch it?" Jessica said from the side.

George usually listens to Zhou Yan, but he doesn't have the money to buy such expensive tickets, so after the ticket inspection, Hardison and Jessica will go in, and he will wait outside.

Leaving George outside, they went in to listen to the concert by themselves, which made Hardison and Jessica feel a little embarrassed, so Jessica suggested getting another ticket and taking George in to listen.

"No, Jessica, thank you for your kindness. I can hear it outside." George shook his head and smiled.

George is a very qualified tour guide. He knows clearly that no matter how good the relationship with the customers is, he must not take advantage of the customers.

Although he believed that Jessica really wanted to get him a ticket, he had to know when to stop, which was why he had such a good reputation.

"Can we hear it outside?" Jessica asked curiously.

George smiled and nodded, "Of course, it's not a concert hall inside, and there's no roof over the head, so the sound can't be blocked. Although the effect outside is not as good as inside, it's still clear. The most important thing is that Y didn't sing a cappella at this concert, and allowed people who didn't buy tickets to listen outside."

As George said, there is a courtyard inside the Temple of Heaven, and the sounds inside can be heard quite clearly outside. Many people come so early in the hope of occupying a favorable position.

While the three were chatting, a group of staff came over and cleared a passage about three or four meters wide through the crowd, starting from the roadside, crossing the stone bridge, and all the way to the entrance of the Ji gate.

After the passage was evacuated, retractable isolation belts were used to block both sides to prevent people from entering.

Afterwards, the staff began to lay the red carpet on the ground.

"What is this?" Jessica asked.

"There should be some celebrities coming today. I saw on the news these days that many celebrities have come to Yanjing. Oh, and Mariah Carey. They should all come to listen to the Y concert, and these red carpets should be prepared for them." George explained.

"So that's how it is. Will Y himself and the performers from the Youth Piano Orchestra walk on this red carpet?" Hardison asked.

"I don't know." George shook his head. "Probably not."

Normally, performers don’t walk along the red carpet; they all take their seats in advance.

"These red carpets have to be laid temporarily, why not lay them out in advance?"

"I'm afraid it will be damaged if I lay it out in advance."

……

The staff were very efficient. It took more than a dozen people just over half an hour to lay out this section of the red carpet.

By the time the staff rolling out the red carpet left, it was already past five.

Ten minutes later, at half past five, cheers suddenly erupted from the direction near the road.

Hardison and the other two who were chatting quickly looked in the direction of the voice, and saw that at the starting point of the red carpet, Li Xuejian and Xie Fang were being polite to each other and letting the other walk in front.

In the end, Xie Fang was older and moved half a body length forward, while Li Xuejian followed behind him.

The red carpet walk this time was not very formal. People like Li Xuejian didn't take it too seriously, and didn't care much about the order.

This time matched Li Xuejian's time, so he and Xie Fang came here by car from Yanjing Film Studio.

Otherwise, given their status, it would be impossible for them to appear first.

Li Xuejian wore a Zhongshan suit, and Xie Fang wore a rose-red cheongsam. Although the clothes were not very gorgeous, they were both very decent.

There were no special shooting locations for reporters at the scene, so they could only squeeze among the crowd and try hard to take pictures of Li Xuejian and Xie Fang.

From the moment they stepped onto the red carpet, the flashes on both sides of the aisle never stopped, as if film was free.

When Li Xuejian and Xie Fang appeared, the atmosphere at the scene suddenly became lively.

In her early years, Xie Fang created many memorable characters and was a representative figure of intellectuals on the screen. Although she has produced fewer works in later years and has appeared less frequently in the public eye, with the popularity of "Time Traveler" in China, she has re-entered the public eye with the role of the protagonist's mother.

In fact, Xie Fang does not have many roles in "Time Traveler". The role of the male protagonist's mother is very different from the role of the male protagonist's father.

But because the movie is so popular, even characters with few roles will receive a lot of attention.

Needless to say, Li Xuejian has been at the peak of his career in recent years. He has achieved outstanding results in both TV series and movies.

He himself said that his luck in recent years has been really good. He originally thought that he had used up all his luck in life to get the role of Jyl, but he did not expect that he would later get the role of Zhou Xuewen in "The Chorus".

These two roles alone are enough to support him for the rest of his life.

Moreover, both "Jyl" and "The Chorus" were great successes in both word-of-mouth and box office, which not only established his position in the industry but also brought him public attention.

Not to mention, he also has the role of Song Dacheng.

When the TV series "Desire" was popular, he became a heartwarming male god in the hearts of many women with the role of Song Dacheng. His base among women is still very stable, and it is no exaggeration to say that he is a friend of women.

Li Xuejian rarely walks on the red carpet, and this is his first time walking on the red carpet at the entrance of the Imperial Ancestral Temple. The crowds on both sides are very enthusiastic and keep greeting him, and he smiles and waves back. Xie Fang next to him also smiles and waves back at the audience. The two of them walked slowly all the way to the gate.

After they went in, more than a minute later, someone else came.

The ones who came this time were Li Naiwen and Li Xiaoran.

Both of them are newcomers, but because of the popularity of "Time Travelers", many people at the scene recognized them and the cheers were quite loud.

Compared with Li Xuejian and Xie Fang, the two young people were dressed up.

Li Naiwen specially bought a suit for today's red carpet.

Regarding the matter of clothes, he actually went to Zhou Yan for advice.

Because he saw that Zhou Yan usually wore very nice clothes, he wanted to ask where Zhou Yan bought his clothes.

But asking Zhou Yan almost made him autistic.

Any suit Zhou Yan buys costs five figures, and many of them are not bought directly from the store but custom-made.

Later, it was Zhou Yan who introduced him to Dong Wenmiao Studio to rent clothes.

The rental of this set of clothes is not cheap, and it is enough for Li Naiwen to buy several sets of clothes.

But the effect is really good. Wearing this dress, Li Naiwen looked much more confident when walking on the red carpet.

Li Xiaoran wore a beige dress, which was arranged for her by her company.

Compared with the pair of Li Xuejian and Xie Fang just now, the pair of Li Naiwen and Li Xiaoran is naturally more pleasing to the eye.

Of course, the eye-catching role mainly depends on Li Xiaoran, while Li Naiwen is responsible for setting off the role.

This is a society where looks matter. Precisely because of her good looks, Li Xiaoran became the person who benefited the most from "Time Traveler" besides a few main characters.

Ever since the release of "Time Traveler", there has been a constant stream of scripts looking for her to act in movies, some of which have her as the leading lady.

Not only are there more scripts coming to her, but the pay they offer is also getting higher and higher.

As the recent movies are popular in Japan and the box office continues to set new records, the offers made by those crews to Li Xiaoran are getting higher and higher.

In any case, Li Xiaoran is considered an actress who has appeared abroad.

After all, they are both young, so they were more lively when walking the red carpet, interacted more with the people on both sides, and spent more time walking on the red carpet than the previous group.

After Li Naiwen and others went in, the third group of guests soon appeared.

After the third group of guests appeared, the cheers from the audience were even louder than when Li Xuejian and his group appeared just now.

Hearing such loud cheers, Jessica asked curiously, “Who are these two?”

When she heard the cheers, she knew that the two people who came were definitely not ordinary stars.

George introduced with a smile, "The man's name is Zhang Guorong, a very famous actor and singer in Hong Kong. His performance in Farewell My Concubine won the Palme d'Or. Do you know this movie? Y participated in the soundtrack of this movie."

"I seem to have heard of this movie. Is it about traditional Chinese opera?" Jessica said.

"Yes, it is related to Peking Opera." George nodded.

"Where's the woman next to you?"

"That was Anita Mui, a famous actress and singer in Hong Kong. She sang songs written by Y. One of them was "If Love Has Destiny" and the other was "Together Forever."

"Oh, those are the two songs. I've heard them, and I've even heard the Neon version."

"The Japanese version is sung by Kudo Shizuka, and she might come today. In fact, the celebrity guests who came today should have worked with Y before. The first couple who came earlier..."

"I know that man. He is the male lead in 'The Chorus', Zhou Xuewen. Am I right?" Hardison answered quickly.

George smiled and nodded, "Yes, he is Li Xuejian, a very good actor in mainland China. His status in China is a bit like Al Pacino."

"That's really impressive," Hardison exclaimed.

Hardison didn't expect that Li Xuejian's influence in China was so strong. Al Pacino is not an ordinary actor in the United States. He can be said to be a legendary actor.

And this Li Xuejian looks much younger than Al Pacino.

"Where's that woman?" Jessica asked.

"Actually, I don't know much about that actress. I haven't seen any of her previous movies, but she starred in "Time Traveler", in which she and Y played mother and son."

George is a foreigner after all, and he has rarely seen old Chinese movies. His understanding of Xie Fang is limited to "Time Traveler".

"Oh, by the way, the young couple in front also starred in "Time Traveler". The young actor..."

Jessica quickly stopped him and said, "George, stop spoiling the story. I want to save the surprise for when we go to the cinema to watch the movie."

George stopped talking immediately and then smiled, "I hope that The Time Traveler can be released in the United States as soon as possible so that you can see it. Believe me, you will not be disappointed after watching the movie."

Hardison laughed and said, "Everyone who has seen the movie has told us this. In fact, even if you didn't say it, I would have full confidence in Y. His previous three movies have convinced me that the movies he makes will not disappoint me."

George smiled. He felt that Hardison's judgment was too emotional.

The fact is, even the best directors make mistakes sometimes.

As long as a director produces enough films, he is bound to produce some things that are not satisfactory.

Unless a director retires directly after making a few high-quality films at the peak of his creative career, it is impossible to avoid making bad films, and most directors are unable to retire at the peak of their career.

People's understanding of themselves is often delayed.

It is always after a director has made a few subpar films that he realizes the fact that his creative ability has declined.

Before this, they were full of confidence.

Zhou Yan is also a human being, so he will naturally make mistakes. I just don’t know in which movie he will make such mistakes.

Now it has been confirmed that the first four parts have guaranteed the quality, and now we have to focus on the fifth part. (End of this chapter)