1990: Starting from Baojia Street

Hearing Zhang Guorong say this, Xu Guanjie smiled and said, "That's a pity."

"What a pity?" Zhang Guorong asked puzzledly.

He didn't understand. What was so regrettable about not going to see Zhou Yan? It wasn't like they hadn't seen each other for a long time. They just met yesterday. And they would see each other again when Zhou Yan went on stage soon.

"Let me tell you something." Sam Hui sat down next to Leslie Cheung and said excitedly, "Just now, Zhou Yan wrote a song for me backstage."

"He wrote a song for you?" Zhang Guorong was a little surprised.

On the one hand, there was no news that Zhou Yan had any connection with Sam Hui before, so why did he suddenly write a song for Sam Hui?

On the other hand, didn’t Sam Hui retire from the music industry?
The two were very good friends, but Zhang Guorong had never heard from Sam Hui about making a comeback before, so how come he suddenly released a new song?

If he wasn't going to make a comeback, why would he need Zhou Yan's songs? Could he just take the songs home and sing them to himself?

Besides, even if Sam Hui wants to make a comeback, he should write his own songs.

"Yes, the music has been composed, only the lyrics are needed. He is really efficient and he composed the music on the spot in just a few minutes."

Zhang Guorong was not surprised at all about this.

"So, he is a monster, and we are all human. I knew this a long time ago."

"Has he always been so powerful?" Sam Hui asked curiously. He knew that he had a good relationship with Leslie Cheung, but he had never heard Leslie Cheung say anything about Zhou Yan before.

Zhang Guorong nodded, "Yeah, he's always been so amazing. Do you know how I know him?"

"Did they meet when they went to the mainland to film?" Xu Guanjie guessed.

In the past two years, Zhang Guorong often went to mainland China to film, and during that time he met many people from the mainland film and television circles, so Xu Guanjie guessed that Zhang Guorong met Zhou Yan at that time.

"Yes, as you know, the first movie I filmed in the mainland was Farewell My Concubine, and Zhou Yan was one of the music directors for Farewell My Concubine. Zhou Yan was only in his early twenties at the time, but he already had a very high status on the set."

"That's true. A person in his early twenties can become one of the music directors for Farewell My Concubine. This is not something that ordinary people can do."

Looking back at Farewell My Concubine, the feeling is very different from when it was filming.

As the years passed, this movie became more and more of a classic, and its status in Chinese film history became higher and higher.

Although not many people attribute the success of "Farewell My Concubine" to Zhou Yan, looking back at that simple appointment now, it seems to have a bit of legendary flavor.

Those things that seemed very ordinary at the time gradually became blurred and became unusual as time went by.

Recalling the days when he filmed "Farewell My Concubine" in Yanjing, Zhang Guorong was also very emotional. Although he could see Zhou Yan's extraordinary talent at that time, he could never have imagined that Zhou Yan would be able to develop to where he is today in just a few years.

If someone had told Zhang Guorong a few years ago that in a few years Zhou Yan's self-written, directed, voiced and acted movie would sweep the Asian market and break the box office record in Hong Kong film history, Zhang Guorong would definitely not have believed it.

He would rather believe that Zhou Yan served as the music director in such a movie. After all, Zhou Yan did not show any talent as a director at that time... It cannot be said that he did not show any talent as a director. At least Zhou Yan really felt like a fish in water in the crew.

In addition to Zhou Yan's musical talent, what impressed Zhang Guorong the most was Zhou Yan's ability to handle interpersonal relationships.

Although not everyone in the crew of "Farewell My Concubine" likes Zhou Yan, Zhou Yan's influence in the crew is quite effective just because he is the second-in-command of the composing music.

Zhang Guorong went to Yenching to study Peking Opera for quite a long time. His teacher at the time was called He Wuming, a very aloof person who did not even give any special treatment to Zhang Guorong. However, he treated Zhou Yan differently from others.

At that time, Zhang Guorong thought that if Zhou Yan could handle someone like Teacher He, there would probably be few people in this world that he could not handle.

Later events also confirmed Zhang Guorong's idea. Zhou Yan had a special magic. People liked to gather around him and were very willing to work with him.

This kind of ability is very useful as a director.

Looking at Sam Hui, Zhang Guorong smiled and said, "You asked Zhou Yan to write a song for you. Are you planning to make a comeback?"

Sam Hui laughed, "I was hesitating originally, now that Zhou Yan is writing a song for me, I might as well take advantage of the situation to make a comeback. I have been resting for too long and I am unsure."

"That's not something you would say."

"The world is changing very fast, and I have slowly come to accept it. So I also know that if I make a comeback with a song written by Zhou Yan, it will be much more popular than if I make a comeback with a song I wrote myself."

The reason why Sam Hui just said that he would make a comeback as long as Zhou Yan wrote a song for him was because he knew that the songs Zhou Yan wrote for him were very popular.

Sam Hui does not hide his thoughts.

Zhang Guorong smiled and nodded, "Of course, a group like yours will attract the attention of all Hong Kong people. Not to mention the fans, even I am a little interested in what it will be like when you sing the songs he wrote."

"I'm going to record the song in the next two days. If you're interested, I'll go and listen to it."

"It's no use what you say. I'll have to ask A-Yan later."

"Well, I'll ask him later."

"He will definitely agree to this kind of thing..."

The two were chatting enthusiastically when Tsui Hark and his wife walked over to Sam Hui with a smile and asked, "Sam, did you sit in the wrong seat?"

Seeing Tsui Hark and his wife, Sam Hui laughed and said, "You guys are here too. I'm going to chat with Leslie Cheung for a while. Is this your seat?"

"Yeah, what's your position?"

"My seat... is right in front." Sam Hui pointed to where his brother Sam Hui was sitting, which was only three or four seats away from him.

"It's okay, just sit here. Let's move to the side. When someone comes, let him sit with your brother."

Zhang Guorong laughed and said, "That seems to be Faye Wong's position."

Shi Nansheng smiled and said, "It's okay, I know Faye Wong, I'll come and talk to her later."

As soon as she finished speaking, Faye Wong came over from the side and asked, "What are you telling me?"

Seeing Faye Wong, everyone laughed. Zhang Guorong pointed at Sam Hui and explained, "This guy took the seat of Sister A and the others, and then Sister A and the others moved to the side, and took your seat."

The "Ah Jie" that Leslie Cheung mentioned was not Nansun Shi, but Tsui Hark, or rather, both Tsui Hark and Nansun Shi.

Nansun Shi has good interpersonal relationships in the film industry, and the male star with whom she has the best relationship is Zhang Guorong. Zhang Guorong respects Nansun Shi very much and calls her "Ajie", and he also extends this title to Tsui Hark. After hearing Zhang Guorong's explanation, Faye Wong waved her hand and said, "It doesn't matter. Then I can just go to the position of the God of Songs and solve the problem, right?"

Sam Hui was not polite and said with a smile, "Thank you for your help."

"You're welcome. It doesn't matter where I sit."

The seats were not far away and there were no name tags on them, so Faye Wong didn't care where she sat. The experience of listening to the concert was almost the same in the front seats.

Faye Wong took the initiative to change seats, and the problem was solved immediately. Tsui Hark and his wife sat next to Sam Hui.

They were all old acquaintances, so naturally they had something to talk about. Sam Hui repeated to Tsui Hark and the others what he had just said to Leslie Cheung.

After hearing this, Tsui Hark's reaction was similar to that of Leslie Cheung.

He was surprised that Zhou Yan wrote songs for Sam Hui, but he was not surprised at all at Zhou Yan's song writing speed.

Tsui Hark has worked with Zhou Yan before, and he knows Zhou Yan's talent better than most people. Zhou Yan's first leading role was in his movie.

Tsui Hark has been following Zhou Yan's development over the years. He is of course surprised at the speed of Zhou Yan's development, and even feels a little regretful at the same time.

If he had known this earlier, he would have directly handed over the soundtrack of "Green Snake" to Zhou Yan from the beginning.

Of course, the soundtrack of "Green Snake" is already very good, but Tsui Hark wanted to see if there was another possibility.

……

As a few people were chatting, audience members slowly came in after checking their tickets, and the concert hall gradually filled up.

At 6:55, the stage curtain slowly opened, and the performers of the Youth Piano Orchestra were already in their seats.

The moment the curtain opened, applause broke out in the concert hall.

Even when the curtains were fully opened, the applause did not stop.

Finally, the host spoke and the applause stopped.

"Let us welcome the conductor of this concert, Yue Lin."

Then Yue Lin came on stage.

At every concert, besides Zhou Yan, the one with the most presence is naturally Yue Lin. Sometimes when he performs on stage, Yue Lin’s presence is even greater than Zhou Yan’s, because Zhou Yan may get into the orchestra in advance.

Nowadays, Yue Lin is probably the most famous orchestra conductor in China.

Not to mention how many high-level orchestras other conductors have worked with, the conductor who is of great use to ordinary listeners and that most music fans can recognize is Yue Lin.

The audience size of the Youth Piano Orchestra is probably higher than that of ten high-level orchestras combined.

Yue Lin came on stage, waved his baton and greeted everyone. The host continued, "Next, let's invite ..."

This time the host didn't even say the name, but applause broke out because everyone knew that the next person to appear was Zhou Yan.

Sure enough, when the host was about to call Zhou Yan's name, Zhou Yan had already walked out from behind the scenes.

After Zhou Yan came on stage, the host's work was done.

Walking to the center of the stage, Zhou Yan adjusted the microphone and said with a smile, "Good evening, everyone."

He did not give the audience time to applaud, and continued, "I am very happy and honored to be here to perform for you during this period. For me, today's concert is enough to celebrate three things. The first thing is that Hong Kong has finally returned to the embrace of the motherland, and we have taken another big step towards the great cause of national reunification; the second thing is that my new movie "Time Traveler" has achieved pretty good results in Hong Kong these days..."

When Zhou Yan said this, there was laughter from the audience. They were all laughing at what Zhou Yan called "pretty good results."

To say that breaking the box office record in Hong Kong's film history is a pretty good result is too low-key.

The audience laughed, and Zhou Yan also laughed, "The third joy is that the live recording of the "Forbidden City Concert" containing the "Bauhinia March" has sold more than six million copies worldwide."

Zhou Yan usually doesn't tell his fans about his album sales, but the reason why he mentioned today that the sales of "Forbidden City Concert" exceeded six million is entirely because "Bauhinia March" is included in it.

Without Zhou Yan's explanation, everyone understood the meaning and gave warm applause.

After letting everyone applaud for a while, Zhou Yan continued, "Hong Kong was one of the first cities where our orchestra held concerts. Perhaps some of you have watched those concerts a few years ago. Hong Kong has a special meaning for our Piano Youth Orchestra."

Talking about the past, Zhou Yan did not start to be sentimental, but changed the subject and said with a smile, "I heard from my friends these days that the tickets for this concert are not cheap, and it is not easy to come and listen to one. But don't worry, we will come to hold concerts frequently in the future and try to lower the ticket prices. Even if I don't come, the orchestra will come."

Although Zhou Yan said he might not be there, the fans were still very happy.

Even if Zhou Yan didn't come, as long as the Youth Piano Orchestra could come, they would be very willing to come and listen.

At the beginning, the significance of the Youth Piano Orchestra seemed to lie in Zhou Yan alone. If Zhou Yan was not present, it would be meaningless even if all the other members of the orchestra were present.

But after so many years, the band's brand has become well-known, and music fans have also begun to like the performers in the band.

It would be best if Zhou Yan could come.

If Zhou Yan can't come, then Ma Dongfang, Yue Lin, Zhang Zuoqun and others can come, and the fans will be very happy.

In recent years, the Piano Youth Orchestra has mainly performed Zhou Yan's works. I dare not say anything else, but I will say that their interpretation of Zhou Yan's works is unmatched by any other orchestra.

There are many orchestras on the market now that also play Zhou Yan’s music, but even some of the higher-level orchestras’ live performances are not as good as those of the Piano Youth Orchestra.

Nowadays, when the entire orchestra plays Zhou Yan's works, they are like one person. Their emotions are basically synchronized, and there are often some outstanding live performances.

Whether it is excitement, joy, sorrow, or performance under various emotions, the orchestra can always be in sync, giving the audience a different auditory experience.

This is also the significance of listening to the scene.

Going to a concert in person is not just about having a better experience, the most important thing is that the orchestra’s condition is different for each performance, and what they present is also different, and this kind of thing is likely impossible to replicate.

The Piano Youth Orchestra often does not bring Zhou Yan to its concerts in mainland China. Their performances basically continue with the previous concert themes, such as the "Oriental Heritage Concert" and the "Piano Youth Theme Concert".

Even without Zhou Yan, tickets for the concert were hard to come by. (End of this chapter)