Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 888 We really can't afford it.

We had four dishes, a soup, and a bottle of wine. We also got two tea mugs from the canteen. Just as we finished the bottle of wine, Director Wu arrived.

Not only him, but also production manager Kuang Mingyi, factory office director Lao Jianhua, and three old masters Yang Zhenlong, Zhao Lingdong and Han Qingshan who came to see what was going on.

Four dishes and a soup are definitely not enough now. Not to mention that these people have already eaten dinner, these days, even if people have just finished a feast, as long as they have an hour or two to rest, they can have another big meal.

Fortunately, the head chef hadn't left yet. He prepared a few simple dishes and brought out two bottles of the factory's special liquor for entertaining guests. Although it couldn't compare to Moutai, it was still quite classy.

At this point, everyone else in the cafeteria consciously left, leaving only their table in the large space. Each person held a glass of wine, and the banquet that Director Chen had hosted without spending a penny officially began.

Taking a sip of wine, Chen Fan looked at the three ruddy-faced old sect leaders and grinned, "You three seem to be getting younger with age. What happy event has happened?"

Yang Zhenlong looked up and chuckled, "What good news? What good news? It's just that I didn't have anything serious to do before, and could only spend my days in the park teasing old men. Now that I've joined Jiangying Film Studio, Director Wu has assigned us a task."

He shook his head and shrugged as he spoke, even striking a pose.

Unfortunately, he had a terrible teammate who immediately sabotaged his efforts.

Han Qingshan's eyes narrowed into slits with laughter as he continued, "We are now the 'Chief Martial Arts Coach of Jiangying Studio' appointed by Director Wu..."

Before he could finish speaking, Yang Zhenlong said irritably, "What head coach? Can there be three head coaches? I am the head coach, and you two are assistant head coaches. Don't get them mixed up."

Chen Fan immediately said "Oh," and nodded in realization, "My career has taken a second spring, so I'm in better spirits too."

"That is."

Yang Zhenlong laughed for a while, then his expression suddenly changed slightly. He looked at Chen Fan and said, "Hey, aren't you curious why I'm the head coach and they're just assistant head coaches?"

Chen Fan opened his mouth, but before he could utter a sound, Zhao Lingdong said calmly, "So what if you won? What's there to brag about? Yes, you're slightly better in terms of fists, but when it comes to teaching students, Lao Han and I are no worse than you, and in fact, we're better than you."

Han Qingshan immediately nodded and said, "It just so happens that my student beat up Lao Yang's student during today's quiz. When it comes to teaching students, he is indeed a bit lacking."

"shit."

Yang Zhenlong immediately became anxious, his face turning red with urgency. He said, "Tai Chi takes ten years to master, but Xingyi can kill people in a year. One of you practices Tongbei and Bajiquan, and the other practices Xingyi and Baguaquan; both are skills that can produce immediate results. I practice Yang-style Tai Chi alone. Our Tai Chi emphasizes steady progress and focusing on strengths."

Only by building a solid foundation and mastering the basics can you develop true skill. Just wait ten years and see whose student is truly superior!

Unfortunately, Han Qingshan and Zhao Lingdong ignored him. The two of them, holding their wine jars, lightly clinked them together and openly discussed arranging a private exchange between students right in front of him, which was exactly what he wanted to hear.

Seeing that Yang Zhenlong was about to lose his temper, Factory Director Wu quickly changed the subject, pulling Chen Fan aside and asking, "You used to always rush back as soon as it got dark, but today you're doing the opposite. Is something urgent?"

That's just stating the obvious. If Chen Fan came to the factory and went straight to his office, he would definitely be anxious.

But Chen Fan came to the cafeteria first and was even in the mood to joke with everyone, saying he would "treat" them to a meal there. This shows that even if something happened, it was something good. He was just changing the subject.

As expected, when Yang Zhenlong saw that Director Wu was talking about serious matters, he stopped losing his temper. He just kept it in mind, thinking that when certain people were alone, he would go and spar with them.

Why must one be alone?

Of course, it's because he can't defeat two people working together all at once.

It's true that he's very capable, but those two aren't pushovers either; they're just slightly weaker than him. If they really team up, it'll probably be a reverse—who beats whom.

While Yang Zhenlong was harboring his own thoughts, Chen Fan offered a round of cigarettes and said, "I'm here about filming on location. Have you decided on it yet?"

Factory Director Wu, Kuang Mingyi, and Lao Jianhua exchanged glances and smiled.

Kuang Mingyi raised his hand and smiled, "This is my responsibility, so I'll talk about it."

He picked up his wine glass, took a sip, lit a cigarette, and then said with a smile, "I've read the script for the second part of 'The Monk Comes Down the Mountain,' which mainly tells the story of the Long March. Although it doesn't focus on the main force but rather on the missions of a small team from the protagonist's perspective, it still basically covers various terrains and landforms along the Long March route, such as the southeastern hilly areas, the Yunnan-Guizhou mountains and plateaus, the Sichuan Basin, the western Sichuan plateau, the Loess Plateau, and so on."

The most challenging and representative part is the snow-capped mountains and grasslands of the western Sichuan plateau. This type of terrain is not found in our Jiangnan province, so we have to go to western Sichuan to film on location.

Besides, hilly areas, mountainous terrain, and even loess landforms can all be found in Jiangnan Province, without having to travel far.

After saying all that, he looked at Chen Fan and asked, "This time, the filming should be the same as the first one, with only some scenery scenes shot on location, and the plot parts filmed locally, right?"

Chen Fan nodded. "Yes, that's right."

He paused for a moment, then looked at the group and smiled, “I’m here today because something came up unexpectedly. We’ve decided to find a permanent filming location for this movie, and for future major films.”

Upon hearing this, the group was momentarily stunned. Director Wu frowned slightly and pointed outside, saying, "Like a filming base like our movie studio's outdoor shooting location?"

Chen Fan did not answer him immediately, but changed the subject and said, "Today I met with Director Yang of Yunhu Automobile Factory. He told me that the organization has spoken with him and he will be transferred to the Yunhu Regional Administrative Office as a commissioner."

Factory Director Wu blinked. "Wow, a promotion? That's great news!"

But I was really wondering what this had to do with us.

Chen Fan smiled and continued, "As everyone knows, my uncle is a capitalist in the United States, and even my cousin has invested in an industrial park in Shenzhen that is dedicated to exports. Now, the higher-ups are requiring all localities to find ways to make flexible use of foreign investment. That's why Director Yang came to me, wanting to bring some foreign investment to Yunhu."

In other words, Yang Kangnian wasn't here; otherwise, he would definitely have protested at this point.

You were the one who asked for the investment, what does it have to do with me?!
But to Director Wu and his group, these words were perfectly reasonable.

Kuang Mingyi nodded and smiled, "To be honest, with such a big spender like you around every day, I'm a little worried that I might not be able to control myself."

Factory Director Wu then asked, "So, what project do you plan to have your uncle invest in in Yunhu? Build a factory there too?"

Chen Fan shook his head and said, "Why build a factory? Factories in inland areas are all managed by higher authorities. There are regulations on how much raw material to supply and how much product to produce. If he builds a factory inland, where will the production materials come from? Who will solve the transportation problem for him? Will the products be purchased by the supply and marketing cooperatives or directly distributed by the industrial department?"

If these problems aren't solved, who will dare to build a factory inland?

His words left Director Wu and the others speechless.

After a long while, Factory Director Wu asked curiously, "So how did you negotiate?"

Chen Fan shrugged and said helplessly, "Director Yang is a good brother and partner of my father. He has taken good care of me in the past two years. He has personally intervened. How could I refuse him?"
At the time, I racked my brains, wondering what else I could do if I couldn't build a factory. I thought and thought, and suddenly it occurred to me that my cousin had invested in and built a five-star hotel in Shenzhen…

Yang Zhenlong suddenly interrupted him, "What's a five-star hotel? Does it mean hanging five stars on the roof? Wouldn't that be the same as our country's?"

Everyone else looked at him with curiosity.

Chen Fan explained with a smile, "In Western countries, they have a very detailed system for hotel management, and they have even established an international hotel association. Every hotel can apply to this association to have its hotel evaluated."

This association rates hotels based on factors such as size, luxuriousness of decoration, comprehensiveness and convenience of services provided, etc. The lowest rating is one star, and the highest, most luxurious, is five stars. A five-star hotel is a five-star hotel.

Yang Zhenlong suddenly realized and turned to Han Qingshan and Zhao Lingdong, saying, "It's just like the grading system in school. A perfect score is 5 points, and five stars is five points."

Not only Han Qingshan and his companion, but also the three factory directors beside them nodded repeatedly, indicating their understanding.

Only Chen Fan was speechless; what the hell is a five-point rating?

But you know what, they do look a bit alike?

"Let's get back to the main topic."

Chen Fan steered the conversation back to the previous topic, "When I thought about hotels, I realized that while we can't invest in building factories, we can build hotels."

Factory Director Wu immediately nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, building a hotel is a good idea."

Then he started complaining, "The hotels and guesthouses in our country these days are really... what are they?"

Kuang Mingyi immediately chimed in, "Exactly! This time when I went out to scout filming locations, I stayed in quite a few places. As the old saying goes, when things are difficult, people are unpleasant. One time I got back very late, and they actually locked me out. When I knocked on the door, they pretended not to hear me..."

Lao Jianhua asked him curiously, "Didn't you mention that you're a director at Jiangying Studio and have directed several films, including 'Monk Comes Down the Mountain'?"

Yang Zhenlong, who was standing next to him, quickly nodded and said, "You have to recommend all the good movies from Jiangxi Film Studio. Even though you didn't direct them, we're all from the same unit, so you have to give them face!"

"what."

Kuang Mingyi said irritably, "It would have been better if you hadn't said anything. As soon as I mentioned that I'm a director and cinematographer at Jiangxi Film Studio, they started making sarcastic remarks. They said that those movies were all directed by Chen Fan, so what does it have to do with me? And so on and so forth... Ugh..."

He waved his hands repeatedly as he spoke, "I'm too embarrassed to say it, I'm so ashamed of what they did to me. And that's not all, they think that we filmmakers must be very rich, so they raised my price for no reason, saying that with reform and opening up, the market needs to be more flexible."

My God, being flexible is just ripping people off?
Is this how people serve the people?!

Upon hearing this, Factory Director Wu and Lao Jianhua immediately joined the discussion, "That's right, that's right, I've encountered that too..."

Chen Fan sat to the side, a cigarette between his fingers and chopsticks in the other, looking left and right, wondering to himself, "What am I here for again?"

Okay, I'll eat something first.

So he threw away the cigarette butt, picked up the rice bowl, and started eating.

After finishing two bowls of rice and having finished their complaints, Director Wu and the others finally remembered their business.

He turned to look at Chen Fan and asked, "Is that five-star hotel expensive?"

Chen Fan thought for a moment, "If we really wanted to build a five-star hotel inland, it would probably cost tens of yuan per night, right?"

He didn't actually know the price of the first batch of five-star hotels in China, but he guessed that if he wanted to break even in ten years, he definitely couldn't price them according to the current price standards.

Putting everything else aside, the most expensive room right now is at the Jinjiang Hotel in Shanghai, which costs 3 yuan a night, and 5 yuan for a suite.

Even if a hotel has a thousand rooms and is fully booked every day, the daily room revenue is only a little over three thousand yuan, which is about 110 million yuan a year, and only 1100 million yuan in ten years. The minimum investment for a hotel is twenty million US dollars, and in reality, all five-star hotels break even within ten years, with a considerable surplus.

In addition, if a high-end hotel can achieve an occupancy rate of 75%, it is considered to be doing well. Therefore, a room rate of several tens of yuan is not an exaggeration at all.

He didn't think it was an exaggeration, but it startled Director Wu and the others.

After exchanging glances, Director Wu chuckled awkwardly, "We're probably not in a position to enjoy this five-star hotel. Staying in a guesthouse would be just as good."

Kuang Mingyi nodded repeatedly, "It's okay if the service is a little lacking. We're just staying here, not making friends. We don't need to be so picky. As long as it's clean and hygienic, that's fine."

Chen Fan clicked his tongue, lit another cigarette, and said quietly, "So today we're here to talk about hotels, right?"

Factory Director Wu's expression changed slightly, and he quickly smiled and said, "Didn't we talk about location shooting? The hotel is just for casual conversation. Um, were you saying earlier that we wanted to set the location at Yunhu Lake?"

He turned to look at Kuang Mingyi, then turned back, his brows furrowing slightly. "Yunhu does have quite a few nice sights. We've seen the movie 'Yunhu Love,' and some scenes are definitely worth using. We have no objection to filming at Yunhu."

After several films were hugely successful and the Jiang Film Studio even produced a TV series, Director Wu now has only one belief in his mind: to hold on tightly to Chen Fan's coattails and never let go.

Unless the request is excessive, they will try their best to meet all the demands they can.

Go to Yunhu to take photos. The only problem might be accommodation, but you can overcome that.

Just as he was pondering how to solve the accommodation and filming arrangements for two or three hundred people, he heard Chen Fan cough and say, "Let's get straight to the point. I promised Director Yang that I would suggest to my cousin that a film shooting base be built in the Yunhu area."

As Chen Fan spoke, he pointed outside and said to Director Wu in a serious tone, "A real filming base is definitely not just these buildings, props, and fixed sets outside, but also includes the actors' accommodation, film post-production capabilities, and the development of related tourism resources."

Therefore, in my vision, a comprehensive filming base will be built around Yunhu Lake, integrating architecture from various periods, professional photography studios, set construction, prop rentals, as well as hotels, restaurants, and other industries.

And our film will be the first film to officially move into Yunhu Film City.

After he finished speaking, a brief silence fell over the room.

After a moment, Factory Director Wu coughed lightly and looked at Chen Fan weakly, saying, "I have no objection to anything else. Just one thing, could we not stay in a five-star hotel?"

Kuang Mingyi, the producer, quickly nodded, "Yes, yes, a room that costs tens of dollars a night is really unaffordable!"

(End of this chapter)