During my years at China Entertainment

Chapter 857 The Old Master Paves the Way, a New Assistant Arrives

On the last day of January 2016, Wei Jin's interview for his new assistant began.

Early in the morning, Zhang Ruonan dressed herself up beautifully and left the hotel.

She was born in 96 and is only 20 years old this year. She has dreamed of becoming an actress since she was a child, but her family is not well-off and she has three sisters who cannot support her.

Adding to her failure in the college entrance examination, she became a student at the Continuing Education College of the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in Hangzhou.

As is well known, these continuing education colleges are essentially just using the name of a school; their faculty and employment prospects are extremely poor.

Fortunately, she was quite good-looking, and there were many opportunities in the internet age, so she eventually got a chance to make a name for herself.

Last year, encouraged by her classmates, she signed up for the "Campus Beauty Contest" and made it into the top 30 with just one photo on Weibo.

Although she didn't win the championship, she gradually gained popularity online thanks to her outstanding performance and unique temperament.

Thus began her modeling career, primarily working on the Taobao platform, shooting promotional photos for various clothing brands.

Although it was a part-time job, she earned quite a bit because of her hard work and diligence. At her peak, she could earn several thousand a day, though it wasn't very stable.

After achieving basic economic independence, her inner dreams began to stir and eventually became unstoppable.

But she was also well aware that being a part-time print model had nothing to do with the entertainment industry, and her starting point was too low.

Since she didn't have formal training, she needed a mentor to help her enter the entertainment industry.

So when she learned about Wei Jin's assistant recruitment, she mustered up the courage to submit her resume.

Countless examples have proven that this job is an excellent springboard to the entertainment industry!

She waited anxiously for nearly four months, and when she finally received the final exam notification, her feelings were indescribable.

At this moment, Zhang Ruonan, sitting in the taxi, kept taking out a makeup mirror to touch up her makeup, clearly feeling more nervous and apprehensive as the moment approached.

However, seeing the driver glancing at her in the rearview mirror from time to time, Zhang Ruonan secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

All external preparations have been completed; the rest is up to fate.

The taxi stopped in silence in front of the Shanhe Building. After paying the fare, Zhang Ruonan looked up at the tall building, slightly lost in thought.

Perhaps with this step, her dream will take flight.

"come on!"

Taking a deep breath and pursing her lips, Zhang Ruonan silently cheered herself up, then smiled and walked into the building.

What comes into view is a hall with a ceiling height of over ten meters, decorated in a very luxurious style, truly befitting a top-tier entertainment group in the industry.

Satisfied with her future work environment, Zhang Ruonan walked towards the front desk, where she saw a woman with a high ponytail playing on her phone.

"As expected of a big company, even the receptionist's work is so humane."

With a sense of感慨 (gan3kai3, mixed feelings), Zhang Ruonan greeted them politely.

"Hello, I'm Zhang Ruonan, here for an interview to become Mr. Wei's assistant."

Zhang Wen put down her phone and looked up. Not bad, a pure and healing beauty with a face that exudes a first love vibe, and a pretty good figure too.

"Oh, please wait a moment, someone from the secretariat will come to pick you up."

"Yeah, thank you sister."

A few minutes later, an office lady came up to Zhang Ruonan.

"Zhang Ruonan, right? Come with me. Let's wait in the meeting room for a while. It's at ten o'clock. President Wei will personally interview you."

"Okay, thank you sister."

Zhang Ruonan smiled sweetly and then bowed slightly, while the office lady didn't say anything more, turned around and left, appearing somewhat indifferent.

But Zhang Ruonan wasn't surprised. The small companies she had worked with in the past had much bigger egos, so what was this?
She was led to a small meeting room of about several dozen square meters, where three beautiful young women were already waiting.

Zhang Ruonan knew that these three were probably her competitors.

After taking a closer look, Zhang Ruonan became even more nervous; each one seemed to be just as good as her.

One of the girls, in particular, is not only sweet-looking with big eyes, but also has many other advantages.

"May all the gods and Buddhas bless me and grant my wish!"

Wei Jin was unaware of Zhang Ruonan's prayers; he was currently in his office, perusing the script that Zhang Yimou had handed him.

As Wei Jin had predicted, Zhang Yimou was indeed paving the way for his eldest daughter, Zhang Mo, and this script was her debut work.

The script is called "28 Years Old Minor," and it tells the story of a female protagonist who falls into confusion due to the dual pressures of love and work, and her "mentality" unexpectedly returns to that of a 17-year-old.

With the help of her 17-year-old self, the female protagonist gradually comes to terms with reality and ultimately rediscovers her original aspirations.
If Wei Jin were to evaluate it, the storytelling of this script would only be considered average.

But as a debut film by a new director, and a chick flick, it's still passable.

Nearly ten minutes later, he put down the script and looked up at Zhang Yimou and his daughter across the sofa.

"Director Zhang, has the budget been prepared?"

"MoMo has done it before. Because the script structure is relatively simple and it is an urban theme, it would cost around 2000 million without the actors' salaries."

Wei Jin was slightly surprised to hear Lao Zhangzi's answer.

Since the total cost of this film, including the actors' salaries, was only around 30 to 40 million yuan, Zhong Lifang should have been able to make the decision directly.

But upon further reflection, Wei Jin understood what the old strategist meant.

After all, Zhong Lifang is the direct head of the film production department and is responsible for the project. Whether the script can pass her test is still unknown.

But if it were handed over directly to him, it would be different. Given how much Wei and Jin valued the old strategist, it's highly unlikely he would refuse.

In other words, Zhang Yimou is using his personal relationship with Zhang Yimou to pave the way for his eldest daughter, which only shows how compassionate parents are.

"No problem, Director Zhang. I'll sign it. Once the detailed budget is ready, I'll go directly to the production department for approval."

"Okay, thank you, Mr. Wei."

A smile appeared on Zhang Yimou's face; he was very grateful to Wei Jin for giving him face.

Honestly, he has made a lot of money over the years since joining the company; he could easily come up with tens of millions.

But Zhang Mo is, after all, his daughter with his ex-wife. Even if his wife Chen Ting is very reasonable, he can't bring himself to speak up when it comes to such a large sum of money.

Now, it would be wonderful if the company could invest.

Zhang Mo, standing to the side, was even more excited. He stood up and bowed to Wei Jin, saying, "Thank you, President Wei, for your support."

"Do a good job and don't let Director Zhang down."

Although Zhang Mo was a few months older than Wei Jin in terms of age, given his status and achievements, he was fully qualified to say these words of encouragement.

Just then, a female secretary dressed in an office lady outfit swayed her hips as she knocked on the door and entered. "Mr. Wei, it's time for the interview."

“Okay.” Wei Jin nodded, while Lao Mouzi and Zhang Mo stood up to take their leave. “Then, Mr. Wei, we’ll take our leave now.”

"Okay, see you at the annual meeting the day after tomorrow."

Five minutes later, Wei Jin met his first interviewee, Tian Xiwei, in his office.

As Wei Jin admired the girl's beautiful figure, he was filled with endless emotions.

I remember a few years ago when we were recruiting assistants, most of the applicants were people with work experience or students from art schools.

Of these two types of people, the former have been through the harsh realities of society and the entertainment industry and know the rules that it is difficult for newcomers to make it big; the latter have also been influenced by what they see and hear in school and understand the importance of having mentors to help them.

But now, it's become the norm for applicants to be just 18 years old, making up 70-80% of their resumes.

Among the previously eliminated contestants, Wei Jin even saw the resumes of many minors, including Yang Chaoyue.

It can only be said that as the entertainment industry becomes more and more prosperous, more and more people want to take shortcuts, and the age of these people is also getting younger.

Of course, despite his feelings, Mr. Wei couldn't change anything, and it wasn't a bad thing for him anyway.

At least, the probability of driving a new car will be higher.

Putting aside his inexplicable emotions, Wei Jin put on a warm smile and began today's interview process.

"Xiaotian, don't be nervous. It's called an interview, but it's really just a casual chat."

"Mmmmm~"

19-year-old Tian Xiwei nodded hurriedly, a sweet smile on her face, but her tightly clenched hands betrayed her nervousness.

"Okay, first question. I noticed you applied to three major art schools. If you're going to study, you won't be able to be my assistant."

"Mr. Wei, if I am fortunate enough to be hired this time, I can give up the art exam."

Tian Xiwei's tone was very firm. If she could really become Wei Jin's assistant, it wouldn't matter whether she had a formal education in acting or not.

For example, Bai Bin, Wei Jin's former assistant, had no connection with art schools, yet she still became one of the "Four Little Actresses" and became incredibly popular.

So if you want to do well in the entertainment industry, it doesn't matter if you have formal training or not; the key is to have someone to support you!

The reason why most people are willing to take the path of art exams is because it is the lowest cost and lowest risk path.

Wei Jin wasn't surprised by her answer, nodded, and continued to ask:

"Okay, the second question: if there are no film and television resources for five years, would you accept that?"

"Mr. Wei, I can accept it."

Faced with this question, Tian Xiwei did not hesitate for long before agreeing decisively.

Although this means she can't debut for five years, it also means she has more time to stay by Wei Jin's side and build connections.

Besides, she'll only be 24 years old five years from now, which is a great opportunity to debut. She can just treat it as further education at school.

"Very good, then the third question."

In one morning, Wei Jin interviewed four assistant candidates. After pondering for a while, he made a decision and picked up the internal phone.

"Li Na, notify HR to assign Zhang Ruonan and Tian Xiwei to assistant positions."

Wei Jin was quite satisfied with both of them. Although the former could not be described as having an exceptionally beautiful face, his healing, first-love-like appearance was pleasing to the eye.

Speaking of which, Zhang Ruonan was one of the few post-95 actresses he paid attention to in his previous life, and her acting skills were quite good among the young actresses.

In the movie "Please Don't Believe Her," Zhang Ruonan's pitiful cry of "Uncle" was truly captivating.

Wei Jin also came across this clip on a short video platform, which led him to inexplicably watch the entire movie!

The latter, Tian Xiwei, although from Chongqing, had absolutely no recollection of Wei Jin.

However, this girl is good-looking and has a great figure. She is a beautiful woman with a variety of styles, including sweetness, intellect, and sexiness, and can develop different ways to play with her to meet Mr. Wei's daily needs.

More importantly, both girls were very young and agreed to the requirement of not entering the entertainment industry for five years during the Wei and Jin dynasties, which directly gave them an advantage over their two competitors.

"Okay, Mr. Wei."

Without a word of hesitation, Li Na on the other end of the phone agreed immediately, then asked, "President Wei, what about Chen Duling and Jiang Zhenyu? Should we follow the usual procedure?"

"Well, if they have no objections, then notify Director Zhang to arrange a meeting. If they're willing to sign, then let them sign."

After pondering for a moment, Wei Jin gave his reply.

To be honest, these two are quite good-looking; otherwise, they wouldn't have stood out from the many qualified candidates.

In particular, Chen Duling, a top student from China Southern Airlines, had a good impression of Wei Jin. She was considered a post-90s female celebrity in the entertainment industry who didn't cause any trouble.

Of course, it's also possible that she was too obscure in her past life, so obscure that no paparazzi bothered to dig up her dirt, and Wei Jin would have had little knowledge of her.

Unfortunately, this girl is too thin and is already 24 years old. She is unwilling to accept a five-year on-the-job commitment, so there's nothing we can do about it.

As for Jiang Zhenyu, Wei Jin's only impression of her from his previous life seemed to be her participation in the talent show, with her eye-catching long legs and beautiful figure.

To be honest, Wei Jin only found out after looking at her resume that this girl was actually a student in the 2014 undergraduate class of the Performance Department at the Central Academy of Drama.

I don't know how I ended up like this in my past life, actually having to participate in a girl group competition in an attempt to debut through this method.

Of course, Shanhe Media has better resources than they did in their previous lives, but whether or not someone can become famous in the entertainment industry really depends on fate.

No matter what, signing it is definitely a win-win situation. As for whether the two of them are willing, that's not something Mr. Wei should worry about.

After hanging up the phone, Wei Jin thought for a moment and then called Professor Jiang from the Beijing Film Academy to recommend Tian Xiwei.

Since she's become my assistant, I definitely can't go to the Shanghai Theatre Academy, but the Central Academy of Drama and the Beijing Film Academy are both in Beijing, so it won't affect my daily work too much.

When Wei Jin asked that question earlier, he simply wanted to know the girl's resolve.

"I imagine Xiaotian would be quite happy to know, wouldn't he? I really am a top-notch boss."

After finishing a day's work, Wei Jin, who considered himself one of the top ten bosses, took Zhang Ruonan to the Golden House for pre-job training.

Since they hadn't had in-depth conversations yet, Wei Jin didn't want to scare the two new assistants, so one-on-one tutoring was more appropriate.

Even so, Wei Jin could sense the assistant's nervousness and unfamiliarity.

~~~
"Alright, Ruonan, it's time for your internship."

Despite being mentally prepared, Zhang Ruonan still felt inexplicably nervous when the time came.

However, looking up at Wei Jin's handsome face with its sharp features and his smooth, powerful muscles, Zhang Ruonan didn't feel much resistance.

There was even a strange sense of anticipation, as if I could finally sleep with my idol.

"Don't be nervous, leave everything to me tonight."

Wei Jin tried his best to make his voice sound gentler, but his hands did not stop moving.

He pulled the girl up with a quick movement, then flipped her over and pinned her beneath him.
(End of this chapter)