The literary era since 1979

The tea in the cup had gone cold, and Xu Ke and Shi Nansheng had already left.

As expected by Fangyan, they prefer "Once Upon a Time" which has rich commercial elements to "A Better Tomorrow 3".

However, the original version had chosen Cherie Chung as the female lead, but I wanted to recommend Joey Wong to play the role to broaden my own acting range.

So, he skillfully dialed Wang Zuxian's mobile phone, and after waiting for a while, the call was connected.

But the person who answered the call was not Wang Zuxian herself, but Li Zhi.

"How did her phone end up in your hands?"

Fangyan was very surprised.

"Xiao Xian and I are out shopping."

Li Zhi said that Wang Zuxian went to the bathroom and she was waiting for her in the cafe.

"That's right."

The conversation then changed to the topic of "Angkor Wat" production progress.

"The arrangement is ready and we can record it soon."

There was a hint of joy in Li Zhi's tone as she said that Huang Zhan, Zhang Guorong and others had said that the lyrics of this song were well written and the single would definitely sell well.

"I hope you like this gift."

Fangyan smiled and then asked indirectly about the music such as the theme song of the movie "In the Mood for Love".

Li Zhi was sipping her coffee while chatting and laughing with Fang Yan, and she didn't notice Wang Zuxian walking into her sight.

Wang Zuxian wore a jacket and tight jeans wrapped around her slender long legs, showing off her graceful and agile figure to the fullest.

"Lizhi, who are you talking to?"

"Teacher Fang."

Li Zhi's eyes flashed with reluctance, but she still handed over the mobile phone, "I'm calling you specifically. It seems I have something to talk to you about."

Wang Zuxian's heart skipped a beat, and she raised her hand to take the phone, but she pretended to be nonchalant:

"What can the great writer Fang do for me?"

"There is a good thing."

Dialects are mysterious and secretive.

"Hey, when you have something good happen, don't you always think of Sister Gong Xian, Sister Qing Xia and the others first? Why did you think of me?"

There was a hint of resentment in Wang Zuxian's words.

"Have it?"

"Isn't there?"

"You're the first person I came to for this good thing."

Fang Yan couldn't help but joked: "If you don't want to, then I will contact Qingxia, Lizhi and the others."

Wang Zuxian immediately became anxious, "You didn't even tell me what the good news was, how can I answer you?"

Fang Yan then briefly explained how he recommended her to play the leading female role in "Across the World".

"The male lead actors are Guo Rong and Zhou Runfa. You have worked with them many times before. How about it? Are you interested?"

"what!"

Wang Zuxian's eyes suddenly lit up. She had filmed many movies since she started her career. Apart from Zhang Guorong, the male actor she had partnered with the most was Chow Yun-fat, such as in "The Long and Short Legs", "God of Gamblers" and "The Legend of the Condor Heroes". They had forged a deep friendship with each other.

Li Zhi stared straight ahead, eyes full of envy.

Wang Zuxian looked very satisfied and happy, but she pretended to be disgusted:

"I'm acting with my brother and Fa Ge again..."

"Oh, you don't want to cooperate with them?"

Fangyan sat up from the sofa and walked slowly to the window.

Wang Zuxian rolled her eyes. "It's not that I don't want to, but including A Chinese Ghost Story and Ghost, this is the third time that my brother and I have played a couple. If this continues, people will think that we are really a couple!"

"Isn't this good? With Guo Rong as a shield, those gossip magazines won't spread rumors about you every day."

Dialect is spoken in a joking tone.

"There are fewer scandals, but there is just as much trouble."

Wang Zuxian sighed, "You don't know how terrifying it is when Brother's fans go crazy."

"If that's the case, I think it's better to forget it and leave it to Qingxia or Lizhi. Let them help you share the hatred."

Fangyan said with a smile.

"not me……"

Wang Zuxian was stunned.

"What am I?

Fangyan smiled.

"I didn't say I didn't want to act with my brother and Fat Gor."

Wang Zuxian admitted it.

"So that means you are willing to act in Across the World, right?"

"Ah."

"What does 'um' mean, yes or no?"

Fangyan always feels like a weird uncle who seduces the tsundere loli.

"want!"

Wang Zuxian blurted out, and suddenly heard a "puff" sound beside her ear, and saw Li Zhi covering her mouth and laughing, with a playful look in her eyes.

In an instant, I suddenly realized that I had fallen into the language trap of the dialect. My cheeks turned slightly red, burning all the way to my ears.

Seeing that she was about to hang up the phone in embarrassment, Li Zhi hurriedly reminded her:

"Premiere!"

Hearing this, Wang Zuxian suddenly realized, bit her lip and said:

"The premiere of Ghost will be on the 14th of next month. Will you come that day?"

"Come! Why not?"

Fangyan agreed readily.

The two chatted for a while before ending. Wang Zuxian curled her lips and put down the mobile phone with a feeling of being unsatisfied.

"what the hell!"

"Xiao Xian, what's wrong with you?"

Li Zhi cast an inquiring look.

"Lizhi, do you think he is a boring person? All he does all day is create."

Wang Zuxian's eyes were filled with resentment, "I don't know how Sister Gong Wei could stand him."

"No." Li Zhi shook her head firmly. In her eyes, dialect is like a rich, profound and complex book, with each page full of surprises and accidents. Sometimes it makes people feel unfathomable and can only look up to it; sometimes it makes people happy and joyful, humorous and witty, and sometimes it injects warmth into people's hearts.

Unfortunately, this book is not in the public lending area of ​​the library, but is privately collected by Gong Xing.

"Of course you said that, he wrote such a good song for you..."

Wang Zuxian pouted.

"You envy me, but I envy the Christmas gift he gave you." Li Zhi couldn't help but laugh. "By the way, the premiere of Ghost is on White Valentine's Day. It stands to reason that we should give gifts to the man. Have you thought about what to give Mr. Fang?"

"I, I'm not his lover, why should I give him a gift on White Day?"

Wang Zuxian was suddenly panicked.

"Really?"

Li Zhi stared at her with a scrutinizing look.

"Isn't it? If anyone is going to send it off, it should be Sister Gong Xi who does it."

Wang Zuxian's heart was pounding under the gaze of her best friend.

"Then why did you spend so much time in the men's section when you were shopping just now, and why did you carefully select..."

Li Zhi's eyes became more and more aggressive.

"Cough cough!"

Wang Zuxian pretended to cough a few times to cover up her guilty conscience, "I didn't buy that. Sister Qingxia asked me to buy it."

Li Zhi smiled and said, "It turns out to be Sister Qingxia."

Wang Zuxian said: "Yes, she is now filming in Hollywood and can't return to Hong Kong, so she asked me to pick a gift for her and give it to Yanzai, just as a thank you for recommending her to star in Francis Coppola's movie. I thought that since Sister Qingxia gave it to me, I can't just go home empty-handed, right?"

Then his eyes wandered, "What's more, he also wrote the scripts for Ghost and Across the World for me..."

"Oh, I don't know who just said that I'm boring. All I do all day is create."

Li Zhi couldn't help but make a joke.

"Lizhi!"

Wang Zuxian blushed with embarrassment and reached out to tickle her.

"When in public, please pay attention to your image."

Li Zhi smiled with her eyes curved.

Wang Zuxian noticed that more and more passers-by were looking at them. In order to avoid causing unnecessary commotion, she suddenly stood up and said:
"It's almost time to rest, let's go back!"

"Don't worry, shop for a while longer. You've bought his gift, but I haven't picked one yet."

Li Zhi grabbed Wang Zuxian's arm and gave her a meaningful look.

…………

By March, the Hong Kong film market began to pick up steam, with many films being released one after another.

Released in the same period as "Ghost" is "A Lang's Story" starring Chow Yun-fat and Sylvia Chang.

Since "A Better Tomorrow", Chow Yun-fat's fortune has changed from "poisonous fortune" to "magic fortune". Every movie he makes is a big hit. Basically, no movie has a box office less than 1500 million Hong Kong dollars. In addition, Stephen Chow, who shot "God of Gamblers" in advance and made a big splash, and Jackie Chan successfully broke into Hollywood. The "Double Zhou and Jackie Chan" that only appeared in the 90s in the previous life were born in the late 80s because of the dialect.

Therefore, both "A Lang's Story" and "Ghost" received much attention from the media and movie fans.

Faced with such a strong opponent, Ming Tianxia naturally had to put a lot of effort into publicity and marketing. Almost a week ago, Ghost was promoted to the entire city of Hong Kong through billboards, television, radio and newspapers, and it was marketed as the "modern urban version of A Chinese Ghost Story."

It immediately aroused the interest of Hong Kong audiences, especially fans of Rongsheng Zhang and Joey Wong.

Not to mention the reporters from newspapers such as Ming Pao and Oriental Daily. After all, this is Zhang Guorong's first work after he was nominated for Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival and the Golden Globe Awards for Farewell My Concubine. It is also his second film in collaboration with Gong Wei and Joey Wong!

So on the day of the premiere of "Ghost", a huge crowd gathered at the entrance of the cinema.

There were crowds of people on both sides of the red carpet, and everywhere were Zhang Guorong's fans holding banners, eagerly awaiting Zhang Guorong's arrival.

Rather than this commonplace scene, entertainment reporters were more curious about the theater staff distributing envelopes to the fans in line one by one.

Every audience member can get such an envelope with the movie ticket, which states:
Only available to Ghost viewers, it contains some tissues!

This idea was naturally thought up by Fang Yan. It is just an inconspicuous marketing operation in the future. It is far inferior to the "one-shot" of "Half River Green", the crazy marketing of "weight loss" in "Hot and Spicy", and the "proton training camp" of "Investiture of the Gods"...

But in Hong Kong in the late 80s, just like the routine of donating movie box office proceeds to charity, the first one to try it will always succeed.

Some entertainment reporters focused their cameras on the audience members who were receiving tissues, while other media focused on the celebrity guests walking on the red carpet.

"Aunt Hong, Aunt Mei, look here! Look here!"

"Brother, it is said that after the release of the movie 'Seven Little Fortunes' last year, you and your brothers have reconciled your differences, right?"

"Brother Fa, your film "A Lang's Story" will soon compete with "Ghost". Do you have the confidence to beat it?"

"........."

Every question asked is set up with a trap or has a hidden snare. If you are not careful, a slip of the tongue will be in tomorrow's newspaper.

Soon, all the media reporters present were attracted by two figures. The person who came was Fang Yan, and the female companion beside him was not Gong Xing, Lin Qingxia, Wang Zuxian and others who were often seen before, but Li Zhi. She was seen holding his arm with a smile on her face and walked with him all the way.

Because Lin Qingxia is far away in the United States, and Gong Xing, Wang Zuxian and others will set out from the "In the Mood for Love" crew with Zhang Guorong, so Fangyan, who is often surrounded by beautiful women, is the only one accompanying her this time. However, this is also a good thing, as it can bring more exposure to Lizhi.

"Mr. Fang, the Oscars will be held soon."

A reporter from Ming Pao Weekly asked, "How confident are you that Rain Man will win the Best Picture award?"

“About 50 percent.”

Dialects are spoken in a joking tone.

As soon as these words were spoken, the whole room was in an uproar. No one had expected that such a slippery writer like Fang would fall into the trap so easily.

The reporter asked, "How did you come up with this 50% probability estimate?"

"It's like flipping a coin, 50% heads, 50% tails, isn't it the same with Farewell My Concubine?"

Fangyan half-jokingly said, "Either you win the prize or you don't, don't you think?"

Everyone realized that he was actually "teasing" the reporters. He was truly a great writer, and those of them who studied journalism could never beat him!
Seeing someone backing down, Li Zhi's lips curled up, with an unconcealable smile and admiration in her eyes.

"I heard that Zhang Guorong is working with your wife on a new film called In the Mood for Love."

Some shameless reporters also asked, "Since the script was written by you, can you tell us what the story is?"

"inconvenient."

Fangyan looked around and said, "Everyone, today is the premiere of 'Ghost'. I will not respond to any questions that are not related to 'Ghost'." Then, after randomly answering a few reporters' questions, he took Lizhi into the cinema.

He greeted Xu Ke, Shi Nansheng, Liu Weiqiang, Wang Jing and others, and walked towards his seat step by step.

"Fang Sheng, congratulations!"

Ho Koon-chang led Jacky Cheung in repeatedly congratulating "Farewell My Concubine" for winning numerous awards at this Golden Globe Awards.

Fangyan smiled and asked casually, "Along, how is the filming of Die Hard 2 going?"

Cheng Long replied: "It only needs post-production editing, and then it can be scheduled for release."

Fangyan said that during this trip to the Golden Globe Awards, he met Steven Spielberg, and the two were planning to prepare a Hollywood A-level special effects blockbuster. He recommended him to play the leading role in "Jurassic Park".

Cheng Long was stunned and ecstatic, "That's really great!"

"But the premise is that the box office of Die Hard 2 is as hot as that of Die Hard 1, proving your commercial value to Hollywood."

Fangyan said confidently: "Of course I believe in the scripts I write. There will never be the word 'failure'!" (End of this chapter)