Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 190 A Prophecy Come True

Early the next morning.

Zhou Tao, pale-faced, bumped into Chen Hong, who was humming a song, at the bathroom door. Chen Hong's complexion then improved.

"Zhou Tao, are you having trouble sleeping in a new bed?"

While gesturing for Zhou Tao to go in and wash up, Chen Hong casually smiled and said, "I'm not really a light sleeper, but I always feel uneasy if my man isn't around."

Hearing her emphasize the phrase "her man," Zhou Tao gritted his teeth inwardly, but he couldn't confront Chen Hong directly on this point, since her status put her at a disadvantage from the start.

She went into the bathroom to wash her face and calm herself down before saying, "This might be due to a lack of inner security. You might need to think carefully about what's causing this anxiety."

"is it?"

Chen Hong raised her voice slightly: "But when I asked those who are married, most of them had this feeling. Those who didn't have this feeling were basically people whose marriages weren't very happy."

Two women were locked in a heated argument in the bathroom.

Zhang Fang was also squinting at her brother in the living room: "You better stay away from Kang Hui from now on. If you lead him astray, I will definitely not let you off the hook!"

"How do you talk to me?"

Zhang Yan stared at his sister guiltily, but seeing that she showed no sign of backing down, he chuckled and said, "Don't worry, I am me and Kang Hui is Kang Hui. If he dares to imitate me, I'll let him know why the flowers are so red."

As he spoke, he raised his fist.

Zhang Fang pouted slightly, then turned and left.

Hey~
She was definitely cuter when she was little.

Because the bathroom was occupied by women, Zhang Yan was squatting in front of the tap brushing his teeth and washing his face. He was applying Dabao cream to his face when a bottle of air freshener was handed to him.

"Why are you giving me this?"

"Put it in the car."

Chen Hong smiled and whispered in Zhang Yan's ear, "I reckon someone won't be able to hold out until they reach their destination."

These words proved prophetic.

On the way to work, Zhang Yan was suddenly abducted to a secluded open space and made to sing "What is my father's father called?" more than a hundred times in a Toyota Crown.

…………

Ten o'clock in the morning.

As soon as Zhang Guoli got into Zhang Yan's car, he sniffed and complained, "The fragrance in your car is too strong! It's almost making my eyes water."

"Just sprayed air freshener."

Zhang Yan, whose face was slightly pale, explained nonchalantly, "It's just that I haven't driven it much for over a month, so there's a strange musty smell in the car. I can't hide it unless I do something serious. But let's not talk about that. Let's pick up Chen Daoming and find a place to sit down and have a good chat."

Zhang Guoli, who seemed to be well-informed, immediately countered, "Is it about opening up the film and television industry to private capital?"

"You also got the news from Wang Shuo?"

"No, I heard it from other friends. It seems that the first batch of pilot programs only opened up five slots: two in Beijing, one in Tianjin, one in Shanghai, and one in Guangzhou."

Zhang Yan wasn't concerned about the situations in Shanghai and Guangzhou; he was curious about the two spots in Beijing. Besides Wang Shuo's Dingli Film Industry, who else had made the cut?

"It seems to be a boss surnamed Dong, I heard he's from Inner Mongolia..."

The two chatted idly along the way and soon found Chen Daoming looking at the sky with a melancholy expression on his face by the roadside.

"what happened?"

After Zhang Yan got into the car, he asked Chen Daoming, puzzled. Chen Daoming usually had an artistic vibe, but today he was clearly going a bit overboard.

"It's nothing, just some family stuff." Chen Daoming sighed and concluded, "It's a mess, best left unsaid."

Seeing that he was unwilling to talk about it, Zhang Yan did not press him, but smiled and said, "I must say, your temperament is indeed quite suitable for playing Liu Zhenyun's 'A Messy Life'."

"Liu Zhenyun's 'A Messy Life'?"

"It's about a college graduate who stays in Beijing and gradually becomes mercenary and weary under the torment of various trivialities in life. Liu Zhenyun has several short stories about government agencies, and putting them together should make a good script."

As Zhang Yan spoke, he himself began to take it to heart.

His reason for bringing Chen Daoming into the picture was naturally to encourage Chen Daoming to join the soon-to-be-founded Yuanmeng Film Industry, but he currently lacked suitable projects for Chen Daoming.

If "A Messy Life" and other novels by Liu Zhenyun could be combined into a TV series, it would actually be quite suitable for Chen Daoming.

[PS: The original story, "A Messy Life," is a compilation of several short stories. It was first conceived and filmed in the latter half of 93—directed by Feng Xiaogang and starring Chen Daoming.]

Seeing that Chen Daoming was also quite interested in this topic, Zhang Yan simply called Liu Zhenyun and asked him if he had any manuscripts of those short stories.

As a member of the Lu Xun training class, Liu Zhenyun had long been envious of the novels by Mo Yan and Yu Hua being adapted by Zhang Yimou.

Judging from Zhang Yan's words, he wanted to compile his short stories into a TV series. He was both happy and regretful. These days, it's great that novels can be adapted, but TV series are obviously a level below movies, and Zhang Yan can't compare to Zhang Yimou on an artistic level.

Overall, though, the happiness outweighed the regret.

When Zhang Yan brought Chen Daoming and Zhang Guoli to his door, Liu Zhenyun had already prepared the novel, even distinguishing between the main plot and the minor details that could be discarded.

"Old Liu, you were prepared all along."

After listening to Liu Zhenyun briefly explain his thoughts, Zhang Yan realized that Liu Zhenyun's understanding of screenwriting was actually far superior to Yu Hua's—of course, Yu Hua had also made great progress after six months of revisions.

Moreover, Liu Zhenyun has a deep understanding of the intrigue and power struggles in officialdom.

Zhang Yan himself is quite adept at interpersonal relationships, but when it comes to the power struggles in officialdom, he is somewhat lacking in experience, and "The New Dragon and Phoenix" definitely touches on this aspect.

Then he suddenly had a brilliant idea: "Old Liu, why don't you and Yu Hua sign with our Dream Club too? Besides the basic salary, there's also..."

The plot involving intrigue and power struggles in officialdom is mainly handled by Liu Zhenyun, while the more poignant storylines are written by Yu Hua. Zhang Yan himself is responsible for the overall framework and the more commercial aspects, so the resulting script is sure to be excellent.

The treatment Zhang Yan offered was basically comparable to Zhang Yadong's at the record company, but still somewhat inferior to Zhang Weining's.

Film and television dramas are different from songs. Although screenwriters are important, they are not as important as music producers. Zhang Weining at Yuanmeng Records is essentially a producer, director, screenwriter, and composer.

"This……"

Liu Zhenyun hadn't expected Zhang Yan to want to recruit him. He was somewhat tempted by the offer Zhang Yan made, but he also felt that he was a well-known figure in the literary world, and it would be a loss of face for him to be recruited by Zhang Yan, a rising star who writes popular literature.

Finally, he hesitated and said, "Let me think about it first."

Seeing that Liu Zhenyun did not make a decision on the spot, Zhang Yan did not try to persuade him further. These days, most intellectuals are ashamed to talk about interests face to face. It is simpler to ask Yu Hua to act as an intermediary to persuade him than to confront him directly.

Leave Liu Zhenyun's house.

The three of them found a small restaurant and sat down. While Chen Daoming was engrossed in reading the novel, Zhang Yan shared his latest ideas for "The New Dragon and Phoenix".

Upon hearing that Zhang Yan was willing to let him co-direct, initially overseeing the filming and adjusting the process later as needed, Zhang Guoli's face immediately turned bright red.

He originally only hoped to collaborate with Zhang Yan and try to replicate the glory of "Tianjin Wei", but he did not expect that Zhang Yan would be willing to give him the opportunity to direct and star in the show.

Zhang Guoli instinctively wanted to agree, but then changed his mind and said, "Then Deng Jie..."

"That's easy. We'll create a second female lead, and set the background around the unfavored empress of Emperor Zhengde. We'll have the female lead, disguised as a man, go and instill independent thinking in her, and then they'll accidentally fall in love..."

Zhang Yan quickly came up with a bizarre love triangle idea—how can you attract more female viewers without some complicated and tangled love scenes?

Zhang Guoli just wanted to give his wife an explanation, so he readily nodded and said, "Okay, I'll discuss it with Deng Jie and try to give you an answer as soon as possible!"

(End of this chapter)