Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 196 A Waste of Time
The next day.

While Zhang Yan was washing up, he saw Chen Hong's assistant bring him breakfast and a newspaper.

So, wiping his face, he leaned over and flipped through the pages, only to find that the entertainment section of the daily newspaper didn't mention "Hair Messed Up" at all. However, it did mention that Chen Kaige had attended this year's Cannes Film Festival with his new film "Farewell My Concubine," which had garnered considerable attention.

That's the difference in perspective.

Guan Hu was so eager to release the film that he never thought to try his luck overseas first.

Chen Hong saw that after he finished reading the newspaper, he casually draped the towel over the back of the chair, so she picked it up, squatted down by the sink, washed it, and hung it on the steel cable to dry.

When she walked back gracefully, Zhang Yan handed her the freshly peeled tea eggs and asked, "Do you want one or two today?"

"One, please."

Chen Hong said, "Add half a fried dough stick as well."

She's gained a bit of weight lately. While she's in perfect shape in real life, her face looks a little rounder on camera, so she's been dieting recently.

I shouldn't eat greasy and meaty food, but because I also have to follow Liu Xiaoqing's exercise and health regimen, I really can't stand eating too little.

She used her chopsticks to grab one end of the fried dough stick, and Zhang Yan helped her poke a hole in the middle. The two chopsticks then separated the dough stick into two pieces.

As Chen Hong ate slowly, she casually flipped through the newspaper. Suddenly, her eyes lit up: "Fanggu Garden Phase IV in Fangzhuang is going to be sold—6200 yuan per square meter? That's outrageous!"

As she spoke, her mouth dropped open in surprise.

Five years ago, a few thousand yuan was enough to buy an apartment in Beijing. But now, only five years later, 6200 yuan can only buy one square meter—even apartments shouldn't be this expensive, right?

Zhang Yan said dismissively, "I heard Zhang Guoli mention it a while ago, it seems to be some kind of Hong Kong-style slab building layout - aren't the buildings on Hong Kong Island just pigeonholes?"

He paused, then added, "I'll have someone inquire around later to see if there are any fools willing to sell their ancestral home for an apartment. If so, we can buy some more at rock-bottom prices."

"What's the point of buying so many old houses?"

Chen Hong asked in confusion, "We can't turn it into a commercial area."

"You can leave it as is and wait for the demolition. Can't you see the situation now? A lot of college students will come to Beijing to find jobs in the future, and with the addition of commercial land, the scale of the demolition will definitely get bigger and bigger."

After breakfast.

The two then went their separate ways.

Zhang Yan had long promised to go to CCTV to check on the preparations for the "Chinese Poetry Competition".

On Chen Hong's side, Guan Hu acted as a go-between, saying that two female directors from the Beijing Film Studio were very interested in the soon-to-be-established Yuanmeng Film Industry.

One of these directors directs TV dramas, and the other has made several commercial films in the past two years. If they can join Yuanmeng, there will be no need to worry about Zhang Guoli being unable to become a director.

The other director to co-direct the film has not yet been decided.

Before leaving, Zhang Yan added, "If they are really interested in joining our dream-fulfilling program, then let's have dinner together tonight and have a proper chat."

"I think there is hope."

Chen Hong said with high spirits, "The situation at Beijing Film Studio is so bad, anyone with a bit of ambition would definitely want to make changes."

Zhang Yan also felt that the chances of success were not small, because generally it was men who jumped off the ship first, while women, because they did not have the burden of supporting their families, generally had stronger endurance.

These two female directors have taken the initiative to approach me, so they must have made a considerable decision.

…………

Meanwhile, CCTV.

"Yang Lan, Yang Lan!"

Yang Lan was riding a second-hand imported OGK women's bicycle when Zhou Tao stopped her as soon as she arrived at the bike shed.

Yang Lan got out of the car, puzzled, and asked, "Did you wait for me here specifically?"

Because Zhou Tao has been deliberately getting close to her recently, Yang Lan has been getting along quite well with her—mainly because the two are the same age, so there's no question of a generational shift.

"Is such that."

Zhou Tao said with a hint of ambiguity, "Zhang Yan is coming to our program this morning. Haven't you been paying a lot of attention to him? — Do you want to go and check on him?"

Originally, her intention to incite Yang Lan to fight Chen Hong was just a spur-of-the-moment thing. Later, seeing that Yang Lan didn't react and Zhang Yan went to the frontier, she put the matter aside. However, the time she spent the night at the Guomao Courtyard had greatly stimulated Zhou Tao, so she picked up the matter again. As a result, she found out that Yang Lan had been secretly inquiring about Yuan Meng's situation recently.

Yang Lan blushed slightly and quickly lowered her head to hide it by propping up the ladder. Then she denied it outright, saying, "What nonsense! Don't talk such rubbish!"

"No? Then how come I heard..."

As Zhou Tao spoke, he leaned close to her ear and whispered a few words in her ear.

Yang Lan was stunned for a moment. She didn't expect that Zhou Tao would actually catch her in the act of secretly inquiring about Yuanmeng's affairs. This woman was too scheming, considering that she had only been here for less than half a year.

Seeing that he couldn't deny it, Yang Lan changed his approach to disclaiming responsibility: "I was just curious. Asking a few questions isn't illegal, is it? Besides..."

She hesitated for a moment before whispering, "Besides, I'm actually the same as you; I got married a few years ago."

In fact, Yang Lan got married earlier than Zhou Tao, and her husband worked at a bank.

This marriage was arranged by both sets of parents. Before Yang Lan became famous, they were considered a good match, but now... that's why Yang Lan doesn't like to talk about his family background.

"what?!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Tao's heart sank, and he exclaimed, "Then how come... how come nobody at the station knows about this?!"

"It's not a big deal, is it necessary to tell everyone?"

Zhou Tao thought to himself, "Isn't this just a waste of time?"
My goal was to cause trouble for Chen Hong, not to act as a pimp for Zhang Yan.

At that moment, she completely lost interest in Yang Lan, so she pretended to be embarrassed and apologized, "I'm sorry, I made a mistake without thinking. Just pretend it never happened."

With that, she waved to Yang Lan and strode towards the office building.

Yang Lan opened her mouth subconsciously from behind, but didn't know what to say, so she could only clench her fists in frustration.

What a great opportunity this is!
She had inquired carefully a few days ago and found that Yuanmeng Company had earned tens of millions from commercial performances at the beginning of the year alone. Although the singers must have taken a lot of it, Zhang Yan must have earned tens of millions in total—she instinctively ignored the tax part.

It turns out that earning tens of millions a year is not just bragging!
Moreover, this young and promising man is not only tall and handsome but also has literary talent.

It's all my parents' fault for forcing me to get married, otherwise...

Yang Lan, who was supposed to meet a wealthy man a year later, divorce him two years later, and give birth to a child in the United States three years later, began to have doubts and aversion to her marriage ahead of time.

Or perhaps she was already dissatisfied with the marriage; otherwise, she would have told Zhou Tao about her marital status at the wedding banquet, and she wouldn't have secretly inquired about Yuanmeng's income and expenses.

In the morning, Yang Lan was restless in the office. Around 10 a.m., she finally couldn't hold back and went to the preparatory group for the "Chinese Poetry Competition".

When she arrived, she was worried that Zhang Yan had already left.

Fortunately, Zhang Yan was still there and was demonstrating and explaining to everyone how the host and the production team should create an atmosphere during the Flying Flower Order competition.

Yang Lan stood at the door and listened for a while, and found that Zhang Yan's hosting skills were actually quite good. While stirring up the audience's emotions, he also had a kind of grandeur unique to CCTV.

If it weren't for his slightly lacking basic skills, Yang Lan would have almost doubted whether Zhang Yan was Zhou Tao's college classmate.

Hua Hua Hua~
After Zhang Yan finished his presentation, the organizing committee erupted in applause.

The director in charge praised, half flattering and half genuinely, "Mr. Zhang, with your skills, you'd have no problem hosting a program on CCTV!"

"Please don't flatter me."

Zhang Yan waved his hand and said, "With my skills, how could I be qualified to be a host on CCTV? That's roughly the idea. Why don't we let Zhou Tao give it a try? She'll definitely perform better than me."

"Alright, let Zhou Tao give it a try!"

The director is much more accommodating now. After all, everyone can see that if Zhang Yan's "Chinese Poetry Competition" is done well, it will definitely become one of CCTV's signature variety shows.

It may not be as good as "Variety Show" and "Zhengda Variety Show", but it is by no means much worse than those two top variety shows.

So Zhang Yan stepped aside and gave the central position to Zhou Tao.

As expected, Zhou Tao did not disappoint. Although he followed Zhang Yan's demonstration in general, he made adjustments to the details, which showed his own dignified and elegant characteristics and complemented his 'poetry and songs' even more.

Zhang Yan was listening intently to Zhou Tao's broadcast when a clear and pleasant voice suddenly rang in his ears: "She might actually be able to replace Sister Ni Ping in the future."

(End of this chapter)