Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 198 Locking Down with All Force
That evening, Chen Hong introduced Chang Jihong to Zhang Yan.

After some investigation, Zhang Yan discovered that although Sister Chang [Chang Jihong was born in 58] was not as good as Wang Jinghua in terms of packaging artists, she had more experience.

She spent over a decade working on film sets, holding positions such as art director, production assistant, production manager, and assistant director, and even dabbled in screenwriting—her resume is practically that of a female version of Feng Xiaogang.

However, her talent in film and television is definitely not as good as Feng Xiaogang's, and this path is becoming increasingly narrow, otherwise she wouldn't have thought of switching careers to become an agent.

Her resume and qualifications almost perfectly match the needs of fulfilling dreams. If she can demonstrate sufficient work ability, she will be the best candidate to balance Wang Jinghua's career.

So Zhang Yan made the decision to accept her directly, and her treatment and conditions were temporarily modeled after Liu Weidong's, and even slightly higher than those of Xu Zhenghui, Wang Jinghua's benefactor.

"The company will be filming a period drama next. You will still be the production manager. At the same time, you can also take the opportunity to evaluate the male lead Zhang Guoli and the second female lead Deng Jie, and try to develop a promotion and packaging plan."

Chang Jihong was quite excited to be entrusted with such an important task right away. Zhang Guoli was one thing, but Deng Jie's reputation and status in the industry were not low, at least much better than her good friend Jiang Wenli.

When it came to Jiang Wenli, Chang Jihong hesitated. She wanted to recommend Jiang Wenli to Yuanmeng, but Chen Hong had met her unexpectedly and hadn't communicated with Jiang Wenli beforehand.

The main problem is that Jiang Wenli is currently attending the Cannes Film Festival with the "Farewell My Concubine" team, so we can't contact her for the time being.

Never mind, let's talk about it another time.

Seeing that Zhang Yan had also approved of Chang Jihong, Chen Hong decided to take Chen Jihong and Li Songqiang back to Tianjin first, so that they could get a general understanding of how the dream-fulfilling program works before the tour group departed.

As for Zhang Yan...

He planned to finish the script for "The New Dragon and Phoenix" in the capital first—he had already created a rough framework while on the frontier, and all that was left was to fill in the content and refine the settings.

Although Yu Hua and Liu Zhenyun had already agreed to join the editorial department of Yuanmeng, they had agreed beforehand to work in different locations. Therefore, if Zhang Yan wanted to meet with them to discuss the script, he would have to stay in Beijing for a while.

…………

The next day, they saw Chen Hong and the others off.

Zhang Yan slept in late at home for half a day before having lunch with Yu Hua and Liu Zhenyun, where they finalized their plans to collaborate on adapting a time-travel script.

Actually, Liu Zhenyun wasn't interested in time-travel dramas, but Zhang Yan gave him too many.

Moreover, with Yu Hua accompanying them, it wouldn't be awkward.

After the meeting at noon, the two took the initiative and plunged into the library, trying to find all sorts of strange and unusual stories from the Zhengde period—even those not from the Zhengde period could be used as references, since they were fictionalized stories and not historical facts.

After assigning the tasks, Zhang Yan went to the Central Academy of Drama in the afternoon.

He wasn't short of women, and Tao Hong wasn't particularly outstanding among them, but he was most at ease in front of Tao Hong because their relationship wasn't tainted by any calculations, and Tao Hong made her stance clear from the beginning: she wouldn't pester him.

But it was precisely because of this that he viewed Tao Hong with special regard.

We arrived near the Central Academy of Drama.

Zhang Yan paged Tao Hong, indicating that they would meet at their usual spot, and was about to get out of the car to stretch his legs when he received a call from Wang Luyao.

"Brother~ Where are you?"

Hearing that sweet, sugary voice, Zhang Yan knew what she was up to: "You didn't go back to Tianjin?"

"How can I reply if Han Hong doesn't reply?"

Wang Luyao became a little more serious and reported, "Han Hong has been acting strangely these past few days; it seems she's taken a liking to someone."

Zhang Yan frowned and pressed, "What is that person after?"

She said the other party wasn't after money and didn't need her help to make them famous.

"Um?!"

This was somewhat unexpected for Zhang Yan. He sat up straight and continued to ask, "When did this happen?"

"On the day of the premiere, I noticed she was acting strangely as she left the movie theater."

Hearing this, Zhang Yan recalled some details from that day, but he genuinely didn't dare to think about Luan Shu. He only said, "Keep an eye on her these days, and report any developments immediately." "What if someone really wants to date her..."

"As long as they're not scammers, then lock them in completely!"

Zhang Yan responded decisively, then added, "I estimate I won't be able to get back until after 10 p.m. If you're not in a hurry, just count three bricks up from the trash can by the door, then count two bricks horizontally to the right. If you remove the bricks, you'll find the key."

"Oh~"

Wang Luyao was somewhat disappointed, but then she thought that she had been the mistress of this little house all afternoon and evening, and she became eager to try again.

…………

the other side.

After receiving the pager message, Tao Hong went back to her dormitory to change her clothes and touch up her makeup before hurrying out of the school gate.

As soon as they arrived at the door, they bumped into Li Bingbing.

"Senior."

Li Bingbing greeted him warmly, "I'm going back to my hometown early tomorrow morning. Are you free tonight? I'd like to treat you to a meal to thank you—I definitely wouldn't have been able to perform so well without your help."

Tao Hong quickly waved his hand and said, "No need, no need, save your money for tuition later."

"Senior, are you going out to eat with your boyfriend?" Li Bingbing persisted. "I saw your boyfriend's car earlier—why don't you invite your brother-in-law along? Otherwise, I'll feel bad about it."

He paused, then added, "But I definitely can't afford an expensive one."

These last words made Tao Hong waver, feeling that dismissing her like this was as if she thought she was poor.

So she said, "Let me discuss it with my boyfriend and see if it's convenient."

After leading Li Bingbing to the intersection, Zhang Yan opened the car door with some surprise and asked, "Who is this girl...?"

Tao Hong introduced, "This is Li Bingbing. She just applied to our school this year and did quite well. She should be able to get in."

[PS: In the original timeline, Li Bingbing took the entrance exams for arts schools in 93, but failed both the Central Academy of Drama and the Beijing Film Academy. She later went to the Shanghai Theatre Academy.]

"Hello, brother-in-law!"

Li Bingbing bowed deeply in nervousness: "I owe a huge debt to Senior Tao Hong for this re-examination, otherwise I would definitely have been eliminated, so I would like to treat you to a meal to express my gratitude."

Tao Hong leaned close to Zhang Yan's ear and explained, "She saw you when you delivered the script to me that day, and she just recognized your car. It seems we can't meet up so close anymore—also, her family's financial situation is probably not very good."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yan laughed heartily and said, "With me here, how could I let a young girl like you treat me? Let's go find a place to chat first, and then we'll go eat when it's time."

As he spoke, he opened the passenger door and let Tao Hong in.

"This this……"

Li Bingbing wanted to say something, but seeing Zhang Yan open the back door without any room for argument, she quickly ducked and climbed in.

After getting on the bus, she sat up straight, but her eyes couldn't help but wander around.

Back in her hometown, she rarely had the chance to ride in a sedan, let alone a luxury car like this.

So once the car was on the road, Li Bingbing felt as if she were sitting on a cloud, and everything felt so unreal. When they arrived at their destination, Chang'an Cafe, she might not have been able to stand steadily when she landed if she hadn't been holding onto the car door.

Back in her hometown of Wuchang, she had never seen anything like this.

Li Bingbing is now increasingly grateful that he took the initiative to get in touch with Senior Tao Hong; otherwise, he would never have had the opportunity to come into contact with these high-end things.

I wonder if I'll ever have the chance to live such a blissful life after I get into the Central Academy of Drama...

(End of this chapter)