Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 199 Enlightenment
Zhang Yan chose the same booth near the corner as last time. As soon as he took the drink menu from the waiter, he couldn't help but frown: "Why is it in English now? Last time I came, I was ordering in Chinese."

"That's right, sir."

The waiter bowed respectfully and said, "Many of our regular customers believe that an English beverage menu better reflects an elegant style, so..."

"Then just bring a couple of coffees and some snacks. Choose a coffee that's a bit sweeter, the kind that young girls like."

Before the waiter could finish speaking, Zhang Yan waved his hand, indicating that she could handle it as she saw fit.

After finishing, Zhang Yan asked Li Bingbing, "What about you? Is there anything you'd like to drink?"

"Me? I'll just have a random drink."

Li Bingbing quickly followed suit and replied that she didn't even dare to look up when she heard that the menu was entirely in English.

Tao Hong was actually a little nervous and excited, but her focus was different from Li Bingbing's.

She cupped her hands to her mouth and whispered, "I heard that the proprietress here is the one who ate Tang Sanzang's flesh."

"should be."

Zhang Yan laughed and said, "The Queen of the Women's Kingdom used the wrong method back then. Nothing beats mountains of gold and silver. If she had taken Tang Sanzang to the national treasury, she might have kept him there."

Li Bingbing listened to the two gossip from the side, feeling as if she were listening to gibberish, staring wide-eyed in bewilderment.

Seeing this, Tao Hong gave her a brief explanation of the story of one of the actresses who played Tang Sanzang, who later "married" a wealthy woman from Hong Kong.

This had a considerable impact on the young girl who had just come from an agricultural county to see the world. She had heard rumors of Hong Kong and Taiwan female celebrities dating rich men, but she never thought that men could also take such a shortcut.

She couldn't help but ask, "Senior, how much money does this Boss Chen have?"

"How would I know, but..."

Tao Hong pointed to the construction site not far from the window: "I heard that she bought that whole area outside, saying she's going to build some kind of club building, with a total investment of several hundred million."

Li Bingbing was speechless. Wuchang County's GDP was only around a billion yuan, and this one building...

When the coffee and snacks were served, the three of them ate and chatted. Li Bingbing gradually opened up and began to tell the two of them her story.

She, like Tao Hong, was actually a social candidate.

After graduating from a vocational teacher training school last year, she returned to her hometown to work as a music teacher at the Experimental Primary School. Later, when she represented the school in a performance, she happened to meet an actor.

The other party strongly suggested that she apply to the film academy, and her parents also hoped that she could leave her small county and see the outside world, so Li Bingbing signed up for this year's art exam.

“My dad said that if I get into the Central Academy of Drama or the Beijing Film Academy, he'll let my sister apply to schools in Beijing or Tianjin. If I get into the Shanghai Theatre Academy, he'll let my sister apply to schools in Shanghai or Jiangsu and Zhejiang, so that we can be closer to each other and take care of each other.”

"Both of these places require quite a few points."

"Yes, if I hadn't heard that the required scores for art majors are particularly low, I wouldn't have dared to dream of studying in Beijing or Shanghai—but my sister's grades are much better than mine, so she should be able to get in."

While they were chatting, Guan Hu called, saying that the Drama and Film News had interviewed him and that the reporter wanted to meet Zhang Yan.

"I'm busy today, let's reschedule for tomorrow."

Zhang Yan casually postponed it by a day, then complained, "What's wrong with those two female directors you introduced? They don't care about the salary at all; they just keep asking how our Dream Realization is managed."

"Can't you?"

Guan Hu asked in surprise, "I've never heard of these two having any contact with Wang Shuo or Dong Ping?"

Dong Ping is another boss in Beijing, besides Wang Shuo, who obtained the qualification to enter the market. It is said that he also has considerable influence behind him.

"Anyway, those two look like spies. You should find out more about them before acting as a middleman—it's out of respect for you, and your sister-in-law can't refuse, so she can only agree to let them visit the company at the end of the month." Hearing Zhang Yan say this, Guan Hu had no choice but to admit that he had misjudged them and promised to introduce a few people who genuinely wanted to join Yuanmeng in the future.

At first, Li Bingbing was just envious of Zhang Yan's big brother, but when she heard that two female directors from the Beijing Film Studio wanted to join Zhang Yan's company, she secretly took a liking to them.

After all, they're about to study acting. If they don't take the word "director" seriously, they can forget about having any future.

"Senior."

She whispered in Tao Hong's ear, "What exactly does my brother-in-law do? Why is he recruiting female directors from the Beijing Film Studio?"

Tao Hong hesitated for a moment, but couldn't resist the urge to show off: "He is the owner of the most popular record company in the country. Recently, the government opened up the film and television industry to private capital. Only five pilot slots were approved nationwide, and he was one of them. Moreover, he was the first one selected."

Upon hearing this, Li Bingbing instinctively pressed on, asking, "What is your brother-in-law's family like...?"

"It has nothing to do with his family. He used to work in a printing factory. Later, he became famous for writing novels, and that's how he gradually developed his career. You've heard of the TV series 'Tianjin Wei,' right? That was the script he wrote."

"Tianjin Wei?!"

Li Bingbing's voice suddenly rose, and luckily there was no one around. She excitedly said, "I've watched that TV series so many times! I like Zhou Nan [Chen Hong] the most. She's beautiful and so..."

"cough~"

Just then, Zhang Yan, who had just hung up the phone, interrupted her and asked with a smile, "Your senior Tao Hong also played a role in it. Since you've watched it several times, how come you didn't recognize her?"

"what?!"

Li Bingbing was stunned for a moment, stared at Tao Hong for a while, and then suddenly realized, "You, you are from that swimming team... I'm sorry, senior, you are much prettier than on TV, and my family only got a color TV at the end of last year, so I, I really didn't recognize you."

In 93, the penetration rate of color TVs in cities was only over 60%, and even lower in county towns. The fact that the Li family was able to get a color TV last year meant they were considered middle-class in the county.

"Do not blame you."

Tao Hong was quite magnanimous: "My performance wasn't that outstanding back then, but next time I have the chance, I'm sure I won't perform any worse than...".

She mumbled the name Chen Hong without clearly stating it.

Zhang Yan said, "There's an opportunity now—the movie I told you about last time is making progress, but there was a small mishap along the way. We'll talk about that in more detail later."

He didn't make his point too clear in front of Li Bingbing.

The place we chose for dinner that night wasn't expensive.

Because we didn't drink alcohol and arrived relatively early, we finished around 7:30.

Zhang Yan dropped Li Bingbing off near the hotel—because the place was a bit dirty and messy, Li Bingbing got out of the car half a street ahead of time.

Tao Hong also got off the car, asked Zhang Yan for paper and pen, wrote down her pager number for Li Bingbing, and said, "Contact me when you come to report for duty, and I will pick you up at the station."

Li Bingbing gripped the note and nodded emphatically.

After watching the Toyota Crown leave, she reflected on the day's events and still felt a little unreal.

But as she turned to walk back to the small hotel, the increasingly dirty and chaotic environment and the low, dilapidated buildings made her feel as if she had suddenly returned to her own world.

At that moment, she suddenly had an epiphany.

It seems that simply coming to a big city is useless; one must climb the social ladder. Only by climbing into the so-called upper class can one live a glamorous life.

(End of this chapter)