Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 220 Enrollment
Zhang Yan stuffed the remaining two bags of rice into the trunk. When he walked around to the front, he saw the two girls taking off their military green backpacks from their shoulders and couldn't help but ask, "Is this all the luggage you brought?"

Li Bingbing said somewhat embarrassedly, "I asked Senior Tao Hong, and she said that it's more cost-effective to buy second-hand items at school, especially here at the Central Academy of Drama."

Li Xue added from the side, "Besides, we can't carry any more stuff."

"Little Snow~"

Li Bingbing glared at his younger sister.

Zhang Yan nodded without saying anything else, walked to the driver's seat and got into the car. After the two girls piled their military green backpacks in the middle and sat in the back seat on either side, he started the car and headed to the Central Academy of Drama.

On the road.

Li Bingbing cautiously inquired about Tao Hong's movie project. Upon hearing that Wang Shuo wrote the script and that Jiang Wen and Liu Xiaoqing were in charge, her envy was palpable.

In fact, considering their achievements in the music industry, Zhang Yan is not much worse than Wang Shuo now, and his reputation in official institutions is far superior to Wang Shuo's. However, in terms of popularity among the general public, he is far inferior.

Firstly, Wang Shuo has more literary works, while Zhang Yan only has two popular novels to his name; secondly, Wang Shuo has been high-profile in recent years, which has made him a target, but has also greatly increased his popularity.

While driving, Zhang Yan's cell phone, which was on the passenger seat, rang. He picked it up by the antenna, pressed the answer button, and immediately heard Guan Hu's voice coming from the receiver.

"Brother, our old man has already made an appointment. He will bring the factory manager over at 7 pm tonight."

"Okay, Brother Guoli and I will go there in advance to wait for you."

"You'd better be prepared to bleed a little this time. After all, you know our factory's situation. We're barely making ends meet. We can't just raise the rent when we rent the space to other companies. It's so rare to have our dream come true..."

Zhang Yan interrupted his rambling and asked directly, "Do you have a rough idea?"

"That depends on whether it's used for official or private purposes."

"Your BY factory is barely making ends meet, yet you still dare to engage in smuggling? Aren't you afraid of trouble from below?"

[PS: Last time I mentioned that BY factory couldn't pay wages, the entire paragraph was deleted by the backend. From now on, I'll use pinyin for similar sensitive content.]

"Even if no one causes trouble, he probably won't last more than a few days, so he might as well make a quick buck before he leaves."

Well, that's only human nature.

Zhang Yan thought for a moment and said, "Let's use the official accounts. I don't want to be filming while people are pointing fingers at me."

"Don't worry about that. Even if you pay enough money, people will still point fingers and gossip—after all, Yuanmeng was the first private company to enter BY Factory."

"That's better than being blamed by others."

hang up the phone.

Zhang Yan casually tossed his mobile phone onto the back seat, and then heard Li Bingbing cautiously ask, "Brother-in-law, even a big company like BY Factory is struggling to make ends meet?"

"That's right. I heard they owe several million yuan and can't even pay basic salaries. In fact, it's not just BY Studio; all eight major studios are like this. The vast majority of the movies they produce each year lose money."

After a pause, Zhang Yan smiled and said, "But you don't need to worry too much. The TV drama market will definitely grow bigger and bigger in the next few years. When you become famous for acting in TV dramas, you'll make just as much money."

Li Bingbing nodded silently, but was still somewhat dejected—these days, most people who want to study acting are aiming for movies.

Li Xue suddenly interjected, "Brother Zhang, are you looking to rent something from BY factory?"

"It's a location rental. Our company is currently filming a period drama, and some scenes need to be shot on the Ming and Qing style street in BY Factory."

Actually, our August 1st Film and Television Base in Tianjin is also under construction. It will be much more convenient to film there in a couple of years.

Hearing Zhang Yan casually mention that his company was filming a TV series, Li Xue couldn't help but stick her tongue out at her sister.

Li Bingbing didn't have many feelings about it. After all, she hadn't really entered this industry yet, and the people she had been in contact with were Tao Hong and Zhang Yan. She instinctively thought that after being admitted to the Central Academy of Drama, she wouldn't have to worry about not having film and television roles.

We arrived near the Central Academy of Drama.

As usual, Zhang Yan stopped a short distance away, turned to Li Bingbing and asked, "Are you sure you can walk this route by yourself?"

“No problem.” Li Bingbing picked up his schoolbag, pushed open the door, got out of the car, and turned back to bow to Zhang Yan to thank him.

"No need to be so polite."

Zhang Yan reminded them, "While the reporting period is still ongoing, you two sisters should arrange a time and place to meet up and get to know each other's dorm rooms."

Upon hearing this, Li Xue immediately leaned forward and said, "Sister, I'll come find you at the entrance of the Central Academy of Drama at eight o'clock tomorrow morning."

After Li Bingbing agreed, Zhang Yanchong gave her a slight wave of his hand and restarted the car.

This time, Li Xue was much more lively, constantly asking questions, and her eloquence and logic seemed to be a notch above her sister's.

When they arrived at the entrance of United University, Li Xue opened the car door and said, "Brother Zhang, let me ask you one last question: how can I find a boyfriend who is handsome, rich, and talented like you?"

Zhang Yan pretended to think about it seriously for a moment, and then gave five words: "It's something you can only hope to encounter, not something you can seek out."

"Cuckoo~"

Li Xue smiled, picked up her backpack, got off the bus, turned around and waved to Zhang Yan, then quickly walked into the school.

…………

the other side.

When Li Bingbing arrived at the Central Academy of Drama's freshman registration office, after completing the basic procedures and finding out the dormitory room number, two senior students immediately volunteered to lead the way.

"Actually, I know where the girls' dormitory is."

Li Bingbing smiled slightly and decided to go there on his own.

One of the senior brothers gave up when he saw this, but another senior brother stepped forward and said righteously, "That won't do. Protecting our junior sister is the duty of us senior brothers."

Li Bingbing covered her mouth and chuckled, asking curiously, "Judging from your accent, you must be from Tianjin, right?"

"Huang Zhizhong from Tianjin, please give me your guidance."

Huang Zhizhong performed the standard starting stance of Huo Yuanjia. This actor, who later became famous for playing Hai Rui in "Da Ming 1566", is actually quite lively, after all, he was a sports student in his early years.

Li Bingbing covered her mouth and laughed again, then asked, "I heard there's a pretty impressive Dream Fulfillment Company in Tianjin?"

"Not just impressive, that's absolutely amazing!"

Huang Zhizhong said with pride, "If it weren't for General Manager Zhang who made my dream come true, the August 1st Film and Television Base wouldn't have been established in Tianjin, and Tianjin TV wouldn't have become the first TV station besides CCTV to use satellite broadcasting."

Let me tell you, Beijing and Tianjin almost came to blows over this, but in the end, Tianjin prevailed and successfully took control of the film and television base.

In the future, TV stations across the country will probably have to leave Tianjin to film their dramas.

There are also singers who have fulfilled their dreams, they're all super popular. My favorite song is Tian Zhen's "Persistence," because I am a persistent person..."

While praising the dream come true, Huang Zhizhong also patted himself on the back.

But as Li Bingbing listened to his narration, her thoughts drifted back to Zhang Yan. It seemed that her senior's boyfriend was even more powerful than she had ever known.

After a while, she asked Huang Zhizhong again, "Senior, what year are you in?"

"I'm a junior in college this year."

Huang Zhizhong was in the class of '91.

Li Bingbing's eyes lit up, and she asked, "Then you can go out and film movies now? Senior, are you planning to act in movies or TV series?"

"Uh~"

Huang Zhizhong looked slightly embarrassed and mumbled, "Anything is fine. Well, I'm actually quite picky about scripts. As long as the script is good and the role is challenging, it's fine."

(End of this chapter)