Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 243 Foreshadowing
After spending an afternoon with Tao Hong, Zhang Yan returned to the hotel to find a bonfire already lit in the center of the courtyard.

Wang Zhongqi was leading a group of people to collect combustible waste such as disposable chopsticks, first piling them up next to the campfire to dry, and then throwing them in with the firewood.

If this happened more than 20 years later, the person would be detained for at least half a month.

Zhang Yan tossed the car keys to Wang Zhongqi and was about to go inside to greet Chen Hong when he heard Wang Zhongqi say, "Teacher Zhang, Yu Hua, Liu Zhenyun, and Chen Daoming have all arrived and are playing mahjong with Director Zhang inside—and Liu Xiaoqing is here too."

"Liu Xiaoqing?"

Zhang Yan was a little puzzled. Ever since Jiang Wen left in a huff, Liu Xiaoqing had not contacted him and Chen Hong again. Why did she suddenly come here without saying a word?
"Are you playing mahjong too?"

"should be."

Zhang Yan nodded and went to Wang Jinghua's house first. As soon as he entered, his heart skipped a beat because Chen Hong was holding the child in her arms.

"Honey."

When Chen Hong saw Zhang Yan return from outside, she showed him the baby in her arms and asked, "Do you prefer a boy or a girl?"

It turns out that seeing an object evokes memories of a person, and seeing a virtuous person inspires one to emulate

"I like all of them."

Zhang Yan walked over and put his arm around her waist, laughing, "We can have a few more kids then, it's not like we can't afford the fines."

The women in the room laughed when they heard this, and An Wen also covered his mouth and laughed, but there was no smile in his eyes.

Zhang Yan gave Chen Hong a wink, and Chen Hong knew he had something to say to her, so she handed the child back to An Wen and went out with Zhang Yan.

In the corner of the corridor.

Zhang Yan asked in a low voice, "Why is Liu Xiaoqing here? Did she say anything to you?"

"She didn't say anything, just that it was all a misunderstanding before. After her persuasion, Jiang Wen also understood the principle of doing business in business, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it for the time being."

That made sense, but Zhang Yan still felt something was off.

"Let's go over and have a look."

Zhang Yan led Chen Hong to the 'card room' where they found Chen Daoming and Liu Zhenyun occupying the north and south positions respectively, while Liu Xiaoqing and Deng Jie were playing against each other on the east and west sides.

Upon seeing Zhang Yan and Chen Hong arrive, Liu Xiaoqing chuckled and said, "That's great! Now that we film crew make up the majority, the East Wind will prevail over the West Wind from here on out!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Hong laughed and said, "With these two Lian Er Madams sitting together, I don't know which one I should serve."

Deng Jie played Wang Xifeng in the TV series, Liu Xiaoqing played Wang Xifeng in the film version, and Chen Hong played Zijuan, Lin Daiyu's maid, in the film version, hence this dialogue.

Deng Jie covered her mouth and laughed, "Compared to you guys, I'm just a complete loser. If anyone should be serving you, it's me serving you—President Chen, why don't you take my place? I'm tired too."

As she was about to get up to offer her a seat, Chen Hong quickly stepped forward and pressed her down, saying, "You sit down. It's not often we see these two Wang Xifengs going head-to-head. We can just watch and see what's going on."

Liu Xiaoqing then stood up and said, "I'd rather step down and give way to a more capable person. I also have some things I'd like to discuss with President Zhang."

Hearing her say that, Chen Hong moved to sit down on the east side, adjusted the money in her mahjong cloth pocket, and said with a smile, "If you lose, it's yours; if you win, it's a reward from Second Madam."

Everyone laughed upon hearing this.

Liu Xiaoqing didn't care about the three or five hundred yuan and followed Zhang Yan out of the card room with a smile.

After finding a quiet place, Liu Xiaoqing said, "President Zhang, Jiang Wen has always had a bad temper. Please don't take it to heart. I'll talk to him later and make him apologize to you."

That's quite a humble attitude, a bit out of character for a billionaire businesswoman.

Of course, Liu Xiaoqing's title of "billionaire" needs to be put in quotes. In the past two years, she has expanded her business significantly and owes a lot of money to the bank. In addition, she is used to spending money lavishly, so her assets on paper look quite impressive, but in reality, she doesn't have much cash on hand.

Otherwise, Dong Ping wouldn't have had the opportunity to lead "In the Heat of the Sun".

"Sister Xiaoqing."

Zhang Yan thought to himself, but said cheerfully on the surface, "Actually, Jiang Wen and I don't have any conflict. It's just that I think investing in his drama is a bit risky. As the saying goes, even if a deal falls through, we can still be on good terms. There's no need to make things unpleasant."

Liu Xiaoqing nodded and said, "Actually, he is also single-mindedly focused on making a good film. When you have the chance, Mr. Zhang can go and see the clips that have already been filmed. This film definitely has the potential to win awards, and even major international awards."

Zhang Yan believes that Jiang Wen is quite skilled, not to mention he's from the WG era, which is very popular overseas.

But judging from Liu Xiaoqing's words, it seems like he still wants to pull me into the game?

Could it be that Jiang Wen was spending money too recklessly, making Liu Xiaoqing realize something was wrong and come to lay the groundwork in advance? But Zhang Yan already knew this was a huge pit, so how could he possibly continue to jump into it?

Unless there is a way to ensure that the returns are proportional to the risks...

Liu Xiaoqing explained a few things for Jiang Wen, and then returned to the card room.

Zhang Yan went to the outer courtyard to listen to Wang Feng sing his signature song, "Goodnight, Beijing," while playing the guitar.

At this moment, Yu Hua also came over, sat down next to him, and began to pound his thighs and knees.

"What's wrong? Do you have rheumatism?"

"Say something nice."

Yu Hua said, "I'm tired from standing and watching mahjong for so long."

"Then why don't you go on the field?"

“Nonsense, I need to save that little bit of money to buy a house!” Yu Hua said, then hesitated and asked, “Do you think ‘To Live’ will be able to be released normally after it’s made?”

"What do you think?"

Zhang Yan countered with a question.

"Can't you say something nice to comfort me?"

"This film is aimed at winning awards abroad; whether it can be released in mainland China is not important."

"Then this book of mine..."

"Flowers bloom outside the wall but their fragrance lingers inside; let's stir-fry them then..."

"boss Zhang!"

As they were talking, Han Lei, who was still walking a little unsteadily, stumbled and sat down next to Zhang Yan, gritting his teeth and saying, "Sign it! I refuse to believe that I'm necessarily inferior to him!"

Zhang Yan shook his head and said, "It's not a matter of whether it's better or worse, it's just that his flavor is stronger."

Han Lei waved his hand: "Sign, sign it!"

After saying that, he staggered away.

"Who is the boss, him or me?"

Zhang Yan grumbled and wanted to continue the conversation, but then he saw Yu Hua pull out a string of large kidneys from somewhere and was dipping them in cumin and chili powder.

He couldn't help but joke, "It seems the problem lies with the middle leg."

Yu Hua silently took out another skewer and placed it in the middle: "Do you want to eat some?"

"eat!"

…………

That evening, the hotel's backyard was noisy until after 1 a.m.

The next morning.

A Toyota Crown led the way, followed by five Santanas lined up in a row, completely blocking the entrance to the courtyard—five of the six cars were provided by Yuanmeng, and only one belonged to the groom's relatives.

Seeing Chang Jihong and Xu Zhenghui, along with the young women from the company, blocking the door and demanding red envelopes.

Seeing this, Zhang Yan put his arm around Chen Hong at the Verdant Circuit and said, "Actually, it's not good to become successful too early, because you won't be able to experience many things anymore."

Chen Hong glanced at him and smiled, "But you've also experienced many people and things that others can't experience."

She emphasized the word "person" in her words, but Zhang Yan pretended not to understand and changed the subject, saying, "Shall we go take a look at our wedding room this afternoon?"

Chen Hong nodded silently and rested her head on his shoulder.

Although their relationship is quite different from that of a typical married couple, the two, being a handsome man and a beautiful woman, still look quite warm and well-matched standing together.

(End of this chapter)