Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 270 The Wind Never Stops

Private room on the third floor.

Zhang Yan took the menu and said to Tao Hong and the other two, "Last time I came here with Lao Cui and Brother Guo, we tried their braised sea cucumber with scallions and stir-fried double crispy vegetables, which were quite good. They tasted different from other Shandong cuisine restaurants."

At this point, he suddenly realized why he had run into the Face Band. Big names are often trendsetters in the industry, and people like to join in the fun wherever they go.

After a pause, Zhang Yan added, "Besides these two, let's also have Kung Pao Chicken, stir-fried pork kidneys, and milk soup with cattail shoots—okay, these are the ones that Tao Hong and I like to eat. You guys can order the rest."

As she spoke, she pushed the recipe to the Ice and Snow Sisters.

The Ice and Snow Sisters were somewhat distracted when Zhang Yan pushed the menu over, and they quickly waved their hands and said, "No need, no need, this is enough for us."

"We should order at least two more."

Zhang Yan had anticipated their response, so he ordered most of the dishes beforehand.

Urged by Zhang Yan and Tao Hong, the Ice and Snow Sisters picked up the menu. The first thing that caught their eye was the 'Braised Sea Cucumber with Scallions - 198 yuan' that Zhang Yan had ordered.

This would be considered cheap in later generations, but it made the two sisters' hearts clench right now.

Looking further down, besides the cold dishes, the hot dishes would cost at least fifty or sixty yuan. If Zhang Yan hadn't been treating, the two sisters would probably have yelled that it was a rip-off.

Finally, they chose two lower-priced sweet dishes and hurriedly handed the menu back to the waiter.

After the waiter left, Li Xue couldn't help but ask, "Teacher Zhang, were all those people rock musicians? It felt like..."

During this meeting, she noticed that Tao Hong consistently addressed her as "Teacher Zhang," which she felt made her feel closer to him, so she promptly changed her form of address.

Zhang Yan shook his head helplessly: "Rock and roll is all about expressing individuality, but now everyone's taking expressing individuality for granted—you'd better avoid rock and roll people from now on."

When he first entered this industry, rock singers, although their private lives were also chaotic, still mostly had some sentiments and artistic pursuits. Unlike now, all they care about are money and women.

Tao Hong said from the side, "You should stay away from them too, they're creepy to look at."

"It would be a real downer if we didn't talk about this."

Zhang Yan definitely wanted to distance himself from these people, but he couldn't say that on the surface, otherwise someone would definitely accuse him of 'looking down on poor guys'.

Upon hearing this, Tao Hong turned to Li Bingbing and said, "Bingbing, actually, the reason Teacher Zhang and I are treating you to dinner today is to let you know that we are now very good friends."

Furthermore, Teacher Zhang is getting married this year, so you'd better not bring up the past, especially not at school.

Upon hearing that Zhang Yan was getting married soon, Li Bingbing was taken aback at first, then subconsciously inquired, "Who is the bride?"

Tao Hong said as casually as possible, "It's Chen Hong, who played the female lead in 'Tianjin Wei'."

Upon hearing this name, Li Bingbing fell silent. In terms of looks and fame, Senior Tao Hong was clearly no match for her.

but……

The three of them must have known each other for a long time, right?

This restaurant is expensive, but efficient; the dishes started arriving as soon as we were talking.

The four of them started eating and chatting—actually, Zhang Yan and Tao Hong mainly talked about interesting anecdotes in the industry, while the Bingxue sisters were a bit reserved due to their limited experience.

We ate for about half an hour when there was a knock on the door—the six dishes and soup we ordered had arrived that morning, so it certainly wasn't the waiter at this hour.

Zhang Yan frowned, put down his chopsticks, and replied with a "Come in".

The door to the private room was pushed open, and as expected, the members of the 'Face' band were standing outside.

"Brother Zhang."

The leader, with a bitter face, said, "That bastard Zang Tianshuo is too damn domineering! You have to give us justice!"

Zhang Yan suddenly regretted not changing locations—these bastards had probably planned to drag him down with them from the start.

Seeing that the two behind him were about to join in the commotion, Zhang Yan said impatiently, "I don't want to hear your side of the story. Has Zang Tianshuo arrived yet? If he has, call him over here too."

The reason for calling Zang Tianshuo over was that if he went to see Zang Tianshuo with the Face Band, Zang Tianshuo would see him as someone who was there to support the Face Band.

[PS: Zang Tianshuo is a notorious rock thug, and the Face Band is no pushover either. They once kidnapped a Taiwanese manager and ransacked his home due to a financial dispute, but the matter was eventually dropped because both parties reached an agreement.]

The members of the Faces band exchanged glances, and one of them went to deliver the message.

Before long, footsteps approached in quick succession.

The band members of Faces stepped aside at the door, and then Zang Tianshuo's large head appeared outside. Upon seeing Zhang Yan, the wariness on his face turned into a smile: "Oh my, it really is Mr. Zhang! What brings you here..."

"I brought friends over for dinner, but I didn't expect to run into all this mess." Zhang Yan said, standing up and turning to Tao Hong and the Bingxue sisters, "You guys keep eating, I'll talk to them."

The Faces band took the initiative to approach them, and Zang Tianshuo was a tough nut to crack; if they weren't dealt with, the meal would definitely not be enjoyable.

Tao Hong quietly tugged at Zhang Yan's sleeve and whispered, "I'll go with you..."

"No need, I'll be right back."

Zhang Yan held her down, grabbed his cell phone, and went out the door. He saw a dozen or so people crowded in the corridor outside, all of whom looked like they were carrying weapons.

"What?"

Zang Tianshuo scratched his head sheepishly and said, "I was afraid they would set a trap for me, so..."

Then he yelled at his men, "What the hell are you all standing there for? Hurry up and greet General Manager Zhang!"

"Hello, Mr. Zhang ×13".

The underlings all bowed to Zhang Yan. "Alright, alright."

Zhang Yan said disdainfully, "If I didn't know better, I would have thought you were a gangster—which room did you book? Don't get in the way of other people's business."

"On the second floor."

Zang Tianshuo and the man with the face on either side led the way, taking Zhang Yan back to the private room on the second floor.

Upon entering, one could see two groups of henchmen facing off inside. Judging by the total number of men, Zang Tianshuo's side clearly had the upper hand.

Zhang Yan didn't stand on ceremony and sat down in the main seat, placing his mobile phone on the table. He said, "Simply explain what's going on."

The man with the face spoke first: "Brother Zhang, one of our brothers didn't offend anyone, he just honestly ran a small business renting out musical instruments, but that bastard Zang Tianshuo sent people to smash up the shop just to cause trouble!"

"Watch your mouth!"

Zang Tianshuo pointed at the Face Band across Zhang Yan and cursed, "It's clearly your underling who's being unreasonable! Damn it, I set the rent at 100 and he lowered it to 90. Isn't that obviously going against me?!"

Zhang Yan slapped his arm down and said irritably, "Speak properly, don't try to pull any tricks on me."

After his arm was shoved open, Zang Tianshuo subconsciously clenched his fist, but quickly relaxed it again.

Since the aid to Xinjiang led to a general relaxation of policies, Zhang Yan's position in the industry has become increasingly secure. If you mess with someone from the Faces band, they'll at most spend a few days in jail, but if you mess with Zhang Yan... the other party can really eliminate you from the industry.

So Zang Tianshuo could only put on a wronged look and cry out, "President Zhang, it's really not that I want to bully people, it's just that if they do this, none of us will have anything to eat in the future."

"You're...you're talking nonsense!"

The men with the grievances also calmed down a bit, and they all complained, "You're practically forcing people to buy and sell! Even if someone starves to death, you'll still have food to eat!"

Suppressing the urge to slam his fist on the table, Zang Tianshuo gritted his teeth and retorted, "What the hell are you talking about? My shop is full of good instruments, everyone's scrambling to rent them, why would I need to force anyone to buy them?!"

[PS: Zang Tianshuo truly rose to prominence in 1995; he hasn't yet reached the point where he forces people to rent musical instruments at exorbitant prices and collects protection money.]

"All right!"

Zhang Yan knew immediately that this was likely a story where both sides had their own version of events—of course, Zang Tianshuo was definitely more at fault, since the other party was engaged in business competition, while he directly smashed up the store.

He considered it for a moment and said, "I don't want to go into details with you guys today—Old Chen, does your little brother still plan to do this in the future?"

Just as the lead singer of the Faces band was about to speak, Zhang Yan added, "Think carefully before you speak."

The lead singer of Face looked at Zang Tianshuo across from him, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "He doesn't really want to continue, mainly because Zang..."

"Well!"

Zhang Yan interrupted him and turned to Zang Tianshuo: "Since he's quitting, why don't you take over the shop at the original price, apologize to him, and agree?!"

"This……"

"Will it work or not?!"

"to make!"

Zang Tianshuo gritted his teeth and nodded. According to his original idea, he would definitely not give a penny, but Zhang Yan had already made up his mind. If he didn't agree, it would be disrespectful to Zhang Yan.

"Well."

Zhang Yan stood up and asked, "Have you ordered yet?"

"I ordered it, but it hasn't arrived yet."

"Then you shouldn't eat either, or you'll get into a fight if you can't stand looking at each other—I'll pay for the food, and I'll pack it up and take it home later."

As Zhang Yan spoke, he opened the door to the private room and gestured for everyone to leave: "You may all leave now."

The thirty-odd people in the room looked at each other in bewilderment. In the end, Zang Tianshuo was the first to lead his men out of the private room.

The members of the Faces band also stood up. They wanted to say something to Zhang Yan, but seeing Zhang Yan's tense face, they swallowed their words.

After everyone left, Zhang Yan wanted to tell the waiter to pack up the food in the kitchen—he could have returned part of it, but Zhang Yan felt it was unnecessary; he would just take it back as an extra meal for the crew.

As soon as she stepped outside, she saw Tao Hong. Clearly, she was still worried and quietly followed him.

…………

Private room on the third floor.

Seeing that only she and her sister were left in the room, Li Xue whispered, "Sis, what exactly is the relationship between President Zhang and Senior Tao Hong?"

"What do you mean?"

"That's the gist of it."

Li Xue whispered in his ear, "Do you think they look like they've broken up? I always feel..."

"Stop talking nonsense!"

Li Bingbing pretended to be displeased and pushed her away, but in reality, she thought about the same thing as her sister.

Perhaps from the very beginning, Senior Tao Hong and President Zhang had that kind of relationship—the so-called 'breakup' was probably just because President Zhang was getting married and had to cover it up.

This makes perfect sense of Tao Hong's strange reactions every time he tried to reconcile them.

This speculation shocked Li Bingbing's worldview once again. It turned out that the legendary things were true, and they were happening right next to him!

(End of this chapter)