Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 290 Marriage is just a piece of paper
We finished discussing business.

Gong Li suddenly changed the subject and asked, "President Zhang, I heard that you and Chen Hong are getting married soon?"

Others might ask this out of curiosity, but Gong Li asked it more to provoke Zhang Yimou, who was standing next to her.

The two met in 87 during the preparation of "Red Sorghum". Now they are in the seven-year itch, and Gong Li has gone from 22 to 29 years old.

Recently, she has repeatedly pressured Zhang Yimou to marry her in public and private, hoping to get married before she turns 30.

But Zhang Yimou has never given a direct response.

Although he knew that Gong Li was using him as a tool, Zhang Yan still smiled and said, "It should be before the Mid-Autumn Festival, mainly depending on when her parents and relatives are available. After all, it's quite troublesome to travel from Jiangxi to Tianjin."

"Tianjin?"

Gong Li was a little puzzled: "I heard you built a new villa in Beijing? Why is the wedding in Tianjin...?"

"Weddings are mainly for others to see."

Zhang Yan explained, "But I think it's better to separate career and life after marriage. Take the Spring Festival for example, if I stay in Tianjin, I'm afraid I won't have a moment's peace and quiet."

So when Chen Hong and I have free time, we'll go back to Beijing for a few days, but most of the time we'll stay in Tianjin.

Yu Hua chimed in, "He just thinks that Beijing's housing prices can still rise sharply, so buying property in Beijing is more cost-effective than buying property in Tianjin."

Gong Li nodded slightly and said, "Zhang Weiping, Yi Mou's good friend, said the same thing."

She then inquired in detail about the wedding preparations, making Zhang Yimou quite uneasy.

As Gong Li relentlessly pressed him about Zhang Yan and Chen Hong's marriage, occasionally casting meaningful glances at him, Zhang Yimou silently sipped his baijiu. After a long while, he suddenly muttered, "Marriage is just a piece of paper..."

"What did you say?!"

Gong Li's expression changed instantly. Ignoring Zhang Yan and Yu Hua's presence, she stood up abruptly and glared down at Zhang Yimou.

Zhang Yimou looked up at her, opened his mouth slightly, but quickly closed it again.

Seeing the two men on the verge of exchanging blows, Zhang Yan looked at Yu Hua, signaling him to quickly smooth things over, since Yu Hua was much more familiar with the two men than he was.

Yu Hua had no choice but to bite the bullet and make a joke, saying, "Director Zhang is saying that Your Majesty has a brilliant insight."

Gong Li glanced at Yu Hua, then at Zhang Yan beside her, sat down again, poured herself a full glass of wine, raised her glass and said, "I'm sorry to have made you two laugh. I'll drink this glass first as a sign of respect."

As he spoke, he gulped it down in one go.

She was clearly acting out of spite. She couldn't hold her liquor, so there was no need for her to drink so fast. After finishing, she covered her mouth and coughed incessantly, and finally got up and rushed into the bathroom.

Zhang Yimou subconsciously wanted to get up to take care of them, but when he looked at Zhang Yan and Yu Hua on the table, he shook his head with a wry smile and said, "I'm sorry, you two must have made a fool of yourselves."

Zhang Yan didn't know what to say, and looked at Yu Hua again.

Yu Hua rolled her eyes at him, raised her glass and mumbled, "Men, they all understand, they all understand."

It's unclear what he understood, but Zhang Yan certainly didn't understand anything.

But the matter was thus smoothed over. When Gong Li emerged from the bathroom with a flushed face, the two of them quickly made their escape.

After going downstairs, Yu Hua looked back and asked, "Zhang Yan, do you think these two will end up together?"

Zhang Yan shook his head: "It's hard to say, but this ambiguous relationship is probably coming to an end soon."

The two parted ways at the station.

Zhang Yan took the bus back to the Guomao Courtyard alone. Tao Hong didn't come today. He watched TV alone in the room for a while. Remembering that he had to tell Chen Hong about Gong Li joining the troupe, he made a long-distance call to her.

After hearing the whole story, Chen Hong couldn't help but feel secretly relieved.

In fact, when she was studying at the Shanghai Theatre Academy, her ideal role models were Zhang Yimou and Gong Li. She felt that the two complemented each other and broke through the shackles of worldly conventions.

Now it seems……

Zhang Yan may not be the best choice, but in the entertainment industry, she's already a top pick—and being the boss's wife is much more prestigious than being a director's wife.

So Xiaoyi chatted on the phone for over an hour before reluctantly hanging up.

After putting down her mobile phone, Chen Hong carefully recalled the events and realized that she had received significantly fewer calls from Zhang Yan during the Spring Festival than before, and most of them were for serious business. This gave her a sense of unease.

It seems that the incident of confronting the mistress has had some aftereffects, but Chen Hong does not regret it.

Chen Hong didn't have much fear of people like Zhou Tao, Yang Lan, and Wang Luyao, because these people shared similar interests with Zhang Yan.

Zhang Yan is sentimental and believes that as long as he doesn't make any big mistakes, these women have no chance of replacing him.

But Tao Hong was different.

Tao Hong and Zhang Yan met very early on, and Tao Hong was purely impressed by Zhang Yan's talent. There was basically no conflict of interest between them, so Zhang Yan always treated Tao Hong differently.

At present, Tao Hong is the only person who could potentially threaten Chen Hong's position, so even knowing that it might leave lasting consequences, Chen Hong still resolutely added a bit of trouble to their relationship.

However, once I return to Beijing this time, I must find a way to mend the rift.

Either you proactively offer Tao Hong some benefits, or you'll have to find another way to make amends...

…………

The sixth day of the first lunar month.

Riding the wave of the holiday season, Tian Zhen and Lao Lang's album was officially released.

The seventh day of the lunar month.

The staff brought the tiger-headed horse back from Hengjiang.

The tenth day of the month.

Zhang Yan was invited to visit the Cultural Cloth again.

The higher authorities decided to grant the self-regulatory association more power as an exception to the law, and Zhang Yan, as the president, could also obtain a semi-official status, equivalent to the ancient practice of donating official titles to obtain noble ranks.

This can be considered a concession by the Cultural Bureau, but for Zhang Yan, this decentralization is not a sweet treat but a poisonous one.

With greater power comes greater responsibility, and having official status makes it harder for rock 'n' roll hooligans to gain their trust, ultimately making him even more disliked by both sides.
Therefore, Zhang Yan chose to refuse resolutely this time, leaving no room for negotiation.

He thought that since the person from Wenhuabu was so stubborn and wouldn't listen to reason, even if they didn't turn on him, they certainly wouldn't give him a friendly look. But to his surprise, the other party's reaction was quite indifferent.

This left Zhang Yan puzzled.

So after leaving Wenhuabu, he made a special trip to Leader Lin's house to ask for advice.

After listening to what he said, Leader Lin was not surprised at all: "Perhaps for them, whether this matter succeeds or fails is not important. What is important is whether they have put forward a contingency plan and whether they have tried it."

These words were like a wake-up call, and Zhang Yan suddenly realized the truth.

People in the industry care about the process, not the result; they want an explanation when questioned by higher authorities, not a genuine desire to put in a lot of effort to rectify the chaos in the rock music scene.

Of course, it would be even better if Zhang Yan could agree. With the self-regulatory association, a semi-official organization, involved, everyone would get credit if things were managed well, and if they weren't, then it would be the self-regulatory association's problem.

Having figured this out, Zhang Yan became even more eager to avoid the matter.

"correct."

Leader Lin remembered something and said to Zhang Yan, "The bureau has decided to start a pilot program for the movie channel you proposed. Didn't you say that you could launch a variety show to go with it? You should talk to Director Teng of the Film Bureau about this later."

Zhang Yanxin understood immediately. This was clearly the leadership paving the way for them—the "Sunshine" film crew was about to submit it for review, and if they could establish a relationship with Director Teng of the Film Bureau at this time, they could definitely avoid a lot of trouble.

So the next morning, Zhang Yan took the variety show outline he had prepared overnight and went to see Director Teng of the Film Bureau.

Although Director Lin was not the head of the Film Bureau, as the deputy director in charge of the 97 mission, his influence within the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television was undeniable.

In addition, Zhang Yan did not come empty-handed, so he had a pleasant conversation with Director Teng after meeting him, and they even exchanged personal contact information before leaving.

The twelfth day of the first lunar month.

Chen Hong finally flew to Beijing, and the two spent two days together in the courtyard before returning to Tianjin on the Lantern Festival.

However, what Zhang Yan didn't know was that Chen Hong had also managed to meet with Tao Hong during this time, but the two didn't get along at all...

(End of this chapter)