Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 299 Removing the Fuel from Under the Cauldron
As it turned out, Zhang Yan's efforts were not in vain—the number of people queuing for the 'skilled workers' section was reduced by half in the afternoon.

The directing department was almost entirely wiped out, and two-thirds of the literature department also left. The remaining students mainly went into photography and art design.

So, as evening approached, Zhang Yan met Xu Jinglei, who was at the end of the line.

Upon seeing Zhang Yan's tall and handsome appearance, Xu Jinglei's eyes lit up, and her tone and demeanor became much gentler than when she was next door.

However, after she introduced herself, Zhang Yan flipped through the files on the table and asked in confusion, "Student Xu, I don't think I have any record of your registration here. Are you sure you registered?"

“I applied, but I initially applied for the acting major.” Xu Jinglei blinked and said, “But I think I’m also suited for writing, so I want to try applying for screenwriting as well.”

This girl is quite confident.

Zhang Yan flipped through the prepared test questions again and said to her, "Then please try to write a movie review of no more than two hundred words, preferably about a movie that does not exist in reality."

Then he pointed to the table next to him: "There are paper and pens there. You have half an hour."

Xu Jinglei didn't waste any time. She pulled up a chair, sat down at her desk, and began to think about how to solve the problem.

Zhang Yan was supposed to call the next candidate in during this time, but a staff member came in to remind him that there was no one left at the back, so he started to review the previous candidates' assessment results again.

Xu Jinglei was quite quick, handing in her paper in less than fifteen minutes. Her handwriting was neat and elegant, clearly indicating that she had practiced.

"The Other Side of Anger is Frosting"—the title alone exudes a petit-bourgeois vibe, and the content is indeed pretentious and melodramatic.

Moreover, in less than 200 words, at least 70 words are quotations of famous people—this is less a film review and more a display of one's knowledge.

Of course, judging solely by the writing style, her article does have some merit; at least it's good enough to package a talented woman's image.

Let's ask Chen Hong later and see how talented she is at acting.

Just as Zhang Yan was about to send her back to wait for news, Xu Jinglei said familiarly, "Teacher Zhang, could you give me your contact number? If there's a chance, I'd like to discuss some literary issues with you."

Zhang Yan frowned slightly and looked over, meeting Xu Jinglei's gaze for a moment, but he couldn't tell whether the girl was flirting with him.

So he said ambiguously, "If you can join our Dream Fulfillment program, then we'll have plenty of opportunities to exchange ideas on literature."

After seeing Xu Jinglei off, Zhang Guoli, who had been silent for a long time, couldn't help but sigh, "The young girls nowadays are much bolder than we were back then."

"Social attitudes have changed."

As Zhang Yan spoke, he stood up and stretched, saying, "Let's have something good to eat tonight..."

Just then, the mobile phone rang.

When I answered the phone, Feng Xiaogang's listless voice came through: "Have you finished with the Beijing Film Academy's campus recruitment yet?"

"What, any plans for tonight?"

"Let's find a place to talk privately. This is serious business."

"You decide, I decide?"

"Whoever is treating should pay the bill."

"Then I'll decide."

After quickly settling on a place for dinner, Zhang Yan shrugged at Zhang Guoli and said, "Alright, Feng Xiaogang is looking for me tonight. He says he has something important to discuss."

"Are you planning to switch jobs?"

Zhang Guoli said, half-jokingly and half-seriously, "If Lao Feng wants to come and help us realize our dream, I will definitely support him wholeheartedly."

A few days ago, he might not have meant what he said, but now...

Feng Xiaogang's "Forever Lost My Love" flopped, grossing less than 100 million yuan at the box office; while "The New Dragon and Phoenix" was a nationwide hit, its popularity no less than that of "Desire" back then.

Although one is a movie and the other is a TV series, this does not prevent Zhang Guoli from having a superior attitude and a broad mind.

"Certainly not!"

Zhang Yan said with certainty: "Old Feng is a shrewd man. We just had a showdown with Beijing and Taiwan, so he definitely won't come to help us realize our dream now."

Feng Xiaogang joined Dingli while on leave without pay, so in a sense he is still a member of the Beijing-Taiwan group. Moreover, his connections and networks from over a decade ago are also in Beijing-Taiwan, which are not easily severed.

After tidying up the resumes on the table, the group went outside and saw that there were still more than ten students left in their class, meaning they definitely wouldn't be able to finish the interviews today.

Zhang Yan then had Li Songqiang announce that the meeting would continue at 8:30 the next morning, and then went next door to tell Chen Hong that he was going to see Feng Xiaogang that evening.

"It would be great if Director Feng could come and make our dream come true."

Chen Hong's attitude was similar to Zhang Guoli's: "Compared to those single-minded directing students, Director Feng's style is more suitable for us to realize our dreams."

"Let's see what he has to say first."

Thinking of Xu Jinglei from earlier, Zhang Yan casually asked, "How did the candidate named Xu Jinglei perform?"

"Xu Jinglei?"

Chen Hong asked in surprise, "You know him?"

“I don’t know her. She just went to apply for a screenwriter job. She does have some writing talent. If Liu Zhenyun and Yu Hua package her up, they should be able to create a talent woman image for her.” Chen Hong covered her mouth and laughed when she heard this. “No wonder she said she likes cultured people and doesn’t like bosses who reek of money—but she compared you to Wang Shuo before, saying that your writing is not as good as Wang Shuo’s.”

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yan instinctively frowned, and after a long pause, uttered five words: "Then let's discuss it again."

After speaking with Chen Hong, Zhang Yan went to see the person in charge of campus recruitment at Beijing Film Academy to discuss the continuation of campus recruitment the next morning and the matter of a few people coming from the Central Academy of Drama in the afternoon.

Although the students at Beijing Film Academy were very resistant to this, the leaders of Beijing Film Academy were happy to see it happen—after all, it was equivalent to the students from the Central Academy of Drama coming to Beijing Film Academy to look for jobs, which was equivalent to Beijing Film Academy overshadowing the Central Academy of Drama.

…………

That evening, at Xingshun Restaurant.

When Zhang Yan arrived, Feng Xiaogang had already been waiting in the private room for a long time. Under the dim light, the wrinkles on Old Feng's face were clearly visible, making him look several years older.

"Is it really necessary?"

Zhang Yan sat down next to him and laughed, "Old Feng, you're known for your perseverance. It's not like you to be so dejected. Besides, it's just that the movie lost money. We'll learn from our mistakes and make it back with the next one."

Feng Xiaogang sighed and said, "If it were just a problem with the movie, I wouldn't be so worried—but you've seen our film too. Although the pace is a bit slow, it has all the necessary plot points, so it should break even."

Indeed, this film was considered quite explicit among the films released at the time, with the opening scene showing Xu Fan changing into a uniform while wearing underwear.

It took a minute just to put on the stockings; Director Feng really doesn't treat the audience like outsiders.

Given the current movie-going trends and Wang Shuo's reputation, a box office of less than one million is indeed unreasonable.

While pouring himself a cup of tea, Zhang Yan asked, "So where do you think the problem lies?"

"Of course it's Wang Shuo's fault."

As Feng Xiaogang was speaking, he heard someone knocking on the door outside, so he shut up.

After the waiter left with the menu, he continued, "Actually, I felt something was wrong before the movie was released. After the movie was released, there was basically no publicity. Wang Shuo published articles in the newspaper to complain about this several times. As a result, a couple of days ago, the higher-ups gave instructions that Wang Shuo's affairs should not be reported in the future."

It turns out their biggest selling point was cut, no wonder the box office was so dismal.

Feng Xiaogang took another sip of tea, grinned, and said, "I mortgaged my house to raise the funds for the filming of 'Forever Lost My Love.' Now the box office is dismal. I managed to keep the house by scraping together money from all sides, but I'm now heavily in debt because of it."

Zhang Yan initially suggested that pilot units must contribute more than half of the funds, mainly because he was worried that some unqualified individuals might misuse his good intentions.

Who would have thought that this rule would ultimately kill two birds with one stone, allowing them to seize control of "Sunshine" while simultaneously leaving Wang Shuo with a mountain of debt.

Of course, Wang Shuo brought this upon himself. If he had been a little more low-key, "Forever Lost My Love" wouldn't have lost so much money.

"Wang Shuo, the major shareholder, is heavily in debt. What are your plans for Dingli in the future?"

"Wang Shuo wants to give it another shot."

Feng Xiaogang said, "His novel copyrights still sell very well, and he knows a lot of wealthy people, so he plans to gather his strength and start a new project to redeem himself."

At this point, Feng Xiaogang shook his head and said, "However, I'm not very optimistic about this new project. It's already under scrutiny from above, so the more we do, the more mistakes we'll make."

Zhang Yan's heart skipped a beat, sensing that Feng Xiaogang was about to get to the heart of the matter, so he pressed on, "So, what are your own plans?"

To everyone's surprise, Feng Xiaogang shook his head and said, "I don't have any plans, but if you have any ideas, you can wait for a suitable opportunity to acquire Dingli Film Industry—Wang Shuo's project. If he does it himself, he will definitely fail, but if you take the lead, it will be a completely different story."

"This……"

Zhang Yan frowned and said, "Aren't you just asking me to take over his business? What would I gain from doing that? Don't I make money from my own projects?"

If Dingli Pictures' new projects encounter setbacks again, they will be almost doomed. Acquiring Dingli Pictures is actually giving Wang Shuo a helping hand.

"That's different."

Feng Xiaogang said seriously, "Now that you've won over Wang Shuo's heart, who will dare call you 'Little Wang Shuo' anymore?"

Love is waiting for me here.

It seems that Feng Xiaogang mentioned a radical solution before the Lunar New Year, which clearly indicated that he was not optimistic about Dingli's future at that time.

Moreover, if Yuanmeng acquires Dingli, then it would be only natural for Feng Xiaogang to switch to Yuanmeng, and even Jingtai would not be able to find fault with it.

You have to admit, Lao Feng is incredibly shrewd!

This was a big deal, and Zhang Yan hesitated and did not agree immediately. Feng Xiaogang also stopped there, and the two then chatted about other things and never mentioned the acquisition of Dingli Film Industry again.

I returned to the Guomao Courtyard in the middle of the night.

When Zhang Yan finished washing up and took off his clothes, he suddenly said to Chen Hong, "Let's bring Xu Jinglei in."

"how?"

Chen Hong lay sprawled out, smiling, and asked, "Don't you care that people are using Wang Shuo to pressure you?"

"Haha~"

Zhang Yan scoffed: "He has to be able to keep it under control!"

(End of this chapter)