Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 310 Chain Reaction
What Zhang Yan said was not an exaggeration.

Although the windows on the third floor had been smashed long ago, he had made the decision to move to the sixth floor less than half an hour earlier. As a result, he encountered a slingshot attack as soon as he brought his things up.

When Leader Lin arrived at the scene, he found the room in complete disarray—after the glass was broken, more than a dozen bullets were fired from the other side.

Seeing this, Leader Lin hurriedly asked, "Is anyone injured?!"

"No, everyone took refuge in the hallway. It was the furniture that suffered damage."

Leader Lin breathed a sigh of relief and said helplessly, "I told you to take it easy, but you still did it... I heard that the whole of Hong Kong Island is outraged, and thousands of people have called the government to complain about you."

"I didn't say anything."

Zhang Yan spread his hands innocently and said, "If it's too intense, it can't be posted at all; it'll just be deleted by the backend of a certain website."

"The problem is that Hong Kong media always like to exaggerate. If you say three points, they will write it as ten points, let alone six points."

As Lin spoke, he asked, "Should I protest to the GY government?"

"No need, aren't you about to hold a press conference to clear your name? If we're going to put on a show, we should at least make it look convincing."

"You, you."

Leader Lin pointed at Zhang Yan and said, "Here's what we'll do: you move into my room. If anyone dares to cause trouble again, I'll have a reason to confront the GY government."

"This……"

Zhang Yan turned to look at Chen Hong, who immediately put her arm around Gong Li and said, "Let me sleep in the same room with Gong Li. I can also ask her to help me learn about the commercial streets on Hong Kong Island."

"That's fine."

Zhang Yan picked up his luggage and followed Leader Lin toward the elevator, saying, "By the way, leader, Mei Yanfang just called and said that Andy Lau wants to meet with me to have a chat. I've already agreed to meet him the day after tomorrow."

"Andy Lau, one of the Four Heavenly Kings?"

Leader Lin's eyes lit up, and he asked, "What do you think he means by contacting you at this time?"

"It's hard to say yet, but this person has a good image. I plan to get to know him first. If he's suitable, we might be able to promote him as a role model."

I don't know about others, but Liu Dehua's reputation hasn't collapsed even after twenty or thirty years, so it should be relatively reliable.

"Sure—but you must be careful about your safety. The public opinion outside is most likely being pushed by the British. Although the foreigners probably won't dare to go too far, there's no guarantee that some of them won't act rashly."

"do not worry."

Zhang Yan laughed and said, "I can't bear to give away my good head to those foreign devils and traitors."

…………

Despite the rampant rumors and the distorted reporting by various gossip magazines, several television stations in Hong Kong have maintained a restrained attitude.

Even ATV, which has British investment, only highlighted some of Zhang Yan's "extreme remarks" in a factual manner, without fabricating stories and exaggerating them like the newspapers did.

Even all television stations except ATV broadcast the press conference held by Leader Lin that evening to "disassociate himself" from the situation.

Although the full text was not broadcast, the most key sentences were released verbatim.

After all, nobody's a fool.

If you broadly and generally smear the University of Tokyo, the probability of being targeted is actually not high. After all, it's not just one or two media outlets in Hong Kong that do this, but almost everyone.

But if you target people who can influence relevant policies, the outcome will be completely different. After 97, who knows how they will retaliate?

Therefore, after receiving the notification from Golden Harvest, all the TV stations unanimously chose to suppress the hype and try to maintain a neutral stance.

Most Hong Kong celebrities have remained silent on the matter, with only a few with 'firm' stances jumping out to assert their presence.

Needless to say, Zhang Yan and Leader Lin must have noted these people down.

Not to mention this.

That evening, while Chen Hong was taking a shower, Gong Li switched between several channels and found that although they were all discussing the press conference, their attitudes were surprisingly objective.

Although they didn't say anything good about Zhang Yan, they were able to find some scandalous information about the mainland on these TV stations, and it was all exaggerated to the extreme.

The contrast now seems quite bizarre.

Gong Li was quite puzzled. She thought the Hong Kong media would definitely tear Zhang Yan to shreds, but who knew...

It seems that the Hong Kong media are, at their core, bullies who prey on the weak and fear the strong. Their previous talk of the Fourth Estate was merely because the mainland was too far away to reach them.

Now we're encountering the future governing body...

[PS: Back then, judging from the public opinion on the island, I knew they were genuinely afraid, but later I found out they really didn't care much...] Just as she was lost in thought, Gong Li's phone suddenly rang. After answering, she found it was Zhang Yimou calling. She was happy inside, but her words were cold: "You finally remembered my phone number?"

"Uh~"

Zhang Yimou was never good at dealing with a woman's arrogance, so he skipped the topic and said, "Director Xian Qiran just called me to ask why you're in this inspection team and whether you'll be going to visit Yindu with the team."

I gave vague answers as you instructed, but later, based on Xian Qiran's tone, it seemed there was some softening on the matter of "Xiang Yu, the Hegemon-King of Western Chu."

"real?!"

Gong Li was immediately overjoyed. After the flop of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes", Hong Kong investors kept their distance from her. So the only script she received recently was "The Hegemon of Western Chu" produced by Sil-Metropole.

[PS: Silver Metropolis is backed by mainland Chinese state-owned capital.]

This is a film with two female leads. Gong Li was originally cast as Liu Bang's wife, Lü Zhi, while Rosamund Kwan, who had just won the title of Hong Kong's No. 1 Beauty, was cast as Yu Ji.

As a result, in order to get rid of the "pretty face" image, Rosamund Kwan insisted on playing the role of Lü Zhi.

Gong Li's position in Hong Kong is currently unstable, so she is naturally unwilling to show weakness or back down.

Director Sin Kai-yin preferred Rosamund Kwan to ensure box office success; however, Zhang Yimou was the director of the film, so the two sides held their own opinions and argued from mid-February to April.

Director Sin Kai-yin's proactive show of weakness clearly indicates that his high-profile appearance on the inspection team has been effective.

Zhang Yimou couldn't help but sigh, "I didn't expect this trick to actually work. Xian Qiran originally said he wanted you guys to have a competition of acting skills, but now it seems like he doesn't need to."

"A competition of acting skills?"

Gong Li found this somewhat amusing: "If we're talking about looks and figure, I might not be as good as her, but when it comes to acting skills—are you sure this was Director Xi's suggestion, and not yours?"

"Of course it was Sin Kai-yin who suggested it—but he wanted you and Rosamund Kwan to try out that bathing scene."

Gong Li was speechless upon hearing this. Wasn't this just another attempt to outshine her with her figure and looks?

However, she quickly declared confidently, "When it comes to acting skills, even in a bathing scene, I will never lose to her!"

[PS: In the original timeline, Gong Li won over Lü Zhi in this way.]

"There's no need to compete now."

Zhang Yimou said on the other end of the phone, "Xian Qiran said that there is a banquet in Yindu in a couple of days. The leaders of Yindu may want to find out Director Lin's attitude through you."

Yindu is also under the jurisdiction of photoelectric tubes, but it used to be more independent and there was basically no interference.

With 97 approaching, not only the Hong Kong film and television industry is feeling uneasy, but even the film industry is somewhat anxious, fearing that the authorities might change the existing lenient policies.

"I see."

Gong Li was increasingly grateful that she had infiltrated the inspection team; otherwise, why would Yindu have adopted such an attitude?

Then she asked, "Will you be able to make it in time?"

"It's going to be tough, you know, 'To Live'..."

"Okay, then I'll go with Zhang Jing."

After Gong Li finished speaking, she hung up the phone with a cold face.

Just then, Chen Hong came out of the bathroom. Her eyes lit up, and she quickly asked, "Chen Hong, I'm going to a cocktail party in Yindu in a couple of days. Do you want to come with me?"

"This……"

Chen Hong pointed out the window, half-jokingly saying, "In this atmosphere, is it appropriate for me to go? Let me make this clear beforehand, I don't want to go undercover and pretend to be your little follower."

The protests outside continued, but police were stationed on the opposite building, and those shooting slingshots and BBs were all apprehended.

After all, the British were also worried that someone might impulsively use real weapons to attack the expedition team.

"it does not matter."

Gong Li quickly explained, "This is a party hosted by Yindu. Most of the attendees are our own people. If they knew you were Zhang Yan's fiancée, they would be even more welcoming!"

According to Gong Li's understanding, many people in Yinduli have actually been holding their breath for a long time.

Now that Zhang Yan is openly and honestly saying what they've been keeping to themselves, they're bound to be very curious about him.

Hearing Gong Li say this, Chen Hong dispelled her concerns. She was eager to see what a cocktail party in Hong Kong was like, so she readily agreed.

(End of this chapter)