Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 329 Breaking the window paper

On the morning of September 4th.

Chen Hong stayed home to take care of her in-laws, while Zhang Yan set off early in the morning with Zhang Fang, Wang Luyao, and Chang Jihong. Zhang Fang was going back to school, while Wang Luyao and Chang Jihong were going to the Beijing Dance Academy to discuss campus recruitment.

Because Zhang Yan had taken on a temporary job of 'screenplay review', Chang Jihong was the one driving.

On the way, Zhang Yan briefly flipped through the script called "Three No-Man's-Law".

The story is set in Nanshi, Tianjin during the late Qing Dynasty. At that time, this place was adjacent to the Japanese and French concessions and was a buffer zone between the two concessions. The Qing government did not dare to interfere at will, so it was commonly known as the "three no-man's-land".

Such places are inevitably a melting pot of all sorts of people, gathering a large number of江湖人士 (jianghu figures, people from the underworld), illegal merchants, and gangsters.

The male protagonist, a recent college graduate, is forced to return to Nanshi to take over the family's theater business after his father falls ill due to a scheme against him, which triggers a series of grudges and affections.

He gradually transformed from an upright young man into someone who was assimilated by the "three no-man's-land" in the later stages, and finally betrayed his brothers and lover for profit, choosing to collude with the Japanese.

Overall, the story is quite exciting.

It's clear that a lot of historical material was referenced, and the character of Nanshi is vividly portrayed. However, some plot points are too melodramatic and clichéd, and could perhaps be designed to be more ingenious.

Zhang Yan circled a few places in the script that needed to be revised. Because he was feeling a bit dizzy from reading, he put down the script, leaned back in his chair, and wanted to close his eyes and rest for a while.

As soon as he lay down, the person in the back row reached out and started massaging his shoulders.

Zhang Yan glanced at the rearview mirror and saw his sister looking through Chen Hong and Zhang Guoli's autographed photos, seemingly unaware of Wang Luyao's little actions. He quickly patted Wang Luyao's hand to signal her to be more careful.

Ever since we told her to take over the dance troupe, this little vixen has gotten a bit carried away.

After Wang Luyao awkwardly withdrew her hand, Zhang Yan turned around and instructed, "Your sister-in-law's autographed photo can only be given to female classmates, not men."

"嘁~"

Zhang Fang rolled her eyes at her brother: "How dare you call others hypocrites back then? It's only because my sister-in-law is magnanimous that you're still with me! Anyone else would have left you long ago!"

As she spoke, she glanced at Wang Luyao again. She wasn't blind; she had naturally seen through Wang Luyao's little tricks earlier, but she just didn't want to expose them.

Zhang Yan didn't react to his sister's words, but Wang Luyao hesitated, thinking to herself, "If I could become the Empress, I could also be hypocritical and magnanimous!"
The journey was smooth and uneventful.

After arriving in Beijing, Zhang Yan took Zhang Fang back to school, arranged accommodations for Wang Luyao and Chang Jihong, and then went to Liu Zhenyun's house.

Upon meeting Liu Zhenyun, he first showed Liu Zhenyun the character design he had tailored for Wang Luyao, and then discussed the new script with him.

"I'm confident in your script's solidity and rigor, but your problem is that it's too conservative and lacks the passionate impulsiveness of a young person."

If this had been said last year, Liu Zhenyun would most likely not have accepted it.

However, after the broadcast of "The New Dragon and Phoenix", although the court intrigue he was in charge of received positive reviews from the media, what the audience talked about the most were the farces concocted by Zhang Yan.

This also made him gradually realize that TV drama scripts are different from serious literature. Most viewers are just looking for entertainment, while truly meaningful content is often too highbrow and doesn't appeal to everyone. There needs to be something lively and engaging to balance it out.

So after hearing Zhang Yan's words, Liu Zhenyun readily agreed, "Then let's continue our collaboration as long as you take the lead and I take the lead, as long as the royalties are paid in full."

If it were an ordinary writer, Liu Zhenyun would definitely argue about who is superior and who is inferior, but Zhang Yan is the boss. How can an employee argue with the boss about who is superior?

"The problem is I don't have time."

Zhang Yan helplessly spread his hands and said, "So what I mean is, it would be best to see if we can find a few young people to be in charge of creating these kinds of jokes. You can be responsible for connecting these jokes with the main storyline, and then add some real-life dilemmas that recent graduates encounter."

"You mean those young people our company recently hired?"

"Forget about those few, their writing is like the rigid, formulaic style of classical Chinese essays, it needs to be polished before it can be used—it would be best to find a few self-taught writers with a witty and humorous style, like me and Wang Shuo."

"You make it sound so easy. Never mind, I'll have someone do some research later." With Liu Zhenyun's connections in the industry, finding a few young writers with good writing skills wouldn't be difficult, but finding someone like Zhang or Wang would be a different story. The two then briefly discussed the background, character settings, and core of the story. They had already talked about these things on the phone before, but many things needed to be discussed face-to-face to be expressed better.

After the two had almost finished discussing their business, Yu Hua also rushed over upon hearing the news.

As soon as he entered the room, he complained to the two of them that the revised version of "To Live" had finally passed the censorship and that he could go to the Cannes Film Festival in a few days.

However, someone within the optoelectronics company leaked a message saying that Yu Hua's books were not suitable for adaptation into film and television dramas. With this claim, it would be difficult for him to sell the copyrights in the future.

"Isn't this cutting off my source of income?"

Yu Hua slammed his fist on the table and said angrily, "I'm going to write a... what did you say again? Right, positive energy, I'm going to write a novel full of positive energy!"

As Zhang Yan's fame grew, his influence on the world also deepened. Terms like "double standard dog" and "positive energy" became popular twenty years ahead of schedule because of him.

Hearing Yu Hua's confident assertion, Zhang Yan and Liu Zhenyun exchanged a smile, neither of them really believing that he would actually write any positive-energy novel.

Yu Hua probably didn't believe this either, so he got completely drunk at noon, as if he was saying goodbye to his "financial prospects".

After taking the tipsy Yu Hua home, Zhang Yan turned around and went to Jiang Wen's place to inquire about the progress of the Italian and English alphabet translation.

As it turned out, Jiang Wen said that the French version had already been translated, and the other two versions were almost the same.

"French version?"

Zhang Yan frowned and said, "Didn't we agree to give up Cannes?"

"It was Sandrine and her students who helped with the translation. What's wrong with you? They're helping you for free, and you're not happy about it?"

"Free? You don't charge for copies?"

Although it wasn't a big deal, the way this guy acted smug after doing whatever he wanted always made Zhang Yan want to give them both a stun gun.

Zhang Yan took a deep breath to suppress his agitation and asked, "Where did the money for the copy come from? I remember that after the final cut was approved, you haven't received any funding, have you?"

Jiang Wen spread his hands, striking a bachelor's pose: "Sandrine paid for it first, and I plan to include it in the publicity budget. I'll pay her back when the money is approved."

It wasn't that he couldn't afford the money; he just knew that if he were to pay it, Zhang Yan and Dong Ping would most likely refuse to acknowledge it—but the two of them certainly wouldn't go to court against international friends for such a small amount of money.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yan turned around and went into Jiang Wen's study without saying a word.

"What are you doing?"

Jiang Wen hurriedly chased after him and saw Zhang Yan pick up a Hundred Flowers Award Best Actor trophy from the display shelf, tuck it under his arm, and sneer, "Nothing much, I'll take this first. If you make any more decisions on your own, I'll give it to Liu Xiaoqing!"

Jiang Wen was shocked to hear this. If Zhang Yan said it was for someone else, he might not have believed it, but if it was for Liu Xiaoqing, he would be too embarrassed to ask for it back.

In a moment of panic, he blurted out, "I knew you two were having an affair!"

The study suddenly fell silent.

Neither of them expected that this unspoken understanding would be exposed so abruptly.

Zhang Yan and Jiang Wen locked eyes. Zhang Yan wanted to deny it, but he felt that hiding it wouldn't be manly enough. Besides, he wasn't really a third party; at most, he had a brief affair with Jiang Wen after they separated.

So in the end he said nothing, and simply looked Jiang Wen in the eye.

After a long while, Jiang Wen slumped back into her chair and waved her hand weakly: "In the end, I owe her. If you like it, take it."

(End of this chapter)