Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 359 Chain Reaction
"what happened?!"

Upon receiving the news that Li Baotian was unavailable, Zhang Guojun immediately exploded, grabbing Pan Hongye, who had been in contact with Li Baotian, and demanding, "Old Pan, didn't you say there were no problems with Li Baotian? How come he's suddenly unavailable?!"

Pan Hongye was also completely baffled: "I don't know either. We had a good chat when we met. Because of 'The New Dragon and Phoenix,' he thought this kind of fictionalized history was quite interesting. Who knew that he would suddenly say that he was unavailable?"

Historically, there was no precedent for filming fictionalized historical dramas in mainland China, and the overall investment was not very large, plus the two leaders, Zhang Guojun and Pan Hongye, did not have enough reputation.

Therefore, the three main actors, Li Baotian, Zhang Guoli, and Wang Gang, were not initially very interested in this drama.

Zhang Guoli even took on other jobs outside of work, frequently taking leave to film other projects, which led to Li Baotian's public break with him and their subsequent refusal to cooperate.

But now, with the stunning debut of "The New Dragon and Phoenix", the broad prospects of historical dramas have been proven. So when Pan Hongye contacted Li Baotian before, Li Baotian not only did not refuse, but also seemed very interested.

So Pan Hongye never expected that after the two of them reached a cooperation agreement with Yuanmeng, Li Baotian would suddenly go back on his word.

"What are we going to do?!"

Seeing Zhang Guojun looking as if the sky had fallen, Pan Hongye was also devastated.

Zhang Yan couldn't stand it anymore, so he said, "Does this Liu Luoguo (Liu the Hunchback) necessarily have to be played by Li Baotian?"

He certainly knew Li Baotian was a good actor, but these days there was no shortage of male actors with good acting skills, so he refused to believe that he couldn't find someone who could replace Li Baotian.

"no!"

Zhang Guojun said decisively, "This role can only be played by Li Baotian. If it's not Li Baotian who plays Liu Luoguo, I would rather not film this movie!"

Pan Hongye hesitated, though he did want to compromise. However, out of consideration for Zhang Guojun, he couldn't show it in front of outsiders.

Zhang Yan raised an eyebrow slightly. Zhang Guojun was not really suited to be a boss because he had too many pointless insistences and always spoke without leaving any room for maneuver.

This is also why he didn't discuss things in detail with Zhang Guojun at the time, but instead handed him over to Wang Jinghua to handle—if Zhang Guojun was like tempered steel, then Wang Jinghua was like silk wrapped around a finger.

Although the contract has already been signed, Zhang Yan is confident that he can forcefully push the production forward even if Zhang Guojun is completely uncooperative.

But since it was a collaboration, he didn't want to make things too ugly.

After a slight hesitation, he said, "Then let's go to the capital together and see why Li Baotian suddenly lost his availability."

He was going to Shandong in a couple of days to review "The Swinging Bridge" and "Boys and Girls Rush Forward" with the leaders of Shandong TV. He was originally going to transfer to a train in Beijing.

Let's set off two days earlier to try and resolve the male lead's problem, and also take care of our physical needs.

So he went home and told Chen Hong and his parents about it. After quickly packing their luggage, Zhang Yan drove the two of them to Beijing.

In the blink of an eye, he set off in the morning and Li Bingbing arrived in Tianjin in the morning.

Let's set aside the question of how the Ice and Snow Sisters fared in Tianjin.

After arriving in the capital, Zhang Yan sent Pan Hongye to meet with Li Baotian, and also went to the hotel where Wang Luyao was staying to inquire about the latest progress in the dance troupe's recruitment.

The ten-day deadline has passed, but there are still a few people at the Beijing Dance Academy arguing about the principal dancer and lead dancer positions.

Excluding these people, there are currently seven people who have agreed to join the Dream Realization program: two men and five women, including Li Xiaoran and Wang Yan, who have already graduated.

There were supposed to be more details, but Zhang Yan's patience was unusually poor today, so as we chatted, the curtains were drawn and the door was locked from the inside...

evening.

Wang Luyao lay in bed for a long time without getting up.

It wasn't until Zhang Yan came out of the bathroom that she snapped out of her daze and said in a sweet voice, "Now I know what it means to be better off without someone."

Zhang Yan paused in his dressing, then said without turning around, "Chen Hong is pregnant." "Huh?!"

Suddenly, Wang Luyao found strength from somewhere and scrambled to her feet, grabbing Zhang Yan's back and demanding, "When did this happen?!"

She must have conceived in March.

Zhang Yan said, "So I've been eating vegetarian food at home for the past two weeks."

As he spoke, he put on his leather shoes, stood up, patted Wang Luyao on the shoulder, and said, "I won't be coming over tonight. You get some rest and try your best to talk those Beijing Dance Academy students down."

"Oh~"

After watching Zhang Yan leave, Wang Luyao collapsed back onto the bed, but this time her face was devoid of blush and sweetness, only filled with entanglement and jealousy.

Sister Hong is so lucky. She got pregnant right after the wedding date was set. If she gives birth to a son, no one will be able to shake her position in the future.

Should I have one too?
But the problem is that this is not the old society anymore. Will I always stay by Yan Ge's side in the future?
Let's set aside for now how conflicted Wang Luyao is.

When Zhang Yan arrived at the restaurant feeling refreshed, Li Baotian was already there.

"I'm sorry, Teacher Li."

Zhang Yan entered and first bowed apologetically: "There was a small mishap with the company's recruitment at the Beijing Dance Academy, which caused a delay."

These days, not everyone in the entertainment industry can be called a teacher, but given Li Baotian's age and experience, he certainly deserves that title.

Li Baotian glanced at his watch and shook his head, saying, "I'm too early."

As he spoke, he stood up again, bowed deeply to Zhang Yan, and said, "Mr. Zhang, I'm the one who should apologize. I originally thought this book was quite good and didn't intend to turn it down, but..."

"Brother Li."

Pan Hongye seemed to know him better and interrupted him, urging, "Now that President Zhang is here, you should at least give us a heads-up and let us know why, right?"

Interrupted by him, Li Baotian had no choice but to reveal the truth: "Actually, Director Zhang Yimou called me a few days ago, saying that there's a movie that's going to be filmed in the second half of the year, so..."

Pan Hongye and Zhang Guojun fell silent. They hadn't shifted their mindset and were still viewing the matter from the perspective of industry professionals. Therefore, they both felt that giving up "Liu Luoguo" for Zhang Yimou's film was a perfectly reasonable choice.

Zhang Yan frowned and pressed for an answer: "Has the exact time been confirmed?"

"This is not."

Li Baotian said, "However, before I accept a role, I definitely need to think about the character in advance and adjust my mindset, so..."

Zhang Yan thought for a moment and then said, "Let me inquire about the specifics first."

He wasn't particularly familiar with Zhang Yimou, but he considered himself friends with Gong Li, so he directly called Gong Li to ask when Zhang Yimou's new movie would start filming.

The phone rang only twice before Gong Li's voice came from the other end: "Hello, who is this?"

"I am Zhang Yan, I have something to say..."

Zhang Yangang had only said five words when he suddenly heard the dial tone of a disconnection.

what happened?

Zhang Yan dialed again, puzzled. This time it rang twice, but the call was disconnected without being answered.

(End of this chapter)