Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 68 Meeting the Family

The old lady's house was indeed quite nice, a proper five-room brick house with a wing room on the east and west sides, and three rooms facing south.

It is 20 meters long from east to west and 15 meters wide from north to south, totaling 300 square meters.

Judging from its appearance and interior decoration, it should have been renovated in recent years. Although it still has a dry toilet, both the master bedroom and the second bedroom have air conditioning, which shows that there are no problems with the electrical circuit.

The downside is that the yard is a bit small. Apart from two small flower beds at the entrance of the main room, there isn't much space left to put anything else.

In addition, the alley in front of the gate is quite narrow, only about two meters wide. Furthermore, the courtyard is located at the very end of the alley, which will definitely make it very inconvenient to drive in and out in the future.

After looking around inside and out, I finally asked the price, and the lady immediately asked for 66666.

Without saying a word, Zhang Yan turned and left. If this house were located within the Second Ring Road, in what is commonly known as the old Beijing East and West Districts, it would be worth at least 88,000 yuan, let alone 66,000 yuan.

But since it's near the East Third Ring Road, anything over 50,000 would be considered extortion.

The older woman quickly chased after him, shouting, "Hey, hey, don't go! If you think it's too expensive, then name your price!"

"Forty-five thousand."

Zhang Yan quoted a sincere price mainly because he was afraid that if he quoted too low a price, the house would be sold to someone else later.

Seeing that the older woman had stopped pursuing the matter with a sullen face, clearly dissatisfied with his quote, Zhang Yan tossed her another advertising flyer and said, "Contact me again if you think it's suitable."

With that, he took Chen Hong and left on his own.

What followed was a tough tug-of-war, with the two sides arguing from the beginning of August until the end of September.

During this period, the sales of "Popular Little Fire Newspaper" did indeed rebound after the addition of the gimmick of readers voting for superpowers, but it was only at the level of nearly one million copies.

Ultimately, the success of "The Detective of the Red Chamber" was due to its novel subject matter. The gimmick of being the "originator of time travel" alone attracted many casual fans.

While Zhang Yan's supernatural novel also features considerable innovation in its content, the main plot only begins at the end of the second season, making its impact on breaking out of its niche significantly less than the former.

Fortunately, overall sales are still showing a slow upward trend, and breaking one million copies in the future should not be a problem, it's just difficult to return to the peak of 120 million.

…………

Oh... Oh... In the sea of ​​people, there's you and me, we meet, get to know each other, and learn from one another!

Listening to Dou Wei's songs and driving Dou Wei's car through the streets and alleys of Beijing is quite a unique experience.

Black Panther's album has not yet been released in mainland China. This cassette tape was specially sent back from Hong Kong by Dou Wei.

Because it was initially sent to Tianjin, the tape finally arrived in his hands in mid-September.

Of the ten songs, Zhang Yan's favorite was "No Place to Hide," but he couldn't listen to it at all today because he was going to the Broadcasting Institute with Chen Hong to invite Zhang Fang and her roommate to dinner.

Actually, back at the beginning of the month when school started, Chen Hong had asked to see Fangfang, but Zhang Yan instinctively made up an excuse to avoid it.

It's a double standard, really. Even though he's not pure in his feelings now and has made two serious mistakes, he still harbors resentment about Chen Hong's initial motives for approaching him.

That's why he avoids Chen Hong having contact with his family.

But faced with Chen Hong's persistent and gentle advances, Zhang Yan was eventually forced to compromise.

"Honey."

Chen Hong, who had dressed up in a particularly gentle and virtuous manner, sat in the passenger seat and asked with a smile, "When we meet Fangfang, how are you going to introduce me?"

Zhang Yan answered without hesitation, "How else can I introduce her? The mother of my child."

Regardless of what he thinks in his heart, he certainly can't be ambiguous about what he says.

"Fuck you~"

Chen Hong patted Zhang Yan on the shoulder, her smile widening – although it wasn't a formal meeting with his parents, this was still her first step into the Zhang family.

Besides this, there were several other things that made her very happy.

First, the post-production of "Tianjin Wei" was completed. She accompanied Zhang Yan to see the finished film. Although she already knew that the film would be of good quality, the final product still impressed her.

The film's location and pacing gave her the feeling of watching a Hong Kong movie, but the dialogue and character interactions felt more down-to-earth than those in Hong Kong films.

Secondly, after watching the finished film, she accompanied Zhang Yan to the mobilization meeting of Guangming Flour Mill.

In just six months, Guangming Flour Mill not only turned a profit but also successfully expanded its sales network to four provinces, showing signs of becoming a dominant force in North China.

In order to meet the ever-expanding production needs, several of the television station's tertiary industry companies were successively merged into Guangming Flour Mill, allowing the television station to completely shed the burden of its tertiary industry businesses.

Therefore, the TV station director personally met with Zhang Yan and Chen Hong, praising Zhang Yan as a great contributor to the station and inviting him to serve as a special advisor to Guangming Flour Mill. With this relationship, Tianjin TV Station became practically Zhang Yan's second home, and by being tied to Zhang Yan, she could naturally make full use of the station's resources.

The third piece of good news is that Niu Qun and Feng Gong have decided to submit "Idea Company" to the selection process for this year's Spring Festival Gala.

Given their current influence, this matter is almost certain, if not a done deal.

This will undoubtedly further increase Zhang Yan's popularity, and by getting on this front, he might even be able to make an appearance on the Spring Festival Gala once he becomes famous.

So, it can truly be described as a double blessing.

With such a good mood, when Chen Hong got off the bus at the entrance of the Broadcasting Institute, she was truly elegant, charming, light, and lively. Even the girls waiting at the school gate were stunned, not to mention the boys.

Zhang Yan followed closely behind and got out of the car. He walked over to Zhang Fang and greeted the girls, "You must be Fangfang's roommates, right? I'm her brother, Zhang Yan. Thank you for taking care of her."

The girls at the Broadcasting Institute are all handpicked, selected from among the best. Many are children of high-ranking officials or from artistic families. While they may not be arrogant, they certainly possess their own pride.

But when they saw Chen Hong looking so gentle and virtuous, holding Zhang Yan's hand, these proud "little hens" all wilted.

Zhang Fang, having recovered her senses, excitedly pointed at Chen Hong and exclaimed, "Brother, isn't this the female lead from your TV series? She...she..."

"This is my girlfriend, Chen Hong."

Zhang Yan was initially somewhat reluctant, but seeing the girls' performance, he couldn't help but feel smug.

Hello, sister-in-law!

Zhang Fang rushed forward and grabbed Chen Hong's other arm, excitedly saying, "When we visited the post-production site, I thought you were especially beautiful, but I didn't expect you to be even more beautiful in person!"

Chen Hong smiled modestly and said, "Fangfang, you are very pretty and have such a sweet tongue. No wonder you were able to get into the Broadcasting Academy."

"Alright, you two stop flattering each other."

Zhang Yan interrupted their small talk and looked at the five girls opposite him, saying, "There are a lot of people, how about we split into two trips..."

"No need, just squeeze in!"

Immediately, a girl suggested, "If there are three people in the back row, and three more sit on your laps, there will be just enough room."

The other girls nodded in agreement.

Sure enough, those who get into the broadcasting and hosting department are basically not shy or introverted.

Seeing that they were of one mind, Zhang Yan and Chen Hong then got into the driver's seat and the passenger seat, respectively.

Just as Zhang Fang was about to open the back door, several girls grabbed her and pulled her aside.

"Zhang Fang, what does your brother do?"

Is your sister-in-law a movie star?

"Didn't you say you came from an ordinary family?!"

When her roommates bombarded her with questions, Zhang Fang quickly raised her hands in surrender and said, "We're just an ordinary family, but my brother is a writer, and recently one of his scripts was made into a TV series—my sister-in-law is the female lead in that series."

As they were talking, Chen Hong rolled down the car window and asked curiously, "What's wrong? Is there anything else?"

"No no!"

The girls scattered and quickly climbed into the back seat of the car.

After the Arhats were stacked up, one of the girls couldn't wait to ask, "Brother Zhang, I heard you're a writer?"

"Hey, he's just a novelist."

Zhang Yan casually offered a modest reply, and Zhang Fang immediately added, "Xiao Nuo, you should all have heard of it, it's the one narrated by senior Zhou Tao and senior Yao Ke!"

"Oh, I know, I know!"

"Is she the one who copied poems to seduce Baochai?!"

If we're talking about the novel alone, most girls probably haven't read it, but many have heard the radio drama that started airing in August.

Hearing his sister bring up Zhou Tao, Zhang Yan felt a little awkward, so he casually turned on the tape recorder and played the familiar song "No Place to Hide".

Chen Hong seemed to sense something, secretly glanced at Zhang Yan, then looked at Zhang Fang through the rearview mirror, and then a smile unconsciously appeared on her lips.

No matter how many competitors there are outside, we are now one step ahead.

(End of this chapter)