Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 80 Chinese Fire

The next morning.

Zhang Yan, along with the Overload band, arrived at the small courtyard that Magic Rock Culture had temporarily rented.

A large crowd gathered at the entrance of the courtyard. Besides the rock bands who wanted to recommend themselves, there were also many rock fans who had come to join the fun after hearing the news.

Seeing Zhang Yan leading the Overload Band straight in, some bands that had signed up and were in line objected, but just as they were about to step forward to stop them, they were pulled away by the people next to them.

"Don't be impulsive, that's Zhang Yan! You've seen the writer of 'Tianjin Wei', right? He wrote the script and did the advertising, so 'China Fire' specially invited him to be in charge of packaging the singers!"

As the Black Panther band triumphed in Hong Kong, the Tang Dynasty band was heavily relied upon by Cheung Pui-yan, and the initial "death rock" incident became increasingly bizarre.

It's almost been hailed as the ultimate showdown in the rock scene.

Zhang Yan, who has recently been frequently featured in newspapers and is known as "Little Wang Shuo," has also seen his role rise in importance – isn't that how it's always written in martial arts novels? When two masters from different schools have a showdown, they'll invite another master to preside over it.

Some people in the crowd recognized Gao Qi and shouted at him, "Gao Qi, when did you learn to climb the social ladder?!"

Gao Qi turned around and silently raised his middle finger, then continued to follow Zhang Yan inside.

Back when he was still in the Breathing Band, he would never have actively sought connections, but things are different now. He founded the Overload Band himself, and he has to be responsible for his brothers.

After the 'sharp-eyed person' revealed Zhang Yan's identity, there were no more obstacles in front of them. The group of people, as if riding the wind and waves and cutting through thorns and brambles, passed through the dense crowd and entered the courtyard.

Just as he reached the door of the main room, a group of young people walked out dejectedly. Upon seeing Zhang Yan, the leader immediately exclaimed, "Teacher Zhang?!"

"You're Wu Tong from the Central Conservatory of Music, right?"

Zhang Yan also recognized the other person as a student of the Central Conservatory of Music, and that he had helped distribute flyers last year.

"Yes, yes, it's me."

Upon seeing Zhang Yan, Wu Tong quickly nodded, then pointed to the four people behind him and said, "We're all from the music academy. We just formed a band and wanted to try our luck here, but..."

As he spoke, he couldn't help but shake his head and sigh.

Zhang Yan laughed and said, "You've only just entered the industry and you think you can rise to the top in one step? It's not that easy. Besides, you Central Conservatory of Music students don't rely on this for a living. Let's leave the opportunity for those who need it more."

Wu Tong opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he sighed and led his teammates to make way for them.

As Wu Tong watched Zhang Yan lead the Overload band into the hall, he was about to leave when his teammates grabbed him and asked, "Is that the legendary Zhang Yan? I heard that Dou Wei and Ding Wu's 'Dreaming Back to the Tang Dynasty' was inspired by him?"

"Who else could it be but him?"

Wu Tong sighed, "Last year's 'death rock' incident was judged by him—but his main profession is a writer. I heard his books sell well and his screenplays are excellent. He's almost becoming the next Wang Shuo!"

As they walked out, two more people approached them at the door and asked, "Wu Tong, did your Reincarnation Band pass the test?"

"Fuck it!"

Wu Tong rolled his eyes at the two of them and said, "We're just here to make up the numbers. If it weren't for the Central Conservatory of Music's name, we might not even be able to get in."

With that, they parted the crowd and walked away.

One of the two hurried after them, while the other couldn't help but peek into the yard, his face full of longing and envy.

Wu Tong squeezed to the outside of the circle and realized that someone was missing. He jumped up and shouted, "Wang Feng, Wang Feng, what the hell are you dawdling for? Hurry up and go!"

…………

the other side.

When Zhang Yan entered the hall, he found that in addition to Zhang Peiren, there were Guo Chuanlin, Zhang Chu, Zhang Ju from the Tang Dynasty band, and Zhang Youdai from the Beijing Radio Station who had already switched jobs.

"Fourth Brother~"

Zhang Yan stepped forward and teased Guo Chuanlin, saying, "You can't just barge in like that; you're disturbing our Zhang family's meeting."

The first half of the sentence startled Guo Chuanlin, but after hearing the second half, he laughed and said, "I hadn't even noticed until you said it. I'm the only one in this house with an outsider's surname."

After exchanging a few jokes with the people present, Zhang Yan turned around and introduced, "You should all have met Gao Qi. This is his newly formed Overload band. They're playing quite well, so I brought them here specifically to give them a try."

Apart from Zhang Peiren, the others had all met Gao Qi, and Zhang Ju had even been his teammate for a period of time.

However, I remember him as a rather shy person who usually prefers to quietly observe others from the corner. This is the first time I've seen him stand at the front of the line.

Zhang Peiren sized up the members of the Overload band, then asked Gao Qi, "Are you the lead singer or the leader?"

"Lead singer."

"Original?"

"Original!"

"Alright, you guys get ready first."

Zhang Peiren is probably a fan of Gu Long, as he often engages in these kinds of deliberately mysterious conversations.

After arranging things with the Overload band, he turned back to Zhang Yan and asked, "Teacher Zhang, you've been in seclusion for two days, have you finished the cover design yet?"

"almost."

Zhang Yan took out a painting from his bag, spread it on the table, and said, "My painting skills are limited. If this version is approved, I will have to find a professional to paint another one based on it."

The crowd gathered around to take a look and saw a character '中' (zhong, meaning "middle") formed by flames in the upper left corner, a character '国' (guo, meaning "country") formed by flames in the right corner, and a character '火' (huo, meaning "fire") formed by flames in the lower center.

The two feet of the character 'fire' are standing on a tiny, raging fire. At first glance, it seems unremarkable, but upon closer inspection, one discovers that it is actually a stage.

The burning character '中' (zhong) is the guitar held in the arms of the lead singer in black; the character '国' (guo) is the keyboard of the keyboardist; and the character '火' (huo) is a drum set.

The small flames that start a prairie fire are the stage for the entire fire to ignite, and hidden in the darkness at the bottom is a surging crowd.

The more closely you look, the more blurred the three characters "中国火" (Chinese Fire) become. But once you look away and look again, the three characters become clear and even obscure the entire stage.

Simply put, it's the "everything can be chicken brother" approach.

"Brilliant!"

Guo Chuanlin gave a thumbs up and sincerely praised, "Xiao Zhang, I didn't expect you to be so good at writing novels and screenplays, and you're also a talented artist!"

Zhang Chu, Zhang Ju, and Zhang Youdai also praised it.

Zhang Yan humbly replied, "I learned from my dad when I was little. My skill level is average, but that's roughly the idea."

At this moment, he noticed that Zhang Peiren had been frowning and hadn't said anything, so he quickly asked, "Mr. Zhang, are you not satisfied with this cover design?"

"No no!"

Zhang Peiren quickly waved his hand, then pointed to the character '国' (country) and said, "This character seems to be in simplified form. It might not be appropriate for us to distribute it in Taiwan."

Zhang Yan hadn't really noticed this, but changing the keyboard to the traditional Chinese character for "country" wasn't so easy—and he didn't really want to change it either, since it was the character for "country," and modifying it according to the Taiwanese people's wishes always felt awkward.

Aside from the fact that it wasn't in traditional Chinese characters, Zhang Peiren also thought the idea was really brilliant. Seeing Zhang Yan repeatedly decline, he decided to spend money to hire a professional painter to try and see if it could be changed to traditional Chinese characters.

Next, it was finally the turn of the Overload band to perform.

Whether it was due to impatience from waiting or nervousness, the Overload band's performance this time was noticeably inferior to yesterday's.

However, out of respect for Zhang Yan, Zhang Peiren still kept them as backup options.

Gao Qi knew he had almost messed things up this time. On the way back after everything was over, he thanked Zhang Yan profusely and insisted on taking him to Donglaishun to eat lamb spine hot pot.

Zhang Yan was about to agree when he suddenly received a call from Feng Xiaogang, who said he wanted to get together at noon.

He had no choice but to decline Gao Qi's invitation again, saying that he would have to deal with her a lot when the movie started filming, and there was no need to rush to treat her to a meal.

Because Feng Xiaogang said he wanted to have a drink, Zhang Yan specifically took a taxi there.

As soon as they met, Feng Xiaogang joked, "We have two suckers to pay for this meal today. We have plenty of funds, so you can eat as much as you want!"

"Two suckers?"

Zhang Yan asked, puzzled, "Which two?"

"CCTV and Beijing TV."

Feng Xiaogang said smugly, "I'm someone important now. Our station asked me to sound you out, and CCTV also asked me to inquire whether you'd be willing to be interviewed."

"Interview?"

Zhang Yan could understand why Beijing and Taiwan contacted him, but why would CCTV want to interview him? "What program wants to interview me?"

"Economic Half Hour"

Feng Xiaogang said, "They are very interested in your efforts to promote Tianjin's business environment and attract investment through TV dramas, so they wanted to interview you."

Then he explained, "I'm just a messenger. Whether you want to or not is up to you. You don't need to worry about my feelings."

Zhang Yan never expected that he would be "targeted" by "Economic Half Hour".

He thought for a moment and said, "Could we talk about this in a couple of days? I just got another commercial shoot, and I'll be going to Tianjin to film it in the next couple of days."

Besides advertising, Zhang Yan also needs to discuss this matter with Zheng Ming of the Youth Daily, since he was inspired and guided by Zheng Ming to come up with these ideas in the first place.

"Why not? You're a big star now. What's wrong with making them wait a couple of days?"

"So what's your meaning, Beijing and Taiwan?"

"If you want to make money, come up the mountain and sit in a chair."

As Feng Xiaogang spoke, he spread his hands and said, "However, from what I can tell from Director Zheng's words, the ranking might be relatively low, and it certainly won't be as good as the conditions offered by Tianjin TV."

Feng Xiaogang's information network is indeed very efficient.

Zhang Yan hadn't mentioned this to Chen Hong, but he found out about it first.

To be honest, although Zhang Yan was somewhat tempted by the position of deputy director of the Tianjin Production Center, he did not intend to accept it.

The main problem is that once you've entered the system and taken on an important position, it will be difficult to do whatever you want anymore, not only in your career but also in your personal life.

Therefore, he still wanted to stay at the magazine, hoping to adapt to any changes.

In any case, he single-handedly saved the tertiary industry enterprises, kept the jobs of 500 employees' children, and even increased their income. Everyone in Tianjin TV station was grateful to him.

Even if he weren't transferred to Tianjin TV Station, he could still enjoy the benefits.

As for courting Beijing and Taiwan...

Not to mention that Beijing and Taiwan can't offer a better price, even if they could, it's uncertain whether an outsider like myself, parachuted in, would be able to get along.

Giving up such a great foundation in Tianjin TV and going to Beijing TV to be someone's slave, isn't that just plain stupid?
(End of this chapter)