Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 93 Frozen

[Available next Monday]

"Please rest assured, leader, I will definitely go to visit and learn from you then... Haha, I don't deserve it, I don't deserve it. Secretary Liu, please don't flatter me. I'm just throwing out an idea to get the ball rolling. When it comes to getting things done, our government office is the real deal."

The Tianjin municipal government has acted swiftly and decisively this time, implementing the "one-stop service" in less than ten days. Now, only some finishing touches remain.

It is estimated that the enthusiasm of visiting and learning from other provinces and cities was so high that the Tianjin municipal government felt the pressure.

Of course, this thing doesn't cost much. It's just about finding a storefront in the Economic Development Zone, doing some simple decorations, and having a few key departments send staff to set up offices there.

The vice mayor's secretary just called Zhang Yan, wanting him to conduct an on-site inspection before the "Economic Development Zone Investment Promotion One-Stop Service Center" is officially opened, to see if there are any things that need to be modified.

After all, this idea came from Zhang Yan, so he definitely understands the ins and outs better than anyone else.

Even without this phone call, Zhang Yan was planning to return to Tianjin soon to help the film crew find a shooting location.

Although the story takes place in Beijing, it doesn't involve any iconic buildings. It could have been filmed in Tianjin just as well, and some things would be easier to coordinate in Tianjin.

For example, in the plot where the female lead is learning anatomy, if it were done according to Guan Hu's idea, they could just use connections to sneak in and film the cadavers.

However, Zhang Yan didn't want to get into trouble and wanted to go through the proper channels, which would also be beneficial for the film's release.

Taking advantage of this opportunity to 'inspect' the service station, he could also make a call to his superiors and lay the groundwork for the film crew to shoot in Tianjin—even if he couldn't reach the city leaders, the leaders of the Economic Development Zone would be fine.

Another issue is with the record company.

Although shooting commercials is profitable, the major clients in Tianjin have already done all the necessary shoots. The remaining individual clients don't care about quality; they just want a cheap deal.

The advertising department of a TV station like this can handle it themselves.

Zhang Yan, wouldn't it be inappropriate to use the TV station's resources and compete with the station's internal staff?
So starting a record company is still the most reliable option—of course, if there's a big advertising opportunity, he can always assemble a team to fill in.

After paying the phone bill for the grocery store owner, Zhang Yan also bought a large bottle of Coke. He didn't want to eat out that night and planned to make some Coke chicken wings himself.

If there's any leftover, boil some ginger and cola.

However, after taking a walk around the nearby farmers' market, I found that there were no more chicken wings for sale individually. If I wanted to buy some, I would have to go early tomorrow morning. Nowadays, most vendors are unwilling to sell them separately, and there is only a small supply available in the morning.

Zhang Yan had no choice but to change his plans at the last minute. He bought a whole chicken, intending to use the bones to make soup that night, and save the wings and legs to cook the next day.

When he returned to the apartment entrance with a chicken in his left hand and a bottle of cola in his right, he saw a guy with his face covered by a scarf peering into the Santana through the windshield.

Zhang Yan's first reaction was that he had attracted the attention of thieves.

However, seeing the other party's blatant attitude, he thought of another possibility, so he shouted, "Dou Wei!"

The man suddenly turned around. Although Zhang Yan couldn't see his face clearly, he recognized his eyes. It was indeed Dou Wei.

Luckily, I had tidied up the car beforehand.

While secretly rejoicing, Zhang Yan took the car keys out of his pocket and tossed them far away.

Dou Wei reached out and took the chicken and cola from Zhang Yan's hand, then asked, "Are you in charge of cooking tonight?"

"Chen Hong went to film a movie, so I'm home alone—now that you're back, how about we go out for a drink tonight?"

"Let's drink here."

Dou Wei shook his head and said, "Since your girlfriend isn't here, I'll stay here for the night."

"Why aren't you going home? What are you doing here dealing with?"

Zhang Yan was puzzled at first, then suddenly realized something and stared at the scarf on Dou Wei's face, saying, "What's wrong? Did the grape trellis at home fall down?"

Dou Wei said dejectedly, "I don't know who spread the news, but Jiang Xin came to my door as soon as I got home."

"Haha, good news doesn't travel far, but bad news travels fast."

While Zhang Yan was gloating, he also felt a sense of immoral superiority—he had also been discovered to be having an affair, but he was treated completely differently.

As the two walked upstairs side by side, Zhang Yanshun casually asked, "How does it feel to be a big star in Hong Kong?"

"not so good."

Dou Wei curled his lip and said, "It was quieter when it wasn't popular, but after it became popular, there are always stupid paparazzi chasing after you asking all sorts of questions, like whether it's particularly oppressive here, or whether everyone thinks Hong Kong Island is paradise. If you refute them, they'll bring up things like brothels in the north and mistress villages on the other side of the strait to mock you, as if they'd practically beg you to hit them so they can create a big news story."

In that dream about the future, Zhang Yan saw many related reports from 2019, so he didn't have a good impression of Hong Kong Island to begin with.

After hearing Dou Wei recount a few things, I became even less interested.

Once upstairs, Dou Wei took off his scarf after entering the room, revealing three bloody scratches on his left cheek.

"Wow, that's a pretty hard scratch."

Zhang Yan said gloatingly, "What are you planning to do? Break up with Jiang Xin, or dump the Miss Hong Kong?"

Dou Wei scratched his hair hard and shook his head, saying, "I don't know. I guess Jiang Xin and Wang Fei haven't decided either... Whatever, I'm fine with it."

It's that familiar self-destructive attitude.

While chatting with him, Zhang Yan skillfully prepared the whole chicken. Originally, he planned to save the chicken wings and drumsticks for tomorrow, but now he simply made them into cola chicken wings as well.

Because the pot was occupied by stewing chicken soup, there wasn't enough time to cook rice, so he coated a few steamed buns in egg and fried them until they were slightly golden brown, which could barely be considered a whole chicken feast.

Although the two talk on the phone from time to time, there are many things that are not easy to say on the phone. Now that they have been separated for a long time, they have endless topics to talk about over beer.

For the first time, Zhang Yan also proposed the idea of ​​starting his own record company. However, with Magic Stone Records as a precedent, he did not plan to work on rock music, but rather on pop music or folk music.

Although Dou Wei scoffed at his "vulgar" behavior, he still said he would keep an eye out for talent in this area.

The two chatted until after 11 p.m. before finally stopping.

When Zhang Yan got up the next morning, Dou Wei was gone, and the Santana downstairs was also gone.

Zhang Yan was somewhat saddened. He had driven this car for almost half a year, and he was quite unaccustomed to it being taken away by Dou Wei—fortunately, he had already ordered a car in advance.

In the morning, as usual, he interviewed a few people with Guan Hu, and also hired a handyman. Guan Hu didn't know that Jiang Shan and Zhang Yan had dealt with each other, so he only said that a friend had volunteered to play the role of the mistress.

Around noon, just as we were discussing where to eat, we suddenly received a page from Dou Wei.

Hearing Dou Wei invite him out for drinks on the phone, Zhang Yan asked with a smug look, "What's wrong? Did the grape trellis collapse again today?"

"No, Wang Fei has also returned to Beijing."

"Did the two of them get into a fight?"

"No……"

Dou Wei paused for a moment before saying, "Neither of them is willing to back down, and I don't know what to choose, so we're at a stalemate."

"Frozen? How so?"

Although Dou Wei did not answer the question, Zhang Yan quickly understood the situation.

Jiang Xin stayed at Dou Wei's house the first night, but Wang Fei took her place the next day...

Zhang Yan's immoral sense of superiority vanished completely.

He didn't know what happened on the third night, because he had been invited back to Tianjin to inspect the service station.

However, before inspecting the service station, Zhang Yan first went to the Tianjin Automobile Factory and drove away the Xiali TJ7100 that he had ordered in advance.

This was the first hatchback in China, with a total length of less than 3.7 meters, similar to the later QQ and Alto, and the rear seat space was quite compact.

However, this car is sturdy, durable, and easy to maintain. Moreover, thanks to the friendship we had built during the previous advertising shoot, Tianjin Auto gave us a price based on cost.

There's also a sedan version, the TJ7100U, which sells even better than the hatchback. However, both have a 1.0L engine, so the sedan's power is noticeably less than the hatchback's, and you even have to turn off the air conditioning before going uphill.

Moreover, the short-tailed sedan is not as good-looking as the hatchback.

After careful consideration, Zhang Yan ultimately chose the hatchback version.

Given that many taxis in Beijing are red Xiali cars, and Zhang Yan doesn't really like silver-gray, he specially asked the car factory to paint it matte blue, which is practically a custom-made model.

Because imported metallic paint was used, this item alone cost more than 10,000 yuan, and the final price was not much different from the market price.

(End of this chapter)