A grand feast for the Chinese entertainment industry

Chapter 112 Jiang Wen
He rode back onto his old bicycle.

However, I have already entrusted Lao Xue to handle the import procedures for Taiwanese personal items. I plan to bring in a good motorcycle. I've even taken care of the license plate purchase. It's a Beijing A yellow plate, so I won't have to worry about license plate restrictions in the future.

Of course there is a car, but recently it seems to have become Xu Qing's personal car.

She had her own car, a Santana, which she bought in 92, but after driving Lin Jianlu's BMW 3 Series, she felt that it was more respectable to drive it when going out to run errands, so she took it over.

Lin Jianlu didn't care and gave it to her.

After leaving the house, I went to Nanchizi Hutong first. His second courtyard house was still being renovated. I went over to check on the construction site. As soon as the master craftsman saw that the owner had arrived, he quickly took me to see it. Actually, there wasn't much to see. It was a major renovation, basically the same as the previous one in Lishi Hutong. So when I went in, the whole courtyard was a mess.

After going around once, I bought two packs of cigarettes and personally handed one pack to each of the workers, and everyone was happy.

Then they turned around and headed towards Lishi Hutong.

Wow, the alley is quite quiet because there are no large courtyards; most of the houses are large, secluded residences.

I took out my keys to open the door and pushed my bicycle inside. The courtyard was quiet and tidy, and everything was spotless. So I walked around, looked around, took pictures, played with things, and sat down.

that's nice!

This is the first property I've acquired since arriving here.

It has three courtyards, is fully functional, and is spacious enough to accommodate a wife and concubine, and even have several children.

Even though it's cold, we have underfloor heating in our own homes. Once the boiler is lit, it will warm up in a day or two. We don't have to wait for the heating department to provide collective heating. It can be lit when it's cold and turned off when it's hot.

They just haven't decided who will move in yet.

She also seemed unwilling to let anyone move in—Lin Qingxia was supposed to be coming over in the next few days, and she seemed to have taken her mother's instructions quite seriously. But if her mother found out that she had prepared such a nice courtyard to keep her lover, and that it was actually Lin Qingxia, her mother would probably be furious.

Next year, once Gao Yuanyuan gets into university, she could register for university accommodation with her family and secretly come to live here. But it's still early, and this place is actually quite far from the university area. She doesn't really want to go to school yet, so making her too special is a bit of a hassle. These days, university students drive their own cars right after starting university, which actually has a bad influence. It's better to let her finish university normally.

The main problem is that eighteen-year-old Gao Yuanyuan can't control this house.

Similarly, neither Jiang Qinqin nor Zuo Xiaoqian could handle such a large house, nor could they even assume the role of "one of the mistresses"—Xu Qing was alright, but she was currently looking at villas and had already selected several. She was just waiting to take a look around and then buy them, so she would have her own "external residence."

However, without a female head of the household, even if you live alone, it will indeed feel empty.

It's only suitable for a large population to live in this kind of house.

Hmm, unexpectedly, I remembered that photo again—hey, Yu Feihong, what a joke. I've been in the film and television industry for half a year and I don't know her, or even have heard of her. On the contrary, my mother went to work as an accountant at Forbidden City Film Studio, and in just two months, she's already got her hands on.

Let's see each other again later!
…………

"Hey, Jianlu! Come in quickly! Brother, Jianlu's here!"

"Oh my, deer, come here..."

Jiang Wen has a house on Neiwubu Street. It's a small courtyard house with two sections, and it looks like it's about 300 or 400 square meters. She made her fortune much earlier, not to mention that everyone's pay wasn't high back then.

Whether you earn a lot of money or not depends on who you compare yourself to.

He already played Puyi in "The Last Empress" in 85, directed by Chen Jialin, a renowned director. In 86, he starred in "Hibiscus Town," directed by Xie Jin, the top director at the time, which won numerous awards. Needless to say, in 87, he starred in "Red Sorghum," arguing with Zhang Yimou, who was directing for the first time, from beginning to end on set.

It can be said that he was at the top of the acting world from the very beginning. Even in that era, he was undoubtedly the highest-earning actor in mainland China, far surpassing the average wage earner.

That's why I was able to buy a small courtyard house with my own money.

Ten years ago, a small courtyard like this could be bought for 20,000 to 30,000 yuan, but now it would cost hundreds of thousands of yuan to buy—because in those days, ordinary wage earners only earned a few dozen yuan a month.

Jiang Wen was sunbathing and smoking on the porch in front of the house when the door opened. He chuckled and immediately got up to greet them. Then he saw Lin Jianlu push his old bicycle in. On the handlebars, a piece of mutton tied with straw rope was hanging on the left, and on the right, another piece of straw rope, was a huge bass.

"Alright, with the deer here, we won't starve to death today!"

"Ha..." He put the cart down, not bothering to untie the rope, and pulled a bottle of vinegar from his pocket. It was indeed bought from Taiwan. He had spotted it a few days ago when he accompanied Chen Shuhua and Su Huilun to the supermarket there and bought a bottle. "Look, this is enough for eating dumplings!"

He took it, examined it closely, and patted Lin Jianlu on the shoulder. "Try it later! Sit down!"

So the two of them left it at that. Jiang Wu took the initiative to pick out the mutton and sea bass, looked around, and smiled, "You two sit down, I'll put the things down and go buy a cabbage! Mutton and cabbage filling, okay?"

Jiang Wen waved her hand, ignoring the topic, and let Lin Jianlu sit down on the veranda. She then turned and went inside. A moment later, she came out with a wooden box. "Try it! It was a gift from a friend in Hong Kong. It's quite good!" She opened it and found cigars inside.

Lin Jianlu laughed, randomly picked one, took the cigar cutter, cut it, and quickly lit it. The two of them sat in the corridor, basking in the sun, and started chatting idly while puffing on cigarettes.

As time went by, he made more and more friends, but looking at all the people he knew, Lin Jianlu felt that there were two and a half "gods" in total across the three regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong and mainland China. Wang Jing was a god, too insightful. He made money to be happy. Don't laugh at him for being mercenary or a businessman. In Lin Jianlu's opinion, he was the one who truly understood life.

Work is work, art is another matter.

Having money to enjoy life is another matter entirely.

There's a philosophical saying that goes something like this: chopping wood is chopping wood, fishing is fishing, cooking is cooking. Don't think that chopping wood and fishing are for the sake of cooking, and cooking is for the sake of eating. That's too tiring.

Wang Jing has traversed this magical path.

Jiang Wen is also a deity.

Art is art. I keep pondering this little bit in my mind. Whether you like it or not, I don't care. Whether it's commercial enough or not, whether it makes money or not, I don't care either—anyway, I can make enough to eat. How much can I eat? What if you get a whole sheep for one meal? Can you even eat it?
But then again, I didn't intentionally not make money, did I?
I'll still make money if I can.

Of course, whether the product looks good or not, and whether the audience buys it, is another matter entirely.

In Lin Jianlu's opinion, his work was a complete mess, a chaotic jumble, with only a whimsical energy rampaging through the film's visuals and dialogue—Lin Jianlu did not appreciate his work in terms of cinematic expression alone.

Well, you have to admit, they're enjoying themselves.

He felt quite comfortable on this path, and he succeeded.

To put it bluntly, both of them are geniuses who are self-satisfied and fulfilled.

The remaining half is Dou Wei—he hasn't succeeded yet; he's still struggling between his artistic principles and commercial value. He knows what the market wants, and he can create something for Wang Fei that is as commercially valuable as possible while retaining a considerable amount of her individuality, but deep down he actually despises it.

It is said that Dou Wei later became an immortal. Who knows? Maybe he will in the future!
However, as friends, all three are quite good.

People are interesting.

Jiang Wu went out to buy groceries, and Jiang Wen quickly boiled water and brewed a new pot of tea. The sun shone warmly on them, the tea aroma was faint, and the smoke curled up. They sat and chatted idly.

"The Emperor's Shadow" was released not long ago. At the end of October, it was released simultaneously in Hong Kong and mainland China. However, it was a box office flop in Hong Kong and was pulled from theaters in mainland China after only four days. This big-budget film with an investment of 40 million yuan, a co-production between Xi'an Film Studio and Hong Kong capital, ended up being a dismal failure.

He, Ge You, and Xu Qing starred in it.

During their previous phone conversation, Xu Qing, the female lead, seemed quite resentful. Last night, while drinking, she brought it up again, venting her frustrations. Ge You was definitely unhappy about it. Now, when it came to Jiang Wen, he didn't put on airs. "No choice! I just had to leave!" he said, sounding a bit forlorn.

There's nothing anyone can do; the review process has become even stricter than before.

Ocean Pictures in Hong Kong has completely shut down, disillusioned with the mainland film market. It's rumored to be completely shrinking, closing down its operations in mainland China. Director Zhou Xiaowen, needless to say, is devastated, drinking heavily – in this day and age, a whopping 40 million yuan investment is now stuck in his hands. In a sense, it could even be said that his career as a director is over. Who would dare invest in him again?
In short, everyone is feeling terrible.

Compared to this, the film that Feng Xiaogang co-directed with Wang Shuo and was subsequently halted is a minor matter. The films they made were always of the grassroots style, and their investment couldn't compare.

Let's chat, it'll help him relieve some of his frustration.

Jiang Wen was quite concerned about the preparations for the Forbidden City Film Studio, asking when it would officially open—even Lin Jianlu couldn't say for sure, so how could anyone guess? The matter involved so many state-owned enterprises, including the Beijing Film Studio, which was directly under the Ministry of Truth, and the enterprises under the jurisdiction of Beijing, which were all well-known cultural institutions. Given the increasingly stringent and strict regulations on cultural propaganda in China, the involvement of state-owned enterprises made everyone very cautious.

It is said that the city and ministry have already held several meetings on this matter.

In Zhang Heping's words, it will definitely pass in the end, it's just that the process will take a while.

Holding more meetings is a way to mitigate risks!
“Sigh…” Jiang Wen became unwilling to speak again when these things were mentioned.

Unlike Lin Jianlu, who is famous throughout mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and even Southeast Asia, Japan, and South Korea, and whose livelihood is in music, Jiang Wen's career is clean. His lyrics and music are always about the trivial matters of men and women falling in love. You can censor it all you want, what kind of metaphor could I possibly have? But Jiang Wen makes his living in film, and the increasingly strict censorship in mainland China in recent years has really made him feel depressed.

After chatting for a while, Jiang Wu returned from grocery shopping.

Jiang Wen glanced at the time, immediately put down his cigar, and stood up. "You sit down! You provided the food today, so the two of us brothers will serve you this round! Wait and eat!"

Lin Jianlu burst into laughter.

(End of this chapter)