A grand feast for the Chinese entertainment industry

Chapter 120 The Day of Breakthrough
It was a half-day of leisure in this busy life.

Lin Jianlu had no plans for today and intended to stay in his new home. He even stood there for more than ten minutes watching the gardener water the flowers and plants after his morning run.

But not them, they were busy right now.

Every year before the Lunar New Year is the most traditional record release period in Hong Kong and Taiwan, with everyone releasing albums in quick succession.

According to Rock Records' schedule, there are three albums related to Lin Jianlu to be released. Su Huilun's "Duck" will be released on December 1st, Richie Jen's "Too Softhearted" will be released on December 24th, and on January 1st, 1997, Chen Shuhua's new album "Chasing the Light" will also be released. Of course, there are even more albums unrelated to him, almost too many to count. On November 11th, last Monday, Lin Jianlu personally went to support Liang Yongqi's "Love Yourself" for its release. And last Thursday, Zhang Yusheng even called to inform him that the album "Sisters" that he produced for Zhang Huimei would be officially released on December 13th. He hoped that Lin Jianlu could listen to it and give some feedback when he had time.

In short, despite its small size, the market is fiercely competitive.

This kind of fully competitive market is, in fact, the real reason behind the later online saying that "although we were poor when we were young, we ate only fine grains"—without real skills, you simply can't stand firm.

After breakfast, both ladies went back to their rooms to change clothes. Lin Jianlu ordered a cup of coffee, took a stack of newly delivered newspapers, and sat in the garden, experiencing for the first time the life of a wealthy man—a large courtyard, a lawn, a lush tree, morning light, a warm breeze, drinking coffee and reading the newspaper.

Ah, this is actually quite comfortable.

What kind of stuff is this that's being reported in the newspapers?

Zhang Yu was caught by the media again for sneaking a bite to eat. It's really strange. Shiyilang can never catch him. Maybe Shiyilang never does, but the Taiwanese media seems to love catching him and always manages to do so.

Pooh!Scumbag!

If you're going to cheat, at least eat something decent, please! What kind of person is this woman? Eleven Lang's girlfriend is so wifely, how could she be inferior to her? She looks like a bar girl!
Well, the relationship between Zhang Yusheng and Zhang Huimei... I believe it's fake, Zhang Huimei is too ugly.

And the crucial point is that the date is just too damn coincidental. Why did it have to come out of nowhere? A-mei (Chang Hui-mei) is releasing her album in twenty days—a newcomer, her first album—and you're already spreading rumors about her? Seriously…

This newspaper adopted a loud and impassioned stance, urging the Golden Horse Awards jury not to award the prize to a "mainland film," tch, probably referring to "In the Heat of the Sun"—and sure enough, it was.

I really don't want to give them to mainland Chinese films. If they hadn't opened the application process to mainland films in the first place, they would have given them a lot of nominations this year. So, needless to say, they should at least give them a few prestigious awards.

Otherwise, the so-called "opening up" will just become a laughing stock.

The previous jury chairman, Chiu Fu-sheng, spearheaded this effort. He is considered pro-mainland. The next jury chairman is Chang Ai-chia, who has strong connections and is decisive. So, it seems the goal is to use her to break the deadlock. It's hard to say about the political circles, but the majority of Taiwan's arts and culture circles generally agree on more exchanges with the mainland. Everyone knows that the mainland not only shares the same language and culture but also has a huge market. Once exchanges become more frequent, Taiwan's arts and culture circles can directly gain a market of one billion people!

So, Lao Jiang is probably going to make a big splash at the Golden Horse Awards this time!

The time, place and people are favorable.

Gee...

Oh, right, there's something I almost forgot about.

I took out my phone to make a call, but, well, my notebook wasn't with me.

“What’s your name, Afu? Go tell your wife that I have a small red booklet, about the size of a palm, in my bag. Tell her to find it and bring it to me.”

"Ok sir."

Within minutes, the two ladies had finished getting ready and came downstairs together. Su Huilun was holding Lin Jianlu's notebook in her hand. "Let's go to work!"

Lin Jianlu got up, hugged this one, kissed him, then hugged that one and kissed him.

The family doesn't have a driver for the time being, and the two of them are quite used to driving to work by themselves. After watching their cars leave the gate, Lin Jianlu went back to sit down, sipped her half-cold coffee, and started flipping through her notebook.

The call went through. "Hello, is this Sister Gui Yalei? This is Lin Jianlu. Haha, yes! ... Oh, it's like this, I've invested in a film in mainland China, and the director told me he hopes to invite you to play a role. The stage play 'Thunderstorm' is being adapted into a TV series, and he wants you to play Lu Shiping..."

Successfully completed.

Not only did she manage to get the job done smoothly, but she was even quite happy that mainland China was offering her roles in films and television dramas.

She takes on roles in Taiwanese dramas, often as a supporting actress. In older dramas, she'd be playing the lead, but she'd only get about NT$30,000 per episode. Over a month of filming, that would amount to NT$600,000. However, for mainland Chinese dramas, she's willing to accept RMB at a discounted rate of NT$6,000 per episode.

I called Li Shaohong, gave her Gui Yalei's phone number, and told her to contact her herself afterward.

The play was supposed to have around 20 episodes, but from what Li Shaohong was saying, it seemed like they were going to suppress Lu Shiping's role and focus mainly on Fanyi—I don't understand, Lin Jianlu can hardly even remember the general plot of "Thunderstorm".

In short, her income from a trip to mainland China is probably less than 100,000 RMB.

Forget it, that's not something he needs to worry about.

I hesitated whether to invite Sylvia Chang over—she returned last Friday, and the matters to be discussed in Columbia had been settled, as well as the recording preparations in New York were complete; all that was left was for Lin Jianlu to get away and begin recording. Of course, she wouldn't just wait idly there; she had plenty of work to do upon her return!

The most important thing, obviously, is preparing for the Golden Horse Awards.

Thinking about it, I decided against it. Inviting people over would likely mean having them stay for lunch, and since there's no woman in the house, her coming here alone would only arouse suspicion and increase distrust. If I really wanted to get together, it would be better to go outside.

But... it's better to find someone else to have lunch with.

"Hey? Brother Lu? You're in Taiwan? Oh, great! No problem, no problem, I can take the day off! What should we eat together? Okay, okay! Let's make it around 11:30!"

Yeah, I made plans with Ada Choi. Sigh... okay, I won't laugh at Zhang Yu anymore.

However, my aesthetic standards are definitely three or four stories higher than his.

With no other cars at home, Lin Jianlu sat idly until almost ten o'clock before deciding to go out for a stroll and hail a taxi. Before leaving, she thought to herself that she should remind Su Huilun to buy another car.

As soon as I changed my clothes and went out, I suddenly received a call from Liang Yongqi.

The girl was downcast. "Brother Lu, it seems like my album's sales aren't very good. According to a rough estimate, it sold about four or five thousand copies in the first week. The company and Sister Ge both think it's unlikely to reach platinum status, and even gold record sales will be difficult! I... I'm so sad!"

Well, in Hong Kong, a record is considered a gold record if it sells 25,000 copies, and a platinum record if it sells 50,000 copies. In Hong Kong, if you can sell a gold record, you can barely establish yourself, and if you can sell a platinum record, you can be considered a star.

Cantonese may have a slight advantage, but unless it becomes very popular in its home country, it will definitely be at a disadvantage compared to Mandarin in markets such as Southeast Asia and Taiwan.

In short, Ge Fuhong's strategy for Liang Yongqi, a local girl, to debut in the music industry was to release a pure Cantonese album first and gain a foothold in the local market. However, it seems that whether she can gain a foothold or not may not have as much to do with whether or not she releases a pure Cantonese album.

Anyway... many Taiwanese singers who sing in Mandarin sell very well in Hong Kong, and Wang Fei's Cantonese albums also sell hundreds of thousands of copies in Taiwan, where Cantonese is not spoken at all!

When it comes to singing, the first thing is the song, and the second is the singing. Studying Cantonese or Mandarin is a minor matter.

Let's try to comfort her.

But the girl played the victim and acted coquettishly, "Brother Lu, you've written so many songs for other people. I saw on TV last week that Lin Yilian said you wrote a song for her, and you even wrote lyrics for Su Huilun's song 'Lemon-tree,' which was really popular in Hong Kong..."

That's because you don't know yet, I also produced an entire album for Chen Shuhua!
"Are you going to speak Cantonese? I don't understand Cantonese!"

"Then write the music for me! You never write a single song for me! You made me such a flop!"

"Hey, be reasonable! I asked you if you wanted me to write a Mandarin song for you to include in the album, but you didn't want it!"

"Back then, I didn't understand! I only knew that Sister Ge said that the first album would be in Cantonese to appeal to local Hong Kong fans... At that time, I never imagined that selling records would be so difficult! Sister Ge said that the publicity plan had already cost hundreds of thousands, plus the recording costs, so my album needed to sell at least 20,000 copies to break even. If it only sold as a gold record, the record company would barely make any profit..."

"Who cares if they make money or not! If you need money, I'll give you some."

"No! I want to earn my own money!"

"Good! That's ambitious! Then make a good album next time!"

"Then can you write a song for me? Sister Ge said you've sung duets with Su Huilun and Chen Shuhua! I want a duet too! ...Brother Lu..."

"Okay, okay, I'll write a song for you, and we can do a duet, is that alright?"

"Really? That's great!"

…………

The dog sneaked into the restaurant they had arranged, asked for a private room, and then called Jia Jingwen—she was already downstairs and getting out of the car.

I didn't think the situation was that serious before. Since my debut, Lin Jianlu has always followed the "I don't care if I have too many lice" route. So, if my manager wants to create scandals, so be it. If the media wants to create scandals, I admit it. If the paparazzi want to smear me, I don't need to, I'll smear them myself. But recently, things have changed. Recently, he has become more and more cautious in his words and actions because no one knows better than himself that I have really started to get dirty.

If the media were to expose something like living together with Su Huilun and Chen Shuhua, it would be a huge scandal that would blow up the entire entertainment industry!
However, in reality, the problem isn't too big—he's no ordinary person. He's already reached the level of an Asian superstar, with many powerful figures backing him with vested interests. More importantly, he's not just a simple musician or singer; he's very good at networking. Whether he's in Taiwan or Hong Kong, his guiding principle is to cultivate good relationships with the entire industry. Moreover, he already has many endorsements, and many brands in Taiwan are not to be underestimated, wielding considerable influence.

The media is certainly not so easily controlled, but nowadays at least they have a roof over their heads. Before the media wants to break a big story and ruin him, they will have to think twice—Coca-Cola alone is enough to make them think twice!

Of course, if he can wait a few more years, and if his planned series of operations succeed, he will be completely financially free by then, and he really won't care about any scandals or big news anymore. But then again, the closer he gets to that point, the more cautious the media will become!

Well, what you fear most often comes to you. When you stop being afraid, others become afraid instead!

The real world is not a novel; there is no malice without a reason. The media also pursues maximum profit and tries its best to avoid offending the rich, powerful, and well-connected!

Of course, there's nothing scary about his relationship with Alyssa Chia—not to mention that nothing actually happened, even if something did, it's not scary. It's normal and reasonable for friends to have dinner together, and it's not illegal for unmarried men and women to have feelings for each other.

He was just taking precautions and wanted to avoid getting involved in negative news.

She came up in just a few minutes.

She pushed open the door and saw Lin Jianlu. She was overjoyed. "Brother Lu..." As Lin Jianlu stood up, she rushed over and hugged him tightly. She was short, and her head only reached Lin Jianlu's chin. She held him tightly and looked up at him. "I missed you so much!"

Lin Jianlu smiled and patted her head, "How have things been lately?"

She nodded. "Yes, everything went smoothly. I'm keeping the roles I take under control. I'm not deliberately going out to take on a crazy number of roles. When I have time, I go home and read Aunt Qiong Yao's novel, 'Heaven Has Tears.' I've already signed a contract, and I'm going to play the female lead! Although it's a bit slow to save money now, I know that once I've played the female lead in a Qiong Yao TV series, I'll definitely be able to pay off all my debts very quickly."

Lin Jianlu smiled again and patted her back. Only then did she reluctantly let go of Lin Jianlu's waist. Although Qiong Yao dramas were known for their low pay, they were also known for making stars. So she was right. After being cast as the female lead in "Heaven Has Tears," she really shouldn't be taking on so many roles. She should save her energy, reduce her exposure in minor roles, and wait until the drama airs before striving for more.

Her day of triumph is just around the corner.

Although it is said that her popularity has increased significantly recently with the airing of Zhou Linggang's previous drama "Four Daughters", that is not enough, it is only the beginning.

(End of this chapter)