A grand feast for the Chinese entertainment industry

Chapter 146 Hardcore
Practice hard.

Every morning he still gets up early, but after running, boxing, taking a shower and eating, before heading to Columbia Recording Studio, Lin Jianlu always hides on the rooftop terrace and practices rapping for an hour.

This is actually his weakness.

For example, with "Lose Yourself," in his past life, although he initially liked the song, listened to it often, and could even sing a few lines, he didn't particularly admire it. However, he had a best friend who was a huge fan of the song, talking about everything from hardcore rap to anger, Eminem, and America's status in the rap scene. Gradually, he became influenced by it, and the more he learned about it, the more he loved it.

His best friend's rapping skills were exceptional, but Lin Jianlu was far inferior.

It's a pity that he himself was able to travel through time and immediately "create" the divine song in his mind, while he was unable to travel through time—so he had to practice more, practice harder, and practice to the point of exhaustion.

In New York winters, the rooftops are very cold, which is perfect for someone to study alone.

Continue recording.

A group of people dropped everything to be with him. Even though they couldn't help with the recording at all, they would sit in the lounge outside the recording studio all day without complaining or getting tired.

Zhao Mingxin is in charge of the entire Sony Columbia, which has many singers under its wing. There are countless events and meetings, but he only holds a conference call at most. He doesn't participate in anything else. He just sits outside the recording studio, always with an indescribable smile on his face.

Zhang Aijia's child is only six years old, and she also runs a talent agency. Although it is not very large and there are no particularly outstanding artists, it does have a lot of business. However, she has given it all up.

She sent her son directly to Hong Kong by her housekeeper, handing him over to his biological father. She didn't care how he was raised; he was her son, and even if he was embarrassed to go back to Taiwan, he wouldn't abandon his son.

What if the agency decides to give up all its artists after securing this deal?

Needless to say, Yu Feihong...

Occasionally, when I turn around, I can always find her clear, bright eyes immediately.

It was overflowing with worship and infatuation.

However, in reality, once Lin Jianlu entered the recording studio, she completely ignored them.

With an attitude far more serious than when he made "Cold to the End," he approached this album—a Mandarin album. With just a little effort, the advanced arrangement, clearly a generation ahead, was enough to impress the Chinese audience. Coupled with his already brilliant lyrics and music, his own singing skills, and his own face, he spoke modestly at the time, but deep down, he was genuinely not worried about the quality of the album or whether it would be a hit.

But now, he's still a little hesitant about releasing an English album.

Then use hard work and diligence to increase your chances of success.

There are a million reasons and possibilities for not becoming famous, but if you do become famous, there's only one reason: your product or service is good enough.

A Chinese person came to sing English songs, which were released in Europe and America, and demanded that the content be more substantial.

The original artists are obviously top-notch; the lyrics, music, arrangement, production, and vocals are all impeccable. So many Billboard number-one singles and so many Grammys are not easily obtained. Now that it's my turn, I try to follow the original work as closely as possible in terms of lyrics, music, and arrangement. If a few lyrics are not suitable, I make minor adjustments to stay true to my identity, but I would never dare to make any major changes. What's missing? Vocals and production.

Be serious, be serious, be serious.

They arrived on December 17th and stayed in New York until December 23rd. But even with all that, it was only seven days. Fortunately, they still managed to record two songs. Then everyone parted ways at the airport. Lin Jianlu took Yu Feihong and Lin Xilei back to the capital, Zhang Aijia went to Hong Kong to see her son, and Zhao Mingxin went back to Taiwan.

I returned to the capital on December 24, rested for one night, and went to CCTV the next day to participate in the first round of rehearsals for the Spring Festival Gala.

They did manage to reunite with Su Huilun.

However, he didn't dare bring her into the courtyard house—Lin Qingxia and Xu Qing were on good terms now, and they had basically settled there, each handling their own affairs while discussing preparations to start renovating their respective villas. Right now, Lin Jianlu had a thousand jobs waiting to be done, and didn't have the time or energy to slowly mediate conflicts between the girls, so he decided to minimize the occurrence of conflicts.

On December 26th, after months of preparation and approval, Forbidden City Film Industry was finally officially established—and a high-ranking leader even came to cut the ribbon.

As previously agreed, Zhang Heping will serve as chairman, Lin Jianlu and Han Shanping as vice chairmen, while Lin Qingxia will not serve as vice chairman, but will serve as the company's general manager.

On the opening day, many people came to offer their congratulations.

It alarmed almost the entire literary and artistic community in the capital.

Of course, the most dazzling person in the crowd was not Lin Jianlu, but rather several beautiful girls who appeared at the same time. People from other places may not know, but Lin Jianlu has so many friends in the capital circle. After getting to know each other for half a year to a year, everyone knows a lot about her.

Brigitte Lin, Hsu Ching, Chiang Chin-Chin, and Tso Hsiao-Chien.

The fact that these four women appeared at the same time without arguing or fighting was enough to amaze and astonish everyone.

Of course, today is Brigitte Lin's home turf.

Xu Qing was at most there to show her support, while the other two were just onlookers.

Twenty tables were set up that evening, and the meal cost nearly twenty thousand yuan—no exaggeration, prices differ between the capital and the city. In the capital at this time, as long as you don't go overboard with lobsters, a table full of good food and wine won't cost too much. And the Forbidden City Film Studio is largely state-owned; at least on the surface, no one dares to overspend.

On December 27th, I took Brigitte Lin and Hsu Ching to visit the Feiteng Film and Television Base in Huairou.

The filming of "Kangxi's Private Visits" has been taking place here for almost a month.

Ada Chia even arrived to join the crew more than ten days ago. She's all alone here, with practically no relatives or friends. Recently, she's been calling Lin Jianlu incessantly.

Fortunately, both director Zhang Zien and Zhang Guoli, who were in charge of the production team, knew who she was working for, so the hospitality was quite adequate—Deng Jie was very good at handling these kinds of things.

He managed to find an excuse to avoid Brigitte Lin and Hsu Ching, hugged her, and stayed with her for a while.

In fact, it was just a lucky coincidence that he came today. Otherwise, he would have run into Jiang Qinqin on the set. Film crews definitely don't film according to the story in the script, but according to the set. Since he came to Feiteng Film and Television Base, he had to film all the scenes that needed to be filmed here. On the other hand, actors only need to be notified in advance if they need to come, and then they have to come.

In this era, it's not allowed for the play to wait for the audience; it's all about the audience waiting for the play.

At least that's the case in mainland China—in Hong Kong and Taiwan, it's not uncommon for an actor to be filming two or even three productions a day. It's become extremely commercialized; everyone's after the money.

On December 29th, I took Lin Xilei with me and flew to Hong Kong.

According to the original agreement, even though he shouldn't have left, the high school should have given him a day off for New Year's Day. There was a promise that he would spend time with his "first wife," Gao Yuanyuan. Although Gao Yuanyuan's status as his "first wife" was practically nonexistent now, Lin Jianlu genuinely liked this beautiful 17 or 18-year-old girl; otherwise, he wouldn't have made that promise. Back then, he wasn't that busy, had no plans to make an English album, and expected to gradually slow down after winter, so he didn't lack the time to spend with her. But now, clearly, he didn't. He had already mentioned it in their previous routine phone call, but it was agreed that he would make it up to her later.

Anyway... everything is in full swing.

Whether Lin Jianlu liked it or not, he began to act like a real superstar, driven by his own desires and ideals, and by the logic of the entire business world, turning into a spinning top and a truly busy person.

With beautiful girls everywhere, he didn't even have time to stop and flirt with them or nurture their love.

In Hong Kong, nine endorsement contracts were signed in one go.

Most of them are brands from Chinese-speaking regions, especially those that have risen from the mainland. This is because, in the past month or so, since Lin Jianlu asked Ge Fuhong to talk to Sony Columbia about the English album, Ge Fuhong has taken the initiative to stop negotiations with some major European and American brands for endorsements in East and Southeast Asia.

The answer is simple: wait.

Let's talk again at least after May next year.

They didn't even care whether the brand had any objections; in short, they were not going to discuss it now.

But let me tell you, the intention to cooperate is still there. Lin Jianlu has not refused endorsements, but... there will be a surprise.

Wait!
After signing nine major deals, Lin Jianlu's annual commercial endorsement income suddenly soared to over HK$50 million—slightly less than Andy Lau's, but if you calculate his total income and overall earning power this year, he has already surpassed him by a significant margin!

Andy Lau can't earn over ten million dollars in royalties from a single album, nor can he earn over one hundred thousand dollars from a single commercial performance—his strength lies in his long-standing reputation, his popularity, and his stable success, which is why he has become the first choice for many brands to be their spokesperson throughout the Chinese-speaking world.

Then... shooting commercials, drinking, socializing.

I sat down with Wang Jing, Hong Jinbao, Yuan Biao and others, had a drink and chatted for a long time.

The next day, I had another drink with Rosamund Kwan and Andy Lau.

Leslie Cheung quit drinking to film, and he wasn't in Hong Kong. However, Tsui Hark returned. It's just a pity that Brigitte Lin was busy renovating her villa and working as a general manager in the capital, so she couldn't make it.

To everyone's surprise, Wang Zuxian actually came.

So, Lin Jianlu, Xu Ke, Shi Nansheng, and Wang Zuxian put together a small gathering.

Then I arranged a private meeting with Stephen Chow, but unexpectedly I saw Karen Mok there. It turns out they were actually dating, and it seemed to be semi-public. It's just that I haven't spent enough time in Hong Kong, and I rarely talk about Stephen Chow or Karen Mok, so I only found out now.

I've had several interactions with Karen Mok, and we even drank heavily together when her album flopped and she was feeling down.

Guangge has already written two songs for me!
Stephen Chow was not as difficult to deal with as later online accounts portrayed him; he was quite talkative and kept describing to Lin Jianlu a kung fu film he wanted to make, set against the backdrop of a gangster during the Republican era.

Well, others might not know, but Lin Jianlu definitely knows which movie it is.

In other words, by 96, the movie "Kung Fu" had already taken shape in his mind—some settings and ideas differed quite a bit from the version Lin Jianlu later saw, but it didn't matter, it was definitely that movie.

Of course, Lin Jianlu couldn't understand why he filmed "Shaolin Soccer" first.

However, one thing is certain: he is indeed a huge kung fu fan.

In short, social interaction.

In some situations, bringing Leung Wing-ki is fine, but in others, where it's clearly Lin Ching-hsia's close circle of friends, it wouldn't be appropriate—and frankly, Lin Ching-lu has almost no interest in that circle. Is Ekin Cheng really that famous? Is Cheng Sau-man really that famous? Is Li Zi really that famous?

I went to see her once out of respect for her, but we didn't really get along.

Of course, given Lin Jianlu's emotional intelligence and eloquence, even if she wasn't actually interested, she wouldn't let anyone sense it.

Moreover... to be honest, they are the real young people, and they are talking about the most fashionable things and topics. However, you could participate and chat for a while, but deep down, those topics are no longer of any interest to Lin Jianlu.

His mental age is already in his thirties. When he travels back to this era, he also has an additional sense of God's perspective. When he looks at many people and things at this time, his mental age might be closer to that of a fifty-year-old. How could he possibly have a real conversation with young people who are seriously living in the present?
However, with no one vying for his attention, he did indeed spend some time with Leung Wing-ki.

Then, time flew by and it was 1997.

So much so that at some point, when Liang Yongqi and Lin Xilei were talking about a certain time, Lin Jianlu suddenly realized that this was already her third year in this world.

Although it's only a little over a year in total, it is indeed the third year.

Well, after finishing up in Hong Kong, I met up with Zhang Aijia and we flew directly to New York.

Record, record, record.

He was born on January 7th and entered the recording studio on January 8th.

On January 9th, Chen Hong flew over again.

Everyone is used to it now—when Lin Jianlu gets serious, he's not just a great talent; he can also become a workaholic and a money-making machine. However, no matter what state he's in, he always has a beautiful girl by his side at all times.

Practice, practice, practice.

It wasn't until January 16th, with the next round of Spring Festival Gala rehearsals just around the corner, that Lin Jianlu finally steeled herself and started recording "Lose-Yourself"—and the process went surprisingly smoothly.

He announced the recording was complete after only the fourth take.

This was his first time recording rap, and no one had ever really heard him sing rap seriously before. So, in fact, as soon as he opened his mouth in the studio, he surprised everyone inside and outside.

His rapping skills are incredibly hardcore.

(End of this chapter)