A grand feast for the Chinese entertainment industry

Chapter 44 Humble
Lin Jianlu stayed in Hong Kong for about a week this time.

I recorded an episode of "The Gift," drank heavily (two meals in total), met with numerous brands, spent a full day shooting photoshoots, and met with three media outlets for interviews. Oh, and I also promised to write a 2000-word essay.

On June 30th, a radio station in Hong Kong invited the three members of the band BEYOND for an interview.

The third anniversary of Huang Jiaju's death.

Although he wasn't very popular in Hong Kong even when he was alive, as there was little rock music culture there, he still won a Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Award and was a significant figure in the Hong Kong and Taiwan music scene. In fact, the further away he was from Hong Kong, the greater his and BEYOND's influence became, making them one of the leading figures in the Hong Kong music scene.

On the third anniversary, of course, the media and fans wanted to commemorate and reminisce.

As the radio program was about to end, quite suddenly, after a few brief introductions by the host, the program began playing "The Gift"—a gift for the deceased.

The program's audience was not very large. Firstly, it was just a radio station, and secondly, with Huang Jiaju gone, only the other three remained, and their appeal among fans suddenly dropped to almost one in ten.

However, "The Gift" quickly generated a huge response upon its release.

The attention it received went far beyond simply "commemorating Huang Jiaju"—many listeners subsequently called radio stations requesting a replay, but the stations replied that the song had been specially arranged by Lin Jianlu, with Rock Records sending someone to bring it to the station for playback, and it had been taken back afterward. Without authorization or the audio source, it was impossible to play it again before the song was officially released.

The next day, the whole of Hong Kong was abuzz with discussion about Lam Kin-lu's new song, and a massive sing-along in remembrance of Wong Ka-kui took place.

Although they couldn't get their hands on the tapes, the Hong Kong media still had considerable influence. They obtained the lyrics and basic information about the song's recording process, and then wrote extensively about it.

Several newspapers even published photos and brief biographies of everyone involved in the recording. Experts were also invited to analyze the lyrics word by word, revealing their deeper meaning and poetic beauty.

Furthermore, most of the media outlets that covered the story almost inevitably mentioned the song's creation process—it is said that Lin Jianlu was producing a new song for someone else at Rock Records when he was chatting with someone about Huang Jiaju during lunch. Inspired, he wrote the entire song's lyrics and music in just ten minutes, demonstrating his talent without needing any corrections!
According to listeners who happened to hear "Gift," the song sounds grand and majestic yet warm and inspiring. Moreover, the voices of so many singers, each with their own unique characteristics, do not make the song chaotic at all. Instead, they give it a special sense of power.

By the way, Hong Kong media also loudly proclaimed: On the anniversary of Ka Kui's death, our outstanding musicians and bands in Hong Kong have to be commemorated by a mainland musician who calls on mainland singers and Taiwanese singers to create works together. What are all our fellow musicians in Hong Kong doing? Fortunately, Lu Zai was thoughtful and remembered to invite James Wong and Leslie Cheung. Otherwise, where would the Hong Kong music industry put its face?
…………

Before leaving, Lin Jianlu made a special phone call to invite Guan Zhilin again.

Drinking tea and chatting.

The original intention was just a normal social interaction. After all, the other party had taken the initiative to invite her several times, and Lin Jianlu was getting a little tired of taking photos in the studio. She needed a beautiful face to help her wake up.

The result was unexpected; she was quite different from the Rosamund Kwan he had heard about before.

Her reputation... well, whether now or on the internet in later generations, is almost universally known.

Her beauty is widely acknowledged, but at the same time, a barrage of negative rumors surrounds her.

However, in reality, she had matured a lot and was not like the rumors and gossip suggested, such as being greedy for money or vain. Lin Jianlu did not sense any of that shallowness in her conversation.

Instead, they started talking about life.

Lin Jianlu could clearly sense that although she was still beautiful at that time, after years of glitz and glamour, she seemed to be filled with confusion about life.

When she talked about these things, her gaze was empty and distant, which was absolutely beautiful.

Unfortunately, Lin Jianlu felt he was not qualified to help others.

She's been beautiful for thirty years and famous for over a decade!

Lin Jianlu has only been handsome for half a year and has only been famous for about three months!

He was not empty, hollow, confused, or bored—he just hoped to finish the work he was supposed to do and return to the capital to continue his retirement life.

Moreover, since you've already met Yuanyuan, do you think Bingbing will be far behind?

There are plenty of good days ahead, so what's with all the emptiness and confusion?
The next day, a photo of him and Rosamund Kwan chatting animatedly across from each other at a tea restaurant appeared in the newspaper. Sylvia Chang and Ge Fuhong, busy with their work, reluctantly helped to reconstruct the story, concluding that the reporter must have been standing on the roof of one of those particularly tall tour buses in Hong Kong, taking the photo as the bus drove by – it was simple, the two of them were drinking tea on the third floor, and there was only scenery across from them, no buildings, making it almost impossible to be photographed.

So what should we do? Let's just ignore it!

However, the very next day, Lin Jianlu was about to go to the airport to wait for his flight when he was stopped by a group of reporters as he left the hotel. They were all holding up a newspaper and showing it to him.

Rosamund Kwan was cornered yesterday. In an interview, she said that she really likes Lin Jianlu's songs and praised him as a talented, mature, and wise person. She said that she would not rule out dating him, but she often feels inferior in front of him and feels that she is not good enough for him in terms of talent or knowledge.

The man who made Rosamund Kwan feel inferior!
Just think about it, given the nature of Hong Kong media, how could this not cause an uproar?
"One cannot possess both beauty and insecurity at the same time, but perhaps Rosamund Kwan can."

"Girlfriend? Yes, I've said that in interviews many times before, right? I have many girlfriends!"

"Gigi, we got back together a few days ago, but broke up again yesterday. Maybe we'll get back together again next time I come to Hong Kong. Remember to follow me!"

"Hahaha...None of your business!"

"Do you think I'd tell you that I can sleep with whomever I want?"

"You'll all know once I've won over Miss Guan. I believe in your abilities!"

"Brigitte Lin is not my girlfriend, she is my brother."

"Sure! I can do it! But I asked her husband, and he told me to go die!"

"Nonsense! Of course I don't plan to die! If I really died, where would you get so many scandals to scam money from? You don't even remember a single good thing I've done for you? You're like a saint!"

"I don't care, but I'm just a humble little singer. How dare I challenge President Duan? He said to put it in the celebration edition, so let's put it in the celebration edition! Don't ask me, I'm very humble."

"A person cannot have both Lin Jianlu and inferiority complex at the same time, but Lin Jianlu can."

…………

Finally, they shook off the paparazzi, arrived at the airport, and boarded the plane smoothly.

Even Lin Jianlu couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

It's safe to say that making a living in the entertainment industry is definitely not an easy task... You should probably retire soon!

Retirement would be perfect!

As soon as the plane landed, Chen Shuhua didn't even dare to come to pick him up. It was Lao Duan who sent a car. While in the car, Lin Jianlu received another call from Guan Zhilin.

“Lu Zai, my manager told me that we have received a lot of program invitations from Wutaishan. I told her that as long as Lu Zai goes to record, I will go to record.”

"Oh, that's alright, my agent will help me cancel it."

"why?"

"I have low self-esteem."

"Hahaha... I'm not flattering you, I genuinely think you're very knowledgeable and wise. Others only see that you're good-looking, but I really think that's not important to you."

"You old man, you really don't know the hardships of life. Without this face, would I be so famous?"

"Hahahaha!"

(End of this chapter)