A grand feast for the Chinese entertainment industry

Chapter 58 Oops

Lin Jianlu was self-aware that unless someone offered to treat him, as one of the first to get rich, he assumed that everyone who called him to invite him to dinner was just trying to freeload off him.

In most cases, he doesn't care. As long as the relationship is okay and he doesn't mind sitting down to eat and chat with the other person, he's willing to pay for it—how much does eating and drinking cost!

And Zhang Zien even more so.

We have a relationship.

But it was somewhat surprising that he said that besides himself, there were only Zhang Guoli and his wife. It didn't sound like he was going to organize a large group of people to treat him to a good meal and drinks.

And surprisingly, it was Zhang Guoli who was going to treat everyone.

It doesn't matter, I'll take Gao Yuanyuan out to eat.

When they arrived at the agreed-upon restaurant, Zhang Zien, Zhang Guoli, and Deng Jie and her husband were waiting in the lobby on the first floor. Lin Jianlu then pulled Gao Yuanyuan to her side and introduced her to them.

They took the opportunity to hold hands.

Gao Yuanyuan blushed, but greeted them politely.

She's a good girl.

Everyone spoke to her very politely, which made Gao Yuanyuan feel a little flattered. She was just a little girl who hadn't even graduated from high school yet. She had filmed two commercials last year and was invited by Zhang Yang to act in a movie at the beginning of this year. This was already a big deal for her. She was still a little sister in the crew, while everyone else was an adult, many of whom were big stars and famous actors. She knew that while there was some politeness on the surface, it was almost impossible for others to greet her so seriously, chat with her for a few minutes, and treat her with such respect.

The girl was both happy and a little proud.

Little did she know what Zhang Guoli and the others were thinking at that moment—"Another one!" The old acquaintances in the capital, whether they were in the music or film industry, generally knew that Jiang Qinqin often accompanied Lin Jianlu to meet people and have meals. Later, a girl named Zuo Xiaoqian also appeared several times.

So, according to the unwritten rules of the underworld, everyone assumed that the two girls belonged to Lin Jianlu.

Well, this is the third one now.

Zhang Guoli said he had reserved a private room, so everyone went upstairs together.

The private room was quite nice. From the moment they went upstairs until they sat down, Lin Jianlu held Gao Yuanyuan's hand the whole time. When they went up the stairs, the girl tried to pull away, but Lin Jianlu grabbed her hand again and she didn't move. She let Lin Jianlu hold her hand until they sat down next to each other.

Zhang Guoli took charge of ordering the food and also symbolically ordered two bottles of Moutai.

Everyone in the industry knows that Lin Jianlu is a big fan of Moutai.

After several rounds of drinks and dishes, Lin Jianlu smiled and pointed at Zhang Guoli, saying, "This old Zhang asked that old Zhang to call me, and he's been so attentive. Alright, tell me, is there anything I can help with?"

Everyone laughed along. Gao Yuanyuan didn't actually understand, but she still foolishly smiled along.

Deng Jie sat next to her, talking and chatting with her, offering her food, showing her exceptional respect and importance, which made her very happy, and she liked her very much—actually, she knew her name as soon as Lin Jianlu mentioned it before she came, because "Prime Minister Liu Luoguo" was so popular not long ago, who hadn't seen it! Besides, this Deng Jie had also acted in "Dream of the Red Chamber" before, which is replayed every year during the Spring Festival, and Wang Xifeng was so beautiful!

In person, she doesn't look as good as in "Dream of the Red Chamber," probably mainly because she's not as glamorous!
She herself is a bit dark-skinned.

But she seemed quite clever, just like Wang Xifeng, speaking with a smile, "Oh, Jianlu, what are you saying? Guoli heard you were back, so he said he wanted to invite you to dinner. What? Can't I invite you to dinner for no reason? Or did all that drinking you had before go to waste?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Jianlu clapped his hands and exclaimed, "Alright! That's how you set things up for me! Looks like this is no small matter!"

Everyone burst into laughter.

Actually, Lin Jianlu wasn't very familiar with Zhang Guoli and his wife. She had eaten with them once, which was after filming the "Huatian Cuo" MV at the end of April or the beginning of May. Later, she had drinks with Zhang Guoli twice more. They had a relationship, but compared to Zhang Zien, who directed two of her MVs, they were not close.

Both Zhang Guoli and Deng Jie were from Southwest China. Zhang Guoli was from Tianjin, but he started his career in Chengdu, while Deng Jie was a native of Chengdu, Sichuan Province. Zhang Zi'en worked at Xi'an Film Studio, where he was colleagues with Zhang Yang and Gu Changwei. However, in recent years, the couple had settled down in Beijing, and they likely continued to collaborate with Zhang Zi'en, especially on the hit drama "Prime Minister Liu Luoguo," which was among the top three most popular dramas in recent years. As the saying goes, shared successes are often more memorable than shared failures.

Zhang Guoli wasn't the type to get stage fright. After his wife helped him out with a few words, he was even more comfortable speaking up. "Nothing much, haha, it's just that after 'Prime Minister Liu Luoguo' aired and saw that it did quite well, Director Zi'en and I discussed making another one of these fictional stories. But we weren't sure! You're different from us; you're the most popular in mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. You've seen it all, you have a lot of experience! So I discussed it with Zi'en, and we wanted to ask you to take a look and give us your feedback, to see if we can pull this off!"

As he spoke, he turned around and pulled out a thick, bound notebook from his bag, a smile on his face. "Look...can you hug me?"

Hey……

As a singer, it's not easy for me to write a clear story for a music video, and you actually want me to read your script? You want me to check this out for you?

"Are you making fun of me? I'm a singer!"

Zhang Zien quickly smoothed things over, "Oh, no, no, what Guoli meant was, we were drinking together before and talked about the current state of domestic TV dramas, remember? After he finished drinking, he told me, 'Don't underestimate Lu just because she's young, she has profound insights!' He also said that what you said was spot on! Great minds think alike! See, see..."

He took the script and handed it to Lin Jianlu.

I glanced down at the cover, and sure enough, it was "Kangxi's Private Visits".

Lin Jianlu is very familiar with this drama—it's been filmed so many times, it's impossible not to be familiar with it, it's a classic example of pretentious writing!
As soon as Deng Jie said that, Lin Jianlu vaguely guessed that this was very likely the case.

He waved the script in his hand. "Looking for investment? Is that it?"

Zhang Zien laughed heartily.

Zhang Guoli and his wife were slightly embarrassed, but they quickly laughed and said, "Your judgment is truly amazing!"

Ugh, I'm a bit conflicted...

Actually, I couldn't resist Zhang Yang's constant nagging, and I did consider that his "Spicy Love Soup" would be my first time appearing in a movie. For the sake of maximizing profits and because the amount of money needed was not much, I opened the door. But I didn't want to become a full-time film investor!

However, while we may not know about other things, it's safe to say that Zhang Guoli's "Kangxi's Private Visits" is a show that is guaranteed to make money. Firstly, I always remember that this show was very popular. Secondly, if it didn't make money, there wouldn't have been so many sequels!

How to do?
To be honest, it's all about making money!

In just a few seconds, Lin Jianlu turned to Zhang Zien and said, "No need to think, they definitely want to invite you to direct!"

Zhang Zien laughed heartily again, pushing the script forward. "Take it back and take a look! The play is really good! From 'The Legend of Qianlong' to 'Prime Minister Liu Luoguo,' I agree with Guoli's judgment. This kind of historical drama has potential!"

"Fine! I don't need to rush to read the script! I'm a layman, what am I supposed to read a script for!"

As he spoke, he shoved the script into Gao Yuanyuan's arms, saying, "Hold this for me, I'll read it when I get back!"

Then he turned to Zhang Guoli and said, “I don’t know what you’re going to film, and I don’t know how well you can make it. Let’s just say I don’t understand acting, but I believe in you, Lao Zhang. You’re reliable and steady, and what you’re going to do is probably not a mess! As for Lao Zhang, I know his character and abilities. So, tell me, how much money do you need to make this drama?”

Zhang Guoli's face lit up with surprise. He turned and exchanged a glance with Deng Jie before cautiously saying, "Well, this is my first time trying this too. You haven't seen the script. I plan to make it into an episodic series. I intend to film four stories in total, for a total of thirty episodes. What I showed you are two of the stories that we've basically finalized, called 'The Plowshare Story' and 'The Bronze Cauldron Story.' We estimate... it will cost about four million to produce!"

He paused, then quickly added, "Over the years, my wife and I have saved up some money. We figured it wasn't right to ask others for money for everything, so we decided to put up 500,000 ourselves! So, when you said we needed to raise investment, we really did! We were short 3.5 million!"

"Alright! I'll do it for you two old Zhangs!"

"Hey hey!"

"Are you free of worries now? You can drink without worry now, right? Come on..."

(End of this chapter)