Huayu: A Commercial Director

Chapter 374 Even the most shrewd will eventually fall; goodbye.
They've always walked together as a pair, but for the first time ever, the three of them walked together.

The familiar audience members were also surprised that three people came out this time.

Chen Shouzhe walked at the front, standing in the lead role, while Yu Qian walked in the middle, with Chen Shouzhe on the right.

"it is good!!!"

Cheers erupted from both the stage and the audience. Chen Shouzhe, standing at the front, noticed that many of the people in the front row were familiar faces.

Chen Shouzhe realized that there was a high probability that these people were coming for him, especially since many of them were female celebrities.

Several of them were even waving at him, and Chen Shou could only nod in response.

Guo Degang joked and laughed, amusing the audience. Although he was promoting Meng Hetang this year, he gained many enthusiastic fans of Zhang Yunlei.

To put it bluntly, it's just that Chen Shou has always looked down on the fan culture.

A group of traditional members of the Deyun Society also included a high-value individual, creating a unique blend of beauty, strength, and tragedy.

Zhang Yunlei is indeed good-looking and has strong singing skills. When they were young, he was definitely the most talented in singing all kinds of folk songs and tunes. Needless to say, his tragic story is that he fell from the train station. Chen Shou was filming in Hengdian and rushed to visit him overnight.

Chen Shouzhe didn't participate in the opening song performance because he hadn't rehearsed beforehand, so he didn't go up and sing. However, his two junior apprentices, Feng Chaoyang and Guo Qilin, did sing.

Zhang Yunlei sang a long section of the West Chamber song, which satisfied his fans.

This year, it wasn't just Meng Hetang who became famous; there was also a newcomer named Qin Xiaoxian, who joined Tao Yunsheng.

"Let's open the box and have a lucky break!"

Old Guo's last sentence made Chen Shou pause for a moment.

"Isn't this a sealed box?" Chen Shou asked with a smile.

"Same as above." Old Guo realized what he meant and quickly tried to correct him.

Backstage, Guo Degang was overjoyed. Audiences love to see crosstalk performers make mistakes, and then they started to cheer.

The actors who are about to go on stage should prepare. Some actors will not stay for long and can choose to go back.

Some actors can't go back, so there won't be anyone for the encore.

Backstage, all six dressing rooms were full, and everyone was chatting with someone. Some of the veteran actors stayed for a while before being sent back.

Chen Shou and his master each had a cigarette in their mouths, chatting as they smoked.

"We're rivals this year," Lao Guo said with a laugh.

"Please don't say that. I'm just an animated film; I don't mean to compete with you," Chen Shou said, waving his hand.

"What are you going to say when you go up there?" Yu Qian asked.

"Journey to the West, I guess." Chen Shou thought for a moment and decided to be conservative with Journey to the West. The program control is still relatively loose now, so as long as we don't go too far, it's fine. There are many restrictions on the big stage, not the small theater. In the small theater, we can say some vulgar things.

"Why are you talking about Journey to the West? Isn't Investiture of the Gods about to air?" Old Guo asked, puzzled. In his opinion, since the TV series of Investiture of the Gods was about to air, they could choose to talk about Investiture of the Gods. Why talk about Journey to the West? Was there some kind of publicity? But the movie of Journey to the West won't be released until next year, will it?
"This time I want to tell a different story about Journey to the West. Didn't I mention today that Little Dream's team developed a game?" Chen Shou said with a smile.

"Games, online games?" Lao Guo asked curiously. Although he didn't play games, he couldn't resist having Hou Zhen, a middle-aged man addicted to the internet, by his side.

Hou Zhen was one of the first gamers in China. At that time, the Hou family lived a comfortable life thanks to Hou Zhen, the third generation, who was the patriarch.

This guy's talent for crosstalk surpasses that of over 99% of the people in Deyun Society; he's more talented at crosstalk than anyone else.

Especially that incessantly talking mouth, few people can keep it under control.

When we talked about crosstalk for a while, when Chen Shouzhe didn't have a partner, Guo Degang asked him if he wanted to be a partner with Uncle Hou.

If Deyun Society wants to cultivate a newcomer, the best way is to pair them with some senior actors of the same senior level. These senior actors may not be well-known, but they are very capable, especially in traditional areas, which can better train newcomers.

Yue Yunpeng first went through Shi Aidong before partnering with the chubby Sun Yue; he was completely molded by his senior apprentice.

Guo Degang and Yu Qian both thought highly of Chen Shouzhe, so pairing him with Hou Zhen was also to train his stage performance skills.

Anyone who can get past Hou Zhen will find it hard not to succeed in the future.

"Games? What games?" Upon hearing the word "games," Hou Zhen's eyes lit up, and he leaned closer to ask.

"It's a casual game developed using the Journey to the West IP," Roy said with a smile.

It's the era of mobile games now, and the Journey to the West IP has long been coveted by many people who want to develop it into a game, and the prices they've offered are not low.

However, Chen Shou did not agree, but instead kept it for himself to make into a game.

They did, however, license a few characters to some game companies, allowing them to incorporate Journey to the West characters into their games.

It's been several years now, and we've gradually built up a considerable number of game fans.

The game Xiaoxiaomeng is developing is a mobile game, which is a small test to see how the current market is.

"A mobile game?" Hou Zhen asked in surprise.

“Yes, a mobile game. There’s another one in big production, but it’ll be a few years from now; it’ll take a while to develop,” Roy said.

"Oh, forget about mobile games. Just let me know if you have any big productions coming up," Hou Zhen said.

He likes playing single-player games, and he also enjoys mobile games, and he's one of those who's willing to spend money on them.

"Hold on tighter," Old Guo said.

Chen Shou announced at today's premiere that the company would adopt a shareholding system.

The incident caused an uproar in China, with countless people envying the employees of Little Dream Company.

Employees can enjoy stock dividends. Although the shares do not belong to them, they can still receive them. What ordinary employee in any company can receive that?

They can't see Xiaoxiaomeng's annual financial reports, but Chen Shou is so rich that if it's divided among 2,000 people, each person would receive 250,000 from the 500 million yuan.

It would be a lie to say I'm not envious; everyone is envious.

Of course, some people are unhappy because they didn't make any money.

Some capital relies on various investment projects, and now Chen Shou is not giving them the opportunity to make money, which must have offended them.

In one afternoon, quite a few people reached out to Chen Shouzhe, hoping he would accept financing and that the company could go public quickly so they could make money from the stock market.

The domestic stock market and the foreign stock market are two different things. For the children of certain groups, the most desirable job is finance. They can start work at 10 am, have a lunch break until 2 pm, and go home at 3 pm. Who wouldn't want that?
When Lao Guo said to take it easy, he meant that Chen Shou should be careful and not be blinded by greed.

After all, some people have no bottom line when it comes to their methods. Just last year on September 2nd, a big shot was targeted. If a tycoon of that level can be targeted, and the methods used are very similar to those used by a certain male actor in China, you can imagine that this group not only wants to target you, but also ruin your reputation.

Chen Shouzhe would never do such things. If he wanted women, he could have plenty with just a snap of his fingers; there was no need for him to do anything illegal.

"It's alright. My company isn't very big. Besides, nobody's willing to throw money at it. Even if they did, they might not be able to beat me." Chen Shou shrugged.

There are many special effects companies in mainland China now, opening one after another; however, special effects have a reputation effect.

The foundation that Little Dream has built over so many years cannot be surpassed by them just because they say so.

Multiple films have proven that Little Dream's special effects are excellent. As long as you are willing to spend money, you can make it as realistic as you want, and you can even produce the real thing.

Reputation is built up slowly, and other companies have also invested capital. If a movie fails, the company is destined to become a second-rate company and can only pick up the leftovers.

“That’s true. The cultural industry isn’t the technology industry. If you can’t keep up with technology, you’re going to go bankrupt. But cultural accumulation is increasing, and people are becoming more and more confident. Young people today are also increasingly fond of traditional culture, and the higher-ups have realized this as well,” Lao Guo said.

“Yes, we have clearly felt a sense of cultural confidence in recent years. We used to think that only things from abroad were better, but now when we look back, we realize that the things left by our ancestors are also very fascinating.” Chen Shou nodded.

He knew better than anyone else that his success abroad was entirely due to the strong motherland behind him, and that the future would only get better, since some countries were already declining.

Their ugly faces have begun to show, as can be seen in recent films. With such a short history, they have very little substance to speak of.

A master once consulted a Western master, who was quite shocked and said, "Your country has five thousand years of civilization, why do you need to learn from others?"

Besides, medieval Europe and America were like two completely uncivilized places: one was overflowing with gold, and the other was still undeveloped.

"You still need to take it easy. Making games is fine, games are profitable these days. Your Uncle Hou also said he's looking forward to your game," Old Guo chuckled.

"It's nothing, just playing around." Chen Shou waved his hand.

“Look at your younger brothers, they’re all still so inexperienced. If there’s a suitable role, you should mentor them,” Lao Guo said, pointing to a group of his standing apprentices.

As they walked past, apart from Zhang Yunlei who was sitting on a stool, the rest of them stood, their eyes fixed on Chen Shou.

Others don't get this kind of treatment. Being close to the source gives them an advantage. Tak Wan Society actually has a lot of opportunities. Many supporting roles in movies produced by film studios can be played by actors from Tak Wan Society.

For example, in the filming of "The Investiture of the Gods" this year, there were many actors from Deyun Society. Anyway, they were all made up, so you couldn't tell.

"Like I said, if there are suitable candidates, we'll let them give it a try," Chen Shou said.

"The rest of them are a bit lacking, but Yue Yunpeng and Guo Qilin are quite suitable."

"Then take more of them with you."

They chatted about Guo Qilin going up to perform, then Guo Yu got ready, went up and performed a crosstalk routine, and then Zhang Yunlei went up.

"They're really popular."

Chen Shouzhe stood at the entrance, watching with Lao Guo.

"The entertainment industry today has to move in this direction. While maintaining tradition, it also has to cater to the times, otherwise it will be abandoned by the times like those other people," Lao Guo said.

Chen Shouzhe knew who Lao Guo was referring to.

Different eras give rise to different forms of entertainment. The special period of the last century naturally required special forms of entertainment. Can those crosstalk performances of today be performed on stage?
That won't work at all.

Many people perform crosstalk for the purpose of satire.

Nonsense! Crosstalk was originally just a means of making a living; it was merely a craft. Later, it was imbued with the spirit of art.

In this day and age, we certainly can't perform the same kind of crosstalk as before. Even the crosstalk performed by Deyun Society today is actually just traditional jokes with modern interpretations and some popular elements.

Keeping pace with the times is the reason why Deyun Society can exist today.

Catering to the trend is a must. As old faces leave, new faces must come in. Those who left are more like traditional and conservative people who can't understand the current entertainment trends.

Just like the generation gap with the parents' generation, many people miss the Deyun Society of the past, and there are still a large number of people who like Deyun Society now, which shows that Deyun Society's current model is successful and the key to its survival.

“If I were better looking, I’d want to get into that industry too,” said Shaobing, who was following behind them.

"Did you bring your cup? Your godfather is counting on you to pour him water," Chen Shou said with a smile.

"We brought them, we brought them," Shaobing and the others laughed.

"Don't feel pressured." Chen Shou smiled, because the next show was with Shaobing and his team.

To cater to viewership, they deliberately made Zhang Yunlei speak for a longer time. Next up was Shaobing and his group's performance. After they finished, the announcer would come up.

"The previous performance was wonderful, and the next one will be even more exciting—a storytelling performance," Zhang Jiuling and his partner announced as they walked onto the stage.

“That’s right, next please welcome our senior brother,” Wang Jiulong said.

"Chen Shouzhe, bringing a storytelling performance of Journey to the West." The two said in unison. Chen Shouzhe came up with a fan in his hand and smiled at the audience. When he came on stage, applause broke out from below the stage.

"I saw many familiar faces today. I've always wanted to go to the bookstore to tell stories when I have time, but I haven't had the time because I've had too much work. When I don't want to make movies anymore, I'll go to the bookstore and tell stories every day."

"Today we're talking about Journey to the West. Since we're on Journey to the West, I'm sure many people have their own interpretations of it. Some say it's about cultivation, some say it's about officialdom, and some say it's about demons. Today we're talking about something different."

"Since it's storytelling, there will naturally be opening poems."

Difficult, difficult ...

We cannot talk to those who are not kindred spirits.

Let's have a few words with a kindred spirit.

It's a waste of time if you don't connect with your soulmate... *snap*... the tip of your tongue.

What makes Journey to the West different is that it tells the story of Tang Sanzang traveling from the Tang Dynasty in the East to India in the West to seek Buddhist scriptures. Along the way, he took in four disciples. Some people say there were three, but there are four. And don't forget the horse, the White Dragon Horse, who was also one of his disciples.

As many people know, they subdued demons and monsters along the way, and finally achieved enlightenment after going through eighty-one tribulations.

Those who have read the book carefully will find that the demons and monsters encountered along the way, those without a background, are basically killed, while those with a background are taken back by the gods in heaven.

Today I want to talk about something different, interpreting Journey to the West from another perspective. If you read it backwards, starting from when the five masters and disciples received the fruit at the Great Thunder Temple and were ordered to go to the Tang Dynasty in the East to spread the scriptures, what would the result be if they encountered all kinds of demons and monsters along the way?

The book I'm going to talk about today is called "Reading Journey to the West Backwards!!!"

[The story is complete! Hooray!]

(End of this chapter)