Huayu: Are you even sitting up straight? You're going to be the director?

Chapter 157 Loyalty to the Tang Dynasty! Foreign Aid Joins the Fray!
At eight o'clock in the morning, Cao Zhong woke up and looked at Jing Tian beside him. The sunlight shone on her face, making her little face rosy.

I was very busy at Chengying yesterday, and it was already very late when I got home.

As soon as they arrived at their doorstep, they saw Jing Tian waiting there.

As her senior apprentice, Cao Zhong couldn't bear to let her wait outside, so he invited her into the house for a cup of hot tea.

As a result, she didn't leave.

They insisted on seeing if Cao Zhong's cat could do a backflip.

Cao Zhong said he didn't have a cat.

Jing Tian said I am a cat.

It's been delivered to Cao Zhongmeng.

How could Cao Zhong bear to let a kitten wander outside?
……

Cao Zhong recalled everything that happened last night, still savoring the memory.
Even though Jing Tian knew he didn't want to be in a relationship, he still risked his life for him, his eyes filled with affection.
Her eyes were bright and expressive, conveying all her feelings for Cao Zhong; her pretty face flushed slightly.

From their first meeting, Cao Zhong coaxed her, saying that the camera could focus on her, which cultivated her confidence and moved her.

Then, her curiosity was piqued by her understanding of Gu Yong's courage in "Nanjing Photo Studio".

After writing two scripts, she was deeply impressed and moved by Cao Zhong's talent.
Even during the filming of "We Live in Nanjing," although the content she and Cao Zhong filmed was more like pen pals, in Jing Tian's view of emotions, especially during the period when she was separated from Cao Zhong, she gradually realized that Cao Zhong had deeply entered her heart.

As for the box office performance of "Disqualified Daughter" and "Split," it wasn't the main factor, but it did wake her up.

Why would she give up such a talented senior brother? Is she any less capable than anyone else?
If someone doesn't even dare to express their feelings and has to hide them in their heart, Jing Tian believes that this is disrespectful to their own emotions.

Moreover, Cao Zhong did not lie to her, which shows that Cao Zhong is not a scumbag when it comes to relationships.

This became the last straw that Jing Tian used to convince himself.

She didn't care whether she could possess it forever; she only cared about the surge of emotions and the intense excitement.

She would regret it if she didn't have a deeply unforgettable love in her life!

She, Princess Jing, wants to summon Cao Zhong!
She became emotional from talking so much that her chest trembled.

Cao Zhong finally understood Jing Tian's meaning, and after hesitating, he reached out to help her steady herself.

Then, it was a matter of course.

Jing Tian's pretty face was slightly flushed, but she was unusually proactive. Although she was shy, it only made her more eager for love. Under Cao Zhong's encouragement, she kept secretly swallowing her saliva.
It's clear that there's a mix of tension and anticipation.

Cao Zhong touched Jing Tian with his fingertips and discovered that Jing Tian had great potential...

Until this morning.

Cao Zhong lowered his head and gently kissed Jing Tian's forehead.
He made breakfast for Jing Tian and left a sticky note.

He went to Chengying to continue working on the script for "The Last Transfer in the Northern Desert of the Tang Dynasty".
He also had to welcome the new writers who came to the scriptwriting team today.

This script is crucial for Cao Zhong to create a local narrative from a local perspective, and it also needs to be commercially viable.

He didn't want to do it in the first place.

But since he had already started, Cao Zhong wanted to make it a benchmark.

Previous historical epics, including "Red Cliff," all flopped.

If this film fails to succeed, Cao Zhong believes that with future capital investment, the desire to invest in historical epics will only diminish significantly.

Even if it fails, Cao Zhong can continue filming and try again.
However, the damage a failed movie does to a series can far outweigh the boost from a successful one.

The manpower, financial resources, and material resources consumed in the process will be countless, and the time spent will be an unacceptable growing pain for Cao Zhong!
Historical epics, with their large investments and low returns, become an ironclad rule in the world of capital, making them the film genres that capital least wants to touch.
If we win, there are countless stories from China's five-thousand-year-old civilization!
Even if the films produced by these capitalists are of varying quality, Cao Zhong believes they won't be about Qin Hui; they will definitely convey familiar aspects of Chinese civilization.
This is of absolute significance for the future development of the Chinese film market and the purification of Chinese thought!
This is even a more important system than the "Father's Love Series", the "Main Theme Series", or even the "Nanjing Series"!
Cao Zhong rejected all of the script feedback provided by Cheng Ying's screenwriting team.

The lack of domestically produced historical blockbusters and commercial films was a deep-seated regret for Cao Zhong in his past life.
If he's going to do it, he has to do it to the best of his ability.

Even more than just epic films,
This title was too grand; Cao Zhong actually didn't really want to use it. That's what they called it in "Red Cliff."
But China does need a film like this to rescue historical epics from a decade-long slump.

Just one, just one is enough!
In a few years, entertainment capital will enter the fray, and countless hot money will flow into the film and television industry.

They would try and fail, experiment, and eventually discover a formula for filmmaking that was fast, profitable, and effective at money laundering, producing countless films like "Half Lake Green"...

This will signal the near-death of historical films.

But if Cao Zhong can make a film that succeeds, it will lead Chinese cinema down a completely different path.

As long as historical accuracy and commercial viability are balanced, even some artistic adaptations and artistic planning are acceptable, like in "The Longest Day in Chang'an," even if it's an animated film.
Cao Zhong believes that filmmakers who dedicate themselves to historical films will earn the respect of audiences and countless movie tickets.

Cao Zhong firmly believed this!

The path I walked in my past life was too slow and took too long.

This is also something he didn't say to Han Sanpin when Han Sanpin asked him to take the picture last time!
When discussing epic foreign films, The Lord of the Rings is an unavoidable series. For example, although The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring has a hollow plot, it is magnificent enough in terms of visual enjoyment and artistic charm alone, a point that Cao Zhong acknowledges.

However, comments on Douban regarding this film, such as "For me, The Lord of the Rings will always be an insurmountable epic" and "When Boromir sacrificed himself, it was the moment when humanity rediscovered nobility, honor, and hope," inevitably pained Cao Zhong.

When the Chinese people need to find friendship and loyalty, dedication and sacrifice, faith and courage in the imagined fantasy world of "The Lord of the Rings" and the adapted youth adventure storylines,
What could he say?

He didn't want to criticize anything, he was just heartbroken!

Regarding the film "The Great Tang Dynasty",
Cao Zhong didn't even require multi-perspective narratives or dual narratives with both overt and covert storylines; he only wanted a single main storyline.
Like "The Lord of the Rings," as long as the logic is sound and the explanations are plausible, even the most mediocre main plot can string together the magnificent forty-two years of history. Cao Zhong believes that this is enough to depict the lone boat on the Tang Dynasty.

This is his idea.

However, this task is far too difficult for the current screenwriters at Chengying.

Feedback came back with scripts from other perspectives, but Cao Zhong didn't agree with any of them, so he brought in outside help!
……

Cheng Ying

The office space isn't particularly grand in its internal structure.
As a film and television studio, the main teams currently in continuous operation are the screenwriting team, cinematography team, art direction team, editing team, copyright team, network IT team, and special effects team. Cao Zhong has put a lot of effort into the last two. He doesn't believe that he can complete the audiovisual effects in the film on his own special effects team.
However, it is still very important to have a professional to act as his liaison, connecting the special effects production company, director, editor, art director, etc.

Though small, it has all the vital organs; this perfectly describes Cheng Ying.

The directing team also reserved separate offices for Shen Ao, Xu Zheng, and others. Even Lu Yang is currently working at Chengying, doing all sorts of odd jobs. Chengying is currently one floor, but it may become a whole building in the future.

Cao Zhong hasn't started the brokerage business yet, mainly because he doesn't have the time.

Cao Zhong believes that these things can be started after the release of "We Live in Nanjing".

Cao Zhong plans to develop this business in collaboration with television drama production teams. This will allow him to find roles for the artists he has made famous, and also allow him to profit from the money that some of the artists give to outsiders.

Qi Jiuzhou answered a phone call and then knocked on Cao Zhong's door.

"Director Cao, the person you wanted to meet has arrived. Renjun said he'll be downstairs in five minutes."

Cao Zhong's brows relaxed, he put down the manuscript in his hand, got up and went out, "Come with me downstairs to greet them."

Upon hearing this, Qi Jiuzhou was speechless.

Although he knew who Renjun had gone to pick up, he didn't understand why Cao Dao treated these two people with such respect.

They all seem to be unknown, insignificant people.

Soon after, downstairs at Chengying's building, Chengying saw the two of them.
One was wearing glasses and a suit, smiling broadly; the other looked younger, with square eyes and a sincere gaze.

The two men also saw Cao Zhong, and were both taken aback when Cao Zhong came downstairs to greet them.

They were well aware of Cao Zhong's reputation, but his courteous treatment of scholars touched them deeply.

Wang Renjun and Qi Jiuzhou exchanged a glance, quite surprised by Cao Zhong's attitude.

During the filming of "We Live in Nanjing", Zhao Haicheng from China Film Group accompanied the crew throughout the entire process.
Even Chairman Han's secretary was severely reprimanded.

Cao Zhong treated the radio experts from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China and the guidance experts from the China National Nuclear Corporation with the same respect he now showed to the two in front of him, but they were, after all, very capable people.

Currently, one of these two is a professor at Shaanxi Normal University, and the other is a rising star in the world of fiction.

They have absolutely no connection with Director Cao, especially the distance between that young author and Director Cao—it's like an insurmountable chasm!
To put it bluntly, Director Cao is now surrounded by learned scholars and has no dealings with the uncultured.

Surrounded by figures who could shake the entertainment industry with a stomp of their feet,

It's a human machine that's relentlessly attacked by the media, yet it never seems to get hurt.

Qi Jiuzhou rarely saw Cao Zhong with such a relaxed expression because of someone.

Brother Zhong is an indispensable figure in the entertainment industry; even the slightest movement from him can immediately ignite entertainment headlines.

The two movies that have been released have already shaken up the Chinese entertainment industry!
They didn't actually know that the film "Split" was also directed by Cao Zhong, but it wouldn't be entirely true that they hadn't guessed.
Yang Mi's takeoff was too coincidental. They had discussed it, but they just couldn't believe it. Even so, Cao Zhong's current achievements were enough to drive them crazy!

During summer vacation, go home? Go home my ass, everyone's coming to work for Brother Zhong during the summer.

They'll see how things go in their junior year; dropping out to follow Brother Zhong is already on their agenda.

Any director would have gotten carried away long ago.

But Brother Zhong ignored the praise and the celebrations. There was no celebration banquet for "My Disqualified Daughter". He only gave some red envelopes to the main creators.

This composure under immense fame and overwhelming pressure

Wang Renjun and Qi Jiuzhou were already convinced. They even suspected that they were Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, and that they had come to restore Cao Cao's loyalty to the Han Dynasty!

……

In the office, Cao Zhong earnestly explained his intentions.

"I believe that Renjun has already sincerely explained to you the purpose of my invitation. The reason why I was unable to personally welcome you is that I did encounter difficulties on my side."

Cao Zhongdao,
"And I believe that you are my cure."

Professor Yu Gengzhe, you are an expert in Tang Dynasty history. You have conducted in-depth research on interdisciplinary fields such as Tang Dynasty social life, history, and epidemiology. You are very knowledgeable about Tang Dynasty history. I have read many of your papers.

And Ma Boyong, you are a rising star in the world of novels. Your novel, "The Silent City," was very bold and daring. I have been your reader since then.
The novel "The Wind Rises in Longxi" is another reason why I chose you.

I believe that even in a different dynasty, you could still use your boundless imagination to create a plot that captivates all readers.

Cao Zhong got straight to the point.
"I am currently preparing a historical film about the Anxi Army of the Tang Dynasty. I have given the company's screenwriting team the core outline to work on, but the results have been minimal. I have rejected several drafts, which has frustrated them, and I am not satisfied with them either."

Cultural workers must be cultured.
In my view, this is an ironclad rule when it comes to creating cultural products.

Although they have insights into screenwriting and plot, and have artistically embellished the narrative I provided, ultimately, their content lacks depth, accuracy, and logical coherence.

Like a tree without roots, water without a source, fire without flame, and soil without fertilizer.

And you two are experts.

A history book that can provide us with the most authentic account of half a century, such as what kind of heavy armor the Tibetan heavy cavalry and heavy infantry wore, and how the Tang Dynasty's Mingguang armor clashed with the Tibetan small-leaf lamellar armor/four-petal helmet. It can bring me many historical records from that era that I and they might have overlooked.

One is the ability to bring us the ultimate imagination, to use the pen to unfold the grand narrative of history through the lives of ordinary people, just like your work "The Wind Rises in Longxi".
I spent a long time choosing, and finally selected the two of you. I hope you can help me recreate the story of the unwavering loyalty of the Tang Dynasty during that era, and the sense of mission they felt in a collapsing world, fighting alone to protect the flame of civilization.

This allows this history to be reborn on the silver screen.

Cao Zhong looked at the two of them and said, “I believe that you are both cultural workers and share the same enthusiasm for this as I do. The so-called historical blockbusters in the cinema have been polluting our eyes for too long. Together, we can help to reawaken the long-forgotten yet incredibly magnificent historical souls in these blockbusters.”

He added, "I hope you two can do your best. I will give you three million for the scriptwriting fee."

"Moreover, your names will shine on the screen, and the screenwriting team under Chengying will follow your opinions and be at your disposal."

Of course, I will make the final approval.

But I won't steal your title as screenwriters.

Cao Zhong looked at the two men, poured each of them half a cup of tea, and asked sincerely, "Are you willing?"

Ma Boyong and Yu Gengzhe exchanged a glance, their breathing becoming rapid and labored!

Their eyes narrowed and their pupils widened, both feeling a deep shock!

(End of this chapter)