HuaYu: A Great Director Starting with Dream of the Red Chamber

Li Yan didn't fool Teacher Guo, nor did he fool Zhang Yibai.

He is genuinely busy, and he really does need to make films.

Moreover, it must be admitted that Li Yan, leading a strong team, fought a truly brilliant battle against Canon.

Li Yan was not the only one who profited immensely from this wave of benefits.

Just like Wang Hao, this overseas returnee elite who was once frustrated at Ogilvy, has now completely risen to prominence.

Knowing that Li Yanzhi was not here and that his mind was focused on the movie, he took the initiative to step in and handle the company's business.

Already skilled in traditional media operations, he gained new insights into internet marketing under Li Yan's guidance, and now he's truly thriving.

Wang Hao, now a powerful figure, is not only overwhelmed with orders from GG (government agencies), but he is also preparing to take on the work of public relations companies as well.

It seems they're aiming to transform Qiangli into a top-tier full-service marketing company.

Yang Mi is the same.

Just yesterday, the list of "Post-80s New Generation Entertainment Stars," also known as the famous "Four Little Flowers" of the Chinese entertainment industry, was officially announced by Tencent Entertainment in conjunction with hundreds of mainstream media outlets.

Thanks to the overwhelming popularity online and the excellent public relations brought by the phenomenal short film "Let Me Stay," Yang Mi's name is prominently listed.

Moreover, in the official press release, her still image of standing on the Twenty-Four Bridges, turning back with a smile amidst the misty rain, was placed in the most prominent position.

Labels like "pure love," "first love," and "killer gaze" were once firmly attached to her, causing her commercial value to skyrocket.

As the mastermind behind all of this, Li Yan's name began to frequently appear in the eyes of those in the industry who were interested.

The most obvious change is that he has received significantly more calls and text messages from unknown numbers on his phone.

4A agencies offered him high salaries to poach him, and real estate bosses wanted him to shoot "high-end" promotional videos for their properties.

There were also some unknown internet celebrities and models who somehow got his number and sent him some incredibly suggestive MMS messages.

Li Yan was so annoyed that he simply put his phone on silent and cleaned it up every now and then.

After lunch, he lay on the sofa as usual, collecting junk information.

Suddenly I saw two slightly different text messages:

"Li Yan, did you take that picture of the Canon GG?"

Then another one:

"This is your sister Tian Tian. Call back if you see this!"

Sister Tian Tian?

Upon seeing these three words on the screen, Li Yan almost spat out the tea he had just drunk.

No way?!

He stared at his phone for a good five or six seconds before slowly coming to his senses.

I started frantically digging into the memories in my head.

A native of Shaanxi Province, from the Xidian University compound, my childhood neighbor, a little girl with pigtails and wearing a princess dress...

What the hell!

Is it that Jing Tian?

Why can't Da Tiantian become famous?

In the 1980s and 90s, when Li Yan's father was a teacher at Xidian University, he and Jing Tian's father were colleagues in the same teaching and research office. The two families lived in the same staff quarters, right next to each other.

Back then, Jing Tian was a fair-skinned and pretty young girl.

She was born seven days earlier than Li Yan and always acted arrogantly in front of him, as if to say, "I'm the older sister, so you have to listen to me."

Unfortunately, her father was later transferred to the district and rose rapidly in rank, eventually moving to a different location.

Jing Tian also had a smooth journey to the Affiliated High School of Beijing Dance Academy.

However, his father was a stubborn and aloof person who did not want to be accused of currying favor with the powerful. As a result, the two families gradually drifted apart and lost contact.

Li Yan suddenly stood up.

It really was Jing Tian!

Wait, was this person's brain filled with water before they transmigrated?!

With this kind of relationship, how could someone end up like this, living in a self-built house?

Li Yan really wanted to slap that idiot in the mirror!

Putting everything else aside, as long as we can make this young lady happy, we won't have to worry about resources!

After he time-traveled, why would he need to suffer through filming GG?!

What were you thinking...?

Li Yan sighed for a while before calling back.

"Hello, Jing Tian?"

"Oh, the big director finally called back? I thought you were too forgetful and had forgotten about your older sister."

A clear, sweet voice came from the other end of the phone, soft and gentle, with a touch of innocent naiveté that hadn't yet been hardened by the harsh realities of life.

"No way, I just saw the text message."

Li Yan laughed it off, "Besides, she's only been seven days older, what kind of older sister is she?"

"Screw you, seven minutes is still a big time! You're lucky you still remember me!"

They exchanged a few pleasantries.

Sure enough, Jing Tian contacted him on a whim after seeing the overwhelming number of "GG" posts and Li Yan's name on the subtitles.

She is currently filming "The Great Biography of Sun Tzu" in Zhuozhou and specially got Li Yan's phone number from home.

The two agreed that they would definitely get together after she finished filming her scenes in the next two days and returned to Beijing.

……

Li Yan was also busy for the next few days.

He'll miss Cannes this year, but he might have a chance at the Venice Film Festival in September.

The "The Tuner" project needs to be expedited; the application deadline is the end of next month at the latest.

Fortunately, he left a good impression on Mr. Li Guangfu when filming GG.

When Li Yan mentioned wanting to find a location to shoot a short film, he found out about the old man and, without hesitation, helped him contact an old house belonging to the Beijing People's Art Theatre.

It was a tenement building designed by Soviet experts back then.

Li Yan went to scout out the location and was very satisfied.

The renovation is old and the ceiling height is a full three and a half meters.

The wooden floorboards creak when you walk on them, and the windows are old-fashioned double-glazed wooden windows.

This sense of age and oppression perfectly matches the atmosphere he wanted in "The Pianist".

Ideally, the living room should be large enough to accommodate a grand piano, with enough space for an instrument panel.

As for the equipment, Li Yan didn't stand on ceremony. He took the usable equipment from Qiangli GG first, and his senior brother would find someone to rent the rest.

After taking care of all that, he changed his clothes and leisurely made his way to Liangmaqiao, a private restaurant with excellent privacy.

Push open the door to the private room.

A girl wearing a white dress and with her hair tied in a bun, who looked very well-behaved and pretty, sat there in a daze, completely naked.

"What? Don't you recognize me?"

When Jing Tian saw Li Yan enter, her eyes lit up. Without any airs, she stood up and gestured:

"You've grown so tall! And you've become even more handsome! No wonder Yang Mi's eyes were practically glued to you."

Li Yan smiled and pulled out a chair: "You haven't changed much, still as wealthy and imposing as ever."

"Get lost, are you insulting me?"

Jing Tian rolled her eyes at him and called the waiter to serve the dishes.

Because of their childhood friendship, they chatted about the past, and the awkwardness between them disappeared.

Since we're all in the same industry, the conversation naturally turned to work.

Jing Tian rested her chin on her hand, her bright eyes filled with curiosity: "To be honest, did you really direct that film, 'Let Me Stay'?"

"Genuine or genuine."

"That was amazing! Seriously, I was so moved I cried."

At this point, she sighed, idly poking at the white asparagus in front of her with her fork.

"I just can't do it. That movie I'm in now, it's a big production with a budget of 50 million, right? Zhang Fengyi is the male lead, that's a lot of prestige, right? But no matter how I act, I just feel awkward..."

"We haven't even heard a splash in all this filming, and the few things circulating online are all negative, saying I have no acting skills and that I got the role by paying my way in..."