Huayu: Hard fight against Zhang Weiping at the beginning

Chapter 367: The Year of Coal Province

A day later, Zhang Chen and his family of three set out on their journey back home.

Zhang Chen and his family drove back instead of taking a plane or a train.

The trunk of the company's Audi A6 was filled with gifts from Zhang Guoli and also bought by Zhang's father and mother.

These two days, as the year is coming to an end, the capital city was originally quite deserted, but it suddenly became lively again. Many of the cars running on the streets are from other places. It is obvious that they are all coming to Beijing to give gifts.

Chinese people like to give gifts and build relationships during important holidays.

This is the busiest time for public relations people, and it is also the time when shopping card sales in major supermarkets and gift shops are the hottest.

Xingchen Entertainment is naturally no exception, but he doesn't need to worry about this aspect. Dong Jianqiang patted his chest and guaranteed that everything would be taken care of.

As for some special relationships, such as Han Sanping, Wang Changtian, and Zhang Chen, they will naturally express their feelings after returning to Beijing.

Their relationship does not depend on the gifts they give each other, but mainly on their attitude.

It took nearly eight hours of driving for a six-hour journey and I still hadn’t reached home.

The road is too congested.

This is what the Spring Festival travel rush is like, with stops and starts. After all, it is the largest population migration in the world and it happens once a year.

There is a reason for the traffic jam. Many drivers who only drive twice a year are on the road at this time.

No wonder there are so many accidents along the way.

"Your transportation conditions are much better now than before. At least you can drive. In the past, the railway supported construction in other places, and we also went on business trips a lot. It was very difficult to return home at the end of the year. You had to queue up overnight to buy tickets for the train. Taking a car was even more troublesome. At that time, there were no expressways like now. There were only national, provincial and county roads, and the car would break down halfway..."

Zhang's father had a hard time in the past. When he was young, he often went on business trips, sometimes for several months at a time.

Zhang Chen could understand what he said, because even now, to buy train tickets during the Spring Festival travel rush, people had to queue up overnight.

If you see a long queue in the middle of the night in winter, most of them are people buying train tickets.

"A few days ago, Lao Li told me that if we made a movie about the Spring Festival travel rush, we would definitely make money..."

Lao Li has been doing very well recently. "Taken" had a box office of 2.59 million yuan, and he made a lot of money from it. Now even his mistress has changed. The previous one was just an ordinary college student, and the current one is said to be a third-tier celebrity.

When Zhang's father came to the capital, he entertained him well.

However, what he said reminded Zhang Chen of a movie - "Lost on Journey".

Isn't this just a road movie about the Spring Festival travel rush? It's also the opening work of an entire series. I wonder how many people who have been reborn use it as their debut work. It's a model of low cost and high returns.

"If it's a comedy about the Spring Festival travel rush, it can really make money~"

"Really? Are you going to do it? Wait, if you do it, wouldn't it be a bit unfair to Lao Li? After all, he was the one who came up with the idea first..."

Zhang Chen knew that his father was being stubborn again. "Dad, that's not true. Anyone can do this kind of thing. Movie projects are the most likely to follow the trend. Just because I say this topic can make money doesn't mean it will definitely make money. There are many factors, it's very complicated..."

Zhang Chen has been thinking about Ning Hao's future path recently.

Original Space, after "Stone" and "Racing", Ning Hao made "The Golden Robbery", which made Lei Jiayin famous.

Then I got stuck in a dead end and made "No Man's Land", but it couldn't pass the review due to the special period, and then I was completely affected.

According to the normal path, he should have been similar to Feng Xiaogang, continuously producing a series of works and becoming the king of Chinese comedy films.

At that time, Feng Xiaogang had clearly shown signs of decline, and was no match for him in the field of comedy films.

Feng's movies are Beijing-style comedies, and there is a saying that describes them very accurately: you can't cross the Yangtze River.

But Ning Hao’s is different. "Stone" and "Racing" are popular all over the country.

Unfortunately, he changed his career path later on, and after No Man's Land, he increasingly retreated behind the scenes. Although there are still some excellent works as his producer, it is quite regrettable.

Zhang Chen must not let him repeat the same mistakes in this life. Why set such high goals? It’s good for him to continue on the path of comedy.

It is not easy to make everyone laugh heartily.

So Zhang Chen has been thinking about whether he should give "Charlotte's Troubles" to him so that he can continue his glory, or in other words, so that he has no time to think about "No Man's Land".

Of course, he also thought about "Lost on Journey", but it would seem too simple for Ning Hao to shoot this film again.

……

On January 1, "King Kong" was released, a standard special effects blockbuster.

The relationship between King Kong and the United States is somewhat similar to the relationship between Godzilla and Japan, and the relationship between Sun Wukong and China.

It has become part of the local culture.

This powerful gorilla has been portrayed countless times since his debut on the screen, with various versions spawned and his height always remaining a mystery.

In some versions the height is several meters, in others it is dozens of meters, and the tallest is over a hundred meters.

On January 1, "Huo Yuanjia" was released.

When the film was released, Zhang Chen and his group had already arrived home.

As of "Huo Yuanjia", the Lunar New Year box office is actually over, because the Chinese New Year is coming soon.

These days, during the Chinese New Year, movie theaters are closed.

The concept of the Spring Festival period was actually officially introduced in 2013 with Stephen Chow's "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons". At that time, Chow decided to release "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" on the first day of the Lunar New Year, and I don't know how the cinema staff cursed him behind his back.

Originally, movie theaters only have a few days off during the Chinese New Year. They are usually closed on the 30th, the 1st, and the 2nd day of the Chinese New Year, and will be open as normal on the 3rd day.

Now I can’t even rest during the New Year.

You can check the news online and find that in 2013, people were cursing Stephen Chow everywhere.

Back to "Huo Yuanjia", at that time, the domestic box office of "Huo Yuanjia" was 1.3 million, which was not a lot.

It mainly has something to do with its release date. It was a very bad choice of release date, as it happened to be released before the New Year.

The investor of this film is Jet Li himself.

It is said that he earned more than 3000 million US dollars from "Huo Yuanjia".

"Huo Yuanjia" is considered to be Jet Li's last decent work. Since then, he has started to make money by cheating people.

The producer of this film is Jiang Zhiqiang. Jiang Zhiqiang is very awesome. He produced "Hero" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".

Very sharp eyes.

Cui Baozhu is the key figure in Jiang Zhiqiang's collaboration with Jet Li.

Cui Baozhu is known as Jet Li's "important woman in life". The two co-founded Zhengdong Pictures, which produced a series of well-known films such as "Fong Sai-yuk", "Fong Sai-yuk Sequel", "Tai Chi Master", "Fist of Fury", and "Bodyguard from Beijing".

At the same time, she also worked with Jiang Zhiqiang in "Hero" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". With these three awesome people, plus martial arts director Yuan Heping and director Yu Rentai, "Huo Yuanjia" should have been better, but unfortunately, the box office was only 1.3 million.

It's very strange that 1.3 million became the only amount.

But it is true. Since 2005, there have been several movies with box office revenues exceeding million yuan. Although the million yuan club is still talked about, everyone consciously thinks that only the million yuan club is the most awesome group.

Sadly, only two films have achieved this feat so far.

……

February 2006, 1, Lunar New Year’s Eve.

In China, the significance of New Year’s Eve seems to be more about the Spring Festival Gala, and people pay more attention to the first day of the new year.

Didn't you see that the holiday starts from the first day of the Lunar New Year?
But Zhang Chen's family has always attached more importance to New Year's Eve.

There is no other reason, family reunion is the most important thing.

Because on the first day of the Lunar New Year, several of Zhang Chen's aunts would go back to their husband's family to celebrate the New Year, so everyone couldn't get together, so Zhang Chen's grandfather decided that the most grand celebration in their family would be on the 30th.

Over the past decade, this has become the Zhang family's tradition.

On New Year’s Eve, the family reunites.

Relatives came to grandpa's house around ten o'clock to help hang lanterns and colored lights. By the evening, these became part of Cyberpunk Shanxi.

"Happy New Year~"

"Happy New Year~"

Every time a relative enters the door, he or she will be greeted with a series of New Year greetings.

In some families, children are no longer considered children after they reach adulthood, while in some families, they are considered children until they get married and can all receive lucky money.

Zhang Chen's family belongs to the latter.

So even though he is a senior in college, he can refuse the New Year's money from his uncles and aunts, but he still has to take the one from his grandfather.

As a prominent figure this year, Zhang Chen is bound to be teased.

Everyone was still very curious about filming and gathered together to ask questions.

Have you ever met Liu Dehua?
Is Fan Binbin really as beautiful as in the movies?
Did you really scold Wu Yusen?

Is Xie Tingfeng really only 1.7 meters tall?
Various questions came one after another, Zhang Chen was speechless and could only hide in the kitchen.

According to the Zhang family’s custom, the lunch on New Year’s Eve must be very sumptuous, and they make dumplings in the evening.

In every household, the New Year's Eve dinner is basically prepared by the relative who is the best at cooking. In the Zhang family, that relative is Zhang Chen's uncle.

His ancestral home is Tangshan, so he calls his younger aunt "old aunt", and his younger uncle-in-law becomes "old uncle-in-law".

Zhang Chen hid in the kitchen and helped his uncle. This era was not like the future. As long as you had a mobile phone, you could cook any dish.

The transfer of knowledge is not that cheap, and most people can only cook a home-cooked dish.

My uncle-in-law is good at cooking because he used to work in the dining car on a train.

This is basically the case with railway children. The whole family is basically from the railway industry, and the sons-in-law they find are also from the railway industry.

This one works in the vehicle depot, that one in the locomotive depot, my daughter works in the electrical depot, and my son-in-law works in the passenger depot. Anyway, they are all within the eight major sections of the railway system.

Whenever the uncle-in-law prepared a dish, Zhang Chen would serve it.

Usually there are two tables, one for men and one for women and children.

Zhang Chen used to sit at the children's table, and he also liked sitting at the children's table because he could get some benefits.

The men at the table usually drink, and they eat slowly when they drink.

The children eat fast over there, and when they come across a delicious dish, they will go over there to ask for more after they have finished eating here.

There, the dishes are basically taken away by the children.

This year it was not possible, Zhang Chen had achieved great success and was asked to sit at the adults’ table.

"Let's drink a bottle of good wine today~"

Zhang Chen’s grandfather has a wine cabinet with a lot of good wines in it, all of which are vintage.

Nowadays, many elderly people like to store wine.

I opened a bottle of ten-year-old Huanggai Fen.

Huang Gai Fen is not valuable, but after being kept for ten years, it becomes worth a lot.

In winter, Zhang Chen's grandfather likes to drink warm wine, with a small wine pot soaked in hot water.

There are actually theories about warming wine. One theory is that hot wine tastes better than cold wine. Another theory is that the wine purification technology was not good in the past, so it contained some fusel alcohols. At a temperature of 40 to 50 degrees, fusel alcohols will evaporate, so warming wine is equivalent to the evaporation of fusel alcohols.
Zhang Chen brought the last dish to the table and asked, "Does anyone want vinegar?"

Basically not. Not everyone in the coal-producing province is jealous of others, not to mention that his grandfather's ancestral home is in Tangshan.

Zhang Chen put some vinegar in his bowl. He took that from his mother, who was a native of the coal-producing province and would make dozens of kilograms of vinegar every year.

Vinegar is a good thing. You can dip the food in vinegar if it’s salty or bland. You can also dip the food in vinegar if it’s spicy. You can also dip the food in vinegar if it’s greasy. But I don’t know if you can dip the food in vinegar if it’s sour?
Zhang Chen became very popular this year. At the dinner table, the topic was initially about Zhang Chen, but gradually returned to the system.

They are all railway people, and they basically talk about railway matters.

After listening for a while, Zhang Chen felt bored and secretly ran back to the children's table.

My cousin and I are talking about Bitcoin.

This thing came out a long time ago, but it has never been popular. Who would have thought that it would rise to that level ten years later.

Cousin: "Someone gave me two bitcoins, but I don't know how to use them."

Cousin: "It seems that you can only use it abroad. There is no use case in China."

Zhang Chen: "Listen to me, you must keep these two bitcoins. Ten years later, with these two bitcoins, you can buy a house..."

In the early 2000s, every young person who loved surfing the Internet had a couple of bitcoins, but no one took it seriously.

When the price skyrocketed in a few years, you couldn't find it even if you wanted to.

Too late to regret~
……

This is the author's personal experience. Otherwise, who the hell would write a novel with such tears in his eyes?

Another question, what medicine do you usually take when your stomach is upset? I have been feeling uncomfortable in my stomach lately, with dull pain.
(End of this chapter)