Huayu: From Prisoner to Movie King

Chapter 596: Early Festival Name
In a blink of an eye, it was Friday, June 6th.

Early in the morning of that day, Zhang Yi and Li Chen rushed to Huayi headquarters.

After going public, although the overall structure has not changed much, Huayi's internal structure gives people a feeling of being in high spirits, and even the cleaning lady talks about the market value of tens of billions.

This made Zhang Yi feel quite uncomfortable, and he even wanted to walk close to the wall.

Li Chen was relatively accustomed to the situation. He took the initiative to ask the front desk for an unused reception room, then pulled Zhang Yi up to the second floor.

When we arrived at the reception room, a staff member brought us tea and snacks, and reminded us, "There is a vocal exam in the practice room next door today, so it might be a little noisy."

"It's okay, it's okay, we just like the hustle and bustle."

Li Chen made a joke as if nothing happened, and only complained after the staff left: "Nowadays, people are always choosing their favorites. Who made us not famous now? Seriously, what does Chen Sicheng want from us this time?"

"how could I know."

Zhang Yi shook his head blankly: "I haven't seen him for half a year. I heard that he was filming in Shanghai before."

"Isn't he also planning to sign with Huayi?"

Li Chen speculated: "Ever since the listing, people who want to join Huayi have been lining up - if it wasn't for this, why would he ask us to meet at Huayi?"

"I don't think it's possible."

Zhang Yi shook his head and said, "We have no say in Huayi, so if he wants to find someone to ask for help, he should ask Baoqiang."

"Too."

Li Chen nodded slightly, then couldn't help but sigh.

He joined Huayi relatively early, even earlier than Xu Kun. Unfortunately, he never got any chance to stand out, and now he is neither high nor low. Whenever he thinks of the challenge he had with Xu Kun during the filming of "The Thirteenth Princess", he wishes he could find a hole in the ground to crawl into.

Zhang Yi was not much better. Although the drama "My Captain, My Regiment" aired in March was later regarded as a classic, its ratings were quite dismal at the time.

Also, because except for Wang Baoqiang, all other actors in this version are the original cast, so the rumor spread that "Soldier Assault" was entirely due to Baoqiang.

This was undoubtedly a blow to Zhang Yi and others.

Fortunately, his and Duan Yihong's acting skills were recognized by the circle, otherwise they would probably have no movies to shoot for a while.

The two of them drank tea and chatted intermittently, and soon music and singing were heard from next door - probably because the speaker was facing the wall, the sound was not very loud, but it made the next door buzz.

The two of them lost interest in talking.

A few minutes later, Li Chen impatiently took out his phone and said, "What the hell is Chen Sicheng doing? I'll give him a call and urge him to do something."

Because he was afraid of being disturbed by the noise next door, he walked to the window while flipping through the communication records. As a result, he inadvertently glanced down and was stunned.

Zhang Yi was waiting for his call. Seeing him suddenly freeze, he couldn't help but wonder, "What's wrong? Is your phone running out of battery?"

"No, come over here and take a look. Who is this important person coming?"

Li Chen pointed down and waved at Zhang Yi. Zhang Yi walked over curiously and looked down. He saw more than a dozen people standing downstairs. In the middle were the brothers Wang Zhongjun and Wang Zhonglei.

In the backyard parking lot, five or six cars parked one after another, and then about twenty people poured out like dumplings. When all the people gathered together like stars surrounding the moon, Li Chen and Zhang Yi immediately recognized the person in the lead.

"It turned out to be Director Xu, no wonder."

"Brother Kun's group is really getting bigger and bigger. He has several bodyguards alone."

Seeing the Wang brothers coming up to greet them with laughter, Li Chen felt a little sour in his heart. They were all contracted artists of the company, so why was there such a big gap between them?
At this moment, Zhang Yi suddenly discovered a new world: "Hey~ Is that Chen Sicheng next to Baoqiang?"

"It's him right."

Li Chen was even more jealous: "How did he get in?"

Zhang Yi didn't respond, but pointed at the phone in Li Chen's hand: "Are you still calling? Or should we go down and greet them?"

"Then go and greet them."

While people were still chatting downstairs, the two of them quickly went downstairs and came to the back door. However, they did not dare to block the main entrance, but found a place in the nearby corridor where they would not be in the way.

Soon, a group of people came in. Xu Kun and Wang Zhongjun were in the front, followed by Jiang Yiyan, Wang Zhonglei, Chen Xuebin and Wang Baoqiang. Chen Sicheng followed behind Wang Baoqiang in a decent manner, and next to him was Li Yixiang, an old member of Xu Kun's team.

Li Chen was looking around in the corridor, hesitating whether to take the initiative to say hello, when he heard Xu Kun say "Huh", and said first: "It's Li Chen, we haven't seen each other for a while."

Li Chen hurried over to greet them, nodding and bowing to them: "Director Xu, President Wang!"

Wang Zhongjun just nodded slightly, and Xu Kun took the initiative to pat Li Chen's arm and explained: "Li Chen and I are old friends. We met in 02 when I was still a supporting actor."

"Really? Why haven't I heard Li Chen mention it?" Wang Zhonglei said from behind: "If I had known about this relationship earlier, I would have taken better care of him."

"Haha, it's not too late to know now."

Xu Kun laughed and said to Li Chen, "When we have some free time, let's sit down and reminisce about the past."

"Okay, Brother Kun, you go ahead and do your work. I'll contact you later!"

Li Chen's face was full of flattery. Although he had filmed "Assembly" with Xu Kun a year and a half ago, he felt as if his bones had lightened when he was praised by Xu Kun.

He subconsciously watched Xu Kun and the others go away, until he was slapped on the shoulder, and finally came to his senses.

When he turned around, he saw Chen Sicheng and Wang Baoqiang grinning at him.

Li Chen asked incoherently: "How did you two... No, it was Old Chen, how did you get close to Brother Kun?"

"What are you saying? As the only contracted director and shareholder of Nantianmen Studio, how can I not come to such a big event as the cross-holding between Huayi and Nantianmen?"

Li Chen had heard of Jiang Yiyan's studio, but what connection did Chen Sicheng have with the words 'contracted director'?

At this time, Bao Qiang said, "Let's go to my office and talk. Let's hurry up and don't delay your casting. Squad leader, let's go."

The four of them walked up the stairs to the third floor and sat down in the outer living room of Baoqiang's suite. Chen Sicheng then told him the whole story with a bit of pride.

It turned out that Huayi was somewhat worried when she saw Jiang Yiyan start to recruit people on a large scale, fearing that Xu Kun would only use his "direct people" in the future, so she wanted to cross-hold shares with Nantianmen Studio.

Now that Huayi has just gone public and is at its peak, Jiang Yiyan naturally does not want to offend them. Anyway, with Xu Kun around, she will not suffer any loss.

So today, while Xu Kun was borrowing the company's venue for an audition, Huayi and Nantianmen Studio also started talks - the reason why Wang Zhongjun and Wang Zhonglei were waiting downstairs was mainly to show their sincerity.

After hearing what Chen Sicheng said, Li Chen felt even more jealous. It was obviously him who did it first, whether it was knowing Xu Kun or taking the initiative to show his friendship, it was him who did it first, but why...

"Then why did you call us here?"

At this time, Zhang Yi asked, "You are not just trying to show off in front of us, are you?"

"How could that be? I'm here to invite you to star in my first TV series!" Chen Sicheng said, throwing out two scripts and saying, "Look, I wrote it myself."

Li Chen picked it up curiously and flipped through it, while Zhang Yi subconsciously looked at Wang Baoqiang who was in a daze: "Did Baoqiang come to this play?"

"No, Baoqiang is trying hard to become the best actor."

Chen Sicheng said, standing up and saying, "You two take a look at the script first, I'll go and get some casting, we'll talk more about that later."

Seeing him go there in a hurry, Li Chen asked in confusion: "What's the point of taking part in a casting?"

Wang Baoqiang gave him a somewhat ingratiating smile, then changed into a haughty look, and finally frowned and began to think hard.

"Bao Qiang?"

"What?"

Seeing Wang Baoqiang's confused expression, Li Chen had to repeat the question again.

Wang Baoqiang raised his chin slightly and put on a somewhat smug expression: "You're talking about this? It's okay. Today is not the final audition for the heroine of "The Way of Heaven". He wanted to try and see if he could choose the heroine of "Beijing Love Story" from the eliminated candidates."

Li Chen and Zhang Yi looked at each other and both realized that Wang Baoqiang was probably trying to figure out the role.

Thinking about what Chen Sicheng had just said, it seemed that he was really aiming for the award this time. The two of them were secretly envious.

It's really great to follow the right person. If you want box office success, you will get it. If you want awards, they will be arranged immediately. I wish I could have this kind of treatment one day.

(End of this chapter)