Abstract Art Award Winner

Chapter 156: Forbidden City Invitation

Zhou Ye didn't expect that he would get this role so easily.

It took no more than five minutes from meeting to confirming.

They went out for lunch at noon, but Zeng Guoxiang said that he couldn't get used to spicy food, so he could only choose some local restaurants with lighter food.

When Zhou Ye heard this, he immediately introduced him to several famous restaurants in Chongqing that specialize in light-flavored cuisine.

"Zhou Ye, do you know Chongqing so well?"

"Yes, I grew up here when I was a child. Although I later moved to Huizhou with my parents, I would occasionally come back to live for a while, so I am quite familiar with Chongqing and Chengdu."

"Then who are your parents?"

“They are all doing business.”

Listening to Zhou Ye's words, Zhou Le smiled and said, "I'm not afraid of Director Zeng making fun of me. Several of the female artists in my studio come from well-off families. In fact, I'm marrying above my station."

But Zhou Ye quickly explained, "No way, Brother Le is much better than us. Whatever he says is enough for us to learn for a long time. Besides, Brother Le didn't sign me because of my background."

Zhou Ye knew clearly who had found her this role, and the more she thought about the role of Wei Lai in "Better Days" these days, the more she felt that she was really suitable for playing the villain.

But while they were eating, Zhou Ye suddenly received a call. She came back and apologized, saying that her parents had flown to Chongqing overnight after learning that she was coming here to audition for the second female lead in the movie.

Just came here now.

When Zeng Guoxiang heard this, he simply called them over to eat together. After all, they had ordered a large table of dishes and they couldn't finish them all.

Zhou Ye's father is indeed a businessman, and his aura is different from that of an ordinary office worker.

But at the same time, he was very polite. After asking about the hotel where Zeng Guoxiang was staying, he immediately said that he knew the owner of the hotel and that he would cover all the expenses of the crew's hotel accommodation during the filming.

Although Zeng Guoxiang once publicly expressed that he disliked his father because he was too romantic, as a director, how could he be so self-disciplined?

But after seeing Zhou Ye's parents, he gave up other ideas.

This kind of thing is untouchable.

After dinner, Zhou Ye's parents talked to Zhou Le for a long time, saying that their daughter's personality might not be very good sometimes, and hoped that Zhou Le could be more tolerant. But at the same time, they were also very grateful to Zhou Le for helping their daughter find such a famous director's play this time.
I will try to help find some resources later.

Or if the company encounters any problems, we can help.

This is the second time Zhou Le has felt the benefits of having a female artist under his wing come from a wealthy family.

But he didn't intend to ask the other party for help, because that would sour their relationship.

It is easy to repay a debt of money, but it is difficult to repay a favor of others.

This is also why, although Zhou Le used the courtyard house of Yu Shuxin's family, he was still willing to pay the transfer fee, and would rather use his own connections to get Wu Jing and others to decorate the office than let Yu Shuxin pay for it.

However, giving Yu Shuxin a June 4th contract was actually to repay this favor.

It was just that Zhou Le had given Zhou Ye two days off in the afternoon so that she could reunite with her parents. Right after that, Zhou Le received a call from Su Yingxia in the hotel.

"Brother Le, there are three things in total. First, I have already found assistants for Shuxin, Xiaotian, and Xiaomeng, but I will still be their agent for now.

Zheng Ge has his own agent and assistant, so we don't need to help him find one. I'll go help Xiao Ye negotiate the salary, and then I'll come back to find you. After all, you still need someone by your side."

"Well, come back. To be honest, I feel more at ease with you by my side."

"Hehe, Brother Le, I think so too. Although Xiaotian, Shuxin and the others are easy to take care of, I still want to stay with you.

But the second thing is that the video of you at the Cartier dinner yesterday was posted and it’s going viral on TikTok.”

"Really? I'll go take a look."

Zhou Le opened Douyin as he spoke, and sure enough, as soon as he opened it, before he even searched, there were links to related entries below.

When I went in, I saw the whole cause and effect of the incident posted by those marketing accounts.

The comment section is also very interesting.

Count Longlang: "It has to be Brother Le who allows us to hear suona music online. Otherwise, if it happened in our village, at least someone would have died."

Take a break and watch for fun: "Damn, if I had a leader like this, even if the monthly salary was only 20,000, I would be willing to work for him until the end of time."

Xu Fanxing: "As expected of Brother Le, he actually played the suona at the Cartier dinner. Wouldn't that make those people's noses crooked?"

Most of them are ordinary people, so they are very happy to see this kind of thing. Netizens are happy to see grassroots challenging authority. Although Zhou Le is much stronger than them, compared with those capitals, it is not an exaggeration to say that Zhou Le is a grassroots.

This is a spiritual carnival.

After Zhou Le finished reading it, he continued to talk to Su Yingxia: "I saw it, but has Cartier had any reaction?"

Su Yingxia said, "Of course, they won't react openly, but they are now complaining about the videos. I asked other people, and some people who know the management said that Cartier has classified this dinner as their most failed in the past ten years.

After all, those foreigners didn't understand what "Monkey Show" and "Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix" were. They only found out about it after someone told them about it. And now they're already planning to blacklist you and won't cooperate with you in the future."

The little book boy loves his wife: "Hahaha, I knew it. I thought it was a soft persimmon, but I didn't realize it was a frozen persimmon. Now I'm anxious and know to blacklist it."

Zhou Le didn't care at all. He had no intention of cooperating with these brands anyway. What's more, it was the other party who started the trouble first. He was just eating the whole time.

Afterwards, Zhou Le went to Hangzhou again, had a rehearsal, and then returned to BJ to prepare for the Lantern Festival Gala.

The second recording session of "I Am a Voice" will be on the 20th, and on the 17th I will go to Taiwan to participate in the Golden Horse Awards, which will take about three days in total.

The preliminary review of the Lantern Festival Gala is actually a screening process, just like the Spring Festival Gala. It is screened twice first, and by the third time, the list is basically finalized. Unless there is a conflict in the program setting or something happens to the artist, it is basically impossible for them to be eliminated.

But when Zhou Le arrived that day, he found that there were indeed many acquaintances there.

Here Zhou Le also saw Li Xi.

"Sister, you are here too. What show are you performing?"

Zhou Le walked up from behind and patted Li a吣's shoulder.

Li Yan was startled. After turning around and seeing that it was Zhou Le, he patted his chest and said, "I'm singing over here, singing with three other people.

"That's fine. Usually, this kind of chorus performance is at the front."

"Yes, we will be the second one to go up. Of course, this is just the current arrangement."

"pretty good."

Li Wei looked at Zhou Le and said, "What about you? You're not here to perform a skit, are you?"

"No, it's not my turn to perform in the skit. I'm here to sing, but I'm not sure if I can pass it."

"With whom?"

"Just me at the moment."

"Then you're even better!"

"If I'm eliminated, it won't be that great. Don't give me bad luck. If I really get eliminated, you have to compensate me."

"That's impossible. There's no way you'll be eliminated."

The opening chorus is usually accompanied by a song and dance troupe, and the stage design is also carefully designed, so it is unlikely to be eliminated.

But it’s hard to say about solo performances. If the previous program exceeds the time limit, the two or three minutes of solo performance may have to be deleted.

After chatting with Li Xi for a while, Zhou Le continued to walk inside.

Then he saw Guli Nazha again, surrounded by Jing Tian, Qin Lan, and Zhang Yixing.

"Naza, you are here too?"

Nazha was very proud: "Of course, is it weird that I'm here?"

Just as he finished speaking, Qin Lan on the side said jokingly: "Exactly, do you underestimate our Nazha? Only you are allowed to come, not her."

Zhang Yixing said on the side: "I don't think that's what Teacher Zhou meant."

"That's right, how could I look down on Naza? But are you four the same show?"

Zhou Le was a little confused. Didn’t he ask Zhang Yixing to sing “Mapo Tofu” with him before?

"No, I'm from the same show as Sister Qinlan and Sister Jingtian, and Yixing is a separate solo performance." "Great, great."

Then Zhou Le simply stayed here and chatted.

Just as I was chatting, I suddenly heard someone calling me.

Zhou Le turned around and found that these two people were very familiar. After thinking carefully, he realized that these two people had been here when he first became his godfather!
The older one is called Yang Shaohua, who has a lot of experience and was once the supporting actor of crosstalk master Ma Sanli.

After all, they are still my elders.

Zhou Le hurried over to say hello.

The two of them also smiled at Zhou Le, but after a few words of encouragement, they went to find their old friends.

After that it was just a matter of queuing and waiting for the show.

Zhou Le's seat was at the back, and he waited until all the people he knew had finished their performances and came out. Finally, after more than twenty minutes, Zhou Le was called in.

The song "Dragon Scales of Heaven and Earth" is impeccable both in terms of concept and arrangement and composition.

The lyrics are popular and grand, and they fit the tone of this Lantern Festival Gala. The arrangement is created using the ancient methods of Gong, Shang, Jiao, Hui and Yu, and the instruments used are also full of Chinese style.

"Not bad, not bad, this song is really good. It seems Director Zhu has a pretty good eye. Otherwise, let's just decide on this song first."

"I think I can."

After several responsible persons discussed it, they decided on this song on the spot.

After all, judging from the quality of this song alone, it is more than enough to be performed on the Spring Festival Gala.

"Thank you, leader."

There was not much communication, and no one even asked whether the song was independently written by Zhou Le. After all, it was already written on the information submitted.

They don't need to ask more questions.

Just before Zhou Le left, he encouraged Zhou Le to work hard in the future and try to write more songs of this quality.

There wasn't much communication.

But after Zhou Le left, they did not rush to ask the staff to call the next group of performers, but chatted again.

"I think this song could actually be sent to the Forbidden City for them to listen to. They're planning to do some cultural tourism promotion right now, right? If it becomes popular there first, our ratings should also go up."

"Indeed, Zhou Le's reputation is quite good. Although he's a little bit frivolous online, many of his comments have quite positive values. He could definitely be promoted a bit. Anyway, we're just acting as an introducer."

In fact, whether it is the Spring Festival Gala, the Lantern Festival Gala, or the Mid-Autumn Festival Gala, there are KPIs. If the ratings are high, it is naturally their performance. If the ratings are not even as good as those of previous years, the leaders will also consider replacing them with someone else as the director next year.

This is also the reason why many popular stars have been invited to the Spring Festival Gala in recent years.

Zhou Le naturally didn’t know this.

After going out, he found Nazha waiting for him.

The two walked out together, but were stopped by CCTV reporters as soon as they left the building.

"Zhou Le, Nazha, are you confident about this show?"

The two stopped at the same time.

"Of course I am confident, but the pressure is also great. After all, everyone is an excellent actor and singer."

"Okay, so what do you want to say to the audience?"

"I wish everyone a happy Lantern Festival, a prosperous New Year, and a overflowing piggy bank."

However, the professionalism of the CCTV reporter was still acceptable. After Zhou Le finished speaking, he just said thank you and watched them leave.

He didn't laugh until they were far away.

"Isn't Zhou Le quite cute? I really don't understand why so many people online are scolding him."

Although the brand has been constantly reporting on the Cartier dinner incident, it is still a negative comment after all. Someone played funeral music at the dinner, which also brought considerable negative impact to the brand.

So the news that Zhou Le was blacklisted by the Cartier brand quickly spread.

Xiao Yu Xinxinzi: "It's horrible. I was actually blocked by Cartier. But what does Cartier do?"

Sponge Beibei: "I don't understand whether you really don't know or are pretending not to know. If you offend a luxury brand like this, it means you will have no chance with those foreign luxury brands in the future. Forget about getting those endorsements. Fashion resources are life for an artist."

Taoist Qingfeng said, "How terrifying! Brother Le will never be able to endorse foreign luxury brands again? This is truly terrifying. But I'd like to ask, how many of the veteran actors in China have actually endorsed jewelry brands?"

Fatty Li's happy life: "Yes, only traffic stars need these. Does Brother Le really need these? Anyway, I only know that the Wuling and sports brands that Brother Le is currently endorsing are all things I can afford, and his acting skills are something that those traffic stars will never be able to learn in their lifetime."

SpongeBob: "Just a loser."

Super Invincible Dragon Blaster: "Yes, I am a loser. So what? Do you find me disgusting?"

Ever since the Cartier incident began to ferment, some people began to criticize Zhou Le. After all, in the public eye, it is really uncomfortable to offend a luxury brand.

Some people Zhou Le knew also expressed that they could lobby and resolve the conflicts.

But Zhou Le refused all of them without exception. Firstly, he didn't want to owe these favors. Secondly, the system had given him the song "Dragon Scales of Heaven and Earth" after all, and he was planning to sing it on a big stage like the Lantern Festival Gala. What would happen if he bowed his head again?

So it is impossible to bow your head.

Taking advantage of this favorable situation, some of Xiao Zhan's fans came out and said frankly that although "The Untamed" has not been broadcast this year, our brother has already obtained endorsements from two top foreign cosmetics companies.

And this is the difference between the strong and the obscure.

As a result, not long after it was released, someone brought up the past incidents of these two brands insulting China.

Hu Mengmeng: "Hey, that's it, I haven't heard of it."

Skinny Horse West Wind: "Go to hell."

Crazy Egg Yolk: "Guess what, it turns out he got the dog food."

At the same time, at this critical juncture, a sub-account of Xiaomi suddenly forwarded a video, the content of which was a joke shot by an internet celebrity.

It may seem insignificant at first glance, but soon someone discovered that the jokes in it were written by Zhou Le before, and the internet celebrity had previously said under the video that the jokes were borrowed from Zhou Le, and thanked Zhou Le for authorizing their use.

It is obvious that he wants to support Zhou Le.

This made Xiao Zhan's fans very angry, and they said they would never buy Xiaomi phones again.

Xiaomi doesn't care much about this. Although the female market is quite large, this can also attract another wave of fans. After all, Zhou Le obviously has more fans than Xiao Zhan.

Moreover, Zhou Le has better popularity among the public, so taking this opportunity to market himself is the best choice.

But just as the matter continued to ferment, Zhou Le first received a call from Tencent, saying that Zhou Le did not need to respond to the subsequent matters. After all, this kind of thing was harmless. As an artist of Tencent, he did not need to care too much about these things. He just needed to stop constantly getting close to others and making big moves online.

Afterwards, I received another call from the Palace Museum. The contact person was still the publicity leader I contacted during the filming of "National Treasure" last time.

"Mr. Zhou, have you been to BJ recently?"

"Here I am."

"I wonder if you're free to come over? The director of the Lantern Festival Gala preparation team sent us your song 'Dragon Scales of Heaven and Earth,' and our leader was very impressed after reading it.

In addition, we have worked together before, and you are currently a volunteer at the Palace Museum, so I would like to invite you to come and talk about the Palace Museum publicity ambassador."

When Zhou Le heard this, he immediately sat up from the bed.

Once upon a time, I was a plasterer on a construction site, but now I have become a publicity ambassador for the Forbidden City?

He felt that he needed to take some time to go back to his hometown this year to make his ancestral grave look more beautiful.

Before, no matter whether he was an actor, a singer, or a boss, he thought it was just a personal achievement. But what an honor it is to be the publicity ambassador of the Forbidden City?

"Okay, I'll be there soon."

Zhou Le couldn't wait any longer. Since such a good thing happened to him, it meant that there was a great possibility of obtaining a new identity. He wanted to see what the faces of those who were making sarcastic remarks online would look like.

(End of this chapter)