Unboxing, Director!

Chapter 141: Qualification, End of Lu Jiang's Era?
Filming continued, and it was now October.

A major event occurred on October 7th.

The Chinese national men's football team defeated Oman 1-0 in the sixth round of the World Cup qualifiers, securing their qualification for the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup with two rounds to spare.

The cast and crew of "The World's Number One" gathered together to watch the competition that evening.

During this period, Yao Ming had not yet entered the NBA, the national football team was not bad, and there were far more football fans than basketball fans in China.

Most of the crew members are football fans, although many of them are just following the trend.

However, this did not prevent everyone from being enthusiastic while watching the live stream.

When the halftime whistle blew, almost everyone felt a sense of triumph, as if they were entering a new era.

Soon after, Yu Bo and others started predicting the World Cup schedule, making it seem as if qualifying for the preliminary rounds guaranteed qualification for the group stage.

Lu Jiang didn't join in the fun because he received a call from the broadcasting station.

The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television sent an invitation to Lu Jiang, as one of the representatives of the Chinese film and television industry, to participate in the China-Vietnam cultural exchange meeting on December 24.

The organizers are very influential.

On the Chinese side, a high-level film delegation, organized by the Vietnam-China Friendship Association, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, and the Beijing Film Studio, was formed to conduct friendly exchanges with the Vietnamese Ministry of Culture.

Little Swallow was also in the delegation.

Lu Jiang didn't want to have anything to do with this person, so he asked if it was mandatory. If it was mandatory, then it was a political task, and it would be difficult to refuse.

The other party didn't hide anything and said directly that Lu Jiang and others were not required to "must go together," but Xiao Yanzi was specifically named by the higher-ups and had to go.

The reason is not that Xiao Yanzi is more popular than Lu Jiang and others.

It was because at the beginning of the year, Xiao Yanzi and Ziwei went to Vietnam to hold a fan meeting and concert.

But the Vietnam-China Association had invited her earlier, but she didn't go, always making excuses to decline. However, she went to Vietnam at the beginning of the year. When the Vietnam-China Association saw this, they investigated and found that the organizer of that event was actually just a small company in Vietnam.

You accepted an invitation from a small company, but you ignored so many invitations we, as an official organization, the Vietnam-China Association, have extended?
The Vietnam-China Association was very unhappy, so it approached the Vietnamese ambassador to Vietnam for mediation.

After discussion, it was decided that a delegation from mainland broadcasting and television organizations would visit the site at the end of this year, and Little Swallow was required to accompany them.

Therefore, Little Swallow is the main character this time.

As for Lu Jiang, it's optional whether he goes or not.

the reason is simple.

The broadcasting leader said directly on the phone that the other party didn't have that much influence and didn't need all the top mainland stars to attend.

However, considering Lu Jiang's successful history of exporting TV dramas and his business dealings with Vietnam, I asked him about it.

If we go, some problems can be solved along the way.

Since that's the case, Lu Jiang naturally wouldn't go.

However, the Vietnamese market does need to be taken care of, so I promised to hold a concert and fan meeting in Vietnam after the New Year. Please pass this message on.

As for December?
Busy, I'm filming, I need to catch up on my work.

The leader expressed understanding, and the matter was thus resolved.

After hanging up the phone, Lu Jiang told Fan Binbin about it, and Fan Binbin was quite jealous.

She's already very popular, a true goddess of Chinese pop culture, but she's still a step below Little Swallow.

"He's wearing the military flag, and he can still be a state guest? This world is so unfair!"

"Don't rush, I think this is exactly what's going on."

If I remember correctly, this state guest treatment seems to be the fuse that completely ignited the military flag dress incident.

Just like what Fan Binbin is criticizing now, you're wearing the military flag on your body and you're still considered a state guest? Will the public be indifferent when they see this?

So let's let her be the main character at this exchange meeting.

After hearing this, Fan Binbin calmed down a little, but he was still somewhat resentful. When peeling oranges, he acted as if he had a grudge against the orange peels, throwing them into the trash can with a splattering sound.

It's obvious that Fan Binbin's gesture meant he wanted comfort and a hug.

Moreover, it's a special gesture he uses when facing Lu Jiang.

Lu Jiang received the signal but remained unmoved, even turning his head away as if he hadn't seen it.

We're throwing away orange peels more often now.

Lu Jiang, however, stared at the ceiling. Less than five seconds later, Fan Binbin transformed into a koala, whimpering and clinging to him for comfort.
After the Chinese national football team qualified for the World Cup, the crew of the TV series "The World's Number One" also entered a new phase of filming.

Everything else remains the same, except that a few popular stars will occasionally leave the set for two or three days to attend events.

The destinations may be different, but the schedule is intentionally arranged at the same time in order to minimize the impact on the filming.

Her popularity was undeniable, which made the rest of the crew quite envious.

After leaving the production team, Ning Hao and Li Wenyan, who are also the directors of "Xiao Shiyi Lang", will temporarily take over the director's position. With them there, Lu Jiang can rest assured.

Lu Jiang's appearances are all over Asia, and as promised, he also brought Jay Chou along this time to help promote his new album.

Jay Chou's "Fantasy" will be released in mid-October, and he attaches great importance to it.

With Lu Jiang's continued support, the hype surrounding "Fantasy" skyrocketed before its release.

After its release on October 20th, industry insiders and fans alike expressed that they had received a big surprise.

The tracklist for this album is the same as the original, including "Love Before BC", "Simple Love", "William's Castle", "Can't Open My Mouth", "Nunchucks", and "Quiet".

Every song is of high quality.

It is also extremely popular.

To a certain extent, it can be described as a masterpiece.

As for albums that are "high-quality in every song" or even "blockbuster in every song", there really hasn't been anyone else in the Chinese music scene since Lu Jiang who has achieved this.

Jay Chou has done it now.

Taiwanese media got super excited and started praising Jay Chou in all sorts of ways.

Ultimately, no matter how good Jay Chou's relationship with Lu Jiang is, it can't change the fact that Jay Chou is a Taiwanese singer.

The stronger he becomes, the more stable his position in the Taiwanese music scene will be.

So at this moment, no one cares whether it will benefit Lu Jiang or not; the interests of the majority are the most important.

As a result, Jay Chou quickly gained the momentum of becoming a "King of Pop".

Of course, such reports will inevitably attract different opinions.

Soon, media outlets began criticizing Jay Chou's speech patterns.

They say he can't even pronounce words properly, and all he says is "uh-huh" and "ah-ah," which is incomprehensible. How can someone like that be called a Heavenly King?
This became a point of contention surrounding Jay Chou for a long time afterward.

Regardless, Fantasy's sales were phenomenal.

Monthly sales in Asia soared to 56!
After the data came out, Lu Jiang immediately thought of Wu Zongxian's blue "protection" treasure chest.

Then I received a call from Wu Zongxian immediately.

During the phone call, Wu Zongxian showered Lu Jiang with praise and thanks.

Clearly, he still doesn't value Jay Chou very much and feels that without Lu Jiang, the team wouldn't have achieved this result.

Lu Jiang said nothing.

He hopes that Wu Zongxian can maintain this mindset until the deal is completed.

That said, the sales of 56 units also caused Jay Chou's status to skyrocket.

This achievement is unparalleled among singers of the same period.

Breaking one million by the end of the year is no longer in doubt.

The final annual sales volume may exceed 200 million!
Looking at the entire Chinese music scene, only Lu Jiang has achieved such success.

As a result, the Taiwanese side praised Jay Chou even more.

Many media outlets in mainland China followed suit and reported on the story, leading many to believe that Jay Chou was already the next superstar.

In addition, there are Wang Leehom and Eason Chan, who are currently enjoying great popularity, as well as Xie Tingfeng, the rising star who has been closely following behind.

Countless industry insiders are alarmed to realize that the Chinese music scene is about to usher in an era of multiple kings!
In the past two years, Lu Jiang has clearly shifted his focus to film and television dramas.

Many people felt that perhaps Lu Jiang's era was about to end.

Lu Jiang had no interest in paying attention to these three trivial matters; he was only thinking about when the golden insurance for "you" would actually take effect.

What he didn't know was that, at that moment in North America, the gears of fate had already begun to turn.

(End of this chapter)