Restart life

Chapter 217 0214 [Quite a few celebrities came for drinks]

Normally, Chen Guiliang travels between the company and the dormitory, which is only one or two kilometers in total, so he naturally rides a bicycle.

This time, however, they were going to travel by car, and Yang Shuo was to be taken along.

Driver and bodyguard!
Although Beijing has good public security, with the kidnapping of New Oriental's CEO Yu Minhong and the kidnapping of the wife and children of the owner of Nine-Headed Eagle, Chen Guiliang still needs to think carefully.

It doesn't matter if he's near Peking University, but if he goes a little further away, he'll have to bring people with him, and who knows if anyone's watching him.

Take the case of the kidnapping of the owner of the Nine-Headed Eagles' son next year, for example. The leader of the criminal gang was actually a car repair shop owner. Just because the kidnapper went to his shop to repair his car, he felt that the other party was very rich, so he recruited three accomplices to commit the crime.

Furthermore, they disguised themselves as "Uncle Hat" and used the pretext of checking for traffic violations to stop cars and carry out a kidnapping at the entrance of the University of International Business and Economics. It was utterly brazen and impossible to guard against!
"You know the way, right?" Chen Guiliang asked.

Yang Shuo started the car and said, "I bought a Beijing traffic map. I usually take the map with me when I'm not busy and take the bus. I've already traveled all over Beijing."

"You call this scouting the terrain?" Chen Guiliang laughed.

“That’s true,” Yang Shuo said. “Since I’m a driver, how can I not be familiar with the roads? Sometimes, when the company’s Jinbei van goes out, I sit in the passenger seat and follow along.”

The restaurant is located in Houhai, about a 10-kilometer drive away.

There was a bit of traffic congestion in the evening.

The Houhai area used to be quite complicated, with all sorts of illegal structures built haphazardly. In preparation for the 08 Olympics, the area around the lake was demolished a couple of years ago to widen roads and renovate the alleyways.

It's almost done, but there are still some places where the scaffolding hasn't been removed yet.

New bars, restaurants and cafes are gradually appearing in Houhai.

The address Li Xunhuan sent to Chen Guiliang was in a small courtyard house that had been renovated last year.

"Won't we get a ticket?" Yang Shuo glanced at it.

This is clearly a widened fire lane, but a long line of vehicles is parked on the side.

They didn't know where the nearest parking lot was, so they simply parked next to other cars and asked around until they arrived at the courtyard house.

It was quite lively inside; I heard laughter as soon as I entered.

"Mr. Chen, you've finally arrived!"

Li Xunhuan stood up to greet him, then looked at Yang Shuo and asked, "And who is this?"

Chen Guiliang introduced, "My friend, Yang Shuo, is a veteran."

“That’s perfect, Director Shang and Sha Yi are here today,” Li Xunhuan began to introduce. “This is Director Shang Jing, the director of ‘Story of the Cooking Squad.’ Sha Yi is the pastry chef from the cooking squad.”

Yang Shuo's eyes were already shining. He stepped forward, stood at attention, and saluted: "Greetings, old squad leader!"

Shang Jing and Sha Yi, both soldiers, quickly stood at attention and returned the salute, then shook hands with Yang Shuo with smiles.

Chen Guiliang also walked over, but instead of shaking hands, he made a particularly childish finger gesture: "Sunflower Acupuncture Technique!"

Sha Yi cooperated perfectly by staying still with his mouth half-open.

"Hahaha!" Shang was amused and burst into laughter.

Li Xunhuan then introduced the oldest person: "This is also the screenwriter of 'Home with Kids,' Mr. Fei Ming. Mr. Fei is 52 years old this year."

Fei Ming stood up and shook hands with Chen Guiliang: "I came uninvited today. I wanted to ask you to get a set of rare Three Kingdoms Kill cards."

This man was a board game enthusiast who continued playing Werewolf even in his sixties. He also liked to go to board game cafes alone and play offline with young people he didn't know.

Wang Hailin, who advocates casting coal bosses, can be considered his half-apprentice.

"I've heard so much about you," Chen Guiliang said. "Mr. Fei, please leave your address, and I'll have someone deliver the Three Kingdoms Kill game to your door tomorrow."

Fei Ming asked with a smile, "Where will the finals of this summer's Three Kingdoms Kill League be held?"

Chen Guiliang said, "Last year it was Beijing, this year it's Shanghai."

"It's too far, otherwise I would definitely go," Fei Ming said regretfully.

Li Xunhuan continued, "This is Yu Baimei."

"Haha, Mr. Dou." Chen Guiliang shook hands with a smile.

This is Mr. Dou, who made a cameo appearance as a painting teacher in "My Own Swordsman".

He will also have another role in the future: the producer of "Wolf Warrior 2".

However, what impressed Chen Guiliang even more were his directorial works, "The Breakup Guru" and "The Villain Angel." They were incredibly boring!
Yu Baimei asked, "Does President Chen also watch 'My Own Swordsman'?"

“Our whole dorm watched it,” Chen Guiliang said.

Li Xunhuan then said, "This is Director Huang Ying, a teacher in the directing department of the Central Academy of Drama."

"Hello, Teacher Huang." Chen Guiliang shook hands again.

Huang Ying was only a few years older than Chen Guiliang. He wasn't very familiar with Li Xunhuan, and usually hung out with Ning Caishen, Xing Yusen, and others.

Finally, we introduce Ning Caishen and Xing Yusen.

When faced with the latter, Chen Guiliang kept thinking of Constable Xing, but the name didn't match the real person.

Ning Caishen shouted, "Boss, bring the wine and the dishes!"

This shop mainly serves braised pork offal, but also makes some other Beijing dishes.

A large pot of braised pork was quickly brought out and placed in the center of the table. Around the pot of braised pork were other meats and vegetables.

Ning Caishen handed out bottles of beer, and Shang Jing, Sha Yi, and others were responsible for opening them. In the blink of an eye, everyone had a bottle of beer, except for Yang Shuo, who declined to drink.

Ning Caishen raised his glass and said, "Today, the main purpose is to welcome Lao Lu (Li Xunhuan). This kid doesn't come to Beijing for more than a year or two. I didn't expect to be able to invite President Chen here, giving us the honor of dining with an internet upstart. Let's finish the first glass, and then it's up to us." "Cheers!"

After downing a beer and chewing a couple of bites of braised pork intestines, the guy raised his glass again and said, "Mr. Chen, I'd like to toast you! It's our first time meeting today. Let's keep in touch. I'll be there for you anytime you need me."

"No problem," Chen Guiliang said with a smile, clinking glasses with his.

Ning Caishen put down his cup, ate a couple of bites of braised pork, and then continued toasting everyone at the table. Damn, his alcohol tolerance is really good.

Chen Guiliang was sitting next to Sha Yi. He chewed on a pig lung and said, "What kind of movies has Lao Sha been taking on lately?"

Sha Yi said, "I didn't accept it. I'll be performing in plays for a while first."

Yu Baimei said, "I just wrote a script, with Lao Shang as the director and the original cast of 'My Own Swordsman' coming to work on it. Sha Yi has a role in it."

“Sure, we’re about to start filming a new drama,” Chen Guiliang said. “My website has a lot of celebrities who often promote their new dramas online. Director Shang can bring his crew to join us.”

Shang Jing asked, "Kaixin.com?"

Chen Guiliang nodded: "Yes."

Shang Jing said, "I only learned about Mr. Chen's Kaixin.com when I was reading a magazine recently. I heard that Chen Xiaoxu even opened an account. How exactly does your website work?"

Chen Guiliang immediately gave a detailed introduction, and even took out his mobile phone, saying, "My mobile phone can also receive Weibo messages. Look, this is a message I received on my way to dinner today."

Shang Jing took the phone and immediately laughed, "This matter is still making a fuss."

"Let me see," Yu Baimei said.

Yu Baimei laughed after reading the Weibo post and handed it to Huang Ying next to her.

However, it was Tudou.com CEO Wang Wei's Weibo post that read: "Tudou.com just received venture capital funding, and then we received a lawyer's letter from Director Chen. 'Mantou' was uploaded by netizens, and we will delete it as soon as possible, but we cannot rule out the possibility that someone else will upload it again."

However, it was at the Berlin Film Festival that Chen Kaige was asked by reporters for his opinion on "A Bloodbath Caused by a Steamed Bun".

This joke even reached Berlin, which infuriated Chen Kaige. The couple had just returned to China when they were surrounded by reporters at the airport, still asking about "The Bloodshed Caused by a Steamed Bun."

Director Chen finally couldn't hold back any longer, denouncing people for being so shameless and saying he would sue Hu Ge for copyright infringement of his parody videos.

Immediately afterwards, Director Chen sent a lawyer's letter to Power Silicon Valley, which scared Power Silicon Valley into quickly removing "Mantou" from its download section. Now he has sent another lawyer's letter to Tudou.com, demanding the immediate removal of the "Mantou" video.

After reading the Weibo post, Fei Ming, who was over fifty years old, immediately asked how to activate it, as he also wanted to surf the internet on his phone and try it out.

When the phone reached Ning Caishen, he complained, "An internationally renowned director suing someone who makes prank videos. It's so damn disgraceful!"

"Even if he wins the case, he'll become a laughing stock," Xing Yusen commented.

Fei Ming analyzed, "Chen Kaige probably suspects that someone is behind it. I watched an interview a few days ago, and Chen Kaige mentioned several 'motives'. He believes that Hu Ge had a motive for making the parody videos. What motive? He thinks that Zhang Yimou hired someone to do it."

"Haha, Zhang Yimou was interviewed a few days ago and he deliberately stirred things up," Huang Ying laughed. "Zhang Yimou said that if someone makes fun of his movies, he definitely won't be angry, after all, it's a way for everyone to have fun."

Chen Guiliang recalled "Man Jiang Hong" and the "one-shot" technique, realizing that Zhang Yimou's resilience was indeed much stronger than that of Director Chen.

Even though "one-shot" was parodied so much, Zhang Yimou wasn't angry. He even laughed as he talked about it—he was amused by the parodies.

It seems Zhang Yimou adopted a more serious attitude: "I'm here to make easy money, and I knew you'd criticize me. No matter how harsh the criticism, it won't affect my earnings by a single penny."

Director Chen knew he was squeezing money out of nothing, yet he claimed it was for art and fantasized about receiving positive reviews from the audience. He wanted it all.

The main people present were screenwriters, but there were also directors and actors.

They are insiders and know some of the rumors to some extent.

The topic quickly turned into gossip about "The Promise," and then gradually into gossip about Chen Kaige and his wife.

Chen Guiliang listened with great interest.

He learned for the first time that Chen Kaige's catchphrase was "Holy crap!" while Chen Hong's was "Idiot!" This was quite a contrast to their artistic and literary image.

The conversation started with Chen Kaige, then moved on to the Beijing entertainment circle, and after a few words, it drifted to Xu Jinglei, leading to complaints about the chaotic relationships within that circle.

Chen Guiliang has certainly gotten his share of juicy gossip.

After a few rounds of drinks, Chen Guiliang suddenly asked, "Is the copyright of 'My Own Swordsman' still held by Beilian Film Studio?"

"It should still be there. What does President Chen want to change?" Shang Jing asked.

Chen Guiliang said: "Online games."

Shang Jing said, "I'll ask for you."

The IP "Wulin Gaiden" is about to be acquired by Perfect World. Who knows how they did it? From project initiation to public beta launch, it took at most three or four months.

It's obvious they want to cash in while the TV series is still popular.

From graphics to content, it was made like a pile of crap (it took three years to improve the game, but by then its reputation was completely ruined).

Despite being such a terrible game, it managed to quickly reach a peak concurrent user count of 300,000 to 400,000 thanks to the powerful IP of "Wulin Gaiden"—even more impressive than "Quan Yu Tian Xia" after several months of promotion!

Game Science doesn't have the resources right now, but they can have Tao Chenggang buy the game's copyright.

After all, Bailian Technology cannot rely solely on "The Emperor's Reign".

The drinking session was quite fruitful; Shang even agreed to bring the entire "Wulin Gaiden" team to register accounts on Kaixin001. They also agreed to help them secure the game rights for "Wulin Gaiden."

Chen Guiliang was really looking forward to their arrival, especially Wushuang.

Just Tingmei's.

(End of this chapter)