I'm just trying to ride the wave of popularity!

Chapter 250 Zhou Yang, whose brilliance is fully revealed!
The meeting room was silent!

Deathly silence.

It was as if the air itself had frozen at that moment.

Chen Kai's fingers, holding the cigarette, trembled slightly. A gust of wind blew, and cigarette ash fell onto the conference table.

He stared wide-eyed at the bespectacled young man in the doorway, as if he had seen a ghost...

I even thought I was seeing things!

This "industry cancer" that they have been jointly boycotting for the past two months has now brazenly appeared at a formal meeting of the film department!
Just at this time!
"Zhou Yang?!" Liang Xiaogang stood up abruptly, slamming his hand on the table, the chair scraping loudly against the floor. "Get out! Who gave you permission to come in?!"

Zhou Yang ignored Liang Xiaogang's roar, calmly pushed up his glasses, the cold light reflected briefly from the lenses obscuring his eyes, but not the mocking smile on his lips.

He straightened his suit and, as if he hadn't heard a sound, walked step by step toward Chen Kai.

Perhaps because they were too shocked!
The conference room fell silent again, with only the faint sound of Zhou Yang's footsteps audible.

"Director Chen!" Zhou Yang's voice remained calm and not loud, but it was as sharp as a knife gleaming with cold light: "I don't like the smell of smoke. Could you please move to another seat? Thank you..."

this moment!
Upon realizing what was happening, Chen Kai's face instantly turned a deep liver color.

He jumped to his feet, crushing the cigarette butt in his palm: "Who do you think you are! This is a closed-door meeting of the China Film Association! What right do you have to be here? Who let you in? Get out!"

"Old Chen!" Li Zhengtao suddenly pressed down on Chen Kai's trembling shoulder, but his eyes were fixed on the document with the red seal in Zhou Yang's hand.

As the only rational person present, he had already sensed something unusual.

Zhou Yang casually tossed the documents onto the conference table.

The file slid across the desktop and stopped right in front of Chen Kai. Chen Kai subconsciously looked down, and then the name of the "China Film Development Promotion Association" stood out.

“Professor Chen Kai, I now formally invite you to give up your seat.” Zhou Yang’s voice remained calm.

However, there was an indescribable and irresistible aura about it, an aura that made Chen Kai feel somewhat suffocated!
Zhou Yang is about 1.77 meters tall, just a little taller than him.

At this moment, he was looking up, staring directly at him in a way that made him feel uncomfortable.

He tapped the table lightly, his voice growing colder: "Or do you want to demonstrate what the qualities of an 'industry cancer' are like in front of Director Chen?"

"Bullshit!" Chen Kai instantly lost control, grabbing the documents to tear them to shreds. "Has Zhang Changlong gone mad? Letting this attention-seeking clown in..."

"Director Chen!" Chen Li suddenly shouted, "Watch your words! Director Zhou Yang is a representative of emerging directors specially approved by the Film Bureau!"

He quickly stepped forward, grabbed Chen Kai's hand, and lowered his voice, saying, "The document in your hand is an official document just issued by the General Administration."

He had barely finished speaking...

The meeting room erupted in chaos.

Chen Kesen, who was drinking tea, trembled slightly and knocked over his teacup. He stared intently at Zhou Yang!

Liang Xiaogang suddenly stood up, his face ashen!

Even Li Yiqiang, who had remained silent throughout, took a deep breath...

Today's meeting!

Something seems wrong!
"Impossible!" Chen Kai clenched his fists, staring intently at Chen Li. "Director Chen, he's not even a prospective member of the Film Association? What is he? He doesn't even have a decent diploma; he only has a high school diploma. He..."

Seemingly because Chen Kai's saliva had sprayed onto Zhou Yang's glasses, Zhou Yang took off his glasses and gently wiped them with a napkin he carried with him.

"The saddest thing in this world is a group of old people who lie on their laurels and point fingers at everything, using their decadent aesthetics and arrogant prejudices to label all new things as 'unorthodox'..." He wiped the paper while looking at the faces that were either flushed or ashen.

this moment!
The air in the conference room seemed to solidify.

Chen Kai's forehead veins bulged, and he slammed his fist on the table, standing up abruptly: "Who do you think you are! A nobody who relies on fans to buy votes, you dare to talk about film art? How did 'The Lord of the Rings: The Two Rings' achieve that 210 million yuan box office? Do I need to expose your dirty secrets in front of Director Chen?"

"Director Chen, don't get angry... Everyone's got their hands dirty, so let's not make fun of each other..." Zhou Yang slowly put on his glasses, his eyes flashing with a cold light: "Of the 6200 million yuan box office for your film 'Extreme,' 3000 million yuan was from your own company booking out screenings to boost sales, right? Should I ask the tax authorities to check the actual attendance rates for those screenings?"

Zhou Yang lowered his head, took out a data sheet of "Extreme" from his briefcase, and placed it in front of Chen Kai.

Chen Kai was so angry that he trembled all over. He, who was always criticizing this and that, felt as if a knife had been stabbed into his heart, suffocating him!
He was suffocating and couldn't say a word!

"Everyone..." Zhou Yang's gaze swept over everyone one by one: "I have been collecting data on your film projects over the past two months... I would be very happy to discuss the tax situation with you all before the meeting begins..."

Zhou Yang produced document after document, all of which contained box office data from July to August…

Then, without waiting for anyone's response, he said calmly, "Sorry, I'm a very rational person and I like to use all kinds of data to speak for myself..."

"Haven't you all been talking about how I incite my fans to do all sorts of things?"

Zhou Yang then took out a stack of data from his briefcase: "This is the Kuaibo public opinion monitoring report. Among the users giving negative reviews, my followers account for 0.3%. Director Chen, on the contrary, the online troll accounts hired by your company are all registered on the same date..."

He suddenly leaned closer to Chen Kai: "Director Chen! When I came in, I kept telling myself to restrain myself, to stay calm, and to be polite and respectful to you... But, Director Chen, I've put up with you for two months despite the infamy of inflating box office numbers!"

“Aren’t you…” Chen Kai stared intently at Zhou Yang.

Zhou Yang sneered, interrupting Chen Kai.

"I paid my taxes!" His voice wasn't loud.

But its power was so penetrating throughout the conference room that it felt like a slap across the faces of all the directors!

"Swiping tickets?" Zhou Yang pulled out the last tax form from his briefcase, and then laid them all out clearly on the table, one by one.

"These are the tax payment certificates for each private screening of 'The Lord of the Rings: The Two Rings.' Director Chen, would you like to check the tax bill for your 30 million 'corporate movie viewing' for 'Extreme'?"

Chen Kai's face turned bright red, as if he had been slapped hard, and he looked at Zhou Yang, waving the tax form.

"Enough!" Chen Li stepped between the two: "Today we're discussing the development of domestic films, not arguing!"

He pressed down on Chen Kai's trembling shoulder with his left hand, blocked the tax form Zhou Yang handed him with his right, and said to Zhou Yang in a low voice, "Director Zhou, that's enough, enough of that..."

Before he could finish speaking, Liang Xiaogang suddenly kicked over a chair and pointed at Zhou Yang: "Director Chen! This kind of troublemaker doesn't even deserve to participate... This kind of lawless person is simply..."

"Director Liang!" Chen Li turned to Liang Xiaogang and said, "Director Liang, let me reiterate, today's discussion is about the development of domestic films, not about arguing..."

Chen Kai was trembling all over, about to clench his fist and curse, when Li Zhengtao suddenly grabbed him: "Old Chen, you dropped your cigarette ash on the documents."

He casually brushed aside the statistics sheet marked with the screening times for "Extreme Ghost," turned to Zhou Yang, and smiled: "Young man, don't get too hot-tempered. Have a cup of tea to calm down... Let's sit down and talk about it. Here, my seat is against the wind, so there's not much smoke, and it's by the window. You can sit here..."

this moment!
The air in the conference room seemed to have been sucked out.

Li Zhengtao stood up.

His smile appeared exceptionally gentle under the lamplight, and the rustling of papers as he tidied up the documents was the only sound at that moment.

Under everyone's gaze, the director who once ushered in the era of Chinese blockbusters with "Qin" is now giving up his seat to Zhou Yang.

A glint of light flashed in Zhou Yang's glasses.

He looked at Li Zhengtao earnestly and said, "Director Li, you are the real director! No one but you is qualified to sit in this position..."

After saying this, Zhou Yang silently walked to a spot not far away and sat down.

With Zhou Yang taking his seat and Li Zhengtao mediating, the tense atmosphere eased somewhat.

Chen Li looked at Zhou Yang and the other directors with a sense of helplessness.

It seems Zhou Yang and these directors are at odds; who knows how fierce their battles will become in the future...

It looks like things are about to get interesting.

He then checked the time, glanced at the door, and finally winked at the clerk beside him: "The leaders from the General Administration will be here soon, tidy up the table..."

The clerk was momentarily dazed, but then immediately came to his senses and began frantically tidying up the things on the table.

I just finished cleaning up not long ago...

The door opened.

Zhang Changlong walked into the conference room wearing a sharp suit, his gaze sweeping over everyone present.

When he saw Zhou Yang, he nodded almost imperceptibly.

"Gentlemen, thank you for waiting." Zhang Changlong walked to the head of the table and gave a brief greeting: "Now that everyone is here, let's begin today's meeting..."

"Ding! Ding! Ding!"

Just at this time……

A sudden, piercing ring of a cell phone interrupted him.

Everyone's eyes turned to the source of the sound.

That was Zhou Yang's suit pocket.

Zhou Yang silently took out his phone and glanced at the caller ID.

"Director Zhang, please wait a few minutes..." He raised his hand to signal, then pressed the answer button in full view of everyone: "Hello, Mr. Mark?"

The meeting room fell into an instant silence so profound you could hear a pin drop.

Only Zhou Yang's voice could be heard.

“Hmm.” Zhou Yang scribbled circles on his notebook with a pen while listening to the phone call. “$2500 million? Two days faster than expected… Thank you, Mr. Mark, it was a pleasure working with you. Um, I’m not in Hollywood. I don’t have any ideas for the new film yet…”

His voice wasn't loud, but it was exceptionally clear in the quiet conference room.

Li Zhengtao noticed a subtle change in Zhang Changlong's expression, which seemed to hold a deeper meaning.

“Okay, we can discuss the details later.” Zhou Yang hung up the phone, put it back in his pocket, and then looked up to meet Zhang Changlong’s questioning gaze: “Excuse me, Director Zhang, it was Mark Smith from Paimon Pictures. He called to tell me that a movie I casually made called ‘Saw’ has just surpassed $2500 million at the North American box office…”

"..."

(Two chapters guaranteed)
(End of this chapter)