Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 116 General
When Zhang Yan got the song written by Gao Qi, he immediately went to Zhang Weining—it's really great to have a master song selector and arranger by your side; now he consults Weining whenever he's in doubt.

Having just finished working on the test tape, Zhang Weining, with messy hair and dark circles under his eyes, hummed and drew on the sheet music, then said, "Mao Amin and Tian Zhen are both good, and I can also handle the eagle, but it lacks a bit of dynamism—I would recommend Tian Zhen the most among them."

[PS: This song was originally sung by Tian Zhen.]

Mao Amin needs no introduction; she established herself as the leading lady of the new generation with the theme song of "Desire." Na Ying was also very popular last year with "The Mountain Doesn't Turn, the Water Turns." However, Zhang Yan had only seen the name Tian Zhen on the charts before.

However, upon closer inquiry, it turns out that Tian Zhen is already quite well-known in the industry. She sang a female version of "Yellow Earth Plateau" and last year she sang a TV series theme song called "Unfinished Love," which was quite popular.

However, overall, they are still in the awkward situation of having popular songs but not being famous themselves.

"boss Zhang."

At this moment, Liu Weidong, who had been waiting in the recording studio and was responsible for serving tea and water to Han Lei and Zhang Weining, volunteered, saying, "I know a talent agent who works with Tian Zhen. You can leave this to me."

To be precise, before, he knew people but they didn't know him, but now that he has a powerful backer, the situation is different.

Since Liu Weidong volunteered, Zhang Yan had Zhang Weining select a few lyrics and musical scores that he thought would be most moving to Tian Zhen, and gave them to Liu Weidong as a stepping stone.

He himself took Han Lei's audition tape and rushed to the Three Kingdoms drama crew again.

He specially asked the TV station for leave this time, planning to stay on set for a few more days, because Chen Hong was also about to finish filming, and then he could fulfill his promise to take her back to Hengjiang to meet his parents.

As a result, as soon as Zhang Yan arrived at the film crew, he was stopped by the assistant director, Cai Xiaoqing. Aunt Cai immediately laid down two rules with Zhang Yan.

First, the crew was filming scenes featuring Diao Chan, so he could no longer be present to watch.

Secondly, there must be restraint in the evenings so as not to affect Chen Hong's performance.

The previous reason was that after Zhang Guangbei was 'threatened' by Zhang Yan's eyes last time, he couldn't relax for a while and it took him two whole days to readjust his state.

The next one...

Zhang Yan felt extremely wronged. It was clearly Chen Hong who had been greedy and greedy, almost tearing his underwear apart.

But when you're under someone's roof, you have to bow your head. In order to stay in the film crew for the time being, Zhang Yan had no choice but to agree to these two conditions.

When Zhang Yan met director Wang Fulin, he only said that when he was making a program, he met a young Mongolian man with a particularly powerful and majestic voice. He felt that the young man was very suitable for singing songs about the Three Kingdoms period, so he asked him to record a demo and sent it over.

Then he put down the demo tape and never mentioned it again.

The main issue is that my relationship with director Wang Fulin isn't quite there yet. If I were to beg and plead for his recommendation, it wouldn't be a good idea.

But Zhang Weining and Han Lei's version of "The Legend of the Gods" is indeed exhilarating, magnificent and grand.

In the afternoon, Zhang Yan was watching the Battle of Sishui Pass with one of the film crews when Wang Fulin came over and asked about Han Lei's basic information and contact details. It seemed that he had already made a mental note of him.

Having completed half of the task, Zhang Yan felt increasingly relaxed. He even took on a cameo role at the urging of the assistant director, playing a named 'general'.

Although it only has two lines, it still made a grand entrance.

Prefect Han Fu said, "Alliance Leader, do not panic. I have General Pan Feng who can slay Hua Xiong!"

Yuan Shao was overjoyed: "Good! Quickly summon General Pan to battle!"

Zhang Yan [Pan Feng]: "This subordinate obeys."

Then he waved and said, "Bring me weapons!"

You know what, with Zhang Yan's build and features, he really does have the air of a 'peerless general' when he has a beard, completely different from the other 'small fry'.

However, in the next shot, Zhang Yan is simply lying on the ground waiting to receive a red envelope.

Right after the performance, Sun Yanjun, who played Liu Bei, came over to "educate" him, saying that the red envelopes received by the dead must be spent on the same day in order to ward off evil spirits.

Zhang Yan squinted at him: "I started out making suspense films, how could I not know this? So, do you want donkey burgers today, or..."

Seeing that his intentions had been exposed, Sun Yanjun stopped pretending and chuckled, "Tired of donkey burgers? Let's go to the city for hot pot—Old Bao and I are treating today, you can use the red envelope to fill up your gas tank." He was definitely going to bring Guan Yu and Zhang Fei along, and considering Bao Guo'an was playing Cao Cao, the car was already packed.

Zhang Yan hesitated and asked, "What about Lao Wu [the actor who plays Sun Jian and Sun Quan]?"

Sun Yanjun immediately waved his sleeve and said, "These Jiangdong rats are not worth discussing anything with!"

So after filming, the five strong men filled the Xiali car to the brim. When they encountered a hill, Guan Zhang had to get out first and then get back in after climbing the hill.

Fortunately, it was winter, and the heater was on instead of the air conditioner; otherwise, the engine simply wouldn't be able to power the compressor.

However, the trip was definitely worthwhile. We ate donkey offal hot pot, which included meat, vegetables, and a donkey penis soup. The taste was so good that even the Japanese would shout "Yoshi!"

The five of them ate to their hearts' content and were full of praise for the meal.

When it came time to settle accounts, Cao Cao and Liu Bei were in a lot of pain, their expressions even more distressed than when they saw Dong Zhuo burn Luoyang.

We returned to town that evening.

As soon as Zhang Yan entered, he saw Chen Hong unpacking a package and asked curiously, "What is this? Why was it specially sent to the film crew?"

"These are gifts I asked my family to prepare for my uncle and aunt."

As Chen Hong sorted the items out, she said, "Since this is our first visit, we should definitely bring some local specialties from our hometown."

"Does your hometown also have local specialties and paintings?"

Zhang Yan picked up a long box, took out a scroll from it, unfolded it, glanced at it, and exclaimed in surprise, "Feng Chaoran's Thousand Rocks and Valleys?"

"you know?"

"Of course I know, the 'Shanghai School' of painting during the Republic of China era, Wu, Wu and Feng—I've been studying art since elementary school, so I have that much common sense."

"Then this painting was the right gift."

Chen Hong smiled faintly: "This was collected by my maternal grandfather. Later, he gave it to my mother, and now my mother has given it to me."

Feng Chaoran's paintings don't have a high commercial value at present, but using them as a gift is definitely over the top.

Although Zhang Yan already knew that Chen Hong came from a good family, he was still somewhat surprised that she could casually produce such a gift.

He held her in his arms and questioned her for a while, finally sighing, "I never thought that I, a poor boy, would marry into such a high society."

Chen Hong shook her head and said, "Actually, our branch didn't benefit much either."

She now knew, of course, that Zhang Yan was not the son of a high-ranking official, but that was precisely why his rapid rise to prominence in such a short time was all the more remarkable.

After all, it's better to rely on yourself than on others. Based on Zhang Yan's demonstrated abilities, he will certainly not be worse than most spoiled rich kids in the future—the top ones are incomparable, but Chen Hong can't even reach that level.

Of course, it would be even better if he weren't so promiscuous.

However, since they chose the film and television industry, such things are almost unavoidable.

…………

Because they had promised Aunt Cai that they couldn't affect Chen Hong's filming, the two of them were quite restrained that night, choosing to focus on quality and taking on some challenging and novel poses.

By December 23rd...

As Diao Chan rode away in a carriage and disappeared from the camera's view, Chen Hong's scenes officially wrapped up.

Because of the eight thousand bags of instant noodles that came in the snow, Wang Fulin even treated her and Zhang Yan to a wrap-up dinner in town—a privilege that Sun, Cao, and Liu never got to enjoy.

The next morning, just as dawn was breaking, the two set off for Hengjiang.

(End of this chapter)