Huayu: The Big Players Behind the Scenes

Nothing much to do today, so we're listening to music at the company.

The only difference is that while others hear the soft, gentle Wu dialect, Zhuang Huai'an hears the fierce bandits of the grasslands.

The grassland is like a water chestnut, and the bandit is like Zeng Yi.

"Hey, Lao Zeng."

Looking at Zeng Yigang's buzz cut, Zhuang Huai'an was speechless. "Do you really have to be so obsessed with buzz cuts?"

"Huh?" Zeng Yi touched the stubble on the back of his head and asked in confusion, "Boss, isn't this look good? It's so cool!"

He's pretty imposing. He doesn't have many lyrics to begin with, and with those sunglasses on, he looks like a bodyguard standing on stage.

"Fine, whatever makes you happy."

Zhuang Huai'an was speechless and waved his hand, "I've heard the song, and you sang it well, but you're not famous enough. Releasing an album now is likely to flop. Let's wait a bit longer. I'll try to find some connections to get you on a few shows to build up your popularity."

"Thank you, boss!" The two men said happily, bowing once.

Phoenix's legend began on the Avenue of Stars, and Zhuang Huai'an didn't want to change their trajectory; they should just stay the same.

"Avenue of Stars" is a national variety show, and the host, Lao Bi, is a household name. If he doesn't mess things up, this show can support him in his old age.

Lao Bi's experience taught many people one thing: the most important thing for a host is not to speak, but to keep quiet.

Lu Yu did this very well.

Lu Yu: Really? I don't believe it.

After the two left, Zhuang Huai'an went online to check and immediately felt somewhat embarrassed.

The current CCTV does not have a program called "Avenue of Stars" at all; it only has its predecessor, "Music Arena," which mainly focuses on grassroots singer talent shows.

While feeling embarrassed, he was also somewhat relieved. Fortunately, he hadn't rushed to call his good friend Sa Beining to pull strings. People who study law are very serious, and Sa Beining is smart. He might not care now, but what would he do if the Avenue of Stars really launched a year later?

Zhuang Huai'an thought for a moment and decided that it was better to rely on himself than to owe favors. He decided to bring out the adapted version of "Underwater", which was perfect for the theme song of "Detachment". He was just worried that if Phoenix Legend sang those corny and cheesy songs after singing this song, would they be criticized?

What's there to be afraid of!

Anyway, those corny, upbeat songs are attributed to Zhang Wei, and there are hundreds of thousands of Zhang Weis across the country. What does that have to do with my novel "Under the Sea" written by Zhuang Huai'an?

Zhuang Huai'an took out two blank musical scores from the drawer, spent ten minutes filling in the lyrics and music sections, and then called over Phoenix Legend.

"You guys should really think about this song. If you sing it well, I'll put it in my new movie as the theme song."

Linghua and Zeng Yi were both stunned by this unexpected windfall.

"Old Zeng, you have production experience, so I'll entrust this song to you. Do you have confidence?"

Faced with the boss's question, Zeng Yi nodded without hesitation, "Boss, I can do it!"

"Okay, go ahead. I've marked the singing style and sections on the sheet music. If you're unsure about anything, come back to me."

"Okay, boss." The two left happily.

Zhuang Huai'an continued to bury himself in piles of documents, while Yang Chen was still in Hollywood hosting work, leaving him to handle the family matters alone.

"The Disguiser" was originally scheduled to air on the last day of June, but Beijing TV felt that the promotion was insufficient, so they planned to put on a special live broadcast program at 8 pm on July 2nd to generate some buzz before premiering it on the evening of the 3rd during prime time.

In order to make a great start for the TV series project of 91 Company, Sun Hao and the three heroes from the vocational college class rushed back to Beijing from Hengdian. Zhuang Huai'an personally led the team to appear on this special program.

The program was hosted by Li Jing, who had just left CCTV to work independently, and Dai Jun, a has-been singer. The two created a program called "Very Close Distance" and it was affiliated with Beijing Arts and Literature Channel.

Inside the studio, everyone sat on either side.

"Director Zhuang, if I remember correctly, this seems to be your first time participating in a mainland variety talk show?" Li Jing, as the main guest, asked first.

"That's true." Zhuang Huai'an nodded. Since his debut, he has only participated in "Today's Talk" and Taiwan's "Variety Big Brother". He has also been on the movie channel a few times, but these were all to share behind-the-scenes stories of film creation, not to be considered an exclusive interview.

Dai Jun smiled and said, "We are honored to be the first program to interview you."

"Yes, our show has become a success." Li Jing echoed him.

Perhaps the leaders of Beijing TV had spoken to the two of them, or perhaps it was due to Zhuang Huai'an's rising status, but there were no sharp questions during the entire program. Instead, when interviewing the cast and crew of "The Disguiser," some interesting anecdotes about Zhuang Huai'an's new movie and the 6th anniversary comeback party were interspersed.

Tsk, Huang Bo's classic saying is still going strong: "When you succeed, everyone around you will be a good person."

The episode ended smoothly amidst mutual compliments.

That evening, Zhuang Huai'an also hosted a dinner party. In addition to some leaders from Beijing TV, Li Jing and Dai Jun were also present, which made the two of them quite flattered. After all, they were just hosts. They might have a high level of public recognition, but in front of the real big shots, they were nothing.

Early in the morning of July 4th,

Chung Lai-Fang brought two pieces of good news: the premiere ratings of "The Disguiser" exceeded 4, and "Gone Girl" officially ended its run, with box office revenue exceeding 1.3 million RMB, securing its place as the box office champion of 03 in advance!

What else is there to say!

Zhuang Huai'an waved his hand and said, "Let's start the victory celebration!"

"We need to have a celebration banquet, and we can't forget about the bonuses."

He wasn't the kind of boss who only made empty promises; rather than arranging for his employees to eat and drink, he preferred to provide something more tangible.

"Lifang, please take note of this. I'm making the following arrangements."

Zhong Lifang quickly pulled out her notebook and looked at the boss.

"The celebration banquet is scheduled for the night after tomorrow. Everyone in the company will be there, and one or two family members are allowed to bring. The venue is the Congress Hotel."

Zhuang Huai'an lit a cigarette and pondered, "This is our 91 Company's first celebration banquet. The scene should be grand and the atmosphere should be impressive to match our successful start."

Invitations were sent to the media, film and television companies, and friends of our artists. I personally called Han Sanping and the Beijing Film Academy to invite them.

After a moment's thought, he continued, "Notify the finance department to distribute the bonuses to all company employees. I will absolutely not keep this honor to myself!"

Previously, he set a welfare policy for 91 Company: if a company's movie or TV series became a hit, the staff involved in the production would receive a bonus of 1 yuan per person based on their position, and those who did not participate would also receive a month's salary as a direct reward. Actors who participated would receive an additional bonus.

This benefit energized the employees, who were determined to be loyal to 91 Company.

"I understand, boss."

Seeing that Zhuang Huai'an did not continue, Zhong Lifang closed her notebook and left the office.

Soon after, a burst of excited cheers erupted from below.

Interspersed among them were a few phrases like "Long live Director Zhuang".

Zhuang Huai'an smiled knowingly, took out his phone and started making calls to call for help.

With such a large event, it would be a shame not to cause some trouble.