Chapter 354 Guests Enjoy Themselves
"Sister Ziyan, you don't mean I should pretend that all those things never happened and make peace with them again, do you?" Lu Yanhe asked incredulously, his eyes wide.
Chen Ziyan glared at him with exasperation, "Do you look down on me, or on yourself? If I wanted you to do this, would I have waited until now?"
Lu Yanhe was even more confused.
"Then why are you telling me all this—"
"I just want to explain to you what the biggest problem is between you and Beijing and Taiwan right now, so that we can make plans for the future."
"Hmm, what does that mean?" Lu Yanhe asked.
This was completely beyond his comprehension.
Chen Ziyan asked, "Is there only one deputy director, Director Li, at the Beijing-Taiwan station? Aren't there any higher-ranking directors above him?"
Chen Ziyan's words made Lu Yanhe feel that he understood a little, but he still didn't quite understand.
“When someone from a behemoth attacks you, you have two ways to respond. The first is to make enemies of them all. The second is to turn your enemy’s adversary into a friend and then make him your enemy.” After Chen Ziyan finished speaking, she spread her hands and looked Lu Yanhe straight in the eye. “I think you may really want to wait for an official apology from Beijing and Taiwan. Well, to be honest, you’ll never get one in your lifetime.”
"I also know it's impossible to wait for an official apology from them."
“But you can’t just pretend nothing happened and shake hands with them and make peace,” Chen Ziyan said. “Even if you’re a coward, I can’t let you do that.”
"I'm not that cowardly."
Chen Ziyan laughed, "That's why I said, even if you don't come to me now, I will. It's time for us to make our move."
"Why now? What card should we play?"
"Firstly, because 'The Seventeenth Floor' will be broadcast next month, and you are the male lead, this show can't avoid you no matter what. At other times, they can leave this game, but now they have to play your cards. Secondly, what cards to play depends on what you want to win. Do you want to take money out of their pockets, or do you want to put something they want into their pockets?"
Lu Yanhe felt that he vaguely understood something.
-
That night.
Jiang Lan got out of the car.
Her gray-pink business suit made her look smart and capable.
The secretary in the car asked, "Chief Jiang, would you like me to go in with you?"
Jiang Lan was taken aback; clearly, she hadn't considered this issue before.
She thought for only a second before saying, "No need, you can go back and rest now."
Chen Ziyan arranged this gathering tonight.
Jiang Lan didn't understand her intention either, and came in a hurry.
Upon entering the room, Jiang Lan noticed that Lu Yanhe was also there.
Previously, every time Jiang Lan wanted to invite Lu Yanhe out for dinner, Chen Ziyan stopped her. Over time, Jiang Lan hadn't seen him for a long time.
In the past two days, Lu Yanhe has once again become the most talked-about person in the entire entertainment industry thanks to the live broadcast of "Idol Era". In particular, he single-handedly created a stage called "Green Apple Paradise", which broke through the circle and became popular, sweeping across everyone's social networks.
This left people in Beijing and Taiwan with mixed feelings.
Nobody wants to mess with someone who's at the peak of their career—it's just asking for trouble.
To outsiders, Beijing and Taiwan are a behemoth.
However, those within the Beijing-Taiwan border region are also human beings, with their own jobs and tasks.
And as long as you work in this industry, everything revolves around the needs of the audience.
If the audience likes Lu Yanhe and wants to see Lu Yanhe, then they will try every means to make Lu Yanhe appear in their show.
Jiang Lan is currently promoting "The Seventeenth Floor," but due to her relationship with Beijing-Taiwan and Lu Yanhe, she is facing some obstacles, making it difficult to implement many of her plans.
It wasn't that Lu Yanhe was uncooperative, but based on their previous relationship, Beijing and Taiwan were afraid that Lu Yanhe would say something unfriendly to them, which would make the situation even worse.
Therefore, Lu Yanhe's current promotion of "The Seventeenth Floor" is just a series of contractually required actions, and does not reflect how close his relationship with Beijing TV is. In addition, Lu Yanhe has rarely appeared in the supporting promotional arrangements made by Beijing TV for this drama, far less than other actors.
Simply put, there was no groundbreaking, groundbreaking action.
Chen Ziyan greeted Jiang Lan with a smile, and after she sat down, she said, "Mr. Jiang, please have a seat."
Jiang Lan didn't sit down, but walked up to Lu Yanhe, grabbed his shoulders with both hands with a look of surprise, and said, "Yanhe, it's been a while since we last met. This time, you brought us a truly amazing surprise on 'Idol Era'."
Lu Yanhe: "You flatter me."
"No, not at all," Jiang Lan said. "Our drama 'The Seventeenth Floor' is about to air, and you should have finished your final exams by now, right? I really wanted to ask you if you could give us a little more time to promote the drama."
Lu Yanhe looked at Chen Ziyan and smiled, "Director Jiang, Sister Ziyan brought us here today to talk about this. We're on the same page."
Jiang Lan looked surprised.
This was an answer she hadn't expected.
-
"Let the 'Seventeen Floors' crew appear on screen with the 'Friends' crew at the graduation party?" Jiang Lan looked at them in surprise, not quite understanding at first.
Chen Ziyan nodded, "Yes, you must have heard about the fact that Friends will be appearing together at the graduation party. This is bound to attract a lot of attention. We should keep the good stuff in the family. If we can bring this kind of buzz to 'The Seventeenth Floor,' why not? You agree, right?"
Lu Yanhe nodded and said, "Moreover, both of these dramas are broadcast on Beijing TV and I star in both of them. The main cast and crew of two highly anticipated dramas appearing on the same stage will definitely generate a lot of buzz, right? That's what I think."
-
Six hours ago, Chen Ziyan said to Lu Yanhe: "If you only consider Director Li as your enemy, then Director Jiang is someone you can win over. When your target is no longer the Beijing-Taiwan Railway, but Director Li within the Beijing-Taiwan Railway, then the Beijing-Taiwan Railway will change from your adversary to your battlefield."
Lu Yanhe asked, "Then what should I do?"
"Why did Beijing TV have Chen Ziliang join the 'Friends' graduation party? Because they didn't want to see the first time the six of you from the first season appeared together, which was organized by you and had nothing to do with Beijing TV. So, by putting Chen Ziliang, who joined in the second season, they could create the illusion that the change of actors between the first and second seasons was normal, and that this appearance together was not solely your achievement, and that 'Friends' was not something you could control."
After analyzing the situation, Chen Ziyan directly addressed the solution she had proposed: "We wouldn't even consider having Chen Ziliang join the cast. Leaving aside the issues with the second season, he's had a public conflict with you. So let's come up with an alternative that allows Beijing TV to achieve their goals. 'The Seventeen Floors' is about to air, so let Beijing TV arrange for the main cast of 'The Seventeen Floors' to appear on stage with the cast of 'Friends.' This would both promote 'The Seventeen Floors,' and both shows are produced by Beijing TV. Compared to Chen Ziliang, the higher-ups at Beijing TV know which is more important. So, can they really resist this card we've played?"
She laughed again, "In this way, we not only avoided the conflict of the Friends sequel, but also took the initiative to extend an olive branch to Beijing and Taiwan. The Seventeen Floors is a project of Chiang Kai-shek."
-
Chen Ziyan sighed softly, looked at Jiang Lan, and said, "We actually know that the unpleasantness between us before was mainly due to Director Li's problem. From Yan He's perspective, you can definitely understand. With so many people speaking up for him, he had to give an attitude. But you know that Yan He is always kind to people. And our cooperation on the 'Seventeen Floors' project has been so pleasant, right?"
Jiang Lan smiled knowingly and said, "That's right, why let one person's problem affect all of us?"
She picked up her teacup and said, "Come on, let's clink glasses."
Lu Yanhe and Chen Ziyan raised their glasses.
“I’ve always told the people at our station that it’s normal for Yan He to be angry. Who wouldn’t be angry if something like this happened to them?” Jiang Lan sighed. “However, you must understand our difficulties. Our kind of unit has these kinds of problems. Even if it’s just one person’s fault, he still represents Beijing TV. There are some things that we can’t give you a clear explanation of right and wrong on the surface. We can only say that we can make up for it in other ways.”
“Some things are pointless to compensate for. After all, you weren’t the ones who caused the problem, right? Why would we accept compensation from the person who actually caused the problem? It would make it seem like we don’t care about what they did,” Chen Ziyan said. “Let’s keep things separate. Yan He has always told me that you took good care of him when he was filming ‘The Seventeen Floors.’ If someone bullies Yan He to the point of being arrogant, and you just make a show of compensation and then forgive him, then what’s the point of repaying kindness with kindness if you repay evil with kindness?”
Lu Yanhe raised his glass and said to Jiang Lanjing, "Director Jiang, no matter what, the reason I enjoyed filming 'The Seventeenth Floor' so much is because of your help. I'd like to toast you."
-
Before coming, Chen Ziyan gave Lu Yanhe a second piece of advice.
"We must make our stance clear: we will never forgive those who are unforgivable. This is not a matter of whether we forgive or not; we are in a position to be respected, and we cannot easily abandon our principles. This is a matter of principle that we cannot simply discard."
“However, let’s keep things separate. Letting Jiang Lan know our intentions is also a way to convey our message to the higher-ups in Beijing and Taiwan through her,” Chen Ziyan said. “I don’t believe that the higher-ups in Beijing and Taiwan are a monolithic group. That guy surnamed Li has caused so much trouble, Jiang Lan must be annoyed with him at least. Let’s start with Jiang Lan, stir things up, and then slowly take them down one by one.”
"Don't turn people who could have been our comrades into our enemies."
-
The dinner was a pleasure for both the host and guests.
Before leaving, Jiang Lan said, "I will coordinate the graduation party on 'The Seventeenth Floor.' You are right, we should keep the good stuff in the family. Why should some newcomers who are not experienced in the field benefit from such a good thing?"
Chen Ziyan personally saw Jiang Lan off to her car.
Lu Yanhe only saw her off to the door, and then waited for Chen Ziyan to return to the room.
About ten minutes later, Chen Ziyan returned and gave him a knowing look.
"Alright, we've played our first card. Now it's up to Beijing and Taiwan to respond." Chen Ziyan smiled.
Lu Yanhe breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Sister Ziyan, I've learned a lot from you today."
Chen Ziyan smiled.
"But why didn't you tell me when I first broke up with them?"
"First, when you first break up with Beijing and Taiwan, you have to show your attitude. Otherwise, if you are at a disadvantage from the start, they will only escalate their actions. If they feel that these actions have not made you turn against them, then they will do something even worse."
"Secondly, the timing is wrong. Only by letting them cool off for a while and then sending out such a signal will they take it seriously."
Lu Yanhe suddenly realized and looked at Chen Ziyan in surprise.
The admiration in his eyes deepened.
Chen Ziyan patted his shoulder, "Don't idolize me too much, I'm already a legend."
Lu Yanhe: "...Sister Ziyan, this isn't like you. Why are you suddenly acting like Li Zhi?"
Chen Ziyan laughed.
-
Two days later, Chen Ziliang suddenly received a notification from his agent Yan Wei that he didn't need to participate in the graduation party.
He looked puzzled and asked, "Why don't we need to participate? Are Lu Yanhe and the others not going on stage?"
Yan Wei sighed and said, "Beijing TV decided to have the main cast of 'The Seventeenth Floor' appear on the same stage as 'Friends' to help promote 'The Seventeenth Floor.' At this time, promoting the sequel to 'Friends' would steal the limelight from 'The Seventeenth Floor,' so they removed you from the cast."
Upon hearing this, Chen Ziliang was incredulous and furious: "Stealing the limelight? What nonsense are you spouting?"
"Anyway, that's the information I received from Beijing TV," Yan Wei said. "There's not much we can say right now. Beijing TV has already put in a lot of effort to let us act in the sequel to Friends. At this point, it's not appropriate for me to use this as a pretext to negotiate with them."
Chen Ziliang asked, "Brother Yan, do you think Lu Yanhe was behind this?"
Yan Wei: "Even if it was Lu Yanhe who pushed it, it's normal. He didn't reach an agreement with Beijing TV on the sequel to Friends, so it's normal that he didn't want you to appear in the same frame as Friends. It would be abnormal if he did."
"Wasn't it said at the time that Beijing and Taiwan would absolutely not allow the six of them to appear together in a photo without permission?"
"There's a mastermind behind this," Yan Wei sighed.
-
Jiang Lan only took three days to arrange for the main cast and crew of "The Seventeen Floors" to appear on the same stage as the main cast and crew of "Friends".
Just as Chen Ziyan said, as long as Jingtai avoids making people feel that Lu Yanhe's behavior is provoking them, or has such suspicions, Jingtai will not refuse Lu Yanhe under the current circumstances.
At the same time, Jiang Lan extended a new olive branch to Lu Yanhe.
“I don’t have time to take on new projects now, do I?” Lu Yanhe said to Chen Ziyan.
He didn't expect that Jiang Lan would send Lu Yanhe a new project.
Chen Ziyan said, "There's no need to accept it. It's just a gesture, representing that Beijing TV has taken the initiative to send you a script again. We just need to cooperate with the performance."
Just as Chen Ziyan said, within a day, many marketing accounts started spreading rumors that after the controversy surrounding "Friends," Beijing TV still hoped to continue its cooperative relationship with Lu Yanhe. Director Jiang Lan, who became acquainted with Lu Yanhe through "The Seventeenth Floor," personally negotiated with Lu Yanhe and his agent several times, and finally reached a new cooperation agreement.
At this time, Chen Ziyan attended a commercial event and accepted an interview with the media. When talking about Lu Yanhe's cooperation with Beijing TV, she said with a smile: "We have always had a very good cooperative relationship with Beijing TV. If we had really fallen out as many people say, we would not have cooperated with the promotion of the drama 'Seventeen Floors' in an orderly manner. Didn't Yanhe sing the theme song of 'Seventeen Floors' on 'Idol Era' not long ago?"
The reporter was greatly disappointed and asked, "Yan He was adamant about leaving 'Friends,' is he going back on his word?"
"Who said I was going to break my promise?" Chen Ziyan retorted.
"Didn't you just say that your cooperative relationship with Beijing and Taiwan has always been very good?"
“Our cooperative relationship with Beijing and Taiwan has always been very good because we have station leaders like Director Jiang Lan who are responsible and cherish talented young people. But ‘Friends’ is not Director Jiang’s project.” Chen Ziyan smiled. “We are very willing to continue our wonderful cooperation with Beijing and Taiwan. It’s just that some people, once bitten, twice shy. Once the relationship is over, it’s over.”
The media reporters were shocked by Chen Ziyan's answer, which was almost called out by name.
Unfortunately, a set of photos quickly followed and were subsequently leaked.
Lu Yanhe, accompanied by Director Jiang Lan, and Shen Tailin, the director of the Beijing-Taiwan station, emerged from a club near Beijing-Taiwan, chatting and laughing.
In every gesture, Lu Yanhe expressed his respect for Shen Tailin.
Shen Tailin also patted Lu Yanhe's shoulder affectionately.
Industry insiders can tell at a glance that this was definitely staged, with people arranged in advance. Otherwise, the actions couldn't have been captured so clearly, and the angle was carefully designed.
But regardless of whether it was staged or not, after this series of news came out, everyone understood one thing: Lu Yanhe and Beijing and Taiwan had reached a reconciliation.
Then, on the night of the graduation party, host Peng Zhixing was in charge of managing the event. The main cast and crew of the two dramas, "Friends" and "The Seventeenth Floor," took turns on stage to sing, play games, and answer the host's questions, creating a lively atmosphere that lasted for nearly half an hour.
Holding the microphone, Lu Yanhe said, "Friends is a wonderful production team. I promised back then that we in Friends would reunite in another form and appear on the same screen again. Fortunately, I kept that promise and didn't make everyone wait too long. I also promise everyone that this will definitely not be the last time we appear on the same screen. Friends is Friends."
That evening, following Lu Yanhe's words, another rumor began to circulate.
Beijing and Taiwan intend to entrust the production of "Friends" to Jiang Lan.
Some media outlets have published articles stating: "Chen Ziliang's participation in the Friends sequel brings further changes! Lu Yanhe may return to Friends?!"
Suddenly, all sorts of rumors were flying around.
Countless media outlets have come to verify the information with Lu Yanhe and Chen Ziyan.
Chen Ziyan responded to the media: "Yan He has said that he will not participate in the sequel of 'Friends' again, but he is very happy to see that the show seems to be coming to a leader who is more suitable to run it."
"Our current focus is on 'The Seventeenth Floor,' so please help promote it! Thank you!"
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
