Chapter 455 Recording Begins (7,000 words update!)
"How could this be?" Lu Yanhe was somewhat surprised.
Chen Siqi said, "Of course, it has nothing to do with her. It's just a coincidence, so people call her a jinx. In reality, although her directorial works haven't been particularly high-grossing or very profitable, they haven't lost money either. But now companies are hesitant to work with her. People in this industry are somewhat superstitious. A director like her, whose collaborations always seem to lead to the company's failure, is a huge obstacle if she can't bring them significant financial benefits."
Lu Yanhe nodded in understanding.
"As for why she didn't approach Ruyi Pictures to discuss a sequel, or whether Ruyi Pictures rejected her, there's been no news about it online."
We still need to talk to Chen Ziyan about this.
When Chen Ziyan heard about this, her first reaction was: "Could she have deliberately followed you to the movie theater to create a chance encounter?"
Lu Yanhe was a little confused, "Huh?"
Chen Ziyan: "Director Zhou Changying has too many stories like this. In order to get investors to agree to invest, or to persuade an actor to star in her play, she can appear around them everywhere and do everything she can to create chance encounters."
Lu Yanhe was extremely surprised.
Chen Ziyan: "Zhou Changying...it seems she's broken up with Ruyi Pictures again?"
"Break up? Their movie has only just been released," Lu Yanhe said.
Chen Ziyan: "Zhou Changying's personality is a bit difficult to deal with. Basically, no one can work well with her. She is almost obsessive in many ways. You can see this from the movies she has made in the past. Very few people will work with her on a second movie."
Lu Yanhe smiled and said, "It sounds like I don't even need to think about it; I can just reject her directly."
Chen Ziyan: "If you need my advice, I would certainly advise you not to agree to this investment. The movie 'Behind the Golden Coat' is currently performing only so-so at the box office, with an estimated gross of around 40 million. Of course, the word-of-mouth for the movie is not bad at the moment. Perhaps if the drop in box office revenue is controlled well and the number of screenings is stabilized, the movie can achieve more box office revenue."
Lu Yanhe: "Behind the Golden Robe should still be profitable, right?"
“According to my estimate, it should have made a profit. Although it publicly stated that the production cost was as high as 80 million, it should actually only be between 10 million and 20 million,” Chen Ziyan said. “Exaggerating the production cost in publicity is a very normal publicity tactic.”
Lu Yanhe: "If Zhou Changying wants to make a sequel, Ruyi Pictures shouldn't refuse."
“That’s not necessarily true. I haven’t inquired about other things yet, but I heard that the majority of the investment for the movie ‘Behind the Golden Coat’ wasn’t from Ruyi Pictures’ own funds, but rather raised by Zhou Changying herself.” Chen Ziyan smiled and said, “Actually, she came to me about this movie back then and asked if I would be willing to invest.”
Lu Yanhe said, "Hmm?"
“I rejected her,” Chen Ziyan said. “To be honest, it’s not that I don’t trust her, but cooperating with her might cause all sorts of trouble in the future. She’s too stubborn. Once she’s made up her mind about something, nothing can change it. There’s no use in talking to her. Also, sometimes she’s quite unruly and unprincipled.”
Lu Yanhe nodded.
Unexpectedly, the next evening, Lu Yanhe received a call from Zheng Huai-ren of Aurora Video.
"Hey, Yan He."
Lu Yanhe initially thought Zheng Huai-ren was calling about "My Own Swordsman" or "The Squid Game," but Zheng Huai-ren was actually asking him, "Are you going to invest in the sequel to the movie 'Behind the Golden Robe'?"
"Huh? No, I didn't." Lu Yanhe immediately denied it. "Why would you ask that?"
Zheng Huai-ren said, "Now, when Zhou Changying, the director of the movie 'Behind the Golden Coat,' is raising funds from others, he says that you are very interested in the sequel project and has also agreed to invest in the project."
"Huh?" Lu Yanhe exclaimed in disbelief, "How could this be?"
“I only called you to confirm because I heard rumors and someone came to ask me about this,” Zheng Huai-ren said. “In our industry, there are usually quite a few investors who want to come in, but many people don’t understand these things and are easily fooled. Now Zhou Chang-ying is using you as a name to ask for investment. Although under normal circumstances, no one will be fooled, there’s always a chance that someone will fall for it.”
Lu Yanhe found it unbelievable.
Zhou Changying isn't a new director; he's directed several films. How could he do something like this?
Lu Yanhe: "Thank you for reminding me, otherwise I would still be in the dark."
Zheng Huai-ren: "Although I haven't had much contact with Zhou Changying, I have heard a lot about her. I would like to remind you to try to keep your distance from her and have as little contact as possible."
Lu Yanhe: "Yeah, I've heard about it too. Sigh, you might find this unbelievable. I went to see this movie yesterday and ran into her at the theater. After the movie, she introduced herself as the director and said she was preparing a sequel and wanted me to invest in it. I said I'd think about it. I didn't expect to run into this kind of thing just one day later. I find it strange that she collaborated with Ruyi Pictures on the first movie, so why didn't she approach Ruyi Pictures for the sequel, but instead came to us for investment?"
“Ruyi Pictures definitely doesn’t want to work with her anymore,” Zheng Huai-ren said. “Ruyi Pictures initially partnered with her and invested in this film because it was originally intended to be a patriotic film. Ruyi Pictures was planning to release it during the National Day holiday, but Zhou Changying later changed the script, saying she wanted to downplay the political aspects and make a film that could be shown both domestically and internationally. So she changed the background to a vague struggle between the revolutionary army and warlords. Ruyi Pictures was furious, but because the contract clearly stated that the final editing rights of the film were in Zhou Changying’s hands, Ruyi Pictures couldn’t directly make changes.”
Lu Yanhe was shocked.
He had no idea that there was such a thing behind the movie.
It sounds like Zhou Changying completely screwed over Ruyi Pictures.
"But if Ruyi Pictures wants to make a patriotic film, why would they collaborate with Zhou Changying? Aren't there other directors who could do it?"
“Ruyi Pictures doesn’t have that kind of background. Not just any company can make patriotic films, but Zhou Changying has the resources,” Zheng Huai-ren said.
Lu Yanhe suddenly realized.
He explained that the reason why Ruyi Pictures dared to cooperate with Zhou Changying, who had a notorious reputation for "scamming film companies," was because she had ulterior motives.
Lu Yanhe said, "President Zheng, then please help me explain to your friend, and if anyone else asks you, please explain it to me as well."
Zheng Huai-ren agreed.
-
Lu Yanhe immediately told Chen Ziyan about the contents of Zheng Huai Ren's phone call.
“It’s something Zhou Changying would do.” Chen Ziyan’s tone didn’t sound surprised at all. “She’s the kind of person who would use any means to achieve her goals.”
Lu Yanhe: "What if someone actually believes her and gets tricked into investing in that movie?"
"That has nothing to do with us."
"But isn't Zhou Changying using my name to fool others?"
"Normally, anyone would do what Zheng Huai-ren's friend did: ask around to see if you really invested. If you believe everything Zhou Chang-ying says, then you deserve to be scammed. Consider it a lesson learned. With a mind like that, you shouldn't be in the film investment industry, or you'll lose everything."
Lu Yanhe didn't expect Chen Ziyan to say that.
"Are you trying to remind someone?"
"The main concern is that some people might actually be scammed."
“You can post a Weibo message, but don’t name names. Just say you received a call from a friend asking if you have invested in any other movies, and you say you’re not considering it right now,” Chen Ziyan said. “Your eye for choosing movies is already well-known. In this situation, there must be more than one company like Zhou Changying doing this. It’s a good thing that you’re posting this statement.”
Seeing that Chen Ziyan agreed, Lu Yanhe immediately edited the message and sent it out.
Unexpectedly, Xiao Yun called less than ten minutes after he sent the message.
"Yan He, are you talking about that director named Zhou Changying?"
"Huh?" Lu Yanhe was taken aback.
“She called me this afternoon,” Xiao Yun said. “She also asked me if I would be willing to invest in her new movie. I had met her once before and was in talks for a role, but of course, it didn’t work out. We just exchanged contact information.”
Lu Yanhe asked, "Did she tell you that I would also invest?"
“She didn’t say that to me, but she told me a lot about how difficult it was for her to make this film, and that she was bullied by the people at Ruyi Pictures. Even though the film ‘Behind the Golden Coat’ was profitable, they still cut her bonus. So, she decided to make the sequel herself,” Xiao Yun said. “I’m still hesitating about whether to help invest.”
Lu Yanhe hesitated for a moment and said, "Investing in movies is very risky. I suggest you learn more about her past experiences before making a decision."
Xiao Yun: "I only realized something was wrong after seeing your Weibo post."
Lu Yanhe said, "I clearly did not agree to invest in her, but she told others that I was going to invest in her, using me as a front to deceive others, which makes me unhappy."
“She probably knows I know you, so she wouldn’t dare to fool me like that,” Xiao Yun said. “If she dared to say that to me, I would have called you and found out what was going on. She’s probably just using this to fool some people outside the circle. Even if they wanted to contact you, they wouldn’t be able to get in touch with you and wouldn’t be able to verify the truth.”
Lu Yanhe: "Sigh."
Xiao Yun: "Okay, I understand what you mean. See you on the show later."
"good."
-
On the day of filming the first episode of the fourth season of "The Days of Youth", Lu Yanhe came to the city of Zhaota.
Zhaota is a coastal city in the south.
In August, it would be better to find a relatively cool place to film, so the production team chose this location.
Although this is in the south, the climate is quite comfortable because it is a coastal area.
Lu Yanhe hasn't seen everyone for a long time, and he's quite excited to be able to meet them again this time.
The original plan was for everyone to get together the night before the recording.
However, many people can only get to the hotel in the early hours of the morning or late at night, which doesn't fit their schedule, so they have to give up.
When it came time for the official recording, everyone was finally all together and they met each other.
Although we hadn't seen each other for a long time, the familiar feeling was still there when we got together again. This was mainly because we chatted a lot online and kept in touch.
The recording of the program began in the car.
Lu Yanhe was the third person to come out of the hotel and get on the bus.
Before him, there were only Peng Zhixing and Yan Liang.
"Brother Zhixing!" Lu Yanhe greeted Peng Zhixing as soon as he got into the car.
Peng Zhixing hosted the domestic premiere of almost every film by Lu Yanhe.
Including "Lost in Thailand," because Lu Yanhe didn't have time to participate in the promotional activities, he called many friends and asked them to help out. Among them, Peng Zhixing was responsible for hosting three special screenings, which was very helpful. Moreover, the "Lost in Thailand" crew also appeared on Peng Zhixing's talk show for promotion.
As soon as Peng Zhixing saw him, he immediately smiled and congratulated him, saying, "Congratulations! Your new film has been shortlisted for the Venice International Film Festival. It's 'Road to Glory,' right?"
Lu Yanhe nodded and said, "Yes."
Peng Zhixing had of course already offered his congratulations, but he was deliberately mentioning the movie and the matter in front of the camera as a form of publicity.
Lu Yanhe understood his intention.
"I just asked Yan Liang if you suffered a lot while filming this movie. I heard that your movie was filmed entirely on location, and many scenes were filmed in very remote and inconvenient places."
"Actually, it wasn't that bad, but compared to filming other movies, the conditions were a bit tougher when shooting this one," Lu Yanhe laughed. "But you're asking the wrong question about Yan Liang."
"Huh?" Peng Zhixing asked, puzzled, "What's wrong?"
Lu Yanhe said, "He just came back from the deep forests of Southeast Asia a few months ago. Compared to the movie he filmed, I can say that I was enjoying myself while filming 'The Road to Glory'."
Peng Zhixing looked at Yan Liang in surprise.
"He never told me anything about it."
Yan Liang smiled and waved his hand, saying, "Be careful when playing the victim now, it's easy to backfire. I'll stop here."
"What do you mean by 'be careful when playing the victim'?" Xiao Yun, who was always carefree, got into the car.
She was wearing a baseball cap and dressed in a youthful and attractive style, like a girl who had just stepped out of a school campus.
Of course, she herself is about that age.
"Oh, you're not wearing makeup today?" Peng Zhixing asked, somewhat surprised.
Xiao Yun immediately said proudly, "Of course I wore makeup for today's recording, but I specifically did a no-makeup look. Isn't it beautiful?"
She struck a pose in the narrow aisle, showing off her beautiful figure.
The three boys who knew her well immediately clicked their tongues in unison.
Xiao Yun gave a soft snort.
After Xiao Yun sat down, he looked at Lu Yanhe and said, "I'm so glad to finally see you. You've been so busy. You arranged for us to do a script reading for 'My Own Swordsman' in July. I thought I would see you, but you haven't shown up yet."
Xiao Yun played Guo Furong in "My Own Swordsman".
In July, Aurora Video organized a script reading for the actors, with director Bai Jingnian leading everyone through the script and discussing the characters and plot.
“I was filming ‘Love Letter’ at that time,” Lu Yanhe said. “I couldn’t even attend the promotion and domestic premiere of the movie ‘Lost in Thailand’.”
Xiao Yun: "You're such a busy person. Never mind, it's good that you're busy. Write more scripts and give me more roles to play."
"Have some conscience. The doctor said I was under too much pressure and was a bit anxious. My agent immediately turned down a lot of my work. Now I've finished filming 'Love Letter' and am resting," Lu Yanhe said.
Upon hearing this, Xiao Yun immediately asked, "How are you now? How are you mentally?"
"There's no need to look at me like I'm about to turn into a mental patient," Lu Yanhe said speechlessly. "I was just under a lot of pressure because it was my first time directing, but I've adjusted and I'm fine now."
Xiao Yun smiled again and said, "That's good."
At this moment, Li Zhibai and Liu Zhiyin came up one after the other.
Li Zhibai was still yawning.
Liu Zhiyin complained from behind, "How many times have you yawned along the way?"
Li Zhibai said, "I only arrived at the hotel at 2 a.m. yesterday and only slept for five hours."
Liu Zhiyin said, "I arrived at 3 a.m. yesterday and had to get up at 6 a.m. this morning to do my hair and makeup. I only slept for three hours."
Li Zhibai: "..."
Li Zhibai turned around and glanced at Liu Zhiyin.
The latter looked energetic and full of vitality, showing no signs of fatigue.
"Did you give yourself a pep talk before you left home?" Li Zhi asked.
Yoo Ji-eun: "I'm so excited about recording a show with everyone again that I don't feel sleepy at all!"
Li Zhibai rolled his eyes. "It's too stressful to film a show with you."
The show "The Days of Youth" has featured too many of these kinds of everyday interactions.
They teased each other, joked around, and laughed.
Qin Zhibai, Song Linxin, and Su Xiao were the last to get on the bus.
All nine people are now present.
The carriage immediately erupted into a frenzy, with everyone having endless things to say.
It's already the fourth season, the sense of unfamiliarity has long been eliminated, and everyone is familiar with each other. It's also a long-awaited reunion, so this warmth is just about to ignite.
Li Zhenzhen shouted "Quiet down!" three times through a megaphone, but was ignored each time.
In the end, Li Zhenzhen had no choice but to walk up to each of them with a megaphone and ask them to quiet down for a while.
Once the carriage finally quieted down, Li Zhenzhen returned to her seat, sighed sincerely, and said, "Welcome back to Season 4 of 'The Days of Youth'."
As soon as she finished speaking, Li Zhibai was the first to lead the applause and cheers: "Oh oh oh oh oh—"
A celebratory sound like a rooster crowing.
"I'm so glad that our group has come all the way from the first season to the fourth season. Some people were absent briefly due to work conflicts, but I'm very proud to announce that no one has ever left our show!"
Li Zhibai immediately chimed in: "That's not right. Meng Li got off the bus in the first episode of the first season."
Li Zhenzhen: "..."
Lu Yanhe noticed that Li Zhenzhen's hand holding the megaphone tightened a bit, as if she was about to lose control and take action.
Li Zhibai immediately grinned shamelessly: "I was just joking to lighten the mood, cut it out, cut it out."
Yan Liang reached out and covered Li Zhibai's mouth with one hand.
"Director, please continue. I promise I'll make sure Li Zhibai can't say another word."
The others laughed.
Li Zhenzhen then continued, "In the past three years, everyone has changed a lot. When the first season was filmed, some of you had just debuted, some had just entered university, and some had just returned from abroad. Three years have passed, and everyone has made outstanding achievements in their respective fields. I am honored that this program has recorded a segment of each of you from each year. I hope that our program can continue for a long time and become a once-in-a-lifetime event for us."
Liu Zhiyin enthusiastically made a heart shape with her hands and said, "You can definitely do it!"
Xiao Yun nodded, "That's right, it definitely can!"
"From the very first episode, we've retained many of the previous segments this season, but we've also added new ones. Of course, regardless of the segment, the purpose of our show remains the same: to observe young people living together and their interpersonal relationships," Li Zhenzhen said with a smile. "Please continue to be your true selves on the show. Whether you're arguing or hugging, whether you're having a cold war or falling in love, please trust us. We will do our best to protect you and present your most authentic interactions."
Everyone applauded.
Why are they willing to keep recording this show? One reason is that they have a good relationship with each other. Another important reason is that the production team has always protected them, allowing them to further benefit their acting careers with each appearance on the show.
For Lu Yanhe, this is practically the only place his fans can learn about the real side of his life. He rarely participates in other programs and seldom shares his personal life online. His public image is almost entirely constructed from film, television, and media reports.
In this show, viewers can see Lu Yanhe's quirky and silly side as a young man. They can see that he can also criticize others, be lazy, and have flaws.
After Li Zhenzhen, representing the production team, expressed what she wanted to say to everyone, the recording of the first episode began.
She began by introducing the guests for the first episode.
"Our guests for this episode, Yan He and Yan Liang, are very familiar with each other."
Everyone knew, of course, that the actors from "Friends" were coming, but they still had to pretend to be surprised and confused in front of the cameras.
Why are Yan He and Yan Liang so familiar with each other?
"Are they mutual friends?"
"Could it be a member of the Fengzhi group?"
Everyone started discussing it animatedly.
Lu Yanhe and Yan Liang also looked at the car door with puzzled but expectant expressions.
Who is it?
When Zhan Yun, Wen Minglan, Bai Jin, and Yin Xincheng appeared, Xiao Yun and the others looked shocked, as if to say, "How is this possible?"
Peng Zhixing said incredulously, "Is it really them?"
"The cast of 'Friends' appeared together on our show for the first time?" Xiao Yun asked.
Song Linxin covered her mouth.
"In my lifetime."
Looking at everyone's reactions, Lu Yanhe felt that the performance was too exaggerated.
They've appeared together before; they shared the stage once last year at the graduation party for Aurora Video.
However, after recalling this incident, Lu Yanhe immediately realized—
Ah, it's been a year since the last time the Friends were on screen together.
It's been quite a long time.
In the case of a hit show like Friends, the main actors would normally appear together on screen under the arrangement of various capital and production teams.
After all, every time they appear together, it generates a huge amount of traffic, which can be converted into extremely high commercial value.
However, due to Lu Yanhe's conflict with Beijing TV, he missed all promotional events related to Beijing TV before the show aired.
After the show aired, Lu Yanhe announced that he would not appear in any sequels of "Friends," which made the situation even more serious.
Due to various pressures, they did not appear together for a long time.
The situation changed after Lu Yanhe reached a "reconciliation" with Beijing and Taiwan.
Last year's graduation party was the first time we appeared together; this is the second time.
The second season finished airing a long time ago, and the third season is about to start filming.
However, at this point, in the public's mind, the sixth person in Friends will always be Lu Yanhe, not Chen Ziliang, and certainly not anyone else.
Li Zhenzhen must have put in a lot of effort to make the first variety show appearance of the "Friends" cast on "The Days of Youth".
Lu Yanhe could almost imagine the huge reaction from Friends’ massive fanbase when this episode aired.
Once everyone had assembled, Li Zhenzhen began announcing the main tasks for the day.
Everyone will be required to perform their duties as hotel staff at the hotel where they checked in yesterday, and will be judged by a panel of hotel personnel.
As usual, we'll be divided into five groups of three. The group with the higher score will have priority in choosing rooms for the night, while the group with the lower score will have to choose last. Where the rooms will be this season, and what the situation will be like, is still unknown. Therefore, we can only try our best to get a higher score in our group to have more control later on.
Lu Yanhe drew lots and was placed in a group with Xiao Yun and Liu Zhiyin.
After the draw, everyone followed their assigned cameraman back to their room to change into hotel staff uniforms. Here, they also received their secret mission—a segment suggested by Lu Yanhe—to write down their wishes, submit them to the production team, and then draw someone else's wish and try their best to help fulfill it.
As suggested by the production team, the wish should ideally be related to one's own life and something that others can help fulfill.
Lu Yanhe wrote that his wish was to "start a diary column on the self-media platform 'Jump Up' and write at least one diary entry every month."
After he changed into his uniform and finished his interview, the production team had compiled everyone's wishes and came over with their boxes to knock on the door.
Lu Yanhe drew a wish from the box: "Come be a guest at my concert."
Upon looking at it, he realized that the owner of this wish was either Qin Zhibai or Song Linxin.
They are the only two singers here.
-
My health is still not good; I cough so hard that it feels like I'm barely hanging on.
Everyone, please take precautions.
Unexpectedly, he still tested positive.
(End of this chapter)
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