Lu Qingzhen picked up the coffee cup, took a sip, curled up the corners of her mouth, and said with a smile: "Lu Yanhe now completely trusts you."
Chen Ziyan sighed, "Although I had expected this to happen, I still feel helpless."
"Ah? Helpless? Are you crazy?" Lu Qingzhen showed an incredible expression. Sometimes, she really didn't understand what Chen Ziyan was thinking.
Chen Ziyan said, "You know I've always been reluctant to get too deeply tied to the interests of the artists I manage, lest it become difficult to untie them later."
"Maybe no one understands why you always part ways with the artists you have personally brought up," said Lu Qingzhen.
Chen Ziyan: "They've grown to the point where they no longer need me, so why should I be tied to them? In fact, at their level, my role as an agent is no longer very significant. You know, in the current situation in our domestic entertainment industry, the top stars don't actually need agents."
Lu Qingzhen: "You are too absolute and too pessimistic about the role of agents."
"I'm just stating a fact." Chen Ziyan said.
Lu Qingzhen sighed, "You know very well that if you are willing, they will all be willing to let you become a partner."
Chen Ziyan looked at Lu Qingzhen and said, "You know very well that the thing I lack the most is money."
Lu Qingzhen: "...Oh, yes, I always tend to forget this."
She paused, looked at Chen Ziyan again, and asked, "So what are you going to do? You've already agreed to start a film production company with Lu Yanhe."
"This is nothing. We just need an organization like this as the production company to facilitate the signing of contracts. Apart from Lu Yanhe and I, there won't be anyone else in this company in the short term." Chen Ziyan said bluntly, "We don't really plan to start a film production company."
Lu Qingzhen nodded.
"Zi Yan, according to what you said, since Lu Yanhe is so talented, can you rely entirely on yourselves in the future? Write, direct and act in your own films." Lu Qingzhen said with a smile.
"That's not entirely impossible, but Lu Yanhe has a major shortcoming." Chen Ziyan sighed. "His personality is too black and white. Friends are friends, enemies are enemies, likes are likes, dislikes are dislikes. In comparison, his girlfriend, Chen Siqi, is more mature. If he still has this personality after graduation, he's bound to be deceived, betrayed, and even framed."
"With you keeping an eye on him, I don't think this will be a problem." Lu Qingzhen smiled. "Do you know how you sometimes give me the impression of being your artist's mother? No matter what your artist does, you handle it all by yourself, without any help from others. Maybe you're the only one who can manage your child."
Chen Ziyan: "I was born with this personality."
Lu Qingzhen asked, "If you decide to bring Jia Long in to make this film, who are you going to look for as the director? Do you have a target candidate?"
Chen Ziyan said: "Jia Long said he would go and select some candidates, and then come back to discuss with us if he finds someone he likes."
"Many actors now direct and act in their own films, especially comedians. Why doesn't Jia Long give it a try?" Lu Qingzhen asked. "Doesn't he already have his own comedy production company?"
When Chen Ziyan heard what Lu Qingzhen said, she looked at her in surprise at first, and then thought that this idea seemed not bad.
But if Jia Long were to be the director, the film's production would seem to take even longer, which would be much slower than finding another director to shoot the film. Experience can determine too many things, and for an inexperienced new director, many things would require twice as much time to complete.
Lu Qingzhen: "But no matter what, I think Lu Yanhe will be among the top young actors in mainland China within a few years."
"It depends on his luck. To be considered a top star, he needs to have at least one or two hit male lead roles. Only then can he be considered a true top star." Chen Ziyan suddenly remembered something and said with a curled mouth, "Don't be like some top stars who are just empty-headed and still dare to brag about being the new generation's rising star."
Lu Qingzhen understood who Chen Ziyan was talking about almost instantly.
"Are you talking about Li Yuefeng?"
Li Yuefeng is a newcomer who emerged three years ago. He became famous last year for playing the second male lead. At the end of the year, an ancient costume drama he starred in became the most popular drama at the time. He was in the limelight for a while. In February of this year, a modern campus-themed drama was broadcast, which was a hot topic. He also won many big-name cooperations because of this and several small-time popular dramas. Then, a week ago, the argument appeared on the Internet that "Lu Yanhe may be popular, but Li Yuefeng is the real newcomer with achievements". Some people said that Lu Yanhe was popular, but his popularity was too mixed. Sometimes he became popular because of magazines, sometimes because of film and television dramas, and sometimes because of his academic tyrant persona. Unlike Li Yuefeng, he was diligent in doing his acting job.
Chen Ziyan rolled her eyes.
But Li Yuefeng was just like that. Chen Ziyan didn't want to do anything about this argument, so as to avoid it getting bigger and bigger, and really linking Li Yuefeng and Lu Yanhe together.
"How shameless! He's already 26 or 27 years old, yet he's still comparing himself with a 19-year-old." Lu Qingzhen said incisively.
Twenty-six or twenty-seven is not considered old, but compared to nineteen, it is much older.
"I heard that Li Yuefeng is in talks to play the second male lead in 'True Crossroads', did you know?" Lu Qingzhen asked Chen Ziyan.
-
"Actually, Xiao Lu is quite suitable for the second male lead in 'True Crossroads,'" He Heng said to Jiang Yuqian, "but I think his schedule is too tight. I heard that he has a male lead role in a drama and two movies coming up, and he has signed contracts for both."
Jiang Yuqian nodded and asked, "What's the matter with two movies? Isn't there only one movie?"
He Heng said: "The script for another one is still being written. It hasn't come out yet, but the letter of intent has already been signed."
"What kind of movie?"
"They're all art films," He Heng said. "Only Xiao Lu can take them at this stage. Once he becomes more famous and starts to carry the show, Chen Ziyan won't let him take them. Poor box office performances have a huge impact on an actor."
Jiang Yuqian nodded, then thought of something and said, "Can Li Yuefeng get the second male lead?"
"After all, he's had a few hits in a row. If he's willing to play the second male lead, the producers should be happy to hire him."
"Then we have to be careful. He is the type who always pulls others down," said Jiang Yuqian.
He Heng nodded, "I understand."
-
In mid-April, Lu Yanhe received another notice from the crew of "Phoenix Terrace" and went back to reshoot two scenes.
On the way back from the filming, Wang Xiao from the Youth Association called him.
"Teacher Shi Xia is coming to give a lecture here. Yan He, do you want to go with me to pick him up?"
Lu Yanhe's eyes lit up instantly.
Chen Siqi had been trying every possible way to get Shi Xia's new work published in Jump Up. However, Shi Xia, a leading writer in China's pure literature community, had seen a sharp decline in his output in recent years. Not only had he not published a new novel in five years, but he also only produced three or four short stories and essays a year at most. All of this had been scooped up by China's top pure literature magazines, making it impossible for him to get published in commercial literary magazines like Jump Up.
Despite this, Chen Siqi never gave up.
"Since we want to be the top commercial literary magazine, we must invite all the best writers in the category," Chen Siqi said at the time. "Being able to have Teacher Shi Xia's new work debut here is equivalent to opening the door to other writers and teachers. Teacher Shi Xia has such a high status."
At the time, Lu Yanhe even joked, "We can only publish twelve issues of Jump Up a year. Can it accommodate so many writers and works?"
Chen Siqi said: "We can only publish one issue a month now because the content that meets our standards is not sufficient and rich enough. If our manuscripts increase in the future and even twelve issues cannot accommodate them, we can certainly do supplements or even a bimonthly publication. If that still doesn't work, we can even launch a second or third magazine, as long as the content is good enough and people are willing to buy and read it."
Lu Yanhe knew that Chen Siqi had high hopes for "Jump Up", but he didn't expect her hopes to be so high.
He was surprised.
In such an era, can "Jump Up" still develop further while ensuring its own survival?
This question only flashed through Lu Yanhe's mind for a second, and then he gave himself a positive answer.
Don’t think about whether you can do it or not, just try your best to do it.
So, now that there was an opportunity to meet with Teacher Shi Xia, Lu Yanhe immediately agreed.
"Thank you, senior. I'll go. When?" he asked Wang Xiao.
"This Saturday," Wang Xiao said. "The lecture is on Saturday night."
"Okay." Lu Yanhe agreed immediately.
-
When Chen Siqi heard that Shi Xia was going to give a lecture at Zhenhua on Saturday, she immediately bought a ticket to Yuming on Saturday morning.
"I'm coming over. Please help me make an appointment to enter your school." Chen Siqi said.
Lu Yanhe had already guessed Chen Siqi's reaction and responded with a smile.
“Teacher Shi is actually a very kind and interesting person.”
When Lu Yanhe and Wang Xiao went to pick up Teacher Shi Xia on Saturday, he said to Wang Xiao.
Wang Xiao was surprised and asked, "Have you met Teacher Shi?"
"Previously, 'Jump Up' did an episode reviewing Teacher Shi Xia's past works and specifically asked Teacher Shi Xia to write a paragraph of reflections," said Lu Yanhe.
"Thank goodness I invited you," Wang Xiao said. "I didn't expect Teacher Shi Xia to agree to give a lecture at our school this time, even though he's been here a few times. This was a collaboration with a publishing house that wanted to reprint his previous works. He used to give more lectures, but now he rarely does."
"We asked him that question back then, too. After all, he's one of the few major writers whose novels have sold over ten million copies," Lu Yanhe said. "A lot of people like him, especially his rare and popular quotations online. Teacher Shi said at the time that many places had approached him in recent years because of his popularity and fame, not because they were serious literary lectures, which he wasn't bothered to do."
Wang Xiao nodded. "No wonder. When we contacted his publisher about the lecture, they clearly stated that questions must be related to the work. Unrelated questions are not allowed."
The two of them arrived downstairs at Teacher Shi Xia's house.
Today's car was a seven-seater school vehicle arranged through the Youth Association. Shi Xia, accompanied by an editor from a publishing house and one of his assistants, boarded the vehicle.
"Hello, Teacher Shi, do you still remember me?" Lu Yanhe was the first to greet him enthusiastically.
"I remember. It's not like we haven't seen each other for several years. Didn't we just meet?" Shi Xia smiled.
His hair has turned quite a bit greyer.
However, he doesn't look old and is still middle-aged.
Lu Yanhe just exchanged a few pleasantries and then fell silent. He didn't want to be a talkative and noisy person.
Wang Xiao also greeted Shi Xia and then quieted down.
When Lu Yanhe was with Wang Xiao, he rarely kept quiet. This silence made Lu Yanhe a little uncomfortable and unaccustomed to it.
Instead, at this moment, Shi Xia suddenly laughed and teased: "Are you two young people a bit reserved when you see me, so you are both silent?"
Wang Xiao immediately laughed and said, "How about I tell you a stand-up comedy?"
"That's not necessary." Shi Xia smiled and shook her head, "Just don't be restrained. I'm most afraid of others feeling restrained because of me."
"No, I'm a thick-skinned person," Wang Xiao said immediately, "otherwise I wouldn't be doing this job for the Youth Association."
Lu Yanhe smiled brightly, "I was thinking about how to convince you to submit your new work to the magazine 'Jump Up'."
"Are you still thinking about this?" Shi Xia did not avoid the question and joked with a smile.
Lu Yanhe said, "Then all the magazines that publish novels across the country are thinking about this. After all, you are Teacher Shi Xia."
Shi Xia laughed twice, but didn't say anything else.
"Xiao Lu, you should be studying at Zhenhua's College of Arts now, right?" Shi Xia asked.
"Yes." Lu Yanhe nodded.
Shi Xia nodded approvingly and said, "A serious professional training class."
Lu Yanhe said, "I don't dare brag about this outside. I'm too green. My basic skills are poor. After almost every class, I have to go to the library to look up information. Otherwise, I don't know a lot of what the teachers are talking about. Compared to those talented students around me, I'm embarrassed."
"You're too modest. You're truly amazing for having the guts to start a new magazine at this time, and for it to be so successful. We writers are all paying close attention to your magazine," Shi Xia said. "I've read almost every issue, too."
Lu Yanhe immediately said, "If we could have the opportunity to publish Teacher Shi's new work, it would be even more exciting."
"Haha." Shi Xia laughed again, and then stopped talking.
-
Judging from his facial features, many people actually think that Shi Xia has a very simple and honest character.
But those who know Shi Xia well know that his true personality is a bit childish, even a bit like an old naughty boy. He doesn't have the demeanor of a "highly respected" person, let alone put on airs. The "seriousness" often seen in many "old veterans" is rarely seen in him.
However, Shi Xia isn't the kind of "old naughty boy" who hangs out with young people. He doesn't particularly pursue a so-called "youthful" image; instead, he rather coherently rejects the social notion of maturity.
As a writer who has reached the top position in a real sense, he does not view himself as "successful and famous". He still writes and continues to work hard. In the eyes of outsiders, his output has slowed down. In fact, he is not writing less, but he is pursuing higher goals. He will not publish his works easily unless he is satisfied with them.
Shi Xia's manuscripts are extremely valuable in magazine and publishing circles.
Shi Xia has also passed the stage of being impressed by royalties. Even if he is offered a higher royalty, it is just a drop in the ocean compared to the royalties brought by his tens of millions of sales.
In his eyes, Lu Yanhe and Chen Siqi were merely juniors. The sudden emergence of "Jump Up" certainly surprised the magazine industry, but that wasn't enough reason for him to entrust his new work to these two young people.
