Huayu: From charlatan to great entertainer

Chapter 82 Trading
Seeing that he was being direct, Liu Bei stopped hiding his feelings and said, "Director Lu, this is our daughter Ruoyun. She wants to learn some skills from you and stay with your crew for a while."

"If there's a character who can show his face and have an expression, whether it's for a second or a minute, just give him that experience."

Hearing this, Lu Kuan glanced at Zhang Ruoyun who was eating food in small bites. The latter immediately wiped his mouth and sat up straight, but his wandering eyes betrayed his intention of stealing glances at Lu Kuan.

"I'm a director. If your son wants to learn acting, he can just take the entrance exam for the Beijing Film Academy or the Central Academy of Drama in two years. Why would he come to me and ask for advice?"

Lu Kuan refused verbally, but secretly sighed in his heart that this prince of the Beijing circle represented by Fan Xian was actually born in Rome.

In the 2017 "Hurun Original Literature IP Value List", Qidian writer Mao Ni's "Ever Night", "Fighter of the Destiny" and "Joy of Life" were on the list.

Two of these three dramas were divided up by the princes of the Beijing circle, among which Chen Kaige won "Ever Night" for his son Arthur.

Chen Kaige is on the shareholder list of New Classics Group, the producer of this self-produced drama. He also has a long-term director cooperation agreement with New Classics. Penguin's Yuewen Group later acquired New Classics in full.

Sounds a bit confusing, doesn't it? Actually, after all, we're all one family, each carrying our own sedan chair.

Zhang Ruoyun, who took over another "Joy of Life", started acting in TV dramas at the age of 15.

15 years old, sounds familiar, doesn’t it? It seems like the same starting point as our Xiao Liu, but actually...

The TV series he starred in when he was 15 years old was called "The Oath of the Sea". His father was the screenwriter, the producer was Wu Xiubo, and the starring actors were Chen Xiaodong, Li Binbin and Gao Yuanyuan.

It is worth mentioning that Wu Xiubo, who was later banned, and Zhang Ruoyun’s stepmother Liu Bei were both children from the Diplomatic Compound.

In short, this group of people are all part of me and part of me. Today I have helped you, and you will definitely have to take care of my children in the future.

That's how circles work.

Back to Lu Kuan's current situation, a figure with a Beijing background has extended an olive branch to him, and people in the Beijing circle are also observing this young director who seems to have suddenly appeared in everyone's vision.

Seeing Lu Kuan's direct refusal, Liu Bei tried to persuade him, "Director Lu, we've all inquired about your situation. I'm an actor myself, and even if I'm not being modest, I've won the Golden Eagle Award and the Hundred Flowers Award. I know firsthand the importance of a good teacher."

"We've all asked Old Feng about this. You've trained two actors who are just starting out in acting very well. Even Feng Yuanzheng has improved under you."

Liu Yifei's "The Story of a Noble Family" was broadcast on CCTV in March 2003, and "Whiplash" will definitely be released within the year.

Audiences who don’t know the inside story may wonder why Concubine Liu Yi went back in the middle of the show, and why the later TV series is not as good as the previous movie.

"Xiao Zhang should only be fifteen or sixteen this year. Isn't he going to school anymore?"

Liu Bei smiled and said, "It's almost summer vacation, isn't it? Besides, as you said, it's up to him to apply to an acting school. It's no big deal."

Lu Kuan thought for a while and said, "How about this, Ms. Liu, Xiao Zhang can stay in my crew, and don't worry about how I teach him."

"As for the adaptation rights to 'Chinese Paladin' held by Yong Yu Le, I'll pay the same price as before. What do you think?"

Liu Bei understood what he meant. He wanted to keep things separate and not owe each other any favors.

Lu Kuan subconsciously didn't want to get too deeply entangled with the Beijing circle. There are many factions in the literary and art circle. Once you are involved in the cause and effect, you may be restricted in everything you do.

"Okay, Director Lu, thank you very much. The child will report to you this afternoon."

Liu Bei thought he couldn't ask for too much, so he just left it at that. Lu Kuan said nothing more, and left.

Liu Bei politely saw him out the door and called Zhang Jian. "Old Zhang, I tried my best this time. I even divorced you without delaying our son's affairs. Isn't that good enough? Unlike you!"

Zhang Jian smiled on the other end of the phone: "Okay, Beizi, I'll remember your kindness, okay? Stop always talking bad about me."

The relationship between these two is also quite complicated. Liu Bei is Zhang Jian's second wife.

At the end of 2002, the two divorced again. They married Zhang Li, the director of "The Young Marshal" starring Liu Bei and Wen Zhang. Later, a third party intervened and the two divorced.

In 2004, Liu Bei got married for the third time, and he got back together with Zhang Jian.

So she became Zhang Ruoyun's stepmother in the second round.

This woman, who was said to have performed eye surgery without anesthesia, was indeed very strong-willed, so it was no surprise that she came to Lu Kuan so openly today to get business.

Lu Kuan called Sun Wenwen and asked her to contact the contact person given by Liu Bei to handle the adaptation rights of "Chinese Paladin".

It was at that time that no one realized the value of IP, otherwise who would be willing to let go of this gold mountain in their hands? It was also from this "Chinese Paladin" that a new theme emerged in the domestic TV drama field - the fairy tale drama.

When Lu Kuan arrived at the set after lunch break, Zhang Ruoyun was already playing and making noises behind Jay Chou like a little follower, making it hard for Lu Kuan not to suspect that he was there to chase stars.

Lu Kuan picked up the intercom and said, "Dear colleagues, there's a new intern on the crew. Let's meet him. Go ahead and do whatever you need to do. Don't worry about him."

He then handed the walkie-talkie to Zhang Ruoyun and asked him to introduce himself.

This kid might really be a bit of a social butterfly. He smiled and bowed to everyone: "Hello, uncles and aunts, my name is Zhang Ruoyun, and I'm honored to..."

"Okay, go watch over there for the afternoon."

The Chief Secretary of the Kyoto Supervisory Council was very depressed when his inaugural speech was interrupted.

Lu Kuan said to the photographer, "Ning Hao, you keep an eye on it first. I'll be over in a moment."

"Good director."

Lu Kuan led Zhang Ruoyun to find Huang Bo who was waiting in the wings and introduced them to each other.

"Old Huang, this is a child of my friend's. Please help him with the basic skills. When Teacher Feng performs later, you can explain the tricks to him."

He then instructed Zhang Ruoyun, who was looking around, "Xiao Zhang, this is Brother Huang from the Beijing Film Academy. Look carefully and study hard."

"I'll give you a week. If you're okay, I'll give you a role. If not, you should go home, okay?"

The characters in "Whiplash" are mostly bar waiters and extras who appear in the audience when the protagonist Xu Huan performs. This deal has no impact on him at all.

Zhang Ruoyun seemed a little unconvinced, but seeing that Lu Kuan acted like a local tyrant in the crew and didn't seem to be very polite when talking to his stepmother, she could only agree with her head down.

(End of this chapter)