Chapter 183: Jiang Wen's Muse... A Male God?

"I just had a minor car trouble; it shouldn't have reached the point of alarming a Mafia boss, right?"

Chen Hao, a graduate of the Acting Department at the Central Academy of Drama, knew exactly what this reference meant, yet she didn't expose it directly. Instead, she smiled and teased Zhou Yi about his Mafia identity: "Besides, there's an old Chinese saying: 'No hair on the lips, no steadiness in business.'"

"Is this Don of yours a bit too young? Where's your mustache?"

"Then you might not know another old Chinese saying: 'Heroes emerge from youth.'"

Zhou Yi casually pulled a set of keys from his pocket and tossed them to Chen Hao, saying indifferently, "It's the key to my car. Drive it until mine is fixed, so you don't have to take a taxi when you go out. It'll be convenient if you need to handle new investment deals."

"That's quite thoughtful, but a Mazda 4S shop shouldn't take that long to repair it, right?"

Without any polite pleasantries, Chen Hao caught the keys, tilted her head slightly to glance at the Mercedes-Benz S-Class behind the man, and raised her hand to smooth back a few strands of bangs blown by the wind.

"Who knows? But you should be changing cars soon anyway; a Mazda doesn't quite fit your status."

"Where would I get the money to change cars? I'm lucky I could afford a Mazda in the first place."

Regarding Zhou Yi's otherworldly behavior, Chen Hao smiled, then was just about to get into the car when she unexpectedly noticed someone seemed to be watching her. She stopped in front of the passenger door.

"What's wrong?"

Zhou Yi, who had opened the car door, looked up at her in confusion.

"Someone seemed to be watching us from behind just now, and now they're walking over. It looks like... Jiang Wen?"

Jiang Wen?

Hearing that name for the first time, Zhou Yi was somewhat surprised, but then he thought that since this person also seemed to be a graduate of the Central Academy of Drama, it was normal to see him on campus.

"The tone you used just now was quite interesting; it had a bit of Al Pacino's shadow."

Jiang Wen was still the same Jiang Wen; beneath his rugged appearance lay an exceptionally delicate mind. Smiling, he extended his hand toward Zhou Yi: "I didn't expect the famous Zhou Yi to have watched The Godfather. I thought young people like you wouldn't watch such old movies anymore."

"Classics never go out of style."

Although Zhou Yi didn't know what Jiang Wen meant by this greeting, he maintained his usual outward courtesy and shook hands with him politely.

This was their second meeting.

The last time they met was at the Global Chinese Music Awards ceremony, where Jiang Wen was a guest presenter, so there was no need for self-introductions.

"I'm conceiving a story. Just now, seeing your personal temperament, tone, and accent, they seemed to match the image in my mind. I wonder if you'd be interested in trying it out?"

Glancing at Chen Hao, Jiang Wen was quite direct. He wasn't boasting; the scene of Zhou Yi speaking the Godfather's lines with such ease had truly sparked inspiration in his mind.

For a moment, a fragmented image corresponding to that had even formed in his brain.

"Acting? Me?"

While Chen Hao's eyes widened slightly in shock, Zhou Yi smiled and retorted: "You might want to review my MV, Director Jiang."

Jiang Wen's movies were notoriously difficult to act in. What the hell was he going to do? Even as a cameo, he'd probably be driven to death by Jiang Wen's perfectionism.

Besides, the current Jiang Wen was banned from directing—oh, not exactly; Lu Chuan Tairo's Finding Gun seemed to be driven to the brink of death by Jiang Wen's torment?

"Then I've seen way too much. Your songs are popular everywhere; even if I don't actively watch them, I've passively seen quite a few." Jiang Wen grinned cheerfully and offered a compliment that wasn't entirely flattering: "It's mainly the temperament, you know? You have a rather unique temperament. That's the key that makes many people captivated by your MV even if your acting is barely adequate."

"..."

Could I really be a genius?

Watching Jiang Wen, whom he had barely met a few times, talk nonsense right in front of him, Zhou Yi almost believed it.

Wasn't this someone encountering trouble and trying to borrow his fame?

But, thinking carefully, it didn't seem to go that far.

Although Jiang Wen had just been banned from directing at this stage, he had already ascended due to his director identity. His status in the industry had risen, and he wasn't short of money.

Otherwise, Lu Chuan Tairo wouldn't have been forced to grit his teeth behind the scenes at Jiang Wen's domineering behavior on set while still being polite on the surface.

The entire crew and script were practically surnamed Jiang; he didn't dare make a sound openly.

"Thank you for your praise, Director Jiang, but I have a clear understanding of myself."

With a sudden thought arising in his mind, Zhou Yi didn't close the door completely on the matter. A brilliant smile also appeared on his lips: "If you don't believe me, you can come and watch my live MV shooting process when you have time in the future. Perhaps that will dispel this terrible notion of yours."

"We'll see."

Jiang Wen, who still had a few years of his directing ban left, was not panicked at all.

He had originally planned to act during these few years and settle down to carefully conceive the script in his heart. As a result, unexpectedly seeing Zhou Yi imitate the Godfather on the Central Academy of Drama campus today had actually sparked some inspiration for him.

"Then, Director Jiang, we'll be leaving first."

Seeing the two finish their conversation, Chen Hao stepped in at the right moment and stated her matter: "I still have to go to the People's Art Theater now."

"My fault, my fault. You two go ahead and get busy. Then, Zhou Yi, we'll contact each other later."

After making a gesture indicating a phone call, Jiang Wen bid farewell to the two and walked toward the teaching building.

"Are you very familiar with Jiang Wen?"

After getting into the car, Chen Hao, having skillfully fastened her seatbelt, looked at the departing Jiang Wen, then turned her head to look at Zhou Yi, who was starting the car: "He actually came to ask you to act?"

Zhou Yi turned the steering wheel indifferently: "Who can figure out what a genius who lives off inspiration is thinking? If he wants to fleece me, then I wouldn't mind fleecing him back."

"Fleece him back?"

"Get him to act in an MV."

Zhou Yi pressed the horn with righteous indignation and slowly stepped on the accelerator.

As everyone knows, the grand background of the song "In the Name of the Father" is the Italian Mafia, which pays homage to The Godfather to some extent.

However, the character background in Jay Chou's MV back then felt very incongruous to those who truly understood the Italian Mafia family model.

If Jiang Wen, who likes and has carefully studied the movie The Godfather, were brought in to handle the MV and character settings for this song, the flavor would absolutely be authentic old-school Italian Mafia.

Chen Hao couldn't hold back her laughter and laughed so hard she bent forward and backward: "Wait, do you have some misunderstanding about Jiang Wen? He is a famous director and actor in the country. Asking him to do something like shooting an MV seems a bit like a fantasy, doesn't it?"

"Although I think so too, isn't it also a bit of a fantasy for a banned director to come and ask me to act?"

"... Seems like it is."

"Then it's settled. Both are just painting pies in the sky. If he paints one for me, I can turn around, scrape it off, and fleece him. Is there a problem? No problem."

Saying this, Zhou Yi couldn't help but laugh out loud himself.

Although Jiang Wen has not yet released "The Sun Also Rises," and his artistic merit and status have not yet reached the top tier of the entertainment industry, among young directors, his talent is already evident to all.

For such a person to direct an MV or even act in one is indeed like a madman dreaming.

Moving from film to an MV is something that cannot be explained merely as a downgrade in resources; even if Jiang Wen were banned from directing again, he would not sink to this level.

Unless he truly has a relationship with Jiang Wen that has reached a certain depth.

However, Zhou Yi feels he should not have this opportunity.

At his core, Jiang Wen is still an artistic youth, an artistic youth with many bad habits;

whereas he is a lazy youth.

Except for sharing the same views on certain people and certain matters, they fundamentally cannot get along.

In fact, Jiang Wen's thoughts are not much different.

After meeting his long-unseen teacher, Zhang Renli, this distinctive artistic youth was first severely scolded by his teacher, and only then did he sit down to chat.

When his teacher heard that Jiang Wen had actually gained inspiration from Zhou Yi, he was completely stunned.

"Teacher, you might not know, but the temperament of this person, Zhou Yi, feels very strange to me. The first time I saw him at the awards ceremony, my impression of him was quite good; he was polite and full of spirit.

"But judging by his tactics of mobilizing a crowd of reporters to create hype back then, I thought his foundation was far too worldly and mercenary.

"However, when he held a press conference and openly dominated Chow Yun-fat, I was quite curious about what was going through his mind; a very worldly person would not do such a thing.

"He seems truly unafraid of the consequences his actions might bring, or rather, he feels he has no need to endure such humiliation; he does not seem to think that the mainland entertainment industry is all exploited by the Hong Kong and Taiwan sectors, so I must be exploited too.

"He does not; he is like a bandit, irrationally overturning the current unwritten rules of the Hong Kong and Taiwan entertainment industry..."

PS: I added three extra points, revised the proposal all day, and it's a mess.

Now I've just learned they finished the meeting and approved it; after typing this chapter, I carpooled home with a colleague and won't have time to write the second chapter.

PS2: Three chapters tomorrow, and three chapters the day after tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)