Chapter 1555
Small Country
According to Zhang Yuan's observation and analysis, Miss Jiang is not love-obsessed; she is just young and loves to play.
He behaved quite appropriately when he went out.
She is relatively well-behaved in front of her father.
Moreover, she genuinely has goals and ideals; she wants to become a professional photographer.
It is a very fortunate thing to be able to have a clear life goal at such a young age.
That's why Zhang Yuan concluded that she wasn't love-struck.
Because people with a "love-obsessed" mentality treat relationships like a career and men like targets.
Anyone with clear life goals is unlikely to be driven by romantic feelings.
This relieved him.
Having multiple ways to limit ginger veins is an unexpected bonus.
"I think Ichiro has a lot of talent for photography; the photos he took of me were all pretty good."
"Really?" Jiang Wen looked up after returning from the restroom. "Bring me the camera so I can see it."
“Papa, the camera is charging. I’ll send the photos to your email in a bit,” Ms. Jiang replied.
Then he mouthed something to him.
The memory card I used in Shanghai is still in the machine, so it's easy to find other things there.
"Okay...that's right, my daughter is so outstanding!"
"He definitely has talent!" Director Jiang went on and on about this.
The discussion will cover aspects such as appearance, temperament, physique, and intellect.
In short: My daughter is the most awesome person in the world.
Fathers love their daughters this way.
Sons might not care much, but daughters are a different story.
I can recount in detail how many points I scored on tests and how many awards I won since I was a child.
They were raised in a wealthy manner.
And this girl's mother is no ordinary person either. As a Frenchwoman, she not only understands Chinese, but also studies Laozi and Zhuangzi.
After finishing the meal, I had my father take my daughter away.
He then turned on his computer to check the first rough budget sent by Jiang Wen.
After taking a quick look, he almost called the police!
Hello, is this 110? Someone's trying to scam us!
She must call Jiang Yilang, or her father will go to heaven.
He was just about to take a closer look when this girl showed up at his door.
"Didn't you just leave?"
"After my dad dropped me off at the apartment, I went out again by myself."
Jiang Wen bought a house for her daughter so that she could live independently.
"You're a girl, isn't your dad worried about you?"
"What's there to worry about? I live on my own in France too," the other person said matter-of-factly.
"Besides, I've practiced martial arts, so I'm not afraid."
This girl is both academically and athletically gifted; she's practiced fencing since she was little, and she's in the épée category.
"But you can't come now, what if your dad finds out..."
"The honeymoon phase is the most exciting and enjoyable. If you can't spend a lot of time together during this period, it will become very boring after the passion fades," this girl explained her theory of relationships.
"But I'm going abroad to film a movie soon."
"I'll just go with you. You can just tell everyone I'm your photography assistant."
"But you have to pay me a salary, not too much, just enough for an intern."
"But room and board must be included." This girl made the terms crystal clear with him.
“No…” Zhang Yuan felt a headache coming on.
Can you two stop only messing with me?
One wants my money, and the other not only wants my money, but also lusts after my body...
Two days later, he boarded a plane to go overseas.
The destination is Bulgaria, a small country in the Balkans in south-central Europe.
This country is too small, so there are no direct flights.
I have to go to Paris first and then transfer.
Miss Jiang was overjoyed, having already made arrangements with her father and going with him.
She took him back to her home, an old apartment building in downtown Paris, which Jiang Wen had also bought.
So never believe that children from wealthy families are all independent and earn money to buy houses, cars, and build careers on their own.
Pooh!
Nonsense.
That's how rich people cultivate an independent image for their children. You poor folks actually took it seriously and used it as an excuse to shirk your family responsibilities.
I took him around to take pictures, and we walked through every street and alley of Paris.
This gave him material to post on Weibo.
Fans were thrilled.
The number of Reuters photos released in recent weeks is more than in a normal quarter.
He is competent as a photography assistant.
I arrived in Bulgaria a day later.
Zhang Yuan's assessment of this place was simply that it was a large farm.
The scenery is not bad, but that's about it.
It perfectly matches the image that white people in Europe and America have of Eastern European countries.
They want this to be the case everywhere in the world except for themselves.
The total population is less than 700 million.
Moreover, this place is like Diao Chan in "Romance of the Three Kingdoms"—anyone can ride it.
First, they were ridden by the Huns, then by the Slavs, then by the Byzantines, then by the Ottoman Turks, and finally by the Axis powers during World War II…
He'll help whoever has the stronger fist, regardless of whether they're good or evil.
This is the tragedy of small countries; even if they join the EU, they are still not well-regarded.
This place once wanted to join the Soviet Union, but Cornshav thought these guys were just trying to get free benefits and wouldn't even take them if they were given to them for free.
This place is so shabby, he wouldn't even want to come here for a normal trip.
I'm here today for work.
"Haha, look who's here!"
"Our Chinese friends!"
Stallone slapped his back a few times with his large, veiny arms.
The Expendables 2 was filmed on location near Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.
Just like the first one, they filmed a big production in a small town, which was cheap.
Bulgaria granted Stallone's company tax exemptions and subsidies.
The original cast of actors are all present, and the film still features two male leads: Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham.
Lundgren, Randy, and the old black guy were all there too.
Li Lianjie also has a role, but it's very small. He earns about $700 million a week, which is $100 million a day on average.
Moreover, only a few action scenes need to be filmed, with the rest being done by stunt doubles.
Because of the success of the first film, the second film had an even more lavish cast.
In the first film, the three giants only had one scene together, lasting a few minutes, and it was a dialogue scene.
In the second film, the roles of Bruce Willis and Arnold Schwarzenegger were significantly expanded.
Sylvester Stallone knows exactly what people want to see.
They just want to see these old fogies risk their lives.
Seeing the three of them makes it all worthwhile, and seeing veteran actors in action scenes is even more thrilling.
"My photography assistant, director Jiang Wen's daughter." He pulled Jiang Yilang along to introduce him to the main actors of the film crew one by one.
The girl never expected this film crew to be so... awesome.
Anyway, his dad's catchphrase is pretty useful; it can describe anything.
This lineup is usually not even enough to fill a film festival red carpet.
However, the mixed-race girl had seen it all before, and unlike ordinary girls, she didn't panic or get overly excited. She greeted everyone with considerable humility.
"She would help me take some photos from the film set."
"It might capture everyone and the scene on camera."
"I will submit these photos to the production team for review, and they will only be used as promotional material after they are approved."
Everything was agreed upon, allowing her to move around freely.
This kind of opportunity to photograph superstars is something most photographers can only dream of in their entire lives.
You can't just take pictures whenever you want.
But she, as an "intern," was able to obtain it easily.
This girl knew perfectly well that she only had this opportunity because he was with her.
“Mon chéri”.
"Thank you so much for bringing me here. I knew I made the right choice. I should have come abroad with you."
"I will definitely do my job well and take the best photos for you."
Hearing the other party's very sincere thanks, Zhang Yuan felt a little unaccustomed, but also gratified.
If it were a typical lowlife in the film and television industry, and someone had brought them to this kind of event, their way of expressing gratitude would certainly not be verbal, but would likely include some form of "verbal" thanks.
But this girl was very focused and didn't treat work and leisure as the same thing.
Instead, it earned him some respect.
In comparison...
"The boss is here?"
Zhang Ziyi, who had arrived early, stepped forward with a fawning smile.
"Does Ichiro want some fruit? I had my assistant wash it."
"I still have coffee, why don't you sit on my lounge chair?"
He was overjoyed to see Jiang Wen's daughter.
"No need, Auntie," Miss Jiang said directly.
The word "auntie" made Zhang Ziyi's lips twitch.
"I don't need to rest. I want to walk around the neighborhood and take some pictures of the natural scenery."
"Then I'll have my assistant accompany you and help you carry your bags?"
"Don't waste your energy, just focus on your own filming." Zhang Yuan told her to get lost and stop wasting her time on this.
"I don't really like her," Ms. Jiang said after the "Best Actress" left.
"She is not sincere when she treats others."
"Everyone has their own difficulties. Unlike you, she wasn't born someone's daughter."
“We shouldn’t criticize other people’s way of life.” Zhang Yuan didn’t “kick someone when they’re down.”
“Yes, you’re right.” Jiang Yilang nodded.
"So that's why you're sometimes hypocritical and sometimes sincere when you're dealing with other people, right?" Zhang Yuan looked at the girl helplessly, thinking, "Don't expose my secrets, okay?"
I took the latest version of the script from the scene and glanced at it.
According to Jiang Yilang, this story was obviously written by a crude American.
The French look down on North Americans.
You Stars and Stripes, without the strong support of the Plain White Banner of France back then, you wouldn't even have been able to establish a nation.
Moreover, France is indeed outstanding in humanities subjects such as culture, art, and cuisine.
Why is it so easy to recognize a girl who's not even twenty years old?
The story of the second episode goes like this.
Firstly, because the first film did well at the Chinese box office, and given the remarkable box office performance of Hollywood films in China in recent years, Stallone attaches great importance to the Chinese market.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have specifically invited him and a Chinese actress.
The story begins with a suicide squad storming a mountain stronghold resembling that of a Middle Eastern warlord, rescuing a Chinese businessman.
The film tries to connect with China right from the start.
Then he received a second mission from Bruce Willis: to go to Eastern Europe, specifically Bulgaria, to protect a Chinese female scientist and retrieve some classified equipment from a Chinese military aircraft that had crashed.
Anyway, the first half of the film is like Trump's speech, filled with "tcha" (a vulgar expression).
Why has Sylvester Stallone been able to stay in the business for so many years without being abandoned by the market?
Because he doesn't abandon the market!
It's your business if you look down on China, but I still want to make money.
We must significantly increase the proportion of Chinese content, and do so drastically.
But then, the place with the strong flavor came along!
The main villain is codenamed "The Villain" and is played by Jean-Claude Van Damme.
He speaks with an Eastern European accent and is also an extremely ruthless mercenary leader.
They wanted to dig up and find a large amount of finished plutonium left over from the Soviet Union in Bulgaria, hoping to make a fortune by selling nuclear materials.
Plutonium can be used as fuel in nuclear power plants, or it can be weaponized.
The chubby boy that warmed the hearts of the people of Nagasaki back then was made using plutonium-239 as a fission material.
The Japanese claimed that they could break the "three non-nuclear principles" at any time and manufacture thousands of nuclear bombs because they had stockpiled nearly 50 tons of plutonium.
Of course, this is just talk, like hiding a Gundam underwater.
This isn't something you can make just because you have the raw materials; the key is whether others will allow you to make it.
Moreover, if the Japanese really possess nuclear weapons, given the consistent nature of this species, the Americans should be the first to panic.
But given the Americans' usual style, it's unlikely they'll panic.
After all, others may talk the talk, but they are truly willing to wage a war of extermination.
In any case, the story of "The Expendables 2" is basically a typical Cold War mentality.
Zhang Yuan couldn't say anything, after all, those three old guys came from the Cold War era.
However, for commercial reasons, some Chinese elements were added to the Cold War model.
To be honest, it's terrible... but how is it terrible?
Please don't just say things like that!
This is how it's been filmed for so many years.
Sometimes we need to look for the reasons within ourselves. Have you been paying attention to whether the box office has increased or not?
Anyway, the audience isn't interested in the plot.
From the creators to the audience, everyone understands that this is a pure popcorn movie; don't try to find meaning in life in it.
Just sit in the movie theater and enjoy yourself!
It's about mercenaries, and specifically, henchmen hired by the CIA.
As for why we value the Chinese market but don't directly set up our battlefield in China...
Aside from failing the review process, the Americans all felt it was unreasonable.
White people know that mercenaries do not exist in China.
Good heavens, a bunch of foreigners with guns and tanks have entered China to kill, burn, and loot...
Where the hell did this come from?
I thought it was the Qing Dynasty.
A Russian weapons company claims to offer free shipping worldwide, but on the free shipping map, the only part of the country's territory is empty.
Both Americans and Russians know that China is a place where nothing can be penetrated.
He's been training his muscles every day recently for this role.
While excessive fitness training may not be aesthetically pleasing, a muscular, masculine man is always healthier than someone with a face covered in foundation.
“Hey Zhang, long time no see.” Bruce Willis waved to him when he saw him.
The remaining three bigwigs were also there, huddled together looking at their phones.
Both of them wore reading glasses, otherwise they couldn't see the screen at all.
The fading of heroes and beauties is one of the most poignant things in the world.
"what's up?"
“I was just talking to Sylvie about how I recently worked with a Chinese actress.”
"Now we can cooperate with you and that Zhang again... Speaking of which, I was just about to ask, are you and Zhang siblings?"
"After all, you share the same surname."
Foreigners can't tell them apart because they all sound the same.
I am Zhang, and she is Zhang, the daughter of President Zhang...
"Okay, I see."
“I told Arnold that Zhang isn’t as pretty as this Chinese woman I just worked with,” Bruce said, glancing at the governor.
He's a former governor now.
I came down last year and went back to my original profession.
From then on, Schwarzenegger only needed to act after the clapperboard was set.
No need to be immersed in the role 24/7.
"What are you three old guys doing getting together like this?" Zhang Yuan glared at him irritably.
It turns out she was just being flirtatious and provocative.
He glanced at the screen, then squinted.
"Zhang, you're so young and you already have presbyopia?" The former governor even tried to give him his glasses.
"No, no, I can see clearly."
Both eyes are 5.3.
Moreover, he got a score of 5.3 because the highest score on the eye chart is 5.3.
"It's screen glare." Zhang Yuan cursed Apple in his mind before craning his neck to confirm.
That's right.
He recognized the round-faced, mature woman with dimples and a sweet smile in the photo of her with "Die Hard" on his phone screen.
“Xu Qing, I’m very familiar with her.”
He addressed the three of them.
Bruce Willis just finished filming a movie with Xu Qing called "Looper".
In fact, Xu Qing only made a cameo appearance, playing the male lead's woman.
His screen time is far less than Zhang Ziyi's in "The Expendables 2".
To be honest, Zhang Yuan thought the script for "Looper" was much better than that for "The Expendables 2".
At least it's soft science fiction.
The plot is similar to "The Terminator," involving time travel to kill.
However, the Terminator is the T-800 that travels through time to hunt down Connor and his mother. Kyle Reese also travels through time to protect the Savior's biological mother, and ends up having a one-shot kill with her, which leads to the birth of the Savior and thus closes the timeline.
Looper is a time-traveling assassin organization that stipulates that assassins perform missions when they are young, and after reaching retirement age, they kill their last target, who is themselves from the future.
After that, he could enjoy life with the savings provided by the organization until he was captured and sent to the past in a time machine to be killed by his younger self.
But in the future, all the assassins will be wiped out by a great demon king. The elderly protagonist travels through time and tries to escape from his younger self. Then the two versions of himself begin to hunt each other down.
Instead, this contest caused psychological trauma to the young Demon King, who then decided to kill all the Loop Killers when he grew up, thus completing the timeline loop.
It's somewhat similar to a reverse version of "My Own Swordsman," in which the Red Serpent Demon Mo Xiaobei is provoked by a time-traveling tourist and abandons her martial arts path, thus erasing the existence of the Red Serpent Demon.
Who says Chinese people can't make good science fiction films...?
This film contains a lot of Chinese elements, and some scenes were filmed in Shanghai.
The male lead is Bruce Willis, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who became very popular in recent years because of "Inception".
Besides the North American company, the investors behind it also include DMG Media from China.
This company has serious problems!
The boss's name is Xiao Wenge; you can tell what kind of circle he's in just by hearing that name.
Zhang Yuan had met them all, because both the person and the company involved in "The Founding of a Republic" were involved.
I am very familiar with Lao Han and Yu Dong.
This, along with a couple with international ties, Danny from North America and Wu Bing, a former Chinese gymnastics champion.
The three of them started DMG together. They started with advertising, then used Lao Han's connections to start making movies, and later went to Hong Kong to list the company through a shell company.
Within two or three years of going public, each of them amassed billions and fled to North America.
Fortunately, Lao Han had already retired for many years when he fled, otherwise he would have been easily implicated.
Xu Qing was able to act in the film because of investment from this company.
"Zhang, what do you think?"
Bruce asked him.
"Arnold thinks Zhang Ziyi is prettier."
Zhang Yuan glanced helplessly at the Terminator.
Why don't you go get your eyes checked? It might be more than just presbyopia.
But everyone has their own preferences, and who knows what his taste is like?
Speaking of which, immediately after Terminator stepped down from his post as governor, he was exposed for having an affair with his maid and fathering a son.
As for the maid's appearance... well, Zhang Yuan wasn't particularly good at appreciating her looks.
It can only be described as the same style as that of Sister Yu from Northeast China.
The three old men made him speak, so he had no choice but to.
"I think Xu Qing is prettier."
"Isn't it Zhang who has more Chinese characteristics?" Arnold was still unconvinced.
"No, I think Xu Qing is prettier."
"Elegant demeanor, graceful figure, not too thin, not too fat, just right."
"Her waist-to-hip ratio is also closer to perfect."
"And they also have a gentler personality, which makes them more attractive."
Zhang Yuan expressed his views in great detail.
But he noticed that the surroundings had suddenly become quiet.
Turning his head, he found that the three old men were all resting their chins on their hands, nodding and staring straight at him.
"Aha," Stallone said after rubbing his stubble a few times.
"Zhang, you slept with this lady, didn't you?"
Zhang Yuan: ... (End of Chapter)