Chapter 1623
Quitting the Internet
Flights from Beijing to North America take more than 12 hours.
After boarding the plane, Zhang Yuan comfortably reclined in the spacious first-class seat and began to eat, drink, and read the script, thoroughly enjoying himself.
Meanwhile, in a high-end villa community in the Wangjing area of Chaoyang District, Beijing.
"what!"
Shun Ge, who was eating oil-splashed noodles with raw garlic, was not very comfortable.
This is the house he bought after his marriage, for him to live in with his wife, Sister Ma.
Sister Ma debuted earlier and is actually richer than him.
But she has been living in her husband's house since they got married.
Even though she owns a house in the Third Ring Road of Beijing and a luxury mansion in the HP District of Shanghai not far from the Huangpu River, she still lives in this house.
This is the shrewdness of women in Shanghai.
My money is mine, and my house is mine too.
I got married and had children, why should I spend my own money?
Wenye also had to cover daily expenses. She saved all the money she earned and invested it herself, keeping her own accounts.
In Shanghai, such people are called clear-headed; elsewhere, they are called shrewd.
Sister Ma can be considered a heroine in the entertainment industry. She always presents herself as weak, but she has never suffered a loss. That's real skill.
Whether dealing with her cheating lover Guan Hu from years ago, or her cheating husband Wen Zhang later on, Sister Ma always had a clear and efficient mind.
However, Shun and his wife have very different personalities.
At that time, there were two popular male stars in the Chinese entertainment industry whose tempers were notorious and were known to everyone in the industry for their bad tempers.
The article is ranked first, and Huang Haibo is ranked second.
Because of their fame, both of them have become arrogant and disdainful of others, and they no longer speak properly in their daily lives or at dinner parties.
The word "mad" best describes these two.
However, the situation is a little different. While he is arrogant towards most people, he is very humble in front of a few directors.
Huang Haibo, on the other hand, cannot drink alcohol. He is usually loyal and righteous, but he goes crazy as soon as he drinks.
These two belong to the categories of "literary fanatic" and "martial fanatic," respectively.
Overall, it's because his mindset hasn't kept pace with the growth in fame and money.
If a "benefactor" comes along at this time and helps them calm down, things can still turn out well.
Otherwise, this kind of person is bound to have a lot of bad luck.
Now, Brother Shun felt like he had encountered a terrible misfortune.
In Zhang Yuan's eyes, this was just a minor punishment, a way of handling things with room for maneuver.
But for articles that have been going too smoothly in recent years, it's like the sky is falling!
Within just one hour, two of China's top directors, Zhang Li and Jiang Wen, both big names in the entertainment industry, contacted him through intermediaries, saying that there were some problems with the projects and roles they had previously discussed.
As for what the problem is, we don't know; you should ask us.
Anyway, someone informed us that you are not suitable.
On that day, humanity recalled the fear of being dominated by giants.
Whether in terms of height or industry status, Zhang Yuan is a giant.
Now Brother Shun panicked and lost his appetite for the oil-splashed noodles.
I called the two directors, and they answered, but their attitude remained the same.
You should handle whatever happens to you. We're also paid to make movies.
As the saying goes, even a clever cook can't cook without rice. Nowadays, the entertainment industry is also a capital market and a market economy, where whoever has money is the boss.
Otherwise, with an investment of hundreds of millions for a film, are you expecting the director to foot the bill himself?
In addition, Zhang Li and Jiang Wen are both acquainted with Zhang Yuan.
He has a mistress, and a man who is ostensibly a brother but is actually his former "father-in-law"...
The reason these two articles were chosen is simply because he is famous, and because Sister Ma has connections.
When it really comes down to choosing between two options, the article doesn't even qualify as an option.
When things didn't go so smoothly for Shun Ge, he completely panicked.
With trembling hands, he vigorously scratched his buzz cut, and after a long while, he found his phone and called his wife.
After informing Sister Ma about the situation, she became anxious and quickly sought help from others.
But before hanging up, I realized what was happening.
"What did you do to make them act like this all of a sudden?"
"I didn't do anything," the article said cautiously. "I just posted a Weibo post."
"What content?"
After Ms. Ma inquired, the man and his wife gave a detailed account.
"You're out of your mind!" Sister Ma couldn't help but curse in her hometown dialect.
"Thirteen points!"
The term "thirteen o'clock" is commonly used in the Jiangnan region, and its origin is explained by both classical Chinese texts and mythological stories.
It's actually a loanword, derived from the English word "Society," which originally meant society or social interaction.
Shanghai, once a bustling metropolis, saw a surge in foreign languages and foreigners after its opening to foreign trade, which also gave rise to a large number of people working in the sex industry.
These people, especially dancers, singers, and bar hostesses, became part of the upper-class society.
In the eyes of ordinary families, these are all "improper" women.
The pronunciation is similar to "thirteen points" in Wu dialect, and it has gradually come to mean frivolous behavior, illogical behavior, and especially inappropriate speech.
Why do people always say that Shanghai is fashionable? It really is.
Just like cement, which is called "yanghui" in the north and "shuimenting" in Shanghai, it comes from the English word "cement".
In her hometown dialect, Sister Ma found the most fitting word to describe her husband.
This is what the saying "trouble comes from the mouth" means.
Although Sister Ma was grumbling, he was still her husband after all, so she used her connections to ask around, and the result was about the same.
"Delete the Weibo post right now!" she snapped back, ordering her husband to do it.
She also deleted her previous Weibo posts supporting her husband and Bian Xiaoxiao.
"I need Zhang Yuan's phone number, but I can't get through. Could you try calling him?"
"I can't get through either." Brother Shun tried, but it didn't work.
"Oh no, they're not answering the phone. Their attitude is very clear," Sister Ma said, thinking to herself, "It can't be that bad."
Then she remembered that during their last meal together, the other person seemed to have given her husband some advice.
Why did you do this?
"Why are you putting on airs just because someone tells you to delete it?" Sister Ma didn't understand.
"I made so much money for him through my acting, shouldn't he respect me?"
The article suggests that the success of "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons" was due to the author's efforts.
Zhang Yuan makes money off him, so we should appease him.
I even felt I was underpaid. This movie grossed over a billion yuan, and I only received a few million yuan in salary. It was a loss!
"Are you delirious from the heat?!" Sister Ma couldn't help but say in her hometown dialect again, meaning you've lost your mind.
"In the end, I still have to speak up for you."
"You don't need to do anything or say anything from now on. I'll do it all."
Sister Ma was so angry.
Something's been off lately; he's becoming increasingly arrogant at home.
After making several calls over several hours without getting through, Sister Ma started to have some ideas.
Since the matter originated from Weibo, we must start with Weibo.
Not long after, a Weibo post became a trending topic.
"Article officially announces his departure from Weibo!"
A popular male star suddenly quit Weibo, leaving ordinary viewers completely baffled.
They didn't even give a reason, they just issued a statement saying they were leaving Weibo.
This has sparked a lot of discussion, with all sorts of speculations.
However, industry insiders see things differently.
Ordinary people are on the first level of information, while these industry insiders think they're on the fifth level. In reality, they're only on the third or fourth level.
Only Zhang Yuan was in the atmosphere, because he was on an airplane.
What they knew was that Zhang Yuan originally intended to provoke a war between the Central Academy of Drama and the Beijing Film Academy.
The news has already spread.
Zhang Yuan is now like Dongzi going to North America; even if he doesn't go to prostitutes, he's still going to prostitutes.
Anyway, everyone thinks he holds a grudge and intends to take revenge on Beijing Film Academy.
Fortunately, Lao Han intervened and stopped it in time.
He's the one who got all the blame, and Lao Han got all the credit for it.
Let's take a look at it from this perspective.
Yoshi!
It must be because Zhang Yuan forced him to quit Weibo after he posted about it on the article.
Not only should he be removed from Weibo, but he should also be banned!
Have you all heard that he's been barred from acting in several productions?
That's ruthless!
There were also those who disliked the article and applauded it.
Serves you right for being so arrogant! Finally, someone's going to teach you a lesson!
Other bystanders who weren't familiar with Zhang Yuan or Wen Zhang saw a completely different picture.
During the previous battle between Zhao and Zhen, Zhang Yuan gave the order, and a million-strong army collectively blew up the Hong Kong stars.
This time, it's the exact opposite.
He forbade people to speak, so no one dared to speak. Some deleted their posts, and others quit the blogging platform.
How terrifying!
A classic case of "those who obey me prosper, those who defy me become prostitutes."
Many people believe that he is recklessly displaying his strength.
A new sun is rising in the entertainment industry.
You can't look directly at them without sunglasses.
At this moment, in North America, after more than ten hours of flight, Zhang Taiyang arrived in his beloved Hollywood.
First, I went to the film crew to report for duty.
We arrived at Paramount's studio at 5555 Melrose Avenue.
The most famous location here is Studio 29, which was used to film "The Godfather" and "Forrest Gump" and is known as the billion-dollar studio.
There's also Studio 18, which was once the private studio of film master Alfred Hitchcock.
Things have changed, and it's uncertain whether Hollywood's legend will continue in the next century.
Zhang Yuan arrived at Studio 27, where a special forces prison scene had been set up.
As written in the script, it was used to imprison the previous boss, Cobra leader, and arms dealer Mistro.
Because Cunningham, who played the Duke, was dissatisfied with the script and his salary, he did not continue to star in the role.
Paramount's original plan was to simply make the character nonexistent, create a separate storyline, and have the Duke retire in the background story.
However, after the news was leaked at the comic convention, it was met with strong resistance from fans of the original work.
What is that?
The male protagonist just disappeared?
Paramount scolded them...
That's why they "had no choice" but to design the "Death of the Duke" plot, spending millions of dollars to bring back the male lead from the first film to act in a few scenes and set the beginning of the second film.
At least the audience can see people.
But the male lead in the previous movie was blown up right at the beginning, which is pretty bad.
That's Hollywood for you: treat you like royalty when they need you, and discard you like trash when they don't.
The second film follows the ending of the first film, where Satan injects himself with nanobots and transforms into the president of North America.
The plot is similar to "Captain America 2," which is currently being filmed, featuring Hydra and Cobra—basically, snakes.
Celebrity body doubles and body doubles are an old urban legend in North America.
If a celebrity hasn't been seen for a while, or if their appearance at an event has changed slightly, rumors of a replacement or clone will spread.
When it comes to cosmetic surgery, let's talk about cosmetic surgery itself, and stop bringing up the topic of body double literature.
In short, this kind of claim is very popular in North America, and rumors of the president being replaced by the deep state government often circulate alongside other rumors such as the president being a little grey man or a little green man.
The film opens with the fake president sending men to raid the special forces and creating the illusion that the special forces have rebelled.
That was a brilliant move!
This immediately made the main characters a minority.
Since they are wanted, they can't use the high-tech equipment provided by the government, so it's reasonable that our main characters don't have the sci-fi gadgets from the first movie.
It's still about saving costs by cooperating with the production team in terms of plot logic.
The previous film featured hypersonic aircraft, single-person mechs, nanobot missiles, an Antarctic base, aircraft capable of firing sonic cannons, drilling vehicles, and a sci-fi submarine battle group.
In this part, the few high-tech devices are not that high-tech.
Electric motorcycles, drone bombs, new energy tanks... any top-notch arms factory in China can produce all of these.
This is what North America envisioned as military equipment 10 years ago.
Therefore, the lighthouse is responsible for imagination, and China is responsible for realization.
Go ahead and brag, but if you can't actually do it, I'll admit defeat.
Of these items, apart from the firefly bomb which is relatively difficult to miniaturize, China already has drone launch vehicles that can launch dozens of self-destructing drones in a single salvo, but they can't be as small as those in the movies.
The new energy tanks are even quieter and more powerful than those in the movies.
The only weapon that can be considered science fiction is the main plot device of this show.
In other words, after the Cobra group used a scheme to destroy nuclear warheads worldwide, they released the Rod of God space station.
The script calls it "Zeus Satellite," describing it as a divine punishment that descends from the heavens like Zeus.
It was after this movie that domestic researchers saw and experimented with it, confirming that it could only create a small crater and was completely useless.
What ordinary people don't know is that even if this thing is useful...
Even if you could blow up an entire London block with a single shot, like in the movies, it wouldn't matter.
According to the design, this thing uses a platinum barrel to fire a tungsten alloy rod for attack.
In other words, a large amount of tungsten alloy is required.
Guess which country is the number one producer of the raw ore for this.
Even if the Americans can find it in other countries, or have tungsten alloy reserves.
And we can guess who is number one in the world in tungsten alloy refining and manufacturing, and who is number one in every field.
This stuff is like rare earth elements; as long as China controls its exports, the Americans can't do anything except draw up blueprints.
You don't have the ability to know!
So even if the Rod of God were useful, a lighthouse still couldn't be built.
This is the consequence of everyone making money passively through finance.
You chose him, my idol.
Any design or software, without the support of hardware and materials, is just a castle in the air.
As long as domestic compradors are strictly controlled and key materials are not allowed to leak out, even if the beacon has all sorts of abilities, it will be powerless.
What does it mean to be the strongest industrial nation in human history? (Tactical lean back)
Because of rare earth controls, the F-35s that the US is delivering to its allies do not have radar.
The radar dome was opened, and inside, only a bunch of barbell plates could be used as counterweights.
Meanwhile, China's new energy tanks are already using phased array radar.
No matter how powerful Hollywood is, or how effective its propaganda is, the world is ultimately material and cannot be changed by idealism.
Zhang Yuan grimaced as he looked at the exquisitely decorated set.
That's all the advantages you have, but you still have to learn what you need to learn.
Wow, the Storm Shadow's darts have a new design this time, not bad at all.
And... I'll head home a bit further and update my bookmarks.
It's just a job, what's wrong with taking advantage of some company benefits?
I had just sat down when my phone started ringing.
Upon closer inspection, it was Zhang Guoli calling him.
The people who came to plead for leniency have arrived… (End of Chapter)