Chapter 1690
The atmosphere on the streets was exceptionally lively on New Year's Eve.
But the atmosphere inside the hotel room was very cold.
Zhang Yuan walked back to his residence. Although the weather outside was unusually cold, it seemed to be lessened by the lively crowd.
He wasn't cold; only his face was.
"Dandan, leave the DV here, you can go and rest now," Zhang Yuan said.
"I think I'll stay here a little longer," the assistant said, shaking his head. "I won't be able to sleep if I go back."
She pointed to the rooms on the left and right.
Hotels in downtown New York City are fully booked on days like this.
Major holidays in China are the busiest days for hotels and Durex, and the same is true abroad.
The surrounding rooms were noisy, but his room was quite quiet.
Hearing his assistant's words, Zhang Yuan nodded slightly in agreement.
But I was even more furious.
I should have made a scene too!
The results of it?
Walking alone in the cold wind.
That's utter nonsense!
He asked his assistant to get some late-night snacks from a hotel; if he couldn't satisfy his lustful desires, he at least needed to have something to eat.
The group ate macadamia nuts and other snacks.
Zhang Yuan ate for a while and then lost his energy. He looked out the window at the white, black, brown, and red crowds of all colors who were cheering and walking around.
He left in 2013, and I didn't miss him that much.
"Brother Long, what do you think we should do?" He took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down.
The fact that Brother Long and his elite men brought the people over on time at least shows that they are still loyal.
My stress has decreased a lot.
At this moment, he wanted to give Brother Long a chance to speak.
"I will educate him properly and make sure he doesn't do it again."
Zhang Yuan shook his head.
What kind of salary does your company offer?
“Slightly above the industry average,” Brother Long replied.
“Then I have to demand a higher standard than the industry average. The money isn’t for nothing,” Zhang Yuan said steadily.
"This incident appears to be just an internal leak that caused conflict in personal life."
"But what it exposes is a major problem in the company's management!"
His tone was serious.
"Huang Julong".
Upon hearing the boss address him by his first name, which was unusual for him, Brother Long straightened up abruptly.
"What if this person leaks confidential company information instead of my personal requests?"
"Ha, he talks about work when he's picking up a girl or starting a relationship."
How do you manage it?
"How did you teach them to keep it a secret?"
"What if a rival company sends a few girls to seduce me? They'll know exactly how many grains of rice I eat every day."
"Cross-Strait Films is about to go public!" He tapped the table with his knuckles.
"So many people are watching, so many people want me and the company to die."
"The lesson of Tudou.com is still fresh in our minds. If they had done something underhanded during the IPO process, we would have been finished."
"Tudou has gone from being China's number one internet platform to being completely acquired."
"Wang Wei, the boss, only received a total of over 100 million US dollars in returns."
"The owner of Youku is now worth several billion US dollars."
"The billions of dollars that are missing are due to conflicts between men and women."
"If this price difference occurs, will you make up for it to me, or will the other person do it?"
"If the ruler is not discreet, he will lose his ministers; if the ministers are not discreet, they will lose their lives; if matters are not kept secret, they will cause harm."
"You need to memorize this sentence."
After Zhang Yuan finished speaking rapidly, he calmed down.
"You need to figure out whether brotherhood is more important or doing great things."
"Just like on the battlefield, is it more important to save your buddies or to complete the strategic orders from your superiors? As the leader of the security company, you must figure this out."
He tried his best not to get angry and to suppress his anger.
"There will be no second chance if you do something wrong."
"If you can't make up your mind, then you're forcing me to."
Zhang Yuan no longer hesitated.
"Tomorrow, have someone bring him back to China."
"After signing the resignation agreement with a confidentiality clause, I was fired immediately."
"Never hire him again. Don't let me see him in any company or organization related to me, otherwise it won't be as simple as just being fired."
"For all other employees, I will have the company lawyers draft a new, more stringent confidentiality agreement, and those who want to continue working must sign it."
After a pause, Zhang Yuan added, "There will be a small signing fee."
"Those who don't want to sign can leave directly, but they still have to sign a resignation confidentiality agreement."
"This matter will be circulated internally, and serious education will be conducted. We must learn from this lesson."
"Anyone who has signed a confidentiality agreement should be held accountable if any leaks occur later."
"Then it can't be solved by firing them on the spot."
Cheng Hao said she was afraid of him.
Sisi said he was scary.
But those who truly understand how terrifying Zhang Yuan is are not them.
Brother Long knows this very well.
If your boss makes a decision after assessing the pros and cons, you'd better make sure you're tough enough.
Brother Long has worked as a bodyguard for Hong Kong bigwigs and as a thug for triads. He has seen countless ruthless people.
But he knew very well that the person he once thought was incredibly ruthless would be easily killed by his current boss.
Ruthlessness alone is not scary; what's truly terrifying is combining it with intelligence.
Being fired is probably the lightest possible outcome, and it's only because of my sake.
Brother Long, having been in the underworld for many years, was mature, prudent, and knew what was going on.
So I actually felt relieved.
I'll go and inform them in person.
The eldest brother has to step in.
After the result was announced, the person was still dissatisfied.
"He asked me to do it."
"Now they want to fire me for this, shouldn't they first hold him accountable for his own actions..."
"Shh!" Brother Long quickly interrupted, as Zhang Yuan's ears were very sharp.
"Firing you is the boss giving you face."
"If you want to be decent, you can be decent."
"If you don't want to be dignified, he will make you dignified."
"Go home and find a job. Don't come to Beijing to make a living. At least you can survive there."
"If you want arms and legs, if you want to be able to walk on your own for the rest of your life, then behave yourself."
Upon hearing this, the man felt a chill run down his spine.
Zhang Yuan then exported the video from the DV camera, edited it slightly, and sent it to an email address in China.
He slept neither well nor badly after a night of noise.
The next morning, upon arriving at the film set, before filming even began, Chen Kexin brought a small speaker to the group.
I need everyone's help in choosing background music for the film.
He selected mostly old songs, especially those from mainland China.
It was recommended to him by the sound effects manager of the film crew.
"My Upper Bunker Brothers", "My Deskmate", "The Story of Time", "The Girl in the Flower Shop", "The Outside World"...
In recent years, the "retro style" has become quite popular in mainland China, which Zhang Yuan prefers to call "remembering youth".
With the film version of "Eternal Love" starring Li Yapeng and Xu Jinglei as a clear marker, a group of directors from the imperial and Hong Kong film circles began to play with nostalgia.
Yiping, who just graduated with a master's degree, also created "So Young" as her "graduation project," which was hailed by countless people.
Right now, everyone's praising her for being beautiful, smart, highly educated, well-married, and good at everything...
They're even better at swindling money; you'll see later.
There are many more projects to come, led by Feng Tang's works, including a large number of movies and TV series. Xu Zheng's "Lost in Hong Kong" also followed this path, incorporating a lot of nostalgic Hong Kong style content.
A renowned director like Chen Kexin, with her extensive network of information, would surely know this.
The movie "American Dreams in China" originally carried the attribute of "reminiscing about youth", from university to entrepreneurship, from student to boss, it tells the story of young people's growth.
Choosing these old songs is perfectly fine.
But Zhang Yuan always felt that something was missing.
Until Chen Kexin gave up on Cui Jian's "Rock 'n' Roll on the New Long March".
Zhang Yuan glanced at the crowd of foreigners passing by outside the window; inside the room...
"As I walked, I kept thinking about the snow-capped mountains and grasslands!"
"Walk and sing, 'Leader Chairman Mao!'"
"Oh oh oh, oh oh, oh oh..."
The flavor was half right.
We're filming a story about New Oriental seeking peace amidst struggle in North America, so this song is perfect for it.
When the tune of "The Internationale" started playing on the stereo, Wei Chuan was right!
"Unite for tomorrow."
"The Internationale must be realized!"
Zhang Yuan estimated that his location was only a few kilometers away from Wall Street.
There is no better place in the world to play this song.
New Oriental was already jokingly called "the red flag planted all over America," so this song is really catchy.
Zhang Yuan strongly suggested adding a lot, just like the chili oil in Lanzhou beef noodles, you must add a lot!
This is what I'm looking for to eat with rice!
Shortly after filming began, Chen Kexin glanced at him a few times.
"I feel like you're not in as good shape as you were yesterday."
After dealing with the problem, Zhang Yuan's anger subsided considerably, and he was no longer as serious and silent as before.
When you're in a good mood, you'll feel more relaxed.
He couldn't say it like that, so he had to make it sound plausible.
"The scene we're filming today isn't Chen Dongqing's second battle after his break, where he proposes a collaboration to ETS."
"It was the other side's turn to attack before, now it's my turn."
"When priorities differ, attitudes will naturally change."
Chen Kexin nodded. "You're quite meticulous."
Whether it's good or not depends entirely on his words; his storytelling skills are not acquired in vain.
What he said naturally makes sense. This major event was first launched by the ETS representative, who was on home turf.
The other party used the topic of China's long-standing tradition of cheating to belittle the abilities of the Chinese people.
They believe that New Dream not only pirates textbooks, but also helps its students cheat on the GRE exam.
Otherwise, why would you have such high average scores?
Chinese people have the highest average GRE score in the world.
Foreigners even cite numerous ancient Chinese documents documenting cheating techniques as evidence.
This is true; it actually happened during New Oriental's negotiations.
White people are most adept at this method of humiliating others, especially at the beginning of negotiations, in order to anger or intimidate the other party and gain the upper hand.
This is a common tactic.
But there's some truth to what they said.
When it comes to cheating, China is truly exceptional.
Although in the modern world, India is known for its rampant cheating.
Most developed countries around the world have begun to restrict Indian students because the rate of academic fraud in India is as high as 90%!
Nine out of ten of them use fake degrees to study abroad, then immigrate and conquer the world.
The situation at companies like Boeing and Microsoft after they were taken over by Indians is obvious to all.
However, in terms of the art and techniques of cheating, it still falls short of ancient China.
Cheating has been turned into an art form.
Especially Wen Tingyun, a great talent of the Tang Dynasty who excelled in poetry, calligraphy, and regulated verse!
This man is often mentioned alongside Li Shangyin as "Wen Li".
Although this person is exceptionally talented, writing poetry, lyrics, calligraphy, and painting are not his greatest passions.
This person loves to cheat, especially helping others cheat!
He took the exam for the son of the Prefect of the Capital and was selected.
He helped countless wealthy families and sons of high-ranking officials pass their exams, and they succeeded every time.
He became so famous that even the examiners knew his name.
The most impressive time was during the ninth year of high school. All the examiners were wary of him, knowing that he was good at cheating.
They arranged a separate seat for him and also had a separate guard supervise him in front of the curtain, with the guards taking turns to supervise him without interruption.
In the few moments it took for the monitors to hand over the duties, he wrote eight exam papers in the exam room, helping eight people cheat.
And they even handed in their papers early!
His hand speed is even faster than Kato's. He is said to be able to write an eight-line poem by crossing his hands eight times while keeping them in his sleeves. His nickname is Wen Bacha.
I love helping others cheat; it gives me a great sense of satisfaction.
Nothing else is as exciting as this.
He liked that feeling, and every time he successfully cheated, he would go around shouting it out so that everyone would know.
Later, Prime Minister Linghu Tao asked him to write a poem called "Bodhisattva's Charm," which Linghu Tao then signed and presented to the emperor.
As a result, Wen Tingyun went around claiming that the poem presented by the prime minister was written by himself.
This caused Linghu Tao to be ridiculed by the court officials and the emperor.
They like to impersonate others and then show off.
It was even more enjoyable than when Brother Qian was playing the straight man.
But the consequences of offending the prime minister are predictable.
What do you do when foreigners use this as an example?
There's no explanation for digging up ancestral graves.
Therefore, Chen Kexin designed it to be without explanation.
They arranged a scene for him to prove himself through his actions.
Chen Dongqing handed the other party a new edition of an English dictionary published by ETS and told them to flip through the pages at will.
Whichever page you turn to, you can recite its contents from memory, word for word.
The foreigners were stunned.
Chen Dongqing then elaborated, saying that people like him are very common among Chinese students because Chinese people are the most hardworking people in the world.
This is used to refute the opponent's claim of cheating.
Zhang Yuan felt that this part was a bit "improper".
It's not the kind of inappropriate or unserious thing, but it does have some of the typical feel-good story tropes.
Furthermore, the content is detached from reality.
Throughout history, there have been masters known for their extensive knowledge and excellent memory.
Wang Can, one of the Seven Scholars of Jian'an, was known for his ability to "memorize inscriptions on horseback" by riding a horse at high speed past stone tablets.
Chen Ji, who compiled the Yongle Encyclopedia, was nicknamed "Two-Legged Bookshelf" because he could memorize anything he read and recite the contents of thousands of books from memory.
In modern times, the famous Mr. Gu Hongming was invited by Mr. Cai Yuanpei, the first president of Peking University, to give a speech.
More than a hundred years ago, the Chinese people were described as having the characteristics of "gentleness and kindness".
This person received a Western education from a young age, studied abroad as a teenager, is fluent in nine languages, and is a true expert on foreign countries.
However, they held reservations during an era when the whole nation was clamoring for Westernization and learning from foreigners.
Because he has been there, he understands, and thus better comprehends Western culture; technology is not a panacea.
Even now, only those who have actually been to the West can demystify it.
The most mindless and superstitious people often don't even have passports.
These people were all unparalleled geniuses in Chinese history, with extraordinary memories.
However, it is absolutely impossible to memorize an English dictionary that is several hundred pages thick during a flight of more than ten hours.
Do I know quantum speed reading or something?
No matter how much memory Zhang Yuan has, or his talent for memorizing lines, he still can't achieve this.
It would take me more than ten hours to finish watching it, let alone memorize it perfectly.
So this scene felt to him like the scheming and intrigue of "Ming Dynasty 1566" for dozens of episodes, suddenly showing the night the young Grand Secretary was arrested, and the scene where the Imperial Guard Zhu Qi dismantled the sedan chair with his bare hands.
The realistic genre suddenly turned fantastical.
But thinking about it, it wouldn't hurt to give the audience a "thrill" at the end of the film.
It's normal for the male lead to have a bit of a protagonist's aura.
Old Yu himself is of average talent and would never be able to do this.
But isn't his life a real-life version of a wish-fulfillment novel?
He was trying to convince himself while he was taking pictures.
Meanwhile, Lazy Sheep, who was in the capital, received the email he sent... (End of this chapter)