Chapter 0842: Red Hot

For many people, the Spring Festival means reunion.

The same was true for Zhao Fusheng's family. Fan Baobao and Zhao Fusheng were rarely home, so when they finally returned, both Zhao's parents and Li Yuan were especially happy.

Even little Fan Beibei had a lot more smiles on her face.

Of course, the beautiful Beibei wouldn't admit that she was smiling because of all the gifts her brother and sister brought back.

Because they had bought a new house, the family no longer had to live crowded together. Just like when they were young, Fan Baobao's family lived across the hall, and Zhao Fusheng's family lived on this side.

When it was time to eat, they naturally gathered together, and each had keys to the other's home.

For some reason, seeing this scene, Zhao Fusheng felt his heart touched.

Wasn't this the meaning of his efforts?

And during the Spring Festival, "Conquest" finally officially aired on television. As Zhao Fusheng had predicted, the ratings soared all the way. Surprisingly, the sales of peripheral audio-visual products were also extremely hot, nearly sold out as soon as they hit the market, setting a miracle in recent years.

Even Zhao Fusheng hadn't expected this result. You see, usually, the DVD versions of TV series are released alongside the broadcast. Impatient viewers, unable to bear watching only two episodes a day on TV, spend their own money to buy DVDs. But "Conquest" created a miracle: before the TV broadcast, tens of thousands of copies of the audio-visual products had already been sold, and many video stores were on their third restock. Some crew members, hearing from friends that "Conquest" was great, drove all over Beijing to buy it, only to find it completely sold out. According to video store owners, such a scene had previously only occurred with ultra-luxury productions and heavily hyped films. For a medium-budget production like "Conquest" to achieve such a miracle was truly because the show was too good.

"Fusheng, thank you. Thank you so much."

When Gao Qun called Zhao Fusheng, he was completely incoherent.

After all, without Zhao Fusheng's initial strong advocacy, he might not have secured investment from Future Advertising, and naturally wouldn't have become the hot director he was now.

Zhao Fusheng chuckled: "Director Gao, you're too kind. It's mainly because your script is really good. There aren't many dramas like this that can move the audience these days."

This was his honest opinion. The script quality of "Conquest" was evident. Without exaggeration, any TV series with a dedicated script and actors with solid acting skills would generally not perform poorly.

In later generations, those so-called big-budget TV series often lost money and cried. The reason was simple: whether it was production costs, directors, or actors, they didn't really put their hearts into filming.

To put it bluntly, in those people's hearts, they didn't respect filmmaking at all.

Some people couldn't even tell the difference between cameras, yet they sat there boldly as directors. They really thought that singing a few songs or acting in a few plays qualified them to run a crew. Hah, did they take the audience for fools?

Of course, Zhao Fusheng wouldn't say this publicly. From now on, many actors were itching to become directors. If his remarks were exposed, Zhao Fusheng would surely become a target of public criticism.

He wasn't called Sicong, nor did he have a billionaire father. This kind of thing that entertainment industry disciplinary officials liked to do was of no interest to Zhao Fusheng.

After chatting with Gao Qun for a while and agreeing to have a meal together when back in Beijing, Zhao Fusheng hung up.

Putting down the phone, he saw his girlfriend looking at him with great interest.

"What's up? Is there something on my face?" Zhao Fusheng asked Fan Baobao curiously.

Fan Baobao shook her head: "No, it's clean."

"Then why are you looking at me?" Zhao Fusheng looked bewildered.

"I'm just wondering, my boyfriend knows quite a few people in the film and TV industry, so why can't I get a decent role?" Fan Baobao rolled her eyes at Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng was even more confused. He looked at Fan Baobao strangely, clearly she had more to say.

Fan Baobao raised her phone: "Here, I've received several text messages recently, all from guys claiming to be big shots, saying things like 'Don't you like being a big shot's woman?'..."

Pfft!

Zhao Fusheng burst out laughing, looking at Fan Baobao in surprise: "What?"

"It's all your fault. You made me play that Li Mei. Now people think I like being a big shot's mistress." Fan Baobao glared at Zhao Fusheng and said irritably.

She actually knew it wasn't Zhao Fusheng's fault, but regardless, he was the one who got her the role. She had to vent at him a little—that was a woman's privilege.

In the past, Fan Baobao might have been upset, but after being with Zhao Fusheng and seeing more of the world, she didn't care much about such small matters. At worst, she could just change her phone number.

She wasn't a child. She had done quite a bit of acting, even if just as an extra, and had picked up quite a few gossip tidbits. In the entertainment industry, who didn't have some dark history?

To be honest, Zhao Fusheng didn't care about this either. Fan Baobao wasn't a big shot. If someone really wanted to find her phone number, it would still be easy.

For an actor to be liked or disliked because of a role wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

It showed that the actor's acting was decent enough for people to accept. If she acted as awkwardly as some young idols, Fan Baobao should be reflecting on herself instead.

"Tomorrow, let's go buy a new SIM card," Zhao Fusheng said to Fan Baobao. In those days, SIM cards weren't yet registered with real names. You could just go to the mobile company and pick a number to switch—it was very convenient.

"Okay, you need to find me a role quickly. I want to act," Fan Baobao glared at Zhao Fusheng.

The best way for an actor to make people forget their current image was to immediately star in another work, leaving a deep impression of the new role in the audience's minds.

Zhao Fusheng nodded in agreement. He was actually planning to think of a role for Fan Baobao.

After all, although his girlfriend's acting was average, she had a good image. If the acting wasn't enough, the image could make up for it.

After seeing Fan Baobao off, Zhao Fusheng thought it over. In 2002, as far as he remembered, there weren't really any big movies. But if he recalled correctly, Zhang Yimou's "Hero" would be released at the end of the year. Also, this year was the World Cup year. The national team had made an unprecedented entry into the World Cup, and everyone was fantasizing about whether a miracle would happen that summer.

But facts proved that cows were cows. Whether at home or abroad, even on the moon, that bunch of Chinese male footballers who spent all day drinking and hanging out in bars still couldn't kick a ball into the goal.

After thinking it over, he would have to ask Jiang Wen for help again. That guy had a wide network and many connections in the circle.

No way around it—that was the helplessness of a newcomer.

For a newcomer entering the film industry, the first professional quality wasn't acting skills or character, but learning to wait. Whether making a movie or a TV series, waiting was the norm, and it was also the duty of an actor.

Waiting for opportunities, waiting for the lead actors to finish their scenes before it was your turn, even if it meant waiting all night.

In this process, it was actually a time for newcomers to learn and accumulate. In later generations, many popular young actors and actresses lacked this process. Their schedules were calculated by the minute, including travel time and makeup time.

It wasn't that they couldn't improve their acting precision. After all, if there was time, going over every expression and relying on post-production editing could basically ensure that the young idols' acting was passable.

Too bad.

No director was willing to spend such hard-earned time on that. Besides, even bad movies could make money, so why make things difficult for everyone?

Moreover, some actresses could get roles just by sleeping with the director or investors. As for acting skills, hah.

So, Zhao Fusheng was relatively tolerant of actresses like Guan Golf or Yao Dazui. Which woman in the entertainment industry didn't have a dark past?

Scandals were sometimes created by others, sometimes by oneself. In the entertainment industry, there were two mouths—either the upper one suffered, or the lower one endured.

Unless you had a powerful figure backing you, otherwise, certain dirty things would eventually come knocking.