Chapter 1754: Lost on the Journey

Xu Zheng, leaving aside his personal character, was definitely among the top few comedy actors in China when it came to acting skills and script selection.

From the early days of *The Legend of Piggy* to later *Crazy Stone*, you could always see Xu Zheng in various comedies.

After signing with Future Films, he got many opportunities. Zhao Fusheng instructed Ye Jing to try to meet his demands.

Xu Zheng was very happy and signed with Future Films with delight.

Of course, his contract stipulated that in the future, Xu Zheng would cooperate with the company in a studio model.

Moreover, Zhao Fusheng had Ye Jing promise that if the company went public, they could give Xu Zheng appropriate shares of the original stock.

"Chairman, this script..."

Seeing Zhao Fusheng silent for a long time, Xu Zheng felt like fifteen buckets drawing water—seven up and eight down. He looked at Zhao Fusheng with hopeful eyes, eager for his approval.

Although this chairman rarely came to the company, Xu Zheng knew that as long as Zhao Fusheng nodded in approval, Ye Jing would definitely not oppose it.

He had great confidence in this film. Xu Zheng thought he could both direct and act in it.

With this, he would make a name for himself!

In recent years, he had grown tired of constantly making guest appearances everywhere. Xu Zheng wanted to be a director, to become someone who could make others famous.

Instead of having others tell him how to act all day.

"It's pretty good."

Zhao Fusheng smiled and looked up at Xu Zheng: "Are you planning to direct it yourself?"

"Yes."

Xu Zheng nodded: "I plan to direct it myself, and I also intend to play the boss role."

This was an idea he had long harbored, and now he brought it up, hoping to gain Zhao Fusheng's support.

The implication was that if he couldn't be the director, he wouldn't present the script.

Zhao Fusheng smiled faintly, not at all surprised or puzzled by this.

Xu Zheng had always been an ambitious man. If he had no ambition, Zhao Fusheng would have found it strange.

"Give me a good reason."

Zhao Fusheng smiled and said to Xu Zheng.

Brother Zheng was a good actor, but whether he could be a good director was unknown.

"I..." Xu Zheng opened his mouth but didn't know how to begin.

If the person in front of him was Ye Jing, he could have directly stated his reasons without hesitation. But the problem was, the person before him was Zhao Fusheng, not Ye Jing.

For example, we can often speak freely in front of our department manager, not caring about their feelings.

But what about facing the boss?

Facing someone who controls whether you can eat and work, how many people can remain calm and composed?

Sighing, Xu Zheng said nothing.

Ye Jing, standing by, slowly spoke up: "Old Xu, I think you should wait. After Old Jiang's film finishes next year, I'll see if I can have him start a film with you as the lead."

In his view, the lead role in Jiang Wen's new film had already proven Xu Zheng's status and the company's determination to promote him.

But unfortunately, that wasn't what Xu Zheng wanted.

"President Ye, I still want to be a director." Gritting his teeth and taking a deep breath, Xu Zheng looked at Ye Jing stubbornly: "I think this is a good opportunity for me."

"You..."

Ye Jing was also helpless. He turned to Zhao Fusheng: "What do you say?"

He knew that Zhao Fusheng valued Xu Zheng highly, so he had to ask for Zhao Fusheng's opinion on this matter.

Zhao Fusheng narrowed his eyes, looking at Xu Zheng, remaining silent for a long time.

Meeting Zhao Fusheng's gaze, Brother Zheng was a bit conflicted but remained resolute.

He knew very well that this was his best chance. If he missed it, he didn't know when he would encounter such a suitable script again.

"You know, I actually don't like this script very much." Zhao Fusheng's voice slowly rose, startling Xu Zheng.

Looking at Zhao Fusheng, Xu Zheng was somewhat surprised: "What do you mean..."

As he asked this question, his heart had already sunk halfway.

There was no way around it—the boss didn't like it, and that reason trumped any other.

It was like excitedly giving your girlfriend a bouquet of flowers.

And then?

She tells you she prefers a diamond ring.

ψ(*｀ー')ψψ(*｀ー')ψ

(ц｀ω'ц*)(ц｀ω'ц*)

This is a damn sad story.

Fortunately, Zhao Fusheng didn't let Xu Zheng feel upset for long. He smiled and said to Xu Zheng: "It's like this—I don't mean I dislike the plot of the film. I think some parts are too vulgar."

Xu Zheng remained silent.

He knew Zhao Fusheng was telling the truth.

This film seemed like a crazy yet bittersweet comedy, but in fact, people who watched a lot of American TV shows would probably find it hard to like its jokes.

"Let me put it bluntly." Zhao Fusheng looked at Xu Zheng and said calmly: "I won't say this film is worthless, because at least the narrative is smooth and the clues are clear. But as for the script's story, I really can't praise you."

Xu Zheng didn't refute Zhao Fusheng's words, because he knew Zhao Fusheng was right.

Everyone knew that China's film market was extremely distorted. A small number of big-budget domestic films and about a dozen imported films each year occupied the vast majority of domestic screens, grabbing almost all the box office, while the remaining small productions could only scavenge under the tiger's mouth.

In such a film market, B-grade productions could have competed for market share with better stories and more targeted genres than A-grade films.

Unfortunately, in China, films couldn't reflect the dark side; thoughts had to be positive and uplifting.

The whole film felt like a sci-fi story, with a series of bizarre events happening in a place that looked like China.

In this story, mistresses didn't cause trouble, wives didn't mind their husbands' infidelity, teachers were willing to beg on the streets for their students, ticket sellers would search all hotels to find the owner of a lost wallet, and farmers didn't ask for money after being hit...

China's current public opinion policy was very strange, completely baffling. The dark side of society and ugly phenomena could be reported on TV news (to a certain extent, same below), written in newspapers, and sold in bookstores.

But films couldn't depict them.

Chinese films had to be positive and uplifting; there had to be good people in the film, and the ending had to be good triumphing over evil. Even if there were ugly phenomena in the film, they had to be resolved in the end...

It was quite boring.

Zhao Fusheng looked at Xu Zheng, who was somewhat embarrassed, and suddenly felt a sense of powerlessness.

He knew that Xu Zheng was compromising—compromising with the authorities, compromising with the film market.

Not just him; in fact, Zhao Fusheng himself was also compromising.

"Go ahead and shoot it."

Suddenly feeling a bit disheartened, Zhao Fusheng said to Xu Zheng: "As for investment, how much you need, talk to President Ye. Shoot the film as it should be. If this kind of film is released during the Spring Festival, it will definitely be a box office hit."

Xu Zheng nodded, knowing Zhao Fusheng was right.

But somehow, he felt that the chairman seemed unhappy.

Little did he know, Zhao Fusheng was thinking about the development of Chinese cinema more than a decade later.

Sometimes, the sense of responsibility that suddenly arose in Zhao Fusheng made him feel helpless.

He knew the future development and where China's film and television market was heading, but when he thought of the screens filled with praise and glorification, filled with family conflicts and love triangles, Zhao Fusheng's heart ached.

Anti-Japanese war dramas would still appear as expected, and the social atmosphere of materialism and money worship was inevitable. People increasingly cared about how much they gained, rather than thinking about giving.

He didn't know if this was good or bad, but Zhao Fusheng knew that people's hearts had truly changed.

"Thank you."

Xu Zheng stood up and bowed to Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng waved his hand: "The script is good. Although it lacks artistry, it's very commercial. I was being too demanding personally."

Xu Zheng smiled bitterly, naturally understanding Zhao Fusheng's meaning.

But the problem was, if a script deliberately pursued artistry in today's environment, it would most likely face great difficulties.

As for unifying commerce and art, Xu Zheng admitted he couldn't achieve both. So he decisively chose to surrender to commercialization.

He wasn't Ning Hao; he wasn't that persistent.

Moreover, even Ning Hao—hadn't that guy abandoned the script for *No Man's Land* and shot *Crazy Racer* instead?

As a filmmaker, especially a Chinese filmmaker, if you didn't learn to compromise, you only had two choices: be blacklisted or be abandoned.

Brother Zheng didn't want to give up. He had ambition, eager to become a prominent figure in the Chinese film industry.

He would never be willing to fall at this point.

Zhao Fusheng knew this, which is why he said he was being too demanding.

Not everyone was like Lou Ye, that madman who only made art films.

Speaking of which, Hong Kong's Ann Hui was also that kind of person.

These people were die-hard artists at heart. Even if they couldn't afford to eat, even if their films flopped one after another, they refused to admit defeat and clung to their artistic style.

Such people were admirable, but Zhao Fusheng knew he would never become one of them.

Just as he respected heroes but would never be a hero himself.

Waving his hand to bid farewell to Xu Zheng and Ye Jing, Zhao Fusheng stepped out of Future Films. He had intended to ask Ye Jing about Yu Feihong's recent situation, but seeing Ye Jing's current state, it seemed he had no time to deal with him.

So, Zhao Fusheng decided to visit Yu Feihong himself.

"Let's go to Miss Yu's place."

Zhao Fusheng got into the car and said to Chen Zhen.

Chen Zhen nodded, and the car started, heading toward Yu Feihong's residence.