CH 58

Jiang Nian’s new film “Peaceful Years” was set to be released in August. From early spring to severe winter, it took half a year to film. In the early period, she was in the studio every day. After starting the editing, she stayed in the studio and did not go out. In this way, she had been silent for more than three years.

Over the past three years, Director Jiang, the originator of the strange sand sculpture, had almost become a legend.

Jiang Nian’s wanting to make a new movie was not promoted publicly. She didn’t care about empty popularity. Instead, it was better to save some money to pay for the movie. She took the crew members to worship in the temple, prayed for a blessing, and started. She didn’t particularly promote her movie but, after all, she was somewhat of a celebrity, there was a big star boyfriend, and well-known gold thighs, and the movie naturally attracted attention. So, the news that she wanted to shoot an Anti-Japanese war movie set in the 40s or 50s still spread.

Who was Jiang Nian? She was a comedy director. Why try to make such a serious movie?

Even some fans who supported Jiang Nian were skeptical. After all, the president series was really too muddled, and regular movies with such heavy subjects were sure to be difficult for new directors like Jiang Nian. Not to mention, it was said that even the script was written by her— same as the previous two projects— which undoubtedly increased the difficulty of production.

Those with good attitudes suspected that she may not be able to shoot well. The jump from a net drama to mainstream film was already large. Not to mention, could a good movie be made just because you wanted to make it? Numerous films were released each year in the history of Chinese cinema, but how many could really enter the eyes of the audience?

Those with bad attitudes directly told Jiang Nian to roll back to film her sand sculpture online dramas and not insult history!

Even Zhao Heng was asked about Jiang Nian when he was interviewed by media reporters at an event.

Zhao Heng rarely spoke about Jiang Nian in front of the public. His private life was extremely low-key. Even if he was now popular, there was almost no news of him other than when he attended necessary activities. In recent years, with the increasing popularity of variety shows, most artists attended variety shows, and there were many shows inviting Zhao Heng, but he didn’t accept a singly one. He was either in the crew when he needed to film, or a Tianluo girl at home when he didn’t need to fil film, and there was no messy entertainment. Even Lao Wei said that Zhao Heng was definitely the cleanest and most amazing artist he had ever worked with.

Now was the time when Jiang Nian has been most questioned. When Lao Wei came, he guessed that there would be a media reporter who would bring her up. He specifically told Zhao Heng that there was no need to respond to this question-even if the response was good, it would also be misinterpreted and reported by people with a desire to spread mess.

Lao Wei was also not wrong. Zhao Heng just got the microphone for a while. After answering a few bland questions, reporters couldn’t help it: “Mr. Zhao, there are a lot of news about your girlfriend, director Jiang Nian, on the Internet recently. Some netizens said that Jiang Nian is suitable for making idol dramas or comedy films, such a heavy and serious historical theme movie is not suitable for her. What do you think about this?”

Lao Wei had already warned the reporters in advance not to ask questions they shouldn’t ask. It wasn’t long before they forgot the warnings.

He was about to step forward, but he saw Zhao Heng smile. He looked gentle but his response was anything but.

“Actually, the problem is very simple. Just like you are now an entertainment reporter, if you switch to current affairs news one day, you will surely be questioned, and others will doubt whether you can do well. After all, there is a certain difference in the work between the two, so this question is definitely valid. But questioning does not mean a complete denial, and you can easily be proven wrong or right when the final work comes out. In the case of judging whether it is good or bad, judgment at that time is the most fair and reasonable.”

It was well known that entertainment reporters’ M.O. was to distort the information and exaggerate it in order to get more hits. Popularity was their number one goal in writing news. However, the current affairs reporters had to strictly pursue the truth of the facts with no subjective opinions mixed in. There could be no straying from the truth. If an entertainment reporter really did change careers, he would certainly be questioned.

Zhao Heng’s answer was not only clever, it also showed his high EQ. It didn’t seem to offend people initially but, in fact, after careful reflection, it seemed he said that some netizens were too anxious? Before the movie even came out, they made a ruckus saying it wasn’t good, it was unsuitable, Jiang Nian should give up quickly, etc. Did they think you were very prescient when they said this? In fact, it was just their own prejudice and narrow-mindedness.

At this time, Zhao Heng was no longer a small artist. His popularity was very wide, and there are many diehard fans along with many passers-by fans, or audiences who simply like to watch his works. Not to mention, Jiang Nian herself still had a certain level of heat.

So as soon as this news came out, the popularity soared, and it became the focus of discussion almost immediately!

When Jiang Nian heard the news from the assistant, she also called Zhao Heng, and was particularly satisfied that the little baby maintained her in this way and told him to wait for her to give him several rewards.

Now that she’d almost finished the latter part of the film, she would have time to accompany her Tianluo girl after her release in early August.

****

On August 5th, the “Peaceful Years” premiered. As expected, the attendance rate on the first day was extremely low, and it barely managed to stand fifth in the box office of movies released on the same day.

The popularity of this movie was not low. With Bi Zheng’s financial support for the propaganda, the biggest problem was the audience’s trust in Jiang Nian’s movie. A small director who made two web dramas actually made a movie? Could the movie be good? There was also the fact that this movie did not invite any big-name actors with strong box office appeal. So, most people chose to wait and see. Those to enter the movie theater on the first day, in addition to some of Jiang Nian’s drama fans, were Zhao Heng’s fans.

For a while, there were quite a few people bad-mouthing Jiang Nian, waiting online to watch her bad news.

However, under such unfavorable circumstances, the box office of “Peace Years” steadily increased, exceeding everyone’s expectations, from fifth to fourth, third, second, and first!

Some people hadn’t even responded yet and “Peaceful Years” burst into popularity. From the initial sporadic voices saying that “Peaceful Years” was a movie worth watching, more and more voices came out later saying it was the most worth watching movie this year!

“Peaceful Years” and Jiang Nian’s previous presidential series were completely different. Both the story itself and the mood of the shooting changed dramatically. Just looking at these works would not make people think that it was from the same person.

The story began with a cynical young Li Zhijie who was extremely dissatisfied with his family, career, and even the entire world. He worked daily and step by step, while taking care of his grandfather with a broken leg and stubborn temper. Even children were afraid of him. He also had a father who wandered around the world and came home to trouble his family once a year; he had no memory of his mother, only knowing that she died when he was very young.

Li Zhijie was dissatisfied with his family and looked down on his incompetent father. He was even more dissatisfied with his grandfather who forced his parents to marry to fulfill a verbal promise and his harsh boss who always made him work overtime. The depression brought about by family and career made him breathless. Once, he wanted to escape but gave up due to the helplessness of reality, so he was lost and bewildered while being angry. This was almost the status quo of many young people.

Until his grandfather was very ill, he found the medal that his grandfather had obtained when he looked for the medical insurance card, and there was an old photo that had already turned yellow. There were about a dozen people in the photo. Each also had a simple gun in his hand.

This was the story of the three generations spanning grandparents to grandchildren.

The film then switched to a flashback, and the camera jumped to decades ago. Captain Li Guokun took his comrades to the front line of the war of resistance against Japan. He was optimistic, took care of his comrades, dared to fight anyone, always rushed to the front when he was on the battlefield, and everyone believed in him. Among his comrades were the honest and simple man, Li Qiang, who had a strange temperament and did not like to communicate with others and was always lonely with a poisonous tongue. He was also timid and trembled when he heard a gun……

This team made up of young men from the north and the south was almost wiped out the enemy army in an ambush. It was too late when they were found by the logistic forces. Only one person in the group of corpses survived with a broken leg.

In addition to the front line, naturally there were scholars determined to defend their home and country from the rear.

Some netizens said in a film review: “What impressed me most about this movie was that in the battle I thought it was Li Qiang who survived, because he and Li Zhijie were the most similar in character. It wasn’t until the end of the movie that I saw the name tag on the hospital bed. It turned out that Captain Li Guokun survived. Captain Li in my memory is a soldier who always smiles and never gives up, not the old-fashioned old man who has a strange temper. At the end, I realized that, although he said nothing about the past, he never forgot his comrades who had fought alongside him. In fact, he has a good temper, but he can’t forget how he survived alone in the past. Children are afraid of him, but he always carried candy in his bag. In fact, he was still the same person …… this contrast really shocked me!”

Film critics said: “In fact, I have the deepest memory of Shen Xiaoqing. Although she was a woman, and she was seriously injured, under the circumstances, she still set up a simple medical team to teach women in the countryside how to stop bleeding and save people. Although their strength was weak and there were still more wounded who died than lived, I saw a hope. A hope they never gave up.”

Li Zhijie’s mother was one of the women taught by Shen Xiaoqing. During a transfer, she died in order to save a child. At the time, Zhijie was still an infant. When his father took him to leave, they heard his mother, who had yet to swallow her last breath, chasing down the enemies who came by to take her life……

Li Zhijie’s strongest memory of his father was when he was eight. At that time, the man full of vicissitudes finally returned covered in wounds. He was very happy, but his father was always very silent. He didn’t talk to him much and just spent his time working, usually sitting silently overnight. After raising him as an adult, he went out to work, saying that he would sending money back every month. Naturally, the relationship between father and son became more and more rigid.

Well-known film critics wrote: “I didn’t have high expectations when I went to watch “Peaceful Years” but, after watching it, I found out that this film is far beyond my imagination. Every character in the film is particularly brilliant. Even the harsh and annoying boss of Li Zhijie, I was really impressed with him even though he had only a few scenes! It was only when he was using the computer in the city, saying angrily, ‘Now, kids are so able to spend money! The living expenses were only just sent over there. Why are there two more to be raised here? They might as well just grab my money!’, I knew that such a person who hates everyone, has been helping poor students to study. Although it is not stated in the film, he is the descendant of the child that Li Zhijie’s mother rescued. In fact, the person I am most curious about should be Li Zhijie’s father. Although he finally returned, we never saw his face; only a back was revealed. Even at the end, it was only the back of him and Li Zhijie holding the ashes on the bluestone slab road. This is so regrettable! I really want to know: is the back Zhao Heng?”

Half a month after release, “Peaceful Years” slowly rose and received continuous praise. When those we were not optimistic about the film watched with skepticism and then came out crying, they had to admit, “Jiang Nian is not just a drama director. She turned out to be able to make such a shocking movie! Whether as a screenwriter or a director, she was successful.”

The film let them know that peace was not easy, the ancestors did not have it easy. You must naturally appreciate and cherish being born in a peaceful era!

People who once said that she could only make sand sculptures idol dramas no longer dared to come out and be ashamed. People who once questioned her and laughed at her were now convinced.

The success of this film exceeded everyone’s expectations, and everyone who watched it said that it was not like a script written by such a young writer, and even less a movie made by a young director. Whether it was a story or a shooting method, it carried more experience than anyone would expect from Jiang Nian.

However, Jiang Nian felt that if she failed, she would be sorry for her accumulation and experience in these lives. She had a lot of knowledge, had heard many stories, and had experienced many things personally. Really speaking, who could compare with her level of experience?

****

In order to support his Jiang Nian, Zheng Qi also booked an entire theater, invited his friends and classmates, and took the whole family to the cinema.

This movie was undoubtedly successful because his grandmother kept crying her dentures out of her mouth, until she finally cried seriously with the dentures in her bag. His grandfather’s persuasion didn’t help at all!

Zheng Hao also had to admit that this “Peaceful Years” would be the best and most successful film of the year.

Bi Lei also reserved a theater but was rejected when he invited his brother to come. Bi Lei was particularly upset. Now that the movie had been released, for Bi Lei, his brother was just his brother, no longer the glittering golden thigh.

Therefore, he naturally did not know that his brother had also reserved a theater, and he himself occupied the entire cinema and watched the movie. Who told him to be a golden thigh? This way, even if he wiped his tears, he wouldn’t need to sneak. He could blow his nose brightly.

It’s good to be rich!

Chen Xin also had an appointment with his parents to watch a movie. The family of three rarely had time to get together. When they walked out of the theater, they couldn’t help but be silent. Chen Xin glanced at his parents with red eyes.

When “Peaceful Years” rose, Jiang Nian also narcissistically bought two movie tickets and went to see it with Zhao Heng.

They entered after the shadow hall was dark.

This film was edited by Jiang Nian herself, so she had seen the finished product countless times. But this was the first time she had actually watched it on the big screen.

The two-hour screening time passed quickly. Jiang Nian was still stunned when the ending credits rolled. She subconsciously touched the wet corner of her eyes, and her mind seemed to be showing the magical four fishing in her ears telling their distant stories. Zhao Heng held her hand: “Niannian, I’m really proud of you.”

Jiang Nian smiled. If watching the movie she made could make her cry, then she was really successful, and her IQ was indeed perfect. Worthy of being a genius!

“Peaceful Years” ended perfectly with a billion good results and received rave reviews from all parties. Even the mainstream movie industry began to accept her. Jiang Nian received invitations from many interview programs, but she refused in favor of rare leisure time. She had already traveled with Zhao Heng on a plane abroad.

Suddenly, many fans waiting to for food on her Weibo urged her to start preparing for the next movie, and also asked her what to shoot next. They promised watch whatever she shot. They would definitely support it!

Jiang Nian took a moment to reply: “I haven’t figured out what to do in the next movie. Let’s discuss it later.”

This left her fans crying on her Weibo and looking very miserable.

Just when Jiang Nian’s scenery was endless, Ji Yaling was arrested.

She was arrested in the name of fraudulent fundraising holdings, privately moving public funds, and secretly modifying the artist’s work contract to embezzle money.

Didn’t Ji Yaling know many rich women before? After knowing them, she intentionally made friends and deliberately revealed her talents in the stock market. After making money several times, the noble ladies naturally believed in her and gave her funds to manage their finances. She could also draw a certain share from it. The more money she contacted, the more she lost herself. Not to mention that she wouldn’t be able to remember everything in the stock market over the past few years so, naturally, there were misses. Of course, she made a lot, but she also lost a lot. Quite a lot of money was needed to make up for this loss, so she could only get it from other places.

Yang Zhan ignited a fire as she wished. She took the opportunity to assign a lot of 18-line endorsements and variety shows for him. She only wished that Yang Zhan could work all 24 hours a day to make money for her! Yang Zhan had been in the entertainment industry for a few years. He was no longer the little white rabbit who had just joined the industry. After working so hard, shouldn’t he have earned a lot of money? So, when he checked it in private, he found out that Ji Yaling was embezzling his money, and he contacted the police to add it to her case.

As long as the charges against Ji Yaling were successful, she would have to sit in jail a few more years.

Ji Yaling completely regretted it. Obviously, she was the true goddess. How could she end up in this situation? If she were given another chance, she would definitely not repeat the mistakes again!

Because of this case, Ji Yaling spent three full years in jail. Three years later, when she was released, Jiang Nian’s comedy movie “Circus” once again spread all over the country, ranking first in the box office.

Standing on the street, she watched the trailer of “Circus” on the huge screen on the high-rise building, boasting that Jiang Nian was the only genius in the world.

Ji Yaling finally understood in prison in recent years. The reason why Jiang Nian would be different from what she remembered; she must also have been reborn like her. But Jiang Nian was so deep-hearted and knew that Zhao Heng would be on fire, so she seized him firmly. And all of the movies she made were certainly plagiarized from elsewhere.

It was a pity that she was now a toothless tiger. She had no money and no chance to get close to Jiang Nian or Zhao Heng. She could only resist and bury the resentment in her heart, going home to take a look first. It was a pity that, after she developed, she distanced herself from her family. After entering the prison, her family disliked her and was very dissatisfied with her. Now, she came home but the first thing on her mind wasn’t to look for a good and honest job, but to collect money? She clearly saw them as an ATM!

Naturally, Ji Yaling’s parents wouldn’t agree and quarreled with her who knew how many times. In the end, she stole the passbook and ran away when her parents were out. She also left a letter asking the family to let her go and promising that she would return the money two-fold once she developed.

Ji’s parents only managed to save so much money all their lives, but now their pension was taken away by Ji Yaling? And she asked not to find her? They immediately reported to the police and Ji Yaling, who ran for a few days, was arrested and returned to the police station again. Her parents were completely disappointed with her.

****

Jiang Nian didn’t know this yet. The good results of “Circus” made her gain a lot of small money. Besides, Zhao Heng was already making a lot of money. They had already moved out of the small house where they had lived before and lived in a large villa.

Moreover, they were not too young anymore. After the successful proposal of Zhao Heng a year ago, the two went to get the marriage certificate, but didn’t hold a banquet because Jiang Nian was too busy. After the movie was released, Zhao Heng naturally wanted to put the wedding on the agenda.

The wedding dress, ring, gift, and wedding venue were all arranged by him. The best man was naturally Jiang Nian’s three younger brothers. As for the bridesmaids, one was Song Hanhan, another was Lin Yue, the actress who played Shen Xiaoqing in “Peaceful Years” , and the third was Ye Lin, the heroine of “Circus”.

Jiang Nian was not only popular, but also a walking lady luck. Of the actors who had worked with her, from the protagonists to the small supporting cast, nearly all saw their positions in the circle rise. So in recent years, Jiang Nian had not begged to make a film, but someone else has begged her to make a film.

Zhao Heng and Jiang Nian’s wedding was naturally a major event in the entertainment industry. The day before the wedding, reporters snuck into the venue to take sneak shots, and there were even people posing as waiters who wanted to join in. Major social platforms were also talking about it.

Who would have thought that they— who were the least favored to last— went from being green to mature, and had been with each other for more than a decade, and now would walk through the rest of this life together.

Jiang Nian was wearing a white wedding dress, holding Father Jiang’s hand walking to Zhao Heng. Mother Jiang had cried so much while Zhao Heng’s parents only wanted to laugh in happiness. How lucky were they that their son could marry such a good daughter-in-law? And Grandma Zheng, Grandpa Zheng, Mother Zheng, Dad Zheng, Second Brother Zheng, and Big Brother Zheng who rarely showed up, all came. Bi Zheng also sat in the crowd and looked at her from afar.

Jiang Nian felt that nothing could be happier than this moment. After all, she was also a winner of life, a good harvest of fame and wealth!

Thirty-four-year-old Zhao Heng had achieved extraordinary results and had won two best actor awards. His temperament was gentler and softer, but he also had a hidden edge, leaving deeper and more charming traces in him over the years.

Jiang Nian came to Zhao Heng, and under the blessings of all, promised a lifetime of companionship, acquaintance, and love, exchanged rings, and kissed and embraced each other.

From now on she was Zhao Heng’s wife, and she was qualified to take charge of Zhao Heng’s small wallet.

Perfect.

More perfect was that her heroine’s halo has steadily risen to eighty, and one hundred percent was just around the corner.

****

The four so-called pleasures of life were “first meal after starving”, “meeting a friend in a foreign land”, “the wedding night”, and “gold list on the imperial examination”. 1

This natural wedding night was very intense. Jiang Nian properly loved her little lover who had just been upgraded to her husband to the point that they had to rush to catch the plane the next day, and almost missed their honeymoon trip.

Both of them stayed abroad for a month. Jiang Nian was a little bit reluctant to start playing; fun was the source of the evil that bred laziness, after all. Jiang Nian didn’t want to do anything and even wanted to eat Zhao Heng to feed her. Other than counting money, she didn’t want to move.

Zhao Heng also found her extreme laziness and took Jiang Nian to the hospital for a check, where he was pleasantly surprised to find that they were going to be upgraded to parents.

Jiang Nian was pregnant for more than a month.

She touched her stomach and was very panicked. Zhao Heng couldn’t help calming her when she saw this: “Niannian, don’t be afraid. Now the child is still young. When the child is three months old, we will return to China and we will rest assured.”

No, Jiang Nian grabbed the collar of Zhao Heng’s clothes and was particularly anxious: “You buy me a God of Wealth and come back!”

Zhao Heng: “………?”

Jiang Nian was really anxious. According to her previous experience, the child’s fortune must be collected from her belly. She couldn’t let her baby lose on the starting line. Plus, she also needed to pray and pray that she would have good fortune in her next life. She had been poor for many years in this life and surviving until today really wasn’t easy!

Pregnancy was a big event. Zhao Heng first told the two parents so they could be happy together. Naturally, Jiang Nian didn’t forget to mention it in her Shen Li group, causing the young golden masters to howl, going back and forth asking if they were getting a little nephew or a little niece. In response, one concluded it was too early for Jiang Nian to know. Finally, the three came to a consensus that it was better to be a girl so she could perfectly Jiang jie’s throne, but they wouldn’t dislike a boy since the title of elder brother was also pretty good.

Jiang Nian also certainly wouldn’t forget to inform her golden thigh and let him recognize the child in her stomach as its godfather. This thigh was her most important legacy to pass down!

Bi Zheng:………:)

She also said sorry to those fans who urged her to make a new work quickly. She just said that she was going to have a baby, maybe she will make cartoons in the future. This caused a lot of netizens to cry, begging her not to do it. That only further solidified her determination to shoot a cartoon!

****

After Jiang Nian became pregnant, Zhao Heng also pushed a lot of work to accompany her at home. He was even more nervous than her. He was afraid something would happen the moment he looked away. In contrast, Jiang Nian had a much easier time. It was only that it was hard to give birth to the child. Jiang Nian would be tired even if she had more experience. But, when the time came, she would make herself feel better by beating the child’s dad.

When Jiang Nian was ten months pregnant, the child was finally born.

She was confused, and felt that Zhao Heng knelt beside her, and there seemed to be tears on his cheeks.

This little fairy would seduce her even at this time. She promised herself to reward him when she had the strength.

Having a baby was really tiring; she needed to take a good rest.

****

Jiang Nian and Zhao Heng made only one child for a lifetime, but Jiang Nian made a lot of works. She made two movies after making two web dramas, and she really did make an animated film after giving birth with decent results. Just when fans began to look forward to her future in animated film, she actually ran to make a documentary, and sent everyone reeling again.

This lifetime was not bad. She alone had won the Best Director Award, Best Screenplay Award, Best Editing Award, Best Documentary Award, and Zhao Heng stood firmly at the top of the entertainment industry than her with more and more superb acting skills. Finally, he became the youngest actor to get the Grand Slam film award 2.

When Jiang Nian was in her fifties, she finally accepted the first interview in her life.

The host asked if she had never imagined that she would achieve today when she was in “My President Daren” and “President’s Wife Runs with the Ball”. Presumably these two plays must have brought her profound meaning.

Jiang Nian really had to think for a while. She couldn’t help it. As she got older, her memory was not very good. She said seriously, “These two dramas should be my most failed works.”

Moderator: “…… Ah? Why?”

The enthusiasm caused by the fire of these two online dramas was still a record.

……How could they not? Neither of her original names passed for review for these two shows and, even after release, the audience only gave her a ‘hahaha’. The effect she wanted and the response of the audience after the filming were hugely different!

What was this if not failure?

Well now, she finally got a chance to spit out the discomfort of the year.

Moderator: “………????!!!”

What did he hear?

The audience who sees the interview will be crazy. Is this the director Jiang they know?

1. It’s a Chinese saying about the four happiest moments of a person’s life. Pretty much transcribed them to English equivalents. Only source of confusion might be the ‘gold list’ title. That was given to the 1st place which, on its own seems pretty good, but you can understand why it’s such a great thing once you realize that: 1. the gold list title was chosen by the Emperor and, therefore, would be remembered by the Emperor and 2. This was the top scorer on an exam that was administered every ~3-10 years on average depending on the dynasty. So 1st place meant you were all but guaranteed to have a super high official position like division head, overseer, or prime minister.^

2. I’m pretty sure this refers to the three best actor awards for Chinese actors: two Chinese awards and the Osca