China Entertainment 1997

Zao City, Caojiazhuang

Cao Xuan, who rarely has to report for the Spring Festival Gala, returned to his hometown for the first time in more than ten years to celebrate the Spring Festival.

Taking into account safety and environment, New Year's Eve was spent at a house in the city at night, but Cao Xuan still went back to Caojiazhuang during the day to visit graves and post Spring Festival couplets.

According to the rules of Zao City, visiting graves during the Spring Festival should be on the 24th day of the twelfth lunar month [Jizao], but Cao Xuan came back late, so it was not a taboo to do special things.

After visiting the grave, Cao Shuangguo made paste, and Cao Xuan took his two cousins, Cao Bao and Cao Bei, to put up Spring Festival couplets in his hometown house.

This small courtyard where Cao Xuan grew up has almost become a tourist attraction in Zao City. People come to visit it every year. As a result, there are two more restaurants and a supermarket outside the door. I heard that the business is not bad.

However, Cao Xuan himself was a little unfamiliar with this small courtyard that had been renovated and had not been lived in for more than ten years. He only had some scattered memories, and most of the others were blurred.

"I really miss my childhood days."

Cao Xuan looked at the newly pasted Spring Festival couplets with his hands on his hips, with a sigh on his face. Cao Shuangguo next to him glanced at him.

"The good times have gone too long, you bastard? I don't remember the time when I was hiding at the door and hearing that people were frying meat and couldn't eat it, and I was so angry that I cried."

"Really, second uncle, my brother has done that before."

Cao Bao, who has become a father, looked curious. Cao Bei next to him turned his back and snickered. Cao Xuan's face darkened. He was unwilling to chat with his parents and kept shaking off two pieces of his dark history.

While posting the Spring Festival couplets, someone in the village spotted Cao Xuan's presence, and soon the news spread throughout Caojiazhuang, and everyone came over to watch the fun.

After all, although Cao Xuan returned to his hometown most of the time, he only visited a few relatives and friends and rarely appeared in public in the village.

As for Cao Xuan, he has not seen each other for many years, and many people in Caojiazhuang do not know each other. The only ones he can call are some elderly people or familiar neighbors and childhood friends.

"Second Master, hello."

"Third Aunt, happy New Year."

"Fourth brother, are you already having grandchildren?"

"Da Zhuang, this big belly is much fatter than when I was a kid."

Cao Xuan asked his cousin to take out a few Chinese cigarettes and small gifts from the car, and let them go when he saw anyone.

The villagers who were recognized and addressed by Cao Xuan were very happy and felt that they had gained face. Those who were not familiar with them would just say "haha" and give them good cigarettes as gifts, so it would not be embarrassing.

Declining the invitation from the village cadre, Cao Xuan mainly chatted with a few relatives and his younger brother.

The former are actually not really relatives, especially in Cao Xuan's generation, they are actually almost far away, and they only get together for weddings and funerals.

When someone comes to ask for something, Cao Xuan also helps, but usually he can't get to him, so his uncle Cao Xiaoguo helps with the cooking.

As for growing up, apart from the bare-butt friendship when we were young, our friendship has faded away over the years.

After all, Cao Xuan went to the city for three years in high school, failed the college entrance examination, and soon went to the capital to work. After more than ten years, he didn't come back much, and everyone was no longer the close friends they were when they were young.

Among the few people, Cao Xuan even couldn't remember the names of two of them, and only remembered them through the messages in the chat.

Speaking of which, all of Cao Xuan's childhood friends are now married, and there is even one who is married for the second time, and the oldest child is already in junior high school.

Cao Xuan had nothing in common with his children, but he had a lot of fun playing with them.

Each of the children received a big red envelope and took photos with Cao Xuan one by one, so they could brag with their classmates when school starts during the winter vacation.

Seeing the happy expressions of the children, Cao Xuan still felt a little regretful that he was not well prepared this time. Next time he would bring a few sets of "Middle School Entrance Examination/College Entrance Examination Practice Questions" to have fun and study at the same time, ensuring that they would laugh even happier.

After staying in Caojiazhuang for a few hours, the news spread outside. Many outsiders came to the village after hearing the news, and Cao Xuan and others withdrew.

It's okay now, at least I can get a few hours of time difference, and if I keep a low profile, I can even stay for most of the day.

If in a few years, Cao Xuan shows his face and directly sends it to you on the short video platform with his mobile phone, it will spread to most of Zao City in half an hour.

Of course, mobile phones are now very developed, and pictures of Cao Xuan posting Spring Festival couplets and Rang Yan taking photos with his children soon appeared on Weibo.

Maybe not long after, there may be hot searches like "Cao Xuan returns to the village to celebrate the New Year" or "down-to-earth star"...

After returning from the village, several people returned to a high-end community in the city, which was Uncle Cao Xuan's home.

Cao Xuan bought several houses in his hometown, but never lived in them. The house was not complete and could only be lived in, so his uncle's family took the initiative to undertake the responsibility of hosting this New Year's Eve party.

Because it was a rare gathering, not only Lao Cao's family, but also relatives from Sun Lan's natal family also celebrated the New Year together. This was not the first time that the two families had celebrated the New Year together, and their relationship was still good.

When I opened the door and came in, the adults were packing the New Year's Eve dinner. Several children were sitting on the sofa watching "Pig Man", and little Cao Li was one of them.

As for the newly born Cao Yang, he has just passed the full moon, so he is not allowed to travel back and forth with him. Now he is celebrating the New Year in the capital with his mother and grandparents.

Cao Xuan looked around and simply followed a few older children to the study room to play on the computer.

The children in the family are mainly the children of Cao Xuan's cousins ​​and cousins. The older ones are already in high school, and the younger ones are about the same as Cao Li.

As the core of the two families, Cao Xuan still has great prestige in the eyes of the children, and some older children are even a little afraid of him.

However, after Cao Xuan played two games of "Cross Fire" and failed to capture a person's head, but was easily killed by a sniper, everyone felt that he was much closer to him.

Several older children even gathered around Cao Xuan to inquire about entertainment industry gossip.

"Uncle, are Yang Mi and Liu Yifei really not on good terms?"

"Well, it's really not very harmonious."

"Does Hugo have a girlfriend?"

"There should be, but I'm not sure."

"Cousin, do you have any plans to sign Jin Ensheng? Is he ready?"

"who?"

"Jin Ensheng of Supreme Lihe is Xiao Wu of "Tian Tian Shang Shang"."

Cao Xuan was in a trance for a moment before he remembered that Supreme Lihe was a group. It was quite popular now and was considered a representative of the new generation of groups in the Mainland, but later they basically became a dud.

That Xiaowu is the first-generation Tiantian brother, equivalent to a low-end version of Wang Yibo.

To be honest, the new generation stars that these nieces and nephews call them are already relatively "strange" in Cao Xuan's eyes.

That is to say, he has a golden finger on his hand and can still remember some people's information. Without the golden finger, he would not be able to contact these new people at all, let alone get to know them.

As for signing a contract, let alone talk about it. Let’s not talk about this person’s ability. The key is that Tianyu will not let him go.

A Korean with this kind of idol background is simply the best template that Tianyu strives for, otherwise he would not be able to become the host of Hunan Satellite TV's ace variety show.

After playing with the children for a while, Cao Xuan was called out by Zeng Li to make dumplings, and he was busy until it was New Year's Eve in the evening.

Several members of the family set up three tables in total, having a lively reunion dinner and watching this year's Spring Festival Gala.

Not to mention, this feeling is quite new to Cao Xuan, who has been attending the Spring Festival Gala for more than ten years.

He also took photos of the New Year's Eve dinner and the Spring Festival Gala on TV, and then posted them on Weibo.

[No rehearsal, no waiting, just watch the Spring Festival Gala with my family in a down-to-earth manner (happy)]

Having said that, I didn’t read the comments below and concentrated on watching the Spring Festival Gala.

The first program was the opening song and dance, and Cao Xuan saw Zhao Xiaodao in it.

In January, "Chef Fang" starring Zhao Xiaodao was released on Penguin Video and quickly became the most popular online drama on the website.

The original version was divided into two seasons, probably due to cost considerations. The second season was also suspected of plagiarism. The male screenwriter even went to the scene in person to face off, and was sprayed all over his body.

Stars had no cost concerns when filming, and they co-produced one season without any plagiarism. Instead, they made some modifications and adaptations to the original plot, which was more logical and easier to pass the review.

In the end, Zhao Xiaodao's version of "Chef Fang in the Flower Room" has a total of 35 episodes, which is already considered a large-scale production for an online drama at this stage.

Zhao Xiaodao plays the heroine Fang Yishao. She is a superb cook, gentle and cute, and a crazy husband protector.

The male protagonist Shen Yong is played by Zhang Bo, which is a rare collaboration between the East and West parties.

There is no way, Hu Ge and other famous male stars cannot star in an online drama, so Zhang Bo, who is less famous, can only come.

In fact, I originally planned to cast Wei Chen, but later I felt that his acting skills were a bit poor and he couldn't stand it, so he was only cast as the second male lead.

The popularity of the drama "Chef Fang in the Flower Room" is largely due to the likable settings of the male and female protagonists. The female protagonist is a fanatical protector of her husband, and the male protagonist is a fanatic protector of his wife. The interactions are very sweet and there is no mess. The bad plot is to work together to deal with the villain, and by the way, eat and eat.

The whole drama has a lot of food scenes, including cooking and eating, which is equivalent to bringing future food bloggers and food bloggers into the drama. It can be called a model of late-night poisoning.

I don’t know if the audience can gain weight. It is said that several actors gained several pounds just by eating during the filming.

You know, most of the eating scenes are just a few bites, and then the editing is completed. It doesn't necessarily have to be all eaten, but a few actors couldn't help it.

Because everything is made on site by real chefs, it looks great and tastes great.

It is worth mentioning that the original version also used a real chef as the heroine's hand substitute to film the cooking scenes. He was just a male chef with thick hands. He looked like a big man at first glance. Even though it was understandable, it was still a bit weird.

Therefore, Fanxing specially looked for a female chef, but it cannot be said that it perfectly blends with Zhao Xiaodao's figure and appearance, but there is no big loophole.

In any case, such food and sweet pet dramas are still relatively rare in the current market.

The plot is good, the production is great, the characters are likeable, and there are highlights. This drama meets most of the elements of success, and it naturally became popular.

Even judging from the data alone, it is even better than the previous "Cannon Fodder" by Guo Zhenni, and its popularity on the Internet is not low.

Zhao Xiaodao was not an unknown person before, playing supporting roles in many hit dramas. Although it is not very popular, it has also accumulated a lot of popularity among passers-by.

The biggest role of "Chef Fang in the Flower Room" is to make Zhao Xiaodao's previous accumulation of popularity a big explosion.

Throughout January, Zhao Xiaodao has been listed on hot searches six times, and the number of times his joint series has been listed on hot searches has exceeded double digits. The number of fans on Weibo has increased by almost one-third. Transparent, she has been soaring all the way, even ranking 13th at her peak, and many popular variety shows have extended an olive branch to her.

People's impression of her began to no longer be the names of various characters or Da Mimi's best friend, but the name "Zhao Liying".

To put it simply, Zhao Xiaodao is really popular.

Now Fanxing is working on the operation of "Chef Fang in the Flower Room". If it can perform well on the TV platform, it will benefit her even more.

Considering the accumulation of supporting roles in many previous popular dramas, coupled with the operation of the stars, Zhao Xiaodao is even expected to become a popular star.

This can be regarded as the benefit of accumulation.

If Zhao Xiaodao had not participated in those popular dramas and directly starred in "Chef Fang", even if the drama's performance was better than it is now, as a pure newcomer, it would be difficult for her to quickly open up the situation.

Arranging for Zhao Xiaodao to attend the Spring Festival Gala this time is also a reward, and Fanxing has made his attitude unabashedly clear.

In the last two years of Fan Xiaopang's contract, the starry actresses have reached a critical moment of renewal.

Liu Tianxian and Damimi are in the first echelon, and they are currently focusing on movies. The next ones to be highly praised are Zhao Xiaodao and Guo Zhenni.

Guo Zhenni currently has a greater advantage, but Zhao Xiaodao is catching up and his momentum cannot be ignored.

As for which of the two people can take over and take over the leadership of Fanxing TV Series, it depends on personal luck and ability, and it is also directly related to the balance between the East and West parties.

From a career and personality perspective, Cao Xuan is more optimistic about Zhao Xiaodao, who is an alternative version of Damimi.

But Guo Zhenni's acting skills are really good, and she may transform into a drama in the future, and she can also play some important roles in movies.

This is her absolute advantage. Cao Xuan once said clearly that among this group of starry actresses, the one with the best chance of winning the authoritative actor award is Guo Zhenni.

If he really wins a few movie queens or movie queens, Guo Zhenni may not be able to overtake in corners.

But no matter what, since signing with Fanxing in 2006, Zhao Xiaodao is finally making his mark, and Cao Xuan is still very pleased.

Another money tree!

In addition to Zhao Xiaodao, Cao Xuan also paid special attention to the male and female protagonists of "Hawthorn Tree Love" Xiao Huangya and Dou Yao, who are also in this show.

Things on Lao Mouzi's side are almost settled, and the countdown to the showdown has basically begun.

But one thing that remains unresolved now is what to do with the new picture artists.

Although these artists were signed by New Picture Company, it was obvious who they were working for. Their agent was also Lao Mouzi's assistant director, and everyone expressed their willingness to follow Lao Mouzi openly or secretly.

This is normal. Without Lao Mouzi, the new picture would be nothing.

As soon as the original time and space Lao Mouzi left, this group of people immediately fell apart. They either defected to Huayi, followed the Hong Kong circle, or disappeared. Boss Zhang tried his best to leave few behind.

Not to mention now, Lao Mouzi went to Fanxing, China's most successful star-making factory, and who wouldn't want to take advantage of it.

When Lao Mouzi wanted to bring people here, he brought them all by himself, so he couldn't give Boss Zhang an advantage in vain. Moreover, he did like several actors, especially the little yellow duck and the heroine Ni from "Jinling Thirteen Hairpins".

But Cao Xuan didn't want it very much.

Even though there is a post-90s and triple-gold movie queen in it, the gold content is just that.

To put it bluntly, with Cao Xuan's current energy, if he is shameless, he has great confidence in winning a three-gold actress.

But it’s not necessary, the audience is not stupid, and it’s not impossible for everyone to see that it is real material or a capital investment.

In the original time and space, the little yellow duck won the Three Golden Film Awards, but he only bullied 90 Flowers and ridiculed 85 Flowers. In essence, he was still several levels behind International Zhang and Mr. Zhou.

Even though those 85-year-olds were ridiculed, their popularity and influence still suppressed them. If it weren't for the fact that these people's film resources were not strong enough, the little yellow duck would probably have been suppressed and beaten.

There is no shortage of artists in the stars, at least these few will not make Cao Xuan's heart flutter.

After all, Lao Mouzi defected to Fanxing. Considering that Boss Zhang had a bad reputation in the past few years, and he was somewhat unreasonable towards Lao Mouzi. Lao Mouzi wanted to leave, and Fanxing, as the recipient, could not be considered unethical.

Although controversy is certainly inevitable, if the operation is good, it can be suppressed within a controllable range.

But if we hollow out other artists and turn the new picture into an empty shell, it will be too ugly.

Therefore, Cao Xuan's attitude is that Fanxing will not sign. If Lao Mouzi has the ability to bring people back, he will set up a company by himself. For his sake, Fanxing will also transfer some resources to them.

However, Cao Xuan also advised Lao Mouzi not to be so absolute in everything.

He left on his own, and the new picture collapsed for a long time. If he took away a few famous artists, he would really leave no chance of survival. It would really make Boss Zhang anxious.

Once his thoughts started to wander, Cao Xuan didn't pay much attention to the Spring Festival Gala program, and only a few people who were interested would take a serious look at it.

To be honest, from this point on, the quality of the Spring Festival Gala programs plummeted.

In other words, with the rise of the Internet, everyone has broadened their horizons, and the surprise level of many programs has been greatly reduced.

Especially for language programs, you can shake off the baggage of the past and everyone will laugh along with it.

But now many young viewers who surf a lot of the Internet find it difficult to be amused by some outdated or ordinary baggage.

When short videos became popular, comedy programs emerged one after another, and jokesters became crazy, the Spring Festival Gala was completely reduced to useless.

To put it bluntly, even if Lao Zhao returns to the world, he may be able to excel with his profound comedy acting skills, but the quality of the script will hardly satisfy many viewers.

In a word, times have changed.

At this year's Spring Festival Gala, Feng Cong's daily routine was quite satisfactory. Chairman Jiang's crosstalk left Cao Xuan expressionless, and several other sketches were even a little embarrassing.

Even Lao Zhao's "My Deskmate" is not even a little bit worse than the quality of previous years.

However, the singing and dancing category is indeed more impressive this year.

Xiao Zhou's "Lanting Preface" performed brilliantly, and the most effective one was "Under the Sea", a collaboration between Phoenix Legend and Yao Beina. It was ethereal and heroic, full of healing and hope. Cao Xuan even felt that it was better than what he sang. The version is fine.

There was also "The Lonely Warrior", which was sung quite well, but what Cao Xuan didn't expect was that the children at home sang along with it enthusiastically.

Even my precious daughter followed her cousins ​​in a daze and shouted to the TV at the top of their lungs.

"I love you walking alone in a dark alley, I love the way you don't kneel down, I love you who have endured despair and refused to cry..."

Cao Xuan felt cold and had a somewhat ominous premonition.

No way. Don’t those born in 1995 and those born in 2005 like "Reverse War"? Why did I come up with "The Lone Warrior" more than ten years in advance and it could be turned into a children's song...