Chapter Eighteen: The First Meeting with Qiong Yao

  Qiong Yao Film is a company founded by Qiong Yao, her later husband Ping Xin Tao and Taiwanese media veteran Sheng Zhu Ru (Qiong Yao had established a film company called Huo Niao in 1968, which was later merged with Ju Xing to form the current company). The company specializes in filming movies adapted from Qiong Yao's works. At that time, under the environment of Mandarin films and the policies of the Taiwanese government, Qiong Yao's standard Mandarin romance films quickly gained popularity among audiences. As a result, many film actors rose to fame rapidly after starring as male and female leads in Qiong Yao's movies.

  Like Taiwan at that time, the two Qins and two Lins (Qin Han, Qin Xianglin, Lin Qingxia, Lin Fengjiao) were known to people because of their roles in Qiong Yao's dramas. At that time, all actresses who became famous for starring in Qiong Yao's dramas were called Qiong Girls. Just like now, actresses who become famous for starring in Zhang Yimou's movies are called Mou Girls, it can be imagined how many people wanted to star in the male and female leads of Qiong Yao's dramas at that time.

  While Giant Star Film Company was a star-making factory specializing in filming adaptations of Qiong Yao's works, at that time Wang Wei saw that the company had only filmed two or three movies and although it had already shown its head, it was not particularly famous.

  When Zuo Hongyuan and Wang Wei arrived at Giant Star, one of the bosses, Qiong Yao, was arguing with a screenwriter there, her face red with anger.

  Qiong Yao immediately pulled Left Hongyuan over and said, "Hongyuan, you tell me, this script has been altered beyond recognition, completely opposite to what I wanted to express. I said don't change it, but the screenwriter says it's necessary for the movie itself."

  Zuo Hongyuan heard that Qiongyao had a conflict with the screenwriter again, and he shook his head with a bitter smile. He knew that Qiongyao was a very talented woman, and people with talent were always confident. Therefore, they didn't like others to make changes to their work.

  As a screenwriter, there are many factors to consider, such as the film's watchability, shootability, and conflict, concision, etc. So sometimes it will change the original face completely, but Qiong Yao dislikes others tampering with her own work.

  This matter is a headache for the screenwriters, and as Qiong Yao's good friend, Zuo Hongyuan knew that Qiong Yao was having a problem with the screenwriter cutting the original work when he saw her face red and ear red as soon as he entered the door. He had already acted as a peacemaker several times to find a balance between the screenwriter and Qiong Yao, which made the movie finally appear on the big screen.

  Qiong Yao called herself, Zuo Hongyuan smiled and said to Qiong Yao: "Is it again that you want to say too much has been deleted?" "Yes, look at this script, which still has a bit of the original style, it's so infuriating" Qiong Yao pointed to the script and said.

  Zuo Hongyuan saw that he had guessed correctly, took out Wang Wei's script from his bag and said: "It seems I've come at the right time. Look what I brought for you, guaranteed to quench your thirst."

  As he handed the script to Qiong Yao, who was originally angry, Zuo Hongyuan said that he had brought something that would make her anger disappear. Then he handed himself a script.

  Qiong Yao took the script and saw that it was not what she had written last year, "The Deep Yard". Seeing the title of the script, Qiong Yao paused for a moment, then began to flip through it. After reading it, Qiong Yao found that this screenwriter knew very well what she wanted to write, and to a large extent, retained the original manuscript. What's more, the script was written in a very intuitive way, with strong expressive power.

  Qiong Yao read it very quickly, because this book was created by her, so she is very familiar with the story being told. So just roughly looked at the script and manuscript to see how much change there was in terms of ideas and language.

  After reading the script, Qiong Yao felt that her anger had dissipated, and she changed from being annoyed to smiling at Zuo Hongyuan: "You rascal, where did you get this script? It's written very well, basically conveying the same meaning as my original work. And the script is very professional, with a strong sense of presentation."

  Zuo Hongyuan saw Qiong Yao and asked about the origin of her script. Zuo Hongyuan glanced at Wang Wei standing beside him, then said to Qiong Yao: "This script was written by my student." "Your student?" Qiong Yao asked. "Yes, it's that talented student I took in a few months ago." "Oh, I remember now. You mentioned before that you had taken in a very gifted student a month ago. So, your student can write scripts too?" Qiong Yao asked.

  In response to Qiong Yao's question, Zuo Hongyuan glanced at Wang Wei beside him and smiled: "My student is not only good at writing screenplays, but also writes like you."

  "Oh, is that so? Then I should get to know this new student of yours." At this time, Qiong Yao had already noticed Wang Wei standing next to Zuo Hongyan. When she said this sentence, Wang Wei looked at her and smiled, greeting her: "Hello, sister Qiong, I'm Ah Wei."

  Upon hearing Wang Wei's greeting, Qiong Yao confirmed her suspicions. Then she sized up Wang Wei and smiled: "A Wei, you call me sister, but I'm of the same generation as your teacher, isn't this way of addressing me a bit confusing?"

  "Ah, this..." Wang Wei didn't expect Qiong Yao to ask such a sharp question as soon as she opened her mouth, and was instantly made to blush all over his face.

  On the other side, Zuo Hongyuan saw Qiong Yao and couldn't help but burst out laughing as he pointed at her and said: "You, you, won't even let a junior off the hook, I'll just mind my own business with Ah Wei."

  Upon hearing Zuo Hongyuan making excuses for his student, Qiong Yao let out a snort of laughter and then said to Wang Wei: "Awei, see? I haven't even said anything yet, and your teacher is already covering up for you. Alright, actually, I quite like it when you call me sister."

  Wang Wei on one side knew about their relationship, so every time they met he would make a few jokes, but what he didn't expect was that he himself would suffer an unexpected disaster.

  Qiong Yao led Zuo Hongyuan and Wang Wei to her office, poured them a glass of water, and then said: "You dead ghost, you brought Awai's notebook here today, you don't just want me to take a look, do you?"

  "It depends on whether your company wants to film it or not." Zuo Hongyuan said with a smile. "Film, why not? It's not easy to find a script that doesn't make me feel embarrassed, so why not film it? However, you have to wait for one day, because this matter is not decided by me alone, we need to wait for Xintong and Zhuru to read the script before making the final decision." Qiong Yao said after thinking for a moment.

  "Alright, I'm looking forward to the good news." Zuo Hongyuan said with a smile. At this time, Wang Wei on the side spoke up and said: "Qiong Yao sister, if this script is adopted, I have an impolite request." "Go ahead, if this script is adopted, you'll be the screenwriter of this play," Qiong Yao said with a smile. "I want to follow the crew to learn about the filming process," Wang Wei said after some thought. After hearing Wang Wei's request, Qiong Yao was taken aback for a moment, then said: "I thought it was something big, but it's just wanting to follow the crew to film, this is easy to arrange, I can agree to it right now." "Thank you, Qiong Yao sister." "No need to thank me, it's a small matter."