During that period, the 100-year-old Runfa advertisement was a household name. In the Fulong courtyard in Chengdu, Cheng Ran often heard Lian Xiaohu, Wen Lan, Yu Hong and others discussing Qin Xizhen. In fact, compared with the original heroine, Qin Xizhen was much younger. Although she had been made up, in Cheng Ran's opinion, she was not as suitable for the story of separation and reunion as the original version. But Qin Xizhen was better looking, and the simple shot of holding the washbasin added at the end was also very vivid, so it basically made up for it.
Regardless, the ad still appeared. Although it was only two shots in the 60-minute ad, many people were touched by the glimpse. In this era of lack of entertainment, it also provided people with interesting topics to talk about. The singer and the heroine of the ad, such an image with unlimited potential, impacted people's eyes in this way.
Cheng Ran knew that after this advertisement, Qin Xizhen might have a future in the film and television industry, because there would definitely be film and television companies approaching him. As for whether it would be successful, for Bancang Hamster, the only thing left was probably the price
Cheng Ran and Qin Xizhen didn't talk to each other often, maybe once a week. But after seeing the ad, Cheng Ran waited for two days but didn't get a call from Qin Xizhen, so he thought he should call to congratulate her.
I made a call and after a while the call was connected.
"Cheng Ran? What are you doing?"
"I think I should be asking you this question?" Cheng Ran said.
The person on the other end of the phone laughed, "Has it been a while since we last talked on the phone? Are you worried about something? I was having dinner with someone just now. I'm in Shanghai, facing the Huangpu River, with a gentle breeze, and it feels really good."
In Cheng Ran’s mind, he could imagine Qin Xizhen smiling at the night view of the Huangpu River.
"How enviable! I'm at home in Rongcheng and I have classes tomorrow. Who are you going to have dinner with?"
"Several investors, company matters, considerations on expanding business to the Internet, I have to meet with a few singers tomorrow, I want to sign them to the company... Hey, why do I have to tell you so much... Strictly speaking, I am the financial sponsor now, you should report every move to me..."
Qin Xizhen probably realized that he answered every question too many times, so he quickly rebounded.
Cheng Ran smiled and said, "It's really lucky that Chen Muyi became your partner. Otherwise, if he had to rely on himself, I'm afraid the business wouldn't be able to expand and would always just survive in the cracks. By the way, I saw the advertisement. What does it feel like to film with Chow Yun Fat?"
Qin Xizhen was stunned for a moment, then laughed and said, "I realized it a little later. I've been out for more than a week. It's all about work, keeping in touch, and future cooperation. It's just a polite way of saying so."
Cheng Ran asked with a smile, "Are you going to pursue a career in film and television? If you are good at singing, then you can act?"
"After the ad was released, three or four film and television companies approached me... but I didn't agree to any of them. Actually, when they approached me to shoot the ad, they said that my image fit the bill. I went there with the idea of trying it out. After all, I've never felt it before, and I wanted to see what it's like to film a movie. You'll know after you try it, and I probably won't take it in the future. As for acting, I don't have that idea for now. It feels like it's going to delay my money-making music..."
Cheng Ran: “…”
Qin Xizhen is something of a weirdo. She wanted to experience the feeling of being on the screen, so she took this advertisement. After the filming, her screen popularity increased, but she did not intend to continue to improve and expand her reputation in film and television. Instead, she returned to her track of making music and doing business in this area at the same time.
It might not be entirely weird. Cheng Ran was smiling on the other end of the phone. She might be the person who knew best what she wanted to do.
"I won't become an actor for money, because I feel that it is not as profitable as starting my own company. Maybe it will get bigger and bigger in the future, and I will be a wealthy family myself... If it's a hobby, I have experienced it, it's just like that, it's okay, but the enthusiasm is quickly consumed. If I am interested in it in the future, I will try it again. This is called freedom to advance and retreat."
"I'm also curious, how much did you get paid for this commercial?"
"We reshot it twice, and the third time it passed... after tax... one million." Qin Xizhen said on the other end, "So Cheng Ran, I gave you the two million, but it was earned by selling my body... every drop of it was sweat and blood..."
"Come on, what have you done to sell yourself..."
"Can't you sell my free agency during that period?" Qin Xizhen said, "Why don't you consider giving me more shares?"
"Not considering it." Cheng Ran said directly. Qin Xizhen's aggressiveness in doing business was simply all-round.
Qin Xizhen laughed, "I was just kidding... Even if you offered to give it to me, I wouldn't accept it. It's rare for you to call to express your condolences... As a souvenir, I'll write it down in my little notebook."
She paused for a moment and said softly, "Cheng Ran, on the screen... am I beautiful?"
A little caught off guard, Cheng Ran thought for a moment and said, "More than one person has commented on you, so I am not the only one."
On the Huangpu River, accompanied by the sound of a ship's whistle in the distance, Qin Xizhen's smiling voice came through the barrier of space at night, "It doesn't matter what others say... What I want to hear is, what's your answer?"
Listening to the waiting between the even breathing on the phone, Cheng Ran thought for a moment and said, "It's OK. Be modest and keep up the good work."
Qin Xizhen's chest choked, and he said angrily, "Cheng Ran, did you and my dad collude to say the same thing? The level of your two scimitars is exactly the same!"
…
This period in November was very busy. Cheng Ran mobilized Li Mingshi to register "Chengcheng Chinese Communication Co., Ltd." and released the CQ software. Cheng Qi's Lianzhong World was also launched at this time. Qin Xizhen's advertisement was well-known to everyone. This advertisement will also be recorded in the history of domestic advertising and become a textbook-like classic case in the future.
But the Chongqing Aoni Company behind it is not as famous as its advertisement. Aoni Company was established in the 1970s, and its annual sales reached 700 to 800 million in the mid-to-late 1990s, but since then, it has gone from glory to decline. Because the company's reform and transformation, which was formerly a collectively owned enterprise, was not thorough, the old system dragged it down, and it was poorly managed, which led to the loss of the lawsuit for default on payment of goods. The company auctioned off its debts and was stuck in the quagmire until 2006. In order to protect itself, it used many means, and finally this company, which was in a trademark infringement dispute, was acquired by the sudden emergence of the Nice Group. At this point, this company completely withdrew from the stage of history.
The world is full of ups and downs, and the bustle of the past has turned into silence. The only thing left on the ruins is this classic advertisement.
Half-Life became popular, and classic computer games that Cheng Ran was familiar with, such as Tomb Raider 3 and Baldur's Gate, were released one after another. The pace of the times was moving forward step by step, and in No. 10 Middle School, apart from visiting the Tianxing Dojo after school and on weekends, his normal school life was mainly based on tutoring with Lao Jiang after lunch.
During school time that afternoon, Cheng Ran saw someone come into the classroom with a tabloid. Not long after class started, the newspaper was passed to Zhang Ping.
He poked Cheng Ran and spread the newspaper on the desk. Cheng Ran saw that it was a piece of ordinary newspaper paper, large size, but the layout was not as good as that of regular newspapers. The overall layout was relatively simple, and it said "Amaterasu Shimbun" on it.
Cheng Ran had heard that this was a student-run newspaper, produced by a club called Amaterasu News Research Society, which mainly developed internal school news, and various small anecdotes were put on it. The release period was irregular, depending on the progress of the members in the club, but generally one copy was published per month. The first page was school dynamics, and the second page had a distorted style, including some teachers' words and deeds, students' complaints, and all kinds of messy things in the future. The most outrageous thing was that the fourth section was an even more deviant "entertainment section", which was modeled after the gossip newspapers in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and provided some information about famous people in the school. This section was called "Chaohua Ranking".
This "Chaohua Ranking" will issue a ranking regularly. Anyway, it can be as fun as you want. It depends on who has the most charm, the class belle or the class hunk. So any future school beauty ranking will still have a strong mass base.
The key point is that although this section is said to be funny and entertaining in nature, it is actually very mysterious, because no one knows who the person behind the writing of the story is whose pen name is "Chaohua". Some people have inquired inside the news agency, and even the members inside don't know. Anyway, there will be this person's manuscripts in every issue. Of course, there are also people who submit spoof-like manuscripts, but they are not in that person's style and are not adopted.
Even without the news agency’s comments, everyone is guessing that this is a middle school girl who was influenced by Hong Kong and Taiwan entertainment, but she still has literary talent and uses this as a stage to write. But this person should be a sophomore in high school.
It's very simple. The first-year high school students haven't gotten familiar with the school community yet and can't get in touch with the core of the school clubs. They are relatively well-behaved. The third-year high school students are under great study pressure and have no time to play. Those who can have the most fun in school and participate in various club activities are all sophomores. Moreover, the person with the pen name "Chaohua" is most familiar with the sophomores.
In the issue of Amaterasu News that Zhang Ping handed to Cheng Ran, he, Cheng Ran, was listed prominently on the ranking list with simple decorative tassel lines. It turned out that it was a ranking of appearance, and he was actually among the top ten in the school.
But other than that, in other rankings such as academic rankings and artistic rankings, there are other people's names.
Occupying the top positions on the entire list are still Jiang Hongshao and a man named Zhu Xu.
Finally, at Zhang Ping's suggestion, Cheng Ran saw a column called "The most suitable couple in the eyes of students", which had several pairs of names written on it, probably the more famous ones in the school.
The first to be affected are: Jiang Hongshao and Zhu Xu.
Zhang Ping said from the side, "The new issue of Amaterasu News, it is said that this issue has 50 copies, and each class has only two! It was established last year, and now it is getting more and more weird! It actually paired Jiang Hongshao and Zhu Xu! But they are indeed the two who appear more frequently in the school... Don't fall behind, my friend, you have such a good relationship with Brother Jiang, I support you brother!"
Cheng Ran pushed the newspaper back to him, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, "What a mess."