Huayu93: From Selling Magnetic Cards to Entertainment Tycoon

Chapter 60 Motorola, Bringing Hearts Closer

Back at the shop that evening, Tang Yun was still awake, leaning against the headboard flipping through a magazine. Li Si'an, after taking a shower, flopped onto the bed, resting her arms behind her head, staring at the ceiling.

Tang Yun closed the magazine and turned to look at him. "What are you thinking about?"

"Motorola."

Tang Yun was stunned for a moment. "What?"

Li Si'an turned over to face her. "Today, when we were filming the scene where I actually played the piano, I put my flip phone on the piano and closed the lid."

Zhang Yibai shot five takes, each capturing every detail on the screen with crystal clarity. He paused, then added, "This music video could be a dud for Motorola."

Tang Yun blinked. "Would they even be interested?"

"I don't know." Li Si'an lay down and stared at the ceiling again. "But I bet they can."

He was silent for a while.

Nokia is on a particularly strong roll this year; their GG phones are everywhere.

Motorola may be the established player, but Nokia is catching up too quickly, so they're definitely thinking of new strategies.

He turned his head to look at Tang Yun, "The story and visuals for my music video are already there. The phone is right there, so they don't need to film anything else."

Thirty seconds, edited out, becomes a short video. And it tells a story, not just a dry product demonstration.

Tang Yun leaned closer and rested her head on his shoulder. "So, how do you plan to find them?"

"That's the problem." Li Si'an unconsciously drew circles on her arm with her finger.

"I had to find someone who could talk to Motorola. I went straight to their company gate and waited for them, but the security guards kicked me out."

Tang Yun thought for a moment. "What about your uncle? He knows so many people in the industry."

"My uncle only knows people in the music industry. He probably doesn't know anything about cell phones."

"What about Xu Zhongming? He's a businessman with a wide network of connections."

Li Si'an paused for a moment. Xu Zhongming, the boss of Jingwen Records, is from the same hometown of Chaoshan as Huang Guangyu, and is someone who will one day be associated with China's richest man.

His network of connections certainly extends beyond the record industry.

"I'll call him tomorrow and ask," Li Si'an said.

Tang Yun hummed in agreement and didn't ask any more questions. Her breathing gradually became light and slow; she was almost asleep.

Li Si'an's eyes were still open, her mind racing with the image of that silver-gray flip phone. The Motorola StarTAC. The world's first flip phone.

When opened, it looks like a silver butterfly with outstretched wings.

If this music video can be tied to a story—not cold, impersonal technology, but a person playing the piano while another listens in a hospital room, until finally their hands loosen their grip.

Nokia's slogan is "Connecting people." So what exactly does that mean?

A phrase suddenly popped into his head.

"Connecting people and bringing hearts closer together"

For Motorola, it's all about "Motorola, bringing hearts closer together."

Bringing hearts closer.

He excitedly sat up in bed. This phrase... seems promising!

Okay. I'll call Xu Zhongming tomorrow. We'll take it one step at a time.

The scene of playing the piano in the rented house was filmed very quickly the next morning.

Li Si'an sat in front of the electronic keyboard, her fingers resting on the keys, her brows furrowed.

Zhou Xun reached over and pressed a finger on the piano keys a few times—the first few notes of the prelude to "Fairy Tale." Li Si'an paused for a moment, then continued playing.

Zhang Yibai got stuck on two, but passed the third one.

Zhou Xun leaned against the piano, fanning herself with her script. "You're in good spirits today."

Li Si'an smiled but didn't reply.

The phrase "Bringing hearts closer" from last night was still on his mind.

We filmed the scene in the afternoon where they kissed and the girl got a nosebleed.

The scene was still the same "new home" set up in the shed. There was an old sofa, and the TV was playing "A Chinese Odyssey." Zixia Fairy was on the screen saying, "I guessed the beginning, but I couldn't guess the ending."

Li Si'an sat on the sofa, with Zhou Xun leaning against him. Her head rested on his shoulder, her hair brushing against his neck. The light shone from the side, casting a warm yellow glow.

Zhang Yibai crouched behind the monitor. "Begin."

Zhou Xun watched the television, her eyes slowly reddening. It wasn't a loud, wailing cry, but a quiet, gentle slid of tears down her cheeks, landing on Li Si'an's shoulder and spreading out in a small patch.

Li Si'an turned his head to look at her and reached out to wipe away the tears from the corner of her eyes. She looked up, her eyes glistening with tears, but the corners of her mouth were already turned up. He lowered his head and kissed her.

The instant their lips touched through the air, Zhou Xun bit open the blood pack. Bright red syrup dripped from her nostrils, landing on Li Si'an's sticky hand.

She didn't flinch. She even smiled, wiped her nose with the back of her hand, and said, "It's okay, I do this all the time."

The laugh was light and casual, as if it really wasn't a big deal. Blood smeared onto her cheek, but she didn't seem to care.

"Cut." Zhang Yibai stood up. "Passed."

Zhou Xun sat up from the sofa and took a tissue to wipe her nose. The syrup and blood plasma were sticky, and it took her a while to wipe it clean.

She crumpled the tissue into a ball and threw it into the trash can, then took out a cigarette from the pack, lit it, leaned back on the sofa, and said to Li Si'an:

"When I was singing at the Grand Hyatt KTV, I was halfway through a song once when my nose suddenly started bleeding."

She had a cigarette in her mouth. "It wasn't acting, it was real. I didn't even realize it myself, I was still singing there. The audience was all staring at me, giving me really strange looks."

She lit her cigarette with a lighter, took a puff, and continued, "Later, the bassist jumped off the stage and came up with a pack of tissues for me, and that's when I found out."

"And then?" Li Si'an asked.

"Then I wiped it off and continued singing." Zhou Xun flicked off her cigarette ash.

"After I finished singing that song, someone shouted from below, 'One more!' I thought to myself, 'They want another one when my nose is bleeding? Do these people have no humanity?'"

Li Si'an laughed. Zhou Xun herself laughed too, revealing a row of fine white teeth and her eyes crinkling.

"After that, I wasn't afraid of the camera anymore." She put the cigarette back in her mouth.

"Think about it, can it be more embarrassing than having a nosebleed on stage in front of so many people? Filming in front of the camera is always better than that."

She leaned back on the sofa and glanced at Li Si'an with her head tilted to the side.

"Hey, you bought that phone yesterday, are you really planning to talk to Motorola about a dead end?"

"Um."

"Do you have connections?"

"Let's ask around first." Li Si'an leaned back on the sofa. "I know a record company owner. He's a businessman with a lot of connections. I'll give him a call tomorrow."

Zhou Xun nodded and didn't ask any more questions.

She stubbed out her cigarette in the ashtray, stood up, and patted the ash off her skirt.

"If the deal goes through, remember to treat me to dinner."

Li Si'an leaned back on the sofa and smiled. "If the deal goes through, it won't just be a dinner invitation; I'll also have to give out red envelopes."

Zhou Xun turned around, her eyes lighting up. "Oh, well, thank you, Boss Li! Looking forward to your red envelope!"

She waved her hand and walked towards the monitor. The stagehands were already dismantling the light fixtures, and the cameraman was squatting on the ground tidying up the cables.

Zhang Yibai sat in front of the monitor, a cigarette in his hand, staring at the playback on the screen with a slight frown.

Li Si'an was still sitting on the sofa. The syrup stain on the back of her hand had dried and was sticky; rubbing it would produce a thin, dark red thread.

He watched as Zhou Xun walked to the monitor, bent down, and watched the playback with Zhang Yibai. Her pale yellow tank top swayed under the studio lights. She pointed at the screen and said something, and Zhang Yibai smiled.

The sounds of workers carrying things came from the hallway outside; metal frames clattered and rattled as they dragged them along the floor. Suddenly, someone shouted, "What time tomorrow?"

"Seven o'clock!"

"It's seven o'clock again, this is killing me."

Zhang Yibai stood up from in front of the monitor and took two steps toward Li Si'an.

"Oh, right, the hospital has agreed. We'll reshoot the ward scene tomorrow."

Li Si'an looked up. "So fast?"

"I rented it before, so I know everyone here. I gave Old Zhou, the manager, two packs of cigarettes and told him we only needed to add one shot, which would be done in half a day. He told us to just go directly there and didn't even charge us for the venue."

Zhang Yibai put a cigarette in his mouth. "Meet at the entrance of Beijing Film Studio at seven o'clock tomorrow morning."

"Alright." Li Si'an stood up. "Director Zhang, we really owe you a lot this time."

Zhang Yibai waved his hand, turned around and left. Li Si'an rubbed the syrup stains off the back of her hand, stood up, and patted her pants.