Chapter 46: Karen Joyt

In *A Weaver on the Horizon*, Shishi played a headstrong princess...
She was probably a bit influenced by her role...
Well, even if she hadn't played it, she likely wouldn't have been able to stand Shen Yan anyway...
Brother Yan's tongue was just too sharp!
Shishi transformed into the Northwest Hammer Queen and pounded him several times...
After taking the beating, Shen Yan walked her to the hotel entrance, initially wanting to see her all the way to her room...
Shishi firmly forbade it!
After all, once inside the room, the next steps would be hugs, kisses, cuddles, and more...
He had to settle for a single kiss and then watch her leave...
Brother Yan returned to his room carrying a stiffly erect weapon.
Ah, when one carries a formidable weapon, sinful desires naturally arise!
Well, he had no idea that the very first thing Shishi did upon returning to her room was rush into the bathroom...
……
Shen Yan didn't have many scenes in *A Weaver on the Horizon*; if scheduled compactly, everything could be wrapped up in ten days!
But... that was impossible.
The production team couldn't possibly concentrate his scenes like that...
Even after moving to Xiangshan, it was the same...
He had only two scenes the next day, so Shen Yan decisively stayed up late—writing until three in the morning.
Even so, he still arrived at the set by seven in the morning...
He applied his makeup as usual, grabbed a bite to eat, found a corner... and entered a state of complete detachment...
Which basically meant sleeping!
Around 10 AM, he woke up from the heat...
At that moment, he felt a fierce wave of envy for Wen Zhang's trailer!
If only he had a trailer...
With air conditioning blowing, how wonderful that would be!
Fully awake, Shen Yan stood up, stretched lazily, and picked up his phone to check the time...
A surprised voice came from behind him: "...Why are you here?"
"...Just resting for a bit..." Shen Yan turned around to see Li Qian: "Sister Qian, what's wrong?"
"Shishi is looking for you!"
"...Thanks, Sister Qian." As he spoke, Shen Yan prepared to dial Shishi's number, but Li Qian suddenly asked with a mysterious smile, "Are you and Shishi dating?"
Shen Yan smiled without hiding anything: "Still pursuing her!"
Li Qian gave him a thumbs-up: "...Not bad, keep it up, Sister is rooting for you!"
"...Thanks..."
Shishi answered the call and stated her location, and Shen Yan bid farewell to Li Qian...
Shen Yan quite admired this older actress...
Her acting skills were exceptionally mature—the remark Janine Chang made after returning to Taiwan, saying, 'It was my first time filming on the mainland, and I was terrified; they really get into character in a single second!' was referring precisely to Li Qian...
Some time ago, Shen Yan looked up Li Qian's background and learned she had played Song Yuzhi in *Twin of Brothers*...
Back in the day, many people called her the second Zhou Xun—full of ethereal spirit!
She debuted in *The Legendary Siblings*, followed by *The Eloquent Ji Xiaolan* and *Dynamic Metropolitan*...
Unfortunately, her subsequent resources didn't keep pace...
Moreover, she was a very low-profile person who refused to resort to hype or PR—she and Huang Xuan had once reached the point of discussing marriage, but after their breakup, Huang Xuan became heavily entangled with Jiang Wenli. Such great material... yet she never used it!
Shishi was playing a game...
*Fantasy Zhu Xian*...
She was truly dedicated, endorsing it herself and trying it out firsthand...
She even posted on Weibo asking for strategy guides, wondering how to quickly grow her guild to 40 members...
Watching her character battle monsters, Shen Yan couldn't help muttering under his breath, "You really have too much time on your hands!"
Shishi turned her head: "...Ah, where did you go?"
"Found a place to sleep... I was writing until nearly three last night..."
"You stayed up late?"
"...Yeah... Good grief, is this auto-battling?"
"Yup, automatic combat, automatic looting..."
Shen Yan was left speechless: "Is there zero competitiveness?"
"There is, we fight over resources..."
Sitting beside her, Shen Yan listened as Shishi gave him a crash course on the gameplay...
Although he had no interest, he still chimed in with a few polite remarks...
"Do you play games?"
"...Does playing CS count?"
"...I don't think I've ever seen you play!"
Shen Yan shook his head: "No time..."
Hearing this, Liu Shishi looked slightly annoyed: "Do you think it's a waste of time too?"
"A waste of time?" Shen Yan looked surprised: "How could you think that? Games are just a form of entertainment, meant to please oneself..."
"Then why do so many people say games are a scourge? They always claim games make people addicted!"
"People with poor self-control will neglect their duties with or without games. The world is full of temptations... some people even get addicted to women!"
"I feel like you don't have any hobbies..."
Shen Yan gave her a quick kiss: "I like you!"
"Pfft, I mean hobbies!"
"...I'm alright with most things..." Shen Yan changed the subject: "Didn't you say Old K was coming?"
"She arrives this afternoon... By the way, have you handed the song you wrote to the director?"
"Not yet... I just woke up."
"Shall I hand it to the director for you later?"
"If the director likes it and asks me to name my price, what do I say? Asking for too much or too little would both be awkward..." Shen Yan shook his head: "...I'll wait for my manager to arrive and let him handle it..."
"What's the usual market price then?"
Kris didn't know... "Never paid attention to it..."
Actually, the reason *A Weaver on the Horizon* chose Kelly Chen to sing the theme title track stemmed from the fact that she sang the Chinese version of the *Jewel in the Palace* theme song, *Hope*...
They wanted to catch some good fortune...
After all, *A Weaver on the Horizon* was positioned to compete with *Jewel in the Palace*!
However, *A Weaver on the Horizon* failed to break out into mainstream popularity, and consequently, Kelly Chen's song *Always Believe* didn't achieve widespread traction either...
As for the prices of television drama OSTs, that varied greatly depending on the project. Some singers were willing to lower their recording fees for a major blockbuster drama, while some directors with high musical standards naturally provided higher budgets... The budgetary proportions for each project were actually quite different.
Back in the 1990s, the promotion of popular music relied heavily on film and television dramas, leading to a widespread trend of dramas "selling opening and ending credits spots."
*The Brothers Sleeping in My Upper Bunk* was the ending song for *Justice Bao*...
Wakin Chau's *Let Me Joy, Let Me Sorrow* became the ending theme for *Red Spider*...
Chinese Entertainment still spared no expense when it came to music; the score for *A Weaver on the Horizon* was also handled by Mak Chun-hung...
*Unstained*...
A traditional style ballad.
A pot of clear wine, a coat of dust; a single thought of return, living out the rest of one's life without regret.
After listening to the demo, Ji Xiang made up his mind...
This piece screamed traditional period drama!
Especially period dramas centered around romance...
It didn't necessarily have to be tied exclusively to a Chinese Entertainment production!
Coincidentally, the film project he had recently been pursuing for Shen Yan was showing some promise, so he simply decided to head directly to Xiangshan to share the good news with him!
Oh, but Shen Yan ran into Karen Tsoi first!
Karen Tsoi originally entered the industry working in film publicity.
Actually, what she really wanted was to enter the industry and become a screenwriter!
Being young at the time, she felt that being a screenwriter was a very noble profession...
Naturally, scholars all share the dream of leaving their names behind.
Just think about it, in the world of traditional theater, screenwriters commanded much more respect and prestige than directors or stars—Tang Xianzu, Guan Hanqing, Ma Zhiyuan, Bai Pu, Zheng Guangzu...
Just try altering their plays!
Karen Tsoi entered the industry carrying fantasies just like that.
Oh, and she started out as an entertainment journalist!
Speaking of this, Karen Tsoi laughed self-deprecatingly: "Which means being part of the paparazzi!"
Shen Yan looked surprised: "Paparazzi?"
"Right, I didn't have any background back then. Although my family worked in a theater troupe, Hong Kong's theater troupes belonged to a marginal industry and couldn't touch the inner circle at all. Being an entertainment journalist was my only chance to get close to it!"
"...Then how did you break into the industry?"
"Thanks entirely to Director Derek Yee!" Karen Tsoi said, "When *C'est la vie, mon chéri* was filming, I went to visit the set, interviewed him, and then pulled out the script outline I had written myself and told him: 'I really want to be a screenwriter. How about I become your apprentice and write scripts for you?' Derek Yee earnestly advised her: 'There's no future in being a screenwriter. Look at us, our hair falls out from writing, it's so exhausting.' Then he suggested I work at his company to build connections, become a film producer, and pave the way slowly. As long as I entered the industry, becoming a screenwriter wouldn't be difficult!"
Liu Shishi: "...And then you went to work for him?"
"Right, I started out doing planning..."