Huayu93: From Selling Magnetic Cards to Entertainment Tycoon

Chapter 79: Interview with Beijing Youth Daily, featured on BJ News.

The day after the press conference, at 8:30 a.m., Li Si'an was having breakfast at the store when her phone rang.

"Hello, who is this?"

"Is this Li Si'an? Hello, I'm Wang, a reporter from the Beijing Youth Daily. I was the first person to ask you a question at yesterday's press conference, do you remember me?"

The voice on the other end of the phone was somewhat polite.

"Hello, Mr. Wang, of course I remember you." Li Si'an put down the sesame seed cake in her hand, her tone becoming much warmer.

This is the Beijing Youth Daily, a major media outlet; we can't afford to be careless.

"I wanted to chat with you a bit more after yesterday's press conference, but I had to rush off to interview the president of the Asia-Pacific region," Reporter Wang said with a smile.

"I felt I needed to make up for it today, so I was thinking of scheduling an interview with you. When would be a convenient time for you?"

Li Si'an thought for a moment. "Anytime is fine. Or, should I come to the newspaper office to find you now?"

"No need, no need," said reporter Wang. "I'll come over. Where's your record store? I'd like to see where you usually hang out; it'll be more interesting than chatting in the office."

Li Si'an gave him the address. "I'll wait for you at the shop. What time will you be arriving?"

"Around ten o'clock."

"Okay, I'll wait for you."

After hanging up the phone, Li Si'an thought for a while about how to talk to the reporter later.

To be honest, he felt a little uneasy and panicked as things progressed to this point.

In his past life, he always sat in a corner when he was in a meeting and never spoke in a public setting with more than ten people.

Now things are really going well. In a little while, he'll be having a face-to-face chat with a reporter from the Beijing Youth Daily, and in a few days, his music video will be shown on CCTV.

And as for Motorola, if Zhao Hongyu wasn't exaggerating, he might be seen all over Asia in the future.

Thinking about this, his throat felt a little dry.

He picked up the glass on the table and took a sip of water. The cool water slid down his throat, taking away a bit of his panic.

Li Si'an knew in her heart that this was actually a kind of psychological panic similar to "pre-wedding jitters". People would have such panic when facing the uncertainty of stepping into an unknown field.

However flustered she was, since she had already chosen this path, she might as well close her eyes and keep going. Li Si'an encouraged herself in her heart.

When he was filming the music video, he couldn't even find where the camera was, but he still finished filming, didn't he? When he was recording the song, Lao Sun kept telling him to stop through the earphones, but he still finished recording, didn't he?

At the press conference, the audience was full of reporters, and he stood up and delivered his speech fluently, didn't he?

Once you've walked a path you've never walked before, you'll eventually find your way through it.

Li Si'an put down the cup, stood up, and rearranged the items on the counter. Then, she took out a business card from a metal box under the counter.

This was left after the performance of "Puppet Show" in April. The person's name is Liu Wenhai, a news editor at Beijing TV. He came over specifically after the show to hand over his business card, saying that I could contact him if I needed anything in the future.

Li Si'an kept the business card in the metal box under the counter and never opened it.

He dialed the number.

It rang twice, and then the other end answered.

"Director Liu? Hello, I'm Li Si'an. I don't know if you remember me. I'm from the Affiliated High School of Beijing Dance Academy, from the play 'Puppet Show' this April..."

"Hey, Xiao Li!" Liu Wenhai's voice suddenly warmed up. "I remember, I remember, I watched your 'Puppet Show' several times afterward. What's up, something wrong?"

"Director Liu, did you hear about Motorola's global slogan launch event yesterday?"

"I heard about it! I saw it in the paper last night." Liu Wenhai's tone was a little excited. "I thought the name looked familiar. What, you really wrote that slogan?"

"Yes, it's me." Li Si'an paused for a moment. "Director Liu, I'm here to talk to you about this."

"I recently recorded an album, and the Motorola 'GG' video used the title track from my new album, called 'Fairy Tale.' The 'GG' video and the music video were filmed together."

Li Si'an smiled and said somewhat shyly, "I was thinking of finding some time to bring the film to you to watch. If it's suitable, I'll see if we can broadcast it on Beijing TV."

Liu Wenhai paused for a moment on the other end of the phone, seemingly considering something, before decisively replying, "Okay, come over around 2 PM this afternoon. Call me when you arrive."

"Okay, okay, I'll be there on time."

At 10 a.m., a taxi stopped in front of the store.

A man in his early thirties, thin, wearing silver-rimmed glasses and a light blue shirt, came downstairs, carrying a black camera bag. A wind chime rang, and the man pushed the door open and entered.

"Hello Li Si'an, I'm a reporter from the Beijing Youth Daily, my surname is Wang." He extended his hand.

"Hello, Mr. Wang." Li Si'an warmly came out from behind the counter and shook hands with him.

"The shop is simple, please don't mind."

"It's nice, it has a real, down-to-earth feel to it." Reporter Wang looked around, took out a tape recorder from his bag and placed it on the counter, and then took out a camera.

"Shall I take a few photos first?"

"OK."

Reporter Wang raised his camera, directed Li Si'an to pose a few times, and snapped a few photos.

Li Si'an took two photos leaning against the counter and two more standing in front of the poster wall. When she took the third photo, reporter Wang peeked out from behind the viewfinder.

Are you really eighteen this year?

"You really are eighteen. Want me to show you your ID?"

Reporter Wang laughed. "No, no. I just think you're very relaxed in front of the camera, which doesn't seem like someone your age."

"It's probably from practice. You know, our Beijing Dance Academy Affiliated High School has a performance every year, so we're used to standing on stage."

Reporter Wang nodded, pressed the red button on the tape recorder, and sat down.

"Let's begin."

Reporter Wang leaned back in his chair, speaking in a calm and unhurried tone.

"Let me start by telling you about yourself. You graduated from the Affiliated High School of Beijing Dance Academy, are a freshman at Beijing Normal University, run a music and video store, write songs, and even wrote a global slogan for Motorola."

After listening to your speech at the press conference yesterday, I looked through your materials when I got back—to be honest, I'm quite curious.

"What are you curious about?"

"I'm curious how an eighteen-year-old like you came up with these ideas."

Li Si'an thought for a moment, then her tone became more serious. "Actually, I didn't plan any of the steps deliberately. I just did whatever came to mind."

"When I was running a record store, I listened to other people's songs every day and wondered if I could write one myself. When I was writing a song, I had a picture in my mind and wondered if I could make a music video."

"When we were shooting the music video, we didn't expect Motorola to be interested, but we went there to talk, and it actually worked out." Li Si'an smiled and continued:

"Anyway, I've come this far step by step, and looking back, it seems pretty smooth."

Reporter Wang made a note in his notebook and looked up at him.

"Aren't you going to say something else? Like—how much effort you've put in?"

Li Si'an thought about it.

"As for hard work, it's not worth mentioning. Who doesn't work hard? The breakfast vendors get up at 3 a.m., they work much harder than me."

"What's worth mentioning?"

"Results," Li Si'an said, "Effort is worthless; results are what matter."

Reporter Wang paused, pen in hand, and nodded. "That's true."

Li Si'an smiled. "When you go back and write your article, please don't praise me too much. I'm just an ordinary person who happened to be born at a good time, met the right people, and did something I wanted to do."

Reporter Wang smiled. "Don't worry, we'll definitely tell the truth."

The interview lasted another twenty minutes or so. Reporter Wang asked about the album's progress, her studies at Beijing Normal University, and her future plans. Li Si'an answered each question in turn.

When asked about the album, reporter Wang asked a few more questions.

What's the album called?

""fairy tale"."

"Is the title track the one from the Motorola GG movie?"

"right."

"Has it been released yet?"

"It went on sale yesterday afternoon and is available in major music and audio stores."

Reporter Wang nodded, turned off the recorder, put the notebook and recorder into his bag, and stood up.

"The article will be published tomorrow in the entertainment section; they should be able to give it half a page. You can buy a copy and take a look."

"Thank you, Reporter Wang."

Reporter Wang nodded, pushed open the door, and went out. The wind chimes rang once.

After having a quick lunch at the shop, Li Si'an pushed aside her bowl and chopsticks, took out the small black box from under the counter, and greeted Chen Nan.

"Sister Nan, I'm going out for a bit."

Where are you going?

"TV station."

Chen Nan glanced at him, didn't ask any more questions, and waved her hand.

Li Si'an hailed a minivan on the roadside. "Beijing TV Station."

Beijing Television is located in Chaoyang District, next to Jianguo Road, in a gray-white building. Li Si'an registered at the entrance, gave Liu Wenhai's name, and the security guard pointed to the elevator.

On the third floor, at the end of the corridor, the door was half open.

Li Si'an knocked on the door.

"Come in."

Liu Wenhai, a man in his early forties with a round face, sat behind his desk. Seeing Li Si'an enter, he stood up and extended his hand.

"Xiao Li, you're here? Have a seat."

Li Si'an sat down, opened the box, took out the finished MV tape, and handed it over.

Liu Wenhai took the tape, placed it on the table, and leaned back in his chair.

"I looked around at Motorola's press conference yesterday, and no one on TV has reported on it yet." He paused.

"Here's what I'm going to do you a favor: let me record an exclusive interview for you, and it'll be on 'BJ News' tonight. Help me secure this premiere TV interview; I'll get a sales record, and you'll save face."

Li Si'an laughed and quickly said, "Hey, Director Liu, don't say that. You've already put me on 'BJ News,' how can you say that I'm helping you?"

Liu Wenhai said with a smile, "Alright, enough with the formalities, just listen to my arrangements."

Then he picked up the phone on the table and dialed a number.

"Hey, Xiao Wang, tell the host to get ready. We're recording an interview in ten minutes with that young man who wrote the promotional slogan at yesterday's Motorola launch event. Yes, the eighteen-year-old one."

After hanging up the phone, he picked up the tape, walked to the television, inserted it into the VCR, and watched it on fast forward. He paused twice to rewind and rewatch two scenes, then nodded.

"The song is great, and the music video is also very well made."

He picked up the phone and dialed another number.

"Old Zhang, this is Liu Wenhai. If you have some free time, come over here. I have a film here for you to look at."

A few minutes later, a man in his forties pushed open the door and came in. He had a round face, wore glasses, and was dressed in a dark blue jacket, carrying a cup of tea.

"Old Liu, what's up?"

"Zhang Lijun, the producer of the arts and culture channel's 'Music Tide,'" Liu Wenhai introduced.

"This is Li Si'an, the creator of Motorola's slogan. He made a music video, it's Motorola's 'GG' song, take a look."

Zhang Lijun glanced at Li Si'an and sat down in front of the television. Liu Wenhai rewound the tape and played it again.

Zhang Lijun stared at the screen from beginning to end. After the screen went dark, he leaned back in his chair, thought for a moment, and before commenting on the quality, asked, "Has this music video been broadcast on other channels?"

"No," Li Si'an said. "CCTV will only broadcast it together after Motorola's GG is released."

Zhang Lijun nodded, tapped his fingers lightly on the armrest twice, and then spoke: "The plot is good, and the filming is excellent. It was shot on film, right?"

"right."

"No wonder." Zhang Lijun removed the tape from the VCR, put it in the case, and weighed it in his hand. "CCTV is a different story. Since we're broadcasting it here first, it's a premiere on Beijing TV."

He looked up at Li Si'an, his tone much more certain than before.

"I'll take the tape first and make a backup when I get back. Come find me on the Arts and Entertainment Channel the day after tomorrow morning, and I'll have someone do an interview with you, which will be broadcast along with the music video."

Li Si'an nodded. "Okay, I'll follow your instructions."

Zhang Lijun turned to Liu Wenhai: "Old Liu, thanks, you've found a good program for our area."

He nodded to Li Si'an again, then pushed open the door and went out.

Just as Zhang Lijun left, the phone on the table rang. Liu Wenhai answered it, said "uh-huh" twice, and hung up.

"The studio is ready. Let's go."

He led Li Si'an out of the office, through the corridor, around two corners, and into a small studio. It wasn't big; there were two chairs, a few lights, and a camera set up on the floor opposite.

The lights were all on, making the whole room brightly lit.

A female host in her forties was sitting in one of the chairs, holding a few sheets of paper in her hand. When she saw them come in, she looked up.

"Is this the one?" She glanced at Li Si'an.

"Yes," Liu Wenhai said. "Record a short clip, just enough to make a minute or two. You ask questions, and he answers."

Li Si'an sat down in another chair. The light shone on his face, a little dazzling. He squinted, but didn't say anything.

The host asked a few questions—where did the inspiration for the promotional slogan come from, what's the story behind this album, and what are your future plans?

Li Si'an answered each question in turn, without saying much, answering each question with just a few words.

There was a moment when he spoke too fast and misspoke, pausing for a moment. The host laughed and said, "It's okay, let's do it again," so he said it again.

After recording for about ten minutes, the host made a gesture towards the camera, and the lights went out.

Liu Wenhai walked over and patted Li Si'an on the shoulder.

"Alright. Remember to watch 'BJ News' at 7 PM tonight when you get home."