Chapter 155: Watching the Great Roc

*Just Youth to the End* was a television series starring Li Jixiong.

It was also China's first youth idol drama. Zhang Tan wasn't quite sure just how popular it had been, as he hadn't been involved in it. However, the series propelled two people to stardom.

Li Jixiong, and the female lead, Old Xu, or Xu Lala.

Li Jixiong was now firmly established as the top male idol in mainland China. When Producer Zhang was casting for *The Legend of the Condor Heroes*, Li Jixiong was his very first choice—a clear testament to his immense popularity.

As for Xu Lala, she leveraged the success of the series to cement her status as one of the Four Dan Actresses of mainland China.

The wildly popular Xu Lala was not content with merely being an actress who relied on her looks. Thus, following the Limi Incident, she decisively joined China Blog Network, began writing a blog, and showcased her literary talents.

What was the Limi Incident? In essence, a blogger using the pseudonym "Limi" publicly published her diary of intimate encounters online, titled *Letter of Forsaken Affections*, detailing her personal stories within it.

Limi had two main hobbies: one was frantic intimacy with different people, in different settings, using different postures.

The other was writing down the minute details of these encounters in her blog.

Consequently, in the summer of 2003, Limi became a sensation, and blogging exploded in popularity. Countless people were lured to China Blog Network to start their own blogs because of the Limi Incident. Seizing the moment, the head of the Blog Network aggressively invited celebrities to join, and that was how Xu Lala came to join the platform.

Xu Lala the Blogger—this became everyone's new moniker for her.

Why mention Xu Lala at all?

Because Zhang Tan had also received an invitation from the head of the Blog Network, hoping that he would join China Blog Network and launch his own dedicated blogging column.

"Hah, Limi's *Letter of Forsaken Affections* isn't even remotely suggestive, seriously." Zhang Tan scrolled across his laptop screen, specifically browsing Limi's widely circulated *Letter of Forsaken Affections*.

Everyone online claimed it was a diary of intimate escapades, so Zhang Tan had expected some racy material, only to find nothing remotely adult in it.

"I took off my pants and you're showing me this?"

Zhang Tan felt a profound sense of contempt.

"Boss, are you planning to start a blog?" Mi Weiwei asked curiously.

"Did you start one?"

"I did."

"Well, I won't be starting one."

"Huh?" Mi Weiwei looked puzzled.

"Blogging is a complete waste of time." Zhang Tan closed the browser, switched to his Word document, and went back to tinkering with his novel.

Blogging had indeed experienced a brief surge in popularity. However, Zhang Tan lacked the inclination to manage a blog. If it were Weibo, he could occasionally spare a moment to tap out a couple of lines, attach a couple of pictures, and interact with fans. With a blog, one almost felt embarrassed not writing long-form essays. Yet writing them wasted time, and the resulting essays weren't even guaranteed to have literary merit.

Besides, influenced by the future phenomenon of verified Orange Vs running rampant everywhere, Zhang Tan felt that going ten years without opening a blog or a Weibo account was the true pinnacle of pretending to be aloof and detached.

Of course, Zhang Tan had also considered that once he made some money and his company launched Weibo, he could become a mega-influencer behind the scenes—perhaps that, too, was a supreme realm of pretense.

As for now, it was better to focus on writing.

Whenever writing became exhausting, he would drop by the production crew's set to pick up some experience, or simply dive into internet forums and lurk, watching people shower praise on his works. Every time he read such praise, Zhang Tan felt instantly energized. Although he felt a slight blush of shame regarding the low originality of his works, he took immense pride in resurrecting these classics through his own unique literary style.

Polishing the details and reorganizing the content still resulted in blockbuster sales; regardless of how one looked at it, that was a source of genuine accomplishment.

"Oh right, Weiwei, have you asked the studio about the sales figures for *The Return of the Condor Heroes*?"

"Ah, I asked. According to current statistics, the print run for the first volume is 950,000 copies. Most major bookstores have basically sold out, though the later sales momentum has slowed down somewhat. Quite a few bookstores have started discounting them. The second volume also had a print run of 950,000 copies, and around 700,000 have been sold so far."

Zhang Tan raised an eyebrow. "950,000, and it still hasn't broken the million mark?"

Mi Weiwei shook her head and said, "The publishing house already considers these figures to be the best in this year's book market. Right now, *The Return of the Condor Heroes* is a prime target for pirate publishers. Basically, the publishing house had to coordinate with two printing plants to work overtime, and then entrust logistics companies for unified national distribution. Otherwise, pirates would have their illegal editions out the day after the genuine books hit the shelves."

"Standard phenomenon," Zhang Tan said with a smile.

He wasn't annoyed; he was used to it.

...

The crew of *The Legend of the Condor Heroes*, which had supposedly been scheduled to begin filming right after the summer vacation, had dragged on into October and still hadn't started. They hadn't even finalized the cast yet.

Zhou Taiping, the female lead cast as Huang Rong, had signed her contract but continually delayed joining the crew.

The excuse was a lack of time, as Zhou Taiping had to attend the Venice Film Festival held in Europe. The movie she starred in, *Hollywood Hong Kong*, reportedly received positive reviews and was considered a strong contender for Best Actress. Domestic newspapers were currently hyping up the immense momentum behind Zhou Taiping sweeping the Best Actress award.

While Zhou Taiping had yet to join the crew, another actor changed his mind. Lu Jian, a rising male idol from mainland China, also turned down the role of Yang Kang due to scheduling conflicts.

Currently, the crew was in talks with the former co-star of Vicki Zhao—the male lead who played He Ergou in *Please, Elder Brother Pig*—to take over the role of Yang Kang.

Zhang Tan simply could not accept this.

"Director Zhang, I don't have anything against him personally, but the real issue is: in what universe does he resemble Yang Kang? Even though the young prince is a villain, he's supposed to be striking, dashing, and extraordinarily handsome. He doesn't need to look like an absolute paragon of perfection, but he at least needs to look upright and dignified. You're going to cast a romance-drama male lead to play Yang Kang?"

Producer Zhang evaded the question, saying, "Little Zhang, we will naturally consider the actors carefully. It's not set in stone that we'll use him..."

At that point, Zhang Tan had nothing more to say.

He decided to emulate Jin Yong and take it in stride.

Thus, with the cast still incomplete, pre-production for the television crew inevitably continued.

Zhang Tan occasionally dropped by, but seeing that it was just repetitive busywork, he would hurriedly return. What he wanted most was to secretly learn the craft directly from the director.

Shortly after the National Day holiday, Zhang Tan flew to Chengdu, Sichuan, along with members of the production crew; they were going there to fetch the giant condor.

The title of *The Legend of the Condor Heroes* featured the word "condor," so if the television series lacked shots of a real condor, it wouldn't live up to such a high-budget production. Producer Zhang loved hype and could turn even the casting process into an endlessly dramatic spectacle, but when it came to production, he was quite willing to spend money to stay as faithful to the original novel as possible by filming on location.

Leaving aside the three exterior locations already chosen, there were even more prospective shooting sites—some intended for just a few shots—currently under consideration.

Visually, this upcoming version of *The Condor Heroes* would undoubtedly be top-tier.

Earlier, the crew had been scouting for a giant condor and recently learned from the management office of the Tazishan Bird Language Forest in Chengdu that they had four giant condors available for filming.

Upon hearing this, Producer Zhang immediately led a team over to inspect them. When Zhang Tan found out, he tagged along to watch the excitement.

He wanted to see what the condor from *The Condor Heroes* actually looked like!

"This one is called Town-Mountain Warrior, this one is Town-Mountain Knight, this one is Town-Mountain Sage, and this one is White-Headed Fairy. Their body lengths all exceed seventy centimeters. These four are exceptionally strong; they can easily fly while carrying a three- or four-year-old child on their backs," the keeper at Tazishan Park introduced to the surrounding crowd.

Strictly speaking, these weren't condors, but vultures—their heads were somewhat bald, though still covered in short down feathers.

At a glance, however, they looked precisely like majestic, divine condors.

The crew only needed to film the movements and close-ups of the condor, after which software would be used to synthesize shots of flocks of condors in flight. Therefore, upon laying eyes on the four vultures in the park, Producer Zhang was instantly satisfied.

He immediately signed a filming agreement with the park management office.

Near lunchtime, Producer Zhang enthusiastically brushed down some calligraphy for these giant condors: "Treading through iron shoes without finding them, the divine condor is found in the Bird Language Forest."

Zhang Tan glanced at the brushwork; it wasn't even as good as his own handwriting.

Speak of the devil—the leaders of the management office then very politely invited Zhang Tan to provide some calligraphy as well. Having the author of *The Condor Heroes* write calligraphy for the condors in their park would make for a charming anecdote to attract tourists, wouldn't it?

Zhang Tan modestly declined a few times before picking up the writing brush and flowing-style cursive characters across a sheet of white paper, dashing off a line of large script.

"In the autumn wind of the coming night, the condors and falcons soar through the nine heavens."

The handwriting was quite impressive, executed with strong, vigorous strokes.

Nor was the verse randomly made up; it was taken from the Yuan dynasty playwright Ma Zhiyuan’s *Golden Currency Classics*.

The management office leader immediately clapped in admiration, saying, "Splendid! Writer Zhang Tan's brushwork is truly extraordinary. He must have spent years of bitter practice."

"You flatter me, it's merely a superficial understanding of the basics."

After viewing the giant condor, having lunch, and taking a tour around Chengdu, Zhang Tan headed back.

He didn't have time to linger because there were matters requiring his attention back in Beijing.

Following days of negotiations, Xishanju Studio finally secured the game adaptation rights for *The Legend of the Condor Heroes* for 1.8 million yuan.

Early tomorrow morning, Xishanju Studio was holding a press conference and had invited Zhang Tan to attend.

For the sake of 1.8 million yuan, Zhang Tan certainly wouldn't begrudge the time spent on a press conference. While business negotiations could be handled by the studio, this sort of high-profile event still required his personal appearance.

At the press conference, Xishanju publicly announced the news, enthusiastically discussing how *The Legend of the Condor Heroes* would be adapted into the most entertaining single-player role-playing game. Zhang Tan also answered several questions from reporters, expressing his full trust in Xishanju's development capabilities and his belief that they would create a remarkably fun version of *The Legend of the Condor Heroes*.

It was nothing more than the standard platitudes expected of any commercial publicity stunt.

Once the press conference concluded, Zhang Tan's parents arrived in Beijing as well. They had come to help Zhang Tan deliberate on buying a house.

With Xishanju paying 1.8 million yuan for the game copyright, Zhang Tan finally had the funds to purchase property in Beijing. Buying a house in Beijing could be considered an exceptionally prestigious endeavor, and it was guaranteed to hold its value without suffering any losses; both Zhang Quanshun and Tan Mingxia were strongly in favor of it.

Before buying property, some preparation was in order.

Examining a newly published *Beijing Guide Map for Residents Purchasing Housing*, Zhang Quanshun said, "Since you're going to the Beijing Film Academy, you should buy something in Xicheng District. Jimen Bridge is right on the edge of Xicheng. Let me check out the housing prices in Xicheng... Jiheyuan starts at 6,888, Tiankuo Jingguanyuan averages 10,000, Xinshihuayuan averages 12,500..."

Meanwhile, Tan Mingxia was studying the latest map of Beijing, which had residential compounds marked on it. "Look at how much Guanyuan Apartment Phase II costs. It's right inside the Second Ring Road, just a few stops away from the Beijing Film Academy."

Consulting the guide map, Zhang Quanshun muttered, "Oh, it averages 16,700."

Tan Mingxia grimaced slightly. "The price is a bit steep."

Zhang Tan chimed in, "Don't think of it as expensive now; it's definitely going to double and skyrocket in the future. Come on, let's go tour all the sales offices and find the one with the best location and transportation."

With 1.8 million in hand, Zhang Tan was feeling flush with cash again.

In 2003, Beijing's real estate market hadn't yet reached terrifying heights; districts like Dongcheng and Xicheng generally had prices hovering around ten-plus thousand yuan per average ping, varying up and down. There were lower ones like Jiheyuan at 6,888 yuan, and higher ones over 20,000 yuan, such as the Financial Street Huarong Apartment. Still, compared to Hefei, Beijing's housing prices were vastly more exaggerated overall, with even the average price in Tongzhou District inside the Fifth Ring Road reaching 3,300 yuan.

Renting a car, the family set off to storm the Beijing property market.

***

(Author's Note:)

Lately, the author's notes at the end of chapters keep getting swallowed by Qidian, which is frustrating, so I can only put them in the main text:

Time is tight today; I'll make up for the 200 monthly vote milestone with extra chapters tomorrow.

I'll post the list of tips and shout-outs in a separate chapter once a week.

Announcing two fan group numbers: 222978400 and 258108294. Feel free to join and give suggestions to Old Bai.

Lastly, please vote for recommendation tickets and monthly votes! Old Bai needs your data support! (To be continued.)