Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
Korea.
“Zhang Ye and the Directors Guild got into an argument?”
“If he loses, he’s gonna have to quit Hollywood?”
“How can he win?”
“He’s betting against all of the big name Hollywood directors!”
“He will lose as long as any of the Hollywood directors’ box office earnings surpass his?”
“Unless his new movie can make a billion dollars at the box office!”
…
America.
“Zhang Ye will be bidding farewell to Hollywood soon.”
“Yeah, he actually accepted a bet like that?”
“The Directors Guild are clearly targeting him.”
“These veteran Hollywood directors are all very united. Now that a new director has come to Hollywood, and it’s even a Chinese guy, they will definitely not allow it.”
“The matter has blown up.”
…
China.
“What?”
“There’s no end to the bullying?”
“Motherfucker, Face-smacking Zhang, get them!”
“Yeah, fuck them up!”
“But the wager of this bet is indeed a little big.”
“Is he really going to spend a billion yuan to make this animated film?”
…
India.
“Hahahahaha!”
“This fellow is gonna be down on his luck!”
“Yeah, he even dares to take on the Hollywood directors?”
“He’s challenging all of the Hollywood directors by himself?”
“Whoever gave him the confidence to do something like that!”
“Zhang Ye is gonna end up losing very badly this time! I’ll be popping the popcorn!”
…
It blew up in the outside world.
The media.
The people.
The international celebrities.
The industry insiders.
Everyone was stunned by this news.
At the same time, there was chaos at Star Moon Animation Studios in Hollywood.
Mark Foran and the rest of the staff at Star Moon came rushing back to the office in a panic. When they arrived, they saw Zhang Ye sitting there calmly while enjoying his American breakfast.
Mark Foran said startled, “Teacher Zhang! W-What did you just do?”
Zhang Ye said, “Ah? Me? I was having breakfast.” Then he went on to say in a dissatisfied way, “The breakfast here isn’t much. Do you guys have soy milk and fried dough sticks?”
One of the company executives nearly fainted in anger. “How can you still be thinking of eating?”
Ha Qiqi said anxiously, “Director Zhang, why are you fighting with others again!”
Mark Foran took out his cell phone and pointed at the screen. “Did you say this?”
Zhang Ye glanced at it. “Yeah, I said that.”
Mark Foran was floored. “You’re just one person. Why did you declare war on all of the Hollywood directors? And you even made a wager like that? D-Do you know who those directors are?”
Zhang Ye shook his head. “I don’t.”
Mark Foran said, “Wilson has already started production on his new movie.”
“Oh, is that so?”
“You know Tony, right?”
“I don’t know him.”
“Then surely you know who Becky is, right?”
“I’m not sure who that is.”
“You have to know who Flanders is!”
“Flanders? I don’t know who that is. I’ve already told you, I don’t usually have much time to watch movies.”
When everyone heard that, they were on the verge of a breakdown!
You don’t even know them?
You haven’t even heard of them?
Then why the fuck would you challenge them?
The Star Moon staff exclaimed:
“They’re all famous Hollywood directors!”
“And their new movies are all going to be released this year.”
“Tony’s last movie earned 500 million dollars at the box office!”
“Becky is a director with a movie ranked in the top thirty worldwide highest-grossing movies of all time!”
“Flanders’s new movie has a conservative estimate of 600 million USD for its box office earnings by the industry insiders!”
“All of them are elite directors in Hollywood!”
“We’re only doing an animated film. How can we possibly compare to them in the box office!”
Zhang Ye gave a smile and placated, “There’s me around, so don’t worry.”
The Star Moon staff were almost in tears by now. They thought to themselves, Like we can do that! It’s fucking because you’re here that we’re so worried! For someone who hasn’t even watched a Hollywood movie animated film, you actually had the guts to come to Hollywood to make an animated film? And you even dared to challenge all of the directors in Hollywood as well? Even God would be worried for you!
Mark Foran couldn’t take this anymore. He jogged off to the side and called his boss.
“Boss!” Mark Foran said: “Something major has happened!”
Qian Haitao had returned to China on a flight last night. “I’ve already heard about it.”
Mark Foran said: “What do we do now?”
“Just prepare to start production on the movie.”
“Huh? How are we gonna do that?”
“Just do what has to be done and listen to Teacher Zhang’s orders. You don’t have to worry about him. That’s just how he is. You’ll be fine once you get used to it.”
Get used to it?
How can I get used to that!
Mark Foran was extremely dumbfounded. When he discovered his boss’s nonreaction to Zhang Ye’s challenge to the Hollywood directors, he immediately understood something. These kinds of incidents must have happened quite often when Zhang Ye was in China. He remembered that this man at the top of the food chain was someone who even dared to beat up a person at the Nobel Prize award ceremony, so what else would he not dare to do?
The nearby chatter reached his ears.
Mark Foran looked over and saw that the people in Zhang Ye’s team were conversing. He could understand Mandarin and speak it as well.
Zhang Zuo said helplessly, “Something always has to happen whenever we go overseas.”
Little Wang put her head in her hands and said, “Even without going overseas, we’ve also encountered many such incidents.”
Tong Fu gave a wry smile. “I think this is happening because Director Zhang hasn’t been in a fight in a while.”
Ha Qiqi bluntly said, “You’re just thinking that? It’s precisely because he hasn’t been in a fight in a long time!”
Wu Yi said, “Ever since he got into that conflict with Wilson, Director Zhang hasn’t really fought with anyone during the three months we spent filming Man vs. Wild. Now that we have some people delivering themselves to us, how can Director Zhang possibly turn them away? He’s the type who feels uneasy if he doesn’t get into a fight daily, so it must’ve been really hard on him to endure the three months of peace and quiet that we had.”
Ha Qiqi said, “Yeah, it must have been difficult.”
Little Wang thought about it. “Now that you say that, it does seem to be true. Ever since Director Zhang was released from prison, his temper has gotten much better.”
Zhang Zuo nodded. “It’s true that his temper has gotten better.”
Mark Foran almost cried listening to their conversation.
His temper has gotten better?
You fucking call this having a good temper?
Jesus Christ! Just how low are your standards!
Ring, ring, ring.
Ring, ring, ring.
The landlines in the office were blowing up with calls!
Because of a wager, the entirety of Star Moon Animation Studios had been pushed into the headlines. Right now, everyone knew very clearly that no matter what would happen, the incident had already taken place. There was no way back for them. All that they could do was to go ahead and make an animated film, then lose the bet in the most terrible of ways! They were going to end up as the laughing stock of Hollywood for a lifetime!
Mark Foran asked, “Teacher Zhang, have you decided what you want to make?”
Ha Qiqi also said, “What genre are we going to do?”
Zhang Zuo said, “Do you have any ideas?”
Zhang Ye finished up his sandwich and took out a napkin to wipe his mouth. Then he confidently smiled. “I’ve already made a decision.”
He had been thinking a lot before this, and there were many choices that he could select.
Make one that had Chinese elements?
Or one that could win an award?
Or perhaps a brand new style of animated films?
However, he didn’t have to consider any of that anymore.
Compete on box office earnings, right? Alright, I’ll take on all of you this time!
Don’t blame this bro for being a bully! You were the ones who forced my hands!
Zhang Ye looked at everyone. “I’ve already thought of the title for the animated film.”
Everyone asked, “What’s it called?”
Zhang Ye smiled and said, “Frozen!”
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