Chapter 247: Those Things About Great Persons
Translator: BeetleBarker Editor: Tennesh
Although the Golden Age music hall was pricey, there was no shortage of reservations. Browsing the official website's booking schedule, Fang Zhao saw that the hall was already booked all the way to February next year, and if he wished to make a reservation, he would have to make it for three months after that. The weekends from March to May were already reserved, and only weekdays were still available for booking.
Fang Zhao would complete his military service and be discharged next April. Fang Zhao would continue producing music after his military service, and it was impossible for him to book it so early. Thus, Fang Zhao made a booking for a saturday night in August. If there was not enough time, he could push his booking back, though his deposit would not be refunded.
Outside of military service, other than Silver Wing's composing assignments, Fang Zhao still had to prepare his own works and handle matters relating to the consultant team.
The consultant team's list of names was already more or less fixed, and the discussion platform had started to get lively. Every day, the team leader would raise a few questions to warm up and let everyone air their own views and suggestions on the targeted topic. The script had not been revealed yet, but everyone's enthusiasm in the group had already adjusted.
As the script had not been set yet, the members of the consultant team could speak a lot more freely. These people had all been engaged by those big investors. Some of these people held positions of power and authority, but when they spoke, there were no qualms.
On this day, the head consultant raised a topic about the character of Founding Era leaders and their livelihoods and other aspects.
Those people were heroes, but they had been humans too, not unfeeling killing machines. They had real feelings and emotions. This discussion was also for the sake of supplementing various elements of these characters' lives in the series and making these great people appear more well developed.
Well-known military campaigns during the Founding Era were all documented in historical records, and examinations would touch upon them. Therefore, students who studied history well knew about all of these, but for the actual temperaments, lifestyle habits, and other aspects of these leaders, a large majority of people had no idea.
On a certain day, after Fang Zhao returned from a mission, he opened the discussion platform to find it bustling with activity, completely different from how outsiders might view an "academic research topic discussion"—serious and solemn.
Currently, this bunch was talking about the gossip of those great people. However, only those big shots in the historical and art circles were doing the talking. After all, only people with their sort of status would dare to gossip about these great people. For those younger ones, or those who were underqualified, they just watched silently from the side.
As a "junior" in these circles, it was not good for Fang Zhao to interrupt when these big shots were talking, so Fang Zhao just viewed silently, since he wanted to know what sort of awkward incidents these bunch of people had managed to dig up.
A big shot who studied history seemed to be excited. "Let's not talk about Wu Yan's mistress. The Wu family definitely would not let it be written in, but Wu Yan was afraid of dogs—this bit should probably be acceptable for the script."
"I'm warning you, although the current Yanzhou governor does not have the Wu family name, random vilification will not be tolerated. We need evidence."
The dominating and awe-inspiring Great General Wu Yan had actually been afraid of dogs? Of all the creatures to be afraid, he had been afraid of dogs? If this information was released, nobody would believe it!
"I contacted people from Xizhou and, with great effort, managed to convince them to contribute a portion of Great General Lu Xi's handwritten notes. It was mentioned in the notes that Great General Wu Yan was actually afraid of dogs, so he had not had that close a relationship with Great General Su Mu."
The others had their curiosity piqued and halted the discussion for the time being. "What else was there in Great General Lu Xi's notes?"
"According to the information provided from Xizhou, it was mentioned that Great General Lakalina's ancestor was an empress."
"That goes without saying. According to historical studies, Lakalina originally wanted to be an empress during the Founding Era. She even got a famed artist to paint a portrait of her titled 'Lakalina the First.' The painting is still on display at Lazhou's museum. After that, the entire world changed its political system to having only a governor. However, over at Lazhou, in private, the governor is still considered to be like a monarch."
"Hey, let me finish. The notes did not only mention Lakalina's royal ancestry but also said that she had originally been a germophobe. However, she gradually changed during the Period of Destruction.
"Germophobe?"
"After surviving through the Period of Destruction, even the greatest germophobe can change."
"That's true. What else?"
"Besides being a germophobe, Lakalina also had trypophobia.
"...For real?"
"That's what was written in those notes. Whether it is true or false, only Great General Lu Xi would know the answer. Or perhaps we could ask people from the Lakalina family?"
"The Lakalina family would definitely not admit it."
"Actually, whether she was a germophobe or had trypophobia, having survived through the many years of the Period of Destruction and having wielded such considerable power, it is obvious she overcame those a long time ago. There is no point in continuing to seek the truth in this matter. The focal points of the script will not be on this."
"Furthermore, the Lakalina family value their reputation a lot. Even if it is true, they will never agree to it being written into the script."
Fang Zhao watched them as gossip about each of the Founding Era generals was talked about in succession. Even the unlucky leader Fang Zhao, who had not managed to endure to the Founding Era, was discussed. Luckily, Lu Xi's notes did not have many awkward quirks about Fang Zhao, but it did record that Fang Zhao was a musician.
That expert that had been fortunate enough to obtain copies of Lu Xi's notes verified what he was saying by posting some photographs of the notes.
"A live symphony orchestra lives inside Fang Zhao's brain." This was the original line written in Lu Xi's notes.
After the discussion on gossip about the various leaders, the topic returned to the project.
"Seems like the great persons of the Founding Era were not so perfect either."
"Should these... be written in?"
"I think not?"
"But all these are crucial snippets of their characters. Nobody is perfect; we are only human because of our flaws. All of these cannot be written in wholesale, but we can filter some out and embellish them a little."
"Sounds fair."
Watching the chatter in the discussion platform, Fang Zhao knew now that the excited manner in which these big shots of the consultation team talked about gossip was like how entertainment reporters got excited when they talked about the private affairs of various celebrities.
By watching from the side, Fang Zhao discovered that the person the head consultant worshipped the most was "Founding Era leader Fang Zhao."
According to the contents of the script, "Founding Era leader Fang Zhao" could not be considered a lead role, but he was an important supporting character that had a role in many crucial scenes.
In the month of December, Fang Zhao received the first draft of the script and, together with the other members of the consultation team, began discussions on inaccuracies or misrepresentations of the various characters and other aspects and how to amend them.
Toward the end of December, Yan Biao and Zuo Yu arrived on planet Baiji.
Fang Zhao had helped them handle the arrangements and procedures. This time, on his return to the Baiji military district, Yan Biao did not have the identity of a military personnel and so had to go through all the normal procedures.
Yan Biao was filled with mixed feelings when he saw what planet Baiji had become. However, on the whole, he was happy to take a walk down memory lane and catch up with old comrades.
Planet Wai had been Zuo Yu's first time leaving his home planet, and it felt like a tour for him. It was a novel feeling, patrolling the sets and watching others film. In short, Wai Filmed Entertainment Culture Base's atmosphere was much more relaxed. As long as they did not create trouble, it was generally very harmonious.
But planet Baiji was a whole different ball game. Before entering the atmosphere, Zuo Yu could already feel a more solemn ambience. The military presence was much thicker here than on planet Wai.
Over at the film entertainment compound, Yan Biao had recommended six discharged soldiers to Fang Zhao, and Zuo Yu had also recommended two. Currently, there were 10 personnel patrolling the streets of the Wai Filmed Entertainment Culture Base. Even if Zuo Yu and Yan Biao were not there, there were still eight others guarding the place. This was sufficient enough, so there was no need to worry about any production teams causing trouble in the film entertainment compound.
With supervision, production crews there that caused trouble in secret now knew their places. The matter of debts had also been reduced marginally. For some production crews that were unable to fork out a lot of money, Fang Zhao could give them some leeway as long as their attitudes were good and they had a certain reputation.
On this visit to planet Baiji, Yan Biao and Zuo Yu also helped Fang Zhao bring along specialized feed for Fang Zhao's hybrid sea slug.
"Denzel also said that he will send you a electronic file when he sees you online. It's regarding the feed dosage," Yan Biao told Fang Zhao.
"As for the area of land that the Interplanetary Fund has encircled, construction has already started there, but it is guarded heavily. I haven't gotten a chance to get close. Already there are people at the film entertainment compound making guesses about that area's use. A paparazzi went over to try and secretly snap photos but was caught and thrown in prison at Wai base. After that, nobody ever went close to it."
"There is no longer any need to keep watch on that area," Fang Zhao said.
News about the revolutionary film project being rebooted would not remain concealed forever. Having joined the consultant team and as an internal member of the project, Fang Zhao had a much clearer idea of the process. For the time being, there was no pressing need to find out what was being constructed in the Interplanetary Fund's golden circle on planet Wai.