1990: Starting from Baojia Street

Zhou Yan finally agreed to talk to Tommy Mottola on the phone. He also wanted to see what this guy wanted to say to him.

However, the content of the conversation between the two parties was somewhat beyond Zhou Yan's expectations. Tommy Mottola neither talked about previous events nor about Celine Dion.

The two chatted for a total of twelve minutes. During these twelve minutes, Tommy Mottola did not say anything formal and was trying to get close to Zhou Yan the whole time.

We talked about everything from Zhou Yan’s first movie “The Young Piano Boy Who Wants to Fly” to “The Sixth Sense” which caused a big sensation in Europe and the United States this year, and from Zhou Yan’s instrumental albums to the songs he wrote for Backstreet Boys and Mariah Carey.

When mentioning Mariah Carey, this guy acted as if he had nothing to do with Mariah Carey, and it was not him who had thrown dirty water on her in front of the media before.

I have to say that Tommy Mottola is really thick-skinned enough to have gotten to his current position.

But this phone call confused Zhou Yan. He didn't understand what Tommy Mottola wanted to do. Was he just trying to get close to him after spending more than ten minutes on the phone?
After hanging up the phone, Zhou Yan specifically asked Zhang Youan, "Is there any recent situation at Sony?"

He wanted to infer Tommy Mottola's intentions based on Sony's current situation.

Zhang Youan frowned and thought for a while, then shook his head, "I haven't heard of any new developments. The biggest development is probably the divorce of their boss Tommy Mottola."

"So what does it mean that he called me at this time?"

"I don't know. Maybe he just wants to build a good relationship. Tommy Mottola must be capable, otherwise he wouldn't have become the CEO of Sony Records at such a young age. But I heard that he is a very moody person, and when competing with other companies, he uses very special methods."

Tommy Mottola's experience can also be called legendary. He debuted as a singer at the age of eighteen and became the global CEO of Sony Music at the age of thirty-eight.

Zhang Youan said he was young because he was able to take charge of an industry giant like Sony at the age of 38.

Zhang Youan's expression was very tactful, but Zhou Yan understood it clearly. He guessed that Tommy Mottola was an old bastard.

It seems that what Mariah Carey said before, that Tommy Mottola was spying on her, might be true.

"Then we have to be on guard against him."

Zhang Youan nodded in agreement, "Yes, but we still have to look presentable. After all, we are now working with Celine Dion."

"Of course the cooperation is still going on as normal. Just have less dealings with Tommy Mottola."

If Tommy Mottola knew that he had been on the phone with Zhou Yan for more than ten minutes and had been trying to get close to him for such a long time, but in the end Zhou Yan became more wary of him, he would probably vomit several liters of blood.

In fact, Zhou Yan was too sensitive this time. Tommy Mottola made this call simply because he wanted to establish a good relationship with Zhou Yan, especially since they had some minor conflicts before.

At that time, Tommy Mottola threw dirty water on Zhou Yan and Mariah Carey. Of course, he was not targeting Zhou Yan. He was just angry when they were getting a divorce and wanted to start a public opinion war against Mariah Carey.

It just so happened that Zhou Yan and Mariah Carey were in the news at that time, so he said so. If he said it to someone else, the outside world would not believe it, and the popularity would definitely not be as high as that of Zhou Yan.

In fact, he knew better than anyone that there was nothing between Zhou Yan and Mariah Carey, because he was really monitoring Mariah Carey and knew her schedule and call records very well.

For a long time, Mariah Carey had no contact with Zhou Yan.

If Zhou Yan and Mariah Carey really had something going on, Tommy Mottola would have revealed the evidence long ago.

Now that Zhou Yan is working with Celine Dion, Tommy Mottola still thinks that Y is quite generous. Even though they had a grudge against each other before, he still chose to work with Celine Dion.

So Tommy Mottola thought he should take the initiative and call Zhou Yan to repair their relationship.

……

In the following days, the crew's work became increasingly busy, with the working hours exceeding fourteen hours a day.

In fact, there is nothing wrong with working fourteen hours a day. Zhou Yan often encounters this situation when he is making movies himself.

When filming "The Sixth Sense" and "The Chorus", when the shooting schedule was tight, we often worked from six in the morning to ten in the evening.

But James Cameron's crew is different. They work fourteen hours a day, often starting at two in the afternoon and ending at four or five in the morning.

This kind of night scene is very tiring, and most people would rather work a few more hours during the day than stay up late at night.

However, such high-intensity work also has its rewards. After five days, the drama on the Dartmouth side was over.

August 28th, the last performance of Titanic at Dartmouth.

This scene is very simple, involves few actors, the shots are not complicated at all, and the possibility of accidents is small, so everyone is in a good mood.

Although filming of Titanic had just begun, they were able to take a break after the scenes at Dartmouth were completed.

The shooting should be completed by around 1:00 p.m. today, so most of them will have time to wander around Dartmouth from the afternoon to the evening.

After the morning shooting ended, James Cameron set aside two hours for everyone to rest at noon, which was unprecedented.

Because we had plenty of time, everyone had a relaxed lunch today, not as nervous as usual.

The only drawback is that today's meal package is the same as usual, with basically no changes in the dishes.

Not to mention other people, Zhou Yan had only been here for less than two weeks and he was already tired of eating it, especially seafood. It was the same few dishes every day, a whole pile of shellfish. Zhou Yan's head hurts whenever he sees shells now.

So for the past two or three days, Zhou Yan only ate sandwiches and didn't even try any seafood.

Like Zhou Yan, Sebastian hadn't eaten seafood for several days. Both of them were eating a sandwich in their hands.

After finishing his sandwich, Sebastian asked Zhou Yan with a smile, "Are you going back to China tomorrow?"

Zhou Yan nodded, "Well, the tickets have been bought. I hope nothing unexpected happens today."

Sebastian smiled and said, "Even if something unexpected happens, it has nothing to do with you. If there is anything that needs to be reshot, we are here."

"Ah."

"Any plans for the afternoon and evening?" Sebastian asked again.

"There are no plans for now. I'll probably stay in the room."

"That's too boring." Sebastian pouted, "We plan to go shopping in the evening. I heard there is a good bar in the city center. They saw it when they took Ferold to the hospital last time."

Zhou Yan had no interest in the bar and shook his head, "I don't drink often."

"Who says you can only drink alcohol in a bar? It's the same if you drink juice." Sebastian frowned again, "Christy will go too."

Zhou Yan felt puzzled. Christie could go wherever she wanted. What did it have to do with him?
From the time he joined the group until now, he had only chatted with Christie twice. They were not even friends, at best they were better than strangers.

Zhou Yan was about to say something when Sebastian said, "In fact, we talked about this before. If you go to Mexico, there will be so many people there, and we want you to hold a concert for them... Of course, it will be free. I won't pay you."

"I never hold concerts that don't make money." Zhou Yan joked, and then said, "I just can't go to Mexico with you this time, but it may be possible to go in the future. Then I will arrange some performances for you."

There were all kinds of musical instruments on the set in Mexico, so it was easy for Zhou Yan to show them a few of his skills on the spot.

"Are you really good at playing the piano? I've never heard you play live before."

Zhou Yan shook his head and said, "I'm not very good at playing the piano."

"So what are you good at?"

"Blow the whistle."

Sebastian rolled his eyes, "You have got to be lying to me."

"Why would I lie to you?" Zhou Yan directly took out the Irish whistle used for the last recording from his bag.

He only ever used new instruments of this kind and would take them away after use.

Fortunately, the whistle is portable and can be easily put into a bag.

Sebastian took the whistle curiously and examined it carefully. "Is this a piccolo?"

Zhou Yan curled his lips and said, "You might say Sebastian is a music novice, but he also knows the piccolo."

In English, there are special words for piccolo and flute, unlike in Chinese, where even if you don’t know the piccolo, you can guess based on the length and shape. So knowing the word piccolo is not that simple.

You said he understands music, he can even mistake an Irish whistle for a piccolo.

The piccolo is actually a smaller version of the flute with a very high pitch. It is very different from the Irish whistle, with different air ports and key holes.

"It's an Irish whistle."

In English, whistle, whistle, and whistle are all the same word.

The Irish whistle is actually a whistle, which is why it is so easy to learn.

When Sebastian heard the word "whistle", he knew that this instrument was different from the piccolo, because the piccolo is played horizontally.

He looked at the mouthpiece of the whistle and asked, "Just blow into it?"

"Well, just blow towards it." "Let me try..."

Seeing Sebastian was about to blow the whistle, Zhou Yan snatched it from his hand and said, "Old Sebastian, please have some personal hygiene."

"It's okay. I don't mind."

"I care."

"Okay, then blow it for me to hear."

Zhou Yan nodded, met his request, and blew two notes casually.

The sound of his blowing was very soft, but the people around him still heard it.

Lori, who was not far away, smiled and said, "Y, on the last day, will you play music for us?"

Christie, who was eating with her head down, also looked up and looked at Zhou Yan through the cabin window with anticipation in her eyes, "What are you going to play? What instrument is this?"

Just as Zhou Yan was about to explain, Sebastian said loudly, "This is Zhou Yan's best instrument, the Irish whistle. Today is our last day of filming in Dartmouth, so of course we need some music to help us remember this beautiful day."

After saying that, Sebastian took the lead in applauding, and naturally the others followed suit.

Seeing that it was hard to refuse the kindness, Zhou Yan thought of playing a song or two to satisfy everyone. However, just as he raised the whistle, Sebastian pulled him up again and walked towards the bow of the ship.

"You blow it here." He then called the photographer on the scene, "Ficker, come on, record this scene. Maybe it will be included in the documentary later."

In fact, there was no need for Sebatisian to remind him, as Ficker had already started recording mode.

There were only about twenty people eating outside the cabin. When the people inside heard the noise, they all ran over.

Soon, most of the crew gathered on the deck waiting for Zhou Yan's performance.

Feeling the cool sea breeze, Zhou Yan smiled. Today he could be considered to have held a cruise ship concert, although there were not many audiences.

Zhou Yan didn't do anything fancy and just picked two old songs to play with the Irish whistle, one was "Yearning Across Time and Space" and the other was "The Street Where the Wind Lives".

These two pieces of music are more suitable to be played with the Irish whistle, and Zhou Yan can fully master it.

On a boat, the effect of playing music is definitely not as good as indoors. Even how much the audience can hear depends on whether the sea breeze is favorable.

However, the environment is still a plus. Zhou Yan stood alone at the bow, facing the audience on the deck. The music mixed with the sound of the waves floated into the ears of the audience, which was quite interesting.

The key point is that they were too bored and depressed during this period of time. This unique music performance was a rare moment of relaxation, so everyone enjoyed listening to it.

The occasional cries of seagulls seemed to be responding to Zhou Yan's performance, and photographer Philok was also very alert to take some shots of the seagulls.

Christie leaned against the iron ladder, looking at Zhou Yan who was playing at the bow, her eyes a little dazed.

For some reason, when Y played the first piece, she felt a little dizzy, as if she was seasick.

In fact, she was not seasick and had never been seasick before.

Is this the power of music?

Or does she only react like this when Y plays?
She felt that she was becoming increasingly unable to concentrate, and the bow seemed to be getting farther and farther away from her, but strangely, Y, who was standing on the bow, was getting closer and closer to her.

"Christie?"

Christie heard someone calling her, but she couldn't see anyone nearby.

Strange, where are the people on the deck?

Why are she and Y the only ones left?
This voice... sounds like James, but where is James?

She turned her head again and again, but saw no one.

"what happened to you?"

James' voice rang out again.

And this time, Christie saw it.

But what she saw was not James Cameron, but a monster with a green face, fangs and two horns.

The monster was looking at her with its red eyes.

Fear instantly spread through Christie's body. She wanted to escape, but found that her feet seemed to be stuck to the deck and she couldn't pull them up.

The monster with a green face and fangs was getting closer and closer. When the monster was about to touch Christie, she got the courage from nowhere and punched the monster in the face.

Many voices suddenly rang out at the scene.

At this time, Christie saw Y running over.

"Y, go, there are monsters here!"

Christie wanted to yell at Y not to come near, but she couldn't open her mouth.

Finally, when Y walked to her, she could only hug Y tightly to prevent Y from getting close to the monster.

……

When Zhou Yan was hugged by Christie, he was stunned.

What is going on?
He was playing "The Street Where the Wind Lives" when he suddenly heard some noise. He turned around and saw Christie punching James Cameron hard in the face.

The people around were terrified and rushed to help James Cameron.

Zhou Yan also quickly stopped playing and ran over.

He wanted to go and see how James Cameron was doing, but Christie grabbed him tightly around the waist.

After Christie hugged him, she didn't say anything and just kept burying her head in his arms.

Just when Zhou Yan was about to pull Christie away, Lori, who was originally supporting James Cameron, suddenly vomited.

This guy ate a lot at noon, and now he vomited it all out, most of it on the deck, and a small part of it was caught by James Cameron's clothes.

Seeing this scene, even though Zhou Yan's brain was working at high speed, he couldn't understand what was going on.

Could it be that his music is so powerful that it can cause hallucinations and vomiting?
But soon, when several more people at the scene began to vomit, Zhou Yan guessed a possibility: everyone was poisoned.

So many people have been poisoned, have you been infected?

Although Zhou Yan didn't react, he was still worried that he might be slow to react.

He quickly shouted, "Shelia, Shelia."

Xie Liya was the doctor of the crew, so Zhou Yan called her first.

But Xie Liya had already been hit by this, and she was lying on the ground in pain, her mind was a mess, and she was unable to respond to Zhou Yan at all.

Zhou Yan couldn't call Xie Liya, so he could only call Sebastian, "Old Sebastian, call the hospital quickly."

Sebastian also reacted and hurried to make a phone call.

In just a few minutes, more than half of the crew members fell, and more people fell from time to time.

Even Zhou Yan was frightened by the scene.

James Cameron was also affected. One of his eyes was bloodshot and the other eye looked like it was covered with glue, but he did not vomit.

Everyone's symptoms were different. Most people seemed to be drunk, either lying on the ground vomiting, or walking unsteadily and completely losing their sense of direction, and some people were rolling on the ground.

By the time Sebastian came back from the call, the crew had almost collapsed.

Among the crew of more than 80 people, there are probably less than 10 people who are still conscious. They simply cannot take care of so many people who have been infected, and they don’t even know if they have been infected as well and are just reacting a little slower.

Zhou Yan was hugged tightly by Christie. No one knew where this woman got so much strength from. Zhou Yan couldn't pry her hands open no matter how hard he tried.

Fortunately, she didn't vomit, otherwise Zhou Yan would have suffered the same fate as James Cameron.

Zhou Yan pulled Christie's arm several times, but gave up when he found that he couldn't move it. He turned around to discuss with Sebastian, but saw that this guy had picked up Ficker's camera and was filming the person who was hit.

But Zhou Yan could understand Sebastian's approach. Such a big incident happened to the crew, and they had no way to solve it. They could only try to preserve the images of the scene for later verification. Maybe these images would be useful for the doctor's diagnosis. (End of this chapter)