The Peak Competition of Beauty and Acting (5)

Li Yun was also somewhat surprised. When did this child become so perceptive, able to see through things at once?

The comment he pointed out was exactly what Li Yun wanted to say.

[@winordie]: I'm telling you, it's SC. It'll be officially announced in a while. If it's not him, I'll eat sh*t on livestream.

This comment was the top comment, and there were already nearly 700 replies below, including fans of Chengcheng claiming him as their own, various rumors from the gossipmongers, and uninformed bystanders.

Li Yun no longer hid anything. "Although on the surface these marketing accounts are promoting Chen Anping's new movie, there are quite a few people in the comments setting the tone and making empty promises. It's obvious that Sun Cheng's team has joined forces with fan accounts and hired water army to generate buzz. I wanted to find out his audition yesterday, but the people from the Nan Ke crew are very tight-lipped and wouldn't reveal any information."

Xu Qichen remembered Su Cheng's dejected appearance and his two sweet dimples. "Maybe their team thought it was a done deal, so they started promoting on Weibo?"

He only asked this just to avoid revealing any flaws in front of Li Yun. Xu Qichen had his own considerations.

Sun Cheng appeared completely hopeless in front of him yesterday. If it was all an act, what was the purpose of showing it to Ji Mengze? Was it to create pressure? Or to make Ji Mengze lower his guard? If it was true, then Sun Cheng couldn't have secured a spot in the cast based on his audition alone. The only possibility was that there was someone behind the scenes pulling the strings.

According to the setting Xu Qichen made, there were three major investors in "Nan Ke": Shengda Guanghua, Xinyao, and Dingming Century.

Ironically, the reason Sun Cheng couldn't participate in the original work of "Nan Ke" was because Ji Mengze had the support of the investors.

Now the only thing that can be determined is that Sun Cheng's backer is definitely not the same as Ji Mengze's.

Li Yun quickly denied Xu Qichen's "assumption," saying, "Impossible. These kinds of resources are unstable until the contract is signed, and besides, it's not just him who performed well. He's so impatient, it's probably because the capital is in place, and he wants to test the waters."

After Li Yun finished speaking, she looked at Xu Qichen with a somewhat hesitant expression. Xu Qichen, who knew the development of the story, naturally knew what she was thinking. This feeling of knowing the script made him feel an untimely sense of happiness.

"Sister Yun, what do you want to say?"

Seeing that he gave her an opportunity, Li Yun immediately seized it, "This kind of movie resource is hard to come by. They have already started playing the capital card, so we can't just let it go. I made an appointment for dinner with Jiang Ming, the CEO of Dingming Century. Let's go eat together after work."

"I'm not going." Xu Qichen said those three words in a tone that showed no signs of being stubborn but with calm.

Li Yun became furious, but still lowered her voice, "What are you doing? You're making it seem like I'm pimping. Jiang Ming's daughter has been a loyal fan of yours since your debut. This dinner was their suggestion, and you don't have to do anything. It's just about having a meal with his daughter. I heard that Dingming Century has a significant investment share, so they should have some say."

Xu Qichen shook his head again, "Sister Yun, I'm not going not because I'm being stubborn. I have my own considerations. Just trust me this once."

There are many types of managers. Some manipulate their artists behind the scenes, some completely treat their artists as money trees to squeeze them dry, and some worry about their artists like a mother. From an outsider's perspective, Li Yun belonged to the first type, but only insiders knew that Li Yun belonged to the last type. If Xu Qichen didn't want to, no matter how much Li Yun sighed, she couldn't bring herself to force him.

Xu Qichen said again, "Do you have Mr. Jiang's phone number? I'll give him a call and apologize."

Li Yun angrily dialed the phone and threw it into Xu Qichen's lap. Xu Qichen took the phone and identified himself. The other person's attitude was polite and friendly. Xu Qichen sincerely apologized to Mr. Jiang and expressed his gratitude to his daughter. He hoped to meet her backstage at the next concert to thank her in person.

The other person obviously didn't expect the situation to unfold like this. After a moment of hesitation, despite Xu Qichen not explicitly stating the reason for rejection, being savvy in the business world, he chuckled and said, "Seems like my daughter has good judgment just like me."

After hanging up the phone, Xu Qichen sighed in relief. He wasn't very good at official communications, but the result wasn't bad.

Li Yun covered her forehead with her hand, feeling like she had missed a great opportunity. She said, "Do you know how important this opportunity is? It's Chen Anping's film, and Lin Ran is the co-star."

"I know, but Sister Yun, what do you think will happen if I really join the crew through Dingming? What will happen next?"

Seeing Li Yun not answering, Xu Qichen continued, "If you want to find out, with your connections, you can definitely dig up the capital behind Sun Cheng. Similarly, others can also dig up information on us. Even though the relationship between Dingming and me is only built on a special fan, it's not what the public wants to see. Netizens want to see scandals, they want to see the sugar daddy plot. The truth doesn't matter at all."

"I'm sure you want to say that we should join the crew first and then figure it out, but for an artist like me, with a large fanbase, idol status, and mediocre acting skills, these labels are already hard to shake off."

Xu Qichen looked serious and said, "I don't want to add another label of being supported by a sugar daddy or being brainwashed by him. My fans work hard every day to fend off criticism."

This last sentence actually made Li Yun laugh. She didn't continue speaking and picked up her bag, exchanged a few words with other team members, and left the studio.

The voice of 0901 appeared again, "Mr. Xu, do you really want to change the plot so drastically?"

Xu Qichen: "Why not? It's just like writing, I am a crazy fanatic of writing."

0901:"...It's not that it's not possible, but the consequences are unpredictable."

Xu Qichen: "It's okay, just having control over the character relationships and some unchangeable plotlines is already breaking the rules."

0901: You're easily satisfied, huh?

However, Xu Qichen was actually hiding his true intentions in his previous words. In fact, his real goal was to fulfill his mission.

To change the ending of Ji Mengze's character arc, he must establish a more positive image for him from the beginning. Although it's difficult for a popular star to break free from negative stereotypes in the public's eyes, it's safer to avoid things that could potentially become "scandals" in the future.

Furthermore, bringing capital into the crew was the main reason why Lin Ran had a cold and harsh attitude towards Ji Mengze in the first half of the original story. In order to successfully complete the subplot mission, Xu Qichen had to change this storyline. Even if he couldn't act with Lin Ran in the end, it would be safer than starting off with him disliking him.

Because he couldn't guarantee that Ji Mengze, the character he played, could really turn the situation where the other person's extreme dislike would turn into liking him.

0901: "Mr. Xu, you really lack confidence in relationships, huh?"

Xu Qichen was surprised, "You can hear my thoughts?"

0901: "Because I am your designated AI."

Xu Qichen nodded, acknowledging 0901's assessment. He truly lacked confidence in relationships, which is why he had been single for so many years.

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