Chapter 93: Liu Yue Benefits

"There's also a web drama co-invested by Hao Ya Media and Yue Mo Media, adapted from the online novel IP 'Grave Robbery,' with you as the female lead."

Meng Bai covered her mouth in surprise.

Are resources coming in already?

"If you don't mind, there are also some short-drama IPs. Our top-tier agent thinks you're a perfect fit — wondering if you'd be willing to take them on."

Liu Yue was a little awkward saying that last part.

The film and TV hierarchy of contempt goes roughly like this: movies look down on TV dramas, TV dramas look down on web dramas, web dramas look down on short dramas.

The further down you go, the cheaper your price tag.

Because big-IP movies and TV dramas routinely cost tens of millions, even hundreds of millions to produce.

Actors' appearance fees have long occupied half — sometimes more than half — of the production budget, making them both lucrative and a way to raise one's status.

Web dramas and short dramas, on the other hand, mostly run on investments of a few hundred thousand, occasionally breaking into the tens of millions.

Actors' income isn't the main draw either.

Of course, in recent years some web dramas have seen their production costs climb higher and higher.

But overall they're still very weak, and the hierarchy of contempt still exists.

And Meng Bai, no matter how you slice it, was a child-star-turned teen film queen who'd previously only taken on big scripts worth hundreds of millions.

Otherwise, back in the day Zhou Xing couldn't have made his name by riding on Meng Bai's resources.

There was genuinely plenty to feast on.

"Shoot it, why wouldn't I shoot it?"

"My only condition is letting my Bai Xi Entertainment co-invest."

At first, Meng Bai had planned to merge the entertainment company inherited from Zhou Xing with Liu Yue and Shen Mo's media company.

Once combined, the two would form a powerhouse alliance.

But after Meng Bai fully took over Zhou Xing's entertainment company, she realized it wasn't that simple.

She hesitated.

Zhou Xing's entertainment company had no major problems overall — after purging the vengeful and corrupt elements, the company as a whole was trending upward.

Its staffing was also top-notch.

Top-tier screenwriters, actors, stars, hosts, variety-show investments, and promising artists — there were plenty of all of them.

Meng Bai couldn't help but remark: Zhou Xing was a scumbag, but his abilities were genuinely impressive.

His death really was an accident.

So Meng Bai renamed the company, had Lao Wang help hire a professional manager, and ran it on her own.

Now Meng Bai's idea was: no more merging, but project cooperation was fine.

Liu Yue shrugged — of course that was fine.

Project cooperation was perfectly normal.

As long as you, Meng Bai, don't mind losing face.

This treat, which Meng Bai paid for, lasted until the wee hours.

Because she was happy, Meng Bai treated everyone to singing and dancing, and once they started, it got late.

Reluctantly, Shen Mo gave everyone another day off the next day.

Of course, that was also what Shen Mo had wanted.

Early the next morning, Meng Bai flew to Erbin, full of energy.

A week later, the short drama starring Meng Bai as the female lead, "I'm Not a Delicate Wife, I'm a Female Boss," went live.

The speed was incredibly fast.

It also caused a huge stir.

A former film queen actually going to shoot a short drama — you can't not watch that.

Whether the script was good or bad didn't matter; people just wanted to see if a film queen's short drama was the same type they usually enjoyed.

Because from this, you could tell whether a film queen's tastes were the same as ordinary people's.

The day the short drama went live, Shen Mo and Liu Yue also camped in front of the TV.

They soon saw Meng Bai, with her breathtaking beauty and sensual lips, deliver the female-boss lines:

"Marrying into my family will only bring you profit — no love."

"Man, don't play with fire. Be careful it doesn't burn you."

"This woman is under my protection — where do you rotten cucumbers get off bullying her?"

"Hilarious. I, Meng Qing Yu, have money, looks, and ability. The line of people chasing me could stretch from here to Paris, France — why would I care about one man's love?"

"So what if I'm on my second marriage? I'd marry eight times if I wanted — there'd still be plenty of takers." "Who says women can't like girls? The genders are different — how could that possibly be true love?"

"I don't need your money — what gives you the right to boss me around?"

"Acquire my company? I'm the one who'd bankrupt you and cherry-pick through your company."

"A female boss should focus on her career — love is just the garnish. So, little boy, what makes you think I'd fall for you just because you climbed into my bed?"

"I'm drunk, not dead. Call the police."

"I'm a woman, you're a man. Let's see who the police arrest after you call them."

"So what if we're married? Does that mean you can go against a woman's will?"

…….

After watching, Shen Mo and Liu Yue both looked dazed.

Oh my god, it's so greasy.

But it's also so damn satisfying.

Truly a great beauty—even such greasy lines can't help but stir the heart, making one unable to resist falling for her looks.

Opening the comment section, the reviews all read:

"Oh my, I actually got seduced by beauty."

"Truly a woman stacked with multiple tags: wife, revenge heroine, CEO, rich lady, noblewoman."

"Sister, kill me."

"Saying nothing more—I've got to download this short drama."

"The plot is trash, the lines are greasy, but the female lead's acting is great and she's gorgeous."

"Gotta say, the director knows how to cast."

"Happy—Sister's acting is as on-point as always."

"This will be Sister's first step back to A-list Best Actress."

"Happy, excited, pumped!"

"Nothing more to say—followed Sister's account first."

An explosive hit.

Meng Bai's traffic surged back to its peak overnight.

And once again, it boosted the popularity of Baiyin Game Company's games.

That's how fame works—it compounds.

But this round also has its downside: some washed-up stars want to get into the short-drama market too.

Meng Bai has already set the example—why can't we follow suit?

Maybe this is also a path for a comeback.

Because of this, short-drama actors' prices went up and the market expanded, but the resources originally belonging to short-drama actors shrank.

Simply because there's now a dimensional-strike competitor.

This made many people jump out and curse Meng Bai—shameless, ruining the market, and so on.

Meng Bai's response was simple and blunt.

"You can go to the web-drama, TV-drama, and film markets."

That's infuriating.

Do you think those markets are that easy to break into?

Was it that we didn't want to go before?

Though the anger runs high, everyone can only endure—after all, this industry is dog-eat-dog, the weak are prey to the strong.

The weak can only beg scraps from the strong; the strong can bake their own pie.

Like what a certain director's wife said about her husband—you think my husband doesn't want to just act, that he likes being a director?

No—it's because no one hires us to act anymore, so we can only become directors and bake our own pie.

Each generation produces its own talents; few can stay hot forever.

But the biggest winner from Meng Bai's explosive popularity is Liu Yue.

Shen Mo only learned after Meng Bai blew up that the business Liu Yue was going abroad to negotiate this time was overseas short dramas.

These past two years, with the explosive popularity of domestic short dramas, some overseas Chinese have also wanted to try investing abroad.

After all, short dramas are all about being short, fast, and cheap—low investment cost, but huge returns if they go viral.

An investment of a few hundred thousand—if a drama blows up, it can make tens of millions.

(End of Chapter)