Chapter 547: NTR? A car crash? The variety show begins

Just as Han Sanping said, the approval process for *The Fault in Our Stars* was very fast; the results came out just as the holiday ended.

From the moment the script was submitted, it took only about ten working days at most.

Some media outlets obtained partial information from the Administration and reported it immediately.

"Director Wei Jin's new script, the literary romance film *The Fault in Our Stars*!"

"It is reported that the film tells the story of a pair of cancer patients who accompany, encourage, know, and love each other."

Good heavens, as soon as this report came out, the entire industry reached a collective climax.

Romance, illness, life, death—it had all the elements a literary film should have, and the film's theme was optimistic and positive, which could be called perfect.

The key was that this was the first literary romance film from Palme d'Or-winning director Wei Jin; which actor wouldn't have ideas about it?

From the moment the news spread, inquiries were endless, and even Zhou Xun, who was still abroad, called.

"Old Wei, aren't you going to give your big sister a chance? I'm a Triple Crown Best Actress, and literary films are my specialty."

"Young Master Zhou, don't join in the fun. Hurry up and finish your work so you can come back; *Red Sorghum* is waiting for you to start filming."

"Don't be like that. I know your speed very well. At worst, we can adjust the scenes. Come on, be good. Your big sister hasn't won a trophy from the three major European festivals yet. Whatever requirements you have, I'll listen to the director."

Zhou Xun's smoky voice was truly disarming when she acted coquettishly, but Wei Jin's heart was as hard as iron. He immediately teased, "I have no interest in you. If you really want to act, how about a supporting role?"

"Hmph, who has the qualifications to make me a supporting..."

Halfway through, Zhou Xun instantly understood. "Already decided? Li Zi or Yuanyuan? Old Wei, literary romance films can't do without kissing scenes and passionate scenes. Don't wrong yourself; there are plenty of cautionary tales. Better to switch to me."

In fact, there were quite a few literary film directors in the industry who liked to use their own women as the female lead.

Back in the day with *Peacock*, Gu Changwei promoted his lover Zhang Jingchu, and there were quite a few passionate and revealing scenes, though unfortunately, they were censored in the end.

Last year, when *White Deer Plain* was released, Tian Xiao'e's passionate scenes were talked about with relish by the audience, and Wang Quanan's bald head grew quite a bit of green grass.

Of course, the most exaggerated one had to be Leonardo; filming *Revolutionary Road* back then directly led to the divorce of the director and the female lead, Winslet.

Zhou Xun was afraid Wei Jin would sacrifice too much for art, and she was also fighting for herself.

Wei Jin laughed and scolded, "Get lost, I don't have a hobby for NTR."

Zhou Xun was a smart person; she understood in just one sentence.

"Old Wei, awesome. I didn't expect that someone as thick-browed and big-eyed as you would also want to be the male lead. But big sister is warning you: be careful of a car crash, hehe."

A car crash was absolutely impossible; Wei Jin had long since done the work of pacifying his harem, but the phone calls were truly numerous, and they were all from big names.

Fan Bingbing asked in a gentle voice on the phone, occasionally showing off some flirtatiousness; Li Bingbing's agent called Chen Zhiming directly; even Zhang Ziyi wanted to invite Wei Jin out for tea.

In addition, female artists who had long been rolling in the literary film field, such as Hao Lei and Zuo Xiaoqing, all expressed their intentions through different channels.

The competition for the male lead was also very fierce: Liu Tianwang, Huang Xiaoming, Deng Chao... those who didn't look good were too embarrassed to even have designs on a literary film.

Fortunately, not many people had Wei Jin's phone number; most contacted Chen Zhiming directly, as the latter was his designated producer.

"Boss, from yesterday to today, my phone hasn't stopped ringing—talent agencies, agents, the actors themselves..."

After Chen Zhiming arrived at the office, she hurriedly drank some water and then began to complain.

"Is the budget out?"

"Hmm, according to your requirements, excluding the actors' salaries, the production cost is about ten million."

Talking about business, Chen Zhiming became slightly more serious. After returning from North America, she rested for a while before starting to get busy with this.

"Alright, then we can basically start the project and begin pre-production. But you don't need to rush; take your time and be diligent."

Wei Jin gave instructions rarely, because most of the time, filming a literary film was no easier than filming a commercial blockbuster; it could even be more tiring.

Because literary films require more emotion, energy, and spirit, especially since Wei Jin needed to act in it, the filming schedule really had to be detailed.

Chen Zhiming also understood this principle and nodded in assurance.

"Don't worry, Boss."

"Alright, you go get busy first."

After dismissing Chen Zhiming, Wei Jin sat in the office, burying his head in drawing the storyboard, while also thinking about the actors for the roles.

The scenes in this play were mainly concentrated on the male and female leads; besides that, there was the female lead's mother, whose screen time was slightly more.

For the other roles, Wei Jin planned to invite some powerful big names to make guest appearances.

As for the specific personnel, he still had to deliberate carefully.

Leaving the company, Wei Jin returned directly to the Yanjiao villa. Gao Yuanyuan and the child had just returned, and she had some postpartum anxiety, so he had to spend more time with her.

Just as he arrived, he saw Gao Yuanyuan wearing yoga clothes, sweating profusely while exercising. Wei Jin hurriedly stepped forward to hand her a towel.

"Yuan Yuanjie, you've just finished your confinement month; don't train too hard."

"I can't worry about that much."

Gao Yuanyuan took the towel, wiped her sweat, and gritted her teeth: "Within two months, I must lose weight to under 100 jin."

Wei Jin couldn't help but sigh. Gao Yuanyuan was stimulated, and it was his own fault; that night when they were intimate, his hands would unconsciously pinch the flesh on the beauty's waist, making her mistakenly think he disliked her.

Although he had promised repeatedly, how could a woman's body anxiety be dispelled? So for the past two days, Gao Yuanyuan had started crazy fitness training. If it weren't for the fact that she had to breastfeed the child, Wei Jin guessed she would have considered dieting.

Looking at Gao Yuanyuan's crazy appearance, Wei Jin pondered accompanying her to exercise well at night; bed sports were ultimately much healthier.

Taking advantage of the time Gao Yuanyuan was exercising, Wei Jin ordered the maternity matron to bring the son over.

Suddenly being held by someone else, the little guy's pitch-black eyes rolled around, as if trying to see clearly who the "giant" in front of him was.

As the saying goes, a child in the confinement month changes every day. Although the little guy had only just finished his first month, he was completely different from the wrinkled appearance he had when he was just born, and one could vaguely distinguish that his features were very exquisite.

His size had also grown a lot, from 6 jin 6 liang when he was born to 8 jin 2 liang now.

Wei Jin held his son, occasionally poking his little face with his hand, occasionally tapping his lips.

The little guy was in Wei Jin's arms, waving his fists, and his two little short legs were also fighting wits and courage with the air; he couldn't be cuter.

After dinner, Wei Jin was planning to exercise with Gao Yuanyuan, and his big hands had already climbed to the peak, but unexpectedly, they were slapped away by the beauty.

"Wait a moment!"

Wei Jin was slightly stunned: "Wait for what?" "Watching the variety show, *Flowers on Youth* is on tonight..."

"No, what are you taking the computer for?"

"Oh, what do you know, variety shows need to be paired with bullet comments..."

Gao Yuanyuan ignored Wei Jin's fuss, held the laptop, moved her body happily, twisting and turning on the bed, and finally found a comfortable position.

"Xiao Jin, don't say, the bullet comment function on Tudou is designed quite well."

"Hehe, thanks to Yuan Yuanjie."

Wei Jin flattered her indifferently. He had mentioned Gao Yuanyuan's previous complaints to Wang Wei, and in just over a week, this function went online.

Honestly, this idea wasn't fresh; A-Station had already opened this function several years ago.

However, because A-Station's mainstream active population was two-dimensional otaku, its market share wasn't high, and the website's survival was difficult, so the bullet comment function didn't make any waves in the industry.

Because Wei Jin had a mild case of trypophobia, he almost never used this function in his previous life. If it weren't for Gao Yuanyuan's reminder, he really wouldn't have remembered this matter.

However, the bullet comment function that could interact in real-time was indeed powerful. Once launched, it was liked by many netizens.

According to Tudou's report, since the bullet comment function went online in April, the member retention rate and customer acquisition rate for that month reached a historical peak.

However, this function was soon learned and copied by other competitors.

There was no way around it; since listing on Nasdaq, Tudou had abundant cash flow and various rich film and media libraries. Under Wei Jin's suggestion, it also purchased quite a few sports broadcasting rights. Now, Tudou's market share was approaching 30%, leaving peers like Youku and PPTV far behind.

Therefore, every move of Tudou almost became a weather vane for the industry. In just one month, the bullet comment function had become a standard feature for video websites.

At this moment, one could see rows of subtitles floating across the computer screen.

"Such a warm feeling."

"Yeah, it feels like everyone is quite sensible."

"The atmosphere is too loving; everyone is trying hard to communicate and grind in a strange place."

"Hu Ge and Shu Chang are too funny."

"Liu Yifei's contrast is too strong, right? The fairy filter is broken, but I like it even more."

"Dilraba is also quite good; she feels so silly and cute."

"Why does Yang Xue always want to tease Han Dongjun?"

Gao Yuanyuan watched with relish, occasionally interacting with the bullet comments, which could be called double the happiness.

Wei Jin reached out to comb Gao Yuanyuan's smooth hair and asked casually, "Yuan Yuanjie, do you like watching this?"

"Yeah, I've watched the first two episodes; the show is actually quite good."

"Hmm, it is indeed good."

Wei Jin expressed approval for Gao Yuanyuan's evaluation.

This season of *Flowers on Youth* focused on a relaxed, warm, and humorous style.

Although there was no deliberate creation of conflict, the group of 7 people formed a team and went to a foreign country to do the show, so there would inevitably be some unexpected situations, triggering highlights.

Coupled with the fact that everyone in the team had different personalities, combining them would produce a wonderful chemical reaction, giving the audience a good experience.

Especially Liu Yifei's joining, which brought huge exposure and attention to the show.

Therefore, the show started airing in late April, and the premiere ratings were as high as 1.57%, and the second episode hit a new high, soaring to 1.83%.

Although the results couldn't compare to several old-brand kings, it also made the senior management of Mango TV overjoyed, because the premiere ratings directly crushed *Happy Camp*.

Moreover, the online discussion index was also particularly high, ranking in the top five of Baidu's all-day search index, and many netizens gave ratings on Yinxiang Net, as high as 7.9 points, which meant a double harvest of ratings and word-of-mouth.

By the time the next few episodes aired, *Flowers on Youth* might have a chance to achieve the feat of breaking 3, becoming another explosive variety show.

The several guests participating in the show this time also ushered in explosive popularity one after another. After the first two episodes, their advertising fees and endorsement fees rose sharply.

Of course, this wave of Shanhe Media also made a lot of money.

Initially, because of Liu Yifei's joining, the price signed with Mango TV wasn't low, with a buyout price of 50 million and a guaranteed 10% advertising share, based on 1% ratings, increasing by 10% for every 0.5 increase.

According to conservative estimates, the average ratings of the show wouldn't be lower than 2%, meaning Shanhe Media could get a 30% advertising share.

And with Mango TV's current 500,000 for 15 seconds, plus opening advertisements, closing advertisements, etc., Shanhe Media could share tens of millions on average per episode.

Over 8 episodes, the payments made by Mango TV alone reached as high as 130 million.

Adding the 30 million naming fee from Baisheng Yuan, other miscellaneous product placement advertisements, and the 40 million online copyright bought out by Tudou, the total revenue of this variety show was at least over 220 million.

Even after deducting the high production costs and partial promotion expenses, Shanhe Media's net profit from this wave exceeded 100 million, which could be called a bloody profit.

In view of this, the variety show department had already started a plan to kill two birds with one stone, preparing to make another *Sisters Over Flowers*, and was currently in contact with Modu TV.

After more than an hour, the show ended. Gao Yuanyuan gave a full score on Tudou with unfinished interest, then threw the computer aside and acted coquettishly on Wei Jin: "Xiao Jin, wait until I succeed in losing weight, let's take time to travel, okay?"

Wei Jin's hand holding the big orange paused slightly. "What about the son?"

"Oh, I didn't mean now."

Gao Yuanyuan pouted her little mouth high, shook Wei Jin's arm: "Just say whether you agree or not?"

Wei Jin thought about his schedule and nodded: "Alright, then let's go for National Day; let's go to the island to play. You and Li Jie haven't been there yet."

Although *Big Shot* was going to be released on National Day, for Wei Jin, it was enough to do the pre-promotion well; the roadshow after the release could be left to the actors, and he didn't need to worry too much.

It was just that this good intention actually overturned the vinegar jar again.

Seeing Gao Yuanyuan's rosy little mouth pouted high: "Still talking about it, the island has been bought for several years, and you only know how to take little girls there. You heartless person, it was in vain that Li Jie and I gave birth to children for you..."

"..."

Wei Jin was speechless. How did the ability to be sarcastic increase so much after giving birth to a child? However, at this time, there was no way to reason with her; he could only beat her well. So Wei Jin immediately turned over and pressed the beauty under him.

"Yuan Yuanjie, tonight I want to tidy you up well."

"Hmph, come on, am I afraid of you..."

Gao Yuanyuan thought her strength had improved after childbirth, but unfortunately, she underestimated Wei Jin's strength. In less than two hours, she started calling him Daddy. (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 548 =====