Chapter 262: The Great Sheng Dynasty

Knowing what Lian Baozhi had experienced during this period, Jin Li couldn't help but sigh with emotion:

"Some people are like wild grass; as long as you give her a chance, she can desperately seize it and rise against the current."

Sui Lingfang nodded in agreement: "Who knew she could be so bold? Although she is a first-tier star, she doesn't have the arrogance of one."

Braving the cold glares of her arch-rival, she insisted on participating in the same program as her, all for the sake of online buzz and popularity.

This kind of repeated torture of one's own self-esteem is not something every star can do.

Even among first-tier stars, there are differences in personality.

Some first-tier stars struggle in a down-to-earth manner, winning their status through the achievements of their work, and they are particularly protective of their privacy.

But some first-tier stars rose to the top by pandering to the public; in order to create show effects, they don't hesitate to expose their own family affairs.

All just to entertain the masses.

Struggling in the entertainment industry—it's very difficult if you say it's difficult, and not difficult if you say it's not. Everyone has their own opportunities; it just depends on whether they can grasp them.

Just like Lian Baozhi, she was dealt the worst hand, but relying on her shameless spirit, she managed to play a bad hand into a good one—that is also a kind of ability.

After catching up on the latest hot topics, Jin Li began to handle the messages on WeChat.

Every time a production wrapped, she would post on her Moments to commemorate it, and this time was no exception.

The wrap-up photos of everyone from "Assassination" were all on her Moments, and many stars came to leave comments, mostly just "congratulations" and other well-wishes.

Besides that, some stars would specifically send messages to chat with Jin Li to get close, nothing more than asking what new drama she was filming or if there was a chance to collaborate.

These stars wanted Jin Li to bring them along; who knows, if Jin Li remembered them, she might really recommend a small role or two?

And they weren't picky!

Amidst the chorus of congratulations, Xu Wenwen's comment on the Moments stood out as different.

Xu Wenwen: 【Finally wrapped, it wasn't easy, wishing you smooth sailing in the future.】

Jin Li had just replied to her with 【Smooth sailing】, when not long after, a notification popped up on her phone—a comment from Qiu Qiwen on her Moments.

Qiu Qiwen: 【After bitterness comes sweetness, it will definitely be smooth!】

Jin Li replied to her with the same: 【Let's work hard together!】

She glanced at the two comments; these two had been quite at daggers drawn before she joined the crew, so she hadn't expected their comments to be so consistent.

In the Pink Girls group chat.

Jin Li had finished her wrap-up today and specifically sent a message in the group, which immediately became active.

Carp: 【Wrapped! Image. jpg】

Lotus: 【Envious, you've wrapped over there, but my disaster is about to begin. "The Great Sheng Dynasty" is suddenly dropping tomorrow! Ahhh!】

Lotus: 【I'm playing the second female lead, my first time acting, I'm so afraid of being publicly executed!】

This message from Ji Qinglian carried more weight than Jin Li's, flushing out all the lurkers.

NANA: 【I won't even mention my dramas; they're all youth idol dramas, just selling looks, nothing worth saying. On the contrary, @Lotus's "The Great Sheng Dynasty," that is truly worth paying attention to (snicker) (surprised) (anticipating)】

Meng Meng: 【"The Great Sheng Dynasty" has quite a marketing push. People have been leaking info since it started filming last year, and it even hit the hot search last month. Dropping suddenly this time, it will definitely get a lot of attention.】

Pearl: 【Why so sudden? Aren't they opening reservations to follow the drama?】

Even Gong Zitong, who usually didn't pay much attention to film and television, specifically asked a question.

Tongtong: 【Director Mo Xiaosheng's "The Great Sheng Dynasty"? My family is looking forward to it, and I am too.】

Lotus: 【Don't you never watch these idol dramas? @Tongtong】

Tongtong: 【What Director Mo Xiaosheng films aren't idol dramas, but serious dramas, he just likes to choose young actors with good acting skills and good images.】

Lotus: 【Suddenly being praised, a little excited (covering face, shy)】

Tongtong: 【But if you guys film it poorly, it will become a stain on the director.】

Carp: 【Heart-piercing?】

Pearl: 【Well done!】

Meng Meng: 【Cooling down the hot-headed Lotus (snicker)】

Jin Li looked up from her phone and asked Fang Jie: "Did you know "The Great Sheng Dynasty" is airing tomorrow?"

A flash of confusion crossed Sui Lingfang's eyes: "'The Great Sheng Dynasty'?"

It took her a while to remember something, her expression somewhat excited: "You say "The Great Sheng Dynasty" is airing tomorrow? Are you sure it's tomorrow? Why so sudden? We didn't receive any news!"

Seeing her like this, Jin Li knew the production team had kept the airing date very quiet. She didn't quite understand why it was dropping so suddenly; it looked very rushed.

Sui Lingfang pondered for a while: "It might be due to policy reasons. I've heard that ancient idol dramas have been flooding the market in recent years, and many plots have been distorted. There's news that the trend will tighten in this area this year, and the entire ancient drama sector will be affected."

She continued: "And "The Great Sheng Dynasty" is produced by Director Mo Xiaosheng; the entire industry is watching, and netizens have been keeping an eye on it. A tall tree catches the wind; I'm afraid being too high-profile would cause unnecessary trouble, so a low-key launch is better."

Whether a drama can become a hit requires promotion, but it also requires quality.

Once "The Great Sheng Dynasty" airs, there will definitely be no lack of popularity, so there's no need to engage in any pre-launch promotional activities. As long as the drama can finish airing smoothly, that is a victory."

Jin Li's eyes dimmed slightly: "Sure enough, the early airing of every drama represents the weighing of various parties behind the scenes."

The group was still very lively, and Ji Qinglian revealed some more information, but it was limited.

She was more worried about her acting being harshly criticized by netizens.

When she took this drama, it was to keep a low profile and avoid the heat; she hadn't held the thought that it would "definitely be a hit."

Ji Qinglian hadn't expected so many people to pay attention to "The Great Sheng Dynasty," which put her under a lot of pressure.

Carp: 【Zhang Guang knows about this, right?】

Lotus: 【He knows, he's the one who notified me of the temporary airing.】

Carp: 【Then don't worry. He is a very shrewd person; he will definitely have several crisis PR plans prepared for you in advance. You can try to talk to him openly, exchanging sincerity for sincerity.】

Lotus: 【I'm a bit hesitant, after all, my previous manager...】

Carp: 【Give it a try. I have a lot of contact with Sanyuetian, and I've had a lot of contact with Zhang Guang. The reason Sanyuetian can be so popular definitely has half of Zhang Guang's credit. Their relationship with Zhang Guang is also very good, close as brothers.】

Seeing this, Ji Qinglian hesitated for a while, and finally made up her mind.

Lotus: 【I'll go ask him in a bit.】

An hour and a half later, Jin Li was dropped off at her apartment by Sui Lingfang.

It was already ten o'clock at night, and Sui Lingfang told her to rest early and come to the company for a meeting tomorrow.

Jin Li still wanted to know the news about those two dramas, so she gave her an "OK" sign.

She had been exhausted all day, so after showering, Jin Li didn't start a live stream; she forced herself to finish a foreign language test paper before resting.

When she woke up early the next morning, she opened WeChat and found that Gu Cheng had sent a message after she went to sleep last night.

Gu Cheng: 【Are you asleep?】

Gu Cheng: 【...】

Gu Cheng: 【I cried very miserably today, is it a bit embarrassing?】

Jin Li's eyes curved into a smile, and she replied—

Jin Li: 【Yes, it's ugly】

Jin Li: 【Don't cry next time (fierce. jpg)】

After replying, Jin Li went out for a run. For some reason, Gu Cheng's face, crying desperately, kept echoing in her mind.

They say women are made of water, but when Gu Cheng got into character yesterday and cried, he was like a faucet, flowing non-stop.

After returning from her workout, Jin Li picked up her phone and looked at it, and on a whim, she changed Gu Cheng's nickname.

From the previous 【Gu Da Juan · Orange】, she changed it to 【Lin Daiyu · Orange】.

She nodded with satisfaction; it was much more pleasing to the eye.

On Gu Cheng's side, after waking up and seeing the text message Jin Li sent, he fell into some self-doubt.

Chen Lin woke up with sleepy eyes and went out to the bathroom, only to be startled when he saw Gu Cheng already dressed and sitting in the living room, and he quickly said:

"Am I late? What time is it now? I'll go get ready immediately!"

Gu Cheng shook his head with a serious expression: "No, Xiao Lin, was I ugly when I cried?"

Chen Lin:???

"Are you crazy? Why did you suddenly think of asking this early in the morning?"

Chen Lin himself was still dazed.

After finishing in the bathroom and returning to the bedroom, he took out his phone and saw it was only 6:30 AM, and couldn't help but mutter: "Truly crazy!"

Wait until 8:30 AM.

When Yan Xingdong came to wake everyone up, Chen Lin shared his experience from the morning with everyone.

The others couldn't help but look at Gu Cheng, and Yan Xingdong asked: "Why are you interested in your own crying expression?"

Gu Cheng's expression stiffened; out of face, he didn't really want to say.

Luo Yi suddenly branched out on his own, thinking of something: "We're having a concert tour in a month. Are you worried that we'll cry on the spot and look terrible?"

Chen Lin suddenly clapped his hands, "Yeah, I remember the concert we held the year before last, we all cried, and looking at the footage, it was so ugly, our makeup was all ruined!"

He looked at Gu Cheng excitedly: "Sorry, I was wrong, it really has to be you who plans ahead!"

Yan Xingdong was successfully led astray: "So in our spare time, we still have to practice crying?"

Luo Yi agreed: "Idol baggage cannot be dropped. When the time comes, we'll create a 'fairy boy shedding tears' look, so the fans will praise us for crying beautifully!"

Gu Cheng:...

No, he didn't have that thought at all.

But Gu Cheng thought about it, forget it, the best window for explanation had passed, so he might as well let this wonderful misunderstanding continue.

On the other side, Jin Li arrived at Chenxi Entertainment for a meeting.

When Chenxi Entertainment started work after the New Year, they received praise from President Xiao and obtained an injection of 50 million, and the whole company started to become wealthy again.

Fang Jie had mentioned this to her; Chenxi Entertainment was not the most outstanding in President Xiao's business map, after all, President Xiao had plenty of listed companies in his hands.

Chenxi Entertainment's growth rate and last year's performance only increased by 20% compared to the year before, placing it in the middle-to-lower tier among a crowd of companies.

Companies in this position generally couldn't get any large investments and could only engage in internal competition, giving money to whoever stood out.

But because it involved cultural and entertainment attributes, the artists under its banner often hit the hot searches.

Especially positive hot searches, which gave President Xiao a lot of face, so in his happiness, he casually threw out a sum of money.

"Casually" and "threw," these two words were used really well.

Returning from the "Assassination" crew, she hadn't been to the company for four months, and now looking at it, she felt the company's appearance was different.

The most obvious change was that there were more people; it was no longer the small group of two or three kittens like before.

The number of stars recruited had also increased, and they still weren't recruiting trainees, but rather those who could be launched for debut at any time.

When these small stars saw Jin Li, they all greeted her very cordially.

"Good morning, Sister Jin Li!"

"Jin Li, are you back from filming?"

"Sister Jin Li, keep working hard!"

Jin Li blinked and returned a smile.

"Sister Jin Li!"

Gong Jiajia ran over from behind, hopping and skipping to her side, holding her arm and asking this and that.

She couldn't keep things to herself and soon spilled the recent changes in the company.

Departments expanded...

More stars and staff...

The commission ratio for contracts became more relaxed...

"By the way, Sister Jin Li, do you know the company established a new investment department?"

Jin Li was stunned, "Investment department? What does that mean?"

Gong Jiajia said: "The company will set aside a portion of funds to invest in some small and medium-sized films, hoping to achieve internal capital circulation through the investment department, following a model of making money, investing, making money, and continuing to invest."

Jin Li thought for a while and shook her head slowly: "It's quite difficult."

Actually, what she wanted to say was that it was unreliable.

If it were a large agency like Tianding, that would be fine.

But Chenxi's system was so small, and currently, the company's expansion still relied on President Xiao's kind relief; the money earned from the stars was simply not enough for them to play like this.

But how much money could President Xiao give?

A sum of tens of millions, placed in a film investment, wouldn't even make a splash.

That's why Chenxi Entertainment targeted small and medium-sized film investments, but this was still difficult.

The cost of small and medium-sized films was also not simple, and it looked like Chenxi Entertainment could only provide an investment quota of one or two million per film.

If it wasn't in this range, how many dramas could they invest in? Ten might not even be possible.

For large productions, the investment amount was too small, and they wouldn't even want you to enter the game, and even if you could enter, the dividend ratio you could get was too small.

This amount was fine for small productions, but considering the cyclical nature of the film and television industry, the return of funds was slow...

Jin Li didn't comment on the surface, but in her heart, she shook her head again.

Out of ten investments, if half could be released, that would be considered good luck.

But it was hard to say what Chenxi Entertainment's real idea was; maybe they didn't want to cast a wide net, but just wanted to take the money and burn their bridges to invest in one or two films?

This was also hard to say.

Gong Jiajia was quite interested in this investment department; she was young and energetic, not yet poisoned by work, and said happily:

"Fang Jie said that all artists under the banner will be allowed to participate in the investment. If it's a drama invested in by the company, artists can choose to forgo their salary, or only take part of it, putting the salary money into the investment amount and enjoying the dividends of the finished film."

Jin Li's eyelids jumped.

"It's a pity I'm not an actor, otherwise I'd want to go and gamble, take a chance, turn a bicycle into a motorcycle!"

Jin Li joked: "It's also possible you'll lose everything and jump into the sea."

This method could still be played by first-tier stars, because the salaries of first-tier stars themselves were premium.

Putting that premium part into the crew's investment wouldn't affect the star's major interests.

But for small stars, the salary was only that much.

Taking the salary to invest in the crew was equivalent to passing part of the crew's risk onto the actors. For small actors, there were only four words:

A dead end.

Jin Li said earnestly: "The idea is quite good, but in the future, whatever decision you make, you must discuss it with Fang Jie. As your manager, she at least won't cheat you."

Lest you make decisions privately, understand nothing, and kill yourself.

Gong Jiajia nodded, not hearing the deep meaning in her words, and said: "That's my thought too, I have to listen to the opinions of professionals!"