Chapter 127

The quality of The Meridian Lamp is good and it is very popular among teenagers.

But precisely because of this, it cannot escape the category of thunderous dramas.

What is a thunderous drama?

First, "thunderous drama" is not categorized by genre.

It is defined by distinctive production and broadcasting traits, as well as typological features, that emerge from the shows themselves.

It is a form of viewer recognition formed while watching television.

Usually, people contrast it with "serious drama," primarily characterized by parodying classics, dramatizing history, and exaggerated, comedic antics.

When it comes to thunderous dramas, one cannot avoid mentioning The Spring Light Brilliant Piggy Eight series, a series where Piggy Eight was filmed in so many installments.

And each installment has a different title: Spring Light Brilliant, Lucky Star Shining, Joyful and Festive.

The costumes, props, makeup, dialogue, and actors' performances in it are simply enough to make you want to pick your toes.

To cater to audience tastes,

the director of The Meridian Lamp "reversed the pipa" for the mythological characters' personalities or infused them with humorous, absurd elements.

Moderate adaptation is acceptable, but once exaggerated too far,

it severely contradicts people's impressions of mythological figures and easily provokes audience backlash.

After all, dramatization is not nonsense, and adaptation is not random fabrication…

Both installments of The Meridian Lamp were directed by a director named Yu Mingsheng.

Besides The Meridian Lamp series, this director used the same cast to direct another thunderous drama called Magic Mobile.

How to describe this drama? Perhaps The Meridian Lamp's success let the director go wild.

His imagination was not ordinary—the plot took off completely.

By the way, Magic Mobile 2: The Foolish Girl Returns was also the work of this same director…

"Do you think I should push forward with this drama?"

Yan Danchen asked.

"Push? Why push?"

Cheng Chen asked, puzzled.

"The director said The Meridian Lamp will likely shoot next February.

That clashes with Immortal Sword I, and since I got into the cast through your recommendation, overlapping shoots would hurt your reputation…"

Yan Danchen said, worried.

Hearing this, Cheng Chen remembered that Yan Danchen also had scenes in Immortal Sword I.

According to feedback from Tangren, most of Immortal Sword I's scenes were shot in Zhe Sheng.

As far as he recalled, The Meridian Lamp was filmed entirely at Hengdian World Studios.

And its production cycle is short, since it's a mythological drama requiring heavy post-production special effects.

Overlapping shoots for two TV dramas should not be a problem.

After all, compared to Gao Yuanyuan shuttling between Fan Yang and Qing Shi, Yan Danchen at least saves a lot of travel distance.

"That doesn't seem right…"

Yan Danchen was hesitant.

The main issue was the pressure Cheng Chen put on her—actually, actors overlapping shoots isn't a big deal.

As long as they're not late, absent, or leave early, the director's team won't make things hard for them.

But her main concern was the Immortal Sword I crew.

From her conversations with Cheng Chen, she knew the director was unhappy about Cheng Chen's self-funded entry into the cast.

Although Cheng Chen said he had resolved it, Yan Danchen still didn't want to cause him trouble.

"Don't worry, go ahead and act. In The Meridian Lamp, you're just a supporting role with not much screen time.

Who has ever heard of Chang'e as the main character in The Meridian Lamp?

As for Immortal Sword I, I'll report to Director Li later—it won't be a problem."

If Cheng Chen had to rank classical costume beauties, Yan Danchen's "Chang'e" would definitely make the list, ranking among the top three.

So he couldn't let his own petty selfishness cause his personal ranking to "collapse"…

…

"Manager Cheng, here's the information on Ning Hao that you asked me to find."

Su Qingya walked into Cheng Chen's office wearing a tight skirt and high heels, her footsteps tapping elegantly against the floor.

"Hmm, you got this so fast? You're impressive, Qingya."

Cheng Chen glanced at her black silk long legs, then looked away, casually flipping through the documents in his hand.

"He's a notable figure at Beijing Film Academy too, so finding information about him wasn't too hard."

Su Qingya smiled slightly, delighted by her boss's praise.

Cheng Chen nodded and began scanning Ning Hao's file.

Ning Hao, from Yuan Shi, Jin Sheng, graduated from Beijing Film Academy's Cinematography Department in June this year.

In 2001, Ning Hao won the Best Director award at the Jingcheng University Film Festival for his student film Thursday, Wednesday.

In 2003, this year, he served as screenwriter, director, and cinematographer, returning to his hometown to direct the dramatic film Incense…

"This guy seems to have run into some trouble recently."

Seeing Cheng Chen's keen interest in this recent graduate,

Su Qingya volunteered the information she had accidentally heard while gathering Ning Hao's materials.

"Trouble?"

Cheng Chen put down the documents and looked at her.

"Mm, his film 'Incense' has been submitted to the Tokyo Ginza Yingzhan, and I heard it got a nomination—but now they don't have enough money for tickets to Japan…"

During the shooting of 'Incense', the crew was extremely poor; there were only eight people total, and even the crew members had to double as extras.

There were no professional actors in the film; the main cast were all Ning Hao's classmates.

To save as much money as possible, Ning Hao had to wait until the parking attendant clocked out before driving home each day.

Because that saved a few yuan in parking fees.

Precisely because they were short on money and people, not a single still photo was taken during the filming of 'Incense'—this became the film's greatest regret.

The film, which began shooting on New Year's Eve and wrapped on Lantern Festival, consumed Ning Hao's entire fortune.

Now, after finally securing a nomination at the film festival, they couldn't attend due to lack of funds—it was truly a pity…

"Contact Ning Hao and tell him Starfire is willing to fully fund his trip to Japan."

"Including transportation, accommodation, award ceremony attire—anyone he wants to bring along, all expenses covered."

Cheng Chen said softly, turning the pen in his hand.

Hearing this, Su Qingya was slightly surprised inside, but showed no sign of it, only nodding and saying:

"I'll go arrange it right away."

"Mm…"

After Su Qingya left, Cheng Chen sat alone in his office, thinking.

They say it's better to give charcoal in the snow than silk brocade in sunshine; now that he'd found a talent like Ning Hao, there was no reason to let him slip away.

After all, this was the man who turned a 3.5-million-yuan budget into 23.5 million in box office revenue.

Not to mention 'The Lost Tomb'—after only seventeen days in theaters, its box office broke one billion.

It became the fourth film in China's film history to surpass one billion yuan in box office.

In the end, 'The Lost Tomb' earned 1.169 billion yuan, claiming the top spot as the highest-grossing Chinese-language film of the year.

Ning Hao's films always express their narrative themes with a consistent style, the defining feature being "deconstruction and reassembly."

He embeds seemingly profound and heavy thematic structures into every part of the film.

He doesn't deliberately highlight or emphasize them; instead, he lets the characters drive the plot and reveal the film's themes.

Thus, audiences gain aesthetic pleasure and perception through immersion.

Not just the Crazy Trilogy—films like 'The Golden Heist' and 'No Man's Land' follow the same pattern.

…

Jin Sheng, Yuan Shi.

"Thank you, Miss Su, we greatly appreciate your company's support."

"Please convey my regards to Mr. Cheng. When I return from Japan, I'll come in person to thank you, thank you!"

Ning Hao politely hung up the phone, then turned to his good friend with an excited expression:

"Qiangzi, we've got the money to go to Japan!"

Someone's funding us—they'll cover all our travel, accommodation, costumes, everything."

"And we can bring as many people as we want—just send them a detailed expense list as soon as possible, and they'll wire the money!"

"There's such a thing?"

Qiangzi, the male lead of 'Incense' and Ning Hao's friend, immediately jumped to his feet, equally excited.

But soon he sobered up, uncertainly saying:

"This… isn't a scam, is it? I feel like this is too good to be true—who exactly is this person?"

"They claim to be Cheng Chen's agent—the singer Cheng Chen, the newly crowned Heavenly King."

"Aren't you a big fan of his 'Wolves Love Sheep'? It's him!"

Ning Hao said.

"But he's a huge star—why would he fund us for free? Could he have some ulterior motive?"

Qiangzi worriedly said.

Earlier, the two had been despondent over lacking funds to go to Japan; now that funds had appeared, they couldn't quite believe it.

"Mm, they probably wouldn't go out of their way to mock us."

Besides, we're two broke guys—what could he possibly want from us?"

"Forget it, we don't even need to sign a contract—just compile the expenses and send it to them."

"As long as the money arrives, that's all that matters. Worst case, I'll sell myself to him!"

"Hahaha, we're finally going to Japan for the competition!"

The Tokyo Ginza Yingzhan calls itself the "New Auteur International Film Festival."

This year's festival opened on November 22 at the Yurakucho Asahi Gekijo in Tokyo.

Over the eight days until its closing on November 30,

the festival plans to screen nine new films in the competition section and seven special invitation films.

The nine films in the competition section are all recent works by Asian directors from last year and this year.

Among them, Ning Hao's 'Incense' and a Hong Kong film, 'Tomorrow's Horizon', represent China.

Also competing are films from South Korea, Japan, and Persia.

On the 30th, during the awards ceremony and closing event, the Outstanding Work Award (prize: 1 million yen) will be announced.

The Special Jury Prize (prize: 500,000 yen) will also be announced.

The jury consists of five film directors and film critics.

One of them is Huang Ailing, a film scholar from Gang Sheng…

Funding Ning Hao's entry into the competition was merely Cheng Chen's first step to take him down.

When Ning Hao returns from the competition, if he remembered correctly, "Incense" should have won the Best Film Award.

At that point, Ning Hao would no longer be an unknown nobody, and Cheng Chen's investment would yield enormous returns.

If Ning Hao was still the genius director he remembered…

After securing funding for Ning Hao, Cheng Chen returned to his normal work routine.

He still had several endorsements under his belt; as a "traffic star," his current value was no longer comparable to that of a year ago.

His endorsement fees were skyrocketing, yet many merchants still eagerly sought him out.

Who else but Cheng Chen was popular!

"Good, Teacher Cheng, look this way, yes, please rein in your charm and stop radiating attractiveness—ah, yes, yes, more sunshine."

"Click!"

Cheng Chen was shooting a product for his benefactor at a studio in Jingcheng.

At the moment, he was endorsing an air conditioning product from a top domestic brand.

The photographer kept snapping away with his camera.

If there was a king of flirtatious banter, it was unquestionably the photographer.

Whether shooting adults, children, or products, he always spat out a few lines that made people shudder.

Even more flirtatious were some private photographers—well… mainly their work was flirtatious.

After finishing the portrait shoot, Cheng Chen stepped out of the studio and ran straight into a woman wearing sunglasses.

"Hey, aren't you… Cheng Chen?"

Hearing someone call his name, Cheng Chen immediately turned around.

She had a face that was round yet slightly square, her features large but not refined, yet exuding dignity and playfulness.

Her makeup was very light, overall giving a Japanese-style vibe, fresh and comfortable.

Cheng Chen glanced at her and instantly recognized her…

Xu Cainv!

Beside her stood a man with long hair and glasses.

"Ah, hello, Teacher Xu, are you also shooting here?"

The place Cheng Chen was in was a comprehensive film and television studio.

It included facilities for photo shoots, MVs, and recording studios.

Though he wasn't interested in her, she had called out to him—he couldn't just ignore her; that would be rude.

"No, I'm here accompanying a friend to record a song. This person is also your colleague—you know Zhang Yadong, right?"

Ha, know him? He was more than that—he was… a rival!

As for Zhang Yadong, Cheng Chen's assessment was that he had extraordinary musical talent but was also wildly promiscuous.

Cheng Chen recalled that this guy had once "sniped" him—bribing tabloids to smear him.

But that incident was only his suspicion.

This was their first time meeting face to face.

"Though we've never met, I've heard plenty about you."

Cheng Chen smiled amiably.

"Same here—I love your work, Heavenly King."

Zhang Yadong's eyes were hidden behind his long bangs, making his gaze unreadable.

But Cheng Chen sensed the faint irritation and tension in his tone.

Was he upset because Cheng Chen had grown too close to Gao Yuanyuan?

Come on, you two broke up already—aren't you now riding Xu Cainv's coattails?

Xu Cainv knew nothing of their feud; she stood by, smiling:

"Cheng Chen, since we're here recording, and you're a heavenly king-level singer—"

"Why don't you come in with us? I have so many music questions I want to ask you!"

Xu Cainv clearly found Cheng Chen more interesting now.

Cheng Chen, who had originally had no intention of engaging her, caught a flicker of annoyance on Dongzi's lips.

Though he wanted to accept immediately, he feigned hesitation and said:

"Huh? This… with Brother Dong here, I wouldn't dare show off."

He was determined to annoy Dongzi to death.

True to form, upon hearing Cheng Chen's words, Zhang Yadong looked as if he'd swallowed a fly.

His impatience showed plainly on his face:

"Jinglei, let's go in—Lao A and the others are waiting inside."

"Besides, Cheng Chen's always so busy—he probably doesn't have time to record with us."

This was clearly meant for Cheng Chen's ears—he was currently courting Xu Cainv.

But now a man appeared who was handsomer, more famous, and more talented than him.

He felt his prey being snatched away—indeed, ever since Gao Yuanyuan broke up with him, he had harbored deep hatred for Cheng Chen.

Now, here he was with Xu Cainv, and this Cheng Chen showed up again!

Damn it!

…