Chapter 136: What If He

Taking advantage of feigned drunkenness to grope, if he'd encountered other gentle-hearted actresses, they might have tolerated it to some extent.

For actresses interested in Seeing Yan Li, they'd be only too happy to let him get away with it.

But facing Fan Bingbing, who refused to cooperate, he'd clearly lost his mind—Fan Xiaopang immediately rolled up his sleeves.

"You getting up or not? If you don't, I'm slapping your face."

Li Bingbing was even harsher: "Open the car door and throw him out."

"Cough."

Seeing Yan Li rubbed his eyes and sat up, looking around dazedly: "Where are we?"

"Don't play dumb."

Fan Xiaopang drove a piercing elbow into him: "Dare to molest? Die."

In such tight space, Seeing Yan Li couldn't dodge—luckily, Fan Xiaopang couldn't generate full force either, and soon Seeing Yan Li pinned him down; but before he could gloat, Li Bingbing struck him from behind, targeting his lower back.

"Huh-ha-huh-ha…"

Seeing Yan Li winced in pain, rubbing his lower back hard; Li Bingbing snorted coldly and turned to Fan Bingbing, offering rare advice.

"When dealing with men like this, don't use brute force—strike from ambush, hit the vital points."

Fan Xiaopang nodded deeply in agreement, then his eyes flickered toward Seeing Yan Li's crotch, eager to try.

Seeing Yan Li immediately caved—such a confined space, with attacks from both sides, he couldn't possibly block them all, and more importantly, he couldn't afford to gamble.

These two tigresses were truly willing to go all out!

"Sisters, I'm sorry—I didn't do anything, not even a light grope. If you're still angry, I can be your human cushion."

"Dream on."

Fan Xiaopang shot back immediately; Li Bingbing stayed calm, narrowing her eyes at him.

"You're not drunk—then why just now were you asking Hu Siyan to give you water and help you into the car? Scum."

Fan Xiaopang added: "Despicable, lewd."

"I didn't touch you."

Seeing Yan Li was annoyed—he deserved getting beaten for groping them, but Hu Siyan had nothing to do with them; besides, he hadn't done anything, and wasn't he allowed to just wake up from drunkenness?

"I'll tell Xiao Xue."

Li Bingbing declared she'd reveal Seeing Yan Li's true nature to her sister; Seeing Yan Li remained unmoved.

He had no interest in Li Xue—let her know, it didn't matter.

Fan Xiaopang countered: "I'll tell Dong Xuan."

Seeing Yan Li glanced at her, calmly pulled a cigarette from the pack, and lit it: "Guess who she'll believe—me or you."

Without proof, how could anyone prove whether he'd been drunk or not?

Even if he was faking it, nothing happened—Dong Xuan might pout for two days, maybe even need a few soothing words.

If Fan Xiaopang went to Dong Xuan with this, given their relationship, it would only make Dong Xuan suspicious—wondering if Fan Xiaopang was trying to sow discord.

Besides, Seeing Yan Li didn't believe Fan Xiaopang would actually tell Dong Xuan.

This little vixen wasn't the type to stir up trouble, especially not when it risked permanently alienating Seeing Yan Li—she was just trying to threaten and extort him, see if she could squeeze out some advantage.

Seeing Yan Li wasn't fooled—he didn't care; if you've got the guts, go ahead. If you don't, I'll look down on you.

Fan Xiaopang truly had no way to deal with Seeing Yan Li's brazenness.

She could only hurl moral accusations, which meant nothing to Seeing Yan Li; when the car stopped and the two women got out, Seeing Yan Li delivered one final blow.

"Your legs are too soft—kinda chubby, you should lose some weight."

If Li Bingbing hadn't held her back, the furious Fan Xiaopang would've stormed to Seeing Yan Li's room to fight him to the death.

…

In the following days, Fan Xiaopang seethed, looking for chances to provoke Seeing Yan Li and sabotage him, but Seeing Yan Li had no time to care.

The Hunan TV crew had just left when the Shandong TV crew arrived.

Their offer was lower than Hunan's, but they were willing to concede on advertising—and they also brought up "Railway Guerrillas."

Shandong Film & TV, under Shandong's jurisdiction, had already initiated the project and was seeking a co-producer.

The main competitors: one had secured backing from Yian, a local power in Zao City; the other was a well-known Shandong-based film company.

Shandong Film & TV internally favored the latter, but Seeing Yan Li's side wasn't out of the question.

If "Huan Tian Xi Di Seven Fairies" partnered with Shandong Satellite TV, it would strengthen Seeing Yan Li's bargaining power in "Railway Guerrillas."

Seeing Yan Li wasn't tempted by the "Railway Guerrillas" bait.

One thing at a time—he wasn't naive enough to fall for empty-handed schemes.

But he didn't refuse outright either—he'd stall them, and they'd stall him; let's see who cracked first.

With Shandong TV waiting in the wings, it made it easier to attract other networks and raise prices.

To facilitate networking and negotiations with these TV stations, Seeing Yan Li concentrated his shooting schedule.

Jin Zha's scenes were few; most ensemble and key scenes had already been filmed.

After concentrating filming, Seeing Yan Li wrapped up "Huan Tian Xi Di Seven Fairies" by mid-February.

Although Seeing Yan Li had wrapped, "Huan Tian Xi Di Seven Fairies" was still being filmed.

With nearly 40 episodes and numerous action and ensemble scenes, shooting was expected to last over a hundred days.

Filming began in late December; it would likely wrap only around Qingming Festival.

Due to heavy visual effects, post-production time would also be lengthy.

Seeing Yan Li planned for a year-end or early next year broadcast, or during winter break, targeting students—but he wasn't sure if it would happen smoothly.

After Jin Zha's scenes wrapped, Seeing Yan Li spent less time on set, frequently going out for networking and negotiations.

According to Dong Xuan, Seeing Yan Li wasn't just busy with "Huan Tian Xi Di Seven Fairies" distribution—he had two other projects too.

One is the investment project "Detective Di Renjie."

This drama has finished filming and is in post-production; it is essentially locked for a CCTV premiere, and Seeing Yan Li represents the production team in negotiations with CCTV.

The acquisition price is not important; this drama is CCTV-controlled, making it hard to secure a good deal—Seeing Yan Li is primarily fighting for other distribution rights.

The other is Zhou Yi's new drama "Water Moon Cave Heaven."

Zhou Yi's dramas have performed well, and his company has considerable name recognition, but its own distribution capability is merely average.

Coincidentally, Zhou Yi's boss's wife knew a senior figure from the "Snow Goddess Dragon" production team, learned that Yi'an had strong distribution capabilities, and reached out to Yi'an.

Seeing Yan Li still holds a favorable view of Zhou Yi's drama—it has brand assurance and high market acceptance; with strong distribution, it will definitely be profitable.

"Huan Tian Xi Di Seven Fairies," "Detective Di Renjie," "Water Moon Cave Heaven"

With so many projects in hand, many tasks require Seeing Yan Li's personal attention—he is naturally quite busy.

Of course, another matter also consumes some of Seeing Yan Li's energy, but he has no need to tell Dong Xuan about it.

Thanks to Seeing Yan Li's efforts, Qin Lan's joining "The Great Song Inspector" is already settled.

But whether she can secure the female lead role is still uncertain.

The main reason is that there are many competing actresses; although Qin Lan has Seeing Yan Li's support, the others are no pushovers either.

For example, Miao Pu, the only contracted artist from Feng Xiaogang's studio, just played the female lead in "May Locust Blossoms," starring Zhang Guoli and the Iron Triangle.

Shen Aojun has acted in "The Tang Dynasty Love Story" and "The Divine Doctor Xi Laile," and her name recognition is considerable.

Luo Haiqiong played the lead in Zhao Baogang's "Like Mist, Like Rain, Like Wind," and her subsequent dramas all bear Zhao's influence to some degree.

For a CCTV project like this, compared to Feng and Zhao, veteran insiders from Beijing's entertainment circle, Seeing Yan Li—as a rising newcomer—lacks comparable resources and connections.

But Seeing Yan Li has his own advantages!

He knows "The Great Song Inspector" will become a hit, and he is promoting his own girlfriend, willing to invest heavily.

Feng and Zhao are unsure whether this drama will succeed, and Miao and Luo aren't crucial to them—they're happy to lend a hand casually, but won't invest heavily, feeling it's not worth it.

Every time this happens, Seeing Yan Li is deeply grateful for having access to the intelligence system.

Without its help, he truly couldn't compete with these entrenched Beijing elites…

————

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(End of Chapter)