Chapter 376: The Shuang Bing Trilogy: Saving the Married Woman Liu Tao

Fan Xiaopang went to Sichuan to shoot the final scenes, Li Bingbing went to film "Detective Dee: The Mystery of the Phantom Flame," and Seeing Yan Li returned to Jingcheng with Huang Bo and others.

Shuang Bing won the Golden Horse Award, and their popularity exploded; even now, while filming, they're already being approached for various endorsements and commercial deals, and after finishing the movie, they'll be raking in money like crazy.

It's said that many brands' top priority is to sign both of Shuang Bing, riding the wave of their combined appeal.

But this card is hard to play—Shuang Bing's team isn't foolish; they've consistently controlled the frequency of their pairing.

It's simple: play the card too often, and it loses its value!

After "Painted Skin" and "The Message," Yi An never launched a third Shuang Bing project, partly due to this concern.

Over the past two years, Shuang Bing's two reunions in "Painted Skin" and "The Message" were both massive hits, but behind the frenzy, many have grown somewhat tired of their collaborations.

After all, the gossip has been overhyped, the rivalry has been overplayed, even the lesbian couple trope has been exhausted—now they've won awards together, and going further would be overkill; they must cool down.

In Seeing Yan Li's plan, Shuang Bing might collaborate just one more time, forming a Shuang Bing Trilogy, then part ways and never cross paths again.

Everything should stop at the right point—Seeing Yan Li doesn't want to ruin the Shuang Bing card for money and trigger backlash.

Give everyone a beautiful ending: the company profits, audiences are happy, and Shuang Bing's careers advance further.

At the same time, this is also a life-saving card—if Yi An later faces stagnation, Shuang Bing can reunite ten years down the line, evoke nostalgia, and turn crisis into safety.

Therefore, Seeing Yan Li is cautious about the final installment of Shuang Bing's Trilogy.

The originally planned "Painted Skin 2" has been put on hold due to dissatisfaction with the script's quality.

"The Message" achieved such high acclaim that it elevated Shuang Bing; they dare not claim to surpass it, but they can't make it too poor—they must at least meet the trilogy's average standard.

Besides "Painted Skin 2," Yi An has also developed three new scripts, each tailored specifically for Shuang Bing.

One is a historical fantasy epic, roughly about the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox (Fan Xiaopang) and the Yinglong Woman (Li Bingbing) fighting a giant boss, focusing on visual effects, with a mediocre story—and Fan Xiaopang has some trauma around fox spirits.

Su Daji + Xiao Wei, two popular characters, plus her naturally alluring oval face and peach-blossom eyes, along with her less-than-ideal romantic history—now "fox spirit" and "Fan Xiaopang" are practically inseparable.

One is a historical epic, telling the story of Shangguan Wan'er and Princess Taiping struggling within the whirlwind of history.

This time, Li Bingbing objects—she already portrayed Shangguan Jing'er, based on Shangguan Wan'er, in "Detective Dee: The Mystery of the Phantom Flame"; playing her again would be repetitive.

The last one is an action film, with a Hollywood vibe, featuring two top female detectives or agents, only with men replaced by women.

Li Bingbing is calm, reserved, and highly combat-capable; Fan Xiaopang is sharp, radiant, and endlessly inventive; together they defeat their opponent and win.

The plot and setting are fairly conventional, but the commercial elements are solid, and with good marketing and coordination, box office returns won't be low.

Both "The Message" and "Painted Skin" leaned toward tragedy; a lighter, happier ending for the third installment could bring freshness.

"Painted Skin 2" and these three scripts each have their strengths and flaws; overall, none are particularly outstanding, so Yi An hasn't decided yet, hoping to further refine them or wait for a better script.

If film projects demand such caution, commercial deals demand even more.

Even Shuang Bing appearing together on the same wall—so long as the films are well-made, shooting two more is acceptable.

Commercial deals aim to maximize advertising impact; brands would prefer to be the sole holder of Shuang Bing, boosting value and influence, so the number of times Shuang Bing can be used must be even fewer—ideally only one at a time.

Rarity increases value; the fewer the appearances, the higher the price.

So far, Fan Xiaopang's commercial endorsements are the highest among female stars, but only a handful reach the ten-million level.

Li Bingbing only began tentatively negotiating ten-million deals after "The Message" exploded and she won the Golden Horse.

For female stars, commercial endorsements are another field entirely.

It's not just about fame and works—it also depends on brand alignment, personal image, fan commercial conversion, and many other factors.

Most female stars can't even access commercial deals; those who do often, due to various reasons, can only pursue certain paths.

Fan Xiaopang's inherent advantages are excellent, and after years of deep cultivation and marketing, she has achieved a cliff-like lead in commercial endorsements, covering an extremely wide range with outstanding results.

As a result, her commercial deals are not only increasing in number but also becoming more sought-after.

In comparison, Li Bingbing is weaker in this area—even her current rates benefit from the Shuang Bing bond.

However, Shuang Bing together is an entirely different matter.

Fan Xiaopang can negotiate over ten million alone; Li Bingbing barely manages ten million—combined, they start at least at thirty to forty million.

If a brand signs an exclusive contract with Shuang Bing, it must be at least fifty million.

Don't think it's expensive—even at fifty million and up, you must offer them other benefits and value.

If the brand's tier and influence aren't sufficient, just offering money won't guarantee they'll accept.

1+1>2

Fan Xiaopang and Li Bingbing's teams have finally figured it out: hiring Shuang Bing individually is one price; pairing them multiplies it.

Top-tier star + national-level duo brand + red-hot right now—that's the current strength and confidence of Shuang Bing together.

Including the final installment of Yi An's planned Shuang Bing Trilogy—if they bring Shuang Bing back, even without box office profit-sharing, just a friend's discount, their pay would still be astronomical.

…

After returning to Jingcheng, Yi An held a small celebration.

Shuang Bing didn't attend, only sending a VCR message; the star was Huang Bo.

Compared to Shuang Bing's meteoric rise to queen status, Huang Bo, though overshadowed in many ways, still gained significant visibility.

Huang Bo started in comedy, his iconic roles are all ordinary people, and with his appearance, though his fanbase is smaller, his public goodwill is extremely strong.

Yi An has positioned him as a powerhouse actor, inspirational, humorous, and approachable.

This Best Actor award has branded him with the title 【Dark Horse Best Actor】.

"Dark Horse" here doesn't mean he won by surprise—it refers to his life story: this award represents a personal comeback, a dark horse triumph.

For Huang Bo, "Crazy Stone" catapulted him into stardom, and this Golden Horse Best Actor award has elevated him into the ranks, making him the fastest-rising representative of mainland China's new generation of film stars.

Even Weibo Entertainment quietly watched, believing that with the Golden Horse boost, Huang Bo would become Deng Chao's biggest challenge as Yi An's top male star.

Yet Deng Chao and Huang Bo still appear harmonious—even attending Huang Bo's celebration to congratulate him on his win.

Seeing Yan Li even joked that they could consider pairing Deng Chao and Huang Bo for a collaboration: the 【Chao-Bo】 duo.

The "duo" was a joke, but having Huang Bo and Deng Chao act together isn't—according to Seeing Yan Li, Yi An already has producers searching for scripts.

Yi An's project approval standards are inconsistent.

Sometimes, a good script comes first; once the company approves it, producers and directors are assigned to initiate and push the project forward.

Sometimes, the director leads: for example, Ning Hao—he's the one who wants to make a certain film, then finds a screenwriter and producers, gradually shaping it.

Sometimes, producers act based on rising actors or a suitable script, submit it to the company for approval, then initiate and develop the project.

Artists like Fan Xiaopang and Deng Chao can also approach directors and producers to collaborate, find suitable scripts or even commission custom-written ones, then pitch for investment and support from the company.

Seeing Yan Li strongly encourages his subordinates to initiate projects, especially since Yi'an's IPO is imminent and another major funding round is expected—there must be big moves.

If his subordinates take the initiative, he won't have to worry.

But hoping subordinates actively propose projects doesn't mean projects are approved casually—in fact, they're screened extremely strictly.

Almost every month, Yi'an rejects ten or even dozens of projects; the approval rate is under ten percent, with films having an even lower approval rate than TV dramas.

A producer wanting Deng Chao and Huang Bo to collaborate must first get the project approved by Yi'an's review.

After the victory party ended, Seeing Yan Li casually gathered some of the company's male artists, directors, and screenwriters for a small gathering.

To be fair, Seeing Yan Li cares far less about Yi'an's male artists than his female artists.

Across the way, Huayi treats people like Huang Xiaoming with much more care—especially Little Boss Wang, who's said to personally inquire into male artists' daily lives.

Da Gou from Xiaoma Benteng doesn't go as far as Little Boss Wang in lowering himself, but he often invites friends to private clubs, drinks, and parties, sometimes playing for days at a time.

Ning Hao has been a few times; Da Gou greatly admires him and even invited him to dinner to discuss films.

And Qin Zong from Star Beauty is also a genuine, emotional type—he frequently arranges lavish outings.

In comparison, Seeing Yan Li rarely does any of this; more often, he interacts with those female artists.

Seeing Yan Li reflected and thought he could get together more often in the future—but that was all.

He still preferred hanging out with delicate female artists.

Even in Seeing Yan Li's darker thoughts, many bosses who enjoy gathering friends to drink and party—do they truly love the atmosphere, or are they just too old to do anything else?

From the bosses Seeing Yan Li usually sees, it's clear they're just going through the motions.

With the IPO imminent, if any scandals broke out among Yi'an's artists and key staff, it would be a disaster.

So the gathering was simple: they ate, soaked in the bath, drank a bit, and chatted.

When the gathering wound down and it was time to leave, Seeing Yan Li went to the restroom—and when he came out, he saw a man and a woman in a heated tangle nearby.

Seeing Yan Li frowned, assuming it was some drunk man harassing a woman, and considered signaling his bodyguard to intervene.

He wasn't a good man, but when he saw something like this, he wouldn't just stand by.

Before the bodyguard could move, the man spotted Seeing Yan Li and called out.

"Director Yan."

As both turned to look at him, Seeing Yan Li clearly saw them—his eyes flickered, and his lips twitched slightly.

"It's you two?"

Wang Ke, reeking of alcohol, came over to shake his hand: "Director Yan, long time no see."

"Long time no see."

Seeing Yan Li exchanged pleasantries, then nodded slightly to Liu Tao, who looked embarrassed: "What's going on between you two?"

"Meeting a friend here."

Wang Ke added an explanation for the earlier scene: "Liu Tao's upset—I drank too much."

A husband drunk, wife annoyed—it's normal for couples, but the scene earlier didn't look like that.

But Seeing Yan Li had no intention of meddling; if it were a stranger's injustice, he might step in—but this was their private matter, and outsiders shouldn't interfere.