Chapter 56

Such a huge pie has fallen into our laps; only a fool wouldn't take it.

Lu Ye was overjoyed and couldn't wait to start filming the TV series.

"Mr. Hu, have we finalized the casting for our TV series? Who's the screenwriter?"

"The actors haven't been chosen yet, but the screenwriter is sitting right next to you, isn't he?"

Lu Ye's smile froze.

He and Lei Tao are indeed good friends, but he never thought of working together.

The reason is simple: Lei Tao was too restrained towards him.

Whenever Lu Ye wanted to film something new and unconventional, Lei Tao would always stop him. This was true in their daily lives, let alone on the film set.

If the two of them were to collaborate, they would definitely have to film it exactly according to Lei Tao's script.

Hu Zhenzhen was amused by his expression and asked.

"What? You don't want to?"

With a billion-dollar pie in front of him, Lu Ye had no choice but to agree, even if he didn't want to.

He tilted his head and glanced at Lei Tao, "As long as I can make a good work, I'm willing to do anything."

Lei Tao laughed and patted him on the back.

"Don't worry, I will treat our work with the utmost rigor!"

Lu Ye felt even worse.

With such a rigorous attitude, could it be that Lei Tao was more relaxed when he was in charge of him before?

Sitting opposite the two, Hu Zhenzhen immediately felt relieved.

"Alright, with screenwriter Lei's words, I'm relieved. I hope you can deliver a satisfactory result this year."

Lei Tao sat upright, his face beaming with smiles and energy, clearly agreeing with Hu Zhenzhen's words.

He is a serious person at heart. While taking things seriously, he also hopes that his seriousness will be recognized by others.

Previously, neither directors nor investors recognized his talent. But after meeting Hu Zhenzhen, Lei Tao felt a sense of triumph, like Fan Jin passing the imperial examination. He simply wanted to express his feelings and release all his past frustrations.

“I will read the script tonight. Writer Lei, please send it to Director Lu for a look. I will decide in the next few days whether or not to film this script and give you an answer within three days.”

After saying goodbye, Hu Zhenzhen asked Chen Kai to take the two of them away first.

Before sending him home, let's go for a tour of the company together.

As for Hu Zhenzhen herself, she had seen enough of the model and had no interest in conducting on-site investigations for the time being.

Jianghu Pictures' office building is located in the city center.

It's only two blocks away from the city hall, within walking distance.

Lei Tao was already very excited when he learned that there was an office building there.

When Chen Kai parked the car downstairs at Jianghu Film Studio according to the address, Lei Tao looked up at the 30-story building and was even more shocked.

How much did it cost to own such a tall building in the city center?

Before he could finish his exclamation, Lu Ye slapped him on the back. "Wait, where did you get in touch with President Hu? This super-rich guy actually signed both of us."

Lu Ye's tone was still weak, as if he were in a dream.

"I really doubt I'm dreaming right now. I don't even dare to pinch myself hard, because it would be terrible if I woke up."

Lei Tao couldn't stand his sarcastic remarks and pinched his thigh in response.

That pinch hit a nerve, and the soreness went straight to the top of my head.

"Ouch! What are you doing?!"

Lu Ye jumped and hopped away from his hand.

"To help you wake up, so you don't daydream in broad daylight."

After Lei Tao finished speaking, he followed Chen Kai into the building.

Lu Ye walked at the very back and muttered something.

"He doesn't understand romance at all, yet he's into art."

Despite his words, once he regained his senses, Lu Ye quickly followed after him.

The director often mingled with the film crew, but after he fell out of favor with the investors, he never came to such a high-end office building again.

As soon as he entered, he wanted to ask Lei Tao to wait for him.

The moment it opened its mouth, the echo slowly followed.

"Thunderous waves, thunderous waves, thunderous waves..."

The sound effects are great, it sounds like the Buddha speaking in a TV series.

This was Lei Tao's shout, which was even more deafening than shouting "Lei Zhenzi".

"We have plenty of space here."

Lu Ye lowered his voice and spoke.

"Indeed, because Mr. Hu just bought it and hasn't had time to add anything yet."

Chen Kai replied with a smile, "I'll order some flowers and plants tomorrow to decorate the hall, then the echo won't be so loud."

The first floor was empty and there was nothing to see, so Chen Kai led the two of them straight to the 28th floor.

After all, Hu Zhenzhen had previously said that she would give each of them an office on the 28th floor.

Six elevators were set up opposite each other. Chen Kaiquan inspected them before leading his men upstairs.

Lei Tao had been looking forward to it for a long time. Jianghu Film Industry was a new company, and the two of them would be considered old employees of Jianghu Film Industry from now on. The first thing to do was to choose an office, and of course, they had to choose the best location.

After reaching the 28th floor, Lei Tao realized that his idea was somewhat narrow-minded.

Nothing else, the entire 28th floor has six independent offices, each about 100 square meters, each with its own unique decoration features.

The room to his right has a large floor-to-ceiling window, and the desk is also exceptionally large, connected to the bookshelves, creating a seamless design.

The one on the left has a bay window by the window, a chessboard, and a super large sofa for resting near the desk.

After looking at just these two places, Lei Tao was unsure which to choose.

"This renovation is amazing! Can we choose whatever we like, Mr. Chen?"

"certainly."

This entire floor is intended for directors and screenwriters.

In addition to the six large offices, there is a space of about 70 square meters that has been turned into a small cubicle.

Chen Kai guessed it was an office space reserved for interns and junior screenwriters.

Lu Ye was much more decisive than Lei Tao; he had already wandered around the various offices and quickly locked onto his target.

"I want this one; it definitely won't get any sun here."

Rooms with floor-to-ceiling windows are certainly bright, but not everyone likes bright rooms.

Lu Ye just happens to like staying in shady places.

His daily routine is different from that of normal people; he always gets up at noon and is active late at night.

If you really let him be exposed to the sun for 10 hours a day, he probably wouldn't last more than three days before he would lose moisture and vitality like a mummy.

This office is the smallest of the several, and the window is not a floor-to-ceiling window; there are walls that reach about knee-high.

Lu Ye's favorite thing about this room is the thick curtains.

Once you pull it, you get the feeling that you can't tell day from night.

He just tried it out and saw the effect; he's already envisioning what it will be like to edit videos here in the future.

Seeing that he had made his choice, Lei Tao became a little anxious.

He looked left and right, and finally decided on the room with the particularly large table.

"Then I'll take this one. Thank you, Mr. Chen."

You're too kind.

Chen Kai wrote it down in his notebook, planning to have several wooden plaques made, engrave the names on them, and hang them on the office door.

It wasn't just the three of them who came; the driver, Xiao Wang, was also there.

After choosing their respective offices, Chen Kai asked Xiao Wang to take Lei Tao and Lu Ye home, while he stayed behind to admire the building.

He first took the elevator to the top floor and toured the 30th floor.

This is the most important spot in the entire building; it will be used as the boss's office in the future, so it must be arranged properly.

The basic renovations have been completed; what Chen Kai can do now are some more time-sensitive soft furnishings.

For example, flower paintings and carpets.

After visualizing the interior design in his mind, Chen Kai finally felt comfortable looking at each layer of the room.

He was in charge of decorating the villa in the mountains. Chen Kai was experienced, and with a few strokes in his notebook, he quickly came up with a comprehensive plan.

Until he reached the 3rd floor.

Looking at the colorful graffiti on the wall, the person fell silent for a moment.

This place is completely different from the proper decor upstairs; it's like going from a white building in the US to a graffiti wall on the street.

Chen Kai was shocked and didn't know what to do with this layer of arrangements.

After thinking for a long time, Chen Kai put his pen on the paper and wrote two words.

Currently empty.

Hu Zhenzhen, who stayed at home, was unaware of the profound impact Xiao Jin's impulsive artistic creation had on Chen Kai.

She was intently reading Lei Tao's script.

Unlike the Qing Dynasty dramas and youth dramas he had worked on before, this script tells the story of a murder case.

Moreover, it was a locked-room murder case.

The story takes place in the royal palace, though the exact date is unknown.

Hu Zhenzhen glanced at it briefly and found that the script mentioned many martial arts figures.

These days, there are very few people who dare to write martial arts dramas.

Screenwriters who can write good martial arts dramas are extremely rare.

She immediately became interested. Wuxia (martial arts) is a true Chinese genre, and even if people from other countries wanted to film it, it would be difficult to capture its unique flavor.

It's become increasingly rare to see martial arts films in recent years, let alone TV series with their longer production cycles.

TV dramas have many episodes and are long, which places higher demands on the actors.

To create a great martial arts drama, good actors are indispensable.

The moment Hu Zhenzhen saw this notebook, this question came to mind.

It seems we need to bring up the issue of casting actors sooner.

Hu Zhenzhen calmed down and continued reading the script.

The emperor was assassinated in the palace and died on his dragon bed, throwing the court into chaos.

The head eunuch Li Tai'an seized control of the court and supported the six-year-old eighth prince to inherit the throne.

The first thing the new emperor did upon ascending the throne was to thoroughly investigate the cause of the previous emperor's death and find the real culprit who murdered him.

The palace was heavily guarded, and many of the emperor's eunuchs were top-notch martial arts masters. Anyone who could break through their protection and kill the emperor on his bed must be an unparalleled expert in the martial arts world.

There are five suspects.

They are Jueqing, the first swordsman; Tie Lanxin, the kind-hearted and gentle man; Mo Yan, the leader of the imperial guards; Wuguo, the strange monk from the Western Regions; and Lixian, the late emperor's younger brother, who holds a position in the court.

The story unfolds from there.

Lei Tao wrote a total of forty episodes of the TV series script.

Hu Zhenzhen was already captivated after reading only the first two episodes of the script and decided to film the story.

It just so happens that her company is called Jianghu Film and Television, and her first TV series is a martial arts drama, which seems very suitable.

Hu Zhenzhen isn't particularly passionate about martial arts films, but after seeing such a good script, she felt compelled to adapt it into a film.

She closed the electronic document of the script and went back to look at the name written at the very beginning.

The Legend of the Dragon Slayer

[Screenwriter Lei, I've watched the first two episodes. I'm letting you know in advance that you and Director Lu can start preparing for filming.]

[We will be recruiting for this position this week. Chen will inform you both of the time later. Please come for an interview then.]

The crew members have long-term collaborations with the director and screenwriter, so having them conduct the interviews helps them select more suitable candidates.

For a work to become a masterpiece, the efforts of everyone involved are indispensable.

Whether it's the lighting, editing, or props team, everyone put in their best effort for a film to truly become a masterpiece.

Hu Zhenzhen understands this principle.

She plans to build her own team so that she will have the confidence to produce both TV series and movies in the future.

This matter is neither particularly difficult nor particularly easy.

Young people are energetic and willing to learn, but lack experience.

The seasoned veterans in the film crew had too many unspoken rules about them, which Hu Zhenzhen disliked and didn't want them to bring into the company.

A film crew can't consist only of young people, otherwise they'll easily become headless flies, wandering around aimlessly and making mistakes.

A film crew can't just consist of seasoned veterans, because that makes it easy for them to line their own pockets and take advantage of the situation.

The balance in this is difficult to maintain, so Hu Zhenzhen plans to find someone she trusts to serve as the producer, both to oversee the quality of the TV series production and to prevent her money from going down the drain.

Who the producer chooses becomes crucial.

Chen Kai is Hu Zhenzhen's most trusted subordinate, but she eliminated him first.

Producers can be found again, but it's not easy to find another housekeeper as excellent as this.

Liu An and the rest of the people were not highly educated and knew nothing about the entertainment industry, so they were not suitable for the position of producer.

After much thought, I realized I didn't have any suitable people at my disposal.

"The only solution is to recruit more people into the company and then train them."

Hu Zhenzhen sighed.

Jiang Chen, who came to the lounge to find her, happened to hear this sigh.

"Mom, are you unhappy?"

She wasn't exactly unhappy; Hu Zhenzhen was simply making plans for the future of Jianghu Film and Television Company, and her mind was a little heavy.

However, these things are too complicated to explain to children.

Hu Zhenzhen smiled and said, "I'm not unhappy."

That's a lie.

Jiang Chen's eyes seemed to convey those two words as he pouted.

He could tell that Hu Zhenzhen was unhappy, and her face was somewhat melancholy. Since his mother was unwilling to share with him why she was unhappy, Jiang Chen couldn't think of a way to comfort her for a moment.

He stood there in thought for a while.

"Xiao Chen, what brings you here to see your mother?"

Jiang Chen had originally come to deliver vitamins to her, but when she asked him, the child replied, "Xiao Chen came to comfort his mother."

Hu Zhenzhen was genuinely smiling this time.

"I'm really not unhappy."

Hu Zhenzhen was unaware that her smile at that moment was seen as a forced smile by Jiang Chen.

Jiang Chen has never forgotten what it was like when his mother first started living with him.

He still remembered that Hu Zhenzhen was mentally unstable, and he was thinking of using the money he had saved from the piglets to take his mother to see the best doctor.

Jiang Chen recently watched a TV series. The female lead in the series is just like her mother. She is usually mentally normal, but she is slightly abnormal.

Whenever the female protagonist is depressed, her mental state becomes even more unstable.

Jiang Chen also saw her standing foolishly in the rain all night, grabbing the fence and shouting.

There was a doorbell right next to her, but she just stood there stupidly in the rain, not knowing to press it.

When the male protagonist realized what was happening and came out...

Jiang Chen thought the female lead would repeat what she said in the rain to him, but after watching for a while, she turned and left, leaving only the words, "You have such a cruel heart!"

Jiang Chen will be nine years old soon, and he already understands the basic logic of things.

Upon seeing this, they were immediately astonished and their eyes widened.

If Mom were depressed, would she do something so foolish?

Standing in the rain for so long can make you catch a cold.

The female lead looked sick; she couldn't even speak properly, and he spoke much more fluently than she could.

Jiang Chen didn't want his mother to become like that.

Seeing that Hu Zhenzhen was unhappy today, he suddenly recalled that TV series and became tense.

"Mom, Xiaochen wants you to watch with me, to watch Mr. Rabbit together."

This is Jiang Chen's favorite cartoon recently. It has a children's humor style and he always laughs out loud when he watches it.

When Jiang Chen is feeling down, just one episode of Mr. Rabbit is enough to cheer him up.

Hu Zhenzhen hadn't read him a bedtime story for several days, so she thought she'd spend more time with her son today and readily agreed.

Jiang Chen read them in order.

He's already watched up to episode 20 of the Mr. Rabbit cartoon.

He pulled Hu Zhenzhen to sit on the sofa in the media room and pressed play.

Unfortunately, this episode of Mr. Rabbit's story is about a sad cat.

When Jiang Chen saw the crying cat, he instinctively looked up at Hu Zhenzhen.

Even though it was a children's cartoon, Hu Zhenzhen was more engrossed in it than Jiang Chen, staring intently at the screen and not noticing her son's little eyes.

"Mom, maybe we shouldn't watch this!"

Jiang Chen stood up, intending to grab the remote control from the coffee table to change the channel.

"Isn't this pretty? It's quite nice."

Hu Zhenzhen was simply puzzled.

Animal-themed animated series produced in Country M are all very exciting. Mr. Rabbit is a very famous work that is loved by both children and adults.

Jiang Chen's attempt to change the channel froze.

Alarm bells rang in his mind.

This is bad; Mom is probably going to be heartbroken.

He recalled the scene of the female lead in the TV series getting caught in the rain.

That won't do! We need to take preventative measures before Mom does anything unusual!

Thinking of this, Jiang Chen patted Hu Zhenzhen's hand, "Mom, you look first, I need to go get my phone."

Hu Zhenzhen readily agreed.

Jiang Chen has his own small cell phone, which Hu Zhenzhen has set up in advance so that he won't see any dirty stuff on the internet and can only use a few commonly used apps.

Jiang Chen strode out and did nothing else.

He's on his cell phone, calling Dr. Zhou.

"Uncle Zhou, do you have time to come over now?"

The call was from Jiang Chen. Dr. Zhou on the other end was slightly surprised, but replied gently, "Sure, young master, are you feeling unwell anywhere?"

Jiang Chen shook his head, then quickly spoke, remembering that he couldn't see the person on the other end of the phone.

"It wasn't me, it was my mother."

"Is the boss not feeling well?"

Dr. Zhou's tone became much more serious.

Hu Zhenzhen is his bread and butter, and as his boss's private doctor, he would definitely pay attention to his boss's health as soon as she fell ill.

"It's not that I'm feeling unwell."

Jiang Chen was at a loss for words, and he didn't know if Dr. Zhou had ever treated mental patients.

"It's that kind of very special disease, um... Uncle Zhou, do you know Xia Baihe?"

The conversation suddenly shifted from the boss's illness to characters in a TV series. The train of thought was so abrupt that it took Dr. Zhou a long time to remember who Xia Baihe was.

Isn't this the name of the female protagonist in the most classic melodramatic romance drama?

"Why did you suddenly bring up Xia Baihe, young master?"

Jiang Chen explained, "My mother's illness is the same as Xia Baihe's; she looks a bit different from ordinary people."

As Jiang Chen spoke, his tone couldn't help but reveal his worry, "Uncle Zhou, is Mom mentally ill?"

Dr. Zhou was both amused and exasperated.

This person is perfectly fine, so how did they suddenly become mentally ill?

No one knows the boss's health better than him. Apart from being a little cold-sensitive and needing to be nourished, Hu Zhenzhen is very healthy.

As for mental illness, that's even more impossible.

It's probably because the young master cares too much about the boss and has heard about mental illness from somewhere.

Dr. Zhou sorted out the logic in her mind and comforted him with a smile, "How could that be? Mr. Hu has no mental problems at all, young master, don't worry."

No problem.

Jiang Chen didn't quite believe this.

After all, the first thing Hu Zhenzhen wanted to do upon meeting him was to dig up her father's grave to cheer herself up.

Even though he was young, Jiang Chen knew that digging up graves was abnormal.

"Uncle Zhou, please come over here first. I'm so worried about my mom."

At Jiang Chen's repeated insistence, Dr. Zhou finally set off.

On the way, he couldn't help but wonder why Jiang Chen had described Hu Zhenzhen's illness in that way.

Like Xia Baihe, she's somewhat abnormal.

What did Xia Baihe do again?

Dr. Zhou tried hard to recall this old drama from ten years ago, and it seemed to be full of old plots like forced kisses, amnesia, and being hit by a car.

Could it be that the boss has developed a condition called "love-obsessed"?

Dr. Zhou's thoughts wandered, and he even amused himself.

His car was registered with the property management and could be driven directly into Woshan Villa and parked in the yard in front of Hu Zhenzhen's house.

I made a phone call to Chen Kai, and the door opened quickly.

"Why are you here so late?"

Chen Kai, who opened the door, looked puzzled, clearly unaware of the situation.

Dr. Zhou was even more puzzled by the young master's claim that the boss was sick. Chen Kai lived under the same roof as them; if the boss was really unwell, how could he, as the butler, not know?

"The young master said the boss wasn't feeling well and called me to come."

"Is the boss not feeling well?"

Chen Kai's expression was equally puzzled, clearly indicating that he knew nothing about this matter.

In that short while, Jiang Chen had already come downstairs.

He ran up and grabbed Dr. Zhou's hand, "Uncle Zhou, come with me quickly!"

Jiang Chen led him all the way to the audio-visual room where an animated film was being shown.

Hearing the noise, Hu Zhenzhen turned around and saw Dr. Zhou, then saw Jiang Chen pulling Dr. Zhou, and raised her eyebrows.

Before she could even ask a question.

Jiang Chen immediately began explaining her condition to Dr. Zhou.

"My mom wants to dig up my dad's grave to cheer herself up, and sometimes she'll just smile at me like that. And also—"

Jiang Chen's expression was very serious. "I once saw my mother pointing at the air, like she was hallucinating!"

This situation is very serious.

Dr. Zhou, who had been all smiles, stopped smiling and looked at his boss with a serious expression.

Have you ever experienced similar hallucinations before?

It never even happened...

Hu Zhenzhen pinched the bridge of her nose, feeling a headache coming on.

It's likely that Jiang Chen saw her painting the office building in the lobby.

She wondered why Jiang Chen was acting so strangely today, constantly saying he wanted to comfort her; it turns out this was a trap set up for her.

"What am I hallucinating about? I think you're hallucinating."

Jiang Chen meant well, and Hu Zhenzhen couldn't blame her son, so she could only grumble to Dr. Zhou.

"Can't I use this little trick of calling upon troops when I can't make a decision?"

As Hu Zhenzhen spoke, her finger twitched between Jiang Chen and Dr. Zhou.

"Whoever I point to is the one I choose. Very good, Dr. Zhou, it's you. Now you must carry out my orders and immediately turn around and go home to sleep."

If Dr. Zhou makes a mistake at this point, he'll be truly stupid.

He gave an awkward smile, and before his boss got angry, he gave a poorly executed bow, saying, "Yes! I'll take my leave immediately!"