Chapter 44 Chapter 44
"Front row gossip, related to the industry, is anyone discussing Director Gu's new movie?"
Just after the Chinese New Year, the office workers have been working for about half a month. The backlog of work has been temporarily sorted out, and they have some free time to slack off.
On a leisurely afternoon, while the boss is away, browsing the entertainment gossip section is the best reward for boring work.
Sure enough, because there were many workers and students slacking off at this time, the new gossip posts quickly received replies.
"What movie? I haven't been here for a long time. Is Director Gu going to make another movie?"
"Wait, is that Director Gu who directed Black Dust? The one who won the Golden Cherry Award?"
When it comes to making a movie, it's hard to have both box office success and good reputation. If an ordinary director can achieve one of the two, he has already established a firm foothold in the industry and made a name for himself.
But if he possesses both, he will become a famous director that will be pursued by the industry.
Director Gu Chengzhou is obviously the latter. That is why the news of casting for his new play caused a small turmoil in the circle.
"Of course. If it's not him, there's no need to discuss this post."
At present, the slogan of "film and television winter" has been shouted for many years. If it was just a slogan complained by people in the film and television industry at the beginning, now, with the shrinking of the market, it can be said to be a real winter.
There aren't many film crews shooting in the film and television city. Although there are some, it definitely can't accommodate all the actors in the circle today.
In addition, there are fewer projects and capital tends to be conservative. In order to play it safe, many projects specifically pick big-name actors who have proven their ability to carry a drama and hand them scripts.
As a result, many first-line actors who have proven themselves not all have work to do. Many of them suddenly lose their jobs after a hit drama, which is not considered a strange thing in this circle.
For these actors, as soon as there was a hint of a new play in the circle, they rushed over without hesitation like sharks seeing blood.
What’s more—that’s Director Gu.
A man with a solid script, superb storytelling skills, who doesn't demand high-profile actors, and who can carry the box office with his own name.
Who doesn’t love a director like this?
With so many benefits, not only the actors love it, but the fans are also paying close attention to it.
At first, the news of Director Gu's casting was only circulated within the circle. I don't know when, the fan circle also knew about it, and some people even opened a forum to check in on their progress, and even changed the name to "Did Director Gu choose me today?"
"So what's the situation now?"
Whether it is a famous director casting or this kind of public information that can show the progress of the news, when many people talked about this, they couldn't help but close this post and clicked on the special post mentioned.
Nearly hundreds of floors have been checked in on the special building, and all the currently popular young actors and powerful actors have been visited in the building. Even fans of young actresses can't help but join in the fun.
Both the female lead and the female supporting role are wanted, right?
Even if I play a female passerby, it can be considered as a participation, and it sounds good when I say it out loud.
However, the discussion on the special forum became very popular, and another post about gossip also became a hot topic, but there was still no news in the circle about who Director Gu had decided on.
"No, everyone in the industry, are you capable of this? There are so many people, but not one of them was chosen by Director Gu?"
"Hurry up, I'm a fan of Director Gu. After the movie is finished, we plan to go to the cinema to watch it."
The post went viral inside and outside the circle, and eventually, passers-by got angry and started attacking the actors.
At this time, someone in the industry finally spoke up: "What the hell, why are you blaming the actors? It's obvious that Director Gu has someone in mind, but he's still looking for someone everywhere."
Now that you have a template in mind, can you find it by looking at it according to the template?
The person in the circle who posted the message was so angry that he was shaking. His agent quickly poured him a glass of water and said, "Be good, don't be angry. It's okay. It's okay."
"You see, it's not just you. Didn't the other companies also fail to get the roles?"
"How can they be the same?" A well-known young actor in the circle was scolding his agent while typing rapidly on his mobile phone.
He is going to expose this old villain Gu Chengzhou today!
"What's wrong? What's wrong?" Someone from the circle popped up, and other spectators came quickly.
"Director Gu had a candidate in mind, but he must have been rejected, so he's looking for someone with a similar style."
As he typed this, the first-tier actor felt a fire burning in his heart.
During the audition, he was very polite, but Director Gu and the producer stared at him for a long time and then asked him to act out a scene.
This was a treatment that was not heard in the rumors. He was very happy and immediately took out the segment he had prepared and started to perform.
However, he was stopped by Director Gu before he had performed for a few minutes.
"The side face angle is better."
He humbly accepted the other party's suggestions and tried his best to show his superior side throughout the whole process. When the performance was over, he went back confidently to wait for the news - he hadn't been so nervous and excited in many years.
However, as he walked out of the door, he remembered that his things had fallen outside the audition room and was about to go back to get them. Before he knocked on the door, he heard Director Gu's familiar voice.
"I still like this actor's profile."
The producer said sadly: "Yeah, from the front angle, he doesn't look like him."
he?
who is he?
With curiosity and a hint of vigilance, the actor, contrary to his usual practice, contacted several other male actors who had auditioned. They formed a group and pieced together the information before they found out the truth.
Director Gu’s team was not looking for actors at all, but rather looking for the shadow of someone.
Some resemble each other in profile, some in body shape, and some in temperament.
It seems like they are all stand-ins!
Thinking of this, the actors were furious. They thought they had a smooth career and were favored by everyone, but who knew that when they came to Director Gu, they were not as good as a mysterious person!
The actor was so angry that he bombarded the website with a barrage of comments. After venting his emotions, he said to his agent: "Come on, take a few more photos of me from the side."
The agent was full of doubts.
"I'm done shooting. I'm going to post it on WeChat Moments." Blocking everyone and only showing it to Director Gu.
"But..." the agent asked doubtfully, "Don't you care?"
The actor snorted and laughed: "They are all stand-ins. What Concubine Xi can do in the TV series, why can't I do it?"
What’s the point of having white moonlight? The opportunity you get is the real opportunity!
After he became famous, Director Gu even cried and begged him to act in a movie.
Ning Su didn't know that with the post of this defensive actor, there was a trend of looking for Director Gu's white moonlight on the Internet. At this time, he was worrying about the 100 Vegetable Demon Stations.
Although Xiao Yao was successfully recommended to Director Gu's crew, this method can obviously only solve the employment problem of some monsters, and has no impact on the revenue generation of the Monster Bureau.
What to do then?
Ning Su was not feeling well himself, and obviously did not want to make the arrogant little demon too comfortable.
As a rising new bully in the demon world, he got the confession from the demon who caused the accident, and then turned around and took the organized demons to capture the weasel demon.
"You need evidence when you catch a monster!"
The weasel demon didn't expect that his retribution would come so quickly. When Ning Su arrived with the weasel demon, he was still making excuses.
"Why don't we have evidence?" Ning Su held the confessions of those demons who caused the accident and scanned them in front of the weasel demon, and immediately ordered the demons to capture them.
"Wow, do you guys in the demon bureau respect the law?"
Ning Su was too lazy to waste words with it: "Take it away."
After doing so many bad things, he still talks about the law all the time. It must be that the demon bureau is too useless in daily life.
Ning Su was in charge of the case of the weasel demon. The process went very quickly, regardless of whether the weasel demon insisted on his own actions or not. Witnesses and evidence were found, the facts of the crime were listed, and the case was quickly judged.
The weasel spirit that caused the accident violated a series of rules and regulations, but taking the actual situation of the Demon Bureau into consideration, the Demon Bureau gave a lighter punishment when sentencing.
Of course, as a price, the Demon Bureau will also confiscate part of the weasel demon's property.
"But I have no money." After hearing that he was spared from suffering, Shuzhou's mood improved a lot and he said in a low voice.
Obviously no one believed this statement.
"Shall I remind you that you paid your men one hundred thousand dollars to cause trouble."
This is also evidence of the weasel's crime of hiring someone to kill and affecting public order.
"But most of my money is invested in real estate and stocks." said the weasel bitterly.
In the past two years, the little demons made a lot of money, and Shu Que had a lot of savings. It would be a waste to keep the money at home, so Shu Que listened to his friends' advice, bought a few houses, and invested some in the stock market.
Nowadays, the housing market is in a state of panic and is still in rough condition when it is close to delivery. The stock market is in the red every month.
"You are confused!" Hearing this, even Ning Su couldn't help but sigh.
However, even though he had no money, the rat weasel was still fined 200,000 yuan. When the money was transferred to the demon bureau, the rat weasel was so distressed that he couldn't breathe.
Its money!
It's hard earned money.
Two hundred thousand arrived in his account. Unlike Shuzhou, who felt heartbroken, Ning Su breathed a sigh of relief - although the money was still a long way from the goal of opening one hundred Vegetable Demon Inns, at least it was finally not out of reach, right?
However, the money arrived in the morning and was transferred away by the finance department in the afternoon.
Looking at Ning Su's incredulous face, the treasurer of the Demon Bureau coughed and said, "We already owe the finance department a lot of money."
Since there is always damage when the Monster Bureau goes on missions, they need to compensate the people. They have spent this part of the funds before and owed a lot of money by cheating with the finance department.
Now that they have money in their funding account, the natural thing is to pay off their debts first.
Ning Su almost couldn't catch his breath.
If he had known this earlier, why would he have worked overtime on the case of the weasel? The reason why he urged his colleagues to work non-stop was because he wanted to complete the case and get some money from the weasel.
But who knew that the money would never be his.
Ning Su was on the defensive for a long time. Under his low pressure, the monsters in the entire monster bureau did not dare to provoke him. In the end, it was Director Lu who came to persuade him:
"The funds we applied for from our superiors are earmarked for their intended purpose and will not be misappropriated. Don't worry."
Hearing this, Ning Su said quietly: "That little money is not enough."
The purpose of building a vegetable demon station is not only to open it, but also to maintain it. With one hundred vegetable demon stations, rent and labor are both problems.
You can't open a hundred stores, fulfill the bet, and then let all the post stations go bankrupt, right?
Ning Su could not accept this situation.
What is meant by "a penny can make a hero fall"? Even when Ning Su retired and had no job, he had never worried about money as much as he does today.
However, when it rains, it pours.
Perhaps some of the little demons found jobs through the Demon Bureau, or perhaps the establishment of the Vegetable Demon Station refreshed the image of the Demon Bureau as inactive in the eyes of the little demons. The little demons actually united together to petition the Demon Bureau, asking it to help solve the employment problem.
Realizing that the nature of this petition was a request, the little demons were particularly tactful and used sleight of hand to transform themselves into various kittens.
Even so, a group of kittens appearing together on the street still attracted a lot of attention.
Many humans came forward to watch the fun, and some even took a fancy to the kittens and tried to kidnap one to take home.
At first, humans didn’t understand what these cats that suddenly appeared were doing. It was not until they accidentally found a cat holding a job-seeking banner in its mouth that they realized what these cats were doing.
Wow, he’s actually looking for a job!
City A is a big city and also a city with a developed live broadcast economy. After seeing the strange sight of Maomao looking for a job, how could it miss this sudden traffic?
So, after a while, hot searches appeared on relevant platforms, and when I clicked in, they were all about #猫猫找找#.
"These days, even kittens have to go out and look for work!"
"Why don't you try to work in my house?" The cunning human wanted to invite a master to follow him home on the spot.
It is impossible that the Demon Bureau was unaware of the episode that took place outside the Demon Bureau. The familiar office, the familiar leaders, the familiar gloom and desolation.
But this time, the leaders of the Monster Bureau made progress and learned to comfort themselves: "This is good. The little monsters can put forward their own demands, which shows that they trust us."
“We serve them.”
"Yes, yes, they wouldn't be like this before."
I said a lot of words to comfort myself, but still no one came forward to say how to solve the problem.
Finally, the director could no longer refuse, so he stood up, sighed, and said, "I'll go meet them. I can't just leave the little demons alone like this."
The little demon believes in the demon bureau and cannot hurt their hearts.
The director left, and Ning Su felt a little uneasy. When he quickly chased after him, he found that the director had already floated away in the admiring eyes of the little demons.
"Don't worry, our Monster Bureau will definitely find jobs for everyone."
"Hey!" Ning Su's Erkang heard such bad news before he even stretched out his hand.
Looking at the expectant eyes of the little demons, even if Ning Su had a heart of stone, he couldn't say no at this moment.
"We will try our best." Ning Su said finally.
After sending the little demons away with kind words, the leaders of the Demon Bureau did not dare to beat around the bush with Ning Su anymore and directly told him their plans.
"Tang family?" Hearing this, Ning Su nodded thoughtfully.
Ning Su had no idea about cooperating directly with the Tang family for the time being, but he did need to consult relevant people about the current difficulties he was facing.
Who could be more suitable than Tang Songzhi, a wealthy human being?
"What, you said you wanted to treat my brother to a meal?" Ever since Black Turtle went into seclusion, Tang Erbao had been bored to death. If it weren't for the concept of starting a holographic online game business dangling like a carrot in front of him, he would have probably run out to hang out long ago.
When Tang Erbao heard that Ning Su was going to meet his relatives, his first reaction was that something interesting was going to happen.
But when he heard that it was about the official business of the Monster Bureau, he slowly withdrew: "Forget it, I'll help you make an appointment with him, you can ask it yourself."
As one of the richest men in City A, Tang Songzhi is not easy to make an appointment with. Even his partners have to contact him several days in advance if they want to meet him.
But this situation does not include one's own family members.
The next day, Tang Songzhi's secretary contacted Ning Su and confirmed the time and place with him in the evening. Out of importance, the secretary also asked whether he should send a car to pick him up.
Ning Su glanced at the location and shook his head: "I can go by myself."
This place is only a few steps away after work.
Considering that the meeting place with Tang Songzhi was a high-end restaurant, Ning Su still changed into a more decent shirt when he went out in the morning.
By the way, this shirt was bought for formal occasions before I retired from the entertainment industry. After I retired, I now wear it as a working-class outfit.
After get off work, Ning Su reached his destination in just a few steps and was invited in with a smile by the secretary waiting at the door.
Along the way, the secretary secretly observed Ning Su three times - for no other reason, but because the boss's behavior was too abnormal in order to meet this young man.
Logically speaking, the boss was originally in an important meeting at this time, but suddenly informed him to cancel it yesterday.
In addition, the reservation of this restaurant is quite confusing. Their company is in another district and they usually don't come here for activities.
Of course, he now understood the second question.
It turned out that the boss specifically chose a place close to the young man’s workplace.
The ruthless boss was so considerate that even the secretary had some inappropriate thoughts, and the standard quote like "The president hasn't laughed like this for a long time" was loaded without her noticing.
However, before the fantasy in his mind came to an end, he saw the young man enter the box, and then his unkind boss said in his usual cold voice:
"You're welcome. You're Erbao's good friend, so just call me Big Brother."
secretary:"…… "
The pink bubble burst instantly.
No problem, his ruthless boss is only willing to show a little humanity when he meets someone who can be regarded as family.
"Brother Tang."
At this time, Ning Su didn't know that someone had experienced the process of imagination and disillusionment in a short period of time. After he sat down, he first thanked the other party, and then got straight to the point at the other party's signal.
Because of Tang Erbao and his mother's health, he had been paying attention to the situation of the Demon Bureau for a long time. However, after listening to Ning Su's description, he was still surprised.
Vegetable Demon Station.
A few unfamiliar words made him unable to help but look at Ning Su a few more times.
After a moment, he sighed: "Yes, only you can do such a thing."
The Monster Bureau had been corrupt for a long time. At first, he had no intention of dealing with them. Later, it was because Tang Erbao was naughty that he established contact with the Monster Bureau by accident and exchanged it for medicine to delay his mother's illness.
However, even so, he still kept his distance from the demon bureau.
In his opinion, the conflicts among the monsters are deep-rooted and cannot be reconciled.
As the manager of the demon world, the Demon Bureau is a broken ship that is about to reach the end of its journey. It still looks bright and shiny from the outside, but the inside is full of worm holes. One day, it will collapse when it can no longer bear the weight. The repeated evil cases now are already a foreshadowing.
But it seems that the demon bureau is not destined to die.
First, Di Liujiang, who appears once every sixty years, extended the life of the little demon who was dying, and later Ning Su was recruited.
Think about how special Ning Su's situation is—he is not only a great demon with a noble status, but also a senior human who has lived among humans for many years.
More importantly, the other person has a kind heart.
Ning Su had the identity of a demon in the Demon Bureau. From then on, everything he did was to delay the decline of the Demon Bureau.
Now, something new has been created, and although it is a copy to some extent, it is just right.
Thinking of this, Tang Songzhi finally became a little interested. He asked carefully about the situation of Caiyao Station and pointed out several areas that needed improvement.
To Ning Su, each of these words sounded mature and prudent.
"Brother Dabao is right!" Faced with Tang Songzhi's suddenly stunned face, Ning Su reacted and coughed.
Oops, I accidentally said the customary name.
Fortunately, Tang Songzhi was not the kind of person who would dwell on details. After being silent for a moment, he poured Ning Su a glass of water and continued his topic.
However, after this incident, he became more direct in his way of speaking: "Given the useless leadership of your Monster Bureau, you must do this."
"Besides, you can't cooperate with us or other monsters."
Ning Su was stunned for a moment.
Tang Songzhi snorted and laughed, "Capital is profit-seeking. Whether it's me or other monsters, as long as we take over the Vegetable Monster Station, we will find ways to make money."
The demon world is different from the human commercial society. It lacks checks and balances and rules. Within three years, a vegetable demon station that falls into the hands of other demons will become a tool for making money.
"As for how to open a new post station, that's not the problem," Tang Songzhi said bluntly. "The problem is how to make it last for hundreds or thousands of years."
"If you don't intend to make the post station a profitable project, you will need other projects to support it."
"What do you mean?" Ning Su said.
Tang Songzhi raised his head, stared at Ning Su and said, "Would you consider opening a company under the name of the Demon Bureau?"
In his opinion, although the Yao Bureau is useless, there is still some hope if it does business.
That night, Ning Su and Tang Songzhi chatted for two hours before they finished. For ordinary people, they would probably be willing to spend six or seven figures to buy the rich man's two hours of alone time.
However, Tang Songzhi still did not let Ning Su pay for this meal. After the meal, he asked his secretary to send Ning Su home first.
"Just think of it as me trying to curry favor with you first, Director Ning." Tang Songzhi said with a smile.
The secretary glanced secretly in the rearview mirror and vaguely felt that the boss was in a good mood.
In Ning Su's helpless eyes, Tang Songzhi said: "I hope you can change your fate and fix the broken boat."
Of course, this also includes Tang Songzhi's advice to Ning Su. If Ning Su wants to keep the Caiyao Inn going, he must stand firm in the monster situation.
Speaking human language means getting promoted.
After bidding farewell to Tang Songzhi, the next day, Ning Su selectively combined Tang Songzhi's suggestions with his own ideas and reported them.
"He has a point." The director thought for a moment, made a phone call, and soon after, said to Ning Su: "The General Administration has agreed, but the company will be opened in the name of the Monster Bureau."
"I'll let Xiao Huang do it."
The process of starting a company went very quickly. On the second day, the company was established. In addition to Yaoju being the largest shareholder, Ning Su is currently the only management and employee.
After considering his business scope, Ning Suxian added a new business to the company - animal actor and artist agency.
As for the rest, I’ll think about it later.
Just when Ning Su opened up a new path for the Yaoju's business, on the other side, the investor finally couldn't stand the procrastination of Director Gu's team and issued an ultimatum.
"No matter who you like, we will accept you, okay? Please, don't delay any longer."
Contrary to speculation on the Internet, in the eyes of investors, it is impossible for an actor to reject Director Gu. The reason why the other party hesitated is because he was worried that the investors would not approve of the person he chose.
The investors were miserable because of Director Gu's little tricks.
"No, they really don't want to come." Director Gu wanted to explain and tell the truth, but no one believed him.
Feeling the pain of being misunderstood, Director Gu and the producer exchanged glances and discovered that they had some tacit understanding with each other.
"It has to be him?"
"It has to be him."
After meeting Ning Su, when I read the script again, the male protagonists all look like him.
"Okay, let's talk about it later."
This time, Director Gu and the producer decided to get straight to the point. They opened WeChat and directly entered their conditions.
If Ning Su is willing to come, in addition to ensuring all the jobs for these little demons are available to them, the crew will also give Ning Su a salary of 2 million.
On the other side of WeChat, Ning Su, who had originally planned to inform Director Gu of the news that Yao Ju had founded a new company to facilitate the contract signing later, unexpectedly saw a new message from the other party.
Wait, how much?
Ning Su narrowed his eyes and looked at the two million several times before he realized that it was indeed two million.
"Don't worry, we'll meet and talk in detail." Because of the two million, Ning Su even used honorifics without noticing.
After a moment, Ning Su rode out of the demon trap like a gust of wind, leaving only an afterimage on his ordinary electric scooter.
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