Chapter 344 New Year's Drama
Li Qin is in a panic now.
She has been promoting Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace for some time, and it has finally come to an end. Knowing that Meng Bai has returned to Beijing, and she happened to have no schedule today, she came here to give him a surprise.
Unexpectedly, the original "a short separation is better than a new marriage" turned into "meeting the parents". What
she is most worried about now is whether she will leave a bad impression on Meng Bai's parents. After all, for many older generations, running to a man's house for no reason is not something a decent girl would do.
The atmosphere in the room was a little awkward, and it was Meng's mother who finally spoke first to break the quiet atmosphere: "That, Xiao Li, right?"
"Yes, Auntie." Li Qin responded obediently.
"You said you are Meng Bai's friend, so how about, are you living with him?" Meng's mother asked with a frown.
Li Qin waved her hand quickly: "No, no, I, I am..."
She couldn't think of any suitable excuse for a while, and hesitated for a few words, looking at Meng Bai while stroking her hair.
Li Qin: Save me! Save me! Save me...
Meng Bai couldn't help laughing in his heart. Seeing the panic expression on the girl's originally cold face, he stretched out a finger and shook it.
Li Qin felt ashamed when she saw this. She naturally understood what the other party meant. This bad guy actually took the opportunity to "blackmail" her.
But the situation was urgent at the moment, so she could only agree first.
Seeing this, Meng Bai's smug smile flashed across his face. He walked forward a few steps, stood in front of Li Qin, and slightly blocked Meng's mother's gaze for her.
"Several friends had a party at my place before, and Xiao Qin left something here. It happened that she had time today, so she told me that she would come and get it. I thought she would leave soon, so I didn't tell you."
Li Qin on the side also nodded quickly: "Yes, Teacher Meng told me that he had something to do today, so I came to get it myself. I was delayed on the way and it was a little late. I didn't expect to meet my uncle and aunt."
"Is that so." Meng's mother said with a dry laugh.
How to say it, this reason sounds ridiculous, but there is no need to expose it.
And no matter whether it is true or false, the relationship between this girl and her son is definitely not just ordinary friends.
Thinking of this, her attitude softened a little, and she said softly: "Did you find the thing?"
"Found it, found it." Li Qin looked at Mother Meng gratefully and walked down the stairs.
After that, she stood up quickly: "Well, uncle and aunt just came from Blue Island, I won't disturb you two to rest, I'll leave first."
"Hey, why are you in a hurry to leave. Since she is Meng Bai's friend, she is not an outsider. It's just right for us to have dinner together in the evening." Mother Meng greeted.
"Ah, this..."
Li Qin blinked, wanting to agree in her heart, but felt that today was not a very suitable opportunity.
After hesitating for a while, she finally gritted her teeth and waved her hand, saying, "Thank you, Auntie, but I have something to do here, so I won't bother you anymore."
"Is that so?" Mother Meng didn't force her to stay, but just reminded her again, "Then if you go to Blue Island one day, come to our house to play again."
"Okay, okay, I will." Li Qin said, "Then I'll leave first. I wish Uncle and Aunt a Happy New Year in advance!"
After that, she bowed slightly to the two of them, then glanced at Meng Bai and walked out quickly.
"I'll see her off." Meng Bai said, and then followed him out.
After walking a few steps quickly, he turned the corner of the courtyard and caught up with the other person in front of the corridor.
"Why are you walking so fast?"
Li Qin looked back when he heard the voice, and saw that only Meng Bai came over, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Then, he looked straight at him and said, "Why didn't you tell me that Uncle and Aunt were coming?"
"I didn't know you would come today." Meng Bai looked at her with a smile, "You deserve it! You always like to make surprise attacks, now you are honest."
"..."
Li Qin pursed her lips in a somewhat depressed mood.
Seeing the girl's depressed expression, Meng Bai reached out and held her: "Okay, it's okay. My parents are easy to talk to. I'll explain to them later. Don't worry."
Wrapped in the familiar atmosphere, Li Qin's panic finally settled down.
"By the way, are you going home for the New Year?" Meng Bai changed the subject.
"I should be able to go back on New Year's Eve. There is a promotional program to be recorded tomorrow." Li Qin said,
"Oh, yes, your "Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace" is going to be on, right?"
Because "Peace Hotel" will be broadcast after the New Year, he specifically learned about the opening dramas of major satellite TV stations, including "Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace" on Dragon TV.
"Your drama will also be broadcast after the New Year, I remember." Li Qin recovered some spirit, "How about it, are you ready to be defeated by me?"
"You are a small supporting role outside the eighth place, what does it have to do with you." Meng Bai said sarcastically.
As the sister work of "The Legend of Zhen Huan", "Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace" has been targeted by a group of actresses in the circle since the project was announced.
Although Zhou Xun was confirmed as the female lead early on, the other supporting actresses were also fought over.
Look at the cast - Zhang Junning, Tong Yao, Xin Zhilei, Li Chun, Chen Haoyu, Zhao Ke, Chen Xiaoyun... They
are basically the actresses who have been hovering in the second, third and fourth lines in the circle for many years and have never been popular.
After all, "The Legend of Zhen Huan" created the scene of "one drama is popular, and all the actors are promoted". So this time, everyone hopes to be promoted in the circle by relying on this drama.
Li Qin's role in the play is called "Han Xiangjian", the daughter of Han Ati, the leader of the Hui tribe. She is born with body fragrance, strong personality, outstanding appearance, and is favored by the six palaces.
This role does not have many scenes, but the character setting is not bad, and it is particularly suitable for her image full of coldness.
Speaking of which, this drama has a strong cast and the audience base of the previous work. It is indeed one of the main competitors of "Peace Hotel".
However, Meng Bai, with his many years of experience as a producer, feels that it is difficult for this drama to replicate the success of "The Legend of Zhen Huan".
"Why?" Li Qin asked puzzledly.
"One is the production team. Your director this time has basically filmed urban dramas before. This is the first costume palace drama. Although the screenwriter is the author of the original novel, novels and film and television dramas are both storytelling, but they are still different after all."
Meng Bai said: "Another point is that most of the actors are rushing to become popular with this drama, which will inevitably cause the separation between the actors' personal performances and the overall plot. If I'm not mistaken, the atmosphere of the crew should be quite tense when you were filming."
Li Qin recalled that it seemed to be true.
Because they knew that this resource was very good, almost every actor was full of energy to show themselves, which made the filming not smooth.
The previous work was an unintentional act, but it turned out to be a masterpiece by accident. The sequel wanted to replicate the success, but it became very deliberate.
But even so, Li Qin still felt that it was not a big problem. Even if it is not as popular as "The Legend of Zhen Huan", it will not be much worse.
"How about it, Mr. Li, do you want to make a bet?"
"What do you want to bet on?"
"Let's bet on which of the two dramas has the higher ratings." Meng Bai said with a smile: "Whoever loses must agree to one of the other's requests."
Li Qin pouted: "Didn't you just squeeze one of my requests!"
"So, I'll give you a chance. If your drama wins, this request will be cancelled."
"Okay!"
Li Qin agreed confidently.
After all, "Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace" has a good cast and audience base, so it won't perform worse than a spy drama with no cast.
The two stayed together for a while, and Li Qin was worried that he would be out for too long and make Meng's father and mother think too much, so she urged him to go back quickly.
After watching Li Qin drive away, Meng Bai turned around and went back to the house.
"Tell me, what's the situation with this girl?"
As soon as he entered the door, Meng's mother frowned and said to him.
"Didn't she say it herself? They are good friends." Meng Bai was accustomed to this. He sat down next to Meng's mother and said with a smile.
"Stop smiling at me."
Mother Meng said loudly, but seeing his reckless look, she sighed helplessly, "Okay, I can't control you anyway, you can do whatever you want. But I tell you, my daughter-in-law can bring me one. If you dare to say 'I want them all', I will beat you to death first."
After that, she stood up and packed her luggage. When passing by Father Meng, she patted him, "Your son is just like you, he is always troublesome."
Father Meng: What does it have to do with me? I have been honest for most of my life, and I didn't even dare to say a word for half a day, okay?
Mother Meng: I scolded you for not speaking!
Father Meng, who was used as a punching bag, secretly muttered a few words when his wife was not paying attention. When he raised his eyes, he saw Meng Bai looking at him again.
"I have the same attitude as your mother." Father Meng spread his hands, "You can get a daughter-in-law anyway, you decide for yourself."
Looking at the old couple, Meng Bai muttered in his heart: I am a single person, okay? Let's talk about "daughter-in-law" ten years later.
——On
New Year's Eve, Father Meng and Mother Meng went to watch a live version of the Spring Festival Gala. After the show, the old couple only stayed in Beijing North for two days before returning to Landao to start their annual routine of visiting relatives.
However, this year, everyone asked one more question when they met: "Old Meng, I heard that you went to CCTV to watch the Spring Festival Gala live. How did you feel?"
Every time this happened, Father Meng would wave his hand and say, "Well, it's not interesting. The stage is so far away, and you can only watch the big screen if you sit there. It's better to watch TV at home."
In one sentence, he was both pretentious and low-key.
At the same time, the movies in this year's Spring Festival file also began to compete for the box office.
In addition to Wang Baoqiang's "Journey to India", there are five other movies in this year's Spring Festival file - "Operation Red Sea", "Monster Hunt 2", "Journey to the West: The Women Kingdom" and the annual "Boonie Bears".
The most popular one here is naturally "Monster Hunt 2". After all, the previous work was the first domestic film with a box office of more than 2 billion yuan, and the annual champion of that year.
After that, "Journey to the West: The Women Kingdom" and "Journey to India" also had good popularity due to their lineup and gimmicks.
However, what everyone did not expect was that the first one to break through the siege was the silent "Operation Red Sea". In just one Spring Festival holiday, the cumulative box office exceeded 1.5 billion.
This scene made everyone think of "Wolf Warrior 2" in the 2017 summer file half a year ago. Both films are military action themes, and the theme is also overseas evacuation.
It's just that "Wolf Warrior 2" is more inclined to individual heroes, while "Operation Red Sea" is more group portraits, but they are roughly similar routines.
This has made many people in the industry think, is this kind of "military action film" the next theme outlet?
Believe it or not, it is foreseeable that in the next year, there will inevitably be a large number of movies with similar themes online.
After "Operation Red Sea", it is "Monster Hunt 2". This movie was actually quite popular during the Spring Festival holiday. However, as word of mouth deteriorated, the box office performance also showed a cliff-like decline.
As for "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons", it was the same as Meng Bai had expected. With Wang Baoqiang's appeal and the gimmick of his first directing, the Spring Festival box office took in 500 million yuan in seven days. Not
only did it make back the cost, but it also made a lot of profit. However, as the box office grew, the evaluation of this movie was full of criticism, and the word of mouth was catching up with last year's "amazing masterpiece" "Dreaming in the Entertainment Circle".
That is, Wang Baoqiang has always had a good public image, and last year's "divorce incident" added some sympathy points, which made the audience not scold too much, but the unanimous opinion on the Internet was that he was not capable enough to be a director.
The filming of "Detective Chinatown 2" ended before the New Year, and Wang Baoqiang just came back to promote the movie, but he didn't expect to receive a lot of negative reviews.
Chen Sicheng told Meng Bai that Baoqiang has been a little autistic recently.
"He's not afraid of being scolded." Chen Sicheng said on the phone: "He just feels that he has worked so hard for so long, but in the end he made a bad movie. It's really embarrassing."
How to say it, knowing that he is embarrassed shows that at least his attitude is serious.
It's better than those who don't feel ashamed after making a bad movie, but instead blame the audience for not appreciating it.
However, Meng Bai didn't pay much attention to this movie. Knowing that the investment was not lost, he put it aside.
Like the film market, with the beginning of the new year, the opening dramas of major satellite TV stations have also been broadcast one after another.
According to the new film trailers released by various TV stations before the holiday, this year's film and television drama market is similar to the film market, and all of them are large-scale productions with powerful lineups.
"Winning the World" on Jiangsu Satellite TV, "Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace" on Dragon TV, "Phoenix Prisoner" on Mango TV, "Moscow Operation" on Zhejiang Satellite TV... and "A Different World" on CCTV-1 and "Peace Hotel" on CCTV-8.
The main character of "Win the World" is Fan Qiaoqiao, and the production team is also the team of "The Empress of China".
"Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace" is not to mention, with a strong cast and the foundation of the previous work. Both the audience and the industry believe that it will be the first hit of the year.
As for "Phoenix Prisoner", in a word, the producer is Yu Zheng. As a hit-making machine in the field of TV dramas in recent years, no matter what the reputation is, every drama of Yu Zheng is absolutely popular.
"A Different World" is an orthodox drama of CCTV. This kind of purely main theme work is generally not included in the discussion.
The remaining "Moscow Operation" and "Peace Hotel" are actually somewhat similar. They are both TV series produced by online drama teams.
The former is the team of the hit online drama "Yu Zui" in the past two years, not to mention the latter, the top streamer Arc Light Film and Television in the field of online dramas.
Seeing these two dramas appear in the list of "New Year's Dramas", many people suddenly realized that the online drama team, which was once considered to be synonymous with "shoddy", has actually developed to compete with the traditional TV drama team.
Speaking of which, just looking at the popularity of the early publicity, "Peace Hotel" is still slightly better than "Moscow Operation".
After all, there are fans accumulated from more than a dozen popular works of Arc Light. Although the leading actors Qin Hao and Qin Lan are not first-line top streamers, they are still well-known.
In addition, this is Meng Bai's second spy drama as a screenwriter after "The Pretender", and there are still many viewers paying attention to it.
As for the results, it is not completely without a chance to compete.
Competitions with too great a disparity in strength are not as interesting as those with small gaps.
The dramas released at the beginning of 2018 are not weak, and the audience and fans are also very interested in the competition between the dramas.
In everyone's opinion, there will be a fierce competition next.
Unexpectedly, before the competition began, the two most popular dramas, "Win the World" and "Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace", were hit by a "dimensionality reduction attack".
Just two days before the premiere, "Win the World" suddenly announced the withdrawal and postponement.
The reason is that two "Qin fans" wrote a letter of complaint of more than 7,000 words and handed it to the leaders of the relevant departments, accusing the drama of "smearing the emperor who unified the six kingdoms as a rapist, and the Great Wall was built with the funding of Ba Qing, and the plot is seriously out of historical facts."
Faced with such "iron-blooded" fans, Jiangsu Satellite TV could only bite its tongue and swallow its anger, and quickly pulled "Mr. Love" starring Jin Dong to take over.
But it's not over yet. On the second day after "Win the World" announced its withdrawal, the highly anticipated "Ruyi's Royal Love in the Palace" also announced its withdrawal and postponement.
However, it was not reported, but failed to pass the review because the episodes were too long and the content was deleted.
(End of this chapter)
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