Chapter 66

Su Ning: ...

How come this person's reaction is even greater than Ji Xue's?

In fact, Lu Fei had not made any move since Ji Xue broke up with him that night. He was a person who was always flattered and had a strong self-esteem. Ji Xue had already said that, and if he continued to pester her, he would appear to be too shameless.

Of course, he was not completely unconcerned. He did contact Su Ning during this period and learned that Ji Xue had renewed her contract with Guangying Entertainment and was preparing to return to filming. He only replied, "Very good."

Then, there was no contact.

Su Ning knew in his heart that the two people liked each other, but too many emotions in the world are easily worn away by one thing or another. This is what it means to be together but not destined to be together.

But he didn't expect Lu Fei to be so excited now. He thought that this matter was over, as if he had kept it well hidden before, but now he has been holding it in for so long that he can no longer hide it.

In a fit of rage, Lu Fei posted more than ten messages on the Internet, causing passers-by who originally didn't care about the matter to come and watch the fun.

"It's so funny. As soon as this came out, several accounts were deleted immediately and an apology statement was issued immediately."

"Let me check the authentication. Could it be that some fan has stolen the account?"

Then Lu Fei posted a selfie, personally verifying that it was indeed him.

Someone else was making sarcastic comments about how he had such a strong background right after his debut, and Lu Fei went right up to confront him.

That was the company that Ji Xue signed with herself. If he was the one who paid the money, there would be plenty of options for the leading actress. Why would he take a supporting role in an extra film and let people say that?

Strictly speaking, what happened between Ji Xue and Lu Fei was not a scandal. It was just a normal love affair. If there was anything negative about it, it wasn't a very negative one. Passersby seemed to be quite happy about it.

Su Ning was thinking whether to suppress the heat. After all, they broke up, so he should try not to affect Ji Xue. But soon, Lu Fei called him and asked bluntly, "Is Xiaoxue okay?"

"She's fine," Su Ning said, "She's still filming as normal, there's no impact."

Originally, the popularity of this incident was not high. The rumor-mongering and insulting trending search was only on for a few minutes before Su Ning took it down.

Not to mention, after Jiang Chenfeng came in, the Langbo platform also made a lot of changes. Moreover, the Jiang family has many children. President Jiang has at least eight illegitimate children. If this one is gone, there is still the next one. Sons are not as important as business.

The one they got in return is indeed much more law-abiding, at least it is beneficial to Su Ning. They are all in the Haicheng circle, so it is easy for them to help suppress a low-level hot search that is suspected of spreading rumors.

After hearing this, Lu Fei heaved a sigh of relief, and then hummed and moaned: "You are really attentive, otherwise I would never let her sign a contract with you so easily."

The Lu family is wealthy, but different industries have different worlds. He doesn't know much about the entertainment industry, and now is not the time to just spend money to get everything. He still needs to find a trustworthy company to help Xiaoxue, and this resource was indeed chosen by her herself.

"Since we've come to this point, I'd like to ask you a question, Mr. Lu, what do you think?" Su Ning asked, "Ji Xue wants to be an artist now, and her love life will affect her career. Whether from the perspective of her agent or her friend, I want to know."

After listening to this, Lu Fei was silent for a while.

"Boss Su, you are a married man, don't you understand?" He said softly, "I really thought about giving up. She even lied to me. I thought there are so many other people in the world, there must be someone better than her. What kind of person can't I find?"

"But now I realize that emotions are really uncontrollable. When I see her being bullied, I get really angry and I just... miss her. I miss her all the time in my heart."

Su Ning didn’t quite understand.

Putting himself in other people's shoes, he felt that there were not so many uncontrollable aspects in his relationship with Shen Mingzheng. Even things in bed could be set within the rules, so everything was still within his plan. Now he couldn't offer any advice on Lu Fei's uncontrollable emotions.

So he just listened quietly.

"Oh, forget it. If you were in my situation, you would understand. Face is nothing. How can it be more important than your wife? I just want to follow my heart and try to understand her better. If I give up without fighting for her, I will regret it for the rest of my life."

Lu Fei added, "True love has its ups and downs. She wants to film a movie now, that's fine. I'm not pestering her to make her unhappy. I spend money chasing stars, that's fine, right?"

Su Ning: ...

Then he really can't stop people from chasing stars.

Ji Xue has never responded directly to this matter, and Lu Fei certainly doesn't want to make a big deal about it, so the heat soon passed.

A few days later, she started applying for her own online account. Su Ning asked her if she wanted to choose a stage name, and she thought about it and said she wanted to continue using the name "Jixue".

She said, "I'm used to this name. It's good."

It is both the same and different from her original name.

Su Ning agreed and then helped her apply for artist certification. As soon as the application was successful, Jixue's first fan came.

——It is the famous Mr. Lu Feilu with the gold V certification.

Not long after, Ji Xue's reshoots were completed, and the results were very good. Gaoshan Pictures no longer had any objections.

The resources for her next film were not secured so quickly, and her account did gain some new fans and passers-by who came to watch the excitement, but she did not take a break and followed her teacher back to class.

This was Ji Xue's own initiative. After all, she had been away for too long. After joining the crew, she realized her shortcomings even more, so she immediately began to make up for her professional studies.

Like her, Su Ning has been thinking about whether he should improve now. In this circle, it is like sailing against the current. If you don't move forward, you will fall behind. To some extent, the company is the same as the artist. How to fight is actually secondary. He and Shen Mingzheng have fought enough before. Now the work is the most important.

The ability to produce successful film and television works is the foundation of a film and television company.

The current main business of Guangying Entertainment is the operation of idols. Glory is of course very successful and has achieved impressive results, but after Su Ning signed Ji Xue and recruited a lot of people, and took back some of the original foundation of the old president Su, he put forward the plan for the next year at the year-end meeting, focusing on the film and television projects led by the company.

——“Rooted in works, creating new glories”.

It turned out that some of the old folks in the light and shadow entertainment industry couldn't help but feel excited when they heard this slogan, knowing that he was going to pick up his old business.

While Su Ning was discussing Glory's next album with Shen Mingzheng, they were also planning to work together on a play.

Guangying Entertainment held many copyrights, and this was the company asset that Su Ning was determined not to sell during the most difficult times. After discussing with Shen Mingzheng, he first selected a script for a palace and political drama, the original novel of which was called "The Ambitious Man".

It tells the story of the heroine who was childhood sweethearts with the prince and promised to be together forever, but because the emperor was superstitious about celestial events, she had to enter the palace and marry the father of her beloved. In order to protect herself and her family, she started a palace struggle.

The old emperor died halfway through the story, and the heroine successfully fought in the palace and became the empress dowager, with her own young children.

The prince ascended the throne and the newcomer entered the palace, and a new round of palace fighting and political struggles began. The heroine, as the queen mother, fell in love and killed her former lover because of power. Even her child could not tell whether it was the child of the old emperor or the child of the current emperor.

In the end, both emperors died at her hands. The queen ascended the throne with her young son and became the empress dowager who ruled the country from behind the curtain. She lived until she died at the age of eighty.

The original novel was very popular and was very well written. The plot was interlocking, the struggle of human nature was very eye-catching, and it had a sufficient audience base. The reason for choosing this book was that after Mr. Su bought it, he had already hired a screenwriter to write the script, and had asked the original author to revise it several times. The script was already roughly finished, and it was time to formally form a crew, but then he fell ill.

This was obviously a big investment in a drama, and old Mr. Su was still thinking about it with his eyes closed, and repeatedly mentioned that it couldn't be filmed casually. Su Hongda was obedient in this regard and kept the script until Su Ning came here, when he brought up the matter.

Compared to other projects, this one already has the influence of the original novel and a solid script, so things will go much more smoothly later on.

Palace fighting dramas are obviously women's dramas, with many bright female characters and a wider audience. He wanted to find a suitable role with important lines for Ji Xue, so that she can slowly accumulate popularity through supporting roles. By then, she will have a better foundation for playing the leading role and it can also be considered as honing her acting skills.

The investment in this play was too huge, so Su Ning chose to work with Shen Mingzheng. Guangying Entertainment first invited a director, and his intention was to find Guo Baomu, a well-known figure in the television industry who had cooperated with Guangying Entertainment a few years ago. Su Ning visited him several times. The other party had read the script and had a general intention to cooperate, but Su Ning emphasized several candidates for the main actors.

The most important thing is the heroine.

This is a standard drama with a strong female lead. None of the contracted actors of Su Ning and Shen Mingzheng can take on the role of the female lead as they are all too young. Only someone with some experience can take on the role. Many of the main actors must be recruited from outside. Zhu Lan and Su Ning mentioned it several times and wanted to insert people, but most of the times they were rejected by Shen Mingzheng.

Su Ning didn't care about some minor roles, he just regarded it as a favor, but he refused to give in to the main actors and insisted on taking the matter into his own hands.

Zhu Lan argued about this for a while, and then the matter was finally settled. After New Year's Day, Su Ning met her again at the "Audience Choice Awards" in January.

The "Audience Choice Award" is of great importance in the industry, especially since it is chosen as a key node to summarize the year, so Glory is naturally shortlisted.

This is a semi-official award, now in its ninth year, and is hosted by a major Internet company. The main basis for the award is streaming media data, plus some audience voting and judges' scores.

Because the data source is relatively reliable, they are willing to spend a lot of money to hold the ceremony, and there is official endorsement behind it. In addition to the live broadcast on the Internet, the broadcast platform also broadcasts simultaneously on the central TV station and several local TV stations with high ratings. The "Audience Choice Award" is currently one of the most authoritative awards in the entertainment industry, representing public indexes and audience recognition.

Zhu Lan is one of the judges, and she is also the vice chairman of the Audience Choice Award. This alone is enough to show how high her status is in the circle. As soon as she entered the venue, many people greeted her and many people surrounded her.

But after a brief greeting, she walked past so many people and came to where Su Ning was sitting alone. She sat beside him and the first thing she said was, "Why, Ming Zheng didn't come with you today?"

She was still the same, covered in jewels and precious stones, and at first glance it looked as if she was dropping money every time she moved.

Su Ning turned around and smiled politely: "Don't you know? He has official business."

It was because of the need to find a leading role for the remake of "The Ambitious Family" that director Guo Baomu recommended a female actress, and Shen Mingzheng personally went to invite her.

Zhu Lan knew it in her heart, so she laughed and said, "Okay, you don't want the actress I found, isn't it just that the salary is a bit expensive? In fact, what she wants is within the normal range, the market price. You insist on saying that it's not suitable and have to find someone who is down and out."

The actress Su Ning found was not as down and out as she said. She started out as an actress in period dramas. Her name was Ye Qiuxin and she had the kind of "peace and prosperity" face that the elders liked. She was not gorgeous but dignified, recognizable and approachable. She did not have a high profile on the Internet, but several of the TV series she starred in had high ratings.

In her last movie, she played a hard-working female entrepreneur from the countryside. She should be very familiar to the middle-aged audiences. She is very well-known in the country, no less famous than any other actress. She is 30 years old this year, which is just the right age for a female lead.

What's important is that her acting is very good. Her vigorous look makes her a suitable choice for the role in the movie. No wonder director Kuo Pao-mu tried his best to recommend her, saying that he would direct the film if she was signed.

"As for roles, it's not about whether they are famous or not, it's just about whether they are suitable or not," Su Ning said. "The original novel of this play is so famous, I believe that the majority of fans are not the kind of people who want something expensive, not right. Don't you think so?"

He really meant it.

Zhu Lan waved his hands, seemingly not taking the words seriously, and said, "Su Ning, let's talk about something practical."

"I know Shen Mingzheng is not here, so I came to see you today. He is stubborn and you can still make some concessions."

"You have to know that the reason why I specifically recommended that actress to you was because the platform wanted to choose her. The female lead insisted on choosing Ye Qiuxin, and they insisted on having their own way. But where should this drama be broadcasted? Have you thought it through?"

Regarding the broadcasting platform of this drama, Su'ning has always been in contact with Haicheng TV Station. Guangying Entertainment is also a local enterprise, and the TV station mentioned in the star talk show is Haicheng TV Station.

But the situation of light and shadow entertainment in the past few years is there. Several dramas have been missed. Now TV stations are unwilling to pay too high a price. Moreover, the most important and most profitable platform for broadcasting dramas is the video platform on the Internet.

For dramas with large investments like this, they usually consider introducing investments from video platforms, so that the platforms are biased when broadcasting. After all, the ratings of Haicheng TV Station are average.

Su Ning certainly didn't make the film for his own pleasure. For the sake of being responsible to the company, he had to at least make back the money. He had to consider all these business matters. While Zhu Lan was intervening, she did recommend to Su Ning the video website with the highest market share at present - Yuedong Video.

Su Ning was more familiar with Chen Yuan's Orange Video before, but to be honest it is not as good as that. Orange Video is okay for variety shows, but its investment in big dramas is very limited and has great limitations.

But when they were approached, Su Ning first rejected the female lead role offered by Yuedong Video, and also refused to accept other important roles. Director Guo Baomu wanted to audition each role one by one and could not cut in, which made him unhappy.

Zhu Lan mentioned this here to remind him not to be as stubborn as Shen Mingzheng, but to relax a little and give way to others.

The reason why E-Motion Video is so powerful is that it has a parent company, the nationally renowned Internet company E-Motion Technology. Today's Audience Choice Award has the support of this company, so it is held in such a grand manner today.

"You can meet the person in charge later and discuss it again," Zhu Lan said, "I think there may be room for negotiation on this matter."

Su Ning also came with this idea in mind. He understood that the other party wanted to make money. If possible, he would try his best to find a balance between the two, all for the sake of the work.

Soon, Zhu Lan came with Mr. Sheng from Yuedong Video.

He seemed to be a very friendly person. He shook hands with Su Ning first and praised the young and promising people. He seemed to know that Su Ning was unwilling to make concessions on production to help them promote people, so he waved his hand and said, "If that's the case, then forget it. I have known your Shen family and have cooperated with them for so many years. It's okay for me to make concessions."

It sounds like it's very generous.

But at this point, he changed the subject and said, "Boss Su, I actually have another suggestion. As long as you agree, we will not interfere with the production of "The Ambitious Man". In addition, I will find you the best time slot of the year and recommend you the best advertising slot. I am also familiar with the people at the TV station. Look, aren't they standing right there? The TV station I recommend to you is definitely better than Haicheng TV Station."

"Anyway, I can find you any configuration you want," he promised. "If you don't believe me, ask Mr. Lan. I've worked with him for many years, haven't I ever made a mistake? Even Mr. Shen has praised me."

Zhu Lan nodded: "Indeed."

The conditions he proposed were too good, and the pie he drew was too big. Su Ning became alert and asked cautiously, "So, what is Mr. Sheng's proposal?"

"You can ask Glory to come to my place to film, especially Li Chu, I think he is the most popular one," the other party said with a smile, "I have a few idol drama scripts here, I guarantee that he will play the male lead, and Ji Mowei, they are all good, come, don't worry, I will definitely pay them a lot."

"Boss Su, my proposal is very respectful. Do you think it's... not bad?"