Chapter 18 Red Carpet Invitation
Unlike the previous brief five-minute leak, this time the paparazzi released a full-length video that is nearly two hours long.
The video begins when he lands at Planet 45. The recording shows the "Short Drama Grandma Filming Base" vaguely marked on the huge electronic map at the docking point, and a similar sign can also be seen at the entrance of the film set.
The paparazzi's caption was very sincere and aggrieved, saying that he was attacked by viewers from all sides after the short drama aired. In one afternoon, he received tens of thousands of comments and private messages questioning whether he was paid to stir up trouble and smear Juyu.
He appealed to the audience not to cyberbully him, while simultaneously clarifying that he had definitely not looked for the wrong place before.
Zhou Yu laughed heartily; these days even paparazzi have the audacity to cry foul.
When she saw the comments, she almost laughed herself silly.
Dude, could you take a closer look at the sign outside the film set? Does it say "Great-Grandmother" or "Great-Grandmother"?
[Honey, if your eyesight isn't good, I suggest posting the full video next time you share something.]
[Fish, you're different from other paparazzi. Don't waste your time on work. Your top priority is to find an ophthalmology hospital and get an appointment with a specialist.]
[…I spent a whole week, practically wearing out all those videos from those top YouTubers researching filming locations, and now you're telling me I made a mistake?]
So where did the filming location for "Grandma Da Zu" actually come from? I would call this the third biggest unsolved mystery in the entertainment industry after the 101 debut night vote-rigging scandal and the travel variety show scandal.
[Hmm, haven't any short video bloggers come forward to claim this yet? Don't tell me it was really Fang Ge who paid for it himself. Even the most shoddy film set and extras would cost at least 100,000 yuan. Isn't it a bit too extravagant to just fool the paparazzi?]
Zhou Yu was overjoyed and saved the post. He switched to the main page and found a hashtag on the trending list in the lower right corner: #ShortDramaGrandma'sBehindTheScenesUnveiled#. It turned out to be a behind-the-scenes documentary edited by Giant Entertainment itself.
Is the authorities going to step in and explain the fake film set incident?
She clicked on it without hesitation. The video started with Zhang Kaigang explaining his filming ideas, and it also revealed a lot of the process of him personally guiding Tong Qinglu in filming.
Next, the head of FlowlineIC's business team personally appeared on camera to thank the sponsor, and the agent from 45star also came out to praise the boss of Giant Entertainment for his amazing generosity in booking all the film and television bases. Finally, she also advertised 45star's film studio rental service.
After watching the short film, Zhou Yu was so shocked that she couldn't speak.
So the special effects were indeed done by FlowlineIC, and Giant Entertainment actually rented the entire 45-star planet.
Although the short film did not directly address the issue of fake film sets, this extravagant investment approach successfully diverted her attention.
I'm going to compete with you rich people! I really want to spend money like this without any scruples.
With the diamonds she had just topped up in place, she quickly finished watching the remaining thirty episodes.
As expected, it did not disappoint her; the last thirty episodes featured high-cost special effects and a variety of grand scenes.
The female protagonist, Ling Che, takes over the management of the sect, allowing her grandson to see the true face of Fairy Mi Yu and completely expelling the Jade Maiden Peak members who were leeching off the Sword Sect from the sect.
In the third-to-last episode, the Yin Shi Demon Lord, who had a crush on the female lead Ling Che a thousand years ago, is now seriously ill and on his deathbed. She rushes to see her old friend one last time.
In the vast cave, Lingche lightly touched his old friend's brow with his fingertip from afar, and choked up as he said, "Do you still remember our promise to drink another jar of apricot blossom wine under the tree? I wonder if that jar of wine is still there?"
On the soft couch, the once arrogant and self-assured Demon Lord shed two lines of clear tears.
"It's you... Ah Che, it's actually you..."
Outside the cave, a mournful death knell tolled, and thousands of high-ranking demon servants knelt in unison. An epic soundtrack crashed down, the two powerful preludes pounding heavily on everyone's eardrums.
Zhou Yu cried uncontrollably along with the viewers in the live chat.
She could tell that the background music was very similar to the style of Goddess Yingying from five years ago, but this song seemed to be more melancholic and poignant, with the heavy cello sound intensifying the overall sense of desolation.
Zhou Yu glanced at the composer—it was Qiao Ankuang, whom she used to hate the most.
At that moment, she had a feeling that she had known it all along.
It felt as if something had suddenly shattered, and her brain felt as if it had been struck by a heavy object in an instant.
She curled up on the sofa, and somehow, she began to recall all the criticisms she had made against Giant Entertainment and the artists they had signed over the past two weeks.
Yes, with such abundant funds, Juyu could sign any artist they wanted, so why Qiao Ankuang of all people?
Unless he is truly a genius whom he is willing to spend any amount of money to acquire—
What about the goddess Yingying?
Zhou Yu didn't dare to think too much about it. After watching the entire short drama, she quietly switched to the official account of Juyu Entertainment and followed all the artists' accounts. She then found the original post where she had posted the negative comment, wrote it, deleted it, and wrote it again. Finally, she wrote a long apology under her own comment.
After writing her apology comment, she went to the drama's online platform and solemnly left a review:
[Just finished watching the entire series of Grandma Taizu. The special effects, sets, and props are all top-notch, and Kai Gang's performance is as consistently excellent as ever. Tong Jie's acting is also more mature than expected.]
Thank you, Brother Fang, for bringing us such a wonderful short drama. This is the most useful episode in terms of financial power.
I also want to apologize to the people I criticized before. I had too much prejudice against the boss of Juyu Entertainment and the artists in that company. I'm sorry.
[Oh my god, isn't this a well-known hater from Giant Entertainment? Whoever apologizes to me will receive a huge reward.]
[Can anyone tell me what's so good about this show? How come even the haters have switched sides? I saw she's adding so many Juyu Entertainment artists to her following list, she even found and followed Juyu Entertainment's assistant's private account... This is the first time I've ever seen such a classic case of haters turning into fans.]
[I envy you having eyes that haven't seen the Great-Grandmother's beauty^^ Guaranteed to be beautiful and captivating]
[Go watch it!! It's so good I have to switch off to relax every few episodes. The special effects are even more amazing than in movies. I seriously suspect that ByteDance paid them too much money. FlowlineIC, you really show a clear difference in treatment towards your clients.]
[Just put your brain in the washing machine and you can start watching. After getting through the free episodes, the female lead is simply an unparalleled war goddess, slapping the villains relentlessly with both hands.]
[+1, the speed at which it was proven is good for my breasts]
[Uh, it's not just FlowlineIC that's giving this show special treatment. I'm a longtime fan of Director Zhang, and it's been a long time since I've seen him personally oversee the filming of Team B.]
He put more effort into filming "Grandma Mao" than he did into many big-budget films produced by major distributors; he probably did get paid more, haha.
[We still don't know exactly how rich Brother Fang is. This show was undoubtedly a huge hit, right? Has anyone calculated how much Brother Fang actually earned?]
[Of course we won't make money. What are you thinking? The cost of this show, plus promotion and app operation, is close to 500 million. I can't even imagine how we'll break even.]
[Wow, this is outrageous! Is he really doing charity work? Has no one bothered to investigate his background? Is he just a second-generation business owner dabbling in this?]
The large screen embedded in the atrium on the top floor was playing comments from the short drama plaza homepage. When a passerby said that Giant Entertainment was doing charity work in the entertainment industry, several employees also subtly glanced at Fang Zhuo with admiring and approving eyes.
Fang Zhu ignored the respect in those eyes, silently switched to the system balance interface, and listened to a series of system achievement announcements.
[Congratulations, host! You have achieved the achievement 'Over one million discussions related to your artists']
[Congratulations again, host! You have achieved the milestone of 'Total number of fans of your employees has exceeded one million']
[Company's current reputation value: 10, matching title 'A First Try']
[The conditions have been met, and the new character attribute - Skill Talent Value - has been unlocked for the X-ray vision panel. Go check it out!]
The short drama "Grandma Taizu" has been online for only two days, and the app has already been downloaded more than 80 million times. Dozens of trending topics have been on the main page of Xingwang for a long time.
Based on this data, it undoubtedly became a phenomenal, groundbreaking hit drama for Star Entertainment in the past five years, and the company's pre-tax profit reached over 110 million yuan.
He certainly wouldn't make a profit on paper, but he couldn't possibly do a business that loses money.
Tong Qinglu's loyalty level remained steadily at 8, and this time she achieved a critical hit, increasing the rebate multiplier by two points.
In just over a day, this short drama brought him a real return of 1.3 billion yuan, and this amount is still rising rapidly.
As a brand-new form of film and television, short dramas must quickly open up the market from the very beginning by relying on quality and word-of-mouth that far surpasses similar products. Naturally, there will be a steady stream of profits afterward. This time, the return rate of over 200% is already quite surprising.
[Ding ding ding, this is an ominous warning. Your remaining survival days will decrease to 40 days. At that time, the host will contract a random disease. Please renew your subscription in time!]
Near the end of the workday, the system popped up another warning.
Despite having plenty of money, Fang Zhuo didn't spend too much on lifespan, only using 100 million to exchange for another ten days of survival time.
He then activated the microloan plugin and paid off the 1 billion yuan high-interest loan in one go.
[The principal of one billion has been successfully repaid on schedule. A total profit of 30.24 million has been generated during this period and has been automatically deducted from your account balance.]
[Congratulations, host, your credit score has been improved. Your loan limit has been increased.]
[Original Quota: One Billion]
[Current loan amount: 20 billion]
[Friendly reminder: Upgrading your company level will also increase your credit limit. Please make full use of the power the system provides!]
[Host's current remaining survival days: 50]
[Having survived more than the system's recommended healthy survival time of 40 days, the random disease condition does not apply.]
He had just finished paying back the money when Yi Diandian sent a little emoji of someone pacing anxiously back and forth: [Host, after paying back the money, your balance is only a little over 800 million left]
Fang Zhuo chuckled lightly: [What, you think it's not enough?]
Yi Dian Dian: [Let me wipe my sweat first, I have the illusion that I just spent a lot of money]
Fang Zhuo: [A little-known fact: the loan amount stored in the plugin is not your account balance. Don't be so possessive of loan sharks.]
With five minutes left before the end of the workday, Fang Zhuo had already checked off all the tasks for the day and leaned back on the sofa.
He watched the company's live stream for a while and casually tipped a newcomer twice. Suddenly, there was a knock on the office door.
Jiang Yu politely pushed the door open halfway and sent a red carpet invitation to Fang Zhuo's personal terminal:
"Mr. Fang, Jia Sha Magazine has invited the entire cast and crew of the short drama to attend their red carpet event this weekend. The list includes not only Ms. Tong and a few of the lead actors, but also your name."
Jiang Yu looked somewhat angry; he clearly felt that Jia Sha's abruptly extending an invitation to the agency's boss was very offensive.
Gessa Magazine is undoubtedly the top fashion magazine among the three major fashion magazines in the entertainment industry. Its annual red carpet gala and charity gala after the banquet attract most of the top stars in the entertainment industry.
Logically, the invitation list for such a large-scale event should have been finalized several months in advance, and it's impossible to send emails to guests to confirm information only two days before the event.
But the sudden popularity of the short drama "Grandma Taizu" not only shocked passersby, but also clearly surprised everyone in the industry.
Tong Qinglu's meteoric rise to fame was like a rocket launch, and the behind-the-scenes boss who almost never appeared in public naturally generated an enormous amount of buzz.
Fang Zhuo glanced through the long list of celebrities to be invited and, unsurprisingly, saw two names.
"Xiao Jiang, send a message to Jia Sha, I'll be coming over."
Jiang Yu looked slightly surprised, but quickly nodded.
Remaining in the office, Fang Zhuo's gaze remained fixed on the list.
He was really looking forward to meeting those two second-rate competitors, but he didn't know if they were feeling as calm as he was.
Fang Zhuo opened the original text of "Brilliance" on the system interface—before attending the red carpet, he planned to meet someone.
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