Chapter 38, Starry Sky Short Drama
After watching the first three episodes, Peng Ya felt as if the wrinkles in her cerebral cortex had been smoothed out, and every groove in her brain had been stretched and unfolded. She felt as if she were strolling through a tropical rainforest...
Oh no, it's not that wonderful. It's like walking through a squat toilet in an underdeveloped tourist destination. Even if you take a deep breath and hold it, the stench is still overwhelming.
The male protagonist, Zeng Han, comes from humble beginnings. At the start, he only draws the lowest-level Iron Shovel combat card. On his way home, he is bullied by the neighbor's child and is pushed to the ground, leaving red marks on his knees.
His fingers dug deep into the soil, his face full of suppressed emotion, before he finally let out a slight, crooked smile:
"Ha, my parents gave me life, I decide my own destiny. You can be arrogant and smug all you want, but one day you'll have to hear the dragon's roar!"
"Hey buddy, listen to me. Turtleneck your arrogance in front of me, or next time I'll show you what the law of this place is!"
Peng Ya solemnly clicked pause and carefully examined the so-called card held in Ruan Zihan's hand—
Half of the card was green, the image was misaligned in post-processing, and the pattern was a square spatula template that she found somewhere. She puts more effort into editing her own everyday photos than this.
Furthermore, what does the setting of the first three episodes have to do with card games? Isn't the place where the protagonist lives just a typical detached house neighborhood that you can see anywhere on the main planet?
Aside from replacing half of the green cards, there's absolutely no special effects involved.
If Peng Ya hadn't just clicked into the mini-program, she would have thought she was watching a radio broadcast.
And where did the male lead get that inexplicable quote he shouted at the end? How could they allow something like that to appear in the final cut of the short drama? Don't the Xinghan team have any aesthetic sense?
Peng Ya tilted her head back and drank a glass of cola. She felt that today's "happy water" was more bitter than beer.
Hahaha, how delightful! I should leisurely drink a cup of wine in the world of martial arts.
However, the card battle scenes might suddenly become interesting. Peng Ya pinched her philtrum hard, intending to give it a chance, at least until Ranran's appearance.
As the protagonist Zeng Han was sponsored by the female boss to attend the Card Academy, he seemed to have a cheat code activated. Not only did his grades suddenly become among the top in his class, but he also started to have an ambiguous relationship with a naive and innocent junior.
There was a knock on the classroom door, and the camera panned to Yao Mengran's delicate, doll-like face.
Peng Ya's gloomy eyes finally lit up, and she suddenly spun 180 degrees on the bed.
However, Yao Mengran's first line shocked Peng Ya: "Zeng Han, I heard you're very strong. Do you dare to have a match with me? If I win, you will be... at my mercy."
Yao Mengran's expression was meaningful as he flicked the other person's chin with his fingertip.
Ruan Zihan slammed a card with an iron rod photoshopped onto the table. The third party that did the special effects didn't even add a mask to his fingers, causing part of the iron rod texture to cover his right hand.
"Senior, I advise you not to confront me head-on. I'll only get injured, but you'll lose your life."
As each of them held a card between their fingers, a very perfunctory black lightning bolt image was abruptly added between them. It was obviously dragged directly from the image library, and Peng Ya had no idea how many period dramas she had seen this lightning bolt before.
What suffocated Peng Ya the most was that the innocent junior who admired the male lead flipped over on the metal table, making a dent in the thin table. Then, the junior actually helped Zeng Han cast a spell on Ranran.
Who actually enjoys watching this plot where all the female supporting characters fall in love with the male lead at first sight and fight to the death to protect him? Is it Ruan Zihan himself?
The crackling lightning effects bounced and flickered between the three people, and a rotating camera shot directly revealed the entire classroom.
This was none other than the dilapidated classroom that the reporters had photographed earlier, with more than a dozen yellow tin tables and chairs placed inside.
There was an entire wall in the classroom that seemed to have been originally intended for special effects design. The crew deliberately used green partitions to cover it up, but those partitions are now fully visible in the final cut, without any trace of post-production.
The main characters all wore ordinary high school uniforms. Except for the male lead, who changed into a few shirts and T-shirts at the beginning, all the other supporting characters in the show wore the same standard school uniforms.
As the duel reached its climax, a gentle interlude began to play. This was supposed to be the grand narrative background music that Chi Yingying was good at, but the song sounded a bit strange.
The song's emotional tone never really came through; the soothing intro just looped on and on until the end, like someone suddenly playing a Beethoven lullaby while two animals were fighting—it was completely absurd.
As Ranran collapsed into Ruan Zihan's arms, the innocent-looking junior girl pouted angrily beside her, her eyes filled with tears as she looked out the window.
With his fingertips pressed against Yao Mengran's lips, Ruan Zihan, his eyes red and his hand gripping Yao Mengran's waist, smiled and uttered his victory speech, word by word:
"Everything is impermanent and ever-changing. Fortune turns like a wheel. Senior, I'm willing to accept defeat; you're mine now."
The screen suddenly went black, and a line of monotonous white regular script text appeared—
[Would you like to pay 4 yuan to unlock the next ten episodes?]
Who would choose this puzzling location for the paid card? Is there anything worth anticipating coming from behind it?
Peng Ya was completely at a loss. She wanted to click on the episode selection interface to see how many episodes this long and tedious drama, which was as smelly and long as Ruan Zihan's underwear, actually had no episode selection UI at all.
She accidentally switched out of the app and waited patiently for more than ten minutes on the loading screen. When she came back in, the app had not saved her viewing progress, so she had to start watching from the beginning, when the protagonist was born in the slums.
Get lost, I'm not watching anymore.
If this were an ordinary youth campus drama or a period drama, and with a decent script, these fans might actually blindly indulge in it.
But this is supposed to be a card game background, and not only are the related elements extremely perfunctory, but they also use cheap special effects to fool the audience. Do they really think the audience is blind?
Especially since Peng Ya had just watched a short drama of the same genre on Juyu, the difference between the two dramas began as soon as she opened the app.
Clicking into Ranran's fan group, the group was already overflowing with 999+ messages.
[All Meng Ran fans, please refrain from giving Xing Han any attention. Instead, collectively flood the comments section of Meng Ran's studio with messages urging them to improve script review processes. Let me repeat, Meng Ran's fans will not cooperate with this disrespectful promotion of a terrible drama!]
[...I'm sick of it. The script is written like a primary school student's, it's like they're just saying whatever comes to mind, and the randomly added romantic subplots are just rubbish, utterly disgusting.]
[Haha, are you sure it's just the script that's wrong?]
[Nobody dares to say it, but I will. From the location, props, costumes, online platform, and post-production special effects, "This Young Master is a Professional" was a huge mess. In the last thirty episodes, the male lead ascended to the upper realm to become a god. Xinghan looks more like it's about to go bankrupt than Juyu.]
Other shows go from a humble school to a mediocre historical romance, but this one goes from a low-quality campus drama to a low-quality historical drama, and it's ridiculously expensive! It broke my wallet of over thirty yuan.
[Big daring! Remember what our CEO Zeng Han said, my friend: Even if I'm broke right now, I don't need anyone's pity.]
[Don't remind me of that line, it makes me want to vomit!]
[Is Ruan Zihan crazy? Didn't he do any market research before starting the show? We outsiders don't know the specifics of Juyu Entertainment, but he, an insider, doesn't know anything about it???]
Where does he get the confidence to launch a project on the same theme as Juyu Entertainment, and even drag my Ranran down with him?
[What does that mean? Are the short dramas produced by Juyu of high quality?]
[^^Is this something I can say in a group chat?]
[@Administrator, kick out those in the group who are talking about rival dramas. Even if you're not protecting your own drama, you can't be criticizing foreign dramas. You should use that energy to control the StarNet homepage and manage StarHan Media's forum.]
Although discussing foreign dramas is not allowed in the group on the surface, the group owner secretly created a drama-watching group and added the girls who had just mentioned Juyu short dramas. The small group of a few people expanded to several hundred people in just a few minutes.
Peng Ya was captivated by their discussion of the previous episodes and was eager to know what happened in the next thirty episodes.
The beginning was so exciting, I can accept the poor ending.
The snacks that Peng Ya couldn't eat because she felt nauseous while watching "This Young Master is a Professional" finally came in handy. She happily watched the scene where the male lead, Yi Xingjue, was preparing to teach the villain a lesson while stuffing herself with beef strips.
Nearly a thousand pieces of evidence were submitted to the Card Association headquarters, and the henchmen who cursed Xu Ci in the arena, along with the powerful families that commanded him, were all exposed.
While the main villain was imprisoned, Yi Xingjue easily bypassed several guards and launched a duel against the villain inside the prison.
The arena rises regardless of the terrain, but this time the transparent membrane is gone, and all personal injuries will fall directly on the competitors.
"Yi Xing Jue, are you crazy? How do you know about this forbidden technique?"
“I’ve always known, but I’ve never bothered to use it.” Yi Xingjue’s expression was calm. Without uttering any further words, he tossed a card straight onto the stone tablet in the center.
This time, however, the stone tablet emitted an ominous black and red light, and the throne behind Yi Xingjue was no longer that of a calm-faced angel of prayer, but had transformed into a giant demon wielding a double trident.
Immediately afterwards, the world trembled, and clouds rose in the sky. A pair of giant black hands tore through a corner of the dark clouds, and a black warrior, tens of meters tall, descended heavily from the horizon onto the arena, subduing his opponent with a single hand.
One card after another was casually thrown out, and countless fairies used dark clouds as threads to wrap around the person opposite them, layer by layer.
Peng Ya, watching from the screen, was so shocked she couldn't speak.
This is the kind of special effects she should be seeing.
As the weapon card took effect, the fairy maiden held a silk thread in her left hand and a sword in her right, unleashing dozens of sword strikes at the same time, severing the villain's tendons and crippling him.
"Yi Xingjue, you're a madman. The Senate will not let you get away with this."
Yi Xingjue remained expressionless, beckoned with his finger, and had a fairy maiden float over and gently stab him in the chest with a sword.
"The second son of the sinner Yin family attempted to escape from prison. I was ordered to stop him but was severely injured instead. In the chaos, I accidentally injured your hands and feet. Is there a problem?"
Villain: "..."
Just half an hour after Yi Xingjue left, the villain, bleeding profusely, finally heard some movement at the prison gate, but it was Xu Ci who walked in.
The moment Xu Ci launched his indiscriminate attack on the villain, a grand and solemn interlude immediately began to play.
This battle song appears every time the heroine has an important competition, causing the audience's emotions to build layer by layer, as if they have landed on an ancient battlefield where they are fighting to the death, and every drumbeat arouses the fighting spirit deep in their hearts.
The emotional climax of the entire song reached its peak at the moment when the jade pot burst forth with layers of light.
Having avenged his great enemy, Xu Ci's face showed no excitement of revenge, only endless pity and desolation.
The sound of the xiao (a type of Chinese flute) gradually rose, and the deep male voice chanted like a mournful song being told in a gentle, melodious way.
Peng Ya sniffed, her eyes stinging for some reason, and she couldn't help but feel sorry for Xu Ci for the grievances he had suffered over the past six months.
The soundtrack is much more immersive than that terrible drama by Xinghan. Both are classical music with heavy drum beats, and none of the more than ten insert songs in "Card Making" are bad. They are lyrical when they need to be lyrical and uplifting when they need to be uplifting. Every song is worthy of being included in a classic OST playlist.
She got up and wiped her tears with a tissue. Only then did she realize that she had unknowingly watched more than eighty episodes, with only two episodes left before the end.
It's unlikely that everything would be fine until the end, when they suddenly go bankrupt and can't afford to film anymore, leaving the audience with a huge disappointment.
Peng Ya nervously clicked on the last few episodes, and the high-quality production continued until the very end.
The drama never clearly shows who Xu Ci ends up with until the very last episode. Yi Xingjue and another young master from a prestigious family are as docile as quails in front of her, while the two secretly compete fiercely for her affections.
"Guess whether this card of mine will land heads or tails?"
Yi Xing Jue: "Front-up".
Second male lead: "The opposite."
As Xu Ci raised her fair finger, the card spun wildly in mid-air.
Just as the cards were about to stop moving and reveal their true nature to the audience, the screen suddenly went dark.
Peng Ya screamed wildly in front of the screen.
Why is it over already? I haven't had enough! I support the production of a 10-episode extra episode with a finale. I'll definitely support the male and female leads.
She has watched quite a few dramas, and this is undoubtedly the best one she has seen in the past five years. From the set design, prop making, costume design to the post-production special effects, there is nothing to criticize.
She really loved the outfit Xu Ci wore when she returned to the Xu family later on; after putting it on, she instantly exuded that goddess vibe.
Having watched the entire series, even if she were slow to catch on, she would know that the rumor about Giant Entertainment going bankrupt was definitely false. As for the so-called billion-dollar trust and the chief's illegitimate child, that was utter nonsense. The high quality, far surpassing its peers, continued from the opening screen to the very last episode, and all the post-production special effects were extremely complete.
Those damned rumor-mongers and unscrupulous reporters really fooled her.
As for Mr. Fang's true identity, it is so well hidden that even the Star Federation government is helping him conceal it. He must be a wealthy second-generation heir with extraordinary status.
Peng Ya finished off a whole table of snacks and recharged her account with even more diamonds, planning to finish feeding her great-great-grandmother tonight.
After stretching her limbs on the bed, she happily posted several beautiful screenshots she had taken while watching the show on her StarNet homepage. She also used her years of experience editing Ranran's unedited photos to edit a few pictures for Taomi, and added a few dozen words of her review.
The card-making craze is incredibly huge right now; the post just got posted and already garnered hundreds of comments.
[As long as you watch the card making process, we're good friends^^]
[Let's stop being friends. This fan was still mocking the production of short dramas at noon today. Do I need to refresh everyone's memory? 'Sorry, established agencies like Xinghan have an advantage over amateur production teams when they get involved in short dramas.']
[Stop cursing, stop cursing. I apologize on behalf of Ran's fans. Right now, our big fans are organizing to focus on targeting Xinghan.]
The card-making is really beautiful. We were just messing around with the moon landing thing before, so I'll just post a screenshot of all the card-making unlocked.
[Anyone who offends Juyu will face a hundredfold backlash, @XinghanMedia. You love making dramas of the same genre so much; whoever produces the worst quality will be embarrassed!]
[Can I say that although many companies imitated this model after the Great Ancestor Grandma came out, the short dramas launched by Juyu have the most authentic feel. The female lead is not a saint at all, she just delivers powerful performances.]
[I'm a country bumpkin, but I love watching this^^ Peach, come down and let me act in two episodes!]
[So why did Xinghan have to put himself in such an awkward position? If he had just made a campus drama and it had quietly flopped, nobody would have cared. Now he's being chased and beaten up by Ran's fans, entertainment fans, and all sorts of casual viewers.]
[Perhaps I'm too confident. Remember what I, Zeng Han, said: I do not do it for fame or fortune, but only for two words in my heart: loyalty and righteousness!]
Please don't bring back painful memories for Ran's fans.
It seems like Xinghan released the video before the special effects were even finished; some clips even have the "DEMO sample" symbol on them.
The special effects on the Juyu website are absolutely overkill. Just the opening screen segment where you draw your exclusive card deck and cards is different every time you rewatch it; there are over thirty different special effects endings. You can click the replay button in the bottom right corner to watch it repeatedly.
[Oh, you've reminded me.]
As more and more people finish watching a show and discover they can also view the splash screen, Giant Entertainment's official account timely sent out a beautifully designed invitation.
The Juyu Short Drama APP has a special card embedded in its opening screen. In addition to the regular thirty-plus special effects, some user accounts can draw a special red card. As long as you draw this card, you can participate in the offline meet-and-greet with the lead actors of the short drama for free.
This isn't the only way; any account that has previously participated in group broadcast voting has a certain probability of receiving an invitation to a meet-and-greet.
Although Giant Entertainment did not announce the specific location of the fan meeting, the small fan meeting they held for Tong Qinglu last time was luxurious enough, and attending it would definitely be a worthwhile investment.
As soon as the news broke, the number of downloads for the short drama app skyrocketed, and the revenue of the card-making and pure purchasing side also increased accordingly.
On various platforms, there are not only numerous posts discussing the plot, but also a very small number of people showing off their accounts that have won the invitation. Each of these posts receives thousands or even tens of thousands of likes, accompanied by a large number of "follow-me" emojis.
Just one day later, Fang Zhuo's account received a rebate of 1.5 billion.
The system kept popping up prompts—
[Company's current reputation value: 20, matching title 'Starting Well']
[If the conditions are met, the attribute values of each character in [X-ray Mode] will be accurately converted from a ten-point scale to a hundred-point scale. Go try it out!]
[Congratulations, host! You have achieved the accomplishment of 'Your work has been viewed over one million times']
[This update unlocks 2 achievements and titles, and includes two unnamed blind boxes, which have been added to your inventory.]
The success of this card production not only fully covered the initial investment, but more importantly, it solidified the reputation of Juyu Short Drama within the industry and enhanced its brand awareness.
It's been a little over a month since Giant Entertainment arrived in the Star Federation, and the company has finally entered the mainstream entertainment industry's field of vision.
Fang Zhuo sat on the second floor of the mansion's reception area, quietly observing the terrain of the entire planet 399 in the planet editor.
His goal is certainly not just to turn Giant Entertainment into a small but successful entertainment company. With the current popularity of the new short dramas, this is the best opportunity to showcase Giant Entertainment's commercial value to the industry.
He invested heavily in these two short dramas, and now it's time to reap the rewards.
"Help me make an appointment with the vice presidents of the five major talent agencies and invite them to come over the day after tomorrow."
Jiang Yu carefully noted down Mr. Fang's requirements, and couldn't help but ask in confusion:
"Mr. Fang, isn't the day after tomorrow our scheduled offline meetup? Isn't this a duplicate?"
Fang Zhuo waved his hand, not directly answering Jiang Yu's question: "I'll explain the site zoning plan to you later."
"Also, compile a list of the brands that have extended endorsement offers to our company's artists in the past two days, and invite their business liaisons."
"And about the shopping mall property bidding that I mentioned to you before, invite the representatives from the companies that have replied to our emails over."
Jiang Yu was completely baffled: "President Fang, aren't there too many people? Adding the invitations we sent to the group broadcasters, that's several hundred people in total, and we have to divide them into regions... We don't have the capacity to accommodate everyone right now."
Following Mr. Fang's gaze, Jiang Yu looked out from the floor-to-ceiling window of the villa on the mountaintop. In the distance, there were only vast grasslands and hillsides and the shimmering sea. At the horizon where the sea met, there was a ship that looked quite large.
The scenery is quite nice, but are you taking the brand's contact person hiking?
Jiang Yu shook his head, imagining a scene of a large group of pot-bellied middle-aged people struggling to climb a mountain.
Isn't this a bit too surreal?
Mr. Fang took a sip of coffee and said, "One last thing, you need to coordinate with Ruan Zihan and see if you can get him to come over and sing a song the day after tomorrow."
Jiang Yu pointed to herself: "Shall I handle the coordination?"
Although he felt that Ruan Zihan was indeed not very smart, he thought it shouldn't be that bad.
As if he had expected this, Mr. Fang then sent Jiang Yu a document via his personal computer—
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