Chapter 28 Introduction—lv.0
Who was most surprised by Hsu Wei-sheng's arrival at the parade? First, we can rule out Chien Chen. She had asked Hsu Wei-sheng before she left if he would come, so seeing the parade boss in the reception room was a given for her.
Poor Zixin, after finishing her breakfast, took out a set of Kung Fu tea cups, intending to brew a pot of Longjing tea that had just been transported from Fujian for Jianzhen in the tea room. When she turned her head, she saw Xu Weisheng, dressed in a neat suit, appear in the office and walk straight toward the tea room.
Little did she know that Xu Weisheng was the rumored rich second-generation boss who never attended court. She was also very curious about his presence in her company, so she pouted, whistled, and teased, "Handsome, here to see Director Yang?"
Xu Weisheng was helpless. He was dressed so maturely and professionally, how could the other party not realize that he was the owner of this company? On the way back to the city from Dongguan before the New Year, Jian Zhen teased him that the day his identity was revealed would definitely scare the employees. It seems that she was right.
"Hmm, where is she?"
"Room 3." Zixin was about to enthusiastically lead the way when Xu Weisheng turned and left. Room 3 was neither too far nor too close, just at the edge of Zixin's field of vision. She watched as Xu Weisheng walked to the door, casually knocked twice, and then deftly pushed the door open and went inside.
"Damn, who is this handsome guy...?" Zixin, holding a cup of hot water, followed the door of meeting room number 3 with her eyes. She walked back with a stiff neck and almost bumped into a colleague who had just come out of the restroom.
"Hey, watch out, hot water!" She bent over and took a quick half-step back.
Her colleague gestured for her to be quiet as if facing a major threat, and warned her, "Don't be so alarmed, the boss is in the company today."
"Who?" Zixin frowned in confusion.
"That guy who just went into meeting room number 3, isn't he handsome?"
The delicate and cute little teacup in Zixin's hand fell to the ground with a clatter and cracked.
After two knocks, the door to the reception room clicked open. Jian Zhen turned around and met Xu Weisheng's gaze as he entered. She smiled and said, "Good morning."
"Good morning." Xu Weisheng pulled out a chair and sat down next to her, turning his head to look at her with a smile: "I heard you have a lot of opinions about Pingping's side story?"
"You hired me as a consultant so you could give me your opinions, right?"
Yang Damei's gaze darted back and forth between the two. Ever since Xu Weisheng entered the room, she had felt something was wrong, as if needles were pricking her from the chair, forcing her to leave this place of trouble as soon as possible.
"I was planning to ask you to help me check the quality of the footage."
"I've also looked at the original artwork. It's decent, but the visuals depend on the plot. If the plot itself is full of flaws, no matter how beautiful the visuals are, it's just a slightly better PowerPoint presentation. At most, it'll be paired with an expensive custom-made background music, and the PowerPoint will become a regular in karaoke music videos."
Jian Zhen's criticism was practically tantamount to pointing his finger at someone and cursing them. Yang Damei's mind flashed through a series of animated films, and she tried to match them up. When she finally looked, she realized that most of the well-known animated films were on Jian Zhen's list of mockery. She immediately broke out in a cold sweat and made an excuse to leave early, afraid that if she listened any longer, Jian Zhen would curse her as well.
"So what do you think is the best way to change it?" Xu Weisheng glanced at the door that Yang Damei had closed, then turned back to ask Jian Zhen.
He wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he felt that he was much closer to the other person than before Yang Damei left, even though neither of them had moved their chairs.
"If I were Pingping, born from the essence of heaven and earth, I certainly wouldn't know what human emotions are. When players enter the cave, I peek out from the stone pillar that's perched on my body and find that the players are startled by me. At that moment, I start to wonder what emotion the human's action of retreating represents. So I slowly begin to understand what fear is. Next, I need to understand what trust is, what joy is, what sadness is, what happiness is..."
Jian Zhen continued, "According to the original script, Pingping's transformation from manipulating humans to falling in love with them can be summed up in one sentence—the protagonist is injured and lying on the ground, Pingping feels guilty, transforms into human form to take care of him, and feelings develop over time." She scoffed disdainfully, "Don't you think that's idiotic? That's not how love is formed."
"Oh? Then how does love arise?" Xu Weisheng suddenly became interested. The point that Jian Zhen mentioned was actually a common problem for many screenwriters. He looked at Jian Zhen seriously, expecting her to give her insightful opinion.
“Love—” Jian Zhen looked at him, then suddenly stopped. She felt an urge from the inside out, wanting to hold Xu Weisheng’s head and interrogate him, “Do you love me or not?” But in doing so, she avoided the question that was right in front of her: How does love come about?
Yes, how exactly does love arise? Is it by dressing up beautifully and appearing in front of the other person to arouse their sexual desire? Or is it by making time to spend with them and letting them get used to your presence...? It seems like neither. Then she thought, if she doesn't even understand the true laws of love, how can she be confident that she can make Xu Weisheng willingly become her devoted follower?
Jian Zhen looked at him, her eyes flashing, her ears turning red as she turned her face away, pressing on the stack of manuscript papers on the table, and said, "I haven't had time to brainstorm these details yet. Anyway, you understand what I mean. The current direction is illogical. If you think it's unnecessary to change the plot, I'll also—"
“I agree,” Xu Weisheng interrupted her.
"You agree?" Jian Zhen ran her fingers along the edge of the paper, raising her eyes in surprise, but only dared to look at the wall, not daring to turn her head to look at his face.
"Let's try revising it according to your ideas." Xu Weisheng pulled his chair back, deliberately creating some distance between them, otherwise their knees would touch. He continued, "The original screenwriter has been immersed in this industry for many years, and it's inevitable that he's picked up a bit of craftsmanship. He likes to base everything on experience. For non-mainline NPCs like this, it's already quite rare that he could take the time to design some introductions, developments, climaxes, and transitions to drive the story forward as needed."
Director Yang, after all, was recruited from Qili, so he has a more precise control over the emotional expression of the visuals. He can tell something's wrong just by glancing at the script. But simply changing the visuals to fix the plot is only a temporary fix. To be honest, handing a script with such disjointed flow to animators and expecting them to create emotionally rich and naturally natural artwork is wishful thinking.
After Xu Weisheng finished speaking, he unscrewed the mineral water bottle in front of him. Jian Zhen watched him tilt his head back to drink water, his Adam's apple bobbing on his collar. She also swallowed and then shook her head urgently, focusing her attention on speaking up for Yang Damei: "There are problems with the plot. Director Yang may not be unaware of them, but Qili has been there for too long. The overly fragmented division of power has stifled the possibility of free creation, so Director Yang has not considered this aspect at all."
Xu Weisheng glanced at her with a smile: "I didn't expect you to have such a deep understanding of Qili's issues!"
"Wasn't that why you left that company?" Jian Zhen snorted.
"More than that," Xu Weisheng said calmly.
"You really did work at Qili!" Jian Zhen clapped her hands after successfully bluffing, "I knew it! You and Director Yang must have met at Qili. Did you go out on your own and go bankrupt later?"
Xu Weisheng fell for her trick, stood there stunned for a moment, and then laughed: "How did we get off topic? I'm giving you this mediocre subplot. You need to shift your position from the supervisor of the footage to the director, understand?"
"Hmm." Jian Zhen nodded, but in her heart she was thinking that she must have put the puzzle together correctly for him to be nervous for a moment.
"I'll ask Director Yang to send you the work sections and email addresses of each team leader. People might not be too comfortable accepting the identity of a part-time director, so please keep your employment at Qili a secret for now, okay?"
"Hmm." Jian Zhen nodded again, but then suddenly realized something and stopped, asking, "No, you want me to be a part-time director?"
“You already agreed,” Xu Weisheng reminded him.
"What did I promise—" As soon as Jian Zhen said this, the conversation from earlier swirled in her mind. She realized that she had really agreed and was immediately filled with regret. She hadn't even wanted to take the job as a visual review consultant in the first place, so how did she suddenly become a director?
"Just think of it as a short film. Didn't you do something similar for your graduation project?"
"How can that be the same?" Jian Zhen frowned when she thought of that "108,000". In the end, she heard that it was bought by one of Director Jian's comrades from her military service. This cast an ambiguous shadow over her originally proud graduation project, and she felt it was useless whenever she thought about it later.
Jian Zhen: "My graduation project is my own business. Now you want me to be a part-time director. I have to deal with so many people. Just thinking about it gives me high blood pressure."
"Director Yang told me that you're quite popular at Qili and have a wide social circle. Every day at work, people greet you from the first floor to the ninth floor." Xu Weisheng tilted his head and stared at her, unable to understand the real intention behind her refusal.
"Once you become a leader, relationships will never be good. Have you ever seen a prostitute like a nanny?" Jian Zhen revealed the secret in one sentence.
Xu Weisheng reflected for a moment and realized that what he said was indeed crude but reasonable... No wonder Yang Damei had become distant and polite with him now. But as the saying goes, rain is inevitable and women are destined to marry. Jian Zhen has a talent for directing, and he could not let her lie down on the spot.
“Then you have to give it a try.” Xu Weisheng reasoned with him, “No one can stay in today’s beautiful world as an original artist forever. Didn’t you want to find a fourth path? It’s been laid out for you, why aren’t you taking it?”
This is way too difficult! What kind of road is this? Is this the path the Little Mermaid walked on a knife's edge?
Jian Zhen argued, "Even if I do become a director someday, wouldn't it be better for me to work on 'Mystery Valley' at Qili? Lao Le has been wanting me to be the episode director for a long time. Besides, 'Mystery Valley' is already airing on satellite TV, which is much better than your obscure side story in 'Hundred Demon Records'..."
She became increasingly less confident as she spoke, because she noticed that Xu Weisheng's eyes were exceptionally bright, almost piercing through all her doubts.
Xu Weisheng asked, "With Qili in turmoil and everyone feeling insecure, why does 'Mystery Valley' remain steadfast and unshaken at this critical juncture?"
Jian Zhen vaguely sensed the other person's unspoken message—her aunt, who had extensive connections in the industry. The two fell silent simultaneously, neither of them revealing their true intentions.
After a moment, Xu Weisheng finally spoke: "Taking shelter under a tree also means the danger of being struck by lightning. I dare not say that the path of having someone to protect you will not last long, but if I were you, I would choose to take it one step at a time."
"Don't curse my aunt." Jian Zhen stood up abruptly, grabbed a large handful of printed papers from the table, turned around and pushed back her chair. Just as she was about to storm off, she suddenly stopped, took a deep breath, forced herself to calm down, and said coldly, "Go and sign the contract for that house from yesterday. Move in next week."
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