Chapter 78 Hidden Plot [Xia Chun Falls into a Trap]
In the original novel, the male protagonist Ding Zhiyuan was once in crisis when he was fighting for power with Yu Chong in Runjia Entertainment.
Ding Zhiyuan had been working as Vice President at Runjia Entertainment for three or four months, yet had achieved no success. The only project he had pushed forward was for Qiao Lele to star in "The Legend of Hu Ji." Yu Chong repeatedly pressured Ding Zhiyuan, prompting him to move forward with his next project: Ye Shiqing's next script, "Moon in Chang'an." This was a big-budget historical drama about political intrigue. The entertainment industry has a limited quota for historical dramas, and only period dramas have made a splash. Serious historical dramas are often all hype but little substance, flop after flop. Even the first reaction from those in the industry, upon hearing about the potential for a big-budget historical drama about political intrigue, was: What?! Another money laundering?
These large-scale costume dramas are planned with great fanfare, but even when they flop, they often flop spectacularly. Only a handful of them become truly high-quality. Consequently, many actors are cautious about accepting roles in serious costume dramas. Actors won't take on roles unless they need to boost their profile, secure a collaboration with a major director, or truly consider the script and ratings.
In the original novel, Ding Zhiyuan has a wealthy background. Even without using Runjia Entertainment as his name, a few hundred million is nothing to the ATM heroine. He can invest in any company under his own name. Ding Zhiyuan's problem is the actor.
From the screenwriter to the director to the producer, all of the cast members of "Chang'an Moon" are unknown and unreliable. Not to mention the famous actors in the entertainment industry, even newcomers who have just started out would not act in such a drama that looks absolutely unreliable at first glance.
The biggest difficulty Ding Zhiyuan encountered was that he had no one.
No actor was willing to play the role in "Chang'an Moon" he planned.
Although Runjia Entertainment had many artists, many of them were award-winning actors and actresses who were unwilling to condescend to act in TV dramas. At the same time, they were all Yu Chong's people and would not give Ding Zhiyuan face. Jiangcheng had no other entertainment companies besides Runjia Entertainment.
Unable to find actors, and unable to proceed with the project despite all the money, Ding Zhiyuan was deeply depressed. One night, he went to a bar to drown his sorrows. Unexpectedly, he ran into a woman who had been drugged.
Ding Zhiyuan naturally staged another "hero saving the beauty" scene, then took the woman to the hotel and "sacrificed himself" to give her the antidote.
In other words, he had a one-night stand with that woman.
She remembered... Du Wanwan tapped her fingers on the tablet a few times, recalling the specific words of the original work.
The original novel states: "The woman raised her face and smiled charmingly. Under her pair of crescent-shaped eyes, you could only see a very small red teardrop mole at the corner of her eye when you got close to her face."
Ding Zhiyuan kept calling her "sister". In the heat of the moment, the woman blurted out, "You call me sister? I'm old enough to be your mother."
Ding Zhiyuan was also drunk at the time and didn't care. He complained to the woman. When he woke up the next morning, the woman was gone, leaving only a note saying thank you. Ding Zhiyuan returned to Runjia Entertainment and received calls from several actors willing to audition.
It wasn't long before filming began on "Chang'an Moon." A little over a year later, "Chang'an Moon" aired, achieving the highest ratings of the year. After the celebration banquet, Ding Zhiyuan ran into the mysterious woman again, and they had another romantic encounter. The woman didn't reveal her identity, but gave Ding Zhiyuan a number and a small gourd-shaped pendant, asking him to wear it on his wrist. She said anyone who saw it would honor him.
Thanks to this gourd-shaped pendant and the huge success of his ancient puppet show "The Legend of Hu Ji" and the costume drama "Moon over Chang'an," Ding Zhiyuan's fame skyrocketed. From then on, he never had trouble finding actors to act in his plays; instead, actors would beg him to starve. Ding Zhiyuan's position within Runjia Entertainment also changed dramatically, and he successfully overtook Yu Chong to become the president of Runjia Entertainment Group.
All of this was made possible by the help of that mysterious woman.
The original novel doesn't specify who this woman is, but how many women in the Chinese entertainment industry can command actors to act in a show they don't even care about? Among them, who has a pair of crescent eyes, and who has a small red teardrop mole under the corner of the eye?
Only Xia Chun.
“…” Du Wanwan took a deep breath slowly.
She hadn't imagined that there was such a connection! If she hadn't taken Meng Qian down, if Qiao Lele hadn't given her the gossip, if she hadn't forced Lou Yiqi to reveal what happened back then, would she never have imagined that there was a Xia family against her?
But she was sure that everything Xia Chun did was not accidental, otherwise, she would not have gone to find Lou Yiqi with the love talisman twenty-one years ago.
The decades-long struggle between the Xia and Du families, the years-long rivalry between Xia Chun and his mother, the twenty-year rivalry between Xia Tian Entertainment and Runjia Entertainment, the underground sale of banned talismans in the entertainment industry, the almost surfaced abuse of banned talismans in the entertainment industry... everything has a reasonable explanation and can be linked together by the struggle between the two families.
The only thing that still cannot be explained is the ending of Ding Zhiyuan in the original work.
If the Xia family is the ultimate controller of the harem system, why did they allow Ding Zhiyuan to own everything of the Du family instead of letting the Xia family swallow up the Du family? If Ding Zhiyuan is just a puppet controlled by the harem system, other than Runjia Entertainment being able to profit from the cooperation with Xia Tian Entertainment, how else can Runjia Investment Group transfer benefits to the Xia family?
These were not written in the original book, so she didn't know.
Du Wanwan was certain that the original novel was indeed a mindless, enjoyable urban immortal cultivation novel. But since it had already formed a world, there had to be a reasonable explanation behind all the mindless excitement. However, those reasonable explanations and reasonable plots had been firmly suppressed. Unless she found a clue and dug up the truth, she would never expect to find the reason in the original novel.
But now, she has found a breakthrough, that is, the Xia family. There is also a favorable time and place conditions - the harem system is still in Meng Qian's hands, and hesitant about the next move.
Just as Du Wanwan had threatened before, if the harem system did nothing, it would be waiting for death, just like what happened tonight, waiting for her to dig out the events of the past step by step and disintegrate the opponent bit by bit.
If it makes any movement, no matter what it does, it will alert the snake and give Du Wanwan the opportunity to capture its traces.
While the harem system hasn't reacted yet, she can still do more. If only, if only she could know the exact date when Ding Zhiyuan first met Xia Chun...
Just as Du Wanwan was thinking this, the voice of the Awakener System suddenly rang in her mind.
"Congratulations to the host for getting the character [Lou Yiqi] the correct ending. This operation is rated R, and you have received 1000 awakening points."
Hmm? Her actions of forcing Lou Yiqi just now actually led to Lou Yiqi's rightful ending? Does this mean Lou Yiqi has been harmed by the love charm the whole time?
By the way, in the original novel, Lou Yiqi was indeed just a character that was mentioned briefly, a supporting role among supporting roles. He only appeared briefly in the movie "Abyss Rescue" which was a failure of Yu Chong's investment. After that, he quickly became obscure and never appeared in the entertainment industry again.
But in the original story, Lou Yiqi should have been able to achieve better development and shine?
Yes, the Awakener System will determine what the correct ending is, which means it must know everything. Then, of course, she can also exchange hidden plots with the Awakener System!
Du Wanwan decisively asked, "System, redeem the hidden plot [Xia Chun]."
Awakener System: "We have found two hidden plots related to [Xia Chun] for you. The hidden plot [The date Xia Chun and Ding Zhiyuan met] is rated SR and requires 10,000 Awakening Points. The hidden plot [Xia Chun falls into a trap] is rated SSR and requires 100,000 Awakening Points. Please select the plot you want to redeem."
What to choose? Of course, both.
Du Wanwan: "Exchange for the hidden plots [Date Xia Chun and Ding Zhiyuan Met] and [Xia Chun Falls into a Trap] at the same time."
Awakener System: "Okay, we have redeemed two hidden plots for you, costing 110,000 Awakening Points. Your current Awakening Point balance is: 124,450 Awakening Points. Please prepare to receive the hidden plots."
As soon as she finished speaking, Du Wanwan felt a buzzing in her head, and the dizziness of being bombarded by information flow immediately came over her.
Then, she clearly saw the process of Xia Chun falling into the trap, which was not written in the original book.
The hidden plot says that Xia Chun went to a bar called Choubusi in this city.
This bar... Du Wanwan searched in the Runjia Entertainment database and quickly got the results.
The Chou Bu Mei Bar is a well-known spot in the entertainment industry. Opened by a retired artist, it's a popular haunt. In the five or six years since its opening, numerous anecdotes have surfaced, alleging that a popular young actress was spotted by her agent while drinking there. Since then, countless young men and women with dreams have sought out the Chou Bu Mei Bar, hoping to catch the eye of an agent, a financial sponsor, or a senior figure, ultimately achieving overnight fame and widespread recognition.
This kind of place... Du Wanwan pondered. It was obvious that if it wasn't managed properly, things would easily go wrong. There were so many beautiful, naive girls with dreams in there. With just a few words of comfort, claiming to be their agent, they could easily get them drunk and take them away.
Then I continued to watch the hidden plot, and it was indeed very similar to what Du Wanwan had imagined.
The hidden plot says that Xia Chun came to Jiangcheng from City A specifically to meet a newcomer who was highly praised by the owner of the Chou Bu Mei bar. Unexpectedly, she showed up, but the bar owner and the newcomer had something urgent to do, so Xia Chun was asked to wait for a while.
The owner, naturally apprehensive at having the CEO of Xiatian Entertainment waiting, offered him a good drink. Xia Chun, eager to see if there were any other prospects, left his private room and sat down in the main bar. Perhaps due to his pampered lifestyle or a moment of carelessness, Xia Chun temporarily left his seat and returned to continue drinking the wine on the table.
She had never imagined that someone at the Chou Bu Mei bar wouldn't recognize the renowned Mr. Xia, and that the waiter was overwhelmed. A short-sighted scoundrel, judging her appearance, mistook her for a dream seeker like everyone else and cast a vile spell in her glass.
After Xia Chun drank a sip of wine, he felt weak all over and was picked up by a few scoundrels and taken to a hotel.
After that, the plot of the original novel continued. On the way to the bathroom, Ding Zhiyuan found someone carrying a drunk woman out through the back door. He felt something was wrong, so he rescued the person and was then entangled and "sacrificed himself" to go to the hotel.
"..." After reading the hidden plot, Du Wanwan didn't know how to describe the feelings in her heart.
Xia Chun has been a fixture in the entertainment industry for twenty years, personally building Xiatian Entertainment from nothing to its current position as one of the industry's most powerful companies. She's undoubtedly a scheming and resourceful female CEO. It's not surprising that she doesn't even travel without a bodyguard or assistant, but after sleeping with Ding Zhiyuan once, her affection for him skyrocketed, and she's been secretly collaborating with him ever since. Du Wanwan couldn't figure out whether this harem system was designed to help the Xia family or Ding Zhiyuan.
What Du Wanwan couldn't comprehend even more was that Xia Chun had once exchanged the forbidden spell with Lou Yiqi. She was certain Xia Chun knew her mother Du Qingjia's unusual behavior was related to the forbidden spell. Even in this situation, she hadn't even considered protecting herself from food and drink, thus being ambushed by a few minions.
Was this truly a conspiracy, or were the Xia family unwilling to reveal themselves, choosing instead to use this seemingly unintentional method to link the Xia family to Ding Zhiyuan? From then on, every success Ding Zhiyuan achieved in the entertainment industry was a bonus for the Xia family.
Du Wanwan prefers the latter.
Then, if we continue along this line of thought, as long as we catch those people...
Immediately afterwards, the Awakener System gave her a second hidden plot.
The date Xia Chun was ambushed was February 14th, which happened to be Valentine's Day.
That is, after a month.
A month seemed a bit long. If the harem system knew about it, who knew how many defenses it could set up. But a month was enough time for her to arrange many things and be completely confident.
Okay. Du Wanwan's eyes darkened. One month is just one month.
See you then, Harem System, and...Ms. Xia.
In addition, if meeting a new person was not an excuse made up by the original author, she also wanted to meet the new person who made Xia Chun rush all the way from City A to meet him.
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