Chapter 31
Chen Yijun’s new song topped the charts of major music platforms for the next few days. As the star of the MV, the effect on Cheng Xia was a bit lighter. He became a bit popular in the music circle and the number of fans on his Weibo page slowly rose to 350,000.
Then two days later, the hot search was occupied by the news that two celebrities in the circle had announced their marriage. The popularity of Chen Yijun’s new song was gradually decreasing and attention toward Cheng Xia was also decreasing. Many netizens only had three days of memory. Cheng Xia had expected this result. On the day the MV was just released, his Weibo comments exceeded 3,000. Then in the past few days, the comments fell off a cliff.
More than 80% of those who followed him were Chen Yijun’s fans. 80% of these people were doing it for Chen Yijun’s sake. Only a few people liked his face or remembered him for playing the piano.
The number of these people was only less than 30,000. Most of Cheng Xia’s passerby fans could climb the wall at any time. Actors should speak with good works. Therefore, Cheng Xia soon calmed down after experiencing this sudden small boom. He adjusted his mentality and concentrated on preparing for the next drama.
However, both Cheng Yiming and Jiang Qiong actively registered for Weibo and followed their son. They saw that their son had more than 300,000 followers on Weibo. They were very proud and told everyone, “My son played in the MV called Memory Fragments. Go and see it.”
Thus, all the neighbors knew that he played in the MV when he walked around. Some children ran to Cheng Xia and said, “Brother Cheng Xia, if you become popular in the future, you must sign more postcards for me!”
Cheng Xia didn’t know if he should laugh or cry.
On the sixth day, all the main creators and actors of the crew returned to Rong City.
In the WeChat group of the Folding Paper crew, Pei Shaoze sent a message. [Tomorrow at 11 o’clock in the morning at the stadium of the 17th High School, the drama will officially start. I hope everyone will attend on time and not be late. In the afternoon, we will take makeup photos. We have only borrowed the venue of the 17th High School for 12 days. The time is very rushed and the schedule is full. Please cooperate with the crew as soon as possible.]
Liu Xueyi also came out and said, [The deputy director will send a notice to the artists tomorrow. In terms of accommodation, everyone should live directly in the student dormitories. President Pei convinced the school to directly free up a dormitory for our production team. If we live at the school then we don’t have to waste time on the road. Let’s hurry and finish shooting the winter plots.]
Screenwriter Xu also wrote. [Tomorrow night will be the first script reading and Teacher Lemongrass will also follow the group. If you have any questions about the script then you can directly contact us to revise it on site.]
The agents and actors appeared to applaud. One of the pieces of information made everyone feel a sense of urgency. 12 days to finish the winter plots? Was this too few?
Cheng Xia had read the original novel. The novel was written from Qin Nian and Lu Fengyang’s first year of high school until they graduated from high school and were admitted to the same university. The time span was three years. During these three years, there were plots for every winter. Some of these key plots occurred in snowy weather. Could it be filmed in 12 days?
The even more terrible thing was that due to the time span, the relationship and feelings between Qin Nian and Lu Fengyang was different from the first year of high school to the winter of the third year of high school. In other words, if Cheng Xia wanted to play the role of Qin Nian well, he needed to switch frequently between different emotions!
The feelings of the characters in the novel had a gradual and slow development process but the filming of the drama wasn’t based on the sequence of the plot. It was according to the scene. In the same scene, the two of them didn’t understand each other in their first year of high school to admiring each other in the third year of high school. An excellent actor could laugh one second and then cry the next second if the director needed it.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
This type of emotional transformation was difficult to grasp. Cheng Xia was a newcomer with a small amount of acting experience after all. It wasn’t known if he could adjust himself in a short period of time. His biggest advantage was that he had read the original novel several times and his feelings about Qin Nian were very clear. He could only try his best to cooperate with the director and other actors so he wouldn’t drag back the crew.
Zhou Yan privately sent him a message. [Cheng Xia, the alpha playing with you is called Shen Kai. I have checked his information and he and Director Liu have filmed a school drama together. The evaluation isn’t bad and his acting is also good. In any case, he had a lot of experience in web dramas and it might be easier for him to enter the right state than you. You can learn more from him. If the number of NGs is high then you should take the initiative to apologize.]
Cheng Xia nodded seriously. [Sister Yan, I understand and will study hard.]
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Zhou Yan set off so early because she took into account the traffic jam. It would give a bad impression if they were late on the day of the start-up. They had to get there early. Secondly, she wanted to go to the 17th High School to look at the surrounding environment and helped Cheng Xia and the others clean up the dormitory. She would also have Sister Rong buy the living supplies that needed to be added.
Once the nanny car drove away, Cheng Xia saw a black car stopping at the company’s door. It was President Pei’s car.
A handsome young man got out of the back of the car. His expression was ugly and he was frowning tightly. The nanny car passed by President Pei’s car. Cheng Xia looked back and saw Zhang Fan hurriedly running out of the company and bringing the young man to the door.
Who was this person taking President Pei’s car? Cheng Xia was puzzled but he couldn’t ask more about the boss.
At this time, Zhang Fan took Pei Shaoyan to the personnel department of the Tianxuan Group to report.
Pei Shaoze had already informed them in advance and the personnel supervisor knew that the reluctant teenager in front of him with the name ‘Pei Shaoyan’ was President Pei’s brother, the stubborn young master of the Pei family!
The personnel director maintained a formulaic smile on the surface but he was inwardly complaining. Not only had President Pei turned into a workaholic but he had to transform his younger brother and take this young man to the company as an assistant?
The poor child looked aggrieved like he was being escorted to the execution ground. The personnel director thought about the legal and copyright team almost going bald and felt sympathetic. In the hands of President Pei, this young master probably wouldn’t have a good result.
After reporting, Pei Shaoyan was led to the president’s office on the top floor by Zhang Fan. Pei Shaoyan saw his older brother sitting at the desk in a suit and almost didn’t recognize him. After a while, he said frankly, “I have already reported so pay me your salary first. I have no money in hand!”
Pei Shaoze raised his eyebrow. “Is this the attitude you should have when talking to your boss?”
Pei Shaoyan’s eyes widened. “Then what should I say?”
Pei Shaoze glanced at Zhang Fan. Zhang Fan walked over with a smile and respectfully handed over a document to him. “President Pei, here is today’s itinerary. At 10 o’clock in the morning, the driver will pick you up in the underground garage. At 12:30, the first lunch after the drama starts has been ordered according to your instructions. Do you want to participate in the script reading tonight?”
Pei Shaoze replied, “I won’t go to the script reading. Teacher Xu and the author will be there. What time will it start tomorrow?”
“Director Liu plans to start at 6 o’clock in the morning. The weather forecast shows it will snow. There were a few early morning snow scenes in the drama that can be filmed.”
Pei Shaoze nodded. “Yes, then arrange it. I will go tomorrow morning to take a look at the set.”
Zhang Fan turned to pour a cup of coffee to Pei Shaoze. “Your coffee.”
He left the office after reporting the itinerary. Then Pei Shaoyan sneered. “Serve you, pour you coffee and read the itinerary. Isn’t being an assistant the same as being a babysitter?”
Pei Shaoze stared at his younger brother and spoke clearly, “Zhang Fan graduated with a master’s degree in business administration from a top 10 key university in the country. He also minored in journalism and media. He has an annual salary of 500,000 yuan, bonuses not included. Do you think it is that easy to be a CEO’s assistant?”
Pei Shaoyan choked up and stared without speaking.
“The assistant needs to help me coordinate the work of various departments, remind me of matters that need to be done and arrange all my itineraries. An excellent assistant can convey my instructions as quickly as possible and report the work of each department to me concisely and accurately. He is a bridge for me to communicate with other departments of the company. Don’t compare to him in intelligence. You can’t even pour a cup of coffee as well as him.”
Pei Shaoyan, “……”
So he was just a ‘good for nothing’ scumbag?
Pei Shaoyan was completely beaten up. His head lowered and he looked depressed. Pei Shaoze glanced at his frustrated little brother and said, “You will go to the crew with me later and take a closer look at how a drama is made. Also, don’t tell people in the crew that you are my brother. I have given you a new name, Yan Mo. If someone asks then say you are my new assistant.”
Pei Shaoyan was very reluctant but now all his cards had been stopped. His parents made it clear that they would no longer care about him and his pocket money was in the hands of his brother. He couldn’t afford to be left penniless on the streets. Pei Shaoyan met his brother’s serious gaze and had to nod. “Yes, I will do what you say.”
At 9 o’clock in the morning, Zhou Yan took the four newcomers to the 17th High School. She noticed that Director Liu and Screenwriter Xu had also arrived early so she politely went over to say hello.
The deputy director gave her the list of accommodation arrangements. She took Cheng Xia to see the dormitory.
The condition of the student dormitory was naturally not comparable to that of an artist’s apartment. It only had a bed and desk and was very simple. The dormitory was originally a four person room but Pei Shaoze was worried that artists living together would rest badly and affect the progress of filming. Thus, he worked with the school leaders to clear one floor and each person would stay in their own room.
Zhou Jiawen and Qi Xiaotian obviously didn’t look good when they saw their living conditions. Xue Ling had no expression but Cheng Xia was happy to move his luggage into the dormitory. He said with a smile, “Living in this dormitory is like going back to high school!”
Such an environment would make it easier to enter the play.
Moreover, eating and living at school could save a lot of time. Even if the drama was filmed late at night, there was no need to worry about the safety of the actors on the way back. Cheng Xia felt that President Pei’s consideration in finding the school to borrow the dormitory was very thoughtful. The 17th High School was a key high school in Rong City. President Pei hiring the venue and dormitory from the principal of the 17th High School would certainly cost a lot of money.
In the blink of an eye, it was 10:30 a.m. All of the crew arrived and Pei Shaoze’s car also arrived at the school.
The opening ceremony was quite formal. A huge banner was hung in the playground and read ‘Starting Ceremony of the online drama Folding Paper’. In small words below, the names of the producer, director, author and other creators were written.
There were microphones on the podium as well as a camera covered with a red cloth.
Tianxuan’s publicity department had invited many media reporters over. There were many people and cameras everywhere. Cheng Xia was standing in the crowd in a down jacket and feeling a bit nervous. It wasn’t until 10:50 a.m. that the staff took them to enter the scene and he sat down in the first row.
At 11 o’clock, the host from the publicity department stepped on the stage, picked up a microphone and smiled. “Welcome to the opening ceremony of the online drama Folding Paper. Now let’s welcome Mr Pei Shaoze, CEO of the Tianxuan group who is the producer of the online drama Folding Paper.”
There was a warm round of applause under the stage. Cheng Xia was also earnestly applauding.
Pei Shaoze stepped onto the big stage. He wore a brand-new suit, a neatly striped tie and a height of 1.9 meters. He walked in an upright posture and his calm gaze swept over the audience like a king patrolling his territory.
Cheng Xia sat in the audience and looked up at him. He just felt that President Pei was extraordinarily handsome today. Inadvertently, their eyes met in the air. Cheng Xia showed a bright smile as always. His eyes were full of admiration, just like a small fan watching his idol. His eyes were clear and bright.
Pei Shaoze smiled slightly. Then he picked up the microphone and started to speak.
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