Pei Shaoze came to Director Liu’s side. He waited a moment before Pei Shaoyan finally followed. Pei Shaoyan leaned toward his brother’s ear and spoke softly with a smile, “Brother, I finally understand.”
Pei Shaoze frowned. “What do you understand?”
Pei Shaoyan smiled meaningfully and looked at his brother with admiration. “You have a good eye.”
Pei Shaoze, “?”
Liu Xueyi turned around and looked curiously at the unfamiliar young man in front of him. Pei Shaoze ignored his brother and introduced him to Director Liu. “Director Liu, this is my new assistant. His surname is Yan and you can call him Xiao Yan. From now on, let him help in the crew. Director Liu can order him to do whatever you like. He is an intern and following along to learn.”
Director Liu nodded. “Oh, Xiao Yan right? You will follow along and learn how to film.” He had seen many investors stuff actors onto the crew but what was the situation with a small assistant? Director Liu was confused but he intuitively felt that this small assistant had a very close relationship with President Pei. Thus, he was very kind to the small assistant.
Pei Shaoyan ran and stood next to Director Liu. He looked at the small screen in front of Director Liu in a very curious manner. “Director Liu, what is this?”
Liu Xueyi explained with a smile, “It is the monitoring screen. The scenes taken by the photographer will be displayed here in real time. If multiple cameras are shooting at the same time, it can separate into several screens and I can intuitively see if the shooting effect is good or not.”
Pei Shaoyan suddenly realized. “Oh, I understand. Very advanced!”
This guy who came to the crew for the first time was full of curiosity about everything. Pei Shaoze thought that letting his brother learn the filming process with a crew was better than letting him go back to school and fooling around with that group of scoundrels.
Just then, the person in charge of the publicity department hurried over with a laptop and told Pei Shaoze, “President Pei, Director Liu, the makeup photos have been repaired. Do the two of you want to see?”
The colleague in charge of publicity for this drama was called to the scene by Pei Shaoze today. Everyone rushed to work and photos of the leading actors were photoshopped into six posters.
Pei Shaoze sat down with the director and looked at the computer screen together.
The fixed photos were even better than those directly taken by the photographer. Everyone’s faces were flawless. There were a total of six main protagonists and supporting roles. The six posters had blue and white backgrounds in a fresh style with uniform dark blue small writing next to it. The overall tone was consistent with the school uniforms worn by the actors.
Among them, Cheng Xia had a frontal photo chosen for his makeup photo. In the photo, Qin Nian stood in front of a blackboard with a high school math textbook in his hand. He was smiling brightly and youthfulness almost overflowed from the screen.
Pei Shaoze looked at Cheng Xia’s makeup photo with a smile in his eyes. He nodded and said, “Very good.”
Director Liu also praised it. “This poster style fits well with our school drama. I also feel it is good.”
Pei Shaoze glanced back at the young woman from the publicity department. “Give these photos to the media reporters who came today and prepare to post the articles on the major websites.”
The other person immediately nodded. “Yes, President Pei. If there is no problem then I will send it.”
Pei Shaoyan carefully examined Cheng Xia’s poster among the six posters and couldn’t help muttering, “Cheng Xia is so good-looking and no faults can be found on his face. His temperament is indeed unique among all the omegas I have seen.”
Pei Shaoze turned to his brother and slightly raised an eyebrow. “Do you like this type?”
Pei Shaoyan’s desire to survive instantly burst out and he reassured his brother, “No no, I like the gentle and soft type. Cheng Xia’s sunny omega type isn’t my type! However, he is really handsome. People who like him have good eyes.”
Pei Shaoze, “??”
Was his younger brother stimulated? Why was he smiling strangely and talking incoherently? He ignored this person and continued to focus on work.
30 minutes later, news that the Folding Paper drama had started spread across the Internet.
The publicity department didn’t buy a hot search in accordance with President Pei’s instructions. After all, President Pei gave them very limited funds. They just posted articles on major websites and it was a very ‘Buddha’ publicity. It was just telling netizens, ‘The drama is starting.’
However, the original novel Folding Paper had a certain degree of popularity after all. Once the author Lemongrass reposted the official Weibo post, it caused a lot of discussion among the book fans. Her messages on her Weibo soon broke 10,000. Half of the readers said that ‘their house was collapsing and the original work will be destroyed.’ The other half of the readers thought ‘the appearance of the main actors is okay. I can look forward to it.’
Lemongrass took the initiative to say, “Thank you for your concern. I have entered the crew and will personally participate in the adaptation of the script. The several leading actors are serious and we will try our best to present an excellent movie and television work to everyone.”
The author said so and the fans immediately rejoiced. Lemongrass was personally joining the crew and at least they wouldn’t change the novel into a mess. They could still feel reassured about the plot. It was just that Cheng Xia was a newcomer with no works and Shen Kai wasn’t that well-known. The thing that everyone was most worried about was that the two 18th tier and unknown actors wouldn’t be able to play the double leading roles in the novel.
In any case, the news that Lemongrass was personally acting as a screenwriter comforted the book fans. Most book fans were more sensible. Even if they questioned it, they only raised questions on Lemongrass’ Weibo. No one went to scold actors such as Cheng Xia and Shen Kai.
Cheng Xia had a small burst of popularity a few days ago. He also gained some fans who liked his appearance after watching the MV. After seeing the news of the start-up, these scattered passersby fans left a message to Cheng Xia to encourage him. “Xia Xia is very professional when it comes to playing the piano. I look forward to your new drama!”
”I think your image is quite in line with Qin Nian. Jiayou, I’ll be watching you!”
Some lovely book fans came to encourage him. “Congratulations for taking on the role of Qin Nian. Qin Nian is the white moonlight in my heart. You must play it well. I’m looking super forward to it. You are good-looking. Jiayou!”
Cheng Xia finished taking his makeup photos and went on his phone to see that most of the fans and passersby had a moderate attitude toward him. Of course, a very small number of people rushed over and swore or even personally attacked him. However, they were probably sunspots and could be ignored completely.
At exactly this time, a message from President Pei popped up in the crew’s group chat. [Please forward the announcement from the crew’s official Weibo and cooperate with the publicity. Don’t worry about the disputes between netizens. Although this drama has a large number of new actors, the creators will take good care of it and strive to make a high-quality product.]
President Pei’s words were reassurance to the crew.
Cheng Xia immediately reposted the Weibo. [Congratulations to the crew for starting! I am also a fan of Folding Paper. I have read the original novel many times. I like Qin Nian very much and will definitely work hard to play the role of Qin Nian [Jiayou][Jiayou].]
Other actors followed suit. Shen Kai had filmed several online dramas and had more fans than Cheng Xia. After forwarding, many people left messages to express their congratulations.
Ye Mingqian was the most popular one in the crew. His Weibo had more than 4 million fans. This was more than ten times that of Cheng Xia. Previously when he acted in the literary movie ‘Flowing Light’, he attracted countless fans with his heartbreaking crying scenes. Due to this, his fans were very loyal. Now they heard that their idol had a new drama and they celebrated.
As for the fact that he was playing the second male lead instead of the protagonist, many fans had read the novel Folding Paper and knew that the protagonist was sunny and cheerful. Meanwhile, the second male lead was a gentle and handsome omega male god. They thought that Ye Mingqian’s temperament was more suitable for playing the second male lead than the protagonist so there was nothing to question.
The comments area was harmonious.
Pei Shaoze glanced at the comments under the Weibo posts of several artists. At present, the publicity effect had been achieved. He only wanted to tell everyone that filming for the drama had started. As for the follow-up publicity, it would wait until the entire drama was filmed.
Pei Shaoze turned off his phone and came to the set.
Director Liu was experienced in making online dramas. For the two scenes this afternoon, he arranged for solo scenes for Cheng Xia and Shen Kai in the snow. After all, Cheng Xia and Shen Kai just met each other and it would be hard to play directly opposite each other. It took time to accustom the two leading roles with each other so Liu Xueyi would shoot all the single scenes in the first few days and let the two leading roles find their feelings first.
Both scenes were very simple with few lines. Thus, the shooting process was very smooth. The afternoon passed quickly. Pei Shaoze watched Cheng Xia who was brightly smiling after entering the state. Then he relaxed and took Zhang Fan and his younger brother back to the company. During this time, he asked his brother to live and eat with him to facilitate his discipline.
After returning to the villa in the evening, Pei Shaoyan moved next to his brother and whispered, “Brother, tomorrow is my close brother’s birthday. I have already agreed to spend it together. Do you think you can give me some free time to let me go the birthday party?”
Pei Shaoze asked calmly, “Do you spend a lot of money when you are with these friends?”
Pei Shaoyan looked proud. “Of course! Every time I go out to play, I pay for it. It is normal to spend thousands at a time.”
Pei Shaoze told him, “Send them a WeChat message now, saying that you are in trouble and need money urgently. Ask to borrow 20,000 yuan from them. If they lend it to you, I will let you go to your classmate’s party tomorrow.”
Pei Shaoyan frowned. “Borrow money? It is too shameful…” Then he met his brother’s calm eyes and had to type quickly, sending them to his friends he usually played well with.
Someone soon replied. [Brother Yan, I’m short of money recently. I don’t have that much money. I’m really sorry!]
[My card has been frozen by my father and I can’t take out cash. Why don’t you ask Ah Cheng?]
One message after another came back and Pei Shaoyan’s face gradually became ugly.
Pei Shaoze calmly said, “You treat them as good friends but they only treat you as an ATM machine who pays the bill. Shaoyan, a true friend is bound to help you when you’re in trouble. They usually flatter you and intimately call you brother because you care about their food and drinks. You are willing to give them money. Once you get into trouble, none of the so-called friends will stand up to help you. Do you see it clearly now?”
It was this group of people who lured his younger brother into drug addiction in the later period of the original novel. Pei Shaoze didn’t have good feelings toward this group of scoundrel friends. Naturally, he hoped that his younger brother would stay further away from them. He wanted Pei Shaoyan to see the true face of these ‘brothers’ as soon as possible.
Pei Shaoyan became furious. “Maybe they are hard up and have no money!”
“People who can spend tens of thousands of yuan in one KTV visit can’t take out 20,000 yuan, do you believe it?”
“……” Pei Shaoyan was silent for a moment, a trace of loss in his eyes.
His older brother was right. They didn’t want to help him because they didn’t really regard him as friends. He was just someone who would pay for them every time they went out to play. He was just a fool who swiped his card and paid for this group of people! If he ran out of money one day, these people would abandon him more decisively than throwing away a rotten vegetable leaf!
Pei Shaoze handed three scripts selected by the copyright department to his brother. “Finish reading the scripts I have given you in the past few days. Then look for dramas with similar themes on the market and take a closer look at the market evaluations. After that, write me an analysis report.”
Pei Shaoyan had a bitter face. “I can’t write a report…”
Pei Shaoze gave him a template. “Write it according to this. Look it up yourself if you don’t know anything.”
Pei Shaoyan lowered his head and opened his laptop to start. He looked at the materials while thinking this life was sadder than his senior year. His senior year teachers had a ‘relaxed management’ toward him. Meanwhile, his brother was sitting next to him and personally watching him do homework!
In a spacious study, there was a large desk and two computers.
The two brothers worked face to face. Pei Shaoyan occasionally looked up and secretly observed his older brother opposite him. He found that his older brother always looked serious. It wasn’t known what materials he was looking at but he had a serious work attitude. Compared to the older brother who played all day, such a serious brother was indeed more attractive.
Perhaps it was because Pei Shaoze was too serious. Pei Shaoyan didn’t dare disturb him and had to focus on the scripts on the computer. After reading it for a while, he found that the script was well-written and gradually became interested.
The room was quiet and only the sound of two people clicking on the mouse was heard. It wasn’t until 11 o’clock in the evening that Pei Shaoze rubbed his temples and stopped working. He got up and walked to his brother’s side, asking, “How about it? Do you think this script has the potential to be popular?”
Pei Shaoyan raised his head. “The script is excellent. It should be able to be popular?”
Pei Shaoze told him, “After you have finished reading the three scripts, I will ask you again.”
Pei Shaoyan scratched his head in a questioning manner. “It is pretty good. Will I have a different conclusion after reading all three?”
“No, you will just think that all three are pretty good.”
Pei Shaoyan looked blank.
The next moment, he heard Pei Shaoze say, “There are many scripts that look good but they might not necessarily be popular. What if one day, you become a powerful investor and have three equally good scripts in front of you, but funds only allow you to pick one? Choosing the most suitable one is the key.”
Pei Shaoyan seemed to listen and watched his brother seriously.
Pei Shaoze patted him on the shoulder, voice rarely gentle. “Investigating works on the market with similar themes, reading netizens’ comments and figuring out the audience’s preferences is just the first step. I am having you do just the most basic market analysis and research. This is the key factor in determining whether to invest in a drama or not, understood?”
Pei Shaoyan nodded seriously. “I probably understand. I’m just… not very good at it.”
“Then just ask me. Once you know enough about this circle, I will let you be an independent producer. If you have eyes for investment then you can make millions of yuan with no problem. Then the money you earn can be spent comfortably. What do you think?”
His brother had an ‘educational’ tone but strangely, Pei Shaoyan didn’t feel disgusted. Compared with his teachers and fathers’ ‘this is what you should do in your life’, Pei Shaoze persuaded Pei Shaoyan through a practical method. After all, his pocket money was in the hands of his older brother and he wouldn’t be able to live if he wasn’t obedient!
Under this semi-compulsive and semi-voluntary situation, Pei Shaoyan started to devote himself to the work arranged by his brother.
Pei Shaoze was very pleased with his brother’s change. The child wasn’t stupid but the environment had too much influence on him. Pei Shaoze believed that if he stayed far away from his friends and learned with Pei Shaoze, he would gradually correct himself and become a proud son of the Pei family.
Proofreader: Cat
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