Chapter 280: Why Did President Chen Frown?

“No problem, let’s talk more in the cafeteria.”

Seeing that everyone was interested in the film project, Luo Xiao nodded and agreed.

They were all employees of the same company, after all—discussing it a bit wouldn’t hurt.

The group made their way to the cafeteria.

After getting their food, they found a long table and sat down together.

Noticing the curious looks from the others, Luo Xiao gave a small smile and began talking about the film.

No one knew how much time had passed.

Suddenly, Li Shen spoke up.

“You said President Chen frowned in the office?”

“Yeah, President Chen said the investment amount was a bit low, so he doubled it.”

Luo Xiao looked at Li Shen, puzzled as to why he was asking this.

But Li Shen didn’t respond to Luo Xiao. Instead, he turned to Wei Yan.

“Brother Yan, what do you think?”

Wei Yan furrowed his brow, and after a moment of silence, he slowly spoke.

“If President Chen frowned, it probably wasn’t just because the investment amount was low. Think about it—if your budget was too small, why would that make him frown?”

Luo Xiao heard Wei Yan’s words and started to feel like that made sense.

His budget was low—that meant saving money. Why would President Chen frown at that?

A boss seeing an employee saving money for the company should be pleased, right?

But if the frown wasn’t because of the low budget, then what was it for?

Luo Xiao was confused and looked up at Wei Yan.

“Then why did President Chen frown?”

“Well, tell me exactly what happened in the office. That’ll help me figure it out.”

Wei Yan stroked his chin and spoke slowly.

Sitting nearby, Fang Chang saw Wei Yan’s expression and thought to himself:

Here we go.

Most of Cangxue Games’ past successes were thanks to Wei Yan’s precise interpretations of President Chen’s hidden intentions.

Looks like Luo Xiao might become the next one to benefit.

Luo Xiao thought for a moment, then recounted everything that had happened in the office.

“I see.”

Wei Yan fell into deep thought. After a while, he spoke again.

“I think it’s the script.”

“The script? That can’t be. President Chen said the script was great!”

Luo Xiao was confused. President Chen had said so to his face—how could it suddenly be not good?

“Yeah, President Chen said the script was great,” Wang Bin chimed in.

“That’s where you’re both missing the point. President Chen is a kind person. Even if he thought the script wasn’t good, he wouldn’t say it outright—he wouldn’t want to hurt your pride.”

“But President Chen already gave you a very clear hint.”

Wei Yan spoke slowly.

“A hint?”

Luo Xiao was even more confused now. When had President Chen hinted at anything?

Seeing the blank look on Luo Xiao’s face, Wei Yan chuckled lightly.

“He doubled the investment. If your original budget of 30 million was enough to shoot the film, why would President Chen increase the investment? And he didn’t ask for any big-name internet celebrities. So where’s all that extra money supposed to go?”

“It’s obvious—it’s for the script. I may not know much about filmmaking, but I can guess that President Chen wants you to enrich the content of the script, which naturally increases the budget.”

Enrich the script?

Increase the budget?

Luo Xiao murmured to himself, and suddenly his eyes lit up.

Enriching the script and increasing the budget—he could add more types of monsters. The more monster types, the more special effects needed. And more effects meant more spending.

But was Wei Yan’s guess really accurate?

Luo Xiao still had some doubts. Could this be an over-interpretation?

“Director Luo, Manager Wei knows President Chen better than anyone. If he says he’s number two, no one would dare claim to be number one.”

“Cangxue Games used to be a money-losing venture. Its turnaround had a lot to do with Manager Wei’s ability to understand President Chen’s intentions.”

Fang Chang noticed Luo Xiao still looked hesitant, so he spoke up.

Hearing Fang Chang’s words, Luo Xiao looked around at the other executives. Seeing that they all had the same expression, he started to believe it.

These were all high-level leaders in the company. If they all thought the same way, then it must be true.

Otherwise, why would President Chen entrust such important roles to them?

“So how should we revise the script?”

“We don’t know much about scripts. You’ll have to figure that out yourselves.”

Wei Yan and the others shook their heads. This was as far as they could help.

Seeing them shake their heads, Luo Xiao realized he’d been asking a bit too much.

These guys had never worked in the film industry—how would they know how to revise a script?

They probably didn’t even know the proper format for writing one.

They finished their lunch absentmindedly.

Luo Xiao and Wang Bin parted ways with Wei Yan and the others, returning to the Blue Film Studio floor and entering their office.

“How should we go about revising this script?”

Luo Xiao sat down in his chair, rubbing his temples. He was starting to get a headache. In his previous two films, he’d always bought ready-made scripts and started shooting right away. He’d never thought about revising one.

After all, scriptwriters were professionals. If he messed with it too much and ruined it, that would be a real problem.

But now that the script had issues, he had no choice but to dig in and study it.

With that thought, he casually opened the script on his desk and began reading.

Wang Bin also picked up his copy and sat down to read beside him.

After all, President Chen had personally appointed him as the male lead—he had to take it seriously.

No one knew how much time passed.

Luo Xiao finally looked up from the script and turned to Wang Bin.

“I’m thinking of adding more types of monsters. What do you think?”

“Sounds good!”

Wang Bin nodded, then added, “But I think the script is a bit too one-dimensional—just fighting and killing. How about we add a female lead?”

He grinned as he spoke.

“A female lead? How do you want to add her in?”

Luo Xiao didn’t object to Wang Bin’s suggestion. Many great films had romantic subplots. Strangely, this script didn’t have one at all.

Now that he thought about it, the script really wasn’t all that great. Why had he picked it in the first place?

“I hadn’t really thought about that… How about we add a female partner? The two of them go through life-and-death situations together and end up falling in love.”

Wang Bin scratched his head awkwardly. He just felt that having a male protagonist without a female lead would be such a shame.

Luo Xiao gave Wang Bin a speechless look, then thought for a moment before speaking.

“Since we’re adding a female lead and want to make the plot more engaging, why not make her a demoness—one that can take on human form?”

“That’s a great idea! Like a fox spirit, or a rabbit spirit!”

Wang Bin’s eyes lit up.

“I think a cat spirit would be even more interesting. Maybe the male lead accidentally saves an injured little cat, who turns out to be a cat spirit.”

“The cat spirit falls in love with the male lead, but later has to leave him because of some circumstances.”

“Oh, and we can add a second female lead too.”

Luo Xiao was getting more and more excited. He was starting to think this setup was actually pretty fun.

“A second female lead?”

Wang Bin looked even more thrilled. He had only wanted one female lead, and now there was going to be a second? Even better.

“Yeah, a second lead. After the cat spirit leaves, the protagonist joins a demon-hunting organization, and the second female lead is one of the demon hunters. I haven’t figured out her background yet, but we can have them meet and slowly develop feelings for each other.”

“Exactly! Then the cat spirit finds out and wants to kill the other woman to win the male lead back. That leads to a lot of bloodshed. In the end, the cat spirit comes to her senses and redeems herself…”

“That’s the general idea. I’m still thinking about how to flesh it out more and make the story even better.”

As Luo Xiao spoke, he couldn’t wait anymore and pulled out a pen to start writing.

Wang Bin sat there, already lost in his own fantasy.

A tragic love between human and demon…

Heh heh…

I love it!