Chapter 105

Wang Qun never expected that after the latest episode of “Retracing the Path of Poverty Alleviation” aired, before public reviews exploded, the industry circles blew up first.

“Old Wang, I heard your station is planning to develop a period-themed amusement park in Jiangdong Town? That’s fantastic! I just got the green light for a period drama, and I was wondering if we could shoot on location there. You’ve got to help me make the connection!”

“Brother Wang, the park hasn’t started construction yet, right? Perfect timing! I happen to have a period drama about infrastructure development. I was just worrying about where to build some sets. Isn’t this a stroke of luck? How many buildings are you planning to put up? Can you spare me two? Listen, our investor is loaded, paying for two buildings is a breeze! How about we collaborate? I’ll pay to build two houses for free, and you let me use the site for shooting. I’ll even save on set design costs, hahaha~”

Wang Qun: “???” This calculation… I can hear the abacus clattering all the way from Jiangdong!

On one end, Wang Qun’s phone was ringing off the hook.

On the other, Zhou Mingxing was being bombarded with calls too.

After the episode aired, for reasons unknown—maybe because the station had made a killing last year investing in the film “Daji Reborn”—the station executives suddenly got it into their heads that investing in film and television was the road to instant riches. Also, no one knows who started the rumor, but now everyone believed Wei Sheng might just be the so-called “box office lucky charm.” Seeing how interested netizens were in Jiangdong Town’s period-themed park, the station didn’t hesitate.

Period dramas, let’s roll!

With so many popular period novels dominating websites lately, worst case, they could just buy one and adapt it. What’s the big deal? Get it moving!

The station’s idle funds sitting in the bank were itching to be spent.

The leadership was rubbing their hands together, vowing to recreate the box office miracle of “Daji Reborn”!

Besides, with dramas funded by their own station, unlike external investments, they didn’t have to worry about whether other networks would buy the airing rights.

Worst case scenario, if no one bought it, they’d just air it themselves. That would even save them from buying external content. No matter how they calculated it, the station wouldn’t lose. So what were they waiting for?

Oh, and most importantly—reserve Wei Sheng’s schedule first! The station’s own money tree naturally had to make money for them first.

Zhou Mingxing: “…”

As if filming guaranteed instant profits.

Do they even realize that the period drama trend has already passed?

“How about we film another poverty alleviation drama?” Wei Sheng suggested to Zhou Mingxing.

“Then that would be your second poverty alleviation project. Aren’t you afraid of being typecast? Directors will only ever think of you for poverty dramas.” Zhou Mingxing gave him an annoyed glare.

For actors, the greatest fear is playing the same type of role over and over, easily locking them into a fixed image in the audience’s mind—like people forever associating certain actors with immortals or empresses.

For older actors, being typecast might not be bad—they could transition into motherly or grandmotherly roles and get by. But Wei Sheng was barely in his twenties, the most critical age for shaping an actor’s career. Zhou Mingxing had high hopes for him and didn’t want him to get boxed in so soon.

“As if the Fox Uncle role wasn’t famous…” Wei Sheng muttered under his breath.

Though he had only played a minor part in “Daji Reborn,” his Fox Uncle character had become a viral hit—even more so than the poverty drama! Now even the kids in his neighborhood were calling him Fox Uncle.

Zhou Mingxing: “…”

You played that ridiculous character so vividly, you nearly became a comedy star—do you even realize that?

Zhou Mingxing wanted to knock some sense into him, but clearly, the station executives, thrilled by how much money the kid was bringing in, were already shielding him. They even publicly declared in meetings that for all future station-funded dramas and variety shows, Wei Sheng would get first pick. Only after he’d passed would other actors get a chance.

Hearing this, Zhou Mingxing nearly fainted. Now he finally understood why some celebrities in the industry get labeled as “resource hogs.”

A single fan’s praise can’t balance ten haters. One careless teammate could cause more damage than a hundred gossip sites.

Luckily, the executives had only said this in a high-level internal meeting. If this had come out during a general staff meeting and leaked, Wei Sheng would’ve been ruined by public opinion.

The truth was, the station bosses believed Wei Sheng had some sort of lucky aura and wanted him to take on more in-house projects to maximize their investment returns. But outsiders would only see him as the station’s golden boy with unfair resource advantages… Even jumping into the Yellow River couldn’t wash that off.

Worried the execs might say something even more outrageous next, Zhou Mingxing could only plaster on a smile and accept this baseless “period drama” on Wei Sheng’s behalf.

It was indeed baseless—there wasn’t even a script yet!

But perhaps that was for the best. Since the station had dumped the whole thing in his lap, at least under the condition that the theme couldn’t change, he could help Wei Sheng secure a decent script.

“Why should we pay to buy one? I think we should just hire a good screenwriter and have them gather material directly from Director Wang. Have you forgotten how hot ‘Retracing the Path of Poverty Alleviation’ is right now? Why waste money buying a script when we’ve got ready-made content?”

Right!

Zhou Mingxing’s eyes lit up.

Why hadn’t he thought of that?

Get a top-notch screenwriter, adapt the already popular “Retracing the Path of Poverty Alleviation” into a drama. First, they could ride the wave of the show’s popularity. Second, as far as he knew, due to time limits and weekly scheduling, many character stories in Wang Qun’s show weren’t even fully told. If they expanded each chapter into a complete storyline… Good grief! Even a hundred episodes might not be enough!

Thinking this way, what had seemed like a wild executive fantasy now had Zhou Mingxing mentally calculating how much profit this show could generate and how much potential revenue it could bring to their company.

If nothing else, just roping in half the sponsors from “Retracing the Path of Poverty Alleviation” would already cover the production costs of the drama.

Most importantly, in recent years, celebrities from all tiers had been scrambling to land roles in serious dramas. This new show, riding on variety show popularity, would attract a swarm of big names during casting. It would also give the company leverage to trade roles for better resources for their own artists.

Tsk tsk~

That’s way more profitable than just collecting acting fees.

“Not bad! Let’s settle it like this for now. Later, I’ll save a role for you. Hmm~ Actually, no need to overthink it, let’s just have you play yourself.” Zhou Mingxing made the decision for Wei Sheng on his own.

Wei Sheng: “…”

Was this considered shooting himself in the foot?

But fortunately, since the script still needed time to be polished, Wei Sheng had no time to scold the unscrupulous boss Zhou Mingxing. Having just returned from Jiangdong Town, he immediately rushed back to Haitangyuan Street to rejoin “The Wage Earners” production team and start shooting the “Sunset Red Live Streaming Group” special.

“My dear ancestor! You’re finally back! If you hadn’t come back soon, I was about to go to Jiangdong Town and drag you back myself!” Seeing him return, Jin Yannan was almost moved to tears.

During the days Wei Sheng was absent, the production team had already built the “Sunset Red Live Streaming Group.” Everything was ready, just waiting for the main host to take his place.

“Hurry up! I’ve had someone organize all the guest profiles for you. Take a look first, filming starts this afternoon!”

Wei Sheng gave Jin Yannan an OK gesture, sat down, and before he could even take a sip of water, he flipped open the guest profiles and started cramming like crazy.

Honestly, “there are masters among the people”—this saying couldn’t be more true!

Wei Sheng had just finished reading the first few guest bios when he almost fell to his knees.

With this lineup, forget doing live streams, they could debut as a senior idol group on the spot!

Guest No. 1: Yang Hongyan, the lead actress of the local theater troupe from thirty years ago. After retirement, she was re-hired by the Senior University to lead a choir. Since she didn’t have too many classes, and happened to see the production team recruiting people for live streaming, she decided to give it a try.

The moment the lead actress opened her mouth, the entire production team collectively dropped to their knees.

That clear, melodious voice—pure professional level! Did they even need to rate Teacher Yang? No, it was more like Teacher Yang could utterly crush them (╥﹏╥)

Guest No. 2: Zhang Jianguo—a name that had been ridiculously common decades ago, but Comrade Jianguo himself had a striking specialty. Before retiring, he was a crosstalk performer. Ahem~ And like many old-school artists of that generation, he had self-taught quite a few other skills. For example, besides crosstalk, Comrade Jianguo also knew juggling, magic tricks, vocal mimicry, and shadow puppetry…

Let’s put it this way: purely in terms of talent, Grandpa Zhang Jianguo alone could form a one-man senior boy band!

Guest No. 3: Jian Ru. As her name suggested, she was a literary youth from a bygone era, with a strong family background in the arts. Her grandmother was a celebrated woman of letters in the old days, her mother was part of the first generation of supplement editors at the J Province Daily, and she herself worked at the local radio station until retirement. Because she loved staying up late, she became a well-known host of the local “Midnight Chat Program.”

The moment Wei Sheng saw her name, his scalp went numb and long-buried memories instantly sprang back to life and attacked him. Who during their school days hadn’t stayed up late solving practice papers while listening to that program on the radio?

After all, even your biological parents couldn’t stay up with you past midnight—but the “Midnight Chat Program” would. Who else would keep you company until three in the morning? (╥﹏╥)

Among all the local radio hosts, Jian Ru had always been Wei Sheng’s favorite.

The thought that he’d now be recording a show with the idol of his middle school years made Wei Sheng instinctively open his phone’s front camera to check himself out carefully.

Thankfully! Before coming, that drama queen Zhou Mingxing had forcibly dragged him for a quick makeover.

This was the difference between amateurs and stars—Wei Sheng used to think styling for men just meant changing clothes and blowing your hair.

But in fact, even Zhou Mingxing’s so-called “simple styling” had taken the stylist more than three hours. The end result might look casual, but every single detail was finely polished.

With this carefully crafted look, Wei Sheng reunited with his senior brothers and sisters and arrived at the livestream studio prepared for them by Haitangyuan Street.

At that moment, no one could have predicted that the future internet-wide sensation, the “Sunset Red Live Streaming Group,” would be born right here in a studio barely 30 square meters wide…