SAE CH4

Shen Tianqing laughed out of anger, but he still poured Jiang Fanxing a cup of tea, although he put the teacup down with a bit more force than necessary, causing a little tea to splash out.

Jiang Fanxing didn’t mind. Teaching the boss how to behave was a highly difficult task that had to be done step by step; you couldn’t eat a fat man in one bite.

He absolutely had to let the boss understand the principle of “you get what you pay for.”

Oh, I’m not that cheap either. The guaranteed base salary in my contract is only five thousand yuan a month—not even as much as I make being an extra.

Anyway, this is my temper. The contract is already signed; there’s nothing he can do about it.

“Phew…” Jiang Fanxing blew on the tea in a very convincing manner. “Shen-ge, let’s talk about that S-tier drama you just mentioned. Give me a brief overview of this project; I’d like to hear it.”

“This project’s tentative title is Wansheng. It’s an S-tier xianxia historical idol drama co-invested by top platforms. If the late-stage commercial investment is strong, it might be upgraded to an S+ major production. It’s currently only rated S-tier because it’s not based on a major intellectual property; it’s an original script, so everyone is still taking a wait-and-see approach. However, I have insider information: the female lead has already been finalized as Qiao Qiao. She recently won Best Supporting Actress in a movie, and the previous historical idol drama she starred in was the platform’s annual champion three years ago. As soon as she officially signs the contract, this drama will begin casting its male leads.” Having navigated the entertainment circle for so many years, Shen Tianqing naturally had his own network of connections.

Nowadays, the market was flooded with movies and TV dramas adapted from various IPs. After all, a novel that can fight its way out of the web novel circles has already proven its story is excellent, and it comes with a natural fanbase. Therefore, every adaptation comes with built-in hype. But original scripts are more troublesome. Sometimes, as screenwriters write, they find it difficult to pull back their foreshadowing. Furthermore, due to various wrestling matches between investors, stories falling apart in the later stages happen all the time.

“Wansheng is considered a female-centric xianxia drama. The female lead’s scenes are absolutely dominant, so the finalized actress must have both skill and popularity. Qiao Qiao hasn’t acted in a historical idol drama in three years and brings her own trending topics. This drama has two male leads—a classic ‘White Moonlight’ and ‘Cinnabar Mole’ combination. Just from what I know, there are at least ten young actors fighting for these two roles. Even for the supporting male roles, almost all of them are familiar faces; companies from all sides are trying to shove their people in. I can manage to snatch a Male No. 8 spot for you. Even though the screentime isn’t much, you should be able to shine. When the time comes, I’ll help you drum up some trending topics. By the way, can you cooperate with generating trending topics?” Shen Tianqing asked.

“What kind of topics?” Jiang Fanxing asked back. “Hyping up a romance? Or playing up a rich second-generation persona, or a top student persona? Forget the rich kid persona. My parents are both in the system—although they’re just a minor clerk and a doctor—but if word suddenly gets out that our family is filthy rich, the Disciplinary Inspection Commission will come knocking, and they won’t be able to explain themselves clearly.”

“You worry about quite a lot.” Shen Tianqing smiled. “I thought you were going to refuse to do real-person CP shipping.”

“Real-person CPs are so popular! Even crosstalk comedians and stand-up comics are shipping them. I’m eating from this bowl now, how can I not ship it? Just make sure when you pick someone, choose someone with a good temper who is willing to cooperate with the fan service,” Jiang Fanxing reasoned confidently. Since he was out here working to make money, why would he care about some hype?

Hyping up a real-person CP once could save hundreds of thousands in initial promotional costs. Combined with the resulting popularity and hype later on, it could generate millions, or even tens of millions, in profit. With that much money on the line, anyone who doesn’t ship it is an idiot. If you swapped him with any poor, struggling college student desperately seeking a job, forget shipping with a real person—they’d ship themselves with a dog.

“Alright, as long as you’re willing to cooperate. But I won’t be able to find a suitable person for you to ship with right away. According to the current market trends, shipping ‘brotherhood’ is still more popular. You don’t even need to actively hand out sugar; the fans will ship it themselves.”

“Fine. As long as he’s not an ugly guy and doesn’t stir up trouble,” Jiang Fanxing only had requirements for looks.

“Then I’ll continue talking about this drama. The role I want to snatch for you right now is the sword spirit of one of the male leads, the White Moonlight. You won’t appear often, but every time you do, you save the male and female leads. In the end, the sword is destroyed and the spirit dies; you sacrifice yourself to save them. You can use this to really leech some hype off the male and female leads, and since it’s positive hype, they’ll gladly cooperate and let you leech.” The young assistant handed over a pen and paper. Shen Tianqing wrote and drew as he briefly outlined the character relationships for Jiang Fanxing. “This is the script right now. If they don’t change it, this role has a chance to stand out. I know there are a few young idols also planning to fight for this role, but leave that to me. It’s a pity—if Yi Zhu hadn’t run into trouble, she could have been the female second lead. The female second lead isn’t just a supporting character; she’s also the final major villain, a very easy role to shine in.”

Speaking of this, Shen Tianqing sighed deeply. Yi Zhu was actually stupid enough to get married, and as a usurping mistress no less. It simply infuriated him!

“Hmm, it’s alright, this role,” Jiang Fanxing thought for a moment. “Are there any roles that haven’t been decided yet?”

“Actually, I also have my eye on the Male No. 3.” Shen Tianqing thought about it and continued, “Oh, those two male leads have roughly the same amount of screentime. I bet when they fight for billing, they’ll just end up with equal billing and both be Male No. 1, with no Male No. 2. The Male No. 3 is the good brother of the Cinnabar Mole male lead. He’s a gentle young master from a prominent family. In the early stages, he likes the female lead but consciously feels inferior to his good brother and steps aside voluntarily. Later on, he has an independent storyline with the female second lead, following the route of a deeply abusive romance where a high-mountain flower falls into the mortal realm. I think he can definitely stand out.”

“Who is the screenwriter?” Jiang Fanxing inquired.

“You might not have heard of her, she’s called Suisui Ping’an. She previously wrote—”

“She wrote Fenghua. My mom really likes her stories, and I remember my mom especially liked the Male No. 3. She has a special preference for the Male No. 3 in her writing. If she’s the one writing it, the character design for Male No. 3 will only be better than what you currently see in the script,” Jiang Fanxing’s eyes lit up.

“Jiang-ge, you really did your homework thoroughly,” the young assistant next to them couldn’t help but say.

These days, there were plenty of brainless, uncultured artists. It was truly rare to suddenly see a beautiful newcomer who had done such thorough homework and actually had a brain.

“Of course. Before I decided to become an artist, I made accounts on all the major groups and forums and lurked for half a year, scrolling for at least two to three hours a day. I consider myself half an insider. I wouldn’t enter the industry lightly without doing my research first. What if I got scammed?” Jiang Fanxing answered casually.

Back when he did debates, the scope of his data collection was massive—stacks of materials. Every day he was figuring out the answering logic of other debate teams. He was trained for this.

“The person who could scam you probably hasn’t been born yet,” Shen Tianqing couldn’t help but say, but Jiang Fanxing’s behavior only made him appreciate him more. Opportunities are meant for those who are prepared.

“However, many people are fighting for the Male No. 3. Those who couldn’t grab the two male lead spots will opt for Male No. 3. If our studio hadn’t run into trouble, I would have had the confidence to snatch this role for you. But not anymore. The investors’ drama that we were invested in hasn’t even started filming yet, and adding in the endorsements and commercials, our studio still owes them tens of millions.” Shen Tianqing sighed softly. The fact that he could even grab this sword spirit role for Jiang Fanxing relied entirely on the network he had accumulated in the past.

Otherwise, his studio’s artists would have been blacklisted long ago.

“Shen-ge, give me the phone number of the producer working under that investor. I’ll talk to them,” Jiang Fanxing said with confidence. “I’m confident I can make this Male No. 3 mine.”

“Stop messing around,” Shen Tianqing refused. “They just owe me a little favor. The fact that I can snatch this role for you is already—”

“Give it to me, what do you know? I think you’re just too honest,” Jiang Fanxing’s attitude was firm. The young assistant next to them tactfully handed over Shen Tianqing’s phone. “The one with the contact alias ‘Zhang-jie’ is it.”

Shen Tianqing glared at the young assistant, while Jiang Fanxing looked at the assistant with renewed respect.

Not bad, not bad. Very perceptive. Figured out who the real cash cow is so quickly.

“Jiang Fanxing, give me the phone. I am your manager, I will speak for you—”

“Hello, is this Producer Zhang Jie?” Jiang Fanxing used one hand to stop Shen Tianqing from grabbing the phone, while lowering his voice to say, “I am the lawyer for Niannian Studio. Hello.”

“It’s like this: I have reviewed the debt dispute between my client and your boss. I’m afraid this money won’t be available in the short term… Yes, we don’t want to see each other in court either, but as you know, the responsibility doesn’t lie with my client. My client is also suing those two unqualified artists. They are the ones who should be paying this compensation… However, my client has a mutually beneficial solution.” Seeing Shen Tianqing still anxious, Jiang Fanxing simply turned on the speakerphone.

Producer Zhang’s voice instantly came through the phone.

“What solution?” Her voice carried obvious doubt.

“My client proposes working to pay off the debt. An artist from my client’s studio will play the Male No. 3 in Wansheng. His salary will be used as part of the debt deduction. After the contract is signed and the salary arrives in our studio’s account, it will immediately be returned to your company—two separate lines of income and expenditure. How much of the debt is cleared will depend on the amount of the salary.” Jiang Fanxing’s voice grew even firmer, as if he had truly proposed an exceptionally brilliant solution.

He directly stunned the producer on the other end into silence.

“Are you joking with me? Where is Shen Tianqing? Let him take the phone.”

Shen Tianqing tried to step forward, but Jiang Fanxing pushed him back, his tone even more forceful. “This is exactly what my client intends. I am currently relaying his words; it’s much better to handle this formally. Producer Zhang, the debt between you and my client stems from the previous project; it has nothing to do with this one. You should want to recoup your losses more than anyone else, and this is currently the best solution.”

“It’s almost the end of the year, and your company should be preparing financial statements for the board of directors. As long as the contract for Male No. 3 is signed—you can decide on the salary—a portion of the debt can be cleared immediately. This way, your accounts will look good, and our pressure will decrease a bit. Producer Zhang, we’re all just trying to make a living. As long as the financial statements pass the boss’s review, other things can be handled flexibly, don’t you think?”

“Let me think about it,” Zhang Jie’s tone grew somewhat hesitant.

“This is the best solution currently available. It’s just a Male No. 3. My client’s work team has unquestionable capability, as you well know. If this doesn’t work, I’ll have to help my client apply for bankruptcy liquidation procedures. My client hopes to hear good news from you on the next call.” With that, Jiang Fanxing decisively hung up the phone, leaving the other party no room to bargain.

“Do… do you know what you are doing?” Shen Tianqing was almost bursting with anger. It was only his first day signed, and he had already poked such a massive hole. Was this going to work? This felt even more troublesome than his previous two artists.

“Of course I know. Just watch, the Male No. 3 is ours. The entertainment industry is no different from any other job outside. Producers, directors, screenwriters—they’re all just corporate slaves in the entertainment industry. The money they lose or earn isn’t their own, so why would they care so much? As long as the financial statements pass and the boss feels you haven’t lost too much, you can continue working on the next project.”

Jiang Fanxing said casually, “Shen-ge, I finally know why you got scammed by your previous two artists. Upright managers like you are truly rare in the entertainment industry. Our profession is different. As long as we can win, the baseline of the law is our baseline for morality.”

Shen Tianqing was so angry he couldn’t speak.

However, a few minutes later, Zhang Jie called back.

“Zhang-jie, I—”

“Shen Tianqing, we’ll do as you said, but only the two of us can know about this, understand?!” The voice on the other end was fast and urgent. “First, figure out a way to generate some hype for your artist and get him on the trending searches. As long as the data is passable, I’ll sign the contract with you before the project officially launches. I can give you the role, but you cannot fight for billing!”

They could get the role, but couldn’t fight for billing. It seemed she really wasn’t joking!

Shen Tianqing was struck dumb.

He stared at Jiang Fanxing in disbelief, almost unable to trust his own eyes.

Am I dreaming?

The Male No. 3 of a major S-tier project—a role that would usually spark a bloodbath of traded interests to snatch—and he just got it in his hands this easily?

“Shen-ge, one look at you and I can tell you’ve never owed anyone money.” Jiang Fanxing crossed his arms and smiled. “If you owe someone ten thousand yuan, they are your creditor. But right now you owe them tens of millions; you are their god! Every day they beg the heavens, praying you don’t go bankrupt and don’t leave the industry. How could they not agree to your tiny little request?”