The Self-cultivation of Omega Running with the Ball

On Saturday of that week, Wen Qiu did not go to the screenwriting class. He did not know how to face Jin Ling and his classmates and teachers after the quarrel. He thought that in Jin Ling's list, he, a useless and stubborn guy, must have been crossed out long ago.

He had been in such a bad state some time ago, like a walking corpse. The failed confession and the appearance of his father dealt him so much of a blow that it temporarily obscured the pain of his failed screenwriting career. But later he discovered that the aftereffects of this incident were huge, and frustration and loss spread and grew like mold in the rainy season.

When he won the Wenxin Cup, he was very confident and felt that he had found a career that he was good at and loved. Among his many dreams, this was the one that was closest to success. If he could not continue to be a screenwriter in the future, he didn't even know what else he could do.

Pei Du soon discovered this, and tentatively brought out a blockbuster project and asked him casually what he thought of director Sun Jiangong's new movie.

Wen Qiu now understood his character very well and knew what he was capable of, so he rejected the idea outright, "I'm not interested. Can you please not interfere?"

Speaking of Director Sun, he recalled the day when He Yu took him to the Mixing Club. A feeling of evil blocked his heart and could not dissipate for a long time.

Pei Du observed the expression and changed the subject: "I just want to consult your opinion to decide whether Fenghua Entertainment should invest in this movie."

Wen Qiu naively believed it and kindly hoped that he would get rich. "Of course I would invest if I could. The original novel is a national-level novel. Add to that Director Sun's skills, and he will definitely make a fortune."

Pei Du lowered his head and made some nods as he took notes. He was very glad that he had listened to Jin Ling's instructions and not pushed Director Sun's resources over to her without any explanation, which would have only caused trouble for her.

However, if he cannot provide help from the perspective of power, what else can he do for Wen Qiu?
Pei Du hadn't thought of an answer yet, but he vaguely felt that after stripping away all fame, fortune and money, he might have what Wen Qiu truly loved.

So he asked, "Where is your script that was rejected by Jin Ling? I'll help you take a look."

Wen Qiu went to Pei Du's house to retrieve his things that day, and he didn't expect him to suddenly mention this. He hesitated for a while, but still sent the file on his phone. He was indeed confused recently, and in the professional field, he always had an almost blind trust in Pei Du, which had nothing to do with emotional matters.

Pei Du pulled him to the study, turned on the computer, and read the script and character biographies carefully, then said, "I think it's very good. I like it very much."

"What I need now is not encouragement," Wen Qiu held his chin with one hand, "What I want is advice."

"This is the truth." Pei Du said, "Although for a romantic drama, this role may be a bit heavy and complicated, but from the perspective of a viewer who wants to see a good drama, I look forward to such a story."

"But Sister Jin won't even watch it seriously. She just glanced at it and told me that there is no market for this kind of thing." Wen Qiu looked at the screen in annoyance. "Actually, Sister Jin is right. People are usually very busy and tired. When they turn on the TV, they just want to see handsome men and beautiful women, and want to see sweet and sour love stories. You can't ask the audience to calm down and accept you. You can only adapt to them."

"..." Pei Du was silent for a moment. Even if he looked at it without favoritism, he still thought that Wen Qiu was a pearl covered in dust. If he were to arrange it, he would have ten thousand ways to let Jin Ling read the script carefully, or let a higher-level crew take over Wen Qiu.

But he just remembered what Jin Ling said at the dinner table. The help he could easily give was harmful to Wen Qiu. His lover had too strong self-esteem. Even if he was praised to a high position, he would only feel lonely at the top.

"It's okay, let's think of a solution together." Pei Du thought for a while and said, "Now that you have a good product, the remaining step is how to sell it."

Wen Qiu was a little surprised. Pei Du had helped him many times and given him a lot of good advice. But this was the first time he said, "Let's think of a solution together." In fact, with his vision, knowledge and resources, it was normal for him to guide him from a high position. There was no need to bend down to accommodate him.

Wen Qiu felt an awkward warmth in his heart. He put down the things he was going to take away, sat down and seriously prepared to think of a solution with Pei Du.

The two of them knelt together and muttered to each other for a long time. Wen Qiu's thoughts gradually opened up, and he actually had a good idea -

They decided to ask Jianghe Drama Club for help, to interpret the script and edit it into a concept film for Jin Ling to watch. The shots were very direct, and the good and the bad were clear at a glance.

The two discussed this idea in depth, and the more they talked, the more they felt it was feasible. Thinking of the limited time, Wen Qiu jumped up from the sofa and said, "The results will be announced at the regular meeting next week, so we must make the finished product quickly!"

He took out his cell phone and wanted to contact that number immediately, but suddenly he remembered that Pei Du was beside him, and his fingers slowed down again.

Pei Du had already seen the number that Wen Qiu had found out immediately, and raised his eyebrows and asked, "What?"

"I want to ask Jianghe Troupe for help, so I have to contact Yan Sheng," Wen Qiu blinked, "Do you mind?"

"What's wrong with Yan Sheng? Is there anything special about him?"

"No." Wen Qiu narrowed his eyes and smiled. Somehow he saw in Pei Du the aura of a queen who was magnanimous and confident of victory.

After contacting them, Yan Sheng was also very enthusiastic and said that all the people in the troupe were there and asked them to come directly.

Pei Du drove the car and the two of them went straight back to school. Today was Sunday, but the Jianghe Troupe had a rehearsal recently, so the main members were all there. After Bai Ningshu dropped out of school, the person who inherited the position of president was a graduate student in the directing department named Lu Bing, who was said to be a genius who would never be born.

"Look, that's Senior Sister Lu Bing." Yan Sheng pointed to him, "We'll go to lunch after this scene, you can go find her directly."

Wen Qiu looked over and saw a petite girl with short hair, wearing a hoodie and sweatpants, sitting on a prop box and shouting loudly.

Somehow, he felt that Lu Bing's style was somewhat familiar. After this scene was over, he approached her and said, "Hello, senior sister, I am..."

"Wen Qiu?" Lu Bing turned around and gave him his name with a glance. "Senior sister, you know me?" Wen Qiu was a little surprised.

“I read the script you wrote.”

"Oh——" Wen Qiu didn't expect that the competition would make him so famous.

"I can read all the scripts for the Wenxin Cup," Lu Bing stroked his chin, "Besides, my brother has praised you before."

"Who is your brother?" Wen Qiu looked at her. His face didn't look like his, but his demeanor was very similar... Lu Bing stood up, took a beard from the prop box and stuck it on her face, then put a baseball cap on her head and shouted in a rough voice, "What kind of shady stuff is going on in the entertainment industry nowadays!"

Wen Qiu burst out laughing, "So your brother is Director Lu Jia!"

"He is my eldest brother. I have an older sister named Lu Yi, who is a photographer. My original name was Lu Bing, but it sounded really ugly, so I changed it to Lu Bing." Lu Bing was obviously born into an artistic family, the kind that tends to be abstract.

Wen Qiu introduced again: "This is Pei Du, my, uh..."

"Pursuer." Pei Du now wished he could hang a loudspeaker and spread the matter everywhere.

Lu Bing raised his head and took a thorough look at Pei Du, revealing an ambiguous smile: "Oh, of course I know Pei Du... In Bai Ningshu's camera, you are an old acquaintance."

"Really?" Pei Du smiled slightly.

Wen Qiu didn't want to bring up the past, so he took out the script and handed it to Lu Bing, explaining his purpose. Lu Bing took the script and flipped through two pages casually, "Well, I've heard from Yan Sheng. It's no problem for me to help you shoot a sample, but you have to do me a favor as well."

Wen Qiu was a little nervous. He thought that giving some sponsorship money could solve the problem, but it seemed that Lu Bing's intention was not that simple. "What favor?"

"After I finish this play, I plan to make a real movie. The framework is already set, but I haven't found a suitable screenwriter yet." Lu Bing stared into his eyes and said, "What I can tell you is that this movie will not be worse than Lu Jia's debut work. Are you interested in joining me?"

Wen Qiu swallowed his saliva. He just wanted to shoot a concept short film, but he received such an important invitation. The girl in front of him was small, but her temperament was very calm. Her eyes, which were exactly the same as Lu Jia's, revealed a kind of domineering aura.

"My pleasure, but I also want to learn more about this work first."

Lu Bing directly pulled out a few crumpled papers from his pocket. These were pages torn from a notebook, filled with notes in a mess. Wen Qiu saw the name of the movie at first glance: "Seven Tours of the Human World".

This story is about a son of God who has no heart. In order to fill his empty heart, he descended to the human world seven times and experienced the love, hate, sorrow and joy of the human world...

Wen Qiu carefully read the increasingly scribbled handwriting, "What's the ending of the story?"

Lu Bing shrugged: "The Son of God has turned into a devil."

"It sounds interesting." Wen Qiu said with a smile.

"It will be more interesting if it's filmed." Lu Bing opened her phone and added him on WeChat, then tapped his ribs with her phone. "I'm more certain I want you after meeting you once. Contact me when you're free."

"Okay, I will seriously consider your proposal." Wen Qiu said, "Then my script..."

"If you can finish the filming before Friday, I'll give you the time after 4 o'clock every day. As for the actors..." Lu Bing snapped her fingers, and the actors in the entire troupe turned their heads and looked at her in unison, "You can pick any of my people."

It only took them one Sunday to select the actors, read the script together, and finalize various shooting details. Pei Du ordered milk tea and desserts while they were busy, and in the evening after work, he treated the entire troupe to a meal at the restaurant.

"Fuck, this restaurant costs 800 yuan per person..." The group of college students had never seen such a scene before. They almost hugged Pei Du's legs and called him "gold sponsor daddy". "Is this what it feels like to have a sponsor?"

Wen Qiu also felt that it was a bit too much, and secretly pulled him aside and said, "Don't spend so much..."

"When you ask someone for help, you have to do it well, so that they can help you wholeheartedly." Pei Du said, "Just leave these off-site matters to me, and you can focus on your work."

Of course, showing off financial strength is also part of demonstrating sovereignty. Those flashy ALPHAs in the troupe are not good people at first glance. They stare at Wen Qiu all day long.

Only after they really started working together did Wen Qiu realize how reliable Lu Bing was, and everything was proceeding in an orderly manner according to her plan. Based on her own script, she also arranged a lot of things in her own style, combining the fragmented clips into a coherent concept short film.

On Saturday, Wen Qiu took the edited film to Jin Ling's studio. Today was the moment to decide his fate, but he was no longer worried. Even if he still couldn't be selected after all his efforts, he would accept it calmly.

Not all passions can have good results, but the pursuit itself is enough to satisfy him. Walking ten thousand miles will cause blisters, and the blisters will turn into thicker skin, helping him to keep walking.

(End of this chapter)