Huayu Chunqiu, starting from being adopted by a fairy mother

Chapter 471 The Investiture of the Gods by the Three Religions
With Liu Jing's return to China, the once peaceful entertainment industry has become anything but peaceful.

The filming of "Investiture of the Gods" was approved in the Spring and Autumn Period, and the casting process officially began.

Previously, I had only heard about it, and some people were completely unaware of it, but now there's even an official website for it.

Just after Liu Jing saw Jiang Wen off, that guy kept pestering Liu Jing to come up with a publicity plan.

The last person to leave was Stanley Tong. Before "The Myth 2" even started filming, Liu Jing was asked to come up with a publicity plan to generate buzz.

Liu Jing had no words to express his bitterness. He was no PR master; it was all a series of unfortunate coincidences.

He returned to Yandu the day before yesterday, but instead of going to the company, he stayed home and rested for a day.

This morning, I first went to school to make my presence known, and then came to the company to clock in for work.

Wang Pangzi, Zhou Xiaowen, Xu Ke, Tang Jili, and Jiang Wen did nothing but entertain these people all day.

"Xiao Bai, forget about Jiang Wen, but why did Wang Pangzi and those Hong Kong directors arrive so timely? Are they just waiting for me here every day?"

Liu Jing came out of the restroom, and Xiao Bai was cleaning up the mess.

After drinking tea for several hours, my stomach felt bloated, and my bladder felt even more full. I went to the toilet several times.

He always felt something was missing. In Seoul, he was the person Yoona was helping.

The assistant arranged his work in an orderly manner and took good care of his life, but in the details, he was still not as good as the one trained by the chaebol.

"You're overthinking it. These Hong Kong and Taiwanese directors and stars are into buying property in mainland China. Guangzhou used to be the most popular, but now Beijing is the top choice, followed by Shanghai. The people you mentioned who are based in mainland China spend more time there than in Hong Kong," the assistant explained.

"Oh, I see." Liu Jing suddenly realized, realizing he had been presumptuous.

Following the signing of the CEPA agreement in 2003, Hong Kong celebrities flocked to the mainland in large numbers. They spent more time working there, many simply bought property there, and some even moved their entire families there.

Last year, the "Three Links" (direct trade, postal, and transportation links) between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait were established, enabling direct air, sea, and postal services, significantly reducing travel costs. Many Taiwanese celebrities frequently travel between the two sides and have also purchased property and settled down on the mainland.

"Boss, while you still have some time, why don't you take a look at our 'Investiture of the Gods' official website?" Bai Bing turned on the computer, wiped the chair, and tidied up the desk.

Watching Xiaobai's skillful movements, she took care of everything in an orderly manner.

Liu Jing shook his head. No matter how attentive Lin Yun'er's service was, it still couldn't compare to my Xiaobai.

Habits can be terrible. Three years ago, when Bai Bing first tidied up the office, Liu Jing couldn't stand it at all.

"I have plenty of time; I can deal with you easily."

"Slip of the tongue, slip of the tongue..."

Liu Yifei is returning to China today, and her boss is going to pick her up at the airport; this is the top priority.

After all, the boss did quite a few bad things while the wife was away. Although he didn't say it, judging from his demeanor and actions, he didn't do anything good in Korea either.

It is morally wrong and logically contrary, but one must go to the airport to pick them up, both out of sentiment and reason.

"The official website just went live. Is it waiting for me to return to China?" Liu Jing sat in a chair, while his assistant stood behind him, proactively massaging his temples.

"You're overthinking it. Even if you weren't coming back, you would have logged on yesterday."

Bai Bing pouted. "After going to South Korea, I've become much more narcissistic."

When Liu Yifei came back, her tail was either sticking up or drooping down.

Liu Jing opened the webpage, and the header image, "Investing 100 million to restart the Investiture of the Gods," was very eye-catching.

It contains various sections and several posts.

The first post reads, "Spending 100 million to restart the Investiture of the Gods."

It's all about how much investment was made, how many special effects were used, and how much it replicated the original work.

The second post was titled "Let's vote on the actors."

Open the link to see hundreds of characters, each a cartoon character. Click again to fill in your favorite candidate; however, each character has requirements, with more demanding roles having more requirements. Qualified candidates will be added to the shortlist, and a vote leaderboard next to it displays the rankings in real time.

The most popular character, Su Daji, had already garnered over a thousand online applications from netizens. After filtering out the irrelevant ones, Fat Bing (Pang Bing) ranked first with an absolute advantage.

Second place went to Gao Yuanyuan, third place to Zhou Xun, followed by Chen Hao, Huo Siyan...

"How come Min-jie and Qianqian are on the list too?" Liu Jing complained. Liu Yifei was ranked seventh and Zhang Min was ranked ninth.

"This casting call is just a warm-up, a reference point. It's mostly for entertainment, the point is to participate, don't take it too seriously." Bai Bing shrugged. The boss didn't scroll down; Bai Bing was in 23rd place.

"Holy crap, who nominated me to play King Zhou of Shang? Am I that cruel?" Liu Jing opened the image of King Zhou and couldn't help but smile.

"I also submitted a vote." Bai Bing peeked out and smiled.

The boss ranked first, followed by Hu Jun, Jiang Wen, Sun Honglei, Ma Jingtao...

"You're really something..."

The assistant turned around and kissed the boss on the cheek, then said nothing more.

The last post, "From the Eight Heavenly Dragons to the Investiture of the Gods of the Three Religions - Joining Hands Again After Seven Years".

Produced by Zhang Min, supervised by Liu Jing, and co-directed by Ju Jue Liang, Zhou Xiaowen, Yu Min, and Zhao Jian, this is the main content of the post.

Except for the lack of a big beard, it's completely from the "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils" camp.

"They invested 100 million yuan in Journey to the West, and we also invested 100 million yuan in Investiture of the Gods. They hired a top-notch special effects team, and we'll create top-notch Eastern special effects. Plus, with these four directors, it's very targeted," Liu Jing remarked. The bearded director has been preparing for Journey to the West for two years, but it hasn't started filming yet. Who knows, Investiture of the Gods might start filming first.

"You should take a look at this information; it's really targeted."

The assistant opened a folder on the desktop named "Liaozhai Universe," and then opened a subfolder named "Nie Xiaoqian," which contained a dense collection of documents.

"This is the copyright pre-sale I told you about yesterday..."

Upon seeing the pile of numbers, Liu Jing was shocked.

The Japanese pre-sale rights cost $400 million, with Toho Co., Ltd. as the local distributor. They hope to highlight the poignant beauty of the love story between a human and a demon, attracting the anime and manga fandom to the theaters.

The Malaysian distribution rights have secured $350 million in pre-sales, with local distributor Golden Screen Cinemas proposing a package including multilingual versions and a meet-and-greet with the stars. They've invited Liu Yifei to the Kuala Lumpur premiere to boost pre-sales.

The film has already garnered $220 million in pre-sales in Thailand, where audiences particularly enjoy elements like fox spirits and exorcists, which resonate with Thai mythology. The distributor also stipulated that the copyrights include those for the game.

The rights for South Korea and Singapore were not sold because South Korea has CJ Entertainment, and Singapore's largest cinema service provider is Golden Harvest. Benefiting from the fierce competition for the rights, distributors from Europe and America also approached them, but their offers were generally not high.

Even so, global pre-sales have reached a staggering $14 million, while the investment budget for "Nie Xiaoqian" is less than $10 million.

Bringing Chinese culture to Japan and South Korea is difficult, but sweeping across Southeast Asia seems less difficult than imagined.

"Taiji just held the launch ceremony for 'A Chinese Ghost Story' and also started pre-sales of the copyright. We haven't even started pre-sales yet; we've only released the news that someone spent 30 million to buy the Australian copyright, and our doorsteps have been overwhelmed. Taiji just contacted Gu Tianle, but Chen Jiashang beat them to it. I have to say, Director Chen really has a lot of influence." The assistant smiled smugly.

"The investment budget was ten million US dollars, but you've blown it up to thirty million. You're really pushing your luck!" Liu Jing looked at the project report and keenly noticed the problem with the numbers.

"Boss, this was all Gao Yuanyuan's idea. Your Gao Yuanyuan looks harmless, but she's incredibly wicked. She has the appearance of an innocent girl, but is the epitome of a sly and secretly provocative person." The assistant complained.

"And you?" Liu Jing chuckled. How could you be any better than her? You know my right-hand woman all too well.

“She’s a complete slut.” Gao Yuanyuan pushed open the door and entered, holding a child in her arms, with Zhang Min following behind her.

When the child saw Liu Jing, he struggled in Da Meiyuan's arms and kept calling for his father.

Liu Jing had no time to look at the documents. He rushed over, beaming, and hugged his daughter, saying, "Oh, my little baby, Daddy missed you so much."

Bai Bing, disregarding any further discussion, was utterly astonished. "Why is Xiaoxue here?"

"I carried it over." Zhang Min put her hands behind her back, kicked the door shut, and slammed it shut.

Nonsense! Xiaoxue can walk, but she can't walk all the way here.

Bai Bing thought about it to herself, and then quickly served tea and water, taking great care of the guests.

"Wood, I'll go to the airport with you later."

Liu Jing was teasing the child, saying, "Sister, isn't this unnecessary?"

He understood Zhang Min's meaning: Xiaoxue's scandal was over, but Xixi's was not. Her going to pick her up at the airport was also a gesture of goodwill.

Bai Bing understood this principle and secretly clicked her tongue in amazement; the position of the main wife was indeed very secure. Even someone as powerful as President Min had to give her a lot of face.

Zhang Min didn't respond, but instead brought up another matter, "Li Yinxin just called me. Kim Hee-sun's child is not even a year old yet, so it's really not suitable for her to go out and film. In the end, she and her husband reached an agreement that she can join the crew in June. However, her husband has a requirement that he arranges for a team to accompany her throughout the process."

"I can understand." After all, with Jackie Chan around, if he were Kim Hee-sun's husband, he would never agree.

I don't understand at all!
Their left and right arms exchanged a glance; something was fishy about this. Li Yinxin's good friend was Liu Jing, and it was Liu Jing who had asked her to do this; why would she reply to Sister Min?
The two of them had droopy eyelids and each had their own guesses, but one thing was certain: Liu Jing's delayed return from his trip to South Korea was probably related to Li Yinxin.

Considering Liu Yifei's early return to China, the answer is obvious. Having her home ransacked must have been a terrible experience.

Zhang Min understood perfectly. A few days ago, Li Yinxin suddenly called her to ask for advice about her child.

I really wanted to have a child, so I asked Sister Min for advice.

Zhang Min began with a comprehensive physical assessment, then discussed how to improve one's health. She also talked about precautions for ovulation-inducing injections, and the sensations of minimally invasive puncture, among other things.

The explanation was incredibly detailed, but Li Yinxin listened quietly to the whole thing and then casually said, "Sister, I want the experience of successful artificial insemination. What you've said is all from books."

Seemingly afraid that Zhang Min hadn't understood, he added in more detail, "We just finished, and he went to take a shower. I didn't dare to move."

Zhang Min understood from the first sentence, so there was no need for a second sentence to elaborate.

Zhang Min, speechless, said, "Practice makes up for lack of talent. There's no real experience to it; you'll get results eventually if you try many times."

Recently, the two have been communicating more frequently, with three to five phone calls a day being normal.

Just now, Li Yinxin asked her about pregnancy reactions, and Zhang Min was speechless. This girl was thinking too much.

Of all the private plots Liu Jing cultivated for so long, only her plot has blossomed and borne fruit.

But she still shared everything she knew without reservation.

Liu Jing returned to China, and Li Yinxin also came out of her home to deal with the remaining work.

Kim Hee-sun's matter was just a side note; it wasn't a problem for her at all.

On the contrary, Han Geng's situation is more complicated. As a beneficiary, she does not want to disrupt the business and is studying a win-win solution.

"Jackie Chan is a jinx; nothing goes peaceful for him. Your film 'The Myth 2' will have to be postponed." Zhang Min gloated. Sister Li blamed her for corrupting Liu Jing, but Zhang Min felt it wasn't her fault. This kid clearly only started going astray after filming with Jackie Chan.

Although Fatty Wang was also a womanizer, his values ​​weren't fundamentally flawed. He treated Liu Jing like a younger brother or nephew and rarely brought his bad habits into Liu Jing's presence. He spoke positively about reading, work, and life.

Cheng Long was different; he was unrestrained and dissolute. He taught Liu Jing how to pick up girls, telling him that women were like clothes—he was only a teenager then.

“Sister Min, Chen Jiashang is thinking of bringing forward the release of ‘Nie Xiaoqian’. He even suggested a few days ago that since we’re starting a universe of Liaozhai stories, we should compress the process and try to release one film a year.” Bai Bing’s expression brightened. Kim Hee-sun is such a good person; she was just having a headache over her boss’s schedule.

"Oh. How's the preparation for 'Nie Xiaoqian' going?"

Zhang Min rarely paid attention to this matter, leaving it to Bai Bing to handle. She had more confidence in her right-hand women's abilities than Liu Jing, since she had trained them both.

"The script is being polished, and the set construction should be completed by the end of the month. The costumes, props, and sets are all ready. Casting is also simple; three of the four main leads have been cast. There aren't any major issues with Carman Lee either; Gu Tianle is working on her mindset. Oh, by the way, Min-jie, you'll have to handle Joey Wong's situation. Director Chen Jiashang contacted her, and she said she's already become Nie Xiaoqian and doesn't want to play that kind of role anymore," Bai Bing quickly replied.

Zhang Min sighed, "She's currently in Vancouver practicing asceticism, which is quite nice of her, far removed from worldly affairs. Since she doesn't wish to, it's best not to disturb her."

"That's true, she's different from Li Ruotong. Both broke up, but Li Ruotong was more dignified. Wang Zuxian's ex-boyfriend's mother was really vicious. Her love was inherently humble; she wouldn't have done that if she hadn't been so thoroughly hurt. I heard she shaved her head and became a nun at the Guanyin Temple in Vancouver, taking the Dharma name Chaoxi. It means she's completely given up on love and life." Gao Yuanyuan said indignantly.

"No, that's not true. She's practicing Buddhism at home. She has such long hair, I'm envious." Zhang Min smoothed her short hair behind her ear. She also wanted to grow her hair long, but Liu Jing said short hair looked better.

I used to keep my hair long for a while, but since having children, I've completely said goodbye to long hair.

"Sao Bai, you should choose the Tree Demon Granny instead," Gao Yuanyuan decided.

Liu Jing was shocked to learn that it was Sao Bai; he had thought Sao Yuan would call Sao Bing.

He was wrong; "Sao Bing" was a nickname given to the other person as his right-hand man.

Zhang Min pretended not to hear; the younger sisters loved to play, and that was a kind of harmony.

She stretched, her ample curves almost bursting. "Alright, I just wanted to let you know so I won't keep you from getting back to work. Yuanyuan and I are going out for a bit, we'll call you later."

Gao Yuanyuan took the child away, winked at Liu Jing, and said helplessly. The rivalry between the eldest and second eldest is beyond my, a mere third party, to interfere with. I wish you a smooth journey after picking them up from the airport.

"Oh, right, you hold Xiaoxue while I drive." Zhang Min left those words behind and slammed the door shut with another kick.

boom……

The boss and his assistant looked at each other, wondering if something was amiss. Why was Xiaoxue brought along when they picked up the passenger?
(End of this chapter)