Entertainment: I just want to be the boss behind the scenes

Chapter 474 Boss Li (Exclusive Limited Edition)

“Congratulations to The Hidden Corner!”

As the presenter finished speaking, the scene suddenly became noisy.

We know that this year's Magnolia Awards will give strong support to online dramas, but no one thought that an online drama would actually win the final award.

But then again, after years of development, online dramas today have long been able to compete with TV dramas in terms of popularity, quality and influence, and even surpass them.

Without talking about the distant past, let’s just look at the nominated works this year. On the online drama side, there are many excellent works such as "The Bad Kids", "Joy of Life", "The Longest Day in Chang'an", "The Sideburns Are Not Begonia Red", etc., while on the TV drama side, only "Little Joy" and "Operation Ice Breaking" can be considered to be outstanding.

Even "Operation Ice Breaking" was first launched on the video platform and was broadcast on CCTV a few days later. Moreover, due to the fact that a large number of side characters and plots were watered down in the later stages, the whole drama started off high and ended low.

From this point of view, it is normal for online dramas to overwhelm TV dramas.

Among all the online dramas aired last year, the one with the highest overall performance was naturally "The Bad Kids", which dominated the entire summer and made countless viewers suffer from "mountain climbing ptsd".

Since the slightly inferior "Joy of Life" and "The Longest Day in Chang'an" both achieved success, how could it possibly fall behind in first place.

The most excited people at this time were naturally Xin Shuang and his group. Everyone had been prepared to get nothing, but unexpectedly, they won the final grand prize.

Several people looked at Meng Bai who was sitting in the middle with excitement, but found that he still had a calm and indifferent expression on his face. After a moment of hesitation, they immediately reacted.

No wonder when Mr. Meng missed the "Best Screenwriter" award just now, he didn't react at all, and even joked with everyone about "maintaining balance". It turned out that he had guessed it a long time ago.

"Mr. Meng, you thought of this but didn't tell us, which made us feel disappointed for a while." Xin Shuang shook her artistic semi-long hair and "complained" with a smile on her face.

Haha, what the hell did I think of? Meng Bai complained in his heart. He didn’t realize it until a while before the final award was announced. Both “The Longest Day in Chang’an” and “Joy of Life” won awards. How could “The Bad Kids”, which had better performance and quality, not win any awards?

If that is really the case, the organizers of the Magnolia Awards would have sent him an invitation letter, which is a complete slap in the face.

It was because of this that he seemed so "calm" after hearing the result.

Of course, these were just thoughts in his mind. On the surface, he smiled lightly and said casually, "After all, everything is possible before the results come out. This is a good opportunity to give everyone a surprise."

"Hahaha, this is a great surprise. I hope I can have it every time in the future."

On the other side, watching his friend stand up and walk towards the stage amid the congratulations of the people around him, Zhang Ruoyun said relaxedly: "Well, this result is not bad, everyone has gained something."

Li Yitong glanced at him and said, "You sound like you won the Best Actor award."

"I didn't expect to win an award, just being nominated is enough for me." Zhang Ruoyun said as he took out his phone, "I'll ask Teacher Meng if he wants to have a midnight snack with me later?"

"He's not going." Li Yitong blurted out, "We have something else to do later."

"Is something wrong?"

Zhang Ruoyun glanced at her, then reacted and said in an ambiguous voice: "Oh~~"

Li Yitong pursed her lips and looked ahead, pretending not to hear.

……

There were some interview sessions after the award ceremony, and it was already past eleven when Meng Bai left the venue.

He got into the car first, but didn't leave in a hurry. After waiting for a while, he saw Hua Yan and Li Yitong coming over.

"How come you, who didn't win any prize, are slower than me?"

"The reporters and media didn't dare to stop Mr. Meng, so they could only look for us little actors." Li Yitong sat down next to him. "Lao Zhang just said he wanted to have supper with you, and I said you had something to do."

"He's a grown man, why would you want to have a midnight snack with him?"

"Oh, so you mean, if a girl asks you out, you go, right?"

"Yeah." Meng Bai nodded, leaned over and kissed her on the face, raised his eyebrows, "I'm with the girl who made an appointment with me."

Now Li Yitong finally smiled with her eyes curved.

When they returned to the room, the dining table was filled with the red wine steak that the hotel had prepared on their way back, and it was at just the right temperature.

After they washed and tidied themselves up, they sat opposite each other at the table.

"Ding~"

There was a crisp sound of glass colliding, and the wine glasses in the hands of the two people collided lightly.

"Congratulations to Mr. Meng for winning the Magnolia Award." Li Yitong said with a sweet smile, "You don't know how entangled we were when the screenwriter award was announced."

"What are you struggling with?"

"I felt that the award should be yours, but I also wanted my crew to get it." Li Yitong sighed, "So when I heard that the screenwriter award was not yours, I didn't know how to feel. Fortunately, the grand prize was yours in the end."

Meng Baiqing took a sip of the red wine in the glass: "In fact, I didn't expect that Magnolia would leave the final grand prize to us."

Although all three major awards this year allow online dramas to be registered, considering the regional advantages, ArcLight has always focused its operations on the Feitian Awards and has not paid much attention to the Magnolia Awards.

Unexpectedly, the result gave them a pleasant surprise.

But just like what Xin Shang said, I hope this kind of "unexpected surprise" will come more often in the future.

With the grand prize in hand, Meng Bai was quite excited. Looking at Li Yitong's pretty face close to him, he suddenly remembered something.

"I remember some people said last night that they would send gifts today."

He knocked on the table and asked, "Boss Li, where is your gift?"

The woman paused, and then her cheeks turned red. Putting down the wine glass, Li Yitong glanced at him with spring eyes: "I remember... wait for me."

Having said that, she stood up and walked into the inner room, looked back with some charm in her eyes, and then closed the door.

It wasn't until the door closed that Meng Bai finally withdrew his gaze.

Hiss——Although I don’t know what she is going to do, I suddenly feel so excited.

By the way, this girl wouldn't lock the door and never come out, right?
This somewhat nonsensical thought suddenly flashed through Meng Bai's mind, and then he couldn't help but shook his head and laughed.

After waiting for a long time, just when he was about to get up and knock on the door, the door of the inner room was finally opened, and then he saw Li Yitong poking her head out from behind the door.

Meeting the man's gaze, she shrank back a little. But then she thought about how they already knew each other well, and she felt like she didn't need to worry about anything.

She was determined in her heart, and then she walked out gracefully from behind the door.

Meng Bai looked over and his breathing couldn't help but stop.

I understand. I finally understand why the girl asked him to remember what the dress looked like before.

After walking out of the door, Li Yitong was clearly wearing a dress of almost the same style as the dress she wore at the awards ceremony, but in comparison, a lot of fabric was saved in various places. The part that covered the waist and abdomen disappeared, leaving only two narrow strips in front of the body to cover the key parts, and the fair skin was directly exposed to the air. The skirt that originally dragged on the ground was also cut off, leaving only a small part, which could not cover the long legs below.

The material of the clothes has also changed. The originally completely opaque dress has now become a translucent silk gauze, which appears and disappears with the movements, making people want to get closer to find out.

These are still fine, the more important thing is that the girl still retains the makeup and hairstyle she wore at the awards ceremony, full of maturity and elegance.

The noble and cool makeup temperament, coupled with the charming dress, not only does not make people feel confused, but blends together to form a unique contrasting atmosphere that is both holy and seductive.

"Da da da……"

The heels of her high-heeled shoes stepped on the floor with a strange rhythm.

Li Yitong slowly walked in front of Meng Bai, and under his gaze, slowly sat on his lap. She hooked one hand around his neck, looked up at him, and her smiling eyes, like crescent moons, were shining with stars.

"Meng Bai." She called sweetly, "Do you like the gift?"

"Gulu..."

Meng Bai's throat rolled, and he looked at the woman in his arms with a little bit of fiery eyes: "Don't tell me, this is what you just modified in the dress?"

"How could that be? The dress is on loan from the brand, so there's no way I could move it. It's just that after I chose the dress a few days ago, I specifically found this 'exclusive limited edition' of a similar style."

"Exclusive limited edition?"

Li Yitong leaned close to Meng Bai's ear and whispered, "A limited edition just for you."

Meng Bai took a deep breath.

Who can stand this? He can't.

Li Yitong thought that Meng Bai would carry her into the inner room as he did before, but she underestimated the man's ability to act.

Meng Bai roughly pushed the tableware aside, then picked up Li Yitong and put her on the table.

The battle started on the spot.

"I suddenly thought of something."

"Wha… um, what is it?"

"I should have taken some pictures of you first."

"What...what are you doing? Do you want to...keep it as a souvenir?"

"Yes, of course I have to keep a souvenir."

"Wait until tomorrow...it will be the same if we shoot tomorrow."

"I can't guarantee that this outfit will last until tomorrow."

"Then you can take the photo later. Only...only you can see it!"

"Don't worry, I'm not Teacher Chen."
-
It was somewhat different from what Meng Bai had expected. The durability of Li Yitong's "attack speed critical hit" double bonus suit was higher than he had imagined. It successfully withstood the attacks all night and protected herself.

Unfortunately, the wearer of the equipment couldn't hold on and had to rest for a day the next day before he recovered.

At the same time, the results of the Magnolia Awards have been announced. The popularity and discussion online are much higher than in previous years, and most people are discussing "The Bad Kids" winning the final grand prize and that the online drama has finally surpassed the TV drama in the official awards.

Many film and television practitioners and some film and television bloggers said in hindsight that this result was actually foreseeable.

[From a subjective perspective, with the development of mobile TV, the audience for TV is getting lower and lower. Many TV series nowadays are just titles, and they still have to rely on video platforms in the end. Objective factors include the cold winter of TV in 2018, which led to the cancellation or failure of a large number of TV series projects last year, while the impact on online dramas was not significant.]

Of course, for most ordinary viewers, they don't care why the TV series is no longer popular. They come here to have fun and watch whatever is good.

Therefore, many viewers were happy to see that "The Bad Kids" won the final award.

The person who benefited the most from this wave of awards was Xin Shuang. He had proven his achievements before, and now he has the recognition of awards. He suddenly went from a newcomer to a widely recognized high-quality director.

Lead actors like Qin Hao had already reaped the benefits after the show aired last year. Now that the work has won an award, the added effect is not significant.

As for Meng Bai, the screenwriter and producer, and the behind-the-scenes team, the audience has become accustomed to it.

That’s President Meng, so it’s only natural for him to have such results.

After the Magnolia Awards, everyone went home. After a day of rest and recovery, Li Yitong left Shanghai first with a reluctant farewell.

As for Meng Bai, he will stay to attend the Pinduoduo shareholders' meeting two days later.

Gu Fei's information was still very accurate. Huang Zheng did take advantage of this conference to issue an announcement, stating that he would step down as the company's CEO, but would continue to remain on the board of directors as chairman.

As for why he resigned, he simply said that he felt Pinduoduo was no longer challenging and planned to switch to a new project.

"I think staying as chairman is for the purpose of transition."

After the meeting, Meng Bai and Huang Zheng chatted, "When are you planning to leave?"

Huang Zheng smiled and acquiesced to his statement: "Wait a year or so, when everyone is used to it, I will leave."

"Any new plans?"

"Haha, Mr. Meng, are you planning to continue together?"

"Yes, I said it when we did the first angel round. I couldn't understand the project, but I could still understand the people a little bit." Meng Bai said.

Huang Zheng laughed and said, "You may be disappointed this time. I don't plan to do business like Pinduoduo. I plan to do something that doesn't make money."

"for example?"

"Artificial intelligence, life science, brain-computer interface..." Huang Zheng spread his hands, "Probably something like that."

"...Okay, the new generation of 'biochemical environmental materials' has given you a lot of experience."

Although they have known each other for many years, their relationship is still just business partners. So Meng Bai didn't say much about his decision.

After finishing the matter with Pinduoduo, he took the opportunity to visit Youzu again before leaving, mainly to pay attention to the progress of the cooperation on "The Three-Body Problem".

At present, the two sides are still discussing the specific details and conditions of the cooperation. Lin Qi, the boss, looks warm and friendly, but he is a bit niggardly when it comes to interests. At the current speed, it would be fast if the contract can be signed and the project can be successfully established before the end of the year.

After finishing all the messy things in Shanghai, Meng Bai finally returned to northern Beijing.

At the same time, "Sisters Who Make Waves", which has been popular for a whole summer, finally ushered in the final night of the group formation.

(End of this chapter)