Abstract Art Award Winner

"Brother Le, do you want to see what you're doing?"

"Listen to those voice messages you sent me, do you think they're accurate?"

When Zhou Le woke up in the morning, he remembered his experience from the previous night. He remembered dreaming about an amazing script, which was full of subtle clues, intricate plots, and thrilling moments that were captivating.

Zhou Le was stunned when he opened Meng Ziyi's WeChat and saw the three 60-second voice messages.

"Why are there only three? I remember they went into a lot of detail last night. What kind of plot can you tell in three minutes?" Zhou Le instinctively felt that something was wrong.

Then he saw a voice message from Meng Ziyi.

After hearing this, I felt even stranger. Meng Ziyi replied to my message on the spot last night, which was understandable. Recently, she has either been sleeping late or waking up in the middle of the night.

But what does that mean? Does it mean you don't acknowledge your own labor?
So Zhou Le opened the voice message again and listened to it, and was stunned.

"What is this? This is what I said last night. It shouldn't be like this. I clearly remember dreaming about a movie plot last night. What the heck is corn stalks mixed with cold noodles?"

But now, no matter how hard I try, I can't remember what exactly I dreamed about.

Reluctantly, I had to get up and prepare to go to filming.

As a historical romance drama adapted from a novel, "Love and Redemption" is oriented towards female audiences, thus differing from other works filmed before in both narrative and visual style.

In comparison, male-oriented content places a slightly greater emphasis on logic and enjoyment, while female-oriented content focuses more on emotions.

After arriving at the film set in the morning, everyone was getting ready. Tian Xiwei had already changed her clothes and was putting on makeup.

"Brother Le, actually you're not in a good position right now. When we're filming, there are always a lot of fans waiting outside to take pictures. Some will give us small gifts, and some will write us letters."

As Tian Xiwei sat in the chair, looking at her makeup progress in the mirror, she spoke.

"Are they that enthusiastic? But they can't get into the film set, can they?"

"Yes, they can't get into the film set, so they come outside very early to wait. Actually, they can only meet and say hello when they run into each other, which is quite different from the movie."

"Well, it's actually quite good. Posting more pictures regularly will make your fans happy. But you have to be careful about what gifts you accept. Small trinkets are fine, but don't accept anything too expensive, as that can easily cause problems."

Zhou Le reminded him.

"Don't worry, Brother Le, I know. I often tell my fans in the fan group that they don't need to come to see me all the time. They can save the money to eat something nice or buy themselves a new outfit."

If you really want to give a gift, you can write some greeting cards or postcards by hand. This way, you can express your feelings without spending too much money.

"But Brother Le, speaking of which, it seems like something similar happened on Teacher He's side."

Although Zhou Le often goesssip, his information usually comes from people around him or from what he sees online. But what he sees online is what's already been released, and he only learns about things from people around him when they talk about them.

"Teacher He? It's Hunan TV."

"Yes, it's that He Jiong. They themselves might be a little better off, but I heard that their show, which airs every Saturday night at a fixed time—I won't say the name—makes the fans of the celebrities on the show buy gifts from designated places, otherwise they'll reduce the celebrities' important screen time."

Zhou Le: "."

"Is he so desperate for money that he's trying to make extra cash just because he has a little bit of power?"

In order to be a good artist, Zhou Le studied various legal knowledge. This kind of thing sounds wrong. Using the artist's camera to ask fans to buy gifts.

Even a fool would know that this gift couldn't have been cheap; if we were to investigate further, it would involve issues like bribery and extortion.

"You absolutely must not learn this."

"Don't worry, just like you said, Brother Le, we can already make enough money in our line of work, there's no need to earn it through other means. Besides, my assistant's salary is quite high, and I usually buy her bags and jewelry. I've also told her that if she feels her income is too low, she can switch jobs, but she can't ask for gifts or money from fans behind my back."

"If she really wants to switch jobs, that's fine. Even if the new company needs to conduct a background check by phone, I can put in a good word for her."

"Yes, Xiaotian did a good job and deserves a reward."

Upon hearing this, Tian Xiwei perked up: "Hehe, what's the reward? Are you treating me to dinner?"

"We have to eat. How about we go eat some local specialties tonight? I ate stinky mandarin fish a few times when I was filming in Nanshan before, and I thought it was pretty good."

"Ah, no way, that's too smelly. I've tried it before, and I can't stand it."

"Okay, let me see what good food we can eat later, and we'll go out to eat together tonight."

After chatting for a while, Zhou Le took out his phone: "Makeup artist, how many people are there on your side?"

The makeup artist who was doing Zhou Le's makeup thought for a moment after hearing this: "Including the instructor, the team leader, and the assistant, there are seven of us in total."

Zhou Le nodded: "Then I'll treat everyone to a cup of coffee, but I don't know what you usually like to drink."

As he spoke, he handed over the phone: "You guys tap it yourselves."

"Wow, really? Thank you for the coffee, Professor Zhou. We often rely on coffee to keep us going."

"Brother Le, may I have a drink?"

Suddenly, Tian Xiwei spoke again.

"Sure, what would you like to drink?"

"I'll just have an iced Americano; other drinks are too high in calories, so I don't dare to drink them."

"I didn't expect you to be so hardworking?" Zhou Le looked at Tian Xiwei in surprise. Tian Xiwei replied matter-of-factly, "Female celebrities are very willing to go to great lengths to maintain their beauty. I've heard them say that some of them even get a lot of needles stuck in their faces to make their skin look better."

Zhou Le: "???"

"Will this work?"

"Finding the right place is helpful, because some places specialize in this. They say the principle is to use those needles to stimulate the skin, making the brain think that the skin is injured and new skin will grow."

And it seems like you can do that on the head too, not just the face, but I'm too scared to do it. I saw their photos back then, and they looked terrifying.

"That's really ruthless. All I know is getting a nose job, a chin implant, or some Botox injections."

"Brother Le, you're not as good as me. They have so many beauty treatments. As long as you're willing to spend the money, you can get whatever you want done, and you can have whatever you want to look like."

But as they chatted, they ended up talking about professional issues again.

"Brother Le, why is it that the male-oriented novel 'Joy of Life' that you adapted before isn't considered an idol drama? Although there are many veteran actors, you and Sister Qin are both very handsome and beautiful."

"It's mainly about the audience. You see, the author of 'Joy of Life' adapted his first two works into ancient romance novels. 'Ever Night' might be better, but 'Fighter of the Destiny' is very pure."

The difference is evident in the art style, and the core of male-oriented adaptations like "Joy of Life" is often power, achievement, adventure, conquest, and a sense of control.

Female-oriented content focuses more on romantic love, emotional connections, character relationships, individual growth, and the desire to be cherished and understood.

To put it simply, everyone has different pursuits. More boys like graphics cards, games, sneakers, etc., while girls prefer cosmetics, clothes, bags, jewelry, etc. Although it's impossible for 100% of them to be like this, the proportion is still quite large.

Furthermore, the core driving force of male-oriented content is actually to become stronger and achieve goals, such as reaching the pinnacle of power, becoming the strongest cultivator, and protecting one's homeland. This is more task-driven or goal-oriented, and the specific mode is to fight monsters and level up.

However, the main storyline in female-oriented novels is usually romance, a 1v1, 1vN, or multi-triangle relationship. The story revolves around the protagonist's emotional experiences, intertwined fates, and interpersonal relationships, and the world-building serves to express the characters' relationships and atmosphere.

Zhou Le was explaining the difference between the two to Tian Xiwei, who listened attentively, as did the makeup artists on both sides.

They are also practitioners in this industry, and they talk about these topics in private, but their discussions are far less in-depth than Zhou Le's.

"Ah, that's why there are very few male viewers for many historical romance dramas, because men tend to prefer dramas that emphasize personal abilities and wisdom, have clear growth trajectories, and offer a satisfying viewing experience."

Personally, I do read some female-oriented novels, but I still prefer those with strong female protagonists or those who grow and develop. Many so-called strong female protagonists these days are actually still dependent on men.

While the story is supposed to revolve around the female lead, after all the effort throughout the entire series, her ultimate goal is merely to become an appendage of the empress or some powerful figure. She doesn't truly embody a strong female lead. If she's going to be independent, she should be genuinely independent. She can leverage influence in the process, but her ultimate goal must always be for her own benefit.

Tian Xiwei was also aware of this. Although it sounded selfish, that's how it is when reading novels, especially online novels.

Life is already tiring enough. I have to get up at six or seven every day to commute to work. At the company, I not only have a lot of work, but I also get scolded by my boss and have to endure sarcastic remarks from my colleagues. After working overtime at night, I finally get home and want to relax, so I find a book to read. But when I click on it, it turns out to be a tragic novel, and the more I read, the more upset I feel.

"But there are actually a lot of outrageous books in the female-oriented genre as well."

"That's perfectly normal. Novels tend to exaggerate things, especially emotions. There's even a Dragon King War God in the male-oriented genre. He was originally a nobody son-in-law who usually swept the toilet, mopped the floor, cooked, and washed the dishes at home. He was bossed around and had a lower status than a dog. But one day, as you were talking, his mouth suddenly started to twist. Aren't you scared?"
That's terrifying!

“I’m afraid of that too, but I’m even more afraid that my husband won’t be home and those bad people will make my daughter and me live in a doghouse.”

"Haha, this is nothing usually. After all, things will get better. Once my husband, the Dragon King, returns, he will give the order and 100,000 soldiers will immediately tear down your shabby doghouse and build you an even bigger one."

Tian Xiwei: "???"

"Brother Le, now that you say it, I really feel like I've found my destiny."

After chatting for a while, the two went to film.

During filming, Lin Yufen kept her eyes glued to the screen. In her more than 20 years in the industry, she had filmed countless dramas, but she had never met anyone like Zhou Le who could present such a perfect image on camera with just a little makeup.

After all, television screens are horizontal, and many actors are good-looking with nice face shapes, but when they are displayed on a television screen, they look distorted and appear short and fat.

Therefore, shooting techniques are needed to make the subjects look more upright, and sometimes post-processing is also required.

The reason why ancient costume dramas are called ancient costume dramas is that filters, skin smoothing and whitening are added to people during post-production, which are all necessary.

However, when Zhou Le was shooting his promotional photos, she discovered that heavy makeup would actually obscure his handsomeness. On the contrary, a little light makeup, combined with Zhou Le's own face, would produce an excellent effect.

On the monitor during filming, the color tone is usually not that bright, but as soon as Zhou Le appears, the style is completely different. Even if Tian Xiwei is standing opposite him, it feels like they are not on the same layer.

So after filming for the past two days, she is increasingly glad that she brought it up beforehand, saying that if she wanted to be the director, Zhou Le had to play the male lead.

Looking back now, that suggestion couldn't have been more correct.

After filming the first scene of the day, she said to the assistant director with great satisfaction, "When he appeared, he seemed to be radiating light. In reality, there are very few people like him."

Now, I feel that no matter where he stands, he is a natural protagonist, just like in anime, where the protagonist is surrounded by a halo.

He's so handsome, really so handsome, and not only handsome, but he also acts so well. It's just unfair!

As Lin Yufen spoke, she couldn't find the right words to accurately describe Zhou Le's current state.

Words like "perfect" and "top-notch" would fit Zhou Le perfectly at any time.

During lunch that day, Lin Yufen asked curiously, "Zhou Le, why don't you consider endorsing top luxury brands? Although we haven't known each other for long and our collaboration has only lasted a few days, I think with your image, if you were to take on those luxury brand endorsements, those young heartthrobs wouldn't stand a chance."

And by then, your net worth will likely increase at least two or three times.

Zhou Le shook his head: "Director Lin, everyone has their own pursuits and principles. Actually, I don't accept these offers because I look down on them or want to create a persona. It's mainly because those brands are too arrogant. It's hard to say which brand will make discriminatory remarks against our country or race at any time."

I can't possibly do public relations work for someone who's insulting me, can I? Even if I could make money, it would feel like I'm being kept like a pet. I don't really like that, so I simply don't take those jobs to avoid trouble. (End of Chapter)