The King of Soft Rice in Chinese Entertainment

Chapter 405 Be prepared
There's not much to say about the inspection of Shenlei Technology. As a tool, Zhou Tao was quite responsible, especially with Dong Qing's occasional help.

Although MU Online has experienced several controversies this year, such as cheating and service issues, they have all been resolved well, perhaps because someone took precautions in advance. The fluctuations in the marketing curve are also normal.

"I heard you were a big help. How did you help?" In Zhou Tao's office, Xu Jiuyang was looking at a spreadsheet while making a phone call.

"It's nothing, just doing some surveys among students, going to various internet cafes to observe the specific situation," Da Mimi said.

"So effective?" Xu Jiuyang asked with a smile, patting Zhou Tao's cheek at the same time.

Zhou Tao understood and got up, then turned around, lowered his upper body onto the table, and pushed his lower body back.

“Of course,” Da Mimi said proudly. “It’s hard to say about places outside Beijing, but within Beijing, I can guarantee that I can do well in at least the Xuanwu, Chaoyang, and Haidian districts.”

"Is he that good?" Xu Jiuyang stood up and came up behind Zhou Tao.

"Don't underestimate my determination! I mean what I say!" Yang Mi shouted energetically.

"Alright, alright," Xu Jiuyang said, taking a deep breath while supporting the female director's waist. "Speaking of which, I'm a little curious, um, boss, how did you spend all those bonuses? Of course, if you don't want to talk about it, um, you don't have to. I just..."

“Oh, of course it’s invested in production,” Da Mimi said without any intention of hiding anything. “Auntie has a project that makes toys, and I’ve invested my money there.”

"Really?" Xu Jiuyang raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You're not taking me on this project?"

"Hey, didn't your aunt tell you?" Yang Mi asked back.

Xu Jiuyang was momentarily speechless when he heard the other party say smugly, "It's okay, you can get on board now if you want. Anyway, we're still in the development stage. Auntie just acquired a toy company in Pengcheng and plans to promote it by producing a dedicated TV series, relying on my film and television company."

"Hey, that's a good idea." Xu Jiuyang raised an eyebrow and quickened his pace.

“Auntie said it was your suggestion,” Da Mimi added.

"My suggestion?" Xu Jiuyang's lips twitched.

Here it comes, that familiar feeling, yet it's that "my suggestion" I have absolutely no recollection of. Why do they always like to pull this stunt?

"It's strange, since you gave Auntie the advice, why didn't Auntie invite you to invest together?" Da Mimi asked curiously.

Is it possible that I never actually gave any advice? Of course, Xu Jiuyang wasn't sure either, since he and Sister Xiaoli would chat aimlessly during their intimate moments, and maybe they said something.

"Perhaps, as you said, it's still in the development stage, and I can't be of much help," he replied casually. "By the way, the finale was filmed in a few days, and the boss lady came over for a bit, right?"

"Huh? Why?" Yang Mi asked, puzzled.

"Keep an eye on Xixi for me. She got really into character before. It should help if someone is there to comfort her," Xu Jiuyang said. "The ending of the script is different from the game. It's more emotionally impactful."

“That’s not necessary…” Yang Mi didn’t finish her sentence, and after a few seconds of silence, she sighed, “Fine, I’ll do it. None of you are any of you who can be easy to deal with.”

"Why do you act like an old woman..." Xu Jiuyang wanted to tease her a bit more, but the other end of the phone had already hung up.

He chuckled, dismissing the thought, and simply leaned down, pinning Zhou Tao firmly against him. The reason he had taken leave to leave near the end of filming was partly due to his concern that Liu Qianqian might become too immersed in her role.

The ending is different from the game. Although there is definitely a great flood, it is impossible for Zhao Ling'er to fly up and perish together with the water demon beast, and then only the Heavenly Serpent Staff falls under the setting sun.

Games can do this, but TV dramas can't. Too much ambiguity and a lack of strong emotional impact will make it hard for viewers to accept.

The biggest challenge in adapting games is that, regardless of whether it's linear or non-linear, any game with role-playing elements will have many side storylines.

These side quests can enrich the game content, allowing players to play multiple times and extending the game's lifespan. They can also add more small storylines, placing elements that wouldn't fit in the main storyline here, and expanding the game's world view.

So the question is, if it's to be adapted into a film or television work, how do you appropriately add these subplots that greatly contribute to the shaping of the world view and the growth of the main characters?
A typical example is the Golden Toad Demon Mother, which I mentioned before. In order to include this side story, we had to use a simple approach to create several couples from different cities, plus Liu Jinyuan and Caiyi, to highlight the relationship between the male and female protagonists.

This is actually fine, at least it's consistent with the main storyline, but some details that are interesting in the game would seem silly in the movie or TV series, so we had to abandon them.

For example, the monster blocking the teleportation array in the Demon-Sealing Tower, unsure whether to step with its left or right leg first, might elicit a knowing smile from players in a game, but in a TV series, it would only make the audience think it's ridiculous.

Well, that's not entirely true. If there's enough foreshadowing that forces the main characters to resolve the issue peacefully, the audience will accept it. But is that really necessary?
Therefore, although the TV series introduced the immortal from the book, it used a different event to demonstrate his abilities, rather than this monster who could move his legs.

In conclusion, it is absolutely necessary to change the presentation of the ending from the game version to the Tang Dynasty version.

The scene of Zhao Ling'er, who had just defeated the Water Demon Beast, turning into specks of light and passing away in Li Xiaoyao's arms was incredibly impactful for the audience.

In addition, Lin Yueru also died in front of Li Xiaoyao and Zhao Ling'er, which was a complete tragedy that many non-gamers will remember for many years.

In a sense, the reason why the Tang Dynasty version of "Chinese Paladin" is remembered for many years is not only because of its good casting and well-done action scenes, but also because of its ability to evoke sympathy.

So even though the later version of "Chinese Paladin 3" clearly had a happy ending, the Tangren version insisted on changing it into a tragedy, and even added more scenes for NPCs like Tang Yu, such as Xu Maoshan, and created a scene where he traded his own flesh for food. This is a clear case of path dependence.

Getting back to the main point, since the ending of the Tang Dynasty version is to be copied, then to act well enough, one must put in a considerable amount of emotion, and then... thinking about the filming of the wedding scene, Xu Jiuyang was somewhat worried.

He could have abandoned emotional investment and made up for it with skills; it would have just meant getting Zhang Yan to do it again. And if the assistant didn't want to, there were other women he could use.

But what about Liu Qianqian?

Xu Jiuyang was a bit of a headache. Why did you have to become an experiential learner? Is this how you do it?
If it were to happen again...

So he took the opportunity to ask for leave and ran away, not only to prepare himself emotionally so that he could control himself later, but also to give Liu Qianqian some time to adjust.

Calling Yang Mi over now might not be of much use, but it could also have a surprising effect. In any case, be prepared.

At first, Xu Jiuyang considered calling Xiaoli over, but then he thought about how she would see him and Qianqian looking like they were about to part ways, and how Qianqian was really into her role...

"Why did he have to become an actor instead of a perfectly good idol? It's really baffling." After shivering over Zhou Tao, someone muttered this.

(End of this chapter)