The King of Soft Rice in Chinese Entertainment

Chapter 486 Environment Changes People

It's worth noting that, in addition to the two main characters, Li Lei and Han Meimei, there is another significant supporting character in this movie: Jim.

Although Li Lei and Han Meimei are the main characters in the English textbook, Jim's appearances are also quite numerous. If you're going to ride the wave of popularity, you might as well go all the way. Given the current state of public opinion in China, adding a white character would be beneficial for publicity.

Fortunately, the screenwriter was smart enough not to give Jim too many highlight scenes and to position him somewhat like a clown, but the balance was well maintained.

Considering Li Lei's intelligence but recklessness, Han Meimei's intelligence but somewhat cold-heartedness, and Jim's combination, they naturally form the Harry Potter trio.

"XiXi, let me ask you a question. Who exactly is this screenwriter credited as Chengfeng?" Xu Jiuyang took a moment to pull Liu XiXi aside and asked with great curiosity.

To everyone's surprise, Liu Qianqian's answer was: "It's that Yu Zheng."

"Did he write it?" Xu Jiuyang suddenly realized.

No wonder the plot feels somewhat similar to the Zhenhua series, and no wonder the main characters are similar to the Harry Potter trio. It turns out it's a story written by a master of plagiarism. Although Liu Shishi's "The Best of Us" didn't air on TV, it still had a lot of popularity online. Plus, with the investment from Hongchuan Pictures and Hanshu Pictures, maybe some of the plot was written by him.

Well, it seems that Yu Zheng didn't suffer the same setbacks as in his previous life, so the theme of the script "Li Lei and Han Meimei" is relatively positive and uplifting.

As for plagiarism, it's unavoidable. Strictly speaking, most of the time, artistic creation involves repeating classic plot points. Only the most outstanding individuals can break free from these limitations and create entirely new models.

So let them blend together, as long as they don't get noticed. As for the story of "Li Lei and Han Meimei," even if someone sees the shadow of the Harry Potter trio, they won't say much. Such a trio is a classic setup in itself.

Of course, some trolls might bring this up, but that's a matter for online trolls.

"Keep it up, and try to surpass Mimi as soon as possible," Xu Jiuyang said.

Liu Qianqian's face immediately darkened, and she glared at him angrily, feeling indignant at being asked to "bring up the sore spot".

Yes, that's normal. Just one day ago, two weeks after the start of filming for "Li Lei and Han Meimei," the college entrance exam scores finally came out. Then Yang Mi came to the set like she was possessed by Huang Mei, jumping around in front of someone triumphantly: "Liu Qianqian, I won again."

It's amazing that Liu Qianqian scored 605 points, while Yang Mi scored 606 points.

Xu Jiuyang was stunned for several seconds after he found out, partly because they really scored 600 points, and partly because Yang Mi scored exactly one point more than Liu Qianqian.

Isn't this cheating?
"Try to think positively. I remember you said before that getting 500 points is a success." He immediately smiled and comforted you.

"The 500 points figure is for the admission line of art colleges. In reality, you can score as high as you can on the college entrance exam!" Liu Qianqian was still indignant.

Xu Jiuyang scratched his head and simply pointed to "Li Lei" and "Jim" on the other side of the set and said, "Then think about it this way: if you put a question in front of a real underachiever, they won't know where to find the answer."

Her mood finally improved, and she nodded seriously, "That's true."

She was probably thinking of the shocked expressions on Chen Xiao and Sui Kai's faces when they learned that she had scored 600 points on the college entrance exam.

Yes, Li Lei found Chen Xiao, who was supposed to be admitted to the Central Academy of Drama this year, while Jim found Mike Sui, who played Tim, the Sino-Australian joint venture in "The Wandering Earth" in his previous life.

The former had acted in a TV series in 97 and was one of the main actors, making him a child star. It was this experience that led him to choose to apply for an arts college in high school.

The latter is an American. His father is a Chinese American and his mother is American. Although he was born in Michigan, he came to live in Beijing when he was 7 years old and did not return to the United States until he was 15 years old. Then he returned to Beijing this year.

According to Sister Xiaoli, the reason they were chosen was that Li Lei was the male lead, but Xu Jiuyang refused to play the role, so it would be more suitable to find a male actor who was about the same age as Qianqian. Thus, Chen Xiao, who was born in 87 and had acting experience, was selected.

Jim needed to find a male actor who spoke fluent English and Chinese, had Westernized features, and was easily recognizable, with a more flexible age range. They ended up choosing Sui Kai. Although Chen Xiao and Sui Kai's academic performance was decent, it couldn't compare to someone like Liu Qianqian, who scored 600 points on the college entrance exam, exceeding the minimum score for liberal arts undergraduate programs in Beijing.

"To be honest, I was shocked. Although she kept saying she wanted to get high scores, I thought it would be good enough if she could pass the art exam admission line. In the end, I didn't expect her to actually pass the liberal arts undergraduate line of Tsinghua and Peking Universities." Sister Xiaoli sighed, "If I had known this would happen, I should have let her go to Tsinghua or Peking Universities instead of Beijing Film Academy."

“I think Sisi might not be willing,” Xu Jiuyang said, shaking his head.

The current Liu Qianqian is vastly different from the academically challenged girl she was in her past life.

Even though, as mentioned earlier, even if a truly academically weak student gets the exam paper in advance, they may not be able to answer the questions, let alone get a good score, it still lacks a sense of realism.

Yang Mi at least has a smart brain, and several of her relatives are exam-taking experts, but Liu Qianqian... can only be attributed to her environment shaping her.

After all, she never went to the United States in her life and always studied in Beijing. Although it wasn't a school like Jingshan Primary School, the environment and atmosphere were still better than in the United States. Moreover, she had her best friend, Yang Mi, by her side to motivate her.

However, it's impossible to say that she would be willing to go to Tsinghua or Peking University just because her grades are good enough. After working together a few times, Xu Jiuyang was certain that this girl really wanted to act.

There's even a strange kind of obsession... How to put it, it's a bit like Fan Bingbing, always feeling like she needs to prove herself in this area.

However, Sister Xiaoli understood this, so after he spoke, he sighed and said, "I know, I just... I just couldn't help but sigh."

Then she changed the subject: "If you have something to do, just leave. You don't need to tell me."

"I still have to say it. My sister entrusted the crew to me, so I definitely have to take responsibility," Xu Jiuyang shook his head. "Besides, I can also come and see Yangyang."

"Okay, she'll be back soon," Sister Xiaoli said with a smile.

No sooner had he finished speaking than the sound of a car horn came from outside.

"Then I'll go out first." Xu Jiuyang immediately stood up.

"Okay, please call Sisi in for me." Sister Xiaoli nodded.

He walked a few steps to the door, then turned back as if remembering something: "Sister, we can start planning the pre-release publicity for 'Li Lei and Han Meimei'. I have a few ideas."

"Okay, let's go see Yangyang first. We can talk about that anytime," Sister Xiaoli said with a smile.

But before he could open the door, she called out again, "Little brother..."

"Hmm?" Xu Jiuyang turned to look at her.

"Um..." Sister Xiaoli hesitated, looking somewhat awkward and embarrassed.

In the end, she simply waved her hand and said, "It's nothing..."

After leaving the house, Xu Jiuyang suddenly realized what Xiaoli wanted to say, and couldn't help but sigh with a wry smile. This had nothing to do with him.

Okay, he still tries to manage things, but... how should I put it, he's a bit pretentious, and his rhythm has been disrupted.

(End of this chapter)