The King of Soft Rice in Chinese Entertainment

Chapter 532 As Expected, He Had to Perform

No matter how much traditional media skews their stance or inserts personal agendas into their articles, as long as sales are still tied to salaries, they will eventually restrain themselves. After all, they still need to leverage readers to pressure advertisers.

However, with the advent of the online media boom, all information became available for free. Traditional media could no longer survive on readers' purchasing power and had to turn to online platforms to find sponsors. Of course, they could only do whatever the sponsors said.

The most typical example is "an unparalleled miracle". Gcores claims to be a cultural community centered on games and strives to ensure openness, fairness and impartiality. However, when Sony opens its mouth, it can only fawn over "The Last of Jolf 2" and come up with such nauseating stuff as "an unparalleled miracle".

When the game was released to a barrage of negative reviews and their boastful claims began to backfire, they couldn't bring themselves to admit their mistakes in the face of the outcry from netizens. Instead, they turned around and accused netizens of being unteachable, ultimately ruining all the goodwill they had built up.

Even so, they still managed to stay afloat, since the community had a wealth of information, and most netizens still needed such a database.

Therefore, instead of trying to please demanding netizens, it's better to use various methods to refine and crystallize your followers. As long as you have traffic, you can attract big spenders.

To change this situation, we need to wait for the rise of self-media. When everyone can create media and survive on reader donations, there will always be people who cater to their fans and create countless small circles on the internet.

Of course, these are all things for the future, and it can't be explained in just a few words.

Getting back to the main point, although Xu Jiuyang accurately summarized the characteristics of online media, he still felt something was off about it after saying it.

Then I saw Li Yunxin, her eyes shining, take a script out of her desk drawer.

"Can I not take the role?" He immediately made a bitter face.

"Oppa~" Lee Yoon-hye immediately grabbed his arm and shook it, her voice soft and sweet.

Xu Jiuyang shuddered violently. After all this time together, this was the first time he had seen her like this.

"Okay...can't we talk properly?" He could only force a smile and sigh inwardly.

Since they've already gone this far, I have absolutely no room to refuse.

"Oppa suggested that I become a representative of China-Korea friendship, so I got my hands on this script and hoped that Oppa would star in it," Lee Yoon-hyung explained earnestly.

Then she continued to pout and say, "Oppa, you can't tease me and then ignore me."

Such aggressive and threatening words... such a 180-degree turn left someone who was used to her strong-woman persona quite helpless.

"Can I take a look first?" That was all he could say. He then took the script and spent some time reading it from beginning to end.

The beginning and end of the story are the same: Meng Yi welcomes the Goryeo princess, and Meng Yan—Meng Yi's reincarnation in modern times—escapes from the First Emperor's mausoleum, while Yu Shu stays behind.

However, many plot points were changed. For example, some scenes that were supposed to take place in India were moved to Seoul, and there were not many action scenes. Instead, there was parkour.

In addition, the maidservant who accompanied Yu Shu in the First Emperor's Mausoleum was replaced by her personal maidservant, who was allowed in because she had tested the medicine with her.

I don't know who suggested it, but this change is pretty good. A lone man and woman have been locked in a tomb for thousands of years. Even if you set the premise beforehand that they would be indifferent to that kind of thing after taking the elixir of immortality, the audience will still have all sorts of fantasies. I wonder who designed this plot in the previous version of "The Myth".

"After thinking about it, I think it's possible to act in it..." Xu Jiuyang carefully considered the words after closing the script.

Lee Yoon-hyung immediately chimed in, "Great! I'll get people to start promoting it right away and hold auditions in Seoul."

"Wait...wait, preliminary selection?" Xu Jiuyang was a little confused.

“Yes,” Lee Yoon-hyung nodded, “This is a symbol of friendship between China and South Korea, so of course we should use an open audition to build momentum.”

"Shouldn't we skip the open auditions?" Xu Jiuyang shook his head. "For such a big production, amateurs selected through open auditions definitely won't be able to carry the show. Let's choose from within the industry."

“Since Oppa said so, then let’s do it this way,” Lee Yoon-hyung said with a smile.

There was absolutely no bargaining, which made Xu Jiuyang somewhat suspicious that this was yet another case of trying to demolish the house before opening the window.

“However, there will probably be many Korean actresses competing for the role,” Lee Yoon-hyung hinted. Xu Jiuyang, who immediately understood, coughed and said, “The female lead should have been decided by now, right? It’s either Jun Ji-hyun, Son Ye-jin, or Ha Ji-won.”

“It’s Son Ye-jin confirmed,” Lee Yoon-hyung nodded, “but we still have to go through the formalities.”

"You know that's not what I'm asking," Xu Jiuyang had to make it clear.

"I know, but the benefits have already been given." Li Yunxin said with a smile.

"Really?" Xu Jiuyang asked, puzzled.

“Oppa, you know what the Korean entertainment industry is like, right?” She sighed at this point. “Just last year, a young woman hanged herself.”

Xu Jiuyang recalled briefly and seemed to have some recollection of it. In his previous life, when he was paying attention to suicide incidents in the Korean entertainment industry, he had some understanding of it, but he had forgotten the names.

"So?" He tilted his head.

“No one would refuse protection if they paid this price,” Li Yunxin said, spreading her hands.

Xu Jiuyang opened his mouth, but no sound came out; he didn't know what to say.

"Anyway, Oppa can decide for himself. If you want to try, then try; if you don't want to try, that's fine too," she whispered, leaning against him.

"I understand..." Xu Jiuyang could only sigh in the end.

These things were a bit urgent; she must have some ulterior motives, but he couldn't comment. He could only be sure that she wouldn't harm him.

"Okay, let's talk about something unrelated to work," he changed the subject.

"Mmm!" Li Yunxin obediently started talking about other things.

In the evening, after dinner, Xu Jiuyang was about to leave, but Li Yunxin stopped him.

“Since your sister didn’t come out to eat with us, I’d better not linger around her. I’ll come over after she leaves,” Xu Jiuyang said.

“When my sister was here, you were the same, just doing whatever you were supposed to do,” Li Yunxin said, feigning dissatisfaction.

"Really?" Xu Jiuyang recalled doubtfully.

"I don't care, I've been preparing for this for so long, I'm definitely staying tonight!" Li Yunxin once again used her coquettish skills.

Xu Jiuyang patted his forehead: "Yunxin, do you know, you're a completely different person today than usual."

"Is the difference that big?" Li Yunxin blinked.

“You’ve always been calm and collected in the face of important matters. Today, except when we were discussing smartphones, you seemed a bit out of control,” Xu Jiuyang said seriously.

"That's because Oppa hasn't come to my place in a long time," Lee Yoon-hyung said in a wronged tone.

I was here just a week ago… Xu Jiuyang had to swallow his words back, then hugged her and coaxed her, “Okay, okay, I’ll stay tonight.”

Li Yunxin chuckled and whispered a few words in his ear, making his eyes widen in surprise.

"Tonight...is this how it is?" Xu Jiuyang asked, a little embarrassed.

"Oh well, I'll just turn off the lights, and Oppa can sneak in in the dark, right?" Lee Yoon-hyung said nonchalantly, then added, "But you can't turn on the lights, and you can't disturb me!"

"Okay, okay, no problem." Xu Jiuyang kissed her, but didn't notice that after she turned her head away, her gaze was dark and unfathomable.

(End of this chapter)