This director lacks vision.

Chapter 341 Zhang Chaoyang Retires

Yang Ying looked on with a puzzled expression as Bai Mengyan shushed her.

As a former model with extensive public relations experience, she was even thinking of getting to know Jiang Yifeng, this big shot, and building a relationship with him.

Yang Ying disliked Bai Mengyan very much.

She felt that Bai Mengyan was too active today and stole her thunder.

If Yang Ying hadn't just found out that Bai Mengyan is a contracted artist with Fengxing Media, she would have already been sarcastic.

Having been in the industry for so many years, Yang Ying is very skilled at flattering the powerful and belittling the weak.

Seeing Yang Ying's bewildered expression, Bai Mengyan felt much better.

If I can't find an opportunity today, I'll ask Chen Duling to come along in a couple of days and challenge Professor Jiang to another research project.

Thinking of this, Bai Mengyan whistled and skipped away.

This time, her whistle was crisp and loud.

It's obvious that his inability to produce a sound and his "shh" during the show were all fake, deliberately created for the sake of the program.

Bai Mengyan was whistling in front of Yang Ying, which made Da Baobei grit her teeth in anger.

She always felt that some kind of luck was about to be stolen by Bai Mengyan.

Yang Ying ate a quick dinner and waited for the evening's recording.

However, it was discovered that Li Xiaoran and Wang Ou were dressed very conservatively at the evening show.

Her entire body was covered up completely.

Yang Ying misunderstood, thinking that the production team wanted to promote Bai Mengyan and deliberately had Li Xiaoran and Wang Ou wear more clothes so that the camera would focus on Bai Mengyan.

She even tried to provoke Li Xiaoran, saying, "Sister Xiaoran, your show's newcomer Bai Mengyan is amazing! She's good-looking and has a great figure, and she's also very funny. She's already stealing the spotlight as soon as she arrived."

Yang Ying thought Li Xiaoran would definitely complain too, but to her surprise, she just lazily replied with an "um" and then said nothing more.

Wang Ou also became less talkative.

There was no other way; Li Xiaoran and Wang Ou had too many marks on their bodies, so they had to wear more layers.

As for not speaking, it's because I'm really too tired and my voice is hoarse.

Jiang Yifeng hadn't experienced Li Dabai and Xiao San Ou for a while, so this time he really went all out.

I had planned to do post-production work on the movie this afternoon, but I ended up having so much fun that I forgot.

Jiang Yifeng reflected deeply for three seconds, made an appointment with Li Xiaoran and Wang Ou to play in the pool next time, and then took a car home.

Today, the three women at home are a hot and spicy trio. As the weather gets cooler, they teamed up again to make hand-pulled lamb rice.

Hot Love and her two members are very happy about the solo careers of the 101 girl group.

Especially Naza.

This way, her workload won't be so heavy, she won't have to fly around so much, and she can spend more time with Jiang Yifeng.

Upon seeing Jiang Yifeng return, Naza excitedly asked, "Uncle, I heard that you're going to put on a program about the Four Beauties for this year's Spring Festival Gala? I think I'd be perfect for playing Diao Chan!"

Jiang Yifeng did indeed draw inspiration from CCTV's 2015 Lantern Festival Gala program "National Beauty and Heavenly Fragrance," using flowing water to connect the four beauties and showcase the stories of Xi Shi washing silk, Wang Zhaojun leaving the border, Diao Chan worshipping the moon, and Yang Guifei getting drunk.

In the previous life, the four beauties of this show were played by Qin Lan, Wang Likun, Tong Liya and Ma Su.

Ma Su has thus made a glamorous entry into the ranks of the Four Beauties.

Jiang Yifeng felt that only Tong Liya's portrayal of Diao Chan truly showcased the charm of the Four Beauties in this program; every smile and frown was absolutely stunning.

Qin Lan's makeup and dance moves are not good; she is actually more suited to modern clothes.

As for Wang Likun and Ma Su, there's really nothing to comment on.

Jiang Yifeng plans to cast Liu Yifei as Xi Shi, Jing Tian as Wang Zhaojun, and Fan Bingbing as Yang Guifei as the four beauties for this year's Spring Festival Gala. As for Diao Chan, he has not yet made a decision.

The main reason is that Tong Liya's portrayal of Diao Chan was indeed very good. Her ancient costume appearance has a wild vitality, and her expressiveness is excellent.

However, from the perspective of personal feelings and closeness, there is nothing wrong with Nazha playing Diaochan.

Although period dramas are not Naza's comfort zone, she has taken beauty serums and practiced dancing diligently in her girl group for many years, which has improved her posture.

If she were to actually play Diao Chan, she would be a piece of cake.

Seeing Naza's expectant little face, Jiang Yifeng patted her head and said affectionately, "If you want to act, then you can do it."

Naza immediately beamed with joy.

She's been on the Spring Festival Gala before, but she's not particularly attached to the stage; she's only interested in the title of one of the Four Beauties.

Especially in the last two days, Liu Yifei and Jing Tian have been showing off in the group chat, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

Seeing that the attack was successful, Zhang Tianai said, "Boss, can I play Chang'e?"

For this year's Spring Festival Gala, unless it's a particularly professional requirement, Mu Di prioritizes artists signed with Fengxing Media.

Therefore, Zhang Tianai and the others knew some details about the program.

Hearing this, Jiang Yifeng shook his head and said, "Chang'e has already been cast as Yan Danchen. On the one hand, she has played Chang'e before, which is a childhood memory for a generation. On the other hand, she played He Qingfang in Youth, so having her portray the flying goddess is even more symbolic."

After Jiang Yifeng explained, Zhang Tianai accepted it.

She said with a smile, "It's okay if I don't play Chang'e, but boss, you have to take good care of me and Dilraba."

Now it's just the two of us who aren't favored~

Of Jiang Yifeng's harem, only Zhang Tianai and Dilraba haven't taken the beauty potion.

They believed this was because they had been away on business trips too much and had received too little rain and dew.

Zhang Tianai was quite anxious about this situation, while Dilraba remained calm.

She is an orderly person and feels that the current situation aligns with her personal hierarchy.

Dilraba considers herself to be the youngest in the harem group, at most competing with Zhang Tianai.

She is currently very satisfied with this situation.

After all, there are a lot of women outside who want to enter the inner circle but can't.

Jiang Yifeng sat at the dining table, eating as he asked, "When will your show air?"

Zhang Tianai replied, "It's expected to be in mid-October. Sigh, I'll be running around doing promotions again in a few days!"

Boss, I'll be your secretary for the next few days, that's a favor to me~

Jiang Yifeng waved his hand, and his assistant Li Xia sent him a schedule on her phone—a broadcast schedule for TV dramas on Sohu Video. First on the list was *Zhu Xian*, which aired on September 17th, followed by *My Love from the Star*, airing on October 13th.

Next up is Hunting 2, scheduled to air on November 2nd.

There's also the second season of Magic Mobile Phone, co-produced by Fengxing Media and Yangshi, which will air in January next year, while My Sunshine will air in March next year.

These are the key productions.

There were also some smaller-budget TV drama projects, two of which Jiang Yifeng had never heard of.

Influenced by Jiang Yifeng, Fengxing Media now also likes to produce mini-series with about 10 episodes.

If the show is popular, we'll make a second season; if it's not popular, we'll cancel it altogether.

After watching it, Jiang Yifeng said, "Isn't this a coincidence? Jade Dynasty just happened to premiere today."

Upon hearing this, Dilraba, who had been silent until now, quickly got up, turned on the TV, and launched the Sohu video client using her Roku set-top box.

It was exactly 8 PM when Jade Dynasty updated on time.

Dilraba clicked play.

The music started, and the opening scenes were quite good.

It combines the style of traditional Chinese landscape painting with a bird's-eye view of the mythical beast Nian.

Zhao Zhicheng wasn't stupid; he knew that Zhu Xian was important, so he put a lot of effort into the special effects.

Although the visuals aren't top-notch, they're still considered above average in the current Chinese TV drama industry.

As for the opening theme song, it is still "Floating Punishment" sung by Zhang Jie.

This is just a mediocre pop song with nothing special about it.

Wu Zhicheng hired Japanese musician Fujiwara Ikuro to compose and write songs, but it seems that it didn't have much effect.

Ikuro Fujiwara was the music director for the movie "Painted Skin" and composed the song "Painted Heart," which made him famous in the Chinese film and television industry, and his song was quite expensive.

Soon, Lu Xueqi, played by Sun Li, appeared.

She was dressed in white but looked very down-to-earth. Even with the filters on full blast, she was still passable. From certain angles, she looked a bit like Yang Mi when she was younger.

However, her ancient costume demeanor was not good, her eyes bulged out, and she looked somewhat tired.

It can only be said that the character Lu Xueqi is just so unlucky.

Sun Li's frog-like eyes and Yang Zi's round face—you have to choose one…

But you can't just laugh at Sun Li, because Tang Yan's Biyao isn't much better either; her makeup and styling are also questionable, and they didn't even bother to cover up her large forehead.

As for Li Yifeng's portrayal of Zhang Xiaofan, it is quite in line with the original work—the original Zhang Xiaofan was quite ordinary-looking.

After watching the opening credits, Naza immediately complained, "Is this a middle-aged and elderly version of Jade Dynasty? Why do all the actors look so old! They all look decrepit and lethargic!"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yifeng laughed.

Naza's criticism was spot on. Although this version of Jade Dynasty was filmed earlier than the previous one, the main actors are indeed quite old.

The youngest, Li Yifeng, is 27 years old and is a "recycled" contestant who has failed to become famous despite participating in multiple talent shows.

Jiang Yifeng and Rela Ai watched the first two episodes of Jade Dynasty together and almost fell asleep.

Fortunately, with three women taking turns acting as wingmen to smooth things over and be tolerant, Jiang Yifeng was able to persevere.

Objectively speaking, this version of Jade Dynasty is of higher quality than its predecessor.

Wu Zhicheng and Huanrui's team really put their heart into it; the costumes, props, and special effects are all quite good.

However, the plot was really terrible.

The whole thing is a melodramatic love triangle with lots of comedic moments, and it's full of slapstick and lighthearted scenes. Fans of the original novel will probably be furious.

It's basically a pile of poop shaped like a chocolate bar, and the chocolate isn't even that pretty, considering the male and female leads aren't exactly good-looking.

The Legend of Chusen premiered jointly on Sohu Video and Hunan TV.

On its first day of broadcast, the show garnered over 4000 million views on Sohu Video and achieved an average viewership rating of 1.35% on Hunan TV.

The premiere was a great success.

After all, "Zhu Xian" is a major IP, and Sun Li and Tang Yan are quite popular. With the strong promotion from Huanrui and Sohu, this drama is highly anticipated.

When Jiang Yifeng went to search the arc the next day, he could still hear Wu Zhicheng's smug laughter, clearly very satisfied with the result.

As for the overwhelming online abuse, Wu Zhicheng didn't care.

These days, there are too many dramas that get the most criticism and the best broadcast.

This is true of all the terrible dramas produced by Hunan TV; they receive all sorts of criticism online, yet their viewership keeps rising.

Meteor Shower, Temptation of Going Home, and many others are all dramas like this.

In Wu Zhicheng's view, Zhu Xian will also take off amidst the criticism!
Unexpectedly, just the second day, the data for Jade Dynasty plummeted, with daily online viewership barely exceeding 2000 million, and Hunan TV's ratings dropping to 1.005%.

This result can be said to have sealed the fate of Jade Dynasty.

In the first few days after a show premieres, both viewership and ratings should increase.

The fact that "Zhu Xian" saw a decline instead of an increase indicates that this drama has no potential.

Subsequent developments indeed confirmed this pattern.

The online viewership and ratings for "Zhu Xian" continued to decline, and advertising sponsors began to withdraw their funding. Hunan TV even considered canceling some episodes.

Wu Zhicheng began promoting the special broadcast on Sohu Video, where 18 exclusive episodes would be broadcast.

But to no avail at all.

It's an undeniable fact that the TV series "Zhu Xian" started strong but ended weak and incurred losses.

Netizens are criticizing it, and competitors such as iQiyi and Tencent Video are also stirring up trouble, making all sorts of criticisms of Jade Dynasty and Sohu Video.

In this context, a statement suddenly attracted everyone's attention.

At 10:9 AM on September 22nd, multiple platforms, including Sohu Portal, Sohu Weibo, and Sohu Video, simultaneously updated an announcement.

[After careful consideration, Mr. Zhang Chaoyang has decided to retire early. He will no longer serve as Chairman of Soohu Group, and Ms. Deng Ye will assume the role of CEO. This is hereby announced.]

The announcement was very brief, but it was a big deal and immediately sparked heated discussions across the internet.

(End of this chapter)