Entertainment Era: Starting with Teaching Sister Meng to Sing

My mother's New Year's visit with relatives from her maternal family ended with the results of two hospital visits in one day.

The foolish relatives went home full of anger, and Meng Ziyi also packed her things and moved back to Wang Xiaozhou's house to continue her comfortable life of eating and drinking every day and practicing singing at night.

It wasn't until the fifth day of the Lunar New Year that Chang Ping, the head of Tencent's business department, called Wang Xiaozhou back to tell him that the video had passed the review and asked if it was confirmed that the film would be released on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year.

Wang Xiaozhou responded excitedly, "Of course!"

Changping reminded them, "There's a short film that's going to be released on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, and another big production by Xingcan Media, directed by the old bald director himself. That might reduce your viewership."

Wang Xiaozhou laughed heartily on the other end of the phone: "Of course I know. If it weren't for a big production on his end, I wouldn't have made it to work until the seventh day of the new year."

The release of the short film was thus decided. After hanging up with Chang Ping, Wang Xiaozhou then notified Wen Ye, Mao Xiaotong, and others, telling them to watch it on Tencent Video on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, as the short film would be released that day.

After finishing their business, Meng Ziyi, who had been helping her mother wash dishes in the kitchen, also came out. The two of them put on down jackets and went to the karaoke bar to practice singing.

Inside the private room, Meng Ziyi was memorizing lyrics into a microphone, while Wang Xiaozhou took out his phone to check a message from Song Shihui.

[Congratulations! The short drama will be released on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year. Wishing it great success in advance!]

Do you know what terms we discussed? I wish you great success.

[Splitting?]

The final agreement was a guaranteed minimum, but not an exclusive license.

Why are you lacking confidence in this short film?

Of course not, I have great confidence in myself.

Why sell a guaranteed minimum return?

[I just need to recoup my investment on Tencent and sell a guaranteed minimum to get them to allocate more traffic to my short drama. I'm not aiming to make money; I just want to outperform Xingcan's short film.]

How petty!

There are large areas.

Which of these two photos looks better?

Wang Xiaozhou wiped his phone screen to make the two long legs on it clearer.

[Why did you send me two legs, and not even stockings? This is the second picture.]

There was no reply for a while, so Wang Xiaozhou opened his WeChat Moments and saw that she had posted the second photo there.

Replying again: 【I already said I'm very possessive.】

Song Shihui: [I know this post is only visible to you.]

Wang Xiaozhou: [Your legs are beautiful, but they're not very useful. Let's see when you can pick up a Coke bottle with your toes. [Canned Coke bottle]]

At this moment, Song Shihui, far away in Tianjin, got up in his luxurious apartment, ran to the kitchen, grabbed a can of Coke from the refrigerator, and then ran back.

Sitting on the sofa, Song Ganwei, who always wears a suit even at home, put down his newspaper and asked the cleaning lady next to him, "What is this child doing? He's so restless."

The aunt shook her head: "I didn't see it, but it looked like she took a bottle of Coke."

Upon hearing this, Song Shihui, who had run into the house, shouted, "A little kid said he'd come over for the New Year, but he didn't show up. I'm asking him what happened!"

Song Ganwei sniffed, sensing something was amiss, and muttered under his breath, "Judging from this, is she in love?"

Back on the bed, Song Shihui held a Coke bottle at his feet, gesturing with his feet as if to hold a Coke bottle between his toes. What did that mean?

He rubbed against the sheets, wrinkling them, and then accidentally pinched them with his thumb. Song Shihui, who had seen the movie in college, blushed instantly. "You bastard!"

hum~~

Inside the KTV room, Wang Xiaozhou's phone vibrated again. He put down the microphone to signal Meng Ziyi to continue, and then took out his phone to take a look.

Song Shihui sent another photo: a foot with red nail polish standing on a can of Coke: [You're just bragging.]

Wang Xiaozhou replied: 【Don't drink the cola, bring it back as a New Year's gift for me.】

Song Shihui's emotional value was immediately maximized, and he laughed so hard he rolled around on the bed.

......

Two happy days passed quickly. Tomorrow, Wang Xiaozhou will head to Linzhou to accompany Meng Ziyi to record the second episode of Singer. Tonight is the release date of Wang Xiaozhou's first short film, "Liaozhai: Lanruo Temple," which he directed and starred in himself.

After dinner, Ma Xiaoping started making phone calls everywhere, calling her uncle's family and her aunt's family to come over. If her third aunt was undergoing chemotherapy at the hospital today, her third uncle's family probably wouldn't be able to get away either.

Wang Jianguo verbally scolded his wife for being too high-profile, asking why she had invited so many people to her child's short film, but in reality, he couldn't help but smile and kept asking Wang Xiaozhou what time the short film would be released.

As for Mencius's recollection...

The short film was acted by Wang Xiaozhou and Mao Xiaotong. It would be so awkward to watch it with Meng Ziyi. That bastard called Xia Fanxing yesterday and asked her to invite Meng Ziyi to the annual meeting in Kyoto ahead of schedule. She just saw Meng Ziyi off this morning.

"7:30, prime time for the premiere. Don't worry, Dad. Mao Xiaotong is a fairly well-known actress, so the short film's ratings won't be bad."

Wang Jianguo exclaimed, "Oh dear!" He continued, "I wasn't in a hurry. I was just asking because I was worried that your uncle and the others might have something to do tonight and cause further delays."

He said that, but in reality, he was eating sunflower seeds more frequently, showing off more than anyone else.

Amidst the anxious anticipation of everyone in the room, the clock finally struck 7:30. Wang Xiaozhou had already moved his computer to the living room, refreshed the page, and the cover of the short drama "Liaozhai: Lanruo Temple" immediately appeared on the short drama recommendation list.

"It's started."

Wang Xiaozhou proudly announced, then clicked the mouse, and as the melodious opening theme music played, the scene of Lanruo Temple appeared on the screen, followed by Wang Xiaozhou's superb lines.

"The greatest separation is like the flowing water from east to west, which will eventually meet again."

"Shallow affections are like drifting clouds, unpredictable and ever-present, yet they still linger in my dreams."

The camera zooms out, revealing Wang Xiaozhou's handsome face reflected in the ancient well. Wang Xiaoyue gives a thumbs-up and exclaims, "So handsome, bro!"

The aunt chimed in, and even the usually most conservative uncle nodded, saying, "Xiao Zhou really does look good in period costume; he could make a living off his looks."

"And she's even considered handsome."

Ma Xiaoping gave a smug scolding, her chin practically pointing to the sky.

"Stop talking, just watch."

Wang Jianguo stared intently at the screen and spoke up to remind him.

In the scene, an old monk appears and explains the background of Zhang Yudan's stay at Lanruo Temple to study diligently.

Zhang Yudan bowed in thanks and wandered off alone, reading a book. Unbeknownst to her, she wandered into the mountains and was attacked by a wild boar.

Then the heroine, Miss Lu, arrived on a fine horse, shot the wild boar to death with three arrows, and rescued Zhang Yudan.

Mao Xiaotong is afraid of horses, and his archery skills are not standard. This scene took the longest to film, a full two days.

However, it seems to be working well now. No one is talking in Wang Xiaozhou's small living room anymore; everyone is completely absorbed in the wonderful performances of the characters in the play.

The two met in the mountains. Miss Lu's sachet was left in the mountains. Zhang Yudan went to Miss Lu's residence to return the sachet, but was told that Miss Lu had passed away due to illness.

Zhang Yudan was heartbroken. To repay the debt of gratitude for saving his life, he found the grave of Miss Lu and read and recited poems to her every day, and then...

She annoyed Miss Lu so much she almost blew up her grave!