The Queen's Rumored Father

The more they apologized, the uglier Chen Kewen's expression became.

He suddenly realized that he had been tricked and buried by that kid Xu Yuan!

Yes, the matter is now resolved, and no one really holds a grudge against him. But "The Lonely Beauty" is a project of Hua Ce, and Yang Ying, one of the three rising stars, is also a little princess heavily promoted by Hua Ce.

The fact that they apologized to you is already a big favor to the director. If they accept your investment again afterward, what will outsiders say?

They say Hua Ce is afraid of Chen Kewen!

Therefore, Huace will not accept Chen Kewen's investment.

Even if Hua Ce accepts, Chen Kewen wouldn't dare to vote, for fear that Hua Ce would hold a grudge and scheme against him!

So now, his options have suddenly disappeared.

Aside from his old friend Cao Dun's "The Longest Day in Chang'an," he had no other choice.

Chen Kewen made a call that very evening. The project team of "The Longest Day in Chang'an" was extremely enthusiastic towards him. When the topic of a second director came up, Cao Dun immediately expressed that they needed a senior director to help, and the two of them could be jointly credited as directors.

Everyone had a very pleasant conversation.

……

On the other hand, Meng Xiaoxuan's fan base exploded. She already had ten million fans, but after the Spring Festival Gala, she gained an additional five million fans, which is terrifying!

Meng Xiaoxuan's popularity skyrocketed, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say she became incredibly popular.

The fabricated title of "officially supported by CTV and the top of the Four Little Heavenly Queens" was pinned on her head, which was quite a resounding one!

Haoyue Films arranged various schedules for Meng Xiaoxuan, but she refused them all.

She's going to spend this Spring Festival with her dad.

At Haoyue Film and Television, Meng Xiaoxuan refused to sign contracts for several projects, which infuriated them. Finally, Wu Jinlong declared that if Meng Xiaoxuan didn't accept any roles now, she could forget about ever getting any auditions through the company's resources again.

Aren't you going to act?

Okay, then the company will block your acting opportunities.

To prevent Haoyue Company from resorting to desperate measures, Xu Yuan took on the role of Meng Xiaoxuan's temporary agent and communicated with Wu Jinlong.

The final result was that Meng Xiaoxuan agreed to accept the endorsement.

For talent agencies, celebrities earn more money from endorsements, and it doesn't take up much of their time, which is exactly what they want.

Although Xu Yuan had very high requirements for the level and quality of endorsements, these were not issues; he was willing to accept them.

Once this hype dies down, there will be plenty of ways to take down a minor celebrity like you!

Just wait!

Similarly, Xu Yuan had already planned Meng Xiaoxuan's career as an artist; the endorsement was just a temporary measure to stall Haoyue. The real operation would begin after "The Longest Day in Chang'an" became a huge hit.

Meng Xiaoxuan's continued rise to fame reached its peak on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year.

This time, it was because of an attack by certain people.

On Weibo, the competition among the "Four Little Heavenly Queens" has been ongoing for a long time, but Meng Xiaoxuan has always been in last place. However, after the Spring Festival Gala, her popularity soared again, and her buzz increased, showing a strong momentum to catch up with the top three.

This led to a fierce online battle between the four fan groups.

This conflict completely erupted on the sixth day of the Lunar New Year.

Because a rising star has made a move.

Yang Ying Weibo: I am very happy to be the female lead in such a great work. I will do my best to live up to everyone's expectations!

The accompanying image is a promotional photo.

The photo shows a person in ancient costume with five large ink-wash characters on it: "A solitary beauty does not admire herself."

Yang Ying's fans erupted in an instant.

"Oh my god, oh my god, this is my favorite book! When they first started talking about adapting it, I hoped Yingying would play the role, and I can't believe my dream has come true! I'm so happy!"

"This is absolutely amazing! This is the best female-centric historical drama IP in three years, Yingying is about to skyrocket to fame!"

"With Yingying crowned Empress, the other three families can disband, especially the one who's been making the most noise lately. Yes, I'm talking about you, Meng Xiaoxuan!"

"Exactly, it's just twenty extra seconds of speaking time on the Spring Festival Gala, what's the big deal?"

"Upstairs, you're being so sour! Our Xuanxuan ate your rice, and you insist on bringing her along!"

"If anyone's to be crowned empress, it'll be us. Who do you two families think you are?"

"One of them started as a freelance model, and I don't even know how she got this role, it's disgusting. The other is just an internet celebrity, promoted by a small company, she won't be famous for more than a few months. We also have a big drama about to air, and she's the lead actress!"

"We have another movie coming out!"

"That's still better than being the fifth female lead! Meng Xiaoxuan is playing the fifth female lead in 'General and I,' and I'm suddenly looking forward to it!"

In the fan war, Meng Xiaoxuan had the most fans, but her fighting power was not strong.

Because what others said is true: the other three actresses have two leading roles in TV dramas and one supporting role in a movie. Meng Xiaoxuan, on the other hand, only has one supporting role, and it seems that role hasn't been finalized yet.

This is really demoralizing!

If Meng Xiaoxuan really takes this fifth female lead role, she won't even need to act; she'll start losing fans.

This is a crisis that is imminent.

Fortunately, Chen Kewen finally called the next day.

Old Sichuan teahouse in Beijing.

"Please sit down. Let me introduce you. This is Cao Dun, the director of 'The Longest Day in Chang'an.' And this is…"

"Xu Yuan is Meng Xiaoxuan's temporary agent. Hello, Director Cao." Xu Yuan introduced himself and then took a seat.

Today, Chen Kewen invited him out, and surprisingly, he brought Cao Dun along.

It seems Chen Kewen has already confirmed his investment and has begun to integrate into the production team.

"Xu Yuan, first of all, thank you for recommending our film to Director Chen. Otherwise, we don't know when our investment would have come through." Cao Dun toasted Xu Yuan with tea instead of wine, but then immediately revealed his true intentions, "I heard you wanted to recommend Meng Xiaoxuan to play Tanqi?"

Xu Yuan's eyes darted around, and he roughly understood the situation.

Chen Kewen is "getting revenge" on him!

If he couldn't convince Cao Dun, then Tanqi would still belong to Meng Xiaoxuan, but Chen Kewen and Xu Yuan would be done with it. From the Spring Festival Gala rehearsals to choosing a production team, they would have no further connection.

Xu Yuan smiled.

Because if he could persuade Cao Dun, then his relationship with Chen Kewen would no longer be one of threat and being threatened. At that point, Chen Kewen would owe him two favors in one fell swoop.

Chen Kewen is just acting like a child; he's unwilling to be controlled all the time, so he's rebelling.

But Xu Yuan was prepared for this rebound.

How can someone nearing fifty years old possibly have the same comprehensive understanding as someone who has lived a total of one hundred and fifty years?

Don't let Xu Yuan's youthful appearance fool you; he has the soul of an old man!

"That's right, Director Cao. The character Tanqi is a perfect match for Xiaoxuan. She can play this role, and she can play it well," Xu Yuan said.

"But there are many actors who can play the role well. I have at least three very suitable candidates here," Cao Dun said.

Unlike Yu Chang, Tan Qi is a more outstanding and less difficult character, and there are indeed many suitable candidates.

"Traffic!" Xu Yuan said, "Xiaoxuan brings her own traffic. With her in the cast, this show has at least a guaranteed audience. At the same time, the pay will be low, according to your rules."

At this point, Cao Dun's lips twitched, and he was somewhat tempted.

Traffic and price follow a formula.

The salary that their production team allocated to Tanqi was simply not enough to support them inviting some popular celebrities.

Although Meng Xiaoxuan is a newcomer in the TV drama industry, her salary must be comparable to that of top stars. After all, she is currently very popular, and this is her first TV drama, which is a huge draw!

Meng Xiaoxuan's market-rate salary will account for approximately 70% of the production team's salary budget for "The Longest Day in Chang'an".

Don't find it unbelievable, it's true!

They hired Meng Xiaoxuan, but their production team couldn't even gather all the actors!

This was the key point that Cao Dun was struggling with before.

But what did Xu Yuan say?

Should we follow the rules of their production crew?

"Are you sure you know how low the pay is for our crew?" Cao Dun said, his face turning red, because it really was quite low.

But there was no other way; funds had to give way to high-quality production.

"I'm absolutely sure!" Xu Yuan smiled.

Even Chen Kewen didn't expect this result.

Is Xu Yuan really that willing to give up something?

He's really going all in; he's even more ruthless than himself!

Even after his own investment failed, he was still able to use that experience to direct a TV series.

But Meng Xiaoxuan is different.

Lowering your price to take on roles is too risky. If you become popular, your status and value will rise normally. However, if you flop, then sorry, your value will remain at this low price.

One cheap deal leads to another; that's the industry rule.

Xu Yuan had essentially staked everything!

Has he gone mad?