Bai Lu got scammed, but I became a superstar through e-commerce.

There was another reason why Qingxiao agreed to Bailu's invitation to Cat's Tree Studio.

Although Cat's Tree is just a studio that started by shooting weddings, they have been working in this industry for several years and have cooperative relationships with platforms such as Meipai and Youku. They know how to make an ordinary person look like a star and how to achieve the most viral spread with the lowest cost.

These are things that Qingxiao doesn't understand.

In his past life, he was just a Taobao shop owner packing packages in Jiubao, completely unaware of which way the door to the entertainment industry would open.

In his life, he started a company, made short films, and worked as a screenwriter and lead actor, but in the end, he is still an outsider.

He needs a window that allows him to observe the workings of the entertainment industry up close.

The cat's tree is this window.

Cat Tree was the beginning of Bai Lu's entry into the entertainment industry.

Cattree Studio is located in a mixed-use commercial and residential building in Jiangning District, Nanjing. The storefront is small, with a white sign with black lettering hanging at the entrance. On the left is "Cattree" and on the right is the English "Cattree Studio".

When Qingxiao and Bailu arrived, a girl wearing glasses was answering the phone at the front desk. While flipping through her schedule, she said into the microphone, "Yes, yes, Director Yuan is free this afternoon, 3:30 is fine, but we can only talk for 40 minutes. There is another group of actors coming for an audition later."

Less than ten minutes later, Yuan Shuang came out.

Qingxiao had done his homework beforehand.

Mao De Shu, whose real name is Yuan Shuang, was born in 1991 in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province.

I worked part-time at a pizza shop during college and made a living by filming wedding videos in my spare time.

She only started uploading short dramas to Miaopai and Meipai in May 2015, and in just a few months she made a name for herself on the internet with her healing style and beautiful cinematography.

His camera is particularly good at capturing young people, such as Chen Duling, Song Weilong, Zhang Yijie, and Hu Yitian.

These people who later became well-known in the entertainment industry all played the role of attractive internet celebrities in his short films before their debut.

Qingxiao stood up and shook hands with Yuan Shuang.

Yuan Shuang looked younger than I had imagined. She was wearing a gray sweatshirt, jeans, and sneakers, and her hair was a bit long.

He looked at Bai Lu, his eyes brightened for a moment, then turned his gaze to Qing Xiao, hesitating slightly.

"Bai Lu's agent," Qing Xiao said. "My surname is Qing, Qing Xiao."

Yuan Shuang paused for a moment, then looked him up and down.

Then he laughed, a little embarrassed, but still managed to say, "Isn't Teacher Bai a Taobao model?"

Bai Lu smiled slightly: "Yes."

Yuan Shuang pointed at Qing Xiao: "Do Taobao models have agents now?"

He didn't mean any harm; he just found it interesting.

In his mind, being a Taobao model is a job where you come alone and leave alone, without an agency or a team to escort you.

Qingxiao took a folder out of his bag and placed it on the coffee table.

The folder contained Bai Lu's model portfolio and playback data for "My Girlfriend is a Little Savage," which he had Xiao Geng compile and print overnight before he came.

"Bai Lu is more than just a Taobao model. Last year, the short film she starred in, 'My Girlfriend is a Little Savage,' entered the top ten of Youku's original recommendations in its first week of viewing, and received organic recommendations on campus BBS and Weibo."

He pushed the folder towards Yuan Shuang.

"Director Yuan can look through this data."

Yuan Shuang didn't look through the folder.

He leaned back in his chair, looking at Qingxiao with interest, then at Bai Lu: "President Qing, what was the predecessor of your company?"

"Tianmen Film and Television Culture Media Co., Ltd. I am also the founder of SUNSA women's clothing."

"E-commerce?" Yuan Shuang thought for a moment, "What was the total cost of your short film?"

"A little over two hundred thousand." Qingxiao wasn't stupid; in this world, reputation is something you earn yourself.

Yuan Shuang's expression finally underwent a subtle change.

Two hundred thousand yuan wasn't a lot in the micro-film industry in 2015, but since he paid for it himself, he knew what it meant.

It wasn't a brand customization, nor was it a platform investment; I paid for it myself.

He glanced at Bai Lu again, his gaze shifting from "This girl is quite pretty" to "This girl has spent 200,000 yuan."

The conversation went much more smoothly after that.

Yuan Shuang said that they are currently preparing a concept short film called "What Else Do You Want From Me?", adapted from Xue Zhiqian's song of the same name. It takes the theme of sadomasochistic healing and tells the story of a couple of college lovers from falling in love to separation and then reuniting.

The female lead needs to be a girl with a bit of a stubbornness, not the weak female lead in traditional youth films, but the kind who has wounds in her heart but doesn't say them out loud.

He watched Bai Lu's portrayal of Lin Xiao online and felt that the character's arrogant yet stubborn yet fragile personality was just right.

"Our studio usually commissions projects directly from platforms or through brand sponsorships, with appearance fees and production costs bundled together. For actors, non-contracted artists typically earn a few hundred to a thousand yuan per episode of a short film, including travel and accommodation."

Yuan Shuang paused.

"We can offer Mr. Bai 1,500, which is the highest tier among our non-contracted artists. If the subsequent data is good, we'll increase it for the next project."

After the collaboration was finalized, Yuan Shuang gave them a tour of the studio.

The corridor was narrow, and the walls were covered with posters of various short films, such as "Meeting You Is Such a Wonderful Thing", "Did You Fall in Love This Winter?" and "There Are No Jokes in the World".

Each poster features young faces, some familiar and some unfamiliar to Bai Lu.

Passing through the corridor, you'll find an open-plan office area with several desks pushed together. On the desks are piled storyboards, location shooting application forms, and several unfinished takeout boxes.

There was a small studio around the corner, the backdrop hadn't been taken down yet, and softboxes and tripods were scattered on the floor.

The equipment wasn't high-end, but it was well-maintained. The lens cap was securely fastened, and the edges of the reflex mirror were worn rough.

In the corner, there's a small post-production workstation with two iMac monitors lit up side by side. The screensaver is the studio logo, a pixelated tree.

The entire studio is less than 100 square meters, and the team, including post-production staff, consists of fewer than ten people.

Qingxiao followed behind Yuan Shuang, keeping a close eye on everything around him.

He saw the footage being color-graded on the post-production workstation, a backlit shot of a campus corridor, with light streaming in through the windowpanes and falling on the female lead's profile, each frame softened with light.

He saw the work schedule on the wall, which marked the shooting plan for next week: Monday to Wednesday, Gulou Campus of Nanjing University; Thursday, Xuanwu Lake; Friday to Sunday, studio shooting in Jiangning.

He saw the expense reports on the accountant's desk.

The rental fee for the photography equipment was 900 yuan for three days. The extras' boxed lunches were 12 yuan each, totaling 28 meals. The male and female leads were paid 1,000 yuan and 1,500 yuan respectively.

He noticed that the storyboard was printed on the back of A4 scrap paper, and the monitor data cable was wrapped with tape several times but no one had replaced it.

None of these details were written in the contract, but each one told Qingxiao: the entertainment industry is not just about red carpets and flashing lights.

At the very bottom of this industry, a group of young people are pursuing exquisite dreams with minimal budgets.

When they left, Yuan Shuang saw them to the elevator. Before the elevator doors closed, he suddenly tapped the folder in Qing Xiao's hand with the back of his finger and said in a low voice, "President Qing, to be honest, your short film was worth the 200,000 yuan. Bai Lu's face is naturally photogenic."

The elevator doors closed.

Bai Lu leaned against the elevator wall, a suppressed laugh playing on her lips, and nudged Qing Xiao with her shoulder: "Did you hear that? Cat Tree said my face is naturally photogenic. A short film director praising my face, what does that say?"

"That means you deserve a raise."

"No, it just shows that our CEO Qing's vision remains as sharp as ever as it has been when he transitioned from e-commerce to the entertainment industry."

She pressed the close button on the elevator and said, "This place is completely different from what I imagined. I thought entertainment studios were all like that... floor-to-ceiling windows, leather sofas, and receptionists wearing cheongsams. But when I got here, I found it was similar to our sample room in Jiubao. The table was piled with takeout boxes, the equipment was wrapped with tape over and over, and a group of people were crammed into a small space of a few dozen square meters to do the most tiring work."

Qingxiao didn't respond.

He was thinking about something else. Although Cat's Tree Studio was small, they had stable cooperative relationships with platforms such as Meipai and Youku. Their micro-films were reposted by Sina Entertainment and Mango TV many times, and their click-through rates were far higher than those of ordinary online short films.

This is the window he wanted.

Compared to Cat's Tree, Tianmen Films doesn't lack money; what it lacks is the network and experience it has accumulated through hard work and perseverance.

"Take it slow. Tianmen Film and Television is just starting out, while Cat Tree has already learned to run. There's nothing shameful about us learning to walk from them."