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

Qingxiao nodded. Before entering the building, he had already calculated Youku Tudou's annual report—the total monthly revenue sharing from the video revenue-generating platform continued to climb, and the official team had invested 300 million yuan to support original online content. At this stage, Youku needed a large number of PGC and original content teams to fill the revenue-sharing channels.

Director Lin showed him the platform's in-site promotion backend interface, pulling out the homepage entry for special zones, new film recommendation slots, and lists of trending search terms for fixed categories: "iQiyi's revenue-sharing model did indeed get off to a working state earlier than ours, but Youku's revenue-sharing scale for video revenue-generating platforms is rapidly catching up. I can offer you two cooperation options—for the first batch of films released, we'll provide a guaranteed minimum revenue share based on ratings, plus weighted quick-page recommendations, and two weekly homepage rotations, with you giving us priority. Meanwhile, your new directors and artists can use Youku's support channel for separate settlements."

Qingxiao took the "Young Filmmakers Support Program" form that she pushed over and quickly scanned it.

The table lists the star ratings for the support channels for young directors, the tiers of promotion within the platform, and the traffic allocation rules for the new artist section.

After reviewing the form, he put it in a folder and said to Director Lin, "Director Lin, the terms offered by iQiyi are indeed more favorable on the revenue-sharing side, but I value your support channels for new directors more. So, for the first batch of projects unrelated to Bailu, you will be given priority access to four. Starting next year, I will place new directors under your wing for incubation. The goal for subsequent cooperation is also to provide at least eight projects annually."

Director Lin took back the signed project proposal and added another entry on the title page: "Four priority films to be launched first, with a rating of no less than Bplus. At the same time, the Tianmen Film and Television New Director Incubation Channel will be opened."

On the flight from Beijing back to Hangzhou, Qingxiao read through the two cooperation proposals side by side.

iQiyi has offered a higher guaranteed revenue share, and the total monthly revenue share for online cinemas is currently growing at a rate of tens of millions per month, making the returns from exclusive partnerships more certain.

Youku is more flexible in terms of traffic allocation and the incubation of new directors. Its traffic model is not limited to exclusive content and can be launched on multiple platforms simultaneously.

He opened the project proposal, turned to the page on special investment funds, and added a new line of text at the bottom of the table.

Project source classification management—genres such as romantic comedies are prioritized for submission to the most suitable platforms.

When Qingxiao turned to the last page of the script for "The Ferryman: Huangquan," it was already pitch black outside the window in Jiubao.

He leaned back in his chair and stared at the words "Soul Ferry" on the cover for a long time.

The line Sanqi uttered when she transformed into mountains and rivers was still etched in his mind: "I am the cloud above your head, the wind beside your ear."

He put down his pen, picked up his phone, and sent a message to Yu Zheng: "Teacher Yu, I'd like to ask you to make a connection. I'd like to meet Ju Xingmao and Xiao Jixiangtian."

Qingxiao knew about Ju Xingmao in his past life.

Born in 1981, she is from Zuoquan County, Shanxi Province. She acted in her first film, "Bloody Morning," at the age of nine. Later, she studied directing at the Central Academy of Drama. She played Tao Shixian in "Swordsman" and Shunzi in "My Natasha."

People in the industry call him "Satisfied".

It was Guo Jingyu who gave him that name.

Guo Jingyu called him "Emperor Brother"—not meaning the movie star, but the movie star's older brother, a figure without official title but even more famous than the movie star.

In August 2013, "The Dog Beating Stick," co-directed by Ju Xingmao and Guo Jingyu, was broadcast and achieved both critical and commercial success. Ju Xingmao was nominated for Best Director at the 20th Magnolia Awards for his work on the series.

But after "The Dog Beating Stick", he didn't take on any big productions.

Guo Jingyu entrusted him with the project of the supernatural web series "Soul Ferry".

2014年2月28日，《灵魂摆渡》第一季在爱奇艺上线，仅仅三天点击量就高达4400万，上线6天播放量破1亿，10天破2亿，14天破3亿。

It received a score of 8.1 on Douban and its Baidu search index exceeded 10, even surpassing the second season of "House of Cards," which was a global hit at the time.

A low-budget online supernatural drama was turned into a phenomenon by Ju Xingmao.

The screenwriter of "The Ferryman" is Xiao Jixiangtian, a mysterious person whose photos are almost never released.

She only started her screenwriting career in 2014. She comes from a comic book background, has long hair, always wears sunglasses, and never gives video interviews.

But it was he who wrote the scripts for all three seasons of the "Soul Ferry" series, earning him the title of "god screenwriter" and "impossible reversal" from hundreds of millions of netizens.

His script uses illusory ghosts to illustrate the true nature of humanity, conveying the message that "the unseen human heart is more terrifying than the visible ghost."

When Qingxiao contacted the pair through Yu Zheng, he had only one thought in his mind—these two people were the pillars of stability in "The Ferryman: Huangquan".

The meeting took place in a teahouse in Chaoyang District.

Ju Xingmao was more silent than Qingxiao had imagined, and didn't talk much, but Qingxiao noticed his eyes—from the moment Qingxiao mentioned the name "Sanqi," he had been listening, not just politely, but genuinely.

Xiao Jixiangtian sat next to Ju Xingmao, his long hair flowing down his shoulders, wearing thin-rimmed glasses. His first words were, "President Qing, you just said, 'The Meng Po soup of Sanqi, the eighth ingredient is tears of sorrow.' How many times have you read that line?"

"The script was written before," Qingxiao said. "I revised the lines several times."

"What do you think is the most difficult aspect of playing the role of Sanqi?" Xiao Jixiangtian asked again.

"Measure yourself." Qingxiao didn't hesitate. "In the early stages, you need to portray her as simple-minded but not mentally challenged—too much and it will seem fake, too little and it won't be cute enough. In the middle stages, you need to portray her as innocent and carefree. She's mentally unstable because a wisp of her soul was taken from her when she was young, and the scent of immortality made her feel 'want' for the first time. In the later stages, when the truth is revealed by the person she loves most, she was deceived from beginning to end by a clay figure sculpted by her biological father using that wisp of his soul—the collapse at that moment wasn't anger, but heartbreak. When she finally died for him, Zhao Li asked her if it was worth it, and she said it was—those two words, all the previous willfulness, capriciousness, and simplicity, all turned into knives at that moment."

He paused for a moment, then said, "I told Bai Lu that Sanqi wasn't acting out love, but rather about fulfilling a wish."

Xiao Jixiangtian took off his glasses, wiped the lenses with the corner of his clothes, and put them back on. He glanced at Qingxiao, his gaze lingering on his face for a moment, before speaking: "I'll take this script, but I have one condition."

"What are the conditions?"

"You'll play the role of Changsheng."

Qingxiao's hand hovered over the teacup. He thought Xiao Jixiangtian would demand more investment, take charge of casting, and request a specific filming schedule—but what he wanted was for Qingxiao to act himself.

Why?

"Chang Sheng is not an ordinary male protagonist. He is a clay figure created by San Qi's biological father, Chen Shi, using the stolen essence of her soul. His very existence is a sin—but San Qi loves him. He must possess a clean and convincing quality."