Huayu 02: The Days of Extreme Pulling and Rolling with the Fairy

It's rather embarrassing to have someone gossip about you behind your back and get caught red-handed.

But what can you do now that they've already caught them?

Xie Jin had expected Director Ma to have a bad look on his face, but to her surprise, the other party had a smile in his eyes.

"Director Xie, shall we sit down? I've been wanting to have a good chat with you for a while now."

Knowing he was in the wrong, Xie Jin nodded.

We were supposed to finish recording the show here, since there wasn't much else to do.

You can take your mother-in-law and your hamster for a two-day stroll around Hangzhou and enjoy the world's most delicious seafood—West Lake Vinegar Fish.

Unexpectedly, after she had asked someone to stay in the office, Ms. Liu, who was eating the vinegar fish, went to eat by herself.

It was lunchtime, so Director Ma had someone order takeout from the restaurant. Gu Renlong and Xie Jin ate a bite with Director Ma in his office.

"Director... this fish... it tastes just like this, right...?"

Sure enough... you can taste the resentment of this fish that died unjustly as soon as you put it in your mouth...

"Yes, doesn't it taste especially delicious?"

"So...delicious!"

Director Ma didn't touch the vinegar fish at all, urging Xie Jin to eat well: "Eat more if it's delicious, I'll order you another one."

"No, no, I'm full. Let's have some tea..."

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"Director Xie, thanks to you, I've been promoted and am now the head of the variety show department."

"Oh, that's great news! We should call him Director Ma then."

Director Ma sighed and took out a stack of documents: "I do have some things I'd like to hear your opinion on."

He then handed Xie Jin the documents.

"These are our five best programs. Now the station wants me to be a reform pioneer. I don't even know where to begin. I want to chop off all of them."

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Xie Jin watched for a few minutes...

Zhejiang TV has seven variety shows in total, but the last two probably had such low ratings that I didn't dare watch them myself.

Five programs.

"Zhejiang Businessmen of the World", "Elegant Qiantang", "Life's AB Drama", "Entertainment and Wealth", "New Lifestyle Ideas".

The ratings were abysmal, with the highest local rating at 4% and a national rating of only 0.6% to 0.7%, which is already considered below average. The remaining four ratings are best left unmentioned...

The good news is there's plenty of room to rise; the bad news is there's almost no room to fall...

Xie Jin frowned more and more as she looked at it.

Seeing the troubled look on Xie Jin's face, Director Ma immediately got up and closed the door tightly.

He said earnestly, "Director Xie, you don't need to be so blunt. I'm just asking for your help to look at a problem; there's no harm in being frank."

"real?"

"Absolutely true"

Who came up with the idea for "Entertainment Wealth"? They're absolutely geniuses!

It combines financial knowledge with celebrities, with each episode featuring different mid-to-high-tier or third-tier celebrities sharing their financial insights.

Don't ask why there are no top-tier cities, it's because there's no money!

Having celebrities teach businessmen about finance is no less daunting than having mammoths teach math olympiad to students.

"To be honest, these variety shows don't have any major problems. They don't have any ideological or strategic errors. They just have one minor issue."

"you say"

"It doesn't look good..."

Director Ma laughed, saying it was like saying the fish was good fish, the West Lake water was good water, and the vinegar was good vinegar.

It means it doesn't taste good.

"Seven programs with a budget of 3300 million yuan a year...it's really difficult."

Gu Renlong's eyes darted around as he glanced at the list: "Cut it off. 'Entertainment & Wealth,' 'Elegant Qiantang,' and 'Zhejiang Merchants World' are seriously overlapping. Just one of them is enough. Besides, these kinds of programs have a very fixed audience, so inviting celebrities would be pointless."

The three of them chatted like this for an hour before it was over.

Don't let the fact that Director Ma is a woman fool you; she's incredibly efficient and decisive when it comes to work.

As they chatted, she took notes of the useful information.

After a long pause, she suddenly blurted out something.

"Director Xie, there's still one issue we haven't fully discussed."

"You still haven't told me how to make the show more entertaining—by hiring celebrities or creating hype?"

Xie Jin couldn't answer that question.

Whether a movie or TV series is good or not depends first on the screenwriter's script, then on the director, and finally on the actors.

Even the best actor performing a piece of dog shit script is just dog shit sprayed with perfume.

Seeing Xie Jin's predicament, Gu Renlong coughed and said, "Sister Ma, Xie Jin can't do anything about this either. He can't just teach us step by step... The show itself needs to be good; celebrity endorsements are what make it effective..."

I'll teach you step by step...

Why shouldn't I let them do it?

Isn't Jiangnan TV's "Jiangnan in Progress" a collaboration with an external company?

The moment this thought crossed Director Ma's mind, it felt like weeds were growing in his head.

"Ahem, Mr. Gu, I don't know... does your company produce variety shows?"

Gu Renlong was stunned for a moment, his pupils contracted... He had this idea, but he didn't expect the other party to actually bring it up.

He tried his best to appear less agitated.

He pushed up his glasses.

"Mr. Ma, let's go out for a smoke... we've been holding it in for ages."

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Leave the office.

In the hallway, Gu Renlong asked excitedly, "Can you even handle a variety show?"

Xie Jin was reluctant to do it: "It's simple, just takes a bit of time... Compared to movies and TV series, variety shows are a bit low-class, I don't want to do it."

No sooner had Xie Jin said "low" than her mother jumped up in anger: "Low? Don't be so naive! Do you know how much money a variety show could make if it could split profits?"

Hsieh Chin also knew that variety shows could make money. From 15 to 21, over seven years, CanSing made a staggering 44 billion yuan from the 65% revenue share of "The Voice of China," not counting any underhanded dealings.

This is still the case for the financial reports of 12, 13, and 14, which have not yet been made public...

"Look at you, in the second half of the year you got Du Jie and the others to start 'Lurking' and you even voted for 'Soldiers' with Qing Tan, and you're going to vote for 'The Return of the Condor Heroes' too."

"Even if Qingtan, a third party, gets involved with Wheatfield, we'll still need to invest at least eight figures!"

Gu Renlong became increasingly aggrieved as he spoke, sounding more and more like a wronged little wife: "All you know is how to spend money! I'm picking at every brick grout all day! I'm practically digging for gold in the shit! Am I Doraemon? Can I print money for you?"

"You're complaining that the used Mercedes seat cushions I provided are peeling? Where am I supposed to get the money to buy new ones!"

Seeing her mother's anxiety, Xie Jin said in a pitiful voice, "The stones sold well... let's split the profits..."

It would have been better if this hadn't been mentioned, because bringing it up made Gu Renlong even more agitated: "Get out! The money from the profit-sharing deal won't be back for at least six months! And that's money meant for Shen Gui and Mai Tian!"

"I've done the math. The combined revenue from Stone's share and the TV series' profits will barely cover your expenses for this year. Even if there's anything left over, it won't be much."

"Where are you expecting me to find this money? Are you trying to make me sell myself?"

Xie Jin coughed twice. Old Gu was terrifying today... like he was about to eat someone alive... Anyone who didn't know better would think they were having an affair...

"I was wrong, I was wrong, ancestors, I was wrong!"

Gu Renlong huffed angrily, "Lazy bum! Idle and good-for-nothing!"

"I'm just a small shareholder, a high-level employee! Do you know I work overtime until 2 AM every day?! You're not allowed to do anything else for the rest of the year, you're just going to focus on making money!"

"Okay, okay, don't be so mean..."

Gu Renlong, feeling a bit better, asked, "Are you confident we can sign a tiered revenue-sharing agreement?"

"have......"

┭┮﹏┭┮Who's the boss between us...? Didn't we discourage overtime culture...? Why are you giving me this reverse motivation...? Am I just a heartless creative machine...?

I'm going to report you to the labor department!

"Think about it, we're not one of those companies backed by giants. If we don't use variety shows to tie Zhejiang TV down, we'll never become an industry giant."

"You're not Director Chen, nobody's giving you 300 million to burn..."

"Okay, I see... You go talk to them, I'll rest outside for a bit, okay...?"

Gu Renlong glanced at him sideways: "Sit here quietly, I'll come find you in a bit."

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Old Gu went into the room, while Xie Jin listened to their heated argument from the outside reception room.

I leaned back on the sofa outside and started to doze off, getting sleepier and sleepier the longer I sat...

"Hey dog, what are you doing here!"

When Xie Jin opened her eyes, the clock on the wall showed it was past eight o'clock.

Seeing Ms. Liu standing in front of me, all alone with no one else around.

"┭┮﹏┭┮Shy, I need a hug from my rumored girlfriend."

Miss Liu blushed and took a step back.

With a single, powerful blow, he slammed it over his head: "You old pervert! Don't move! Speak up... Who... who's your rumored girlfriend... We're still vetting each other."

Xie Jin immediately replied, "I've done my research."

Miss Liu retorted, "I! Didn't!"

"What are you doing here looking so dejected?"

Gu Renlong said I was lazy and good-for-nothing, that I idled away my time...

Miss Liu nodded: "You're right! You haven't been taking on any commercial gigs properly. You've been idle for quite a while now. You're the laziest celebrity I've ever met."

Is it wrong to slack off?......What's wrong with slacking off for a while.....Why is there so much malice towards those who slack off....

"Old Gu told me to stick to filming variety shows for the rest of the year..."

"Really!" The hamster's eyes lit up.

"Variety shows are great! I love watching you make them!"

Xie Jin then perked up a bit: "You really love watching variety shows? Then I'll reluctantly do a little filming."