Chapter 9

Not only Lin Aike, but also other actors and even staff members in the crew received phone calls and messages from all directions.

-“Hey buddy, are you working on ‘The Road of Life’ now? I heard a rich fan invested ten million just to get Qin Heng’s role in. Is that true?”

-“!!! Jimei, where are you? Why can’t I reach you after making several calls! Hurry up and check Weibo! The pretty lady you told me about last time, the one who invested in your crew, is trending!”

-“Yes, even your Weibo, as a lead actor, has been looked up by many people. Your fan count is skyrocketing now. We must seize this opportunity. I’ve already bought a plane ticket and am flying over now. Let’s see if we can talk to Director Wan to increase your screen time. After all, you’re the male lead, so negotiation should be relatively easy.”

-“Lao Gao, are you still an extra in ‘The Road of Life’? Is what’s trending true?”

-“This show is getting popular even before it’s aired. You’re really lucky. I’ve discussed with the company and got you a lot of promotional resources. Wang Zheng, make sure you shoot well, you know? The male second lead in a hit drama is much more popular than the male lead in a flop. Such opportunities are what many people have been waiting for for ten or twenty years.”

These phone messages were basically inquiries mixed with congratulations, and many were eager to hear more details, specially coming to inquire.

In addition, there were agents like Lin Aike’s, who quickly identified the position and planned how to leverage this opportunity for their artists after the excitement.

For a moment, everyone was either making phone calls or listening to voice messages and replying to text messages, including Director Wan Bao. He was still immersed in joy when the phone kept ringing one after another, forcing him to stop his booming voice and switch to social mode.

Exaggerated?

Not at all.

You see, the hashtag “What’s it like when the original book fans are rich” had risen to ninth place on Weibo’s trending list and was still rising. Users who followed this topic had turned into actual traffic, and these onlookers were either dispersing or flocking to relevant crew members.

The actors who were mentioned in official posts were now displayed to the public in a short time.

Sheng Quan brushed through them one by one. Basically, the fan count of every major actor in “The Road of Life” had doubled or even tripled.

And of course, Yan Hui, the protagonist, had even more. Before this, no one even knew his name, but now his Weibo follower count was the highest in the entire crew.

Sheng Quan wasn’t surprised, but 006 was extremely excited!

[Host! Your career score is rising!! You don’t have to die anymore!]

Although she had known this result would come sooner or later, Sheng Quan was still grateful for 006’s sincere congratulations and replied in a cooperative manner: [Yes, now you can watch the show without worries, right?]

006: [Yeah yeah! Host is so amazing! Your career score rose so much in just one day! When it reaches ten, I can give you periodic rewards!]

Sheng Quan’s eyes lit up: [Periodic rewards? Is it money?]

She was in a slightly awkward financial situation right now. To make a big splash at the beginning, almost all her money had been spent on the frontline, including shaping her image as a tycoon. The effect was indeed significant, as everyone she met was giving her the green light. But only Sheng Quan herself knew that she was staying in a hotel that cost 188,100 yuan per night, driving a luxury car worth over 20 million yuan, and investing 10 million yuan in the crew, but she barely had any money in her pocket.

006 expressed regret: [It’s not time for cashback yet. Periodic rewards can only be in kind.]

Sheng Quan wasn’t very surprised; she had already figured out the reward system of the sponsor. They were very generous with physical rewards, but stingy with money. She guessed that this rule might be to encourage the host to focus on helping the sponsored person wholeheartedly, as these items couldn’t be resold. Naturally, to get the rebate, the host would try their best to help the sponsored person achieve career success.

So those wishes were actually the fans’ wishes.

Sheng Quan quickly became excited again: [Can I know what the reward is this time?]

006: [Because it’s a newbie task, the reward is pretty good. You still have to draw it yourself. This time’s periodic reward even has an SSSS-level reward. It would be great if the host could draw it!]

Previewing the reward content to the host is not against the rules, so 006 happily showed Sheng Quan the reward content. Sheng Quan glanced at it and felt quite lucky: [It’s just what I need right now. What is Yan Hui’s career score?]

006: [The career score of the first sponsored person is 8.]

Sheng Quan: [Then I can draw it in a few days. Do you want to watch TV together?]

006 was delighted: [Yes! I want to watch the one we watched last time!]

[Okay, I’ll turn on the TV.]

Sheng Quan smiled. Although 006 earned money very well, she was still less than a month old, and facing this innocent, reliable system that always cared about her, she found it easy to talk to.

After watching TV with 006 for over two hours, Sheng Quan was about to go out for dinner when there was a knock on the door. After being allowed in, Yu Xiangwan entered:

“Ms. Sheng, I’ve summarized the list of senior administrative management personnel who have submitted resumes to us, but most of them don’t meet the requirements.”

Sheng Quan took a look. Either they set ridiculously high conditions, or they completely treated their company as a naive fool, drawing pie without any sincerity. She wasn’t angry, just tossed the document aside. “It seems they don’t think Starlight has good prospects.”

There was a hint of resentment in Yu Xiangwan’s eyebrows. He didn’t like seeing others belittle Sheng Quan. “They are short-sighted.”

Sheng Quan patted his shoulder with a smile. “Alright, alright, I’m not angry, why are you? It’s normal for them to think like this. After all, we’re just an empty shell company now. We don’t have people or resources. We haven’t even finalized an office building. Which talented senior administrative manager would be willing to work for me? Forget about them, even ordinary employees, who would want to?”

Yu Xiangwan said in a deep voice, “Regardless of all that, I will follow Ms. Sheng.”

Sheng Quan: “…”

Oh right, I forgot about his stubborn loyalty attribute.

“Okay, forget about all this. Do you know what’s most important for entertainers to get ahead?”

Yu Xiangwan pondered for a moment. “Resources.”

This was indeed the answer he could give. Although cruel, it was the truth.

Sheng Quan used to think that acting skills, looks, and figure were the most important in the entertainment industry before she entered society.

In fact, ability determined everything in all industries. Just like Sheng Quan in her past life, orphaned and poor, but that didn’t stop her from rising to the management level. Although she sacrificed her hair, she successfully crossed class boundaries.

The reason was her ability, right?

Unfortunately, the entertainment industry wasn’t like that.

In this fiercely competitive place, there were plenty of actors with good acting skills and good looks. Even those with both were not uncommon. But if you had these qualities, you still needed to showcase them for people to notice, right?

If no one hires you to act, how can you demonstrate your skills? Even if you get a role, your scenes might be cut, and can viewers discover your superb acting skills through a few small scenes? Or worse, you might not even have a few small scenes, just a glimpse, or half a face.

Looks were even easier to explain. Since you’re not the protagonist, how can you overshadow the lead? Good-looking actors without resources would only be asked to play ugly roles, and it would be considered good enough to go bare-faced. Some might even be asked to put on ugly makeup, smearing black powder on their faces.

Even if you were outstanding, you still needed to showcase yourself perfectly to be noticed by everyone: “Oh, there’s such an outstanding person here.”

That’s why everyone in the crew fell into a frenzy together. At least the actors were very happy because on this day, they became the focus, known to the public, which was equivalent to having more opportunities for many people to recognize them and see how excellent they were.

Sheng Quan used to dislike this “rule” very much. As an audience, every time she saw an actor with no acting skills but only looks acting in a novel adaptation drama she liked, she would explode.

She didn’t know what other original fans thought, but she herself didn’t actually object to novels being adapted into dramas or movies. She also wanted to see magnificent scenes, lingering emotions, and clashes of looks. But those adaptations that ruined the original novel were just not done like this.

Thinking of this, Sheng Quan gritted her teeth inwardly and glanced at the script of “The Road of Life” beside her, and her mood calmed down.

Oh right, she herself was now part of this “rule.”

Moreover, her hair had grown back. 006 was indeed very caring. The body she created for her with wishes not only looked the same as her original body, but also adjusted her age to twenty-three. Although she had started losing hair due to staying up late at twenty-three, after her period of early bedtime, waking up early, and taking care of herself, Sheng Quan’s hair had become shiny and black again.

Running her hand through her smooth and silky hair, Sheng Quan affirmed Yu Xiangwan’s opinion: “So now we don’t need to worry about this. We already have resources, and smart people who want to take a gamble will come knocking on our door.”

At least in the eyes of others, Sheng Quan, who could throw ten million into the crew and had Yan Hui, a newly emerging celebrity under her, had indeed acquired resources. The topicality and traffic she possessed seemed ethereal, but in this circle, they could be turned into various resources at any time.

Yu Xiangwan understood Sheng Quan’s meaning instantly. “Yes, do we need to continue looking for an office building?”

“No need.”

Sheng Quan smiled. “Instead of finding a floor to rent for an office, we can make a better choice.”

---

Sheng Quan’s “lavish spending” did not attract much attention from her peers. After all, they could also come up with ten million, and Yan Hui, a newly emerging celebrity, was nothing new to them.

Moreover, although this circle was fiercely competitive for artists, between companies, it was more about being friendly and profitable. Everyone just wanted to make money, not kill each other, so it wasn’t that hard to show a smiling face to each other.

There weren’t many people in the entertainment industry paying attention to Sheng Quan. Ten million wasn’t enough to make them take time out of their busy schedules to check the hot search. More people searching for information about Sheng Quan were small companies with limited registered capital, some artists who wanted to become “Yan Hui No. 2,” and some directors looking for investment.

At this moment, Yan Hui’s former company, Hua Fan Entertainment, is the most concerned about Sheng Quan.

Yes, it’s the company that suppressed him for ten years.

They had completely forgotten that Yan Hui used to be under their banner. Over the past ten years, this rather small but deep entertainment company had gone through several waves of people. Even the original big boss was no longer a shareholder. Who would remember the name Yan Hui?

If it weren’t for the fact that the public was currently searching for information about Yan Hui, with a bunch of internet users digging up the name of Hua Fan, they wouldn’t even know it had anything to do with them.

Hua Fan immediately thought of capitalizing on the heat.

The heat of this matter had already changed hands several times. It had been three days since it first appeared on the hot search, and netizens were still actively discussing and digging up new information. There were screenshots of book fan group members revealing new information, screenshots of Sheng Quan’s first meeting with Yan Hui when she drove a luxury car to eat jianbing guozi and got photographed with the car posted on her friend circle. Now that this matter was hot, they were posting screenshots claiming they were at the scene.

Such a good opportunity to capitalize on the heat, only a fool wouldn’t take it.

Fortunately, the current majority shareholder was quite sober. He raised a crucial point: Yan Hui had the looks and temperament. Why did such a good seedling disappear from their company for ten years?

Uh… that’s a good question.

After a round of inquiries, things got awkward.

The management was no longer thinking about capitalizing on the heat. They just focused on one point: “Would he hold a grudge against our company? Should we take the initiative to clear up the misunderstanding? He’s currently in the limelight, and if he says something to the media…”

Saying to clear up the misunderstanding wasn’t wrong either. After all, they weren’t the ones who suppressed Yan Hui in the first place. The company’s name was still Hua Fan, but everything else had changed layers after layers. If Yan Hui held a grudge against Hua Fan because of the past, it would be completely unjust in their view.

But the big boss was quite firm. This company might be small, but he himself owned more than one company. He was an old-timer in the industry and much more stable than the people under him:

“What’s there to say? Even if there’s only a young girl who threw ten million behind him, or if there’s a company backing him, such matters are clear between each other. There’s no need to say more.”

He asked his assistant, “Who is this Miss Sheng?”

The assistant tried to find out as much as possible, but this wasn’t a TV drama. With a swipe, all sorts of information about whoever was displayed on the desktop. In such a short time, he could only find what was openly available, and that too by paying someone to find it.

But the good news was that the money was reimbursed.

“This Miss Sheng is named Sheng Quan, twenty-three years old. It seems she returned from abroad and has been living in the top-floor suite of the LaCrosse Hotel since then, booking it for half a year straight. I couldn’t find anything else.”

He said while inwardly marveling. The LaCrosse Hotel was notoriously expensive. If that Miss Sheng booked it for half a year, and it was the top-floor suite, wasn’t that over thirty million? His boss wasn’t this extravagant.

“The LaCrosse Hotel, huh.” The big boss narrowed his eyes. “It seems her family does have some background. Young people love to enjoy themselves and show off. No need to be cautious about anything. Kids just want some fun. After playing around for a while, she’ll probably find it boring and not want to play in this circle anymore.”

Seeing the big boss so confident, the management also relaxed.

That’s right, this big boss of theirs had been in the entertainment industry for decades and could be considered a senior. He had seen everything. In the eyes of others, a young wealthy person who throws money around might seem impressive, but in his eyes, they were just kids who liked to show off.

After the big boss confidently finished speaking, he picked up his teacup to drink, but the assistant’s phone buzzed at this moment. He glanced at the big boss and saw him waving his hand, so he took out his phone to check the message.

As he read it, his face changed.

He didn’t even have time to put away his phone. He strode over to the big boss’s desk and whispered, “Mr. Wang, the person who was asked to check Miss Sheng’s information just sent me a message. The Huaxing Building in Shanghai was transferred to Miss Sheng’s name yesterday.”

The big boss paused with his teacup halfway to his mouth. “The Huaxing Building in Shanghai?”

“Yes.”

“The one with ridiculously high rent, the one in Shanghai?”

“It’s the one who is going to die because the rent is expensive, the Huaxing Building in the Shanghai?”

“Yes, it’s this building, we also rented half a floor there. ”

The big boss continued to pick up the teacup, took a sip slowly, slowly put it down, and then slowly got up.

The assistant hurriedly followed: “Mr. Wang, where are you going?”

– “Go see Miss Sheng.” ”

– “I think you’re right, if there’s a misunderstanding, it’s going to be resolved.” ”