msmithbooks Chapter 65: Who wouldn't be confused?
Chapter 65: Who wouldn't be confused?
"What did she say?"
When Xu Wen's message popped up, Zeng Hao was hunched over his desk, flipping through the first draft of the storyboard for scene 33 of "Three Lives Three Worlds".
A half-smoked cigarette still lay in the ashtray on his desk, wisps of smoke drifting upwards. The sunlight outside the window was a bit dazzling; he raised his hand to rub his temples, not in a hurry to reply to the message.
The composition on the storyboard was fairly smooth, except for a certain close-up shot which had a slightly awkward angle. He drew a small circle next to it with a red pen before picking up his phone.
On the screen, Xu Wen's messages came in rapid succession:
"She answered the seventh question!"
"After the host finished asking the question, she thought for about three seconds and then said, 'In the scene at the library, Xiahou Dan said to Yu Wanyin, "Actually, I already knew the secret here."'"
Then she smiled and said, "I cried after filming that scene, but I only cried when I got back to my room."
Zeng Hao swiped his finger across the screen, then tossed his phone back onto the table and picked up the storyboard again.
He knew she would answer that way.
It wasn't that he had given her a heads-up beforehand, but rather that he knew all too well what that scene meant to her.
That was a scene she insisted on keeping, despite her persistent requests.
At the time, screenwriter Fang Qing felt the dialogue was too convoluted and revised it four times. Each time she sent the revised version over, Fang Qing would only reply with three words: "This is it."
Later, Fang Qing had no choice but to complain to Zeng Hao: "This girl is as stubborn as an ox. Anyone else would have been confused by those lines."
Zeng Hao didn't say anything at the time, but he knew exactly what was going on.
When an actor is so dedicated to a scene, thoroughly understanding and internalizing the lines, if asked to name their "most memorable line," what other line could it be besides this one?
This isn't what you call being a prophet; frankly, it's just understanding people.
The screenshot started circulating online around 2 PM.
The first people to share it weren't any big influencers or media accounts, but just a few ordinary netizens who were watching the show.
A screenshot of an interview, accompanied by a simple and unadorned sentence.
"I like this newcomer."
Without buying trending topics or engaging in marketing, it quietly gained traction.
At 3:30 p.m., Xu Wen rushed into the office as if his pants were on fire, slamming his phone on Zeng Hao's desk with a thud, his voice trembling.
"Boss, look! We didn't buy any Weibo hashtags, but it climbed up the list on its own! It's now eleventh on the entertainment chart!"
Zeng Hao didn't even look up; he simply reached for his phone and glanced at it.
The topic has garnered over three million views, and is even trending, with the number still climbing rapidly.
He tossed the phone back: "Where's that interview video from 'Day Day Up'?"
"iQiyi proactively took a screenshot and posted it on Weibo! That reply, with subtitles, is only 43 seconds long."
Xu Wen's fingers flew across the screen, his voice growing increasingly excited, "Over 80,000 reposts now! And the comments section—"
She cleared her throat and read a few lines aloud.
"A small company can produce actors like this? They're got something!"
When will this show be released? I'm waiting for it!
"I can't handle this kind of answer, it's too hurtful."
"And this one," Xu Wen shoved the phone close to Zeng Hao's face, raising his voice even higher, "'Who is Xiahou Dan? State your name immediately!'"
Zeng Hao finally put down his pen, turned to the next page of the storyboard, and asked in a flat tone, "What about Chen Lei?"
"Chen Lei's interview segment was pretty normal, nothing special." Xu Wen put his phone away. "However, someone edited together a clip of his interaction with Chu Ran, and it's circulating online. It's the part where he got off-topic and said, 'I did nine takes for the library scene,' and then Chu Ran smiled and corrected him, 'It was eleven.' He paused for a moment, then immediately corrected himself, 'Yes, eleven.'"
"This is going viral in the comments right now," Xu Wen added, "saying that one of them can't remember how many times they've shipped them, while the other remembers it perfectly, and everyone's gone crazy shipping them."
Zeng Hao grunted in agreement, closed the storyboard, leaned back in his chair, took out a cigarette case, shook out a cigarette and held it between his fingers without lighting it: "We'll contact 'Happy Camp' after it's released. Tell them to wait."
Xu Wen quickly pulled out his notebook to jot it down, then looked up and asked, "Then the launch date—"
"Go ask Sister Liu about the scheduling."
Xu Wen understood, and without asking any more questions, he turned and ran outside, his steps lighter than usual.
"Diamond Lover" was released at 6 PM.
There was no press conference, no red carpet event, and not even many promotional press releases; it just quietly launched on iQiyi.
Xu Wen refreshed the homepage every five minutes at his workstation, and after forty minutes of doing so, he finally sent Zeng Hao a message: "Boss, I'm online."
Zeng Hao replied with three words: "Keep an eye on the data."
In the first hour, it garnered 820,000 views.
Xu Wen was like he was on steroids, reporting the numbers every twenty minutes, and later he simply sent a screenshot every ten minutes.
At 10 p.m., he barged into Zeng Hao's office, his phone screen lit up, and shoved it in front of Zeng Hao's face with a strange expression.
It wasn't just simple happiness; it was a kind of dazed happiness, as if the number was too big for my brain to process.
"Over 5.1 million on the first day!"
Xu Wen's voice was slightly ethereal, "The last show on iQiyi to gross over five million on its opening day was that ancient costume drama from last year, and its investment was three times ours! Three times, boss!"
Zeng Hao glanced at the numbers on the screen, said nothing, picked up the water glass on the table and took a sip.
The water was cold, but he didn't notice.
"Over at Dingsheng," Xu Wen swallowed, his tone tinged with barely suppressed schadenfreude, "their 'Love in Flames' also premiered today. I just checked the first-day viewership—"
She paused deliberately, building up the anticipation, "One million three hundred thousand."
One million three hundred thousand.
Zeng Hao paused, his hand holding the water glass still.
Dingsheng delayed them for almost a month in order to secure this slot.
They poached their executive director, stole two supporting actors, and released several scandalous stories online, claiming that "Diamond Lover" was poorly made and had no famous actors. And what was the result?
Their own drama flopped quietly, but it actually propelled their low-budget web series into the ranks of potential blockbusters.
Anyone would be confused in that situation.
Zeng Hao put the water glass back on the table, his tone as flat as if he were giving a weather forecast: "Send me a screenshot of the comments section."
Xu Wen immediately pulled up a screenshot, showing the two comment sections side by side on the screen:
The drama "Diamond Lover" is receiving one hot review after another.
"The density of comments is so high I thought my internet was lagging! They're all real people!"
"From a small company? I don't believe it! The production quality and the acting are far superior to some S+ dramas!"
...
The situation with "Love in Flames" was rather disastrous.
"Why is the beginning so rushed? There's absolutely no plot buildup!"
"Is this background music for real? It's so jarring!"
"I've given up on it, I might as well rewatch 'Diamond Lover' instead."
...
Zeng Hao glanced at it twice and pushed the phone back to Xu Wen: "Have Sister Liu keep an eye on the trigger node of Attachment 9."
Xu Wen was stunned for a moment, not quite understanding: "What trigger node?"