Too Bad, Arrived Too Late

There were no odd amounts, everything was clear and accounted for.

This was all the cash Bai Youlou had left.

Old Zhou's face immediately turned ashen. Damn it, this little bit of money wouldn't even cover their plane tickets to Cannes.

Long Ziqiang felt a pang in his heart listening to this. He felt like he was seeing a passionate and talented young man rendered powerless by money.

Just like himself ten years ago.

Suddenly excited, Long Ziqiang exclaimed, "I've saved up 250,000!"

Bai Youlou replied, "Great, that covers the expenses for Cannes!"

Still caught up in the moment, Long Ziqiang pressed on, "What about our promotional expenses then?"

As he spoke, he glanced at Old Zhou.

The implication was clear: You better chip in too!

Old Zhou wore a helpless expression. He wondered how much Bai Youlou had manipulated this guy. Did he still remember his own 10,000 yuan salary from back then?

He explained with a sigh, "Do you think I haven't been spending money while I've been busy outside all these days? Not only did I spend the 50,000 yuan advance salary Old Bai gave me, but I still need my own savings to pay for rent and deposits. We're not a shell company."

This was the truth. Although Old Zhou mocked Long Ziqiang for being fooled, he himself had also put in a lot of his own money.

At this moment, Zhang Xiaorong looked at the three men who were almost at their wit's end. She was silent for half a second, as if infected by the spirit of collective effort. "I have some too..."

She was unbelievable!

If Old Zhou and Long Ziqiang had been half-doubting before, they were now convinced!

They really managed to get the girl to invest, even though she had only been working for a short time! And what did this movie have to do with her? She was foolishly following along and spending money.

Was this what love was?

"Ahem."

Seeing that the atmosphere had been sufficiently built up, Bai Youlou spoke again before Zhang Xiaorong could even reach for her card in her small bag.

"Actually, we don't need that much for promotion. Promotion, as the name suggests, is about letting more people know about our movie. I have other ways."

As he said this, Zhang Xiaorong looked at him for a few seconds, seemingly worried that Bai Youlou was overstretching himself. She asked again, "Really?"

"Really."

However, Bai Youlou couldn't resist his curiosity and asked Zhang Xiaorong, "How much money do you have?"

"Not much, just a few tens of thousands," Zhang Xiaorong said, sounding a little embarrassed. After all, her savings weren't as much as Long Ziqiang's.

Phew.

For some reason, Bai Youlou felt relieved.

He was genuinely worried that he might have been showing off and accidentally missed out on a rich woman.

If he had seized the opportunity with An Luning before, he might have been able to completely charm her during that meeting.

But that opportunity was a one-time thing. Afterward, even if he saw her at school, she was always accompanied by her agent or assistant.

They guarded him as if he were a thief.

As for Zhang Xiaorong, although she didn't seem to have any designer bags and her clothes didn't look very expensive...

Aside from her outstanding looks and temperament, she generally appeared quite simple.

But don't forget, families that raise daughters like this are mostly not ordinary. And she was studying art, so her family was definitely not poor!

One could say that Zhang Xiaorong had the potential to be a rich woman.

Fortunately, it seemed she wasn't, and she wasn't engaging in any side hustles to make money.

Speaking of which, if you meet a beautiful girl who doesn't have a particularly high-paying job and whose family circumstances aren't particularly good, but she can easily spend a large sum of money or is covered in luxury goods that clearly exceed her earning capacity.

Then you need to be careful.

This was experience Bai Youlou had gained from frequently visiting Jiming Temple and Jingjue Ancient City in his previous life.

Lacking funds for movie promotion is a predicament many small companies face.

The entertainment industry produces a large number of TV shows and movies each year, but the proportion that reaches the audience is not the majority.

Onlookers always focus their attention on the top-tier film and television projects, but in the red ocean of film and television production, projects that fail to make waves and die off directly are far more numerous than imagined.

Simply getting a movie released surpasses a considerable number of competitors.

Of course, some movies are only "released" in name. They might play for a few days, and if the cinemas see that you have no box office revenue, they will unceremoniously kick you out.

Money laundering schemes are a separate matter.

So, the question is, how can more people know about a movie without any promotional funds?

One option is for the creative team to collectively kneel.

Unfortunately, they were too late!

The entertainment industry on Earth had already used this trick long ago. After all, kneeling isn't exactly a high-skill operation.

A man's knees are golden, and now was the time to cash in.

The first person to kneel and beg for screen time and attention could perhaps be said to have artistic sensibilities. Those who followed were likely just imitating others or trying to attract attention.

Seeing Bai Youlou analyze with a look of pity that they couldn't use the "kneeling" tactic, Long Ziqiang's expression was as if he'd eaten something foul.

No way, big brother? You actually want to use a trick like that?

He couldn't understand it at all. If Bai Youlou were a shrewd businessman, it would be understandable to use such a pathetic tactic.

But in his eyes, Bai Youlou was a genius!

Whether it was movies or music, he was a bona fide genius.

Why did such a person have no pride of a genius?

He couldn't help but look at Zhang Xiaorong, with a look that said, "Hurry up and manage your boyfriend."

But Zhang Xiaorong didn't react much. Instead, she continued to look at Bai Youlou, as if waiting for him to say more.

As expected, there was more.

"Fortunately, I've already thought of a better method. Ah Qiang, do you care about your reputation?"

"I care about my reputation!" Long Ziqiang immediately replied.

His reaction was so fast it was as if he had some kind of illness, his face twitching twice.

Bai Youlou looked at him with pity. "Then forget it. I'll go sing by myself. I won't force you."

Sing?

Long Ziqiang, sensing the keywords, immediately felt something was wrong. "Where are we going to sing?"

Bai Youlou looked at Old Zhou, who immediately provided the answer.

"I've checked. There are quite a few variety shows currently being recorded that fit your requirements. Some are very popular, and some are not so popular. After calculating factors like time, location, distance, and commute, if we maximize efficiency, we can get on up to nine shows."

"Get on shows?" Long Ziqiang was a bit stunned, and at the same time, he couldn't help but ask, "Director, are people still inviting you onto shows?"

"As an idol, of course, no one is inviting me. But I can go myself. Some shows encourage applications from ordinary people, right?"

He understood it completely!

Long Ziqiang wasn't an idiot. How could he not know what Bai Youlou's promotional plan was?

It was to use the songs he wrote to find screen time on various relevant variety shows, using this method to promote the movie.

Of course, this wasn't an easy task.

Even though several months had passed, those months couldn't quickly erase Bai Youlou's "seduced second sister-in-law" scandal.

Would those variety shows allow him to appear? Wouldn't they be afraid of being criticized?

Long Ziqiang suddenly thought of Bai Youlou's previous question, "Do you care about your reputation?"

He trembled all over, looking at Bai Youlou with a complex gaze.

This was going to be a "clown" act.

How could an idol who was already disgraced re-enter the public's view?

Even Bai Youlou's former company considered the difficulty of rehabilitating him too high and gave up.

How could those variety shows be willing to promote such a "tainted artist"?

There was only one way: to be a clown.

Not to mention, the double-edged sword theory was back.

Although Bai Youlou was still "shitty dog shit," and most people wouldn't want to associate with him.

But even a piece of toilet paper had its use.

A bad reputation was still a reputation!

For some amateur talent shows, Bai Youlou's "bad reputation" could be put to good use.

Give him a sacrificial script and some devilish editing, and it would be done.

They could completely avoid rehabilitating him and instead use him to highlight others, making the audience hate him even more.

Looking at it this way, Bai Youlou's move actually felt quite tragic.

At least, Long Ziqiang felt it was very tragic.

But... looking at the indifferent smile on Bai Youlou's face and Old Zhou's calm demeanor beside him, he wondered if he was overthinking things?

Thanks to Mechanical Curse丶 for the 1500 reward. Wishing the boss eternal life.