Neat and exact, every last bit accounted for.
This was all the cash Bai Youlou had left.
Old Zhou's face instantly went gray. Damn it, they couldn't even afford plane tickets to Cannes with this little money.
Long Ziqiang felt terrible listening to this. He seemed to see a passionate and brilliantly talented young man rendered helpless before money.
Just like himself ten years ago.
Overcome with emotion—
"I have two hundred and fifty thousand!"
Bai Youlou said, "Good. Now we have the money to go to Cannes!"
Still caught up in the moment, Long Ziqiang pressed on, "What about our publicity budget?"
As he spoke, he looked toward Old Zhou.
The meaning was obvious: You'd better cough up some money too!
Old Zhou wore an helpless expression. Just what had Bai Youlou's brainwashing done to this guy? Had he forgotten about the time he himself had only been paid ten thousand for a film?
He helplessly explained, "Do you think I haven't had to spend money while running around outside these past few days? Not only did I sink the fifty thousand in wages Lao Bai paid me in advance, I still need my savings to cover rent and the deposit. We're not some shell company."
That was the truth. Although Old Zhou mocked Long Ziqiang for being deceived, he had spent most of his own savings too.
At that moment, Zhang Xiaorong looked at the three men who were practically at the end of their rope. After half a second of silence, seemingly infected by the atmosphere of everyone pitching in, she said, "I still have some."
For crying out loud!
If Old Zhou and Long Ziqiang had still been half-convinced before, now they truly believed it!
This bastard had actually won the girl over! She hadn't even been working for long, and what the hell did this movie have to do with her? Yet she was foolishly reaching into her pockets too.
Was this what love was?
"Ahem."
Seeing that the atmosphere had been built up enough, Bai Youlou hurriedly spoke again before Zhang Xiaorong could take a card from her little bag.
"Actually, we don't need that much publicity money. Publicity, as the name suggests, is just about letting more people know about our movie. I have other methods."
As he said this, Zhang Xiaorong looked at him for several seconds. Seemingly worried that Bai Youlou was bluffing to save face, she asked again, "Really?"
"Really."
However, Bai Youlou still couldn't resist his curiosity and asked Zhang Xiaorong, "How much do you have?"
"Not much, just a few tens of thousands." Zhang Xiaorong sounded slightly embarrassed. After all, she had less savings than Long Ziqiang.
Phew—
For some reason, Bai Youlou actually breathed a sigh of relief.
He had truly been worried that, while showing off, he might accidentally miss out on a rich woman.
If he'd seized the opportunity with An Luning before, he might have been able to have her spinning around his finger at their first meeting.
But there had only been that one chance. Afterward, even when he encountered her at school, she always had an agent or assistant beside her.
They guarded her against him like he was a thief.
As for Zhang Xiaorong, she indeed didn't appear to own a single designer handbag, and the clothes she wore didn't look expensive either.
Apart from her outstanding appearance and bearing, she looked rather plain overall.
But one shouldn't forget that most families capable of raising a girl like her were probably far from ordinary. She was studying the arts, too, so her family certainly wasn't poor!
It could be said that Zhang Xiaorong had the makings of a rich woman.
Fortunately, it seemed she wasn't one—and she hadn't taken up any side jobs to make money either.
That said, if you met a beautiful girl who didn't have an especially well-paying job and whose family wasn't particularly well-off, yet she could casually pull out a huge sum of money or was covered in luxury goods clearly beyond what she could afford with her income—
You had better be careful.
This was an experience Bai Youlou had summed up after frequently visiting Jiming Temple and the City of Jingjue in his previous life.
--
Not having money to promote a film was a predicament many small companies faced.
Every year, the film and television industry produced countless TV series and movie projects, but the percentage that audiences actually got to see was not the majority.
Onlookers always focused on those top-tier film and television projects, but in the vast red ocean of film production, far more projects sank without making a ripple and died than people imagined.
Just getting a movie released already put it ahead of a considerable number of its peers.
Of course, some movies were only technically released. After a few days, if the cinemas saw that you had no box office at all, they would unceremoniously kick you out.
Money laundering was another matter.
So here was the question: without a publicity budget, how could they let more people know that such a movie existed?
They could have the creative team kneel together.
What a pity—they had come too late!
Someone in Blue Star's entertainment industry had already used that trick. After all, kneeling wasn't exactly a technically demanding operation.
A man's knees were worth gold. This was the moment to cash them in.
The first person to kneel and beg for screenings and attention could perhaps be said to possess artistic sentiment. But the ones who came later would probably be accused of imitating Dongshi and seeking attention.
As Bai Youlou analyzed with a regretful look that they could no longer use the "kneeling" trick, Long Ziqiang's expression looked as if he had eaten shit.
Seriously, bro? You even wanted to use that kind of trick?
He found it extremely hard to understand. If Bai Youlou were an obviously money-grubbing businessman, using such a pathetic tactic might be understandable.
But in his eyes, Bai Youlou was a genius!
Whether in movies or music, he was unquestionably a genius.
How could someone like that have not a shred of a genius's pride?
He couldn't help looking toward Zhang Xiaorong with an expression that clearly said, Hurry up and rein in your boyfriend.
But Zhang Xiaorong showed no reaction. Instead, she continued watching Bai Youlou, as though waiting for him to continue.
And he did.
"Fortunately, I thought of an even better method long ago. A Qiang, do you care about your dignity?"
"I care about my dignity!" Long Ziqiang immediately replied.
His response was so quick it was almost pathological, and the muscles on his face even twitched twice.
Bai Youlou looked regretful. "Then forget it. I'll go sing by myself. I won't force you."
"Sing?"
Noticing the key word, Long Ziqiang immediately sensed that something was off. "Where are you going to sing?"
Bai Youlou looked at Old Zhou, who immediately supplied the answer.
"I checked. There are quite a few variety shows currently being recorded that fit your requirements. Some are very popular, while others aren't. After calculating the timing, locations, distances, commuting, and other factors, you could appear on as many as nine shows if we maximized efficiency."
"Appear on variety shows?" Long Ziqiang was somewhat stunned, but he still couldn't help asking, "Director, are people still inviting you onto shows?"
"No one would invite me as an idol, of course. But I can go myself. Some shows encourage ordinary people to sign up, don't they?"
He understood completely!
Long Ziqiang wasn't an idiot. How could he not know what Bai Youlou's publicity plan was?
He would rely on the songs Bai Youlou had written, appear on various related variety shows to get screen time, and use that to promote the movie.
Of course, it wouldn't be easy.
Even though several months had passed, that amount of time was nowhere near enough to wash away the image of Bai Youlou "seducing his sister-in-law."
Would those variety shows really let him on? Weren't they afraid of being cursed at?
At that moment, Long Ziqiang suddenly remembered Bai Youlou's earlier question: "Do you care about your dignity?"
His whole body shook, and he looked at Bai Youlou with a complicated expression.
He was going to become a "clown."
How could an idol whose reputation had been utterly ruined reenter the audience's field of vision?
Even Bai Youlou's former company had considered the difficulty of clearing his name too great and simply given up.
How could those variety shows possibly be willing to promote a "disgraced celebrity" like him?
There was only one method: become a clown.
And then the double-edged sword theory came into play again.
Although Bai Youlou was still "rotten dog shit" that ordinary people didn't want to touch, even a sheet of toilet paper had its uses.
Notoriety was still fame!
For certain amateur talent shows, Bai Youlou's "notoriety" could be put to good use.
Give him a script in which he was sacrificed, then hit him with some devilish editing. That would do it.
They didn't need to clear his name at all. They could use him to set off the others and make the melon-eating masses hate him even more.
Seen that way, Bai Youlou's move actually felt rather tragic.
At least, Long Ziqiang thought it was tragic.
But when he looked at the unconcerned smile on Bai Youlou's face and Old Zhou's calm composure beside him, he began to wonder if he had been overthinking it.
Thanks to Mechanical Curse for the 1,500 reward. May you never die, boss.
Before you continue