Bao Zheng's Candidate

Li Xun walked out of Dai Ying's office and went straight to her assistant Qiu Ting's office. From Qiu Ting, he got the phone numbers of Producer Tang Jiahe and Director Kong Teng, then returned to his own workstation.

At this time, Zhou Yao was sitting at his workstation, quietly discussing something with her mentor, Wang Hai. Seeing Li Xun return, Zhou Yao quickly stood up and offered him her seat.

Wang Hai looked at Li Xun and asked, "President Dai called you about the script, right? How did it go? What did President Dai say?"

Li Xun sat back down at his workstation and replied, "President Dai was a bit dissatisfied and said it needs revisions."

Zhou Yao had intended to return to her own workstation, but seeing her mentor and "junior fellow disciple" discussing the new script, she no longer hurried away. Instead, she looked at Li Xun with shining eyes.

Wang Hai secretly let out a sigh of relief.

He had read Li Xun's script and had an inexplicable intuition that it didn't even need revisions. This was despite knowing that President Dai had never approved a script in one go before, and he was well aware of her notoriously harsh demands regarding scripts.

He was starting to believe President Dai's praise for Li Xun in front of all the screenwriters yesterday.

This person was indeed an incredibly talented screenwriter, especially adept at suspense.

What was it like to work with a genius?

Wang Hai was beginning to understand.

It was a pressure like dark clouds pressing down on a city, threatening to destroy it.

And now, even this genius's script had been requested for revisions by the impartial President Dai. For some reason, Wang Hai felt the pressure in his heart lessen considerably.

So, geniuses made mistakes too. So, geniuses were just highly talented. He just needed to interact with him normally at work, no need to constantly look up to him.

Hearing that this new junior fellow disciple's script needed revisions, Zhou Yao felt a strong sense of empathy. When she first joined the company last year, the exhaustion and helplessness from having a script modified dozens of times before barely getting approved were still deeply etched in her memory.

Fortunately, at that time, her mentor Wang Hai had provided her with immense help, pulling her out of a state of complete loss of confidence time and time again.

She felt obligated to help this junior fellow disciple who was facing the same predicament she had last year.

Zhou Yao said sincerely to Li Xun, "Don't rush when revising the script. Don't hastily delete entire sections just because President Dai pointed out something she didn't like. The first step in revising a script is to correctly understand President Dai's intentions and the effect she hopes to achieve through the revisions. Here, send me a copy of the script, and I'll help you analyze it."

Li Xun looked at Zhou Yao gratefully, then smiled, "I'll send you the script later, but I've already explained everything clearly to President Dai in her office. The script doesn't need to be changed."

Zhou Yao and Wang Hai were both stunned.

"And then President Dai agreed?" Wang Hai couldn't help but confirm.

Li Xun nodded.

Wang Hai continued, "And then? President Dai didn't say anything else?"

He had been at the company for many years and had never heard of a script that President Dai had asked for revisions on, but ultimately passed without changes.

Li Xun smiled, "Then President Dai said I don't need to come in tomorrow."

"Hmm!"

"What?"

"You don't need to come in tomorrow?"

Wang Hai looked at Li Xun with some surprise.

Zhou Yao whispered, "What? President Dai is firing you over this?"

Li Xun laughed, "Not exactly. But, I was saying that President Dai's way of speaking is bound to cause misunderstandings. I'll tell you two, I also thought I was going to lose my job when I was in her office just now. But thankfully, President Dai just asked me to meet a few people."

Wang Hai and Zhou Yao both breathed a sigh of relief. If Li Xun had been fired by President Dai simply due to a minor disagreement over script revisions, they, as fellow screenwriters, would have felt a sense of shared misfortune.

Wang Hai casually asked, "You said President Dai asked you to meet a few people tomorrow. Who are they?"

Li Xun replied, "Producer Tang Jiahe and Director Kong Teng."

"Tang Jiahe and Kong Teng? These two are titans at our Penguin Video! The dramas they've collaborated on have repeatedly broken various domestic television records--Wait, Tang Jiahe and Kong Teng?"

Li Xun nodded.

Wang Hai and Zhou Yao exchanged glances.

Especially Zhou Yao, she only realized after seeing her mentor's expression change that the A-Class Production script they had been speculating about in the office for so long was actually the work of this newcomer screenwriter who had only joined two days ago?!

He, having only been here for two days, had likely already secured an A-Class major production script?!

The next morning, Li Xun ate a bowl of tofu pudding and two fried dough sticks outside the residential complex, then called Producer Tang Jiahe.

When the call connected, the other party smiled and said, "Screenwriter Li Xun? I was just about to call you. Ten o'clock this morning, at the Sun Moon Stars Restaurant. You, me, Director Kong Teng, and actor Huang Zhou. We'll chat over a meal."

After hanging up, Li Xun patted his stomach. Chatting over a meal? What a loss, he was already full.

He took a taxi to the Sun Moon Stars Restaurant. It was a high-end restaurant with a Tang Dynasty style. The overall architecture was in Chinese style, with elements like dougong brackets, hip roofs, glazed tiles, and bas-reliefs visible everywhere.

Two men were standing at the entrance of the restaurant. Li Xun had specifically looked up information about Producer Tang Jiahe and Director Kong Teng online before coming, so he recognized the two men at the entrance as the people he was supposed to meet.

The two were clearly waiting for someone. For a moment, Li Xun even thought they were waiting for him, but he quickly realized that although he had written a script that seemed quite good, he was far from being at a level where a top producer and a top director would greet him at the door.

Understanding this, Li Xun walked over.

"Producer Tang, Director Kong, are you waiting for Huang Zhou?"

Tang Jiahe and Kong Teng looked at Li Xun. Tang Jiahe spoke, "You must be screenwriter Li Xun, right? I didn't expect you to be so young. The case design in Young Bao Qingtian is absolutely brilliant. Screenwriter Li is truly talented!"

Li Xun quickly replied, "You flatter me, Producer Tang and Director Kong are top figures in the industry. As a junior newcomer, I still have much to learn from both of you."

Tang Jiahe glanced at his watch and said to Kong Teng, "They'll be here soon!"

Kong Teng nodded.

Tang Jiahe turned to Li Xun and said, "The Young Bao Qingtian project was submitted, but it wasn't approved as an A-Class Production. It's a B-Class Production, with only 1 million yuan per episode for production costs. I heard President Ma initially approved it as an A-Class Production, but after hearing about your resume, he felt it was a bit reckless for a newcomer screenwriter's first project to be an A-Class Production with a cost of 2 million yuan per episode. So, he suggested downgrading Young Bao Qingtian to B-Class. Coincidentally, someone from your editorial department named Chen Yuning also submitted a script, which President Dai preliminarily approved. Therefore, President Ma's intention is to use the budget for one A-Class Production to fund two B-Class Productions. IQIYI Video's Mortuary has the immense popularity of its predecessor The Coroner, and Gua Video is preparing a drama based on a highly popular IP. It will be difficult for us to surpass them in quality this time, so President Ma's idea is to win by quantity."

After speaking, Tang Jiahe carefully observed Li Xun's reaction. To his surprise, Li Xun merely nodded calmly, indicating he understood.

One should know that the screenwriter's commission for an A-Class Production is double that of a B-Class Production. The information he had just revealed basically meant Li Xun's income would be halved. This was a matter of millions, even tens of millions, in profit, yet Li Xun remained so unfazed.

This young man is not simple!

Tang Jiahe nodded towards Kong Teng, the meaning in his eyes unmistakable.

Kong Teng followed suit with a nod.

This young man was indeed quite surprising.

While the downgrade from an A-Class Production to a B-Class Production was disappointing, for Li Xun, who had experienced countless projects on the verge of launching only to be completely canceled in his previous life, this reduction in production budget was practically a dream come true!

A downgraded production was still a production. Being downgraded to B-Class still made him one of the three main creative leads for this project. This was a dream he had pursued his entire life in his past existence!

However, in the eyes of Tang Jiahe and Kong Teng, he remained the weak link in their core creative team of three. They worried that Huang Zhou might abandon the project if he felt the screenwriter was unreliable.

Whether Huang Zhou joined or not was crucial to this project.

Tang Jiahe stopped playing coy and said directly, "However, things are not entirely without hope. President Ma's intention is that if an actor of Huang Zhou's caliber is willing to join the crew, then basic viewership would be guaranteed. In that case, the script can still be upgraded to A-Class.

Huang Zhou is not only top-tier in popularity in the country, but his acting skills are also the best among the young male actors. He is indeed the first choice for the role of Bao Zheng in this Young Bao Qingtian."

"President Dai spoke with Huang Zhou for several hours yesterday, but they couldn't reach an agreement in the end. President Dai suggested that since Director Kong Teng and I have worked with Huang Zhou before and had a good rapport, she wanted us to try again. To have dinner with Huang Zhou and discuss things further, to see what other conditions Huang Zhou might have."

"Oh, and Huang Zhou specifically asked to meet you, the screenwriter."

Kong Teng turned to Li Xun and said, "When Huang Zhou arrives, try to speak less. Avoid giving him any impression of unreliability. Definitely don't mention your high school education or your time at Haotuan Delivery; these things will make our entire project seem unreliable."

Li Xun nodded.

In short, talk less and eat more!

That was something he was good at.