Choosing Bao Zheng

Li Xun left Dai Ying's office and headed straight for the office of her assistant, Qiu Ting. He got the phone numbers for Producer Tang Jiahe and Director Kong Teng from her, then returned to his workstation.

Zhou Yao was sitting at his workstation, quietly talking with her mentor, Wang Hai. When she saw Li Xun return, she quickly stood up and gave him his seat.

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

Li Xun sat down and replied, "She wasn't very satisfied. She said it needed revisions."

Zhou Yao had been about to return to her own desk, but when she saw her mentor and her "junior" discussing the new script, she decided not to rush off. Instead, she watched Li Xun intently.

Wang Hai let out a quiet sigh of relief.

He had read Li Xun's script, and deep down, he had a vague feeling that it didn't even need revisions. That was despite knowing better than anyone that President Dai had never approved a script on the first pass, and despite having long experienced her exacting standards.

He was beginning to believe the praise President Dai had given Li Xun in front of all the screenwriters yesterday.

The man really was a peerless talent, and particularly good at suspense.

What was it like working with a genius?

Wang Hai was starting to find out.

It was like a dark cloud hanging over a city, threatening to crush it.

And now, even this genius's script had been sent back for revisions by the impartial, iron-faced President Dai. For some reason, Wang Hai felt the pressure in his heart ease a little.

So geniuses made mistakes too. They were simply more gifted. All he had to do was interact and communicate with Li Xun normally at work—there was no need to keep looking up to him.

When Zhou Yao heard that the new junior's script had been sent back for revisions, she felt a strong sense of sympathy. When she had first joined the company last year, she'd often had to revise a script dozens of times before it was barely approved. The exhaustion and helplessness of that experience were still etched in her memory.

Fortunately, her mentor, Wang Hai, had been a tremendous help back then, pulling her out of despair again and again.

She felt it was only right to help this junior, who was facing the same predicament she had last year.

Zhou Yao said earnestly, "You absolutely can't rush when revising a script. Don't just hear what President Dai dislikes and hurriedly delete the whole section. The first step is to understand her intentions and what effect she wants the revisions to achieve. How about you send me the script? I'll help you figure it out."

Li Xun gave Zhou Yao a grateful look, then smiled. "I'll send it to you in a bit. But I've already explained everything to President Dai in her office. The script doesn't need revisions."

Zhou Yao and Wang Hai both froze.

"And then she agreed?" Wang Hai couldn't help asking.

Li Xun nodded.

"What happened next? She didn't say anything else?"

He had been with the company for years, and he'd never heard of a script that President Dai had asked to be revised ultimately getting approved without any changes.

Li Xun smiled. "Then she said I didn't need to come in tomorrow."

"Huh!"

"What?"

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

Wang Hai stared at Li Xun in surprise.

Zhou Yao asked quietly, "Wait, did President Dai really... fire you over something like this?"

Li Xun smiled. "Not exactly. But I told you, the way President Dai talks is bound to cause misunderstandings. I thought I was about to lose my job too when I was in her office just now. Fortunately, she only wanted me to meet a few people."

Wang Hai and Zhou Yao both relaxed. If Li Xun had been fired just for a minor disagreement with President Dai over revising the script, then they, as screenwriters themselves, couldn't help feeling a sense of shared misfortune.

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

"Producer Tang Jiahe and Director Kong Teng."

"Tang Jiahe and Kong Teng? Those two are titans at Penguin Video! The shows they've worked on together have broken all kinds of domestic TV records—wait, Tang Jiahe and Kong Teng?"

Li Xun nodded.

Wang Hai and Zhou Yao exchanged a look.

Zhou Yao especially had only realized it after seeing her mentor's expression change: the script everyone in the office had spent ages speculating was an A-Class Production was actually written by the new screenwriter right in front of her, who had only been at the company for two days?!

He'd been there for only two days, and he'd most likely already landed a script for a major A-Class Production?!

The next morning, Li Xun went to a place outside his residential complex and had a bowl of tofu pudding and two youtiao. Then he called Producer Tang Jiahe.

When the call connected, Tang Jiahe said with a laugh, "Is this screenwriter Li Xun? I was just about to call you. Ten this morning at Sun Moon Stars Restaurant. You, me, Director Kong Teng, and actor Huang Zhou. We'll talk over lunch."

After hanging up, Li Xun patted his stomach. Talk over lunch? What a waste—he was already full.

He took a taxi to Sun Moon Stars Restaurant, an upscale restaurant designed in the style of the Prosperous Tang era. Its architecture was entirely traditional Chinese, with dougong brackets, sloping rooflines, glazed tiles, and relief carvings everywhere.

Two men stood at the restaurant entrance. Before coming, Li Xun had looked up information on Producer Tang Jiahe and Director Kong Teng online, so he recognized them at once as the people he was meeting that day.

They were clearly waiting for someone. For a moment, Li Xun even thought they might be waiting for him, but he quickly realized that although he'd written a script that seemed pretty good, he was nowhere near important enough for a top producer and a top director to greet him at the door.

Once he'd figured that out, 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 up. "You must be screenwriter Li Xun. I didn't expect you to be so young. The case designs in Young Bao Qingtian are brilliant. You're very talented, Screenwriter Li!"

Li Xun hurriedly replied, "You flatter me. Producer Tang and Director Kong are both top figures in the industry. I'm just a newcomer, and I still have a lot to learn from you."

Tang Jiahe glanced at his watch, then said to Kong Teng, "He should be here soon!"

Kong Teng nodded.

Tang Jiahe turned to Li Xun. "Young Bao Qingtian was submitted for approval, but it wasn't approved as an A-Class Production. It was approved as a B-Class Production, with a budget of only one million yuan per episode. I heard President Ma initially approved it as an A-Class Production, but after learning about your background, he felt it was a bit of a gamble for a newcomer's first work to get an A-Class Production, with two million yuan per episode. So he suggested downgrading Young Bao Qingtian to a B-Class Production. As it happens, someone in your editorial department named Chen Yuning also submitted a script, and President Dai gave it her initial approval. So President Ma's idea was to split the budget for one A-Class Production between two B-Class Productions. This time, iQIYI Video's The Coroner has the massive popularity of its predecessor, The Coroner, while Gua Video is preparing a series based on a hugely popular IP. It'll be difficult for us to beat them on quality, so President Ma wants us to win by producing more."

After saying this, Tang Jiahe watched Li Xun closely. To his surprise, Li Xun merely nodded calmly to show he understood.

The screenwriter's fee for an A-Class Production was twice that for a B-Class Production. What Tang Jiahe had just told him essentially meant his earnings would be cut in half. That was a loss of several million or even tens of millions of yuan, yet Li Xun was completely unruffled.

This young man was no ordinary person!

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

Kong Teng nodded back.

This young man really did have a way of surprising people.

The downgrade from an A-Class Production to a B-Class Production was certainly disappointing, but in Li Xun's eyes, after everything he had experienced in his previous life—projects that were about to launch only to be suddenly canceled altogether—a smaller production budget was practically a dream come true.

A B-Class Production was still a production. Even if the project was downgraded, he was still one of its three lead creators. It was a dream he had pursued his whole life in his previous life!

But in Tang Jiahe and Kong Teng's eyes, he was still the weak link in their three-person core creative team. Their biggest worry was that Huang Zhou might decide not to join the project because he didn't trust the screenwriter.

Whether Huang Zhou joined was crucial to the project.

Tang Jiahe stopped beating around the bush and got straight to the point. "But there's still a chance to turn things around. President Ma's position is that if an actor of Huang Zhou's caliber is willing to join the cast, we'll have a reliable audience base. In that case, the script could still be upgraded to an A-Class Production.

"Huang Zhou is not only one of the most popular actors in the country; his acting is also the best among the younger generation of male actors. He really is the top choice for Bao Zheng, the protagonist of Young Bao Qingtian."

"President Dai talked with Huang Zhou for hours yesterday, but they couldn't reach an agreement. Since Director Kong and I have worked with Huang Zhou before and have a good rapport with him, President Dai wants us to give it another try. We'll have a meal with him and talk things through again, to see what other conditions he might have."

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

Kong Teng turned to Li Xun. "When Huang Zhou gets here, try to keep quiet. We don't want you to give him the impression that you're unreliable. And don't bring up your high school education or your time at Haotuan Delivery. That could make him think the whole project is unreliable."

Li Xun nodded.

So, say less and eat more, then!

That was something he was good at.