Song Shi'an was a little curious, so he pulled out a tissue and wiped his hands. "A national-level IP? What kind?"
Ji Shuyao pushed up his glasses. "Your specialty, fantasy dramas, the big hit of the last few years, ' The God's Demise '."
Song Shi'an dropped the tissue in his hand onto the table. He looked at Ji Shuyao in disbelief. "What did you say? Didn't the author of ' The God's Demise ' say he wouldn't adapt it into a film or television series? He said that adapting it would ruin his hard work."
These days, you've practically never seen a ghost. " The God's Demise " has consistently topped the popularity charts. It's a bit of an ensemble piece, and he even stayed up all night reading it—it's truly amazing!!
He watched the scene of the Gate of Ascension to Immortality collapsing three times, and every time he saw Si Qinglan draw out the Dragon Marrow to protect the Divine Soul, he got goosebumps.
Ji Shuyao said with a smile, "The company acquired this IP last year for 50 million, but it hasn't been launched yet. Just building the set alone cost hundreds of millions. The role was actually decided internally last year, but before the contract could be signed, the person's career collapsed."
"The Chinese entertainment industry is doomed sooner or later," Song Shi'an sighed. "Who am I playing? Don't tell me I'm the male lead."
Ji Shuyao shook his head helplessly. "Even if you wanted to act, it wouldn't be your turn. The male lead was personally chosen by the author of ' God's Demise,' otherwise the rights wouldn't have been sold."
After he finished speaking, his gaze fell on the huge bowl that was bigger than his face. "Eat less. Pay more attention to this drama. I'll have Lin Fan keep an eye on you. We haven't settled the score for the time you two sneaked up on the mountain and ate like crazy."
Song Shi'an immediately pushed the bowl further into the coffee table, blinking feigning ignorance. " Brother Yao, what are you saying? I don't understand. Don't you have things to do? Just send me the script, I'll prepare it properly."
Looking at the guilty-looking man, Ji Shuyao thought that if he weren't showing no signs of gaining weight, he would have wanted to shut him up.
He was eating all the time. He picked up his car keys and said, "Okay, I'm going now. I'll send you the start time for joining the crew later."
The door lock clicked shut, and Song Shi'an immediately picked up his phone to text Lin Fan: " Lin Fan! You betrayed me!"
Lin Fan replied instantly, starting with a shocked emoji. "Brother, what are you saying? How could I betray you! My loyalty to you is as clear as day!"
The two argued for a while, and the farce finally ended when Song Shi'an apologized and promised to treat him to three meals.
A short while later, Ji Shuyao sent over the script file, along with an offline promotional notice.
Song Shi'an scratched his head and typed, "Am I going too?"
The reply came instantly, "You're the lead in the episode, of course you have to go, but let's see how it goes when it airs tomorrow. Remember to interact with us in the comments."
After taking a shower and drying his hair, Song Shi'an comfortably flopped onto the bed, opened the script, and was surprised to find that this was the role he was given.
Si Qinglan, an ancient cloud dragon, is the male protagonist's companion divine beast.
After the great war between gods and demons, the Gate of Ascension to Immortality collapsed, and the only ancient god in the six realms perished. Si Qinglan extracted her own dragon marrow to protect the last wisp of the god's soul.
His divine soul was scattered among the mortals. He transformed into a mortal and traveled throughout the six realms in search of the fragments of the divine soul of the God Venerable. He also founded the first major immortal cultivation sect and became a revered immortal venerable.
The plot took many twists and turns, but he still died in the end...
This is also the biggest source of frustration for readers.
Song Shi'an put down the script. "Alright, alright, another terrible character."
He discovered an ironclad rule in his acting career: none of the characters he played survived to the end.
He picked up his phone and opened Weibo to see how netizens were reacting to the casting of " The God's Demise ".
As expected, the top trending topic was the casting discussion, with the comments section erupting in heated debate.
Aside from the male lead, who was chosen by the author from the start, netizens dragged out all the big names in the Chinese entertainment industry to nominate for the other roles, with dozens of nominees for each character.
The one who garnered the most attention was none other than Si Qinglan.
"I can't deny that the casting for the male lead is acceptable, but who can actually portray our Immortal Venerable?"
"I'm so upset I could cry. There's not a single person in the entire entertainment industry who could act like this."
"Can we please not film this?! I've read the novel dozens of times, this film and television adaptation is a disaster! Boycott it!"
"I'm out of ideas. Who can portray that gentle, refined, and majestic aura of an ancient dragon, while also being good-looking? The previous nominees are good-looking, but they don't have that ethereal quality."
Song Shi'an flipped through several pages of comments, feeling increasingly guilty.
He logged into his alternate account and tentatively replied to a popular post, "How's Song Shi'an?"
After sending the message, he held his breath and waited for about thirty seconds before his phone started vibrating wildly.
"Another fangirl. What's the use of just having good looks? He's only been in two or three dramas so far, and he's always in supporting roles. You can't see any acting skills at all."
"Yes, it's undeniable that she's very good-looking, but please don't mess with our Si Qinglan!"
"Doesn't he have a new drama airing tomorrow? Let's see how his acting goes first."
Song Shi'an sighed so hard it seemed to reach the ceiling, then slumped back onto the bed.
Maybe we should just cancel this drama. He's afraid that once the official announcement comes out, fans of the original work will turn him into memes and hang them on the wall.
She picked up her phone and texted Ji Shuyao: " Brother Yao, do you think I'll get sliced into pieces if I act in this...?"
Ji Shuyao replied with six dots, "... Don't worry, there will be a complete corpse. The salary is five million. Are you really not interested?"
Song Shi'an jumped out of bed. What! Five million! He held his phone up to his eyes and looked at it again. It was indeed five million.
Just kidding! We'll crawl over there, even if it means getting yelled at! So what if we get yelled at? Bring on the storm! Yell! Yell as loudly as you can!
He tossed his phone onto the bed, jumped barefoot onto the floor, grabbed a Cola bottle from the table as a microphone, and belted out a song. " Good Luck Comes, Good Luck Comes to you! Good luck brings joy and love! Good Luck Comes us Good Luck Comes! May good fortune bring prosperity and success to all corners of the world!"
My mood is incredibly cheerful; all the gloom I've felt these past few days has vanished.
The light of five million shone upon him; all the online bullying and malicious comments were nothing compared to that.
He sang the song three times while holding Cola bottle, then played games for two hours before finally falling asleep in the middle of the night.
He woke up with a splitting headache, struggled to grab his phone, and saw that it was past ten o'clock. He sat up, feeling dizzy.
He knew he shouldn't get too excited, or he'd suffer the consequences. He touched his forehead and then his neck. "No way," he thought, "Isn't my body made of iron? How come I have a fever?"
My head felt like it was filled with lead, my throat was dry and sore, and I was starting to have trouble breathing through my nose.
He sat on the bed wrapped in a blanket, lost in thought for a while, then sent Lin Fan a message: " Lin Fan, do you have any fever reducers at home?"
Lin Fan replied instantly, "Brother, do you have a fever? I'm coming right away!"
Song Shi'an put down his phone and lay back down on his pillow.
The two dramas premiered at noon today, and he even wanted to interact with the viewers through the live chat, but he collapsed first.
He stared at the ceiling and muttered to himself in a heavy nasal voice, "I haven't even gotten the five million yet. Can't this body pull me together?"