Information in the Circle Was Money

Zhang Xuezhou had absolutely no idea how the profits from the "Swordsman" film and television adaptation would be distributed.

If Zuo Teng hadn't been so good at currying favor, he wouldn't have known the tricks of the trade.

"It's okay, my mom and sister are both in it, so one more won't make a difference," Zhang Xuezhou finally said, forcing a smile.

"That's true," Zuo Teng nodded. "There are only so many people who can make it to the top of the competition, and your family accounts for three of them. Your share of the profits over the years will definitely be substantial!"

"Absolutely," Zhang Xuezhou nodded.

"What have you been busy with all day?" Zuo Teng asked, puzzled. "You're not making tens of millions of dollars, are you working on something big?"

"I want to earn it, but I have to be capable of doing it!" Zhang Xuezhou said, shrugging.

Their film and television series has high production standards.

Minor roles are one thing; a blink in a movie or TV show won't attract much attention, so the required acting skills aren't that high.

Important roles involve a significant amount of screen time and require a high level of acting skill; this is not a role that Zhang Xuezhou can simply play at will.

Even Zuo Teng had to stay on set and diligently perform his role according to the director's instructions.

Zhang Xuezhou felt that his work-rest schedule couldn't support such urgent filming, and his abilities weren't sufficient to meet the demands of film and television.

"I'll choose Hou Renying!"

Zhang Xuezhou ultimately waved his hand, leaving Zuo Teng speechless.

When faced with this kind of rigid, administrative promotion of film and television, anyone who knows the inside information has to obediently agree to act in it. They also keep the sequencing conference and gene-related topics confidential, and instead try to deflect related topics to film and television casting calls.

After all, no matter how much income Zuo Teng's two martial arts schools generate, it's not as substantial as this kind of profit sharing, and it might even be far less.

For Zuo Teng and others, making films and television dramas is a business that only makes money and never loses money.

If such a good thing were to happen again, Zuo Teng felt he would be the first to try it.

Zhang Xuezhou, who always liked to profit from others' success, surprisingly didn't land a lead role. Zuo Teng pondered for a while and finally concluded that there was a problem with Zhang Xuezhou's information.

Zhang Xuezhou relied too much on the Ren Household, but with Ren Yisheng dead, Ren Wuyang and Ren Anran missed many meetings, let alone obtaining accurate information.

"In this industry, information is money. What a waste!"

Zuo Teng sighed softly.

The widespread adoption of a product in the market inevitably brings profits, and where those profits go is a concern for many Lineage.

Zhang Xuezhou lacked both access to information and sufficient insight.

When the die is cast, one has to accept it, but Zhang Xuezhou's open-mindedness earned Zuo Teng a lot of goodwill.

His estimated profit distribution was a rather conservative estimate; even Zuo Teng couldn't accept such a huge sum of money, often tens of millions. But Zuo Teng didn't expect Zhang Xuezhou to be so open-minded.

Watching Zhang Xuezhou change clothes and put on makeup, Zuo Teng felt that people like Zhang Xuezhou were able to take things in stride and had a truly good character.

"The only problem is that this guy isn't my best friend!"

He was extremely disgruntled, feeling that a suitable person for him was not interested in him, which made Zuo Teng very unhappy.

"He needs to suffer a terrible death when he finishes filming!"

He harbored resentment for several minutes, feeling that this was the only way to vent his frustration.

"Bears and wild boars, the four beasts of Qingcheng—just hearing their names makes me angry!"

"1234567!"

"7654321!"

The sounds of arguing drifted from a distant, ancient-style tavern, where Zhang Xuezhou and another actor were announcing numbers.

Before the two groups even started fighting, Wen Yishan was already hurling insults at them.

"He can read numbers, so why can't I?" the actor playing Hung Jen-hsiung said indignantly, "Director Man..."

"You're a professional actor; you need to improvise and portray your character as convincingly as possible. What am I supposed to direct if you just read out numbers!"

But he reads numbers!

"He's the investor, you can't compete with him like that. Either you pay me, and I'll put on a show for you!"

The young actor who played Hong Renxiong was clearly quite good, so Wen Yishan didn't directly scold him, but instead gave him a lecture.

"You slammed your hand on the table, stood up, glared angrily, and then exclaimed indignantly, 'This is outrageous! Junior Brother Hong, let's teach him a lesson!'"

After reassuring the actors, Wen Yishan also tried his best to guide Zhang Xuezhou was extremely lax in his portrayal of Hou Renying.

"You mean I have to be more aggressive?" Zhang Xuezhou asked doubtfully.

"Yes, the kind of fierce anger," Wen Yishan nodded. "You need to work on that arrogant attitude, otherwise all of us leading actors will look like villains, and you guys will look like heroes!"

"Okay, I'll definitely be fierce!"

Zhang Xuezhou nodded.

He pondered the fierce people he had encountered, but none of them left a particularly strong impression on him.

However, if we remove the connections between them, demons like the Golden Toad Dharma King and the Tiger Strength Demon King can be described as ferocious and malevolent, while those involving humans include Jin Chang and the Venerable Yufeng, as well as the ferocious appearances of Wang Jiangtao and Song Xianzong when they go mad.

Zhang Xuezhou pondered for a while before carefully adjusting his posture.

In the restaurant, he sat leisurely drinking his wine, then flicked his fingers, causing the copper wine pot to rise.

By the time the bronze wine pot fell, the actor playing Hong Renxiong already had half a cup of wine in his glass on the table.

"That was a brilliant move! It looks like the style of someone trained in a prestigious martial arts school!" Wen Yishan exclaimed. "Hong Renxiong, respond quickly!"

"Senior brother, your skill is truly remarkable. You are indeed worthy of being the senior brother of our Qingcheng Sect," the actor playing Hong Renxiong praised.

Having eliminated the perfunctory approach, he was now able to act opposite Zhang Xuezhou, instead of lingering in the disorder of reciting numbers to each other.

"So it's just a bear and a wild boar. The Four Beasts of Qingcheng have arrived. What bad luck!"

The actors playing Zhang Xuezhou and Hong Renxiong were drinking and entertaining themselves on the side. After exchanging only a few words, the lead actor, Linghu Chong, covered his nose and fanned himself with his hand to show his disgust.

This made Zhang Xuezhou concentrate, and then he slammed his hand on the table and stood up.

"Smack!"

With a single slap, the prop table shattered into several pieces.

After smashing the wine pot, Zhang Xuezhou raised his eyebrows, revealing the fierce look he had acquired from several people, and arrogantly berated the actor playing Linghu Chong.

"Outrageous! Who are you from, Junior Brother Hong...?"

"I... I... you..."

Before he could finish his rant, the actor playing Linghu Chong sat up and began to tremble all over.

"You may not be famous yet, but you should at least show the spirit of a young hero like Linghu Chong. What's with all this trembling?"

Zhang Xuezhou's previous performances seemed like those of a good person, but when Zhang Xuezhou became convincingly evil, the actor playing Linghu Chong was not as good as he seemed, and even started trembling when he spoke.

"He... he's too fierce, I... I'm scared just looking into his eyes!"

It took more than ten seconds for the actor playing Linghu Chong to recover.

"Very fierce? That fierce? Are you kidding me? Have you been filming for half a month without eating enough and are you throwing a tantrum?"

"Really... really, Director! If you don't believe me, check the footage from my perspective!"

"You coward, you didn't even eat... but you're really fierce!"

If you don't switch to the protagonist's perspective, Wen Yishan doesn't think there's anything wrong with it. But after switching perspectives, he couldn't help but feel uneasy seeing Zhang Xuezhou's angry and furious expression.

Zhang Xuezhou may have a handsome face, but when he loses his temper, it gives Wen Yishan the feeling of meeting his superior, and even more than that.

"Who is this? People of low status wouldn't show such an attitude!"

Wen Yishan gasped.

He felt that Zhang Xuezhou shouldn't play a role like Hou Renying. If Zhang Xuezhou was willing, he thought he could play the two-faced and ruthless Zuo Zhang Xuezhou, or Fei Bin, Ding Mian, or even Ren Woxing through special effects makeup.

An actor's appearance can be improved with makeup, but the innate charisma that comes with age is difficult to imitate.

In Zhang Xuezhou, Wen Yishan felt as if he were seeing a real villain, which made his heart leap into his throat.

Regarding the three-dimensional image conveyed by the eyes in film and television dramas, Zhang Zifeng's portrayal of Si Nuo in Detective Chinatown is one such example. I remember feeling a bit creeped out when I watched it. I've almost forgotten what the main actors did, but Zhang Zifeng's eyes remain vivid in my memory.