CH 18

CHAPTER 18—Blood Wanted

The large room was equipped with a floor-to-ceiling electronic screen, and what was displayed on it was the name of the weekly drama project that Tengfei had been holding down in their hands but had failed to start——<Blood Wanted>.

The people in the conference room also saw Xie Yu entering the door, and while they had smiles on their lips, their eyes revealed their true emotions—from teasing looks, to jealousy, or just watching a good show, it was all different.

Xie Yu took in all the kinds of expressions in an instant, and smiled calmly.

He then moved his eyes away, and checked his memories of everyone, which belonged to the original body, one by one.

Li Wuqiang, the vice president of Tengfei, sat at the top.

He had been in charge of the company’s self-produced drama system in recent years, and he was the least important of all the vice presidents.

Next to him was Wang Xiaoping, a new director who had only taken off in the past few years.

His style was unique, but his performance has always been unstable, and he’s also been ridiculed by the media.

There were people from other departments sitting on the seats near the door, and the original body had dealt with some of them on set.

So, when they saw Xie Yu, they also nodded in greeting.

Sitting by the window were three celebrities, one man and two women, all of whom were popular.

Next to them sat their respective brokers.

Sitting next to director Wang Xiaoping was an actor named He Gan.

He was the new-generation artist promoted by Tengfei, and like the original body, he was part of the human race.

The actress Chen Lingling sitting in the middle was nearly forty years old.

The last young actress was Wang Tian, who participated in a variety show for amateur stars when she was studying, and following the show she became popular in over half of the interstellar stars.

After becoming popular, she was signed by Tengfei at a high price, and was equipped with a manager with top professional ability in the artist department.

Seeing Xie Yu, everyone began to talk enthusiastically.

He Gan, who sat closest to the head of the meeting table, stood up, intending to give up his seat to Xie Yu.

“Brother Ayu, do you want to sit here?” Wang Tian asked, living up to her name, with a pretty face and a bright smile.

Xie Yu had no personal relationship with Wang Tian, so his eyelids twitched when she called him, and he only nodded implicitly in response.

Seeing He Gan’s action, he immediately waved his hand to decline, then naturally and in low-key way, sat on the seventh seat by the window.

“Has everyone already started?” Xie Yu placed his hands on the table, and with a little apologetic smile on his face, gestured to the vacant seat next to him, “We may have to wait a while for Zhou Cheng to come over.”

Li Wuqiang, who was sitting at the head of the table, was already waiting long enough until Xie Yu came, so he just pursed his lips and said, “Xie Yu, you just came back?”

Xie Yu nodded. The original body didn’t have too many interactions with the vice president in his memory, and he didn’t know how to greet him at the moment, so he did not make a sound.

“Okay, there’s nothing that I could do. I wanted you to rest for a while, but we’re already short on time, so I could only call you back to the company.” The vice president said kindly, “I called everyone here today, just to talk about the <Blood Wanted> project. When we asked everyone about their schedule and opinions earlier, several of them said they could try it, now let’s confirm our intention.”

Xie Yu was not a young man who had just entered the industry.

He’s been in the circle for many years. It was natural to understand such words without any speck of sincerity.

He wasn’t going to take it seriously, but when he raised his eyes, he saw his manager pushing the door in.

Zhou Cheng’s complexion was not good.

After noticing the people in the conference room, he quickly restrained his expression, twitched the corners of his mouth, and smiled absently.

Xie Yu silently cast a questioning look, then turned his head and continued to look over at everyone present.

Zhou Cheng held his breath, and as the current situation was not suitable for whispering with Xie Yu, he could only smack his thigh under the table and take a deep breath to calm down.

But when he looked up again, he was a little unhappy when he saw the harmless face of He Gan in front of him.

Zhou Cheng’s eyes were deep as his gaze shifted from He Gan’s face to his manager’s.

He Gan’s manager happened to be looking at this side too, and even put on the same smile as his own artist.

There was a dark tide on the conference table, and the eyes of several people met, and after a bit, the confrontation ended.

The personnel from other departments on the opposite side were clueless about the situation, so no abnormalities were found.

And the vice president saw everything, but he didn’t want to say much.

He saw it and pretended he didn’t see it, and just continued the topic as usual.

While listening to Li Wuqiang talking about Tengfei’s recent performance, Xie Yu turned the light brain in his hand to silent mode, and changed the light screen to private so that only he could see it.

As soon as it was adjusted, he saw a new message on WeChat.

[Zhou Cheng: There is definite news from DMEGC Aircraft. Zhao Heng used his relationship to sign He Gan as the exclusive endorser of DMEGC for the next two years. As for the two months left on our side, DMEGC said that as long as the cooperation can be terminated immediately, they are willing to pay for the breach in contract fee.]

[Zhou Cheng: And, regarding the two good scripts I’ve been discussing before, the male lead role has been confirmed. As for the exact salary, I don’t know yet.]

Xie Yu browsed quickly through the messages, and the expression on his face remained unchanged, as if what he saw was not bad news, but the interstellar weather forecast that everyone looks at.

He didn’t look up at He Gan and his manager, and without hesitation, he typed a reply directly.

[Beiming Youyu: It’s expected. If they want to pay for a breach of contract, just let them pay. Don’t pay attention to those other works. As long as the contract is not signed, anyone can take over.] (TL: Beiming Youyu is Xie Yu’s username, which was briefly mentioned in an earlier chapter)

Xie Yu sent a message and simply turned off the light screen and placed down his light brain.

Then, he started focusing and began to listen to the speeches of various people at the meeting.

Only at the times when no one was paying attention to him, did he take a glance at the actor named He Gan in front of him from the corner of his eye.

The young man’s facial features were delicate and fair, and his every move revealed a sunny disposition.

His sitting posture was decent but not standard, he had a leisureliness that young people should have, and at the same time a bit of a restrained, student look.

Sure enough, he was very suitable for the school grass personality that Tengfei created for him. (TL: ‘school grass’ basically refers to—that really popular person everyone knows in school, top of the class, handsome, talented, etc.)

Xie Yu rested his fist against his lips, hiding his smile.

He remembered that when the original body debuted, Tengfei designed the image of a handsome senior for him. (TL: ‘senior’ here is alluding to an upperclassman or like an older brother figure)

This image gained him a lot of fans at the beginning, but later it became a joke in the media and among netizens, and this banter reached its peak at the Golden Toilet Awards.

Xie Yu breathed a sigh of relief, not minding that He Gan snatched a role from him.

He was open minded about such things, but also felt that after the Golden Toilet Awards, those roles that were suitable for him in the past were no longer suitable for him now.

Naturally, he didn’t care much anymore.

“Ayu, you haven’t said a word. Let’s talk about your opinion now. This weekly drama can be regarded as a flagship project for the end of the year. What do you think?” Xie Yu didn’t know when it became Li Wuqiang’s turn, but he was simply summarizing the progress of the work at hand.

Then, the conversation changed and Xie Yu was pointed out.

Xie Yu had been watching the ever-changing text and pictures on the screen in the meeting room.

And when he was called on, his eyes were scanning the blank spaces in the credit list.

After a pause, he said, “I think this script is very good.”

He truly thought that the script was good—the background involving the legalization of human cloning, and the elements of criminal investigation made him feel that the storyline was novel and interesting.

“Ayu, you think it’s good too, right? I think so too. It’s a good opportunity. The key roles will be kept by us, and it depends on whether everyone’s schedule is suitable or not.”

Li Wuquiang placed his hands together, and then looked sideways at He Gan and the others and said, “As I said before, this project is an opportunity for you all, so I called you all here today. Now that you’re all aware of the progress of the project, how are all your situations?”

Li Wuqiang spoke to the crowd, but he especially looked at He Gan who was sitting next to him.

He Gan didn’t speak in a hurry, and only looked at his manager first.

“Mr. Li, I also think the script is good, but the subject matter is also sensitive. The project has not undergone any changes since it was established, so a holographic license wouldn’t have been obtained, right?”

Chen Lingling, a veteran with a sophisticated eye, directly expressed the concerns of the people present, “Besides, the director team only has Xiao Wang. Is the director of the following episodes still undecided? Even the main camera director position is vacant, isn’t it a bit…”

Xie Yu glanced at the cast list again, and went through the filming details for this kind of series in the original body’s memory.

Interstellar society has very strict control over film and television.

Relevant departments implement a grading system based on subject matter and the scale of different works, and they also distinguish between holographic and ordinary screening channels.

The themes of only a small number of works involve elements such as detectives and exposure, and such things make them difficult to access holographic channels.

The distribution of holographic channels are three times larger than that of ordinary channels, so no matter what kind of work, they would strive to obtain a holographic license.

<Blood Wanted> hadn’t changed the content of its plot since the project’s establishment.

And due to the limited subject matter, it couldn’t obtain a holographic license. So, it can only be played on ordinary channels.

Under the premise that the channel judges it as “inferior to others”, the show would be positioned as a weekly show, making it even more difficult for the project to progress.

Weekly dramas in the Interstellar era do not follow the concept of “a new episode every week” like in the Earth era.

They’re instead more inclined towards the shooting method of overseas series like how they were done in the Earth Age—its a “shooting and releasing” method that uses the market response to determine whether the project can continue, which is more suitable for small and medium-sized productions and market-oriented shooting projects.

Tengfei had been focusing on the fields of music production and fashion, and only in recent decades, had they begun to cultivate entertainers.

And it was only five years ago that they tried self-produced dramas.

There were still obvious shortcomings in the talent reserve of the production team as well.

“This is already a choice made as a compromise after several rounds of discussions at the group level.” Li Wuqiang looked embarrassed as he continued to speak, “We definitely want to fight for a holographic license, but when we signed the contract with the original work, we were sure that we couldn’t change the main plot, so there was nothing we could do regarding this. The group has kept <Blood Wanted> in their hands for several years, and the remaining copyright period is running out. If it has to be renewed, the budget may not be able to pass for it. The senior management has always hoped to start the project, and the preparation team is also working hard…”

When Li Wuqiang gave his explanation, he laid out the current predicament the project was facing in front of the artists and managers present.

Everyone immediately understood, <Blood Wanted> was a defective product bought by Tengfei Entertainment at a high price that was difficult to sell, a bit tasteless, but yet a pity to discard.

“Anyway, it’s going to start up soon. What are your intentions?” Li Wuqiang spoke, waiting for the artists to reply.

Chen Lingling was the first to speak out. She shook her head, glanced at the big screen, and finally sighed, “President Li, it’s not that I don’t support you. I just really can’t help.”

Li Wuqiang pursed his lips, did not speak, and looked at He Gan again.

He Gan didn’t open his mouth, as his agent had already gone ahead with his rhetoric first.

“Mr. Li, we should support the company’s own projects. But it’s really a coincidence. We already confirmed our schedule with the crew of <Red League> last week, and signed a contract.” Manager Zhao Heng had an extremely regretful expression, “If your side was a little earlier, we would definitely not say anything to refute.”

“Okay, okay.” Li Wuqiang knew that He Gan was completely out of action when he heard the name of the crew that Zhao Heng revealed, “…Didn’t they say that the actors in <Red League> should be older?”

After He Gan heard this, he looked towards Xie Yu subconsciously, and found that the man had a smile on his face, and he couldn’t see the slightest clue or sign of disturbance.

“Ah, there may have been some unplanned situation.” The manager, Zhao Heng, was taken aback, and changed the subject with a dry smile.

Xie Yu narrowed his eyes slightly.

As for what Zhao Heng called an “unplanned” situation, Xie Yu only watched from the sidelines, acting as if he and Zhou Cheng had never communicated with the crew.

“What about you two?” Li Wuqiang looked at Xie Yu and Wang Tian who were sitting the farthest away.

Wang Tian was a newcomer. No matter how many program she may have had participated in before, she had never been in touch with a film work.

At this time, when the vice president asked her, she just smiled.

And just as she was about to make a statement, her manager quickly suppressed her actions.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Li, Wang Tian still has a schedule in the next few months, and it’s all been agreed upon.” Her manager also found an excuse.

The meeting room was quiet for a while, and Li Wuqiang’s complexion was not good.

He then looked directly at Xie Yu, who had been silent all this time.

“Xie Yu, what about you?” The artists who had evaded one by one as if they agreed to do so left Li Wuqiang helpless, and his tone was a little offended, “You won’t have work arrangements in the next few months, right?”

Xie Yu clearly heard Zhou Cheng take a deep breath, and he hurriedly held down his manager who was about to stand up.

He looked back at Li Wuqiang, “Mr. Li, I have no other work for the remaining two months of this year. I am willing to participate in the <Blood Wanted> project, but I must have a complete team and be able to start the project on time.”

Li Wuqiang clasped his hands together and pressed his lips together.

Hearing this, he couldn’t help but nodded to Xie Yu, “Okay, okay.”

The other artists and managers all looked at Xie Yu at that moment, with expressions of surprise mixed with embarrassment.

Wang Tian’s agent looked at the situation and knew that it would be pointless for them to stay, so he prepared to leave with an excuse, “Mr. Li, you see, we’re really embarrassed this time. Our Wang Tian still has a poster to shoot later, how about…”

Just as the three artists and their mangers stood up one after another, there was a knock on the door of the conference room.

A female employee saw Li Wuqiang inside, and quickly approached with a light brain.

Li Wuqiang was in a bad mood already, and when he was interrupted, his face darkened obviously, “What’s the matter?”

“President Li, take a look here.” The female employee handed the light screen over and placed it in front of Li Wuqiang, “An email came in, claiming to be from director Shen Qi. He saw the information on our official website and wanted to apply as the director of <Blood Wanted>!”

“Shen who?” Li Wuqiang didn’t understand for a while, thinking that the name was an auditory hallucination.

“Shen Qi from the Golden Laurels, he also left his light brain number. I dialed it, it should be his voice.” The female employee had a suspicious expression on her face as she spoke.

The six people who had just left their seats also heard what the female employee said, and stood still in the same place, each with an extremely surprised expression.

Xie Yu was taken aback as well, and guessed that if the female employee was really talking about Shen Qi, then this low-grade project <Blood Wanted> would definitely survive, and it would probably have unexpected results.