The signing session lasted several hours. Wen Ying lost count of how many books she had signed. By the time she finally signed for the last reader in the queue, her arm no longer felt like her own.
“You must have been waiting a long time. Was it very boring?”
Wen Ying managed a weary smile. Xie Qian shook his head. “I was not idle while you were signing. I took the opportunity to deal with quite a bit of work.”
Xie Qian had not only handled work. He had also asked Auntie Liu to prepare some food from home and send it over, ready for Wen Ying to have something to eat as soon as the signing ended.
Auntie Liu’s cooking was, as always, perfectly suited to Wen Ying’s taste. The food soothed her exhaustion.
As Wen Ying ate, she resembled a contented little cat. Xie Qian temporarily set aside the matter of Luo Hao.
Whether Luo Hao could become famous now depended less on the man himself and more on whether Ran Keqing’s film as producer would succeed.
In the end, it all came down to the competition between Divine Capital: Youth and the opposing film.
At the first signing for Exploring Jing, more than six thousand copies were sold on site. The figures were extremely encouraging and made the near-dislocation of Wen Ying’s arm worthwhile. Yet the media paid little attention to her signing success. The next day, the news was dominated by headlines about Wen Ying declaring she would not write film scripts for less than five million.
Wen Ying merely laughed it off. It did not affect her mood in the slightest.
What truly upset her was the news of Luo Hao signing with Huanyu.
Xie Qian had not yet mentioned it, but Ran Keqing placed particular importance on the newcomer Luo Hao. Huanyu held a grand signing ceremony for him and invited numerous media outlets.
Rumour had it that the venue was piled high with champagne and featured a multi-tiered cake. Such fanfare was rare even for established stars or top actors.
With Huanyu making such a splash, everyone knew the newcomer Luo Hao was being heavily promoted.
At the ceremony, Ran Keqing announced that Luo Hao would take a major role in the new film.
“Ran Keqing signed Luo Hao?”
Wen Ying was stunned by the news.
Shui Mingyue’s film and television adaptation rights for more than a dozen novels had all been preserved. Unlike in her previous life, they had not fallen into Luo Hao’s hands. Neither Shui Mingyue nor Pei Yiyi had come to harm. Pei Yiyi had signed with Jiaxin, and Shui Mingyue had seen Luo Hao’s true colours. Wen Ying had thought the matter completely resolved.
Without Shui Mingyue’s novel adaptations, Luo Hao could never rise as he had in her previous life. Who could have imagined that, having lost Shui Mingyue as his cash cow, Luo Hao would still manage to latch onto Huanyu?
Huanyu was the largest entertainment company on the mainland. Wen Ying might not remember much else, but she was certain Luo Hao had never signed with Huanyu in her previous life. He had risen through adaptations of Shui Mingyue’s novels. Fans had dug into his career path and constantly praised online how hard his journey to fame had been, largely because he had never been backed by a major company.
At first, he had no big company. Later, riding on the adaptation rights for more than a dozen of Shui Mingyue’s novels, he founded his own company and transitioned from star to capitalist.
Huanyu did not appear anywhere in Luo Hao’s previous-life résumé.
For Wen Ying, this was a new variable.
It put her in a particularly foul mood. “Ran Keqing is Huanyu’s young lady after all. How can her judgement be so poor?”
“Perhaps it is not poor judgement, but a case of birds of a feather flocking together.”
Xie Qian hit the nail on the head. “Luo Hao’s signing with Huanyu was probably facilitated by you.”
“By me?”
Wen Ying laughed angrily at Xie Qian’s deduction. “Has Miss Ran gone mad?”
Whether Ran Keqing was mad was hard to say, but she certainly lacked generosity. Xie Qian was not guessing wildly. Ran Keqing could have chosen any newcomer, yet she signed Luo Hao. The only real connection was Wen Ying.
Luo Hao had lost his golden goose in Shui Mingyue. Even if he had not realised it at first, he eventually understood that Wen Ying had helped her. Wen Ying had not only assisted Shui Mingyue in selling the adaptation rights but had also saved her at the most critical moment, foiling Luo Hao’s plans twice in a row.
The investor who had drugged Shui Mingyue and Pei Yiyi had already been sentenced. He had not implicated Luo Hao, who remained unscathed.
Pei Yiyi had signed with Jiaxin, but Luo Hao was still adrift.
A mere newcomer had no power to retaliate against Wen Ying.
The only thing Luo Hao could count on was Wen Ying’s “rival”.
The media constantly reported that Huanyu’s new project was going head-to-head with Divine Capital: Youth. Luo Hao’s chance to turn his fortunes lay with Ran Keqing.
One had to admit that Luo Hao, after years navigating society, possessed rich experience and knew exactly what benefited him most. From secretly clinging to investors, to emotionally manipulating the naive Shui Mingyue, and now, after the investor’s conviction, quickly finding a new patron in Ran Keqing. Each step had been swift, precise, and steady.
For Ran Keqing, Luo Hao’s resentment towards Wen Ying was the greatest value in signing him.
Any newcomer would do. Signing one who bore a grudge against Wen Ying and placing him in the latest film project meant that if the newcomer rose to fame, Wen Ying would suffer a double blow. If Xie Qian lowered his own intelligence to match Ran Keqing’s perspective, her thinking became easy to decipher.
Wen Ying was thoroughly disgusted by Ran Keqing’s petty manoeuvres.
The publicity for both films had built up to this point, awaiting simultaneous release to compete at the box office. Wen Ying did not care that Miss Ran paid people to slander her daily for demanding sky-high script fees, but signing Luo Hao purely to spite her genuinely angered Wen Ying.
If someone like Luo Hao became famous and gained resources in the entertainment industry, many people would be deceived, exploited, and discarded by him.
Luo Hao should never become famous.
Simply diluting his screen time in post-production for the drama was not enough. Ran Keqing’s new film had to flop at the box office.
To that end, Wen Ying paid particularly close attention to the filming progress of Divine Capital: Youth.
She could not control the quality of Miss Ran’s film, but she could ensure the quality of Divine Capital: Youth.
President Zhang of Liansheng was delighted.
With the great screenwriter Wen watching the production so closely, President Zhang gained even more confidence in the film’s box office prospects.
A young person’s competitive spirit could sometimes be the key to victory.
Ran Keqing had thoroughly provoked Wen Ying, had she not?
Shui Mingyue saw the news of Luo Hao signing with Huanyu and felt she had caused trouble for Wen Ying. She called several times, offering help.
“Mu Fan and I may not match your scripting talent, but as the saying goes, three ordinary craftsmen can rival Zhuge Liang. The two of us might be able to offer some inspiration!”
Wen Ying was surprised. “Is Mu Fan not busy with signings? Would he have time to join the crew?”
Mu Fan’s new book had launched a month before Exploring Jing and received rave reviews from readers. Both sales and reputation were approaching his previous peaks. The publisher immediately capitalised, arranging numerous promotional events for him.
Mu Fan had cooperated at first, attending signings and recording programmes, barely touching the ground with his feet.
Hearing Wen Ying’s doubt, Shui Mingyue laughed. “There is no end to signings. The publisher would love him to hold one in every city. He cooperated at first, but now he is desperate for an excuse to escape.”
Of course, Mu Fan could not tell the publisher the truth. He righteously declared that he needed to help a friend.
