As a veteran director, the 40-year-old Zhou Yuan is an expert in shooting costumes. He has directed several blockbuster films and made more than a dozen popular actresses.
This time Huanrui asked him to take over the role of Zhu Xian, but after reading the script, he didn't want to take it. Although the online adaptation has traffic, the plot is empty and has no artistic quality. If it is messed up, the reputation will be bad, and it will be difficult to get involved in the future.
Later, Mr. Jia Huanrui told him that he had invested 300 million this time and hired a foreign professional team for the special effects. Everything was shot in real locations and no 50-cent special effects were used. More than 3,000 costumes for the actors were prepared, and top martial arts instructors from Hong Kong were hired.
He also promised that once the filming started, everything would be centered on him and he would have the final say on how to shoot. He thought about it for three weeks before agreeing.
As soon as he entered the press conference venue, Zhou Yuan saw a group of reporters whose eyes were like jackals that had been hungry for three days and three nights, and were almost turning green. The impatience made him a little scared, fearing that they would rush up at once.
"Welcome Director Zhou, you are finally here! The crew is now here, everyone applauds." The host was relieved, looked at the reporters in the audience and said: "Media who want to interview, please wait a moment, we will finish the process.
You can start."
The next step was to start asking questions according to the outline prepared in advance. The director talked about Zhu Xian's theme content and strong lineup, huge investment, and careful adaptation.
As soon as he finished speaking half an hour later, reporters all raised their hands, and Zhou Yuan pointed to the nearest reporter.
"Director Zhou, what was your original intention in filming this TV series? How does it relate to Fang Jing being the author?"
"As far as I know, few people in the Mainland have made movies about fairy tales in the past few decades. I wanted to try a challenge. As for Fang Jing being the author, I didn't know much about it before."
"Have you read the original work of Zhu Xian? What do you think of his writing and its level?"
"Hahaha! It's too long. I haven't finished reading the over one million words, but I have read some of the previous parts, as well as the outline and details. Fang Jing wrote it very well, and its extremely high popularity proves this."
"As far as I know, Fang Jing has acted in the online drama Tomb Raiders. How do you evaluate his acting skills? Do you think he is qualified for Lin Jingyu?"
Zhou Yuan frowned, "Your question shouldn't be within the scope of my answer. Fang Jing is a hard-working and talented actor. We will know how his acting skills are when the show airs. I won't let you down."
"Okay, next one!"
"Director Zhou, Fang Jing..."
Zhou Yuan had a headache. The press conference was originally to promote Zhu Xian, but he didn't expect that the media would focus entirely on Fang Jing being the author and not ask about anything else.
In the end, when he got tired of the answer, he simply waved his hand and asked them to ask Fang Jing themselves.
For more than ten minutes, Li Yifeng and Zhao Liying stood aside. No reporter came to them. They were all waiting for Fang Jing to answer. If the host hadn't brought the topic back, this would have been Fang Jing's personal press conference.
Yang Zi looked enviously at Fang Jing, who was talking eloquently, with all the stars supporting him, and dozens of media interviewing one person. It would be great if he could have that day.
After more than an hour of asking questions, the press conference was over. With the recorded scripts in hand, reporters from major media outlets went back and started writing in a hurry. The latest media outlets had already come out before Fang Jing's car got home.
"The famous singer Fang Jing turns out to have another identity, which is unexpected."
"The story Fang Jing and Zhu Xian have to tell."
"Fang Jing is actually the author of Zhu Xian. He is a master of reading. I am shocked."
"Shocked! Fang Jing personally admitted that he worked during the day and secretly did this harmful thing at night."
Soon, this matter became the top trending topic, discussed by millions of people, and even Swordsman of the World became popular. A large number of people gathered to watch, wanting to see what the celebrity was like and what he was writing about.
Fang Jing's Weibo was almost blown up. In a few hours, there were tens of thousands of comments, with people covering everything, including some saying they were fans of his books.
"Have you heard? The media actually said that Fang Jing is the author of Zhu Xian. It's really funny."
"Bo Eyeball is so popular. If it weren't for the fact that he is the author's classmate, I would have scolded him."
"That's right, if the author's funny joke is really Fang Jing, I will live broadcast eating."
In the afternoon, some readers in the book club began to discuss what happened on Weibo.
"It's over, it's over! Didn't the author explain it before? Fang Jing is his classmate, the two of them have a good relationship, and they are also acting as part-timers. I guess they want to use this matter to promote Zhu Xian. I will clarify it in two days."
Dongfang Bubai: "That's wrong! I just saw the interview video. Fang Jingzhen said he was the author of Zhu Xian, and both Li Yifeng and the director admitted it."
"There's no video, you're talking about wool? Where's the picture?"
"Wait, I'll send it right away."
A few seconds later, a video of Fang Jing’s interview appeared in the group.
Lin Pingzhi: "Old thief Fang Jing, you deceived me so hard, come out!"
"Fang Jingweibo has publicly admitted that he didn't run away. This guy is the author."
…
At night, Fang Jing turned on his mobile phone and logged in to Penguin. There were a lot of friend verifications. It took him three minutes to scroll and he didn't even get to the end. He didn't know how many thousands of them there were.
All the major book club groups are booming, with numbers reaching 99+ every minute, and there are hundreds of people coming out of Aite.
The matter is unstoppable, and it will be impossible to write the code word An'an in the future. Fang Jing knew this when Li Yifeng spoke at the press conference.
After posting a selfie to the group, Fang Jing said: "Good evening everyone!"
Lin Pingzhi: "Fuck you! You figured it out, you big liar."
Fang Jing: "How can I call it a lie? You haven't asked me my real name."
Junior sister: "No wonder you are so busy singing."
Dongfang Bubai: "Fang Jing, I can't quell my anger today without taking 180 photos. I know the address of your company, and I will stop you tomorrow."
"+1 upstairs, I'm in the Magic City too, let's go together!"
"You send me the blade, and I'll pay for the materials!"
Fang Jing was sweating coldly when he saw it, "Everyone, I was wrong. It's better not to block the door. I was very busy at work all day and traveled all over the world. You can't find me even if you go there."
"Add more updates, you must add more updates, or I will leave the group!"
"No problem, add me! I'll code it right away, but if you want to add me as a friend, please don't apply again. I have thousands of them here. I don't usually use my Penguin account, so it's useless for you to add me."
"Also, please don't reward me anymore. I really don't need this little money. I don't know if the person who just rewarded me is in the group, but please don't blindly chase stars. If you reward me again, I will buy it with the money."
I’ll send you my summer homework.”
Just a few hours after he announced that he was the author of Zhu Xian, fans kept giving rewards in the background, ranging from 10,000 points to a lot of millions, and it didn't stop. The screen of Yuidian was covered with him for several hours, one after another.
Millions of banners passed by, and I don’t know how many authors were envious.
In China, people under the age of 18 are the most star-chasing, as high as 70%. Most of them are junior high school students and high school students. They have no financial resources and use their parents' money to support their idols.
It’s just a child of a wealthy family. Some parents are still eating rubbish. They spend 1,800 yuan on themselves to buy idol albums, endorse products, and raise funds. They don’t feel sorry for them at all.
After exiting the group chat, Fang Jing contacted the editor Chang He and asked him to lock the status of Zhu Xian and Xiaoao Jianghu to prevent rewards. If the readers disagreed, he would have no choice but to delete the books.