Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

Pei Qian received a call from Huang Sibo, telling him that Fei Huang Workspace wanted to confirm the script and other matters related to filming. Two weeks had passed since Pei Qian finished writing the script.

During these two weeks, Zhu Xiaoce and the scriptwriters at Fei Huang Workspace had been working non-stop on Boss Pei’s script. At the same time, they prepared for filming to commence.

Now that the script was finally done, they needed Pei Qian – the main sponsor of the movie—to give the final nod of approval. This was a matter of attitude.

Of course, if Pei Qian found out that Zhu Xiaoce had made too many changes to the script and reduced its toxic effect, he would have to say a word or two.

Boss Pei was becoming increasingly laid-back when it came to thinking of ideas and making decisions. This was because he realized that no matter how many decisions he made, people could still be counted on to backstab him!

When they worked on Ocean Stronghold, Pei Qian only gave the team a general direction and allowed his employees to fill in the details. After that, the game became popular.

When they worked on Game Designer, Pei Qian made sure to specify every single detail and turned Lu Mingliang into nothing more than a tool. After that, the game still became popular.

When he asked Ma Yang to make investments, Pei Qian set no requirements for what kind of investments to make. He did not even attempt to limit Old Ma’s creativity, and yet…

Ultimately, Boss Pei was miserable.

Pei Qian realized that no matter how much he oversaw projects or got involved in the nitty-gritty, the outcome never seemed to change.

Since that was the case, he saw no point in working so hard.

It was too tiring for Boss Pei to come up with every single detail for every project, just like he did for Game Designer.

Thus, Pei Qian decided to casually check on Fei Huang Workspace’s progress. He would walk around and try his best to give some ‘opinions’. After symbolically showing some resistance, he would be done for the day.

As the saying went, man proposed and God disposed. There was no point in forcing things.

When Pei Qian arrived at Fei Huang Workspace’s office, Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaoce greeted him and led him into the guest room.

The company had been developing for a long time. Now, the staff composition of Fei Huang Workspace was more or less complete. With the directors, scriptwriters, stage crew, editors, special effects crew, and the like; the entire office looked much livelier. Everyone was working in full swing as they prepared to film the new project.

Pei Qian arrived at the guest room, sipped his tea, and immediately gave instructions to Huang Sibo.

“Fei Huang Workspace is performing exceptionally well now, but don’t ever forget Tengda’s spirit. It’s good to see everyone so passionate and hardworking, but do not let them start working overtime, understand?”

Huang Sibo nodded immediately. “Don’t worry, Boss Pei. Fei Huang Workspace sets Tengda as its benchmark for rules, regulations, welfare, and benefits. How could we allow such a disgraceful thing to happen?”

Pei Qian nodded, obviously satisfied with Huang Sibo’s attitude.

Zhu Xiaoce handed a thick script over to Boss Pei. “Boss Pei, this is the final script. Please take a look. If you don’t like anything in the script, please point it out. We will revise it immediately.”

Pei Qian took the thick script and glanced at the movie’s title.

Before this, Pei Qian had only written a brief story outline. He had not named the movie.

Yet, not only had Zhu Xiaoce and Fei Huang Workspace’s editors added more details to complete the narrative, but they had also come up with a name for the movie.

‘Tomorrow is Beautiful’

There was both a Mandarin and an English Title.

Just looking at this script made Pei Qian want to hold up his thumb.

Good! Well done!

This script contained every toxic point in history. Anyone who watched the movie would immediately feel depressed.

Yet, the title of the movie showed no signs of its toxicity. Instead, it sounded extremely confusing

‘Tomorrow is Beautiful’ sounded like the title of a warm and comforting art piece. It would definitely fool an audience, who would not have guessed any better, into watching the movie. Perhaps even couples in their honeymoon stage of dating would want to watch it.

Wouldn’t that almost guarantee criticism of the movie? Its reputation would be in shambles!

Pei Qian nodded subtly and read further.

Zhu Xiaoce, who was sitting across from Boss Pei, could not help but jump upon seeing the latter’s subtle nod.

My script has been validated by Boss Pei! My understanding of his script was absolutely right!

Obviously, Boss Pei understood how deep the movie title was. Indeed, a telepathic connection existed between talents!

Pei Qian did not know how excited Zhu Xiaoce was at that moment. He continued flipping through the script casually, picking out some parts to study more closely. The simple story outline from before had been expanded into a detailed script, including explanations on the set-up, the lines, the actions, and the like. Pei Qian could almost see the movie playing inside his head.

He only had one feeling: this was extremely toxic!

The story outline had been toxic before, but it had only been an outline after all. The plot was extremely basic. However, the current script contained the conversations between the protagonists, their expressions, and a lot of other details. One only had to imagine the background music, and the toxicity levels would be…

Through the roof.

Pei Qian could not stand to read any further. It was too miserable!

He continued scanning the script and confirmed that Zhu Xiaoce and the other scriptwriters had not changed the storyline. They had only added more details to the outline and expanded the script.

It was not any less toxic. Instead, the additional details made it look even more toxic!

At that point, Pei Qian began to relax. If they stuck to this, the movie would definitely contain every toxic point in history! “This script is perfect! I’m very happy with?it.”

Pei Qian praised Zhu Xiaoce and his script-writing team highly.

Zhu Xiaoce could not help but grin. “You’re too kind, Boss Pei. Your story outline was good. We only added in some minor details.”

They were both chatting happily when Pei Qian’s cell phone rang.

He glanced at it and saw that it was Chang You.

“Hello? Boss Pei, I just wanted to tell you that we’re more or less done with the preparations. We’ve selected a suitable office, and I’ve recruited all my brothers.

“We want to set a general direction for the first cell phone model today and come up with a plan for the initial stages of production. Could you come over and offer some guidance if you have spare time on your hands?”

Offer some guidance? This was a bad time.

Pei Qian was still discussing the script with Zhu Xiaoce at Fei Huang Workspace; he was afraid he would not have time to spare for the rest of the day.

Should he ‘guide’ the successful Fei Huang Workspace or the dream team that had experienced failure many times before?

The choice was obvious.

Of course, Pei Qian could also arrange to meet Chang You and the rest the next day. However, on further thought, it seemed meaningless to make everyone waste one entire day waiting. Pei Qian also felt like he could not meddle in Otto Technologies’ business. On one hand, he could affect the dream team’s performance. On the other hand, if he offered help and the first cell phone model failed, Boss Pei would be taking the blame in place of Lin Wan. It would hinder Lin Wan from leaving the industry, going home, and taking over her family business.

“You can go ahead with the discussions. I am quite busy today, and so I won’t be able to come down.

“Don’t ask me to give instructions for everything. I’m letting you call the shots.”

Chang You answered, “Alright, Boss Pei! Don’t worry, we’ll finish the task!”

After hanging up, Pei Qian continued discussing the script with Zhu Xiaoce. Zhu Xiaoce hesitated and said, “Boss Pei, there’s one more problem.

“You should have noticed by now that the characters’ names have not been set. That’s because we can’t decide if the main characters should be Eastern or Western.

“You seem to hint that these people are from a future age. However, you haven’t given us any hints on their nationality.”

Pei Qian nodded. That was indeed a problem.

“Since the movie is to be set in the future, the concept of nations has to remain blurry. Furthermore, this story cannot happen in our country.

“The characters and scenes should be in English. The lines should be in English as well.

“Look for foreigners to play the main characters. If you can’t find any, look for locals who can speak good English. You don’t have to explain their identities. The audience would understand that the characters are only ethnically Chinese.”

Pei Qian figured that hiring foreign actors would probably cost more than hiring local ones! He could not forego any chance to spend more money. Zhu Xiaoce quickly nodded. “Yes, Boss Pei, that’s what I thought as well.

“However, there might be one difficulty… we’ll probably not be able to hire famous foreign actors. We might not even be able to hire moderately-famous foreign actors.

“After all, this is Fei Huang Workspace’s first time filming a movie. We are practically unknown overseas. Even if we offer a lot of money, we might not be able to convince them to travel all the way to Jingzhou.

“It’ll be easy for us to hire the calefares but much more difficult for us to find the main actors-especially the male protagonist and judge. Those two have many more lines than the others. That means we need to have higher requirements for their acting.

“For that reason, should we try looking for local actors to play those parts?”

After some thought, Pei Qian replied, “Alright.

“However… if we can’t hire famous foreign actors, do you think we’ll be able to hire famous local ones?”

Zhu Xiaoce smiled helplessly. “It won’t be easy either. However, it would at least be easier for us to communicate with local actors. That would increase our chances of hiring them.”

Pei Qian had wanted to suggest hiring a few newbie actors from various schools to fill the roles. However, he subsequently realized that they would cost too little. Fei Huang Workspace would not be able to spend much on remuneration.

No matter what, they had to find an actor or two who would request for higher pay. Otherwise, Fei Huang Workspace would not be able to finish spending their budget for remuneration.

Yet, who could they look for? That was another problem.

All of a sudden, a person’s name popped into Pei Qian’s mind.

I know a local actor, and I’ve even worked with him before!

Zha Zhuti!

Zhang Zuting had been severely criticized after acting as the spokesperson for Bloody Battle Song back then. However, he also gained a significant following through that episode. Many people started to pay attention to him, so that even he began to accept being referred to as ‘Zha Zhuti’.

Of course, Pei Qian still remembered this old friend of his.

old Zhang was a good friend of Tengda. Thus, Tengda could not treat him badly. As the saying went, one could not allow benefits created by one’s own work to accrue to others. Since Fei Huang Workspace was ready to offer a high salary, they had to offer the role to Zhang Zuting first.

Even if the movie failed later on, people would only curse at the scriptwriters and not the actors.

Old Zhang just had to act well in the movie to avoid being scolded by the audience. What’s more, one particular character in the script suited Old Zhang well—the incorrigible judge.

The more Pei Qian thought about it, the more appropriate the plan seemed. He said, “I’ll help to look for actors as well.

“I’ll contact Zhang Zuting later and ask him for his availability for filming. If he agrees to star in the movie, we will cast him as the judge.

“As for the male protagonist… We can continue looking around and inform each other if we find suitable actors.”

Zhu Xiaoce looked surprised. “Zhang Zuting? It’ll be great if we can hire him. He’s an old actor, whose acting skills are guaranteed to be good! What’s more, his English is not bad. He can probably speak English during the entire filming process.

“Boss Pei, you have a wide network indeed!”