After Reuniting with My Aloof Movie Queen Childhood Friend - Chapter 24.1

She would, of course, have a very good chat.

After Meng Yuting’s dream of listing the company to rake in cash shattered, she could only rely on taking on debt to invest and break the deadlock.

If she succeeded, the already doomed Changfeng would merely catch a brief second wind but if she failed, every single fraudulent financial statement following the astronomical loan could turn into a sentence handed down by criminal law.

Meng Xingshu carelessly tilted her head slightly, her peripheral vision taking in the several senior executives present.

Meng Yuting had guarded against her for eighteen years, yet now she was forced to keep her close to keep up appearances.

The film industry would buy into the mother-daughter affection act, and the business world naturally wouldn’t doubt it either.

To bind her to the Changfeng Meng family, Meng Yuting had generated too much public opinion. Meng Xingshu only needed to guide it slightly to make these people believe she was the successor Meng Yuting had chosen.

Aside from several banks, present tonight were also private equity funds that had once financed Changfeng, construction material groups that had cooperated or were currently cooperating with them, inspection agencies, marketing agencies…

Every single one of them, she would have a very good chat with.

.

In a luxury celebrity suite at a hotel near the film studio.

Meng Xiao had smashed every object in the room and was currently slumped in front of the sofa, crying loudly.

Across the video call, Meng Yuting’s heart ached intensely. “Be good, Xiaoxiao, be good. Tell Mom what happened. Who bullied my baby?”

Meng Xiao wailed, “The entire crew! The entire crew is bullying me! They bully me the moment you’re not around.”

“Look how hard she’s crying.” Seeing Meng Xiao’s tears stream down, Meng Yuting’s heart practically melted.

Her gaze shifted next to Meng Xiao, her affectionate eyes instantly turning piercingly cold. “Where are the staff? Do you have no brains? Xiaoxiao is like this, and you don’t know to wipe her tears?!”

The video call had been connected by Meng Xiao’s personal assistant, so she knew the person was still there.

The personal assistant hurriedly complied, flusteringly pulling out a few tissues and running over, only to be kicked away violently by Meng Xiao.

“Get lost! Don’t touch me!” Meng Xiao shrieked, randomly grabbing a broken shard of glass from the floor and throwing it violently at her.

The assistant only had time to turn her head slightly. The glass shard sliced straight into her cheek. A momentary coldness was instantly followed by sharp pain, and a warm liquid welled out, dripping along her chin.

The assistant stood frozen, reaching up to touch it. Her hand came away covered in bright red blood.

Meng Yuting witnessed the entire sequence through the video. She knitted her brows in displeasure and barked at the assistant, “Do you even know how to do your job? If not, pack up and get out!”

When her gaze returned to Meng Xiao, it softened once more. “Xiaoxiao, be good. Don’t touch those dangerous things, be careful not to hurt yourself. Has my baby been working too hard lately? Let’s stop filming for now, we’ll continue whenever you feel like it.”

Meng Xiao shook her head while crying, “I don’t want to continue. The director keeps making things difficult for me, making me do NGs every day. People in the crew are always rolling their eyes at me and talking behind my back. The script is so annoying too, purposely writing so much random nonsense just to bully me.”

Meng Yuting coaxed her patiently, “Mom knows. Mom will go scold those bad people for you, and the script, we’ll change all of it. Whatever Xiaoxiao doesn’t like can be changed.”

Two weeks into filming, Feng Zhao Ling had already undergone significant alterations.

Complex lines were deleted, makeup and styling that Meng Xiao disliked were swapped out, and even the production crew had seen multiple waves of staff turnover.

One had accidentally tripped and cracked their head open on set, another had accidentally knocked over boiling water and scalded themselves, and others were fired outright for poor performance.

As much as Meng Yuting doted on her daughter, she knew things couldn’t go on like this indefinitely, so she could only advise, “Filming is hard work, but you’ll become a big star once it’s done. Doesn’t Xiaoxiao want to be a big star? Your sister went through the same thing back then. So Xiaoxiao is the most well-behaved, just endure it a bit, okay? As long as Xiaoxiao behaves and acts, I’ll have your sister visit you on set in a while.”

Meng Xiao’s tears stopped. Sniffling, she asked, “Isn’t she unavailable? She doesn’t reply to my messages. She even logged onto Weibo today but didn’t follow me back, yet she liked someone else’s drama…”

It infuriated her to death, absolutely infuriated her.

Meng Xingshu, that disobedient wretch, giving traffic to others instead of her. A dog raised by the Meng family refusing to make money for them, and instead carrying the meat to outsiders!

Sooner or later, she would carve another piece of flesh off her to make her firmly remember her place!

Recalling the immense fury she felt upon seeing the hot search after waking up, Meng Xiao’s hands began to tremble violently again. She desperately wanted to hang up the phone and grab any living thing nearby to slap repeatedly to vent her rage.

At the mention of Meng Xingshu, Meng Yuting remembered her important task tonight and couldn’t sit still either. Fortunately, after a few more sentences, Meng Xiao abruptly hung up the phone.

Meng Yuting adjusted her clothes and went back downstairs but couldn’t find Meng Xingshu. After searching around, she finally spotted her standing alone in a corner, holding a half-empty glass.

Displeased, Meng Yuting went forward to question her. “Where is Fan Dongli?”

Meng Xingshu looked at her, her posture modest and appropriate. “Auntie Fan said something came up after a brief chat, so she left first.”

Meng Yuting’s brow furrowed deep. “Why didn’t you keep her? Is there anything you can accomplish?!”

Despite saying this, Meng Xingshu knew that Meng Yuting was precisely the person who least wanted her to accomplish anything.

In essence, she merely needed Meng Xingshu to remain a useful object. As for competence, the less Meng Xingshu possessed, the more secure Meng Yuting felt.

Therefore, Meng Xingshu naturally wouldn’t let Meng Yuting know how pleasantly she and Fan Dongli had conversed, nor that they had already arranged to meet again another day.

With many eyes and ears at the banquet, the performance had to continue.

Meng Yuting curved her arm slightly, signaling Meng Xingshu to take it, and asked in a low voice, “Xiaoxiao told me you liked someone else’s post on Weibo. What was that about?”

Confusion appeared in Meng Xingshu’s eyes. “My account has always been managed by the agency. What content did it like?”

“How should I know.” Meng Yuting couldn’t be bothered with such trivial matters, so she instructed, “Just cater to her. If she tells you to follow her, just do it.”

Meng Xingshu replied calmly, “I asked the agency. They said she isn’t a star under Lingxing and refused. Perhaps you could discuss it with President Lin?”

Meng Xiao was an artist under Changfeng Entertainment, a company Meng Yuting had opened specifically for her.

Though it wasn’t only opened for her; it also carried the grand ambition of “launching one star, continuing to sign more artists, expanding into production and distribution, swallowing streaming platforms, and taking the crown of the entertainment industry.”

Being a businessperson herself, Meng Yuting understood the caution exercised between industry competitors.

“Fine, fine, what a hassle,” she said impatiently, turning to add, “When is your birthday again? Go visit Xiaoxiao on set when the time comes. Surely that won’t be an issue?”

She darted a sideways glance at Meng Xingshu. “Don’t make excuses. I know you’ll definitely be free that day.”

A senior executive passed by, locking eyes with the seemingly close mother and daughter. Meng Yuting greeted them with an amiable smile, and Meng Xingshu also lifted her lips, nodding in acknowledgment.

She kept smiling, her long lashes drooping slightly to completely shroud the icy coldness in the depths of her eyes.

On June 25th at 8:00 PM, Qianjin Gu officially launched on Filmily.

The platform provided a splash screen, a homepage feature, and even opened a dedicated portal banner, drawing a massive wave of initial traffic to the drama.

An original script with an unfamiliar title, anonymous creators, and not a single recognizable actor.

Most viewers were just bored over the weekend. Seeing a beautiful cover art or finding the anime-style character designs cute, they clicked in with the mindset of just passing the time.

And then, they were completely hooked.

[This drama is shot so beautifully! The lighting and composition are incredible, it’s so comfortable to watch! Finally, a drama without that deathly pale, pore-erasing filter.]

[Looks like a female centric drama. Let me sample it. Hopefully it’s not another one that uses the female lead as a prop to prop up the male lead.]

[Ahhhhh the pacing is so fast! A smart female lead who avenges her grievances immediately makes me feel so satisfied!]

[(Holding back) To watch two more episodes, VIP has been activated. Do not let me down.]

Qianjin Gu only had 20 episodes in total. To extend its broadcast run, the premiere offered two episodes for free and four for VIP users, with subsequent updates consisting of two episodes every Saturday and Sunday.

But while they were called “episodes,” since each one was only 20 minutes long after cutting the intro and outro, the actual volume of content updated wasn’t large.

Coupled with the fact that the vast majority of people automatically skipped the opening and closing themes, forty minutes flew by. Many viewers scratched their heads, endured it, and finally, unable to take it anymore, upgraded to VIP.

As a result, after eighty minutes passed, they were even MORE starved!

[Wait? Wait? Wait? That’s it??]

[Ugh ahhhh I’m experiencing withdrawal symptoms! Filmily, is this how you treat your esteemed VIP members?!]

[Someone come punch me, the kind that will keep me asleep until 8:00 PM tomorrow night ]

[Just slapped myself, the effect is great, I’ve already lost my memory. See you in episode one, family]

While the streaming platform’s episodes had finished, the buzz outside was just getting started.

Viewers with nothing left to watch spontaneously swarmed major social media platforms to search the drama’s title. Fan edits, threads, reviews, and discussions popped up one after another, labeled as “hot” and getting pushed to the feeds of even more netizens who hadn’t watched the drama yet.

The themes surrounding the discussions of Qianjin Gu were incredibly diverse. Some marveled at the beautiful visuals, some dissected the cinematography techniques, some analyzed the plot progression, but the vast majority of eyes were fixed on the main characters of the story.

[Cao Qiu! A variation of my wife! Heavens, how can she be so beautiful and badass at the same time ahhhh!! I was seriously screaming at home while watching, my mom thought I went insane ahhhh!!]

[Sigh, I was trying to guess who the male lead was, but looking at it now, is the CP the Princess? The casting for the Princess is too good. This dignified yet cold aura makes it impossible not to fall for her…]

[Libao, hehe, my little Libao. Come home with Auntie, Auntie has so many kittens at home for you to pet hehehe]

The follower counts for the three leads surged rapidly. The official account of the Qianjin Gu crew struck while the iron was hot, releasing the first mini-theater spin-off clip and establishing a promise. “Every night at 10:00 PM, see you there.”

The timeline of the spin-off videos directly followed the main episodes, utilizing a two to three minute story to depict the daily lives and amusing interactions of the three girls.

Both viewers who watched the drama and netizens who hadn’t thoroughly loved it, pushing the video straight to the top of the trending list.

Aside from official materials, fan edits and compilations were even more unceasing.

Qianjin Gu featured beautiful visuals, beautiful lighting, and beautiful actors, no matter how it was edited, it looked spectacular. Many netizens who had never heard of the drama began asking for the source in the comments, receiving a uniform reply:

[It’s Qianjin Gu! Go watch it! It’s insanely good! If it’s bad, come back and hack me!!!]

An hour and a half later, a reply would appear below:

[I’ve come back with a knife to hack you! Damn it, such a shallow pit, and you lured me in just like that! Now I’m left waiting for updates without an appetite, are you guys satisfied now??]

The hot searches that Ji Youyi had been unwilling to spend money to buy ended up blowing up purely through organic traction.

Not only did the drama blow up, the actors blew up, and even the drama’s OST blew up.

Staring at her five streaming screens, Li Zhulan covered her mouth, simultaneously thrilled and embarrassed. “Can our raggedy OST seriously top the charts?”

They hadn’t had the money to hire big names to produce the soundtrack. The lyrics were completely written by Li Zhulan, the composition and vocals were sourced from cost-effective artists in the historical style music community, and the female lead, Wen Yang, had even taken on the singing duties for two insert songs.

Hearing this, Ji Youyi became displeased. “Nonsense, it’s not raggedy at all, alright?”

From the people to the equipment, everything had been meticulously selected by her. Renting that recording studio cost six hundred yuan an hour! Six hundred!

As the drama’s popularity skyrocketed, the platform’s online and offline promotional schedules were tightly drawn up.

Live streams, interviews, fan meetings… all sorts of itineraries packed the entire month.

High exposure was naturally a good thing, but looking at the schedule, Ji Youyi hesitated.

She asked the platform representative, “Is it absolutely necessary for the actress of the third female lead to attend? Honestly, having the first and second female leads there should be enough, right? I heard their CP ship is incredibly popular, won’t Ning Li just end up being a third wheel next to them?”

“How is that possible! Our Qiu Yue Li is clearly the best match, okay?!” The platform representative had just stepped out of the CP Super Topic and accidentally failed to control her emotions.

Clearing her throat, she quickly damage controlled, “Apologies, Director Ji, my niece was chatting with her friend just now, and her voice was a bit loud, hahaha. What I meant to say is, you absolutely have to go. Is there a conflict in schedules? Is it inconvenient for you to come to S City recently?”

It wasn’t a conflict in schedules. Ji Youyi was simply afraid her presence would have the opposite effect.

Busy making money, Ji Youyi didn’t have time to surf the web, but the consecutive stream of good news in the crew’s group chat was more than enough to keep her informed.

She heard from the crew members that the audience members who liked Ning Li were quite numerous. But Ji Youyi was acutely aware that they only liked the character; once they shattered the dimensional barrier and saw the real person, the feeling would definitely change.

She knew what kind of reputation she had. She didn’t want the audience to develop a distaste for Ning Li because of her.

Even less did she want Zhou Wenchen’s crazed fans to break in and ruin the drama, after all, she was dead broke, couldn’t afford internet trolls, and absolutely couldn’t win a media war.

The comments under that read through Weibo post were the best cautionary example.

To avoid ruining the audience’s viewing experience, she hadn’t even credited herself as the director, producer, or the third female lead in the official credits list published by the official account.

She was just a behind the scenes creator. As long as industry insiders knew she could shoot, knew how to shoot, and shot well, and were willing to continuously spend money to hire her to direct, that was more than enough.

Money! It was mostly about making money! That was the true purpose of her directing dramas!

Did exposure, fame, fans, or the audience’s affection matter? They didn’t matter!

Would she do things that hindered her from earning money? Absolutely not!