Accidental Mark

Chapter 20

Pei Shaoze returned to the company in the afternoon and immediately held a small meeting with people from the publicity department. The people of the Tianxuan publicity department didn’t look good when they received news of the meeting because President Pei’s order meant one thing—overtime.

The copyrights team and legal team had previously been so busy that the image of baldness could be seen. The new boss made bold changes upon assuming office. What would President Pei have the publicity department do this time?

Everyone walked into the conference room nervously. Unexpectedly, the meeting time was very short and the task he explained was quite easy. “The company has decided to set up a project filming the online drama Folding Paper. It has been approved by the general office. Let’s write a few articles and post publicity on the major websites.”

Manager Liu of the publicity department said, “Just post publicity on the major websites? Do you need to buy headlines or a hot search?”

Pei Shaoze decisively replied, “No need to buy it. Try to contact the original writer to see if they are willing to join the script adaptation or participate in the audition. It is best if they cooperate and forward the news so the book fans know about it. This is enough.”

Manager Liu asked, “Will this audition be a national selection or a small-scale selection?”

Pei Shaoze handed him the plan. “It isn’t a national audition. The audition is only for six important roles. Post recruitment notices on the major artist websites in the circle. This drama needs more than 20 actors. Interested actors are welcome to join.”

The entire meeting ended quickly within 15 minutes. Pei Shaoze explained the publicity plan clearly and asked everyone to follow the plan. The members of the publicity department were a bit confused after the meeting. Everyone admired President Pei’s clean and tidy work style but wasn’t the publicity investment of this drama… too shabby?

No buying a hot search, no finding major movie and television bloggers to spread marketing, no looking for the water army to increase points? It was like sending a press release to tell netizens, ‘Hello everyone, I’m going to make a drama’ and then quietly start filming.

The people in the publicity department quickly concluded, “President Pei might not have enough money!”

”The company stipulates that the group investment can’t exceed 10 million yuan. Still, isn’t 10 million more than enough for an online drama? Is he so reluctant to spend money on publicity expenses?”

”President Pei obviously wants to use a drama to test the waters? There is really no need to promote this type of school drama that can barely make a splash.”

Pei Shaoze wasn’t in a hurry.

All the dramas who went on the hot search for an audition, when starting and when sending the makeup photos, how many of them ended up a mess? Constant hot searches raised the audience’s expectations. If the drama wasn’t satisfactory in the end, it would only cause backlash. It was better to take the drama seriously. First make the quality good and then surprise after the well-made drama was released.

As the producer, it was necessary to plan the use of funds as a whole and try to spend it on the right things. There was no need to spend too much in the early stage of publicity. The so-called publicity was just to tell everyone that ‘we are going to make a drama.’

After arranging the publicity, Pei Shaoze followed the company process to get financial allocation. The next day, he met with Liu Xueyi and Xu Moran to chat in detail about the next plan.

Liu Xueyi brought his own team. The costume designers, the photographer and lighting engineer were directly called to continue the cooperation. Pei Shaoze personally acted as the producer and just needed to find some staff members to do errands before their team would be formed.

Today was a meeting for the creators of the play so Liu Xueyi asked about everything in detail.

“In terms of music, what does President Pei plan to do? Directly find a few nice songs to pay the copyright?” Most low-cost online dramas didn’t have their own original music. It was more economical to choose suitable songs and pay the copyright fee.

“Since we are taking the high-quality route, it is better to make original music.” Pei Shaoze thought for a while before saying, “I will tell Chen Yijun to help write a theme song. As for the episodes in the drama, we can find a professional music studio to tailor it.”

“Original music costs money. The money saved from publicity can be diverted here. However, Chen Yijun is a big-name singer. Will she be willing to write the theme song for an online drama?” Would it be too much to let the singing queen Chen Yijun write a theme song for an online drama filmed by 18th tier newcomers? It was normal for Liu Xueyi to have such doubts.

“Don’t worry, I will convince Chen Yijun.”

There was President Pei’s assurance and Liu Xueyi no longer doubted it. “That’s great. Chen Yijun can bring some fans over!”

Pei Shaoze nodded. “Tianxuan’s financial department takes time. The investment funds should arrive within half a month and the Spring Festival will be over by that time. Director Liu, choose a good day to officially start filming.”

The funds would arrive within half a month. This was already the fastest speed that Liu Xueyi had experienced.

Liu Xueyi shook hands with Pei Shaoze. “President Pei, it is really refreshing to cooperate with you! I’ll call the crew when I go back and prepare to start after the Spring Festival. I hope everything goes smoothly!”

At this time, Cheng Xia was in a private room of Ronghua Hotel opposite the 17th High School.

After spending one week filming the MV, Chen Yijun had invited all the staff to dinner. She was friendly in private, never put on special airs and took special care of Cheng Xia. They had become very familiar after the past few days and their relationship was like a brother and sister.

Halfway through the meal, Chen Yijun suddenly asked, “Right Cheng Xia, do you have Weibo?”

Cheng Xia took out his phone and opened Weibo to show her. “This is my Weibo side account. I usually don’t send a lot of posts. I only login to see some news and gossip. Sister Yan said that she would help us register new Weibo accounts and apply for authentication.”

Zhou Yan heard this and explained, “This is President Pei’s instructions. The company will help newcomers apply for Weibo accounts and the accounts will be handed over to the agent to manage.”

Chen Yijun wasn’t surprised by this. “Weibo is being managed by the agent? President Pei must be afraid that newcomers won’t know how to manage themselves and post indiscriminately, creating a black history.”

“Yes. After all, there has been such a precedent in the circle.”

Chen Yijun smiled at Cheng Xia. “Once the new Weibo application is complete, tell me. I want to be your first fan.”

Cheng Xia was flattered. “Sister Jun, don’t joke around. You have tens of millions of fans on Weibo. It won’t be good if you suddenly pay attention to me, right?”

Chen Yijun casually waved her hand. “It doesn’t matter. I am a signed singer of Tianxuan and it is normal to pay attention to Tianxuan’s newcomers. In a few days, the MV will be released and the starring role will definitely attract attention. Then I will introduce to the fans that the handsome little brother in the MV is our company’s newcomer Cheng Xia. If you have a Weibo then I can attach your account as well.”

Zhou Yan was very excited. Chen Yijun was willing to take the initiative to promote Cheng Xia. This was really a big pie falling from the sky! She hurriedly took out her mobile phone and opened the Weibo account for Cheng Xia to show Chen Yijun. “Cheng Xia’s Weibo has just passed the authentication. This is it.”

Cheng Xia’s side account was called ‘Summertime Orange’ and the content was all current news affairs and funny jokes forwarded by him. The new Weibo ID that Zhou Yan applied for was called ‘Cheng Xia’ and there was the certification yellow V that said ‘Tianxuan Group’s contracted artist’. His profile picture was a frontal photo of himself smiling brightly, looking very sunny and handsome. (Cheng Xia’s name is the Cheng for rule/order and Xia for Summer. Summertime Orange in pinyin is Xiari Cheng so its a play on his name)

The agent had been busy applying for a new Weibo and Cheng Xia hadn’t paid attention to it these days. Now he looked at it and found that his account had a fan. He couldn’t help asking curiously, “How can I have fans on my account that you just registered?”

Zhou Yan was also puzzled. She didn’t have time to buy Cheng Xia’s fans yet. Where did this fan come from? She took a look and saw the familiar ‘Pei’ character profile picture and the brief introduction of ‘CEO of Tianxuan Group.’ This surprised her.

Cheng Xia’s heart also thumped. “President Pei?”

The first one to follow him was the president?

Zhou Yan’s hands shook as she clicked into President Pei’s page. She found that President Pei didn’t only pay attention to Cheng Xia. He also followed all the artists in Tianxuan’s Group C and was slightly relieved. “President Pei is probably paying attention to be polite.”

Chen Yijun came to look at Zhou Yan’s screen and couldn’t help complaining, “President Pei actually followed all the artists secretly. By the way, when did he delete all his Weibo posts? I remember that he sent a lot of selfies before?” Then she glanced at her agent next to her and asked, “Sister Wu, didn’t you see it too? President Pei’s previous Weibo was full of photos everywhere.”

Chen Yijun’s agent was Wu Xin and she had a blank face all the time. Cheng Xia didn’t dare talk to this sister. Hearing Chen Yijun’s words, she answered blankly, “He probably deleted all his previous Weibo posts because he thinks the things he sent before are too embarrassing.”

Everyone, “……”

This was true. In the past, Pei Shaoze’s Weibo was all photos of himself at the beach or drinking in the club. This was too different from the image of President Pei who was now in a suit and leather shoes.

Wu Xin continued. “Have you found that he has changed his soul? He has become a workaholic recently?”

Chen Yijun was thoughtful. “He really has changed quite a lot. I heard that he called the promotional team after coming back from a business trip. Some time ago, he made trouble with the legal affairs and copyrights team.”

Director Zhang also interjected. “Yes, they used to say that Tianxuan’s new boss Pei Shaoze is very unreliable but last time he visited the set, I thought he was pretty good. Is there any misunderstanding about the rumors?”

Cheng Xia didn’t interrupt their discussion of President Pei.

Cheng Xia hadn’t been in contact with Pei Shaoze before and it wasn’t easy for him to comment. He only knew that he liked President Pei very much now. President Pei was simple, decisive, serious and responsible. He gave people a sense of sureness and ease. Cheng Xia thought about how President Pei was working overtime that night and felt it was a blessing for Tianxuan’s artists to have such a dedicated boss.

Just then, Chen Yijun’s phone rang. She glanced at the caller ID, apologized to everyone and went out to answer the phone. Once she came back, she went to the agent to whisper a few words. Zhou Yan keenly saw the screen of Chen Yijun’s phone say ‘Pei Shaoze’ and guessed it was President Pei’s call. She thought it was related to the MV.

Not long after, she received a message from President Pei on her mobile phone. [The crew of Folding Paper will be holding a formal audition at 9 a.m. on February 7th on the 17th floor of the Tianxuan Building. The script to be performed in the audition has been sent to your email by Zhang Fan. Inform your artists to be ready.]

Zhou Yan immediately typed back. [Yes, I know.]

The meal came to a hasty end.

Chen Yijun and her agent Wu Xin returned to the company in a nanny car. Zhou Yan took Cheng Xia back to the company in another car. On the way, Cheng Xia asked Zhou Yan softly, “Sister Yan, can I log into the new Weibo? Or will it always be managed by you?”

Zhou Yan thought about it. “Of course, you can log into your Weibo. However, remember not to let your hands slip and like any comments, don’t send anything negative or comment on gossip in the entertainment circle. From now on, you must have the awareness of a public figure. It is best to think when posting and don’t make trouble for yourself, understood?”

Cheng Xia immediately raised his hand and made a promise. “Understood. I won’t send it indiscriminately. I will show you before I do.”

He just felt that since President Pei was paying attention to his account, he wanted to log in by himself instead of handing it over to Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan sent the Weibo login and password to Cheng Xia. She also forwarded the message that President Pei sent him.

Cheng Xia wondered, “February 7th is the audition. Isn’t this fast?”

Zhou Yan took a deep breath and looked at Cheng Xia solemnly. “President Pei has a more serious attitude toward this drama than I thought. He is so anxious to do the audition because he wants to start shooting immediately after the Spring Festival. She paused before advising, “Cheng Xia, you should go back and take the time to read the information I gave you. If you can seize this opportunity, your journey will be much smoother in the future.”

Cheng Xia nodded. “Sister Yan, don’t worry. I have been reading the information these days and I will know what to do when the time comes.”

Zhou Yan patted the young man’s shoulder with encouragement. “Jiayou.”

Proofreader: Cat