Chapter 122: Jin Ming Vs Chu Han Zhou, The Despair Of Illiterates
“Oh…”
Jin Xia was stunned, dazed for a good while, before her beautiful peach blossom eyes slyly turned: “Really? But I really get angry easily, Teacher Chi.”
“Oh, then forget it.”
Jin Xia: “???”
Chi Ye smiled, then seriously: “I never lie to you.”
Jin Xia was coaxed into a daze: “…Teacher Chi, come back soon.”
“Okay.”
“Then… I’m hanging up?”
Chi Ye paused, then said: “Don’t be upset. Your judgment has never been wrong.”
“Mm, I believe in myself! Teacher Chi!”
“……Bye-bye.”
“Bye-bye!”
Jin Xia listened to the beeping sound by her ear, her mood completely lifting. Her slender fingers tapped her chin as she thought, then came up with a little trick, sending a message to her aunt:
【Aunt, help me scold little uncle again, I’m still not over it!】
On the other end, busy Jin Sui: “?”
【What happened again? And why don’t you tell him yourself?】
【If I tell him, he’ll talk about Teacher Chi again, I don’t want to hear it, so you go say it. Also… he made me angry, I won’t talk to him for a year.】
Jin Sui: “……”
Wasn’t it half a year before? Why doubled?
She paused, didn’t ask how Jin Ming had “quarreled” with her little niece or what it had to do with Chi Ye, just replied:
【You sure have a lot of little tricks, even calling in outside help?】
【Aunt, help me out.】
【Jin Ming that bastard is really hateful!】
Jin Sui blindly supported her little niece and really called that evening, “scolding her brother from afar.”
……
《Mushroom House》, outdoor recording.
Chi Ye quietly returned to the program team, but was already considering off-site matters in his mind.
On the other side, Teacher Huang and Teacher He had already assigned the afternoon tasks. Chi Ye luckily drew “supervisor,” so he wouldn’t be too tired.
“Then… Teacher He and I, plus Ba Sa, we’ll transplant seedlings. Sister Wen, you help divide into groups, two per group… As for Little Chu… Little Chu’s foot is injured, so how about accounting? It’s light work.”
Teacher Huang looked at the program team. Considering Chu Han Zhou had sprained his ankle right after arriving, the program team was quite accommodating.
But upon hearing “accounting,” Chu Han Zhou’s face changed.
“Hm? What’s wrong, any problem?”
Teacher Huang didn’t usually follow fan circle stuff and was puzzled.
“……”
Chu Han Zhou saw everyone staring at him, Sister Qianzi with a face full of mockery.
He gritted his teeth right then, guiltily saying: “No problem!”
“Good, then go get paper and pen, calculate everyone’s names and the seedling counts for each transplanting area.”
Teacher Huang nodded, then everyone started dividing tasks and working.
Chu Han Zhou stood in place, looking at the blank accounting book and pen, his mind buzzing.
“Account, what are you spacing out for?”
Sister Qianzi, who stayed to stir up “CP,” saw this and urged: “Hurry up, write the names first.”
Chu Han Zhou: “……”
He glared fiercely at Sister Qianzi, glanced at the camera, saw the program team kindly giving their #Cultivation#CP close-up, and his face instantly took on a constipated expression.
“You can’t write, can you?”
Sister Qianzi was surprised: “Want me to do it?”
Chu Han Zhou: “……Who says I can’t write?!”
He sat in the chair, picked up the pen, stared at the name column in the first row, thought for a long time, first wrote his own name. Mm… no problem, all correct.
Then for Sister Qianzi, he hesitated, looked up at Sister Qianzi.
Sister Qianzi: “?”
Chu Han Zhou leaned over, lowering his voice: “How do you write your name again?”
“Wait, you really can’t?”
Sister Qianzi was dumbfounded.
She had just been habitually mocking, of course she knew the nine-leak fish joke about Chu Han Zhou, but she never expected… he actually couldn’t write her name.
She was the female protagonist of 《Deep Sea》!
Chu Han Zhou’s face flushed red: “I just forgot!”
He felt a bit embarrassed too, angrily returned to his seat, pen in hand wrote “Shi Jinwei” as “Shi jin hui,” and for the last “wei” he thought long and hard, figuring it must be that.
Last time he went to Anhui, he wrote Anhui’s “hui” as “An wei,” so after returning, his agent made him practice wei and hui repeatedly.
This time it was definitely right!
Chu Han Zhou looked further down.
Then Huang Jianshan, Ran Qiao, Chi Ye…
“Wait… how do you write the right side of Huang Jianfeng’s feng like mountain…”
Chu Han Zhou was sweating profusely, and once the camera finally moved off him, he quickly pulled out his mobile phone to “check one by one.”
“Yo, looking it up.”
Chi Ye passed by getting water, saw this, and laughed: “The literary top scholar is so studious.”
Chu Han Zhou: “?!”
He jerked his head up, face fully red looking at Chi Ye: “What did you say!”
“……Hey buddy, who’s this ‘Chi Ye’?”
Chi Ye had already seen the “Chi Ye,” stunned for a second, then looked at the other names and fell silent.
Chu Han Zhou was guilty: “What’s… what’s wrong?”
Chi Ye looked at him: “These names of yours… seem unfamiliar, but also familiar… you’ve replaced them all with homophones.”
“Lau Chu, with your writing skills, you should write Internal Entertainment fanfiction. Too strong, the literary top scholar’s mapping ability isn’t afraid of lawsuits from other stars for infringement.”
Chu Han Zhou: “??!”
Chi Ye had already turned and walked to a chair to sit. They had just started working; later it would be his turn to “supervise and count.”
Nearby, Sister Qianzi had the same task as him and was also sitting in the shelter brushing her mobile phone.
——”Family, big news! Chi Ye’s sharp jawline is here again to hurt the audience’s eyes! That’s right, today we’ll inventory the acting skills like a lump, six consecutive flops, the former Yue Na loser, now Internal Entertainment soft rice king’s personal ‘acting awards’……!”
Not sure if on purpose, the sound from Sister Qianzi’s phone gradually got louder. Chi Ye turned back and glanced at her.
He saw Sister Qianzi happily scrolling roast videos, laughing so joyfully.
He thought for a bit, didn’t disturb Sister Qianzi, just pulled out his own phone, turned the volume to max, and set single When You on loop.
“When your eyes squint in a smile”
“When you drink cola when you fuss”
“……”
Sister Qianzi’s face changed, she looked up, staring expressionlessly at Chi Ye.
“Sounds good?”
Chi Ye grinned.
Sister Qianzi was silent for a moment, then smirked in her classic Sister Shi mockery face, her sapphire eyes sizing up Chi Ye.
Didn’t say a word, but it was like she said everything.
Chi Ye remained unfazed, clicked on Light Years Away.
Sister Qianzi’s face turned ashen, paused, then said: “If the new drama flops again, are you switching to full-time singing?”
Chi Ye looked up: “Mm, album beats yours.”
Sister Qianzi: “?!”
She didn’t mind, just curious: “Heard your new drama you wrote the screenplay yourself? How is it? Gonna be fellow disciples with Chu Han Zhou?”
Chi Ye ignored her, lowered his head and turned up the volume again.
“Eh, is the screenplay industry lower barrier than acting now? Anyone can do it, huh.”
Sister Qianzi thought Chi Ye was defeated, a bit excited, pushed harder: “What was that drama of yours called… Want me to promote it? Though I might get flamed by bystanders for promoting you, but… I won’t help you anyway, haha.”
“Qianzi.”
Chi Ye suddenly spoke.
“Hm?”
Sister Qianzi was stunned.
Chi Ye looked at her and said: “You’ll always be little Sheng Ning!”
“?!”
Sister Qianzi’s face visibly turned ashen, her beautiful eyes instantly reddening!
“You, you just don’t learn.”
Chi Ye pointed at her, stood up and patted his butt: “Oh right, you asked if I did the screenplay myself… which one? My new drama I wrote the screenplay too, got addicted.”
“Next time you bring a screenwriter on set, if short on people, call me.”
“I’ll charge you ten times… oh right, Sheng Ning’s free here. I’m actually pretty grateful to Sister Sheng, if not for her popularity back then, I’d have faded long ago.”
“Little Sheng Ning, no Sheng Ning this summer slot, good luck!”
With that, he sauntered toward the supervisor area.
Sister Qianzi trembled, her proud twin peaks visibly heaving dramatically.
If not for being outside, she’d even want to bite Chi Ye to death!
You’re the one not as good as Sheng Ning, your whole family isn’t!
Ahhhh!!!
“……Why bother with a little unpopular star?”
At this time, Chu Han Zhou had secretly finished checking the dictionary, full of confidence left his seat, happened to see this, shook his head in evaluation: “This isn’t the Sister Qianzi I know, too low-class.”
Sister Qianzi: “?!”
She turned back, coldly glanced at him, sneered: “Who’s bothering with him.”
Chu Han Zhou didn’t mind. Compared to Sister Qianzi, his attitude toward Chi Ye was true disdain—not yelling, but direct ignoring.
“You might not know.” Chu Han Zhou recalled: “When I debuted, Chi Ye had higher popularity than me.”
Sister Qianzi was stunned.
Chu Han Zhou looked at her, held up his hand in a gesture, smiled: “Six big dramas, six. What he’s like, who in the circle doesn’t know? You’re at least a hot first-tier now, no need for this.”
Sister Qianzi silently said nothing.
Chu Han Zhou smiled and was about to leave.
“Wait.”
“Hm?”
Chu Han Zhou was stunned, turned back: “What’s up?”
Sister Qianzi looked at his gesture: “That gesture you made was seven, not six.”
Chu Han Zhou: “……”
Fuck, stupid woman!
He was embarrassed and angry: “That’s because Chi Ye’s this one will flop too, I gestured ahead!”
Sister Qianzi said no more, also headed to the supervisor area, but subconsciously straightened her body, appearing taller than Chu Han Zhou……
Stupid! Big idiot!
Chu Han Zhou was even angrier inside, busted.
……
《Deep Sea》 is a famous screenwriter + dual first-tier top streamers’ S+ super drama.
How big exactly?
It’s the only summer slot drama this year airing on Central 8.
The other two S+, 《Meng Xi Yuan》 and 《Deng Ji Feng Chui Qi》, chose online broadcast routes due to genre reasons.
Of course, not that these two can’t air on TV; just now, whether a drama airs on TV isn’t as crucial as a decade ago.
When genre doesn’t fit, online broadcast first for a hit, then TV airing gets better treatment and specs.
Jin Ming’s acquired Chao Tian Entertainment Group has among its most valuable projects the co-production with Ku Ying of 《Deng Ji Feng Chui Qi》 and with Kiwifruit of 《Deep Sea》.
Back then, he even paid extra because 《Deep Sea》 was airing on Central 8.
Though he hadn’t expected the two dramas from the newly acquired company to clash in this summer slot, but due to different genres, this double bet investment was acceptable.
Chi Ye stayed another night at 《Mushroom House》, and early next day went with Ran Qiao for other drama promotion announcements.
Chu Han Zhou and Sister Qianzi also left 《Mushroom House》 the second day.
The 2025 summer slot competition had entered white-hot phase from this moment.
Yes, before it even started, the three platforms, three S+ “Drama King”s’ massive terrifying publicity and marketing funds, on the evening Chi Ye left 《Mushroom House》, already blanketed online and offline comprehensively.
Why call it S+?
Because its funds are even more ample. In Internal Entertainment 3.0 era now, if marketing and publicity succeed, the drama’s already half successful regardless of quality—at least popularity is there.
Jin Ming spent a lot for this. Compared to 《Deng Ji Feng Chui Qi》, maybe due to family reasons, he personally preferred 《Deep Sea》 genre.
On the third day after Chu Han Zhou and Sister Qianzi left Mushroom House, the day 《Deep Sea》 confirmed its slot, as one of the main investors, Jin Ming took the chance while they were still in Beijing running announcements, and met Chu Han Zhou and Sister Qianzi at the company.
—If possible, he wanted to sign one of them.
“Everyone, please sit. I assume you’ve all been quite fatigued lately with series promotion matters?”
In the living room.
Jin Ming with a slicked-back big back head, meticulously dressed, gold-rimmed glasses, full business boss vibe.
Sister Qianzi sat with composure.
Chu Han Zhou was a bit slow to react, saw his agent signaling before sitting down too.
“I called everyone here today to deeply discuss and plan follow-up series promotion matters, as well as marketing moves targeted at the other two competitors.”
“Mm…”
Jin Ming observed the two, especially Chu Han Zhou’s dumbfounded face, thought he’d been abrupt, quickly added “polite greeting.”
“If I may boldly ask, between celestial shifts, have you partaken of meals?”
Sister Qianzi was stunned, nodded.
Chu Han Zhou frowned: “Ah? What… what does that mean? President Jin… can you speak Mandarin? I don’t quite get your dialect…”
Jin Ming: “?”
“Cough… President Jin asks if you’ve eaten.”
“Ah…”
Chu Han Zhou opened his mouth, inwardly cursing, fuck, why not just ask if I’ve eaten?
What bird language is this!
He saw Jin Ming brewing tea, asked Sister Qianzi: “Did you get that just now?”
“No.”
“Then why’d you nod?”
Sister Qianzi oddly: “Can’t understand the words but can’t tell the tone? Nodding’s always safe.”
Chu Han Zhou: “……”
Treating me like an idiot, huh?
Jin Ming spoke again: “Have you had a meal today? If not, care for some gourmet food? Don’t let hunger affect your energy, alright?”
Chu Han Zhou nodded immediately.
Sister Qianzi shook her head.
Chu Han Zhou: “?”
“Oh, then have some gourmet food.”
Jin Ming saw and called: “Order from my usual spot, Chu’s hungry.”
Chu Han Zhou: “Ah?”
Attacked?!
How’d it go from fine to attacked?!
President Jin watches Paw Patrol too?!
He looked at Sister Qianzi again: “What’d he say just now?!”
“Asked if you’re hungry, eat if you are.”
“Didn’t you say you didn’t understand?”
“I lied to you.”
Chu Han Zhou: “???”
Fuck!!
