Chapter 97: 《you Who Came From The Stars》
Director Liu: “……”
What a big pie.
He couldn’t hold back and shifted his butt, touched his chin, and after a long while, he gave a bitter smile: “President Chi, you’re just talking vaguely… why don’t you tell me in detail about that script you mentioned earlier.”
“Once you sign the contract, I’ll give you the full script.”
Chi Ye tossed out a synopsis version file and handed it to Director Liu.
Director Liu had already taken an interest in the subject and plot that Chi Ye mentioned earlier, otherwise… he wouldn’t have agreed to come here to meet Chi Ye.
You know, although his reputation has always been quite “bad,” he still has representative works under his belt; he’s not some ordinary small director.
He took the script and carefully flipped through it.
Fifteen minutes later, he put down the notebook, his gaze full of shock and astonishment as he looked at Chi Ye: “……Aliens? Big Star? This… is this science fiction or idol drama?”
Chi Ye thought for a moment and said: “It should count as pioneering a new genre.”
“What do you think? Interested?”
He valued Director Liu quite a bit.
Because this guy had one killer skill that the industry nicknamed: King of Atmosphere in Modern Idol Dramas!
Why atmosphere?
Because what people criticized him most for was that he liked to write and direct his own stuff, and his taste was extremely poor; even if it wasn’t a script he wrote himself, but someone else’s, the plot was always a mess.
Yet, the visuals, scenery, shots, characters, and even atmosphere in every one of his works were shot perfectly.
——He was the only director domestically who could produce “Korean drama effects.”
Yeah, Chi Ye had the idea of signing him to the company.
“This… this… can I see the later plot first?”
Director Liu was a bit hesitant; his taste really was poor… After reading this script, he felt it was a bit novel… but average in other aspects.
Chi Ye: “?”
His taste really that bad?
Chi Ye thought of the “jokes” about this Director Liu.
Two years ago, the guy got lucky with a decent notebook, rose to fame overnight, and was all the rage at the time, but not long after, he took on a big IP, and it flopped spectacularly, with a Douban score of 2.9.
In the following one or two years, every film he made flopped, each one looking promising visually like a documentary, with superb atmosphere and shots, but… the plot was extremely hollow and terrible.
“Blind director” wasn’t without reason; it all made sense!
He took back the synopsis, stood up: “Sigh, since it’s no good, forget it; I’ll ask someone else.”
“……Hey, President Chi, don’t rush.”
Director Liu saw that Chi Ye was actually leaving by himself and immediately couldn’t sit still.
He just had poor taste; he wasn’t an idiot!
Plus, since the end of last year, he hadn’t gotten any gigs for a long time… He really couldn’t look at small budget bad movies.
But from what Chi Ye said earlier, this project had quite a bit of investment…
He hurriedly stopped Chi Ye: “I… I’ll sign this project; let’s talk more, how about that?”
Chi Ye gave him a sideways glance, then leisurely sat back down, indifferently saying: “Alright then, let’s talk more… I charge by the minute for chatting, heads up.”
Director Liu: “……”
As expected, stingy!
……
At the same time.
Keke followed Chi Ye’s instructions and started contacting several other marketing teams, preparing the marketing for tonight’s Time With You and the counterattack against Hua Yichen and Yue Na’s side.
Online, the feud between Chi Ye and Hua Yichen was getting more and more intense.
Chi Ye’s side was frantically buying hot searches exposing Hua Yichen’s live performance flaws, while Hua Yichen’s side was clinging to Chi Ye’s lip syncing and using a ghostwriter for songs.
In comparison, the latter felt much more egregious and unacceptable to bystanders.
And under the guidance of Hua Yichen’s team, Chi Ye was no longer the only target; even Teacher Shi, who took first place with Chi Ye last night, became a target of “verbal and written attacks.”
「Wolves hang with wolves, turtles with turtles; could someone who lip syncs and uses ghostwriters like Hu Ye be a good person?」
「Shi Daifu? Wasn’t she banned? She hits people and still makes a comeback? Internal Entertainment Circle is done.」
「Don’t get why those two got first last night; heard some Ye has climbed a big shot and become real Imperial Clan now.」
「The one who once hated Imperial Clan the most turns around and becomes exactly what he hated?」
「Yue Na: Now you know why I targeted him, right?」
「???」
「Yue Na bought paid commenters? No matter how bad Hu Ye is, that’s no reason to slave people like that, right?」
「This is ridiculous; reported, Yue Na stay far away, neither of them is any good!」
The battle situation intensified; Yue Na’s Public Relations Department tentatively tried to whitewash themselves amid this wave of popularity, but found they thought the netizens were too stupid; it didn’t succeed and instead stirred up a mess.
But no matter.
Seeing the public opinion now overwhelmingly “besieging” Chi Ye, they were very satisfied, very pleased.
“Can I post a Weibo?”
Hua Yichen, seeing such a grand occasion, couldn’t hold back his vengeful impulse, feeling that not stabbing now would be a disservice to how the father of the Chinese Music Scene used to look after him back when he was a big shot in the Chinese Music Scene.
“Don’t be too sensitive; post a statement that the innocent have nothing to fear.”
The agent nodded.
With things at this point, it was like yellow mud in the pants—not shit but still shit; he couldn’t think of any turnaround move Chi Ye could pull.
“That Thailand Master really works; said to change luck and it changed…” Hua Yichen opened Weibo, marveling: “Later have the Master check if Jin Xia and I have fate… I don’t want to work hard anymore.”
The agent: “?”
Hua Yichen’s side had already posted the first Weibo since the incident broke out:
【The innocent have nothing to fear; the music industry should ban such bad practices.】
As soon as the Weibo went out, fans flooded the comments instantly.
「Big Brother!!」
「Don’t mention that certain family’s name; a lip sync ghostwriter poser fit to compare with my bro?」
「Boycott Hu Ye! Music industry must ban this kind of trend!」
「@《Voice of Nature》 official Weibo, you still invite this kind of person to sing?」
「As long as Chi Ye doesn’t leave the program, we won’t watch for a day!」
「Curious what Big Brother thinks of this ghostwriter incident?」
Hua Yichen originally didn’t want to reply, but seeing this comment, he really couldn’t hold back and replied underneath: 「A guy who used to sing completely out of tune, just like Teacher Yang said, maybe he really is a genius.」
After replying, as usual he should delete it instantly, but he didn’t… He felt keeping this comment would make him feel great for a whole year.
“Huh…”
Suddenly, the agent sitting nearby, leisurely crossing his legs while scrolling his mobile phone, paused: “Someone riding on popularity?”
Hua Yichen turned back: “What riding on popularity?”
“Here, look.”
The agent handed him the mobile phone; Hua Yichen took it and saw it was a trailer for a variety show just released not long ago.
“《Time With You》… Isn’t this that S+ variety show on Mango TV? It was pretty hot during the live recording not long ago.”
Hua Yichen was surprised: “Broadcasting this soon?”
“Yeah…” The agent looked at the trailer’s title: 【#Chi Pan Xia Yu# CP fans carnival, Teacher Chi sings live on site.】
A extremely bad premonition rose in his heart: “This episode… seems to have Chi Ye and Jin Xia.”
Hua Yichen paused and looked at him: “What do you mean?”
The agent said no more and clicked on the trailer video.
……
The filming of the first episode of 《Time With You》 was very exciting, with program highlights and sweetness.
But at this critical juncture, how could the program team miss the chance to ride on popularity?
So, this version of the trailer was almost all clips of Chi Ye and Jin Xia.
The two strolling on Champs-Élysées, the two putting rabbit ear hair clips on each other, the two gazing and smiling at each other, the two…… arriving together at Seine River Bank.
Chi Ye picked up a guitar, seemingly about to sing.
“Mimi mi”!
The program team added special effects to the visuals and Chi Ye’s mouth, but the shot went to Shang Youshu, You Han, and everyone around covering their mouths, with a subtitle: “Chi Ye sings live on site, Jin Xia moved to tears.”
The final shot was Empress Dowager’s entire face blurred out.
“What is this; the program team can’t even ride popularity right, blurring this?”
In a certain luxury villa.
Now promoted to #Chi Pan Xia Yu# CP super topic big V, the first fan club leader of Chi Ye and Jin Xia’s fan sites, Global Warming, disappointedly closed the trailer video.
Then felt a bit itchy and restless.
She knew about 《Time With You》; as a big fan who started stanning Chi Ye after the 《Reboot》, she knew not long ago Chi Ye and Xia Xia recorded this travel show together.
Heard that Teacher Chi sang a new song live on site back then.
But for various reasons, this song never circulated.
She remembered that at the time, this incident was criticized by various bystanders and fans, and eventually forgotten.
But today… why suddenly release a trailer?
Global Warming remembered; a couple days ago 《Time With You》 had already made the official announcement for the broadcast date, which was tonight at seven o’clock.
She had originally planned to take leave tonight to stay home and properly enjoy the CP.
“Hmm… this trailer coming out now is quite ‘coincidental.’”
She glanced at her computer screen, which still showed her recent “battle history” with a certain Hua Yichen big fan, plus ten QQ accounts with scripts open, and in twenty-something QQ groups, she was the “chief commander.”
At this moment, other fans and CP fans in the group also noticed this trailer video.
「Aaaahhh!! It’s finally airing!」
「Sisters, who gets it; I just tore with some mage’s fans and my chest hurts, didn’t expect the program team to drop sugar right after!」
「By the way, Teacher Chi seems to sing in this episode; won’t it get used to black him?」
「Program team is so shameless; even riding on this kind of person blood steamed bun?」
Chi Ye fans’ composition is simple—eighty percent female fans, used to be one hundred percent…but after 《Reboot》, with works, it attracted quite a few male fans.
But whether male or female fans, they were all worried about the current public opinion environment their main idol was in.
They had been through various “big battles,” so they were all like pumped with chicken blood, continuously helping Chi Ye “tear” at rivals, tear Yue Na.
But tearing aside, the widespread negative press releases, bystanders backed by that, Teacher Yang, and other music industry big shots, various “slanders” against Chi Ye, left them without confidence inside.
——Don’t doubt it; sometimes fans know their main idol’s pros and cons better than black fans.
Everyone knew what Chi Ye was like before.
Precisely because of that, after seeing this trailer clip from 《Time With You》, most fans were a bit scared inside.
Scared that airing the program at this time point, if Chi Ye really sang poorly live, then… it would really be a “small collapse.”
「Teacher Chi has talent; I asked around with program team people, don’t worry blindly.」
Global Warming, seeing this, typed a line.
The group went quiet first, then immediately erupted in cheers.
「Warm sis!」
「Warm sis bubbled up!」
「If Warm sis says it’s good, it must really sound good.」
「Seven o’clock, everyone lock in at seven; battles don’t stop, but Teacher Chi and Xia Xia’s data can’t stop either!」
The fans in the group had their “morale greatly boosted”—if it were someone else saying this, they might not believe it, but if it was Global Warming…
Then they had to believe.
After all, this was a big shot recognized in the fan circle, who could freely come and go at major award ceremonies and programs, often taking face-to-face photos with the main idol.
True super big shot chasing stars.
“……”
Global Warming looked at the fan group livening up again, but her brows carried a bit of tension.
——She actually hadn’t heard it… She had no connections with the 《Time With You》 program team, tried but they kept it extremely tight, not leaking anything.
Why not leak?
Only two reasons.
1, Sang particularly badly, Chi Ye Team firmly wanted to cut this clip to prevent leaks and getting blacked.
2, Sang particularly well, program team wants to pull off a big one.
So…
Which one was it?
Global Warming lifted her wrist and checked the time; it was almost six o’clock in the evening.
Fine then, while trading barbs with Flower Mage’s fans, wait for the program to start…
If worst comes to worst, she’d spend big herself and buy more negative press releases on Flower Mage!
……
Meanwhile.
In many other places, many people, upon seeing the 《Time With You》 trailer and the program team’s blatant, unsalted hot search buy #Chi Ye Live A Cappella Live# , cast attentive gazes toward this program.
Jin Sui, far away in Hong Kong, even specially returned to the office, opened the computer, eyes full of murder as she stared at the program team’s line—“Chi Ye sings live on site, Jin Xia moved to tears.”
Moved to tears?
Tears for what?
What tears?
What did those two do in this variety show?!
She was sharpening her knife, already keenly sensing a whiff of sweetness.
No way, must supervise the battle!
“Zhang Jie, get me… Michelin, uh… let me see what this variety show is about.”
Zhang Jie nearby went silent for two seconds upon hearing, then cheerfully ordered Jin Sui a gutter oil spicy hot pot; the other ate it with relish.
“You say… why is Chi Ye daring to go so hard against Hua Yichen and Yue Na this time?”
“Probably prepared.”
“No, I think he’s too reckless; also… didn’t he communicate with this 《With You》 program team? Broadcasting live directly, might not be good…”
Jin Sui paused, sighed: “Xia Xia seeing Chi Ye talked about like this online must be very heartbroken.”
Zhang Jie glanced at her mobile phone WeChat; it was from Jin Xia just now: 【Remember to watch 《Time With You》 first episode! Help Teacher Chi contribute some ratings, thanks!『Grudge-filled bow』 sticker pack.】
“Yeah… she must be pretty heartbroken.”
Zhang Jie silently nodded.
