Chapter 60: Choosing a New Drama

"Are you sure there was no rigging involved in selecting this fan?"

Having finished the music video shoot, Gu Jingyi got into the company elevator alongside his manager.

Standing on set and catching sight of Tian Xiwei, he had felt a bit numb.

The coincidence was so striking that it was hard not to be suspicious.

"Of course not. We truly drew from a pool of highly active fans."

Lin Ze was momentarily at a loss for words. Adjusting his glasses, he retorted, "Xiaoyi, why would you rather believe in shady insider dealings than accept that she was just genuinely lucky? If it weren't for your insistence on giving back to the fan base with this kind of perk, even with an appearance where her face barely shows, there are plenty of modeling agencies that would jump at the chance."

*[Naturally because of her touching probability rate. Every time she went to buy drinks before, it was always 'Thank you for your patronage'...]*

Recalling her past exploits, Gu Jingyi couldn't help but be amused.

"It seems she has many alternative accounts. The one we drew wasn't 'Gu Jingyi's Donut'. It was another account, and its level was quite high, too."

Lin Ze pressed the elevator button and added this clarification.

"Alright."

Gu Jingyi nodded and stepped into the elevator.

On the final day of his break, he still had the most crucial piece of work left unfinished.

That was: choosing a script!

Arriving at Lin Ze's office, Gu Jingyi found his desk piled high with scripts.

However, they had already been sorted: historical dramas were grouped together, modern ones in another pile, and the company's internal self-produced dramas were separated from external projects by other studios.

Gu Jingyi started by looking through the internal dramas. Sitting right at the top was a script bearing four large characters: *Handsome Siblings*.

This drama was based on the original novel by the legendary martial arts author Gu Long, and the original version had already been remade nine times. The most famous adaptations starred Nicholas Tse and Dicky Cheung. With such classic jade predecessors gleaming ahead, any new version was bound to be compared upon release.

Gu Jingyi opened it and skimmed through roughly.

The script for the new version had undergone major alterations. In the original, Jiang Xiaoyu and Hua Wuque loved and hated each other, yet lacked a heavy CP (couple) vibe. They cooperated occasionally, but Hua Wuque remained consistently aloof and expressionless, with a greater emphasis on brotherhood.

In the new version, however, a large amount of ambiguous subtext was injected between Jiang Xiaoyu and Hua Wuque.

For instance, Hua Wuque giving Jiang Xiaoyu a waist-hug—such ambiguous plots might be fine between a man and a woman.

Between two men, it felt somewhat "gay-ish".

In any case, Gu Jingyi found it completely unacceptable, feeling it was both utterly abrupt and absurd.

Flipping down a few more pages, his interest waned even further.

The new version deliberately emphasized this sense of ambiguity, attempting to make the two male actors engage in *maifu* (fan service through homoerotic subtext) to manufacture marketable talking points.

Gu Jingyi set it right back down and spoke with a speechless expression, "There's no way I'm taking this drama; the adaptation is an absolute mess. What kind of aesthetic is this? No way amining *maifu*!"

"I wouldn't suggest you pick it either, given that it's an internal company production, an intellectual property blockbuster, and a collaboration with Perfect World Pictures streaming on iQIYI. We still have to go through the motions for appearance's sake, though."

Lin Ze smiled wryly. He, too, felt that Huace's latest move was quite comical.

The drama's other male lead had already been cast: Cheng Zheyuan from Gramarie.

Making their own cash cow carry a newcomer from another company was simply preposterous.

Danmei-adapted dramas were the easiest breeding ground for couple stans. For Gu Jingyi to film this wouldn't be poverty alleviation; it would practically be driving fans away. Who didn't know that couple stans easily got purified into solo fans of the other actor?

"Take it away, looking at it gives me a headache."

Gu Jingyi waved his hand impatiently.

Cheng Zheyuan was a member of MR.BIO, and his former teammates Zhou Bangyan, Zhou Rui, and Zhu Xingjie were all filming *Idol Producer*.

Huace must have lost its mind to actually send this kind of script to his desk...

The second script: *My Amazing Boyfriend 2: Unforgettable*.

This one was even more comical. A sequel starring his junior company-mate Wu Qian, inviting Gu Jingyi to be the male lead.

"Web drama" and "sequel"—a double layer of buffs stacked together. This wasn't poverty alleviation anymore; it was slitting the main artery to bleed out!

The third script was slightly better: *Love and Destiny*, a costume idol drama.

Part of the *Three Lives, Three Worlds* series, a major IP.

Yet Huace's costume idol productions really couldn't compare to Perfect World Pictures.

Handsome Kun's iconic meme, "I'm scared", originated from Huace's *The Rise of Phoenixes*. That drama had bombed without a single ripple in terms of both viewership ratings and review scores.

Seeing that it was an internal costume idol drama and part of the *Three Lives, Three Worlds* IP universe, Gu Jingyi immediately used the reverse selection method to eliminate it.

Soon, only one script remained, with the title *Time To Teach You Me* written on the cover.

The genre was urban fantasy, and the main plot went as follows:

Thirty-one-year-old Shi Jian, on a flight to visit her husband Ye Jiachen, accidentally encounters Yi Mao Group boss Yi Pei. During the flight, the plane suddenly encounters severe turbulence, causing Shi Jian to faint and return alone in a dream to her university days ten years prior. She falls in love with her husband ahead of time, while the second male lead also falls in love with the heroine. When her husband sacrifices himself to save someone, the heroine wakes up to realize it was all just a dream.

The ending alone left Gu Jingyi unable to even吐槽 (roast).

A novel premise might attract viewers at first, but overturning all settings in the grand finale easily triggered a backlash of audience emotions.

A textbook example of starting strong and finishing weak—a dead bomb at a single glance!

Gu Jingyi had no intention of taking it either; he set the script aside with zero enthusiasm.

Seemingly sensing his thoughts, Lin Ze added, "The female lead for this drama is Sugar, who has massive national audience affinity. If you're willing to take it, the company can modify the male lead's settings—shaving a few years off his age to set him at 26. Combined with styling and makeup, your acting skills can completely pull it off."

It sounded like Huace was indeed showing immense sincerity. This was, after all, the "Sugar" known as the "Poet Immortal of the Tang Dynasty".

Li Yifeng's 2015 collaboration with Sugar, *The Lost Sword*, had achieved stellar results. It seemed Huace wanted Gu Jingyi to retrace Li Yifeng's path and test multiple possibilities.

"No need. I feel the feeling this ending leaves people with is very poor. The beginning is passable, but it drags in the latter half."

Gu Jingyi refused nonetheless; there was no point in taking on an ineffective project.

"Alright. Actually, the company really does value you a lot."

Lin Ze spread his hands in a smile, still playing the role of a bridge for the company. He was afraid his "cash cow" might harbor grievances against the firm, as Gu Jingyi was currently the only male actor holding down the fort at Huace.

"I know," Gu Jingyi nodded.

If not for this script alongside "Sugar," those preceding scripts—each one lousier than the last—truly would have made one wonder if management was running a "compliance test."

However, Gu Jingyi hailed from a later era and naturally knew that Huace was notoriously bad at promoting its people.

Hu Yitian was a prime example: Huace preferred to let *Go Go Squid!* cast outsiders rather than giving him the lead role.

The promised compensation was that after playing the second male lead in that drama, they would make him the male lead in a spin-off of the same IP.

It was equivalent to dangling him along with a "buy one, get one free" banner while Huace used its own male artist to elevate outsiders.

That maneuver was truly beyond description.

Wait!

Gu Jingyi quickly snapped back to his senses. "Since *Time To Teach You Me* can alter the male lead's age to be a better fit for me, there's no reason the company's un-prepped project *Go Go Squid!* would invite an external artist to audition for the male lead!"

"You even guessed that?!"

Lin Ze was dumbfounded. The news that *Go Go Squid!* had been placed on Huace's preparation roster was something he had only learned in a meeting yesterday.

He hadn't expected Gu Jingyi to anticipate it as well. It was truly astonishing.

Gu Jingyi started flipping through the remaining external scripts, picking and choosing without finding anything decent.

Either they made no waves at all, or they were titles he had never even heard of.

The only slightly better one was the e-sports themed *Gank Your Heart*, yet it hadn't reached the level of a hit drama.

For Gu Jingyi's current status in the industry, it held little significance.

"Brother Ze, if there really are no suitable dramas, you can see if there are any films fitting for me, like youth campus genres."

"Alright."

With the selection concluded, he got back in the car and headed to the airport to go to Langfang to record *Idol Producer*.