Chapter 414: Change
Shion-sensei’s popularity was on the rise, and had surpassed the record she had once created. Now, Weibo was full of her hot searches, and at once, five hot searches about her had been pushed out, which showed her heat.
Shion-sensei, who had officially returned to the public’s view, had swept through Wenqing’s authors with a very strong attitude. The popularity and number of signings she had gotten at the all-star author signing event were twice that of Air-sensei. The gap was really a bit terrifying. At last year’s all-star author signing event, Air-sensei had firmly suppressed the other authors to win first place. Now, a year had passed, and Shion-sensei’s popularity had surpassed Air-sensei’s, and was far ahead. One had to know that Air-sensei’s popularity this year was even higher than last year’s.
And because of her strong performance, a film company had come to her. The Japanese drama she had written the script for before, The Big Sister Head is a Teacher, had very high ratings in Japan, and also had a fixed fan base in her home country. And she herself also had the idea of writing a movie script. This had attracted the attention of a film company. They also knew that this talented young author also had the talent of a seat editor. They had tried to cooperate with her.
The company that had found her was called Starship Pictures. They wanted Yu Linna to adapt an IP from Japan and localize it into a Chinese movie script. Because Yu Linna had written a script for Japan before, and the drama she had written had high ratings in Japan, they had thought of her.
The original name of this IP they had bought from Japan was Ace Gambler. It was a youth manga that had been serialized in Japan many years ago. It started with a young man who was self-deprecating and lived alone. Because he couldn’t find a job, he had thought of gambling. Because of his innate gambling talent and his high-stakes mentality, he had once become an undefeated gambling king in the casino, until he was involved in a gamble called “life and death”…
After this manga was animated, it was still okay in the Japanese domestic market. Although Yu Linna had not seen it, she had heard of such an anime. It was about ten years ago. This manga was adapted into a movie for the first time, but the result was too horrible to look at. It had fully let the Japanese audience understand what it means to be “tragically live-action.” The score of this movie was also quite bad, and the male protagonist was even portrayed as a scumbag, which made the audience feel very uncomfortable. After that, this IP was bought by China, but they had never been able to find a suitable opportunity to turn it into a movie.
After all, such an IP based on a manga adaptation, no one had any experience. And it was also a Japanese IP. The thought of it was a big headache. It wasn’t until recently that they had seen the news that Shion-sensei had written a script for a Japanese drama, and it had unexpectedly become a hit in Japan, that they had mustered up the courage to find Shion-sensei.
Yu Linna looked at the outline of this drama and thought for a long time, not knowing whether to accept it or not. Actually, the scripts she had received were not just this one. There were also scripts from many other companies, but most of them were for TV series, and only this one was for a movie.
And there was also the request for the script of the fourth season of The Smile of the Rose.
Ever since the first season of the web series The Smile of the Rose had ended, Yu Linna had left the show. And after that, the score of this show had been getting worse and worse, and its popularity had also been getting lower and lower. Without her as a screenwriter, the quality of this show had indeed dropped a lot. Recently, the producer of this company had been crying and begging her to return to the show.
“Shion-sensei, it’s really not possible without you. Please come back. We will hand over the entire script of the fourth season of this drama to you. You can change it however you want. If the money is not enough, we can discuss it.”
“But didn’t I also say at the beginning that I would only write the first season?”
“We can talk about it slowly, Shion-sensei. When we were producing the first season, we didn’t have enough funds and couldn’t satisfy you. Now we have enough funds. We can talk about how much money you want. How about this? How about five million?”
To invite her to be a screenwriter, Director Guo Rui had not hesitated to spend a lot of money, pleading with her to come. Such a price could even hire a big star, and this was a web series. Such a high price was really not necessary.
“Director Guo, isn’t this a bit too high? Is it necessary to be like this?”
“As long as you can come back, any amount of money is worth it. I know my own ability is limited, and I can’t write such a great story with a screenwriter. But you are different. This drama, without you, we simply cannot film it smoothly. Sooner or later, we will be shooting ourselves in the foot.”
“I’ll think about it.”
Because of Director Guo Rui’s strong request, Yu Linna had no choice but to seriously consider this matter. The other party had offered such a high price. She couldn’t just refuse, right? Most importantly, the other party had shown sincerity. She couldn’t be perfunctory either.
But to pick up this job again, how should she put it? The subtle feeling was incredible.
She was very interested in the movie script. It was also her first time adapting an IP into a script. As for how to change it, that was something to think about slowly. As for the TV series, she hadn’t really wanted to write it, but…
Sigh, writing a script is so troublesome.
Yu Linna suddenly felt that writing a novel was actually a very easy thing to do.
After the phone call was over, Yu Linna went on Weibo for a while and found that the photos of her at the signing event were being crazily spread online. Many people had even used them as their avatars. Just how much did these people like her?
Basically everyone knew that she was Shion-sensei, and her name was Yu Linna. As for her family background and background, Yu Linna had asked Wenqing to help suppress it, and had not let anyone investigate it. Nonsense. She didn’t want others to know that Yu Linna was an orphan, a poor and helpless child. There was no why. She just didn’t want so many people to know. This was probably a state that many orphans would have.
Yu Linna thought that since she was free, she wanted to visit Ye Zhiyun on set. Ye Zhiyun was currently filming in Shandong. It was not realistic to go and find her. She had heard that she was filming a comedy movie, and it was about to be finished, and would be released soon.
She made a video call to her.
Ye Zhiyun answered after a while. A slightly tired face appeared on the screen.
“Nana, have you eaten? Why are you looking for me so early today?”
“Zhiyun, is your work done?”
“It’s long since wrapped up. It’s in post-production now. It’s going to be released on New Year’s Day. It will be quite busy.”
Ye Zhiyun said with a smile. It was just that this smile of hers had too much bitterness, and fatigue.
When she had seen her a while ago, she was clearly radiant with delight, with a beaming smile. How come her smile now looked a little fake, as if she were forcing herself to smile?
Yu Linna was a little uneasy.
“Zhiyun, are you tired? Don’t be too busy. You should still rest when you should.”
“Don’t worry, I know this. By the way, I’ve seen your photos on Weibo. They’re very beautiful~ Congratulations. You’re one step closer to your dream. If you keep this up, you’ll leave me behind~”
Although Ye Zhiyun was smiling and congratulating her girlfriend, in fact, her heart was a little unwilling.
How could Yu Linna not know?
She was such a proud, such a stubborn person. The project she had fought for herself had not been successful. She was quite unwilling, had spent money to get drunk, to numb herself. Actually, she was more stubborn than anyone else, more proud than anyone else. She didn’t want to fail. She wanted to win. In her eyes, there were only two concepts: winning and losing.
Her self-esteem was too strong. Sometimes it would often become a shackle, just like Yu Linna’s stubbornness before. These would affect their career paths.
But Ye Zhiyun would not change, at least not now.
“Zhiyun, you’d better not be too hard on yourself. It’s fine even if you fail. I’m still here, aren’t I? I don’t care how you do. As long as you do it, I think that’s my pride.”
She comforted.
After hearing this, Ye Zhiyun’s smile faded.
“Nana, you don’t understand. What I want, you don’t understand.”
“What do you mean, Zhiyun? I’m also worried about you.”
“I know. I’m very grateful to you. This is sincere. But this is the path I have chosen myself. No matter what, I have to win.”
“…”
“Don’t be too serious. I’m not that scary~”
Ye Zhiyun saw that the atmosphere was a little wrong and took the initiative to show a smile to ease the atmosphere. This smile of hers was much better than the fake smile just now, at least much more sincere.
“I’m sorry, Nana, for being so fierce to you. I’ll be back soon. Let’s spend the New Year together. I’ll take you back. Don’t miss me. I’m hanging up now.”
After hanging up the phone, Yu Linna put down her phone. Her right hand hung down. She looked at this cold winter, a look of confusion in her eyes.
Her career did indeed have a new lease on life, and she was gradually on the rise. But Ye Zhiyun was not. She was still in the exploratory stage. When her popularity was rising, Ye Zhiyun was still troubled, lost in the path she couldn’t find.
Could she find her own direction? Yu Linna didn’t know either.
After all, she couldn’t really solve her troubles for her.
In the cold wind, the cars on the road drove past, raising a cloud of dust. Yu Linna put her phone back in her pocket, blew a hot breath into her hands, put on her sunglasses and mask, and went out alone.
…
Chenghe Film Company. Yu Tianchen was alone in the reception room and handed a thick envelope to an honest-looking man. This man’s face was full of fear, but after taking the thick envelope, the joy on his face increased a few notches.
“This is what we agreed on. Not a single cent is missing. Go back and count it.”
“Thank you, Manager Yu.”
Yu Tianchen smiled and didn’t say anything more. This kind of work was already a habit for him, and he had been doing it for a long time.
“Manager, is this really okay?”
“What, you don’t believe me?”
“No, no, how could I dare?”
“In any case, I’ve also told you. That was an accident. It was that girl Nangong Ying who was disobedient, so God punished her. It’s just that I didn’t expect such a dramatic scene. Forget it. As long as we don’t talk about this, no one will know. You just keep it to yourself.”
“Yes, yes, definitely, definitely.”
Yu Tianchen looked at the street outside the window. His office lights were not on, and he was in darkness, but he didn’t feel uncomfortable. On the contrary, he felt it was quite wonderful.
Nangong Ying’s agent was already like that now. Chenghe had no intention of wasting time on them. But to be honest, there were too many accidents. No one would have thought that it would develop in that direction.
But that was also fine. Anyway, that troublemaker was also dead. No matter how you investigated, it wouldn’t come to this. They didn’t have to worry at all now.
Yu Tianchen pushed his glasses and turned around. The moonlight tonight was unexpectedly dim.
