Chapter 49.2 - The World’s Trashiest Team Has Officially Arrived!

Song Yucheng moved very quickly after receiving Tang Zhi’s answer and contacted Picture Domain to get ready to sign Tang Zhi from their end.

Meanwhile, Cao Kun couldn’t help but frown after hearing the news and wondered if Song Yucheng had started to let it get to his head.

Cao Kun wasn’t stupid and could naturally see that Song Yucheng only signed Tang Zhi on the surface. The main reason was that he was most likely trying to get back at Ding Mingcheng and was preparing for his downfall.

Even so, he felt that Song Yucheng’s move was too ambitious. After all, Ding Mingcheng was not an idiot like that paparazzi, Luo Tong.

And as expected, less than five minutes after news of Song Yucheng was released, Cao Kun received a call from Ding Mingcheng.

“Cao Kun, it’s not that I’m not giving you any respect, but that your subordinate is being too insolent! I’ve said it before, I will bury anyone who dares to use Tang Zhi.” Ding Mingcheng’s attitude was arrogant as usual.

“I won’t say anything else, but our brotherly friendship cannot be affected just because of some minor actor. Rest assured, I will not move against your family. However, if he gives any resources to Tang Zhi, then don’t blame me for turning against you.”

After he finished speaking, Ding Mingcheng hung up the phone. His attitude was impolite to the extreme.

Cao Kun’s interest was piqued. He stared at the phone for a while before leisurely sending a text to Song Yucheng. Shortly after that, Cao Kun received Song Yucheng’s reply and almost burst into laughter.

“Don’t worry, President Cao. Soon, he won’t have the time to bother about Tang Zhi.”

So he had something up his sleeve? Cao Kun knew Song Yucheng well enough to know that this man would never mention matters he was not able to do. Coa Kun wanted to ask Song Yucheng what he was going to do, but before he could do so, he received a call from Lu Mian.

“Go to the airport. Now.” Lu Mian’s tone held a hint of urgency.

There was no way Cao Kun could refuse, so he hurriedly agreed. “Yes, I’ll be right there.” Then he took his car keys and left the office. As for the previous matter of contacting Song Yucheng to question him, he had already thrown it to the back of his mind.

On the other end of the call, Lu Mian remained expressionless at the proactiveness Cao Kun showed. On the contrary, it was Lu Mian’s subordinate who found the situation odd. It was because he knew that what Lu Mian wanted Cao Kun to pick up at the airport was not some important personage. Rather, it was an alpaca that Lu Mian ordered online a few days ago.

Could it be that Mr. Lu simply disliked Cao Kun coming into contact with Xie Qianchen and that that was why he sent him on an errand? When he recalled the several ambiguous encounters between his boss and Song Yucheng recently, the secretary suddenly felt like he had stumbled upon a very important secret.

While Lu Mian kept Cao Kun busy, Song Yucheng did not remain idle either. He did not sign Bao Siwei and the others simply because he wanted to make up the numbers. He wanted results too.

Therefore, he got extremely busy after the contracts were signed and the three of them reported to the company.

Previously, Cao Kun had said that Song Yucheng would be given priority for all the resources available in Picture Domain. Song Yucheng did not stand on ceremony and directly asked for the biggest practice room and recording studio.

“There is no time.” This was what Song Yucheng said the moment the three entered the room. “I’ll be upfront. I’m not like your former managers. I do not bother with talentless losers. If you cannot bear the suffering, then you can leave now.”

“No! We can do it.” The three of them spoke in unison. Even a gentle girl like Bai Siwei had a firm tone.

After all, they had been suppressed for too long. Over the past few years, they had either been overworked, treated unfairly, or had their resources forcefully snatched away. Every single one of them already had a lot of resentment and unwillingness stored in their hearts.

And now, Song Yucheng was giving them a chance to prove themselves. How could they possibly feel that it was too hard? After all, they had already experienced the darkest and lowest moment of their lives. In their opinion, their current situation was like heaven.

Immediately afterward, Song Yucheng proved just how naive their thoughts were. It was at this moment that they finally understood how Shen Yi was able to improve his acting skills to his current level in just two weeks.

Song Yucheng…… was a terrifying Demon King.

Although the instructors at Picture Domain were strict, it was still within acceptable range. However, Song Yucheng was different. He was truly terrifying to the point they would physically tremble.

Song Yucheng’s way of coaching was different from the other instructors. He was particularly harsh towards Bai Siwei and Hao Yi, who already had some background in acting.

He first overturned and broke down everything they understood about acting techniques before injecting new knowledge bit by bit. On the day they received that new knowledge, they were required to understand it thoroughly by the end of it.

Bai Siwei was a little better off, but Hao Yi suffered greatly. Song Yucheng immediately threw him into a cast of extras.

Song Yucheng’s connections within the industry truly were overwhelming. It might be difficult to find a bigger role like a supporting actor, but it was far too simple to find a role of an extra who only needed to say one or two lines. And Hao Yi played these roles in the midst of major production crews every day. From a 70-year-old man to a 17-year-old beggar. There were only roles he could not think of, but none that Song Yucheng could not find.

Despite running around acting as an extra during the day, he had no rest at night. Song Yucheng would bring video footage and analyse it for him. He would even set up a video camera no matter when or where, so that Hao Yi could rehearse over and over again.

As for Bai Siwei, she received training in line work.

In Song Yucheng’s words, Bai Siwei’s skills in acting out her lines was simply terrible. It was no different from a cardboard cutout. He had even put her in the same class as Qi Luo.

Qi Luo had been personally taught by Song Yucheng, so although he had not yet made his debut, his fundamentals were solid. Qi Luo himself had a simple personality and would do things with single-minded focus, very much like a madman obsessed with acting. In less than 10 minutes, Bai Siwei’s confidence had shattered into a million pieces and dissipated with the wind.

After being an actor for so many years, how was she no match for a little kid who hadn’t even debuted yet? Under Qi Luo’s crushing pressure, Bai Siwei started practising like crazy. She only wished to not lag too far behind Qi Luo.

After one week of such intensive training, Hao Yi and the others felt that they had learned more within this time than what they had learned in their original company for a year. Furthermore, their skills and foundation were rapidly becoming more solid.

And it was during this period of time that another major event happened in the circle. The short film about public welfare that Song Yucheng had asked Cao Kun to help him with had finally been reviewed and released. Shockingly, the broadcast schedule given made everyone speechless.

Not only on national TV, but all TV channels with the 8:00 prime time slot were asked to cancel some of the advertisements in that time slot within a month and replace them with Song Yucheng’s short film. Meanwhile, the online broadcasting platforms were similarly ordered to remove their original advertisements and replace them with this one.

These actions had caused a wave of dissatisfaction as they felt that it was too overbearing. No matter how beneficial this was to public welfare, it did not necessitate taking up an enormous amount of resources to spread it! Moreover, such intensive publicity might not necessarily be a good thing even if it was about public welfare and might instead trigger disgust among the audience.

For a while, those who were forced to cancel their publicity and advertisement slots expressed their dissatisfaction and protested.

However, these protests did not amount to anything, and the decision from above remained unchanged.

“Hehe, I’m just waiting for Xie Qianchen to fail.”

“What kind of public service advertisement can be so amazing to the extent that the higher ups ordered this? Even if it’s Wen Ran in charge, what can it be?”

“I’ve really had enough. This Xie Qianchen guy has been popping up too much recently! He’s everywhere! At this point, I don’t think he’s a manager, but an artist debuting in the C position!”

Note: C position means centre position.

“He’s also debuting? He survived this audit with that bunch of trash in his hands, but he won’t survive the next one.”

Almost half of the entire industry had had their interests harmed this time and were just waiting for Song Yucheng to crash and burn. However, these voices disappeared once the short film was released.

Not only did they disappear, they were also viciously slapped in the face.

They had never expected that the theme publicised this time would be about fathers. The short film that Song Yucheng had planned was so touching that it did not feel like a public welfare advertisement at all. Instead, it was like a literary movie that could be sent to a competition.

Unlike Wen Ran’s previous treacherous and dark style, the first segment of the film was so warm that it made people want to smile.

It was a woman in a wedding dress reminiscing about the past.

“There was a man who loved me very much when I was a child.”

With the woman’s gentle voice, the memories slowly unfolded.

Candy in kindergarten, pink hair clips in elementary school, the care she experienced when she was sick in middle school, the expectation and embrace in high school, the tears and reluctance at the train station when she left for university. And finally, the moment she put on the wedding dress.

The man on the screen had a blurred figure and face, but everyone couldn’t help smiling along with him.

The reversal followed. When the wedding march sounded, the man’s figure, too, was finally revealed.

The hand that appeared was not of a young man’s as everyone had thought, nor was the face the handsome and dashing face of one. It was an old man with trembling hands and grey hair on his temples. He held the movie queen’s hand while his eyes were filled with blessings despite his reluctance. It was easy to distinguish his identity. He was her father.

“In this world, there is only one man who will love you with everything he has, and it’s Daddy.” The movie queen’s voice was choked with sobs, but it was more nostalgic and happy.

The next second, the scene changed and what appeared on the screen was Li Xuyang.

“Not every father is loving. There are cranky ones too.” This was Li Xuyang’s segment.

As a child, he hated his father. As a teenager, he didn’t understand and argued. And as a young man, they spent less and less time together, and their relationship gradually grew cold.

In the end, his dad had a bit of Alzheimer’s and Li Xuyang went back to visit. The long period of silence was very uncomfortable and he was at a loss when he stood together in the kitchen with his father while cooking dumplings.

It was not till he wanted to scoop out the cooked dumplings that the awkward silence was truly shattered.

His father suddenly held him by the wrist and said, “Keep, keep half of it. My child likes to eat this stuffing.”

Tears instantly burst from his eyes. A grown man in his thirties still cried like a child in front of his father.

“There is a man who may have forgotten everything, but he will never forget to love you. That is also a father.”

“My god! If the first part is sweet, then the second part is gut wrenching. Holy shit, I’m suddenly afraid to continue watching.” Some people couldn’t help making comments like this, but the moment the third part was released, the shock was far beyond their imagination.

No one could have predicted that Wen Ran’s skill as a screenwriter was so deep that it had reached this point.

Translator's corner

Blu: Totally not me forgetting to update. Yup yup