Jian Jing was worried about money.
She asked Fang Limin for a commission fee, mainly because she was unhappy with his style of doing things and didn't want to work for free, but when the money was actually transferred to her account, she didn't know what to use it for.
She had used the previous manuscript fees to buy real estate, and now there didn't seem to be any need to buy more.
She thought about it and found her own fund manager to buy her funds and stocks for investment. Even if there was a loss, it was free money so she wouldn't feel bad about it. If the returns were good, she would donate a portion to charity.
Perfect.
With the money issue resolved, it was time to cast Demon 2.
Just as Director Huang expected, it had completely entered the stage of fierce competition.
Many people in the industry looked favorably on the Demon Doctor series, and everyone wanted a piece of the pie, whether through their own capabilities, powerful backers, or both.
But casting had not yet begun.
Director Huang used "polishing the script" as an excuse and hadn't opened his mouth about it.
Privately, he told Jian Jing the truth: "After seeing Xie Wei's performance, I really can't settle for anyone else."
Jian Jing was silent.
Shao Meng's acting skills were already remarkable. Finding a replacement would not be easy, let alone reaching Xie Wei's level in ten years. There were few in the industry who could compare.
She was a little doubtful about the second pill.
But things in the world are so unpredictable. Just when everyone was ridiculing it, a turning point emerged.
A 35-year-old male actor contacted Director Huang and said he was willing to consider playing the demon after reading the script.
Who was so famous?
A Best Actor winner.
Well, that was fine then.
He was Xie Wei's senior brother under the same mentor. They had a good relationship in the past. He had also helped connect Xie Wei a few times, but later withdrew from the film and television industry due to health reasons, only occasionally making cameo appearances in friends' films.
Before Xie Wei committed suicide, she had sent this senior brother a farewell email.
But he was on vacation abroad at the time, away from the internet, and did not immediately receive the message. After seeing the email, he immediately watched the Demon film and books, and asked around the industry circle before contacting Director Huang.
Of course, he spoke very clearly.
Xie Wei had only mentioned to him, "If I hadn't reached this point, Demon might have allowed me to return to the public eye, but unfortunately, I have no way forward anymore."
So if he was not satisfied with the script, he would not accept the role, but if the script was good, he would consider it.
Director Huang was overjoyed. Changing the lead actor in a franchise was a big taboo. Even with the demon's ability to change faces in the setting, it might not erase the audience's first impression.
Without a strong enough replacement for Shao Meng, the drama would inevitably come under great scrutiny.
Flying Bird had hesitated to finalize things, also to avoid public opinion in this regard.
But if it was the returning Best Actor... there shouldn't be much of an issue.
He started pushing the writing team on the script.
Each slacker had their own laziness, but workaholics were all similar. Once Director Huang entered work mode, he didn't recognize anyone, and even dragged Jian Jing into meetings on the script for hours until she was nauseated.
Every meeting had parts that got overturned, and new suggestions put forward. Because filming a TV series was different than literary creation where you could just type away on the keyboard. You had to consider how to film the scenes, how to present the visuals, the length of each episode.
Of course, you also had to consider the investor's ideas.
Jian Jing had gone twice, the only consolation being that she didn't have to do the rewrites herself.
Even so, she didn't want to participate anymore, and used her privilege to just look at the final draft, then escaped under the pretext of working on a new book.
This wasn't a complete lie either.
She had already revised Rose, Gold and Killers once.
Kang Mu Cheng's suggested edits were very restrained. Where there were imperfections, he tried his best to keep her original faint emotions when she was writing.
Jian Jing only needed to fix some logical bugs, and delete some parts.
The deletions were at Kang Mu Cheng's suggestion.
He said, "Once you write romance, people will definitely compare it to other love stories. To be honest, I don't think you'll have the advantage. Some of your fans like you because you don't write romance, while other romance writers all have their diehard fans. Once they start fighting, you'll definitely lose out."
Jian Jing had just reached a million sales. If people could find a chance to badmouth her, wouldn't they be overjoyed?
So, "hinting without revealing, resembling but not confirming, is most suitable." He was quite experienced. "We won't use romance to promote it, or characterize it that way. Let readers discern and analyze for themselves."
Jian Jing agreed with his viewpoint.
Moreover, after finishing writing and leaving it alone for a while before going back to read the previous text, she could detect that although she had restrained herself when writing, some expressions still revealed too much.
At that time, she was still feeling turmoil over Xie Wei's death, and projected it into her writing, inevitably leaving moments of outpouring.
Jian Jing eventually deleted all these sections, changing them to more subtle depictions, sometimes flowers, sometimes the wind, or just the fruit in the fridge.
At a glance it was only casual prose, but a careful taste, looking at the previous text, one would know the wind left traces as it passed.
After submitting this draft, Kang Mu Cheng felt it was ready.
But he still called her to Golden Crow to personally have her select the illustrator.
"We won't overpromote it, but we have to let readers know you've made a change this time," Kang Mu Cheng said. "The first impression of a book is the title and cover. I won't say anything about your title, provocative enough. But the cover must be carefully chosen."
Jian Jing couldn't help but chuckle, joking with him: "Aren't you afraid people will be unhappy that you're playing favorites?"
"Everyone already knows I favor you," Kang Mu Cheng called for the secretary to bring coffee and made her work. "Pick it out this afternoon, no slacking off."
Jian Jing obediently got to work.
She didn't often come to Golden Crow. Today she occupied a small conference room. The secretary came in at intervals to deliver coffee, deliver snacks, extremely attentive.
Seeing this, the other employees couldn't resist gossiping.
When Jian Jing went to the bathroom, she heard people chatting about her outside.
"Hey, have you heard? The little princess is here."
"Ms. Jian? How rare, I've been here over two years and haven't seen her once."
"I just saw her, over by the conference room, very beautiful."
"What's she doing here? Can't be to renew her contract right? I heard Morning Star has been trying to poach her."
"Ms. Jian probably won't leave. Mr. Kang treats her so well."
"True. You think the rumors are real..."
There were footsteps approaching outside, and the gossipers stopped talking.
Jian Jing regretfully didn't get to hear everything before returning to the conference room to continue looking through the portfolio.
Effort pays off, and after struggling for an afternoon she finally found a suitable one.
Kang Mu Cheng looked it over and nodded, immediately contacting the person to start work.
"I can go on vacation now right?" Jian Jing asked.
Kang Mu Cheng glanced at her and relented: "Fine, should I have my driver take you home?"
Jian Jing looked at her watch, after 4pm, just about time to find a place for dinner: "No need, I saw a new restaurant nearby, I'll grab a bite and head back myself later."
Kang Mu Cheng did not insist.
He had been quite busy lately, and could not attend to her for the moment, only urging: "Call me if anything comes up."
Jian Jing nodded.
As if recalling something, he suddenly asked: "Has anyone been looking for you recently?"
She raised her brows.
Of course.
Lu Yu.
The rich young master had both money and leisure time, and was always patient towards people he took an interest in.
He had appeared on all her social media accounts.
Following her Weibo, constantly sending WeChat friend requests. If she didn't respond, he would send text messages. Sometimes even calling to ask if she was free for a meal.
Every time she said she was busy, but he didn't give up.
The flower shop sent people to her apartment complex daily to deliver the freshest bouquets, roses, lilies, baby's breath, orange dahlias, lavender... continuously changing it up.
In a few days, the people in the homeowners' group all knew that a rich young master was pursuing someone in the community.
Everyone was guessing who it was.
Jian Jing of course didn't want her privacy to be discovered, so she said to the security guard who delivered the flowers: "Don't send the flowers up anymore, take them for your girlfriend."
The young security guard was very surprised: "How did you know I have a girlfriend?"
Jian Jing said: "I heard you talking to her on the phone before."
The young guard smiled embarrassedly.
Lu Yu soon realized this, and changed to sending desserts instead without making a fuss.
This time, it was the cleaner's turn to benefit.
Jian Jing knew the property staff were gossipy, and most were likely bribed by Lu Yu, so she didn't want to fill their stomachs. Instead, she gave all the desserts to the cleaner who cleaned this building.
This aunty was over fifty, worked efficiently and diligently, and of course took advantage of the homeowners. She often went through the trash bags and took usable things home.
Jian Jing didn't give her things for free. She either had her throw things away or clean extra around her door, and only after finishing would she give her the desserts: "For your daughter to eat."
Naturally the cleaner was happy to do so.
Lu Yu persisted like this for half a month, with no results, and couldn't stand it anymore.
Last night, he deliberately waited for her at the community entrance and asked: "Won't you even give me a chance?"
Jian Jing asked back: "Is little Rou okay?"
Lu Yu was stunned for a moment, then understood what she meant. He said, "I'm serious about you."
She was curious: "How serious?"
"Like little Yan and Rong Rong," he said. "Seriously dating."
"Shouldn't that be how it is?" Jian Jing said lightly. "If you were like your uncle, I would have already taught you a lesson."
Lu Yu was confused: "My uncle?" Shouldn't it be like little Yan? Why would it be... He suddenly understood, his expression changing drastically as he looked at her in shock.
Jian Jing raised the corners of her lips and stabbed him again: "You and your uncle have quite similar taste. As expected, no matter their age, men like twenty-year-old girls."
Lu Yu took a deep breath and said decisively: "We're not the same."
"Then it has nothing to do with me," Jian Jing dismissed insincerely. "I'm still young and want to focus on studying first."
But Lu Yu hesitated.
He was twenty-seven, and Jian Jing had just turned twenty-one this year - six years was not a small gap.
"Why don't we try being friends first?" she asked again.
Of course being friends was good progress, so Lu Yu immediately agreed.
Jian Jing went home calmly.
With her eyes closed, she knew why Lu Yu was interested in her. The classic lines from CEO romance novels had already explained the essence - it was nothing more than "Woman, you have attracted my attention."
Once they were different from the norm, the men would inevitably be drawn in. The more aloof and defiant the women were, the more it would arouse the men's desire to conquer. In this game, both sides would see each other's merits, and love would gradually sprout.
So by taking the initiative to be friendly, Lu Yu would likely lose interest and stop bothering her.
But she couldn't tell this to Kang Mu Cheng.
Jian Jing smiled slightly: "I'm fine."
Kang Mu Cheng paused for a moment, but didn't say anything more.