CHAPTER 35: CHAPTER 35 THE SECOND SUPPORTING CHARACTER YUN YUQING

But those words didn’t sit well with Sun Dasheng.

He simply waved his hand. "No need. This is fine. Let’s just take it slow."

He was startled when he saw the Bond Value on the panel drop from 80 to 79. He hurriedly explained, "Having you personally trim donkey hooves might grow your fanbase quickly, but it puts you in a box. Eventually, your account will be full of middle-aged and older male fans with low spending power, and that can’t be monetized."

Although his argument was logical, the young woman wasn’t so easily appeased.

This won’t do. She’s my cash cow.

He had no choice but to offer a compromise. "Fishing videos are really popular right now, aren’t they? We can let you take the stage yourself, and we’ll design a good script for you. The fans will come flocking in."

Sun Dasheng nodded upon hearing this. Makes sense!

"How about it, little one? Not angry anymore?" Sun Dasheng patted her adorable head.

Only then did Li Sili beam with joy. "You promised I could be in it myself! Uncle, you have to keep your word. Don’t back out at the last minute and replace me like you did last time."

"I swear!" Sun Dasheng swore an oath.

Seeing the Bond Value on the panel return to 80, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

「...」

If you had to ask which content niche was least welcoming to women, he wasn’t sure, but fishing was definitely one of them. Even with a brilliant script and a beautifully shot video, it wouldn’t attract many fans. All the major fishing streamers on the platform were men, without exception. Even the low-resolution videos from that one ’true man’ in the Sichuan and Chongqing area were all the rage among fishing enthusiasts. When it came to fishing, women were told to get lost and stop putting on a show.

Li Sili cheerfully went downstairs with Sun Dasheng to get ready, leaving Fang Sihan and Yun Yuqing in the room. The two had been busy with livestream selling for days and hadn’t had a proper chance to talk.

Seeing that they hadn’t followed, Sun Dasheng asked, "You two still here? Is there something else?"

Fang Sihan, who was always blunt, spoke up first. "Uncle, we’ve discovered that livestream selling is really hard! We were helping out, but we only sold a few items in two days."

"Yeah, that’s right!" Yun Yuqing nodded in agreement. "The people who do well in livestream selling are mostly from a broadcasting background. We’re acting students; we just aren’t as professional as they are in this field."

Looks like their confidence has taken a small hit. Good!

He clicked the radar scan on his panel and saw their Bond Values hadn’t budged an inch. He stroked his chin and thought to himself, It seems I really need to work on building a rapport with them.

So, he asked, "Then what would you two like to do?"

Yun Yuqing looked hesitantly toward Fang Sihan, seeming to want her to be the one to speak.

Fang Sihan, ever bold, didn’t mince words. "We still want to do something related to our major, like acting in movies or TV dramas."

Movies and TV dramas? That’s a tough one.

He didn’t have the resources for that. Even if he did, the investment would be astronomical. The bit of money he had wasn’t enough to film anything. Even if he could, the experience points he’d gain wouldn’t be worth the money he’d lose. The crucial point was that they couldn’t generate experience points for him yet.

Seeing the indecision on Sun Dasheng’s face, Fang Sihan sensed he was overthinking it. She quickly explained, "Uncle, it doesn’t cost much to shoot short dramas these days."

Yun Yuqing chimed in, "That’s right, Uncle. A lot of small media companies are shooting these short dramas. The production costs aren’t high at all."

"Is that so?" Sun Dasheng wasn’t so sure, as he had never seen one.

Fang Sihan opened a short video app and showed him a short drama. The title was *Dominant CEO: Starting as a Matrilocal Son-in-Law!*

Each episode was only a few minutes long, and the content... well, it felt somewhat familiar. Are these like those power fantasy stories I used to read in school?

Buried memories came back to haunt him.

"Do people still like watching this stuff?" Sun Dasheng asked.

"They’re incredibly popular! Not only do domestic audiences love them, but they get a ton of views overseas, too," Yun Yuqing said with a radiant smile. Every glance and expression she made was that of a classic beauty incarnate.

"But the company doesn’t have the right talent for it," Sun Dasheng said, trying to get out of it.

In truth, the moment he heard this stuff was popular, well-liked, and easy to make money from, he lost interest. He just wanted to create some money-losing ventures to bankrupt the company quickly. That way, he could harvest a wave of experience points, reinvest, and repeat the process. With a cycle like that, the experience points would come rolling in.

"That’s not a problem. Our professor knows some graduates from the Shanghai Theatre Academy’s directing department. They don’t have any projects after graduation, so we can hire them. Their rates won’t be high, and their work is good," Yun Yuqing cajoled gently.

Fang Sihan just stood by her side, nodding in agreement. When it came to persuasion, she was no match for Yun Yuqing. She was just the audacious one, daring to say whatever was on her mind.

He glanced at the eager anticipation in their eyes, then at the 56 and 59 Bond Values on his panel, and finally nodded.

"Uncle, does that mean you agree?" Yun Yuqing beamed, as radiant as a lotus after the rain.

Her Bond Value suddenly shifted, hitting 60 points, just enough to be bound.

Bind!

Supporting Character: Yun Yuqing

Occupation: Actress

Bond Value: 60

Experience Points: 0

Fang Sihan’s value also rose by 2 points, reaching 58.

It seems to be working.

"I agree in principle, but we still need to carefully consider our choice of director and screenwriter," Sun Dasheng said with a thoughtful expression.

Seeing that Sun Dasheng had agreed to let them shoot a short drama, Fang Sihan and Yun Yuqing were so overjoyed they didn’t mind the conditions.

Back in his chairman’s office, Sun Dasheng looked up the current state of the short drama market. He discovered that what the two women had said was a bit idealistic; the market still followed the Pareto principle. Only 20% of short dramas were profitable.

Now, this is what I’m talking about.

Making a profitable drama from that 20% might be difficult, but making an unprofitable one from the other 80% should be easy, right?

Still, I should add a few more layers of insurance. Talent from the Shanghai Theatre Academy is out of the question, but I can’t just grab a random person off the street to direct. I’m afraid the two of them might just quit, and if the Bond Value dropped because of it, that would be a disaster. Right, aren’t they professional art school students themselves? Perfect. When the time comes, I’ll just find someone from their school’s directing department. Their skill level will naturally be far below that of a Shanghai Theatre Academy graduate. They probably couldn’t object either. I’m doing their school a favor, after all. As for the screenwriter...

He was reminded of a certain platform where he used to read books; there were tons of writers churning out these kinds of power-fantasy stories. With that in mind, he took action. He opened the website and found the contact number for the editor in charge.

"Hello, may I ask if this is Editor Lin, who is in charge of copyrights at a certain platform?"

"Hello, this is he."

"My name is Sun Dasheng, the boss of Xinli Media. I’m interested in purchasing the rights to a few of your books."

Realizing he was speaking to a major client, Editor Lin replied with a polite smile, "Hello, Mr. Sun. Which books have caught your eye? I can check if their rights have been sold. As you know, the rights from our platform are in very high demand."

"I don’t have any specific books in mind yet. I’d like to hear some recommendations from a professional editor like yourself," Sun Dasheng said. "Oh, and they’re for shooting short dramas."

Hearing this, Editor Lin knew exactly what to do. There had been a noticeable increase in buyers looking for rights to power fantasies about overpowering protagonists, matrilocal sons-in-law, or Dragon Kings. He then offered Sun Dasheng several web novels with decent subscription numbers whose rights hadn’t been sold yet.

"These all have high subscription numbers?" Sun Dasheng asked.

"Yes, quite a few companies are interested in them. If you want one, you should act fast," Editor Lin advised.

"Oh, then I don’t want them," Sun Dasheng said nonchalantly.

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line.

"Then... what are you looking for?"

"Give me a few of the ones with the worst subscription numbers."

This remark nearly made the editor hang up. Is this guy here just to mess with me?