44: The Temptation to Go Home

The next afternoon, Chen Ting was still in his office. He had originally thought that Lu Qingyu had just been acting on a whim yesterday, but he didn't expect him to come again today.

Lu Qingyu knocked on the door: "Boss, could I borrow your office for a moment?"

Chen Ting's body stiffened as he had a bad premonition. He wanted to refuse, but Lu Qingyu walked straight in: "Boss, I brought you some coffee. Didn't you say the coffee downstairs was good?"

Chen Ting wailed internally; it was over, how could anyone refuse that?

And so, Lu Qingyu occupied Chen Ting's office again, working until ten o'clock at night.

Chen Ting kept him company at the risk of his own life, but he had already made up his mind that he absolutely had to go out on business tomorrow.

On the third day, when Lu Qingyu arrived, he didn't see Chen Ting. The secretary at the door said directly to him: "The boss has gone out on business. He said you can use the office as you please."

Lu Qingyu was a little puzzled. When the secretary went over the schedule with him yesterday, she hadn't mentioned any outdoor activities. He had even brought the boss some dessert, but unfortunately, he wouldn't be able to eat it.

Meanwhile, the boss Chen Ting, who was being missed by Lu Qingyu, was currently out drinking with friends.

In the past, Chen Ting rarely went out, so his friends were puzzled as to why he had come out today.

"Old Chen, how do you have time to come out and drink with us today?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Ting raised his wine glass to hide his expression. If he said it was because he was afraid of his subordinate employee, wouldn't he be laughed to death?

"Haven't seen you in a long while, I missed you."

On Wang Ning's side, the last time he called his mother to say he wasn't returning to his hometown, his mother had been very angry. She had been looking forward to her son coming back and even had people around her wanting to introduce him to a potential partner, but then he suddenly called to say he had found a job.

It just so happened that Second Granduncle was at their house when he called. This Second Granduncle studied the I Ching, the Five Elements, and Qi Men Dun Jia. After doing some quick mental calculations, he said that Wang Ning had met a noble person in his fate this time and that if he worked hard, he would definitely rise to success. His mother then let it go.

And when Wang Ning heard Second Granduncle say this, he was thrilled.

People in the film industry believed in this the most. Every crew held a sacrificial ceremony before starting production. Because they were an online drama with a limited budget, they had skipped it. Now that Second Granduncle was here, he asked Second Granduncle to calculate a release time for the online drama to see when it would go viral.

Second Granduncle actually gave him a time: this Friday.

"the temptation to go home" now had over forty episodes edited. Releasing it on Friday was perfectly fine, and the rest could be edited as they were released.

So Wang Ning sent a message to Lu Qingyu to see what his opinion was.

Then Lu Qingyu replied to Wang Ning with two words: "Sure."

"the temptation to go home" didn't even have a trailer before it officially landed on TikTok, Kuaishou, and Bilibili.

He released ten episodes in a row. Wang Ning was incredibly nervous, refreshing the page basically every ten minutes.

This was his first time being entrusted with such a heavy responsibility, and being unconditionally trusted by the boss, with everything handed over to him, he was afraid of failing Lu Qingyu's expectations.

In the two or three hours since the video was posted, it had received a few dozen likes, but that was too few. Compared to the clips of those hit TV dramas, it was at a flop level.

Wang Ning thought about it and angrily spent ten thousand yuan on promotion. The promotion went through, the view counts went up, and the likes came in, but Wang Ning knew clearly that this was the result of him spending money—it just made the data look better, nothing else had changed.

Wang Ning was also a bit anxious. If even after spending money it still couldn't be promoted, then this drama was truly a flop.

Because no one had ever shot this kind of short dramas before, and their quality wasn't particularly good, the moment he thought about these issues, Wang Ning felt like he was going crazy.

He couldn't help but send a message to Lu Qingyu: "Little Boss, should we try finding film critics to do some promotion?"

Lu Qingyu had already watched the video when Wang Ning posted it. The production was not bad, and it was bound to be a hit; it just needed time to ferment.

Film critics were good at evaluating movies. If they had film critics talk about their kind of web drama, they would first be criticized to death—after all, the production quality was right there—so they wouldn't look for film critics.

Wang Ning was just too anxious right now, and the only way to relieve anxiety that Lu Qingyu knew was: work.

Thus, Wang Ning didn't receive any comfort from Lu Qingyu; instead, he received over a dozen files.

"The Supporting Female Character Reborn to Beat the Legitimate Daughter," "The Noble House Matriarch Reborn and Not Marrying," "The CEO's Runaway Sweetheart," "The Heiress Arrives, the Richest Man Begs for Mercy"---

Wang Ning: ---

With sixteen files sent over, Wang Ning immediately perked up.

This time, the budget wasn't as shabby as before. Lu Qingyu had earned copyright fees for three songs, so the budget for each drama was higher.

Wang Ning: "Little Boss, which one should we shoot first? Should we wait until the reaction to 'the temptation to go home' comes out before shooting?"

This was a path no one had walked before, and Wang Ning still felt a little unsure while walking it.

Although Lu Qingyu had tossed so many scripts over, Wang Ning thought they would shoot them one by one, but who knew Lu Qingyu would reply directly: "You make a filming schedule, establish five teams, and shoot five scripts at once."

Wang Ning was shocked when he saw Lu Qingyu's message. Shoot five at once? What was he trying to do?

The market for short dramas was huge. As long as "the temptation to go home" became a hit, everyone would see this market, and then quite a few people would start following the trend. Lu Qingyu had to establish their unshakeable position before everyone else made their move.

Wang Ning didn't know Lu Qingyu's intention; he hadn't witnessed the power of short dramas, so he naturally felt that Lu Qingyu was taking a risk.

"Little Boss, wouldn't that be too much?"

Lu Qingyu: "No, make a project proposal before tonight."

Wang Ning still felt it wasn't reliable. He wanted to discuss it with the Little Boss again—what if they all flopped?

But the next moment, Lu Qingyu sent him a red envelope of 8,888. "Thanks for your hard work, treat the employees to coffee."

Wang Ning: "Thank you, Boss, I guarantee I will complete the mission."

Help, what kind of company has 8 employees drinking over 8,000 worth of coffee? Wasn't this just the boss rewarding him? With such a good boss, all he had to do was get to work.

Wang Ning felt an unprecedented sense of destiny. This boss was his true destined one.

With new work content, and this time Lu Qingyu had provided a larger budget—not as shabby as before—Wang Ning immediately found a decent studio, so he didn't have to live in the tiny room where four people felt crowded.

It was already past seven in the evening. Wang Ning finished his meal and continued working. He was so happy doing this work; he had never liked working so much before. The boss's coffee was truly delicious.

Once Wang Ning started working, he immediately emerged from the anxiety of worrying about the viewership rate of "the temptation to go home." By the time he finished working, it was already past two in the morning, and he collapsed onto the sofa and fell asleep.

And this little web drama, which had only been released for ten episodes, suddenly saw its viewership skyrocket starting from after eleven o'clock.