24: Chapter 24 Courage

Director Yang Yang's call came even earlier than Wu Yue had expected.

Wu Yue checked the time; it was only 12:30, so he remained even more composed.

No matter which way the opponent came from, he would stick to his own path.

"There are still a few young men you thought were good after the auditions? Is that so? Well, giving others a chance isn't out of the question. Director Yang, we can always collaborate again in the future."

"A low-budget drama? I understand, I understand. My guy's salary really isn't high. If it doesn't work out, that's fine too. Didn't you just say there were a few others you thought were good from the auditions? There's plenty of time; we can always work together in the future."

...The two of them haggled for a long time, and finally settled on 20,000 per episode.

Wu Yue knew the market inside out. Even for newcomers just entering the industry, even if they were the leads, the salary per episode might only be five or six thousand.

Of course, if it were an A-list actor, it could be as high as 1 million per episode.

For someone like Lin Chuyan who didn't have many works, it was best to quit while ahead in a low-budget drama like this, lest he provoke the director. Besides, it's always good to leave some room for maneuver so you can meet again in the future.

In Blue Star, drama salaries were calculated based on the number of episodes appeared in.

For example, in a 50-episode TV series, if Lin Chuyan only appeared in 30 episodes in the final cut, his salary would be 30 times the per-episode rate.

For the "drama" drama, Director Yang Yang's current estimate was 36 episodes. As the second male lead, he definitely wouldn't appear in every episode, so the salary he actually received would be even less, not to mention taxes.

Next was signing the contract.

The contract was paid in three installments: 30% upon the official start of filming, 40% when the filming period was halfway through, and the final 30% settled when the production wrapped.

Both parties agreed to calculate based on an estimated 20 episodes of participation, totaling 400,000, with adjustments made later if necessary.

Besides the salary, Lin Chuyan also had to cooperate with the production team for promotion.

Anyway, with Wu Yue there, he had no objections whatsoever; he just needed to be a hands-off manager.

The "drama" production team had split into A and B units in Hengdian, and they had started filming simultaneously a few days ago. After signing the contract, according to Director Yang Yang's arrangements, Lin Chuyan could go over today to take his makeup photos, and then he would have one week to familiarize himself with the script before joining the set for filming.

Yes, only one week, and no script reading session.

Lin Chuyan felt like he was always stepping in to save the day, but Wu Yue was very good at comforting him:

"Be content. Who would look at us for a normal film or TV project?"

OK, money in place, everything was easy to talk about.

Lin Chuyan put on several sets of clothes in turns, and after finishing, he changed hotels.

The production team arranged a three-star hotel for the main cast; the other staff members didn't have this luxury, which was also to control costs.

After all the fuss, it was already evening. Lin Chuyan looked at the script he had just received; he planned not to go anywhere for the next few days and had to study this Character thoroughly.

Ding! The system sound rang out.

[Congratulations to the host for completing the mission: Audition]

[Congratulations to the host for receiving the reward: Treasure Chest (Silver)]

[Congratulations to the host for receiving 5 Basic Attribute points (can be freely distributed)]

[Congratulations to the host for receiving 2 Special Skill points (can be freely distributed)]

Still no new skills unlocked, and no works... Lin Chuyan guessed it might be because the difficulty of this mission was simply incomparable to "Apprenticing under Li Mujian."

Ding! The system sound rang out in succession.

[Congratulations to the host for completing Novice Tutorial Mission 3]

[Congratulations to the host for receiving the reward: Treasure Chest (Novice Exclusive)]

[Congratulations to the host for receiving 10 Basic Attribute points (can be freely distributed)]

[Congratulations to the host for receiving 10 Special Skill points (can be freely distributed), unlocking the Special Skill "Guitar"]

[Congratulations to the host for receiving the work "courage" complete Songwriting]

The last novice tutorial mission was finally completed. I have to say, the novice exclusive treasure chest is powerful. It's a pity this should be the last one.

A rather comical thing was that Lin Chuyan glanced at the lyrics and realized that this "courage" wasn't given by Fish Leong, but by Chang Chen-yue.

How to put it? He liked it even more. The reason was simple: he could sing it!

Well, first register the copyright for the song.

More and more skills were unlocked, but unfortunately, the points were a bit insufficient.

He currently had 22 Basic Attribute points and 20 Special Skill points left. Better to save where he could; 20 points looked like a lot, but when he used them, they might not even make a splash.

Well, immediately place an order for a Guitar.

After placing the order, Ruan Xingyu sent a message. The two of them were originally online friends; being separated by distance made no difference from before, and they still chatted aimlessly every day.

Xingxing: "What are you doing?"

Lin: "Reading the script."

Xingxing: "The audition was successful, huh."

Ruan Xingyu had now accepted that he was an actor, but... it was really hard for her to see the Lin Mo in her imagination and the Lin Chuyan in reality as the same person.

Lin: "Yeah, a historical drama."

Xingxing: "Must be fun. Are you playing the male lead?"

Lin: "The second male lead, and also a Prince. I looked at the script, the male lead's rank isn't as high as mine."

Lin: "Hands on hips.JPG"

Xingxing: "Hahahaha, I'm already looking forward to this drama."

Lin: "Just took the makeup photos today. You know what, it actually looks pretty good."

Xingxing: "Want to see."

Lin: "Probably going to post on Weibo for promotion soon. I'll tell you then."

Xingxing: "Is it handsome?"

Lin: "Don't know. I don't understand you women's taste."

Xingxing: "[Image] [Image] [Image]"

Xingxing: "This kind is very handsome."

Lin: "Well, never mind then."

Xingxing: "Huh?"

Lin: "I'm a bit more handsome than them."

Xingxing: "Hmph!"

Ruan Xingyu held her phone, surprisingly not retorting. She thought about a few days ago when she had a whim and went to browse Lin Chuyan's Weibo, and even looked through all his old selfies. For some reason, she felt a little guilty.

Lin: "Gotta go, going to read the script."

Xingxing: "Goodbye, my idol friend whom I've never met."

Seeing the words "never met," Lin Chuyan recalled their agreement to "meet after the new album is released," which now seemed indefinitely delayed.

However, since they were online friends, it wouldn't matter when they met, right?

Lin Chuyan began to study the script.

The story of "drama" was also quite simple.

Character was the daughter of an imperial physician and had a talent for medicine since she was young. Proficient in medicine, she was nevertheless regarded as an outcast by those around her, suffering from all kinds of jealousy and exclusion.

By a twist of fate, Character married the Commander of the Imperial City Guard, Commander Ye Fei, and from then on, she became entangled in a series of conspiracies involving the safety of the royal family and the imperial city.

During this time, Character relied on her superb medical skills and intelligence to decipher deadly poisons, expose traitors, resolve epidemics, and even cured the Prince of Qin who suffered from a strange illness... well, that was Lin Chuyan.

And the Prince of Qin consequently fell hopelessly in love with her, staging a very cliché "two men fighting over one woman" scenario with the male lead, Commander Ye Fei.

Cliché, but effective.

Fortunately, the Prince of Qin was also a decent person and eventually stepped aside for Character and Commander Ye Fei.

It could be said that a simp ends up with nothing in the end.

In short, the female lead was overpowered in this drama, and many of the various conspiracies in the plot involved detoxifying and treating illnesses, which were designed for the female lead.

After finishing the script, Lin Chuyan specifically went to the official Weibo, which hadn't been open long, to see what the female lead looked like.

After all, she was a woman he had to fawn over; he didn't want the show to air and be criticized for having zero credibility.

Well, all he could say was that she was a quite pure and cute girl, not really Lin Chuyan's type.

For some reason, Ruan Xingyu's devastatingly beautiful face suddenly appeared in his mind—charming whether happy or angry, enchanting, and she would even call him "Brother"...

Damn, it would have to be someone like that to be convincing!