155: Chapter 155 Buying the Entire Mahua Drama Troupe

Arriving at the company, Jiang Fan entered his office and closed the door.

Tencent Music sent over the copyright settlement statement for last month, and the figures were quite substantial.

Half a year ago, he wouldn't even have dared to imagine these numbers; now, he just took a glance and swiped past them.

After dealing with a few emails, he pulled up the system store.

He owed Tang Yingxue a song.

Since this diva had taken the initiative to connect, the resources naturally had to keep up.

If he could bind her completely, the future path for Xinghuo Media would be much smoother.

He browsed through the Mandopop section of the store.

Tang Yingxue's voice had a natural magnetism, and her mid-to-low range was very captivating, making her well-suited for singing love songs.

But it definitely couldn't be that kind of sweet, girlish tone.

After browsing through a dozen or so songs, his gaze stopped.

"later."

Jiang Fan clicked to listen to the preview.

In his past life, it was absolute god-tier status, dominating the KTV request charts for over a decade.

There were no heart-wrenching screams, only the relief and regret that come after experiencing the vicissitudes of life.

Who couldn't belt out a couple of lines after drinking too much: "later, I finally learned how to love."

Exchange.

[Consumed Lifespan Value: 200 points]

[Obtained complete lyrics, composition, and Arrangement for "later"]

He had a lot to do these days; once the movie roles were finalized, he would spend two days polishing the Arrangement and send it over to Tang Yingxue.

The next morning, Jiang Fan arrived at the company at 8:40.

As soon as he entered the main door, Zhou Yutong poked half her head out from the reception desk and lowered her voice: "Brother Fan, Director Ning came at eight o'clock and has been in the conference room for almost an hour."

Jiang Fan paused.

They had agreed on nine o'clock; this old guy had come so early.

He pushed open the conference room door.

Director Ning Yuan was sitting at the far end of the long table, with a stack of A4 paper spread out before him, covered in dense handwriting.

Hearing the door open, he looked up and tossed the pen in his hand onto the table.

"You're late."

Jiang Fan pulled out a chair and sat down.

"I'm not late, you're just too early."

Director Ning Yuan couldn't be bothered to argue with him and directly pushed the stack of papers over.

"I've drawn up a version of the casting list; take a look. Nowadays, when filming comedies, people either act like idiots or force sentimentality. Audiences don't buy that anymore. Your script is good, but if the actors can't handle it, it's all for nothing."

Jiang Fan looked down and scanned it.

Behind each role were the names of three or four backup actors, with their strengths, weaknesses, and schedule availability clearly marked.

Director Ning Yuan pushed his chair back half a foot and propped one leg up.

"For the character of Xia Luo, the core is the word 'shameless.' Those delicate, pampered male leads from idol dramas in the industry definitely won't work; putting them in would disgust the audience to death."

Jiang Fan put the stack of papers back on the table and tapped the surface with his finger.

"That's why we can't look for those wooden posts who only know how to pose for the camera. We need to find people who have struggled and gained experience on stage, people who know how to resonate with the audience. There are some candidates I want you to meet."

Director Ning Yuan raised his eyebrows.

"Who?"

"Let's go, I'm taking you somewhere."

Li Cheng acted as the driver, taking them all the way to the west side of the city.

The car rattled along the road for forty minutes before turning into a dilapidated old street.

The street was very deserted.

Besides a shoe repair stall by the roadside and a deserted noodle shop, all the other storefronts had their rolling shutters pulled down.

The car stopped in front of an old three-story building.

Director Ning Yuan got out of the car, craned his neck, and stared at the plaque above the main entrance.

"Mahua Theater Troupe."

"A theater troupe?" Director Ning Yuan turned to look at Jiang Fan.

"Yes."

"You dragged me all this way to watch a play?"

His tone was already filled with impatience.

Jiang Fan didn't respond; he stepped forward, pushed open the iron door with rusted handles, and walked straight inside.

Inside was a small theater, not very big, seating at most two hundred people.

The rows of seats were old-fashioned wooden flip-seats, the red velvet fabric worn shiny, and the paint on the edges of the armrests was mostly peeled off.

On stage, a few people were gathered together arguing.

"Brother Shen, it's not that I'm being disloyal, but I've been behind on my rent for two months. The landlord is blocking the door every day; if we keep dragging this out, I'll have to sleep on the street."

The tall guy speaking looked miserable, clutching a tattered canvas bag.

The man standing in the middle was around thirty, wearing a T-shirt with a wrinkled collar from too many washes.

The troupe leader, Shen Feng.

He sighed and wiped his hands on his pant legs.

"Lun Zi, give me one more week. There's a performance next Tuesday; if we can sell half the tickets, I'll pay all the wages I owe you."

"You said the same thing last month. And what was the result? Only eight people sat in the audience, and two of them just came in to escape the rain!"

A short, thin guy next to him chimed in, his tone quite aggressive.

A woman with short hair was sitting on a prop box at the edge of the stage, holding a needle and thread, mending a suit jacket with a hole in it.

Sister Yue.

Her fingers were wrapped in band-aids, and the needle and thread wove through the rough fabric.

As she sewed, she grumbled: "Brother Shen, if we patch this suit a few more times, it'll become a 'garment of a hundred patches.' We might as well switch to performing as the Beggar Sect."

Shen Feng smiled bitterly.

The theater troupe really couldn't hold on much longer.

Jiang Fan stood in the last row of the audience and watched for two minutes.

Director Ning Yuan watched coldly from the side.

"These are the actors you found? Unprofessional amateurs who can't even afford to eat?"

"Your biggest flaw is that you're too superstitious about experience."

Jiang Fan walked forward, heading down the aisle toward the stage.

The people on stage heard the commotion, stopped arguing, and all looked over in unison.

Shen Feng's eyes lit up; he hurried to the front of the stage, forcing a professional, polite smile.

"Two bosses, are you here to scout the venue or book it? It's a bit old here, but the equipment is complete, and the price is guaranteed to be fair. Booking the whole place only costs—"

"I'm not here to watch a play," Jiang Fan interrupted him.

Shen Feng was stunned.

"Then what are you..."

Jiang Fan looked at him, his tone steady.

"Buying your entire theater troupe."

The theater fell silent.

The canvas bag in Lun Zi's hand dropped to the floor with a thud, kicking up a small cloud of dust.

Shen Feng blinked, assuming something was wrong with his ears.

"Boss, you're joking, right?"

"I don't joke."

Jiang Fan pulled over a flip-seat and sat down, the wooden chair letting out a creak.

He pointed at Shen Feng.

"You, what's your name?"

"Shen Feng."

"The ones on stage, can you make decisions for them?"

Shen Feng looked back at his brothers behind him, gritted his teeth, and nodded.

"I'm the leader; I can make decisions."

Jiang Fan took out the first half of the script he had printed yesterday from his bag and tossed it onto the edge of the stage.

"Turn to page twelve, the scene where Xia Luo crashes the wedding. I'll give you ten minutes to prepare; perform it for me. If you perform well, I'll take over the theater troupe and pay off all your debts."

Director Ning Yuan frowned continuously from the side.

He walked over and lowered his voice: "Are you crazy? Let this bunch play the leads? This is a forty-million-yuan production."

"Shut up and watch the show."

Jiang Fan didn't even look back.

Director Ning Yuan laughed in anger, pulled over a chair, sat back down, and crossed his arms.

Jiang Fan thought to himself, right now you look down on them.

In the future, when this group carries a ten-billion-yuan box office, you'll be kneeling and calling them 'Daddy.'

On stage, Shen Feng picked up the script.

He turned to page twelve.

His gaze scanned the page, and his originally relaxed shoulders slowly tensed up.

"Sister Yue, come here. You play Ma Dongmei. Lun Zi, you double up as the MC and Da Chun. A Zheng, you play Yuan Hua."

Shen Feng quickly assigned the roles.

The few of them huddled together, heads touching, quickly going over the lines.

"Everyone, perk up. This is our last chance. Forget about whether these two are crazy; even if they're just here to mess with us, we have to perform the scene properly."

Shen Feng lowered his voice to encourage his team members.

Sister Yue stared at the lines in the script, muttering to herself, trying to find the feeling while adjusting her posture.

Lun Zi was still trembling, and A Zheng slapped him on the back: "What are you shaking for? Just treat it like a normal rehearsal."