171: Chapter 171 Hope

Several more days passed just like that, and Li Linxian sent over a new management contract.

Everything else was fine, but major changes were made regarding the commercial ban.

Generally, four-star actors started taking on all kinds of commercial collaborations.

It could be said that a four-star actor could easily achieve financial freedom.

But Li Linxian made concessions in other areas, in an almost pleading manner, asking Meng Zhu to avoid all commercial activities as much as possible.

Meng Zhu knew this was to protect him, and he wasn't overly pretentious.

For him, having enough money in this lifetime was enough.

Just from his acting fees alone, he wasn't short of money to spend now.

Before actively preparing to shoot his next movie, Meng Zhu still put forward his final demand.

He wanted to know what the specific method to change his love-at-first-sight problem was.

Asking this question was partly out of curiosity, and also to avoid any problems arising.

After all, he knew his own situation best.

Secondly, he suspected that this involved certain secrets, and he wanted to find out a thing or two.

After all, the Tea House's trust in him was somewhat too high.

He vaguely felt that there must be something else in here that he didn't know about.

When he put forward this demand,

sure enough, Li Linxian did not reply the first time, obviously there was something fishy going on.

She only said she would discuss it with the higher-ups.

Until three months later, the internet promotion for Meng Zhu's next movie had reached a fever pitch.

Only then did Li Linxian formally reply, informing him what that method actually was.

This matter had to start from before Meng Zhu's previous movie ended.

At that time, when Meng Zhu and Nan Li confided their feelings to each other in the pavilion,

just like many journalists were already writing articles,

the Tea House had already begun discussing plans at that time.

Because they knew that the perfect conclusion of "when the plums are ripe" was already a done deal.

That discussion was also the beginning of the official launch of the "God-Making Project".

But the script chosen for this opening had become a difficult problem.

It was best if it was shocking and unbelievable enough,

yet it also required Meng Zhu to turn the impossible into the possible.

Ordinary movies where a second male lead snatched the female lead, or the male lead and female lead fell in love, could no longer highlight Meng Zhu's strength.

The final discussion result revolved around the core of "the female lead who is hard to pursue".

But when everyone spoke freely and held their own opinions, an accident happened.

The Tea House had no clear physical base, and this most important meeting was chosen to be held in a virtual conference room.

When the accident happened, the entire conference room suddenly turned into a cage.

The mechanical voice echoed in the virtual conference room for a long time.

[ Intrusion Prohibited ]

[ Prying Prohibited ]

[ Leakage Prohibited ]

[ Traceback Prohibited ]

[ Greetings everyone, I am Nuwa ]

After this opening, the virtual conference room turned into a cage, and what exactly happened was only known to the higher-ups of the Tea House.

Then Nuwa personally selected the script, which was "star island holiday".

She stated bluntly that Meng Zhu not only possessed the ability to complete the ending, but also the ability to change the ending.

Snatching the female lead as a second male lead when he debuted was already a proof of his strength.

Therefore, she believed that a bad ending in Meng Zhu's hands was not without a chance.

If successful, this would be the beginning of the divinity of "deities".

Hearing all this, Meng Zhu looked at Li Linxian in surprise.

"So, the method you mentioned was provided by Nuwa?"

Li Linxian nodded calmly.

"Yes, strictly speaking, it is a technology that was eliminated last century, led by Nuwa. For actors, it has both advantages and disadvantages."

"Its specific principle is operated by Nuwa, replacing fuzzy emotional substitution with emotional transfer, provided that the actor has a lover sealed in Nuwa's database."

Speaking of this, Meng Zhu's brows were already tightly furrowed, and he had a guess in his heart.

Sure enough, Li Linxian continued:

"For example, temporarily transferring your love for Nan Li to the female lead of the new movie, which can probably last for a month, and then it will change back to fuzzy substitution."

Meng Zhu nodded, enduring the awkwardness.

At this moment, he had already decided that he just wanted an excuse; he didn't want Nuwa to really help him fall in love at first sight.

This kind of thing was simply a desecration of feelings, and he was prepared to forcefully act out the feeling of love at first sight.

He also finally knew why this technology was eliminated.

Counting them carefully, this technology had quite a few problems and hidden dangers.

And it was also sickening.

It seemed that Li Linxian saw Meng Zhu's rejection and comforted him.

"There is nothing to be done about this. If it were according to your usual personality, you and the female lead would probably only have an initial meeting and never have any follow-up."

Taking a deep breath, Meng Zhu closed his eyes resignedly and spoke softly.

"Make this emotional transfer public on the internet."

"Alright."

Li Linxian nodded. This wasn't any cheating method; it was an optional process that existed in the last century, so of course it could be made public.

Just before hanging up, Meng Zhu opened his eyes again and looked at Li Linxian.

"Is there anything I can listen to in the conversation between Nuwa and the Tea House?"

Li Linxian hesitated for a long time,

and finally said a sentence.

"She said, you are hope!"

...

Four full months had passed since the perfect conclusion of "when the plums are ripe".

But in these four months, the internet not only did not calm down, but instead, like boiling water being continuously cooked, its popularity grew higher day by day.

This time, taking advantage of the lingering heat of "when the plums are ripe", Li Linxian also carried out an unprecedented promotion.

"Turn the tide and make the impossible possible!"

When this gimmick and "star island holiday" were officially announced, the entire interstellar net exploded.

Even if it was just a mildly angst-ridden movie, it was enough to make all actors tremble in fear.

The original ending where everyone got a bad ending made people turn pale at the mere mention of it.

The netizens this time were much more rational. In the eyes of the vast majority of people, finishing the movie was possible, but ending up happily married to the female lead was probably unlikely.

There were several reasons for this.

First, the second male lead was a good person. From beginning to end, he was good to the second female lead, but not bad to the female lead either.

Second, the female lead's secret crush, or rather obsession, was too deep, and her bond with the second male lead was too profound.

Third, the identities, worldview, growth environment, and time of acquaintance of the female lead and the male lead were somewhat unfavorable.

Fourth, the male lead in the original work—his love was truly already quite presentable, yet he still failed.

But because Meng Zhu had after all accumulated quite a bit of trust in his previous movies,

many fans and netizens still held a trace of unwilling expectation.

At the same time, news was released that Meng Zhu's opening love at first sight would use the "emotional transfer" technology that had been eliminated last century.

The internet didn't care much about this, but everyone at the Jingzhou Film Bureau was gnashing their teeth a bit.

But the Tea House did not violate any rules, nor was it constrained in the bet beforehand, so the Film Bureau could only swallow this bitter pill.

But fortunately, the difficulty of the movie was right there, so they weren't panicked.

The surging winds and clouds in the outside world did not affect Meng Zhu in the slightest.

On a certain ordinary weekend morning,

Meng Zhu calmly finished the last sip of tea in his cup.

"Boss, are you ready?"

Assistant Chen Fei's voice was slightly nervous.

"Anytime."

Meng Zhu put down his teacup and turned to walk towards the silver-white virtual cabin.

Chen Fei sometimes couldn't understand why Meng Zhu could be so calm and detached.

At the exact moment Meng Zhu closed his eyes,

across the entire Light and Shadow Federation, countless viewers flooded into the live broadcast room simultaneously.

After many years, someone was finally trying an angst-ridden web novel movie again.

Even if it was a mildly angst-ridden story, it was still a bad ending.

Everyone was curious whether Meng Zhu would be driven crazy by the female lead's rejection, or whether Meng Zhu would ultimately create a new miracle.

[ Network-wide Broadcast: Actor Meng Zhu has entered the virtual movie world "star island holiday" ]

[ The movie officially begins shooting! ]