Divine Lucky Star

Chapter 102: Chapter 102: Fresh Meat Yu Zhinan (Additional updates for the second alliance at minus 90 degrees)

“Third, it’s about the people!” Wang Hao pointed at the actors alongside Meng Qingming and exclaimed, “And look at these people you’ve brought in! The makeup makes them look like monsters. You’re shooting ‘My Heavenly Immortal Girlfriend,’ but it looks more like a set from ‘Journey to the West’! Clawing and gnashing their teeth, they can only last three hours before they might as well just wash their faces!”

The few “ghouls and goblins” Wang Hao pointed at immediately took several steps back…

Well, these actors with their current makeup and costumes could play ghosts right away!

“And another thing!” Wang Hao continued to rant, “You guys must be rich, right? Sitting on resources and doing nothing, right? And the equipment is very expensive, and I see your crew hiring fresh young meat! You think super IP and huge fandoms are the magic recipe for viewership, so you only choose actors with high profiles, right? And those young actors’ acting skills in a movie?! Apart from being cool, there’s just more coolness, and what’s the result? Hiring exorbitantly paid actors only squeezes the production budget! Look at you, eh? A big director like you just waiting here all morning because the actors didn’t show up, burning money! We can’t even use the set when we need it!”

“I… I didn’t have a choice either,” Meng Qingming stubbornly retorted. “What can I do if their schedules are too tight?”

“Yeah, their schedules are too tight,” scoffed Wang Hao, “You guys need at least half a year to shoot, right? Then your hot stars give you just two months, using stand-ins for both dramatic and action scenes, and the male and female leads can’t even film together; in the end, you have no choice but to edit them into scenes using a green screen—can such a movie even be watchable? I could act in a movie with that kind of setup!”

Hearing this, Gao Mingxing and others behind Wang Hao immediately nodded and loudly praised!

“That’s right, those young fresh meat are too damn pretentious, if we hire them, we can’t even make the movie!”

“That’s true. Many films and dramas give seventy percent of the budget to these young stars, leaving only thirty percent for the crew. It’s odd if the money was enough!”

“The director’s pay, along with so many extras, costumes, make-up, and venue expenses, where does the money for meals come from?”

Gao Mingxing also stood by, nodding vigorously, loudly saying “Well spoken! Our film has four main actors, about ninety-eight actors, plus up to twenty thousand appearances by extras, and yet all these costs are less than a third of the total investment, and we’re still strapped!”

Listening to the noise from the ‘Domestic Agent’ side, people from Meng Qingming’s crew also erupted.

“Yes, our budget is so tight, isn’t it all going to that young star?!”

“Exactly, originally we required every shot to have actors personally engage authentically, but they just used stand-ins!”

“Damn it, why not just directly let the stand-ins act? Just taking money and doing nothing!”

“That’s why they say crappy special effects, it comes from this!”

“So I say,” in conclusion, Wang Hao summarized, “With your movie turning out like this, it’s bound to flop—settle for mediocrity and over-rely on actors’ fame. You cater to the audience haphazardly, and they’ll return the favor! By the time those young stars take the money and run to shoot other films, you, as the director, might just end up being crucified by the audience!”

After all this was said, Wang Hao finally concluded with earnest, “You do right by your conscience, and the market will do right by you.”

“Clap!” “Clap clap!” “Clap clap clap clap—!!!”

No one knew who started it, but what began as a scattered few claps soon caught on, and both crews, indistinguishable from one another, burst into applause!

“Well said! Absolutely fantastic!”

“Yes, each of us works hard, but in the end, the money all goes to someone else!”

“Ah, this young man simply spoke our minds! Thumbs up!”

“Absolutely, double-tap 666!”

Everyone cheered for Wang Hao, while Meng Qingming’s face alternated between red and white, unsure of what to say.

Just as Meng Qingming was about to give up the location gladly, unfortunately, a loud roar of a car engine sounded, and a black Porsche Cayenne recklessly drove up, finally stopping between the two groups!

What the hell is this?

A Porsche Cayenne, a luxury car! Look at that license plate, Middle BB6677, not bad either!

When Director Meng Qingming saw the car coming, he rushed forward as if he had seen a savior and eagerly opened the door, his voice filled with joy, “Zhinan, you’ve finally arrived!”

Then Wang Hao saw a young man with various cool features slowly descending from the car with a proud sneer on his face!

The young man was dressed in a black suit, with earrings in his ears, and his slick, creamy look made him look like a pretty boy. Especially that shiny hair, a fly would probably break its legs landing on it!

When he came out, Gao Mingxing and others standing behind Wang Hao were all instantly stunned!

“Is… is that Yu Zhinan! It’s the heartthrob Yu Zhinan!”

“My god, to get him on board, the investors of this film crew must really be willing to spend the money!”

“Exactly, Yu Zhinan’s appearance fee is twenty million now, so awesome, these guys managed to hire him!”

Even Zheng Yue had stars in her eyes, standing behind Wang Hao and whispering, “Mr. Yu Zhinan, could you, could you give me an autograph?! I really like you!”

“No time today,” the heartthrob Yu Zhinan shrugged dismissively, not even glancing at Zheng Yue, simply scanning the crowd briefly before he smirked and asked Meng Qingming, “What’s going on?”

“Well,” Meng Qingming hurriedly explained to Yu Zhinan, “Before you arrived, our crew was waiting for you, but the web drama crew wanted to borrow the place, and I was worried about making them wait while shooting after you arrived, so I didn’t lend it to them. Now, they’ve come to discuss it with us.”

Actually, it’s pretty common for drama crews to clash over scenes, and usually, a simple discussion would sort things out, but Yu Zhinan frowned noticeably after hearing this!

“Web drama?” Yu Zhinan looked towards Wang Hao’s side and suddenly let out a snort of laughter.

He was already slightly taller than Wang Hao, slightly tilting his chin up, his eyes filled with a condescending look toward the lesser important people, “Don’t agree to just anyone wanting to borrow the place, what if they sabotage something in secret and you guys end up responsible?”

“Exactly, that’s why I didn’t lend it!” Meng Qingming nodded desperately, “I’ll tell them to leave now!”

“Go ahead,” Yu Zhinan waved his hand dismissively like he was swatting flies, then walked off in a forceful, cool, and dominant manner.

Wang Hao: “…”

What the fuck, you’re a heartthrob charging twenty million per appearance, acting all high and mighty? Even Ice Princess never flaunted like that in front of me!

“Hey, did you see that? That’s why he’s one of the top heartthrobs in our country,” a member of Meng Qingming’s crew sighed, “Just that aura alone isn’t something ordinary people possess.”

“That’s right,” another person nodded in agreement, “His popularity in the country is really something else, even a bad movie would make a killing at the box office just because he’s in it!”

The crowd started discussing, leaving Wang Hao standing by, utterly baffled!

“Hey, why are you guys still here?” Meng Qingming, seeing Yu Zhinan arriving, stopped being polite and marched right up, looking at Wang Hao, “Didn’t you hear what he just said? Hurry up and leave! If you don’t leave now, we won’t be so nice anymore!”

Upon hearing this, Gao Mingxing and the others looked as dejected as defeated roosters, their faces filled with disappointment.

There was no choice, facing such high-profile idols, their web series team indeed seemed much weaker.@@novelbin@@

But just because they had no choice didn’t mean Wang Hao was ready to admit defeat!

Is this place written in your name or what?

“Yu Zhinan, right?” Wang Hao stared at Yu Zhinan and sneered, “I never really believed there were stars bold enough to throw their weight around like this, but today I have seen it all!”

How dare he show off in front of Brother Hao? Do you even know what day it is today?

Today, Brother Hao is lucky! Invincible!

You’re bringing this upon yourself, so don’t blame Brother Hao for not leaving you a way out!

“Brother Hao!” Gao Mingxing hurriedly grabbed the sleeve of Wang Hao’s shirt, whispering, “Let’s just wait a bit longer, after all, he’s a popular idol, who dares to slight him? Let it go, don’t argue over this.”

“No way!” Wang Hao got angry now—everyone earns their living by their skills, just because you are famous, you can look down on people? Wang Hao stood there, staring at Yu Zhinan, saying, “Today, I really need to speak my mind!”

“Oh?” Hearing Wang Hao, Yu Zhinan stopped in his tracks, turned his head slightly tilting his face, looking down at Wang Hao with a sneer, “You have a complaint?”

“Heh heh, brother got a nickname, known for curing all dissent!” Wang Hao also curled his lips and smiled, “I indeed have a complaint!”

“Interesting.” Yu Zhinan was no longer in a hurry to leave, saying, “I want to see what kind of ‘rule of thirds’ a little rich second-generation like you can talk about.”

This is exactly what you asked for!

“Popular idol, right?” Wang Hao watched Yu Zhinan with a cheeky grin, saying, “I heard your appearance fee is pretty high, must be tight on time, right? I’d love to see if your skills match your price. Oh, I remember one of your lines in this drama goes, ‘Darling, look how beautiful the stars in the sky are, can you pick them for me?’ So, how would you respond?”

Hearing Wang Hao’s words, Meng Qingming was utterly confused, while Gao Mingxing’s side widened their eyes in shock!

Brother Hao, wait a minute, why does this line sound so familiar?

“Hey, Ma Ming,” Zheng Yue whispered to Ma Ming, “Why do I feel like I’ve heard Brother Hao’s line somewhere before?”

Ma Ming scratched his head: “I feel the same… Oh, I remember now, the lines between Zhang Muqing and Yang Yunfei at the internet cafe are exactly these!”

They were right; these lines Wang Hao mentioned were indeed from Domestic Agent!

Normally at this moment, if Yu Zhinan had memorized the script, he would know it wasn’t from his drama, but unexpectedly, he just smiled confidently, not panicked at all, and immediately started reciting with Wang Hao!

But he didn’t recite the real lines, instead he said numbers!

“One, two, three,” Yu Zhinan confidently said, “one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight!”

What is this situation?!

Everyone from Gao Mingxing’s side was dumbstruck, Meng Qingming knew what it meant, but unexpectedly, so did Wang Hao!

“One, two, three, four!” Wang Hao also recited, “one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine!”

Meng Qingming: “…”

Gao Mingxing: “…”

Other people who didn’t know the truth: “…”

Normally by now, it should be about over, but Yu Zhinan still continued, “One, two, three, four, five, one, two, three, thirty-five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten!”

Wang Hao: “One, two, three, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven!”

Meng Qingming: “…”

Gao Mingxing: “…”

Other onlookers: “…”

They went back and forth counting for quite some numbers until finally Wang Hao scoffed, “Are these the lines you memorized?”

“What, you disagree?” Yu Zhinan, not feeling any shame, boastfully said, “This is how my lines are, useful everywhere! After shooting, I just read them off the script for dubbing, any complaints?”

“Twenty million for an appearance fee for someone like you?!” Wang Hao pointed at Yu Zhinan, yelled, “Domestic movies are half-dead because of trash like you! And you even take pride in that! If I were an investor, I would have cut you from the team first!”

Gao Mingxing and others enjoyed listening to that thoroughly!

They had long been displeased with these unprofessional young celebs but had to save their face due to their status.

But Wang Hao had no such concerns, a nobody swearing was just a nobody swearing, refreshing!

“That’s brilliant!” Gao Mingxing secretly gestured a thumbs up to Li Fei, “Your apprentice is awesome! I’ve wanted to say this for ages but never dared, and hearing him today was truly satisfying!”

Li Fei laughed heartily: “Absolutely!”

They enjoyed their moment, but Yu Zhinan was not having it!

“Who the hell are you?! Running your mouth here!” Yu Zhinan charged forward in a stride, ready to confront Wang Hao, “It’s my business how I choose to act! I just do it this way! I just won’t memorize the script! What can you do about it?! Come on! Come at me!”

Normally, someone with the popularity of Yu Zhinan, an ordinary person really wouldn’t be able to do much, but the problem is, that’s referring to an ordinary person.

Clearly, he wasn’t invincible.

Don’t forget, today Brother Hao is lucky, that’s truly invincible!

Because just at that moment, the roaring sound of a car engine picked up again, and a white Lamborghini Aventador, stirring up a terrifying wave of air, charged straight forward and just stopped right between Wang Hao and Yu Zhinan!