Chapter 137: Nowhere to Be Found!

"I'll take the endorsement, but let's skip the consultant role. I just don't have that much time!" Jiang Lun waved his hand.

"It's just a title!"

Huo Dongfang said, "You proposed this project, so making you the consultant couldn't be more appropriate. I'll leave this matter entirely in Xiaogang's hands and have him learn from you! Additionally, I'll offer you an annual consultancy fee of one million. I know this figure is a bit low for your net worth, so please bear with me. If it's not enough, we can negotiate further!"

His words were watertight, offering both benefits and emotional appeal. Hearing this, Jiang Lun stopped declining and agreed, "Since Mr. Huo puts it that way, if I refuse again, it would be disrespectful. As for the details, you can discuss them with Brother Wu!"

"Good! Let's eat first, and I'll have my secretary prepare the contract!"

Huo Dongfang was a straightforward man. After the meal, the two parties quickly signed the endorsement contract and the consultancy agreement.

"Mr. Jiang, what should our first step be?"

After signing, Huo Gang asked modestly.

"Change the names first!"

Jiang Lun said, "Your company needs to change its name, for instance, to 'Jingwu Sports Culture Co., Ltd.' The names of your martial arts schools across the country should also be changed, like 'Jingwu Gate' Martial Arts School, 'New Jingwu Sports School', and so on!"

"Oh!" Huo Gang nodded repeatedly, quickly noting it down.

"Jingwu Gate, now that name has an imposing ring to it!"

Huo Dongfang's eyes lit up. "It sounds much more comfortable than the 'Jingwu Athletic Association'!"

"This should only be the external title!"

Jiang Lun smiled. "You can also register the trademark rights, but in the formal company name, calling it that isn't quite appropriate—it has too much of a martial arts underworld flavor!"

"Mm! I know that much!"

Huo Dongfang smiled. "When my martial arts school was first incorporated, we ran into huge problems. We had to change the name three times before it finally passed review. Ah, this society... let's not get into it!"

After discussing a few more details, the afternoon arrived quickly. Since Jiang Lun had to prepare for his performance that evening, he had to take his leave early.

"Listening to your words is better than reading books for ten years!"

At the hotel entrance, Huo Dongfang was filled with emotion, shaking Jiang Lun's hand once again. "When you have time, let's sit down for a proper chat. I feel like I haven't heard enough!"

"Haha, once I'm done with this busy period, I'll look for Mr. Huo for a good chat!"

Jiang Lun smiled. "I'll start preparing the script in the next few days. Once the script is out, we can discuss the details of shooting the film and television drama!"

"No problem!"

The Huo father and son were full of high spirits and ambition.

After they left, Wu Zhaoyang pulled Jiang Lun aside. "What are you trying to do?"

"What do you mean, what am I trying to do?"

Jiang Lun asked, puzzled.

When he was talking with the Huo father and son just now, Wu Zhaoyang hadn't said a word, but he had been holding it in for a long time. "Your primary task right now is to continue climbing in the entertainment industry and solidify your position. Yet now you're going to get involved in making a martial arts film? Aren't you getting a bit too full of yourself?"

"Not at all!" Jiang Lun smiled. "Brother Wu, you're overthinking it. I'm just pointing out a direction for them. Besides, you were the one who told me to come and meet the Huo family in the first place!"

"I didn't tell you to agree to this much, though! The endorsement by itself was fine, why did you have to take on the consultant role? Do you understand their corporate culture?"

"I don't understand those things, which is why I won't get too involved!"

Jiang Lun smiled. "I just have a martial arts dream, wanting to make a martial arts film, and now the opportunity has simply presented itself!"

Which man didn't have a dream of being a great hero in his youth? Not only Jiang Lun, but Wu Zhaoyang did too.

Hearing Jiang Lun's words, Wu Zhaoyang's mood changed. He sighed and waved his hand. "Fine, fine. You've already agreed to it, so there's no use in me trying to persuade you otherwise. But in the future, when you encounter something like this, you need to discuss it with me first so I can help you weigh the pros and cons!"

"I know!" Jiang Lun smiled.

"Alright, go upstairs to your room and change clothes. We need to hurry to the rehearsal soon!"

"Okay..."

...

...

Late August.

Flying Dragon Valley, the production crew.

"Producer Jiang, isn't the Yunnan Baiyao product placement a bit too stiff and unnatural?"

A member of the screenwriter team ran over to "consult" Jiang Lun.

"There's no problem! Just have Shen Xin say it a bit more naturally, don't make it look like she's deliberately advertising!" Jiang Lun instructed.

A moment later, the screenwriter from the second director's team came running over. "Producer Jiang, Ningning has about a dozen episodes of scenes left. She says she has to go back to school for the start of term the day after tomorrow. What should we do?"

"Let's speed up the shooting. If that doesn't work, I'll ask the school for a week's leave for her. If all else fails, she can come back during the National Day holiday to make up for some scenes!"

Jiang Lun was also quite helpless. Time was too tight, but fortunately Jiang Ning was sensible. Moreover, she seemed exceptionally enthusiastic about acting, having no complaints from start to finish.

"Producer Jiang, another episode is edited. Want to take a look and see how it is?"

Li Xing walked over to Jiang Lun with dark circles under his eyes. Although exhausted, he was happy.

"Great!"

Jiang Lun followed him out of the Tongfu Inn and into the courtyard next door.

For convenience, the post-production team had moved directly here. They edited as much as was filmed every day, and by now, more than twenty episodes had been edited.

These twenty episodes referred to the fifty-minute long episodes for television, while the ones sold to video streaming websites were twenty-three-minute short episodes.

Web series had their own characteristics. It wasn't that they had to be short, but rather that web series had less stringent requirements for product placement than television stations, giving Jiang Lun more room to maneuver.

After watching the fifty-minute episode from beginning to end against the script, Jiang Lun nodded and said, "The editing is good!"

"Producer Jiang, the script you wrote is truly incredible. When we were editing, we hardly needed to make any cuts!"

A post-production staff member said with admiration. Like the entire post-production team, he had been brought in by Li Xing. Previously, he had worked on the post-production editing of numerous TV dramas, movies, and even animated shows and variety programs, but he had never experienced anything like the post-production of *My Own Swordsman*. As long as they edited the raw footage into the main feature and synthesized it, it was done. And each short episode was consistently twenty-three minutes long, never more, never less.

"It's thanks to everyone's cooperation. This is the credit of the entire production crew!"

Jiang Lun smiled. "Alright, this episode passes. Go ahead and edit the web version. Have the advertising segments for these two episodes been done?"

"Done!"

Several members individually responsible for the web version's advertising segments immediately answered.

Jiang Lun nodded, turned away from the courtyard, and returned to the Tongfu Inn.

As soon as he stepped inside, Jiang Ning ran over. "Brother, I heard you're going to help me ask the school for leave?"

"Yeah! But if there aren't many scenes left, I won't bother!"

"Oh, then you should still call our teacher to ask for leave!" Jiang Ning said.

"Huh? Why?" Jiang Lun asked, puzzled. "If you can shoot, let's hurry up and shoot. Even though there are a dozen episodes left, your scenes aren't many!"

"Easier said than done!" Jiang Ning rolled her eyes at him. "Acting isn't that easy. I have to take responsibility for my own performance!"

"Hey!" Jiang Lun chuckled. "You wouldn't be doing this just because you don't want to go back to classes, would you?"

"No way!" Jiang Ning pouted. "I'm going to take the exams for the Beijing Film Academy and the Central Academy of Drama, so I have to go back for classes! Unlike you..."

"Hey, what about me?"

Jiang Lun glared. "I'm going to classes at the Central Academy of Drama on September 6th too, alright?"

"Pfft! That's called auditing. I'm going to be a regular student!" Jiang Ning said dismissively.

"What's wrong with being an auditing student? It's all about learning things. The school itself said everyone is treated equally, just in a different format!"

"Different format? There's a difference in status too—just a marginalized person at the Central Academy of Drama!" Jiang Ning retorted, emphasizing the word "just" twice.

"You..."

Jiang Lun was utterly helpless. It was as if this little girl couldn't survive a day without mocking him.

Just as the two of them were bickering, Chen Yingying walked over. "What are you two arguing about?"

"Sister-in-law, Jiang Lun is bullying me!"

Jiang Ning pouting, rubbed her eyes, and ran over to Chen Yingying to complain.

"Oh man, you know how to call her sister-in-law at a time like this!" Little stars appeared in Jiang Lun's vision.

"Don't worry!" Hearing that title, Chen Yingying was grinning from ear to ear. "With me here, he wouldn't dare bully you!"

"Mm-hmm!" Jiang Ning nodded with a pitiful expression, but when she turned back to look at Jiang Lun, her look became thoroughly disdainful.

Jiang Lun felt like crying without tears. Was this really his own younger sister?

He couldn't help but scold her, "Hurry up and go act. Don't you like acting? Look how many N-takes you had today!"

"Hmph! I guarantee I'll nail them all. A minor role like this isn't difficult!"

A month ago, Jiang Ning wouldn't have dared to speak like that, but as more and more people in the crew praised her, she had grown bolder and felt extremely good about herself.

Jiang Lun wanted to lecture her a bit more, but the crafty little girl didn't give him the chance. As soon as she finished speaking, she ran off to find the second director's team to continue shooting her individual scenes.

"Sigh! This girl..."

Jiang Lun couldn't help but smile bitterly.

"Don't be so hard on her!"

Chen Yingying said, "Ningning actually has a lot of talent, and her acting skills have improved tremendously!"

"I can see that, but her temper is too bad. If she really enters the entertainment industry in the future, she's bound to offend people everywhere!"

"She's only like that with you. When you're not around, she's very well-behaved with everyone on the crew, otherwise so many people wouldn't praise her!"

Chen Yingying smiled. "Oh, right, Professor Wang called you, and I answered for him. He asked me to tell you to remember to go to class when the semester starts."

"Alright, I know!"

Jiang Lun nodded.

The shooting progress of the production crew was vastly different from what they had anticipated.

According to Zhao Rongding's plan, this drama was supposed to be finished within three months, but currently, only twenty-plus episodes had been filmed in a month. Even under stable conditions, they could only maintain a pace of one episode a day.

Human energy was limited; it was impossible to shoot twenty-four hours a day. Moreover, during the shooting process, various minor issues would inevitably arise that needed to be resolved on the spot, not to mention the constant retakes.

At this rate, even after filming wrapped, broadcasting it would have to wait until next year.

However, what comforted Jiang Lun was that even though the drama hadn't finished filming yet, it had already made a fortune.

The total investment from advertisers had currently exceeded twenty million, with 50% of the down payment already paid, and the final payment to be disbursed after the drama aired.

In addition, Boiling Video offered a price of 50,000 per episode. According to the web series editing standards, 160 episodes would amount to eight million. Although this money hadn't been paid yet, the contract was set, and the money could be collected upon delivering the footage.

The television stations had also been negotiated. Beijing Satellite TV acquired the premiere broadcast rights of the show at a high price of 400,000 per episode, while the second-round broadcast rights were snapped up by Jiangnan Satellite TV and Dragon TV at 250,000 per episode respectively.

In addition, more than a dozen other television stations were in contact, but they could only secure the third round. As for the price, it wasn't the time to discuss that yet.

The prices offered by the three satellite TV stations plus Boiling Video meant *My Own Swordsman* had already reached a million per episode.

Just this item alone could recoup 80 million, coupled with the 20 million from advertisers, making a net profit of over 100 million for such a low-budget production was entirely possible!

In recent days, many media outlets had been keeping a close eye on this, wanting to know what the shooting scene of *My Own Swordsman* actually looked like. Some media outlets traveled through mountains and rivers, even resorting to tracking Jiang Lun to see what the crew's shooting location was like.

Unfortunately, once Jiang Lun returned to Beijing, his whereabouts became erratic, playing a game of guerrilla warfare with the media.

Many media outlets expressed amazement on Weibo, clearly having spotted Jiang Lun entering Yida, only for him to disappear for days, and then suddenly appear in other settings.

...

Yutian Music.

After giving Liu Xiayu "Listening to the Sea" last time, it took her only a week to complete everything, including arrangement, production, and recording.

Coming this time, Jiang Lun directly brought three entirely different styles of songs: "I Want Us to Be Together", "Always Very Quiet", and "Conquest".

Among them, "I Want Us to Be Together" was a jazz-style musical work. Previously, Liu Xiayu's French album had included several jazz-style pop music pieces, and she handled this niche style with ease, fully demonstrating her foundational skills.

"Always Very Quiet" was a musical vignette, like a cup of light tea, worth savoring after a faint bitterness, belonging to a deeply emotional work.

As for "Conquest", needless to say, it had greater emotional tension and extremely tested vocal skills.

Liu Xiayu listened to the demos of these three songs just once and left them behind without hesitation. "Taken! How long did it take you to write these three songs?"

"Not very long!"

Jiang Lun replied, "I wasn't sure if you'd like them!"

"With such great works, there's no reason not to like them!"

Liu Xiayu said, "Once this album is recorded, I plan to launch a global concert tour. You should come as a guest artist!"

"A concert? The kind accompanied by a symphony orchestra?"

"Mm!" Liu Xiayu said, "I've been in the industry for so many years, and I've only ever held two concerts in the US. I wonder if my live performance will still hold up these days!"

"Of course it will!" Jiang Lun said. "Not to mention abroad, within the Chinese music scene, who can compare to you? If I get the chance in the future, I want to hold a concert too, even if it's just one!"

"Haha!"

Liu Xiayu gave a faint smile. "I need to start preparing. You should hurry up with the rest of the songs too. I'm getting more and more excited!"

"Are you excited about the concert?" Jiang Lun asked with a smile.

"Also excited about your songs!" Liu Xiayu said. "The four songs you've handed over so far have given me too many surprises. I truly don't know how many more you can bring me!" (To be continued.)