Chapter 60: Thirty Million Yuan Paycheck! Treatment Rivaling an A-List Emperor!! [Requesting Monthly Votes]

Although he had never eaten pork, he had seen plenty of the world during his years struggling in the entertainment industry. Whether a TV drama would become a hit could easily be told just by the quality of the script.

After finishing the meticulously detailed and substantial script of *Wu Xin: The Monster Killer*, Hao Zi was instantly thrilled. With such a novel theme paired with exquisitely designed content, he dared to bet his life on it: as long as they didn't cast some utterly skill-free traffic idols, this thing was guaranteed to be a massive hit!

For a moment, Hao Zi was trembling all over with excitement!

Hadn't he been sharpening his sword for all these years precisely to wait for a soaring opportunity like this?

"How is the script?" Gang Zi had read the script long ago. To be honest, judging solely by the premise and content, even as an outsider, he felt that the production would definitely sell well. When he learned that the script was written entirely by the once-failing internet-meme celebrity himself, his worldview was refreshed, and he was deeply shocked by the celebrity's talent.

Not only was he a gifted songwriter, but he was also a master at writing scripts!

On top of that, he possessed a divine visage capable of captivating thousands of girls. Even looking back at the past twenty-odd years of the entertainment industry's development, one couldn't find a single comparable example.

Yet he stubbornly insisted on charging blindly in the wrong direction...

At this thought, his heart ached as if being twisted, and he wished he could risk his old life to wake up this celebrity who had gone astray. Over the past few days, he had tried more than once to obstruct him and offer various suggestions, but the other party was utterly dead set on marching into the darkness, leaving him entirely helpless.

"The content is of exceptionally high quality!"

"I have never seen a script with such a high degree of completion. Character relationships, core elements, and per-episode selling points are all laid out with crystal clarity. The person who wrote this script is simply a genius of the industry; he even left the ending open-ended, having planned for a sequel right from the start!"

"This is definitely a script written by a top-tier screenwriter in the drama circle. Moreover, through all these embellishments and annotations, it is not hard to see that this is the condensed essence of the collective wisdom of many industry talents!"

"President Wang, for you to entrust such an important project to me, I, Lu Hao, have no way to repay you. Really... I..."

Lu Hao was full of passionate and continuous praise at first, but as he spoke, his voice suddenly choked up.

Wang Gang widened his eyes, instantly stunned!

If you knew this script was written by the same failing celebrity who almost took your life previously, wouldn't you instantly choke back your own words?

He wanted to speak his mind, but ultimately held back and didn't reveal the truth. He silently pulled out a pre-drafted contract and flipped to the last page: "If there are no issues, sign your name right here."

The party of the first part on this contract was 'Rising Star', but Gang Zi, overly excited and consumed by the desire for fame, with his boss right in front of him, signed his full name without a second thought and pressed his fingerprint upon it.

Until he walked out of the office holding the contract, Hao Zi could hardly conceal his excitement: "I'm going to make it big, I'm finally going to make it big. Entertainment industry, your Lord Hao has finally made his breakthrough!!"

Listening to the impassioned footsteps echoing down the corridor.

Gang Zi inside the office was speechless. If this kid had even opened the contract to take a look, he probably wouldn't be able to smile right now, right?

"No matter what, once the crew starts filming, I have to go to the site and check it out!"

...

Afterward, Lü Ming began focusing on his music variety show while preparing the cast lineup with Xiao Ya.

Although Xiao Ya couldn't understand why her own idol was so obsessed with filming movies, far too many incredible things had happened to Lü Ming recently for her to dwell on it.

Anyway, ever since the beginning, whatever Ming Ge decided was always carried out with lightning speed; even nine oxen couldn't pull him back. Moreover, even if nobody else believed in Lü Ming, as the one who had accompanied him through the hardest times from the very beginning, she was her idol's most solid backing. Since Ming Ge was so confident, she naturally performed her duties conscientiously, squeezing her schedule so tight that even her beauty sleep was sacrificed.

Meanwhile, on the stage of *Who Is the King of Songs*, Lü Ming completely let loose.

Since Chu Sheng kept claiming he wanted to blacklist and cancel him, Lü Ming chose to strike right back with mutual destruction!

In every subsequent episode, the very first thing he did upon taking the stage was to shout out loud, urging the audience to watch his next Running Man livestream on Kiwi Video. Failing that, during the subsequent mentor critique segment, he would bluntly declare that the Penguin CEO was attempting to blacklist him.

Behind the screen, Chu Sheng was frantic with anxiety. Unfortunately, the livestream had no delay; even when the production team frantically cut camera angles and muted the audio, they couldn't stop the failing celebrity from seizing the opportunity to drop these bombshells.

As the president, Chu Sheng hadn't considered kicking Lü Ming out directly, but the celebrity's popularity on Penguin's platform was simply too high right now—it was easy to invite a god, but hard to send them away.

To put it bluntly, this music variety show was currently surviving entirely on the back of this single failing celebrity. Seeing that the celebrity was about to charge into the grand finals and vie for the championship, if they dared to pull such a stunt at this juncture, the users whose attention was entirely focused on the celebrity would abandon them without hesitation and migrate to Kiwi Video.

After all, at the project's inception, the show had aggressively promoted itself under the banner of absolute fairness and zero corruption. If they dared to openly target someone, the boomerang would trigger a crisis of trust among hundreds of millions of users across the entire platform!

Most importantly, because of Lü Ming's repeated self-exposure over these past few days, a massive wave of impeachment voices had even arisen within the company.

As for a 'reasonable' elimination of the failing celebrity?

The cover songs Lü Ming performed in every subsequent episode relied on solid vocal skills and a tension-filled stage atmosphere to drive the entire audience wild, and netizen votes for him maintained an undisputed, fault-line lead!

His competitors in the elimination rounds would consider themselves lucky to get a million votes, whereas the failing celebrity casually pulled in seven or eight million votes every single time!

If they intentionally altered backend data at a juncture like this, not to mention the reaction of the netizens, even the live audience—who had already been converted into the celebrity's hardcore fans—would scream corruption. The resulting consequences would be even more terrifying!

This wouldn't work, and that wouldn't work either.

The dignified president of Penguin Video was now suffering from both internal and external troubles, falling asleep every night only by relying on sleeping pills due to extreme anxiety.

June 20th.

The semi-finals of *Who Is the King of Songs* kicked off!

Lü Ming's opponent was a fairly well-known veteran singer in the Chinese music scene. However, because he hadn't produced any good works in recent years, his status had plummeted drastically. His last hit original song dated back seven years; if people didn't mention his past breakout representative works, they couldn't even remember the veteran singer's name.

Before the competition began, he was widely regarded by the outside world as the hot favorite to win the championship. However, after Lü Ming appeared, those voices completely vanished.

Ultimately, after the two finished singing their respective prepared songs, during the netizen voting segment, Lü Ming secured tens of millions of votes with a rendition of *Boundless Oceans, Vast Skies* that ignited everyone's passion!

During the mentor critique segment, Teacher Yang and Teacher Hua—traumatized by Lü Ming—were extremely reluctant, but faced with such terrifying online support ratings, they dared not go against the public will and humiliatingly expressed their approval.

Lü Ming didn't care about the three mentors in the slightest; he advanced to the finals regardless. With only one final battle remaining in this music variety show, and having successfully advanced through a semi-finals match with such high viewership, he was guaranteed at least the runner-up prize money. The production team was naturally expected to give the contestant some time to deliver a parting speech.

Thus, Lü Ming opened his mouth and accused the 'beast' of dealing him blows, and closed his mouth by accusing the 'beast' of coercing him. That heartfelt pouring of genuine emotions was so touching that viewers wept and listeners resonated with it.

In a mere two minutes, he cursed the beast dozens of times...

"Bastard!!!" Inside the Penguin Executive President's office, Chu Sheng wore a ferocious expression, his eyes flushed red with anger. "This goddamn failing celebrity, he's still playing the victim here. Is he trying to ruin me? Who does he think he is? I struggled in Penguin for half a lifetime to reach this position. Even the headquarters' board of directors has my backers; could I have attained this position without some connections?"

"No one can take me down, no one!!"

Watching the failing celebrity still listing his crimes in front of the camera, the furious Chu Sheng immediately dialed the show director's phone and roared, "You useless piece of trash, can't you see he's attacking me? Why didn't you mute the audio, why didn't you cut the camera, why did you let him run wild?!"

"B-Boss, we were just following orders..." the director said cautiously.

Chu Sheng: "???"

"I'm your fucking boss, whose orders are you following?!" he cursed in a rage.

Director: "..."

Listening to the silent voice on the other end of the line, Chu Sheng, consumed by rage, gradually regained his sanity. Seeming to connect the dots to an unbelievable possibility, he suddenly felt a tightness in his chest and shuddered violently.

"Whose... whose... whose orders are you following!" Chu Sheng's voice trembled. "Speak, say something!"

"Who entrusted you with heavy responsibilities? Who gave you a raise? Who promoted you? Have you forgotten all of that? Without me, you'd still be a nobody that nobody wanted!"

"Say something!!"

Chu Sheng interrogated him repeatedly, acting almost mentally deranged.

Director: "..."

"Boss, thank you very much for promoting me. I also have a piece of advice for you: if things haven't reached the point of no return yet, you should probably go and make peace with the failing celebrity..."

With that, the sound of a dial tone came from the other end.

Chu Sheng stood frozen in his office, his head buzzing: "No, impossible. I'm the president, I'm the CEO! Over all these years at Penguin, I spent so much money and cultivated so many people, wasn't it to use them for a day like today?!"

"It absolute can't be. He's just a failing celebrity—so what if he has traffic? They're all just haters anyway, how could he possibly take me down!!"

Chu Sheng hurriedly grabbed a pack of cigarettes from the table, pulled one out, and brought it to his lips. But even for this simple action, his hands were trembling, unable to stop shaking.

Just as he picked up the lighter and pressed it hard, because his hand was shaking too violently, the lighter accidentally slipped onto the desk and ignited some unapproved documents. He hurriedly grabbed a silver hip flask from the side and fiercely splashed the liquid inside onto the desk...

Boom!!

The liquor ignited, and the fire, which hadn't yet spread, burned even more fiercely.

Panicking completely, Chu Sheng didn't have time to think. He hurriedly grabbed other document folders and slapped them hard onto the desk. The secretary waiting outside the door seemed to have heard the commotion and pushed the door open. However, the sound of the door opening startled Chu Sheng, who was already on high alert, causing him to jump half a meter into the air in a fright, turning back in terror:

"Who is it?! I have people, I have people on the board of directors, you can't touch me!!"

"P... President Chu?" The secretary was taken aback.

Although she didn't understand why the usually lofty President Chu was acting like a thief caught in the act, seeing the raging fire on the desk, she hurriedly ran outside, grabbed a fire extinguisher from the hallway wall, rushed back in, and blasted it thoroughly.

When the fire was extinguished, President Chu—dressed in a tailored suit—was now covered in white ash. Combined with his pale complexion and listless expression, he looked quite wretched.

"President Chu, are you alright?"

"Get out!!"

The secretary scurried away, and in her haste, she didn't even have time to close the door to the president's office.

Chu Sheng was truly terrified. The moment the secretary walked in, he had thought it was headquarters issuing a 'death notice' to him. After going through a violent emotional rollercoaster, Chu Sheng no longer cared about his noble status; he immediately dialed a number on his phone: "Answer, pick up quickly, answer the damn phone!!"

After a good while, the call connected.

"Hello, are you finally going to blacklist me? I'm so scared!" On the other end of the line, Lü Ming's tone was relaxed and teasing.

To his surprise, Chu Sheng's voice was trembling: "Hello, failing celebrity, listen to me, no... Lü Ming... Ming Ge!"

"It was my fault, I shouldn't have exploited you, I shouldn't have threatened you. Whatever compensation you want, just name it, and I'll make sure it gets done! You must help clear my name. I've struggled for half a lifetime to finally sit in this position, I can't go down! You have to help me, if I'm finished... you won't survive either... I won't let you go even as a ghost!"

"There were too many people around before, Ge was wrong, Ge was wrong, Ge will kneel to you!"

Lü Ming: "???"

He carefully checked the number to make sure it matched his call logs, and the voice was indeed consistent with the arrogant fellow from a short while ago. He was temporarily at a loss.

"Did your left brain and right brain get into a fight?" Lü Ming muttered in incomprehension.

At that moment, the voice of an unfamiliar man suddenly came through the phone:

"Chu Sheng, stop wasting your effort. This is the latest appointment order from headquarters. I will be taking over your work starting now. Oh right, this is the joint dismissal notice issued by the board of directors against you. Due to personal reasons causing massive damage to the corporate image, the company reserves the right to pursue legal action against you and demands that you issue a public apology within 24 hours to restore the group's reputation."

"No... impossible, this is impossible. I have people on the board of directors, he wouldn't ignore this. This is fake, it must be fake!"

"Your backer's name is right at the very front. He was the first one to sign your dismissal report. Take a good look."

Chu Sheng: "..."

After a brief silence, Chu Sheng let out a hysterical roar, as if struck by the greatest torment in the world: "Failing celebrity!!"

The next second, Lü Ming heard a sound like 'hiccup', and there was no further sound from the other end of the phone.

"Is he that crazy?" Lü Ming looked surprised.

At that moment, rustling footsteps came from the other side, and the man gave a cold command: "Carry him to the infirmary and close the door on your way out, thanks."

"Is this Lü Ming? I am Hu Tao, the newly appointed executive officer of Penguin Video. I hope we can have a pleasant cooperation." At this point, someone seemed to have picked the phone up from the floor, and a friendly voice came through.

"Cooperation isn't necessary. I don't really like participating in Penguin's projects!" Lü Ming chuckled.

"For *Go Fighting*, I can offer you a talent fee of 30 million per season. Would you be interested?" Hu Tao dropped a bombshell statement.

Lü Ming paused, and his tone instantly shifted: "Director Hu, why are we talking like we're two different families? You have sentiment and I have righteousness; friends don't talk about money!"

"Then what should we talk about?" Hu Tao was stunned.

Who could understand what he was feeling?

A day ago, he was merely a general manager in the marketing department of the Penguin Group. Looking down, there were countless talented people coveting his position and connections with intricate backgrounds; looking up, there were factional struggles that left him breathless. Under such a repressive environment, he lived in trepidation every day, terrified that one day he would either be sacrificed for picking the wrong side or replaced for failing to generate value...

And yet, suddenly, an appointment letter hit him right in the face. Just the night before, he was lamenting that his walking-on-thin-ice life was destined never to reach the other shore, but waking up the next morning, he had inexplicably walked the path that many people couldn't finish in a lifetime!

The CEO of the most influential video platform under the Penguin Group!

He had inexplicably parachuted into a position that countless headquarters executives dreamed of, transforming overnight from someone walking on thin ice into a subsidiary's BOSS. When he learned that all of this was simply because of a failing celebrity, Hu Tao exclaimed that this wasn't a failing celebrity—this was practically an ancestral blessing!

Filled with wild joy, without a second thought, he exercised his maximum authority on the spot to offer a reward.

Yet to his utter astonishment, faced with such a generous gift, the failing celebrity simply ignored it?

Just as he was completely baffled, Lü Ming suddenly said in a profound tone: "Let's talk about fate!"

"Right, for such a thing to happen to me, it truly is a magnificent fate!" Hu Tao agreed repeatedly.

Lü Ming: "Thirty million!"

"...6!" Hu Tao's smile froze.

Good grief, so when you said 'fate', you actually meant the currency kind?

After hanging up, Lü Ming and Hu Tao added each other as friends, leaving the drafting of the contract to the other party. He then returned to his hotel in high spirits.

Suddenly acquiring a talent fee of 30 million, even after deducting corporate taxes, this amount would net him a cool 22.5 million!

Lü Ming, who had previously been hesitant due to insufficient funds, instantly felt at ease. As for suddenly changing his mind to accept the offer for *Go Fighting*?

Are you kidding? The other side casually offered a sky-high price of 30 million!

What kind of treatment was this talent fee? Even Huang Bo, backed by his Best Actor halo, probably wouldn't command a figure much higher than this. He had a personal grudge with Chu Sheng, not with the entire Penguin corporation. Only a fool wouldn't take free money!

Accumulating a bit more foundation—perhaps once the profits from *Wu Xin: The Monster Killer* rolled in—his next step could directly be launching the project for *Detective Chinatown*. If he could sweep up two to three billion in box office revenue in one go, wouldn't that mean taking off directly?!

Just thinking about it filled him with infinite longing for the future!

The grand finals of *Who Is the King of Songs* would only begin a week later. Before that, the cast lineup for *Wu Xin: The Monster Killer* had been fully signed, and Lü Ming set the filming start date for two days later, giving him enough time to prepare and head to Hengdian for shooting.

Dilraba ultimately chose the role of Yue Qiluo, under the pretext of wanting to experience the thrill of being a queen. Lü Ming also had a somewhat tight schedule due to simultaneously taking on two variety shows, so he decisively chose to take on the role of Zhang Xianzong.

Although personally playing the male lead with his current foundational skills—fully comparable to a first-tier actor—could greatly accelerate the shooting progress to rush the work, on one hand, the most viral aspect of this drama was the CP of Yue Qiluo and Zhang Xianzong, and he saw no reason to do all the work without reaping the reward. On the other hand, it was because he had invited Elvis Han to play the male lead.

This young man had just graduated from the Shanghai Theatre Academy less than two years ago, and so far had no representative works, with movie offers being pitifully few. Still, he was a top-tier student of the performance department, and his acting foundation received high praise even from the school's mentors—he was a case of unpolished jade.

Although Elvis Han knew of his own notorious reputation as a box-office poison, upon hearing that Lü Ming was investing 40 million in a major production and actually inviting him to be the male lead, he eagerly rushed over.

As for the salary?

If you get to play the male lead, who cares about the salary? After reading the script, Elvis Han signed the indenture in a fiery rush, terrified that he might be discarded.

Mindful that he himself had once been an exploited corporate wage slave, and after verifying that Elvis Han's acting skills truly reached a passing grade, Lü Ming offered a rate of 10,000 per episode for a total of 21 episodes, totaling 210,000 for a month's shooting schedule.

All the dirty and exhausting work fell on Elvis Han, yet a total of 210,000 wasn't even enough for him to read a couple of liquor commercials on a music variety show...

Under circumstances like these, who could possibly complain?

(PS: Begging for monthly votes!)

Begging for monthly tickets! Kneeling at the beginning of the month to beg for monthly ticket support~