Chapter 129: Xiao Xie Limited Entertainment Company

Thus, Xiao Xie temporarily settled down in the Love Apartment. After half a month there, he had become familiar with Hu Yifei and the others. At the very least, they no longer called him “Xiao God,” and simply addressed him as Xiao Xie.

One day, returning from outside, Xiao Xie opened the door and saw Guan Gu sitting on the sofa.

“Xiao Xie-kun, you’re finally back! I’ve been waiting for you for so long!” Guan Gu Magic bowed deeply to Xiao Xie as he spoke, his Chinese awkward and halting.

“What’s wrong, Guan Gu? Do you need something?” Xiao Xie was surprised by the formal greeting as he entered.

Xiao Xie had a good impression of Guan Gu. Though he was Japanese, his character was excellent—reliable, honest, and probably the most dependable among the men in Love Apartment.

Guan Gu Magic scratched his head, a bit embarrassed, but spoke earnestly, “I have something I need your help with. Please, you must help me! I beg you!” He bowed again.

“What happened?” Xiao Xie asked.

“It’s like this. My comic, ‘Love Triangle Cat,’ had a contract with a publisher, but the publisher suddenly went bankrupt. Now I have no income, so I want to create a new comic and hoped you could give me some advice.” Guan Gu struggled with this explanation; his pronunciation was indeed peculiar.

“How did your publisher suddenly go bankrupt?” Xiao Xie asked, curious.

“Well, the janitor at the publisher’s entrance told me that the economic crisis caused the dollar to depreciate, which affected the status of international currency reserves. Various countries reduced their holdings of US bonds, so capital flowed into emerging markets, traditional industries suffered, annual budgets were cut multiple times, and the publisher couldn’t make ends meet, so it went under.” Guan Gu rattled off this convoluted explanation in one breath—it was a challenge for him.

“Are you sure that was just a janitor?” Xiao Xie’s mouth twitched.

Guan Gu shook his head repeatedly. “That wasn’t the real reason. Later, I found out the actual cause: our comic sold for twenty-eight yuan, but the pirate base next door only charged two yuan eighty. Even more outrageous, they’d give away two photo albums of Ah Jiao with every ‘Love Triangle Cat’ sold. How could our publisher not go bankrupt?”

Xiao Xie patted Guan Gu’s shoulder in consolation. “It’s alright, leave it to me!”

He thought for a moment and said, “Guan Gu, why don’t you adapt ‘Immortal Executioner’—the novel I published—into an anime?”

“Is that okay?” Guan Gu was surprised.

“It’s fine. If someone else adapts it, it’s still just an adaptation. I’d rather you do it! My goal isn’t to make money, but to earn admiration points, so I’m not too concerned about things like copyrights. Even if it’s adapted into an anime, people will still worship the book’s original author.”

“Xiao Xie-kun, thank you so much!” Guan Gu bowed deeply again, then hurried off to start drawing the comic. Adapting a novel was much easier than creating a comic from scratch.

Xiao Xie watched Guan Gu’s excited figure, shaking his head with amusement. He returned to his room, closed the door, and summoned Arnold.

“Arnold, how’s the entertainment company coming along?”

“Master, the entertainment company is already established, and I’ve found the information on the female celebrities you asked for.” Arnold connected wirelessly to Xiao Xie’s laptop and transferred the information.

Liu Yifei, eighteen, a student at the Beijing Film Academy. Xiao Xie looked at the familiar face and her ethereal aura in the profile and murmured, “The goddess from back then is still so young! But it seems she’s not a star yet. That makes sense: she only became famous after filming ‘Chinese Paladin’ and ‘Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils,’ earning the title of goddess. This world doesn’t even have the ‘Chinese Paladin’ game or Jin Yong’s works, so naturally she hasn’t risen to fame.”

“Arnold, sign her under our company,” Xiao Xie instructed.

“Yes, Master.”

Having given the order, Xiao Xie continued reading. Yang Ying, English name Aglababy, seventeen, a model who just returned from Japan to the mainland. Another familiar person! Her fame stemmed mainly from participating in Running Man, but since this world doesn’t have Running Man, she’s just a third-rate minor celebrity.

Tang Yan, Yang Mi, Liu Shishi, Zhao Liying...

“All familiar stars!” Xiao Xie flipped through the profiles—over a dozen female celebrities who had once been wildly popular on Earth. Yet in this world, for various reasons, some hadn’t become famous, others lacked opportunities and remained minor stars.

“Arnold, sign them all under our company,” Xiao Xie said. While these women weren’t famous now, they all had the potential; they just needed the right opportunities.

“Understood, Master.”

“Arnold, release all the single-player ‘Chinese Paladin’ games for free. Also, organize the scripts for ‘Chinese Paladin I,’ ‘Chinese Paladin III,’ and ‘The Journey of Flower’ for me—I’ll need them,” Xiao Xie ordered.

“Understood!”

...

Dressed in a white hooded sweater and white pants, Zhao Liying still felt a bit dizzy. Yesterday she was just a student at the Beijing Film Academy, when suddenly she received a phone call and was signed as a newcomer to Xiao Xie Entertainment Co. At first, she thought it was a scam!

After all, who would sign a student who doesn’t even count as a newcomer for a ten million yuan annual contract fee? But once the contract was done and she saw ten million yuan in her bank account, Zhao Liying realized it was real.

It was only the second day after signing, and she was notified by the company to play the female lead in a drama called ‘The Journey of Flower.’ Still dazed, she hurried to Xiao Xie Entertainment Co.

Looking up at the grand building with the gilded words “Xiao Xie Entertainment Co.” atop, Zhao Liying took a deep breath, calming her nerves.

“Qianqian, don’t be nervous! Mom is going with you,” Liu Xiaoli said to Liu Yifei. Yesterday, after Liu Yifei signed with Xiao Xie Entertainment Co., her account immediately showed a ten million yuan signing bonus. Liu Xiaoli understood the company’s strength—what ordinary company would pay so much to sign a newcomer?

Today, the company contacted them again, inviting Liu Yifei to star in a drama called ‘Chinese Paladin.’ Not daring to take any chances, Liu Xiaoli accompanied her daughter to the company.

“Mom, you seem even more nervous than I am!” The originally anxious Liu Yifei felt both moved and amused seeing her mother’s nervous attempts to comfort her.

Elsewhere, over a dozen beauties had similar experiences to Zhao Liying and Liu Yifei, and so, on this day, all hurried to Xiao Xie Entertainment Co.

...

“Arnold, let’s get ready to meet our guests,” Xiao Xie said, watching the beautiful women being led into the conference room via the surveillance screen.

“Yes, Master.”

“So many beauties!” Zhao Liying sat in the conference room, sipping milk tea and observing the others. She herself was a beauty, of the delicate and demure type. But she hadn’t expected the conference room to be filled with over a dozen goddess-level beauties. Compared to them, she suddenly felt she wasn’t so outstanding. Anxiously, she thought, “Are they all here to compete for the female lead? The pressure is huge!”

Yang Ying, a model, had always been confident in herself. But seeing the dozen or so elegant beauties in the conference room, she suddenly felt immense pressure. She wondered, “How did so many refined beauties suddenly appear? Are beautiful women so common now? Where did this company find so many elegant women?”