168: Chapter 168 Qiu Ya's Choice

Over the next few days, Jiang Fan locked himself in his office and barely went out.

The keyboard clattered non-stop, and the word count on the screen grew exponentially day by day.

Chapter Eight: The Bodhisattva, by decree, travels to Chang'an.

Chapter Nine: The Old Dragon King's foolish plot violates the Heavenly Laws.

Chapter Ten, Chapter Eleven...

With the stories already fully formed in his mind, his fingers being unable to keep up with the speed of his thoughts was his biggest bottleneck right now.

At over fifty thousand words a day, any normal author's mind would have gone completely blank long ago.

But for him, the only things that felt tired were his fingers.

On the evening of the third day, he packaged the fifteen chapters he had written and sent them to Song Siyi.

Just three seconds after the message was sent, she replied instantly.

[Song Siyi: Received!]

[Song Siyi: Do you even sleep?]

[Jiang Fan: Cut the crap and read the draft.]

[Song Siyi: Yes, sir, Great Writer Jiang.]

Jiang Fan tossed his phone aside and stretched his stiff wrists.

—

Meanwhile, the preparation work over in Songjiang hadn't stopped either.

Director Ning Yuan led his team through rounds of actor auditions with extremely high efficiency.

The male lead, Shen Feng, had long been decided, and Sister Yue playing Ma Dongmei was also set in stone.

Most of the supporting roles were selected from the Mahua Theater Troupe; this group had great comedic timing and plenty of stage experience.

Only one role—Qiu Ya—remained undecided.

The character of Qiu Ya, to put it simply, was the male lead's 'white moonlight'—his unattainable first love.

She only had a few lines, and her screen time didn't exceed ten-odd minutes.

But she had to be beautiful, the kind of unforgettable beauty.

Not the plastic look of an internet celebrity, but the kind of beauty that would make you sigh when thinking back on her years later.

Director Ning Yuan had interviewed over twenty people and finally narrowed it down to three candidates.

On Friday afternoon, Li Cheng knocked on the door of Jiang Fan's office, holding a stack of documents.

"Brother Fan, this was sent over by Director Ning. There are three final candidates for Qiu Ya, and he wants you to make the final call."

Jiang Fan was rubbing his eyes. Staring at the computer screen and typing for the past few days had made them quite sore.

He took the documents and spread them out on the desk.

Three resumes, each with a set of costume photos attached.

The first was Lin Jiaxin, twenty-five years old. She had acted in two web dramas, and her look leaned towards the mature, sophisticated 'older sister' style.

Her makeup in the photo was exquisite, with striking features, giving off the standardized vibe of a professional model.

She was good-looking, but she lacked a certain flavor.

The second was Wang Yuxuan, twenty-three years old. She debuted from a talent show, had a sweet style, and possessed a decent fan base.

She had dimples when she smiled, but the problem was she was too sweet. This kind of face was suitable for playing the girl next door, not the 'white moonlight' that drove men crazy.

The woman in the last photo was very young; her profile listed her as twenty-one years old.

She had debuted less than half a year ago and didn't have any representative works yet.

Her face had that pure, innocent look of a first love.

Her skin was so fair it seemed translucent, her lips had a natural pink hue, and her eyes were incredibly clear.

But from the neck down—it was an entirely different style.

In her audition photo, she wore a white school uniform shirt, with the buttons properly fastened all the way to the top, but the front of the shirt was filled out quite fully.

Her waist was extremely narrow, and her hips flared out, giving her an overly perfect proportion.

An angelic face with a devilish body.

This sense of contrast was just too perfect for Qiu Ya.

Jiang Fan glanced at her name—Lu Wanqing.

He pulled out his phone and scanned the QR code for her audition video.

In the footage, Lu Wanqing stood in front of a white backdrop, wearing that school uniform.

The director called out from off-camera: 'Lu Wanqing, turn around.'

She turned around, her movements a bit stiff, but the moment she looked back—

The lighting in the shot hit her profile, and that clean, youthful, and innocent vibe was exactly what the name 'Qiu Ya' was supposed to represent.

The video was only forty seconds long. After watching it, Jiang Fan put his phone down.

"She's the one."

Li Cheng leaned over to take a look. 'The third one? Lu Wanqing?'

"Yes."

"Brother Fan, this girl has only been debuted for half a year and has no works to her name. That Wang Yuxuan before her at least has some popularity—"

"Qiu Ya doesn't need popularity." Jiang Fan closed the documents and pushed them aside. "She only needs to stand in front of the camera and make the male audience feel like 'this woman is worth dreaming about.' Acting skills aren't important; she herself is the best prop."

Li Cheng thought about it and took another look at the photo.

Fair enough. Indeed, with this face and body, she was unforgettable at first glance.

"Alright, I'll let Director Ning know."

Li Cheng went out with the documents.

Not five minutes later, Jiang Fan's phone rang. It was Director Ning Yuan.

"You chose Lu Wanqing?"

"Yes. Is there a problem?"

There was a two-second pause on the other end of the line.

"No problem. I wanted to choose her too. I was just worried you'd think she's too green."

"Being green doesn't matter. Qiu Ya doesn't need acting skills anyway."

Director Ning Yuan hummed in agreement. "Alright then. I'll notify her to join the cast."

"Okay. You handle the salary negotiations on your end."

"She's a newcomer, so a token payment of around a hundred thousand should do."

"Up to you. Just don't squeeze her too hard."

"Got it, got it." Director Ning Yuan hung up.

Jiang Fan tossed his phone back onto the desk and reopened his Word document.

The cursor was blinking at the beginning of Chapter Sixteen.

Just as his fingers touched the keyboard, his phone vibrated again.

It was a message from Song Siyi.

[Song Siyi: Jiang Fan.]

[Song Siyi: Are you even human?]

[Jiang Fan: ?]

[Song Siyi: Three days. Nearly two hundred thousand words. Are your hands made of machine guns?]

[Jiang Fan: Just say it if you want to praise me.]

[Song Siyi: I'm not praising you; I'm questioning your physical constitution.]

Jiang Fan smiled and typed back.

[Jiang Fan: When will it be released?]

[Song Siyi: Next Tuesday. The homepage recommendation slot and pop-up ads are all arranged for you. President Chen personally approved the resources, saying we must promote this book as Zhongdian's top project of the year.]

[Jiang Fan: Okay.]

[Song Siyi: Have you thought of a pen name? What name are you going to publish under?]

Jiang Fan thought for two seconds.

[Jiang Fan: My real name is fine.]

[Song Siyi: If you use your real name, with your current popularity, you'll hit the trending searches on the very first day. By then, the entire internet will know you're writing a novel.]

[Jiang Fan: Isn't that perfect? It saves on promotion costs.]

[Song Siyi: ...Alright then, I'll coordinate with operations. Just get ready to collect the money.]

[Jiang Fan: Don't worry.]

Jiang Fan locked his screen and continued typing.

—

On Sunday night.

Jiang Fan arrived at the set of "goodbye mr. loser."

The filming commencement ceremony was to be held here tomorrow.

The ceremony was set at a resort hotel in Songjiang. The venue was huge, and all the necessary grandeur was present.

The entire cast and crew had arrived.

Director Ning Yuan wore a new black jacket, his beard was clean-shaven, and his entire spirit was a world apart from how he looked half a month ago.

Shen Feng and Sister Yue stood together, while several other Mahua actors gathered nearby, chatting.

Lun Zi shouted loudly from over there, "Brother Feng, you didn't borrow that shirt, did you?"

Shen Feng slapped the back of his head. "Get lost, I bought it myself."

"How much was it?"

"...Twenty-nine yuan."

"Haha—"

Sister Yue stood aside with her arms crossed, rolling her eyes. "Can you two bring some honor to the company? You're the male lead of a movie with a forty-million-yuan investment, for goodness' sake."

Shen Feng adjusted his shirt collar. "Isn't this just being thrifty? Once the movie is released, I'll upgrade to a ninety-nine-yuan shirt."

A Zheng added a jab from behind, "Brother Feng's vision has truly broadened."

In the corner, Lu Wanqing wore a light blue dress with her hair tied in a ponytail, standing quietly and barely talking to anyone.

Her agent, Agent Zhou, whispered instructions beside her, "When the investor boss arrives in a bit, don't be nervous. Just greet him normally."

Lu Wanqing nodded and asked, "Agent Zhou, have you met Jiang Fan?"

"Only on television."

"I heard he's only twenty years old? Even younger than me?"

Her agent nudged her shoulder. "Shh, don't make a fuss. At twenty, he manages dozens of people, and the movie he's producing has a forty-million-yuan investment."

Lu Wanqing looked down at her mineral water bottle, which she had squeezed out of shape.

"Agent Zhou, I'm a bit nervous."

"What is there to be nervous about? As long as you play your role well, that's better than anything else."