Chapter Eighty-Two: Life Needs Rituals

“All right, that’s a wrap!” Chen Qi clapped his hands, handed off the final tasks to Xu Bunan, and, full of excitement, took the footage to work on post-production himself.

Editing, special effects, voiceover...

After a whirlwind of activity, dusk had already fallen. At last, the final extra episode was complete.

Chen Qi let out a long sigh of relief, feeling as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He thought back carefully—today marked exactly the fifteenth day since filming for season two had begun.

Not only had they finished the planned fifteen episodes at a pace of one per day, but they’d even managed to produce an additional one. Compared to the first season, this was a significant improvement in speed.

This was partly thanks to his thorough preparation beforehand, and partly due to the increasingly seamless cooperation among the crew—after all, they’d already worked together for an entire season. Of course, another crucial reason was the invaluable help Xu Bunan had provided.

If not for Xu Bunan’s tireless efforts in every aspect, season two would never have gone so smoothly.

“President Xu, help tidy things up here, will you? I’m going over to Simple Video,” Chen Qi said, waving the finished episodes in his hand as he called out to Xu Bunan.

Delivering the episodes was just part of his errand; he had other matters to attend to at Simple Video.

“Sure, go on.” Xu Bunan nodded, but as Chen Qi turned to leave, something occurred to him. He called out, “I’m taking everyone out for dinner tonight—don’t forget to come!”

“All right!” Chen Qi replied from afar.

Xu Bunan had mentioned the dinner before. His idea was that, since everyone had worked so hard lately and season two had achieved such great results, it was only fitting to hold a celebration.

In fact, this project was the first official one Future Film had been involved with since its founding.

Life needs a sense of ceremony, and with so many good things happening at once, a celebration was more than warranted.

...

Over an hour later, Chen Qi arrived at Simple Video.

“Chen Qi?”

The receptionist, startled when she saw him, looked at him in surprise and delight, almost not believing her eyes.

It couldn’t be helped—“Wanwan” was just too popular lately! So much so that even the staff here had become fans.

His shameless antics... it was impossible to dislike him.

“Hello,” Chen Qi greeted them with a smile.

Actually, these two receptionists had met him just over two weeks ago, but at that time he’d been a nobody, so they hadn’t paid much attention.

Before long, he met Zhao Qingqing.

Soon, many of Simple Video’s staff spotted him as well.

One by one, they widened their eyes, unable to believe it was actually him, their faces filled with surprise and delight. A few pretty female employees even dramatically covered their mouths in astonishment.

“See? You’re really popular now. If you walked down the street, you’d probably cause a traffic jam,” Zhao Qingqing teased as she led him toward her office.

Chen Qi chuckled, not taking it to heart.

If “Wanwan” weren’t still airing, and if his arrival hadn’t been so unexpected, would these people really be so surprised?

After all, as employees of a major platform like Simple Video, they’d encountered countless celebrities. For someone like him, newly famous, their reaction was probably more out of curiosity.

After all, there weren’t many people as unabashed as him.

Following Zhao Qingqing into her office, Chen Qi was surprised to see the sign on the door read “Director of Content.”

“Oh, Director Zhao has been promoted?” Chen Qi exclaimed in mild surprise, unable to resist a lighthearted jab.

Zhao Qingqing smiled, “Just took office two days ago.”

“Congratulations, truly,” he said, offering his genuine best wishes.

She was certainly deserving of the position.

Zhao Qingqing smiled as she made him a cup of tea. “So, the last episode is finished?”

“It is—right here.” Chen Qi handed her the episodes. “I even made an extra special episode in my spare time. Let’s release it together tonight.”

“An extra?” Zhao Qingqing was momentarily taken aback, but quickly agreed, “No problem. I’ll have finance transfer the payment for this episode to the contracted account later.”

“That’s not necessary,” Chen Qi said, quickly waving his hand. “This extra episode was just something I shot for fun. Who knows whether the audience will even like it? Let’s not talk about money.”

“Huh?” Zhao Qingqing was a bit stunned by his words.

What did he mean, not talk about money?

Was he offering it for free?

“Yes, for free,” Chen Qi replied, smiling.

He really had filmed the extra just for fun. He was content just to see it released; how could he accept payment for it?

He hadn’t even dared to include sponsor ads in the opening or ending. Besides, he’d agreed to a package price for season two, and since the extra was being included with it, of course it was all part of the deal.

“You’re serious?” Zhao Qingqing looked at him in disbelief.

Was he really being so capricious? Even though two hundred thousand wasn’t a fortune, it was still a sizable amount—he was just going to give it up?

Chen Qi waved it off, signaling that the matter was settled.

“Actually, I’m here today for another reason,” he said.

“Oh? What is it?” Zhao Qingqing paused, then her eyes suddenly lit up as she guessed, “Is there a new project in the works?”

She’d never forgotten their last conversation, when Chen Qi had mentioned preparing a major project to collaborate with Simple Video.

“...” Chen Qi was speechless.

With the sudden success of “Wanwan” season two, that project had been long forgotten.

“No, no, not that. We’ll talk about the project later. This is something else,” Chen Qi said, a little embarrassed.

“Okay, what is it?”

“It’s about those slanderous voices on Weibo last time...” Chen Qi looked at her and asked, “Were those people just seeking attention on their own, or was someone orchestrating things behind the scenes?”

Zhao Qingqing hesitated, then gave him a meaningful look. “Why are you asking?”

“I’m just curious,” Chen Qi replied with a smile.

He really was curious. Although he knew that whether people acted on their own or were pushed by others, it was all quite normal, he still wanted to know.

It was also a way to better understand the rules of the industry.

Zhao Qingqing was silent for a few seconds before she spoke, “When those voices first appeared, we paid close attention. After all, they were smearing a show streaming on our platform, so we couldn’t take it lightly.”

Chen Qi nodded slightly.

“To be honest, someone was indeed manipulating things from behind the scenes. At the time, two major TV dramas with significant investments were airing on major channels, and the high popularity of ‘Wanwan’ was cutting into their profits.”

Realization dawned on Chen Qi. “So, was it the TV stations or the investors behind those two dramas who were stirring things up?”

Zhao Qingqing shook her head. “That’s impossible to trace.”

Chen Qi smiled—he wasn’t surprised by the answer.

Anyone daring enough to pull such tricks would be careful not to leave evidence. While it might be possible to investigate, it hardly seemed worth the trouble.

After all, wasn’t this sort of thing perfectly normal in the entertainment industry?

...

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