When will I be the queen

Chapter 462 Using Your Brain
"I think Cao Xin's team would like the foodie character."

For actors, playing a foodie is a highly sought-after and endearing trait. It's even more appealing than a character who loves their family, wife, or daughter, since they don't need to act opposite other actors; their own unique charm shines through.

Why does Cao Xin want everything?
Before Cai Cai could speak, the Immortal Lord said directly, "Give it to him." To make Cao Xin a deterrent, the coveted cuteness had to be given to him, otherwise, "his position would be unstable."

This is similar to how the favorite concubines in the imperial harem always wore the most beautiful and eye-catching clothes among all the concubines.

"What's so endearing about this senior brother?"

Cai Cai thought for a moment, "He's probably timid, afraid of the dark and ghosts, the kind who would shrink behind the Ninth Princess." He's quite big but can't hide it, and he's a cute contrast between his outwardly heroic appearance and his innerly whiny personality.

"Okay, then this role definitely needs to be played by a very masculine person. It feels like he'd clash with the Third Prince Consort." Because the actors' acting skills are all lacking.
"The designs of the clothes will be quite different then."

Okay, that's approved.

"The last one, junior brother, let's go with the villainous male lead type, cold-blooded and ruthless, but carefully and considerately taking care of the Ninth Princess. The actor should be beautiful, similar to Meng Ning."

"Doesn't this clash a bit with the character of the madman guard?"

Li Muzi didn't think it was a big problem. "There's a big difference between paranoia and obvious malice on someone's face. But this is a bit too negative. How about multiple beautiful, strong, and tragic characters?"

"The supporting characters don't need to be too deep; just keep them on the surface. However, being beautiful, strong, and tragic is fine too; just mention it in a sentence. The premise is that the junior brother has the highest combat power among all the supporting characters." The Immortal Lord looked at Cai Cai. "What do you think?"
Sure, "The 'beautiful, strong, and tragic' trope is very popular, which makes it quite interesting." However, "the key is beauty. If it can't be more beautiful than Meng Ning and Cao Xin, it won't be very convincing."

Many actresses have failed because of their beauty when trying to portray a beautiful, strong, and tragic character. If you're not beautiful enough, the role won't be good.

"With you here in the show, and other male actors like Cao Xin and Meng Ning, it's hard to find a beauty who surpasses them, or even just rivals them." It's not just too difficult, it's practically impossible. "Because if someone were to exist, they wouldn't remain unknown." Beauty is something that easily goes viral; it can't be hidden.

Take Cai Cai for example. She was offered 300 million yuan to take a role, and several powerful figures in the industry even tried to prevent her from making a name for herself. Their plan was to suppress Cai Cai for a few years, taking a gamble that her beauty would diminish after she came of age. Even if they couldn't suppress her then, they could still release negative press. But Cai Cai went abroad and didn't falter. Instead, she soared to new heights and returned like a victorious goddess.

There are many short essays outside the circle talking about this matter, as well as countless feel-good stories based on Cai Cai.

Li Muzi also knew that the company had basically stood by and watched, because they didn't believe Cai Cai would really stick to being an actress. Although she didn't know much about Cai Cai's specific family background, the fact that the company would dare to do something almost like betraying her, even though she was such a stunning beauty, showed how well-off Cai Cai's family was, and how upset she must have been at the time.
Oh right, Cai Cai probably won't be upset, but she'll probably be annoyed.
"We can add more scenes for our junior brother; let Meng Ning play him. As for the Tenth Prince, we'll find someone else."

Huang Xin disagreed, "The Ninth Princess and the Tenth Prince are siblings. Meng Ning's looks are barely comparable to Cai Cai's. If we were to find someone else, where could we find someone who could be the Ninth Princess's sibling?"

Cai Cai suggested, "Then let's find a minor actor, someone who doesn't have an adult feel? Turn the siblings into older siblings." The tenth prince is older than the ninth princess because of the Immortal Lord's script, where princes and princesses are born separately. But listen, being the tenth prince means being younger than the ninth prince.

The Immortal Lord refused, saying, "Supporting roles must be played by adults." Various investors and companies did want to send many underage young artists, but the Immortal Lord rejected them all, explaining, "Because you are not yet an adult, if another underage person comes along, they will automatically become a couple and be paired up by the audience. After being brainwashed by press releases, you will have a first love, the kind that you can't shake off."

"." Capital's methods are truly amazing.

"Look, you and those three were enemies in the show, but the audience still automatically grouped you together as a small group, called the underage squad. Now that the three of them are all adults, and one of them is going to be a mother, they're still called the underage squad." Underage groups in film and television works are already conspicuous, and with more scenes together, they really do automatically form a group.

Cai Cai understood and thanked the Immortal Lord for his protection and care. "Why don't we just ask Meng Ning directly? After all, he's one of our own. Let's see which role he wants to choose."

They're just from the same company, not exactly family. Huang Xin and Li Muzi exchanged a glance. Although they felt Meng Ning wasn't worth all this trouble, since Cai Cai had brought it up, they decided to ask anyway.

Meng Ning is currently filming a pretty popular variety show. Most variety shows these days are long-term projects, one season per year. Meng Ning is a relatively new face, with five or six million followers across various social media platforms, making her qualified to be a guest on a long-running, popular variety show.

The show was still being filmed when Meng Ning's agent and assistant, carrying a sign with thousands of names, approached the on-site director's assistant, wanting Meng Ning to go to the restroom or touch up her makeup.

This excuse, which sounded like a lie, actually indicated that the matter was serious. The assistant director didn't make things difficult and reported it directly to the director and producer. The director also didn't make things difficult because variety shows are all about screen time, and with many people, screen time requires even more mental design and effort to perform. Now that Meng Ning was voluntarily giving up her screen time, this part would naturally fall on other artists. The director only wanted artists who needed to maintain a certain amount of screen time for the sake of the program's effect, and Meng Ning was obviously not among them, so he readily agreed.

When Meng Ning saw the VJ who was filming him lower the camera and stop filming him, he panicked, knowing something was wrong. The other artists around him also noticed and panicked even more, instinctively moving away to avoid him. This way, even if Meng Ning was arrested, they wouldn't have their elbows or fingers cut off because they were next to him.

Led offstage by the director's assistant, Meng Ning didn't even have time to say a word of apology before being dragged away by her agent.

Arriving at a secluded but open space, the junior agent directly called Meng Ning's head agent. There are countless agents; a single management team can have twelve people, each representing at least five or six artists, sometimes as many as ten. They generally focus on the big picture, frequently visiting the most popular and busy artists. The junior agent is usually the one who stays close to the artist. This junior agent can be someone from the company or a relative or friend the artist has chosen.

For someone like Meng Ning, who isn't very famous and doesn't have a heavy workload, there's usually a junior agent working for him. His family all work in the public sector, and no one from his family comes to work for him, so the junior agent was assigned to him by the company. This junior agent has been with Meng Ning for over two years, truly a loyal and dedicated employee. Because for a job like a junior agent/assistant, staying for more than six months is considered a long time.

This junior agent really thought highly of Meng Ning and even had a bit of a fan mentality towards her privately—although generally, companies require that people around an artist not be fans, or even better, not be fans themselves. But working in the entertainment industry involves a lot of movement, and without a bit of fandom and a dream-like mentality, it's really hard to keep going. So as long as it's not too obvious, the company and the artist won't interfere, and some artists even particularly enjoy the adoration and admiration from their staff.
Meng Ning wasn't enjoying it, but when he saw his junior agent's hand trembling as he held the phone, and his excited expression—the kind of excitement that comes from something good—his heart sank, but then started beating even faster.

The senior agent quickly answered the video call, instructed the junior agent to point the camera at Meng Ning, and then immediately requested a multi-person connection.

The junior agent turned the phone horizontally, and the multi-person call was connected. Meng Ning's face appeared on the phone screen, along with the senior agent's face and the faces of everyone in the room.

Meng Ning squinted slightly, trying to see more clearly, but his brain had already received the image before he could—it was Cai Cai.

Among the people in the room, the most obvious are Cai Cai and Xianjun, followed by director Huang Xin, screenwriter Li Muzi, Xianjun's agent Gu Sheng, and at the very back, Cai Cai's agent Mei Zhang, and four or five other people who look somewhat familiar.

Work is here
Meng Ning had only one thought in her mind! An incredible job, here it comes!!!

"Is it connected? It wouldn't be appropriate to call him out while we're recording a show, would it?"

Having convinced Cai Cai, the Immortal Lord stopped her from continuing and directly asked Meng Ning, "There are two characters now. One is the protagonist's brother, an antagonist, portrayed as narcissistic and selfish, with a comedic touch. The other is one of the protagonist's romantic interests, portrayed as ruthless, beautiful, strong, and tragic. The former has more screen time and a more prominent role, but is a villain; the latter has less screen time and is the protagonist's romantic partner. You have one minute. Which one would you choose?"

The Immortal Lord presided over the company's S-level investment project for Cai Cai. Cai Cai is the sole protagonist, but there are many supporting characters. There's no news outside the industry, but within the industry, there's been a lot of buzz about selecting many people, and it's said that a decision is already being made.

Now, this enormous pie has been placed right in front of Meng Ning's mouth, or even inside his mouth, and he's being given a choice between two options.

Meng Ning was momentarily stunned, his mind buzzing. But he remembered what the Immortal Lord had said: he would only have one minute to make a choice.

The senior agent pointed to one, indicating the former; the junior agent pointed to two, indicating the latter. The junior agent couldn't see the screen, so he didn't know the senior agent's choice.

After hesitating, Meng Ning spoke up, "I choose the protagonist brother." It wasn't because she listened to the big agent; in many situations where there's a choice between two options, the first choice is often the initial, the only, and truly the number one choice, while the second choice appears later. If it's about buying something, most people would choose the second option. Hesitating between two options means being unwilling to give up the second, which is a silent way of abandoning the first; otherwise, a second option wouldn't appear.

But as someone being chosen, and still a character, Meng Ning pondered that the first role—the protagonist's older brother—was definitely intended for him initially, but other events or accidents occurred, giving him another option. Meng Ning wasn't a clever person; he preferred to play it safe. However, being forced to choose between two options meant there was a difficult situation. If he made a bad choice and made things even more complicated, he might end up with neither option and be kicked out.
This is the worst possible outcome.

Meng Ning knew that in the workplace, it wasn't about how good your work skills were that made you appreciated and valued by your boss. It was about whether you could solve problems for your boss. If you couldn't solve problems, or even made things more difficult for your boss, then you were considered incompetent and would be disliked by your boss.
Feeling so anxious, Meng Ning was starting to lose heart.

Cai Cai then asked him, "Why did you choose this?"

Meng Ning then explained her thought process, "So I figured, since I might be offered the role of the protagonist's older brother from the start, I'll try my best to get it." She paused, then added, "I'm sorry if this has put you in a difficult position."

Cai Cai waved her hand, "It's not difficult at all, no need to apologize. Your thinking is very rational, that's impressive!"

Meng Ning blushed even more. Cai Cai really knew how to compliment people.
Both the top agent and the junior agent were very excited, but neither dared to give Meng Ning any further hints that might influence him.

The immortal was also very satisfied with this idea; actors really need to be smart and able to think.

"Then I'll talk to your agent and the company about the contract, and you can come for the audition. If it's suitable, the role is yours." She added at the end, "You're right, Cai Cai wanted to give you the role of the lead actor's brother from the very beginning."

Although it wasn't really a done deal, Meng Ning was still very happy. He was remembered by Cai Cai and seen by the Immortal Lord!

The top agent said he was at the company and would go find someone to go through the contract process. He assured the agent that he was very grateful to Cai Cai and that they would cherish this opportunity.

Meng Ning had already given the notification, so the Immortal Lord directly instructed Huang Xin and Li Muzi to inform Cao Xin about his role as a young hero.

"If his team has any objections, just deal with them casually." Anyway, Cao Xin won't be the only one causing trouble in the end.

Finally, some details of the script were finalized, and the meeting came to an end.

Cai Cai slumped on the sofa. These behind-the-scenes tasks always felt more tiring than filming. She sighed deeply; she was truly exhausted.

The immortal ordered some food and told Cai Cai to finish it before going back. Cai Cai dragged her along, complaining about how tired she was, and then she laughed.

Cai Cai jumped up in a flash. "You must feel tired too, right? How do you overcome all that messy stuff behind the scenes?"

“I’ve never overcome it.” The immortal poured her a glass of water. “You have to accept everything completely. If you only accept the good and reject the bad, you’ll never have it. Acting is my lifelong career, so I can’t just stay on screen. To keep doing this career, I’m willing to accept whatever I should accept. It’s just that I’m lucky, good-looking, and rich, so my inability to overcome it seems like a kind of bragging. That’s a kind of comfort to me.”

The immortal looked at Cai Cai and asked, "Acting isn't your lifelong career, is it?"

Cai Cai shook her head, but said, "Acting is indeed my career, and I could do it for a lifetime. But I'm different from you." How to put it, "Your current situation seems to suggest that your entire life revolves around acting. Your life is both full and thin. Do you understand what I mean?" Saying you have no life isn't quite accurate; it's more like a life that appears vibrant and fulfilling, but is actually quite barren. But in reality, it's not that barren.

Ah, "If you stripped all your life of acting and related careers away from your life, what would be left?"

The immortal lord took a leisurely sip of tea, "And beauty and wealth."

"." That's not cute at all.

The immortal sneered, "Are you trying to manipulate me? I've seen more psychologists than you've eaten chicken legs." He'd heard far too many of these kinds of statements—that his life was barren, impoverished, monotonous, devoid of personal life, lacking normal human needs, and devoid of joy—all meant to attack or even destroy him. Marketing accounts had turned them into brainwashing posts.

"You'll hear similar things in the future, criticizing your choices, denying everything about you, seemingly out of concern, but actually it's a very bad psychological suggestion. Life, living, is just a concept. Others' views of you are always from their perspective, but only you can live your own life. No one else can live your life."

The Immortal Lord knew Cai Cai meant no harm; she was simply sharing her feelings, not even expressing concern for him, but simply sharing her thoughts without reservation. Yet, he had already developed a cold, defensive attitude towards these words. Because he had heard far too much of it, mostly malicious.
"You know what positive malice is, right?" The Immortal Lord looked at Cai Cai. "Most people who offer guidance-like concern to complete strangers are, in my opinion, malicious. Unlike natural empathy and compassion, this kind of malicious concern is purely because these people don't want to see the people they care about living well. They want to see the people they care about become self-doubting, fail in life, and then thank them in return. It's a hidden, superior, and difficult-to-detect malice. And it's positive."

Because they "care" about you.

"In movies and TV dramas, this kind of positive malice is portrayed very obviously. For example, the protagonist is being abused at home, and the supporting characters offer concerned advice: you should call the police, you should fight back, you should get a divorce, you should consider yourself and your children, you should fight for more property. Then the protagonist calls the police, fights back, goes through with the divorce, takes the children, fights for the property, and in the end, the protagonist is attacked, the children are taken away, and they don't get a single penny of the family property. Of course, because they are the protagonist, the script will definitely have a satisfying ending. But have you noticed what this kind of filming technique, which carries warnings and reminders, is really trying to tell the audience?"