2001 Media Godfather

Chapter 26 The Bird in the Cage
After chatting with his two good buddies for a while, Chu An sent them off to play somewhere else.

Upon learning that the film crew would be stationed at the No. 1 Middle School after the start of the school year, the two did not hesitate and agreed to meet again when school started.

But Zhao Yang wasn't giving up. As he and Li Chunming playfully walked away, he shouted, "Help me get Xu Shu's autograph. Please, if you do, I'll treat you to the whole night!"

Chu An watched his two best friends walk away like idiots, and smiled knowingly. You know what, the silly foolishness of youth is quite interesting.

He looked away, his smile fading as he did so.

Looking at the clear and bright Ma Yan'er River, and a young couple sneaking under the ancient stone bridge to make out, I couldn't help but recall that panicked figure who fled far away.

Thinking to myself, "Is Xu Shu, who has social anxiety, really like this?"

Although socially awkward celebrities were a dime a dozen in their original timeline, including some top stars, Chu An was still somewhat speechless.

Why didn't you say you were socially awkward earlier?! He always thought that the big star Xu was just being arrogant, and he had already prepared a contingency plan.

Those words were deliberately provocative, meant to escalate the conflict so that tabloid reporters would have fodder when she walks away from the show. Chu Shikuai is no kind-hearted person.

It turns out you're socially awkward! This caught Chu An off guard, leaving him unable to make a move.

The reason is simple: even in his previous life, Chu An felt quite sympathetic towards artists with psychological issues.

Because others can act on stage and be themselves behind the scenes, while they... are performing all the time in their lives.

He looked down at the notebook left behind by Xu Shu.

Those were two scripts, "My High School Days" and "The Best of Us".

Just as Chu An had said, she went back and compared the two scripts.

Turning to the first two pages of "The Best of Us," one finds them densely covered with delicate handwriting—Xu Shu's interpretations and annotations of the characters and the plot.

It's not just about the female lead, Geng Geng, but also about all the characters who appear on the first two pages.

Chu An could see an actor's professionalism between the lines, and some of the character interpretations even coincided with Chu An's own.

Putting aside "The Best of Us" and purely out of curiosity, Chu An opened the script for "My High School Days".

Just as Chu An had expected, the book was filled with notes from beginning to end.

To Chu An's surprise, besides her understanding of the script, there seemed to be a lot of Shu Shu's feelings and personal reflections written in it.

For example, the scene where Wang Xiaoshuai, played by Chu An, confesses his feelings to Liu Xia.

Xu Shu drew a big "X" on the two lines that Chu An suggested she delete, as if she had realized that the two lines were wrong.

only……

There was also a line of small print next to it, as if reminding itself: "Changing lines without Uncle Lu's permission will result in a deduction of points!"

Next to the scene where he argues with Tong Meng and her mother, there's a self-hypnotic line: "The tea eggs smell so good, I'm so hungry."

"But eating snacks will cost you money!! Xu Shu, you already weigh 84.7 pounds!"

Scroll down further.

"I want to eat ice cream, but my sister won't buy it for me. I'm so upset."

……

"I really want to play Geng Geng because I didn't go to high school."

Chu An frowned, his expression growing increasingly grim. He thought to himself, "So it's not just social anxiety after all."

Changing the script and deducting a share of the actor's pay is done to improve filming efficiency.

Controlling weight is a price female celebrities have to pay.

These are all perfectly reasonable; most talent agencies include such clauses in their contracts to some extent. On one hand, they constrain artists, forcing them to be self-disciplined. On the other hand, they reduce risk.

However, these clauses should not appear in the contract of a top female star.

Generally, those willing to sign this kind of contract are mostly newcomers. Only newcomers who require the company to provide resources and invest money and effort to promote them will have such unfair terms.

This type of contract for new employees has a very apt name—child labor contract.

In other words, Xu Shu is still holding a child labor contract?
But here's the problem: child labor is not exploitation.

This is a very common type of contract within the industry.

To put it bluntly, this newcomer has nothing to offer besides a pretty face and a little acting talent. Signing with an agency and taking a 10% cut of the profits right from the start?
Why would a company promote you? And why would they be willing to spend money and resources on you?
At the very least, they have to promise the company something tangible, like making you famous so they can profit from it.

That's the principle behind child labor contracts. However, most child labor contracts aren't very long; the company invests heavily in the first few years and takes the lion's share. Once the artist can generate profits for the company, the share is gradually reduced year by year, eventually returning to a reasonable range.

To put it bluntly, it's normal for Tiandu to give Xu Shu a child labor contract, but the fact that Xu Shu has been in the industry for ten years and still has a child labor contract is just too much!

"Heh!" Chu An laughed and scolded, "You guys are really doing something inhuman!"

Chu An was referring to "you all," not just Tian Du. He'd encountered this kind of thing far too many times; it just takes two to tango. Even if Tian Du wanted to sign long-term child labor contracts, Xu Shu would have to be willing to sign them first.

Xu Shu is under eighteen years old and requires a guardian's signature.
So who exactly is doing something inhumane?

Looking up in the direction where Xu Shu disappeared, he was reluctant but had no choice but to chase after her without hesitation.

……

On the other side, Xu Shu's room was ransacked, with even her underwear scattered all over the floor.

Li Chunhua was standing in the room, furious, and unleashed a torrent of abuse at the timid Zhang Yuan.

"What the hell were you doing watching her?! She got away again?!"

Zhang Yuan, trembling with fear, forced a smile and said, "Please calm down, she can't have gone far. I've checked, she didn't even bring her ID card."

Upon hearing this, Li Chunhua's breathing did calm down somewhat, but she was still worried. "Does she have any money on her?!"

Zhang Yuan: "No! Definitely not! Yesterday she asked me for money to buy ice cream, but I didn't give her any!"

Li Chunhua finally breathed a sigh of relief and said fiercely, "You brat! Last time she was hungry for three days and came back by herself. Let's see how many days she can go hungry this time!?"

Zhang Yuan chimed in, "That girl is so immature. If things don't go her way, she'll run away from home."

Li Chunhua: "No! Go out and look for it right away."

It sounded more like a venting than an explanation: "The company is facing an IPO, and Lu Mingze's situation is already a mess. Now she's making things even worse!"

She grew angrier as she spoke, "We had already arranged for Director Li to come to Ningyuan the day after tomorrow to discuss our next film project, and she still dared to run away from home?!"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yuan's heart skipped a beat, and she tentatively asked, "Director Li...Didn't you say that the female lead in that drama was going to be given to someone else? Didn't you say that you weren't going to give Xu Shu a role this year?"

"Give it to someone else?" Li Chunhua laughed angrily. "Can't you do the math? If you give someone a million in film fees, the company gets 10%."

"Give Xu Shu 80%! Can't you even do basic math?!"

Zhang Yuan didn't dare to argue back, "Yes, yes!"

She was secretly lamenting, not for Xu Shu, but for herself; she had been so exhausted this year!

She said unwillingly, "Didn't we assign her nine films at the beginning of the year? She's already filmed ten, that's enough to complete her task, why add more?"

Li Chunhua frowned, "Don't ask questions you shouldn't!"

For a company to go public, it needs to perform well and give the stock market confidence.

Don't even mention shooting ten or twenty movies a year!
Thinking about this, another wave of irritation washed over me. I angrily pulled out my phone and dialed a number.

The call connected, and a flippant voice immediately came from the other end, "Mr. Li? Isn't it time to transfer the money? I mean, Tiandu is a big company, how come you're so slow at settling accounts?"

Li Chunhua roared, "Money, money, money! All you ever think about is money!"

"Xu Liangcai! You fucking listen to me, your precious daughter has run away again! Her phone is off, and she's not replying to messages."

In a commanding tone, "Send a text to her phone right now and tell her to come back immediately!"

He hung up the phone, glared at Zhang Yuan, and yelled, "Aren't you going to hurry up and go look?! Send everyone out and search!"

……

Xu Shu was still wandering aimlessly along the riverbank.

She couldn't think of a better solution.

Last time, she wanted to play a role but the company wouldn't let her, so she ran away on her own. She was upset for two or three days, and it took her a while to recover...

Okay, I'm too hungry, I have to go back.

Surprisingly, the company agreed to let her act in the role.

This time, Xu Shu hopes to get her wish as well.

Remembering Chu An's less-than-ideal face, she wondered, "How did that guy know? How did he even see right through me?"

Suddenly, a voice behind him responded, "Excuse me, do you have some misunderstanding about what 'pretending' means?"

what! ?

Xu Shu was startled and turned around abruptly, only to see Chu An standing behind her with a smile.

I was at a loss for a moment.

……

.

(End of this chapter)