A writer has arrived in the Chinese entertainment industry.

Li Fei acted immediately, contacting Zhao Liying's team. The quote was 1.5 million, a price everyone found absurd. Zhao Liying's staff continued to argue, saying, "Our Liying now earns at least 200,000 per episode of a TV series; we won't accept anything less than 1.5 million."

"One and a half million?" Chen Zhixi snorted. "Then we might as well spend more money to hire Zhou Dongyu."

"The price is negotiable," Li Fei said calmly, having witnessed far too many artists demanding exorbitant fees. "We should be able to negotiate it down to under a million without any problem."

Upon hearing the price, Su Liu was ready to give up; he simply couldn't be bothered arguing with these arrogant fools. "It's not like we absolutely need her," he said.

"Although our film doesn't have a large budget, we still need at least one big-name star to carry the box office for the three main roles: the female lead, the detective, and the criminal, right?"

"How about we really contact Zhou Dongyu? Her asking price should be around two to three million."

Li Fei rested his forehead on his hand and thought for a moment, "If we can get it down to two million, then that's fine."

The two producers had completely different attitudes towards Zhao Liying and Zhou Dongyu. The former quoted 1.5 million, which they saw as an attempt to extort money; the latter, who spent 2 million, was seen as a "good deal" that was both high-quality and inexpensive.

Just then, the office door opened, and a young man poked half his body in, holding a phone. "Mr. Li, Zhao Liying called herself, not her agent."

"What does she want to say?" Li Fei didn't answer the phone.

"She said she was willing to lower her fee."

"How much lower?"

"Five hundred thousand."

Li Fei tapped the table twice with his fingers, and the three exchanged a glance. "Tell her to wait for our notification; we'll discuss it."

"If that's the case, we can hire another well-known actor for the roles of detective and criminal." Su Liu flipped through the male actor's information.

All three agreed that the price of 500,000 was indeed very cheap. Although Zhao Liying is a television actress, her drama "Legend of Lu Zhen" was quite popular this year, and she has a certain level of viewership.

"We still need to let her come and audition. The role of the female lead requires a high level of acting skill."

Li Fei's every word and action was truly filled with contempt for her.

"Then why don't we hold an open audition? Zhao Liying can wait and see. What do you think?" Chen Zhixi said.

"Sure, we'll probably need another week to find a location for the outdoor shoot. How about we post an announcement now and schedule auditions for next Monday?"

"What about the other two roles? The detective and the criminal? Are they also open for auditions?" Su Liu asked.

Li Fei stretched and asked in a relaxed tone, "Do you want to spend the money on detectives or criminals?"

"Detective, can we get Chen Daoming to come?"

These words immediately earned him eye rolls from the two men.

"Sure," Chen Zhixi said with a smile, "as long as Fusui Culture invests another ten million to pay Mr. Chen's fee."

Upon hearing this, Su Liu quickly shook his head, "Then forget it, Sister Wenxiu will definitely kill me if she finds out."

"That's enough for today," Li Fei said, getting up. "I'll have someone screen the actors with suitable prices, and we'll talk about the auditions on Monday."

At a time like this, shouldn't they arrange a dinner according to unspoken social rules? If it were An Wenxiu, she would have already booked a restaurant with ease. But Su Liu glanced at the time; her energy was completely depleted. Moreover, Chen Zhixi and Li Fei also looked exhausted. If she brought up dinner now, she would probably only get three forced smiles.

"Hmph, I've truly seen through human nature," Su Liu thought confidently. It's definitely better for people not to do anything unnecessary.

After Li Fei and Chen Zhixi left, Su Liu took out his phone. Ever since he sent the selfie to Chen Duling yesterday, she hadn't contacted him all day.

"What happened?" He looked at his photo. "I'm still pretty handsome."

Su Liu immediately called her.

......

Chen Duling had classes all day today, "Mechanics of Materials" in the morning and "Principles of Machinery" in the afternoon. Her mind is currently filled with thoughts of "establishing abstract mechanical models," "calculating plane stress," and something about "calculating the degrees of freedom of complex mechanisms"...

After a long day, my brain cells must have collectively relocated, and now I'm sitting in the library with a copy of "University Physics" in my hand, lost in thought.

"Senior, senior?" The voice from across the table drifted out softly.

Chen Duling snapped out of her daze; the seats around her were already full. She sighed inwardly; habit is a terrible thing. When that photo first went viral online, the crowd acted like they were at a wildlife park, practically shoving cameras in her face. It wasn't until the school issued a statement that the situation calmed down considerably.

Across from me sat a boy who looked rather honest; it was he who had just made the sound.

"Um?"

"Senior, this question..." The boy pushed the notebook over, looking a little nervous.

Chen Duling glanced at it; it was a limit calculation. She picked up her pen and lightly slid it across the paper, whispering to him, "First, determine the type, then use L'Hôpital's rule to differentiate, simplify the numerator, and then determine the type again..."

Seeing this, the surrounding students began to get restless.

The phone rang at that moment.

In the quiet library, the opening theme of Sword Art Online, "Courage," suddenly began to play.

In an instant, all eyes turned to Chen Duling. Startled, her face flushed red, and she frantically pulled out her phone. But upon seeing the caller ID, a smile involuntarily crept onto her face.

She answered the phone while running out of the library.

"Feed".

"Huh? What's wrong with your voice?"

"I'm in the library! I can't talk loudly," Chen Duling finally came outside, slightly out of breath. "Okay! You can go now."

"Oh, you're really hardworking, still in the library so late at night."

"College students have such a hard life." She held her phone, kicking the steps listlessly with her toes.

Su Liu chuckled as he recounted the casting saga of the day. He said that Zhao Liying initially quoted 1.5 million, but later lowered it to 500,000. He also mentioned that he wanted to cast Chen Daoming, but the two producers rolled their eyes at him.

Chen Duling listened silently, occasionally responding with a word of agreement.

"I know Zhao Liying. My roommate watched one of her dramas and has been recommending it to me ever since."

"Legend of Lu Zhen, right?"

"It seems so."

The two of them suddenly fell silent.

Su Liu was the first to speak up, "Hey, why have you been ignoring me all day?"

"I didn't," Chen Duling retorted expressionlessly.

"You do have it. What are you thinking? Tell me, okay?"

What am I thinking? Yeah, what am I thinking? Chen Duling couldn't answer.

"I was thinking, my friend is so amazing," she said softly. "He became a writer in junior high school, and every novel he wrote became a hit. Now he's going to make a movie. How can he be so amazing?"

Su Liu was a little confused by her words and replied blankly, "You're only realizing how amazing I am now?"

"I've always known that."

So that's how it is. The information they had was never equal to begin with. She could find information about Su Liu online, but Su Liu didn't even know her name. His debut work was a huge hit overseas. While Chen Duling was happy for him, she also felt a surge of pride as she watched the news.

He finally scored high on the college entrance exam and got into a top university's flagship program, but when he looked up, it seemed like he had gone even further.

The two talked for a long time that night, until she had to go back to her dormitory.

However, there was something Chen Duling kept to herself.

"You're so amazing, I'm afraid if I relax even a little, I won't be able to see your back anymore."