Huayu: Starting from managing the Mahua FunAge Theater Troupe

"Holy crap, where the hell did I end up? Am I still in the country?"

Bare trees, snow-covered ground, white mist seeping from under manhole covers, an old man selling roasted sweet potatoes, and pedestrians wrapped up like rice dumplings.

Shen Feiyang couldn't understand what kind of supernatural energy had transported him from the cool, air-conditioned room in the middle of summer to this place.

This is fucking bizarre.

Shen Feiyang lowered his head, trying to find something to prove his identity or the current time, but found a stack of flyers in his hand.

The flyer had a few lines printed on it:

「全国首部贺岁舞台剧《想吃麻花现给你拧》将在2003.12.22 - 2004.1.7（第一轮），1月13日-1月20日(第二轮)，1月24日-2月20日(第三轮)，于中戏逸夫剧场（详细地址：东棉花胡同39号）开启演出。

This drama is directed by Tian Youliang, the director of "Cuihua, Serve the Sauerkraut", and stars He Jiong (host of "Happy Camp"), Yu Na ("What Can Save You, My Love"), Xie Na (host of Phoenix TV's "Variety New Power") and other big stars.

The play consists of 7 acts and 19 scenes, with more than 50 costumes, and each actor plays 6 roles.

The title track from He Jiong's latest album will serve as the theme song for this drama. He Jiong himself will sing the song live, and it will be recorded as a single CD and given to lucky audience members on the spot.

Ticket prices: 180, 150, 100, and 60 yuan. Please call for inquiries about purchasing tickets...

"Want some twisted dough sticks? I'll twist them for you right now!"

Have I traveled back to 2003?!

Shen Feiyang's memory was instantly pulled back to 2003.

In 2003, Shen Feiyang, whose exam results were always unsatisfactory, unsurprisingly failed the college entrance examination.

If you fail the college entrance exam, you have to face reality.

Should they stay in their hometown of Qiqihar and become barbecue chefs at their parents' barbecue restaurant, or venture out into the world to make their way in the world?

Having read "Ordinary World," Shen Feiyang, who yearned for the vast world, chose the latter.

He came to Beijing and sought refuge with his distant cousins ​​who ran a noodle shop there.

Shen Feiyang's uncle and aunt's noodle shop wasn't big, with only six tables. They only got business during mealtimes. So, Shen Feiyang borrowed the time after the noodle shop closed and the open space in front of it, and started selling fresh meat barbecue using his barbecue skills that he had practiced since childhood.

It still comes down to Beijing residents having strong purchasing power.

In one summer, from July to October, Shen Feiyang made a fortune of more than 50,000 yuan.

It's more than what you could earn working hard for two years in Qiqihar.

Of course, he was able to earn so much money thanks to his uncle and aunt for lending him the venue and helping him with purchasing and preparing the goods.

After making the money, Shen Feiyang gave his uncle and aunt 10,000 yuan as payment for more than two months of labor and venue fees.

With the remaining 40,000 yuan, Shen Feiyang sent 10,000 yuan to his mother to prove that he could support himself outside. He then spent another 15,000 yuan to buy a Honda CG125 motorcycle with a Beijing license plate (京A) for purchasing goods.

The motorcycles themselves aren't expensive; it's the license plates that are.

When Shen Feiyang bought it, he had no idea of ​​the value of the Beijing A license plate. He just wanted to equip his childhood toy with the coolest accessories.

The Beijing A license plate is the coolest accessory, allowing you to travel freely on the streets of Beijing.

Shen Feiyang saved the remaining 20,000 yuan to continue his barbecue business and cover daily expenses next summer.

The barbecue business is highly seasonal. Once the weather gets cold and people can't enjoy skewers and beer, the revenue plummets.

On a cold day, with nothing to do, Shen Feiyang went to work part-time at his cousin's Mahua Troupe to try his hand at being an actor.

The stage play advertised on the flyer is the debut work of the Mahua Theatre Troupe.

The Mahua Troupe will be renamed Happy Mahua in the near future.

damn it.

Shen Feiyang looked at the flyer.

Who would have thought that the most famous star of this troupe in the future would be his cousin, Shen Teng?

However, Shen Feiyang had absolutely no intention of currying favor with his cousin, neither in his past life nor now.

The reason is simple: Shen Teng became famous too late. He first appeared on the Spring Festival Gala in 2012, and only became a true sensation after starring in "Goodbye Mr. Loser" at the end of 2015. The film industry then began to use the term "Shen Teng's content".

Waiting for Shen Teng to take it flying would take forever.

Forget about boosting his career, Shen Teng can't even carry a game like "Honor of Kings". He's too laid-back.

Shen Feiyang is very career-oriented. After working in the Mahua Troupe for three years, he realized that he had no talent for acting, so he left to focus on the barbecue business. Over the course of ten years, he opened seventeen directly operated chain stores across the country.

When Shen Teng became a sensation, Shen Feiyang, then 32, was already semi-retired.

Of course, Shen Teng's later paper wealth far surpassed Shen Feiyang's by a significant margin.

Luck is a fickle thing.

Should we help Shen Teng become famous sooner?

Shen Feiyang thought about it for a moment and felt that he was being a bit unrealistic. He had never been in the entertainment industry and did not have any relevant connections or resources at the moment. At most, he had some entertainment industry secrets that Shen Teng had talked about when they were drinking and bragging in private.

In addition, Shen Teng is currently a contracted actor with Free Elements Film and Television Culture Communication Co., Ltd., so it's not easy to help him.

This Free Elements Film and Television Culture Communication Co., Ltd. is the business entity of the Mahua Theater Troupe.

The registered capital is 30 yuan, with founders Zhang Chen, Yu Kai, and Tian Youliang each contributing 10 yuan.

When the company was first established, they originally planned to work on TV drama projects, but they were hit by an unforeseen event. Fortunately, Tian Youliang had experience in stage plays, so they started working on stage play projects and launched their first Lunar New Year stage play.

After graduating from the PLA Academy of Arts this year, Shen Teng signed a contract with this company with a monthly salary of 1000 yuan.

Shen Teng's parents, who had been accompanying their son in Beijing for four years, had already transferred their noodle shop, which they had run for four years, and were preparing to return to Qiqihar. However, when they saw how little money their son was earning, they were worried that he would starve to death, so they had no choice but to stay in Beijing and open another noodle shop elsewhere.

For the past six months since graduation, Shen Teng has basically been living off his parents. Apart from studying scripts, he spends most of his time at home playing video games.

Shen Feiyang got to know the other members of the Mahua Troupe by playing games with Shen Teng, and eventually became an unofficial member of the troupe.

"Want some twisted dough sticks? I'll twist them for you right now."

Leading actors: He Jiong, Xie Na...

Shen Feiyang's gaze returned to the poster.

"Want to Eat Fried Dough Twists? I'll Twist Them for You Now" was performed three times over the next two months.

The company suffered a crushing defeat in the first round, and at its worst, it sold only seven tickets for a single game, bringing it to the brink of bankruptcy.

After the second round of massive failures, management was forced to resort to a marketing tactic of hiring buses to bring people to watch the show for free, which built up positive word-of-mouth for the third round of box office reversal.

There are many reasons why these two rounds of performances failed.

The management overestimated He Jiong and Xie Na's popularity and failed to realize that popularity needs to be built up.

In addition, the transportation around the Central Academy of Drama's Yifu Theater is inconvenient, and the publicity is not done well. The flyers are like the ones Shen Feiyang is holding, scattered all over the streets, and no one picks them up even if they are thrown on the ground.

Halfway through the third round of performances, the venue was changed to the Haidian Theater, which is conveniently located in the surrounding area. With the improvement in word of mouth, the star power of He Jiong and others finally began to play a role. Through seven performances, they made up for most of the losses and gave everyone hope to persevere.

Shen Feiyang had no intention of stopping the first two rounds of performances.

First of all, he's just a lowly temporary worker handing out flyers, so why should he stop him?

He said, "Let's perform somewhere else." Will the management listen to him?

Secondly, he is not yet capable of resolving these two major defeats.

Money was burned on the stage like paper, and no one could do anything about it.

Shen Feiyang is thinking about something else now.

How could he take advantage of the chaos and become the person in charge of the Mahua Troupe?

Shen Feiyang thought about it carefully. There were some opportunities, but the window of opportunity for him to take control was extremely short.

If things aren't sorted out before the third round of performances moves to the Haidian Theater, Shen Feiyang will have no chance to get in.

Seeing the success of the last few performances, Shen Teng would definitely not leave.

Why bother distributing flyers? Every single flyer you send out is "aiding the enemy"!

Shen Feiyang casually tossed the flyer into a roadside trash can, walked to his motorcycle parked by the roadside, put on his helmet, and rode off to find Shen Teng.

Anyway, I have nothing to do on this cold day, so I might as well give it a try.