Life countdown begins, ice queen bursts into security room

For the next few days, Jiang Fan locked himself in his office and rarely went out.

The keyboard clattered incessantly, and the number of words on the screen increased dramatically day by day.

Chapter 8: Guanyin is ordered to travel to Chang'an.

Chapter Nine: The Old Dragon King's Clumsy Scheme Violates Heavenly Laws.

Chapter 10, Chapter 11...

His biggest bottleneck right now is that his fingers can't keep up with the speed of his thoughts, even though he has the ideas already in his head.

Writing over 50,000 words a day would have left a normal author's mind blank.

He's fine, the only thing that's tired is his fingers.

On the third night, he packaged the fifteen chapters he had written and sent them to Song Siyi.

The message was sent and received a reply instantly, just three seconds later.

Song Siyi: Received!

Song Siyi: Don't you ever need to sleep?

Jiang Fan: Enough with the nonsense, let's look at your draft.

"Song Siyi: Yes, Writer Jiang."

Jiang Fan tossed his phone aside and stretched his stiff wrists.

-

Meanwhile, preparations in Songjiang continued uninterrupted.

Ning Yuan and his team went through the auditions of the actors in one round, which was extremely efficient.

The male lead, Shen Feng, has already been cast, and Ma Yue is confirmed to play Ma Dongmei.

Most of the supporting roles are selected from the Mahua FunAge troupe, a group of people with good comedic rhythm and ample stage experience.

The only role left undecided is Qiuya.

To put it simply, Qiuya is the male protagonist's ideal woman.

He has very few lines and appears on screen for no more than ten minutes.

But she has to be beautiful, the kind that's unforgettable.

Not the kind of beauty found in internet celebrities, but the kind that makes you sigh with admiration years later.

Ningyuan interviewed more than 20 people and finally narrowed it down to three candidates.

On Friday afternoon, Li Cheng knocked on Jiang Fan's office door, carrying a stack of documents.

"Brother Fan, this is from Director Ning. There are three final candidates for Qiuya, and he wants you to make the final decision."

Jiang Fan was rubbing his eyes; his eyes were sore from typing on the computer for the past few days.

He took the documents and spread them out on the table.

Three resumes, each accompanied by a set of promotional photos.

The first one is Lin Jiaxin, 25 years old, who has acted in two web dramas and has a mature and sophisticated look.

The makeup in the promotional photos is exquisite, her features are striking, and she has the standard look of a professional model.

It looks nice, but it's missing something.

The second one is Wang Yuxuan, 23 years old. She debuted through a talent show, has a sweet image, and has a decent fan base.

She has dimples when she smiles, but the problem is she's too sweet. This kind of face is suitable for playing the girl next door, not the maddening, ideal woman.

The woman in the last photo is very young; her profile says she's twenty-one.

Having debuted less than half a year ago, he doesn't yet have any representative works.

Her face has that innocent, first-love look.

Her skin was so white it seemed to glow, her lips had a natural pink hue, and her eyes were very clear.

But from the neck down—it's a completely different story.

In her audition photos, she wore a white school uniform shirt, with the top button neatly fastened, but the front of the shirt was stretched quite full.

Her waist was extremely narrow, and her hips were spread out to the sides, making her proportions excessively good.

Her face is that of an angel, her body is that of a devil.

This contrast is perfect for Qiuya.

Jiang Fan glanced at the name—Lu Wanqing.

He took out his phone and scanned the QR code in the audition video.

In the scene, Lu Wanqing is standing in front of a white curtain, wearing that school uniform.

The director called out off-screen, "Lu Wanqing, turn around."

She turned around, her movements a little awkward, but in that instant when she glanced back—

The light from the camera shone on her profile, giving her a clean and youthful look that perfectly captured the essence of the name "Qiuya".

The video was only forty seconds long. After watching it, Jiang Fan put his phone down.

"She's the one."

Li Cheng leaned closer for a peek. "The third one? Lu Wanqing?"

"right."

"Brother Fan, this girl has only been in the industry for half a year and doesn't have any works yet. At least Wang Yuxuan had some popularity—"

"Qiuya doesn't need traffic." Jiang Fan closed the documents and pushed them aside. "She just needs to stand in front of the camera and make male viewers think, 'This woman is worth dreaming about.' Acting skills don't matter; she herself is the best prop."

Li Cheng thought for a moment, then glanced at the official photo again.

Okay. Indeed. That face and that figure, unforgettable at first glance.

"Okay, I'll talk to Director Ning."

Li Cheng took the documents and went out.

Less than five minutes later, Jiang Fan's phone rang. It was Ning Yuan calling.

"You chose Lu Wanqing?"

Yes. Is there a problem?

There was a two-second pause on the other end of the phone.

"No problem. I'd like to choose her too. I'm just worried you might think she's too inexperienced."

"It doesn't matter if she's born. Qiuya doesn't need acting skills anyway."

Ning Yuan hummed in agreement. "Alright. I'll notify her to join the crew."

"Okay. You can discuss the payment with them."

"For a newcomer, a few hundred thousand is enough as a token gesture."

"Whatever you want. Just don't put too much pressure on them."

"Okay, okay." Ning Yuan hung up the phone.

Jiang Fan tossed his phone back onto the table and reopened the Word document.

The cursor is blinking at the beginning of Chapter Sixteen.

My fingers had just touched the keyboard when my phone vibrated again.

News about Song Siyi.

"Song Siyi: Jiang Fan".

Song Siyi: Are you even human?

Jiang Fan: ?

"Song Siyi: Three days. Nearly 200,000 words. Are your hands made of machine guns?"

Jiang Fan: Just say you want to praise me.

"Song Siyi: I'm not praising you, I'm questioning your physical attributes."

Jiang Fan smiled and typed a reply.

Jiang Fan: When will it be available for purchase?

"Song Siyi: Next Tuesday. Homepage recommendation and pop-up ads are all arranged for you. President Chen personally approved the resources, saying that this book should be promoted as the number one project of the year."

Jiang Fan: Okay.

"Song Siyi: Have you decided on a pen name? What name should you use to post?"

Jiang Fan thought for two seconds.

Jiang Fan: Just use your real name.

"Song Siyi: If I used your real name, with your current popularity, you'd be trending on Weibo on your very first day. Then the whole internet would know you write novels."

Jiang Fan: That's perfect, it saves on advertising costs.

Song Siyi: ...Alright, I'll go coordinate with operations. You just wait to collect your money.

Jiang Fan: Don't worry.

Jiang Fan locked the screen and continued typing.

-

Sunday evening.

Jiang Fan arrived at the film crew of "Goodbye Mr. Loser".

The opening ceremony will be held here tomorrow.

The opening ceremony was held at a resort hotel in Songjiang. The venue was very large and had all the necessary grandeur.

The entire crew has arrived.

Ning Yuan was wearing a new black jacket, his beard was clean-shaven, and he looked completely different from how he was half a month ago.

Shen Feng and Ma Yue stood together, while several actors from the Mahua FunAge group chatted in a huddle nearby.

Lunzi shouted loudly from the other end, "Brother Feng, you didn't borrow that shirt, did you?"

Shen Feng slapped him on the back of the head: "Get lost, I bought it myself."

"How much?"

"...Twenty-nine."

"Ha ha--"

Ma Yue stood to the side with her arms crossed, rolling her eyes: "Can't you two bring some honor to the company? You're the male leads in a movie with a 40 million investment, after all."

Shen Feng straightened his shirt collar: "Isn't this just being frugal? I'll wear a ninety-nine yuan shirt after the movie is released."

Ah Zheng added insult to injury: "Brother Feng has broadened his horizons."

In the corner, Lu Wanqing, wearing a light blue dress and with her hair tied in a ponytail, stood quietly, not saying much to anyone.

Her agent, Sister Zhou, whispered to her, "When the investor arrives in a bit, don't be nervous, just greet them normally."

Lu Wanqing nodded, then asked, "Sister Zhou, have you met Jiang Fan?"

"I've only ever seen it on TV."

"I heard he's only twenty? Younger than me?"

The agent nudged her shoulder: "Shh, don't make a fuss. She's only twenty and manages dozens of people, and the movie she made had a budget of forty million."

Lu Wanqing looked down at her mineral water bottle, which had been squeezed out of shape.

"Sister Zhou, I'm a little nervous."

"What are you nervous about? Just play your role well, that's more important than anything else."