Chapter 50

Wen Jiu shared her idea with the young lady.
The young lady raised her eyes: “Lie down and let her give you a massage.”
In the evening, the young lady gave a full-body spa.
Wen Jiu obediently lay down, face toward her.
“If you want to start a talent show, go for it. Profit is yours, loss is mine.
It won’t cost more than my monthly allowance, so don’t feel burdened.”
The young lady shrugged: “After the Chu’s wedding, Chu Film will be under my name. Any resources, just go to the butler or Assistant Li.”
Wen Jiu softly “wow.”
Is this the joy of being fed by the young lady?!
“Wuwuwu, the young lady is too kind.” Her voice cracked in excitement, joy almost spilling over.
Probably feeling she couldn’t look directly, the young lady turned her head. “I don’t care about this, but I want to see the drama released before the end of the year.”
Wen Jiu knew the young lady meant The Rich Family, this ridiculously melodramatic, absurdly hilarious drama.
Now, the new year had just begun. “Before the end of the year” meant almost twelve months away.
She counted on her fingers, modern drama, no special effects needed… should be enough time, right?
She had no prior film experience, so she wasn’t sure. But with the young lady constantly supplying resources, it was definitely possible.
Overtime? Throw money at it!
As long as the funds were there, results would follow.
Even before the three returned to China, the talent show had already been put on the front stage. Ten days for registration, massive promotion.
Su Yaoyao had just finalized filming dates for the current Xianxia adaptation with Yue Ling and conveniently reposted Wen Jiu’s talent show.
Once Xie Junyu realized this “Su Yaoyao” was the same “Su Yaoyao,” he reposted too.
The top star’s influence was huge, within a day, the number of applicants surged by one million.
Using big data, the messy applications were filtered, then computers verified whether remaining candidates matched the textual descriptions.
Even before manual review, only 100,000 remained.
These 100,000 needed a visual check.
A glance at their faces was enough, ugly or insufficiently handsome, immediately removed. After this, only 1,000 remained.
After ten days of hectic work, Wen Jiu finally received 500 application materials from the butler.
The young lady held the copyrights, Su Yaoyao was the original author. The three of them sat side by side at Wen Jiu’s desk, the computer light illuminating their serious expressions.
The young lady silently put on her glasses. “Staring hurts the eyes, it’s too harsh.”
Su Yaoyao agreed and brought two pairs of blue-light glasses, giving Wen Jiu one.
If not for the discomfort of sunglasses, she might have changed her own.
Five hundred applications was actually a lot, especially since each had been filtered multiple times; none were bad.
Their task: pick 100 to participate in the live talent show.
After the show, these 100 would be ranked by audience votes and assigned roles from male lead to extra. The best-behaved and talented ones, without existing contracts, would be offered contracts by Chu Film.
Truly a lone warrior crossing a narrow bridge.
Wen Jiu was dazzled, but luckily the young lady’s speed at filtering candidates was fast enough, she eliminated a hundred people in no time.
Wen Jiu flipped pages so fast her hands cramped. If it weren’t for the AI toggling back and forth on command slower than her, she wouldn’t have had to do it herself.
After a while, Su Yaoyao also got into the rhythm.
“This one could play a playboy; put him aside as a backup.”
“This one has proper demeanor; can be a backup too.”
“This one…”
Wen Jiu almost said, this one is the most handsome, but a closer look revealed it was Xie Junyu.
Who had signed him up?
Wen Jiu checked her phone and realized she hadn’t read the message Xie Junyu sent two days ago.
Xie Junyu: Sis, I signed up too! Sis, can I do it? I can even play a random extra!
Wen Jiu: “……”
She showed the chat to Su Yaoyao.
“Then let him join the talent show too.”
Too much time had passed; Su Yaoyao couldn’t define her feelings for Xie Junyu. She didn’t depend on him like an older brother, nor was there closeness like a younger brother. There was only a vague annoyance at him cutting all ties back then.
Suddenly, she felt a bit gloomy.
The rest was left to the young lady for filtering, so Wen Jiu hurried after her to check on her.
Su Yaoyao’s peach-blossom eyes glimmered through mist, the corners tinged red, her delicate nose slightly pink. She sat by the pool, a meticulously crafted natural waterfall cascading behind her.
Looking at Wen Jiu, her long hair lifted by the water vapor danced with scattered light, more beautiful than any moving painting.
Wen Jiu’s heart softened. “Don’t cry…”
Before she could finish, Su Yaoyao clenched her fists and stood up with a delicate snort: “I’m writing an Empress story! Expanding territories, ruling diligently, and every concubine must perish!”
Wen Jiu stood frozen, her eyes spinning in disbelief.
Well, this was it, Su Yaoyao was officially going down a path completely opposite to her original character arc.
But that wasn’t bad, Wen Jiu clapped her hands: “Go soar, Yaoyao. Jiujiu will always follow.”
“Write boldly, show the world you want to create!”
Encouraged, Su Yaoyao dashed inside, free in mind like a bird spreading its wings, flying high.
Her steps were light, relaxed, and joyous.
Good moods were contagious, Wen Jiu felt herself immersed in a honey pot of happiness.
The feeling was like when she was eight, poor and unloved, finally getting the kite she’d always dreamed of, flying it with close friends. The wind was perfect, lifting the kite without letting it fall or drift too far.
The young lady waved her over: “Stop giggling, come look at these people. If they’re suitable, we’ll start next week.”
Wen Jiu nodded.
Su Yaoyao, finishing one book and immediately starting another, had no time to care, she didn’t object.
Carrying her laptop, Wen Jiu left the room, tiptoeing so as not to disturb the hard-working little bee Su Yaoyao.
A true workaholic!
Not for money, not for fame, just pure passion.
And she wrote fast.
At three hours a day, 18,000 words, she’d publish a long novel in two months.
She even sent money to readers occasionally.
Wen Jiu had long joined Su Yaoyao’s fan group but had never snagged a red envelope.
Su Yaoyao was right there, calling her each time a red envelope was sent, but even with shortcuts, Wen Jiu never got one.
Real fans, whether or not they got a red envelope, commented on her Weibo posts:
True fans: “Yaoyao, making money writing is hard. Stop sending money, take care of yourself, eat well and drink well!”
Curious passersby: “I thought Su Yaoyao loved vanity? I’ve never seen a celebrity randomly send tens of thousands in red envelopes.”
Beauty fans: “Sister Yaoyao, debut! Mom is your strongest support. Face intact, empire intact, mom crowns you the beauty goddess!”
Haters never reached this level, they were either reported or filtered out.
After three strikes, Su Yaoyao’s fan cohesion, plus casual fans, rivaled a third-tier celebrity.
As her novels improved, active fan numbers kept rising.
Wen Jiu had never seen an author’s Weibo exceed five million followers. Su Yaoyao had written only two books, one still updating.
And the proportion of active fans was huge, data-worthy.
Thankfully, Su Yaoyao’s novels were solid; unless someone disliked the genre, casual readers had little to complain about.
Every time Wen Jiu left Su Yaoyao’s Weibo, she felt a motherly pride watching her grow.
That night, she messaged Song Qin:
Wen Jiu – Song Qin: “Your daughter is amazing. Now she’s my daughter!”
Song Qin: “Are you crazy?”
After the dramatic line, Wen Jiu calmed down: “I saved the sister-in-law role for you. Happy?”
Song Qin retracted a message.
Song Qin: “You’re literally a god! (300 words of rainbow compliments copied and pasted)”
Wen Jiu: “To prevent you from getting scolded, I enrolled you in Xiao Lujiang-style acting classes through Lan Mingyan.”
Wen Jiu: “I’ve already arranged leave for you and Lin Yu. This half-year, just come, attend classes, then act.”
Wen Jiu: “But first, finish all your existing work properly, or Lin Yu will hunt both of us down.”
Song Qin: “No problem.”
Who doesn’t dream of being an actor? That night, Song Qin slept fulfilled.
Before joining the acting class, her mood was excellent, strutting proudly.
But once in the intensive one-on-one acting class, waking at six, sleeping at ten, no phone, no decent meals, with theory, acting, movement, and practice classes, she went insane.
She even thought she’d rather work a normal job.
No turning back; no matter how hard, she had to endure.
Wen Jiu said: “You chose this road. Don’t walk it, and you’ll break your legs.”
Song Qin: “……”
Meanwhile, the live-stream talent show was in full swing.
The stream ran 24/7 unless the actors covered their cameras themselves.
As the young lady’s appointed producer and founder of the show, Wen Jiu stayed glued to it.
Chu Wen, recruited as director, grew increasingly invested.
Unlike Song Qin, who couldn’t stand classes and just wanted to finish the drama and go home, Chu Wen was fascinated and planned to stay in the industry.
Wen Jiu thought, since she was essentially working for herself, staying at Lin Yu’s studio or Chu Film made no difference. Working for the young lady was working for him too.
Film contracts usually started at ten years, longer than her five-year agreement with him.
Chu Wen didn’t care, immediately leaving Lin Yu’s studio and signing another ten-year contract with Chu Film.
The androgynous, captivating man said to Wen Jiu: “Chu Film is family. A ten-year contract is nothing.”
Wen Jiu realized too late, she’d forgotten his “Chu” was still the family “Chu,” even though he wasn’t Chu Hong’s biological nephew.
After Chu Hong’s divorce, his household registration remained under her name.
Wen Jiu pursed her lips, silently sulking.
She’d literally delivered the young master home for free.
Good deeds without recognition.
The only recent joy: the show dominating major platforms, popularity skyrocketing.
Wen Jiu negotiated with multiple platforms, not exclusive, simultaneous streaming on four major platforms.
Initially, the goal was just more voters and wider audience. Platforms happily accepted, seeing both the revenue and traffic potential.
No one expected voting to go this crazy.
With the young lady’s funding and support from Chu and Qin families, Wen Jiu’s rule “votes must be genuine” was respected, no vote manipulation.
Yet daily votes skyrocketed, looking more unreal than any automated system. Even peak live-stream moments experienced lag.
Wen Jiu opened the comment section to see why the audience was so obsessed:
[100 handsome guys, 24/7 watching. I can imagine dating him, who wouldn’t love it? Five votes a day is too few, I want everyone to vote once.]
[One platform gives only five votes a day; I run four platforms, twenty votes max. Please, creators, allow new voting methods. I’ll pay!]
[99 handsome guys + 1 Xie Junyu. First time brother is on reality show, I’m voting him up!]
Wen Jiu looked.
The top star led second place by nearly 20x votes.
Absolutely absurd…
At viewers’ request, Wen Jiu and the four platform heads added sixth, seventh, and eighth votes.
Members got one extra vote, super members two.
Actually, high-res viewing options required memberships anyway. Many viewers had already upgraded, this just gave them votes naturally.
After all, aside from Xie Junyu, a top-tier celebrity who naturally drew attention, Wen Jiu hadn’t thrown in a single connection, everything was based on character, acting, and looks. The entire program was a feast for face-value enthusiasts, with set designs extravagantly over the top, befitting the cinematic adaptation of The Ruch Family.
Several “buffs” stacked up, and the audience kept coming.
Girls loved it, boys loved it too.
When the swimming class segment aired, the livestream lagged, and traffic exploded.
Online, only one comment appeared repeatedly: “Ladies, control yourselves, don’t wreck my beloved show. Stop posting little essays and video edits, stop staring at the □□! Use mosaics!”
Chu Wen’s camera control was impeccable. Spending 20 out of 24 hours filming in the villa complex, he was practically a superhuman.
Wen Jiu couldn’t keep up, she went back to rest on schedule.
She lay on the bed, eyes closed.
She kept feeling she had been neglecting something recently.
Originally, she had retired early to live a leisurely life, only to find herself now working like a top-class beast of burden.
Wen Jiu was exhausted, should have been asleep immediately.
Tossing and turning, she eventually opened the account balance panel.
Awakened from a dying dream!
Hurriedly, she flipped the light switch, put on her very light prescription glasses, and checked the balance repeatedly.
No… how did so much money suddenly appear in her account?!
Had someone laundered it?!
It was winter, not yet New Year, and indoor heating couldn’t stop the sweat pouring down her back.
Qin Yao: “Wen Jiu, I said, your earnings are yours, losses are mine. After just one week, the show has already generated considerable revenue. I had the butler transfer all the money to you.”
The variety show Wen Jiu was running was about a month long. Votes were transparent; final rankings would be confirmed at 9 PM on the Sunday of week four.
This was only the first week, just getting started, and Wen Jiu had already received fifty million.
Wen Jiu had never seen so much money on her bank account panel, especially after sharing with the four major platforms!
No wonder the entertainment industry was fast money-making, talent shows were even more lucrative.
Tears slipped from the corners of her eyes.
She felt guilty toward her own conscience.
One moment she thought, maybe I should run a few more shows, the young lady would allow it anyway.
The next, she slipped into her previous life’s audience perspective…
Never mind, it felt like being treated as a cash cow, too immersive.
The show was meant for promoting the drama anyway; the profit just exceeded expectations.
Wen Jiu was about to transfer 80% to the young lady when a new message arrived.
Qin Yao: “Don’t transfer it back. What’s yours is yours. Four episodes together wouldn’t even buy a tenth of an island, hardly anything in my eyes.”
Miss Qin Yao: “Keep it as pocket money, focus on the show, it’s great, I’m watching too. And the drama must be filmed well!”
Miss Qin Yao: “Other investors can’t interfere. With me around, no one dares insert connections. Pick the best actors, don’t change the script, just go ahead and film.”
“Ah, the young lady is too good! Ahhh”
Wen Jiu, teary-eyed and overwhelmed, hugged her blanket and rolled on the bed. Thump! she fell onto the carpet.
Pain replaced the emotion; her voice cracked.
So the novel’s male lead protecting the female lead was real! The young lady really was the main heroine, guarding her little sidekick.
So touching, so cheesy.
Wen Jiu kicked the air with her legs on the carpet, half in pain, half shouting.
In her past life, she might have saved a hundred galaxies just to meet the young lady.
Climbing back onto the bed, she replied to the young lady and opened the tax app.
First time seeing so much money, she had no clue about tax rates or amounts.
Better be legal, time to pay taxes first.
Opening the app, she saw tax time wasn’t due yet, but the system had calculated the amount.
Wen Jiu, with no real sense for millions, saw the panel:
Above 4,000 yuan, the tax rate is 40%?!
Her heart shattered.
Half of fifty million was almost gone before she could even enjoy it.
Looking on the bright side, she still had thirty million left.
Wen Jiu was easy to satisfy; her sadness was only that the small money vanished instantly, but seeing the remainder, she was still delighted.
She hugged her phone and fell asleep, dreaming of the thirty million flying to her.
The next day, Wen Jiu called Butler Qin: “Butler, for the remaining three episodes, let’s do a 1:9 split, 1 for me, 9 for the young lady and the company. No need to give me so much.
And there are costs to consider, money must go back to the company.”
Without financial brains to make money work for her, it was better to leave it to Chu Film and the young lady than let it sit in her bank account.
Moreover, the show’s investment was significant; she needed to give back to the company and the young lady.
Butler Qin chuckled: “Miss Wen, no need to be so formal. The profit given to you is already after deducting upfront costs. Just receive it without worry.”
Wen Jiu knew immediately the young lady had instructed the butler.
Feeling warm inside, she firmly said: “I really can’t handle such a large sum, let’s stick with 1:9.”
Butler Qin didn’t argue, simply: “Good. I’ll inform the young lady.”
After hanging up, Wen Jiu immediately messaged the young lady.
Miss Qin Yao: “Focus on learning. If you fret over small money, how will you manage later?”
Wen Jiu imagined the young lady’s slightly annoyed expression, couldn’t help but grin, sweet as ever.
The young lady was truly amazing!
As the talent show ended, netizens expressed regret it was over.
[I thought there’d be product purchases giving extra votes, prepared to be a cash cow. But all month, only 8 votes total.]
[Plus, the 3 extra votes later didn’t require annual membership. The show lasted one month, I didn’t buy an annual, only one month of super membership. And it was discounted, only 18 for a month, cheaper than specialty milk tea downstairs.]
[At first, I thought it was a money-grab, but for 99 handsome guys plus 1 top-tier celeb never on reality shows, I held back my anger, afraid the producers would do something sneaky. Who knew they didn’t!]
[Honestly, it’s not self-torture. Compared to other cash-grab shows, this was a bargain, watchable online, any platform.]
[Exactly, if not for wanting to vote for my fave, just watching the show was comfortable]
[Is it just me, or do you feel withdrawal after the show? Too strong.]
[These hundred people are all amazing. I love every concubine and noble, can’t bear who comes first or last. (Queen is set, ignore Xie Junyu)]
[(Deep breath) Anyway, it’s over. Perfect. Throw flowers.]
[Throw flower emoji.]
Seeing fans’ heartfelt comments and discussions, Wen Jiu felt her heart full.
Perhaps this was the charm of creation, finding joy in realizing one’s own value.
With the drama filming on schedule, Wen Jiu went to Beicheng to pick up Song Qin, who’d survived a month of grueling classes, and took her to the opening ceremony.
Song Qin was mentally exhausted, but her posture light, complexion rosy, ten times better than when Wen Jiu first met her.
“Not bad, not bad. I’ve already hired three college assistants for you, rotating shifts. Need an agent? The young lady and I can apply for one.”
Song Qin had learned focus from Wen Jiu: “College assistants, monthly salary?”
Wen Jiu raised a finger: “1.”
“1,000? You’re heartless, truly acting like a capitalist?!” Song Qin was shocked, strongly reproving.
“No, ten thousand each.
And three rotate shifts, so one works only ten days per month.”
Though Wen Jiu joked about cheap college students, she still paid sincerely when hiring real ones.
She pretended to be literary: “There’s a saying, ‘With success comes the responsibility to help the world.’”
Song Qin, a real literary worker, blinked: “Are you sure that’s what it means?”
Wen Jiu waved it off: “Close enough. I have money, I pay well, like the young lady, wealth shared, everyone benefits.”
Song Qin suddenly: “You little brat, how much did you earn in the month I was gone?”
Wen Jiu blushed: “About a hundred million.”
Song Qin: ?
Song Qin: !
Song Qin: “Did you rob a bank?”