"Achoo!"

Pei Qian sneezed on the way out of Fei Huang Workshop.

"Why do I have a faint feeling of unease..."

"Is another department about to have problems? Should I check?"

"...Never mind."

For a split second, Pei Qian wanted to do a quick check of his various businesses to see if anything was amiss, but the thought lasted only a second before he dismissed it.

There was just too much to check!

By now, Pei Qian had a few too many businesses under his belt, and it would be too much of a hassle to go through them all.

Pei Qian thought about it and decided that it was probably just his imagination, so he decided to focus on the task at hand.

With that in mind, Pei Qian dialed Zhang Zuting's number.

The call connected quickly, and the two exchanged pleasantries, the atmosphere quite cordial.

Although the *Battle Song of the Hot-Blooded* commercial had caused some trouble for Zhang Zuting, it had also brought him a lot of attention.

In particular, the success of the *Battle Song of the Hot-Blooded* mobile game had dispelled many people's stereotypes about the game being "pay-to-win, money-grabbing, and for fools with deep pockets," and many people had become fans of Zhang Zuting.

Zhang Zuting, who had previously been washed up, had actually seen a recent surge in popularity!

Therefore, Zhang Zuting was quite grateful to President Pei.

"Mr. Zhang, are you available for the next few months? I have a movie here that I'd like to invite you to join."

"We've worked together before, so you can rest assured about the remuneration. I definitely won't let you take a loss."

On the other end of the phone, Zhang Zuting was clearly taken aback.

Filming a movie?

Wasn't President Pei's company a game company? Why was he suddenly making movies?

Was he expanding into a new field?

Zhang Zuting didn't ask too much. After all, many wealthy companies wanted to make movies these days, even coal mine bosses and wealthy second-generation heirs liked it, so there was nothing to be surprised about.

Since President Pei was even running a high-end restaurant, wouldn't it be normal for him to invest money in a movie?

Zhang Zuting said, "No problem, President Pei, I happen to be free. We know each other well from our previous collaboration, so the remuneration is easy to talk about. Just give me a friendship price. But, could I see the script first?"

Pei Qian was silent for a moment. "I'll make up the difference for the friendship price. Could you not ask me for the script for now, please?"

Zhang Zuting was stunned for a moment, then laughed. "President Pei, you're really joking. Is the script not finished yet? Alright, let's not talk about the script for now. Anyway, I'll definitely give President Pei face. I'll arrange things on my end and head to Jingzhou."

"Good, I'll give you the director's contact information, and he can contact you directly. Oh, and I'm looking for a young male actor to play the lead in this movie. Do you have any good recommendations?" Pei Qian asked.

Zhang Zuting thought for a moment. "There are too many young male actors. Do you have any specific requirements?"

Pei Qian replied without hesitation, "Preferably someone who's expensive."

Zhang Zuting chuckled. "Expensive? I don't know any. I'm just a washed-up actor. How would I know so many popular young actors? If you just want to find someone expensive, there aren't that many expensive male actors in the country anyway. Why don't you just ask them one by one?"

Pei Qian nodded. "That's true, I'll keep looking."

After hanging up the phone, he arrived back at Tengda.

Pei Qian got out of the car, went to his office, and used Qiandu to search for popular male actors.

Many areas of this world had changed. For example, the development of the smartphone and mobile game industries was three or four years faster than he remembered.

The film and television industry was also slightly different from his memory.

According to Pei Qian's memory, traffic-based movies started around 2011, became popular around 2013, peaked in 2014 and 2015, and then gradually declined.

The situation in this world was slightly different; traffic-based movies appeared earlier than he remembered.

Pei Qian guessed that this might be one of the effects of the advanced development of mobile phones and communication technology.

In short, traffic-based movies in this world should be in the stage of gradually becoming popular, and the remuneration of many traffic stars was rising higher and higher, becoming more and more outrageous.

Of course, in addition to the traffic stars, some big-name male actors also demanded high prices.

Pei Qian was caught in a dilemma.

Who should he cast as the male lead?

Finding an unknown small role would cost too little.

Finding a big-name male actor? Although these people demanded high prices, their acting skills were basically online, and they also had a certain box office appeal.

Finding a traffic star?

Everything was pretty good, but Pei Qian had some aversion to traffic stars. Spending money on other things was still spending money. Benefiting the traffic stars for no reason would only further increase the popularity of the "big traffic era"...

It felt a bit unpleasant.

While suppressing his decision-making difficulties, Pei Qian searched for relevant information, hoping to find a suitable candidate with a bit of luck.

Suddenly, he saw a keyword.

Box office poison!

"Hmm?"

Pei Qian was immediately interested. It was a hot post in a certain forum, titled: *Lu Zhiyao is truly the ultimate box office poison!*

The post was quite popular, and many netizens had commented and discussed it.

"Indeed, to flop with this lineup is just outrageous!"

"Even the powerful Director Liu can't carry him, can't carry him!"

"The two female leads here are considered very lucky for male actors, but he can still flop to his grandma's house..."

"I just want to ask, why does this guy still have such good resources after flopping so many times?"

"To be honest, his acting skills are okay, he seems to be quite hardworking, and everyone who has worked with him has given him good reviews. I haven't heard any scandals about him. He's also quite handsome, but for some reason, I just don't want to see him on screen..."

"Indeed, when I see his name in a movie, my first reaction is not to watch it."

"I think, one is that he doesn't have audience affinity, and two is that his face is a little too handsome, making him look very out of place. He really shouldn't take these serious movies, he should go and take some fan-oriented traffic movies."

"There's no way, he debuted a little early, and he's already past the age of being a traffic star. And he still has dreams, he doesn't want to make that easy money, he just wants to take on good scripts and hone his acting skills."

"Please! Don't ruin any more good scripts!"

"I think if he flops again this time, no director will look for him again, right? He's expensive and can't bring in box office, his cost performance is so low it's exploding."

Seeing everyone's discussion, Pei Qian's eyes lit up.

This brother named Lu Zhiyao seemed to fit his needs perfectly!

He quickly searched for his representative works.

Pei Qian discovered that Lu Zhiyao was among the top five most popular young actors in the country. He had good recognition and some decent works, especially when he first debuted. He had made a few critically acclaimed but not commercially successful movies. Although the box office was not high, his performance in the movies was quite amazing, so he was highly anticipated by the audience.

But as he made more and more movies, things suddenly went wrong.

Lu Zhiyao's acting skills hadn't declined, they had been steadily improving, and he was quite hardworking and a good person. But the problem was that the movies he made were flopping more and more!

At first, the fans thought that the movies were dragging him down and spoke up for him, so his value had been rising. But slowly, everyone realized that this brother didn't seem to be dragged down by the movies?

The mark of a good actor was that they could carry the box office alone. But Lu Zhiyao couldn't carry the box office, and he was even having the opposite effect!

In his most recent movie, there was a veteran movie emperor and two female actors with good public appeal, but the movie still flopped, and it flopped quite badly!

Therefore, the saying that Lu Zhiyao was "box office poison" became more and more widespread.

Pei Qian also found out that he had studied abroad when he was young, so his spoken English should be quite good.

President Pei immediately made a decision: It was him!

This was simply the perfect candidate in his mind!

Then, Pei Qian sent Lu Zhiyao's name to Zhu Xiaoce: "Contact him, he is the perfect male lead in my mind!"

...

...

The next day.

Pei Qian had just gotten up when he received a call from Zhu Xiaoce.

"President Pei, reporting on two things."

"I've already contacted Mr. Zhang Zuting, and he should be coming to Jingzhou in a few days. Everything on the crew's side is also being prepared, so you don't have to worry about it."

"As for Lu Zhiyao that you mentioned yesterday... I contacted his agent and also spoke to Lu Zhiyao on the phone. But he seems to be quite depressed recently and rejected the invitation, saying that he doesn't want to participate in any movies in the near future."

Pei Qian was stunned. "You didn't offer him more money?"

Zhu Xiaoce was speechless for a moment. "Uh... I felt that his mental state was very low at the time, so I didn't dare to be too clear. I just gave a simple hint that we could offer more money, but he didn't respond, and I didn't dare to ask any further."

Pei Qian couldn't help but shake his head silently.

Alas, it seems that spending money also requires talent.

People like Director Zhu Xiaoce, after studying for so long, still hadn't learned the essence of Tengda's spending spirit.

"More money" was the ultimate trump card to solve all problems. The usage was very simple: be direct!

No matter what excuse the other party made, just give them more money, be specific about the amount, don't be vague or ambiguous.

However, sincerity was lacking over the phone, it was best to have a face-to-face meeting.

Pei Qian thought for a moment: "Like this, on behalf of Tengda, send Lu Zhiyao an invitation, saying that he can come to Jingzhou to relax, and we will be responsible for the entire reception. After he arrives, I'll chat with him and offer him more money in person!"

Zhu Xiaoce: "Okay, President Pei."

Pei Qian was determined to get this Lu Zhiyao. Since he was box office poison, then he had to be invited to his crew!

Of course, considering that this brother was recently very unlucky, his new movie had flopped, and he was in a very low mood, which undoubtedly matched the state of the male lead in the script.

Considering the toxicity of the script, it was reasonable to give him more remuneration as compensation for his mental damage.

About half an hour later, after Pei Qian's take-out order from Touching Fish had arrived, Zhu Xiaoce called back again.

"President Pei, it's done, Lu Zhiyao agreed to come to Jingzhou!"

Pei Qian nodded. "Good, I'll have someone arrange the reception, you continue to work on the crew's affairs. Leave Lu Zhiyao's matter to me."

Pei Qian guessed that Lu Zhiyao's new movie had just flopped, so he must be very frustrated and not interested in anything.

At this time, a studio whose name he had never heard of came to invite him to make a movie, so he definitely didn't want to accept it.

Pei Qian invited him to Jingzhou to relax and chat. Once they met, it would be easier to persuade him.

When the time came, he would treat him to a big meal at Ming Yun Private Kitchen, and then offer him a crazy amount of remuneration at the table. He didn't believe that he couldn't win over this "box office poison!"