FWTS ### Chapter 123: New Year's Eve Gala

Chu Qing watched Hou Muyun's departing figure and felt an urge to rush up and beat him. What was he being so smug about?

Fine, since I'm now the CEO of a company!

Alright then, let's see the script first. Let's see what kind of script you can write!

Chu Qing stood up and called the driver. She didn't go to the concert venue again, nor did she continue discussing some cooperation matters with Bai Xue. Instead, she asked the driver to take her back to her place.

After handling some company matters, she took a shower.

It had been more than two months since she joined the company. She had fully gotten a handle on the company's affairs and gradually adjusted some of the habits she had developed abroad. She was adapting well.

To outsiders, it seemed like Chu Tian had found some work for Chu Qing by establishing Sunny Sky Films. But those who knew Chu Qing well knew that this was actually a condition she herself set for returning to China at Chu Tian's request.

Many people paid attention to Chu Qing mostly because she was Chu Tian's sister. Some knew that Chu Qing had made the news in America for an act of bravery and discovered she had once trained under a master of Baguazhang overseas. However, few knew what university she attended in the United States or what she majored in, and even fewer knew that her entry into this film company was driven by her own interests.

Moreover, due to her long-time practice of Baguazhang since childhood, even though she spent a lot of time abroad, she always had a deep affection for traditional Chinese culture.

This was also a significant reason why she was very optimistic about "The Sword Master's Chronicle." Of course, the more important reason was the current popularity of intellectual property (IP). However, she knew the limits and valued the market potential, without blindly following trends.

Wrapped in a towel after her bath, Chu Qing made a cup of milk and picked up her phone to play some music before sleep. She noticed an email notification. Opening it, she saw that Hou Muyun had sent the script. Finding the file quite large, she switched to her iPad to read it.

"Hmm? It really is in script format."

Chu Qing skimmed through it and found that the script spanned 12 episodes with nearly 500 scenes, which surprised her. She also discovered over 200 beautiful scene illustrations, which piqued her curiosity even more.

"Could it be that this guy can actually write a script?"

Chu Qing went back to the beginning and started reading. After finishing the forty-plus scenes of the first episode, her expression became more animated.

As an excellent graduate of USC's School of Cinematic Arts, majoring in screenwriting and film studies, she could easily tell the quality of a script.

Just from the first episode, Chu Qing could confirm that this was a good script.

There was no doubt that Hou Muyun had a very high level of screenwriting ability. Being the original author of the novel, he knew best where its essence lay, making this script potentially top-notch!

The milk had gone cold, but Chu Qing didn't reheat it and switched to coffee instead.

...

After leaving the café, Hou Muyun didn't return to the concert venue but went back to his hotel. He quickly reviewed the entire script again before sending it to Chu Qing.

He was naturally very confident in his script. With his current screenwriting skill level at 14, he didn't claim to be the best, but at least he was at a very high level. Moreover, since the novel was his original work, he dared to say that no one in the world understood how to adapt it better than he did.

As for whether Chu Qing, this rich girl, could recognize its value, Hou Muyun wasn't sure.

Testing the waters—if this one doesn't hit the mark, throw another stone.

After the concert, Zhang Fan called Hou Muyun, so he left the hotel to attend the after-party. His main goal, of course, was to further understand Sunny Sky Films through Zhang Fan's wife, Bai Xue, to see if they were serious or just playing around.

Otherwise, even if Chu Qing valued his script, Hou Muyun wouldn't hand it over to her. Just having money—well, it does help—but the key is to invest it in the right places. If Sunny Sky Films, like many other film companies, spends most of its budget on hiring popular young actors, that wouldn't align with Hou Muyun's intentions.

Bai Xue had a high opinion of Chu Qing. From her words, it was clear she wasn't just being polite. Bai Xue mentioned several points: first, Sunny Sky Films had reached cooperation agreements with several highly capable costume and makeup studios; second, they had invested heavily in assembling a top-tier production team; and third, Chu Qing had a very good relationship with a well-known foreign special effects company.

Although Hou Muyun didn't fully understand the significance of these points, he could tell that Sunny Sky Films was serious about their work, which gave him some reassurance.

After the celebration, Hou Muyun returned to the hotel. The next day, he would fly to Shen City with the Zhang Duo to prepare for Blue Whale TV's New Year's Eve Gala.

He had received this invitation quite some time ago. Additionally, Hou Muyun had also been invited to Mango TV's New Year's Eve Gala, but he had to decline due to a scheduling conflict. Mango TV understood, and to Hou Muyun's surprise, shortly after, they invited him to their Chinese New Year's Eve Gala.

Receiving invitations from two TV stations for their New Year's Eve Galas was a clear sign that Hou Muyun had become popular. This was undoubtedly due in part to his appearances on "Music Wars" and "Singer."

Having top variety shows featured in New Year's Eve Galas has always been a characteristic of local stations. It not only attracts higher ratings but also increases the visibility of their regular talents, thereby attracting more people to their variety shows—a cycle, whether virtuous or vicious, depends on perspective.

For example, on the 30th, the day after, Hou Muyun and the Zhang Duo arrived at the rehearsal site for the gala—still the live venue of "Music Wars." They got an idea of and saw the guest lineup, which was indeed related to Blue Whale TV's major variety shows.

Blue Whale TV had made a significant push in recent years with their variety shows, launching several hit programs and rising strongly. The most popular and longest-running was undoubtedly "Running Man," whose MCs were the main guests for this New Year's Eve Gala. Additionally, the newly launched original music show "Sound Wars" had also been a big hit this year.

The entire gala was centered around these two variety shows: the "Running Man" seven-member cast and their friends, plus the five mentors from "Sound Wars" and their friends.

There were also guests from other variety shows and other celebrities.

The chief director of this New Year's Eve Gala was also Director Jiang. Naturally, Hou Muyun was part of the "Music Wars" lineup, the only trainee, and he was assigned two songs—one duet with Shi Fifteen and one solo. To be able to perform two songs on such a stage with such a lineup showed how much they were accommodating him.

Moreover, the duet was a medley with a considerable duration of 5-7 minutes!

Shi Fifteen told Director Jiang that the song was ready and just needed some practice before the rehearsal. After Director Jiang left, Shi Fifteen turned to Hou Muyun and said, "You decide the medley."

Hou Muyun sighed, then suddenly smiled, "How about we sing the one we played around with in the studio last time?"


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