Thinking of this, Ye Zhou closed his eyes in despair.
Jiang Tingyuan looked at the ever-changing expressions on Ye Zhou’s face within a few short minutes. No matter how powerful Mr. Jiang was, he couldn’t guess what was going on in his head.
Since he couldn’t figure it out, he might as well wait for Ye Zhou to explain himself. As Jiang Tingyuan expected, after a moment, Ye Zhou said in an extremely dull and grieving tone, “Thank you, Jiang-ge. Let me think about it some more.”
Jiang Tingyuan raised his eyebrows. “Is it that you don’t like any of the projects?”
Ye Zhou heavily shook his head. With unspeakable distress that nearly drove him to collapse, it wasn’t that he didn’t like the projects. On the contrary, he liked too many of them, yet couldn’t choose any!
He stared fixedly at the several projects on the big screen. At the very least, four or five of them looked familiar to Ye Zhou.
These projects that Ye Zhou recognized were naturally the ones that would gain slight or even huge popularity in the novel’s plotline. What was before him now were not projects, but one gold mine after another, glittering with golden light!
Ye Zhou’s eyes ached from the glare. He painfully averted his gaze and said with tears, “Let me look again.”
Although Jiang Tingyuan was a little confused, he didn’t say anything more.
There were 56 projects that entered the second round of reviews. The executives present needed to vote three times, and after the voting was complete, 20 projects would remain to undergo the third round of reviews.
The results of the first round of voting came out quickly. Ye Zhou, who did not participate, stared fixedly at the project rankings that remained on the big screen.
Everyone thought he was considering which projects had more potential for success, but little did they know…
Ye Zhou was frantically thinking about which of these projects didn’t make the slightest splash in the novel.
As the saying goes, effort pays off for the diligent. He really managed to pick out two decent ones.
The first project was a talent competition planning proposal called “Starlight Youth Development Program”. The novel only used the phrase “lost a lot of money” to briefly describe this competition show, without elaborating too much.
The other project was rather fantastical. It was proposed by a restaurant owner who, while having nothing to do with the entertainment industry, also had a tiny connection to it. It could be said to have some relation, yet was also completely separate fields.
The project leader was a restaurant owner with decades of restaurant management experience. However…this time he wanted to form an esports club! And the team members had already been selected, consisting basically of regular restaurant customers.
Although the esports industry had developed rapidly in recent years and received much attention, almost every industry was pyramid-shaped, with only a handful of people able to stand at the very top.
Even Ye Zhou, a transmigrator, knew that randomly grabbing a few people from a restaurant to form a professional team was, put nicely, wishful thinking, and put bluntly, nonsense!
Even randomly pulling some internet cafe nerds would be more reliable than this, right?
When Ye Zhou saw this project, he almost doubted that there was something wrong with his eyes. How could such a project make it through the elimination rounds from hundreds of proposals to enter the second round of reviews?
However…this perfectly suited Ye Zhou’s current needs. He didn’t fear losing money now. What he feared was not losing it fast enough!
Clearly, there were not just a few people who shared Ye Zhou’s thoughts. When the second round results came out, the restaurant with esports dreams was at the bottom.
The number of votes for the other project he looked favorably on, “Starlight Youth Development Program”, also wasn’t high, and it occupied the last two spots together with the esports project.
Seeing this result, Ye Zhou immediately rejoiced. After the third round of voting began, he picked up the voting device for the first time and selected both these projects.
Boss Jiang said he could choose three, so Ye Zhou didn’t waste the last quota and directly took the third-from-last project as well.
Although the third project wasn’t as outrageous as the first two, it also wasn’t much better. The project leader was a TV drama director and the screenwriter he had cooperated with for many years.
Ye Zhou was vaguely familiar with these two brothers. Five years ago, they could be considered…moderately famous TV drama director and screenwriter.
It was said they had been best friends since college. All their works were collaborations between the two, and their relationship was very close.
After entering the industry, they complemented each other and quickly carved a path of success in the TV drama circle. Their representative work “Spy” had once been popular throughout the streets and alleys nationwide.
In addition, they also filmed several other well-known high-quality TV dramas in a row, swiftly making a name for themselves in the domestic TV drama industry.
However…good times didn’t last. Just as everything was going smoothly for the two, they had a conflict with an investor and beat the investor into multiple fractures, landing them both in jail.
Ye Zhou calculated the time and found…not bad, these two brothers had gotten out of prison less than two months ago. Carrying their new work “Tears Behind Bars”, they were making a powerful comeback and had signed up for Dream Incubation Project, attempting to make a perfect leap from TV dramas to films.
How exciting! This was really too exciting!
After voting, Ye Zhou finally relaxed. He silently comforted himself that if this money was destined to belong to the protagonist couple in the future, then let him squander it even more ferociously now!
First, set a small goal – spend all of Boss Jiang’s money before he goes bankrupt!
Next, set a big goal – not only will the protagonist couple not get money after taking over Boss Jiang’s company, but will have to repay a huge debt!
After the third round of voting ended, Jiang Tingyuan looked at the three projects Ye Zhou voted for on the screen, and even the usually calm and collected Boss Jiang was at a rare loss for words.
He even started considering the probability that Ye Zhou was a mole sent by a competitor.
Feeling Boss Jiang’s gaze sweeping over him again and again, Ye Zhou suddenly felt a bit guilty. He forced out a dry smile in an attempt to conceal his guilt. “I feel these three projects, although they look ordinary at first glance, actually…have quite some…potential. They can be considered dark horses.”
After saying words that went against his heart, Ye Zhou discovered that Jiang Tingyuan’s eyes seemed darker than before, full of disbelief.
In order to make his words more convincing, Ye Zhou hardened his scalp and gave examples. “Take this ‘Starlight Youth Development Program’ for example. Jiang-ge, think about it. In the future we can recruit a bunch of fresh little meat to stand on the stage! Their looks! Their aura! How impressive! The audiences watching their favorite contestants go from obscurity to dazzling the world, what a scene! How meaningful!”
As soon as he finished speaking, Ye Zhou noticed that Jiang Tingyuan’s expression hadn’t improved at all, but had become even more dangerous.
Ye Zhou subconsciously shrank back into his seat, then started to talk about the second project with difficulty: “And look at this esports project. The esports industry is booming now. We have to keep up with the times and can’t reject this emerging industry, right!”
“As excellent young entrepreneurs, we need to keep up with trends and be receptive to new things! Esports was listed as a sporting competition years ago. Who knows, if they compete well, these players might even win glory for our country in the future!”
Then Ye Zhou pointed at the last project and boldly grabbed Jiang Tingyuan’s hand, tears brimming his eyes. “To tell you the truth, Jiang-ge, I really like this director and screenwriter. I grew up watching the TV dramas they made since I was little! I admit I was a bit impulsive…”
Here, Ye Zhou changed direction in his words and said firmly and earnestly: “But this is sentiment! Sentiment, can you understand, Jiang-ge?!”
Jiang Tingyuan ruthlessly replied: “I cannot.”
Author’s note:
Jiang Tingyuan: Sorry, I will never understand your sentiment.
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