After hanging up the phone, Liu Rulan walked in.
"You're starting a new company?"
She overheard a conversation.
"Yes, I just learned that AI technology companies have some policy incentives and support. If I keep going down the entertainment company route, I won't get tax benefits and it will be easy to run into a lot of problems."
Xiao He explained.
“I know, I’ve actually been considering having you start your own company,” Liu Rulan said. “Do you need me to help you find someone?”
"I asked Lin Cheng and my former teacher to recommend some people for me. My requirements aren't high right now, so it shouldn't be a big problem."
Xiao He waved his hand casually.
"That's fine then."
Liu Rulan was not very familiar with technology companies and related processes. Since she heard that Xiao He had found someone to be in charge, she did not ask any more questions. Instead, she talked to Xiao He about the historical drama project.
"The name of the production team has been officially revealed, but unfortunately, due to various reasons, the public audition time for this production has been delayed."
Liu Rulan crossed her arms and pointed out, "Although you may not have noticed when you posted on Weibo today, several old acquaintances are also listed under your related keywords today."
"Huh? They're trending on social media too? I really didn't know."
Xiao He immediately returned to Weibo to check the situation.
【The production team of "The Imperial Empire" is in preparation! Casting is suspected of sparking protests from fans of the characters!】
This trending topic was posted below Xiao He's Spring Festival Gala rehearsal, so Xiao He didn't see it at all.
But when Xiao He clicked in now, he discovered that there were still {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} so many netizens gossiping and expressing their opinions under this entry.
After understanding the general situation, Xiao He could only describe it as "Holy crap!"
We really have to thank Huang Meng for hiring those paparazzi. They followed Jingyou Entertainment around taking pictures every day, and within three days they uncovered the "Emperor's Ambition" project team that Jingyou Entertainment planned to build in the future. So they immediately sold this news, and various marketing accounts started to forward and hype it up.
This incident immediately attracted the attention of countless people.
The reason is simple: the historical drama "The Empire" is based on the famous founding emperor of the Qing Dynasty in Chinese history, Emperor Chen.
The story of "The Imperial Achievement" tells the tale of his glorious life as a general who rose to prominence, quelled wars, expelled foreign tribes, swept across the land, and became an iron-blooded emperor.
(Alternate history! Alternate history! Alternate history!)
Incidentally, since this character grew up as a young general through battles, even after unifying the world, establishing a new dynasty, and finally dying of illness, he was only thirty-two years old. In the entire history of China, he is a unique case of a short-lived founding emperor, truly a typical example of a talented person being envied by heaven, and a white moonlight-level character that countless later generations lament.
He accomplished in his youth what others could only achieve in half a lifetime or even a lifetime, and then died in his prime. He successfully avoided the obsession and folly that often plagued emperors in their later years, which makes his character full of historical regret and sorrow, and thus he has become a favorite subject of study for many historians.
Countless historians have even speculated on various possibilities of his early death, attempting to make up for the regrets left by history. However, the charm of history may lie in this: countless people in later generations look at it through the fog, so close yet so far away, hazy and beautiful, vague and cruel.
Such a character is almost impossible for anyone to replicate.
Moreover, he has so many history buffs that any random post can trigger countless complaints and flame wars.
To date, no actor has been able to successfully portray this role.
There are indeed some actors with good acting skills who participated in early serious period dramas, but unfortunately they are too old. It is difficult for people to look at their forty-year-old faces and imagine the twenty-year-old Emperor Chen. So even if the acting skills of this veteran actor are recognized by the public, the public only recognizes his acting skills, not the characters he plays.
Later, after many twists and turns, countless versions emerged, and even when the national team came out, they ultimately failed with this character.
Perhaps it's because this character has such a strong aura.
It's really hard to find an actor (note: young actor) who can capture the magnetic field of this character.
However, it is undeniable that almost every actor who played this role and the related production team gained considerable attention in the end. Regardless of whether they became famous or not, they all expanded their acting range and gained popularity with the general public.
The decision to revive historical dramas this time clearly shows the higher-ups' ambition and determination.
As soon as the preliminary list was released, fans who were following the matter started arguing.
The core of their argument lay with Yun Ziqi.
Just recently, Yun Ziqi's departure from the "Snow Ridge Red Road" production team, along with related revelations about his potentially sensitive identity, trended on social media.
Because he claimed to be a descendant of the Plain Yellow Banner, everyone argued fiercely for a long time. In the end, it was only thanks to Yun Ziqi's apology and clarification that he was young and ignorant and made a false statement that the matter was barely resolved.
So why bring him up again this time?
The issue from last time wasn't completely resolved.
Although Yun Ziqi has apologized, netizens are not stupid. They can still infer his true family situation from his resource development over the years, so they still find it difficult to accept his behavior.
Coincidentally, some people also discovered that Yun Ziqi's grandfather and grandfather's generation had immigrated overseas to develop their careers in their early years, and it wasn't until his father's generation that they returned to China and had him with his mother.
Those who study history know that those who fled abroad in the last few generations were mostly people seeking refuge from hardship.
Combined with Yun Ziqi's self-disclosure of his family background, it's hard not to suspect that his ancestors who immigrated overseas back then were overthrown and thus took advantage of the chaos to flee.
Then the definition becomes more complicated; his house is very "unclean"!
When those people fled, they took away a lot of important antiques and valuable items from China, then went abroad to escape and continue to enjoy their luxurious lives.
Now that the country has become strong and developed, they come back and, with the wealth they took back then, can become Beijing residents again and continue to thrive.
Although it's unclear whether this is just speculation by netizens or the truth, many people have become infamy after this revelation came out.
The thought that Yun Ziqi had shamelessly played a hero disgusted netizens.
So when everyone saw that Yun Ziqi wanted to audition for "The Emperor's Ambition", they were all outraged and started to boycott it. Even the fans of Emperor Chen's history protested wildly and even boycotted the formation of the "The Emperor's Ambition" production team.
Perhaps Yun Ziqi himself did not expect that his scandals, such as those about his love life, smoking, and morality, would not affect his status and popularity. However, because of a single sentence he uttered when he was young, his reputation has collapsed one after another like dominoes, and there is no way to stop it.
I wonder if he will regret it.
Maybe not.
Just as he couldn't understand why something that no one cared about back then had now become a sensitive topic that everyone was attacking.
