On the way back, Quan Jiu sent a message to Song Ren.
"Can you do background checks on celebrities?"
Song Ren replied almost instantly, as always, "Yes, the price ranges from ten thousand to a million, depending on the celebrity's status."
Quan Jiu immediately typed in the names of several artists. Soon, Song Ren replied with the prices. The artists were not of high caliber, with the most expensive costing sixty thousand yuan. The total for the four of them was less than one hundred thousand.
Just as Quan Jiu was about to transfer the money, she received another message: "You're a regular customer and have brought me a lot of business. I'll give you a 20% discount from now on. This time, it will only be 77,400."
Quan Jiu couldn't help but smile. After a moment's thought, she curiously asked, "Are you a smart chatbot or a human customer service representative?"
"I'm a human customer service representative now."
No wonder she always replied so promptly. However, Quan Jiu found it impressive that Song Ren could incorporate such random questions into intelligent responses, suggesting Song Ren was also a skilled programmer.
"When can I expect the results?" she asked.
"If you only need information from internet memory, three hours. If you also need offline information, it will take at least a week for four people."
Quan Jiu understood. It seemed Song Ren was a master hacker. Considering her limited time, Quan Jiu said, "You can send me the internet memory information first."
Waiting for Song Ren's reply again, it took exactly three hours. Four PDF files arrived, containing information on the four main actors of Yang Shuo and Zhao Zhen's drama. httpδ:/m.kuAisugg.nět
Although Quan Jiu held onto a sliver of hope, she knew that in the entertainment industry, how many people were truly blameless?
The probability of finding a breakthrough was still quite high.
As expected, upon opening the files, Quan Jiu discovered many unsavory details. In fact, none of the four individuals were clean, with varying degrees of severity in their transgressions.
Quan Jiu smiled faintly and forwarded the information to Wei Tao.
...
At Yang Shuo's studio, the producer was discussing upcoming online promotional activities with the team. A data analyst was reporting the results of the previous week's promotional data.
"The official website for 'The Long Journey' has gained fifty thousand new followers compared to the previous week, exceeding eight hundred thousand. It has the highest follower count and activity among shows released concurrently. Online platform reservations have surpassed two million, ranking first on the most anticipated list. The super topic's read count and popularity have remained number one for a week..."
After the data analyst finished presenting over ten pages of PPT, they stepped down.
Yang Shuo was very pleased with the results, smiling broadly. "We need to increase our promotional efforts and maintain our current momentum. Marketing team, you need to build up the CP first. The Spring Festival slot has intense traffic competition. Get the male and female leads to cooperate with promotions, give the audience sweet moments, and they'll lock onto this CP, willing to spend money."
The head of the marketing team nodded and outlined the promotional plan for the upcoming week.
After listening, Yang Shuo, while finding the arrangements excellent, still emphasized, "Everyone has worked hard during this period. This is our best work to date. Your year-end bonuses will depend on the traffic this drama generates. We must prioritize early promotion. With effective promotion, more advertisers will approach us for investment and collaboration. Therefore, during this time, if the publicity department has any needs, other departments must actively cooperate and fulfill them."
The employees all responded affirmatively.
Just as Yang Shuo was about to adjourn the meeting, an employee rushed in, looking flustered. "Director Yang, the Film and Television Bureau called. They said the content of 'The Long Journey' is non-compliant and needs rectification, so it cannot be released during the Spring Festival."
Yang Shuo was stunned for a moment, then stood up in shock. "What's going on? Wasn't it already approved? Where is it non-compliant?"
"It's said that forty out of forty-five episodes have issues." The staff member opened the list of problems.
At this moment, the other staff in the conference room were also bewildered and crowded around.
The producer was even more perplexed. "This is impossible. It passed the previous review, how can it suddenly have problems?"
Yang Shuo's brows furrowed into a deep '川' shape as he saw the vague problem summaries. He cursed angrily, "This bastard is trying to suppress our drama."
Forty episodes having issues, and the problems pointed out were all related to the plot. This meant that even if they were to rectify it, it would be equivalent to reshooting. Otherwise, the four hundred million investment would be completely lost.
The producer didn't believe those issues were problems and boldly speculated, "Did we offend someone inadvertently? Did someone set a trap for us?"
"Who could we have offended? Besides filming properly, who have we made enemies with?" Yang Shuo's face turned red with anger.
The producer thought for a moment. "I'll go ask and see who replaced our slot."
He turned to use his connections and soon got the result, his face looking very grim. "It should be Tianyu. We were originally scheduled to launch on January 23rd, and now it's been replaced by a film from Tianyu."
"Tianyu, the Chu family. We and Tianyu have always minded our own business. Why are they targeting us?" Yang Shuo looked puzzled. Deep down, he truly didn't want it to be Tianyu, because he wasn't capable of confronting Tianyu and the Chu family.
The producer also looked troubled. "I'll go ask again. If it's really impossible, we can give up the Spring Festival release. At least they can arrange a slot for us. But the refusal to approve is too much, isn't it all for nothing?"
He also had many connections, which was why he could secure the Spring Festival slot earlier. Yang Shuo felt slightly relieved and told the publicity team to continue with extensive promotion and marketing.
The employees left, and the producer quickly found his contact, breathing a sigh of relief.
"Fortunately, they said the problem isn't too big, just that the Spring Festival slot is no longer available. We can postpone it to April, and we'll make some symbolic changes to the content to avoid making it difficult for the person in charge."
Yang Shuo, having lost the prime Spring Festival slot, was so angry he swore several times.
The producer offered a perfunctory word of comfort and left the conference room. However, before he could exit, the head of the operations team rushed over, looking panicked.
"Director, Producer, bad news! Ba Shou and Kuang Kuo are causing trouble."
Yang Shuo and the producer's faces stiffened. These were the lead actor and the second male lead in the drama.
"What happened? Did it get leaked online? What's the reaction? How big is the impact?" Yang Shuo asked as he walked towards his office.
The head of the marketing team and the producer followed.
The team leader reported as they walked, "It was leaked by Wei Tao. There are pictures, text, and videos, with ample evidence. I took a quick look just now, and there's almost no chance of turning this around. It's likely to lead to criminal charges."
"Criminal charges?" The producer was startled and stopped. "What did they do?"
The team leader clicked his tongue impatiently. "One is for soliciting prostitutes, and the other is for drugs."
"What?" Yang Shuo turned back abruptly, looking at the head of the marketing team in astonishment.
The team leader, looking helpless, pulled up the news.
Wei Tao's exposé included Ba Shou's records of online escorts, hotel bookings, and even a shocking 3P video he recorded himself. As for Kuang Kuo, his purchase records were also fully exposed, even showing that he used his own bank card to make the purchases.
As the head of the marketing team had said, there was no turning this around.
Yang Shuo stared blankly at the "Long Journey" achievement chart hanging in the office lobby, his mind a complete blank.