With Jiang Ling agreeing to act, the situation changed.
Having become popular again as Li Sheng Nan, she possessed an unimaginable amount of traffic and fan support.
Her own terrible acting skills, after undergoing a period of intense online criticism, had been reborn, reaching a divine level that astonished countless viewers.
With her acting and fan traffic bolstering the project, he no longer had to worry about "The Little Fisherman and the Wude Flowers" being a ratings flop. He could proceed with filming with peace of mind.
Huang Jing had never imagined Jiang Ling would act in his drama.
After all, she was now at an unprecedented peak of popularity and buzz, with countless people seeking her for acting roles and commercial collaborations.
Although he was a renowned director in the Hong Kong film industry with many successful works, he found it difficult to secure someone of Jiang Ling's caliber in the vast mainland Chinese market.
Even if she were willing to do him a favor and agree to act, her salary would blow past the entire filming budget.
Now that her agent had called proactively, it meant she was very interested in the script and that there was significant room for negotiation on her fee.
He never expected that Jiang Ling's first project after her comeback would be with him.
Damn it, he was incredibly lucky this time.
Huang Jing became happier the more he thought about it. He quickly said to his assistant, "Quick, call Ms. Jiang's agent and tell her that I, Huang,..."
Before he could finish, Huang Jing shook his head again. "Forget it, I'll go myself. Quickly book the earliest flight today. I need to go to Shanghai personally."
"Yes!"
The assistant, understanding the gravity of the situation, quickly went to book tickets.
"You said what? Huang Jing wants to... cough cough..."
Jiang Ling, who was slurping the rice noodles sent by her family, was immediately choked by the chili flakes in the noodle seasoning upon hearing that Huang Jing was coming.
Sister Sa quickly patted her back to help her breathe and said, "Yes, he said he wants to come to Shanghai personally to discuss the role and your scenes with you."
Jiang Ling found it hard to believe. "He's a famous director in the Hong Kong circle. Does someone of his caliber need to come in person?"
"His status among Hong Kong directors is very high, but your popularity and traffic are even greater. Capitalists are always driven by profit; it's 'the milky teat that feeds you.' If you can't make money, no matter how famous you are, it's useless. You are the prize that all capitals are fighting over. If you hadn't said before that you didn't want to take too many commercial endorsements yet, your endorsement fees alone would have been at least 300 million yuan."
"Three hundred million?"
Upon hearing this, Jiang Ling gasped.
She knew her traffic was huge and her commercial value extremely high, but she hadn't expected it to be so high.
Before the original owner's reputation collapsed, her endorsement fees were only a little over 100 million yuan. Now, it had nearly tripled.
"Of course. Traffic is money. In the current film and television industry, no matter how much people complain about traffic stars being too expensive, they cannot change the fact that they are the most profitable group. Moreover, you not only have massive traffic but also strong acting skills. There are countless people wanting you for endorsements and acting roles. If you truly had to schedule them one by one, your calendar would be booked for five years."
"Good heavens, this money is too easy to make. No wonder so many people want to become traffic stars," Jiang Ling exclaimed repeatedly.
Sister Sa said, "The entertainment industry has a huge disparity. Top traffic stars truly make money until their hands are sore, while those at the very bottom, who work hard in acting, can at best make a meager living, having to beg production crews for opportunities. It's feast or famine. Therefore, you must hold onto your position firmly and not be replaced by other little vixens. We women can do without men, but we absolutely cannot lose our careers!"