“Ding Xiyao? I’m Meng Chang, welcome, welcome.”

“Come, let me tell you about the script.”

Meng Chang called Ding Xiyao aside and took a moment to look her over.

She wasn’t particularly beautiful, but she had a round face, short hair, regular features, and large eyes. Her cheeks were a bit chubby, naturally giving people a sense of warmth.

She was wearing professional attire, which Meng Chang had specifically requested yesterday, after all, they needed to emphasize her identity as a real estate agent.

Meng Chang had seen her photo before and had been a bit worried that the photo might have been edited, but now seeing her in person, he found that she didn’t look much different from her photo and felt slightly relieved.

Appearance was quite important.

Although Meng Chang had made it clear that he didn’t want a celebrity, just a relatable ordinary person, this ordinary person’s image still had requirements. If the audience disliked her at first sight, then Pei’s promotional method would fail from the start, and they wouldn’t be able to continue.

The two of them sat down on the sofa next to the Sloth Apartment model room, and Meng Chang handed the script to Ding Xiyao.

The script was very thin, just a few pages, and most of the content described settings, actions, and expressions. There was almost no dialogue, only narration.

Ding Xiyao quickly scanned through the script.

These scenes were quite familiar to her: working diligently at her desk, screening property listings; traversing alleyways and checking every nook and cranny to view properties; earnestly introducing the features of a house to clients, only to have them rent elsewhere, leaving her with a disappointed expression after hanging up the phone; being misunderstood by clients, even being yelled at to her face, only able to bow her head and apologize, returning home to secretly wipe away tears…

On the surface, this seemed to be a promotional video emphasizing how hard and difficult the job of a real estate agent was, taking an emotional approach, hoping to use these slice-of-life scenes to evoke tolerance and understanding from people.

The only thing that Ding Xiyao found somewhat inconsistent with reality was the set design for the agency and workstation. The script didn’t describe it in detail but included a picture.

The picture showed a very small agency, unlike other real estate agencies with many workstations and agents coming and going. Instead, it had only a rather tall front desk, two bar stools, and a meeting area consisting of a coffee table and a single-person sofa.

From all aspects, this small agency could only accommodate one person, something that would absolutely not exist in reality.

But Ding Xiyao didn’t think too much about it. She figured that since this was a promotional video, it naturally would have some embellishments of the real situation.

Just like many movies and TV shows, when they depict workplaces, they can’t be exactly the same as real workplaces, right? With workstations cramped together, people at work bleary-eyed and spiritless—filming that would be realistic, but audiences wouldn’t accept it.

This promotional video probably considered that if they filmed realistically, other colleagues would seem redundant, and the scene would be too chaotic, so they simply cut everything out, keeping only shots of the protagonist.

Ding Xiyao didn’t understand these things well, but her simple deduction was that this must be the reason.

After all, it was a promotional video—it was just about promotion and beautification, what other complex strategies could there be?

Meng Chang said, “There’s one thing I must tell you upfront: after this promotional video comes out, you might receive some criticism.”

“But it’s only a possibility, and a small one at that. Even if you do get criticized, it will quickly blow over.”

“I’m just warning you that although such a risk is small, it does exist.”

Ding Xiyao was puzzled: “Criticism?”

“I don’t think it’ll come to that, right?”

“Looking at the content of this promotional video, it all seems quite normal.”

“Besides, I’m just an actress, there shouldn’t be any reason for it to affect me.”

Meng Chang smiled: “That’s why I say the risk is small, but there might be some extreme individuals who attack you. Do you have Weibo? If so, just to be safe, turn off your private messages for now.”

Ding Xiyao felt a bit more at ease: “I think there won’t be any problems.”

The pay for the lead actor in this promotional video was quite substantial, and Ding Xiyao didn’t feel she was doing anything unconscionable. Even if people criticized the video due to stereotypes about real estate agents, it shouldn’t affect her personally.

Even if there were some extreme individuals, they wouldn’t have a significant impact.

She had experienced plenty of prejudice and cold stares when working as a real estate agent, so she had the resilience to handle this.

“So, Director Meng, does this promotional video have any profound implications? I’m afraid I might not understand it thoroughly, could you briefly explain it to me?”

Even if she hadn’t eaten pork, she’d at least seen a pig run.

Although Ding Xiyao had never shot a promotional video before, she figured that making promotional videos and making movies should follow similar principles. The performance was just the surface; the entire piece had some deeper implications, which were controlled by the director and screenwriter.

As a non-professional actress and complete outsider, Ding Xiyao didn’t understand this at all, so she asked Meng Chang to help her better grasp the script and perform according to the requirements.

Meng Chang shook his head: “There are no profound implications. Oh, no, I should say even if there are implications, they don’t relate to your performance.”

“For your acting, I have just one requirement: be yourself.”

“Try to convey the feelings you had in your previous job, just be authentic, and you don’t need to worry about anything else.”

Ding Xiyao nodded: “Alright, then I’ll feel it out and build up the mood.”

Meng Chang let Ding Xiyao hold the script and build her emotion while he went to check the set arrangements again.

He came back about half an hour later.

“Alright, let’s officially start filming.” Meng Chang checked the time; it was about right.

Ding Xiyao was a bit flustered: “What? I haven’t even memorized the script yet!”

Meng Chang smiled slightly: “It’s fine, just film, I know what I’m doing.”

“Attention all departments, get to your positions, we’re about to start filming!”

……

Meanwhile, at the Morning Dew Gaming Platform.

Yan Qi was worrying about what to do for his new game.

After experiencing the initial series of ups and downs, Morning Dew Gaming Platform had already fully established itself, occupying a place in the domestic gaming channels.

Bug-free platform games, player-centric approach, and game connoisseurs were all unique memory points that Morning Dew Gaming Platform gave to players, clearly distinguishing it from other gaming channels.

If there was still controversy at the beginning, now more and more players and developers were recognizing Morning Dew Gaming Platform.

Initially, Yan Qi had been worried that Morning Dew Gaming Platform might fail and had prepared to look elsewhere, but now he had completely abandoned such thoughts.

Because he discovered that after stabilizing, Morning Dew Gaming Platform was not only a fairly comfortable place but also had excellent development prospects!

Recently, a batch of excellent independent games from the Final Path Project had been released, further enriching Morning Dew Gaming Platform’s game library.

Other excellent developers had also begun to seek cooperation.

The only thing Yan Qi found somewhat regrettable was that Morning Dew Gaming Platform never seemed to actively approach major developers for cooperation. They had almost no exclusive or first releases of any super blockbusters, taking a completely passive, waiting attitude.

This had temporarily limited Morning Dew Gaming Platform to a niche platform.

Although the platform’s users had a strong sense of belonging and identity with the platform, the lack of sufficiently weighty, phenomenal blockbusters was ultimately a pity.

Many gaming platforms quickly became popular precisely because they signed a certain super hit game, developing step by step from XX game launcher.

Without super hit games as support, the platform always lacked some confidence.

Logically, given Morning Dew Gaming Platform’s current scale and financial strength, they should be able to negotiate with some major developers, make some proactive concessions, and reach agreements.

But Morning Dew Gaming Platform had never done so.

Yan Qi felt a bit regretful, because if Morning Dew Gaming Platform were more popular, his games would naturally benefit more.

But on second thought, perhaps this was the unique characteristic of Morning Dew Gaming Platform, always doing unexpected things.

If they really contacted major developers for cooperation as he thought, Morning Dew Gaming Platform would certainly have to make some compromises, and might not be able to maintain its current state.

Steadily developing like this wasn’t bad either.

After the surge in popularity due to the game connoisseurs, Morning Dew Gaming Platform didn’t strike while the iron was hot by increasing promotion, seeking financing, or cooperating with other major developers. They didn’t make any big moves, but instead continued to deepen the platform’s content.

More and more games were being released, making the review process increasingly difficult. To ensure the reputation of being bug-free, they naturally had to be more careful in the selection process.

Of course, “bug-free” was just a manner of speaking. In reality, it meant there were no malicious bugs that severely affected game operation, but small errors were still hard to completely eliminate.

But in any case, there was already a fundamental difference compared to other gaming platforms.

Previously, Yan Qi had been busy and worried about which platform to release on, because the game “Empire’s Blade” was like his own flesh and blood, and he couldn’t entrust it to the wrong hands, which to some extent seriously affected his energy for game development.

But now, he had made up his mind. Releasing on Morning Dew Gaming Platform and the official platform was enough; as for other platforms, he would release if possible but wouldn’t force it if not.

With Morning Dew Gaming Platform as a safety net, he could conceive new games without worries.

Although “Empire’s Blade” was still being updated and still making money, Yan Qi didn’t want to continue it indefinitely.

Because “Empire’s Blade” was ultimately still a pay-to-win mobile game. Even if it was more conscientious about charging, it still wasn’t what Yan Qi most wanted to make.

Lately, watching one independent game after another being released on Morning Dew Gaming Platform, Yan Qi suddenly felt that he should make more meaningful games.

Previously, he made pay-to-win games to make money because he needed to support the company and had no better options.

But now that he could make money with “Empire’s Blade,” could support the company, and had a good platform, why not make games that he liked more?