After confirming the status of the GPL League, Pei Qian briefly went through other information worth noting.
This information was compiled and reported by various department heads, and some came from Loss Managers embedded in different departments.
Pei Qian hadn’t asked these department heads to compile and report this information, but they did so very conscientiously because they worried something might go wrong with their work.
If Mr. Pei didn’t ask, that was his business, but if they knew something and didn’t report it, that would be their responsibility!
For these department heads, Mr. Pei fully delegating authority was certainly a good thing and represented his trust in them, but that didn’t mean they could do whatever they wanted.
After all, Mr. Pei was the highest authority in Tenda Group. Since he trusted everyone so much, wouldn’t it be a betrayal of his trust if some projects failed?
Therefore, the department heads still regularly compiled and reported various information with a highly responsible attitude.
If Mr. Pei didn’t raise any objections, everything would proceed as usual; if Mr. Pei expressed different opinions, they would immediately adjust their work plans while there was still time.
Pei Qian himself needed to regularly keep track of this information. Otherwise, what if some department quietly made a huge profit?
So, although reluctantly, he had to go through each reported item one by one.
At Tenda Games and Fei Huang Studio, they were likely still struggling with “Mission and Choice.” What concerned Pei Qian was that currently, the storylines for both the game and the movie were primarily in the minds of Huang Sibo and Zhu Xiaocai. Apart from the writing team and a few others, nobody else knew about them.
Even Lu Zhiyao, the lead actor, only received the script for each scene when it was time to shoot it. Other staff members were in the same situation—they knew what they needed to do, but didn’t know the complete story of the movie.
Pei Qian was slightly worried, but also concerned that his inquiry might create an observer effect.
After hearing that, so far, the film shooting involved only Lu Zhiyao alone in a green screen studio performing a one-man show, Pei Qian thought it sounded quite unreliable and decided not to inquire for now.
Qiu Hong had already begun preparing the independent game incubation base in Didu. This wasn’t a difficult task and should be proceeding smoothly.
Ma Yang was currently both throwing money around on Weibo and streaming, with a professional team backing him up. His fans were steadily growing, a lot of money had been spent without earning a single penny, and Pei Qian was very satisfied.
AEEIS and the Useful APP were in normal development, without much noteworthy news.
It had been a while since Pei Qian had checked on Liang Qianfan and Sloth Apartments, but recently, they should be busy buying buildings in the city center for the Sloth Apartments 2.0 model, while also negotiating with reliable furniture and decoration brand partners.
Regarding the investment department, more and more companies were queuing for investment. He Desheng was being very obedient, strictly investing according to the first-come-first-served order. After the earlier investments made money, he would sell them and then invest in the ones waiting in line.
Simple, crude, and mindless.
Among all the investment projects, Cold Noodle Girl had the biggest impact. After that press conference, Meng Chang, with his excellent eloquence, secured two more investments of 1 million yuan each.
This way, Meng Chang had received a total investment of 4 million yuan and was already preparing to open a store in a busy area of Didu. Progress was smooth, and the store should open for business next week.
Meng Chang was making quite a splash, and Pei Qian had paid some attention to it, but not too much.
The reason was simple: regardless of whether Meng Chang could succeed or not, he was still in a stage of “boasting.” Pei Qian couldn’t read minds and couldn’t know his true thoughts, so he could only continue to observe.
Pei Qian had already decided to let Dream Realization Venture Capital develop on its own, no longer interfering with investment behavior, strictly adhering to the policy of “sell if profitable, continue investing if losing money.” So Pei Qian couldn’t be bothered to inquire too much about the specifics of individual projects.
Additionally, other departments had made various degrees of progress. For example, several new stores had opened for Slackin’ Internet Café and Slackin’ Food Delivery, Headwind Logistics had opened more stations, and so on. Pei Qian glanced at these updates and paid no further attention.
At this moment, Pei Qian’s phone on the table rang.
Picking it up, he saw it was Zhu Xiaocai calling.
Pei Qian frowned involuntarily. Could there be an issue with the movie production?
“Hello? Mr. Pei, sorry to disturb you,” Zhu Xiaocai said on the phone. “It’s like this: our filming isn’t going very smoothly. Lu Zhiyao has encountered some bottlenecks with his acting. We’ve shot many takes but aren’t very satisfied. I don’t have any good solutions. How about… Mr. Pei, could you come over and give him some guidance on his acting?”
Pei Qian: “?”
It was like witnessing a showcase of human bewildering behavior.
The filming was not going smoothly, and the results were not satisfactory were good things, but What did it mean to ask him to provide acting guidance?
Pei Qian was confused. Lu Zhiyao was now a capable young actor; he was just one award away from being a genuine film emperor. How could they ask him to guide Lu Zhiyao’s acting?
That time with “Beautiful Tomorrow” was a complete fluke! He knew nothing about acting!
“I can’t provide guidance. Goodbye.” Pei Qian hung up very honestly.
……
At the “Mission and Choice” filming location.
Zhu Xiaocai sighed lightly and put his phone back in his pocket.
Seeing this, Lu Zhiyao felt a sinking feeling in his heart, but still asked with a glimmer of hope: “What did Mr. Pei say?”
Zhu Xiaocai shook his head: “Mr. Pei said he can’t provide guidance.”
Lu Zhiyao was taken aback, his brows slightly furrowed: “Mr. Pei said… he can’t provide guidance?”
He frowned thoughtfully, then said: “Did Mr. Pei say he ‘can’t provide guidance’ rather than he ‘doesn’t have time’ or ‘doesn’t want to provide guidance’?”
Zhu Xiaocai nodded: “Yes.”
“Hmm?” Lu Zhiyao couldn’t help but fall into deep thought.
Zhu Xiaocai didn’t understand what he was pondering and asked: “Is there something wrong?”
Lu Zhiyao nodded: “Of course there is!”
“Not having time or not wanting to provide guidance would indicate that Mr. Pei can guide.”
“But Mr. Pei said he ‘can’t provide guidance,’ which means he doesn’t have that ability?”
Zhu Xiaocai nodded: “Yes, that should be the literal interpretation.”
Lu Zhiyao said, “Then there’s a problem.”
“Uncle Zhang has other commitments and doesn’t have availability. It’s also not appropriate to trouble him to come to Jingzhou just to give me some guidance on my acting.”
“But Uncle Zhang can guide me.”
“Based on the filming of ‘Beautiful Tomorrow’ last time, Mr. Pei’s understanding of acting should be on the same level as Uncle Zhang’s. Although Mr. Pei might not be good at acting personally, he’s very skilled at analyzing characters through the film script and digging into some performance details based on the plot, character personality, and other factors.”
“But now, Mr. Pei hasn’t even read the complete script yet and says he can’t provide guidance. Isn’t that a bit strange?”
“Why would he refuse so decisively?”
Zhu Xiaocai frowned slightly and nodded: “Your suspicion isn’t without reason.”
“If Mr. Pei truly lacks the ability and can’t offer advice, he should at least read the complete script before making that conclusion. But now, Mr. Pei doesn’t know the complete script, only possesses partial information, yet firmly states that he can’t provide guidance…”
“I understand now!”
Zhu Xiaocai suddenly had a flash of insight: “I think Mr. Pei is emphasizing that this role mainly depends on your understanding. As an observer, an outsider, he actually can’t give you much advice!”
“Even if he could guide you on some details to improve your acting, it would only treat the symptoms but not the root cause, and would hardly have a fundamental effect!”
Lu Zhiyao was surprised: “Really? Why do you say that?”
Zhu Xiaocai explained: “This comes down to the differences between ‘Beautiful Tomorrow’ and ‘Mission and Choice.'”
“‘Beautiful Tomorrow’ had a very clear theme. The male protagonist you portrayed was, frankly, just a tool, a mouthpiece expressing Mr. Pei’s thoughts.”
“So, with just a little guidance from Mr. Pei, it could have a comprehensive effect, allowing you to infer one thing from another.”
“But ‘Mission and Choice’ is completely different. Its script was written collectively, with many ways to interpret it. Most of the scenes are one-man shows, and they’re all built around green screens.”
“So, the character you’re portraying this time has many ways to be interpreted!”
“With so many interpretations, it’s hard to say which one is correct, but there must be one that suits you best. As for which one suits you best, others can’t guide you; you can only figure it out yourself.”
In film history, there have been many classic, excellent characters. The interpretation of these characters wasn’t based on guidance from someone with a god-like perspective, but on the actor’s deep dive into the character’s inner world.”
“Mr. Pei believes you’ve already reached this stage, and guidance from a god-like perspective can no longer help you improve further.”
“From now on, it’s up to you.”
Lu Zhiyao blinked in confusion: “Director Zhu, are you sure this is what Mr. Pei meant?”
Zhu Xiaocai nodded very firmly: “Based on my understanding of Mr. Pei, I can’t say I’m 100% certain, but I’m at least 97% certain.”
“So, what you need to do now is believe in yourself.”
Lu Zhiyao fell silent.
For some reason, he felt a sense of relief.
Previously, during filming, he always felt like he was missing something, that his interpretation of the character wasn’t adequate.
Therefore, he always lacked confidence, and his performance wasn’t natural enough.
Lu Zhiyao had been hoping for someone who could guide him like Zhang Zuting and Mr. Pei had done before, making him suddenly enlightened, solving all problems through this “deus ex machina” approach.
But now, this phone call that Director Zhu Xiaocai made to Mr. Pei had made it much clearer.
Mr. Pei’s words directly shattered his fantasy and eliminated his fluke mentality. Since he could no longer rely on others to guide him, he could only trust himself and figure it out through sheer determination!
Although the concept of “figuring it out” was quite mysterious and might not lead to the ideal outcome, Lu Zhiyao now had a sense of burning his bridges, and his entire being relaxed.
Since Mr. Pei said that now he could only rely on himself, what was there to retreat from?
Thinking of this, Lu Zhiyao made up his mind: “Good! Mr. Pei’s perspective indeed points directly to the core of the conflict. I’ll ponder this part of the script more carefully, and in two hours, we’ll shoot a few more takes!”