Chapter 230: Bad Situation

“What I didn’t expect is that Tan Jinqi is backed by Director Hou… There’s no way I can cause him trouble now unless I do it behind everyone’s backs.”

If Ding Mengfei had only known that not only was Tan Jinqi Hou Yuehai’s student, but he also came from a rich family, she would never have gone through with what she had just planned and would have tried to charm her way with him instead.

Unfortunately, she didn’t know that. And, when she would learn about it in the future and realize that she had just given up a good chance to marry a rich kid, she would be devastated by her own choices.

“All right. Just leave this to me,” Lin said and took out her phone to make a few calls.

Inside her phone were the numbers of a dozen paparazzi who would do anything to get their hands on a scandal.

It was normal for people in her line of work to be in contact with these people.

…

As the sun set, Tan Mo came out of Professor Zhao’s research room and headed straight to the canteen. She quickly finished her dinner and headed to the library to complete the rest of the script.

Before she started working, she opened the group chats for the crew to see if there were any updates, and the first thing she saw were a few screenshots from social media.

“According to our sources, one of the historical dramas that’s currently in the filming process that claims to have accurate historical content has hired a greenhorn scriptwriter with no prior experience. Not only that, but the scriptwriter is also the historical consultant of the drama. Will we be able to see a truly historically accurate drama?”

Under the text were a few screenshots of the conversation from the said sources.

The news was all over the internet, and everyone had the same conversation screenshot, proof that the source was, in fact, genuine.

“Who the heck leaked this?” Director Liu’s assistant yelled. “The scriptwriter working as the consultant as well! They’re literally talking about us.”

The only thing the news did not mention was the title of the drama, as these scandals tended to avoid doing so because it might cause them a lot of trouble.

Also, people could easily tell what the news was referring to.

Since it was all obvious guesswork, no one could blame the news agencies.

“I’m not sure. Our crew is huge, and we also have a lot of extras as well. Any one of them could have leaked that…” replied Staff A.

“But, all of us have signed an NDA, including the extras. It’s clearly stated that we can’t expose anything happening in this production to the public,” Staff B said.

“Still, there’s no way we can find out who leaked the information as long as they remain anonymous…” sighed Staff C.

There was no way Tan Mo could ignore the situation. She quickly hopped onto her social media account, only to find that the netizens’ reactions were pretty much one-sided.

“Isn’t the post literally talking about one particular drama? “The Legend of Wei and Jin”! They’ve been promoting the drama as a historically accurate one. I really love their casting. Let’s just hope that the script won’t ruin the whole thing.”

“Right? There are a lot of dramas now that are ruined because of a bad story. Even hiring the best actors won’t save them.”

“Aren’t they treating this like child’s play? Who the heck is the scriptwriter? Are they really giving the most important job of such a huge project to a nobody?”

“Usually, they would hire the best in the business for something like this. Also, is no one going to talk about the fact that the scriptwriter is also working as a consultant? Is the director in his right head?”

After closing the app, Tan Mo quickly left a water bottle on the table to tell the rest of the students that it was taken since the library was usually crowded and it would be excruciating to find another empty seat again.

She then grabbed her bag and left the library to call Director Liu.

It took a few tries before she could reach him. Tan Mo could guess that the situation was literally giving the director a headache.

“Tan Mo?” Director Liu answered his phone.

“Director. I just saw the posts online. Are you getting any trouble from the sponsors?”

Director Liu was once again amazed by how smart the young lady was, that she could understand what was going to happen when the scandal got out.

“Don’t worry about it,” Director Liu sighed, trying to assure Tan Mo even when there really were some problems with the sponsors. “The sponsors don’t know what really happened yet, and they haven’t read the actual script. It’s normal for them to have some questions. All I have to do is explain the situation to them. There’s no way we are changing you. You’re like the soul of this drama now. Without you, this drama wouldn’t even happen.”

“I see… Then, I won’t bother you again. Just let me know if there’s anything that I can do.”

“Will do. But, there’s no way I’m going to let a little girl help take care of my problems.” Director Liu laughed.

After hanging up with Tan Mo, the director quickly called the sponsors to explain the scandal.

As for Tan Mo, she quickly dialed her brother’s number.

Tan Jinqi also told Tan Mo not to worry about it.

“I’m not worried. If the sponsors really want to withdraw, then we can just sponsor the drama ourselves instead.” Tan Mo wasn’t even worried as her father had more than enough money to sponsor the whole thing.

However, Tan Jinqi was speechless. Sister…don’t you have to talk to Dad about this first?

“With Director Liu directing the drama and me producing the script, I’m sure that this drama will be a hit as long as nothing goes wrong with the other parts,” Tan Mo said, full of confidence.

Luckily, she was alone at the end of the corridor, or else someone would’ve laughed at her for boasting.

“It’s definitely a win for anyone who sponsors the drama.” Tan Mo’s confidence wasn’t going down in the slightest.

“You’re right.” Tan Jinqi nodded. Perhaps because of Tan Mo, even he was full of confidence now. “Are the sponsors really going to back out on such a huge opportunity? Well, it sucks for them if they do.”

However, unlike Tan Mo, who was alone, Tan Jinqi wasn’t. He was surrounded by Director Liu and all the other producers and creators, and everyone turned to glare at him before letting out deep sighs, wishing that they had his confidence.

In the meantime, Ding Mengfei was enjoying her time surfing through the comments in her trailer.

People were starting to wonder if the crew was actually putting their efforts into creating the drama and were starting to question who the scriptwriter actually was.

The main problem everyone seemed to have was the fact that the crew had hired an inexperienced scriptwriter for a challenger for the drama of the year.

The job wasn’t for someone who didn’t have about 20 years of experience.

“You know what? This is the times we live in. I’m sure the scriptwriter just gave the studio a lot of money to land this job. Otherwise, how could a greenhorn manage to work for such an important project?”

“Maybe the sponsors are just trying to boost the popularity of their own celebrities? They don’t really give a damn about the script.”

“But, doesn’t that defeat the purpose? No one’s going to watch it if the script is bad.”

“Seriously, can’t they just focus on making a good drama? I can’t even find a decent one recently. What are these studios even thinking?”

“Agree! Remember “Burial Mountain”? I was so hyped for that, but the drama was such trash because they were trying to boost the popularity of some nobody. Heck, that guy had 30 minutes of screen time in every episode despite playing a minor role, and the main actor only had like about 15 minutes.”

People were discussing “The Legend of Wei and Jin” so much that it became the most searched topic instantly.