Chapter Thirty: The Reign of Exquisite Craftsmanship

Liao Yuan carefully examined the verified information of this variety show director. The profile contained only the words “well-known variety show director,” and the Weibo account had just over a hundred thousand followers. The page showed that he was now following Liao Yuan.

He blinked and scrolled through a few of Fu Yuntao’s popular posts, discovering that the man seemed to be as unversed in social media as he was. Fu Yuntao posted perhaps once every month or two, and each post had only a handful of comments—barely a dozen or twenty at most.

After a moment’s thought, Liao Yuan casually followed him back.

“Ding! You have a new friend on Weibo!”

Almost the instant he hit follow, at the Donghai Film and Television Base, Fu Yuntao’s phone flashed with a notification.

At that moment, he was sending a WeChat voice message to a colleague. When he saw the alert pop up, he immediately realized what it was and, feeling a surge of excitement, opened Weibo to find Liao Yuan’s follow. He quickly composed a private message: “Mr. Liao, would you mind sharing a phone number?”

Watching the usually calm and composed Fu Yuntao become so agitated and anxious, his assistant Liu Hai widened his eyes. Then he quietly craned his neck to peek at the director’s phone screen.

He saw the streamer, A Yuan, and suddenly understood.

After a few tense moments, Fu Yuntao received a reply from Liao Yuan, the message clearly displaying a string of numbers.

Revived, he waved Liu Hai aside and quickly slipped into a quiet corner to dial the number.

The call was answered almost immediately. Fu Yuntao hurriedly spoke, “Mr. Liao? This is Fu Yuntao.”

Footsteps sounded on the other end. “Hello, Director Fu. This is Liao Yuan.”

Fu Yuntao laughed. “Mr. Liao, are you busy? Would you be willing to meet in private? I’m very interested in the rights to ‘Ghost Blows Out the Light’!”

“I’ll be honest with you, Director Fu.”

Liao Yuan’s tone was calm. “I’ve reviewed your credentials. You have a remarkable talent for running and filming variety shows, but personally, I don’t think the techniques you use in variety show production are quite suitable for a work like ‘Ghost Blows Out the Light’.”

Fu Yuntao’s excitement was doused in an instant. He collected himself and said, “This is a new attempt for me. I’ll develop new filming techniques for it. Anyone stepping into a new field is bound to stumble here and there, but that doesn’t mean the result will be bad. If you trust me, give me this chance. Let me direct ‘Ghost Blows Out the Light.’ I’ll find the most professional screenwriters to adapt the work, and as for the price, rest assured—I’ll make sure you’re satisfied.”

“It’s not about the price. I love this work as well. Precisely because of that, I’m even more cautious in choosing a partner for its adaptation.”

Liao Yuan spoke earnestly: “You may see this as a new experiment, but I doubt even you can guarantee what the final product will become.”

Hearing this, Fu Yuntao suddenly burst out, “I know! The first time I heard you narrate this story on the radio, countless images flooded my mind. Every one of them thrilled me to the core. I know that if I can capture those images on film, I’ll break through—I’ll truly step into a new realm! Mr. Liao, I genuinely love ‘Ghost Blows Out the Light.’ I’ve been preparing a shooting plan for the entire novel these past few days—I can’t abandon it halfway! Please, if you give me this seed, I promise to return you a whole forest!”

Liao Yuan frowned.

He realized Fu Yuntao had remarkable charisma and a powerful, persuasive way with words. If Liao Yuan hadn’t already closed his heart to the idea of working with Fu Yuntao, he might actually have been moved by such a passionate plea.

After waiting for a while with no response from the other end, Fu Yuntao couldn’t help calling out, “Hello? Mr. Liao? Are you still there?”

“I’m here.”

Liao Yuan snapped back to himself and said, “Let’s put this matter aside for now. I’ll consider it. Director Fu, there’s someone I’d like to ask you about.”

“All right, go ahead.”

“Meiqi, Liao Meiqi. Have you heard of her?”

At the mention of the name, Fu Yuntao chuckled. “Of course. She’s participating in my new show, ‘Produce 101.’ In fact, I just spoke with her. She’s a very promising contestant.”

He went on to recount how Liao Meiqi had twice presented original songs, defeating her rivals and successfully defending her position.

“Good, that’s a relief,” Liao Yuan nodded. “Director Fu, please look after Meiqi. She’s my only younger sister, and I don’t want her to suffer any grievances.”

To Liao Yuan’s straightforward admission of their relationship, Fu Yuntao showed no surprise at all and laughed heartily. “Naturally! Even if you hadn’t mentioned it, I’d pay extra attention to your sister. She’s currently in Class A and is a real standout—she has every chance of debuting.”

“Thank you, Director Fu.”

Fu Yuntao cleared his throat. “And about the rights to ‘Ghost Blows Out the Light’...?”

Liao Yuan paused for a moment. “Let me think it over a bit more. I’ll give you an answer soon.”

After hanging up, Liao Yuan rubbed his cheeks, trying to clear his head.

He then searched the web for more information about Fu Yuntao, piecing together a fuller picture. It became increasingly clear that Fu Yuntao was not as simple as he appeared.

At just thirty-two, he was already a godfather of sorts in the domestic variety show scene, with works acclaimed both online and offline, and a loyal audience across all of Asia.

This monumental “Produce 101” project had only secured Fu Yuntao as director after persistent invitations by the chief producers of the three major streaming platforms.

In past interviews, Fu Yuntao had repeatedly expressed to the public and media his wish to someday direct films and TV dramas.

In fact, he had already made several forays into stage plays. Though none were breakout hits, they were consistently solid—never a disaster or widely panned.

From this, Liao Yuan could see that the director was still very much in the exploratory phase when it came to film and television.

He couldn’t help but reflect that, in his previous life, with the endless stream of shoddy productions, many reality show adaptations achieved astonishing box office numbers. If Fu Yuntao had been around in that era, he might have found success after success.

But in this life, with higher cultural standards and an emphasis on quality and talent, the creation of a film or TV show required not only the participation of directors and actors but also gave real authority to screenwriters and novelists—sometimes even allowing them to veto major cast members.

Responsible writers or screenwriters would station themselves with the production crew, closely monitoring every scene. If they were dissatisfied, they could halt the project immediately, and only after thorough and rigorous discussion would shooting resume.

That was why Fu Yuntao had to humble himself in asking Liao Yuan for the adaptation rights. “Ghost Blows Out the Light” truly was a rare gem of a novel.

It was both a mark of respect for Liao Yuan and a necessity of the industry’s rules.

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Noise from renovations both above and below—the author is truly suffering, stuck in the middle… By the way, there’s a new round of recommendations this week. If any of you big shots could send some votes my way, I’d be deeply grateful! New books really need those recommendation votes!