Chapter 48: Cheng Sheng Talks About Transmigration Novels

Because the UV rays in XZ were quite strong, her skin had become very dark. Consequently, some people at school looked down on her appearance because of her dark complexion.

"No, I must whiten my skin."

Tong Yaya finally understood: if she wanted to become famous, she had to change her skin tone. After all, beautiful women found it much easier to break through in the entertainment industry.

Seeing that Tong Yaya was silent, Wang Zhi assumed she was feeling as upset as she was. She couldn't help but reach out and tug at her sleeve, saying, "Don't be sad. We just started school; there will be plenty of opportunities in the future."

"I'm not sad? Zhizhi, do you know if there are any beauty salons near the school that offer skin whitening?" the recovered Tong Yaya asked.

"Ah!"

Wang Zhi was startled. Seeing the longing look in Tong Yaya's eyes, she realized her dear friend was actually criticizing her own dark skin and looks—but surely she wasn't thinking of getting plastic surgery!

"Yaya, actually, beauty treatments aren't very reliable. If you aren't careful and something goes wrong, your entire future could be ruined," Wang Zhi said.

"What plastic surgery? I just want to go to a beauty salon to ask if there's any way to get fairer," Tong Yaya said, pouting.

She had actually thought about plastic surgery, but where would she get the money?

Moreover, what she needed most right now was whitening. As the saying goes, "one shade of white can hide a hundred flaws." Her facial features weren't bad; as long as her skin was fair, she would naturally be beautiful.

"You do indeed need to be a bit fairer."

Looking at her best friend's dark skin, Wang Zhi covered her mouth and laughed.

Tong Yaya rolled her eyes at her. What a "good friend," stabbing her right in the heart.

After finishing his applause to ease the shock brought by the film's plot, Big Boss Wang looked at Little Boss Wang and said, "Perhaps I was wrong. We should do our utmost to recruit Cheng Sheng."

"Mhm."

Although Little Boss Wang didn't pay much attention to company affairs and loved flirting with the company's female artists, he was still a man of discernment.

Anyone who had seen the film *The Great Tang Dynasty—Origins* would likely have no doubts about Director Cheng Sheng's ability.

"Mr. Wang, didn't you say that making historical films doesn't make money?" Li Shuangbing asked in confusion.

"My words were a bit too absolute before. Director Cheng Sheng might be an exception," Big Boss Wang said.

"That's badass!" Little Boss Wang remarked with emotion.

Big Boss Wang's heart burned with excitement. If they could win Cheng Sheng over, Huayi would have more than just one "Cannon Feng" in its hands. As long as they held onto this trump card, they wouldn't have to worry about box office numbers or awards in the future.

Historical films!

Perhaps they weren't as bad as the outside world claimed.

For a long time, the industry had rarely touched upon historical themes, especially realistic historical films.

Because historically, not a single realistic historical film had achieved a high box office; in fact, every one that was made resulted in a loss.

As for why historical films lost money, there were five main reasons.

First, the audience is relatively small. The group of people who love historical themes is not large, as many viewers may not be interested in the historical background or knowledgeable about relevant historical events, which limits the film's appeal.

Second, cuts lead to fragmented plots. To adapt to the requirements of cinema screenings, historical epics often require extensive editing, which can lead to a fragmented and incoherent plot, reducing the viewing experience.

Third is commercial elements. The profitability of historical themed films is very low, making them weakly competitive in the market. If the investment is too high, they can't recover costs; if it's too low, it's no longer a historical film, but just playing house.

Fourth is promotion and distribution methods. This also affects the box office. For example, although *1921* and *The Revolutionary* are both high-quality films, the difference in their promotion and distribution methods led to a significant gap in their box office performance.

Finally, there is audience fatigue. When mainstream theme films are released in clusters, audiences may develop fatigue toward such themes, which also affects box office performance.

Although Cheng Sheng's film had these five shortcomings, Big Boss Wang felt he would be an exception because the film was simply too soul-stirring.

The lights came up.

As the applause subsided, the film's creators began to take the stage, and the recently silenced applause erupted once again.

Once it quieted down, Cheng Sheng interacted with the creators and the audience, briefly discussing the film's plot.

Then came the press interview.

"Director Cheng, why did you want to film a movie about the history of the Great Tang?" a reporter asked.

Zhang Weiping calmed himself for a few minutes, his heart filled with complex emotions.

He looked down on Cheng Sheng quite a bit, and even felt a bit of resentment, since this "flop" had once insulted him.

But as a filmmaker, his standards were very high.

From a cinematic perspective, Director Cheng Sheng's ability was definitely top-tier, perhaps even vaguely capable of surpassing Master Zhang.

"I have actually said this before: I love history. My dream is to let the Chinese people understand their own history. As for why I chose the Tang Dynasty..."

Cheng Sheng paused for a moment, glanced at the crowd below, and said with powerful conviction: "In the five thousand years of China's historical process, countless regimes have emerged, but only 24 can be called dynasties... Among these large and small dynasties, the Tang Dynasty undoubtedly holds the highest status in the hearts of the people."

As Cheng Sheng spoke, the theater was incredibly quiet, as if they were listening to a leader's speech.

"Not bad, well said. The Tang Dynasty indeed holds the highest status in the hearts of the people," the Director of the National Museum thought to himself, nodding secretly.

"There are many historical time-travel novels online. Some of you here must have read them, right?"

Hearing Cheng Sheng's words, a small number of people in the theater responded: "I have."

"I've read *A Step into the Past*."

"The novel *Back to the Ming Dynasty to be a Prince* is a classic; it pioneered the unique genre of time-travel combined with political intrigue."

"*New Song*."

"..."

Hearing many people call out the names of historical time-travel novels, Cheng Sheng smiled and said, "It seems everyone quite likes history!"

"I also like reading time-travel novels, but if we are talking about traveling back to a Chinese dynasty, everyone has different opinions. I like the Tang Dynasty because, before the An Lushan Rebellion, it was a period of cultural prosperity, social openness, economic wealth, political stability, and high international influence."

"As for other dynasties, if a time-traveler went to the era of Zhu Yuanzhang in the Ming Dynasty, it would be a nightmare. Zhu Yuanzhang's philosophy of governance was 'using heavy punishments to govern chaotic times.' He believed the fall of the Yuan Dynasty was due to lax management, so he adopted extreme measures to maintain national stability... This harsh way of ruling kept the common people living in the era of Zhu Yuanzhang in constant fear, making life extremely difficult. Such a life would be very unfriendly to modern people."

"Then there is the Qing Dynasty. As the saying goes, 'Travel to the Qing and don't rebel; a chrysanthemum meets a power drill,' hahahaha. Of course, that's just a joke, but it also shows how unpopular the Qing Dynasty is in the eyes of modern people."

"And the Qin Dynasty, the Han Dynasty, and so on..."

As the people below listened to Cheng Sheng talk about time-travel novels, they were all left dumbfounded.

(End of Chapter)