According to Zhu Wenshu, the popularity of games like "Blue Star Apocalypse" is partly due to the excellent recommendations from IPP and partly due to the good fortune of being reviewed by the Jialian.
Any game that gets a review article about the League of Legends will definitely see a surge in sales.
Zhu Wenshu's own novel, "The Grasp of the Empire," made it into the top ten of the list because of this.
Unfortunately, the best ranking it achieved was only second place, and it only lasted for about 20 hours before dropping down... and it was just below "Blue Star Apocalypse"!
Just like the ad slots provided by IPP during the initial release week, the first ad of the week was "Blue Star Doomsday," and the second was "Empire's Grip."
Zhu Wenshu is practically destined to be Mingyan's eternal second-in-command.
What's most infuriating is that Mingyan didn't even know who this person was at the time!
Why is Lanxing so lucky? They both started from scratch, but Mingyan always gets the best resources.
Zhu Wenshu felt increasingly resentful as he thought about it.
Unable to contain his anger, he sent a message to Xia Cheng.
Xia Cheng was still in the car when he answered the call.
Zhu Wenshu was clearly angry, and even forgot to show his usual shyness in front of Xia Cheng. He asked in a questioning tone, "Brother Cheng, why did you cut all my scenes? Are you afraid of stealing the limelight from someone?"
Xia Cheng frowned and said, "Don't you know whose limelight you stole?"
He was actually referring to the contestants.
But Zhu Wenshu had lost all reason in her anger and blurted out, "What's so great about Mingyan that you'd give him special treatment like this? It's one thing to always give him the first recommendation spot, but now that they're finally on a show together, you're going to suppress others to pave the way for him?"
Oh.
Xia Cheng laughed after hearing this and said, "You're overthinking it. Business is business. I've never given him any preferential treatment. Everything Blue Star has today is earned through its own abilities."
Zhu Wenshu wouldn't listen, her voice choked with anger as she said, "How am I any worse than him! I've treated you with all my heart, why should I suffer unfair treatment? Why?!"
Xia Cheng paused for a moment, then said, "Compared to him, you're not worthy. I hope you recognize your true colors, and don't contact me again."
He shook his head and hung up the call.
Zhu Wenshu's voice was too loud.
The driver, Lao Li, also heard a couple of sentences and quickly turned on the car stereo, pretending that he hadn't heard anything at all.
He thought to himself: "Hey young man, does Young Master Xia need anyone to confide in? Two years ago, you saw my car and suddenly started being so attentive to Young Master Xia. I saw it all clearly back then. Do you think Young Master Xia is stupid enough not to understand? You even asked him for resources... Tsk tsk, like that Chief Designer Ming, I've never heard him say the word 'recommend.' Good resources automatically flow to good works; they're not something you beg for."
Why do some people always think that as long as they act innocent, kind, and shy, they can attract the attention of rich kids?
Wealth and intelligence are not inversely proportional.
Finally, the car arrived at its destination.
The underground parking garage of the Blue Star Building is now open; you can enter with just an ID.
Xia Cheng's credentials were naturally given by Mingyan, and nominally he was still "an important collaborator of Blue Star"—how to put it, it was truly heartbreaking to hear and see.
Xia Cheng silently accepted the documents and took the elevator to Mingyan's office on the top floor.
The secretary naturally recognized him and quickly invited the young master to the VIP reception room to rest for a while, and also served him tea very attentively.
The secretary said, "The boss is working overtime in the small dark room. I'll go and call him right away."
Well, Xia Cheng wasn't surprised at all!
At this moment, Mingyan was in a small dark room, drawing a level design draft.
He is used to first visualize the inspiration in his mind, and then slowly fill in the details into the blueprint.
When doing this kind of thing, he felt a great sense of urgency, afraid that he might accidentally lose his inspiration or forget the details in his mind.
—If you forget about it, you'll be missing out big time!
So when his secretary came to inform him, he made it clear that it went in one ear and out the other, and he didn't hear anything at all.
More than an hour later, the secretary came over again to remind Mingyan.
Mingyan was suddenly jolted out of her work mode. She washed her face and quickly went to the break room to find Xia Cheng.
Xia Cheng was sitting on the sofa reading a magazine. Several wrinkles remained between his handsome brows, probably because the things that had happened to him these past two days had been too upsetting.
At that moment, Mingyan pushed open the door, and the two of them, upon seeing each other, exclaimed in unison:
"sorry!"
"sorry!"
Mingyan blinked and said, "Sorry to keep you waiting. I was drawing something in the dark room and I was so focused on it."
Xia Cheng then said, "No, it's my fault for not notifying you in advance before you came. I made you take time out of your schedule."
Mingyan laughed and said, "I thought you'd be busy with the show tonight. What brings you here?"
Xia Cheng sighed, about to say something.
Ming said, "Let's not chat here. Come on, let's go to the cafeteria downstairs. It's not time yet, the barbecue is still open!"
The two took the elevator down to the Blue Star Cafeteria on the second floor.
This cafeteria is open from 7:00 a.m. to 0:00 a.m. every day, and it offers a full range of meals including breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and late-night snacks.