Shu Qingqing knew of the female star, Zhou Nuo.
She came from an ordinary family, but because of her striking beauty, she was scouted by a talent agency while working part-time as a model in college. She shot to fame with her very first low-budget web drama.
However, it didn't go to her head. Instead, she focused more on her studies. Although she only filmed one drama a year, every single one became a massive hit.
Despite the sluggish film market this year, she managed to break through with an anti-corruption movie that raked in five billion at the box office, further solidifying her status in the entertainment industry.
At the same time, she had a bold and decisive personality, having once personally stood up to a male director who tried to subject her to unspoken rules.
As a result, she garnered countless fans; her TikTok following alone reached eighty million.
Moreover, every video she posted received over five million likes.
Shu Qingqing scrolled through the comment section. Aside from praising Zhou Nuo's beauty, the most frequent comments were people saying they were going to watch this short drama.
It was as if a glimmer of light had appeared in the fog.
Shu Qingqing immediately called Liu Piaopiao and Ling Hao, telling them to quickly go leave a comment under Zhou Nuo's video.
Meanwhile, the video's likes continued to soar.
Suppressing her excitement, Shu Qingqing returned to the livestream to continue explaining the clothes.
Soon, Liu Piaopiao messaged her back, saying that Zhou Nuo had actually replied to her.
Shu Qingqing hurriedly opened the comment section.
Liu Piaopiao: Thank you, gorgeous, for watching our short drama.
Zhou Nuo: Wow, the female lead of Limited Heartbeat is here! I've actually watched your performance in The Legend of Consort Tong before.
Liu Piaopiao: I am so honored.
The interaction was brief, but Liu Piaopiao's comment was quickly liked by countless fans and became the top comment.
Countless netizens took the opportunity to click into Liu Piaopiao's profile and browse through the videos she had posted.
Not long after, Ling Hao also messaged her to say that the views on his promotional video had skyrocketed.
Shu Qingqing made a prompt decision, bringing the promotional materials back into the livestream and calling Liu Piaopiao and Ling Hao over.
Only this time, they didn't talk about the drama directly. Instead, they had Liu Piaopiao put on their new arrivals to model them, while Ling Hao stood by to complement the look.
Whenever netizens asked about the short drama, they would reply with a few words.
Shu Qingqing streamed until ten thirty at night. When she logged off, customer service representative Xiao Min told her that the likes on Zhou Nuo's video had reached five million.
Zhou Nuo had posted the video yesterday morning. In just two days, the likes had reached five million, and they would definitely keep rising tomorrow.
That night, Shu Qingqing went to sleep feeling incredibly excited. When she woke up the next morning, Director Fang sent her some good news on WeChat—
The views for Limited Heartbeat had surpassed one hundred million.
Opening the platform to check, she saw a Hit tag added to the promotional poster of Limited Heartbeat.
Shu Qingqing was so thrilled that she rolled around on her bed several times.
To ride this wave of popularity, she quickly had Liu Piaopiao and Ling Hao shoot another video, even paying out of her own pocket to boost it on the platform to increase its exposure.
A week later, the video's views reached one billion.
Director Fang did a rough calculation; the net profit would be around thirteen million.
This meant that Shu Qingqing would pocket about six million.
Not only that, but all the clothes Liu Piaopiao wore in the drama were widely praised by female viewers. The three new styles they had originally given to Liu Piaopiao each reached sales of ten thousand units.
In short, they made a killing. Moreover, as the video continued to be viewed, they would still receive a share of the revenue later on.
During this time, Liu Piaopiao and Ling Hao also gained over two hundred thousand fans each.
Although Shu Qingqing had been involved in the entire filming process of the short drama, she had never watched it from beginning to end.
Now that the drama's views had exceeded one billion, she could finally settle down and watch it properly.
She had always liked posting bullet comments when watching long dramas in the past, so when watching this short drama, she would occasionally pause to leave a few comments in the section.
Gradually, she noticed that many viewers in the comment section were saying the male and female leads had great chemistry and wanted to see them pair up again for a second time.
Shu Qingqing kept this in mind.
One day, Director Fang came to talk to her about the revenue sharing.
After finishing their discussion about money, neither of them was in a hurry to leave. They sat in their seats, quietly enjoying the sunshine.
Director Fang suddenly sighed, "Qingqing, you have no idea. I've been a director for five or six years now, but I used to make long dramas. When short dramas first became popular, to be honest, I looked down on them a bit. I thought, what is this mess? Mindless, cheap thrills that lower your IQ."
"But later, both of the long dramas I directed flopped, and another one never passed the censorship review. My daughter is studying abroad, and with no income, I had to borrow money from my mother to cover her living expenses."
"I knew things couldn't go on like that. Right around then, a friend asked me to help him direct a short drama. At that point, I just wanted to make money, so I agreed immediately. However, I directed a few, and they barely made a splash."
"Limited Heartbeat was the sixth drama I directed. At the time, that actress Feifei's acting... I knew this drama was bound to flop too, and I was already prepared to just take my base salary."
"I didn't expect to meet you later on." Director Fang suddenly sat up straight. "Qingqing, let me toast you. If it weren't for your involvement, this drama couldn't possibly have achieved such great results, and I wouldn't have made this much money."
"Director Fang, you're being too polite. It's mainly because you directed it well, and Piaopiao and Ling Hao acted well. In short, everyone in the crew deserves credit." After clinking glasses with him, Shu Qingqing asked, "Director Fang, what are you planning to shoot for your next drama?"
"I don't know yet." Director Fang shook his head. The short drama Limited Heartbeat was also a collaboration initiated by his friend.
"Then how about we continue cooperating?" Shu Qingqing tapped the table. "We'll keep Liu Piaopiao and Ling Hao as the male and female leads. They are quite versatile, have great chemistry, and many fans are hoping to see them pair up again."
Director Fang didn't expect Shu Qingqing to take the initiative to propose continuing their collaboration. In fact, he had harbored this thought for a while, ever since he found out she was the wife of the boss of the Lu Group.
However, he was always too embarrassed to bring it up, afraid that Shu Qingqing would think he was a snob.
Now that Shu Qingqing had said it herself, he naturally agreed wholeheartedly.
After the two agreed, they immediately started selecting a script, and then entered into intense filming.
The script they chose this time had excellent character designs for both the male and female leads. Shu Qingqing had high expectations for this drama. Although she didn't follow the entire process like she did with the first one, she still basically spent two or three hours at the filming site every day.
This time, they planned to finish filming in half a month. However, after a week of filming, Shu Qingqing clearly sensed that something was wrong with Ling Hao's condition.
She thought it was caused by the exhaustion of back-to-back filming, so she specially discussed it with Director Fang and gave him a day off.
Unexpectedly, when Ling Hao returned the next day, he suddenly pulled Director Fang and her aside with a guilty look on his face.
"Sister Qingqing, Director Fang... I'm sorry, I can't continue filming this drama anymore."
