Rebirth Begins with Rejecting my Childhood Friend - Chapter 480

The old employees of Guangming Distillery felt like they were dreaming.
Just a few months ago, the distillery was on the brink of bankruptcy, with no one willing to take over.
The employees couldn’t even get their previous wages, their faces filled with worry, as if their hair was about to turn white from stress.
Yet, in less than half a year, Guangming Distillery had come back to life!

Only Xu Xiuwen wasn’t surprised by this turn of events.
Guangming Distillery had a solid foundation. The quality and taste of its liquor were never in question.
The issue was with the previous management, whose corrupt practices had led the business astray.

His arrival couldn’t have been more timely.
Any later, and this once-glorious distillery would have completely shut down.
Using the advantage of foresight brought by his rebirth, along with a series of calculated moves, Xu Xiuwen successfully pulled Guangming Distillery back from the brink.

What seemed unbelievable to others was entirely expected for Xu Xiuwen.
The future of Guangming Distillery was now bright—something anyone could see.

When leaders from Guangming City and Langya City learned about the distillery’s transformation, they all had the same thought:
The distillery had been sold to Xu Xiuwen for too little.

But everyone understood the circumstances.
At the time, no one was willing to take over the distillery.
Even if someone had, it would’ve been nearly impossible to revive it.
It seemed only Xu Xiuwen had the ability to achieve this.

This made many leaders remember Xu Xiuwen’s name deeply—especially the deputy mayor of Langya City.

When Xu Xiuwen first purchased Guangming Distillery, he had emptied his pockets and was burdened with massive debts.
Back then, he had even considered producing TV dramas to fill the financial hole if the distillery didn’t turn a profit.

Now, there was no need to worry about the debt anymore.
The massive order signed by Jian Jian alone was enough to pay off everything.

Guangming Distillery had now become a goldmine, a veritable golden toad that spit out money!

Xu Xiuwen had been so busy recently that he barely had time to drink a sip of water.
He couldn’t even attend the graduation banquets for Xiao Yuer and his cousin Ning Jiali.

It’s worth mentioning that Jiang Ruoyu was admitted to Jinling University of Political Science and Law, while Ning Jiali got into Jinling Normal University.

Although their banquets were held on different days, Xu Xiuwen still couldn’t find the time to attend.
Instead, he asked his mother to deliver his share of the gifts on his behalf.

Given Xu Xiuwen’s current wealth, he naturally wouldn’t be stingy.
For both Jiang Ruoyu and Ning Jiali, he gave each a gift of 5,000 yuan.

Xu Xiuwen recalled Ning Wanqiu telling him over the phone that his aunt was overjoyed upon receiving such a generous gift, smiling so much her mouth couldn’t close.
She even mentioned how his aunt’s temper had improved, becoming more enthusiastic and generous in her behavior.

Xu Xiuwen knew exactly why that was.

Because he didn’t attend their graduation banquets, both Jiang Ruoyu and Ning Jiali were a little upset.
On separate nights, he received calls from each of them, both playfully complaining over the phone.

It took quite a bit of coaxing to calm them down.
To make it up to them, he promised to personally accompany them to their universities for registration.

Everything at the distillery was running smoothly now, allowing Xu Xiuwen to temporarily leave Guangming City and head to Jinling.

Xu Xiuwen had been busy recently, but someone else had been even busier—Bai Yue’er.

By the 20th episode of He Yi Sheng Xiao, its viewership rating surpassed 8%.

If it were airing on CCTV, such a rating would be considered a good achievement, but it wouldn’t be too surprising.
However, for a satellite TV channel, this was nothing short of remarkable.

Unfortunately, the ratings still didn’t surpass Xu Xiuwen’s first drama, Boys Over Flowers.
But the influence of his second drama far exceeded that of his first.

During the first drama, Bai Yue’er was a newcomer actress.
Although her performance was impressive, she lacked fame.
She didn’t attend events, refused interviews, and most people assumed she was just a flash in the pan.
As a result, she didn’t garner much attention within the industry.

But this drama was different.
Bai Yue’er once again showcased exceptional acting skills that belied her age, earning recognition from many in the industry.
Meanwhile, audiences were captivated by her looks and unique charm.

Compared to the current popular actresses in dramas—who, while attractive, stood out only among ordinary people—Bai Yue’er’s beauty and presence made them pale in comparison.
Her sweet, pure aura and adorable smile made her stand out from the crowd, leaving a lasting impression on many.

Her popularity skyrocketed.
Though she wasn’t yet the most famous actress of the moment, she was undoubtedly the fastest-rising star.

As her fame soared, offers for advertisements, interviews, and show appearances came pouring in like rain.
Bai Yue’er was so busy that she barely had time to sleep.

According to her assistant, Bai Yue’er would fall asleep within three minutes of sitting down if she didn’t deliberately force herself to stay awake. That’s how exhausted she was!

Of course, her hard work didn’t go unrewarded.
She earned a fortune from the events she attended.

Among the numerous endorsement offers, Xu Xiuwen only chose two.
The rest—such as supplements, lingerie, and food-related endorsements—he rejected outright.

The two endorsements Xu Xiuwen selected were carefully considered:

The first was for Head & Shoulders shampoo.
Head & Shoulders is a renowned shampoo brand under Procter & Gamble, the world’s largest consumer goods company.
As a well-established brand in China, Head & Shoulders has consistently been a top-tier product.

Typically, only A-list celebrities are invited to endorse it.
Bai Yue’er, being not yet an A-lister, left Xu Xiuwen surprised when the offer came in.
He quickly realized that Head & Shoulders saw great potential in Bai Yue’er’s future.
With such an endorsement, there was no reason to refuse.

The second endorsement was for Proya skincare products.
Founded in 2003 in the beautiful city of Hangzhou, Proya is a cosmetics brand under Proya Cosmetics Co., Ltd., specializing in deep-sea skincare research.
With a clear brand image, precise market positioning, and innovative marketing strategies, Proya had maintained steady and rapid growth.

Before Xu Xiuwen’s rebirth, Proya had consistently ranked among the top ten domestic skincare brands.

However, in 2006—just three years after its launch—Proya, though showing promise, was still far less renowned compared to top-tier domestic brands like Chando and Pechoin.

Xu Xiuwen didn’t look down on Proya at all.
Collaborating with a company like Proya, which has a stable growth trajectory, is undoubtedly a good choice from every perspective.
Just these two endorsements alone brought in 6 million yuan for the company.

Now, Bai Yue’er was no longer just an ordinary actress—she was a golden goose, constantly laying golden eggs.
The other actors signed by the company were also rapidly gaining fame, resulting in more invitations for events and shows.
However, compared to Bai Yue’er, they were still far behind.

Bai Yue’er was undeniably the company’s top star and biggest moneymaker.

Seeing Bai Yue’er achieve such success brought Xu Xiuwen great satisfaction.
Who would have thought that the girl who used to bicker with him would one day transform into a famous actress?

Xu Xiuwen couldn’t help but recall that night back in school—
That kiss with the taste of pear.

He was lost in thought for just a moment before snapping back to reality.

Meanwhile, Hang Fei was also busy, though not as much as Bai Yue’er.
A week ago, he had returned to the company.
Hang Fei was someone who couldn’t sit still for a moment.

Even though the second drama was still airing, he was already planning for the next one.
For the past few days, he had been urging Xu Xiuwen to hurry back to the company for a meeting.

After delaying and delaying, Xu Xiuwen finally resolved all the issues at the distillery and drove to Jinling, exhausted.

Now, he was sitting in the company’s office in Jinling, with Hang Fei seated across from him.
From what Hang Fei had just said, Xu Xiuwen understood his intentions clearly: Hang Fei wanted to start a new project and shoot the next drama as soon as possible.

This aligned perfectly with Xu Xiuwen’s thoughts.

Although Hang Fei had already independently directed two dramas and could be considered fairly experienced, he had only recently graduated and was still young, full of energy and ambition.
Asking him to shoot one drama and then take a break for half a year or even a year was simply impossible.

While he was young and full of energy, he wanted to make the most of his time by shooting as many dramas as possible.

Before meeting Xu Xiuwen, Hang Fei had been torn about whether to follow his parents’ wishes and find a stable job back home or to venture into a big city and take a risk.

But after meeting Xu Xiuwen, he had directed two dramas in a row.
Both had not only sold for excellent prices but also achieved record-breaking ratings.

By now, Hang Fei’s confidence was sky-high.
He felt he was born to be a director.

Now, instead of worrying about whether he would have opportunities to direct in the future, he was focused on creating better works.

Indeed, in private, he often fantasized about winning major domestic awards.
He dreamed of taking home the Best Director Award.

As for Xu Xiuwen, awards weren’t on his mind at all.
There was only one thing he cared about: making money.

Making dramas was unbelievably profitable.
An investment of one or two million could yield a return of six or seven times that amount.
It was easier than picking money off the ground in the stock market.

No one could resist such a temptation.

If they didn’t shoot dramas, the company’s employees would have nothing to do.
But their salaries would still need to be paid.

Xu Xiuwen had no intention of paying people to sit idle.
Not that he was worried about pushback from his staff—
When a drama was in production, employees not only earned their base salaries but also received additional bonuses.

When there were no dramas being filmed, employees only received their base salaries.
While the base pay wasn’t bad, the company was full of young people.
And who among the young would be content with just coasting through life?
Everyone wanted to work hard and earn more money.

So, continuing to produce dramas was something no one in the company opposed.
In this context, if Xu Xiuwen insisted on halting drama production, he would be seen as the villain.

After a brief discussion with Hang Fei, they decided to continue adapting Xu Xiuwen’s novels into dramas.
After all, these novels had all been successful and well-received by the market.
Adapting them posed the least risk.

Xu Xiuwen had published five novels on the Jinjiang platform:
Why Melody Stays (He Yi Sheng Xiao), Boys Over Flowers, Three Lives Three Worlds, Nirvana in Fire, and The Journey of Flower.

The first two had already been adapted into dramas and were wildly successful.
Among the remaining three, the most suitable for adaptation at this time was The Journey of Flower.

The first reason was the success of Chinese Paladin, which had created a buzz for fantasy dramas. However, there weren’t many similar works following in its footsteps.
The market still had a high level of anticipation and acceptance for fantasy-themed dramas.

But after careful consideration, Xu Xiuwen decided to pass on The Journey of Flower for now.
There were two main reasons for this:

First, fantasy costume dramas are notoriously difficult to produce.
Although Hang Fei had successfully directed two excellent dramas, both were modern dramas.
He had no experience with costume dramas, and Xu Xiuwen worried that it might be beyond his capability.

Second, and most importantly, was the cost.
The production costs for a fantasy costume drama are significantly higher than those for a modern drama.
The expenses for costumes, props, and elaborate sets alone would be substantial.

While the company could afford it, Xu Xiuwen didn’t want to take unnecessary risks.
If they could shoot a drama with lower costs and easier execution, why take the risk?

For these two reasons, Xu Xiuwen decided to temporarily shelve the adaptation of the remaining three novels.

He shared his thoughts with Hang Fei, and given their close friendship from working on two dramas together, Hang Fei didn’t feel that Xu Xiuwen doubted his abilities.
On the contrary, he fully supported the decision.

“But if that’s the case, we’ll need to find someone to write a new script,” Hang Fei said.

“No need! I’m planning to release a new novel soon, and I think it could be our next adaptation project,” Xu Xiuwen replied.

“You’re publishing a new novel?” Hang Fei asked, surprised.

“Yep.”

“Your fans are in for a treat!”

“Haha…”

Xu Xiuwen then shared the basic plot of his upcoming novel with Hang Fei:

The male protagonist is the new manager of a coffee shop. In order to save the struggling business, he implements an innovative strategy: hiring only young, handsome men as servers.

The female protagonist, who has short hair, is mistaken by the male lead as a boy.
Desperate for a job, she goes along with the misunderstanding and starts working at the coffee shop.

The male lead’s cousin is a TV drama director whose girlfriend has gone abroad.
The male lead secretly has feelings for his cousin’s girlfriend but has never confessed.

However, as he spends more time with the female lead, he gradually falls in love with her—still believing she’s a boy.

If you’re familiar with Korean dramas, you might find this plot strikingly similar to Coffee Prince.
And you’re not mistaken—Xu Xiuwen was describing the plot of Coffee Prince, a once wildly popular Korean drama he had seen before.

The characters and plot of Coffee Prince were truly iconic, and Xu Xiuwen still remembered them vividly to this day.
The drama first aired on July 2, 2007, on KR Television and was adapted from the novel of the same name by author Lee Seon-mi.

Up until now, every novel Xu Xiuwen had published on Jinjiang was based on existing works, not his original creations.
If he were to adapt a Chinese drama, he might worry about overshadowing the original creators and stealing their thunder.
But when it comes to adapting KR dramas, Xu Xiuwen didn’t feel the slightest hesitation.
If KR could steal holidays, what was wrong with adapting a few of their dramas?

And besides, Xu Xiuwen wasn’t about to copy them verbatim. He would definitely localize the adaptation for the domestic market.
In fact, he could’ve kept it exactly the same and still been fine.
Because, as of July 2006, Lee Seon-mi hadn’t even written this novel yet, let alone had a drama adaptation in the works.
Xu Xiuwen could confidently tell anyone that this was his original work.

Hang Fei was very intrigued after hearing the plot summary from Xu Xiuwen.
He thought it was an excellent premise.
The male protagonist falls for a tomboyish girl, believing she’s a man.
The internal struggle and hesitation would lead to many funny moments.
When the twist is revealed—that the protagonist is actually a woman—it would make for some great comedy.
Hang Fei was already looking forward to the script after hearing just a few lines from Xu Xiuwen.