chapter 35

Now that their lead actors are decided, they would only need to choose several potential candidates from the auditions for the other characters before officially announcing the start of their production.

On this day, netizens saw Fang Lizhe forwarding a post in the topic as soon as they went online. When they clicked in, they were shocked!

[Fang Lizhe: Please look forward to it! // Cute Dog Susu V: The online drama ‘Cute Dog Susu’ will air in the next 2 months. We will bring you the story of a cute little spirited dog, bright and cheerful as the sun! First release of the explosion of cuteness → [image] [image] [image]]

Liu Lan was responsible for taking care of the production’s newly registered official Weibo, and she directly picked out the best pictures of Fang Lizhe and Su Yuanyuan together to upload them to the official gallery. They had one where they were happily looking at each other, one while they serenely gazed into the horizon by the beach, one with them laughing and playing, another with them more intimate, and so on. In short, with how beautiful and heartwarming these pictures are, it was simply the perfect representation of an owner and his pet. Soon, many netizens that saw it wanted a pet of their own!

Furthermore, because it looked so good, netizens were even more surprised. Why is Agent Fang so handsome? Also, how was the little fox he adopted so cute? What the hell are the photos in his Weibo before? The lack of technique in taking pictures by him before simply hid all the beauty. If it weren’t for Cute Dog Susu’s official Weibo, how would they have discovered this beauty?

On top of that, netizens were wondering, why is Agent Fang acting in a film? Was he going to change to being an actor now that he can’t work as an agent?? Even more, his little fox is so much like a Pomeranian that they could even film it as a Pomeranian that authentic Pomeranians would cry and faint in the toilet, okay?!!

Of course, there were also many haters who took advantage of the havoc and mocked Fang Lizhe for being full of hype before just to turn into an artist now. They also mocked him for wanting to be popular and going overboard. He just adopted a little fox, and now he was shooting a pet series so whimsically, he was bound to jump off his rockers! In addition, there were a lot of Feng Hui and Li Qingqing’s fans who flocked to catch Fang Lizhe on a variety of vile spews, capitalizing on conspiracy theories and brain-dead drama.

Either way, with all the hype, ‘Cute Dog Susu’ was completely remembered by everyone. All those who either talked about watching or resisted watching helped bring up the popularity of the drama. Chan Zhou couldn’t help but sigh when he saw it. “What an unexpected pleasure. I only thought Agent Fang was my lucky star, but I never thought I could be even more lucky.”

Liu Lan gave him a blank look, patted his shoulder with the script, and said, “This is my revised script and the following outline. As long as the viewing rate is high, I can keep writing even one hundred more episodes! Quickly, take a look!”

Chan Zhou opened the script and browsed it quickly. Then, he sharply turned and kissed Liu Lan on her cheek! He excitedly said, “I will say it again. If this drama doesn’t become a hit, I will eat the script live on screen!” He stood up and rushed to Fang Lizhe, his eyes shining.

“Brother Fang, how about we take advantage of our immediate popularity and quickly shoot twenty episodes? Let’s get viewers hooked onto the first plot point we put out and make it the first season. If the response is good, we will get a second wave of popularity, and we would be almost finished with shooting the second season by then, so we can immediately catch up again. Season after season, we can easily recover shooting costs, maintaining our popularity throughout. We can also adjust the script according to the audience’s reaction like an American TV series, what do you think?”

Fang Lizhe thought about it for a moment before nodding. “Indeed, once we get the costs recovered, our funds can be increased with the profits we gain. That way, we can add shooting effects, and some scene configurations can keep being improved. Let’s do it! Are we ready to start shooting now?”

A pet drama is not easy to shoot. Usually, it takes time for pets to get prepared for it, needing it to calm down or get into the right mood for a shoot. Thus, Chan Zhou specially reserved time for Fang Lizhe to calm Su Yuanyuan before shooting. Yet, when they look at Su Yuanyuan now, how would Su Yuanyuan need calming? She looked eager to start already!

Fang Lizhe smiled and dotingly rubbed the top of Su Yuanyuan’s head as he said, “This little one especially loves to act. She can follow and imitate the pets’ movements right after watching them in movies. Maybe, she’s born to be an actor.”

Chan Zhou was still a bit overwhelmed, merely nodding his head in a daze. “Oh, okay… That’s good, so let’s start shooting!” After confirming that everything was in place, he clapped his hands at everyone, “Come on, come on, let’s start filming!”

Upon hearing this, Su Yuanyuan hopped to the ground and scuttled towards her designated position for shooting. In truth, she was not just pretending to be excited, but she was truly excited! This was the first time she would be acting in a film. It was extremely exciting to think that she would appear in TV dramas in the future. Would many people like her?

Seeing her like this, Fang Lizhe’s eyes were overflowing with happiness. For the first time since Feng Hui’s sudden change in temperament, Fang Lizhe felt calm and happy while working on his favorite job, having friends and pets around him, and putting all his troubles behind him. This was all made possible by Su Yuanyuan. This little one is not only his little blessing, but also his joy!

With the shout from Chan Zhou, everyone on the set was mobilized, and the expected shooting retakes didn’t happen. To everyone’s expectation, Su Yuanyuan was the character “Su Yi”, and all the scenes were successfully shot once! Everyone watching, including Fang Lizhe, was surprised. Su Yuanyuan became more and more excited. She didn’t forget to brag to 001, [No wonder there are always people who say that the actors are adding drama to the scene. I’m a demon that loves filming, but I’m not a drama queen!]

[001: Host, that’s not how to use the word drama queen.]

(TNote: Xi Jing = lit. adding essence to a drama; overly dramatic/drama queen. — MC means that artist is making the scene dramatic — 001 is saying that’s not what being overly dramatic means.)

[Su Yuanyuan: Whatever! I’m glad!]

Things were going swimmingly until a point in the plot when Susu was dognapped and fought bravely with gangsters, saving more than a dozen dogs along the way. This time, Su Yuanyuan was going to have to act with more than a dozen dogs. Unfortunately, those dogs weren’t intelligent, with some barking when they shouldn’t, and some not looking at the camera, while others suddenly ran out of the shot, and so on. The victim, Su Yuanyuan, had to helplessly follow along and do retakes seven or eight times.

Ultimately, Su Yuanyuan didn’t mind it too much. She was energetic, and it was fun anyways. However, when she inadvertently glanced over to the production side, she saw Fang Lizhe sitting in a chair, looking very tired. She immediately became impatient with these dogs, turning towards them and growled deeply. A few naughty dogs instantly tucked their tails and dutifully returned to sit in their positions.

Meanwhile, Fang Lizhe had just opened his droopy eyes when he saw the dog’s reaction towards Su Yuanyuan. He then looked thoughtfully at Su Yuanyuan, realizing what he saw last time wasn’t just a hunch. Soon, he got up to get some drinking water for Su Yuanyuan, smiling and chatting with Chan Zhou and the others. Luckily, he figured out that the rest just thought they had a lucky shot, and no one noticed anything peculiar about Su Yuanyuan. Only then did he put his mind at ease and took Su Yuanyuan to eat lunch.

When no one was around, he picked up Su Yuanyuan and put her on the table. Then, he looked her in the eye and whispered, “Xiaobai, when we were at the police station before, those dogs listened to you. Today, I saw it happen again. I don’t know why you are so special, but being special isn’t necessarily a good thing. If you can understand me, remember that you can’t be special in front of others. You can only be a relatively smart little fox, understand?”

Su Yuanyuan bit into her chicken leg as she looked up at him. She was too familiar with this situation. Didn’t Zhuo Feng remind her about this every day? She lifted her little head and barked twice, rubbing Fang Lizhe’s palm to show that she understood.

Fang Lizhe saw that she could really understand. A flash crossed his eyes. He smiled and pinched her little ears, and put his own chicken leg into her lunchbox. “Eat more. Eat well, and act well. When the drama starts, you will definitely be very popular.”

Many changes took place in the outside world during the two months they spent shooting the drama. Feng Hui was found to be in love with the Starlight Entertainment’s owner’s daughter, Liang Xingyu, and had composed a love song for her. Although he wasn’t the one to sing it because he wasn’t much of a singer, this love song had spread all over the country. All of his fans wished him and Liang Xingyu a happy old age together, feeling the depth of his love in the lyrics. Someone who could make such a song must be very much in love!

When asked about Fang Lizhe in the program interview, Feng Hui would always stop responding. Although he sincerely wished Fang Lizhe to be a good actor in the end, it always seemed as if between the lines, he was disappointed. Fang Lizhe’s dream for the past 10 years had always been to be an agent, but now he was actually confused by the colorful entertainment industry, giving up his dream to be a star instead. This was really saddening. Following that, he also magnanimously said that whatever strife they had was now a thing of the past and that he also regarded Fang Lizhe as a friend. If Fang Lizhe was in trouble, he said he would definitely help.

With his deep-hearted persona, he successfully established his generosity and righteousness in the eyes of the public. Fans viewed it through rose tinted glasses, saying that this was how a real man should be. Not petty! Righteous! Passionate, affectionate and talented! Where else would they find such a good idol? Fans took out wallets one after another, saying that they would be willing to spend all their savings for such an idol! Passers-by also felt great affection for Feng Hui.

On the second day after Feng Hui’s interview, ‘Cute Dog Susu’ began to play on the fourth-ranked Litchi video network in China!

Su Yuanyuan and Fang Lizhe stood in front of the TV together. Although they had seen the episode, it was their first time watching themselves appear on TV. Su Yuanyuan looked at the Susu on TV, and felt as if she was watching a strange but familiar puppy. Although she knew it was her, it was really interesting to see herself act as a dog. It felt like she had a split personality instead of looking in the mirror.

Su Yuanyuan found it so interesting that she ran to the front of the TV and jumped around to reach for the Susu inside. Fang Lizhe smiled involuntarily, took out his phone to take a picture of her, and posted it on his latest Weibo.

[Fang Lizhe: The little one doesn’t seem to recognize herself. Do you like this kind of Susu? [Image]]

[Spirit Dance Flying: Love love love love! I can’t stop looking at her, it’s too good. She’s too cute, too cute! Oh, please God give me a Susu!!!]

[Truly True: Wow! Their drama already aired? Where is it? Which video network is this? Litchi network? How come it’s not Kiwi, not Jetsun, not Meowku?]

[Fang Lizhe Lifelong Hate: The comment above is stupid. Why would the three major video networks broadcast this garbage? Don’t you see what kind of thing is the main actor?! It can also be broadcast casually in the nooks and crannies.]

[I Love Cute Pets: Heh, it’s the loss of the three major video networks that they didn’t broadcast it on their networks. I have now registered as a Litchi member! Support agent Fang, support Susu, ah ah! Susu is so cute! Compared with Susu, my family’s pet was simply turned into nothing in an instant! I want Susu! I want Susu!!]

The episode aired, and the show received a variety of responses. People that didn’t watch it would hate on it but more and more people fell in love with it after they watched it. With a script containing such novel ideas, a strong plot, and an unbelievably cute star, how could it not be popular? After some of Weibo’s official pet vloggers forwarded it, Litchi.com’s registered users soared, and countless cute pet owners made the bullet screen lively all of a sudden. The news of the start of ‘Cute Dog Susu’ also soared to the top trending news with lightning speed, followed by news of Fang Lizhe and Susu, squeezing out the news of Feng Hui’s new song in an instant!