I'm a sophomore in college, what the heck is this "male god cultivation system"?

Chapter 163 Song Ran's Surprise

Song Ran had a good impression of Chocolate and genuinely believed that he was a good person, but this did not prevent her from comparing them in her mind.

In Song Ran's opinion, Chocolate is inferior to her in terms of appearance, temperament, and even learning and ability.

Her popularity is largely due to the addictive nature of her hip-shaking dance—it would have been just as successful if anyone else had done it, it's not that chocolate is the only one who could have achieved it.

But now Song Yang suddenly tells her that during the interview, Chocolate passed directly, and she was even the one considering whether to sign the contract...

This was somewhat frustrating for Song Ran. After all, being surpassed by people who were inferior to her in every aspect was a small blow to her.

Of course, despite the setback, Song Ran was not discouraged; instead, she felt even more motivated.

She refused to believe that if chocolate could become a hit, she couldn't become one.

While Song Ran was encouraging herself, Song Yang got straight to the point on the phone.

"By the way, Xiao Ran, did you see Xiao Yun at your job interview today? Or did you find out anything about Xiao Yun?"

"I'm going for an interview, how can it be so fast?" Song Ran felt a little helpless and sympathetic towards Song Yang's impatience. She said, "Brother, don't rush. I will definitely help you, but we need to take it step by step. You can't rush things."

Song Ran simply couldn't understand why her brother had become like this, so obsessed with a woman...

After much thought, the only reason she could come up with was that the chocolate was too good to Song Yang, so good that it made him lose the motivation to improve himself.

Back in high school, Song Yang was quite proactive in dressing up and taking care of his skin. He was like a peacock spreading its tail feathers, always trying his best to appear in front of others in his best condition.

After three years of dating, I became quite unkempt and gained a lot of weight...

'No matter what, improving yourself is the key. Only by being good enough can you always maintain control.' Song Ran couldn't help but remind herself silently as she looked at Song Yang's current 'miserable state'.

As for how to become excellent...

Song Ran glanced at the tall photo studio, and the thoughts that had been piling up in her mind became even more resolute.

……

night.

Chen Yan and Chocolate were lying in bed, but their states were quite different.

Chen Yan's expression remained normal, and he still seemed full of energy. Chocolate's eyelids were almost glued together, and he had already stepped into a dream, but his little mouth was still chattering away.

"Boss... let me tell you... Song Ran must have had other intentions."

“I…I feel that she…she must be an envoy sent by Song Yang…to persuade me…to persuade me to change my mind.”

"She's better than me in every way... I can become famous... she... she should be famous too... maybe even more famous than me."

Because she was half asleep and half awake, Chocolate's rationality was practically zero, and she blurted out all sorts of heartfelt words without any restraint.
There was her dissatisfaction with Song Yang, her frustration at Song Ran's intervention as a mediator, and her worry that Song Ran would surpass her...

Chen Yan didn't seem to care much about these things.

As things stand, Song Ran has no chance of surpassing Chocolate... Of course, in another two years, with the reshuffling of the first generation of internet celebrities, the rise of the new Chinese style, and the trend of cross-dressing, Song Ran may be able to overtake them.

Of course, it's just a "maybe".

As for the claim that Song Ran had "ulterior motives," Chen Yan was certainly aware of it. However, just as Song Yang was willing to use his own sister as bait, Chen Yan was equally confident in accepting the "sugar coating" and then firing back at the "bomb."

The question is, how do we peel the "sugar coating" off the "bullet"?

Chen Yan felt it necessary to give this "little spy" a taste of sweetness.

While thinking this, he took out his phone, copied and pasted the reply text, and sent an email to Song Ran.

"Hello, Ms. Song, you have succeeded..."

……

The next morning, Song Ran had just woken up when she glanced at her phone and saw the message that she had passed her interview.

The lingering sleepiness from just waking up was instantly dispelled by excitement.

"I knew I couldn't possibly fail the interview," Song Ran boasted, then read the email word by word.

The email was ordinary; it was just a simple "interview passed" email with an electronic contract attached.

But what attracted Song Ran's attention the most was the sentence at the very bottom.

"Please add your video planner's contact information as soon as possible..."

Song Ran didn't even tell her brother the good news that the first step of the plan had succeeded. She subconsciously opened WeChat, entered the number in the add friend section, and then pressed search.

The next second, an account called "Photography Teacher Chen" appeared on the screen.

This is naturally Chen Yan's WeChat account; to be precise, it's a secondary WeChat account he registered specifically for work purposes.

After all, Chen Yan also agrees with the view that "work and life should be kept separate".

After sending the friend request, Song Ran casually opened the other person's Moments.

Although they haven't added each other as friends yet, Chen Yan's account is set to "show the latest ten posts to strangers".

Of these ten posts on WeChat Moments, five were photos taken on-site by the influencer, two were simple text records, and three were photos of video data.

What attracted Song Ran's attention the most were naturally the three video data photos.

Looking at the exaggerated video views, completion rates, and number of followers gained per video in the photos, Song Ran was amazed and also had some ideas in mind.

When will I be able to shoot videos with this kind of data...?

Song Ran had previously tried creating her own account, which featured her ink paintings. The results were only so-so, with her best video barely getting over 500 likes.

As for showing her face and relying on her looks, Song Ran had considered it, but perhaps because the beauty filter provided by the music was too strange, or perhaps because her shooting technique was mediocre, the final visual effect always made her feel strange.

It's not that the photos are bad, but she just feels that the photos look much worse than the real person.

After several such incidents, she gave up on the idea of ​​creating her own account. If it weren't for Song Yang's suggestion, she probably wouldn't have considered becoming an internet celebrity for the next few years.

Because she had run an account herself, Song Ran was able to understand how valuable those three data photos were.

If she could shoot a few videos like that, she might become an overnight sensation. She could then easily land a few commercial orders that would be equivalent to an ordinary person working themselves to the bone for half a year.

After imagining that wonderful life, just as Song Ran was about to get up to wash up and tell Song Yang the good news, her phone suddenly popped up a notification.

[Photographer Mr. Chen has accepted your friend request.]

【You're friends now, let's chat!】 After thinking for about two seconds, Song Ran quickly moved her fingers across the screen and sent out two messages.

[Song Ran: Hello, Teacher Chen, my name is Song Ran.]

[Song Ran: (laughing, jpg)]

The message had barely been sent when the words "[The recipient is typing...]" appeared at the top of the screen. About ten seconds later...

[Photographer Teacher Chen: I remember it]

[Photographer Teacher Chen: (Handshake, jpg)]

Song Ran quickly sent a handshake emoji, but after hesitating for a moment, she decided to take the initiative herself.

[Song Ran: Teacher Chen, the contract says you're my filming planner, so when can I start filming?]

[Song Ran: (Looking forward to it, jpg)]

[Photographer Mr. Chen: Please come to the studio at 2 PM.]

Although the reply was very simple, Song Ran almost shouted out in excitement when she saw it.

She hadn't expected the other party to reply so readily and decisively...

At the same time, another new message appeared in the chat interface.

[Photographer Chen: By the way, if possible...]

……

It was 1:45 PM.

Song Ran arrived at the photo studio fifteen minutes early. The moment she entered the studio, she began to observe its business operations.

To be fair, ever since Chen Yan moved the special prop [Lucky Cat] to the bar, the business of this photo studio has declined significantly.

After all, these days, only a minority of people spend thousands of dollars to have a set of photos taken. Even if they have one, they probably won't go into a photo studio again for the next year.

Furthermore, since Chen Yan didn't use any "evil cultivation methods to attract customers," it's quite normal that the business is struggling. Nowadays, this photo studio is almost becoming a popular shooting base for internet celebrities under [Hengxing Media].

Chen Yan even considered completely shutting down the customer photography business and renovating the studio to use it solely as a photography base.

Despite the poor business situation, Song Ran did not underestimate Hengxing Media. After all, the two top internet celebrities she knew, "Chocolate" and "Qingqing," were worth more than countless ordinary customers.

Just as Song Ran was about to sit on the sofa for a while and wait for the shooting planner to come and find her, she saw a man sitting on the sofa put the magazine back on the bookshelf and then wave at her.

The man was wearing a black jacket and a baseball cap, under which was his messy, short hair.

Overall, Chen Yan's outfit today wasn't as imposing as it was yesterday, nor as youthful as it appeared in the photos. Instead, it exuded a just-right maturity and gave off a strong sense of professional competence.

"Song Ran." He stood up and called out to her.

Upon hearing Chen Yan's voice, Song Ran instinctively straightened up and quickly called out, "Teacher Chen."

"Hmm." Chen Yan nodded, then looked at the handbag Song Ran was carrying and asked, "Have you prepared the things I asked you to prepare?"

“It’s ready.” Song Ran nodded. Although she didn’t know why Chen Yan asked her to prepare this, she still obediently carried out Chen Yan’s instructions.

"That's good. Let's go and film the first part."

Chen Yan didn't intend to say much to Song Ran, since she would naturally understand once filming began.

After waving to Song Ran to follow, Chen Yan turned and walked towards the elevator.

……

The empty elevator contained only Chen Yan and Song Ran.

As the elevator doors slowly closed, Song Ran noticed that Chen Yan was looking at his phone and didn't seem to be paying much attention to his surroundings. She then quietly began to observe Chen Yan.

Although it wasn't the first time they had met, Song Ran still couldn't help but marvel at her boss's appearance.

With looks like that, you can just take a couple of photos, edit them a little, and they'll become the profile picture for some internet heartthrobs.

With a "ding," the elevator doors slowly opened, and Chen Yan stepped out, heading towards a filming location.

……

Chen Yan's shooting plan this time is not exaggerated. To put it simply, it starts by filming Song Ran painting, and then the camera turns to show Song Ran changing into ancient-style clothing, which overlaps with the image of the ink painting, thus completing a transformation.

These casual videos will be commonplace in a few years, but during the formative years of the first generation of online celebrities, they were absolutely groundbreaking.

Of course, Chen Yan himself didn't have an exact figure in mind as to what kind of results he could achieve, but it certainly wouldn't be too bad, and it would definitely be something that could make Song Ran's heart flutter.

Once this step is successfully completed, Chen Yan believes that half the battle is already won in peeling the "sugar coating" off the "cannonball".

……

Song Ran didn't know Chen Yan's intention in asking her to do this, but at this moment she chose to trust the professional's judgment.

After taking a deep breath, she sat down in the chair, picked up a wolf-hair brush, and began to make the final touches on the nearly completed ink painting.

The painting on the rice paper depicts a woman in a long dress. If you look closely, you can vaguely see that the woman in the painting bears a resemblance to Song Ran.

While Song Ran was putting the finishing touches on, the photographer quietly took pictures.

With the final stroke completed, the first part of the filming was finished.

Chen Yan took the camera from the photographer, examined it carefully, and after confirming that there were no problems, he turned to Song Ran and said, "The first part of the shoot is complete. Next is the costume change. The clothes are ready. Come with me and choose one."

Since it's a traditional Chinese ink painting, any long dress with a similar style can be used for the makeover, so Chen Yan gave Song Ran the choice.

Among the many long dresses, Song Ran spent about five or six minutes choosing before finally selecting a dark-colored long dress.

Song Ran's skin was already fair, and with her beautiful almond-shaped eyes, the ancient style of her was even more pronounced now that she was wearing a dark-colored long dress.

With the right makeup, the final result will be pretty much the same.

While the makeup artist was doing Song Ran's makeup and styling, Chen Yan also watched the first part of the shooting video again, thinking about how to edit it most appropriately.

After all, the transformation videos hadn't really taken off yet, and the editors might not understand what he meant. If it really came down to a critical moment, Chen Yan felt that his professional-level editing skills would come in handy.

(End of this chapter)