Besides, Li Xiang was also a major influencer with tens of millions of followers and a member of the local county’s political consultative conference. He had a certain degree of influence, which would also be beneficial for the movie’s overall popularity.

Li Xiang: "This... is a great honor, but I’ve never acted before. I’m not sure if I can handle the role."

"We’ll do a screen test. In any case, Yin Zhiping doesn’t have many scenes in the movie version of *The Return of the Condor Heroes*. And you’re good friends with Feifei, so it should be fine. But because it’s a supporting role with little screen time, the pay... isn’t exceptionally high."

Li Xiang asked, "How much?"

"One million." The director, afraid Li Xiang would refuse, added, "That’s already a relatively high offer from us. The first actor, the one who was crying about it online, we were originally only going to pay him 50,000."

After all, Li Xiang was a major influencer. His current rate for a 60-second short video ad was 500,000. One million really wasn’t much. But for a role like this, the production team had a budget and couldn’t offer too much more.

Li Xiang thought for a moment before saying, "Alright, I’ll give it a try."

He was quite looking forward to acting opposite Luo Feifei, especially in a love scene. ’The future Female War God... In my past life, I could only admire her from afar. I never thought I’d get this kind of chance in this life. If I went back to my past life, no one would believe me if I told them.’

’People would just think I was having a really good dream and would need to be woken up with a splash of piss. And they couldn’t even use someone with diabetes, lest I get a taste of sweetness.’

Now, not only did he have this opportunity, but he would also get paid a million, and he could ride the wave of popularity to gain more followers. Only an idiot would turn this down. As Li Xiang continued the phone call, the corners of his mouth couldn’t help but curl up.

Then, the director brought up the matter of the rental fee for the filming location. In the end, they agreed on a price of 3,000 yuan a day, which included the ancient tomb and the garden in front of it. The film crew would shoot at Li Xiang’s place for about six to ten days, with another 15 to 25 days planned for other locations. The entire project was scheduled to be completed in a month and a half, depending on how smoothly the filming went.

Because this was a movie, the plot was fast-paced, so the shooting schedule was different from a television series.

For example, *Sword and Saber: Demon Cult Leader* was filmed in just seven days. *A Joyful Family Event* took 13 days, and *East Meets West* took 27.

Li Xiang had no prior experience in this line of business, but he thought it was a pretty good deal. After all, all he had was an empty cave. It wasn’t even open for business yet, and having a film crew come to shoot there was basically free advertising for him.

They were helping him "advertise," and he was still getting so much money. Where could one find such a great deal?

So, they hit it off immediately, and the agreement was reached quite smoothly.

After hanging up, the director let out a sigh of relief. He had finally settled it. He had been afraid that Li Xiang would refuse, and that Luo Feifei would then show no interest in any other candidates, which would have brought filming to a standstill.

The director immediately scheduled a small meeting with the producer, investors, and other partners to discuss the outcome of the talk. As one of the investors and the lead actress, Luo Feifei also attended. Although she didn’t voice any opinions, she wore a faint smile the entire time.

From her smile, it wasn’t hard for everyone to guess that she was quite satisfied. Some people chuckled to themselves, speculating that Luo Feifei had genuinely developed feelings for that Li Xiang fellow.

That Li Xiang was really lucky to have earned Luo Feifei’s favor.

When the news got out, netizens exploded.

"That director is actually so open to suggestions? He really invited Brother Xiang?"

"Who is this Li Xiang? Never heard of him. How did he get to act with the Little Celestial Immortal? And in a love scene, no less!"

"You’re so out of the loop. If you paid any attention to recent entertainment gossip, you’d know these two are being very flirty. They’re the new ’Wild Thoughts’ ship."

"It’s so weird. A countryside vlogger, a dirt-kicking farmer, and a popular young starlet in the entertainment industry. They should be worlds apart, but somehow they’ve ended up together."

"Li Xiang is no farmer. I heard he’s a legit graduate from a 985 university. He just gave up a high-paying job in the big city to go back to his hometown to farm, take care of his grandma, and find some inner peace."

"I don’t buy that for a second. He probably just couldn’t make it in the big city."

In reality, Li Xiang disdained the idea of slogging it out in a big city.

Miles away in the big city, at the company where Li Xiang used to work, his former colleagues were utterly shocked.

"Holy shit, Li Xiang’s fucking made it."

"It’s been less than a year since he quit, and not only has he broken ten million followers, but he’s also acting opposite the Little Celestial Immortal, playing Yin Zhiping. Can you even imagine?"

"I heard those two are pretty close."

"If he really plays this role and some romance rumors with Luo Feifei start spreading, damn, wouldn’t his follower count shoot up to twenty or thirty million?!"

Chen Huanhuan was working overtime. Hearing her colleagues’ chatter, she couldn’t help but feel extremely irritated.

She deeply regretted not making a move when Li Xiang was still around.

There was one time they spent a whole day in her rented apartment. If only she had been a little bolder, she definitely would have pounced on him.

It was strange, really. Li Xiang would periodically become a hot topic of conversation at the company.

Generally, in a company like this, someone who had been gone for over half a year would never be mentioned again. Heck, even someone who’d only been gone for two or three months wouldn’t cause so much as a ripple.

But Li Xiang was the exception.

Because after quitting, Li Xiang’s career had taken off, far surpassing everyone at the company. He had even eclipsed the boss. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

What was the boss, anyway?

The Little Celestial Immortal had invested a hundred million in his recently established tourism development company for just a 20% stake. That meant the company was valued at five hundred million!

Meanwhile, the boss of this company only made a few million a year, a long way off from even a "small goal."