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Xia Xin’s expression stiffened, unsure of how to respond.
It was true that Xia Xin liked animals, but in her past life, she died in the claws of a lion, which left her with some psychological trauma.
Xia Xin quickly came up with an excuse to brush off the question and continued eating. Just as she was about to finish her meal, her phone suddenly received a message from Lu Yuan, asking her to go to the director’s office.
‘What could be the matter?’ Xia Xin pondered. She off her phone, clear her plate, and immediately headed to the director’s office.
Pushing open the door, Xia Xin saw not just Lu Yuan but two other people inside, both dressed in formal shirts and trousers.
When the two people noticed Xia Xin, they nodded politely.
Although their gazes were not entirely clear, Xia Xin could still feel them appraising her.
“Mr. Lu, did you call me for something?” Xia Xin asked.
Lu Yuan pointed to a chair, gesturing for Xia Xin to sit down, and then looked at the other two people in the office. He said, “It’s not me who called you; these two have something to discuss with you.”
Xia Xin was a bit surprised and looked at the two individuals with confusion.
The older of the two men, with a small mustache, stood up immediately and handed Xia Xin his business card. “Miss Xia, my name is Ding Bei, and I am the executive director of Creative Light Media. This is my assistant.”
Xia Xin quickly scanned the card and accepted it with a polite smile. She said, “Hello, Mr. Ding. May I ask why you are looking for me?”
Ding Bei coughed, as if he had already prepared a draft in his mind, and smoothly said, “Here’s the thing, Miss Xia. Some time ago, I came across your video account and saw you interacting with an Indian python in one of your videos. That scene was really beautiful.”
“Thank you.” Xia Xin adjusted her sitting posture, vaguely guessing that the man might have something for her to help with.
Indeed, Ding Bei continued, “Coincidentally, our company is currently planning the promotion of Chang’an Group’s flagship wine—Trimere.”
There was a hint of helplessness and exhaustion in Ding Bei’s tone. He had come to find Xia Xin today because he had run out of options.
Chang’an Group was a well-known liquor company and Creative Light Media’s most important client. The annual promotion of Chang’an Group’s Trimere series was a major project for their company, personally planned by the chief creative director.
That chief creative director was very famous in the country and was known as a “genius ad man.” He proposed that this time, the advertising should reflect the theme of the relationship between humans and nature and then segue into Chang’an Group’s Trimere series.
Trimere was not only the name of the wine but also a type of snake. So, this advertisement required shooting with this type of snake interacting with people. The concept sounded fine, but in the execution process, they encountered many difficulties.
After the plan was confirmed, the company approached several popular celebrity artists to negotiate, but as soon as they heard that they had to interact with real snakes, they immediately refused.
However, at Chang’an Group’s level, they could not just hire some unknown actors and internet celebrities for the advertisement. For a time, they could not find anyone willing to shoot the ad.
Finally, a popular female actress agreed to try, but she took the opportunity to raise the price. After going back and forth for several days, they temporarily settled on a cooperation plan.
But during the shooting, the female actress acted very stiffly, not daring to touch the Trimeresurus at all, let alone interact with it. This made the chief creative director very unhappy, and he lost his temper several times.
The actress was a famous star and had her own temper, directly stating that she could just quit and told them to find someone else to shoot the ad.
The pressure naturally cascaded down to the lower levels. The chief creative director blamed Ding Bei for finding such a poorly performing and unprofessional actress, telling him to come up with a solution quickly, either by resolving the actress’s concerns or finding someone else.
Over these few days, Ding Bei had been busy with this matter, neglecting sleep and with red eyes. Naturally, he could not resolve the actress’s concerns. It was normal for her to be afraid of snakes, and her status in the industry made it impossible for him to exert pressure on her.
As for finding someone else, if Ding Bei could find someone more suitable, he would have done so long ago. Since he could not find anyone before, it was even harder to find someone now.
Just when Ding Bei was overwhelmed with anxiety, he came across Xia Xin’s video and thought it was perfect.
The content of that video was Xia Xin interacting with an Indian python. In the video, the Indian python behaved like a well-behaved puppy, without any aggressiveness, allowing Xia Xin to play with it in various ways.