Chapter 206: Surprises in the Shadows of Advertising

Sun Aimi and Chen Xiaolong exchanged glances, their expressions tinged with panic and uncertainty.

They had just learned from Li Fengfeng that the ‘Teacher Xu Chen’ who gave feedback in the group chat every day was actually under twenty years old.

They found it utterly unbelievable, wondering if the information Li Fengfeng had seen was wrong.

After all, the various opinions ‘Teacher Xu Chen’ shared in the group seemed like those of a seasoned veteran in advertising.

Until now, when they met ‘Teacher Xu Chen’ in person…

What alarmed them even more was that the group of aggressive young people had just called him ‘Brother Chen’ and acted completely obedient in front of him.

Just who was this ‘Teacher Xu Chen’?

Not yet twenty, he was already the creative director of an advertising company and had won the pitch against Li Fengfeng.

And now, this bunch of rough northern guys who looked like troublemakers were respectfully calling him ‘brother’.

This went far beyond their expectations—it shattered their entire understanding.

They watched as Li Fengfeng was helped up, feeling even more lost.

Truth be told, when they saw Li Fengfeng get knocked down and threatened, a strange sense of satisfaction had stirred in them.

Maybe it was because they’d been pushed around by ‘Boss Li’ for so long that seeing him get his comeuppance felt like their own revenge.

But now, they faced a very real work problem…

Li Fengfeng and ‘Teacher Xu Chen’ had clashed badly right from the start, which meant the next two days of project shooting would hit roadblocks.

The key issue was that Xu Chen, as the client-appointed supervisor, had to oversee and approve the entire ad shoot.

And the final ad would need his signature for acceptance.

With such a big rift now, the shooting and approval process was bound to be a nightmare…

As low-level staff handling the execution, Sun Aimi and Chen Xiaolong knew that any tweaks or objections from Xu Chen could have them pulling all-nighters.

Thinking about it, they glanced again at Li Fengfeng’s bulky back, now laced with resentment.

Even knowing he was young, they couldn’t believe he’d stir up such enmity…

Of course, Li Fengfeng was feeling confused and uneasy too.

As the project lead, he knew full well the authority Xu Chen held as supervisor.

His outburst after getting out of the car was just to vent before entering, but he never expected that group at the door were Xu Chen’s followers.

Now, things were awkwardly tense—the next two days of shooting looked disastrous.

As a veteran in the industry, he wasn’t worried about Xu Chen going completely rogue.

If Xu Chen messed up the direction or refused to approve the ad, it would be easy to escalate to the client.

What he feared was Xu Chen giving subtle, seemingly valid but pointless suggestions.

The client might get swayed by that…

And if they had to make those changes, it meant overtime and lost profits on the ad production.

…

Li Fengfeng thought it over and put on a smile.

Xu Chen seemed quite polite:

“Boss Li, you didn’t hurt yourself in the fall, did you? Do you need to go to the hospital?”

Li Fengfeng’s plump face twitched:

“No big deal… I’m thick-skinned; a fall won’t hurt me much.”

“No need for the hospital—let’s not delay the project.”

Xu Chen didn’t want to dwell on this; he was mainly avoiding wasting time.

Besides, he had other plans for Li Fengfeng…

“Since you’re fine, let’s get going and not hold up the project.”

“Misunderstandings are one thing, but work is another—we’re all on the service side, so let’s finish the client’s business first.”

Li Fengfeng’s small eyes blinked:

“You’re right, Teacher Xu Chen! It’s all just a misunderstanding!”

Sun Aimi and Chen Xiaolong exchanged looks, filled with anxiety and confusion.

Xu Chen glanced at the two behind him, and Li Fengfeng introduced:

“These are two colleagues from Black Duke Marketing, handling the Renhe project execution with me.”

“Hello, Teacher Xu Chen, I’m the designer, Sun Aimi.”

“Hello, Teacher Xu Chen, I’m the account manager, Chen Xiaolong.”

As they spoke, each pulled out a business card and handed it over with both hands.

Li Fengfeng followed suit, taking his card from his pocket.

Xu Chen politely accepted them one by one, giving each a quick but serious look.

He then pulled out his own card and handed it over with both hands…

Just then, two people approached from behind.

Li Fengfeng looked up and shrank back in fear; Sun Aimi and Chen Xiaolong behind him looked wary too.

Xu Chen turned and saw it was Fang Jun and the burly, intimidating Zhao Feng.

“Brother Chen,” Zhao Feng grumbled, then eyed Li Fengfeng up and down with a menacing look.

Fang Jun remained expressionless and quietly explained:

“Bing Ge was worried about trouble, so he said to have Zhao Feng tag along with us.”

Xu Chen felt a bit exasperated and told Zhao Feng:

“Head back; it’s fine!”

“Brother Chen, I can stick with you without getting in the way.”

Xu Chen turned, patted Zhao Feng’s shoulder, and said:

“It’s okay; I’ll send Bing Ge a message later.”

Zhao Feng frowned, thought for a moment, and replied: “Alright, I’ll go with what you say, Brother Chen.”

As he turned to leave, he shot Li Fengfeng a threatening glare.

Li Fengfeng kept his head down, his small eyes not daring to look up.

But once Zhao Feng was gone, he felt a wave of relief and flashed Xu Chen a greasy, awkward smile.

Xu Chen pointed nearby and said:

“This is our company’s strategy director, Teacher Fang Jun.”

Li Fengfeng quickly stepped forward politely: “Hello, Teacher Fang.”

Fang Jun showed no emotion as he exchanged business cards with Li Fengfeng and the others.

“Alright, Teachers Xu and Fang, let’s head out. It’ll take some time to drive to the studio.”

Xu Chen nodded with a smile and didn’t say more.

Chen Xiaolong got into the driver’s seat and started the engine and air conditioning.

Li Fengfeng walked with a slight stagger, probably still sore from his fall on his ample backside.

He opened the Odyssey’s back door; Sun Aimi quickly got in and sat in the last row.

Xu Chen and Fang Jun settled into the second-row ‘boss seats’.

Li Fengfeng climbed into the passenger seat, sitting slightly sideways, which looked a bit comical.

…

The studio was in Haizhu District, and with traffic, it would take about forty minutes by car.

After what happened before getting in, the car’s atmosphere was tense.

Even Li Fengfeng, who’s good at schmoozing, stayed awkwardly quiet.

Xu Chen didn’t bother engaging, just closed his eyes to rest. His phone buzzed midway—it was Director Feng Siliang sending a few news drafts for him to review.

…

Forty minutes later, the white Odyssey pulled into an old factory area.

This used to be some unknown old factory, now transformed into a creative park with various studios, design workshops, and more.

Fang Jun found it all quite novel and looked around.

The overall layout still had that ‘state-owned factory’ vibe, which felt familiar to Fang Jun.

But with the additions of cafes, arty bookstores, and galleries after the makeover, it exuded a completely different artistic feel—a stark contrast.

Fang Jun turned to Xu Chen:

“Could you ask your dad to renovate our factory area someday, make it more stylish?”

Xu Chen chuckled:

“Sure! We could convert a building into a cafe and let you run it as the boss.”

Fang Jun: “A whole building might be too much; maybe just the first floor of the main building.”

She thought for a moment and added: “Actually, forget the cafe—make it a bar!”

“Your dad loves his drinks, so stock it with his favorites like Guojiao and Moutai…”

Xu Chen: “And some for what you like too…”

…

The two chatted casually, while up front, Li Fengfeng blinked his small eyes, picking up on some intriguing hints.

“What? Your family runs a factory?”

“A big one? Big enough for a bar?”

“Is it as large as this creative park?”

“What kind of family is that?!”

…

A few minutes later, the Odyssey stopped at the door of a studio with a large sign:

“Wujian Film Studio”.

Two or three people stepped out; leading was a long-haired man with tortoiseshell glasses, exuding an artistic aura.

As they got out, Li Fengfeng introduced:

“This is Teacher Xu Chen…”

“And this is the director, Teacher Zhu Xiaoming.”

Xu Chen greeted the director politely; Zhu Xiaoming looked at him with surprise.

“I only heard your voice in the phone meetings before, Teacher Xu Chen—didn’t expect you to be so young!”

Xu Chen smiled: “The director matches what I imagined—clearly very experienced and professional.”

The director chuckled, clearly pleased.

He gestured invitingly:

“Teachers Xu and Li, let’s go in!”

“The set’s ready; we can check it out!”

Under the director’s guidance, they took the elevator to the second-floor main studio.

Inside, they saw the built set.

Xu Chen scanned it quickly and frowned…

The shooting scenes were as confirmed in the earlier plan, based on Xu Chen’s scheme.

Overall, it was a somewhat virtual white space.

White stone pillars, blue pools, white ribbons… and in actual shooting, there’d be white dove elements.

The setup had all the elements, with a wide green screen behind.

It would be edited out in post-production.

The director spoke:

“This arrangement was confirmed with Li Fengfeng’s team; take a look, Teacher Xu Chen, and if it’s good, we can move forward.”

Xu Chen said nothing, walking into the set and examining the ‘pool’ at its core.

This pool was the main focus of the scene.

The endorsers would have key shots in it.

Xu Chen: “The shape of this pool isn’t what was in my original scheme.”

The director paused: “Oh? We confirmed this with Li Fengfeng.”

He added: “I know the initial plan had a leaf-shaped pool.”

“But Black Duke Marketing feedback said the leaf shape didn’t look good on screen, so we changed it to this artistic oval.”

Xu Chen looked at Li Fengfeng:

“Boss Li, this change wasn’t cleared with me.”

Li Fengfeng’s small eyes blinked, sensing trouble ahead.

Sure enough, Xu Chen was starting to nitpick—just as he feared, still holding a grudge from earlier.

Li Fengfeng narrowed his eyes and turned to the designer Sun Aimi:

“Aimi, what was up with this modification?”

Sun Aimi froze, blinking at Li Fengfeng.

She thought:

“Wasn’t this your call, Boss Li?”

“You said the leaf shape was ugly and pointless, messing up the visuals…”

Seeing Sun Aimi’s silence, Li Fengfeng smiled at Xu Chen:

“The design team must have overlooked this detail.”

Sun Aimi’s mind raced with frustration—how did she end up taking the blame out of nowhere…

Li Fengfeng continued:

“The pool’s shape isn’t that critical, right?”

“I just checked, and this one looks better in the shots!”

“I think it’s fine…”

Xu Chen frowned, his face showing displeasure.

Li Fengfeng glanced at the director, signaling him to chime in.

The director thought for a moment and said:

“From a visual composition standpoint, this pool shape will photograph much better and tie in with the white pillars and overhead ribbons.”

“The original leaf shape felt out of place and hard to blend with the other elements.”

Xu Chen frowned but explained seriously:

“The script I sent was reviewed and confirmed with the client; the core elements can’t be changed lightly.”

Li Fengfeng put on a smile:

“I don’t think it’s that serious—it’s just a pool shape.”

Sun Aimi and Chen Xiaolong exchanged glances, seemingly discussing with their eyes.

They now felt Xu Chen was deliberately causing issues.

From Sun Aimi’s perspective as a designer, the pool shape was trivial.

For an ad shoot, visual appeal was key.

Though she disliked Li Fengfeng, his change made sense—the current shape looked far better on screen.

Xu Chen paused and said: “Do you have my original scheme here?”

Director: “Yes, on the computer.”

A few minutes later, they crouched around a table.

Xu Chen opened the original plan and explained:

“My scheme is straightforward, focusing only on core elements.”

“The goal was to avoid interfering too much with the director’s work and give more creative freedom.”

“But every core element in the scheme has a purpose and can’t be altered casually.”