Transmigration: The Cannon Fodder Suddenly Made a Comeback!-Chapter 697: This is Plagiarism!

But despite all precautions, they failed to prevent it.

The next day, Jiang Li received a call from Shao Changqing.

"Sister Li, something’s happened, you’d better check the trending searches!"

Jiang Li, perplexed, opened Weibo.

The trending section had nothing special, just a few pieces of news and some insipid entertainment gossip.

The top rank was occupied by a promotional photo for an upcoming movie.

The film titled "Escape" was a fantasy genre, not a large-scale production, and all the actors involved were relatively unknown.

It really shouldn’t have caused such a stir.

It was only after clicking in that Jiang Li realized what was happening: the buzz was about a supporting male character’s still image.

The moment she saw it, Jiang Li’s expression changed.

Because the makeup look of this male supporting character was identical to Jiang Yan’s in "Doomsday Beehive", with the only difference being slightly longer hair.

The comment section was full of unanimous praise.

"Damn, this makeup looks so amazing, we finally have a decent makeup design in a domestic movie."

"I haven’t heard much about this actor, but I’d watch it just for this look!"

"The makeup artist really had some great ideas."

"Why is it premiering only after the new year? I can’t wait; I want to see it now."

"Brother is too handsome; no wonder there’s been no leaks till now, they were pulling off a big surprise in secret."

Jiang Li took note of the film’s production company and after a quick online search, discovered Qin Tianxiang’s name among the investors.

So they played this trick.

Shao Changqing’s indignant voice came through the phone.

"I knew it, that woman Fu Xiaoxiao kept delaying the contract with us, oscillating between showing interest when we seemed flush with cash and then disappearing. So this was what she was up to!"

"She had secretly taken the leading role in ’Escape’. She was there the day Jiang Yan had his makeup done; it must have been her who leaked it!"

Jiang Li was curious, "Isn’t that movie already finished shooting? How could they change the makeup at the last minute?"

"That’s not difficult," Shao Changqing explained, "It’s a fantasy film after all. The male third lead doesn’t have much screen time; just bring him back for some additional shots and tweak it in post-production with some special effects, and no one will be able to tell."

Jiang Li squinted, "Are you all at the set? I’ll come over now."

Two hours later, Jiang Li appeared at the Nancheng Film and Television Shooting Base.

Shao Changqing led her straight to his office, and as they approached, Jiang Li could hear crying.

"That Fu Xiaoxiao went too far; how could she do this?! And to think she’s an actress, doesn’t she know that leaking makeup designs is a big taboo in the industry?!"

"Sister Ye, stop crying, calm down."

"How can I calm down?! The makeup I painstakingly created hasn’t been shot much before she went and used it for their crew; who wouldn’t be furious? This is blatant plagiarism!"

"It’s definitely plagiarism," Jiang Li walked in.

Upon her entrance, everyone inside immediately stood up. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com

Xiao Ye wiped her tears and looked at her imploringly, "Miss Jiang, you’re so well-connected and capable, let’s sue them right away."

"That’s difficult."

Jiang Li immediately provided her response.

She sat down on the sofa and began to go through Xiao Ye’s design drafts.

"Do you have any copies of these things?"

Xiao Ye sniffled, "The makeup I did for Young Master Jiang that day was just a spur-of-the-moment inspiration. It was only afterwards that we got it properly documented."

Jiang Li frowned, "Fu Xiaoxiao might have already leaked the information that day. Moreover, since she never signed a contract with you, it’s indeed difficult to legally sanction them."

"What do we do then?" Xiao Ye started to cry again, "It’s heart-wrenching enough to see our hard work on the makeup design being ruined, but it’s even worse to see them get popular by plagiarizing our ideas!"

"Right!" The others were equally enraged.

"We’ve been exhausting ourselves for half a year without any recognition, and just because they copied one of our designs, they suddenly become popular."

"It’s outrageous, if it weren’t illegal, I would want to go tear Fu Xiaoxiao apart right now!"

Jiang Li remained silent, taking a long while before tapping the table.

"Where’s Jiang Yan, call him here."

Someone immediately ran out.

Shortly after, Jiang Yan was brought in.

His voice preceded him, "What do you need me for? I haven’t finished memorizing my lines."

"Where’s Shang Shuyue? Why haven’t I seen her for so long? Was it really so hard for her just to go buy me a hot Americano?"

As soon as he pushed the door open, he saw Jiang Li sitting inside. His arrogance immediately subdued into a whiny approach.

"Damn, you actually came to see me? It’s been so long, and you haven’t even answered my calls!"

"Do you know how bad the conditions are here? You just left me and went home to enjoy yourself, Jiang Li; that’s really too much."

Jiang Li immediately took a sausage from the table and stuffed it into his mouth, then pulled him in front of everyone.

"Do you think the male third lead from that play looks better, or Jiang Yan?"

Everyone didn’t even need to think before responding:

"Of course, Brother Yan is more handsome."

"That male third lead just has better photo editing!"

"I’m not joking; Brother Yan’s good looks could definitely rank in the top three of the industry."

Hearing this, Jiang Yan laughed, removed the sausage from his mouth, and said, "You’re talking about ’Escape’ copying my makeup design, right? That dude isn’t half as handsome as I am, his popularity is just a fluke!"

Everyone: "....."

Maybe it’s better to keep his mouth shut after all.

Jiang Li nodded, "Although Jiang Yan’s words are harsh, he’s not wrong. Since we can’t legally punish them, it’s possible to morally sanction them."

Xiao Ye immediately stopped crying, "How do we do that?"

Jiang Yan: "Hold on, hold on, since when are my words harsh?"

Jiang Li said, "Firstly, we definitely can’t use this design anymore."

"Why not? We were the ones who came up with it first," someone said discontentedly.

Jiang Li patiently explained, "Ignoring the plagiarism for a moment, their movie is scheduled before ours, premiering just after the new year, so the audience will definitely see their design first. Even if they’re the ones who plagiarized, once the design is exposed, it loses its unique appeal."

Jiang Li’s sharp comments were indeed piercing to the core.

That’s the nature of the entertainment industry: whoever makes the first appearance holds the sway. With a hodgepodge online, not many people really care about who designed it first; they are more interested in whose makeover takes it to the next level.

"So, let’s put the rights defense on hold for now, and change the design first, as we can’t delay filming."

"But how can we change it?" Xiao Ye sobbed, "I’m out of ideas now; I thought the design was very fitting for the character."

"Then we make the changes based on what we already have."