That way, it wouldn’t tarnish his Ancestral Master persona.

A more elegant way to put it would be, "Ancestral Master Chen Jincheng made this simp video to commemorate his former self."

After he finished recording the voice-over, he began shooting the first scene: where the female lead, Lin Leqing, points at the male lead in a rage while the male lead just looks completely bewildered.

Lin Leqing had studied the script more than once and thought it would be a piece of cake.

But when it was time to perform, a problem immediately surfaced. Her portrayal of angrily pointing at her boyfriend just wasn’t convincing, and the performance came off as a little awkward.

Sure enough, theory was no substitute for practice.

"Cut!" Lao Chen had also spotted the problem. "Yueqing, anger. You need that kind of anger a girlfriend has when she’s being unreasonable. The corners of your mouth absolutely cannot curl up, or it’ll look awkward and take people out of the scene."

"Got it, Teacher Chen." Lin Leqing was a little embarrassed, a trace of frustration clouding her once-confident, pretty face.

After they restarted the shoot, her performance was still not up to par.

Influencers shooting for a skit account didn’t need to have perfect acting, but Chen Jincheng demanded a higher standard of quality. Without a Heat Card, if he wanted to replicate or even surpass the video’s popularity from his past life, every single aspect had to be perfect.

As Lin Leqing continued to miss the mark, she grew more and more dejected. At this rate, she was in danger of falling into a vicious cycle.

Seeing her cousin in this state, Li Muchen realized that filming for a skit account wasn’t so simple after all. It genuinely required acting skills.

This made her see these skit videos in a new light. She felt a strange flicker of interest and thought it might be worth a try.

She immediately went over to comfort Lin Leqing. "Yueqing, don’t lose heart. Let me teach you a trick for getting angry..."

Saying this, she leaned close and whispered in Lin Leqing’s ear.

A moment later, Lin Leqing shot Chen Jincheng a strange look, then said to Lao Chen, "Master Chen, let’s go again!"

"Okay." Lao Chen nodded, and they began filming again. This time, Lin Leqing stared intently at Chen Jincheng and instantly got into character, pointing at him and letting loose a furious tirade.

"OK, first scene is complete." Lao Chen actually gave Lin Leqing a thumbs-up. "Yueqing, that was excellent. A very natural performance."

Upon receiving the praise, Lin Leqing instinctively glanced over at her senior, Chen Jincheng.

Just a moment ago, her cousin had told her to treat her senior as her real boyfriend during the shoot. That meant she could exercise a girlfriend’s right to chew him out—a right that would be gone the moment filming wrapped.

Li Muchen watched her cousin with a knowing half-smile, having seen right through her.

The advice she’d given would only have worked if her cousin already had certain feelings in her heart.

"Miss Li, it seems you’re very good at this acting business. With just a little guidance, you helped Yueqing get into character immediately," Chen Jincheng said to Li Muchen with a smile.

Hearing his words, Li Muchen immediately replied, "I’ve done my research in this area. Not only have I studied professional acting, but I’ve also earned a certificate. I’m quite adept at performing in this kind of scenario-based video."

It sounded like she was promoting herself.

And that was the truth. She was suddenly interested in filming these skit videos.

Beyond the fact that it was a genuine chance to showcase her acting, there was another important reason. She had previously landed a minor role as a maid with a surprising amount of screen time. She had been eagerly awaiting the start of production, hoping the part would get her noticed by a wider audience.

But while at Second-Life Star, she had received a call from the casting director informing her that the role had been snatched by someone with connections.

In other words, she was unemployed again.

In her dejection, seeing that these skits offered a real opportunity to showcase her acting, she truly wanted to give it a shot. If she went viral, more people would be able to see her talent.

So, she had to let this Chen Jincheng know what she was capable of. ’He wanted to invite me to join Second-Life Star before,’ she thought. ’Now that I’ve said this, he should extend the invitation again, right?’

Chen Jincheng, of course, knew of Li Muchen’s capabilities. That was why he had wanted to invite her to join Second-Life Star from the moment he first met her.

If he had both Lin Leqing and Li Muchen, he could first use the skit account to help them build a fanbase. Then, when the era of short dramas arrived, he could enter the market immediately. If everything went smoothly and he had enough capital, he could even pioneer the entire short-drama track.

Besides, this was a path to online superstardom.

In his past life, the biggest online short drama platform wasn’t Yuewen Short Dramas, nor another well-known short drama app, not even Penguin Short Dramas or those from the other major video players.

Short drama platforms like Maiya, Shan Hai, and Jiuzhou all quietly launched, creating their own platforms and pioneering short dramas after everyone got the new vaccine and lost their minds. Then, short dramas spread like a plague. Later, even when platforms like Yuewen, the other popular apps, and Penguin all jumped on the bandwagon, they still couldn’t catch up.

So, in this life, once he had accumulated enough capital, he could go all-in. He would launch a massive ad blitz and roll out his own short drama platform before the big short-video app even had time to react.

However, it was too early to be thinking about that. This was still 2018, not yet the time for short dramas to emerge. The pan-entertainment features on video platforms weren’t even fully developed yet; the fertile ground for short dramas simply didn’t exist.

"Miss Li, you’re a true talent. It’s such a shame you’re not interested in Second-Life Star." Chen Jincheng gave Li Muchen a thumbs-up, acknowledging her abilities, but then followed it with a sigh of regret.

’So, if I want to pull Li Muchen into Second-Life Star, I’ll probably have to find another chance and put in more effort later on.’

"????" Hearing Chen Jincheng’s praise, Li Muchen was completely baffled.

’This isn’t how the script is supposed to go,’ she thought. ’Hasn’t he been trying to invite me this whole time? Now that I’m finally interested, why did he stop?’