Sparkle's newest update looked obedient at first glance. The core line said the bad-film challenge deadline pressured Yang. Yang Ruoqian stared at it for several seconds, trying to decide whether this was finally the kind of ordinary mistake that could stay ordinary.
On paper, nothing about the deadline pressure looked like an achievement. That was why Yang Ruoqian liked it. A dull, legal, operationally reasonable problem was far more beautiful to him than any public praise.
In the file, every cost had a respectable name: slow post-production, awkward scenes, reworked music, and promotion that refused to behave like promotion. Respectable costs were the best kind, because they could lose money without looking like deliberate sabotage.
