Chapter 240: The Biggest Butterfly Effect Yet

Guo Fan felt like he was dreaming.

If Bai Liang had simply thrown tens of millions at him outright, he wouldn't have had this feeling.

But watching those phone calls go out one by one, and the money landing in the accounts bit by bit — that scene was really a bit too shocking.

That said~ Guo Fan was actually a little curious: was this considered the young ladies' investment, or simply lending money?

You know, relationships between people can easily change flavor because of money matters.

Bai Liang: Losses are on me, profits are theirs.

A mere pittance, what's there to fuss over.

As long as your thinking doesn't slide downhill, a girl's money is his money.

In his eyes, there really wasn't much difference.

Still, there was one thing that made Bai Liang feel a bit strange: "I've already joined your film, so why would Wanda pull out their investment? Feels like such a loss of face~"

Guo Fan thought so too!

He had never expected this twist, especially after Bai Liang joined.

Bai Liang's role went far beyond just being on set.

His name planted right there was genuinely very useful.

As the "project manager," Guo Fan felt this most keenly.

Apart from Wanda, most of the other investors' attitudes changed once they learned of this.

Although no one added more investment, the pressure on Guo Fan suddenly dropped a lot.

He had even predicted that when the film was finished and went into scheduling and release, Bai Liang's name would still serve a purpose.

Regarding traffic stars, most people who genuinely want to make good films are actually somewhat put off.

But Bai Liang was clearly an exception among them.

Because he had both traffic and a rather impressive track record, and his acting was of the powerhouse school.

With this all-rounder joining, just how much did Wanda look down on the "The Wandering Earth" project to pull out their investment?!

Let alone Bai Liang losing face, Guo Fan himself felt insulted.

This clearly meant they thought he, Guo Fan, wasn't reliable enough and had dragged Bai Liang down with him.

Bai Liang: No worries, I can throw in one more service for you~

Guo Fan: Really?

Bai Liang: Watch this.

Then he called Wang Sicong, and gave the Wanda Crown Prince a good passive-aggressive dressing-down, putting the pressure on him properly.

Young Master Wang on the other end of the line went red-hot on the spot, probably about to go find someone to chew out, but before that, he said he could fork out some money for a round of investment.

With this, the money Bai Liang had brought in for Guo Fan really topped one hundred million.

Guo Fan: No need, it's already enough~

Feeling insulted, he didn't really want the Old Wang family's money anymore.

But considering they had theater chains, he'd reluctantly accept it.

"Feels good?" Bai Liang suddenly asked.

Guo Fan piled a smile on his face and said nothing.

Inside: Damn, feels freaking amazing!

Holy crap, Brother Liang's emotional value delivery this round was too on point — he felt that if he were a woman, tonight he'd definitely wash himself clean, go straight to Bai Liang's room, and bend over.

Too bad he's got a dick, so he couldn't offer himself in marriage to repay the kindness.

But Guo Fan was clearly also part of the "idea king" series.

"If our film succeeds, the next one will still have you, Brother Liang, as the male lead."

Bai Liang:???

No, this isn't right~

The next one, meaning the male lead of "The Wandering Earth 2," shouldn't that be Liu Peiqiang?

It's called the second part, but the content is actually a story set earlier in the timeline.

Guo Fan: Liu Peiqiang looks exactly like his son Liu Qi, that's totally reasonable!

Bai Liang: Then what about Wu Jing?!

Guo Fan: Wu Jing? What Wu Jing? I've got you already, why would I need Wu Jing?

But since Bai Liang had mentioned Wu Jing, Guo Fan — who never came away empty-handed — naturally also asked with a smile whether he could get Wu Jing to come do a cameo too.

Everyone knows you two are close~ should be no problem, right?

Bai Liang: No problem is no problem, but... it really is a bit beyond this brother's expectations.

It seems the biggest butterfly effect so far... has arrived!

The "empty-handedly getting Wolf Warrior" act actually just disappeared?

Bai Liang honestly hadn't expected that, because he'd given too much, Guo Fan's mind had completely dropped the idea of seeking out Wu Jing.

To be precise, not entirely, but he really just wanted the guy to cameo... not the kind of "cameo" lasting thirty-one days straight.

A cameo role, even shot slowly, would only take three to five days.

Just the other day, director Ning Hao had come to do a cameo, playing a barbecue stall owner.

Damn, fed this guy too well!

"Director Guo, what do you think about having Wu Jing play Liu Peiqiang? I'll help you get him, though honestly you could handle it yourself." Bai Liang finally couldn't hold back and said this.

"Not suitable, he doesn't look like you." Guo Fan replied without hesitation.

Damn! That reason was actually freaking bulletproof.

And after receiving Bai Liang's call, Wu Jing naturally agreed to the cameo.

And he arrived pretty quickly too.

Once he got to the set, he clicked his tongue in wonder, feeling quite like his horizons had been broadened.

Actually, because of Bai Liang, the project "The Wandering Earth" is getting quite a bit of attention right now.

But from industry insiders to netizens outside the circle, most still weren't very optimistic.

At most, some film people in the circle knew that Guo Fan was genuinely putting his heart into this movie, but as for the market outlook, they still weren't optimistic.

The genre of domestic sci-fi films, to a certain extent, drives away audiences even more than Fan Fan Bingbing and Miss Jing Tian combined — those two box-office poisons.

Basically all of them were terrible films, some even super-terrible ones.

Yet it only took one day for Wu Jing to be won over by Guo Fan, this cyber succubus.

In Wu Jing's own words: looking at Guo Fan's handsome face, he felt he couldn't refuse any request the other made.

Honestly, among directors, Guo Fan really does count as a good-looking one — this guy is actually a looks-route director.

Very reasonable, otherwise he couldn't have been a cyber succubus.

"For the sequel, still using him as the male lead? If it's him, I'll play the second male lead."

Hearing this, Bai Liang felt Guo Fan's eyes light up!

"Really?!"

"I could play second male lead for him right now too — is there a suitable role?" Wu Jing said, waving his hand.

Guo Fan: Nope~

Filming had already been underway for a while; he couldn't possibly kick Li Guangjie out of the crew — someone who had been fighting alongside him for so long — just to get Wu Jing, could he?

He couldn't do something like that.

So he could only express great regret and say they'd meet again in the next installment.

Now Guo Fan's confidence in his own film was growing more and more — this is what they call "when fortune comes, heaven and earth lend their strength together"!

After getting Bai Liang's "joining," everything started going smoothly.

Even investor pullouts, which for many crews could directly cause a complete shutdown, didn't stir up any waves.

The crew's filming was also going remarkably smoothly, much faster than Guo Fan's own projected schedule.

He seemed to hear the echo of great fortune!

As for the cameo, Guo Fan actually had a "small request." "Brother Liang, get a female artist to come over, play your wife."

"Where did Liu Qi get a wife from?" Bai Liang asked, puzzled.

"Oh right, play your mom." Guo Fan grinned — to him, son and father were the same person, no difference.

He'd seen Bai Liang act before, and absolutely believed the other could play two characters who looked exactly alike in two completely different ways.

"The one lying in bed — does she need to be a big name?"

Just listen to the way he puts it!

Guo Fan really felt he was on cloud nine — Bai Liang was like a wishing machine, whatever he wanted, the other could fulfill it.

He could even over-deliver.

Even if this guy suddenly switched skins and told him he was actually Doraemon, if Guo Fan hesitated even one second before believing it, that would count as him not being respectful enough!

"If it's convenient... a big name would definitely be better, but preferably around your age."

Guo Fan had already seen Bai Liang's connections, and was terrified he'd bring over Yang Mi...

"How about Nazha?"

"Sure, more ethnic elements would be great — great unity of all ethnic groups."

No errors, no typos, every chapter, every word — all in one place to read!

Bai Liang gave Guo Fan a thumbs-up — you really know how to talk.

But unfortunately, Nazha couldn't come.

She's doing great right now~

Around "Wolf Warrior 2," the film market had slumped for a while, but now it was slowly recovering.

At this time, Nazha and her representative work finally made their appearance.

"City of Rock," Ding Jianguo.

Those legs — so white, so long, so slim — want to touch them.

Although director Da Peng had previously produced something like "Jian Bing Man," which made many viewers lose faith in him.

But Nazha is right at the peak of her popularity right now!

Box-office star of a 6.6-billion film, check it out~

Although it wouldn't add that much to the movie, it could still somewhat offset Da Peng's negative impact.

"City of Rock" did pretty well at the box office — over five hundred million was a certainty.

As for whether it could hit the one-billion mark... that would depend on the performance of the same-period film "Never Say Die."

Although the film market had just produced a monster like 6.6 billion.

But one billion is still a huge threshold for many films.

Up to now, how many domestic films have crossed one billion at the box office?

It's just that after "Wolf Warrior 2," many people's thresholds had changed from before.

One billion? Nothing in front of 6.6 billion.

Similarly, although it didn't squeeze same-period films as brutally or extremely as "Wolf Warrior 2" did, "Never Say Die" from Mahua FunAge did have competitiveness that was more than one tier above other same-period films.

So far, the Mahua FunAge brand was still pretty solid, and the combination of Shen Teng and Ma Li was quite powerful too.

As for the male lead being Allen?

No worries, the Shen Teng-Mary combo content throughout the whole film is still decent, so it still counts as a Shen Teng and Ma Li pairing.

So.

Dapeng: It's all up to you now, Nazha!

Nazha: She's never had this much face before!

Wow~ now it's her turn to "save the world"?

Flattered like that, Nazha really did take this film much more to heart, busy as could be~

So unfortunately, she can't come over for a cameo recently, she can only offer her apologies.

But it doesn't matter, all square~

Earlier Nazha asked Bai Liang if he had time to attend the premiere of *Sewing Machine Band*, and he didn't have time for that either.

Fortunately, before Guo Fan could be disappointed, Bai Liang quickly reached out to the next person.

Hard to say about anything else, but as for female artists, he's got plenty to spare!

—

Li Xin arrived.

However, she wasn't here to cameo as the one lying in bed.

Her arrival was unexpected — she came to visit the set, and along the way brought someone to sound out Bai Liang's thoughts and attitude.

Regarding the *Joy of Life* project.

This drama is scheduled to start filming next year, and it's an S-tier project that New Classics and Penguin attach particular importance to.

Li Xin has already been confirmed to play the female lead.

This visit was to leverage the female lead's friendship with Bai Liang and figure out how to win him over!

Li Xin herself started by putting on a "reluctant" act, saying she and Bai Liang were only friends, how could she possibly use their relationship like that.

New Classics: As long as he's willing to play the male lead, this drama will become an S+ super project on the spot, with more resources tilted toward it, blah blah blah blah

Li Xin: A word once spoken cannot be overtaken by a team of four horses!

If that's the case, then I'll reluctantly do you this favor~

She was so happy inside that she almost accidentally laughed out loud.

Of course, she wasn't deciding for Bai Liang either — she had already communicated with Sister Yanzi in advance.

When Sister Yanzi was screening projects for Bai Liang, she actually thought *Joy of Life* was pretty good — every aspect fit their Dou Dou Xiao Bai Brother's requirements.

The result was that after Li Xin's call came in, she and Sister Yanzi hit it off immediately.

Having an "inside person" is great~

Miss Li Xin nearly spilled all of New Classics' secrets to Sister Yanzi.

And what Bai Liang, who got the notice at the last minute, had to do was to make things slightly difficult for the New Classics people.

Bai Liang: Got it!

So, after wrapping his scenes, he took Sister Yanzi, the New Classics people, and Li Xin to meet at a restaurant near the crew's hotel.

The first words at the table were:

"I've read the script, it's pretty good, so I want to play Emperor Qing."

The New Classics people nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.

No, please, could you play the male lead?

They had originally thought this trip would be a rather difficult "assault," since the current Bai Liang is really scorching hot.

Almost every household's S-tier projects let him pick freely, but his studio has currently only entered negotiations with Youku, seemingly to participate in a very heavyweight project.

It can be judged that his standards for choosing scripts are probably quite high.

The key is, this standard is like the standards of web novel ratings — there's no so-called standard answer.

When punishment is unknowable, its authority cannot be measured.

So the New Classics people weren't entirely confident on this trip, but they never expected it wouldn't be that hard, yet rather... weird!

No wonder they all say Bai Liang isn't quite like the average top-tier artist.

Is this not quite the same? This is way too not the same!

"Teacher Bai, the actor for Emperor Qing has already been confirmed, it's Teacher Chen Daoming," the New Classics people said with troubled faces.

"I see~"

Bai Liang indicated that his "part" was about done, it was Sister Yanzi's turn to step up.

Actually he was also a little curious — what demands would Sister Yanzi bring up?

The salary conditions they offered were already very good, and the treatment due would certainly not be lacking either

Sister Yanzi: Dou Dou Xiao Bai Brother, watch closely, I'll only teach once!

"Our Dou Dou Xiao Bai Brother actually quite likes this drama, he's even read the original novel~"

Hearing this, the New Classics people were first delighted, "Really?"

Sister Yanzi: Absolutely genuine!

"He's also read the script, he really likes the two characters Fan Ruoruo and Si Si Lili, I wonder... have the actors been chosen yet?"

The New Classics side understood!

"Not yet! Does Teacher Bai have anyone to recommend? We can try our best to reach out."

Bai Liang: Oh~

So this is how Sister Yanzi wants to play it!

You can actually do it like this?!

Sister Yanzi: Dou Dou Xiao Bai Brother's "harem" shall be guarded by me.

——

Third watch, thirteen thousand. See you tomorrow, muah~

Begging for monthly tickets.

(End of this chapter)