Chapter 526

No competitors, no rivals sabotaging him, not even the usual black sheep and water armies had stirred up any trouble.

This was the most direct feeling Sister Yanzi had when handling movie promotions as a strategist.

In the past, no matter what, there were always various "heroes" causing trouble—water armies especially, like doing daily tasks, flooding with bad reviews~ It was basically unavoidable.

Even Sister Yanzi herself had such "power," and competition in the film industry was just like this.

Even hiring water armies to flood with bad reviews and drag down opponents' ratings was considered relatively "normal" business competition.

Because there were even more despicable things going on.

But this situation now genuinely left her at a loss.

It was as if overnight, the entire film industry had turned "pure white."

As always, the industry needs confidence and a pioneer.

For a film market that had been shut down for nearly half a year, it desperately needed someone to step forward and restore market confidence while reigniting audience enthusiasm.

Of course, you can't truly treat fellow industry players as good people—this calm will likely last only a few more days.

Unless this movie flops, then everyone will pretend not to notice—or kick it while it's down.

But after the first-day box office of 360 million yuan came out, Sister Yanzi knew: at most three days.

After three days, those damn competitors would absolutely be unable to resist starting to "work."

So vigilance must not be relaxed.

The people in the film industry have zero moral底线.

But such things had gradually become routine—every time Bai Liang's recent films were released, they all received this treatment.

It even started before the movies were even released.

All kinds of negativity, low scores—yet the negative impact was just that, really useless.

But the first-day box office of 360 million yuan was truly a shot of adrenaline to the entire industry!

Before "Youth" premiered, almost no one could predict how this film would fare.

Even the most experienced veterans, facing this unprecedented gap period, became novices and couldn't predict a thing.

And some areas were still even sealed off.

Put it this way: although no competitors loudly trashed it—everyone hoped Bai Liang would fire the first shot—in private, hardly anyone believed in it.

With a half-year gap period, audiences had almost forgotten how to go to the cinema—how much box office could there possibly be?

Some had offered modest predictions: breaking 100 million on the first day would count as Bai Liang being amazing.

But when the first-day box office of 360 million yuan came out—

What?!

No way, bro, you're serious?!

As everyone stared in shock, their hearts also ignited—was the film market still alive?!

The most direct effect was: several films that had originally rushed to flood the National Day slot now chose to move up their release dates.

This year's summer season was still empty—very few films had chosen this slot, and everyone was just watching and waiting.

Now, the first person to try the crab had delivered such a first-day box office, naturally spurring many to jump in immediately.

Quickly secure later release slots.

But many smart people kept watching—after all, such a first-day box office was actually quite hollow.

"Jump in? These guys haven't seen the 90%+ screening rate?"

"If this screening rate had been given to Bai Liang's previous films, I bet they could've hit 1 billion in single-day box office."

"Many theater chains are giving it 100% screening—when did any film ever get this treatment before?"

"This film market is really fucked—first-day box office this high, rating over nine, overwhelming praise, yet no one dares say this movie will definitely keep soaring."

"."

The fiery success of "Youth"'s first day, besides prompting some gamblers to immediately jump in, left most still watching.

The uncertainty was still too strong.

This uncertainty came not only from the market's uniqueness but also from Bai Liang's own peculiar nature.

Everyone says Lu Han, the once-unparalleled top idol who launched the traffic era, had personally sealed the fate of fan-driven films.

With his exit from the film industry, it felt as if an era had ended.

Yet everyone turned around and saw a bastard using exaggerated six-statistic data to forcibly prolong the life of fan-driven films!

Bai Liang has been enjoying the benefits of fan-driven films all along.

He's an unparalleled top idol, with the most fans online—what do other fresh meat idols have that he doesn't?

It's just that the high quality of his works has somewhat obscured this fact.

His fanbase's movie-going frenzies, their shouting and jumping around, often didn't drown out the voices of ordinary viewers.

So many people simply couldn't gauge him—like now, a horde of Bai Liang's fans were online charging ahead, vowing to help their brother achieve a spectacular result after the market's restart.

This was pure fan economy.

But the biggest feature of fan-driven films made by traffic idols is their lack of staying power.

Usually, only the first day and pre-sales are strong—after that, they instantly collapse.

The industry had long summarized this experience.

Basically, no exceptions.

So if fans were truly that powerful, the films currently topping the box office charts should be—

Fuck! The top three are all Bai Liang's damn movies.

But he's a complex composite—today's top three box office films have nothing to do with fan-driven films.

The box office results of other top idols' films speak louder.

"So we can't let our guard down! We must keep working hard!" Chen Duling said with serious expression.

"Exactly!" Zhou Ye responded enthusiastically, her small face tense, her expressionless look as if an "evil female villain" from a movie had stepped out.

Generally speaking, roles like Zhou Ye's bullying female antagonist—the evil second female lead—are easy to make audiences hate.

The better you act, the more likely people are to hate the character and everything associated with it.

Many actors have gone through this.

But Zhou Ye, while acting well, still managed to gain fans—entirely thanks to her face.

Yes, she's the bullying bully girl, but she's just too beautiful!

Add to that the full-force marketing from He Song's side, and even the evil villain can rack up massive fans~

So this little girl is now brimming with energy!

If the second female lead can gain so much, naturally Chen Duling, the lead, needs no explanation—her team has already planned to use this film to push her into the top tier. Of course, it's difficult, since the work is still too thin.

But making it into the first cohort of post-90s leading actresses is probably no problem.

Provided that *Youth of the Storm* can keep holding strong.

And sure enough, the next day's box office gave them a heart-stopping jolt: opening day at 360 million, second day plummeting to just over 200 million—a drop of over one-third truly made their hearts tighten. Don't joke around.

Fortunately, the third day's box office didn't keep falling; instead, it rose again to 280 million.

This up-and-down box office trend truly left people utterly baffled.

Still, the cumulative box office over the first three days was a solid victory—even the blindest couldn't claim *Youth of the Storm* had flopped.

These results thrilled the two girls to no end!

A blockbuster hit!

Such a work brings enormous boosts to actors!

Whether it's film or television.

Sometimes, even a completely unknown actor, landing just this one opportunity, can undergo a career transformation!

With the backing of a blockbuster, audience favor lasts a long time; as long as you deliver another substantial work within that window, you can truly achieve a dramatic rise in status!

You can be counted as a potential top-tier star.

This refers to Chen Duling—if she can release another strong work in the coming period, she might truly ascend to top-tier status, making a direct leap.

But obviously, it's extremely difficult.

Everyone is short on good works and good resources these days, especially film resources.

For female artists, securing a film with sufficient screen time and substantial weight is already a very hard thing.

Otherwise, among the most box-office-drawing figures in film, there wouldn't be a single female artist left to this day.

Even Ma Li can't do it.

That goddess has wandered in film for so many years, yet what people still remember are her roles from early TV dramas.

Chen Duling's team clearly understood this well, and they still planned to focus on television dramas, using the momentum of *Youth of the Storm* to launch a "dimensional strike" and secure better TV resources.

Rather than stubbornly fighting in film circles, becoming someone's accessory.

Whether she can later land another huge-hit TV drama and enter the top tier? That's truly uncertain—unless she collaborates again with Bai Liang within two years, and not as an accessory female lead.

Unfortunately, competition in this area is even fiercer!

Bai Lu, to protect her minor-role lead in *Police Glory*, was constantly anxious, terrified someone would jump out and snatch the role, kicking her out.

And this was just a minor lead role.

Later, when real heavy-hitter female leads appear—like Tian Tian's *Sishen*, Re Ba's *Glory*, or Na Zha's *Intimacy*—besides "custom-made" roles, who knows how fierce the battle will be.

Fortunately, Duling's mindset was now calm.

She'd already endured that level of hellish drama at the premiere, so her urge to push forward had greatly faded.

Rather than obsessing over how to knock down those incredibly powerful "bad women," it's better to lie back, enjoy the present moment, and seize it well!

And sure enough, on the third night, Bai Liang experienced Duling's rare burst of passion.

Although Bai Liang had previously noticed her voice was quite different from her usual demeanor, that was only her voice—otherwise, she remained introverted and shy.

The kind who flinched at the slightest touch, instinctively curling up.

But under the dual stimuli of the film's box office and the impending "loss" of her senior, Duling seemed unable to resist trying a slightly more unrestrained style.

Unfortunately, because the frequency had already been so high these past two days, even her unrestrainedness couldn't last long.

Bai Liang, an athlete with extraordinary stamina and physical strength, poured all his energy into her alone—it was as if he intended to "tear her apart."

The reason he had so much time and energy to sweat in the hotel was mainly because the original promotional tour was canceled.

Getting a premiere was already a green light; if they held roadshows everywhere, gathering large crowds—truthfully, nothing happening was fine, but if something went wrong, the responsibility would be unbearable.

So after much deliberation, the film producers ultimately dared not take such a risk.

Bai Liang was confident nothing would happen, but he couldn't explain this to others, and frankly, he was happy to sneak a little rest.

But since offline roadshows were impossible, they had to push harder online.

Media interviews, live-stream promotions—the main cast and crew simply settled into the hotel.

This made everything much more convenient.

But the most convenient thing was the lead actors' off-screen shenanigans.

Duling had originally pretended to stay in another room, but from the second day on, she found it inconvenient and simply dragged her suitcase over.

Her suitcase sat there brazenly in the living room, wide open.

She didn't ask her assistant to tidy it up—it was a bit messy.

When Zhou Ye arrived, all she saw was Duling in a nightgown, yawning endlessly.

And upon closer inspection—she wasn't even wearing a bra.

The key point was, Zhou Ye didn't deduce this from her upper body—he accidentally became Miao Renfeng when Chen Duling sat on the sofa.

One wave of that and Zhou Ye turned into a red-faced little dog.

Even though everyone here is a girl, this is still

Way too much! They clearly don't treat her as a person!

Zhou Ye figured the other party must be doing it on purpose — from the suitcase to the current outfit, looking every bit like they were staking a claim.

Honestly, that move worked great back when they were filming.

But now—

Zhou Ye: "Sis, you're so capable — why didn't you perk up and stake your claim at the premiere, huh?!"

After the premiere, some of the girls took a hit, and their restless little schemes cooled off considerably.

But some of the girls were actually "inspired" by it!

If other people can go for it, why can't I?!

Truth be told, Chen Duling really hadn't been trying to pull any claim-staking stunt in front of Zhou Ye — she was genuinely just exhausted.

Arms sore, legs sore, waist sore too — felt like her whole body was about to fall apart.

Under those circumstances, throwing on a nightgown and slipping into it already counted as showing Zhou Ye respect.

After yesterday's interview, she hadn't worn any underwear

Even Zhou Ye showing up right now was something of a relief for Chen Duling.

At least for a while her senior wouldn't be idly picking on her.

How to put it — even though that floating-up feeling was amazing, you can't stay airborne forever, you can't take it.

If she kept up this intensity for a few more days, she felt she'd probably need to rest for a month or so afterward.

At this point it should count as a "work injury," right~

Of course, even so, Chen Duling hadn't entertained the idea of finding someone to share the burden.

Zhou Ye being a third wheel here was fine — no need to help her shoulder it.

There was still a livestream promo in the evening, which also bought her a bit more rest time.

Yet under these circumstances, it actually triggered Zhou Ye's rebellious streak!

Originally, because Bai Liang had grabbed the wrong person earlier, some kind of boundary had been breached by a lot all at once.

So, Zhou Ye, who had been sitting beside Chen Duling, used a bathroom trip as cover, wandered around, and when she came back to the sofa, sat right down next to Bai Liang.

At the same time she stretched out her own little hand — whatever Duling-jie had done on set before, she could do it too!

——

Went to the hospital for two days of light therapy, it's not hurting as much now, starting tomorrow I should be able to update normally.

(End of chapter)