Chapter 532: Three Billion Box Office Milestone

"Huh? Three billion already?"

Hearing the number, Bai Liang scratched his head—he really hadn't counted it carefully.

Probably because he hadn't had a movie out for a while, nearly half a year, so he hadn't paid much attention to it.

He hadn't even shot a movie this year yet; his next film, *The Changjin Lake*, wouldn't start filming until year-end.

This was mainly because there hadn't been any solid projects lately—the dual blows of taxation and the pandemic had hit the film industry hardest among all entertainment sectors.

Although actors of Bai Liang's caliber still wouldn't lack scripts, the overall quality was definitely declining.

Sister Yanzi wouldn't even look at those trashy projects; she'd never let him take just anything.

But it wasn't enough to create any real gap in his film career.

This year, *Youth in the Wild* was released, and next year *The Changjin Lake* will come out—every year he has a film, how could that be called a gap?

It was just slightly slower than his previous pace.

Yet the slight reduction in film quantity clearly hadn't slowed Bai Liang's steady climb in personal box office accumulation.

"That's right, Senior! I just calculated it for you! Exactly three billion!" Doudu's cheeks flushed—not from shyness, but excitement.

In her eyes, she'd helped achieve her senior's three-billion-box-office milestone!

Hmm… let's just say she had a share of the credit~

Yay!

Although Bai Liang didn't feel particularly excited, he certainly wouldn't dampen Doudu's enthusiasm.

He picked up two glasses of champagne and handed one to her.

"Here, let's celebrate~"

After clinking glasses, Bai Liang thought: three billion? That should hit four billion soon.

Because if he remembered right, *The Changjin Lake* was shot as one piece and edited into two parts, to be released separately during National Day and Spring Festival slots.

In the original timeline, the two combined nearly reached ten billion.

As Chen Duling sipped her champagne and happily celebrated with Bai Liang, Zhou Ye, who had just been pulled away by Li Bingbing, excitedly sidled up.

"Big Brother, you've hit three billion in box office!"

Under this news, she'd temporarily forgotten her "breakup" with Chen Duling.

The grumpy little dog had turned back into a happy little dog.

"It's all your doing~" Bai Liang naturally gave her plenty of emotional value, and also poured her a glass of champagne.

"No way, I'm just basking in your glory."

Zhou Ye, who had been blushing and giggling at this, suddenly felt a hostile gaze—she turned and saw Chen Duling glaring at her.

Hmph!

The two looked at each other in silence for two seconds, then turned away simultaneously.

This tiny two-girl rivalry meant nothing even to Bai Liang, and Sister Yanzi barely noticed.

After all, they'd seen the big scenes before—this was just child's play.

Besides, their so-called "feud" was just ignoring each other.

Zero impact.

So Sister Yanzi, who had sidled up to Bai Liang, cheerfully greeted each of them, then pulled him away to mingle with industry insiders.

Left behind, the two girls continued glaring at each other—no one worried they'd actually fight.

If it were Xi Ba or Na Zha, Sister Yanzi would've had someone watch them—she wouldn't trust them alone.

Let these two play by themselves~

Sure enough, the "expected" feud never happened—after a few glaring stares, they simply walked apart.

Couldn't even fight properly.

News of Bai Liang's personal box office breaking three billion had already spread through the celebration venue; people flocked to congratulate him and curry favor.

Now Chen Duling and Zhou Ye had no chance to squeeze near Bai Liang.

Even the news at the celebration was slow.

Before Chen Duling and Zhou Ye had even calculated it, the topic was already trending.

Although Bai Liang himself didn't care, his fans were obsessed with tracking this stuff.

Fans of every top influencer loved tallying how many top magazines their idol appeared on, how many Gao She endorsements they'd landed, constantly comparing.

Like, "My brother tops yours," "My brother's data beats yours," and so on.

Occasionally they'd compare project data too.

Bai Liang's fans initially wanted to join in—after all, as fans, the more awesome their idol, the more they could feel the thrill.

At first they did join the tallying, but soon realized: how could any other idol's caliber compare to our Immortal?

Fan circles had their own hierarchy.

Although Bai Liang himself never acted like a diva, his fans loved playing the diva.

To distinguish themselves from other top flows, they ignored these "common" metrics and instead tracked and counted how many blockbusters and total box office Bai Liang had accumulated.

The prestige was definitely high.

Because most so-called top flows had risen on the back of just one blockbuster.

Like Xiao Zhan and Wang Yibo, for instance.

But for Bai Liang, blockbusters were almost "mass-produced"—every single one of his films was a hit; every year-end, when all the self-media ranked the year's most influential and high-performing dramas, his dramas almost always occupied the top three—and not just one!

Early in his career, some works dragged him down.

That sense of superiority mattered a lot to fan circles.

So now, just tallying blockbusters wasn't enough—they had to tally the King of Dramas too.

Can't help it—my big bro is just too impressive~

There's enough stuff to hand over for them to tally up.

From a certain perspective, Bai Liang is wildly providing emotional value to his fanbase, this "group of wealthy women."

This is just TV dramas; his fans go even wilder with his films.

They're incredibly good at counting—normal box office figures stop at two decimal places, and some rankings don't even use decimals.

But these fans want to account for every single yuan and add it all up.

Much of the content in Bai Liang's super topic is this stuff. During the release of *Youth*, the super topic continuously updated these figures.

So almost as soon as the box office hit three billion, the fans started celebrating~

Right on time, not a minute delayed.

The massive fan-driven traffic instantly pushed the related topic to the top of the trending list.

"Holy shit, did Big Immortal really hit three billion box office? Hasn't he been in the industry only five years?"

"It's just a few months short of six years, but this is insane—how much ahead is he of second place?"

"Shen Teng, Wu Jing, Deng Chao, Huang Bo—all four have crossed one billion, but none have reached two billion. Big Immortal's already pushed the ceiling to three billion. Insane!"

"Huang Bo barely crossed one billion, just a tiny bit over, yet he's already the fifth-highest-grossing Chinese actor. And the number one? Three times his total."

"Wang Qianyuan seems close too—he's just a hair short of one billion. The *Tang Ren Street* series this Spring Festival will definitely push him over."

"Zhang Yi should get there faster—he has a film coming up soon."

"Wait, Du Jiang's box office has crossed one billion too. But this guy's mostly in supporting roles."

"The more I look, the more outrageous Big Immortal seems—he's made fewer films than any of these guys."

"Fun fact: Bai Liang's lowest-grossing film is Han Han's *Crossing the Wind and Waves*, yet it was still the third or fourth highest-grossing film that year. Oh right—the top film that year was *Wolf Warrior 2*, also starring Bai Liang."

"I get it now—you're all Big Immortal's fans pretending to be casuals fanning him. Aren't these just the same things discussed in his super topic? You guys keep counting the same numbers over and over."

"Hehe, caught me~ tongue_out. jpg."

"."

The three-billion box office milestone completely ignited tonight's discussion and gave today's celebration party a whole new flavor!

Hard to say it wasn't intentional~

Sister Yanzi: Fans can count—do you think I can't?

She obviously timed the celebration party precisely.

Her little Bai doesn't care whether the film breaks three billion, but Sister Yanzi cares deeply.

Twenty-eight hundred million and thirty hundred million seem close, but from a certain perspective, they're two different tiers.

Otherwise, *Crossing the Wind and Waves* wouldn't be the only Bai Liang film under two billion, constantly dragged out for mockery.

It even made Han Han feel a little guilty.

As if he'd cast Bai Liang and somehow created a "black mark" for him.

But seventeen hundred million, aside from ultra-high-budget films, is an excellent and astonishing result for any other movie.

It just looks like a drag on Bai Liang's monstrous record.

With *Youth*'s potential exhausted and all previous hype faded, everything growing quiet, Sister Yanzi naturally had to stir up more activity.

If not for this three-billion box office gimmick, she'd have considered orchestrating some conflict and buzz with Reba or Naza herself.

They'd definitely cooperate.

Of course, traffic pulled in by this gimmick alone probably won't push *Youth* past the three-billion mark.

Two hundred million may seem small, but many films never reach that total from release to withdrawal—best to have some buzzworthy gimmicks.

"Fuck, why haven't the Hundred Flowers and Golden Rooster nominations been announced yet?" Sister Yanzi muttered.

"I saw you grumbling from far away—what's wrong?" Little Shui crept up beside Sister Yanzi curiously.

"Wow, Little Shui, you're dressed like a movie star today~ No wonder you're vice president."

"Right?! I thought so too." Little Shui accepted the praise without modesty, then waved her hand and grumbled:

"Tian Tian said she'd come today too, so I figured since she's so gorgeous, I didn't want to look like a dog next to her—so I got a special hairstyle, borrowed an outfit, and she ditched me! Isn't that awful?"

Hearing this, Sister Yanzi nodded vigorously—this was indeed outrageous!

When a girl goes out: hair washed, makeup done, beautiful clothes on, daily contacts in—she must go even if it's through fire and sword! Ditching plans means instant breakup!

Still, Little Shui had great tolerance for Big Tian Tian, especially since she'd sent a pathetic video apology—so she reluctantly forgave her.

Of course, mainly because today wasn't a one-on-one date; Little Shui could still wear this outfit to the celebration party and show off~ Otherwise, she'd have made Big Tian Tian pay—she'd have flooded her with a dozen trending black hashtags!

After jointly scolding "evil-doer" Big Tian Tian, Sister Yanzi shared her troubles with Little Shui.

"The Hundred Flowers and Golden Rooster nominations should come out in the next few days—they're only a few days apart, and the Golden Rooster should be similar."

As a media insider in the entertainment industry, Little Shui knew the three major Chinese film awards inside out.

Every year, the nomination and final winner lists sparked major discussions.

Of course, if the winner was a high-flow artist, the discussion grew even bigger.

Sister Yanzi sighed: "I'm afraid that in a few days, the traffic and attention will drop too sharply—then the theaters won't even give us screenings, and it'll be impossible to climb back up."

"No way—this film's been a shot of adrenaline for theaters that have been starving for half a year, and there aren't any really strong films out now. Wait—soon, *The Eight Hundred* is coming out!" Little Shui suddenly realized.

Sister Yanzi spread her hands—exactly.

After *Youth* had been screening for a while, some people, seeing the market's heat, couldn't resist rushing in with last-minute releases.

These were all trash—worthless, and they didn't steal much of our screening time.

But *The Eight Hundred* is different!

Produced by Huayi, directed by Guan Hu, starring Zhang Yi, Ou Hao, Wang Qianyuan, and a whole roster of well-known actors—it's clearly aiming for this year's box office champion.

Add to that the current popularity of main-theme content—how could Sister Yanzi not worry?

There wasn't much competition really—after all, even if The Youth got the delay key, anyone with eyes could see its potential was nearly exhausted; the two films had naturally avoided clashing.

But Sister Yanzi refused to accept that! She was determined to produce another thirty-billion-level film for her little Bai.

Then The Eight Hundred became the "great enemy"!

Even competing for just a few days made it a great enemy!

Besides, she wanted her little Bai to win this year's box office championship!

Bai Liang: I really don't care.

Sister Yanzi: No, you do!

Bai Liang: Fine then~

After unifying their battle strategy, they naturally began brainstorming ideas.

Unfortunately, the common but effective tactic of stirring up gossip no longer worked on Bai Liang for now.

After all, the fans had already pushed hard before.

The public also suffers from "aesthetic fatigue"—after eating the same gossip over and over, they gradually found it less sweet.

Even Chen Duling and Zhou Ye had contributed a wave of "final break-up" drama; in terms of interpersonal hype, The Youth had already been pushed to its absolute limit.

That's why Sister Yanzi pinned her hopes on award nominations, so she could launch a full-scale offensive.

Bai Liang had worn the title of Weibo Film Emperor for years—it was time it did more than just provide entertainment!

(End of Chapter)