Chapter 237

"Ah, this… you'll know once you keep watching."

Mei Mei, completely immersed in the plot, was just like a little girl watching a movie with her boyfriend, always wanting to ask this and that.

Emma Stone on the left gave Mei Mei a disdainful sideways glance and shook her head helplessly.

"Honestly, how could Xu watch something this dumb? Clearly I'm the one who truly understands him."

……

In the film, Cheng Yong's team cracked down on a counterfeit-drug pyramid scheme, only to be reported by the scheme's ringleader in retaliation.

When the police showed up, Cheng Yong realized the danger. He planned to disband the team and only buy the generic drugs for personal use.

After all, helping others was a self-sacrificing thing. Earning a bit of money along the way was fine, but losing everything wasn't worth it.

The team erupted in argument and fell apart.

Cheng Yong returned to his old life, but he could no longer find that numb, indifferent mindset he'd once had.

Just by comparing the protagonist's micro-expressions in the first and second acts back and forth, one could see—

Xu Can has already laid bare the protagonist's inner transformation through his meticulous performance.

Even the pickiest film critic couldn't find a single flaw in it.

"This performance could be used straight as teaching material for a film and television program."

"Exactly. When he played the Joker, I already knew. Limiting him to superhero films was a waste of his talent—this kind of movie is what truly unleashes his ability!"

"An award-winning-actor-level performance!"

The film critics present had already begun drafting in their heads how to praise Xu Can's acting.

For the first time, they elevated Xu Can's standing to the level of S-tier greats like Marlon Brando, Tang Mu Hanks, Morgan Freeman, and Al Pacino.

In the hospital, Lü Shouyi had grown thinner again. He was not far from death now—his lips gray, lying on the hospital bed on his last breath.

Wang Chuanjun also delivered top-tier acting, leading many Chinese directors to discover this promising newcomer.

Chinese audiences, too, had found a good actor.

Everyone says Huayu has no young actors left, that the market is gradually being taken over by traffic-driven pretty boys, and that substantive actors grow fewer by the day.

Seeing the performances in this film, Chinese audiences regained some confidence in Chinese-language film and television dramas.

……

A comrade who had once fought alongside him had now come to such a state—once again striking at Cheng Yong's heart.

His mindset had completely transformed, from initially doing it for himself to now beginning to do it to save others.

Even under police pursuit, Cheng Yong ignored the danger and did everything he could to contact channels and get the medicine.

Through layers of smoke, Cheng Yong seemed to glimpse his own mission within the deity statue.

At this moment, he had completed his metamorphosis!

From a selfish drug peddler, he had transformed into the God of Medicine!

After returning to the country, Lü Shouyi died.

The Lü Shouyi who loved handing out oranges to people, wore three layers of masks, and spoke with extreme caution—was dead.

After walking out from paying respects at his home, a crowd of fellow patients in masks stared at Cheng Yong with numb yet faintly hopeful eyes.

Each pair of eyes passing by was a living life, and behind each one stood a family.

At this moment, the transformed Cheng Yong had made up his mind—regardless of the cost, he would save as many more patients as possible.

He reassembled the team and persuaded them to come back and continue helping the patients.

"How much are you selling it for this time?"

"Two hundred."

Not only were the patients in the film shocked, the audience beyond the screen cried out in disbelief as well!

Even those foreigners were clutching their heads, unable to believe what the protagonist was doing!

The legitimate drug cost nearly 40,000, the generic 2,000, and the protagonist Cheng Yong was selling it for only 200?

He was practically running a charity!

He even reopened the knitting factory, using its profits to subsidize his drug sales!

Even Police Captain Cao Bin, who had been gradually closing in on them, sensed something was off.

What fake-drug peddler runs a business at a loss like this?

"My family was bankrupted by my illness. Now that we finally have cheap medicine, you people say it's fake."

"Whether that medicine is fake or not—wouldn't we know?"

"If you drag him away, all of us are doomed to wait for death…"

The cruel reality was thus ruthlessly laid bare.

Xu Can used a slightly trembling handheld shot to magnify Police Captain Cao Bin's inner turmoil.

By now the audience was already fully immersed, feeling the sorrow and helplessness of these patients at the bottom of society.

At the same time, everyone couldn't help but think to themselves—

Why did this situation come about?

Who caused it?

Does having a terminal illness mean the rich can extend their lives while the poor can only wait to die?

At this point, even the usually noisy Mei Mei fell silent.

The entire theater—no sighs, no chatter—everyone stared quietly at the screen.

The silence was deafening!

Unfortunately, the law outweighed human feeling; Police Captain Cao Bin couldn't persuade his superiors.

Arrests had to be made, all the same.

During the arrest, the yellow-haired youth wasn't dramatically killed in a crash.

He was simply taken into custody, and due to emotional agitation, his blood vessels ruptured — he had leukemia — and he was rushed to the hospital, where resuscitation failed and he died.

The taciturn, fierce-looking "shamate" youth had a sincere, righteous heart within; what a pity he left like this, leaving the audience sighing endlessly.

Because the flood of generic drugs drew the attention of the original-drug manufacturer Novartis, they decided to sell off the generic-drug factories, cutting off the generics at the source.

Even so, Cheng Yong still braved the risks of police investigation and supply cutoffs from the manufacturers, constantly searching for generic drugs through every channel,

selling them to countless patients at two hundred yuan a pop, saving thousands upon thousands of families.

This segment already had the audience quietly sobbing; even the foreigners' faces were full of sorrow.

The barriers of race and culture vanished in that moment.

The film's respect for life, its counterattack against fate — that emotion was unanimous.

Only, regrettably, Cheng Yong was still caught by the police, just as in reality.

What awaited him was merciless punishment.

When Cheng Yong sat in the police car, about to be taken to prison,

countless patients he had once helped packed both sides of the street, silently watching him leave.

Xu Can likewise replicated that classic shot, panning past the protagonist Cheng Yong to film face after face through the car window.

Such an ingenious composition instantly touched every viewer's heart,

especially when the two dead companions seemed to appear among the crowd, utterly detonating the audience's final emotions.

The English title may come across a bit weaker, but the Chinese name "Dying to Survive" gave the audience a moment of enlightenment at this point.

The protagonist Cheng Yong is the God of Medicine!

The film ends here, abruptly.

Reality is the same — the "Medicine Knight" Lu Yong is still locked up inside, not yet released. 【】

Yet Xu Can, beside the end credits, used a photo Easter egg to give the story its ending.

Cheng Yong was ultimately found not guilty and released a year later.

The medical insurance system was also reformed, Novartis's prices were driven down, the drugs entered medical insurance, and ordinary people could now afford the genuine medicine.

The countless poor patients who had once been waiting to die finally saw hope.

【A Xu Can Film】

【Stellar River Pictures】

……

The film ended; compared to the last premiere of "La La Land," the atmosphere was even heavier.

The Chinese audience was still immersed in that shocked, moved emotion, while the more impassioned white bros had already risen to their feet, applauding and cheering.

Whether in the Chinese theaters or the North American theaters, the place was now completely drowned in applause.