Chapter 243: Integration, Liu Shishi's Tears

The news that *Passengers* had wrapped up filming instantly spread throughout the entire entertainment industry.

Under that Weibo post by Gao Yuanyuan, there were already several hundred thousand replies; aside from a small portion of well-wishes from industry insiders, the rest were all fans urging and asking when the movie would be released.

Regarding this, Wei Jin could not give an accurate answer, because there were many special effects shots, and he still had to wait for Shanhe Ink to confirm the production cycle before he could know exactly how long the post-production would take.

There was no time to hold a wrap party; the premiere of *Lucy* was already right around the corner.

As early as two weeks ago, Shanhe Media had sent out invitations throughout the industry, but those qualified to attend had to be at least third-tier actors or above, or companies that had already stepped into the film industry.

The star celebrities who received invitations were also very gracious; not to mention the status of Shanhe Media as an industry hegemon, just the fact that it was such a grand occasion made it an opportunity they dreamed of to build connections. — On July 28, Shanhe Media held a grand premiere for *Lucy* at the Great Hall.

Starting at 2:00 PM that day, the area outside the Great Hall was already packed with media and fans who had heard the news.

On the red carpet, the stars shone brightly, led by major film and television companies, with first-tier and second-tier celebrity big names gathered together.

As each celebrity guest appeared, the cheers from the fans on both sides rose wave after wave.

When the Four Heavenly Kings appeared, the atmosphere at the scene reached its peak directly, and the deafening screams of the fans rose one after another.

The media were so excited they were incoherent, their cameras working tirelessly, and the flashes never stopped.

"My God, to think that in my lifetime I could actually see these four reunite for a public appearance; is Wei Jin too awesome or what?"

A reporter muttered to himself; he was also a collective fan of the Four Heavenly Kings, and he just felt that this trip today was absolutely worth it.

"This is also normal; Shanhe Media is not an ordinary company. The three Heavenly Kings, Liu, Guo, and Li, have all worked with Wei Jin directly or indirectly, so Heavenly King Zhang will give some face, right?"

Looking at the atmosphere at the scene, Wei Jin and the cast and crew of *Lucy* were somewhat dumbfounded; they had been completely upstaged.

However, Wei Jin had underestimated his own influence; when the crew walked onto the red carpet, the cheers that erupted were completely not inferior to the ones just now; after all, they were the protagonists of the day.

Jing Tian, Wei Jin, Liang Jiahui, Chen Baoguo, Cui Minzhi, Abe Hiroshi, and others smiled and waved to the cheering fans.

"Bi Yao, look over here!" a photographer on the edge of the red carpet shouted; it turned out they were a fan of *Zhu Xian*.

Hearing the shout, Jing Tian, in a red evening gown and high heels, holding Wei Jin's arm, turned around with a graceful smile to cooperate with the photographer for pictures; Wei Jin could only stop and smile to cooperate—who told him Jing Tian was the biggest star today?

The photographers quickly pressed their camera shutters to capture beautiful photos of the two.

After walking the red carpet, they soon arrived at the interview stage, and the long-awaited reporters quickly aimed their long lenses and short cannons at the two.

"Director Wei, *Lucy* is about to meet everyone; may I ask what your thoughts are?"

"I don't really have any thoughts, but I have a lot of confidence in the movie; it definitely won't let everyone down."

Wei Jin said with a smile; as long as it wasn't a question that touched his taboos, generally speaking, his attitude was still quite good.

After answering a few other trivial questions from others, Wei Jin was already planning to leave when a reporter suddenly asked: "Director Wei, may I ask what you think about *Transformers 2* becoming the current annual champion?"

*Transformers 2* had been released for a month, raking in 448 million at the box office, causing many companies in the industry to lose confidence, as Hollywood blockbusters were truly impossible to resist.

"I can tell you very clearly that the domestic film market is constantly prospering; in the future, there will be more and more films breaking 400 million and 500 million, and even films breaking 1 billion will appear. The results achieved by *Transformers 2* don't represent anything."

Wei Jin knew that this was the time to give some confidence.

"Next, *Lucy*, *The Founding of a Republic*, and all subsequent domestic films will definitely take back this record; everyone might as well wait and see!" — "Wei Jin, you finally came."

Although he was not the producer, Han Sanping also came to the scene to give face.

In fact, it wasn't just Han Sanping; the big and small Wangs of Huayi, Old Wang of Fiber, Ye Ning of Wanda, Yu Dong of Bona, and so on, all came.

They also knew very well that they hadn't gotten on Wei Jin's car this time, but it was hard to say for next time.

"The words just now were truly imposing; if only all domestic filmmakers were like you."

Han Sanping had also been under pressure during this period; he urgently hoped that domestic films could take back the championship, and *Lucy* was undoubtedly the most promising one, after all, Wei Jin was already the only 600-million-director in the country.

"Chairman Han, take it slow; the development time for domestic commercial films is short, but that doesn't mean we can't catch up."

Wei Jin really had a lot of confidence in the domestic market; in another two years, it would become the second-largest market in the world, and in about ten years, it could catch up to the North American market.

"Hmm, today we'll see how your *Lucy* does."

Han Sanping looked at the two and said to Jing Tian.

"Hmm, thank you, Chairman Han." — There were many guests today, so naturally, quite a few circles were formed.

Many people were not qualified to integrate into the core circle of the big shots and could only frequently wander between the producers and big directors at the scene.

Wei Jin took Jing Tian and chatted and laughed with a group of film company bosses, making many actors at the scene feel envious to the point of tightness.

Yang Mi deeply realized the importance of status; the *Four Dan Actresses* title plus the explosive popularity of *Chinese Paladin 3*, and then landing *Brotherhood of Blades 2* from Shanhe Media, made her instantly become a first-tier actor.

It was easy for her to strike up conversations with many producers and big names at the scene; she was no longer the small fry or invisible person she once was.

"Lao Hu."

"Mimi."

"Almost forgot, you also made a cameo in the movie, haha."

After chatting with Hu Ge in a lukewarm manner, Yang Mi walked away quickly.

Her relationship with Tangren was getting worse and worse; seeing each other at the scene, she only felt awkward, no longer having the enthusiasm from when they were filming, especially when Yang Mi saw Liu Shishi and Miss Cai.

"Shishi, don't think so much."

"Sister K, you don't need to worry about me, I'll just walk around by myself." — After chatting with a group of industry big shots, Wei Jin left the circle and went to greet acquaintances and friends who had come to attend the premiere.

Unlike in the past, *Lucy* was solely invested in by Shanhe Media, and as the host, Wei Jin naturally could not neglect the friends who came to support him.

Jing Tian was the protagonist today and had many things to be busy with; at this moment, she was also chatting with many people in the circle.

"Hua Ge, long time no see, thank you for coming to support."

"Director Wei, I wish you a big box office success; Mr. Liang said you promised him a movie, when will we cooperate again?"

"Cheng Ge, thank you for the support."

"Director Wei is too polite; I should thank Director Wei for the opportunity."

With two films in a row, the Hong Kong circle all believed that Heavenly King Guo had successfully gotten on Wei Jin's line; during this period, there were too many people looking for him to find a way in.

"Heavenly Li Tianwang, thank you for the support."

"Director Wei is too modest; I like *The Hunt* very much. If there are any more art films like this, Director Wei might as well consider me."

Heavenly Li Tianwang spoke very gently; he had a high pursuit of art, otherwise he wouldn't have appeared in so many niche art films. "If there is an opportunity, I definitely will."

"Brother Xueyou, hello. It's our first time meeting; thank you for coming to support me."

It was the first time Wei Jin had met his musical idol from his past life, and he felt a bit like a fan meeting a celebrity.

"Could we take a photo later? I'm a fan of yours; I really like many of your works."

"Really? Wei Sheng, your songs are also great. Let's exchange some thoughts later." — Wei Jin chatted with each of the Four Heavenly Kings for a while, fulfilling a childhood wish, then chatted with Zhou Xun and Huang Xiaoming for a few moments. Just as he was planning to head to another circle, Liu Shishi walked over.

Wei Jin hadn't seen the young girl in a long time, and his face showed some delight.

"Shishi, why didn't you tell me you were coming?"

"What's the use of telling you? Can you accompany me tonight?"

It was the first time Liu Shishi had shown such a resentful expression in front of Wei Jin, which left the latter momentarily at a loss for what to do.

"Shishi, it's my fault for not being able to visit you on set. After some time passes, I'll properly spend a few days with you, okay?"

Sensing that no one was paying attention, Wei Jin leaned close to the young girl and gently squeezed her small hand; he had indeed been neglecting his own 'little fish' lately.

There was no help for it; a person's time is limited, and Wei Jin was no exception.

When he allocated a large amount of time to women with whom he had more intimate relationships, it was naturally unavoidable that other women would be neglected.

Although he had no intention of keeping all the women for himself, he was still very satisfied with the young girl before him.

"Do you think I'm that unreasonable? Of course I know you're busy."

Liu Shishi had been having a very hard time lately; she had tried to forget this man, but she couldn't.

Although Miss Cai and her Assistant Xiao Tao had been counseling her for a long time, she didn't want it to be just a resource exchange; she wanted to know an answer.

"I just want to know, in your heart, is there really a place for me?"

At this moment, Wei Jin understood that the young girl before him was serious, but unfortunately, he could no longer talk about feelings.

In the past, he might have blurted out "Yes," but now that he had children, he was unwilling to incur any more emotional debts. A simple resource exchange was better for both of them.

"Shishi, I..."

"President Wei, Shishi, you're both here~~"

The appearance of Miss Cai interrupted what Wei Jin was about to say.

"President Wei, thank you for the opportunities you've given Shishi and Hu Ge."

As she spoke, she seemed to notice that the state of the two was off; Miss Cai moved closer to Liu Shishi without a trace and gently pinched her arm.

"President Cai is too kind. Shishi seems a bit unwell; you should take good care of her. I'll take my leave now..."

As the words fell, tears were already hanging at the corners of Liu Shishi's eyes.

Wei Jin naturally noticed it too; his departing footsteps paused, but a moment later they returned to normal, leaving only his back reflected in Liu Shishi's eyes—simply tidying up his mood, Wei Jin was surrounded by a group of directors again. With the rise of the domestic box office ceiling, many directors were also seeking to transform.

"We are here to learn today. Commercial films are not easy to handle, but this is the general trend."

Jia Kezhang and quite a few art-house directors all hoped to see how Wei Jin managed to make a name for himself with commercial films.

"Commercial films, as the name implies, are about business; they require box office, they require the audience to pay. What needs to be studied is the preferences of the audience. For example, comedy—I don't think anyone would refuse something that makes them happy. If you all really want to transform, you might as well think about which types of emotions are easy for the audience to resonate with and are popular."

It was a rare opportunity for Wei Jin to communicate with these people, and he didn't mind offering some pointers. After all, the domestic market couldn't prosper by relying on him alone.

As for whether these people could grasp it, that was not his concern.

With the conversations happening all over the venue, time passed very quickly.

Staff members had already come to remind everyone that it was about to start, and the people at the venue returned to their seats one after another.

The arrangement of seats is always the most cautious matter in such occasions.

Wei Jin and Jing Tian were naturally sitting in the first row, with the heads of major film companies and big directors on the sides.

The second row consisted of companies that were relatively weaker but still had some influence in the circle, such as Tangren, Xiaoma Pentium, and a few top-tier big-name movie stars, such as the Four Heavenly Kings.

The third row was for first-line film and television stars, such as the Four Dan Actresses and the Four Young Dan.

Yang Mi sat in the third row this time, a big improvement from before. She was very satisfied. Although she was ranked last among the Four Dan Actresses, she believed that having secured *Brotherhood of Blades 2* and having made a connection with Wei Jin, sitting in the front row was just around the corner.

Liu Shishi sat alone in the fourth row, her mood somewhat low at this time.

With the appearance of the host Liu Yan, the premiere officially began.

"Hello everyone, I am today's host, Liu Yan. Next, let's invite the crew of *Lucy*—Wei Jin, Jing Tian... to make a shining entrance!"

At Liu Yan's invitation, Wei Jin led the cast and crew onto the stage.

"Clap, clap, clap, clap..."

Inside the venue of over a thousand people, applause came from all directions.

The cast and crew were no strangers to the premiere process; after getting on stage, they chatted very openly with the host.

Soon, reporters began to ask questions, with the main topic given to Jing Tian, as she was the only female lead today.

"Tian Tian, do you think this movie is any different from the previous ones?"

"I was very nervous while filming, and now that the movie is about to be released, I'm even more nervous. After all, it's my first time starring in a movie, and I'm really the only lead. I'm always thinking about the box office..."

After Jing Tian finished speaking, she smiled a bit shyly.

Kind laughter also came from the venue. It was indeed true; starring as the female lead for the first time in a female-led movie would inevitably bring some pressure.

Looking at the slightly 'humble-bragging' Jing Tian on stage, the many female stars off-stage had different thoughts.

Yang Mi looked forward to the day she could replace her, while Liu Shishi wondered why she hadn't met Wei Jin first; perhaps the ending would be different then? After the interview ended, it was the most important part of the premiere.

Everyone was looking forward to seeing what the 80-million-investment sci-fi action film, a female-led movie directed by Wei Jin, would actually be like.

Although they had already seen the promotional trailer, many bad domestic films had already worn that trick out; it was hard to judge without seeing the full film.

Soon the lights dimmed, and as a familiar piece of music began to play, the film officially started screening. Wishing everyone a Happy Spring Festival! The Spring Festival is more than half over; I will resume updates tomorrow!

(End of this chapter)