Chapter 379: Brothers Turned Sister and Brother: Jing Tian's Troubles

As time entered the latter part of December, the films set to be released in the second half of the New Year Slot also entered a frantic promotional phase, and *Flying Swords of Dragon Gate* was no exception.

The power of the seven major production companies was beyond doubt; online and offline, there was almost nothing but promotional information for *Flying Swords of Dragon Gate*, and several trailers had already been released long ago.

Unlike the pure image of the fox spirit Xiao Wei in the *Painted Skin* series, this time Zhou Xun appeared somewhat rugged, yet possessed a bit more dash and spirit.

Chen Kun, who was collaborating with Zhou Xun for the second time, was the same; shedding his armor and embodying the eunuch Yu Huatian, he directly interpreted the beauty of feminine softness to the fullest.

Equally outstanding was the male lead played by Li Lianjie; although he was no longer young, the moment he appeared on screen, he brought back a flood of memories for the audience.

The remaining supporting roles also had their own highlights, especially Gu Shaotang played by Wan Qian, who was both beautiful and dashing while dressed in men's clothing.

Xu Laoguai held high hopes for this film; at over sixty years old, he was still personally leading the main cast to run promotions.

It was no wonder he was anxious; compared to the other directors signed with Shanhe Media, Xu Laoguai's seniority was definitely the highest, but as things stood, his results were already nearing the bottom.

"Director Xu, no need to be nervous; our film's box office will definitely be something to talk about."

Seeming to have sensed Xu Laoguai's thoughts, Zhou Xun couldn't help but comfort him while waiting for the program recording.

"Hmm, I am confident in the quality of the film, it's just a pity that the schedule overlaps with *Mojin: The Lost Legend* for half a month."

Xu Laoguai didn't finish his sentence, but the entire cast understood what he meant; it was true, although the New Year Slot could accommodate two blockbusters, everyone knew the benefits of dominating the schedule alone.

"There's no helping it; come to think of it, this year's New Year Slot is already quite good, at least there aren't big directors crowding in together."

Li Lianjie chimed in; truth be told, he hadn't been very happy on set during filming, but he was acting quite proactive at this moment, as he knew he was the one carrying the box office, and if the results weren't ideal, he would be the first to take the blame.

It was also an opportunity to use the promotion to repair his relationship with the seven major production companies.

"Hmm, that's true; one shouldn't force perfection in everything, this schedule is already quite good."

Xu Laoguai nodded, acknowledging Li Lianjie's point, then looked at Zhou Xun.

"Speaking of which, what are your thoughts on filming in Hollywood this time? Is it much different from our filming?"

"Hi, I already told the media before; in *Cloud Atlas*, I was just making a cameo. The scenes were shot sporadically, and I didn't even film for two weeks in total, so I don't have any deep impressions."

Zhou Xun expressed this quite generously, but then looked a bit troubled.

"Director Xu, how are the subsequent roadshows arranged? After New Year's Day, I have to head over to *The Great Magician*."

Xu Laoguai nodded upon hearing this; that film was produced by Bona and directed by Er Dongsheng, a comedy scheduled for January 12th, which did have a certain competitive relationship with *Flying Swords of Dragon Gate*.

"We will probably have roadshows for a week; you can just head to Hong Kong in advance when the time comes."

Xu Laoguai didn't take it to heart whether Zhou Xun could attend the entire roadshow; after all, the power of the seven major production companies was there, and the early promotion was already powerful enough.

"Alright, everyone take a break; we'll be going on stage in a bit."

After saying this, Xu Laoguai leaned back on the sofa and closed his eyes to rest; Li Lianjie, beside him, was much the same, as both of them were getting on in years.

However, Chen Kun and Zhou Xun were in their prime; the two had known each other for many years and hadn't met in a long time, so naturally, they had plenty to talk about and began chatting in low voices to the side.

"Brother Xun, did you see the Wachowski siblings when you were filming this time? Did the older brother really change his gender?"

"I saw them, it's true."

Seeming to recall what she saw on set, Zhou Xun shivered, then looked at her good buddy Chen Kun's handsome face, a playful look appearing on her face.

"Kun, with your looks, you might just be Lana Wachowski's type; do you want me to help you get in touch with her? Hahaha."

Although they were quite familiar, Chen Kun was still rendered speechless by Zhou Xun; she didn't look like a Golden Horse Best Actress at all, and he could only sigh helplessly.

"With you like this, who would dare to marry you in the future."

Since *Red Cliff*, Wu Baige had been silent for nearly four years, rarely appearing in the public eye.

Wei Jin remembered the last time he saw news related to him was when that film *Reign of Assassins* from Xiaoma was released, and Wu Baige came out to promote it as the producer.

But he didn't expect that after being silent for a few years, this guy would start a big project as soon as he came out.

"Master of violent aesthetics Wu Baige will spend one to two years preparing an Eastern version of *Titanic*; he is currently raising funds in Mainland China, and it has been confirmed that Golden Horse Best Actress Zhang Ziyi will join."

Once the news broke, the internet immediately became lively.

"It seems there were rumors a few years ago that he was going to film this; it's finally settled now."

"Benchmarking *Titanic*, is Director Wu going to make another blockbuster?"

Honestly, this gimmick was indeed quite sufficient and very eye-catching to the public.

Wei Jin estimated that there must be a large number of production companies and artists in the circle eyeing this project right now.

The former were naturally concerned about whether they could invest or participate, while the latter cared about when it would start, whether there would be open casting, and if they could get a role.

Wei Jin felt a bit of anticipation; who would be the sucker to fall for it this time? After all, the film *The Crossing* was quite a pitfall.

In the film market, *Mojin: The Lost Legend* continued to forge ahead.

As of now, after one week of release, the box office had already neared the 400 million mark, and the single-day box office still maintained a high level of 40 million, which could be said to have blinded the eyes of the industry.

At the same time, overseas box office figures were also being summarized one after another.

Taiwan reported 28 million, Hong Kong reported 19 million, Japan reported 7.8 million USD, South Korea reported 5.5 million USD... across the entire Southeast Asia region, after one week of release, the cumulative box office was 26 million USD.

Compared to Wei Jin's results of hundreds of millions of USD, this result seemed a bit thin, but one had to know that Wei Jin was just an exception.

Under normal circumstances, domestic directors didn't have much success with overseas box office; even for the sequel to the hit film *Painted Skin 2*, the overseas box office was only 40 million USD over the entire screening period.

Following the trend of *Mojin: The Lost Legend*, after a one-month screening period, the overseas box office was very likely to break through 60 or 70 million USD; it was definitely a successful case of Chinese-language films heading overseas.

For a time, many industry peers were green with envy; one had to know that this film was fully invested and produced by Shanhe Media, which was a huge profit.

More importantly, *Mojin: The Lost Legend* clearly followed the path of a series; the original work had a full eight volumes, so there was no telling how much more would be earned later.

At this moment, Han Sanping was very regretful; if he had known it would have these results, he would have shamelessly pushed to get a share.

"But this kid is not easy to deal with now; what method should I think of?"

Sitting behind his desk, Han Sanping muttered to himself, then fell into deep thought.

Wei Jin didn't know what bad tricks Han was brewing; after leaving the company, he arrived at Dongshanshu.

He saw Jing Tian in the garden holding a stack of materials, reading very seriously, humming to herself from time to time. Wei Jin didn't speak, quietly came to the girl's side, and took a peek; it turned out to be lyrics, and he understood, secretly saying to himself: "The little girl is quite diligent."

Jing Tian naturally couldn't fail to notice Wei Jin's arrival, but she was memorizing lyrics at the moment and didn't want to be distracted.

It was just like when counting; if someone interrupts, you lose track of where you were counting.

Wei Jin could understand this, so he sat quietly by her side, smelling the faint, delicate fragrance on the girl.

After a good while, Wei Jin saw Jing Tian put down the documents and only then did he speak to ask.

"How is the concert preparation going?"

Jing Tian turned her head to look at Wei Jin, a trace of helplessness appearing on her charming and lovely face, looking somewhat distressed.

"Brother, I'm starting to regret it; it feels so difficult."

Wei Jin couldn't help but smile, but he could also understand.

A concert is different from a recording studio, much like the difference between a live broadcast and a recorded broadcast of a television program.

When recording, no matter what situation arises, it can be made to look incredibly smooth through post-production editing, or in an extreme case, one can simply start over and record it again; but with a live broadcast, it is very easy to have a disaster.

By the same token, in a recording studio, whether one sings off-key, the emotion is not quite right, or the lyrics are wrong, it can all be redone; plus, with the help of a million-dollar The Piano Tuner, even if you dragged a dog in there, you could turn it into a canine superstar.

But a concert is different; whether it is the sound equipment or the atmosphere at the venue, the requirements for the performer are extremely high, and it is a huge challenge in terms of vocal technique, emotion, skill, memory, and even physical stamina.

Many so-called Singers sound like they have a nice voice and steady breathing on their records, as if they have outstanding vocal skills and extraordinary ability.

But in reality, it is all polished over and over again; when it actually comes to the concert stage, they basically die on arrival.

Even for many professional Singers, it is not uncommon to see examples of them failing at a live concert.

Therefore, to judge whether a Singer has real ability, just look at their live concert performance, and it is basically clear.

As a Singer who did not come from a professional background, although Jing Tian has been improving her singing techniques and training her breathing rhythm over these years, facing her first concert, it is inevitable that she would be worried.

"There's no way around it; the news has already been released by President Lu's side, so we can't just cancel it now, right?"

Wei Jin pulled the girl onto his lap, reached out to cup her pretty face, and spoke to comfort her.

"Tian Tian, there are still more than two months left, prepare slowly; I believe you can do it well, you need to have confidence in yourself, okay?"

Listening to the man's encouragement, Jing Tian nodded solemnly; she was not someone who gave up easily, she was just venting to someone close to her because she couldn't help it when facing difficulties, which is only human nature.

"Mm, Brother, I will prepare well."

The two of them were lovey-dovey for a while longer, then the nanny came out to remind them that dinner was ready.

Inside the bedroom, on the snow-white bed, a pair of naked people were rolling about.

Although Beijing in December was already quite cold, under the influence of the heating and the intense exercise, both of them were already slightly sweating.

Jing Tian's delicate, fair, and pretty face was already covered in an alluring flush, and her pair of snow-white lotus-root arms were dangling off the edge of the bed, drifting with the tide.

Wei Jin propped the girl's pair of alluring, slender, and beautiful legs on his shoulders, one hand supporting the girl's slender waist, and the other firmly grasping her breasts.

Relying on these two leverage points, the speed of Wei Jin's card-playing was both fast and strong.

At one particular moment, Jing Tian grabbed the man's arms and let out bursts of murmurs.

"Brother~~~ Brother~~~ It's coming, it's coming."

Seeing this, Wei Jin no longer suppressed himself, and accompanied by a low roar, he ended this round of the poker tournament.

After a good while, Jing Tian finally came back to her senses from the clouds, her pretty face as bright as peach blossoms, indescribably charming and lovely.

Choosing a comfortable position, Jing Tian leaned lazily into Wei Jin's embrace, enjoying the time that belonged solely to the two of them.

Wei Jin held the girl's milky-white breasts with one hand and rubbed her smooth back with the other, taking the opportunity to chat about the previous topic.

"By the way, Tian Tian, have you considered the guests for the concert?"

Generally speaking, when a Singer holds a concert, they will invite guests to help out, and the number of people invited is not necessarily small; firstly, it is to take a break and adjust their state midway, and secondly, it is to use the fame of the concert guests to sell tickets.

Only a very small number of Singers with strong appeal and ability, who are incomparably confident in themselves, will choose to go it alone the whole way.

"Not yet, currently I have invited Zhang Bichen and Yao Beina."

Hearing this, Wei Jin nodded, remembering the somewhat shy woman he had seen at the annual meeting last year.

Zhang Bichen was the champion of Wang Fei's team on last year's The Voice, signed with the company together with Jike Junyi, released an album in the middle of this year, and also sang the OSTs for several of the company's TV dramas; her popularity was quite high, and her ability was also good.

Come to think of it, The Voice has signed quite a few Singers over the years, but there are only a few who can truly sing live.

However, Jing Tian's concert this time is not just one show, but a total of 6 shows nationwide, and Wei Jin felt that it would be better to have more guests.

"Feel free to pick any of the company's signed Singers; besides, it would be best to add a few male guests. How about Li Jian and Huang Bai? Or if you think any guests from The Voice or Masked Singer are suitable, you can also suggest them."

Jing Tian was somewhat moved upon hearing this, but then felt a bit uncertain.

"But would they be willing to come?"

Wei Jin understood Jing Tian's worry; generally speaking, there is no pay for concert guests, and unless the relationship is particularly close, others might not necessarily show up to support.

However, this little girl clearly underestimated the influence of Starlight Splendid and Shanhe Media.

"Silly girl, if you don't look at the monk, look at the Buddha; and you don't need them to run to every show, as long as their schedules don't conflict, it will absolutely be no problem. If you are worried, just make a list and leave it to me to handle."

Since his woman finally had a hobby, Wei Jin didn't want her to be discouraged and wanted to help her make this concert a brilliant success.

"Mm, Brother, thank you, mua."

Wei Jin took the opportunity to hold the girl on his lower abdomen, a playful look on his face.

"Tian Tian, just a verbal thank you is very insincere."

Jing Tian rolled her beautiful eyes at the man and slowly lowered her fair swan-like neck.

"Oh~~~ Tian Tian is truly amazing."

(End of this chapter)