Chapter 447: Insufficient Enlightenment, Partying in Broad Daylight

The Summer Slot seems to have suddenly heated up; as the first weekend of July ended, entertainment news was entirely filled with content related to a few films.

"In its fourth week of release, *Pacific Rim* continues to charge ahead, raking in 78.8 million over the two-day weekend, with total box office crossing 1.203 billion; only one week of screening time remains!"

"With a cumulative box office of 238 million in the fourth week, *Pacific Rim* needs to take in 297 million in its final week. Judging by the current decline in data, the goal of 1.5 billion looks bleak."

"*The Four* saw pleasing box office growth over the two-day weekend, capturing 49.6 million, with cumulative box office nearing the 70 million mark; the spring of martial arts films has arrived."

"*Dawangdang* encountered a Waterloo, with abysmal word-of-mouth and a first-week box office of less than 30 million."

"The battle for the top spot at Starry Sky Culture, Bai Bin vs. Yang Mi, the outcome is already set!"

Coincidentally, as the film market heated up, the television drama market also began to get lively.

That *Xuan-Yuan Sword* from Tangren has started airing on Mango TV.

Thanks to Miss Cai's vigorous promotion and the drawing power of Hu Ge and Liu Shishi in xianxia dramas, the drama's premiere data was quite eye-catching, with an average viewership rating of 1.78 for the first four episodes and a 7.88% audience share, directly parachuting to first place nationwide for the same period.

However, perhaps because the drama only has 36 episodes, Mango TV chose a weekly broadcast format, airing four episodes every week, which will take a full two months to finish; a large number of fans and viewers are complaining online.

I have to say, Mango TV's way of doing things is truly a bit unsightly.

It is worth mentioning that although the newcomer Rouba has not yet appeared in the drama, there has been no shortage of related press releases during this time.

It is clear that Miss Cai intends to build her into a "new star."

It's just that Wei Jin doesn't know what Miss Cai is thinking, actually benchmarking Rouba against Nazha and shouting the slogan "North Xinjiang Twin Pearls."

Unfortunately, since *Passengers* and *Eastern Palace*, Nazha has already gained a massive amount of popularity, and with the fourth season of *Keep Running* currently airing, the title of "Stupid Beauty" has taken root in people's hearts, and her national recognition is quite astonishing.

Currently, Nazha's Weibo followers have already broken the five-million mark; calling her a popular young star is no exaggeration, so how could she be compared to Rouba, a transparent newcomer who just debuted? Unsurprisingly, as soon as Tangren's press release came out, there was a lot of mockery online, pointlessly attracting a lot of hate for Rouba.

Even Liu Shishi couldn't help but call Wei Jin to complain.

"K Jie is really too unreliable, she only knows how to hype things blindly."

Liu Shishi herself had such an experience; when she first debuted, she was labeled as "Little Liu Yifei," and even with Wei Jin's help, she hasn't been able to completely tear off that label yet; perhaps she will only be able to get rid of it completely after *Witch* becomes a big hit.

"That's why I want you to go out and work on your own. In the future, keep the promotion and everything else in your own hands; don't let her mess things up. Also, Shishi, you must take care of your health when you go out for promotions; the weather is too hot lately, you know?"

"Mm, I will be careful, Brother, it's just that I miss you so much."

"Hehe, I miss you too. When you finish this busy period, I will spend some time with you properly."

"Mm."

After chatting about sweet nothings for a while longer, Wei Jin, under Lu Yang's surprised gaze, kept his expression unchanged and continued to bury himself in editing.

Wu Ershan cares very much about his transition work, having spent more than two months studying the script and pondering the storyboards.

Now he finally feels confident and has brought them to Shanhe Ink to find Wei Jin.

Flipping through the thick A4 paper in his hands, Wei Jin nodded.

"It can be considered standard and solid. I don't have any suggestions; just go ahead with this."

It's not that these storyboards are flawless, but within Wu Ershan's capabilities, it is already good enough; after all, storytelling is his weakness, and he has already made great progress.

If he really followed Wei Jin's suggestions, then would this be his film, or Wu Ershan's film? "Okay, President Wei, then regarding the actors, do you have any suggestions?"

"Hmm, for the female lead, give it to Fan Bingbing; for the rest, you can choose them yourself."

After pondering for a moment, Wei Jin gave his answer.

Honestly, the two male actors from the original version were both quite good, but since the female lead had already been designated, Wei Jin didn't want to take on everything.

"Okay, President Wei."

Wu Ershan had no objections; *Pacific Rim* is currently a big hit, and Fan Bingbing's status has further improved, so casting her as the female lead would still be a great boost to the film, which is undoubtedly helpful for his own transition.

In the afternoon, Shanhe Media officially announced the project information and sent the casting requirements to major companies in the industry.

"Film: *The Devotion of Suspect X*; Total investment: 100 million; Producers: Shanhe Media, China Film Group, Wanda Pictures; Director: Wu Ershan; Screenwriter: Shanhe Media Screenwriting Department; Female Lead: Fan Bingbing; Other actors: To be determined."

The eyes of the circle immediately shifted over; after all, the news that this script had passed censorship had been out for more than a month, and it was finally about to start.

But seeing that the female lead had been decided, many actresses were gnashing their teeth in hatred, to the point of their Dao hearts shattering.

They really couldn't understand what was so good about that vixen Fan Bingbing? Even if they are partners, they shouldn't be propping her up like this, right?

However, for the male actors, it was a huge blessing, and many began to take action.

For a time, a large number of resumes drifted toward Shanhe Media like snowflakes. Time entered mid-July; in the film market, *Pacific Rim* still maintained a huge lead, with a single-day box office nearing 30 million.

But seeing that it was about to end its run and the Extended Key had not yet been obtained, the three major producers were all a bit anxious; the media generally looked down on it, and a small number even began to mock it, while many industry peers also seemed to be waiting to see a joke.

That film *The Four* from Enlight Media had a box office exceeding 100 million after five days of release, but the word-of-mouth showed polarization; the rating on Yinxiang Net had already dropped to 6.8, and there was a trend of further decline.

The single-day box office also dropped significantly, hovering only around 10 million on weekdays.

"Look at that pig flying in the sky": "The adaptation is very bold; Chen Jiashang's imagination is simply unrestrained. It's good."

"Irregular Imbalance": "Bai Bin's big-screen debut, the performance is quite good; it will definitely get better and better in the future!"

"Mo Wuchen": "The fight scenes are very exciting, not losing to the *Brotherhood of Blades* series."

"Blue Sky White Clouds Fine Rain Like a Painting": "Wu Qing becoming a woman and being set as the core character is simply unreasonable. Is this specifically to prop someone up? Adaptation is not blind fabrication."

"灬zz灬": "The film completely lost the core of the original work and turned into Gu Long's style. Chen Jiashang's level is not good; I suggest everyone not to go to the cinema."

If the situation of *The Four* with both praise and scolding could be described as polarized word-of-mouth, then *Dawangdang* was a direct collapse of word-of-mouth, with scolding everywhere.

"Langhuan Fengshi": "This kind of trash script, you couldn't write it even with your toes, right? There's actually a director who went to film it? It was a complete waste of my ticket money."

"Shifei Feihong": "Damn it, a treasure-hunting film, the whole time you just watch the male and female leads loving each other to death. A typical case of false advertising; a rotten film!"

"Z Egg's Sorrow Z": "A waste of Zhao Wenzhuo's Kung Fu foundation; the fight scenes are like a hammer. And Yang Mi, it's a martial arts film, are you just dancing and acting cute there?"

"Red packets are really hard to grab": "Yang Mi, I beg you, don't take such rotten films anymore." With such poor word-of-mouth, there was naturally no need to have high expectations for the film's box office; after five days of release, the box office was 33.8 million, but the single-day box office was already less than 3 million.

According to this rate of decline, the industry unanimously judged that the final box office of *Dawangdang* would likely not exceed 50 million.

At this moment, Yang Mi felt quite uncomfortable because the comments under her Weibo were already in an uproar.

Most of them were paid trolls; Yang Mi estimated that it was just something secretly stirred up by Miss Cai from Tangren and some competitors, and she didn't actually take it to heart.

But her own fans were also scolding her for not being competitive; clearly, it was a perfect start, but as a result, two films in a row flopped, which made her feel a bit broken.

"Mimi, don't overthink it; who could have known it would be like this? Just pull yourself together and get ready to join the crew."

Ceng Jia could only offer comfort; in fact, she felt a bit relieved in her heart.

Fortunately, Yang Mi had the foundation accumulated from the previous *Brotherhood of Blades 2* and *Love is Not Blind*, as well as the popularity gained from several hit television dramas, so she hadn't suffered any fundamental damage.

Otherwise, if another actor had been in her place, their market value would likely have dropped by a significant margin.

"Sigh, this is all we can do. Let's just look forward to Director Xue's *Beijing Meets Seattle*."

Yang Mi had selectively ignored *Bronze Sparrow Terrace*; she truly dared not doubt Wei Jin's judgment again.

Perhaps Yang Mi's prayers were effective; just as she had entered the crew of *Summer's Desire*, the Film Bureau announced that *Beijing Meets Seattle* had passed censorship.

Shanhe Media's official Weibo also immediately announced the film's release date to the public.

"Directed by Xue Xiaolu and starring Yu Hewei and Yang Mi, the urban romance film *Beijing Meets Seattle* is set for release on February 14, 2013. We look forward to bringing a beautiful love story to the audience on Valentine's Day."

Just as she was in the midst of recovering her momentum, how could Yang Mi miss this? She immediately reposted the company's Weibo, attaching behind-the-scenes photos she had taken during filming.

"Traveling between Beijing, Seattle, and Vancouver, covering over ten thousand kilometers, taking 66 days, and working through the Spring Festival, all to present the best work to the audience. Let us look forward to this beautiful love together. Fighting!"

Watching the increasing number of likes and the neatly arranged "Looking forward to it" comments under Yang Mi's Weibo, Miss Cai felt somewhat displeased.

Women are creatures easily influenced by emotions. Ever since she was stood up by Yang Mi, saying Miss Cai wished to "sleep on her skin and eat her flesh" might be an exaggeration, but she would absolutely never let go of an opportunity to kick someone when they were down.

Unfortunately, she dared not target her openly and could only resort to petty underhanded tactics, which, for the highly popular Yang Mi, were truly harmless.

Now, Miss Cai could only pin her hopes on Liu Shishi continuing to be favored and growing up to vent her pent-up anger for her.

Wei Jin had no time to pay attention to the infighting between Miss Cai and Yang Mi; he was happily playing cards with Liu Yifei at Xishan Villa.

On the snow-white bed, Wei Jin wrapped one hand around a pair of slender, beautiful legs pulled together against his chest, leaned his body slightly forward, and with his other hand, grasped the not-so-small orange cat in front, playing cards rapidly with excitement and mania.

Beneath him, Liu Yifei's face was flushed, her breathing was rapid, her forehead and the sides of her nose were already slightly sweaty, and her snow-white, lotus-root-like arms hung off the edge of the bed, drifting with the tide.

Clearly, she could not hold on for much longer.

At a certain moment, Liu Yifei felt a surge of power in her body; her legs tightened involuntarily, her waist and abdomen exerted a slight force, and her hands tightly wrapped around Wei Jin's neck, pulling the latter toward her and letting out a cry.

"Brother~~ it's coming, quickly~~~"

Hearing this, Wei Jin reached out to cup the girl's cheek and whispered in her ear, "Alright, baby, wait for me."

After speaking, Wei Jin leaned his body down, increasing the force and speed of his card playing.

About two or three minutes later, the two hugged each other tightly, feeling the final joy of this card game.

Sensing the girl in his arms gradually calming down, Wei Jin knew she had descended from the clouds, and he immediately rolled over to lean against the headboard.

"Brother, why did you come over in the middle of the day?"

"Hehe, the post-production is finished, and I'm in a very good mood, haha."

"Oh? Is there something happy? Tell me quickly."

Looking at the curiosity in the little girl's eyes, Wei Jin pulled her tighter into his embrace.

"Han Dong confirmed that the application for the extension of *Pacific Rim* has been approved."

"Really? That's great!"

Liu Yifei looked excited, clearly happy for Wei Jin. These days, some unscrupulous media outlets hadn't spared him their snide remarks; now let's see what they have to say.

But then she frowned again, "Brother, why did you have to make it so risky? Isn't it said that co-productions and domestic films are treated the same?"

Speaking of this, Wei Jin was also a bit speechless; this time, even Han Sanping's awareness hadn't reached the mark.

"It's different, Yifei. The leaders' considerations are different. According to Director Tong's meaning, if *Pacific Rim* itself cannot outperform *The Thieves* in results, then there's no need for an extension."

"Why? Does this have anything to do with it?"

Looking at the little girl's confused expression, Wei Jin could only explain carefully.

"Yifei, although *Pacific Rim* is a standard co-production, and one where the Chinese side holds the dominant position, at the end of the day, it is not a purely domestic film. To hand over the box office record just like that, it really is a bit difficult for the leaders."

Liu Yifei was, after all, clever; after Wei Jin explained it this way, she basically understood.

"So, Director Tong only went with the flow after seeing that breaking the record was a foregone conclusion?"

"Yes, if I had known this was the reason, I would have called Director Tong myself. Isn't it just a box office record? I guarantee I'll take it back in the second half of the year."

Outsiders might think Wei Jin was arrogant, but Liu Yifei felt it was only natural; her man was just that powerful.

"Mm, Brother, I believe in you, *Dixing Yinxing* will definitely be able to do it."

Hearing this, the corners of Wei Jin's mouth lifted slightly, and he took the opportunity to pull the girl to sit on his lower abdomen.

"Yifei, since that's the case, let's celebrate in advance, shall we?"

Feeling the heat coming from his hips, Liu Yifei bit her red lips lightly, gave a soft 'mm', and then, with her hands supporting herself on Wei Jin's chest, she took the initiative to sit into the card game.

"Oh~~~~"

Accompanied by the melodious singing, the new round of the poker tournament began again. (End of this chapter)