Chapter 498: I can stop anytime, I

Early morning, the faint morning sunlight shone through the floor-to-ceiling windows into the room, waking Wei Jin's biological clock.

Feeling the weight on his arm, Wei Jin turned his head slightly, and his eyes were met with a mass of dark, straight hair.

Five months into her pregnancy, Gao Yuanyuan could only sleep on her side, and to avoid hurting the child after falling into a deep sleep, Wei Jin was hugging her from behind.

Pregnant women are prone to sleepiness, so Wei Jin didn't wake Gao Yuanyuan. Instead, he hugged the beauty's increasingly plump waist, buried his face in her hair to take a deep breath, and quietly felt the beauty of the morning.

After a moment of intimacy, Wei Jin slowly pulled out his arm, which had gone a bit numb, but he didn't expect it to wake the beauty from her spring slumber.

Gao Yuanyuan slowly moved her body and looked at Wei Jin's handsome face.

"Mm~~ Xiao Jin, what time is it?"

Wei Jin smiled slightly, cupped the beauty's pretty face, which was full of mature charm like a peach, kissed her, and said gently:

"Yuan Yuanjie, it's almost 9 o'clock. Let's go downstairs for breakfast once you're awake."

"Hmm, help me up."

"Alright, take it slow."

After washing up, Wei Jin helped Gao Yuanyuan downstairs and saw Huang Mengying and Zeng Li already sitting at the dining table.

"Li Jie, Mengying, good morning."

Wei Jin greeted them and continued to help Gao Yuanyuan walk forward.

"Mengying, you must have slept very well last night, right?"

Looking at Huang Mengying's radiant and dripping-with-charm appearance, Gao Yuanyuan winked at her and teased.

Gao Yuanyuan had no objections to the assistant by Wei Jin's side; after all, this man had boundless energy, and rather than letting those wild bees and butterflies outside swarm him, it was better to have someone she knew well serve him.

Moreover, over these past few days, Huang Mengying had taken meticulous care of her and had basically become a member of her harem group.

"Yes, it was quite good, thank you for your concern, Yuan Yuanjie."

After expressing her gratitude with a double entendre, Huang Mengying stood up to help Gao Yuanyuan pull out her chair and invited her to be seated.

"By the way, where is Feihong Jie?" Gao Yuanyuan asked curiously.

"Still washing up."

"Huh, why is she so late today?"

Gao Yuanyuan didn't notice that Wei Jin's expression was a bit strange at this moment.

Ever since his body was modified by the Golden Finger, Wei Jin's physical indicators had improved comprehensively, and his sense of smell was particularly sharp.

When he left Huang Mengying's room last night, he smelled a scent that didn't belong to any of the three women at the table, and he had a slight guess in his heart.

You have to know that whether it was the bodyguards or the nannies, they all had their own dedicated rooms; it was impossible for them to come to Huang Mengying's side in the middle of the night.

Although he knew this kind of thing was a bit outrageous, after excluding all the wrong answers, there was only one truth left.

While he was pondering, he saw Yu Feihong, who had finished washing up and was bare-faced, walk over.

She looked at the few people at the table, and her expression was a bit unnatural, but she quickly controlled it, and a smile appeared on her face.

"Everyone is quite early today."

Gao Yuanyuan didn't notice anything unusual and laughed, teasing: "Feihong Jie, it's not early, it's already past 9 o'clock. You're usually not like this. What were you doing last night?"

Yu Feihong's heart skipped a beat, but her face remained unchanged, and she kept the corners of her mouth upturned.

"Oh, I received a few calls from the country last night, so I slept a bit late."

In fact, she had almost been leaning against the wall when she went back last night. Fortunately, Wei Jin and Huang Mengying had lingered for a while longer, otherwise, she definitely would have been discovered.

Thinking about it now, Yu Feihong blushed a little. How could she have been so possessed? "I see. Then Feihong Jie, hurry up and have breakfast."

"Hmm, alright."

Yu Feihong responded and sat down, but occasionally glancing at Wei Jin's handsome face, all sorts of messy thoughts would pop into her head. After breakfast, Wei Jin and Zeng Li waved goodbye to everyone, and after meeting up with Cheng Long, they began the day's itinerary.

Today they would participate in a talk show in Los Angeles, then head to San Francisco, 600 kilometers away, for another small press conference.

At this moment, Wei Jin and the others were in the studio of the Los Angeles TV station.

But Wei Jin didn't expect that the host this time would actually be the same Black guy who was a fanboy of Brother Cheng Long back in the day (appeared in Chapter 57).

This made him sigh at the mysterious nature of fate.

As expected, meeting an old friend, the thirty-something Black brother was also very happy, especially since Cheng Long was there this time, making him even more excited.

Right from the start, he began chatting with his idol Cheng Long about the latter's various films, *Rumble in the Bronx*, *The Tuxedo*, and the *Rush Hour* series, which he could recite like a family treasure.

When he got excited, this guy even wanted to perform Cheng Long's classic movie stunts on the spot.

This guy had even watched quite a few Chinese films, such as *Project A* and *Shinjuku Incident*, making him a hardcore fan.

Brother Cheng was also quite impressive; he was actually able to chat very well with this hip-hop-style host, and he could even keep up with various humorous jokes that Wei Jin found incredibly awkward.

However, this guy still had some professional ethics and knew that they were here for the promotion of *Gravity*. After chatting for nearly half an hour, he finally got to the point.

"Wei, your films have always been quite popular in North America, but as far as I know, this is your first time bringing the main creative team to North America for promotion. Why is that?"

"You should know that *Inception* was my script. I gave the script to Nolan at the time, but I didn't expect the global box office to exceed 1 billion USD."

Speaking of this, Wei Jin pretended to be heartbroken and spread his hands: "You know, my best result so far, *The Martian*, is only half of his box office." The host played the role of the straight man well, revealing Wei Jin's next point.

"So, Wei, are you planning to hit a global box office of 1 billion USD with this *Gravity*?"

"Of course, this is the admission ticket for a top global commercial director, and I also hope to become one of them!"

Wei Jin didn't shy away at all. Westerners don't care for subtlety; being wild and arrogant makes one seem more real.

Currently, there are fewer than 10 directors worldwide who have achieved a single-film box office of 1 billion, and most of them have benefited from the dividends of series films or superhero themes.

Only a few people like Cameron, Spielberg, Lucas, and Nolan have truly pioneered the 1 billion USD box office achievement.

If Wei Jin could achieve this, he would undoubtedly become the number one person in Chinese commercial film.

"But can a Chinese film also achieve such an achievement?"

Looking at the host's white teeth, Wei Jin looked slightly serious.

"Hey, John, arrogance is not a good virtue. The Chinese film market has become the second-largest box office market in the world, and the ceiling for a single film is approaching 300 million USD. Even if there are language limitations, I believe that a good film will definitely be globally accessible."

The Black guy John shrugged: "Alright, Wei, you are a magical director, maybe you can really create a miracle. Then next, let's talk about interesting things during the creation process."

Domestically, the curtain for the New Year film season officially opened.

The first film to be released, *Life of Pi*, completely ignited the enthusiasm of the New Year season. After one week of release, the box office was already approaching 300 million.

This number made all the New Year season films envious and also made them look forward to the market even more, because the cake behind it was even bigger.

Look, at the premiere of *Back to 1942*, Feng Dapao was full of confidence in the film. Facing the reporter's question about box office expectations, he directly stated: "From the agreement signed between *Back to 1942* and the cinema chains, everyone can see the confidence and determination of myself and the two Wang Chairmen. We are aiming for 1 billion this time, with no cap. The higher the hope, the better, and we will also launch an assault on the domestic film box office record."

And at the premiere of *The Last Supper* held on the same day, Lu Chuan was not to be outdone, directly making a bold statement to the media:

"*The Last Supper* is a true epic historical blockbuster. The audience can be completely immersed in the era of the late Qin and early Han dynasties and the Chu-Han Contention, witnessing the magnificent real history!"

"The goal of 300 million set at the beginning now seems too conservative. Our goal is not *White Vengeance* from a year ago, but the blockbusters of this year's New Year season, *Back to 1942*, *Gravity*, and to become the king of the New Year season!"

"Currently, there are action films, sci-fi films, fantasy adventure films, and even martial arts films with a domestic box office of over 1 billion, so why can't there be a historical film? What we want to do is make *The Last Supper* the first historical film with a box office of over 1 billion!"

The media was excited; this was the gunpowder smell that the New Year season should have.

Ever since Wei Jin brought the domestic film box office into the 1-billion era and created a new record, 1 billion had become the admission ticket for top domestic commercial directors.

Especially for big-budget films, almost all of them would set this number as the final goal during the promotional period.

It felt a bit like, "If Wei Jin can do it, and Shanhe Media can do it, then I can do it too."

However, slogans were shouted, and the market would give the final answer.

On Wei Jin's side, after settling the North American western ticket warehouse cities—Los Angeles and San Francisco—he took Zeng Li, Cheng Long, and their respective assistants and set off for the east.

Next, there were three or four more economically developed or populous ticket warehouse cities, such as Chicago and New York, waiting for them to develop.

But he didn't expect that just after arriving at the hotel in Chicago, he would receive a transoceanic call from the country.

"Hello, Lao Zhao?"

"President Wei, the document is out. After more than 5 months, it's finally our turn, hahaha."

Across the phone, Wei Jin could feel Zhao Feng's joy. Of course, he felt much the same.

Therefore, Lu Chuan's "sincere killer move" of self-exposure and crying didn't play any role. On the third day, the box office didn't rise but fell, reporting 8.21 million, and on the fourth day, it fell below 8 million.

They had already completed the review as early as May this year, and now they had finally completed the last step and were about to be listed, becoming the first cinema line stock in the country.

After nearly a year of hard work, how could they not be joyful to see the harvest?

"Has the bell-ringing time been set?"

"Yes, it's set, December 18th. Does President Wei have time to attend?"

Wei Jin thought for a moment and gave his answer.

"It should be no problem."

After chatting for a while longer, Wei Jin hung up the phone, his emotions still a bit excited.

Although with his current net worth, the valuation of Shanhe Cinema Line of over 10 billion, or even the market value of tens of billions after listing, might not necessarily catch his eye.

But the achievement of personally building a listed company was truly fascinating.

"Next, it depends on the Star Company and Shanhe Technology."

Watching Wei Jin muttering to himself, Zeng Li walked over like a gentle wife.

"Xiao Jin, congratulations."

Zeng Li didn't know much about Wei Jin's business affairs, but as long as her man was happy, she was happy.

"Li Jie, such a joyful thing, we must celebrate well tonight. Are you ready?"

Just as Wei Jin and Zeng Li were playing poker, inside Beverly Hills, Yu Feihong was comforting herself.

Ever since she eavesdropped the night before, whenever the night was quiet, Yu Feihong felt as if a pair of big hands were wantonly caressing her lonely body of many years, making it hard to resist.

A forty-year-old woman was no stranger to self-soothing, but as soon as she thought of the object of her fantasy being her best friend's man, Yu Feihong felt incomparable shame.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 499 =====