Chapter 297: A Rich Life

The New Year Slot in the film industry went cold; only two films emerged as winners: "Lost in Thailand" and "Chinese Zodiac," the latter earning over 800 million yuan at the box office.

All other films flopped, stirring not a ripple.

These two winning films were both produced by Huayi and Yutu.

The Spring Festival Slot usually lacks excitement.

But this year's Spring Festival Slot was ignited by "The Demonic Chronicles" and "Now You See Me."

We'll see how these two films perform next.

Yutu's "The Demonic Chronicles" has now made its behind-the-scenes investors so nervous they've had to ramp up propaganda and investment.

In its original timeline, the film's promotional budget was thirty million yuan; under Yutu's pressure, it rose to at least fifty million yuan, creating massive momentum.

Xing Ye himself traveled with his cast across TV stations and event venues, tirelessly promoting the film.

Substantial investment went into both online and offline promotion.

Meanwhile, the buzz around "Now You See Me" was suppressed, generating almost no water at all.

The best promotional strategy is to make the audience unaware of the rival film—not to trash-talk it.

This is normal: announcing the film's release was meant for Huayi's ears, not the audience's; whether the audience knows about it doesn't matter.

Thus, "Now You See Me" never gained much momentum.

Yutu might spend a few hundred thousand yuan on banners—that's about all they'll invest.

But Huayi's people, having been frightened by the Principal's previous moves, aren't sure what tricks he might pull or what hidden cards he holds.

This is exactly what Fang Hong wants: make them spend more money; as for "The Demonic Chronicles" box office, it's already set to succeed.

Honestly, this film's quality is solid!

Fang Hong only wants them to earn less, since the film market is only so big.

Amid all this chaos, time entered February; during this period, Fang Hong has been working nonstop, finalizing arrangements.

Many Yutu staff members have begun taking holidays, returning to work after the New Year.

Liu Tianxian has been visiting Fang Hong's home daily, accompanying Xu Liyun to buy New Year goods.

Xu Liyun doesn't drive and isn't familiar with Beijing's major malls and markets; in past years, she only bought groceries at the vegetable market—simple, everyday dishes.

This year, with Liu Tianxian accompanying her, she bought many things she'd never normally purchase, or even seen before: salmon, pufferfish, king crab, and more.

They also bought many dried fruits, candied snacks, fresh fruit, and treats like chocolate, fava beans, and pistachios.

They purchased tea and alcohol too: Pu'er, Longjing, red wine, and baijiu.

"This is too expensive; no one will drink it."

In a luxury mall, Xu Liyun held up a bottle of red wine, silently counting the price on the label: six digits—tens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands.

She swallowed hard—it was too extravagant; if she bought a few more bottles, she could afford a whole big house.

She and her son had never been this lavish!

"You don't have to drink it now—store it away. When a holiday comes, you can pull it out and drink it," Liu Tianxian said.

Xu Liyun thought buying food was more practical, but she didn't argue; these things were unnecessary for her, but perfectly normal for Liu Tianxian.

They were on entirely different consumption levels; she could only follow Liu Tianxian's lead and enjoy the benefits.

"Let's go look at clothes and jewelry—buy you some new outfits, and some for Fang Hong too," Liu Tianxian said, linking arms with her.

"The clothes you bought before are still enough to wear," Xu Liyun said.

"Those were bought ages ago—way outdated," Liu Tianxian recalled; they were from her trip to France, nearly a year ago.

Xu Liyun fell silent; this girl had been too kind to her and her son. In past years, she never acted like this before Spring Festival—never even sent gifts.

Lately, in many malls and markets, people have seen Liu Tianxian wearing a baseball cap, accompanying a middle-aged woman, with bodyguards and an assistant trailing behind.

She doesn't stop passersby from taking photos; she lets them do as they please.

Even if posted online, fans only notice Liu Tianxian—not Xu Liyun.

Ordinary people don't recognize her; they just guess she's a relative or friend. Besides, paparazzi photos are blurry.

Paparazzi shots are taken from afar, limited by lighting and hardware—mobile phone cameras simply aren't good enough to capture clear details.

Liu Tianxian goes every day; when she returns home, her mother scolds her: "Are you my daughter now, or someone else's?"

"Of course I'm your daughter!" Liu Tianxian giggled.

"You're never home—we haven't bought any New Year goods yet, and you're just waiting on others," Liu Xiaoli complained.

She'd seen the photos posted online by netizens—she'd finally seen her daughter's "mother-in-law."

"Oh come on, don't be mad—I'll accompany you tomorrow!" Liu Tianxian flung herself into her mother's arms, hugging her and pouting.

Liu Xiaoli's grudge melted away under her daughter's charm; she stroked her daughter's head: "What kind of person is Fang Hong's mother?"

"She's wonderful—very gentle."

Liu Tianxian's impression of Xu Liyun was that she never argued or competed; no matter what you said or did, even if she was dissatisfied internally, she wouldn't contradict you—she'd just go along with you.

Someone like that causes no conflict; she always yields. Liu Xiaoli nodded and asked her daughter: "Are you truly certain?"

"I am," Liu Tianxian stood straight.

"Your grandparents will arrive in Beijing in a few days—they'll spend the New Year here. Take Fang Hong to meet them," Liu Xiaoli said.

This was the agreement she and her daughter had made: let Fang Hong meet the elders; with their approval, their relationship would be solidified.

Marriage discussions could then proceed smoothly.

"Alright, I'll have him come," Liu Tianxian nodded.

She had made up her mind that night; they'd reached this point, the time span was sufficient, and his character had no major flaws.

Mutual understanding, mutual consideration, and emotional harmony—that was enough.

"Does his family have any other elders?" Liu Xiaoli asked.

"Fang Hong never talks much about this, and his mother hasn't mentioned anything to me—I'm not sure," Liu Tianxian shook her head.

"Could it be that his whole extended family is just the two of them, mother and son?" Liu Xiaoli said, surprised. There ought to be relatives of some kind; otherwise he'd be far too much of a lone soul.

"Probably not. I'll ask him when the time comes," Liu Tianxian said.

"Let me handle the communication with him. I'll use the chance to learn a bit too," Liu Xiaoli said.

When she communicates, keep it serious and formal.

Time passed quickly. "Star You" also welcomed its grand finale on February 4.

According to Yonhap News Agency: {Recently, the TV drama "My Love from the Star," starring Fan Xiaopang and Chen Xiao, welcomed a perfect ending with its highest viewership ratings.

According to data released on the 5th by Nielsen Korea, the nationwide average viewership rating for the final episode of "My Love from the Star," broadcast on the evening of the 4th, reached 28.1%, setting the highest record since the drama began airing. }

China News Service reported: {According to CSM35-city and CSM52-city data released on the 5th, the real-time peak viewership of episode 21 of "My Love from the Star" broke 8 during its broadcast that evening, setting the highest record in the history of domestic TV dramas over the past decade.

The average viewership rating was 2.98%, surpassing the previous "Palace's" 2.43%, making it the "Drama King of the 21st Century" to date. }

Previously, "Palace" caused a sensation for an entire year with its viewership ratings, making Da Mimi popular for a whole year. This drama will only be even more popular.

Even a certain top leader above, during a meeting, also chatted amusingly about this drama: "Recently I've been watching 'Star You' on and off. After watching for a while, I realized I get it now. What this TV drama talks about is just everyday family matters, just like the TV drama 'Yearning' back then. It precisely reflects a kind of traditional culture—a kind of return and sublimation after life becomes prosperous."

Not only China and South Korea, but Southeast Asia and other regions are also wildly popular.

It has become a phenomenal hit Chinese drama currently sweeping across Asia.

Even with the grand finale, the discussion heat of this TV drama shows no sign of declining; it remains high.

Bilibili and LeEco's on-demand views also broke through 830 million. If calculated at 3 yuan per on-demand view,

After removing fake on-demand views, this drama brought in at least several hundred million yuan in revenue just from on-demand alone.

The membership revenue it brought in may also exceed over a billion yuan, except Fang Hong made it free, with no membership on-demand.

This also caused Bilibili's brand awareness to surge greatly, with monthly active users breaking 100 million for the first time, benefiting many Up Masters on the platform.

More traffic means more views on videos created by Up Masters. As long as there are views, they get paid.

However, the traffic is very unstable, because this batch of users is not the target user base. Some users will stay, but once the TV drama's heat fades, traffic will definitely plummet cliff-like.

There needs to be continuous, uninterrupted web dramas.

Bilibili's platform has a mixed user base—it's a mess of all kinds of users, not pure, with an unclear positioning.

Fang Hong wants to separate Bilibili from long-form video.

That is, Bilibili will only do mid-form video, and he'll create another brand for long-form video. This is still in the planning stage.

Because doing long-form video requires a content library, needing many TV dramas to fill it, which inevitably involves copyright purchases—meaning another large sum of capital.

Mid-form video doesn't need that; it only needs to motivate the Up Masters' enthusiasm, and they will naturally create content.

All this has to wait until after the New Year. Now, except for non-essential personnel, all other staff at Jade Rabbit have already been given leave, and everything has been pushed to after the New Year.

After the New Year, Jade Rabbit will undergo a structural adjustment and will reform existing departments and systems.

For example, in artist management, there was actually a manager asking Nazha to sleep with someone—this is not allowed. Rules and regulations must be established to put an end to such things at the institutional level.

For example, the Animation Department and Best Special Effects Department need to operate independently.

Arrangements were made for this before the New Year; after the New Year, there will be a big meeting to readjust.

Soon it was New Year's Eve. These days, whenever Fang Hong came home, he could always see the house changing day by day.

From the plain look at the very beginning, it had now become a festive appearance: red Spring Festival couplets on both sides of the door, big red lanterns hanging on the door lintel, and the character "fu" (fortune) pasted on the door.

Even the glass and everywhere in the house had been changed to festive red.

Fang Hong knew all this was done with Liu Tianxian's help. Her mother had been used to living alone, just the two of them. Over time, the festive atmosphere wasn't very strong.

Whether it was a holiday or not made no difference; the emotional feeling had faded, so she simply couldn't create these things.

The house also had many new things added: a liquor cabinet was set up, and the refrigerator was replaced with a side-by-side door large refrigerator—the old one simply couldn't fit all the things Liu Tianxian bought.

There were several more pieces of clothing in the cabinet, and a few more watches. Fang Hong generally didn't wear them, just left them there.

Even tea leaves were prepared for him. Liu Tianxian really knows how to live well.

(End of this chapter)