Chapter 355: Barely Enough to Get By

During this period, the past half month, Liu Tianxian could be said to have been running around doing promotion from morning till night, exhausted beyond belief.

Fortunately the effort wasn't wasted — the box office was ideal. On the first day it broke 128 million; on the second day it didn't drop much, at 98.14 million; on the third day, 92.68 million.

Three days, over three hundred million — setting the record for the fastest to break three hundred million, making everyone in the circle gasp in admiration.

But what could be done about it? Nothing at all could be done!

A feel-good film like this basically banks its box office in the first half-month; it'll drop day by day, but not by much, and there won't be any sudden cliff-drop situation.

As for the final box office, it depends on what comes after.

July in Beijing was sweltering, with an average temperature of around 35 degrees.

That day, Fang Hong, braving the blazing sun, came to the back garden of Liu Tianxian's villa. There was a large stretch of green lawn there, and stepping on it felt as soft as stepping on a carpet.

In the distance on the green lawn, several dogs and cats were frolicking — all of them pets Liu Tianxian kept herself.

She not only liked keeping cats, but also dogs; reportedly she'd even kept a parrot once, but it died.

In the middle of the green lawn, a canopy had been set up — not the brick-and-stone kind, but sunshade cloth propped up by a frame.

When not needed, it could be folded away.

Liu Tianxian was right there inside, along with Liu Xiaoli and a certain middle-aged man, gathered around a bamboo table.

The three seemed to be discussing something; the middle-aged man appeared to be complaining, his expression unhappy.

Seeing Fang Hong approach, the three stopped their conversation, and their expressions returned to normal.

Liu Tianxian took Fang Hong's hand: "You're here."

"Mm."

Fang Hong stood beside her, but his gaze was on the middle-aged man sitting across from them.

Anyone familiar with Liu Tianxian would recognize him too — her godfather Chen Jinfei. He still looked fairly young, just over fifty.

Chen Jinfei's expression was normal now, and he was sizing Fang Hong up as well. Though the name "Principal" was thunderously famous, seeing the man in person still piqued his curiosity.

After all, what he himself had failed to accomplish, this man had done — and done even better than him.

"This is Xixi's godfather, you should know, so I won't introduce him at length." Liu Xiaoli introduced him casually.

"Hello." Fang Hong took the initiative to extend his hand in greeting.

"Hello."

Chen Jinfei shook his hand briefly: "These past few years, Xixi has been in your care — thank you."

He was referring to matters of her career.

"You're too kind. It's all her own effort; it doesn't have much to do with me." Fang Hong was modest.

In terms of career, although he was clearly supporting Liu Tianxian, fundamentally it was a cooperative relationship.

Jade Rabbit Productions hired actors to act — that's all there was to it.

Moreover, Fang Hong bore no ill will toward Chen Jinfei; he simply regarded him with an ordinary heart. Since the man could sit here, and since Liu Xiaoli could introduce him as Liu Tianxian's godfather, it proved their relationship existed and hadn't broken down.

As for all those messy gossips out there — just listen and let it go, don't take them seriously.

"Sit!" Liu Tianxian pulled over a chair beside her and gestured for him to sit.

Fang Hong sat down.

Liu Tianxian saw his forehead was drenched in sweat, reached her hand into the back of his shirt and felt around, and found his back was soaked too: "Are you very hot?"

"Of course it's hot outside; it's fine in here." Fang Hong felt a cool sensation on his back — a girl's hand always had a bit of coolness to it.

Of course, that was relative to the temperature of his own body.

Liu Tianxian poured a glass of Lemon tea from the table and handed it to him: "Drink."

Fang Hong took it and had a sip. The two's manner was natural, as if they always behaved this way together, with no awkwardness at all.

Liu Xiaoli said nothing, but Chen Jinfei, watching, was quite curious.

The atmosphere on the scene was silent. Fundamentally, Fang Hong had no social connection with Chen Jinfei — only the bond of Liu Tianxian tied them, so at most they were acquaintances, which made it seem like there wasn't much to say.

Instead, he paid more attention to Liu Xiaoli's expression, watching to see if she harbored any grudge over the last time, when he and her daughter on the villa sofa had been kissing and touching, and he'd even put his hand inside her clothes.

Liu Xiaoli seemed fine, as if she'd forgotten the incident — everything appeared perfectly normal.

Liu Xiaoli, noticing Fang Hong glancing at her from time to time, couldn't help but ask: "Fang, I heard from Xixi that you invested nearly 200 million in this film. Looking at the recent box office, it seems decent — you shouldn't be losing money, right?"

She was referring to Now You See Me!

"If nothing unexpected happens, going by this box office trend, probably not — after all, there's still the overseas market, and later there'll be the rights sales." Fang Hong said.

Now You See Me needs to pass 600 million to turn a profit, so there's still some uncertainty.

This year only two films have passed 600 million — one is "Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons," and the other is "The Partners."

"That's good then." Liu Xiaoli nodded. Fang Hong always felt the atmosphere had a certain awkwardness to it, as if with him as an outsider present, the three of them had a lot they couldn't easily say.

He said to Liu Tianxian: "Tianxian, I'm planning a trip to the United States — come with me."

"Huh? What for in the United States?" Liu Tianxian asked, puzzled.

"It's still for that matter — to see how much they can raise for me over there, so I can be mentally prepared." Fang Hong said.

It was still about the acquisition of Shengda Literature. He had arranged another meeting with Chen Tianqiao to discuss the installment plan.

The other side didn't really want installments — they wanted to cash out in one go. Of course, if installments were insisted upon, at least 60% of the funds had to be paid up front, with the remaining 40% in installments.

Under such terms, at least 3 billion would have to be paid up front.

However, the specific acquisition price hadn't been negotiated yet. Fang Hong wanted to wear the other side down a few more times before talking, to squeeze the price.

"Don't be in a hurry first. Borrowing money over there is very troublesome — if you borrow, it's equivalent to freezing your assets; until you repay, you can't touch them." Liu Tianxian said.

"I know. I just want to take a look first." Fang Hong said.

Liu Xiaoli caught the drift and asked: "Fang, are you very short on money lately?"

"It's not that he's terribly short of money — he just needs it for an emergency. After all, his company needs to develop, and once he's used it, he'll pay it back." Liu Tianxian didn't mention what Fang Hong was acquiring.

Liu Xiaoli asked again: "Does it require a lot of money?"

"."

Fang Hong was about to speak when he felt Liu Tianxian pat his thigh under the table. He cut in first: "It's not that much, just seeing if we can borrow it. If we can't, it's fine—we can tough it out."

"Oh!"

Liu Xiaoli pondered. Hearing her daughter speak so casually, she didn't take it seriously.

This struck Fang Hong as strange—what was there to hide about this? It was perfectly normal.

He looked at Liu Tianxian. Liu Tianxian gave him a quick blink, signaling she'd explain later.

Chen Jinfei had been listening the whole time, his face expressionless. He said, "Principal's career is really big now."

He often heard friends in the circle talk about Principal battling this, taking on that, how ruthless his methods were, how rapid his rise, how arrogant his bearing—more than a notch or two fiercer than he himself had been back in the day.

"Small business, barely scraping by," Fang Hong said modestly.

"Heh, if you call that scraping by, then we'd be no better than beggars," Chen Jinfei said, not buying it.

"It's different. I have a lot of mouths to feed, and a lot of projects to do. Right now it's just barely holding together—there's capital, but not much," Fang Hong said.

He wasn't lying. The money the Jade Rabbit brought back now had to keep being poured into other films, TV, and projects—like the variety show project about to launch.

"Dad Where Are We Going" was a three-way collaboration with Hunan Satellite TV and Tian Yu, with an investment budget in the tens of millions.

This kind of variety show burns money on inviting celebrities; the venue cost depends on the location. For a show like "Dad Where Are We Going," they usually film in the countryside, so it doesn't cost much.

"Oh, I see," Chen Jinfei nodded.

"You know our line of work is a high-risk industry—high investment, long return cycles. Not as easy as your real estate business," Fang Hong said.

"I just caught a good time. Otherwise it wouldn't have been easy either. It's not like what you all imagine," Chen Jinfei shook his head.

He'd taken a nasty fall a few years back, and just happened to catch the housing-price surge these past two years, which let him recover. Otherwise things would've been rough.

Fang Hong nodded, not wanting to hear about his past.

The two chatted on and off, while the mother and daughter stayed silent, just listening.

Chen Jinfei looked at him and asked, "How long have you and Xixi been together?"

"Four years, I guess!" Fang Hong looked at Liu Tianxian.

Liu Tianxian nodded, confirming the timeframe.

In reality it was closer to three years. The first year the two were only friends—no confession, no "be my girlfriend, I'll be your boyfriend."

No ceremony or anything like that, so the dating timeline was pretty fuzzy.

"That's quite a long time then," Chen Jinfei said.

"I suppose."

Fang Hong studied the man's expression. Chen Jinfei didn't seem put off by the two of them dating—it all looked perfectly normal.

Just like an elder looking at the younger generation.

But he knew there had to be some conflict between the two sides; he just didn't know what it was—they hadn't said.

It probably wasn't about him.

(End of chapter)