Chapter 365: Steadfast Dao Heart

At dusk, the night sky was dotted with stars, the bright moonlight reflected on the lake's surface like a stretch of the Milky Way, the weeping willows along the shore swayed gently, and a light breeze swept across the lake, bringing a thread of coolness.

In a quiet, dim roadside spot, Liu Tianxian wore her hair in a ponytail, dressed in a tracksuit and sneakers, her figure tall and slender, with a towel hanging around her neck.

At this moment she was doing chest expansions and waist twists, stretching her body.

Just as she was about to bend at the waist, she suddenly felt something like a wooden stick pressing against the small of her back, and then heard a dangerous, lowered voice.

"Don't move. This is a robbery."

"So are you robbing me for money, or for looks?" Liu Tianxian was not flustered in the slightest, seeming quite composed.

Although she could not see the person behind her, this person gave her a very familiar feeling — as long as she was near, she felt this way.

It was a feeling built up from a long time spent together.

"Of course it's for money." Fang Hong's tone was stern.

"Not even a little something for looks? I am quite pretty, you know." Liu Tianxian's tone was light and teasing.

"We robbers have principles — just money, nothing else." Fang Hong said.

"Look at me, this pretty, with a figure this good — you don't have even a single thought?" Liu Tianxian teased.

"Your figure…"

Fang Hong pretended to size her up from behind: "I'll still choose to rob for money!"

Liu Tianxian immediately spun around, glared at him, and landed two swats: "I'll let you rob for money, let you rob for money — you don't have even a shred of interest in me, is that it!"

"Ah, it was just a joke, don't be mad, don't be mad." Fang Hong raised his hands in surrender.

A moment ago he had just shaped his hand into a pistol pose and pressed it against Liu Tianxian's waist.

"Hmph, you're just deliberately annoying me." Liu Tianxian said crossly.

"No, no, it's not like that — I just saw you and was playing around. How could I have no interest in you? I wish I could melt you right into my body, let your blood and mine merge together." Fang Hong coaxed her, the last line sung out as he leaned close.

Liu Tianxian was amused into covering her mouth and laughing softly, then looked around at the surroundings — a few scattered people strolling here, others doing nighttime jogs.

This was the green leisure area of their Villa district; at night there were often people active here.

"Look, bought this for you." Fang Hong held up a cup of milk tea in front of her.

"At least you have some conscience." Liu Tianxian said sweetly, took it and held it in her hand: "Where's yours? You only bought one cup?"

"Just one. I don't drink it." Fang Hong shook his head.

"I know — you want to drink mine, right?" Liu Tianxian looked playful.

"The one who knows me is my little Xiao Feifei." Fang Hong laughed.

Liu Tianxian smiled along with him: "But I'm not drinking it now, I'll drink it later."

"Fine, I'm not thirsty anyway."

Fang Hong saw she was dressed differently from usual — a tracksuit, a towel around her neck — and couldn't help asking: "We're here to do what?"

"Night run. The two of us, night run together." Liu Tianxian pointed at herself, then at him.

"Ah! Night run?" Fang Hong turned and started to walk off, looking very reluctant.

"You get back here." Liu Tianxian grabbed his clothes and hauled him back: "Running is great for stress relief. You need to step away from work, run more — it's good for you."

"I can't run in this outfit, I'm not wearing a tracksuit." Fang Hong spread his hands.

"You can, yours works fine." Liu Tianxian looked at him — short sleeves plus Big Pants, running shoes on his feet, no flip-flops — he could run.

"Running is so tiring, the weather's this hot, and there are so many mosquitoes — isn't it better to stay home, why suffer through this." Fang Hong complained.

He liked to lie around at home and enjoy himself; he didn't have that kind of energy.

"Can you not be so lazy? Running releases pressure. When I was stressed before, I also used running to decompress." Liu Tianxian said in a gentle, coaxing tone.

"Who has your kind of elegant leisure? People like us only like lying down — lying down is the happiest." Fang Hong said.

"Stop babbling at me — just tell me, are you running or not?" Liu Tianxian said.

"Can I not run?" Fang Hong tried asking.

"Just treat it as running with me, okay!" Liu Tianxian looked impatient.

With that said, Fang Hong could only reluctantly agree to run with her.

He looked at the milk tea in her hand: "That won't be convenient, will it!"

"It's fine, I'll put it in my pocket."

Liu Tianxian tucked the milk tea into the pocket of her tracksuit top — the tracksuit pocket was big, it could fit.

Then she tugged Fang Hong, and they started to run.

The two of them ran forward along the track; Liu Tianxian ran at a steady, measured jog.

Since they had just started, Fang Hong seemed full of energy — he sprinted ahead, then ran backward, teasing: "Faster! Why so slow? Isn't this your strong suit? You can't even outrun me, can it be, can it be."

"Just keep showing off, will you." Liu Tianxian watched his playful look, like a little boy.

It was nice — she liked seeing Fang Hong happy and carefree in front of her, that lighthearted look that could be infectious.

"Just showing off — you're way too slow, not cutting it." Fang Hong kept teasing, even reaching out to touch her cheek.

Liu Tianxian let out an "Aawoo!" and bit at his hand.

"Oho, pretty fierce." Fang Hong hurriedly dodged away.

The two of them ran and played around like this; after teasing Liu Tianxian for a while, Fang Hong stopped joking and ran side by side with her at a slow pace.

"You said there was some bad news — what bad news?"

"What bad news? I was just teasing you." Liu Tianxian ran on, speaking without the slightest breathlessness.

"You scared me to death — I thought your mom knew and was coming to ask me about the situation." Fang Hong patted his chest.

"What? You're afraid my mom knows?" Liu Tianxian turned her head and glanced at him.

"No, it's just that I haven't figured out how to explain it to your mom. After all, you're the one who vouched for me, so I more or less don't know what to say."

Fang Hong said this, then recalled and asked: "Did you tell your mom?"

"No!" Liu Tianxian shook her head.

"Why not tell her? It seems like earlier when I wanted to say it, you even stopped me from coming here." Fang Hong didn't understand.

Earlier he had wanted to mention his need for a business loan, but Liu Tianxian wouldn't let him say it.

He'd been meaning to ask about it, but kept forgetting.

"It's better not to say anything." Liu Tianxian said.

"Why? What I'm doing is legitimate business, normal commercial activity, it's not illegal or anything." Fang Hong said.

"Saying it won't do you any good." Liu Tianxian said.

"Are you afraid your mom won't agree to guarantee it or something?" Fang Hong guessed.

His way of thinking was different from Liu Tianxian's. His thinking was that he was sure he could win, so whether he said it or not didn't matter — just explain it clearly and that would be the end of it.

But Liu Tianxian's thinking was that he might not necessarily be able to repay it, yet she was willing to gamble alongside him.

Liu Tianxian said nothing, indicating silent agreement.

"Actually you don't need to worry, I've made preparations. It's just that these one or two years I haven't been able to get things going, I need to start up slowly. Next year things will be a little better."

Fang Hong explained to her, trying to put her at ease: "Besides, I still have stocks in the United States, and my stocks will be very valuable in the future."

"These are all uncertain, okay? How do you know they'll be very valuable in the future, that they'll definitely rise?" Liu Tianxian said.

She had seen the stocks Fang Hong had bought. To others these were secrets, but to her they weren't secrets at all — she even knew the secrets of this man's safe.

She just forgot what he had bought; at the time she had only glanced at it and hadn't taken it seriously.

"Let me tell you, I've studied the future trends of the world. In the future, electric cars and graphics card computing will become mainstream, and our country also has plans to develop electric cars, so I bought in these two directions." Fang Hong spoke very plausibly.

"If you can see it, others can see it too, right? Anyone with a bit of capital has their think tanks and such, right?" Liu Tianxian chatted.

Anyone with a bit of capital had dedicated cooperating think tank institutions — that is, Consultant teams.

They specialized in researching which industries made money, which would become the future. Even countries had their think tanks.

"Who can see things so accurately, and be a hundred percent sure before placing a bet? Even if you see it right, in the market who wins and who loses, who can guarantee it? You have to know that while you're doing it, others are doing it too — that creates uncertainty. And people's cognition is always limited; they only believe what they see."

Fang Hong had talked quite a lot and run until a bit tired, starting to pant: "Unless you have very enormous resources to back you up, very few people can see it accurately."

In this world, only the Jews had such resources. No matter what high-tech thing you did, they could open up all the upstream and downstream for you.

Liu Tianxian was silent. Actually she somewhat suspected this man had a gambler's nature — this was what her uncle had told her.

He said this man had been gambling from the start, he was just lucky.

But she didn't quite believe it. If he really were gambling the whole time, how could he keep winning? Winning consistently also showed this man had some ability.

"If I hadn't done my research, I wouldn't dare buy blindly, wouldn't dare place bets carelessly." Fang Hong said again.

Generally with this kind of thing, he only chatted with Liu Tianxian. Liu Tianxian listened to everything and could actually take it in.

"Mm, once you've seen it right, go for it. Don't be distracted by outside voices. Once a person is distracted, they're easily led, and once led, they easily make wrong decisions." Liu Tianxian supported him, and also told him to firm up his resolve.

Doing anything requires firm determination — that's a basic condition. This determination is sometimes self-adjusted, sometimes given by family.

The two chatted as they ran. Fang Hong hadn't run long before he was panting heavily, waving his hand: "No more running, no more running."

"We just ran a little and you're already stopping. Let's run a bit more." Liu Tianxian slowed her pace.

"Too tired." Fang Hong stopped, bent over and braced his knees, panting.

Liu Tianxian also stopped, patted his back as if nothing were the matter, and teased: "Who was it just mocking me for being no good?"

"We men are different from you women. We go for bursts — once the burst is over, it's gone." Fang Hong quibbled.

"Hehehe, but we women like endurance." Liu Tianxian said slyly.

Fang Hong looked up at her and suddenly said: "Let's keep running."

"Don't push yourself." Liu Tianxian joked.

"I'm not pushing myself, keep running." Fang Hong acted as if he had plenty of energy.

But he hadn't run long before he was exhausted again and needed a rest. This time Liu Tianxian didn't tease him — they had run far enough.

Instead she supported him and patted his back.

"Sit there and rest a while." Liu Tianxian helped him to a bench on the side to sit down.

This bench happened to face the lake ahead, with little specks of starlight on the surface, and the bright moon reflected in it.

The two sat side by side. Liu Tianxian took out the milk tea, inserted a straw and handed it to him: "I can only give it to you first."

"If I hadn't been dragged by you to go running, I wouldn't drink this kind of thing." Fang Hong took a big sip — water entering his body, he felt much better.

"My fault then?" Liu Tianxian watched him finish drinking, then took it and sipped.

"Not your fault, mine for not being prepared. If I were prepared, a few kilometers would be easy, I'd last a long time." Fang Hong bragged nonsense.

Liu Tianxian smiled: "Alright, once you're prepared, we'll continue tomorrow."

"Again?" Fang Hong looked at her in surprise, as if startled.

"Of course, why not? We have nothing going on anyway."

Liu Tianxian said with a playful smile: "Tell me, how long has it been since the two of us had leisure time like this? How long since you've gone on a date with me? How long since the two of us sat down and had a proper chat?"

Fang Hong was silent. It had been a long time. Only at the beginning when he was pursuing her would the two go on dates and such; after he won her over, they rarely dated anymore.

Always busy and occupied, never having much time.

"You're neglecting me now." Liu Tianxian complained.

"I'm not, I just don't like these things, feel like they waste time and energy." Fang Hong denied it.

"You may not like it, but I do. I'm a girl, you know." Liu Tianxian said.

"Alright, my fault." Fang Hong admitted his mistake.

This time he truly admitted it — he really had rarely accompanied her in doing the things couples should do.

Liu Tianxian didn't blame him either, but looked at the scenery ahead: "Look how beautiful the view is."

"It really is beautiful." Fang Hong nodded.

During this period, whenever Liu Tianxian had nothing to do, she would urge Fang Hong to decompress and let off some steam, occasionally accompanying him on jogs or just strolling around.

Of course, it was after work, so it didn't affect his job.

Fang Hong cooperated as well; he knew in his heart that Liu Tianxian meant well, though he'd occasionally grumble a little.

Time quickly moved into August. Now You See Me had been in theaters for about a month, and throughout that month the summer box office was basically dominated by this film.

News kept popping up—overseas box office figures, domestic box office figures, Liu Tianxian appearing on mainstream media—endlessly.

Only Liu Tianxian hadn't been doing much publicity; she hadn't shown her face much during this period and could only be seen in newspapers and magazines.

Of course, the other leads like Zhang Songwen and Duan Yihong also had plenty of news buzz.

But the box office hadn't risen because of it. Now the box office was basically bottoming out, with only three to five hundred thousand a day, and in about ten more days it would be pulled from theaters.

And Now You See Me was the third Chinese-language film to cross 1 billion, reaching 1.014 billion.

With this box office result, the revenue was around 370 million, though the profit wasn't that much—production cost plus marketing was already close to 200 million.

On top of that, an additional profit share of over 17 million had to be distributed to the behind-the-scenes crew and main creators, leaving about 150 million in hand.

The investment was too high, so the returns certainly couldn't compare to last year's end-of-year film Lost in Thailand.

This is also why most film and TV people like making low-budget comedies—so many later filmmakers also liked making low-budget comedies, doing their best to make audiences laugh.

Really, they don't need much box office; as long as it crosses 100 million, it's a profit. One billion is a huge profit; several billion is a killing.

Let alone film companies—even the major capital firms were tempted.

Overseas, Now You See Me's total box office was 72.38 million USD, not even crossing 100 million; the entire international box office wasn't even as much as domestic.

Still, it was okay—about 14.47 million USD in revenue, which converted was also over 100 million.

And overseas licensing fees were high too; TV fees and streaming media were much higher than domestic—tens of millions of USD, roughly over 100 million.

Now DVDs can't make much money anymore; the entire disc rental business has a total output value of only 1.9 billion USD.

Netflix has already been fully transitioning to online streaming.

It's the same all over the world—disc media will soon become history.

After Now You See Me leaves theaters, it will be available for free viewing on Chang'e Video; right now everything is free, and the time for paid viewing hasn't come yet.

E-Factory Video also only just started its membership fees today.

Chang'e Video needs to hold out a few more months, with plans to launch its membership model on January 1, 2014.

These few months are the user-acquisition phase, and also the phase of constant version updates and testing.

But once traffic gets big, operating costs will increase endlessly. Still, it's okay—Hero Glory has been cracking down on cheats for several months now, and revenue has improved.

Plus, October brings the annual Grand Finals again, and this Grand Finals will be held in Las Vegas.

Going global is the only way to attract more people.

In August, the film released by Jade Rabbit was Ex-Files, hitting theaters on August 16, the same day as The Grandmaster.

It had already entered the Propaganda Department mode, just not with the same momentum as Now You See Me.

It was a low-budget film to begin with, but even so, it gave Yu Pangzi some pressure, afraid of being crushed like Blind Detective and losing everything.

Blind Detective only got tens of millions at the box office, and in Hong Kong it only got a few million HKD.

You could say it was crushed beyond recognition.

But what could anyone say? Nothing could be said.

(End of chapter)