Chapter 47: When There Are No Women in the Heart, the Sword Draws with Divine Speed

Then you sell the rights for a few more years—ten or twenty thousand a year for three or five years, and you'll have hundreds of thousands; the hole won't be so big anymore.

When the movie finishes its run, I'll go to China Film Group and ask them to settle some money early.

It could be said Fang Hong's thinking was very idealistic.

If China Film Group doesn't settle with them, filming will have to halt halfway.

And they still have to split profits with the box office, split with the Support Fund, and as for Liu Tianxian's share, we'll deal with that later.

Anyway, the IOUs are already signed—just let them sit for a few more years; maybe if you wait long enough, you won't have to pay them back at all!

Of course, you could take out a loan, but Fang Hong feared finance—he wouldn't touch leverage without professional expertise.

Nothing else matters—this thing can't be done even with reincarnation or a system; if you can't manipulate the market, just work hard and earn money honestly.

Details won't be elaborated further.

"Have you ever thought about taking on endorsements or appearing on shows? You're pretty popular now," Chen Zhixi ventured.

"Never crossed my mind," Fang Hong rejected outright.

If I spent time running errands for shows, I'd rather draw two more paintings or write two more scripts, preparing for the future.

Mostly because I uphold my dignity—I won't do anything that lowers my prestige!

Chen Zhixi thought Fang Hong's refusal to appear on shows was playing with fire—back when they made Those Years, they still didn't know if the two million would even arrive, yet they went ahead and started anyway.

This time, the three million hasn't landed either, yet they're still going to start immediately.

But he didn't know that in this world, nothing is perfect; for small people to succeed, they must gamble.

Win the gamble, and you're in a luxury club with models; lose it, and you're out working the docks.

That night, Fang Hong leaned against the headboard, writing an email; halfway through, he glanced at his black screen phone and picked it up.

The phone screen lit up—he wanted to call Liu Tianxian.

He didn't know why that girl had suddenly become so cold toward him; before, though they bickered, it was always cheerful, and neither held grudges.

This time, though, she was utterly firm.

On the other side, Liu Tianxian stepped out of the bathroom, wiping her damp hair with a towel, also glancing at the phone lying on the bed.

For days now, this man hadn't called her once—he used to call so eagerly.

Fine, don't call then! She turned her gaze away.

On the other side, Fang Hong also put down the phone and returned to work.

Women only slow down my sword-drawing speed—when there are no women in my heart, my sword draws with divine speed!

Fang Hong sent Li Min an email—thousands of words, earnest in tone, lavishly praising his personal abilities.

The final sentence was: Come on! Let's make a game together!

This man was later the producer of Honor of Kings, a programmer who likely graduated from Sichuan Computer College.

Now he's at Tencent, later led the team that made the PC game Dominating the Three Kingdoms, but it received a lukewarm response; afterward, he shifted to mobile games and created Honor of Kings, which became a massive hit!

At this stage, he should still be unknown.

Fang Hong isn't aiming for a mobile game—smartphones haven't taken off yet—he's aiming for a PC game.

Change the name and copy League of Legends!

League of Legends is already being developed, but its version is immature, ancient, with crude graphics and interfaces vastly different from what we see now.

They're completely two different games!

Fang Hong certainly isn't copying its current version—he'll copy its 2016 version, which has clear, bright, evocative visuals.

Remove the rune system and directly copy its talent system.

This not only blocks League of Legends' path of exploration, but new players won't need to accumulate runes—they can jump right in and play.

Combined like this, even if it's not the version god, it's at least competitive!

Also, copy over all the iconic heroes and those that only began appearing in the second half of this year—like Ziggs, Jhin, Nocturne, Lee Sin, Vayne.

Don't talk about plagiarism being shameful—Riot copied Dota, and Dota copied Warcraft.

Dota originally started as a map in Warcraft!

This world is one big plagiarism—you copy me, I copy you, as long as it's not an exact replica.

If you copy exactly, they'll sue you—and overseas copyright enforcement is still very strict.

Fang Hong is only copying what they haven't released yet; he won't copy things that have already come out, and even if he does, he'll change the approach.

After sending the email, Fang Hong glanced at Yu Xian on the other bed, watching the blanket ripple.

"Again, jerking off!"

He threw a pillow at him.

Yu Xian threw back the blanket, face flushed, tossing aside the tissue in his hand: "I'm enslaved all day by you—can't I relax a little at night?!"

"Oh, sorry, my fault—did you finish coloring all those drawings I drew?" Fang Hong asked.

"Finished them, and I even registered them for you—but they're too expensive, two or three hundred per drawing; you've bled me dry," Yu Xian complained.

"Good, keep jerking off then!"

"."

August 21, this Saturday, another cycle.

After ten days of release, Those Years saw an inverse rise, earning 9.16 million.

On Sunday, the box office reached 9.56 million.

After two consecutive inverse rises, Those Years' box office surpassed 124 million.

That meant it had reached China Film Group's Third Stage Box Office Ladder, reducing the profit split to 6%.

At this stage, Fang Hong's team could receive over forty million.

But once people returned to work on Monday, the box office plummeted sharply—dropping below five million, then continuing to fall steadily, under a million.

He can't get up anymore; piracy is spreading wildly!

Legal notices can't stop it!

Over 120 million, Those Years became a true box office dark horse—a low-budget youth film crossing 100 million in this era was extremely difficult.

The media, besides cursing Principal, began hyping the dark horse film to grab attention.

But no matter how they hyped it, the box office stayed the same!

Why go to the cinema when you can watch high-definition, uncensored versions for free online?

Although the box office had declined, the heat around Those Years remained high, bringing Liu Tianxian tremendous benefits.

Many brand event companies invited Liu Tianxian to appear at events; her scheduling was overflowing, endorsement offers came like snowflakes, and fashion resources flooded in, causing her value to surge dramatically.

But there were always discordant voices accusing Liu Tianxian of colluding with Principal in plagiarism, shameful!

Others claimed Liu Tianxian held United States citizenship and forged her academic records!

Negative rumors began spreading again, fueled by jealousy of her success.

Worse still, someone photoshopped her nude photos and spread them online; internet regulation was lax in this era, making it impossible to handle.

These were all deliberate efforts to buy Publicity Drafts to smear her, previously suppressed but now resurfacing.

What else can you expect? She's popular, and popularity blocks others' paths—in the entertainment industry, the cake is only so big; if you have it, I don't.

In this era, Liu Tianxian's negative articles never stopped!

Fang Hong was powerless; he himself was being criticized!

Let them keep ranting—those without strength just rage helplessly; Liu Tianxian probably doesn't care.

In reality, Liu Tianxian at this stage still felt deeply upset and emotionally troubled, but she kept it to herself and adjusted her mindset.

When the box office surpassed 120 million, Li Xiaoping invited Fang Hong and Chen Zhixi to meet at an upscale restaurant at his home.

He was the General Manager; you had to give him face—you couldn't be too arrogant.

(End of Chapter)