Chapter 37: We Might Get Beaten

"Remember!"

"We have no money, no background, and absolutely no backing or reliance; all we have is our burning passion for our dreams and our defiance against the unfairness of fate!"

"We must fight!"

"We absolutely must fight!"

"Only through persistent effort in battle, constantly swimming against the current, do we have a chance to break the shackles of fate!"

"..."

July 17th, 9 PM.

Night.

Deepened.

In the office of 【Feihe Cinema】.

Under the dim light, Zhou Yang, dressed in a suit and leather shoes, had a profound gaze, but his appearance was no longer as refined and calm as before; instead, his voice was filled with impassioned fervor.

On a chair not far away...

sat several youths with varying expressions, and 【Feihe Cinema】's boss, Zhang Muxue.

At this very moment, Zhang Muxue felt her emotions were extremely complex.

Just a few days ago, on the verge of bankruptcy, 【Feihe Cinema】 finally saw people enter the theater, riding the wave of popularity from the movie 【Sun Wukong vs. Superman 2】.

However, more than half of the audience walked in full of expectations, only to walk out grumbling and cursing.

The other half were children; they were better off, entering excitedly and leaving excitedly, with several kids even discussing whether Superman was stronger or Sun Wukong was stronger...

They made quite a bit of money from cotton candy and ice cream...

But that money was earned in a way that was utterly shameless and inhumane!

Zhang Muxue didn't even dare to tell anyone that she was the boss of 【Feihe Cinema】!

At this moment...

looking at the impassioned Zhou Yang...

Zhang Muxue didn't know for a moment whether to be grateful to him or to hide from him.

This guy, although what he did wasn't illegal, was completely shameless, having absolutely no bottom line!

"President Zhou, I, I don't mean anything else, I'm just a singer, I..."

"..."

"President Zhou, 【Superman 2】 is premiering tomorrow; are we really going to run over there to promote ourselves?..."

"I..."

"President Zhou, we might get beaten up!"

Shen Hu, listening to Zhou Yang's "pre-battle mobilization," immediately wore a bitter, miserable expression.

These past days, for the sake of his livelihood, he had temporarily abandoned his dream of being a "singer," and even donated his own pride and joy, his speaker system.

Then, he followed Zhou Yang all over Yanjing City, not only wearing that thick coat in the scorching heat to sell this movie to a group of vendors selling pirated discs, but also inserting flyers everywhere they could find space, and even today, pasting the flyers on the utility poles where 【Superman 2】 was premiering...

Actually...

he had endured all of that!

But when this evening, he followed a group of people into the office and heard President Zhou's next crazy plan!

He was instantly terrified out of his wits!

"Hu Zi, did your President Zhou ever lie to you?"

"I..."

"Look into my eyes, Hu Zi, tell me: when you said your guitar was broken, I immediately got you a guitar; when you said you couldn't survive, I immediately brought you meals every day to support your dream! When you said you felt you had no talent and couldn't go on, I didn't hesitate a second and used your music in the movie, allowing more and more people to hear your soul-shaking music; tell me, did I ever lie to you? On your journey chasing your dreams, when have I ever treated you unfairly?"

"..."

After Zhang Muxue heard the words "guitar" and "bringing meals every day"...

her mind instantly went blank; she stared at Zhou Yang as if seeing a ghost, and the next second, felt her head buzzing loudly!

At this moment, the case was solved; she finally understood the purpose behind Zhou Yang taking that guitar when they first met in the coffee shop.

This guy was simply making a grand gesture with other people's generosity!

Under the light.

Zhou Yang's impassioned voice made Shen Hu tremble slightly!

Shen Hu instinctively raised his head.

Then, he saw Zhou Yang's handsome face staring seriously at him.

Shen Hu opened his mouth: "But, we, I'm afraid, I..."

"Hu Zi, remember my words: everything I've done today, from making this movie to all of this, is not for making money. You know very well what kind of person I am; if I wanted to, I could make money anytime, but the reason I'm moving forward with you is that I see rays of light from dreams in each of you, and I, I once promised you that I would make your dreams come true!"

Zhou Yang took a deep breath, looked at Shen Hu's expression, fell silent for a moment, then patted Shen Hu's shoulder; "I said I would help you release an album, but now is not the time; wait a little longer, and when the time is ripe, I will help you release a solo album, but for now, I must first ensure that you can eat meat and fish for every meal, three times a day; do you understand?"

After Zhou Yang finished speaking these words, Shen Hu's body trembled slightly again.

Recalling these past days, whenever he had no food, Zhou Yang would always pack some food for him, and a sense of gratitude welled up in his heart.

"I, I..."

"Trust President Zhou, listen to President Zhou; President Zhou will not let you down!"

Zhou Yang patted Shen Hu's shoulder again, then adjusted his glasses and looked at Chen Jianfeng: "Jianfeng, I know you want to be a Best Actor, you've always had the dream of being a Best Actor, but this society is complex, and human hearts are treacherous... in a big production crew, we have absolutely no chance... haven't our previous experiences proven everything?"

"Remember, we must live, and moreover, we must eat our fill and eat well... Remember, in this world, except for ourselves, no one will take us seriously!"

"Jianfeng, I promise you, at the Venice Film Festival in August, I will take you to Venice, and I will also have our film premiere in Venice! We will sell the film to those foreigners!"

Chen Jianfeng was somewhat dazed.

Seeing Zhou Yang's expression, he opened his mouth, and after a long silence, he finally nodded.

Then...

Zhou Yang's gaze shifted to Shen Long.

He saw the director on this team!

At this moment, seeing Zhou Yang point at himself, Shen Long gave a slight start and pointed at himself in disbelief: "Boss Zhou, I'm going tomorrow too?"

"Director Shen, every day when we wake up, we should be woken by our dreams, not by the urge to pee! On this team, you're an indispensable part! For this film, you're a core member!"

"But I have to prepare the film, and the script still needs revising..." Shen Long opened his mouth.

"Your talent is plain for all to see. I believe you can handle it..." Zhou Yang spoke with earnest words, his gaze deep.

"But..."

"Come along!"

"Th-then, alright!"

"..."

Shen Long nodded as if resigning himself to fate.

A gust of wind blew from afar, through the window, onto Shen Long.

Shen Long felt himself blown into disarray by the wind...

Then, in the wind.

Zhou Yang looked at everyone and pushed his glasses up again.

"Everyone, I know the road to success is hard!"

"I also know that tomorrow, we might do things that push past our limits!"

"But!"

"I hope everyone remembers!"

"We must think this through carefully!"

"This time—could it be the only chance we get in this lifetime!"

"Reforge the glory of Huaxia cinema, resist Hollywood films—this is a duty we cannot shirk!"

"..."

When Shen Long heard this line, he was utterly stunned!

In a daze, he lowered his head and glanced at the film project in his hands, "Lin Daiyu vs. Lu Zhishen."

Then he looked around at his colleagues, their expressions complicated, holding back words they didn't know how to say...

Us?

Us—this bunch of crooked melons and cracked dates—reforge the glory of Huaxia cinema?

Just at this moment...

A knock came from outside the door.

Then...

Li Dongqiang, who did the Authorized Zhengban, walked in with a complicated expression.

"Boss Zhou, are you in a meeting? Should I come back later?"

"It's fine, no outsiders here... How many did we sell these past few days?"

"In total we sold close to 4,500 discs—2,000 copies of the 10-yuan premium discs and 2,500 copies of the 2-yuan budget discs—for a total share of 12,500 yuan... Here are the detailed figures and the share money..."

"The red envelopes I told you to prepare—are they ready?"

"They're ready. Are you really going to..."

"..."

Seeing Li Dongqiang's expression, Zhou Yang narrowed his eyes, took the black bag Li Dongqiang handed over, and after a quick glance inside.

He took out bulging red envelopes one by one from the bag, then looked at everyone.

"Today marks one week since our first film was released!"

"Here are our DVD and VCD authorized sales shares!"

"Director Shen, get in touch with the others on the team. Today, we're handing out red envelopes..."

"..."

Zhou Yang looked at Shen Long.

Shen Long's gaze, however, was fixed on those bulging red envelopes.

These red envelopes—surely they aren't the kind with one yuan, five yuan inside...

Just as Shen Long was lost in thought...

Zhou Yang tore open a red envelope, revealing a fifty-yuan bill inside...

Looking at those fifty-yuan bills one after another, Shen Long was stunned.

"I've said before—anyone who follows me, I'll make sure they get a meal to eat!"

"I've also said—anyone who follows me wholeheartedly, I'll make sure they drive a Mercedes or a BMW..."

"And I've said even more—we will survive, and we'll survive well! As long as you keep following me forward, every one of us will realize our dreams!"

"..."

"Director Shen, this red envelope is for you..."

Zhou Yang stuffed the red envelope into Shen Long's hand.

Then he turned to Chen Jianfeng: "Jianfeng, this red envelope is for you..."

"..."

"Tiger, here's your red envelope!"

"..."

Under the dim light.

Zhou Yang sent out red envelope after red envelope.

Then, he stared at everyone.

"Everyone!"

"This is a movie!"

"It is also the beginning of a dream!"

"This is a terrible film..."

"But it is also the battle cry of us warriors who, in the darkness, do not give up on our dreams and stand up again and again..."

"Starting with this movie!"

"Let the whole world see us!"

"..."

In the office.

Everyone looked at the red envelopes.

Seeing Zhou Yang's increasingly impassioned emotions, they immediately felt their blood boil.

But...

"Good news, good news!"

"'Sun Wukong vs. Superman 2' is out, it's out!"

"An epic masterpiece!"

"Hollywood special effects!"

"More exciting than 'Superman 1', more awesome than 'Superman 2'!"

"Don't miss it if you pass by!"

"..."

One hour later...

When everyone got out of the car.

Seeing these words being shouted loudly from a dilapidated van...

These passionate youths instantly became impotent again.

Shen Hu coughed lightly, leaned over to Shen Long's side, and lowered his voice with a trembling heart:

"Brother, are we sure we want to drive this kind of propaganda vehicle to the premiere of 'Superman 2'?"

"..."

"We... will be beaten to death!"