Chapter 258

Ma Wu didn't care that much about his reputation, but this time, he was truly angry.

Lu Yuanshan poured a glass of wine for Ma Wu: "Junyang, why do you say that? We brothers have such a friendship; we are happy for you that you made money."

Lu Yuanhai chimed in from the side: "That's right, we are all happy for you."

"Happy for me about what?" Ma Wu didn't drink the wine. "Shouldn't you be happy? Two families partnered up to put up the money to film the movie; now that it's made money, we should divide it however we should divide it!"

"You're being a stranger, you're being a stranger," Lu Yuanshan offered Ma Wu a cigar. "Talking about dividing money is being a stranger; we brothers don't mention such things."

Lu Yuanhai said, "Fifth brother, it's not easy for you to make your way in Green Water City. We brothers feel heartache watching you; helping you out is only right."

"What do you mean 'helping out'?" The more Ma Wu heard, the angrier he got. "When partnering in business, you look at the trade and discuss the returns. Tomorrow I'll call all the reporters over, and we'll talk about our profit sharing first."

"No need to divide it, no need to divide it!" Lu Yuanshan waved his hand. "We and Uncle Qiu have already discussed it. The money earned from 'Blood Gun Detective' all belongs to you. Our share will be considered a sponsorship for you to film the second one."

Lu Yuanhai said, "To tell you the truth, we two brothers aren't lacking this little bit. The whole movie filming thing was for your sake, so don't be polite with us."

Polite?

Did these two brothers have such good intentions?

Did they really think Ma Wu couldn't understand what they were saying?

They didn't want the profits from "Blood Gun Detective" not because they didn't care about the money, but because they didn't want to damage the Lu family's reputation.

The film company was opened in partnership between the two families, and the Lu family held half the shares. Acting, casting, box office... the two brothers had learned the entire process, and screenwriting, directing, cinematography... the two brothers had also grasped the entire team.

With the experience, resources, connections, and methods, the Lu family had already reached their hands into the film circle.

The Ling family's "Blood Blade Detective" had been squeezed out by Ma Wu's "Blood Gun Detective." In terms of both name and profit, the losses were heavy. It was already very difficult for the Ling family to dominate the film industry alone, which just happened to clear space for the Lu family.

All of the Lu family's goals had already been achieved.

They were preparing to let Ma Wu shoulder all the remaining infamy.

From now on, the Lu family would open a new company to film "proper" movies.

As for the company opened in partnership with Ma Wu, the Lu family would slowly withdraw, calling it "leaving it to Ma Wu," but in reality, the company had become a rag for filming dirty plays and doing dirty work.

You couldn't blame the Lu family for being ruthless; that's just how business had to be done.

But Ma Wu was a business expert; how could he not see through this?

"The press conference for the next movie is coming up soon. If you two brothers don't show your faces, I'm not filming this movie!" Ma Wu was angry.

Lu Yuanshan quickly advised, "Fifth brother, you're hurting our harmony by saying that."

Lu Yuanhai also advised, "Fifth brother, what's wrong with you? You didn't have this temper before. Drink a glass of wine and calm your anger."

Drinking anything wouldn't help!

Ma Wu gave up. When he returned to Outside Xiaoyao Wu and heard that Li Banfeng had returned, he opened two bottles of good wine and poured out his grievances to Li Banfeng all afternoon.

"Seventh brother, do you think this play can still be filmed?"

"Film it! Why not film it?"

Ma Wu waved his hand: "Seventh brother, you don't understand. Back then, in order to fight this battle against Seeing Ling Miaoying, I threw away this face of mine. You probably haven't even watched that movie I filmed..."

Li Banfeng put down his wine glass and said, "I watched it. I watched it twice."

"You watched it, so you should know that it's not even a movie anymore. It's shameful; even I feel ashamed."

"Why isn't it a movie? Why is it shameful?"

Ma Wu lowered his head and didn't speak. Although he came from a wealthy family, he was, after all, a person from Puluo Continent, and some of his concepts were still within the boundaries of Puluo Continent.

Li Banfeng patiently advised: "In the Outer States, there are countless directors who became famous relying on these types of movies. This is art."

"Green Water City also has many Western painting galleries. People who paint Western paintings don't feel ashamed, so why is it shameful when it comes to us?"

Ma Wu shook his head: "Painting is painting; this is a movie, it's different."

"What's different? It's all art. It's only shameful if you can't get the job done. If you get the job done, you're a master! This matter is settled; it must be filmed."

Ma Wu looked up: "Then do I have to add your name too?"

"That won't do! I'm not afraid of shame; it's just that my identity is inconvenient to reveal."

Ma Wu let out a long sigh: "Fine, anyway, I'll listen to everything you say. Should the second movie be filmed the same way as the first?"

"It can't be the same as the first. The first one had enough impact, but the storytelling was a bit lacking, and the audience will experience aesthetic fatigue."

"You should have those screenwriters put in more effort and write the story beautifully."

"I'm afraid it'll be too late. I don't know what method the Ling family used, but they were able to film a movie in a month. If I take my time to do fine work, I'm afraid I won't be able to beat them to it."

"No need to beat them to it," Li Banfeng was very confident about the current situation. "You put in more effort this time. It doesn't matter if you're ten days or half a month later than them. If you're a little late, the effect will be even better. At least half of the publicity the Ling family did will end up benefiting us."

Ma Wu blinked: "Do you really think this is a proper business?"

"Proper, very proper!" Li Banfeng looked at Ma Wu with great sincerity. "Listen to me and you won't go wrong. We've got this industry in the bag!"

"We can't let Ma Wu keep filming like this, otherwise we'll be finished by him!" Zhou Changhong put down the newspaper in his hand and said to Seeing Ling Miaoying, "We have to cause some trouble for Ma Wu. They dared to burn our film, so we can smash their set. This is called give and take."

"Blood Blade Detective" was released, and the box office was far below expectations. Zhou Changhong was in a bad mood, and Seeing Ling Miaoying was under great pressure.

Now that Zhou Changhong wanted to play dirty, Seeing Ling Miaoying felt it was somewhat irrational.

"Ma Wu has the Lu family standing behind him. If we make a move against the Lu family, we'll be tearing off the mask of civility."

"We don't need to make a move ourselves. How is the contact with the Sanying Sect going?"

"The second-in-command has a pretty good relationship with us and should be able to help us out, but when people in the sects talk, they use underworld jargon, so it's hard to say to what extent they'll help."

Zhou Changhong was confident: "Don't be too demanding about the extent; as long as they can send people, that's enough."

"Ma Wu's movie is too dirty, and the Lu family doesn't want to get too deeply involved. Once they see the Sanying Sect reaching out, they definitely won't show their faces easily. When the time comes, they'll definitely make Ma Wu shoulder it himself. I want to see how he shoulders it this time!"

Ma Wu had found the actors and finalized the script. On the day filming started, a thin young man brought over a dozen subordinates to the set.

The stage manager stepped forward to clear the area: "Everyone, we're filming. The director just said, those unrelated, please leave the set."

"What do you mean 'unrelated'?" The young man held a meat pie in his hand, took a bite, and said while chewing, "Aren't you filming? We're here to watch the play. Are you not even letting us watch?"

The stage manager wanted to say a few more words but was pushed aside by the young man's subordinates.

The director knew these people were here to cause trouble and told someone to notify Ma Wu immediately.

By the time Ma Wu rushed to the set, the young man was lecturing an actress: "Look at you, young and pretty. Why can't you do something else? Why do you have to do this?"

"Once this stuff is filmed and released, everyone will see everything you have. How will you live in the future? Will you still be able to get married? Will anyone still want you?"

The actress was scared to tears. Ma Wu walked up to the front, looked at the young man, and said, "Sir, do you have any advice for us?"

"Sir? Advice?" The young man laughed. "We don't call people 'sir' here; we all call each other 'brothers'."

Seeing Seeing Zuo Wugang reminded Ma Wu from the side: "Fifth Master, these are from the Sanying Sect; they all call each other 'brothers' in their sect."

Ma Wu said, "Ma has no grievances with the Sanying Sect. Why have you come today..."

"We have grievances, how can you say we don't?" The young man interrupted Ma Wu. "The brothers of our Sanying Sect are all proper people; we just can't stand this improper business of yours."

"Think about it yourself. Do you think this stuff of yours is proper? Don't you feel ashamed looking at it yourselves?"

Seeing Seeing Zuo Wugang reminded him from the side: "Fifth Master, don't ask any more. They're just here to find trouble. Are we fighting or not?"

If it came to fighting, Seeing Seeing Zuo Wugang really wasn't afraid.

But Ma Wu didn't want to make a move.

The Sanying Sect wasn't a big family; they were a sect. They had plenty of underhanded methods. If they really tore off the mask, it would be like poking a hornet's nest. Ma Wu had no way to fend off many of their methods.

The sect came to the set to cause trouble, it should be for money, right?

Ma Wu told someone to bring over a hundred silver dollars and stuffed them into the young man's hand: "Brother, Ma's business still needs your support. This is just a small token of my sincerity."

The young man pushed the silver dollars back to Ma Wu: "Fifth Young Master, I don't want this money. We've met before, but you probably don't remember me. Let me give you a piece of advice."

"Stop filming this movie, and don't film any more in the future. You've already made quite a bit of money. If you quit now, it's still not too late."

The filming for the day couldn't continue. Ma Wu returned to Outside Xiaoyao Wu and told Li Banfeng about the matter.

Li Banfeng was very curious: "Why does the Sanying Sect want to make things difficult for us?"

Ma Wu shook his head: "I've been thinking about this for half a day and still haven't figured it out. We haven't offended the Sanying Sect anywhere."

"What does the Lu family say?"

"Lu Yuanshan said he would go ask about it, but I estimate he won't get any results. If I'm not mistaken, it was the Ling family who got the Sanying Sect to make a move."

Li Banfeng rubbed his forehead. The relationship between the wealthy families and the sects in Puluo Continent was too complex; he couldn't sort it out for a moment.

"What's the background of that young man who came to the set to cause trouble?"

Ma Wu said: "Old Zuo went to investigate, but there's no news yet. I heard he's a talent in the Sanying Sect; I don't even know his surname or name."

Li Banfeng lowered the brim of his hat: "I'll go meet him tomorrow."

"Seventh brother, these people from the Sanying Sect are not to be offended."

"I don't intend to offend them, but I can't let them ride on our heads and run wild!"

The next day, filming started on the set. Not long after, the young man brought his subordinates back again.

Today he wasn't eating a meat pie; he had switched to a chicken leg.

A greasy hand slapped directly onto Ma Wu. The young man laughed: "Fifth Young Master, I say you really are ignorant. I told you to stop filming, so why won't you listen to advice?"

Ma Wu said to the young man: "Brother, let's step aside and talk."

"Step aside and talk, won't it still be the same thing?" The young man followed Ma Wu to the back of the set. "Fifth Young Master, if you want to play hard, I'll take it. We can fight anywhere, but you're definitely not filming this movie today."

"Then tell me, which day will you let us film?" Li Banfeng appeared from a corner of the backstage and walked up to the young man. "What exactly is the meaning of this? Why come here to stir up trouble for us?"

The young man looked at Li Banfeng, and the chicken leg in his hand fell to the ground: "Well, well, Seventh brother..."

Li Banfeng was startled: "Who are you?"

PS: An acquaintance has arrived.

(End of chapter)