Chapter 301: One Good Deed a Day

June 2009, this short month, saw too many things happen.

Not only was the situation on the peninsula turbulent, drawing the world's gaze, but for some fan groups in the entertainment industry, it could even be called the end of the world.

At first, it was limited to China; for instance, in mid-June, Heavenly King Liu announced he was married, breaking the hearts of a large group of middle-aged and elderly women.

Then, in late June, Best Actor Chen openly held his girlfriend's hand, walking swaggeringly into the Beijing Film Academy campus to publicly announce his second relationship, leaving countless young girls devastated.

The truly explosive news didn't arrive until June 28th.

The King of Pop, Michael Jackson, died in Los Angeles due to an overdose of medication.

The shock this news brought to the people of the world, compared to that nuclear explosion on the peninsula at the beginning of the month, was hard to weigh in terms of severity.

This day was, in fact, three full days later than Chen Nuo had anticipated.

When he learned of this news, he was riding a horse on an unnamed, beautiful grassland near the Ma Yili Autonomous County.

The Xinjiang grassland at the end of June was like a dreamlike fairyland on earth; any words used to describe it seemed pale in comparison.

Looking up, there was a sky as blue as if washed; underfoot, the emerald green grassland stretched endlessly. Snow-capped mountains towered into the clouds, and babbling streams wound through, clear to the bottom.

Only those who have been there know that the line from elementary school textbooks, "The motherland has a vast territory, with magnificent and beautiful mountains and rivers," really isn't just talk.

This scenery, let alone the constant exclamations of the British devils like Nolan, even Chen Nuo, who had been to Xinjiang in his previous life, was dazzled and mesmerized.

The rarest thing was that there were almost no tourists where he arrived; everything was so quiet and beautiful.

It was truly something only locals could find.

Chen Nuo couldn't help but say to Tong Tong Liya beside him, "If I had grown up in a place like this, just like you, I definitely wouldn't go anywhere else in the future. I'd even die here."

Tong Tong Liya beamed, revealing her sharp canine teeth.

Set off by the exquisite Xibe ethnic headpiece on her head, she was as beautiful as the Tianshan red flowers in the Ma Yili River Valley at this moment.

Why were they red flowers?

Because the leaders and interpreters from the city and district were accompanying foreign guests who had come from afar to inspect the area.

The task given to her was to accompany her good friend, a certain big star, one-on-one, and ensure the other party felt the hospitality of the people of Xinjiang.

This kept the flush on Tong Tong Liya's face from fading all day.

Good friend?

Tong Tong Liya knew this was definitely a misunderstanding. But she didn't know how to explain it either.

Because she had no way to explain why Chen Nuo would actually call her and ask if she could take him to some good-looking places in Xinjiang to scout locations for his new film.

When asked what his new film was, the answer left Tong Tong Liya stunned for a long, long time.

It was actually that new film, rumored to have an investment of over 2 billion RMB, a collaboration again with *The Dark Knight* director Christopher Nolan, and co-invested by Warner Bros.

She mentioned this news to her father, who was a professor, and after that, the whole thing completely spiraled out of her control.

It could be said that now, from the district to the city, many people were running around for this matter.

Because for the current Xinjiang, there really were many virgin lands worth developing, and really many things they wanted to show the world and people in other parts of China...

It is not dangerous here; it is very beautiful here.

Hearing Chen Nuo's words, Tong Tong Liya was a bit nervous; her brain raced, and she finally found a suitable response.

"Thank you, I also love my hometown. Thank you very much for coming to my hometown to take a look, you and Director Nolan. I sincerely hope that you can come here to film in the future and introduce my hometown to the whole world through film."

Chen Nuo laughed out loud.

These words were definitely official rhetoric the woman had memorized; they sounded so familiar, just like a certain program at seven in the evening.

However, he understood.

If it were him, receiving a call out of the blue one day, and the other party making some presumptuous requests, he would probably prepare some canned responses too.

But Chen Nuo had no choice.

He was currently like a rat crossing the street in the country, with everyone shouting to beat him, and since he had warmly invited Nolan and his group, he couldn't just not accompany them. As such, confidentiality became a major problem.

He felt that finding any outsider carried the risk of a leak, and he might get stabbed in the back.

And the only person he knew who could be called an acquaintance, and with whom he had contact information, was this older female classmate from a rival school surnamed Tong.

Chen Nuo swore to heaven that when he took her number, he absolutely never thought about actually troubling her.

He also really didn't expect that the national media would go so crazy just because he was dating.

If it weren't for Nolan and Jiang Wen, he wouldn't just have sent Liu Qi Yifei abroad; he would have gone to Palm Beach to soak up the sun and avoid the limelight himself.

Ziyu Villa had almost become a front line.

At the several gates of the residential complex, there were visible long guns and short cannons, and one could only guess how many were lying in ambush in the dark.

He didn't know what the owners in the villa thought, or if they had the idea of jointly expelling him.

Under these circumstances, some media were exclaiming, why was it that even though he was being shouted at by everyone and seemed to have countless fans leaving him, the box office for *Mother*, which had been released for nearly three weeks, was not retreating but advancing, and had even shown a small counter-trend in the past few days?

Why was this?

Chen Nuo didn't know why.

He only knew, run quickly.

The sparsely populated hinterland of the Tianshan Mountains was a very suitable place to avoid disaster.

So he brought photographer Ryan McGinley, makeup artist Michelle Williams, manager and assistant Qi Yuntian, and bodyguard and driver Brother Linghu, and after meeting up with Nolan and the others, they came to Xinjiang together.

Finally, under the guidance of Miss Tong, they arrived at her hometown, and came to this deep grassland in the valley.

Seeing Chen Nuo didn't respond for a moment, Tong Tong Liya asked with faint concern, "Do you think the possibility of our place being chosen is high? Brother Nuo..."

After saying this, Tong Tong Liya blushed a little.

She called him Brother Nuo. In fact, she remembered clearly that his birthday was February 28, 1986, two years and 184 days younger than her.

Hearing this "Brother Nuo," Chen Nuo couldn't stand it either, and quickly waved his hand, saying, "Don't be so polite, just call me Chen Nuo. As for whether the chance is high, I think it's quite high. After all, it's so beautiful; they are foreigners, not aliens, they can definitely tell."

It was unclear what was funny about this sentence; 99% of men saying this kind of self-proclaimed humorous nonsense wouldn't make Tong Tong Liya laugh.

But when Chen Nuo said it, she felt it was truly interesting, unable to hold back a smile, and even wanted to praise the other party's sense of humor.

It was probably that God couldn't watch anymore and sent Qi Yuntian over.

This man was dressed in black, and even the howling wind on the grassland couldn't move his handsome hairstyle, which was plastered with hair gel.

Qi Yuntian rode his horse over, glanced at Tong Tong Liya, and then said with a solemn expression, "Brother Nuo, Michael Jackson is dead."

In that instant, Chen Nuo couldn't help but feel dazed for a moment.

Although it was three full days later than the June 25th of his previous life, and the timing didn't match, it had ultimately... arrived.

The death of the King of Pop.

"Do we need to do anything?" Qi Yuntian asked.

Chen Nuo thought for a moment and said, "Post an RIP on FB using my account."

Qi Yuntian said, "Then when should I post it?"

"The sooner the better."

"Then I'll go back to the hotel now and post it immediately?"

Chen Nuo thought again and said, "I'll go with you. The signal here is bad; in case something happens, it won't be easy for you to contact me."

After saying this, he turned to Tong Tong Liya and said, "Sorry, we need to go back for a bit. Are you going to stay here and keep looking with the director and the others, or..."

Tong Tong Liya didn't hesitate at all and blurted out, "I'll go with you!"

What is a superstar? This is a superstar.

Even if he died thousands of miles away on the other side of the ocean in Los Angeles, it would actually affect people on the Ma Yili grassland.

Chen Nuo's original itinerary couldn't continue. After telling Nolan and the others, the British filmmakers didn't react much to the death of the King of Pop. Finally, Nolan and the others decided to continue scouting, and Chen Nuo headed back to the county seat.

The mobile signal on the grassland was only enough for Qi Yuntian to receive that one text message. To know the details and respond on FB immediately, they had to return to the county.

In the hotel room, upon learning that Michael, just like in his previous life, had been killed by his private doctor's injections rather than some crooked way, the next step was to discuss the method of response.

After all, in some vague rumors, Michael Jackson had even praised his Joker.

Chen Nuo didn't even know if these rumors were concocted by Warner or real, but they had indeed contributed a lot of box office to *The Dark Knight* at the time, making him feel that if he didn't say something now, he would feel a bit guilty.

Li Jing said on the phone, "Then should we add some photos of you and the others taken these past few days, in addition to the mourning?"

Chen Nuo knew what Li Jing meant, but he didn't have the habit of making money off the dead. "Forget it, keep it normal."

After discussing for a long time, they finally decided to just post a photo of a white candle on his FB account, plus an R. I. P. (Rest In Peace).

After finally finishing this sudden matter, Chen Nuo turned his head and saw Tong Tong Liya had been waiting on the side, and quickly apologized, "Sorry, sorry for making you go back and forth."

Tong Tong Liya really didn't quite understand what Chen Nuo and the others were busy with at first, until she listened and slowly figured out the situation.

However, Tong Tong Liya felt that it was really too hard for her to have figured it out from the start.

Who was she?

Although she could be considered to be from an artistic family, she had only learned singing and dancing since she was a child, and she didn't go to take the exam for the Central Academy of Drama until she was older, and as a result, she didn't get in the first year for some reason.

She had just terminated her contract with her previous agency, and the company she had just signed with was called Xingfu Xingfu Lanhai. Although the company was quite large, it hadn't gotten her any roles yet.

Being like this, how could she have considered that the death of Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, would have any connection to her?

But today, it really seemed to have a connection. Because of the person beside her.

Hearing Chen Nuo's words, she didn't know what to say either, so she could only continue to smile, revealing her canine teeth, wrinkling her small nose, and said a bit shyly, "It's okay. By the way, do you want to go for a walk again? I can accompany you."

Then, Tong Tong Liya's dream came true.

She really accompanied Chen Nuo for a walk in the small county town where she was born.

The two walked side by side on the streets of the Ma Yili Autonomous County; the sunlight seemed to have been filtered of impurities, spilling down softly, covering the stone road with a faint layer of golden gauze. The small shops along the street were scattered in an orderly fashion, their signs swaying gently in the breeze, making a slight creaking sound.

This was a dream she had one night last year, and now, the dream had come true.

At this moment, she forgave him.

Forget it, let it be Liu Qi Yifei.

For the sake of this flashy and unsubstantial dream.

The two passed a shop selling traditional Sibe ethnic handicrafts; colorful embroidered handkerchiefs and exquisite wood carvings caught their eyes.

Watching the man look around, seemingly interested in everything, Tong Tong Liya couldn't help but laugh again. She asked curiously, "Have you not been out shopping on the streets for a long time?"

Chen Nuo looked at the ethnic shop and continued strolling forward, smelling the aroma of baked naan permeating the air, mixed with the rich scent of newly bloomed lilacs by the roadside. Not far away, several elderly people sat at the entrance of a teahouse, sipping tea slowly and chatting in the Sibe language; the tone rose and fell, as gentle as a flowing stream.

He let out a comfortable breath and said, "Not really. When I was abroad, I could still walk around, and I could go out for a stroll in the evenings. Hmm, it's just that your place is really beautiful."

Tong Tong Liya gave an 'en' sound and said, "Yeah, if we could do some promotion, I think many people would be willing to come here for tourism."

Chen Nuo laughed and said, "Did you accept some kind of mission? You keep reminding me, don't you?"

Tong Tong Liya said embarrassedly, "No mission, I just want to help out because although our scenery is good, we have no promotion and no tourism income. Many of our people don't have high incomes. If there's a chance, I... I am willing to do what I can."

Turning the corner, there was a small path along the river; the water gurgled, reflecting the weeping willows on the bank.

Tong Tong Liya slowed her pace and said softly, "I often came here when I was a child to watch the water and the clouds."

The two stopped to watch for a while, and Chen Nuo finally said, "I will discuss it with Christopher. It's just that the final decision can only be made by him."

Tong Tong Liya felt a bit puzzled. Clearly, she had heard on the news that this movie was invested in by him and Warner together, and they had invested a lot of money, so why wasn't the final decision-making power in his hands?

Sigh, forget it, at least she had tried her best.

"No matter what, thank you."

"Thank you too, for being willing to be our tour guide."

Tong Tong Liya secretly glanced at Chen Nuo's profile. At this moment, she remembered a Sibe proverb, "Ajihulanbiendu, Wuzhuhulanbiendu." It roughly means: seeing you fills my heart with joy, leaving you fills my mind with longing.

She suddenly asked, "Why didn't Liu Qi Yifei come with you this time?"

"She has her own things to do."

Hearing the other party's understated yet familiar reply, Tong Tong Liya asked the question that had been circling in her heart all day, "Do you regret it?"

"Regret what?"

"With Liu Qi Yifei."

"What's there to regret about that?"

"But because of this, many 'Sticky Rice' fans have really unfollowed you. Even among the ones I know, there are many."

Chen Nuo looked at this girl with exotic features and her earnest expression; although he vaguely knew the answer, he still gave her the courtesy of thinking about it for a moment.

Did he regret it?

Liu Qi Yifei had stolen money from her mother to come out, scraping together 20 million to give to him.

Later, she had some trouble and it looked like she needed his help. It didn't cost him a dime, nor did it make him earn a cent less; it was nothing more than being scolded.

He didn't seem to be at the point of using the word 'regret', did he?

Making a high-profile appearance and locking horns with fans was also his own idea; it wasn't like Liu Qi Yifei had egged him on.

One takes responsibility for one's own actions; what on earth would he have to regret?

"No regrets."

Tong Tong Liya tilted her head and asked, "Are you really willing to let it go? So many people who liked you don't like you anymore. Don't you feel it's a pity?"

Tong Tong Liya, this girl who loved to smile, looked truly beautiful under the sunset. Chen Nuo looked for a moment, and his 'scumbag' habits kicked in; he turned the tables and asked, "Let me ask you a question first."

Tong Tong Liya was a bit flustered by him and lowered her eyes, saying, "What... what do you want to ask me?"

"If one day your husband cheated, what would you do?"

"... Ah?"

"You answer my question, and I'll answer yours."

"... Divorce, I guess."

"Don't you think it's a pity?"

"Not a pity at all; he already cheated."

"My answer is the same as yours."

It was truly a bit excessive for Chen the Scumbag to tease Tong Tong Liya like that, because she only had one husband.

And his fan base... had two.

One seemed to have cheated,

But the other remained as steady as Mount Tai, loyal and unwavering. Even when his latest dating news came out, the comments underneath were all 'wow', 'cool', 'she's cute', 'bless you both'.

There was no such thing as 'unfollowing'.

Therefore, his Porsche print advertisement was still launched in the global market as scheduled.

The final selected print ad was the very photo Chen Nuo had seen himself in Ryan McGinley's camera.

The image tone was adjusted to a more retro, dark hue, as if carrying the weight of years, settled by the passage of time.

Against the dim, 1970s-style overall tone, only the iconic Porsche 'Speed Yellow' plastic raincoat he wore was bright and eye-catching, as if it had just been freshly produced in the 21st century.

He walked with his hands in his pockets, his pace calm, head slightly lowered as if he were on his way somewhere, passing in front of that 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS 2.7.

On large outdoor billboards in 98 countries around the world, Porsche used a total of thirty-three languages—including French, German, English, Italian... —to print a line of copy in front of him in the image: "The one and only Chen Nuo, embarking on the legendary road with you."

Sigh, the vocabulary of these foreign languages is really quite limited; when translated, they are all so vulgar. It's either 'legendary', 'eternal', or 'classic'.

They simply cannot compare to the breadth, depth, and profound artistic conception of Chinese.

In the Xidan business district of Jingcheng, in that most prosperous department store where countless people pass by every day, on that giant outdoor screen—50 meters long and 14 meters high, the largest in the country—

The copywriters at Ogilvy & Mather had come up with a Chinese ad slogan for this Porsche advertisement that was much more interesting than those 'bird languages'.

Right between the car and the person, a few short white Chinese characters, concise and to the point, with a double meaning—

"Irreplaceable, and never to be replaced."

The reason Porsche dared to make such bold claims worldwide was simple: not only did foreign teenage fans not care about Chen Nuo's dating history, some even felt that having only two girlfriends at 23 was actually a bit too few.

Likewise, it was also because Chen Nuo's followers on FB had exceeded 10 million on June 28th, the day Michael Jackson passed away and a legendary era came to an end.

At a time when Chen Nuo's domestic fan base was falling apart and losing fans faster than losing hair, his FB fan base was rapidly expanding.

The poor foreign friends didn't know that this was all a conspiracy, a conspiracy by Chen Mouren and Qi Yuntian to try and get their hands on FB's original shares.

They just suddenly discovered that Chen Nuo's FB account had started updating at a high frequency.

For seven consecutive days, a photo was updated every day.

There was sky, there was land, there was scenery, and of course, there was a person.

Every day, the sky and landscape were breathtakingly beautiful under Ryan McGinley's photography, and every day, the person was cool to the point of being goddamn insane under Michelle's makeup artistry.

Then, from the first day to the seventh day, the number of followers on Chen Nuo's account rose violently, just like the amount of scolding he was receiving domestically.

After a week, his follower count had soared from just over 10 million to 14.6 million.

It was 6.1 million more than the second-place Lady Gaga, 6.33 million more than the fourth-place Obama, and a full 8 million more than the eighth-place Cristiano Ronaldo and the tenth-place Taylor Swift!

In seven days, he gained 4.6 million fans.

It was as if he had activated some kind of 'God-tier Tycoon System',

No matter how many fans he lost domestically, he would get a tenfold return abroad.

You have to know, at this time, the entire Facebook monthly active user count was only 230 million.

Such rapid growth was not only due to the credit of Ryan McGinley and Michelle Williams,

But also because of the late Michael Jackson.

In the eyes of Chen Nuo, who didn't 'eat the dead's food' (profit from the dead), wasn't it normal to post a tribute to the late King of Pop?

Just like if one day so-and-so kicked the bucket, who wouldn't post a candle on Weibo?

Besides, he really did have some hearsay connections with the King.

As a result...

Chen Nuo felt that Michael's overdose was caused by the doctor, because that was the truth he had learned after investigating in his past life. That doctor even went to prison for four years.

However, in the news that broke at the time, almost all news media used 'suspected drug overdose' to describe the sudden death of the King of Pop.

Because Michael Jackson's reputation in those years was truly not very good.

So much so that many celebrities were carefully observing the situation, and for at least three or four days of investigation, no one publicly mourned him.

This left Michael Jackson's astronomical number of fans feeling indignant, yet with nowhere to vent.

As a result, at this time, someone—following the insights of his past life and thinking it was no big deal, believing that the dead should be respected—posted an 'RIP' update at the first opportunity.

This act of standing out from the crowd immediately attracted the attention and favor of countless fans of the King.

Coupled with the subsequent seven days of continuous photo updates, it was interpreted by word of mouth as a tribute to the great King of Pop.

Because the King of Pop happened to have exactly seven most popular songs.

Fans who came upon the news added titles under each photo.

The first photo, the pitch-black person and the grassland, that was 'Thriller'.

The second photo, the reflection in the water and the child, that was 'Billie Jean'.

The third photo, the overlapping shadows of the person, as if escaping ghosts, that was 'Beat It'.

The seventh photo, the snow-capped mountains, grassland, horse, and person, was called 'Heal the World'.

After adding these titles, every photo posted received over 2 million likes in unison.

In the face of this overwhelming traffic, not only was Chen Nuo left speechless, but it also made Zuckerberg completely unable to sit still.

On July 11th, the day Chen Nuo's FB followers officially exceeded 15 million,

Zuckerberg called, inviting Chen Mouren to meet in California to discuss his brand ambassador contract.

Although Chen Nuo didn't know exactly what Zuckerberg wanted to talk to him about or how, he still refused.

It wasn't just because he could hear the urgency in Tang Ni's voice over the phone, but also because Chen Nuo, an undergraduate from the Beijing Film Academy, wanted to try his hand at a bit of psychological maneuvering against a high-achieving Harvard student, however overconfident that might be.

At the same time, it was also truly because he was very busy.

Having just sent Christopher Nolan, who had finished scouting the beautiful scenery of Xinjiang, onto a plane bound for Auckland, he immediately rushed back to a film base in Huairou, Beijing.

Here, *Let the Bullets Fly* had already secretly started filming for nearly ten days, and the entire crew was eagerly waiting for him, their "Little Six," to join the set.

He had to finish eating a bowl of jelly for Jiang Wen in Goose Town before he would have the time to go to Silicon Valley and have a cup of coffee with Tang Ni.

There was really no other way.

"Sorry, once I finish filming, I will definitely come over and have a good talk with you, really. I have a lot to say to you, wait for me," Chen Nuo said with extreme sincerity over the phone.

(End of chapter)