Chapter 247

The entire world has an intensive film awards season between November and March of the following year.

Domestically, there is currently the two-in-one Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards;

The Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan Province are generally in December;

In the United States, it starts with the Golden Globe Awards in January, followed by dozens of film awards presented one after another, forming an entire awards season.

After attending the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards, Lu Kuan prepared to finish the post-production of *The Curious Case of Benjamin Button*, then immediately rushed to North America to prepare for the public relations before the Golden Globe Awards and the Oscars.

The next day, the film festival with full Chinese characteristics officially opened.

The red carpet ceremony remained indispensable, but for Liu Yifei, these procedures had already become somewhat routine.

Putting other things aside for the moment, in terms of the prestige and experience of walking the red carpet, among domestic actresses, besides Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi, it was her.

Chinese actors Liang Jiahui and Liu Yifei from the *Exotic Land* crew passed by and received the warmest cheers from the entire venue.

Although it had been off-screen for nearly two months, Liu Yifei's previous *Hanfu Elegant Gathering* undoubtedly once again boosted her exposure and reputation.

The status of "Yifei" was rising steadily, and even the foreign nun Zhang Nara, who had the most hope of challenging her, still had a considerable distance to go.

The chasm in film box office alone was enough for the little Korean to chase for several years.

After beautifully striking poses for photos, she pulled Liang Jiahui and Lu Kuan for a group shot, and only then did little Liu sign autographs and enter the venue with ease.

Zhang Ziyi, one of the Four Dan Actresses, was waiting for her at the entrance.

"Xixi! Congratulations!"

Liu Yifei smiled like a flower, doing the superficial work perfectly: "Thank you, Sister Ziyi."

There was no need to say much about what she was congratulating; this year's awards might be the least controversial session in history.

It was just that Liu Yifei felt a bit nauseated inside; she didn't like her calling her that.

And she was crystal clear in her heart about this deliberate fawning.

Like Jiang Yiyan, it wasn't that her conscience had been awakened, but that she was afraid.

What she feared was precisely the young director beside her.

Boss Lu smiled: "Ziyi, I heard from Harvey that your performance in *Memoirs of a Geisha* was excellent?"

Zhang Ziyi's mind conjured up that terrifying figure; at the cocktail party after the last promotion meeting, she had almost been... by him.

These words were just another warning.

She replied cautiously, watching the figure of Liu Yifei leaning affectionately against Boss Lu as they walked away, her eyes filled with jealousy and regret.

Others might not know, but Zhang Ziyi recognized the Dior haute couture dress she was wearing; it was the latest style from Galliano's October Autumn/Winter collection.

The reason she was stood up by Dior last time became self-evident.

If she hadn't been wavering back then, reluctant to give up *House of Flying Daggers*, if she hadn't been injured...

Then the current historical box office champion female lead would be her, and the kung fu star sweeping North America would also be her.

Perhaps the one draping her arm over Lu Kuan's shoulder and walking beside him would also be her!

Everything Liu Yifei possessed now should have been hers!

Zhang Ziyi thought of the Hong Kong Young Master Huo she had been dating for a few months; it was time to put marrying into a wealthy family on the agenda, otherwise, she would be like a helpless little white flower.

At the mercy of others.

The inner venue before the awards ceremony officially began was basically a time for acquaintances to exchange greetings and socialize.

Feng Yuanzheng patted Boss Lu on the shoulder from behind: "What theme are you preparing for your next movie? Consider me?"

Lu Kuan laughed: "Teacher Feng, your market value has gone up now; if you give me a discount, I can consider it."

Feng Yuanzheng was a drama fanatic; according to the development path of later generations, he should have devoted himself to theatrical performance, occasionally appearing in some TV drama roles, until becoming the president of the Beijing People's Art Theatre.

It was just that after he won the Venice Best Actor award for *Whiplash*, his market value soared and film offers were constant.

In this life, for Zhang Yimou's *Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles*, the second male lead who served as the Japanese translator for the protagonist Ken Takakura was found in him.

"Director Lu, you still haven't forgotten your original intention; you're as stingy as you were three years ago. Back then, the crew had to get your approval for buying drinks."

Liu Yifei firmly agreed: "It's about the same now!"

Everyone laughed, and Feng Yuanzheng turned to talk to him about another topic.

"Little Lu, I am currently responsible for performance guidance at the People's Art Theatre; do you have time to come and teach the actors?"

"Ah? What would I teach drama actors? Besides, the moves we learned are from the same school; there's no difference."

Feng Yuanzheng gave a bitter smile: "The current domestic drama performance environment is indeed not good; it was nothing in the past, but it just so happens that the film industry has been booming in the last two years."

"The young actors in the theatre all have different thoughts; a while ago, a young man came to me wanting to take the exam for the Beijing Film Academy."

"I asked why, and he said that drama performance and film performance are still different, and for the sake of breaking into the big screen in the future, he still wanted to study film performance as well."

"In terms of training film actors, I think you can even remove the 'one of the best' part, so I wanted to ask you..."

Feng Yuanzheng signaled to Liu Yifei, meaning don't decline; your work is right here, and you might even go up to receive an award later.

It's just a pity that Boss Lu had no interest in such low-cost-performance things; even if the People's Art Theatre had good actors, he knew them all, and going to teach would at most accumulate more reputation for himself.

"Okay, let's see the situation after I return from the United States?"

Feng Yuanzheng knew that this matter could not be forced, so he could only set a time first.

However, when Feng Yuanzheng mentioned that the drama performance environment was not good just now, he thought of Happy Twist; they should be struggling bitterly now, right?

Regarding artist management, Lu Kuan took out his phone and sent a text message to Lu Yao.

"Director Lu."

A familiar greeting, but without the intense hatred of enemies meeting.

Wang Dajun walked over with Zhang Nara; the latter had no work nominated and was just here to brush up on her presence.

Beneath the surface, there were knives, guns, swords, halberds, axes, and hooks, but the two heads of the largest private companies in the country still talked and laughed on the surface.

"Director Lu, thank you for choosing Bingbing for the Inquiry Realm in the end; she is very grateful to you and hopes to have the opportunity to treat you to a meal."

"Oh, easy to say."

Boss Lu smiled noncommittally: "I also have to thank Yanda Huayi for letting Baoqiang play Sha Gen; I am very optimistic about the box office performance of *A World Without Thieves*."

Although it might just be perfunctory and polite, Wang Dajun was still particularly happy to hear such an evaluation from the mouth of the person who could be said to understand film marketing best in the mainland.

Moreover, the Inquiry Realm only had Ning Hao's small-budget *Crazy Journey* (originally *The Ex-File*) colliding with Yanda Huayi's *A World Without Thieves* and Zhou Xingchi's *Kung Fu*, so he had nothing to worry about.

As long as it wasn't competing with Lu Kuan's own movies, Yanda Huayi could pat their chests and say that Feng Xiaogang was the undisputed King of New Year films.

After the "arms race," Yanda Huayi's growth could not be described as anything but rapid.

Although the change of ownership of Golden Harvest made Zhou Jun, who had always been ambitious and refined, lose his composure and curse.

But for the two brothers, the deep cooperation with internet companies like Sina and tom. com signaled that Yanda Huayi would stand on a bigger stage.

The onlookers all listened to the conversation between the two with sinister intent, but it was a pity that the expected red faces and thick necks did not appear.

Finally, the 24th Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival hosted by Ni Ping officially opened, but the awards process was calm.

Best Feature Film *Exotic Land*, Best Director Lu Kuan *Exotic Land*, Best Supporting Actor Liang Jiahui *Exotic Land*.

And little Liu's first Best Actress!

The film festival thoughtfully arranged for Lu Kuan and Zhou Xun to present the award to her.

This is just like arranging seating for a dinner party; awards ceremonies also try to find guests who have good relationships and are familiar, especially after just experiencing a violent public opinion storm.

Liu Yifei was calm; she was no longer the little girl who had just started out.

In three years, she had participated in the red carpets and awards ceremonies of various major festivals, and she knew that this Best Actress award at the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers was just an insignificant achievement.

She inevitably thought of Cannes in May, and the indifference of Zhang Manyu when she won the Cannes Best Actress award.

Once you have felt the vastness of the starry sky, you will no longer be obsessed with fireflies; her threshold had been set too high.

Having truly stepped into the gate of performing arts, she wanted more.

Of course, in the eyes of many other actresses, it was already the peak of life; after all, it was already one of the three major Chinese awards.

Flashlights intersected, and countless gazes of envy or jealousy focused on her.

For example, Zhang Nara with a complex expression, Yang Mi with a blank face, and Bingbing in front of the TV.

The most enthusiastic were the fans in the blog live streaming room.

After experiencing the black material attacks in October, they started the horn of counterattack from the *Hanfu Elegant Gathering*.

Song Zude had already been brought to justice, Zhang Nara's arrogant momentum from a while ago was also stifled, and the Inquiry Realm, which strongly supported Liu Yifei, had completed the construction of the entire industrial chain.

The seventeen-year-old girl who had experienced ruthless cyberbullying had walked through that rugged mountain road, and after the *Hanfu Elegant Gathering* became a hit, she stood on the stage of the highest domestic film award for the first time.

Liu Yifei stepped onto the stage gracefully and took a deep breath.

"Thank you to my parents, the Beijing Film Academy, and all the staff of the *Exotic Land* crew; this honor belongs to all of you."

"I will never forget this four-month filming experience, and I will never forget the feeling of not being able to lift my arms after finishing a scene time and time again."

"I will never forget the earnest teachings of Teacher Li Xuejian in the North American crew, and I will never forget the roadshow experience of running all over the world in half a month."

She paused and smiled, turning her head to look at Boss Lu behind her.

"Of course, there is also my director Lu Kuan, although I was the person scolded to tears the most times on set."

Everyone in the audience laughed.

"From the first time I met Director Lu Kuan three years ago, he bluntly said to me."

"'Liu Yifei, you are an actor without talent, without life, and without experience; you must work harder than everyone else.'"

"He often said that there is no evaluation in the world more harmful than the word 'not bad'."

Liu Yifei still couldn't help but have red eyes.

"Today, I may have barely managed to be 'not bad', but my goal is not limited to this; I want to be the best, just as he requires!"

"Lu Kuan, thank you!"

The little girl turned to face him, and Boss Lu also very gentlemanly took her into his arms, gently patting her back.

Zhou Xun had a motherly smile on her face on the side.

The audience applauded thunderously, and the reporters in the audience frantically snapped photos, freezing this warm moment.

Many people had seen the behind-the-scenes footage before the release of *Exotic Land* in previous advertising marketing videos.

Liu Yifei's shots were always of her collapsing on the prop box from exhaustion, with Liu Xiaoli massaging and relaxing her cervical spine and other joints.

Or practicing morning exercises and rehearsing the day's scene segments with Li Xuejian in the early morning.

Behind her glamour, everyone saw an unknown hardship.

Liu Xiaoli cried, and the fans in the live streaming room also cried.

They hurriedly left messages of encouragement on Liu Yifei's homepage, and then frantically left messages and flooded the screen under this group photo in the live streaming room.

"Let go of her, you washing machine!"

"Kill the washing machine, grab Xixi!"

"Let go of Xixi, otherwise I'll make your washing machine not happy!"

After the awards ceremony was singing and dancing, Lu Kuan went out to answer a phone call and was pulled aside by Huang Xiaoming, who followed him out.

He had no movies nominated this year and was an award presenter.

"Director Lu, sorry to bother you, do you have time to chat for a few words?"

"Brother Huang, why are you being so polite with me? Go ahead."

The two walked to a secluded place, and Huang Xiaoming rarely asked for a cigarette to light.

"Director Lu, is your company still short of people?"

This was said with a smile, but Lu Kuan saw a trace of bitterness on the face of Huang Xiaoming, who had become popular because of *The Prince of Han Dynasty*.

As mentioned before, Huang Xiaoming's current management contract was signed with Century Element, which was the company of Chen Guanxi's father, known as Ninth Brother.

Ninth Brother had close relationships with China Star and Emperor Entertainment.

The reason Chen Guanxi was so smooth from his debut was because he entrusted Li Shoucheng to create a star according to Xie's template.

Huang Xiaoming, backed by Hong Kong circle big shots, actually had very promising development prospects, but his luck was too bad; in the past few years, Ninth Brother's assets had exploded, and business had gone from bad to worse.

Among them, the listed company "Junlei International" under his banner went directly from a luxury stock to a penny stock, and Ninth Brother's market value evaporated by nearly 100 million.

Huang Xiaoming actually had the intention to leave Century Element for a long time, and he asked Lu Kuan for a way out because of the bad debts between him and Century Element during this period.

Ninth Brother's business collapsed, he opened sources and reduced expenditures, audited the accounts of the artists under his banner, and found that Huang Xiaoming had signed an acting contract with Zhang Jizhong's *The Return of the Condor Heroes* crew behind the company's back.

According to the contract, until December 31, 2006, when the term expired, Huang Xiaoming had to hand over 25% of his salary as a commission.

But the domineering president was not reconciled; in the past two years, Century Element hadn't introduced him to any decent resources.

*The Return of the Condor Heroes* was still a role he "competed" for from Nie Yuan, who had defected to the other side, Ciwen Media, after showing favor to the bearded man himself.

Currently, Century Element had already sued him in court; no matter who won or lost the lawsuit in the end, the termination of the contract between the two sides was a foregone conclusion.

Xiaoming had been asking about Boss Lu for so long and deliberately made friends with Liu Yifei, thinking whether he could take this opportunity to sign with the Inquiry Realm.

That would simply be a village after the dark willows and bright flowers.

But what made him very puzzled was that Zhang Jizhong, who had always been on good terms with Lu Kuan, actually signed with Yanda Huayi?

Huang Xiaoming certainly couldn't get any key information from the bearded man, so he had to thicken his skin and recommend himself.

Lu Kuan pondered for two seconds: "To be honest, Brother Huang, I am still very willing to cooperate with you."

This opening made the domineering president a little desperate.

Sorry, you are a good person.

"But the Inquiry Realm is currently overcrowded with male artists, and we can't take out more high-quality products to cultivate artists."

"Even Wang Baoqiang has to go to Yanda Huayi's movies to play supporting roles."

Although this was an excuse, it sounded quite reasonable.

"Okay, Director Lu, I was just asking casually, haha."

Huang Xiaoming had high emotional intelligence and was not discouraged at all.

He wasn't worried about having nowhere to go; he just wanted to fight for his first choice first.

However, the next words of this young and promising junior from the Beijing Film Academy were somewhat earth-shattering.

"Brother, have you considered going to Yanda Huayi?"

Huang Xiaoming was dumbfounded; even with his superior emotional intelligence, he couldn't handle this inquiry.

Was this a probe or... a warning?

He thought too much; it was neither.

This was Boss Lu thinking about burying nails in Yanda Huayi again.

Fan Bingbing, Zhang Jizhong, the potential fence-sitter Zhang Guoli, plus Huang Xiaoming, and maybe Zhou Xun after falling out with Rong Xingda next year.

In 2005, Cheng Tian strongly poached Wang Jinhua's team.

Yanda Huayi had a major earthquake and turned to start allocating shares to important directors, partners, and core actors, changing the previous artist management model.

In this process, Feng Xiaogang, Zhang Jizhong, and Huang Xiaoming were the top three in star and director shareholding.

The bearded man had already been turned by the little fairy.

Fan Bingbing had already surpassed Li Bingbing in this life and was a strong contender for the top sister, so she could take the lead in private placement.

And Zhou Xun, who missed out on getting rich because she didn't like venture capital in later generations, would definitely be bought by Boss Lu as much as possible in this life, helping him hold it on his behalf.

And Huang Xiaoming was also a nail that Lu Kuan was prepared to wedge into Yanda Huayi according to this routine.

Zhou Jun's end allowed Yanda Huayi to move toward the listing process in a fuller state; the fatter this pig was raised, the fuller he would be when he slaughtered it later.

Among artists, according to Lu Kuan's plan, he wanted to get 10% of the shares as much as possible; in later generations, Old Zhang alone was close to 2%.

And Sina, which had invested in Yanda Huayi, was also within his sniping range.

Sina invested in Yanda Huayi, and the Inquiry Realm and Shanda controlled Sina, which was equivalent to obtaining Yanda Huayi's shares in disguise.

After the big and small Wangs listed in later generations, they held about 45% of the shares in total; as long as it wasn't absolute control, the rest was just inserting needles into the gaps.

Lu Kuan smiled at the domineering senior: "Brother, the future mainland film market will be very large."

"The one or two billion we see now will be 200 or 300 billion later, including the entertainment industry."

"Although I have some small frictions with Yanda Huayi, you don't need to consider too much; we will still get along normally in the future."

Huang Xiaoming had a small cameo in *The Curious Case of Benjamin Button* and had been looking forward to more cooperation with this Golden Lion Award-winning director.

He was also worried about whether such a possibility still existed if he entered Yanda Huayi.

After all, the two sides had been too rigid a while ago.

It wasn't like Bingbing who was devoted, nor was it like the bearded man who was completely fooled, or Zhou Xun who was a die-hard party member even after entering Yanda Huayi later.

Boss Lu hadn't revealed too much to Huang Xiaoming, and there was no need to reveal too much.

Even if he wanted to dismember or maliciously acquire Yanda Huayi at that time, it would be under circumstances where the situation was very different.

Would Huang Xiaoming, who had high emotional intelligence and had always been on good terms with him, make a second choice?

As for whether Yanda Huayi would develop better by relying on these famous artists after Lu Kuan pushed so many famous artists to Yanda Huayi, this was even less within his consideration.

In the future entertainment industry, the proportion of artist management income in the income of entertainment companies is too low.

Except for stars with phenomenal popularity like Liu Yifei, they must also be equipped with internet tools as a means of realization for high-value-added businesses such as ringtones.

For Boss Lu, who had initially built a full set of film industrial chains, he simply didn't look down on this little money.

What he looked at was acquiring Yanda Huayi's original equity from these key people, plus the secondary market, Sina's partial shareholding, and other channels, to complete the malicious acquisition of the listed company Yanda Huayi!

This was a huge piece of fat meat.

Therefore, he could neither kill Yanda Huayi with one stick nor let them live too comfortably now.

Just keep them in captivity.

Huang Xiaoming left in a daze, and Boss Lu decided to let Zhang Jizhong come forward to recruit him again, to completely drive this nail in.

At the end of December 2004, Lu Kuan, who had finished the fine cut of *The Curious Case of Benjamin Button*, rushed to North America to prepare for the public relations work before the Golden Globe Awards and the Oscars.

North America began a series of film festivals and awards presentations from December.

Among them, the Golden Globe Awards and the Oscars were obviously the two most important awards.

The Golden Globe Awards focused on marketing and entertainment and were also a weather vane for the Oscars.

In the more than 60 years since its establishment, the Golden Globe Awards had gradually been built into a film party surrounded by gossip, full of topic density, and gathered with big-name guests.

And the Oscars were a game of public relations, voted on by more than 6,000 professionals in the international film industry.

In contrast, the jury members of the Golden Globe Awards, with less than 100 people, were much easier to contact and handle.

The public relations strategy and arrangement were of course docked with Harvey.

According to statistics, the films Harvey participated in producing and investing in had won a total of 341 Oscar nominations and won 81 Oscar awards.

And the reason he could become an opinion leader for the Oscars and the Golden Globe Awards had many reasons.

Harvey came from a wealthy Jewish family, and his father was in the diamond business in Queens; he had been in contact with socialites since he was a child, and a large part of them came from Hollywood.

At the same time, he paid great attention to making friends with politicians and had long-term funding for the Democratic Party.

Before the exposure of metoo, he was even one of Hillary Clinton's think tanks.

The first step, he would help the target film get a nomination.

The Oscar jury members were basically elderly white men, and voting was a preferential voting system.

Book friends familiar with sports should be able to understand that this is similar to *France Football* judging the Golden Globe Awards, and also similar to the NBA selecting the MVP.

Harvey only needed to let the films under his hands get enough second and third votes to get a nomination.

Because of his connections and pervasive public relations means, this was very simple.

Immediately following were some routine operations:

Public relations spending money, hiring internet water armies to fiercely attack the black spots of the other party's films;

Phone calls and emails to carry out tireless brainwashing bombing;

Hiring well-known reporters and other pen-wielders to sing praises and guide social opinion;

As well as endless cocktail parties and going to the third floor.

It's just that the third floor here was all Hollywood actresses he carefully prepared, making the judges linger.

A typical example was in 2011, Harvey's *The King's Speech* vs. *The Social Network*.

During the awards period, Harvey bribed Facebook employees to accuse the film of fabricating facts, and immediately arranged for people to sue the original novel for plagiarism.

Coupled with other pervasive public relations means, *The King's Speech* finally won the Oscar.

There were also examples such as his *Shakespeare in Love* snatching the Oscar from *Saving Private Ryan*, and so on.

At the 85th Academy Awards ceremony in 2013, Jennifer Lawrence joked after winning the award: "Thanks to Harvey for helping me defeat other competitors."

In this year's Oscars, Harvey hired Obama's presidential campaign team to do public relations for the big sister, and other competitors really had no temper at all.

However, during the early communication, Boss Lu replaced all the extreme means with routine plans.

Who the hell knows if Harvey will collapse in this life; don't splash blood on yourself when the time comes.

If you really win the award this time, and then be stigmatized because of Harvey's downfall, it would be very ugly.

Starting from November, *Exotic Land* had been re-screened in some high-end cinemas to brush up on its presence; otherwise, after a few months, what if the judges forgot the big explosion at the beginning?

Boss Lu took Liu Yifei, Little Li, and others, and with the assistance of Harvey and Tom Cruise, promoted in North America for half a month, ushering in the first small test.

On January 16, at the Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, the 62nd American Television and Film Golden Globe Awards opened.

American NBC and nearly 100 TV stations around the world broadcast simultaneously.

Because both Chinese films *Exotic Land* and *House of Flying Daggers* were nominated, the movie channel would also record and broadcast.

This was great news for the Inquiry Realm, because the Inquiry Realm video, which had been preparing since August, officially went online on this night.

At that time, it would broadcast the American Golden Globe Awards and the Oscars this year in full!

Almost no promotion was needed; the audience knew at a glance that this was a video website under the Inquiry Realm, even if they didn't quite understand what a video website was.

Through the traffic diversion conducted by the blog network and Douban, the number of people online on the website quickly exceeded 200,000.

The architecture of the Inquiry Realm video was also built by Mike Suoluomen from the United States; he could almost be said to be the top architect of video websites in the world today.

Having a cheat is good, point-to-point excavation, targeted strikes.

At this moment, the technical team temporarily transferred from the blog network was monitoring the website operation with ease, ensuring today's opening red.

The internet industry branch developed by Lu Kuan was always closely related to the entertainment industry, acting as arms for each other.

Therefore, every move of the Inquiry Realm now would attract the simultaneous attention of internet companies and entertainment companies.

Sina, Chen Tianqiao, were all carefully studying the UI and operation ideas of this website.

Entertainment companies were once again having a headache and began to ponder which routine of Boss Lu this was.

As soon as it's almost New Year's, he starts to make these moths, taking the domestic entertainment industry to roll together; it's really a nightmare for workers!

The red carpet in front of the Hilton Hotel was bustling with noise, and the annual top North American entertainment party began, with Hollywood superstars emerging one after another.

In 2004 and 2005, domestic movie fans and audiences were actually not very familiar with Hollywood stars.

Most of them were the protagonists of films that had been released domestically through co-productions or imported films.

For example, Nicolas Cage, who was passing by the lens now, his *National Treasure* was released in the mainland in 2004.

Immediately following was Tom Hanks, who was familiar to mainland audiences through the *Forrest Gump* DVD.

Brad Pitt was holding Angelina Jolie's hand; he had already broken up with "Rachel."

The former two still had a *Mr. & Mrs. Smith* to cooperate in 2005.

In an internet cafe 4 kilometers away from the top middle school in Beiping, the 11th School, Zhang Ruoyun finally skipped class for the first time after two years.

In order to find a black internet cafe that could go online, he almost pedaled his calves into cramps.

After the Blue Speed Internet Cafe two years ago, Beiping internet cafes were overhauled, and now finding a black internet cafe was harder than ascending to heaven.

And he first came into contact with acting with Boss Lu in *Whiplash*, and performed well in the *Sword and Fairy* anti-snatching, so Zhang Ruoyun had contact with both Lu Kuan and Liu Yifei.

Encouraged by the two, little Zhang also began to study hard, determined to take the exam for the Beijing Film Academy.

It's just that this year was the first time the idol Lu Kuan was impacting the Golden Globe Awards and the Oscars, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so Zhang Ruoyun couldn't suppress his excitement and decisively skipped class.

It was 8:30 PM Eastern Time in the United States, 9:30 AM in Beiping time; he had already been in his second English class for ten minutes.

Skip the English class, watch the live broadcast of the Inquiry Realm video, listen to the English host, and watch the Chinese subtitles; isn't it the same?

Does your English teacher speak English better than those American devils?

Little Zhang persuaded himself like this, and was also prepared to persuade his father Zhang Jian like this after being caught.

As a surfing expert, he quickly figured out the various functions of the Inquiry Realm video; only one thing like "danmu" (bullet comments) he hadn't figured out yet.

What does this mean?

The video occasionally stuttered, but the overall clarity and fluency were still quite good.

In the middle of the screen, the Inquiry Realm video broadcast team aimed the lens at Jolie and Pitt walking past hand in hand, and the cheers at the scene rose one after another.

But they were all scolding the scumbag Pitt.

In May last year, the tenth season of *Friends* just ended, and Pitt's ex-girlfriend Rachel was extremely popular.

Zhang Ruoyun was in puberty and had no resistance to cool and dashing big girls like Jolie, so he very lewdly typed below the video:

Flaming red lips, it would be great if I could take a bite.

After typing, he operated the mouse to go full screen, not noticing that he had lit up the gray "danmu".

In an instant, the gate to the new world opened.

"Damn, who is this so unrestrained, wanting to bite someone's mouth!"

"Really disgusting person, lewd man!"

Zhang Ruoyun was stunned on the spot, watching his own shameful sexual impulse slogan slide across the middle of the screen...

Damn it! Is this danmu?

He tried to input again: I was just joking just now, I'm still a child.

The current number of people online was only 200,000, and not many people had figured out this function, so this sentence soon floated past his eyes again.

"Joking? Joking about my wife? Get out!"

"Are you a child of several hundred months old? A giant baby?"

Zhang Ruoyun watched with great joy, only then did he know how to play danmu.

It's so interesting; this means everyone can chat online in real-time, right?

In the internet cafe at 9:30, many players who stayed up all night opened their sleepy eyes and prepared to go to the toilet; they were basically adults.

"Hey, buddy, watching a movie early in the morning?"

A bald man didn't see the screen content clearly, and the plump breasts and buttocks of the European and American actress were a bit dazzling, causing him to misunderstand.

As soon as they heard the lewd content, the onlookers quickly gathered.

Zhang Ruoyun took off his headphones and explained with a bitter smile: "It's not a movie! Golden Globe Awards live broadcast, Lu Kuan and Old Mouzi are both there!"

The lens happened to be the *House of Flying Daggers* crew walking past, and Zhang Ziyi was wearing a purple low-cut dress, waving to the Inquiry Realm TV editing team.

"Damn, there's a live broadcast? Isn't it all recorded? What website is this?"

A bespectacled man next to him: "Inquiry Realm video, I've heard of it; they've been advertising in the elevator for the past two months."

"Little brother, give me the URL?"

"Www, Inquiry Realm TV dot com, Inquiry Realm full pinyin."

Zhang Ruoyun shouted at the top of his lungs to advertise, and when he turned his head again, the *Exotic Land* crew had already appeared.

"Damn, I won't talk to you guys anymore, Lu Kuan and Liu Yifei are walking the red carpet, and there's Little Li."

Hearing Liu Yifei, several people who were going to the toilet immediately returned to their seats and entered the Inquiry Realm video interface in seconds.

Balls and bladder, wronged for now; I'll watch the fairy sister early in the morning to wash my eyes.

The bald man sat closer to Zhang Ruoyun and tilted his head to ask him: "Little brother, why is this interface full of words? It doesn't look like subtitles either?"

Zhang Ruoyun was impatient: "Danmu, that's danmu; you type in the chat box below the video and press enter to know what's going on."

It wasn't just the bald man; a group of old surfers in their twenties figured out the principle in a few clicks.

"Damn, this is interesting, hey; it means we can brag while watching? And brag with people all over the country?"

Bespectacled man: "You have to turn it on; there is a function to adjust danmu below."

Gu Xiaobai turned on the computer at the front desk and walked to Zhang Ruoyun's row.

"Little brother, can you give me the URL?"

He was a famous grassroots film critic who started his life in Beiping this year and began writing scripts for famous directors and film and television companies.

In later generations, Old Mouzi's *Under the Hawthorn Tree* and Li Shaohong's *New Dream of the Red Chamber* both had his participation.

Gu Xiaobai went to Little Horse Galloping for an interview today and saw the Inquiry Realm TV advertisement placed by Focus Media in the elevator; seeing the hunt and joy, he rushed to find an internet cafe without stopping.

Lu Kuan was his idol, or rather, the idol of most grassroots film critics of their generation.

Unlike critics within the system like Huang Shixian and Zhu Dake who like to put labels on things, talk about the New Wave, and promote art films.

They are good at publishing comments from the perspective of young people and the story-telling angle of commercial films.

In the early days of the development of the Chinese internet, various film forums emerged one after another.

Among them, the more famous ones are Sina's "Film World", Peking University Youth's "Film Night Boat", Xisi Hutong's "Looking at Movies from the Back Window", etc.

Of course, 80% of movie fans are now concentrated on Douban, but these film critics with slightly higher style and qualifications are unwilling to "associate with" ordinary movie fans and still guard their own one-third of an acre of land.

Zhang Ruoyun was outputting frantically: Boss Lu is handsome! Liu Yifei is beautiful! Little Li is handsome and beautiful!

"Watch it yourself, I don't have time!"

Gu Xiaobai leaned over helplessly and was soon stunned by the danmu all over the screen.

At a glance, it's definitely not official subtitles; why the hell is "I want to lick Liu Yifei's feet" coming out.

Gu Xiaobai followed suit, quickly figured out the simple and easy-to-understand Inquiry Realm video operation, and excitedly became a self-water to various film forums.

Zhou Liming, who had previously called for going to the cinema to support *Exotic Land* to break the historical box office record, saw it;

Among the first generation of grassroots film critics in the country, Wei Junzi, Li Xiaofeng, and Zhang Xiaobei, who had a good relationship with Gu Xiaobai, saw it;

In almost all domestic film forums, movie fans ran into the venue.

At the same time, Ideal Building, the office area that Boss Lu newly signed and approved for Inquiry Realm video.

Liu Hong watched the number of people online in the background soar to nearly one million, and after asking the technical team and getting an affirmative answer, he immediately contacted Lu Yao.

Lu Yao contacted the agents of blog big Vs such as Mei Yanfang, Zhou Jielun, Liu Yifei, Zhang Manyu, and Liu Dehua according to Lu Kuan's previous instructions.

It can push traffic.

Top artists released blogs, using their own traffic to help Inquiry Realm video call; just ten minutes later, the number of people online exceeded 1 million, 1.5 million...

Liu Hong's palms were full of sweat; the reason why he didn't divert a large amount of traffic from the beginning was that he was afraid that the server's pressure-bearing capacity was not enough.

This Mike Suoluomen really has two brushes; at least it looks very stable at the moment.

The *Exotic Land* crew walked past the lens, and Boss Lu specially took Liu Yifei, Little Li, and Tom Cruise to the Inquiry Realm video editing team.

"Leo, Tom, say hello to everyone in Chinese; this is our domestic media."

Tom Cruise smiled charmingly: "Ni hao!"

Little Li was even more lewd, directly giving a flying kiss.

The amount of danmu soared!

"Director Lu, please stand closer, the four of you; we will take a few close-ups."

Boss Lu acted according to his words, Liu Yifei stood in the middle, and the four smiled and nodded at the lens.

A little white flower inserted among three handsome grasses, the picture is beautiful and not to be looked at, and the danmu flies up.

"Face! Face! Top face!"

"I said why Xixi wasn't excited at all when receiving the Golden Rooster Award; this damn thing has already killed Hollywood, what's there to be excited about the Golden Rooster Award."

"Tom Cruise is so short! Liu Yifei is almost taller than him without wearing high heels!"

At this moment, domestic internet media people looked at the booming Inquiry Realm video with complex expressions.

Chen Tianqiao didn't know the profit model and product positioning of this video website, but just the creativity of danmu was already very amazing.

Obviously, it can greatly enhance user interaction and break the limitations of time and space to generate communication.

It's just a live broadcast now; it is foreseeable that in the playback of other film and television dramas, audiences discussing plots and characters in real-time through danmu will definitely be able to form a unique viewing atmosphere.

He was very glad that he was an ally with such a smart person.

The danmu of later generations originated from the Japanese video website niconico animation in 2006, and later entered the two domestic imitation websites ab, thus rising and becoming an important internet culture.

Accountant Jia, who is famous for returning to the country next week in later generations, of course also paid attention to this website.

It should be said that he had already founded his own similar website in December—LeTV.

It's just that when following the established strategy to purchase the online playback rights of boutique dramas from national and local TV stations such as CCTV and Shanying, he "pleasantly" discovered...

It's all gone!

After asking through key people, I found out that they were all bought by Inquiry Realm.

There are also private companies such as Dongyang Qingyu, Zhouyi, and Tangren.

Being able to be consistent with the ideas of entertainment industry giants, Accountant Jia felt happy for himself, but this hero sees the same thing, it is really heartbreaking.

Zhang Chaoyang of Sohu touched his chin and thought intently; he was interested in Lu Kuan's path of closely combining entertainment and the internet.

The previous blog network was nominally unrelated to Lu Kuan, so everyone didn't connect the two so closely.

Now Inquiry Realm directly launched its own direct internet product, and Charles Zhang, who also claimed to be a literary youth, was a little moved.

It's just that Lu Kuan's main business is a film director; if he crosses the border...

Maybe I can show off my singing voice?

(The promise is too beautiful because it is too young, but my dear, that is not love~~~)

(End of this chapter)