Chapter 533: Incomprehensible Matters

Wang Rong finally understood why Luo Mo's expression was off.

The original idea was to join the 【Hundred Billion Box Office Plan】 and become one of these ten people.

Who would have thought that Luo Mo would end up becoming the eleventh of the ten.

The Review Department didn't count him among those ten, but instead specifically added an extra spot for him.

This really gave people the feeling that his connections were heaven-reaching and his backing was rock-solid.

Even Wang Rong couldn't help but say, "Are you sure there's no one in the Review Department?"

Luo Mo spread his hands helplessly.

The main issue was that Luo Mo knew very well that the other directors, besides Wang Rong, should also have known the original plan was for 10 spots.

Luo Mo didn't know what these people would think when the time came.

To be precise, he and Wang Rong only knew that they had both joined this plan, but they didn't yet know which other directors were involved.

The list hadn't been announced yet.

However, according to the Review Department, everyone was to go to Beijing the day after tomorrow for a meeting.

That is to say, everyone would only know who else was involved once they met.

……..

……..

The filming of "Dying to Survive" was going smoothly, and there hadn't been any particularly thorny issues so far.

Since both Wang Rong and Luo Mo had to go to Beijing for the meeting, the crew stopped filming for two days.

Xu Chujing happened to be in Beijing these few days, so if time permitted, this couple could meet up.

As night fell, Luo Mo and Wang Rong boarded the plane to Beijing.

During this time, "Reset" also updated its thirteenth episode.

The end of the twelfth episode concluded with Officer Zhang being caught in the bomb blast, his life or death unknown.

The beginning of this episode explained the past of the "Pot Aunt" and the driver.

It was because of the death of their daughter, Wang Mengmeng, that they came to this city.

When the audience learned the news that Officer Zhang had died, many felt their hearts ache once again.

Although many believed this likely wouldn't be the final 【Loop】, it was still very moving to watch.

Just because the preceding conversation had laid the emotional groundwork so well, Officer Zhang's line, "I would respond to the call without hesitation," made people feel he was shining.

Besides this, the thirteenth episode also explained the cause of Wang Mengmeng's death and aired the video from the bus surveillance before she got off.

It showed that this girl had actually gone to grab the steering wheel from the driver just to get off the bus!

——Too dangerous!

Perhaps out of helplessness, or perhaps out of Anger, the driver stopped the bus right in the middle of the road to let her off.

Who would have expected that as soon as she got off, she was hit by a car and left this world.

This video had gone viral on the internet a few years ago.

The bullet comments and reviews were flooded with a large amount of abusive commentary.

"She deserved it!"

"She's really sick in the head, daring to grab the steering wheel!"

"It's satisfying to see!"

"I always felt this was retribution."

Of course, there were definitely people who lamented the loss of life, which had sparked heated discussions and massive flame wars on the internet.

One side felt the others were all "saints": this girl was grabbing the steering wheel, after all.

The other side felt the others were all keyboard warriors: this girl is already dead, she's dead!

This actually brought up a series of social issues once again.

Many observant Drama Critics began writing reviews after watching this episode, pointing out some of the details within it.

For example, the Pot Aunt had been wearing Wang Mengmeng's keepsake the whole time, which was a hair tie.

The Drama didn't use flashbacks to tell the audience that the mother-daughter relationship was good.

Just such a hair tie was enough to prove it.

Because the hair tie had a red cherry decoration on it. And the Pot Aunt's full name was Tao Yinghong, which, when reversed, is a homophone for "red cherry."

In this episode, the actors playing the Pot Aunt and the driver Wang Xingde could be said to be acting their hearts out.

Especially the Pot Aunt, who provided netizens with a massive amount of…….. meme material!

Many of this woman's expressions were truly too terrifying and too chilling.

Might as well make some memes to ease the mood; who knows, they might even ward off evil.

All the viewers began looking forward to the final two episodes of the grand finale tomorrow.

They didn't know that in this episode, Luo Mo had deleted the plot point where the Pot Aunt suspected Wang Mengmeng had encountered a bus pervert.

Because this part of the Drama would have contradicted what came before.

Earlier, when Li Shiqing successfully got off the bus for the first time, it was by falsely accusing Xiao Heyun of being a pervert.

Yet in this plot, the Pot Aunt remained expressionless throughout.

Clearly, after she developed this suspicion, she had specifically asked passersby on the Road Bus if any incidents involving perverts had occurred on this bus route.

Logically speaking, given her hatred, she should have blown up the bus in seconds upon hearing the word "pervert."

Yet she remained indifferent.

In the subsequent bus bombings, she was more decisive each time than the last.

Good grief, she won't blow up the pervert, but she specifically targets the innocent?

In this, the logic does not hold, and it is also one of the bugs that many netizens on Earth have pointed out.

——The outlet for her hatred is not right.

After this episode ended, the audience had two unified questions in their hearts.

The first: Why did Wang Mengmeng go to grab the steering wheel, and what exactly did she encounter on the bus?

The second: In what way will "The Start" have its grand finale?

Fortunately, an extra episode will be released tomorrow, and all the suspense will be revealed tomorrow night.

………

………

The next day, 9:30 AM.

Director Tian Ou, who was in Beijing, began to take a car to the meeting location designated by the Review Department.

Tian Ou: It is a great honor to be one of the ten directors of the 【Hundred Billion Box Office Plan】.

In terms of selecting people, the Review Department chose five up-and-coming directors who are relatively successful in terms of box office, and five older-generation directors with greater fame.

People like Wang Rong and Tian Ou are the former.

These days, many well-known older-generation directors actually don't have very popular films.

On the contrary, some up-and-coming directors keep up with the times, and their box office numbers are higher than the last.

In fact, all four directors in "Director Show" received invitations.

As mentioned before, these four people all had new films scheduled to be released this year.

Li Dongliang and Fang Jie, one known as the fifth of the Four Great Directors, the other known as the number one female director in Huaxia, both have this qualification.

As for someone like Qian Qingyun, one of the proper Four Great Directors, he can't squeeze out a film in several years, but instead directs large-scale holiday galas more often.

Once he reaches his status, he is already a figure standing at the very top of the industry, having gained both fame and fortune.

If he encounters a script he is interested in or a subject he wants to film, then he will film it occasionally.

If he doesn't encounter one, then he simply doesn't film.

Regarding the 【Hundred Billion Box Office Plan】, Tian Ou is still very attentive.

To put it broadly, this is to make a final sprint for the Huaxia film market, moving toward becoming the world's second-largest box office market.

To put it narrowly, this is beneficial to the box office of his own new film, and at the same time, it is a kind of honor and a kind of recognition.

The Review Department's invitation this time made the bad mood he had been in for this period of time dissipate a little.

He has been under too much pressure lately; he couldn't even sleep, and he was irritable and prone to Anger, which is especially hard on the liver.

The two short films Luo Mo shot in "Director Show" were both too good, and he did not have the certainty of victory.

At the same time, he originally thought that Li Dongliang and Fang Jie were in the same camp as him, but these two old foxes clearly wanted him to charge forward foolishly alone while they watched the show from behind.

Providing assists is no problem.

But we are getting old, so it's not good to lead the charge, right?

As for Wang Rong, that goes without saying.

"A dignified Best Actor actually went to help Luo Mo shoot a movie!"

Tian Ou himself also slowly rose from being a Newcomer director, and he was so envious.

To this day, he has never collaborated with a Best Actor-level Actor........

Because the hotel where he was staying was very close to the meeting location designated by the Review Department, Tian Ou arrived at the conference room early.

As soon as he walked into the conference room, he discovered that someone had arrived even earlier than him.

"Director Li, Director Fang, Director Sun........" Tian Ou greeted them one by one.

Four directors of the older generation had already arrived.

They are old, sleep little, and wake up early.

The only older-generation director who had not yet arrived was Feng Ji.

Feng Ji, one of the Four Great Directors; at last year's Spring Festival Gala, Luo Mo sang "Lone Warrior", and he was the General Director.

Feng Ji has a war film this year that will be released during the Shuji Dang, and it has already been scheduled.

However, looking at the current market environment of Blue Star, just like the first few years on Earth, mainstream war films are not favored by the audience, and most of the box office is not high.

Feng Ji filming this type of movie is not for the box office, but for responsibility.

Seeing Tian Ou arrive, Li Dongliang and Fang Jie both greeted him very enthusiastically.

Fang Jie even said to Director Sun on the side: "Tian Ou, little Tian, is the one among the younger generation of directors that Old Li and I are most optimistic about."

"Not at all, not at all." Tian Ou had a smile on his face, but was cursing in his heart.

Optimistic about me and yet you still mess with me!?

That old hag is really wicked!

The five directors thus began to chat, exchanging their views on the 【Hundred Billion Box Office Plan】.

It could be seen that everyone was quite excited and thrilled.

After all, who wouldn't want to receive support from the Review Department and other parties?

There are too many invisible benefits in this.

In the process of communicating, Tian Ou could roughly feel that people like Director Sun and Director Yan were a bit indifferent to him.

These two directors are also in their fifties.

In the director circle, there are many old people who cannot accept or accommodate young people.

Tian Ou thought to himself: "Maybe in their hearts, they feel that up-and-coming directors like us are not worthy of participating in the 【Hundred Billion Box Office Plan】 with them."

The older generation of directors, in that era, filmed all kinds of genre films.

There were commercial films, there were art films, a hundred flowers blooming.

But nowadays, the vast majority of the new generation of directors have a very uniform pursuit, and that is money.

Reputation, awards, social influence... these are all extras.

It's best if you can have them, but it's fine if you don't.

In the circle, heroes are judged entirely by box office.

Whoever directs a movie that sells well is the real deal, and they can even speak a little louder.

Coupled with the fact that the older generation of directors are selling fewer tickets these days, they naturally look down on the new generation of directors more and more.

This is actually nothing strange; one generation always looks down on the next.

It's just like how the post-80s generation scolds the post-90s, and the post-90s scold the post-00s.

This is a universally existing phenomenon.

Just at this moment, new directors arrived at the conference room one after another.

Before this, everyone didn't know which ten directors were participating in the plan, so as they saw each person arrive, they all had their own thoughts.

The 【Hundred Billion Box Office Plan】 hopes that every director can support one another, but there is certainly some competition within it.

After all, everyone's goal is 10 billion.

So, how many billions will I take, and how many will you take?

It is destined that some people will carry the team, while others will hold it back.

Seeing that the person arriving is a director they approve of, they naturally think a good teammate and colleague has arrived.

If someone they don't think much of arrives, they naturally feel that this person is just here to hold us back.

Soon, nine directors had already gathered in the conference room.

Fang Jie pushed up her Glasses and said with a smile, "Everyone, take a look and see who the last one to arrive is."

"Whoa, it's three minutes until ten o'clock; they're cutting it close," another old director said with a smile.

Feng Ji, who has the highest status, had already arrived three minutes ago, which meant there was still one new-generation director who hadn't arrived.

Just at this moment, everyone heard the sound of someone jogging.

The commotion was quite loud, showing that the person arriving had significant heft.

Wang Rong carried many things into the conference room, and being slightly chubby, he panted as he said, "Sorry, sorry, I was just buying Coffee for everyone nearby and almost arrived late."

Li Dongliang smiled and raised the thermos in his hand, saying, "I guessed that Director Wang would also be invited, but there's no need for the Coffee."

"Alrighty then." Wang Rong began to distribute the Coffee; some people said thanks and took it, while others indicated they didn't need any.

Wang Rong consciously carried the remaining Coffee and placed it at the very last seat at the rectangular conference table, saying, "Then I'll claim this seat first."

As he spoke, he also used the notebook he brought for his Notes to fan himself, saying, "I ran until I broke a sweat."

Wang Rong, who arrived last and brought Coffee for everyone, took the initiative to occupy the last seat, and the other directors present also began to defer to one another, choosing where they would sit later.

Amidst their chatter, no one heard that there were still footsteps coming from the hallway.

Luo Mo, who had gone upstairs with Wang Rong and then went to the restroom first, was walking quickly toward the conference room.

"Phew, thank goodness, I didn't arrive late." Luo Mo walked into the conference room before ten o'clock.

In an instant, the entire conference room fell into dead silence.

Everyone's gaze converged on Luo Mo.

Except for Wang Rong, everyone's gaze carried more or less surprise and confusion.

It was actually Director Feng Ji, who had the highest status and had worked with Luo Mo before, who took the lead in greeting him, saying with a smile, "Eh, little Luo is here too."

Luo Mo said with a smile, "Director Feng, long time no see."

He also had a very good impression of Feng Ji; in his heart, Feng Ji was the same as Qian Qingyun, both being old seniors of virtue and artistic integrity who were worthy of respect.

Then, Luo Mo began to greet everyone one by one.

The moment he shook hands with Tian Ou, a rich smile appeared on his face.

To be precise, this was the first time the two of them had met.

Because Luo Mo was much taller than Tian Ou, he was looking down while smiling at him.

At this moment, Tian Ou was completely stunned.

"What is he doing here?"

Report, the director squad was supposed to have ten people, but eleven actually arrived!?

(End of chapter)