Chapter 623: New Year's Eve Gala and Sci-Fi Blockbuster

Xiao Shen: Have you ever heard of social death?

That night, Jiang Ningxi shared on the internet her experience of binge-watching the finale of *Corner* with Xiao Shen.

Now, the whole internet knows—Shen Yinuo didn't understand it!

Logically speaking, Shen Yinuo should be angry at Jiang Ningxi.

But what made her even more annoyed was that the netizens' comments were basically as follows:

"It's Shen Yinuo, so that's normal."

"Xiao Shen not understanding it, I'm not surprised at all."

"I didn't understand it either, but being represented by Xiao Shen, I still feel a bit angry."

"No, I have to watch the finale again. I cannot accept being in the same category as Xiao Shen."

Shen Yinuo:???

In her own heart, the netizens' view of her: clever, pretty, good figure, good personality.

In reality, the netizens' view of her: a silly, sweet airhead.

But what was most speechless was that the marketing team responsible for Aurora Girls at Xinyu happily told Shen Yinuo: "Your popularity is rising very fast right now, and your fans are skyrocketing!"

Honestly, quite a few people truly felt Shen Yinuo was very cute because of this incident.

It's just that in Shen Yinuo's eyes, the word "cute" in these comments would automatically translate to—"so stupid."

Not to mention, "stupid-cute" is also a kind of cute!

Shen Yinuo: "So in the end, everyone is happy!?"

As it happens, she went to settle the score with Jiang Ningxi, puffed up with anger, but under a round of 【verbal attacks】 from the Leg Fairy, she was left confused and was led right into a trap.

"Hey! Forget it, forget it!" Xiao Shen retreated in defeat, stomped her foot, and left Jiang Ningxi's room.

On the internet, the trend of analyzing the finale of *Corner* just like that began to sweep through.

With a popular girl group leading the way, how could the drama critics of the whole internet sit still?

—If you think it had a bad ending, that's because you didn't understand it!

This ending can be called a stroke of genius; it filmed everything that needed to be filmed, and it could also pass censorship perfectly.

Innocent people see beauty, rational people see reality!

This is simply a censorship miracle for Blue Star Huaxia, and it also provided a brand-new train of thought for many film crews waiting to shoot.

—"Learned it, learned it!"

Luo Mo had thus given the film and television industry another good lesson.

In the past few days, a bunch of drama critics have been analyzing it one after another, making many parts sound miraculous. Yet if you look closely, you will find—it actually makes some sense!

There are simply too many details in this drama; some people have sharper eyes and discovered a portion of them.

But with the brainstorming of the entire internet, one would definitely discover details they had missed.

This made many people choose to watch it a second, third, or even fourth time!

The drama had clearly finished airing, but its popularity was still rising, and the viewership data remained high, consistently ranking first across the entire Penguin Video platform!

This left Pineapple TV and Qiqu Video speechless.

A web drama of yours that has already concluded is rubbing our currently serializing ones into the ground in every aspect of the data!

What kind of situation is this!

………

………

Time passed, and there was only half a month left until New Year's Eve.

In other words, another year had passed just like that.

"Time flies so fast," Luo Mo sighed.

"I was thinking about retiring early in the future, but I ended up working hard like this for a whole year," Luo Mo thought.

At this moment, he took out his phone and sent a WeChat message in the Aurora Girls' group chat.

"I plan to release an EP for you all, with 3 new songs in total."

After sending it, he also @everyone.

Yes, originally Han Ziyi was the group owner, but after Director Luo graced them with his presence, she immediately abdicated and yielded the position.

Once this WeChat message was sent, the entire WeChat group chat instantly became lively.

One after another, stickers were sent out by the girls.

Han Ziyi sent one with eyes shining.

Shen Yinuo sent one saying the boss is generous.

Dong Dong sent one about being dizzy with happiness.

Since Luo Mo indicated he would handle it personally, then it would be all-inclusive.

Never mind the lyrics, composition, and arrangement, he would also serve as the producer himself.

And what amazed the girls the most was naturally Luo Mo's efficiency.

How many days had it even been?

Luo Mo held his phone and said in the group: "If I remember correctly, Director Ning Dan invited you all to participate in the New Year's Eve Gala, right?"

"Yes, yes," Han Ziyi replied immediately.

You have to know, who is Run Jie?

Her holiday gala invited a large number of elite soldiers and strong generals under Luo Mo.

Like Tao Jie, Tong Shu, Li Junyi, Sun Yi, Fengge Group... a whole bunch of people were all invited.

Aurora Girls were among them as well.

This New Year's Eve Gala, it's been organized like a team-building event for Luo Mo Studio and Xin Yu; one could say they've occupied half the landscape of the Singer stage.

In the music scene, many companies are definitely unhappy about it.

But being unhappy is useless.

Because after this list was posted online, it can be said to have ignited the anticipation of the entire internet, with countless netizens saying this lineup is Ox, love it, love it!

Songs written by Luo Mo are just hits; one can see a glimpse of this from the Hot Song Chart on major music platforms.

After Luo Mo thought for a moment, he said: "Three new songs, let's focus on one first. If there's enough time, let's treat the New Year's Eve stage as the debut for the new song."

"Ah? But Ning Dao has already selected 'Chinese Language' for us," Han Ziyi said.

Of course, they also hoped to sing a new song at the New Year's Eve Gala, but for them, this matter was very difficult to handle.

"It's fine, I'll go have a word with Ning Dao," Luo Mo said.

As soon as these words were spoken, Dong Dong, who looks the most innocent but is the best at bootlicking in real life, immediately took the lead to speak: "Long live Director Luo!"

The rest who were good at bootlicking copied and pasted this sentence, and those who couldn't bring themselves to say it just sent: "+1".

Given the relationship between Luo Mo and Run Jie, this matter was just a matter of one sentence.

As for a new song personally helmed by Luo Mo, Run Jie couldn't refuse it at all.

He said in the group chat: "But this still depends on your progress. If you can't practice it well, then just honestly sing 'Chinese Language'."

"Guarantee to complete the mission!" As the leader, Han Ziyi began to issue a military order.

Shen Yinuo asked curiously: "What is the title of the new song?"

Luo Mo did not know that the six girls of Aurora Girls were all at Shen Yinuo's house at this moment.

Yes, the six of them were sitting together, each holding a mobile phone, keeping Luo Mo company in the group chat.

Luo Mo sent the song title directly: "'Love You'."

The innocent-looking Dong Dong immediately revealed a smile, holding her phone, and shamelessly said: "Director Luo, I love you too!"

As soon as these words were spoken, she immediately received disgusted looks from the other five.

Ceng Ziyi and the others gritted their teeth: "I love you too!"

Shen Yinuo and Jiang Ningxi only felt: I'm really done with you all.

However, the girls only dared to mess around like this in private; they absolutely wouldn't dare to send it in the group chat.

After joking around with each other, they began to look forward to it.

"I think it's a relatively affectionate love song," Dong Dong guessed.

"I think so too," Han Ziyi expressed agreement.

"Judging from the title, I guess so. It's just that for a song with this name, I feel like there are a ton of songs in our music scene with the same name; I remember several of them are quite popular," Jiang Ningxi added.

The group of girl group members opened Penguin Music and searched for "Love You"; sure enough, a casual search yielded a large number of songs with the same name.

"The most popular 'Love You' is sung by the Heavenly Queen of Cilong, Xu Lianying," Shen Yinuo said.

As soon as these words were spoken, the members of Aurora Girls fell somewhat silent, feeling a slight pressure.

With the song titles being exactly the same, it was inevitable that they would be compared.

Logically speaking, no one would really compare a girl group's song to the song of a proper Heavenly Queen.

It's a girl group, what's there to compare?

But if this song came from Luo Mo's hands and was created by him, then it would be completely different!

In the end, Jiang Ningxi said: "Don't overthink it. When Luo Mo sends the song over, we'll practice hard and strive to not sing 'Chinese Language' at the New Year's Eve Gala, but sing 'Love You' instead. The New Year's Eve Gala is a rare and precious stage for promoting a song."

The other girl group members nodded like they were pounding garlic: "Mm-hmm!"

Must show some spirit, sisters!

……..

……..

Luo Mo did not know for the time being that because the title of the song "Love You" was truly a bit common, there were quite a few songs with the same name, causing the members of Aurora Girls to feel immense pressure.

However, even if Luo Mo knew that the Heavenly Queen of Cilong Entertainment, Xu Lianying, had such a song, he wouldn't think there was any problem.

The style of the songs is completely different.

This "Love You" he prepared can be said to be a very energetic song.

On Earth, the singer of this song is Wang Xinling, who is known as the 【Sweetheart Cult Leader】.

This "Love You" was very popular before; it is the youth memory of a generation, and many sweet girls love to sing this song at KTV.

Now, because of a variety show, this song has exploded in popularity again, and has become... the favorite of many tough guys!

You never know what a muscular tough guy is actually listening to in his headphones!

Of course, that's nothing; the key is that many tough guys don't just listen, they... they... they also dance!

These days, the music scene on Earth is indeed regressing; not many new songs become hits, and there are very few rising new singers. Instead, many old songs are constantly becoming popular again, and a song might suddenly shoot to the top of the charts, and damn it, it's just a cover version of an old song.

Honestly, if the entertainment industry had any ambition, we wouldn't still be listening to songs we heard in elementary school in 2022.

And this "Love You" is an old song from 2004...

Some listeners might not even be as old as this song.

But I have to say, even if you listen to this song now, it still makes people feel full of vitality and sweetness.

In Luo Mo's view, this kind of song is too suitable for a girl group!

When the time comes, six girls wearing pleated skirts, singing a song of extreme sweetness and vitality on stage while dancing with their skirts flying—it would be hard for this stage not to be a hit!

Presumably, the General Director of the New Year's Eve Gala, Ning Dan, would be happy to see such a high-quality stage.

These days, has everyone noticed? At many holiday galas, let alone high-quality new songs, even many classic old songs are not sung by the original singers, but by inviting a bunch of random celebrities to lip-sync.

It's clearly a singing stage, but you just can't see a few actual Singers.

But if you insist that these celebrities are Actors, it seems they have no acting skills and are not 【Actors】 recognized by everyone.

It can only be said that from many angles, capital is indeed paying less and less attention to Singers, and the revenue that Singers can bring is, in their eyes, incomparable to others.

However, if there really are high-quality new songs, then it will still make countless audiences feel a Surprise.

"Run Jie, oh Run Jie, this time it's my turn to 'run' you," Luo Mo said in his heart.

Days passed one by one, and for these past few days, Luo Mo basically ran back and forth between Xin Yu and his home.

When Shen Yinuo told her father, Shen Shaoqiu, that Luo Mo was going to helm three new songs for them, she could feel that Shen Shaoqiu was in a great mood and especially happy.

It's just that the thick-skinned Miss Shen Yinuo didn't think too much about it because of this; she simply felt that her father was happy for her.

The performance of Aurora Girls was very good, and they knew very clearly that the compatibility between this song and their girl group was extremely high.

This is a rare opportunity that must be seized!

As mentioned before, the lifespan of a girl group is generally not long, and the opportunities for them to perform together in the future will only become fewer and fewer.

Aurora Girls, who have a very good group spirit, all wanted to leave behind a few more classic stages together before everyone became busy with their own affairs in the future.

Moreover, looking at it from other levels, in this girl group, the most popular ones are Shen Yinuo and Jiang Ningxi, while the other four girls still very much need representative works in the music scene.

On the other side, the New Year's Eve Gala is getting closer and closer, and so, the day of the release of "Yang Ming Li Wan" on New Year's Day is also getting closer and closer.

Guan Fei was originally very calm, but as the release date drew nearer, he became increasingly restless, and even started to lose confidence again.

It is very obvious that he had flopped too many times before.

Even with Luo Mo as his solid backing, he still couldn't quite stand tall, and his heart was still panicked.

This made Luo Mo feel even more that choosing a small-budget film for him to direct was truly a wise move.

"He should be allowed to stand up on his own first, pick up his former dignity and confidence, and then let him handle a big production." Luo Mo felt he was truly damn wise!

The only thing that makes people feel regretful is that as the end of the year draws closer, the total box office of Huaxia films is destined to be unable to reach the throne of second in the world this year.

What is even more annoying is that the director and screenwriter of that foreign film "Doomsday Apostle" don't know where they saw the news related to Huaxia's 【Hundred Billion Box Office Plan】, and they also knew that the Huaxia film industry had shouted the slogan of challenging the world's second-largest box office market this year.

These two people mocked them again in front of foreign media, and felt smug that it was their film that became the node for the total box office to surpass Huaxia.

When Luo Mo chatted daily with Feng Ji and Qian Qingyun, the pillars among the older generation of directors, he could faintly feel the anger in the hearts of the two elders.

Regarding this, Luo Mo is relatively understanding.

"In their era, they must have experienced even more infuriating things," Luo Mo guessed.

"In the hearts of these directors, I'm Afraid there is a thorn."

"With 'Doomsday Apostle' pulling a stunt like this, it not only makes them feel uncomfortable, but it also pricks that thorn deep in their hearts!"

Adding all these things together, it made Luo Mo even more determined in his inner thoughts and his inner plan.

For this reason, he specifically checked how much capital he currently has available.

After calculating everything together, Luo Mo himself was shocked.

"Whoa, I knew I was very rich, but I didn't expect to be this rich!" Luo Mo looked at the long string of numbers and felt even more that he could fully stretch his legs and arms.

You must know that for "Dying to Survive" alone, the box office was as high as over 4 billion, and the Split Box Office that Luo Mo could receive is terrifying!

Over these few years, while earning money and making large donations, he still accumulated a huge amount of wealth in his pocket over time.

For this reason, he specifically asked Xu Chujing a question.

"This year, as of now, which film in our Huaxia has the highest production cost, and what is the cost?" Luo Mo asked.

At night, Xu Chujing was applying body lotion to her legs. Hearing Luo Mo's question, she thought for a moment and said, "It should be Director Zheng Wei's 'General's Order', right? The officially announced production cost is over 600 million."

Upon hearing this, Luo Mo nodded and said, "In my impression, the box office performance of this 'General's Order' was not good."

"Yeah, the total box office was just a little over 1 billion. It lost a lot of money. Director Zheng Wei also never directed a film again after this one; you could say he retired," Xu Chujing said while switching legs to apply the lotion.

Zheng Wei, like Feng Ji and Qian Qingyun, is ranked among the 【Four Great Directors】.

This "General's Order" was intended to create an epic war film. It is said that when it was being filmed, the number of extras alone was too many to count.

For many big scenes, there were just so many people!

The starring cast was also terrifying; there were three Best Actors and two Best Actresses alone.

Even if Feng Ji and Qian Qingyun film movies during this period, they won't make overly large investments, precisely because of Zheng Wei's cautionary tale.

In Luo Mo's impression, many films on Earth that claimed to have huge costs mostly flopped.

And the film with the highest cost is likely the "Changcheng" by the national master.

This film had Hollywood stars, domestic big names, and even traffic stars; the total salary alone was extremely astonishing.

"If I remember correctly, the cost broke 900 million?" Luo Mo recalled.

But the final box office of "Changcheng" was only 1.174 billion, which is equivalent to a bloody loss!

After Xu Chujing finished wiping her legs with body lotion, her two slender, fair legs revealed an extremely alluring luster under the illumination of the lights.

Many people should have seen the scene of applying essential oil to tender skin.

Body lotion isn't that shiny, but it also has some effect.

"I'll help you wipe the other places," Luo Mo volunteered.

Xu Chujing lay on the bed, signaling for him to wipe her back, while saying, "Why did you suddenly ask about production costs?"

As Luo Mo felt the texture of the skin on the back of the Heavenly Queen Xu, his palms wiped over her waist dimples and even made a few circles there, while he said:

"I want to make a big production."

"How big?" Xu Chujing asked.

"How much it will eventually cost, I don't know, because what I pursue is the effect presented," Luo Mo said.

"No limit?" Xu Chujing lay there and turned her head in surprise.

Luo Mo met her gaze and said, "There definitely is one. Your boyfriend's money isn't endless either."

He added, "Emptying out the family fortune won't happen, after all, you know, I'm the type of person who is very hard to be emptied out."

Seeing that his mouth was starting to get restless again, Xu Chujing, based on her understanding of Luo Mo, knew full well that his next step would be for his hands to get restless too.

She spoke up: "Except for my back, I'll wipe the other parts myself."

Luo Mo raised his large hand to press her onto the bed and said: "Don't be like that, isn't it good to have someone serve you?"

He continued on his own: "I'm not sure about the investment cap, but I reckon it'll be at least 500 million, it won't be lower than 500 million."

Xu Chujing turned her head in astonishment again, clearly startled by the four words "at least 500 million."

She looked deeply at Luo Mo and said: "Have you already made up your mind?"

"Mm," Luo Mo said softly.

Upon hearing this, Xu Chujing didn't even ask what he was going to film, and said directly: "Then let me be an investor this time too, let me invest a little."

Luo Mo looked at her, opened his mouth, wanting to say something.

"What, you're not willing?" Xu Chujing glared with her beautiful eyes.

"Fine, I'll do as you wish," Luo Mo said with a smile.

……..

……..

December 31st arrived just like that.

Tomorrow, it will be a new year once again.

Opening major social media platforms today, one can see everyone's anticipation for tonight's New Year's Eve Gala, as well as the movie officially releasing tomorrow—"The Untouchable"!

As the first film released under the Hundred Billion Box Office Plan, and a movie for which Luo Mo serves as screenwriter and producer, "The Untouchable" is naturally highly anticipated.

Of course, another reason is the "3 movies, 8 billion" goal that Luo Mo previously shouted out.

With "The Untouchable" as the vanguard, everyone is very eager to see how much strength it can contribute to the 8-billion goal.

Many filmmakers in the industry are waiting and watching.

And what's outrageous is that at exactly one o'clock this afternoon, Luo Mo Studio and Xu Chujing Studio released a post at the same time, officially announcing to the public that Luo Mo and Xu Chujing will jointly invest in a new Science Fiction film, with an estimated initial investment of—500 million!

Once this news was announced, it caused a sensation.

The entire internet was boiling, and the industry was shaken!

"A new Science Fiction film? Luo Mo is going to film Science Fiction!?"

"Wow, Xu Chujing and Luo Mo are investing together, is this a year-end treat?"

"500 million, it's been a long time since I've seen such a large investment amount."

"It's not 500 million, it's an estimated initial investment of 500 million!"

"This is going to be a blockbuster! Is it because of Doomsday Apostle?"

Filmmakers in the industry, for a moment, didn't know what Luo Mo was thinking.

Like filming "Sheep Without a Shepherd," everyone felt it was normal; after all, the Mist Theater is so popular, not making a Suspense-themed movie would really be a waste of an advantage.

But a Science Fiction theme...

That is a huge pit!

One jumps in and disappears, one jumps in and disappears!

Whoever jumps in dies, without exception!

Not just the people of Huaxia, almost everyone on Blue Star believes that the field of Science Fiction belongs exclusively to Blue Star Hollywood.

Aside from Blue Star Hollywood, there is almost nowhere else where a Science Fiction movie has had a global box office explosion.

As for the Huaxia film industry, Science Fiction belongs to the shortest of short boards!

In Huaxia, which lacks a clear rating system, horror movies are like dancing in shackles, but occasionally they can still dance out some quality works.

But Science Fiction movies, there really aren't any, not a single one!

Under these circumstances, to still dare to throw 500 million, and even more than 500 million, this person must be crazy!

Luo Mo hadn't done anything related to Science Fiction before either.

Because this matter was too sensational, when Luo Mo and Xu Chujing arrived together at the live broadcast site of the New Year's Eve Gala, the media reporters surrounding the outside didn't directly interview him about questions regarding the gala, but instead asked about this Science Fiction blockbuster first.

Luo Mo looked at the crowd of media, and after pondering for a moment, said:

"Filming a Science Fiction blockbuster, Huaxia filmmakers cannot give up forever, cannot never film one."

"Someone will definitely film it, sooner or later someone will."

"Since that's the case, why can't that person be me?"

(PS: Two-in-one, 6000+.

Went to a childbirth class with May Zong during the day today? I don't even know what this kind of class should be called.

Anyway, the baby's due date is around July 1st, and I'm about to advance in life to become a dad. I basically haven't mentioned this in the book before, mainly because I thought there was no need. Based on my experience, everyone reads too many books, and memories are easily confused. People will briefly express understanding for an author busy with major life events, but might soon forget exactly who it is, and then curse even harder because of dissatisfaction with the updates, hahaha.

And in fact, my recent update volume is much higher than the previous few months, but whatever, it doesn't matter, more words are useless. I know that the vast majority of readers truly like the work and keep silent.

Well, since I only started typing after coming back in the afternoon, today's update is a bit late.)

(End of chapter)