Chapter 636: 《Charlotte's Goodbye》

Inside the Siheyuan, Sixth Senior Brother Liu Gongming was hiding by the window, talking on the phone with his fitness coach girlfriend.

For some reason, Luo Mo felt that Sixth Senior Brother was truly filled with a sense of comedy from head to toe.

Even though he was just talking on the phone, his face revealed expressions like 【the struggle of feeling powerless】, 【the guilty conscience of not actually lying to you】, and 【the anxiety of "oh, just listen to me"】, which made Luo Mo want to laugh just looking at him.

He guessed that it was likely his girlfriend asking him to exercise again, and he had used the excuse of guests visiting their master to decline the date for the evening.

Perhaps noticing out of the corner of his eye that Luo Mo was watching him, Sixth Senior Brother's expression changed in an instant, immediately turning indifferent and even a bit pretentious, to assert his status as the head of the household.

At this moment, the call between Luo Mo and Wang Rong had not yet ended. As soon as Wang Rong heard that Luo Mo had a candidate for the lead role, he immediately said, "As long as you are willing to write the script for me, you can decide all the casting; I, as the director, will absolutely not interfere!"

He had witnessed just how formidable Luo Mo's scripts were.

Moreover, he also trusted Luo Mo's eye for casting.

"Alright then, I'll let him give it a try," Luo Mo agreed.

"Great! I'll wait for your good news!" Wang Rong immediately agreed, feeling delighted.

With Luo Mo's help, who would still bother collecting scripts in the industry!

Could scripts written by others compare to Luo Mo's?

As for his film project *Million Diamonds*, which had been shelved due to *God of Medicine*, he was prepared to relegate it to the cold palace.

Previously, he felt it was too embarrassing compared to *God of Medicine*, but now he felt there was no need to film it at all.

Inside the Siheyuan, Sixth Senior Brother and Luo Mo ended their calls at almost the same time.

Liu Gongming cleared his throat while walking toward Luo Mo, saying, "Say, Little Junior Brother, help me sign an autograph later. My girlfriend has put in a lot of effort helping me lose weight; consider it a little gift for her."

Luo Mo smiled, knowing clearly in his heart that this was perhaps compensation for not exercising tonight.

He saw through it without exposing it and agreed, saying, "Sure, but Sixth Senior Brother, I do have something I need your help with."

"Is that so? You're such a big star now, and you still need your senior brother's help like in the past?" Sixth Senior Brother was ecstatic.

Among all the senior brothers and sisters, only Sixth Senior Brother had never started a family and had always stayed by Master's side to serve the old man.

Luo Mo was the last to be initiated, and by that time Tong Qinglin was already quite old, so in many instances, it was Liu Gongming who taught on behalf of the master.

Many of the skills Luo Mo possessed were learned from him.

Whenever something actually happened in the past, he would always look for Sixth Senior Brother for help.

As mentioned before, Sixth Senior Brother's personality was like a worker on an inflatable doll assembly line—he couldn't assemble any parts, but he knew how to put on airs.

Therefore, as long as you coaxed him a little, he was basically responsive to any request.

It was likely because he loved to put on airs and act tough that he was being endlessly tormented by his "peach-butt" girlfriend.

At this moment, as soon as Liu Gongming heard that his Little Junior Brother needed him, he immediately perked up.

Luo Mo smiled and said, "Sixth Senior Brother, didn't you go take acting classes before? I heard from Teacher Luo Chun that you performed quite well."

Luo Chun was the actor who played the Emperor of Liang in *Nirvana in Fire* and had also played a role in *China in the Classics*; he was a member of the National Theatre of China and also held the title of National First-Class Actor.

He and a few others from the National Theatre of China had opened acting classes in Beijing. When Liu Gongming wanted to take classes, Luo Mo had arranged for him to join.

Upon hearing this, Sixth Senior Brother, who knew his own limitations, smiled bitterly and said, "Little Junior Brother, don't flatter me. I know how terrible I am."

"I clearly act in serious dramas, but as soon as I get on stage, they laugh!"

Luo Mo completely substituted the image of Shen Teng into Liu Gongming's gritted-teeth expression: "As soon as I get on stage, they laugh! As soon as I get on stage, they laugh!"

"They even told me to develop in the direction of comedy!"

"Me! Liu Gongming! Comedy?"

"Me, Liu Gongming, have you never heard of *Noble Consort Dances with Sword*?"

These words fell into Luo Mo's ears and automatically evolved into: "Have you heard of the heartthrob of the PLA Academy of Arts?"

Sixth Senior Brother sat down under the tree with his two legs stretched straight out, muttering continuously without stopping.

"Which noble consort plays for laughs in front of the emperor?"

"I've also received professional training since I was a child, alright?"

"Look at this sword finger of mine!" He raised his hand and pointed forward, poking continuously while saying, "This sword finger, I point, I point!"

"It's obvious I should be filming martial arts movies!"

Luo Mo really wanted to tell this Happy Comedian before him that with the wrinkles on his face, he couldn't play a noble consort; he could play an Empress Dowager, though.

Luo Mo coughed lightly, interrupting Sixth Senior Brother's continued finger-casting, and said, "Say, Senior Brother, I have a script here, and the male lead must be you."

"Must be me?" Sixth Senior Brother sprang up from under the tree, but quickly realized he was a bit too excited and immediately straightened his expression, saying, "As expected, my Little Junior Brother understands me!"

"Let me guess what kind of script it is." Sixth Senior Brother smiled and pointed his finger at Luo Mo, saying, "You, you! It's martial arts, right!"

Luo Mo shook his head.

Sixth Senior Brother continued to smile and said, "Haha, I know, it's because you see I've lost weight, so it's an urban action film!"

As he spoke, he even struck a pose.

Luo Mo took a look and had to admit that Sixth Senior Brother's horse stance was still quite Ox; after all these years, his foundation in Kung Fu Hustle was still there.

If only the years hadn't done whatever they did to him, wiping away his upright aura, Luo Mo would have wanted to make a parallel-universe version of *Ip Man* for him to film.

At this moment, Luo Mo looked at him and shook his head again, saying, "It's not an urban action film either."

Liu Gongming looked at Luo Mo, his expression changing constantly, looking conflicted and hesitant to speak.

Luo Mo thought he had guessed it was a comedy, but to his surprise, he said with a hint of embarrassment, "I can take on a Romance film too."

The line "I Love You" from *Nobody* was stuck in Luo Mo's throat, but since the other person was his respected senior brother, he swallowed it back down.

He said in a deep voice, "It's a Comedy."

"I won't act in it!" Sixth Senior Brother's expression changed instantly.

"I, Liu Gongming, would rather be an extra, a background actor, or never act in my life than perform in a comedy!" he said indignantly.

Sixth Senior Brother was clearly hurt; he felt that his Little Junior Brother was just like the rest of them!

Luo Mo immediately said, "Won't you at least listen to what kind of character you'd be playing in the movie?"

"Not listening!" Liu Gongming was very resolute.

"You play a big star in the movie, a big shot, a talented creator..." Luo Mo kept talking, but Liu Shixiong's expression never changed.

He took a deep breath and decided to use his trump card: "Liu Shixiong, in the movie, you are practically—playing me!"

"Playing anyone is not... what are you talking about?" Liu Shixiong was stunned.

Luo Mo pursed his lips, nodded slowly and firmly, and said, "I am inviting you to go into the movie I wrote and play me!"

"What the hell? You want to film an autobiography?" Liu Shixiong was even more stunned.

"Not exactly, oh, anyway, it's just playing a big star, writing songs, singing... anyway, a total winner in life!"

"Besides, this movie is directed by Wang Rong. I didn't even ask him to play himself; he is a Best Actor, I didn't even allow it." Luo Mo raised his eyebrows at him, with a look that suggested he was inferior to him.

After finishing, he continued to increase the stakes, saying, "By the way, I will also make a cameo in this movie."

"Cameo? Then what are you playing?" The more Liu Gongming heard, the more confused he became.

As a result, one sentence from Luo Mo brought him to the peak of confusion.

"Me?" He pointed at himself and said, "I am also playing me."

Liu Shixiong raised his hands, threw a few wild, aimless punches, and said, "What, what kind of mess is this!"

Seeing that he was actually already tempted, Luo Mo struck while the iron was hot: "Wasn't *The Winner* popular a while ago? I'll have the actor who played the male lead, Li Jiahui, come and play the second male lead for you, and let you bully him in the movie."

Of course, we won't mention the plot where he sleeps with your woman.

Luo Mo continued: "Also, Wang Rong can make a cameo, playing your teacher. In the movie, you can even beat him up—beating up a Best Actor, eh!"

"Oh, right, right, according to the plot in the movie, when I make my cameo, you have to beat me up too," Luo Mo said.

"I'll do it!" Liu Shixiong replied in a second.

"Hm?" This time it was Luo Mo's turn to be stunned.

"Hm?" Liu Shixiong retracted his already itching right hand behind his back and said, "Well, it's rare for you to get rid of me, how could your senior brother refuse?"

It was definitely not because I used to beat you often when you were lazy during training as a child, and since I haven't beaten you in many years, my hands were itching, and I wanted to experience the feeling of punching a Song King and kicking a Best Actor.

"Then it's a deal!" Luo Mo said: "It's a promise!"

"It's a promise!" Liu Gongming agreed.

Seeing that he had agreed, Luo Mo immediately took out his phone and began making arrangements in his studio's actor group chat.

As mentioned before, Luo Chun, Zhou Tong, and others from the National Theatre of China all had part of their contracts signed to his studio, so they had a group chat.

A few minutes later, Liu Gongming's phone rang.

It was in his acting class group chat, where three teachers tagged him one after another, saying: "You're going to act in a Comedy?"

In an instant, the whole group became lively.

Had he finally walked onto the right path?

Liu Gongming didn't know why everyone was so happy; it was as if he hadn't acted in anything yet, and they had already started laughing.

The most infuriating thing was that the junior brother had actually shared this great news in the fellow disciples' group chat.

"Led astray, led astray!"

In the end, Liu Gongming stood under a tree, stomping his foot in anger, truly completely "Teng-ified," saying: "What a sin!"

………

………

The filming plan for *Charlotte Troubles* would definitely have to be scheduled after the Spring Festival.

At the same time, some parts of this script still needed to be modified to fit the situation here on Blue Star.

Fortunately, Luo Mo had already made some preparations, so the problems weren't too big.

At night, he opened the Penguin Music new song weekly chart and saw that *Flower Sea* was already in the number one spot, and its data had pulled away from *Fly*.

"Looking at it now, it's considered stable," Luo Mo said in his heart.

"Next, it depends on whether *Flower Sea* has a chance to also explode past *Rice Field* on the Hot Song Chart," Luo Mo could be said to be ambitious.

The data for Blue Star's Hot Song Chart is monthly cumulative data, starting from the 1st of the month.

If it could come from behind to take the lead, that would be very interesting.

In a few more days, it would be New Year's Eve.

Luo Mo, Xu Chujing, and others would next participate in the final rehearsal for the Spring Festival Gala.

Besides that, *Nezha: Birth of the Demon Child* would officially be released on the first day of the Lunar New Year, so it was also in the midst of hot promotion.

"On Earth, *Nezha* had undergone large-scale previews," Luo Mo thought.

On Earth, the typical examples of turning the tide and becoming an instant hit through the operation of 【Large-scale Preview】 were *Nezha* and *Dying to Survive*.

But most movies in the Spring Festival slot wouldn't do this, so Luo Mo didn't make arrangements for it either.

There were many factors involved; in short, the necessity wasn't particularly strong.

Previously, when *Monkey King: Hero is Back* was released during the Spring Festival slot, its first-day screen share was very low, which could be said to be at the bottom.

But after it became a hit, major cinema chains began to attach more importance to Animation movies.

Coupled with the fact that several Animation movies with high box office returns had been released one after another this year, the entire market environment had become better and better.

However, expecting *Nezha: Birth of the Demon Child* to secure a very high screen share right from the start was impossible.

Looking at the current film market environment on Blue Star, for a film released in the Spring Festival slot, the box office needs to break 2 billion to be considered a hit, and break 3 billion to be considered a massive hit!

After *Monkey King: Hero is Back*, there hadn't been an Animation movie with a box office over 1 billion.

This made many people feel that the reason *Monkey King: Hero is Back* could achieve a heaven-defying box office of over a billion, raising the box office record for domestic Animation movies from over 100 million to over a billion in one fell swoop, was largely due to 【Sentiment】.

On Earth, because of some reasons, 【Sentiment】 seemed to have become a flaw in a movie. Many netizens loved to criticize movies that carried sentiment, as if the success of the box office was only because of sentiment, as if carrying sentiment was wrong, as if it were just cheating people out of money.

Blue Star did not have such a situation yet; filmmakers were just seriously analyzing the reasons behind it.

In fact, this wasn't wrong either.

The great success of *Monkey King: Hero is Back* is directly related to the Great Sage sentiment that almost every person in Huaxia carries in their heart.

It is precisely because of this that Luo Mo has always firmly believed that the only thing that could open up the animation film market was *Monkey King: Hero is Back*, and it had to be *Monkey King: Hero is Back*!

Looking at *Nezha: Birth of the Demon Child*, although the protagonist is also the classic character Nezha whom everyone knows well, in terms of sentiment, it certainly cannot compare to the Great Sage.

Children all want to be the Great Sage; I haven't heard of many children saying they want to be Nezha.

Therefore, if this film were not co-produced by Luo Mo and He Yuanguang, people in the film industry would be afraid that they would directly think: "Another one trying to ride the coattails of *Monkey King: Hero is Back*; they just picked a random myth character and thought it could sell like crazy!"

In reality, many animation films related to myth characters were indeed released this year, but most had dismal box office results, with the highest only reaching a little over 200 million.

Many filmmakers also unanimously believe that Luo Mo has actually already played his trump card; the Great Sage is the character with the most potential, and compared to him, any other character has a weaker initial advantage.

However, because it was produced with heart by the original team, and coupled with the fact that Luo Mo is currently at the height of his popularity, everyone unanimously believes that breaking 1 billion is still not difficult.

But if you talk about breaking 2 billion... then I hold a position of Retention.

I think the possibility is minimal.

This is actually a very normal mode of thinking.

Even the Xindi Cinema Chain, which has always been very optimistic about Luo Mo, does not think there is a high probability of *Nezha* breaking 2 billion at the box office.

Through nearly a year of observation, major cinema chains even believe that the current market ceiling for Huaxia animation films should be around 1 billion.

*Monkey King: Hero is Back* belongs to the category of films that overflowed, because of the bonus points from sentiment, plus it held a banner called supporting domestic animation; if the ceiling is 100, it belongs to the 120 kind...

And no one really thinks that *Nezha* was highly regarded by cinema chains before its release on Earth, right?

If that were really the case, they wouldn't have taken the risk on Earth to play with Large-scale Preview.

Its initial advantage on Earth was actually far smaller than it is on Blue Star, but it was still limited.

Therefore, the final screen share *Nezha* can get on the first day of the Lunar New Year will definitely be within 20%.

This is thanks to the support and resource allocation of the 【Hundred Billion Box Office Plan】, with a guaranteed screen share of 15%.

Of course, the Spring Festival slot is a period where the gods fight, and it is naturally crowded with blockbusters; Luo Mo feels that an animation film having a screen share of over 15% is enough.

"After all, this year's Spring Festival lineup is truly luxurious; the major cinema chains must be worried sick about screen scheduling," Luo Mo thought to himself.

"There is *Hidden Dragon in the Abyss* with the top Kung Fu Superstar of Blue Star Huaxia; his status here is about the same as Jackie Chan and Jet Li on Earth."

"There is also *Monster Hunt 2*, the second installment of *Monster Hunt*, which broke 2.5 billion at the box office last year."

"And there is *Journey to the West: Six-Eared Macaque*, which is also a myth theme, and a Journey to the West theme at that, with an investment exceeding 500 million, and the director is Peng Haibo, one of the Four Great Directors; the cast is ridiculously exaggerated, similar to inviting three of the Four Heavenly Kings on Earth, and then finding two extra Best Actors."

"Many netizens are saying that with such a luxurious lineup this year, they don't know which one to pick for the first movie of the New Year, and they are particularly conflicted."

It can be said that if you count *Nezha* as well, these four films all have explosive initial popularity.

Besides these four, there are 2 other films that are slightly weaker, but none of them are bad.

But this also means that subsequent word-of-mouth may become the deciding factor!

The only difference is that other people's pressure lies in whether they make money or lose money, or whether they earn more or less, but Luo Mo is different; he has targets, he needs 3 films to break 8 billion!

You can't just say, you go and seduce Section Chief Zhong, and let her pass your film in a situation where it could or could not pass: "Ma'am, you wouldn't want to fail to complete the leader's task, would you?"

Then, she takes the bait, and you can't perform!

Wouldn't that turn into another series?

Luo Mo is not very panicked, but the studio's publicity team worked hard before the New Year.

We can't let the boss fall from the altar.

After the boss became more and more popular, the red envelopes he sent out also became bigger and bigger.

Nezha, you must pedal these Wind Fire Wheels hard to get me up to the sky!

………

………

Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, it was New Year's Eve.

The Spring Festival Gala is coming soon.

However, the enthusiasm for the Spring Festival Gala on Earth is probably not even half of 【Collect Five Blessings】.

Things are slightly better here on Blue Star.

And among the many stages of the Spring Festival Gala, what everyone is looking forward to most this year is the Singing stage.

The reason is very simple: first, Luo Mo actually wrote three new songs this time!

It was decided long ago that he would sing new songs himself, to promote his new album by the way.

Tong Shu singing a new song was a Requirement from the General Director of the Spring Festival Gala; after all, he arranged for Xu Chujing to sing "Unforgettable Tonight" again, so Luo Mo also had to show something.

Besides this, Luo Mo also wrote a new song for Li Junyi.

It is Li Junyi's first time participating in the Spring Festival Gala, and Luo Mo feels that he still needs to support his Xiwanshaodi to keep his face.

Besides, it wouldn't do for Tong Shu to have a new song and Li Junyi not to, right?

——As fellow Xiwanshaodi, we must share the rain and dew equally!

As for the other reason why everyone is looking forward to this year's Singing stage, it is of course the duel between Chen Luo and Luo Mo.

Chen Luo is also going to be on the Spring Festival Gala, also singing new songs from his album.

The confrontation between two stages, how interesting, how tit-for-tat.

Many silly netizens are thinking: "Nowadays, we aren't allowed to set off fireworks and firecrackers during the New Year, so you won't let me come to the Spring Festival Gala stage to smell the gunpowder?"

"We'll just have a happy family reunion, you guys remember to fight to the death!"

As night fell, every household began to eat their New Year's Eve dinner.

And in Beijing, at the Live Broadcast site of the Spring Festival Gala, Luo Mo was warming up his voice in the backstage lounge.

The song he prepared for tonight is not easy to sing.

(ps: Asking for monthly tickets at the end of the month; it seems you can also draw prizes by voting now.)

(End of chapter)