Chapter 231 A little refresher
October 23rd was the day of Frost’s Descent. Although the afternoon sun was still bright, there was already a hint of chill in the air.
At around three o'clock in the afternoon, the crew of "Chinese Paladin III" in Hengdian was busy and tense.
In front of the monitor, director Li Guoli stared at the screen intently, afraid of missing any details.
When Hu Ge and Yang Mi finished the last shot perfectly, they suddenly shouted, "Cut! Done!"
After saying this, Li Guoli let out a long sigh and looked relieved.
Then he slowly picked up the intercom, took a deep breath, and said excitedly: "Now I declare that the filming of "Chinese Paladin III" has officially finished."
As soon as he finished speaking, the crew members around him couldn't help but applaud, and some even cried for joy.
It took nearly four months, with filming in many locations. During the filming process, many leading actors asked for leave and postponed the filming. After many twists and turns, the fantasy masterpiece "Legend of Sword and Fairy III" was finally completed!
In front of the camera in the studio, Hu Ge came out of his acting state when he heard the director's voice. He stared at Yang Mi's pretty face in front of him, feeling dazed and stunned for a long while.
"Mi Mi, congratulations on finishing the film."
Yang Mi was dressed in Xiyao costume, her white clothes were as white as snow, and she looked like a fairy walking out of a painting.
I am also very excited at this moment. After nearly four months of hard filming, the hard work has finally paid off.
Looking at the person in front of him, a hint of affection inadvertently flashed in his eyes: "Congratulations! Jingtian!"
Liu Shishi, Tang Yan, Chen Xiao, and Yuan Hong on the side also looked at each other, their expressions happy but also with a hint of reluctance.
In the past four months, we have experienced so many joys and sorrows together, and spent countless unforgettable days and nights together.
Now that the crew has wrapped up filming, perhaps everyone will go their separate ways tomorrow, and it’s unknown when they will get together again.
The stagehands and other staff began to pack up the equipment and clean up the venue. Several leading actors walked together to the rest shed, preparing to take a short rest, remove their makeup, change clothes, and attend the wrap party in the evening.
Yijie and Tang Yan walked hand in hand, chatting about interesting things in the crew's past, and their hearty laughter echoed in the air.
When we walked not far from the rest shed, we saw from afar Cai Yinong talking to a man in the shed.
Although the other person had his back to her and she couldn't see his face, Liu Shishi recognized him at a glance as Mr. Song, the man she had been thinking about day and night.
The first sister was so excited about the unexpected surprise that she naturally let go of her little sister and ran towards Song Ci in a hurry.
When Song Ci heard the noise, he turned around and saw Miss Liu running towards him. He took a few steps forward to meet her and was immediately filled with her fragrance.
The sister threw herself into her boyfriend's arms, hugged his strong waist and back, and held him tenderly for a moment before slowly letting go of her lover.
"Yiyi, why are you here?"
A wisp of fragrance lingered at the tip of his nose, and Song Ci smiled and explained: "I was on a business trip in Donghai this morning, and I happened to hear Yuanyuan say that the crew had finished filming today, so I came to see you. I plan to go back to Donghai with you tomorrow, and I will stay in Donghai for the next few days."
He went to Donghai Yamen in the morning to sign an investment agreement on behalf of Tengda Group. He will have to conduct field visits the next day and the day after tomorrow to select a site for the cloud computing center, so he will stay in Donghai for a few days.
"That's great." Sister Yi smiled with joy when she heard that Mr. Song wanted to stay with her in Donghai for a few days.
But then she remembered something and immediately suppressed her happy expression. She lowered her voice and said sarcastically, "How dare I bother Mr. Rich Man? Just focus on your important matters."
Seeing Miss Liu change her expression so quickly, Song Ci was confused. He had just arrived in Hengdian in the afternoon and had not offended her.
The newly crowned richest man didn't understand what was going on and could only look to Cai Yinong for help.
Cai Yinong chuckled and thought to himself that there is indeed a rule of thumb for everything, and his eldest sister really has Boss Song under control.
She also understood that the two were childhood sweethearts and had a deep affection for each other. If any other woman dared to act like a demon, the richest man would probably turn hostile on the spot.
Seeing Boss Song asking for help, Cai Yinong stepped forward and whispered, "Boss Song, Shishi is jealous. These days, there have been rumors online that you helped Fan Bingbing win the Montblanc jewelry endorsement."
She only dared to mention it so far, and was not comfortable saying more about the rest. Although she did not know the details of the incident, the rumors on the Internet were very detailed, so it was no wonder that Yijie would be jealous.
Song Ci understood in his heart that it was true that he helped Fan Bingbing, but the other rumors on the Internet that were exaggerated and groundless were completely false.
"Boss Cai, please go and do your work. I want to talk to Shishi alone."
Cai Yinong was stunned: "Uh, okay!" She was originally full of curiosity and wanted to see how the richest man would coax Sister Yi, but it seemed that she had no chance to watch and could only leave in disappointment.
There were only two people left in the small rest shed. Song Ci reached out to pull his girlfriend, wanting to sit down and chat with her slowly: "Shishi, these are just some rumors. You won't be jealous of this, right?"
Although Liu Shishi was feeling upset, she still obediently sat down with Song Ci. However, she still turned her head to the side, pursed her lips, and looked unhappy.
Song Ci was not in a hurry and said slowly: "Shishi, I did say a few words about Fan Bingbing's endorsement, but the other rumors are nonsense."
When Sister Yi heard this, she was furious. "Okay, Song Yiyi, you admit it, right? What's your relationship with Fan? You just help her get endorsements. Is she your girlfriend?"
Thinking of this, Miss Liu felt very aggrieved. Mr. Song became the richest man, but she, his official girlfriend, had not yet benefited from it. Instead, the first wave of benefits was enjoyed by Fan Bingbing. It was really infuriating.
"Look at you, so anxious again. Look at me and listen to me." Song Ci raised his hand and gently placed it on his girlfriend's shoulder, trying to straighten her body and make her look at him.
Liu Shishi did not resist. Song Ci straightened her body and she could only stare at her boyfriend. She couldn't help but mutter, "Now that you're the richest man, you're even more domineering than before!"
"Actually, I did this for you."
Hearing Song Ci's shocking words, Liu Shishi was immediately furious: "Song Yiyi, you helped other women get endorsements behind my back, and you said it was for me?"
Song Ci quickly comforted his girlfriend who was furious: "Listen to me!"
Sister Yi crossed her arms over her chest, puffing her cheeks in anger: "Okay! Let me see what you can say."
Song Ci patiently sorted out his thoughts and told the whole story: "In August, Zhang Zhao came to me and wanted me to come forward to say hello to the senior management of Montblanc about Fan Bingbing's endorsement.
In fact, I refused at first, after all, I didn't know the people at Montblanc at all, so it didn't make sense for me to help. But later, he suggested to me that he hoped to use this to expand Tengda's influence in the fashion industry.
He also said that if this was successful, he could take advantage of the opportunity to invite a number of foreign fashion brands to join Weibo. He said that as the chairman of Tengda, I should stand up both for public and private reasons.
I thought about it and felt that this statement made some sense. Besides, if I could take this opportunity to get to know the three major luxury goods groups, it might help me get some good endorsements in the future. With this in mind, I agreed to his request.
Originally, I just mentioned it casually to the President of Montblanc Asia Pacific by chance, and there was no movement for a while, and I didn't take it seriously.
Unexpectedly, a few days ago, when Montblanc saw that I became the richest man, they brought up the old matter again, which allowed Fan Bingbing to get an advantage. But in the final analysis, it was because Fan Bingbing was originally their target of investigation, and I just went with the flow. "
After understanding the whole story, Liu Shishi's jealousy gradually dissipated, and she pretended to be generous:
"You are right. I am magnanimous and will forgive you for now. But remember what I just said. You owe me a luxury goods endorsement."
His girlfriend's anger came and went quickly, Song Ci breathed a sigh of relief and nodded repeatedly: "Okay, okay, I'll compensate you with two luxury goods endorsements later."
Seeing Mr. Song make a promise, Sister Yi was naturally overjoyed, but she still pouted and said proudly: "You are sensible!"
After calming down the jealous Miss Liu, Song Ci asked her about her life on the set these days, and then asked, "First Love will be released in a few days, how is the box office?"
Speaking of movies, Liu Shishi looked frustrated: "The cumulative box office is 96 million, the overall performance is okay, but the single-day box office has dropped to 400,000.
There is still a week left before the film is released, and the box office is unlikely to exceed 100 million. Alas, it’s all because “Painted Skin” and “The Dark Knight” were too strong, and the market was drained of them.”
Song Ci held Miss Liu's hand and comforted her softly, "96 million is already very good. This is your first time playing the leading role in a movie, and this result is already very good."
Sister Yi still had a bitter face: "Sister K comforted me in the same way, but it was just a little short of breaking 100 million, so I was still a little unwilling."
Song Ci nodded slightly, thinking: "No one knows the result until the last moment, maybe a miracle will happen."
"I hope so! If it can break 100 million, that would be the best, but if it can't, that's no big deal. By the way, dear, will you attend the crew's wrap-up party tonight?"
"The wrap party is a mess, and the bodyguards are still waiting for me outside, so I won't go. I'll ask Sister Song to clean up the house, and I'll go over there in a while."
Miss Liu nodded her head: "Okay! Then let's meet at home in the evening." She understood what Song Ci said. This home was not that home. It was the residence of the two in Hengdian, a warm little nest.
Seeing her assistant Lin Xia standing in the distance and waving at her, Liu Shishi understood that she was urging her to remove her makeup: "I'm going to the dressing room first, wait for me, dear."
"I'll go with you." Song Ci felt it was boring to stay in the rest shed alone, so he got up and followed his girlfriend to the dressing room.
In the evening, the crew of "Chinese Paladin III" was holding a lively wrap-up party, with laughter and joy all around.
At this time, in Beiping Tengda Culture, Zhang Zhao was pacing back and forth in the office with a frown on his face, looking very worried.
Not long ago, he received a call from the chairman, asking him to ensure that the box office of the movie "A Little Thing Called First Love" exceeded 100 million yuan.
After receiving the order, he did not dare to slack off at all. He immediately convened an emergency meeting to mobilize all departments to continue to strengthen publicity and promotion efforts. He also required the company's artists to help promote the movie on online platforms.
In order to reverse the declining box office, he even used his connections to invite many big-name stars in the circle, such as Fan Bingbing and Huang Xiaoming, to come forward and build momentum for "First Love".
However, strengthening publicity may be of some help in boosting the box office, but it is not a foolproof solution after all. The chairman has given him a death order and there is no room for negotiation. The box office must exceed 100 million.
After hesitating and wandering around the office for a while, Zhang Zhao gritted his teeth and took out his cell phone to call Liu Rong, general manager of Southern Cinemas.
He knew clearly that there was only one way to ensure that the box office would exceed 100 million yuan.
"Mr. Zhang!"
Zhang Zhao held the phone tightly and said in a serious tone: "Mr. Liu, I have something important to discuss with you."
"Hold on."
After waiting for about two or three minutes, Liu Rong's cold voice came again: "There is no one around me now, Mr. Zhang, please go ahead."
Zhang Zhao didn't beat around the bush and got straight to the point: "Boss Liu, Boss Song gave me a death order this afternoon that the box office of First Love must exceed 100 million, but the box office potential is very limited at the moment.
I estimate that there may be a gap of about 2 million before the film is released. I need your help."
Liu Rong has been working in the industry for many years, so he naturally understood what Zhang Zhao meant. He wanted to use the common methods in the circle to increase the box office to ensure that "First Love" would exceed 100 million yuan.
"No problem. With this amount of box office revenue, a few shows a day will be enough. It can be done quietly."
Seeing Liu Rong agree so straightforwardly, Zhang Zhao's tense nerves finally relaxed: "Mr. Liu is a quick talker! Tengda Culture will bear the cost of this."
Liu Rong didn't care about the cost of ticket swiping, and said cheerfully: "Mr. Zhang, don't worry about this small amount of money. We are all family members. It's only about 200,000 yuan, and I will pay it directly."
To be on the safe side, she plans to spend 3 million on her own cinema chain. Southern Cinemas and Tengda Culture are actually one company, and the actual cost expenditure is only 5% of the special fund for film industry and 3.3% of the special business tax.
The box office of 3 million is calculated to have a cost of less than 250,000. For a large company like Southern Cinemas, it is just a drop in the bucket.
Seeing Liu Rong being so generous, Zhang Zhao didn't bother to be polite anymore. Since the money was paid by Southern Cinemas and the matter was done in front of the chairman, half of the credit would go to her, Liu Rong.
"Thank you, Mr. Liu! I hope you will attend the celebration party for our breakthrough of 100 million yuan."
"Definitely. Mr. Zhang, I've actually been keeping an eye on the box office of First Love. Even if the chairman didn't mention it, I would have advised you to buy some.
After all, a box office of 100 million yuan and a box office of less than 100 million yuan are two different concepts. Producers, directors, leading actors, and even our theaters all need good box office results to boost morale, and even the higher-ups need it too.
In fact, I think even if you don't brush it, you can apply for the extension key and it will be approved. After all, every additional movie with a box office of over 100 million is also the credit of the above. But since the chairman has asked, let's be simple and rough. "
Zhang Zhao seemed to be thinking about something: "I didn't think this through."
He couldn't help but reflect in his heart that because of the outstanding performance of "Painted Skin" during this period, he neglected the equally excellent "First Love". There are indeed some shortcomings in his work.
"It's settled then. I'll start making arrangements tonight."
Zhang Zhao was full of gratitude: "Thank you very much! Thank you for your concern, Mr. Liu."
(End of this chapter)
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