Volume Two: Shadows of the Past, Chapter Seventy-Seven: Refusing Means Giving No Face?

At first, Zhang Qishan had genuinely wanted to give Chen Jing a helping hand. At the time, he felt that Chen Jing’s film had no publicity and no buzz, which was an extremely difficult beginning for a new director.

When Zhang himself had first started making films, he had suffered through the same troubles. That was why he had decided to help Chen Jing.

Yet no one could have expected that in just two days, the buzz surrounding Chen Jing’s film would undergo such a dramatic transformation.

Although not all of the attention was favorable, Zhang Qishan knew that this kind of public opinion would have no real impact on the film’s reputation. What truly determined a film’s reputation was the quality of the film itself.

As long as the film was good enough and people went to see it, its reputation would naturally improve.

Chen Jing was the same kind of person as himself. Zhang Qishan had always felt that Chen Jing, like him, was exceptionally talented; it was simply that their talents lay in different areas.

Zhang’s talent was in filmmaking, while Chen Jing’s seemed to lie in singing and composition. As for Chen Jing’s talent as a film director, that remained to be seen.

“Young Master Chen, we have one final question.”

As the press conference drew to a close, the reporters began asking their last question.

“What are your expectations for the box office of your first film, Kill Zone?”

Faced with the question, Chen Jing fell silent for a moment before smiling faintly.

“As for my expectations for Kill Zone’s box office, I hope to keep pace with Director Zhang. It would be enough if my film isn’t left too far behind his.”

“Hahaha…”

Everyone thought Chen Jing was joking. Only Zhang Qishan knew that he was being serious.

Zhang could sense the confidence in Chen Jing’s words—a confidence that came from deep within, entirely independent of external factors.

And so, amid everyone’s laughter and conversation, the promotional press conference for Battle at Gushan Ridge came to a successful end.

As Chen Jing sang more and more songs during his livestreams, the Weibo campaign in which viewers could like posts to request songs grew increasingly intense.

A post with only a hundred thousand likes was now considered insignificant. The posts at the top had already surpassed a million likes.

At this point, an amusing phenomenon suddenly emerged. Some traffic celebrities who claimed to have tens or even hundreds of millions of followers on Weibo posted messages about Chen Jing as well, yet their posts received only a paltry hundred thousand likes. Some received no more than a few tens of thousands.

Those figures clearly did not match the tens or hundreds of millions of followers displayed on their accounts.

It was obvious at a glance that these traffic celebrities had deliberately purchased their followers.

As a result, a new saying began circulating on Weibo: the like campaign could be used to identify the number of genuine followers an account possessed.

If an account posted about Chen Jing but ended up receiving far fewer likes than the number of followers displayed on its profile, that meant its followers had been artificially inflated and were mostly inactive accounts.

Many bloggers with real influence and nothing to hide immediately began posting about Chen Jing and collecting likes. Their followers responded with overwhelming support.

As for those bloggers who knew perfectly well that their followers were purchased and mostly inactive, the campaign made them hesitate.

Regardless, with this overwhelming wave of publicity across Weibo, Chen Jing’s film, Kill Zone, had finally become known to practically everyone.

And with the film enjoying such tremendous attention, the cinemas finally agreed to increase its number of screenings.

This time, however, Lin Xi was not nearly so easy to deal with.

At first, the cinemas still wanted the extra share of profits that Lin Xi had mentioned before. Only then would they agree to add screenings of Kill Zone.

But Lin Xi rejected their demand without even considering it.

After several rounds of negotiation, Lin Xi agreed to give the cinemas an additional one-fifth of the profits. In return, during the three days before the May Day holiday, they would moderately increase the number of screenings for Kill Zone, with at least two daytime screenings each day.

Chen Jing was able to accept that arrangement. In truth, as long as the film had daytime screenings during those three days, he would have been satisfied.

He knew that screenings during the first three days after a film’s release were the most important. Whether Kill Zone’s reputation would gather momentum and explode depended on those three days. The number of screenings during that period had to be increased.

Most of the cinemas also felt that, although the film was undeniably enjoying tremendous attention, it would be better to use three days of screenings as a trial. If the attendance rate was good, they could add more screenings afterward. If it was poor, they would lose only the profits from those first three days. They could simply stop scheduling the film afterward, and the cinemas would not suffer much of a loss.

Some cinemas, however, insisted that Lin Xi honor the original arrangement and give them an additional share of profits equal to the original amount before they would increase Kill Zone’s screenings. Even then, they were willing to add only one daytime screening and refused to do anything more.

All of those cinemas belonged to the same chain: Wanxing Cinemas, known as the third-largest cinema chain in Huaxia.

In the office, Chen Jing frowned and asked Lin Xi, “Wanxing still refuses to compromise?”

Lin Xi shook her head and said calmly, “They’re still making outrageous demands. They want us to give them an additional share of profits equal to what they already receive.”

Chen Jing pondered for a moment before replying decisively, “Then reject them outright. It makes no difference whether they’re involved or not. Since they don’t have any confidence in us, we don’t need them.”

Chen Jing naturally understood why Wanxing refused to budge. They simply believed that Kill Zone was bound to flop after its release, which was why they were unwilling to give the film more screenings.

Since they did not believe in his film, he would let them watch from the sidelines.

Lin Xi nodded. She had been thinking the same thing.

Meanwhile, Yang Yue, Wanxing Cinemas’ scheduling manager, was sitting leisurely in her office as she asked one of her subordinates, “Well? Has Chen Jing from Jingrun Entertainment agreed to our terms?”

The subordinate shook his head. “No, Manager Yang. They rejected our demands outright, and they aren’t willing to negotiate with us anymore.”

Yang Yue’s eyes narrowed slightly. She gave a cold snort.

“Hmph! What an attitude. Does he think he’s some great director? He’s only managed to stir up this much attention through all sorts of ridiculous publicity. Does he really think his film is going to be a huge success?”

Hearing the displeasure in her voice, the subordinate dared not say anything. He lowered his head.

After thinking for a moment, Yang Yue made up her mind and said decisively, “Since they don’t appreciate our goodwill and look down on us, there’s no need for us to show them any consideration. When the time comes, schedule their film—Kill Zone, was it? Put it in the final screening slot of the night.”

The subordinate looked troubled. “Manager Yang, isn’t that a little excessive? It’ll offend them.”

In his view, if the negotiations failed, they could simply refuse to increase the film’s screenings. No one could fault them for that. But deliberately scheduling the film in the latest possible slot would clearly amount to provoking the other side.

Yang Yue waved it off. “So what if we offend them? What’s the big deal? Someone like Chen Jing may be decent at singing, but filmmaking is another matter entirely. After this film flops, who knows whether he’ll even dare to make a second one. And if he does, it’ll flop too. We have nothing to do with him anyway. What’s there to be afraid of?”

“Right… All right.”

After that, Chen Jing stopped paying attention to the film’s screening arrangements. In his view, whether or not Wanxing Cinemas agreed to increase the number of screenings would no longer affect the final result.

Today was the final day of his livestreams, and he had decided to broadcast from the company. The company had a full collection of musical instruments, so for his last two songs, he intended to pull out all the stops and give everyone a real surprise. He wanted to stir up one last wave of enthusiasm for the Weibo like-and-request campaign.

At exactly six o’clock, Chen Jing opened the livestream.

“Hello, everyone!”

He greeted the audience with a wave toward the camera.

“Hello, Boss Jing!”

“Hello, Boss!”

“Boss!”

“Hi…”

The viewers greeted him in the chat with their usual mischievous energy.

Chen Jing smiled and sighed with emotion. “Time really flies. Today is the final day I’ll be singing new songs for everyone.”

“Does Boss Jing mean that after today, he won’t livestream tomorrow?”

“No! I watch Boss Jing’s livestream every day. How am I supposed to live if he stops?”

“Ah! Brother Jing, don’t stop streaming! We still want to watch you!”

Looking at the fans’ messages asking him to stay, Chen Jing did not offer any sentimental platitudes. Instead, he told them the truth.

“After today’s livestream, I probably won’t be streaming very often. My main focus right now is still on creating. I can’t spend too much time livestreaming with everyone, so I hope you’ll understand. To make it up to you, I’ll bring you even more good work in the future.”

“True. Boss Jing is a creator, after all. He definitely needs time to devote himself to his work.”

“Boss Jing really does have the right attitude. If I had his sense of purpose, would there be anything I couldn’t accomplish?”

“To hear more of Boss Jing’s songs, we can only bear the pain and agree to let him stop streaming.”

“Ah! It’s a shame we won’t be able to watch Boss Jing’s livestreams anymore…”

Seeing how understanding the viewers were, Chen Jing felt warmth spread through his heart. He added, “Don’t worry. Whenever I have time in the future, I’ll still livestream and come see you all. Setting everything else aside, I’ll definitely go live on the day the film is released. I’ll have to give out your prizes then, after all. Hehe.”

After chatting with the viewers for a while longer, Chen Jing finally moved on to the main event.

“Since today is the final day, and these are the last two songs, I’ve prepared a surprise for everyone. Can you guess what it is?”

Seeing the mysterious look on Chen Jing’s face, the viewers could not help growing excited.