Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 494 My co-pilot is still you
The two traveled south from Como to Milan, and then to Cinque Terre and Pisa.

The couple hung a love lock in Cinque Terre and took a kissing photo with Li Qiutang's arm around his wife's waist in front of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Liu Yifei was very curious: "This tower is over 800 years old. People keep saying it will collapse, so why hasn't it fallen yet?"

In fact, Li Qiutang was also very curious about this question. He had heard when he was a child that the Leaning Tower of Pisa was going to collapse, but it never did: "Maybe they know how to repair it. They find that it is about to collapse, so they repair it."

"How was it fixed?"

"How do I know?"

After leaving Pisa, the two went to Florence, the birthplace of the Renaissance, where they stayed for two days before returning to Rome.

After resting in Rome for two days, Liu Yifei said she wanted to drive herself to Switzerland.

It took almost 10 hours to get there.

"Back then, you drove for 19 hours to bring me from Hengdian to Chongqing. Today, I'm bringing you from Rome to Switzerland." She still remembers.

"Can you drive that far?"

"Don't worry, I'm a very good driver."

Liu Yifei went to rent a new car, while Li Qiutang went to buy some goods and exchange some more euros. They agreed to meet at the hotel entrance two hours later.

Liu Yifei is looking at cars and learning about the procedures for renting a car for cross-border travel at a car rental company.

"Sisi?" Surprisingly, someone here called her in Chinese.

Liu Yifei turned her head and saw a pair of girls she didn't recognize.

"Who are you?" Liu Yifei took off her sunglasses.

"Ah, it really is you." The two girls walked in happily. "We saw you watching a play in Verona earlier."

"Oh, really?" She wasn't surprised at all to be photographed in Verona. "Are you studying in Rome? Or are you here for tourism?"

"We're studying in Rome, and it's summer vacation now. Yifei, do you need to rent a car?"

"Hehe, yes, I'm going to rent a car to drive to Switzerland."

"A road trip with Director Li? Wow, how romantic!"

Liu Yifei was a little embarrassed by what she said: "What about you? Are you here to rent a car too?"

"Yes, we're also renting a car to go to Verona to see a play. Isn't Director Li coming with you?"

"He went to exchange the money."

The local international students were clearly more familiar with the car rental process than Liu Yifei. They taught her step by step how to rent a car that could be used across borders and even acted as translators to help her with the paperwork.

The paperwork was completed in the last half hour or so, and I got the X5 car keys.

Liu Yifei repeatedly expressed her gratitude to the two younger girls for their selfless help: "Without you, I don't know how long I would have had to finish."

The two little girls waved their hands, indicating that it was just a small favor, and only then did they ask for a photo together.

"Of course," Liu Yifei readily agreed.

After getting a photo and autograph, the two international student friends excitedly said, "You are a hundred times more beautiful in person than in the photos, you are a fairy."

Liu Yifei smiled and said thank you. After renting the car, Liu Yifei didn't leave. Instead, she stayed with the two young women until they had rented their car and bought them two cups of coffee.

"I'm leaving now. Be careful when you go to Verona."

Liu Yifei took the car and drove away slowly.

The two little girls whispered behind her back, "She's so gentle, so kind."

"How can someone look like her?" It has to be admitted that her beauty is still her most powerful weapon in front of outsiders.

"I can't imagine what her child with Director Li will look like."

"Li Qiutang isn't ugly, she's probably the best looking among the directors."

"That's not enough to match Liu Yifei, is it?"

“That’s true.” “Achoo~” Li Qiutang sneezed while exchanging money at the bank. Li Qiutang wanted to exchange 1200 euros, but the teller, taking advantage of a newcomer, gave him six 200-euro bills. Li Qiutang quickly refused: “No, no, no.” Li Qiutang didn’t speak Italian, so he said in English: “I need change.”

Unlike in China, it's difficult to spend large denomination bills in Europe.

After babbling on and on for a while, Li Qiutang finally finished exchanging the money.

After buying the items, Liu Yifei returned to the hotel entrance, where she was already getting a little impatient.

After packing up, the two ended their trip to Italy and set off for Switzerland.

Liu Yifei told Li Qiutang about her encounter with the two young girls from China, while Li Qiutang told Liu Yifei about her experience exchanging money and buying goods.

The two of them hadn't gone on a road trip alone like this in a long time.

"It must have been this hot back then, right?" Liu Yifei reminisced about the past.

"It's about the same time, when it's unbearably hot."

"We were really unlucky; both of our road trips were during the hottest days of the year."

Li Qiutang blurted out: "Luckily, the people haven't changed. You're still my passenger seat, and I'm still your passenger seat."

"You want to switch? I'll beat you to death," Liu Yifei laughed.

Just like six years ago, the two drove around, playing music and chatting about all sorts of random things.

However, things are different now. It is now Li Qiutang, who is in the passenger seat, who feeds Liu Yifei snacks and drinks.

As the couple drove along the E35 highway, the domestic summer movie season was coming to an end.

Another major release this fall, "Go Away Mr. Tumor," was released on the 13th, earning 5400 million yuan on its opening day, surpassing "Monster Hunt" to become the daily champion, and grossing 1.97 million yuan in its opening weekend.

It's worth noting that Wang Luodan's "The Detective Gui Xiang" was released on the same day as "Go Away Mr. Tumor". The two films have similar genres and are released at the same time. The media had been hyping up this clash for a long time before the Spring Festival - half a month ago, someone was saying that Wang Luodan was originally going to star in "Love is Not Blind".

Putting aside the phenomenal success of "Monster Hunt," "The Detective Gui Xiang" also failed to compete head-on with "Go Away Mr. Tumor," grossing only 3200 million yuan in its opening weekend, less than the single-day performance of "Go Away Mr. Tumor."

Meanwhile, "Monkey King: Hero Is Back" surpassed 12 billion yuan in total box office revenue, fulfilling Li Qiutang's boast.

The movie has been in theaters for 37 days. According to data accidentally revealed by Zhang Zhao in an interview, the merchandise revenue of "Monkey King: Hero Is Back" has now exceeded 3000 million yuan, which is also the best performance of a domestic animated film.

"Monkey King: Hero Is Back" will be shown throughout the summer season, and the box office is expected to reach 5000 million to 1 million yuan.

"Jianbing Man" surpassed 10 billion yuan at the box office last week, making Dapeng a super box office director in the blink of an eye.

However, after "Monster Hunt" surpassed 20 billion yuan in box office revenue, a box office manipulation scandal broke out.

In an effort to surpass "Furious 7" and claim the title of the greatest film of all time, Edko Films has resorted to some questionable tactics.

The company paid out of its own pocket to buy free screenings for specific groups of people.

The theaters that were booked were owned by Edko Films.

Such operations are done behind the scenes; film companies wouldn't dare admit it, they'd just do it secretly.

But now is the hottest time for film and television capital, and Edko Films has no scruples at all. They directly stated on Weibo that it was all for the box office: "The money we spent on booking screenings went directly into the ticketing system."

Despite criticism from the industry, the authorities have remained silent.

It's almost an implicit acceptance that the production company is doing this.

Fans of "Monster Hunt" asserted confidently: "You're satisfied with a foreign film winning the championship, right?"

"As long as he can beat 'Furious 7,' I support him buying tickets at the box office."

What can you say about that?

This kind of detached, carefree attitude, enjoying watching the excitement of autumn, with all three summer movies becoming huge hits—I've never had such a comfortable movie season.

When will Qiutang be back?

"They're having a great time in Europe. The couple was spotted by netizens watching an opera in Verona. I want to go too."

(End of this chapter)