This actor has something

Chapter 378 A strange combination of circumstances
He Daqi was very comfortable filming, even feeling more at ease in Hollywood than in China. None of the troubles he had imagined came his way, and the carefree atmosphere made him feel a little unreal.

Hollywood crews are much more mercenary than domestic film crews. Westerners are very realistic, and nobody is foolish enough to make He Daqi uncomfortable.

Just kidding. Every time He Daqi comes to the set, Jackie Chan puts his arm around him, and the other lead actor, a black guy, also chats and laughs with him.

Especially during filming, Jackie Chan would pull the action director to design action sequences for Ho Tai-kei with more care than he would design them for himself, and he would also ask about his well-being every day. Under such circumstances, do you really think that the bald eagles are brainless?

Everyone says that Hollywood's industrial system is very demanding and has a unique production process, but He Daqi certainly didn't feel that way at all.

His portrayal of the Triad's top cold-blooded killer was a piece of cake. He just needed to act cool, his movements were sharp, and with a few subtle facial expressions, he brought out the villain's charm to the fullest, leaving the director speechless with admiration.

Every day, the film begins with Ho Tai-kai chasing and attacking Jackie Chan. The chase continues from the start of the movie to the end, with Jackie Chan only being subdued at the very end. Before that, Ho Tai-kai is shown off his skills with various cold weapons, making Jackie Chan escape in dire straits every time.

This is absolutely amazing!

Another morning of filming has ended. The crew has now returned to Los Angeles and is filming in the Chinatown set that has been set up.

He Daqi took the hot juice that Yan Jiu handed him, took a sip with relish, and began to think about what to have for lunch today.

Chris Tucker, a black guy, walked over shouting and yelling as he waved a box of DVDs in his hand: "Oh my God! What! This is a movie you starred in?"

He Daqi took a closer look and realized it was a DVD titled "When My Flowers Bloom, All Other Flowers Wither," so he nodded and said, "Yes!"

"Hey, bro, you were so cool in the movie! You're a completely different style from Jack, and I feel like your kung fu is much better than his."

Chris Tucker had never seen a martial arts film with such a sharp and intense style before. His understanding of Chinese martial arts films was limited to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Heroes.

Yesterday, he happened to see a movie starring Jackie Chan and David Ho in a video store, and he couldn't resist buying a copy to watch at home, planning to use it as a topic of conversation during filming today.

Unexpectedly, I became so engrossed in watching it that I was so excited at home that I stayed up quite late. I arrived at the film set just in time, but filming had already started by then, so I didn't have a chance to chat with He Daqi. Now I finally have the opportunity.

Jackie Chan, wondering what had happened, hurried over. Seeing the disc in Chris Tucker's hand, he laughed and smugly put his arm around the black guy, saying, "This movie is still showing. Guess how much this authentic Chinese martial arts film made at the box office here?"

"You're not talking about 'The Murder of a Hundred Flowers,' are you? Who starred in that one?" Director Brett Ratner interjected.

Because of filming these past few months, the crew members, although aware that a Chinese martial arts film is currently very popular, haven't paid much attention to its box office performance; they only know that Jackie Chan is in it.

Judging from Jackie Chan's smug look, everyone immediately knew that the movie must have done quite well at the box office in the United States.

"No, but it's close, just over one hundred million dollars."

Jackie Chan smiled reservedly. You see, this movie was promoted under Jackie Chan's name in the Bald Eagles, and now that the box office is so good, he's also getting some recognition.

This answer left not only the crew members bewildered, but even He Daqi himself was somewhat confused.

He hadn't paid much attention to the box office here, and after arriving in Bald Eagle, he didn't take his work phone and had little contact with his colleagues in the domestic industry.

He's been calling Wang Rui quite a bit lately, and Zhou Huimin is upset about it. If she didn't know he and Wang Rui were talking about serious business, Zhou Huimin would definitely have come over and interrogated He Daqi.

Cheng Long assumed that Ho Tai-kei knew the box office data here, so he was always beaming whenever he saw Ho Tai-kei lately. Little did he know that he was the one who was having fun, and Ho Tai-kei had no idea about the data at all.

Ignoring the nonsense Jackie Chan, the director, and the black guy were spouting, He Daqi gave a perfunctory reply, then turned and waved to Yan Jiu: "Is things in chaos back home?"

"What's wrong?" Yan Jiu asked, looking completely bewildered.

"Damn it! You're even more distracted than me!" He Daqi was both amused and exasperated. He finally understood why he was only now finding out about the White Eagle's box office performance.

……

……

He Daqi was right; things are indeed in complete chaos in China right now.

Nobody had high hopes for you, but you proved them wrong and surprised many.

Unlike in China, Hollywood is not so troubled by piracy, or rather, the distributors here are very capable, and their luxurious teams are not just for show.

After discovering that "When My Flowers Bloom, All Flowers Wither" had the potential for a box office comeback, the distributors immediately expanded the number of theaters showing the film to over two thousand, a tactic they were very familiar with.

This led to the box office explosion during the Christmas and New Year holidays.

That's the current trend in China. When something like this happens outside the Great Firewall, everyone gets excited like they've just made six acres of land, discussing it online every day.

The post on He Daqi's Yabo.com account promoting "My Flowers Bloom After All Other Flowers Wither" has now garnered over 30,000 comments.

His account has surpassed seven million followers, taking the top spot by a wide margin. This number is only slightly less than the combined total of the second to tenth place accounts.

Keep in mind that this was in 07, not long after the number of netizens in China had just begun to explode, and this number was already astonishing.

Of course, Yabo.com also gave a little push behind the scenes to achieve this number.

At this moment, on the third floor of Yonghui Qiming, Han Shanping is leading a group of executives from China Film Group on a tour.

While the others were watching the post-production special effects at Asia-Pacific Film & Television, Han Shanping whispered to Liu Ying and Wang Jinghua, "When will Daqi be back?"

Wang Jinghua didn't speak, but turned to look at Liu Ying.

Liu Ying shrugged and said helplessly, "We really don't know. Anyway, he said he would be back no later than the Lunar New Year when he left. If that's the case, it should be around February 10th. He repeatedly told us not to bother him unless necessary. Chairman Han, you know that Daqi has a special situation in our company..."

Upon hearing this, Han Shanping smacked his lips, somewhat unsure whether Liu Ying was just joking with him.

Anyway, He Daqi often does this kind of thing, and Liu Ying, who is a partner of He Daqi's company, has only so-so credibility in Han Shanping's mind.

What a hassle! If it weren't for the explicit prohibition against China Film Group acquiring stakes in private enterprises, Han Shanping would have been eager to acquire Asia Pacific Entertainment Group.

"Ahem, ahem, you know we have a big project at China Film Group, right? We specially invited a director back from Hollywood to film the Three Kingdoms. Filming will start around April. I think Daqi's image is very suitable for Zhuge Liang. When he comes back, you can ask him for me. If he doesn't want to play Zhuge Liang, he can choose Zhou Yu, Zhao Yun, or whatever else is available. If all else fails, Sun Quan is also an option, and Cao Cao is also negotiable."

Han Shanping mentioned a Hollywood director named Wu Baige, who was very principled and insisted that China Film Group not interfere with actor casting. Then... then He Daqi's movie became a hit in Hollywood. Faced with He Daqi's recommendation from China Film Group, Wu Baige couldn't find an excuse to refuse.

I thought it was during the filming of Mission: Impossible 2? The movie Windtalkers kept Wu Baige out of the spotlight until now. He was really scared. He was afraid that if China Film Group got impatient, they would directly choose between him and He Daqi. He didn't even need to think to know who China Film Group would choose.

So when Wu Baige, who had been stubborn for so long, heard China Film Group recommend He Daqi again, she readily agreed.

And so this scene unfolded today. Did they really think Han Shanping was here to lead people on a tour of the most advanced special effects team in the country?

"Whether or not the grand opening performance will be held is not up to us. Why don't you, Chairman Han, talk to him yourself?" Wang Jinghua said with a smile, declining the offer.

Han Shanping clicked his tongue. Of course, if I could persuade He Daqi, would I need you to relay the message? It's just that I was afraid there wouldn't be any room for maneuver, so I thought I'd let you guys give me some pointers first!
For an ordinary actor, it would only take a word from Han Shanping to get them to give him face. The problem is that He Daqi is no ordinary actor. Han Shanping knows far more about He Daqi's background than anyone else does.

Seeing that Wang Jinghua and Liu Ying were no longer responding, Han Shanping stopped dwelling on the matter and changed the subject to something else.

"Sigh! It's great that the box office is booming in Hollywood, but the problem is that settling accounts is a hassle. They're not exactly saints over there," Han Shanping sighed.

Wang Jinghua and Liu Ying were both taken aback by these words. What was going on? Did this mean that it was difficult to settle the revenue sharing of Ya Yue?

"Chairman Han, is China Film Group also playing tricks with revenue sharing?" Liu Ying asked.

"Normally not, but this time the split is quite large, so... it's going to be tough! They're very good at bookkeeping over there."

Han Shanping didn't actually have any other hidden meaning; he just wanted to get a feel for things from Ya Yue's side first, and it was also a somewhat heartfelt statement.

Too many people are watching this account now. It's such a large sum of money. If the collection is mostly accurate, that's fine. But I'm afraid it will drag on and cause problems. If that happens, China Film Group will be in trouble.

……

……

Beverly Hills, Jackie Chan's mansion.

It was already midnight, but He Daqi was still on the phone.

The time difference between the two places is large, which means that Zhou Huimin has to calculate the time if she wants to chat with him. She not only has to calculate when He Daqi takes a lunch break, but also when He Daqi finishes work on set and has lunch.

At this moment, He Daqi was already a little confused by Zhou Huimin's rambling. He just mumbled in agreement without paying attention to what Zhou Huimin was saying.

"Foreign women are no good, especially Westerners."

"Hmm...yes, yes, no, that's not good."

"I'm serious, I've seen plenty of white foreign women in Hong Kong, and they all smell really bad."

"Yes, yes, it's very big."

Hearing He Daqi talking in his sleep on the phone made Zhou Huimin so angry that she felt a bit of a liver ache.

She suddenly raised her voice and called out to He Daqi.

"He Daqi!!!"

He Daqi suddenly opened his eyes: "Huh? What's wrong? What's wrong?"

"Are you getting impatient chatting with me?" Vivian Chow asked irritably.

"Sister! Dear sister! I've been running around and jumping around with Brother Cheng Long all day, and it's already past 12 o'clock here. I'm just lucky I didn't fall asleep the moment I closed my eyes."

It was a little past three in the afternoon in China. The weather was sunny and clear. Vivian Chow was lazily lying on the bed, propping herself up on her arms, talking on the phone with her legs crossed, and basking in the afternoon sun.

Hearing He Daqi's complaint, Zhou Huimin chuckled and stuck out her tongue, then hummed, "Daqi, how about I go find you in Bald Eagle in a couple of days?"

She didn't hear He Daqi's response, or rather, she did hear it because she could hear even snoring coming from the phone.

This pig!
After hanging up the phone, Zhou Huimin tossed and turned in bed a few times, not bothering to call He Daqi to wake him up. Instead, she reluctantly picked up her phone and started browsing Yabo.com.

Did He Daqi really fall asleep? Actually, no.

As soon as he heard that Vivian Chow was coming over, he put on an act and just didn't want to talk about it.

Are you kidding me! He Daqi is living comfortably at Cheng Long's house now, drinking every day, bragging, and occasionally going out to parties. Although He Daqi doesn't participate, it's still quite fun to watch.

If Vivian Chow came over, he would have to move out of Jackie Chan's house and stay in a hotel. At that point, he wouldn't be able to go to parties or even get any drinks. It would be strange if he wanted Vivian Chow to come and bother him.

He Daqi lay in bed watching his phone for a while, figuring Zhou Huimin wouldn't call, so he dialed a long-distance number to China.

"Brother Rui, are you busy?"

"No, have you finished your phone call with your wife?" Wang Rui asked gently.

"Okay, we're done playing. Let's continue our conversation. We were talking about the feasibility of live streaming on a computer earlier. I really don't know how far the technology has progressed, but I feel that since video calls are already available, live streaming shouldn't be too difficult."

“It’s definitely possible,” Wang Rui replied, then explained, “When you were eating before, we talked on the phone and you brought this up, so I took it to heart. Later, when you were talking to your wife, I looked up some information. There are already people in China exploring the live streaming industry. The earliest one was 9158 Video Community, and later there were websites like 6rooms. But after looking at them, I feel that the prospects are not very good.”

"Right now, the prospects are indeed so-so because of the internet speed. Not many people watch live streams on computers. But the future will be different. In the past two years, the internet speed in China has been increasing. Plus, there's the mobile phone thing I told you about the other day. When the time is right, you can watch live streams directly on your mobile phone. The live streaming industry has a bright future, especially live streaming combined with short videos. You can't even imagine what kind of industry this will be. To put it simply, it's like the Yabo website we're working on now. We need to plan ahead in order not to be eliminated."

He Daqi found it troublesome to explain because he couldn't go too far beyond the original version, otherwise he would seem like a charlatan. He could only choose explanations that Wang Rui could understand. Even so, Wang Rui still had many questions, which is why the two of them had been calling each other so frequently lately.

Starting a live stream was a goal he set in his first year after transmigrating, and he's always remembered it. When he saw the smartphone launch event that day, he knew the time had come, only his goal had changed from starting a live stream to starting a live stream platform.

"Daqi, wait a minute, explain the concept of short videos first."

(End of this chapter)