This actor has something

Chapter 418 Lu Yang's Debut
He Daqi is always the center of attention wherever he goes, and he knows this himself, which is why he rarely attends events like parties.

This year is even worse; he doesn't even go to premieres when invited, let alone various award ceremonies.

He has reached a point where he can break the unspoken rules, or rather, he is now the rule-maker.

The gift box on the table is classic and elegant, with flowing gold lines printed on the black paper box.

This was brought to He Daqi by someone on their way to Yonghui Qiming. Nobody paid any attention to it at the time, but they found out what it was when they were sorting through the gifts sent by fans.

So when He Daqi went to Yonghui Qiming today, he took it back to the villa.

Upon opening the gift box, a trophy was placed in a golden silk brocade, which looked quite high-end and elegant.

He Daqi picked up the card inside, which indicated the award as Best Male Singer.

Putting the card back in the gift box, He Daqi picked up the trophy, glanced at it casually, and said nonchalantly, "I didn't even go there, and they still gave me an award? This award is so-so."

"What are you showing off? I have this too." Vivian Chow glanced at it, retorted, and then continued eating her strawberries.

Not only did she eat it herself, but the two children squeezed between the couple also each had a big strawberry.

The little girl was probably attracted by the golden reflection of the trophy. She quickly finished the strawberry in her hand and then touched the trophy with her chubby little hands, which were stained with pink strawberry juice.

He Daqi let his daughter wipe her hands with the trophy, but she tried to pull the trophy away but failed. So the little girl pouted and whimpered as she snuggled against He Daqi.

"Dad, let me see."

"No, this trophy has sharp edges. I can look at it, but you can't hold it. Be careful not to cut your hand."

The little girl's eyes darted around quickly. She giggled and hugged He Daqi's arm, saying coquettishly, "Then put it on the sofa. I can't see it clearly if you hold it in your hand."

He Daqi chuckled softly, how could he not guess his little darling's little tricks? He gently pinched the little rascal's nose, fulfilling her wish, and placed the trophy on the sofa.

The little boy was also drawn over, and he lay down on the sofa with his sister, his head facing He Daqi, his feet on Zhou Huimin's legs, and looked at the trophy with great interest.

"Dad, what's this for?" the little boy asked, tilting his head up.

"Crack walnuts," He Daqi said succinctly.

"Walnuts aren't tasty, but roasted chestnuts are." Clearly, this wasn't a good indicator, and my son instantly lost most of his interest.

"Dad, don't you want some strawberries?" The little girl shook her head, showing her filial piety.

He Daqi smiled and met his daughter's expectant eyes. He nodded and said "eat," then continued to hold the trophy with one hand while taking a strawberry from the fruit plate with the other and taking a bite.

She looked at her little girl with a smile in her eyes, thwarting her little trick.

"Humph!"

The little guy is angry.

She stood up, pouted, crossed her arms, and turned her face towards Zhou Huimin, leaving He Daqi with only the back of her head. Because she turned her head quickly, her two little braids swayed back and forth, like tassels being blown by the wind.

He Daqi gently tugged at her little braid and asked with a smile, "What's wrong, Lele? Are you angry with Daddy?"

"Humph!"

Zhou Huimin glanced at her little rascal with amusement, finding her daughter's pouting lips quite amusing, and even pinched them with a smile.

This made the little girl unhappy, and she turned her head away, leaving Zhou Huimin with the back of her head.

As a result, when He Daqi saw her turn her head back, he cheekily pushed his daughter's nose with his finger and even made two pig noises.

Not pleasing either way, the little girl was quite unhappy. Seeing that Little Pearl was about to fall, He Daqi quickly picked her up and held her in his arms.

Is Lele really angry?

Well, as soon as that comforting question was uttered, Little Pearl immediately fell down.

"I'll never be the best in the world with you again!" the little girl said, choking back tears.

"Okay, okay, it's Dad's fault. Let's make a deal. Let's not drop several levels all at once. How about we start by dropping from Invincible Number One to Number One in the World?"

When He Daqi asked this question, the little girl hesitated, looking at him with teary eyes, unsure how to respond.

Fortunately, her beloved son came to her aid. He thought He Daqi's words made a lot of sense and said to his sister with a serious face, "That's right, sister. You've dropped two levels. You can't go from being the best in the world to not being friends with me anymore. You should become the best in the world first."

Zhou Huimin chuckled, glancing at her silly son who was trying to reason with her sister, and gently rubbed his little face with a smile.

"You're such a loser, trying to reason with a girl." Zhou Huimin said with a smile, meeting her son's bewildered gaze.

The sound of a marimba bell came from the bedroom.

He Daqi picked up his daughter, got up, and strolled back to the bedroom.

Lu Yang called.

He Daqi knew what it was about, so his first words were: "Don't worry, I'll go early today."

"Ah? Oh! Okay, senior brother!"

"Is there anything else?"

"No more, no more."

After hanging up the phone, He Daqi thought for a moment, then handed the phone to his beloved daughter, opened a game, and tempted her, "Lele, Daddy will teach you how to play the rolling ball game. How about you and Daddy become the invincible number one again?"

"There won't be a next time!"

"Hahaha, okay."

……

……

The nightclub premiere didn't have many invitees, but quite a few reporters showed up.

The 3,000-seat theater was mostly filled with invited film critics and reporters, a few China Film employees who came to help, and university students. The first two rows were sparsely populated, but people kept coming in. It is estimated that there will be many empty seats on the day of the official premiere.

There aren't many other things around Qimingxing Cinema Wudaokou branch, but there are a lot of universities. So whenever there's a movie premiere, there are always college students who come over to take a look. If there are seats available, they'll sneak in to watch. If there aren't seats available, or if it's a closed-door premiere, they'll leave or buy tickets to watch other movies.

Lu Yang was very nervous.

He's afraid of everything now. The nightclub's promotion was practically nonexistent; he relied entirely on editing trailers and uploading them to video websites and Yabo. Perhaps the biggest promotion was the Yabo Weibo post He Daqi made today. Even today's premiere didn't cost much.

This movie theater wasn't rented; there was no venue fee. If there was any cost involved, it was just a few posters and a phone call from He Daqi.

Lu Yang was worried that the premiere might not go well, because he needed the college students at the premiere to spread word of mouth. Even though he knew that it was still a long time before the official start time, Lu Yang was still very anxious looking at the small number of people in the front row.

So much so that when answering questions from reporters who arrived early, Lu Yang was somewhat absent-minded.

"Director Lu, is this your first directorial work?"

"Um... I guess so... I'm not actually a newcomer. I've worked on movies with my senior brother Ning Hao before, and I've also worked with director Zhang Yimou. I was an assistant director in both movies. If you're talking about being the lead director, this is my first film."

"Director Lu, I want to know..."

"Director Lu, all the guests are here today..."

Seeing Lu Yang's naive and clueless demeanor, the reporters in the audience knew they were probably bored and began to ask him casual questions.

Poor Lu Yang, he came to the site early today to check on the setup, but now he's been besieged and is sweating profusely.

Just as he was getting increasingly panicked, the reporters suddenly turned to Lu Yang's side and rear.

Before Lu Yang could react, he was patted on the shoulder. He turned around and saw Ning Hao standing behind him with a smile, which instantly put Lu Yang at ease.

"Director Ning, what was it like being a producer for the first time?"

"Director Ning, did you really not direct the camera yourself during the filming of this movie?"

"Director Ning, I heard that Daqi will be here today, is that true?"

Ning Hao laughed and waved his hand, not answering anyone's questions, and said, "Please wait a moment, everyone. I'll take my junior brother backstage for a bit, and I'll be right back to answer your questions."

After saying that, he pulled Lu Yang towards the backstage, whispering as they walked, "I forgot to tell you how to use the hook. Come with me to the back and I'll teach you a couple of tricks."

"Put the hook?"

"It's about throwing out two not-too-big-but-not-too-small juicy tidbits, like the male and female leads having an ambiguous relationship, or some people acting like divas during filming. Of course, we can't use those two today because our actors are all our own people, so you can find juicy tidbits from other places. Don't worry, the reporters are better at coming up with headlines than you are. Otherwise, if you don't release some juicy material, what are the reporters supposed to write about?"

The two walked to the backstage entrance, and Ning Hao smiled and explained a few words to Lu Yang.

Ning Hao explained it very clearly, and Lu Yang understood immediately.

However, his approach is a bit peculiar. If he's thinking of dropping some bombshells, his first choice is Ning Hao or He Daqi. After all, it's best to target acquaintances. It's a bit difficult to target other people he doesn't know well.

If Ning Hao knew what Lu Yang was thinking right now, he would definitely punch and kick him a few times. Damn it, we don't even let you cheat our own company's actors, but the first thing you think about is cheating your senior brother.

Seeing Lu Yang's thoughtful expression, Ning Hao stood with him for a while, then pulled him back onto the stage, intending to take advantage of the small audience to demonstrate and teach his junior brother how to do it.

Before the two of them could even speak after returning to the stage, they saw little girls pouring into the three entrances of the screening room.

"Sisters, hurry up and grab seats in the front row!"

Will the Great Qi really come?

"Not necessarily. What he said on Yabo.com was vague. Anyway, just reserve a seat first."

Seeing this, Ning Hao raised his eyebrows slightly, as if he had thought of something. He quickly took out his phone and opened Yabo.com, only to find that He Daqi had posted another Weibo five minutes ago.

Good heavens! Someone's already here in just five minutes!
He Daqi's fans are really something!

Ning Hao looked up at the girls who kept going in, and patted Lu Yang, who was looking a little confused, with a smile.

"Alright, you've got your base now. This screening room will definitely be full today, and I reckon there won't be enough seats."

Upon hearing this, Lu Yang grinned.

Ten p.m.

The premiere has ended.

"Please support this movie, and also support my junior brother Lu Yang."

He Daqi pulled Lu Yang back onto the stage, and after saying just one sentence, thousands of comments were waiting for him from below.

The fans are so enthusiastic that He Daqi hasn't made many public appearances since his concert. The last celebration banquet was a real celebration banquet, and Huayi didn't invite many media or notify the fans. Li Ming's wedding a while ago was also in a similar format. So, all things considered, today is the first time He Daqi has interacted with his fans face-to-face since the Lunar New Year.

Amidst screams, He Daqi left Lu Yang on stage, then greeted Ning Hao and Jia Nailiang before slipping away backstage.

……

Actually, when it came time for the movie to be released, He Daqi, several executives from Ya Yue, Ning Hao, and Xu Guangtou were all quite interested in it.

This film is somewhat experimental; these people just wanted to see if it could achieve high box office returns with limited marketing and distribution.

If it can exceed 20 million, that means this approach is viable, and then we might use the same method to produce a series of low-budget films like this.

Fortunately, Lu Yang's debut was alright, and it could be considered that He Daqi helped out. Although they knew that He Daqi was not in the movie, many of his fans still came to support him.

The box office reached 32 million in the first week, and after seeing this number, everyone knew that the model had succeeded.

The increase in the number of screens still benefits production companies; as long as the production is decent, the possibility of recouping costs is not small.

Of course, Lu Yang's first-week data is somewhat inflated.

For example, Wang Jinghua said to He Daqi, "Daqi, the effect of posting two Weibo posts on Yabo.com is even more powerful than placing an advertisement. If this doesn't work, try posting two Weibo posts every time our company's film and television works are about to be released or broadcast."

Fortunately, He Daqi doesn't like making money; if he did, he might have actually given it a try.

After realizing that this model worked, Ya Yue launched several projects at once, all of them low-budget comedies, aiming to flood the market with sheer volume.

With each film costing two to three million, it's estimated that Asian and Vietnamese films will be released in theaters every month next year.

These directors were all interviewed by Ning Hao and Zhang Yimou. The investment was not high. Regardless of whether the film was good or bad, as long as it was completed, that was enough. As long as one of them was successful, the cost would be recovered.

Ning Hao certainly won't make these low-budget films, but he also hasn't continued preparing for Crazy Stone 3.

When Ning Hao showed him the script for "No Man's Land," even after learning about the background of the film in detail from the film library, Ning Hao still didn't try to persuade him not to make it.

Ning Hao has gotten a bit too cocky now. It's not good to advise him; it's better to let him cool down by styling his hair.

(End of this chapter)