Chinese entertainment starts with Hong Shixian

Chapter 485 10 Billion in Box Office? Even burning paper money wouldn't be enough to buy that much!

Two days later

A spacious white room, the film set
In front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, the blinds are retracted, and a huge astronomical telescope stands tall.
The overall design is clean and uncluttered, with sharp lines; it doesn't look like a girl's room at all.

This is Chen Mai's house.
"...Action!"

The script supervisor claps the clapperboard, and recording officially begins.

Jing Tian stood at the bar, slowly pouring hot water to make herself a hand-drip coffee:
"What kind of person is Li Muzi? How did you meet her?"

As he spoke, he added a slice of lemon to his coffee.
"This... doesn't seem to have anything to do with this, does it?" He Fei, played by Qi Hui, said slowly, with a slight hesitation.

“Of course there’s a connection. The whole thing started because of her…” Jing Tian, ​​who plays Chen Mai, glanced at He Fei:
"You seem reluctant to talk about your wife?"

"That's not how it is, Attorney Chen!" Qi Hui's hesitant expression turned anxious, and he quickly said:

"It's not that I don't want to talk about Mu Zi, but if we're talking about how I met Mu Zi... I don't want to talk about my past."

Chen Mai took a sip of coffee and looked at He Fei calmly.
He Fei gave a bitter smile: "Okay, here's the thing... I'm a gambler..."

He Fei slowly recounted his past; he was born into an unfortunate family, a fishing family by the sea.

The other families in the village had achieved a relatively good life through hard work, but he had a father who loved to gamble and often gambled away all the family's money.
His mother worked hard every day fishing and gathering seafood to support his schooling, but she eventually succumbed to illness caused by overwork and passed away.

After that, he chose to leave his hometown and go to a big city to make a living.

But living in a big city is not easy; after paying rent and utilities each month, there's simply not enough money left.

By chance, he sat down at a gambling table. Relying on his childhood experience watching his father play cards, he won hand after hand, betting chips after chips, and acquiring wealth he never dared to dream of before.
However, every gift of fate comes with a hidden price.

At the peak of his life, he quickly lost everything.

In an attempt to win it back, he borrowed money frantically, taking out loans and even high-interest loans.
The amount of money won in the past is now matched by the amount of debt accumulated.
In this moment of despair, he met his angel, Li Muzi.

They fell in love quickly, became deeply in love, and started discussing marriage.
Before the wedding, He Fei couldn't bear to lie to Li Muzi, so he told her everything about himself.

If you're worried or bothered, we can choose not to get married, or we can continue until the day you're willing.

Li Muzi chose to believe He Fei, and the wealthy heiress helped He Fei pay off his gambling debts.

The two of them then began their happy life together.

However, to everyone's surprise, Li Muzi disappeared on their first wedding anniversary.
He was stranded in a foreign country, with no one to turn to for help, and only hoped that lawyer Chen Mai could help him.
Help him find his missing wife

After hearing all this, Chen Mai didn't react much, remaining as calm as ever.

"It's quite remarkable that the fake Li Muzi knows you so well and can pull off such a flawless deception," she analyzed slowly.
"Based on the above information, there are currently three possibilities. First, Li Muzi herself is behind this, because only she could know so much about you and her."

"Impossible! Why would she do this?" He Fei shouted.

"The motive is unclear." Chen Mai waved his hand and continued his analysis:
"The second possibility: Li Muzi really did disappear, or even met with an accident, and the murderer is...you!"

Chen Mai raised his hand and pointed at He Fei.

He Fei's face turned ashen; for the first time, this usually meek and submissive man showed an expression of anger.
"In criminal cases like missing persons and murders, spouses are often listed as the prime suspect; this is a fundamental law of criminal investigation," Chen Mai said, ignoring He Fei's angry expression.
"Besides, you're a gambler, and gamblers are not to be trusted!"

"I can only believe half of what you just said."

He Fei's anger gradually turned into helplessness, disappointment, and sadness, which was heartbreaking to watch.

He didn't speak; he knew that whatever he said would be wrong.

“If it were in China, the first two possibilities would be very likely, but here in the chaotic Barandia!” Chen Mai continued his analysis:

"So there's a third possibility: Li Muzi really did encounter an accident, and you're facing a high-level criminal organization..."

"..."

Filming is proceeding smoothly.
With Jing Tian joining the cast, the entire cast of "The Vanished She" is now complete, completely filling in any gaps in their lineup.
Filming is proceeding smoothly and according to plan, and the pace has accelerated considerably compared to before.
Gao Yuanyuan was somewhat worried about this. "Director, you can't relax quality control just because there's a filter, right?"

Even if Jing Tian has excellent acting skills, she still needs to adjust her state of mind, right?

But Gao Yuanyuan was surprised to find that Jing Tian did need to adjust her state, but the adjustment would not take long.
In less than a day, she was already fully in character. Not only did she portray Chen Mai, the strong woman, brilliantly, but she even seemed to subtly overshadow her in scenes with her.
Gao Yuanyuan was upset, thinking that Qi Hui must have been secretly giving Jing Tian extra tutoring!
Otherwise, how could Jing Tian have such acting skills and strength?
A few years ago, she was just a pretty face with no substance!

"..."

It sounds plausible, but it's not.

Jing Tian played two strong female roles in a row: first, Shirley Yang, who was good at kung fu and action scenes, and then Princess Nihuang, who led an army of 100,000 cavalry.

She doesn't actually need to adjust her state much; she just needs to let go of some inappropriate habits to quickly get into character.

As for special treatment... that's definitely not possible.

When you're with your partner, what's the point of talking about work if you don't do things you enjoy?
Aren't you annoyed enough?

So, Qi Hui quietly found himself a thermos, an opaque one, and casually soaked goji berries inside.

……

When you're busy, time always seems to slip away unnoticed.
Qi Hui was engrossed in filming "The Vanished She" when Wu Jing suddenly approached him and told him some news:
Wolf Warrior has finished its theatrical run, with a total box office of 15.5 billion yuan!
"Oh? Not bad!" Qi Hui said in surprise, a smile appearing on his face.

"Your reaction is so calm?" Wu Jing rubbed his hands together excitedly. "That's 1.5 billion in box office revenue!"

"We are now the undisputed box office champion of Chinese-language films!"

"What's 1.5 billion?" Qi Hui waved his hand and said, "The movies we make in the future will gross 3 billion, 4 billion, 5 billion..."

"Hiss hiss hiss..." Wu Jing gasped, "I would never have dared to think of something like this in my wildest dreams!"

"Then your vision is too narrow." Qi Hui glanced at him: "A box office of 10 billion in the future is not impossible!"

Wu Jing: "..."

I don't even dare to burn this much paper money for my grandfather, how could you possibly think of that?
Hmm? It seems like just two months ago, when I burned paper money for my grandfather during Qingming Festival, I was hoping he would bless me... Wu Jing's thoughts flickered.

"Is there anything else?" Qi Hui glanced at Wu Jing and said calmly.

As he spoke, he casually sent a message to Xiao Yang, reminding her to prepare her tax return.

The box office revenue was 1.5 billion yuan, with a 38.77% share. Qi Hui took 50% of that 38.77%, which is roughly 200-300 million yuan.

Having figured this out, Qi Hui understood why Wang Zonglei and Wang Zongjun were so envious and jealous of his original work, "The Beginning."

However, we can't be too happy.
Once all the paperwork with China Film Group is completed and the box office revenue is received, it will be several months from now.

In particular, "Wolf Warrior" was delayed.

"Uh...right, the victory celebration!" Wu Jing snapped out of his daze and immediately said, "Five days from now, which is Sunday."

He was now certain that Qi Hui wasn't faking it; he was genuinely calm.
1.5 billion is indeed nothing in his eyes.

"Then go ahead." Qi Hui shrugged. "You don't have many scenes, so I'll approve it."

"No, no, the victory celebration banquet is in Hainan Province, let's go together," Wu Jing said.

"Oh?" Qi Hui asked in surprise, "What's going on?"

“Another investor in our ‘Wolf Warrior’ film has a company in Hainan Province,” Wu Jing said.
"Therefore, it's perfectly reasonable to hold the victory celebration banquet here in Hainan Province!"

(End of this chapter)