How did I become famous?

Chapter 172 Elder Fang! Quickly stop your supernatural powers! (Seeking votes!)

In the company's conference room, Fang Bie was scrolling through Weibo.

Because the girls had all unfollowed him, he could openly show his phone screen.

Sure enough, Tom's interview has made it to the top of the news on various platforms.

Unsurprisingly, the top spot on the trending searches was taken down.

Yes, it's true that headlines are always there, but the details are constantly changing.

News stories featuring him are always among the last few items.

It's a miracle that only news about him that happens to be a side story makes the headlines.

This news story is just a short, edited video clip. It's a routine question asked by the host during a CCTV-6 interview: "What is your favorite Chinese food?"

Then Tom said, "Fang's dishes, although very spicy, are absolutely unforgettable."

Then the female host discovered something new and started asking questions about Fang Bie.

For example, questions like "How did you meet Director Fang?", "There were rumors that you had a late-night rendezvous with Director Fang, is that true?", "Director Fang can actually cook?"

Tom honestly told him everything.

The main reason was that Fang Bie's meal, which was "extra spicy Sichuan food," left a deep impression on him. The next day, he had no sense of taste on his tongue and it took him two days to recover.

Then, as expected, the host asked the question Tom had been waiting for: "Mr. Smith, why did you seek out Director Fang? Was it out of mutual respect?"

Tom smiled slightly, looking at the camera as if he were looking at Fang Bie: "Because I made a promise with Fang back then."

The reporter pressed further: "What agreement?"

Tom laughed, a wicked laugh: "We made a deal: if my movie grosses more in China than his company's superhero movie, he'll come to Hollywood."

The video ends.

This one sentence completely ignited the internet!

"Holy crap?! Director Fang is going to Hollywood?"

"I can't take it anymore! Does Director Fang think these people in China are too incompetent? No wonder he hasn't mentioned making a movie for months!"

"No wonder! Some bigwigs have analyzed that the reason Director Fang handed over these two films to others was to cultivate successors in China!"

"No way! Have you all forgotten how that foreigner provoked Director Fang? Shouldn't we boycott 'Captain America' and watch 'Your Name' and 'The Grandmaster' a few more times? Besides, to be honest, those two movies aren't bad either!"

"Well said! I've already prepared to do many more runs before you even get around to it. (Image)"

Behind him were movie tickets for several consecutive days.

The conversation had already gone off-topic, and Fang Bie didn't intend to continue watching.

But he discovered a problem.

Su Erge said calmly, "It seems you've also sensed it. Everyone is boycotting that movie and supporting your company's movie, so why are your two movies performing so much worse at the box office than the other one?"

Fang didn't say anything.

That's exactly what he thought.

Wu Kai, after all, made the movie under his own name, and was even his "handpicked" rightful successor.

Actually, the box office of 500 million in the first week was already very good, and the final result will definitely be aiming for 1.5 billion.

This is basically on par with its own work, "The Shadow of Light".

Even if netizens are just arguing, it's all normal.

Even if "The Grandmaster" is worse than "Captain America", it can't be almost twice as bad, right?

Su Erge rested his chin on his interlaced fingers: "I also noticed something was wrong, so I investigated. Then my informant told me that someone was inflating the box office figures for the other side."

Fang Bie raised an eyebrow slightly: "That's unlikely. Tom isn't that kind of person."

What else is called an informant?

Brother Su, are you still playing the undercover game?

"I didn't say Tom Smith rigged the box office, but that some people in China don't want to see you win."

Fang laughed: "Using the resources of the film and television industry to win over friendly nations? Aren't they afraid of being astonished by them?"

Paying money to help people boost box office numbers?

Just to mess with me?

Are these people out of their minds?

"Where did you get that from? It sounds interesting." After all, this world was already destroyed this morning, Su Erge chuckled. "Because compared to outsiders who can be cooperated with, an unruly 'insider' is more troublesome for them. Especially when this 'insider' is more outstanding than them, and they find they can't control you."

According to Su Erge's investigation, the actual domestic box office of "Captain America" ​​should be around 600 to 700 million yuan, and the rest were mostly ghost screenings.

The main reason was that he was instructed by his father to negotiate with other theater chains to increase the number of screenings for "The Grandmaster" and "Your Name".

But the other party expressed their helplessness, saying that either it was a ghost game or the game was locked, and there was nothing they could do.

Besides, it wasn't a real ghost show, because people actually went to see it.

The other party somehow came up with a promotion where downloading some app would give you free movie tickets.

This is a losing proposition, but it's a really good one to do.

"Is this even possible?" Fang Bie was speechless. "Aren't they afraid of things going wrong? They're in that position, how can they be so stupid?"

"There are plenty of stupid people out there," Old Man Su said dismissively. "Last week, my company's security caught two people who were my clients. Do you know why they were caught? They actually tried to sneak into my office to steal documents! Haha! Right under the security camera, it was all captured on camera! You tell me, they're my company's bosses, isn't it stupid of them to do something like that? But there are people like that in the world."

Fang Bie: "."

Damn, even reading a novel requires logic, but this reality just doesn't follow any logic at all!

"So what do we do? Fight back? Do the same thing?"

"No, you don't need to do anything." Su Erge pushed up his glasses. "Director Smith was furious when he found out about this today, and he'll probably expose it soon."

Fang nodded.

Come to think of it, it would be strange if Tom didn't get angry, given his arrogant nature.

While they were talking, Fang Bie's phone rang.

He glanced at the caller ID and raised an eyebrow.

The person who called was Tom Smith.

"Hello, Tom~ How's your culinary adventure in China going?"

"..." After a few seconds of silence on the other end, Tom sighed, "Fang, I'm sorry, I'll give you an explanation regarding the box office situation. I plan to terminate the cooperation with the other film company directly and have the film pulled from theaters in China."

"There's no need for that. Our country's audience hasn't offended you, has they? Your movie is good, you can't just not let everyone see it, can you?" Fang Bie smiled. "But I have to say in advance, Tom, I'm going to put in a lot of effort to boost the box office. Don't say I won unfairly if I lose to you."

Tom's laughter came from across the room: "Sorry, Fang. I don't think I'll lose. I'm going back tonight. When you come to Hollywood, I'll treat you to the best wine to make amends."

After hanging up the phone, Fang Bie looked up and said, "Then it's alright. I'll post a Weibo announcement later and encourage my fans to go to the cinema to see our movie."

He is still very confident in that "120E brainless fan"!

Old Man Su immediately stood up: "Perfect timing, I need to go to Luocheng anyway, Second Brother, come with me."

It would be absurd to say he was just passing by here!

He came here specifically for this!

Firstly, I wanted to see how close Xiao Fang was to my precious daughter; secondly...

Fang asked, "Uncle Su, what are you going to Luocheng for?"

Old Man Su was waiting to hear those words!

Hearing this, he smiled and narrowed his eyes: "I own a whole street of storefronts and an entire high-end residential building in Los Angeles. I'll go collect the rent."

Why would he need to do this himself for a mere few hundred thousand?

Of course not!

Money is just a number to him!

But seeing Fang Bie's expression after hearing those words made him very happy!

There's no way around it; the lives of the wealthy are just that simple, unpretentious, and boring.

Fang made others dumbfounded.

So you came to show off in front of me just for this?

You're saying this to me, aren't you? Right?

You're a big shot with an unknown fortune, yet you're showing off to a young upstart like me.

After watching the three members of the Su family leave, Fang Bie took out his phone and posted a promotional Weibo post.

Then he grinned at Wu Kai and the other man, who had been too afraid to even breathe, and said, "Just wait for the box office to explode, brothers! Our goal is two billion!"

After the young lady boarded the plane back to Beijing, Su Erge took out his phone and made a call.

"Well done."

He lit a cigarette, a rare occurrence for him: "You can stop trying to trick Lu Shengyan into inflating box office numbers. Isn't Lu Shengyan looking for online trolls? Go ahead and do it."

"By the way, Fang Bie just posted a promotional Weibo post, and then he went all out to help his company reach the top of the box office."

"Hmm?" Su Erge's expression suddenly changed. "You mean there's something wrong with that kid's Weibo post?"

After hanging up the phone, he logged onto his alternate account and opened Fang Bie's Weibo.

In his latest post, he only said one sentence:

"Your Name and The Grandmaster are really good! I'm begging everyone to watch them! I really don't want to go to Hollywood!"

Isn't this normal?

Su Erge frowned, immediately sensing that something was wrong.

He scrolled down to read the comments, then was speechless: "You brat! Are you some kind of clown they hired?"

The top-rated Weibo posts below are:

"Holy crap! Director Fang admitted it! He really did make the bet!"

"(Identifying a key element!) Does this mean that as long as Director Fang's two screenplays don't perform as well at the box office as Captain America, he can go to Hollywood to make movies?"

"Hmm? Gentlemen, I have a bold idea."

"To be honest, I have one too."

Hehehe

Seeing the utterly dejected looks on Liu Mang and Wu Kai's faces, Fang Bie awkwardly scratched his cheek: "What's going on? I really don't understand."

Wu Kai was on the verge of tears: "It's all over. It's all fucking over."

Liu Mang empathized with him and patted him on the shoulder solemnly: "Skinny Monkey, please accept my condolences."

Fang couldn't sit still any longer: "No! How can you blame me? I was just promoting the movie normally!"

"Is this some kind of publicity stunt, Lao Fang?" Liu Mang's phone was practically pressed against Fang's face. "Tell me what you mean by 'I really don't want to go to Hollywood'? Aren't you implying that the fans should step up their efforts?"

Even though what was said earlier wasn't great, at least it was for publicity.

But what does the last sentence mean?

This is in line with the common understanding that "Fang Bie is planning to go to Hollywood and is entrusting the domestic superhero film industry to others."

Doesn't this mean that Fang Bie is asking everyone to watch fewer of his own two movies and instead watch other people's movies more often?

Fang was speechless.

You guys are really good at interpreting things haphazardly.

Actually, it's my problem.

I've checked the box office figures; it's impossible for such a huge flaw to have been left unexamined.

But it's also my fault for not leaving any foreshadowing earlier.

I apologize to everyone.

Two days left, please vote for me (feeling weak and listless)

(End of this chapter)