Chapter 597 - 309: Chen Jincheng Has Basically Lost the Bet
On hearing this, Lin Gou gave an embarrassed smile.
That was certainly true.
He really thought Chen Jincheng had a point. After all, he was also in the film industry and understood how some things worked.
But he couldn’t refute the other argument, either. ’Most likely, both movies will be huge hits, right?’
That way, there’d be no winner or loser, a happy ending for everyone.
However, with all the commotion online, it was the team behind *Nameless* who ended up reaping the benefits.
Rao Zhi was a little dumbfounded. *Nameless* was a small investment of less than 30 million yuan, so its promotion and distribution budget was naturally small as well.
He had only taken on this small-budget film because he lacked resources and connections, which meant he had very few promotional channels.
In other words, the movie had received very little promotion.
Just last night, he had been out drinking with people, desperately hoping to trade favors for a few promotional opportunities.
Given his predicament, he felt like a gift had fallen from the heavens when he woke up the next morning.
A crew member suddenly told him that *Nameless* was trending.
He thought he was seeing things. ’We barely did any promotion. How could we be trending?’
It wasn’t until he got to the office that he found out why. It was because an internet celebrity named Chen Jincheng had reviewed his movie, *Nameless*. He had seen this influencer online before.
He just never expected the man to think so highly of his film—so much so that he’d bet against that Internet Celebrity Young Master with two luxury cars worth over 30 million yuan at stake.
That was practically the entire budget for *Nameless*.
"Director Rao, the buzz around *Nameless* has surged again!" a crew member rushed over to report.
"How did it go up again?" Rao Zhi asked, his face a mask of disbelief.
’When it rains, it pours. You just can’t stop good luck when it’s on your side.’
The crew member nodded. "It’s that Chen Jincheng guy. He posted another video recommending *Nameless*. Plus, he’s started a feud with Ning Qiang from *Huaxia Blue Helmets*. Director Rao, shouldn’t we thank Chen Jincheng?"
Rao Zhi nodded.
Regardless, they owed all this buzz to Chen Jincheng. A thank you was definitely in order.
Besides, he was very grateful that someone loved his film, *Nameless*, so much.
So, he opened Weibo and posted: "Thank you, Mr. Chen, for your appreciation of *Nameless*. We trust we won’t let you down and hope to have the opportunity to collaborate in the future."
His post immediately garnered massive attention.
After all, the two movies and Chen Jincheng were the hottest topic online right now.
With Ning Qiang calling for the film industry to boycott Chen Jincheng, having the other side thank him and express hopes for collaboration was... interesting.
Ning Qiang saw the post as well, which only fueled his anger.
After all, Rao Zhi was directly contradicting him.
In the end, he could only snarl, "A small-budget director is only capable of making small-budget films."
...
A day went by, and the online buzz surrounding the two movies and the bet between Chen Jincheng and the Internet Celebrity Young Master grew even more intense.
However, Chen Jincheng, the man at the center of it all, was calmly looking over design sketches on his computer in his hotel room.
They were Hanfu designs sent over from the clothing design department of Second-Life Star.
November 22nd was fast approaching. The Hanfu Outing Day, a collaboration with the Coastal City Publicity Association (formerly the ’Tourism and Culture Bureau’), was just around the corner, so the necessary Hanfu had to be finalized as soon as possible.
This Hanfu project was one of the ventures he had described to President Lei.
The event wasn’t just about helping Coastal City establish a Hanfu Outing Day. It was also meant to popularize the Ancient City, and most importantly, to promote Hanfu itself.
These Hanfu were all created by Second-Life Star’s designers according to his guidance and ideas. They were all best-selling, blockbuster styles from another world.
In other words, this was the very best of Hanfu from another world.
Once these designs were released on Hanfu Outing Day, everyone would come to know the beauty of Hanfu and the charm of traditional attire.
This would be his contribution to the revival of Hanfu.
"Boss, these Hanfu are so beautiful. The designers are amazing," Little Su Fei said, sitting down next to him while hugging a pillow. She was wearing a simple white nightgown.
As for Sun Yifan and Li Xiaoyang, they had been whisked away overnight by Rice Group for a print ad photoshoot. For now, they were the only ones who had officially signed contracts with Second-Life Star.
Little Su Fei and the other streamers from Black Cat TV had yet to sign their supplementary contracts, which made coordinating this kind of work difficult.
The young woman was bare-faced, but as expected of the other world’s top streamer, Dianmu, she was a natural beauty. Without makeup, she even had an air of girlish innocence.
"These are the clothes the company will be launching soon. You’ll have to pick an outfit to wear for a video," Chen Jincheng explained. He continued to look at the designs, but didn’t forget to add, "I’m all yours tonight. You’re not going to let me just sit here looking at boring sketches, are you? Why don’t you... get to work while I do?"
"Oh!" Little Su Fei’s pretty face flushed as she understood his meaning.
But at the thought that she was the only one with her boss tonight, she slowly squatted down and crawled under the desk.
Chen Jincheng, for his part, continued looking at the designs.
A moment later, he felt her mischievous little hand.
Immediately after, he sucked in a sharp breath.
’It’s one thing for her to be called Dianmu, but how is it that her "service" feels electric, too?’
’This feels incredible.’
Chen Jincheng reviewed the Hanfu designs while enjoying himself. Once he had finished, he sent the approved sketches back to the company’s clothing design department.
The ones that weren’t approved would need to be revised.
He clicked send, and one of his hands reached under the desk, grabbing the girl’s...
At the same time, he used his other hand to go online and check the status of the two movies.
Thanks to him, the attention on both *Huaxia Blue Helmets* and *Nameless* had reached a fever pitch, far surpassing the level of interest the films had in the other world.
However, he believed that even if the level of attention had changed, a flop would still be a flop, and a hit would still be a hit.
Time passed quickly. In just a day, the online hype surrounding Chen Jincheng had reached an all-time high. And because of him, the attention on *Nameless* and *Huaxia Blue Helmets* had skyrocketed as well.
Countless netizens were dying to know the outcome of the two films, and many of them pre-ordered tickets for both.
*Nameless* benefited immensely. Thanks to the high level of interest, its screen allocation reached 12%.
But *Huaxia Blue Helmets* was even higher, reaching an astonishing 32%—even more than it had in the other world.
Ning Qiang kept a close eye on the pre-sale numbers for his film, *Huaxia Blue Helmets*. The first day’s pre-sale box office had already reached 11 million yuan, the highest of any movie.
As for *Nameless*, its first-day pre-sale box office was only 4 million yuan.
This indicated that while both films were popular online, his *Huaxia Blue Helmets* was getting more attention. After all, it was a film positioned to rival *Red Sea Operation*.
The advantage was entirely his.
Finally, the day of the release arrived. The midnight screenings would be the most critical moment for both films, as they would shape the word-of-mouth for the following day.
The Internet Celebrity Young Master invited Lin Gou and Xue Qian to a movie theater in Beijing to watch the midnight screening of *Huaxia Blue Helmets*.
When they arrived at the auditorium, it was packed with people.
"This is a great turnout," Lin Gou remarked, looking around.
The Internet Celebrity Young Master smiled. "I’ve already gotten the numbers from Dawan. For the midnight screening pre-sales and real-time ticket sales, *Huaxia Blue Helmets* is outselling *Nameless* three to one."
"The latest projections show *Huaxia Blue Helmets* hitting 35 million at the box office on its first day, which would definitely make it a blockbuster. Meanwhile, *Nameless* is only projected to reach around 12 million."
"So, my bet with Chen Jin this time is pretty much in the bag."
Hearing this, Xue Qian couldn’t help but worry for Chen Jincheng. ’He was so confident. If he loses this bet, he’ll be crushed, right?’
Even worse, a lot of people online wouldn’t pass up the chance to tear into him.