Chapter 219: Sci-fi Film? I Can Do It Myself!
In front of the media cameras, Director Yang, who had been away from the lens for a long time, had a face full of “repentance” and spoke bluntly: “I’ve seen all the recent criticisms of our Magic City Fortress… I bear great responsibility for choosing a traffic star as the movie’s lead actor.”
“I also hope everyone can understand my impulsiveness. After all, as a movie director, every movie is one’s own ‘child.’ Which parents don’t hope their child will succeed?”
His words were spoken “sincerely,” and some bystanders, hearing his “apology,” still felt angry inside but indeed directed more firepower at Yu Yan—who made him a traffic star, and who made that stupid bangs hairstyle so eye-catching.
Of course, more bystanders and audience members weren’t buying it, and—Yu Yan’s fans exploded!
What does that mean?
What does the director mean by this?!
Shirk responsibility, huh? Seeing the movie turn into a pile of crap, you start blaming the actor?
Fuck you, do you even deserve to be a director?
In an instant, Yu Yan’s fans, who had been suffering full-net “cyberbullying” recently, rushed madly to Director Yang’s Weibo comments. After finding the comment section closed, they immediately switched to his private messages.
「Yang beast!!」
「Do you have any conscience? Little Yan pushed so many good announcements and scripts to act in your crap movie. I heard Big Shot initially wanted Little Yan. You’re really a beast!」
「Wannabe director will be a wannabe forever, a weathervane villain, trash!」
「I wish I could stab you! The movie is crap, not to mention your character is crap too. First time seeing such a shameless person—who will act in your movies from now on?!」
「Insulted the word movie—Chi Ye is ten thousand times better than you!」
「……」
Director Yang didn’t even check his private messages, but he underestimated Yu Yan’s fans’ “energy.”
Not long after posting on Weibo, several WeChat friends suddenly sent him a barrage of abuse and questions, leaving him stunned and scalp tingling—I fuck, Yu Yan’s fans even have my WeChat?!
Looking at the names again… damn, isn’t this some internet capital’s young wife?!
Director Yang paused, held his temper, and explained: “Big Shot’s project was invested by Chi Ye himself—how could it be Yu Yan? Those fools outside believe it, and you do too?”
“I believe fuck you! Old Yang, you fucked this up big time. Are you even a man?”
Director Yang: “…”
Unreasonable!
He directly blocked the other party, but still not satisfied, he updated on Weibo: 【Traffic stars, unrivaled top streamers, are the termites of the film circle!】
The Weibo post went out, and the hot search list instantly changed—#Director Yang blasts traffic stars# topped the list.
This time, not only Yu Yan’s fans, but also Chi Ye’s fans, who were watching the fun and far more numerous, weren’t happy—who made you sarcasm my bro while shirking responsibility?
As for Director Yang not mentioning Chi Ye’s name… buddy, there’s only one unrivaled top streamer in internal entertainment circle right now. If you didn’t say Chi Ye, who did you mean?
Think word games can get you off the hook?
Soon after, Director Yang’s private messages exploded again, with his ancestors eighteen generations dug up and cursed thoroughly.
Chi Ye’s current popularity and fan count far exceeded Yu Yan’s, so Director Yang’s remarks, clearly laced with personal grudge, triggered a series of consequences he hadn’t anticipated.
In just half a day, Director Yang, who had just “shirked responsibility to whitewash” himself, was once again sprayed into China’s worst director due to the entry of new player·Chi Ye’s side.
Seeing this, the Magic City Fortress screenwriter, who had been completely hidden throughout and sprayed into mental confusion these days, seized the “opportunity” and posted on Weibo: 【Chinese sci-fi film used the wrong Director Yang.】
Director Yang: “？？？”
“I fuck, blaming me? Wasn’t it your retard screenwriter? Can normal humans write such a plot? And you’re blaming me?!”
He completely lost it and started confronting his own screenwriter on Weibo.
Not long after, Jin Ming, one of the investors, @’ed both on Weibo: 【Chao Tian Entertainment used the wrong you two and Yu Yan.】
Director Yang, screenwriter, Yu Yan: “？？？”
Wasn’t it you plague god who plagued us to death?! A money-losing good-for-nothing like you gets to shirk responsibility too?!
The situation escalated. After the sneak preview, Magic City Fortress hadn’t even truly released yet and had already erupted in an unprecedented “internal strife” in internal entertainment circle history.
Director blasts lead actor, lead actor blasts screenwriter, screenwriter blasts producer…
What a lively drama—Sister Shang, who routinely stayed up late tonight, stared wide-eyed, clapping and cheering: “Good good good! Fight! Fight harder! Even harder!”
“Sis, your PPT.”
The assistant pushed the door in and handed over a freshly compiled PPT: “It’s all here, including not only the full process of this internal strife, but also all the live leak videos of Magic City Fortress sneak preview refunds, Director Yang and audience live confrontation…”
“Ahh!! I love you so much! Later I’ll share all those handsome guys I collected and liked on Douyin with you!”
Sister Shang excitedly grabbed the tablet and enthusiastically hugged the assistant.
Assistant: “…Thanks so much, sis.”
“Aiya, no need to be polite, we’re all sisters.”
Sister Shang said with a grin, when a special notification sound for a specially followed Weibo suddenly rang. She froze, incredibly surprised, tapped Chi Ye’s Weibo, then… her little face went blank.
“What’s wrong, sis?”
The assistant looked puzzled.
“Chi… Chi Ye… he… he… got hacked again!”
“Ah?”
The assistant was stunned.
That evening as the situation fermented, Chi Ye, who had been stirring things up behind the scenes, finally posted for the first time, adding fuel to this “internal strife” affecting him. As if he had just gone online, he reposted Director Yang’s daytime interview “every movie is the director’s child,” and @’ed him: 【@Director Yang, even a tiger doesn’t eat its cubs—you’re truly vicious.】
Then came the second Weibo: 【Magic City Fortress has lots of bad reviews now, but in a few years, after time’s erosion, we’ll realize Magic City Fortress isn’t a bad movie, but a classic bad movie.】
Then the third: 【Sorry, got hacked just now.】
Chi Ye delivered a long-absent “three in a row,” not only responding to Director Yang’s sarcasm, but also gleefully evaluating the blockbuster Magic City Fortress. Of course, since his account was hacked, it wasn’t posted by him.
And this time, it wasn’t “groundless”—Jia Zong soon came out to confirm: “@user Chi Ye account had an anomaly just now, notified relevant departments to handle, please be informed.”
—On Weibo, I can still tell who’s boss.
After this operation, Director Yang didn’t even have a chance to retort, so furious he immediately canceled his Weibo account on the spot.
Before leaving, he was still cursing: 【Weibo and traffic are in cahoots! They only bully honest people!】
“Honest” Director Yang wasn’t honest. After this battle, he was thoroughly defeated by his public meltdown, and likely no investor will work with him again.
Similarly, Chi Ye suffered no loss. After simply “dealing with” Director Yang, he turned to strike at Yu Yan.
—#Magic City Fortress box office brushing# #Yu Yan’s fans group up for bad reviews threatening merchants# and other related negative hot searches were dug up.
The first black spot was a phenomenon from Magic City Fortress sneak preview, exposed more than once, but since it was crap enough, this point wasn’t much.
The second was when Xing Ni hadn’t aired yet, Yu Yan’s fans massively “boycotted” targeting Chi Ye, brainlessly leaving bad reviews and threat messages under various brands he endorsed on e-commerce.
It even once drew dissatisfaction from Master Kong’s person in charge… leading to no contract renewal with Chi Ye after Xing Ni exploded.
The “evidence” from back then had been kept, because releasing it normally wouldn’t impact a top streamer of Yu Yan’s caliber much, but dropping it at this timing…
“Chi Ye really wants me dead.”
Yu Yan looked at the sky full of negative press releases, feeling both sad and furious.
What horrified him even more was that Chi Ye had “kept” those old things for so long.
This guy really is as others in the industry say—will stop at nothing to take down competitors.
“So what now…”
“Keep a low profile for a while.”
Yu Yan sighed.
The agent sighed coldly too—after this, Beijing Circle is thoroughly offended, plus stabbed by Chi Ye… Little Yan… might really drop out of the “unrivaled top streamer” ranks this time.
Is this “Goujian”?
How many competitors has he “taken down” so far?
……
Meanwhile.
Capital City, some family courtyard.
“Chinese sci-fi film used the wrong Beijing Circle… haha, is this a topic pushed by his studio?”
An old man who had once praised Chi Ye smiled broadly: “This wording is very… how do you young people put it? Oh right, very sharp.”
“…Yes, but he was probably just targeting Yu Yan personally.”
The promotion leader who had always been in contact with Chi Ye “explained” for him: “This child isn’t bad at heart…”
“Eh, what’s that? That fortress was no good to begin with—can’t people say so?”
The old man paused, then changed tack: “Since he says the wrong person was used, let him do it.”
“Ah?”
The leader was stunned.
“Ah what.” The old man raised an eyebrow: “Didn’t his crime movie do pretty well? Let him do it, give him some resources, see if he can give us another ‘surprise’.”
The leader looked troubled: “This… he’s… not a director.”
“Let him figure it out himself.”
“…Alright, I’ll talk to him.”
Seeing the old man so “determined,” the leader didn’t dare say more. But the old man, seeing his expression, couldn’t help chuckling and scolding: “Look at you, you’ve had external postings—how are you still the same?”
The leader, hearing this, wasn’t angry but immediately bowed lower.
The old man thought, then said: “Culture will become more important in the future. You can approve many sensitive topics for him, like that doomsday movie he’s shooting now… specially changed the background, quite the effort.”
“…” The leader was awkward: “I… just gave him some simple suggestions within review scope… but absolutely not blind support without principles…”
“Don’t bullshit me—how you two are privately, do you think this old man doesn’t know?”
The leader was even more awkward: “Really just friends… I do admire him a lot.”
“Nothing wrong with appreciating capable people.” The old man tapped his leg: “Sci-fi is a good genre. Since you admire him, you should give him a chance. If he seizes it, it’ll benefit you later too.”
The leader paused, then realized something, probing: “Support him?”
The old man paused, nodded: “Strongly support.”
The leader suddenly understood, then felt irrepressible excitement inside—damn, don’t say I didn’t help you, Chi Ye. How well we bros do from now on depends on if you can seize this chance… no, gotta call him right away.
“Heard his movie’s box office and influence in Southeast Asia are both very high now?”
The old man changed topics.
The leader immediately reported spiritedly.
……
Big Shot’s box office performance in Southeast Asia is very good.
Though far below domestic, the world’s second largest box office market, and it gained traction later—after exploding in internal entertainment circle, especially movie fans and audience drawn by Big Shot’s reputation, quality, and “Professor Chi”‘s name.
Among them, Big Shot achieved extremely favorable results in South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong regions. Though box office isn’t high, it’s due to small regions. In fact, it already hit local summer slot box office NO1.
Singapore, Myanmar and such didn’t top but ranked in top three.
—This is the first time in Chinese movie history for such an “export” type film（Four Heavenly Kings era special, not counted）, so despite the sensitive genre scale, Chi Ye himself faced no impact, instead giving the old man the idea of “let him try.”
Yes, such “export-type” actors are too precious.
In internal entertainment circle history to date, no such “big star” has ever appeared. This is a terrifying halo, also the biggest hidden perk Xing Ni left Chi Ye, and why he insisted on going to Taiwan back then.
Opening this precedent, his future movies and works can all carry a “cultural export” label.
This is the real “golden body.”
This noon.
Chi Ye was in the studio, head down looking at Southeast Asia Big Shot’s box office and occupancy data. Keke pushed the door in, holding an insulated lunchbox: “Time to eat, Chi Ge.”
Chi Ye didn’t look up: “No more takeout from now on… healthy eating.”
“Not takeout—Teacher Shi brought it from home. She’s going to talk residency with Mango’s new variety show person in charge and didn’t have time to eat.”
“Oh?”
Chi Ye’s eyes lit up. His tastes are actually picky. During this time in the studio, he rarely ate takeout… always eating Shi Daifu’s meals.
Because Shi Daifu has little to do usually besides recording songs and staying in the studio rehearsing—Valkyrie’s appetite is huge, and she never eats takeout, always bringing lunch and dinner from home.
Chi Ye couldn’t resist seeing the colorful, aromatic dishes in her lunchbox and ate some twice.
Of course, he was polite, always asking Teacher Shi proactively: “Is yours enough? If not, I won’t eat.”
Teacher Shi would pause two seconds each time, reply: “Enough.”
Chi Ye didn’t stand on ceremony.
But the night before last, after accidentally spotting Teacher Shi “sneakily” gnawing bread in the rehearsal room, he knowingly ate less.
“Feast today.”
Chi Ye rubbed his hands, just about to pick up chopsticks.
“Chi Ge.”
Keke suddenly put down her mobile phone, face shocked: “Shi Jinwei had an accident…”
“Ah?”
Chi Ye was stunned: “An accident? What could happen to her?”
Keke handed him the phone, and there on the Weibo hot search list, #Shi Jinwei sudden accident# hung high, its popularity even surpassing the sprayed Director Yang and the still-hot Chi Ye.
