After returning from the studio, Xiao He continued to be busy with the final defense work, while the film Killing Life, after the May Day holiday, saw its box office slowly keep rising and eventually settled at 1.3 billion yuan.
This completely exceeded everyone's expectations. After all, this kind of film has a limited audience—it wasn't the currently favored action movies or comedies, nor was it a full-on mind-bending mystery. Reaching over one billion box office was already a huge hit; for a film initially estimated to only make around 700 million, this was like a windfall from the sky.
The cast group chat was celebratory for two or three days. On the day Xiao He successfully completed his defense, he attended the production team's celebration banquet.
As one of the major contributors to the promotion, Xiao He's defense completion was specifically timed by Hou Rongxuan so he could attend the banquet.
Not an exaggeration to say the film's blockbuster success owed a lot to Xiao He's influence. Of course, gold shines no matter where it is—the attention Xiao He brought only accelerated things. What ultimately got more people into theaters was the quality of the work itself.
At the banquet, Xiao He sincerely raised his glass and expressed heartfelt thanks to Hou Rongxuan.
Hou Rongxuan's face was flushed from drinking; even his usually thinning dandelion-like hair looked much fuller than before. He looked at Xiao He with gentle eyes and couldn't stop praising him: "Xiao Xiao, you don't have to be modest. I've directed for so long and I've never been wrong about someone. You'll only go further from here!"
Xiao He smiled, "Thank you, Director Hou. I also wish your future films great box office success!"
Today almost everyone from the production was present—Bao Wei, who had already joined the set, and Zhuo Jianhua, who had returned to the capital, both rushed over. Xiao He even saw Li Hanyue, whom he hadn't seen for a long time.
Li Hanyue wore an off-white shirt dress and still had that bright smile Xiao He had seen the first time they met.
It seemed the shadow of that previous incident had already dissipated from the young woman's heart.
Seeing Xiao He, Li Hanyue came over with her wine glass: "Brother Xiao, last time I said I'd definitely buy you a drink—didn't expect it to be put off until now. I'll punish myself with a drink."
Before Xiao He could respond, Li Hanyue drained her glass.
Xiao He followed suit, raising his glass and taking a sip: "I'm happy to see that you're doing well."
Li Hanyue smiled and pursed her lips: "I traveled for a while recently and saw many different scenes along the way. Suddenly I felt that things which hadn't happened yet didn't need to become demons in my heart, so I came back. Sorry to have worried everyone."
"It's really great that you think that way." Xiao He glanced around, "It's just a pity Zehang isn't here. He would have been happy for you."
Li Hanyue nodded but still sighed: "I just don't know when I'll see Zehang next…"
Almost everyone from the production attended this celebration, except for Liu Zehang, who had actively participated in previous events.
This all goes back to that idiot agent of Liu Zehang.
It was mentioned before that Liu Zehang's agency hoped to shift him into the traffic-driven track, to build him into a new-generation representative who had both fan traffic and acting chops.
When Killing Life suddenly exploded and hit big box office numbers, Liu Zehang's agent tried to ride that wave to attract heat and traffic—and did something incredibly stupid: they marketed Liu Zehang's role, "Zhu Second Brother," across the entire internet.
At first, the marketing was restrained—just promoting the three Zhu brothers as the "Rong-head Butcher Iron Triangle."
Zhu Big Brother was hot-tempered and irritable, Zhu Second Brother hypocritical and sly, Zhu Third Brother shadowed and cruel… Promotions about the three brothers began to spread widely online.
Bao Wei and Liu Zehang were both good-looking, and Xiao He… well, he was definitely handsome, so the "Iron Triangle" was among the most attractive villain trios in recent years.
That actually helped draw a large number of fans and attention to Liu Zehang and the production.
But marketing is a joke only in moderation; taken too far, it turns sour. It started to feel like the villains were the protagonists: villain looks implied righteousness, the victims' suffering became unimportant, and the criminals' crimes somehow deserved forgiveness…
Most crucially, the three Zhu brothers had real-world prototypes! Their deeds were truly brutal and unforgivable, and Liu Zehang's agent promoting them like this was basically lighting a lantern and walking into the outhouse—asking for death.
Luckily, Liu Rulan had been monitoring online trends these days. When she saw what Liu Zehang's side had done, she immediately contacted the production team to stop it and negotiate.
Director Hou was still happily watching the box office climb. When he heard Liu Rulan explain the situation, cold sweat broke out on him. He directly contacted Taidong Entertainment and tore into Liu Zehang and his agent, then paid heavily to take down all related marketing across the web and pushed out a large campaign confirming "Zhu Third Brother confirmed dead," quietly burying the brewing public relations storm.
It was fortunate the issue was handled quickly. Hou couldn't bear to imagine how much criticism and insults Killing Life would have faced if the marketing backlash had escalated.
After all, their film Killing Life had always insisted on respecting the real cases, respecting the victims, and striving to depict the fugitives so audiences would understand the Zhu brothers' evil—not to make the Zhu brothers into celebrities.
After that incident, Liu Zehang's position became awkward.
Although it was his agent's actions, Hou still gave him no face, so Liu Zehang couldn't show up at the celebration and only sent several big red envelopes in the group chat hoping everyone would have a good time.
Thinking about Liu Zehang and his aggravating agent team, Xiao He couldn't comment much—only said, "I hope he can sort his issues out quickly."
In truth, it wouldn't be easy for Liu Zehang to leave Taidong Entertainment. Among his peers, none had his combination of acting skill and popularity—those with skill lacked his visibility, and those with traffic didn't have his acting. As long as Taidong Entertainment didn't act foolishly, they definitely wouldn't let him go.
Now it's a matter of how Liu Zehang will leverage this incident to secure more benefits for himself…
Bao Wei signed a few more postcards for Xiao He's mother, and Zhuo Jianhua handed Xiao He a business card with a gentle voice: "If you're interested in the future, you can audit a few classes at the Beijing Opera performance department. I believe you'll gain unexpected benefits."
Although distant in the capital, Beijing opera was a dream every actor once admired. Xiao He didn't refuse; he accepted the card with both hands and thanked Zhuo Jianhua: "Thank you, Teacher Zhuo."
After a while, the banquet wound down. Everyone who had been excited all night was now a bit wan and distracted. Director Hou waved his hand to signal the end of the banquet.
But as people were leaving, he pulled Xiao He and Liu Rulan into a separate empty private room.
Once seated, the smile on Hou Rongxuan's face dimmed a bit. He took out a folder and placed it on the table, pushing it toward Xiao He: "This is Director Feng's new project about to go into pre-production. Xiao Xiao, you can take it home and have a good look—prepare ahead of time."
Although she already had a guess, Liu Rulan still clenched her fist in excitement and wildly gestured at Xiao He.
It's Director Feng's new film! It's the script they'd been searching for so long!