Huayu: I'm reborn, but you still force me to be a scumbag?

Chapter 153: The Spy War
Chen Nuo started his days of studying at school. His schedule was full every day. He did not live on campus, but in a high-end apartment rented by Qi Yuntian.

It is right between the studio and the school, not far from either. The rent of 4000 yuan a month is definitely expensive in Beijing these days. But the security is in place, which can prevent the paparazzi from snooping, so it is worth it.

Because he didn't live alone, Janice Man also signed up for a pre-exam cramming class at Beijing Film Academy. Yes, it was the same one he had attended before.

Under Li Er's arrangement, she studied there under an assumed name, and no one knew her relationship with anyone.

Every day the two of them drove to school together and drove home together.

Apart from having to play hide-and-seek with the paparazzi every day and avoiding public attention, life was sweet indeed. Especially during the days when Xia Yehe came, it was even sweeter for Chen Nuo.

By January, the smoke of war between several 2007 films began to spread.

Chen Nuo didn't know if Huayi Company was too confident, but they really didn't believe in it and followed them to release the film during the Spring Festival, forcing "Disciple" and "Love Call Transfer" to announce the release date to be moved up to January 1 and January 7 respectively.

It can be regarded as a chance to seize the free time before the Spring Festival.

You have to know that there was no Spring Festival movie season at that time. There were not many movies during the 2007 Spring Festival, mainly two domestic movies and two Hollywood blockbusters.

Crazy Stone was undoubtedly the weakest among them, and the 200 million yuan in advertising fees was not taken seriously by any company.

However, no one noticed that inexplicably in every corner of the Internet, in every forum, big or small, there were more replies related to Crazy Stone under the popular posts.

Especially after the media preview on January 1, someone would inexplicably mention this movie in various movie-related posts.

Even if there are posts discussing the artistry of The Shawshank Redemption, there will be people who will inexplicably say: "I think Crazy Stone, which was released on New Year's Eve, is similar to The Shawshank Redemption in that both are stories about redemption. I just watched the preview a few days ago and it was really great."

Most people thought that this kind of post was the result of a lunatic learning how to use the Internet, but some people began to become curious about this movie.

Finally, the king bomb came.

At the premiere, the day after Janice Man publicly appeared with her arm around Natalis Chan’s, the media was flooded with news about the Crazy Stone premiere.

This caused the sound of broken cups to be heard in Wang Zongjun's house.

"How dare Chen Nuo!"

Wang Zonglei threw a blue and white porcelain teacup to the ground, his face twisted, and he yelled, "It's okay to just stir up a scandal, how old is he? He made such a public appearance, f**k him, does he know how many fans he will lose? For a movie with a budget of several million, is it worth it?"

Wang Zongjun's face was as gloomy as water, and he said, "Why are you panicking? It's New Year's Day! Why are you smashing cups in my house?"

Wang Zonglei said angrily, "Brother, I'm so angry! Chen Nuo, that bastard, is actually a lunatic. He was photographed in Taiwan and we all thought it was taken secretly by the paparazzi. Now it seems that he actually planned it all along and was trying to build momentum for today!"

Wang Zongjun sneered, "There's no need to worry. He killed one thousand enemies but lost eight hundred of his own. We can't do anything to him. But if you think he can get a lot of box office revenue by hyping up the scandal, you're totally wrong. The audience buys tickets to watch a movie!"

Wang Zonglei nodded vigorously and said, "Brother, you are right. In the end, the quality of the film is the key. We invested 1.3 million yuan in this film, and it can't even match a fraction of ours. Even if it uses all its tricks, it will still be a dead end!"

It seems that what the Wang brothers said was correct. On the first day of the Lunar New Year, the screening ratio of most theaters across the country was roughly 30% for "The Banquet", 007% for Hollywood's 20 and Night at the Museum, 15% for "Crazy Stone", and two other low-budget movies together accounted for 15%.

This is already a remarkable achievement. At least in the eyes of the people at China Film, with only 200 million yuan spent on publicity, it actually achieved such an effect. Chen Nuo's online publicity strategy was undoubtedly a great success, and those online water armies were really useful.

If you earn 5 cents per post, how many posts can you post with 100 million? How many forums are there on the Internet? During this period, all Internet users knew the name Crazy Stone.

However, in the first day's box office competition, the comparison between Crazy Stone and The Banquet seemed to be just as the Wang brothers said, Crazy Stone was indeed no match.

After the first day's box office statistics were released, Wang Zonglei, who was spending the New Year at Wang Zongjun's house, couldn't help but burst into laughter: "1100 million on the first day, let's see how they die. Brother, how much is Crazy Stone?"

Wang Zongjun couldn't help but smile, "They're actually not bad. With Chen Nuo building up momentum for them, they got over 400 million on the first day. They shouldn't lose money in the end."

Wang Zonglei laughed and said, "Only 400 million was enough for the first place. I don't think it will be possible for them to make tens of millions in the end. With Chen Nuo's fame and all the tricks he played, the box office was just this low. Brother, this should be enough to break his halo, right?"

Wang Zongjun nodded and said, "It should be about the same. When the wall falls, everyone pushes it. This time I want to see how many people are left and will stand on his side."

The next day at noon, Wang Zonglei was out for some socializing. When he remembered the box office, he called Wang Zongjun to ask about it, but he found that the other party's tone was a little unhappy: "We sold more than 900 million yesterday."

Wang Zonglei smiled and said, "Brother, the reduction is not that big. Why do you sound dissatisfied?"

Wang Zongjun said calmly: "Chen Nuo and his team sold more than 600 million today."

When Wang Zonglei made the call, he was hugging a gorgeous woman. When he heard this, his arms tightened. The woman screamed, "Boss Wang, you're pinching me."

"roll!"

Wang Zonglei stood up suddenly and asked, "Brother, their box office is actually increasing? What's going on?"

Wang Zongjun's tone was still calm: "Why are you so anxious? You are so old, but you are still so impatient. It's only the third day of the seven-day Spring Festival schedule. Yesterday was only the second day. Take your time to watch it. Don't go out and have fun these two days. Call theaters in various places and ask about the scheduling. Got it?"

Wang Zonglei's face turned red and blue, and he said bitterly, "I know."

……

……

On the third day of the Lunar New Year, just like last year, Chen Nuo and his family of three went to Beijing to pay New Year's greetings after celebrating the New Year at home. And after the premiere, Janice Man also returned to Hong Kong Island to celebrate the New Year.

Zhang Yiyi had already moved to a new home and bought a large house with three bedrooms and two living rooms near the Third Ring Road. He moved his parents from the cramped courtyard house to a bright and clean high-rise elevator apartment.

Zhang Yiyi's parents, who originally looked a little old, actually looked a lot younger now.

Pan Chengrong and Chen Bicheng didn't meet Zhang Yiyi's parents last year, and they were quite affectionate when they met this time. Pan Chengrong still remembered the dumplings they had in the courtyard two years ago. At this time, Zhang Yiyi's parents talked about which countries Zhang Yiyi took them to last year and what they saw. They made dumplings and chatted at the same time, which was quite lively.

Moreover, this guy Zhang Yiyi has actually brought Li Yu back home to celebrate the New Year.

Zhang Yiyi, Li Yu, and Chen Nuo were chatting in the study about the new movie Zhang Yiyi was currently filming, "The Blind Man's Spring".

As soon as the study door was closed, before Zhang Yiyi could say anything, Li Yu couldn't help but said, "Chen Nuo, persuade him. If he continues like this, we really won't be able to finish the filming of the movie."

Chen Nuo asked in surprise, and then he found out that the initial investment in "The Blind Man" was 800 million, which is definitely a big production for an art film.

However, the filming lasted from June to November, and the money was used up before the filming was halfway done. Several investors had to invest another 6 million yuan, and the total investment amount reached 11 million yuan.

The key point is that up to now, the funds are almost used up, and only 30% of the overall shooting progress is left.

Zhang Yiyi looked unhappy and said, "It's New Year's Day, don't say such a spoiling thing. If it really doesn't work, I'll pay for it myself."

Li Yu lowered his voice and said, "Do you think this is realistic? Zhang Yiyi, how much money do you have? It's not like I haven't made a movie before, and it's not like I haven't invested all my wealth in making a movie. But for someone like you, it's just obsession! Have you ever counted how many times you shoot a scene over and over again? I have counted, and on average, you shoot each scene more than ten times. Not to mention Gao Yuanyuan, you're almost driving me crazy!"

Zhang Yiyi said angrily, "If I'm not satisfied, how can I let her go? The final result of the shot turned out to be unpleasant, what can I do? I can't get over it, do you understand?"

Chen Nuo understood.

In fact, when filming the movie "The Dumb", Zhang Yiyi had this bad habit, but he was poor at the time and had nowhere to go. Now that he has money, he has started to do it.

Zhang Yiyi turned to Chen Nuo and said, "Chen Nuo, I really regret choosing Gao Yuanyuan now. This woman is just a blockhead. I should have chosen Fan Binbing! If we hadn't filmed so many scenes, I would really want to change someone!"

Li Yu's face darkened. It seemed that if the sound of people talking and laughing in the living room hadn't come in, she would have wanted to curse. "Zhang Yiyi, what did I say at the beginning? I said during the audition that Fan Binbing was more spiritual than Gao Yuanyuan. But you and Li Xiaotian thought that Fan Binbing had too many scandals and it would affect the box office, so you chose Gao Yuanyuan. Now that things have come to this, you are saying these things again. Is it interesting?"

Zhang Yiyi sat down on the stool with a dejected look on his face, "It's boring, but what can I do? It's like this, I don't want to shoot anymore."

This is the character of an artist. Chen Nuo has been in contact with Zhang Yiyi for so long that he has long been accustomed to it.

Chen Nuoli ignored him and said to Li Yu, "When I first filmed his scene, he asked me to do the first shot four times. I remember that it was Li Xiaotian who scolded him. I think you are too polite to him now. You really think he is a big shot. If he doesn't listen, Sister Li, you can slap him in the face and he will definitely obey."

Zhang Yiyi laughed and scolded: "Fuck, can you speak some human language?"

Li Yu also smiled and said, "Chen Nuo, it would be great if you were on the set. Really, why don't you join the crew right after the New Year? Aren't you going to be a guest star? How about we give you the title of producer? I think you're the only one who can listen to what he says."

Chen Nuo waved his hand and said, "I can make a guest appearance, but forget about the rest. I did terribly on my final exams this semester, and I'm going to make up for it next semester when I'm a junior."

Zhang Yiyi asked, "Have you decided on your next play?"

Chen Nuo shook his head and said, "No, I'm going to take a break. I worked so hard to get into college, but it's been two years and I've only attended classes for a few months. The school didn't say anything, but I still feel a little uncomfortable with it."

Li Yu sighed and said, "No wonder you're doing so well and smoothly. If the popular stars nowadays can learn from your ability to be flexible, even if it's just a little bit, they can stay popular longer. Look at F4... Hey, once they become popular, they get carried away and want to make all the money, but they don't know that the public is forgetful."

Zhang Yiyi smiled and said, "Yu'er, what you said is really fresh. Let me ask you, are there any popular male stars in the two sides of the Taiwan Strait who, in their 20s, bring their girlfriends out to show off around the world? Do they dare? They are so rotten in private, but they all pretend to be saints in public. It's really disgusting. Nuozi, let me tell you, just because you dare to bring Janice Man out to show the whole world, I will recognize you as a real man."

Li Yu also smiled and said, "As a woman, I have to give you a thumbs up, Chen Nuo."

Chen Nuo said: "Come on, you two stop praising me, otherwise I won't be able to eat later and I will just wait to become an immortal."

The three of them talked for a while and agreed on a time for Chen Nuo to make a guest appearance after the New Year.

We went a few days earlier than originally planned, after the Lantern Festival.

Chen Nuo had no objection to Li Yu's date. He could make jokes during the New Year to lighten the mood, but some things had to be faced no matter sooner or later.

Since Li Yu placed his hopes on him and hoped that he would go to the set to persuade Zhang Yiyi, he should agree as a friend.

After Zhang Yi's family finished eating dumplings and sat for a while, the Chen family of three went directly to the NPC staff housing compound.

Li Er and his family seemed to have gotten used to it. At this time of year every year, a family from Xichuan would come from afar to pay New Year's greetings.

This time, he actually prepared a box of bright red chili oil from somewhere. When Qi Yifei took it out of the refrigerator, he looked very proud and didn't look like a professor at all.

"I specially asked a friend to bring it from Xichuan. When he asked me how spicy I wanted it, I directly said extra spicy. He thought I was crazy. Hahahaha... Come on, it's a good dish. Use chopsticks to taste it and see if it's flavorful enough."

Chen Bicheng actually took a chopstick and tried it. He put it into the chili pepper covered with red oil, then put it into his mouth and took a sip, with an expression as if he wanted to say something but stopped.

Qi Yifei was surprised and asked, "Why? Not spicy yet?"

Chen Bicheng laughed and said, "Professor Chen, you don't know that we in Xichuan usually don't find this kind of chili oil too spicy because it's fried. To get the real spiciness, you have to try the seven-star peppers we have..."

Qi Yifei and Chen Bicheng talked about the differences between diet in the north and the south.

Chen Nuo and Qi Yuntian were chatting about the box office of Crazy Stone, and both felt that the current trend was good.

If the initial hype and hype were to get off to a good start, then at this stage, if we continue to move forward, we are just hoping that word of mouth will be good and spread from one person to ten people, and from ten to a hundred people. Of course, the online water army does not take a holiday, and this cannot be stopped.

Chen Nuo didn't think from the bottom of his heart that in this world, the lineup of Crazy Stone would be much worse than that damn "Night Banquet".

Are Sun Honglei, Huang Bo, Fan Binbing, Xu Zheng, and Huang Lei much worse than Zhou Xun, Ge You, Zhang Ziyi, and Daniel Wu?
If Ning Hao can only get 2000 million at the box office with this lineup, Chen Nuo would really think it is a failure.

Besides, the reputation of "The Banquet" is really well-known, and people in later generations call it a spooky and mournful film.

Crazy Stone can't beat him? Is there any justice in the world?

So, on the first day, when he heard that Crazy Stone only earned 400 million on the first day, he felt a little uncomfortable, and asked Qi Yuntian to call China Film Group and ask them to work overtime during the New Year and to negotiate with the theaters to increase the screening schedule.

Even from Ning Hao to Qi Yuntian, and then to China Film, they all felt that 400 on the first day was already good.

When he heard the box office statistics the next day, showing that they had taken in over 600 million, Chen Nuo nodded and said listlessly, "Not bad."

Qi Yuntian said speechlessly, "Brother Nuo, it's only been released for two days and it's already sold over 1000 million. It's obvious that we're going to make money from this movie. Can't you show some kindness?"

Chen Nuo chuckled and said, "How can a sparrow know the ambition of a swan?"

"You..." Qi Yuntian threw a sofa back at him.

Chen Nuo grabbed it and put it behind his back. "Thanks. My waist is a little sore."

Qi Yifei noticed the two people's playfulness and suddenly said, "Xiao Nuo, by the way, I read a novel recently and I think it is very well written. I told Xiao Tian to tell him about it and see if we can buy the adaptation rights of this novel. But he ignored me. How about you read it now when you have time?"

Chen Nuo smiled and said, "Okay, Uncle Qi, what novel?"

Qi Yifei walked into the study room with great interest and took out a magazine.

Chen Nuo was shocked when he saw the cover.

Oh, absolutely serious literature.

"People's Literature".

Looking again, besides the name, there are four large golden characters.

The Wind. Mai Jia.

Qi Yifei was afraid that Chen Nuo didn't understand, so he explained, "This author is called Mai Jia. He previously wrote a novel called "The Secret Calculation", which was adapted into a film and television adaptation. It tells the story of spies. It was broadcast in January this year. I also watched it. It was very good. Many teachers in our school are watching it and say it is a spy film."

"This is a novel he just wrote, and it's also about espionage. I think it's better than The Counterfeiter. I suggest your studio get the film and television adaptation rights for it and make it into a spy film. There may be a huge market for it."

Chen Nuo felt that if he hesitated for even a second longer, it would be disrespectful to his identity as a reborn person, so he nodded and said, "Then buy it."

Qi Yuntian was surprised and asked, "You don't even want to take a look?"

Chen Nuo said sincerely: "Just take a look, I believe in your judgment."

Qi Yuntian was stunned for a moment, "When did I see it?"

"tonight."

Qi Yifei laughed and said, "Xiao Chen, I think it's not enough for Xiaotian to read it, but you still have to read it. As for me, I'm just an outsider after all. But when I read this novel, the images in my mind were very strong, and I thought it was particularly suitable for being made into a movie. But whether it is suitable or not still needs you professionals to judge for yourselves."

Chen Nuo smiled and said, "Uncle Qi, I trust your vision! But... OK, I'll take it back and have a look tonight."

(End of this chapter)