I really don't want to make bad movies!

North gate of Jinghai Film and Television Academy.

A black BMW 5 Series with its angel eye headlights illuminated at night.

Xia Ming opened the car door with practiced ease.

Huang Xuke, already overwhelmed with worry, took out the contract from the file folder as soon as he saw Xia Ming.

"Hurry up and look, I have to rush back to a meeting!"

Xia Ming wouldn't be careless; he checked the contract by the light inside the car to make sure it was accurate.

Seeing Xia Ming's unhurried pace, Huang Xuke's mood gradually calmed down. He placed his hands on the steering wheel, his fingers rubbing the leather.

"You made 650,000 yuan from a cost of 5,000 yuan, which is much more impressive than those seniors who graduated many years ago."

Xia Ming smiled and flipped through the papers in his hand: "It's all thanks to the discerning eye of our senior."

Huang Xuke chuckled: "Even if I dare to bet, without data to support it, no matter how many meetings we hold, we won't be able to reach an agreement."

"I saw a video while having dinner today that finally made me decide to persuade the higher-ups."

Xia Ming looked up in confusion: "What video?"

Huang Xuke rolled down the car window, lit a cigarette, opened Bilibili on his phone, and clicked on the top-ranked video on the trending list.

"Do you know that this guy called Sun and Moon Explainer is your benefactor?!"

"As of now, just eight hours after the video was released, it has already garnered two million views! At this rate, the video will likely surpass five million views."

"This content creator only registered their account a month ago and has less than 100,000 followers, yet their videos have achieved such amazing data, which shows me the potential for the popularity of 'Big Hornet'."

"Seeing the success of the video 'Sun and Moon Commentary,' a large number of self-media practitioners will flock to this field, and their fans will also notice this opportunity, allowing us to harvest traffic."

Huang Xuke exhaled a smoke ring out of the car window and exclaimed, "You could say that it was this video of Sun and Moon Commentary that earned you 650,000."

He noticed that Xia Ming's expression was somewhat strange, and the corners of his mouth seemed to be constantly turning down.

"What's wrong?"

"It's okay, senior. I'll follow Sun and Moon Commentary later."

After Xia Ming confirmed the contract, he signed it, pressed his fingerprint, and opened the car door to leave.

"Um, Xia Ming."

Huang Xuke suddenly called out to him.

"What's wrong, senior?"

Huang Xuke pondered for a while, touching the steering wheel, before finally deciding to say, "I'll treat you to a late-night snack."

"Really, senior? Then I want to eat fried noodles."

"Come on, come on, get in the car."

"Thank you, senior."

……

Because it was too late, Huang Xuke's meeting was changed to an online meeting.

Therefore, he didn't have time to sit down and have a late-night snack with Xia Ming.

Xia Ming carried two boxes of fried noodles back to his dormitory.

When I opened the door, I found that Wang Zhengchuan was already in bed.

This guy's sleep schedule gets all messed up when he's on vacation; nobody knows what time he'll fall asleep.

Xia Ming looked helplessly at the two boxes of fried noodles in his hand.

"How can I possibly finish all that food by myself?"

With no other option, Xia Ming could only open his contact list to see if there were any late-night snack buddies.

After scanning the list, I realized that most of my classmates had already gone home for summer vacation.

Looking at her WeChat Moments again, Jiang Xixi had just posted an update.

XIXI: [This is the last rehearsal for the play! Everyone worked so hard!]

The photos below also include pictures of her rehearsing with the drama club.

"You're really diligent."

Xia Ming sighed with genuine emotion.

After filming "The Big Hornet", Xia Ming got to know Jiang Xixi, and the two would occasionally chat online.

Jiang Xixi spends her days either working part-time to earn money or rehearsing plays to hone her acting skills.

Whenever she had free time, she would ask Xia Ming if he had any good movie recommendations.

With Jiang Xixi's looks, she might have a better future if she joined a girl group or became an idol star.

I don't know why they chose the acting career.

However, Xia Ming did not want to interfere in other people's private affairs.

All he wants now is someone to help him eat the fried noodles.

With that in mind, he sent a message to Jiang Xixi.

Xia Ming: [Want some fried noodles?]

XIXI: [Eat!]

……

The next morning.

Xia Ming was woken up by the alarm clock, got out of bed and washed up.

He stayed up all night in the hallway yesterday editing his second video, which was completely different in style from the first one, which was full of humor and satire.

The video, titled "Did You Really Understand The Big Hornet?", uses a dark humor style to deconstruct the movie.

After setting the article to be published on a scheduled time, Xia Ming took the opportunity to check out the videos on Bilibili.

People have already started making analysis or commentary videos about "The Big Hornet", and the data performance is very good.

As a pioneer, Xia Ming gained fans at an astonishing speed.

Since the video was released, he has gained 20,000 active followers, and his total number of followers has successfully exceeded 30,000.

If this trend continues, the next milestone reward for the system will be unlocked in just a few days.

At the same time, the mobile banking app also sent a message showing that 650,000 yuan in copyright fees had been deposited into the account.

"So fast?"

Xia Ming didn't think that Kiwifruit was making money so fast; it must be Huang Xuke who was pulling the strings.

The project needs to be put on the agenda as soon as possible, and he certainly doesn't want it to get stuck at the financial processing stage.

Looking at the cash lying in his mobile bank account, Xia Ming felt quite calm.

In a few days, the system reward will arrive in his account, and he will soon join the ranks of millionaires.

For freshmen, this is an incredible asset.

But for Xia Ming, this amount of money couldn't even buy an IMAX camera.

The road to becoming a director is long and arduous!

I tidied myself up in front of the sink, and then a message from Jiang Xixi popped up on my phone.

XIXI: [Don't sleep in!]

Xia Ming: [Resurrected]

Jiang Xixi lost the bet, and the two agreed to watch Transformers 5 today.

I glanced at the time; there was still an hour until the agreed time and two hours until the movie started.

Xia Ming dressed and tidied his hair, then strolled to the East Gate, only to find Jiang Xixi already standing in front of it.

Jiang Xixi's tall figure could be seen from a great distance.

Although she was only wearing a simple off-shoulder white T-shirt and denim shorts, her swan-like figure still attracted everyone's attention.

Her shoulder-length short hair was tied up in a bun at the back, with loose strands of hair falling around her temples and her exposed collarbone complementing each other perfectly.

Xia Ming thought Jiang Xixi should take on a vampire role.

Her skin was so fair it was dazzling.

Good morning!

Jiang Xixi saw Xia Ming from afar and slightly raised her arm to greet him.

Xia Ming smiled and held out his hand to her: "Where's the umbrella?"

"Huh? What do you need an umbrella for?"

"Protect animals classified as Class I in China."

Jiang Xixi was completely confused, but she still took the umbrella out of her crossbody bag.

Xia Ming casually opened the door, and most of the blazing sunlight overhead immediately dissipated.

It was July after all, and even the morning sun was scorching hot.

"Let's go, you haven't had breakfast yet, have you?"

Xia Ming took a step forward and noticed that Jiang Xixi hadn't followed, so he turned around and waved to her.

Jiang Xixi only realized now that the animal protection was referring to herself.

She glared at Xia Ming, then, in her canvas shoes, darted into the shade of the parasol in a few steps.

Jiang Xixi was ridiculously tall, but that made it easier for Xia Ming to hold up an umbrella.

The two walked side by side, which saved them the trouble of the umbrella tilting.

"Xia Ming, I haven't seen Transformers yet. Will I not understand the plot?"

"Don't worry about the plot."

"Huh? It's not similar to what we filmed, is it?"

"...The crime doesn't warrant such a punishment."

Although the beat of Transformers 5 is indeed bad, it's not bad enough to be compared to my own film, The Wasp.

The two chatted all the way, crossed the overpass, and walked to the nearest cinema, where they found a coffee shop downstairs to sit and rest.

I ate breakfast while waiting for the movie to start.

Jiang Xixi would flip through the movie posters featuring various characters, showing them to Xia Ming and asking him, "Who is this one?"

Xia Ming was also very familiar with these characters and answered their questions one by one.

The one-hour wait passed quickly.

As Xia Ming watched time pass by, he recalled the days when he would go to the cinema alone to watch movies, and couldn't help but sigh, "Movies are definitely better watched with someone else."