Life countdown begins, ice queen bursts into security room

Chapter 127 Let's try the sex scene first.

Shen Nian advanced directly to the next round of "The Voice of China" this season and doesn't need to participate in the competition.

Xu Qingya has two commercial shows left in her Kyoto concert tour before returning to Shanghai the day after tomorrow.

Jiang Fan had a rare moment of leisure and spent two days lying in his studio.

The next afternoon, Li Cheng pushed open the door and came in.

Jiang Fan, with a lollipop in his mouth, lounged on the sofa watching a movie.

A laptop sits on the coffee table, and on the screen, a woman in a wedding dress runs in the rain, while a man in a suit chases after her, picks her up, and spins her around. The background music is so intense it's almost enough to bring tears to the audience's eyes.

"How many movies have you watched in the last couple of days?"

Part 8.

Jiang Fan pulled the lollipop out of his mouth and pointed at the screen.

"This thing alone grossed over a billion yuan at the box office."

Li Cheng leaned over and took a peek.

The watermark in the lower right corner of the screen reads "If This Is Love," a movie released last summer starring Ye Anran.

"No matter how melodramatic it is, Ye Anran carries the box office. With this kind of subject matter and her face, making over a billion yuan is a piece of cake."

Jiang Fan put the lollipop back in his mouth, rolled over, and assumed an even more slumped position.

"Ye Anran's acting skills are so good that she can deliver one line with three different expressions, all thanks to her wide eyes."

"As long as someone is good-looking, why do you care about their acting skills?"

Jiang Fan ignored him.

Ye Anran has been crying for the fourth time on screen, she's really shedding a lot of tears.

Interestingly—

The comments section was filled with "So beautiful" and "I cried because my sister cried".

This is the appeal of top celebrities.

Looks matter at the box office; acting skills are unimportant.

Li Cheng walked to the chair opposite him and sat down, placing his phone on the coffee table.

"There's something I need to tell you. The movie 'Fleet of Time' was released yesterday."

Jiang Fan hummed in agreement, his eyes still fixed on the screen.

"The word-of-mouth is amazing."

Li Cheng pushed the laptop screen in a little to block his view.

"But not because of the movie."

Jiang Fan then turned around to look at him.

Li Cheng took out his phone, scrolled to Weibo, and handed it over.

On the trending topics list, #TheYearInFleetEndingThemeSong# ranked fourth.

"After the premiere, Weibo and Douyin were all talking about that song."

Jiang Fan picked up the phone and scrolled down—

"Is anyone else like me, sitting in their seat waiting for the credits to finish, just so they can hear the end credits song in its entirety?"

Lyrics and music by Jiang Fan. It's him again??

"The movie was so-so, but the last song completely silenced me. I sat there crying for five minutes and didn't want to leave."

"How was the movie itself?" Jiang Fan asked.

"Nothing special," Li Cheng said, shrugging.

"It has all the tropes of a teen movie: fighting, abortion, breakup, and the rating is just barely passing. But once the end credits song came out, the word-of-mouth dropped significantly. Many people gave it a good review for one reason only—the last song was worth the ticket price."

Jiang Fan returned the phone to him.

"What was the opening day box office?"

"Eighty million." Li Cheng made a shooting gesture. "Pre-sales are still rising today, and the percentage of screenings has increased from 12% to 24%. At this rate, the final box office is guaranteed to be around one billion."

He paused for a moment.

"The key point is that this film only cost 40 million yuan to make. Lu Chuan and the investors are ecstatic."

Jiang Fan pulled the lollipop out of his mouth and threw it into the trash can.

He stared at the terrible movie on his laptop screen for two seconds.

At the edge of my line of sight, the store icon on the system panel flashed.

His gaze fell on the "Film and Television Works" category label.

Wolf Warrior, The Wandering Earth, Ne Zha...

The names of those who had grossed tens or hundreds of billions in their previous lives flashed through my mind one after another.

Snapped.

The laptop was closed.

"Li Cheng".

"Um?"

"I want to make movies."

Li Cheng had just taken a sip of water when he choked and almost spat it out of his nose.

He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and coughed several times.

"Are you serious?"

"certainly."

Li Cheng put down the cup, stared at him for several seconds, and made sure he didn't have a fever.

"You've never worked in film and television before."

"I've never been involved in music before."

These words left Li Cheng speechless.

He opened his mouth and changed his angle.

"Making a film is another matter—directing, cinematographer, post-production, have you done any of those?"

"No rush." Jiang Fan stood up and stretched his neck. "I'll take the next couple of days to organize the plan. Script, team, investment—one step at a time. Could you help me gather some market information and compile a report for me?"

Li Cheng remained silent.

His expression was the typical "I've followed a madman" look.

"Jiang Fan, your idea is a bit..."

"What's up?"

"That's a bit outrageous."

Jiang Fan walked to the window and looked down.

Downstairs is a bustling commercial street in Shanghai.

A movie theater's LED screen is playing a loop of new summer movies, with colorful images and headshots of popular celebrities.

"Do you know why those terrible movies make so much money?"

"...Why?"

"It's not that audiences don't want to watch good movies, it's that they have no choice." Jiang Fan turned around. "As long as the investment is big enough, the publicity is aggressive enough, and the stars are good-looking enough, anything can sell."

He paused for a moment.

"But what if what I create has both commercial and artistic value?"

Li Cheng leaned back in his chair.

"Your idea... it feels like you're trying to change the entire film industry."

He stood up and patted his pants.

"I'll go crazy with you. I'll check the market situation and give it to you in three days."

It's 6:30 in the evening.

Jiang Fan arrived at Xu Qingya's villa.

Xu Qingya was lying on the sofa with a face mask on.

Her hair was casually clipped back with a hair clip, and she wore a white tank top with black hot pants.

Her toes were painted with burgundy nail polish, and her ten toes rested on the sofa armrest, swaying idly.

The fatigue from the end of the tour was still visible on his face, but he was still in good spirits.

Jiang Fan changed his shoes and went inside.

There were several insulated takeout containers on the coffee table in the living room, still unopened.

"I'm too tired to move these past few days." Xu Qingya sat up, peeled off her face mask and threw it on the coffee table. She walked barefoot to the dining table and opened the insulated containers one by one.

"It was ordered by the hotel, so it'll have to do."

Four dishes and one soup, a balanced mix of meat and vegetables.

Xu Qingya picked up her chopsticks and placed a piece of pork rib into Jiang Fan's bowl.

Jiang Fan sat down opposite her, and the two ate and chatted.

"I'm going to Kyoto in a few days for rehearsals for the 'As You Wish' National Day Gala." Xu Qingya glanced at him. "Your song changed a lot of things."

Jiang Fan was gnawing on a spare rib.

"You know the movie 'Fleet of Time' has been released, right?"

"I know." Xu Qingya put down her chopsticks and wiped her mouth with a tissue. "Eighty million in box office on the opening day. The song at the end of the film has over 100 million plays on Weibo and Douyin."

Jiang Fan ate all the rice in his bowl and put down his chopsticks.

"I'm planning to make a movie."

Xu Qingya's chopsticks were suspended in mid-air when a bean sprout slid down from between them and fell back into the bowl.

"What did you say?"

"I make my own movies."

Xu Qingya stared at him for five or six seconds.

"Making movies and writing songs are very different."

"I watched eight movies in the last two days."

"...You watched eight movies and now you want to make a film about it?"

"I watched eight terrible movies, each of which grossed over a billion dollars." Jiang Fan took the can of coconut juice in front of her and took two sips.

"The barrier to entry for this industry is much lower than I thought."

Xu Qingya opened her mouth, then closed it again.

It's useless to reason with this person.

He had never taken a single music class before writing songs, and what he wrote shook the entire Chinese music scene.

She got up to tidy the table, stacked the insulated containers, and took them to the kitchen.

"What do you want to film?"

"It's not decided yet." Jiang Fan finished the can of coconut juice. "But what I produce won't be the kind of mass-produced product that relies on looks to make money."

"What do you need me to do?"

We'll see when the time comes.

Xu Qingya walked barefoot to the sofa, sat down on the cushion, and crossed her legs.

The burgundy toenails were very eye-catching under the light.

"Write the movie, and I'll play the female lead."

"Are you acting?"

"What, you don't like me?"

"When did Xu Tianhou become interested in acting?"

"After singing for so many years, the ceiling is right above my head." Xu Qingya hugged his arm and rested her chin on his shoulder.

"Film and television is another path. Besides—I don't believe what you make can be bad."

Jiang Fan didn't respond to that.

He turned his head and looked at Xu Qingya.

The lights in the villa were set to a warm tone, shining on her face after she had just removed her face mask, making her skin look radiant and glowing.

Are you sure you can act?

"I took acting classes in college."

"Having taken acting classes and being able to act are two different things."

Xu Qingya released his arm, leaned back, and looked a little resentful.

"Then try me."

Jiang Fan looked at her for three seconds.

Then he reached out and swept Xu Qingya up in his arms.

Xu Qingya let out an "Ah," and her legs dangled in the air and swayed for a moment.

"What are you doing!"

Jiang Fan walked towards the bedroom.

"Audition."

Xu Qingya wrapped her arms around his neck.