200: Chapter 20 Box Office Ranking

Hearing this, Wang Lin also looked over, only to see a tiny white scratch on Yuan Qing's right index finger—it wasn't even bleeding.

He glanced at Hu Fei, seeing the same speechlessness and anger in the other man's eyes.

This? A mosquito bite would surely hurt more. How did he have the face to let out such a miserable scream?

But the female person-in-charge was different; she looked at Yuan Qing with concern, knelt down, and took his right hand.

“Let Sister Xue see. How did you get such a serious injury? You've suffered.”

Then, following a folk remedy, she put Yuan Qing's index finger into her mouth and began to suck on it.

Just like a scene out of an idol drama.

A moment later.

She took the finger out, wiped the saliva off her hand with her clothes, and helped Yuan Qing up.

“Come on, I'll take you to the hospital. If it gets infected, it'll be a real problem.”

She glared with wide eyes and said viciously to Hu Fei, “I, Xue Na, am not done with this. Your intrusion is what caused my Qingqing's injury. You must take responsibility.”

Hu Fei and Wang Lin looked at each other, staring in disbelief, their worldviews shattered.

This is called an injury? By now, the mark probably isn't even visible anymore.

If they actually went to the hospital, the doctor would probably need a magnifying glass to even find the wound.

However, faced with the threat, Hu Fei naturally refused to show weakness.

“Xue Na, is it? Well, this matter is indeed not over. You've affected our tourists' enjoyment; you must provide an explanation.”

“They're just some commoners, what's the big deal?” Xue Na snorted coldly.

Wang Lin was beyond furious. He pointed at Xue Na and rebuked her, “What did you say? You're just a program director; where do you get such a massive sense of superiority?”

“As a member of the Hangzhou Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism, I, Wang Lin, will definitely make you pay the price.”

But what they didn't notice was that because the roadblocks had been removed, the tourists had also reached the bridge and happened to hear their conversation.

The crowd immediately exploded in anger.

They spontaneously surrounded Xue Na and Yuan Qing. “Was it you who called us commoners?”

“I want to see if your mouth is more noble or if my fist is harder.”

Many tourists were rubbing their palms, preparing to teach Xue Na a lesson.

In her heart, Xue Na was still cursing these tourists, but out loud, she stammered and didn't dare say a word.

Yuan Qing was even worse; he was so scared he hid behind Xue Na, pressing his head tightly against her back.

His whole body was trembling uncontrollably.

Hu Fei and Wang Lin quickly held back the tourists, apologizing and trying to persuade them to stop.

They even called the police.

Chen Shaoping and the other five followed the main crowd of tourists to the scene.

When Wang Lin saw them, he tilted his head to signal them to leave quickly and not linger here.

If the tourists discovered their identities as well, it would be even harder to handle.

Chen Shaoping originally wanted to ask about the situation, but seeing the state of things, he decided against it.

He decisively took Zhang Ying's hand and walked away quickly.

Meanwhile, on the internet.

Aside from the usual reports of mountain-like crowds at major popular scenic spots, the West Lake was the most buzzing topic on the trending lists.

#West Lake Scenic Area Road Closure, Why Weren't Tourists Notified?#

#A Bloodless, Extremely Minor Scratch Requires an Ambulance? Idol Star Yuan Qing, Just How Fragile Are You?#

#On What Basis Does Xue Na Call Tourists Commoners? Is It Ignorance or a God-Tier Background?#

#The Scandals Between Xue Na and the Young Idol Star.#

...

There were also a large number of videos.

The comments were all waiting for the official report and calling for a boycott of Xue Na.

A massive amount of her dark history was dug up by netizens; besides her love for idol stars, she also bullied the weak while fearing the strong, and had even groveled to foreign stars...

However, she had a very strong background at Mango TV.

Among these trending topics, one suddenly shot up at an extremely high speed.

#Mei Hu, Director of the Movie 'jade fate', Publicly Posts on Qingbo Accusing the Audience of Being Trash and Lacking Quality.#

At this time, Chen Shaoping and the others also saw this post, but their focus wasn't on the content itself.

It was on the box office rankings for the first day of the National Day movie season, which had been officially released just before that Qingbo post.

1st Place: 'flying heaven', Production Cost: 240 million, Box Office: 8.8 million, Producer: Tiantian Entertainment Media.

2nd Place: 'the wandering swordsman', Production Cost: 3.5 million, Box Office: 82 million, Producer: Tudi Cinema City Group.

3rd Place: 'Circular Grand Prix', Production Cost: 110 million, Box Office: 7.1 million, Producer: Da He Group.

4th Place: 'Frantic All the Way', Production Cost: 6 million, Box Office: 52 million, Producer: Wansheng Media Group.

...

6th Place: 'crazy stone', Production Cost: 500,000, Box Office: 32 million, Producer: Tongxing Entertainment Company.

...

12th Place: 'jade fate', Production Cost: 4 million, Box Office: 850,000, Producer: Mei Hu Studio.

Li Qian screamed with joy, “Da Ping, Sister Ying, look! 3.2 million on the first day. We've not only broken even, we've made a profit.”

“The box office from here on is pure profit.”

Chen Shaoping looked at the list but remained very calm; the gap between the top three wasn't that large.

I wrote the theme song for 'the wandering swordsman', sung by Hu Bing, and the producer is actually Tudi Cinema City.

The connections really run deep.

“Sister Qian, what's there to be so happy about? I bet tomorrow's box office will be even higher than today's.”

“I agree with that,” Han Minde responded. “I just checked the online comments. 'crazy stone' is getting mostly positive reviews, while the top few actually have quite a lot of negative ones.”

He was in the catering business, so he usually paid more attention to customer feedback.

While the others were looking at the box office, he was looking at the reviews.

“With such good word-of-mouth, I'll organize my employees to go see it after I get back tonight. It'll support you guys and serve as a good team-building exercise,” he continued.

“San De, are you going back to Yang City tonight? Why the rush?” Wang Bo asked.

Han Minde smiled. “Business at the shop is booming; I'm really just too busy.”

“I'm worried something might happen, so I can't really enjoy myself while playing.”

Wang Bo wanted to try and persuade him further, but Chen Shaoping beat him to it.

“Second Bo, don't push him. San De is right. With so many people during the holidays, we can't let anything go wrong.”

The holiday season is precisely when those in the catering industry are busiest.

Some restaurants in scenic areas basically make their entire year's living during these few holiday days; usually, there's hardly anyone.

“Alright then! After we get back, we'll gather at your shop again.”

“Good, good. I'll cook personally then.”

“That's a must!”

Everyone laughed.

“By the way, Sister Qian, why hasn't Director Lin's post gone out yet? Ask him what's going on,” Chen Shaoping said.

Li Qian gave him a sidelong glance, knowing that if Director Lin didn't contact him first, he definitely wouldn't take the initiative to find Director Lin.

“Okay, I'll ask right away.”

Zhang Ying, who was looking at her phone, suddenly spoke up: “He already posted.”

Chen Shaoping and Li Qian leaned over. Director Lin's statement was very brief.

“If you call it a romance film, it has national grievances and family feuds.”

“If you call it a patriotic film, it has trashy internet memes.”

“If you call it a modern film, it has 'imitations' of ancient clothing.”

“Therefore, I conclude it is nothing at all; it's just the product of a certain person's (Mei Hu) delusions.”

“What even is this? I've been vomiting all day after watching it.”

“Finally, if fans have any suggestions or opinions on my movie, you're welcome to leave a message.”

After Chen Shaoping finished reading, he thought to himself: This Director Lin is a real master of sarcasm.