127: Chapter 127 Let's try the sex scene first.

Shen Nian advanced directly in this episode of The Sound of Nature and did not need to participate in the competition.

Xu Qingya still had two business engagements left for her Kyoto concert and would not return to Magic City until the day after tomorrow.

With rare free time, Jiang Fan lay in the Studio for two days.

On the afternoon of the second day, Li Cheng pushed the door open and entered.

Jiang Fan had a lollipop in his mouth and was lounging on the sofa watching a movie.

A laptop was placed on the coffee table. On the screen, a woman in a wedding dress was running in the rain, and a man in a suit chased after her, hugged her, and spun her around in place. The background music was so melodramatic that it practically tried to drag tears out of the audience.

"How many have you watched in these two days?"

"The eighth one."

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

"Just this piece of trash, and the box office is over a billion."

Li Cheng leaned over and took a glance.

In the bottom right corner of the screen was a watermark—《If This Is Love》, released during last year's summer season, starring Ye Anran.

"Corny as it may be, Ye Anran carries the box office. With this kind of subject matter plus her face, a billion or so is just a breeze."

Jiang Fan stuck the lollipop back into his mouth, turned over, and switched to an even lazier posture.

"Ye Anran's acting skills—one line of dialogue, three different expressions, all relying on staring."

"As long as she looks good, it's fine. Why do you care about her acting skills?"

Jiang Fan ignored him.

On the screen, Ye Anran had already cried for the fourth scene; she really had a lot of tears.

The interesting thing is—

The comments were all spamming "So beautiful" and "Big sister cried, so I cried too."

This is the appeal of a top-tier celebrity.

A face is the box office; acting skills are not important.

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

"There's something I need to tell you. fleet of time was released yesterday."

Jiang Fan gave an "Mm," his eyes still fixed on the screen.

"The word-of-mouth is explosive."

Li Cheng pushed the laptop screen over a bit, blocking his view.

"But it's not because of the movie."

Jiang Fan finally turned around to look at him.

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

On the trending list, #fleet of time Ending Song# was hanging at number four.

"After the premiere ended, Weibo and Douyin were all discussing that song."

Jiang Fan took the phone and scrolled down—

[Is there anyone like me, sitting in their seat waiting for the credits to finish just to listen to the ending song in its entirety?]

[Lyrics and Composition: Jiang Fan. It's him again??]

[The movie is so-so, but that last song left me speechless. I sat there crying for five minutes and didn't want to leave.]

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

"Mediocre." Li Cheng spread his hands.

"It has all the clichés a youth film should have: fighting, abortion, breaking up. The rating is just barely passing. But once the ending song came out, the word-of-mouth shot up. Many people gave it a good review for one reason—the last song was worth the price of admission."

Jiang Fan returned the phone to him.

"What was the first-day box office?"

"80 million." Li Cheng made a finger-gun gesture. "Today's pre-sales are still rising, and the screening schedule has been increased from 12% to 24%. Based on this trend, a final box office of over a billion is secure."

He paused for a moment.

"The key is, this film only cost 40 million to invest in. Director Lu Chuan and the investors are going crazy with happiness."

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

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

At the edge of his vision, the Mall icon on the system panel flickered.

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

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

Those names that had box office hits of tens or hundreds of billions in his past life slid through his mind one after another.

Snap.

The laptop closed.

"Li Cheng."

"Hmm?"

"I want to make a movie."

Li Cheng had just taken a sip of water and choked so hard it almost sprayed out of his nose.

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

"Are you serious?"

"Of course."

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

"You've never touched film and television before."

"I hadn't touched music before either."

This statement choked Li Cheng up.

He opened his mouth, then changed his angle.

"Making a movie is a different thing—directing, cinematography, post-production, which one have you done?"

"No rush yet." Jiang Fan stood up and stretched his neck. "I'll organize the plan over the next two days. Script, team, investment, one step at a time. You help me scout the market conditions and prepare a report for me first."

Li Cheng didn't make a sound.

His expression was typically "I'm following a madman."

"Jiang Fan, this idea of yours is a bit..."

"A bit what?"

"A bit absurd."

Jiang Fan walked to the window and looked down.

Downstairs was a commercial street in Magic City, with people coming and going.

On an LED screen at a movie theater, new summer releases were playing on a loop, with colorful images full of close-up photos of trending stars.

"Do you know why those crappy movies can 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 promotion is aggressive enough, and the stars are pretty enough, anything can be sold."

He paused for a moment.

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

Li Cheng leaned back in his chair.

"This idea of yours... why do I feel like you're about to change the entire film industry?"

He stood up and brushed off his pants.

"I'll accompany you in this madness. I'll go scout the market conditions and give it to you in three days."

——

6:30 PM.

Jiang Fan arrived at Xu Qingya's villa.

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

Her hair was casually pinned back with a claw clip, wearing a small white camisole with black hot pants.

Her toenails were painted wine-red, and her ten toes were resting on the armrest of the sofa, swinging idly.

The fatigue from the end of the tour was still hanging on her face, but her spirits were alright.

Jiang Fan changed his shoes and went in.

On the coffee table in the living room were several takeout containers, still unopened.

"I've been too tired to move these past few days." Xu Qingya sat up, peeled off the mask and tossed it on the coffee table, then walked barefoot to the dining table and opened the containers one by one.

"Ordered from the hotel, just make do."

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

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

Jiang Fan sat opposite her, and the two ate while chatting.

"I have to go to Kyoto in a few days; as you wish has a rehearsal for the National Day Gala." Xu Qingya looked at him. "That song of yours has changed a lot of things."

Jiang Fan chewed on the spare rib.

"You know the movie fleet of time has been released, right?"

"I know." Xu Qingya put down her chopsticks and wiped the corner of her mouth with a tissue. "80 million box office on the first day. The song at the end has over 100 million views on Weibo and Douyin."

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

"I intend to make a movie."

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

"What did you say?"

"I'm making a movie myself."

Xu Qingya stared at him for five or six seconds.

"Making a movie and writing songs are not the same."

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

"...You watched eight and now you want to make a movie?"

"I watched eight crappy movies, and every single one had a box office of over a billion." 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.

Before he wrote songs, he hadn't taken a single day of music lessons, yet what he wrote shook the entire Chinese music scene.

She got up to clear the table, stacked the containers, and carried them to the kitchen.

"What do you want to film?"

"Not decided yet." Jiang Fan finished the can of coconut juice. "But what I produce won't be that kind of assembly-line product that relies on faces to make money."

"What do you need me to do?"

"We'll talk about that when the time comes."

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

Her wine-red toenails were very conspicuous under the light.

"When the movie is written, let me play the female lead."

"You play it?"

"What, do you look down on me?"

"Since when has Diva Xu been 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 anything you make will be bad."

Jiang Fan didn't respond to this.

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 just peeling off the mask; her skin was glistening.

"Are you sure you can act?"

"I took acting classes in college."

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

Xu Qingya let go of his arm and leaned back, with a hint of defiance on her face.

"Then test me."

Jiang Fan looked at her for three seconds.

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

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

"What are you doing!"

Jiang Fan walked toward the bedroom.

"Auditioning."

Xu Qingya wrapped her arms around his neck.

"...What kind of scene requires going into the bedroom?"

Jiang Fan threw her onto the bed.

Xu Qingya bounced a little, her hair spreading out over the pillow.

"Let's see how the bed scene is first."