"Want to see a movie? I've reserved the entire theater."
To Shao Yichen's surprise, when Li Xingyu called this ti, he didn't offer words of comfort, but instead extended an invitation.
She asked foolishly, "With whom?"
"With us," Li Xingyu deliberately emphasized the word "us." "Nan Rongyu and Nan Rongzhou, Jiang Miaomiao, Qin Lu, Li Qianqian, Xiao Bai, plus Le Ziyao and Luo Anan—and of course, ."
"Are you guys organizing a team-building activity?"
Li Xingyu chuckled on the other end of the line: "We've scheduled it for tonight. After the movie, we'll get to see the first wave of box office results."
"I guess you probably can't avoid worrying about the box office today, and honestly, neither can I," Li Xingyu said, though his tone didn't reveal any particular anxiety—perhaps that was just his personality. "Since that's the case, why not do sothing else to divert our attention?"
"Of course, you don't have to co—"
"I'll be there."
Shao Yichen accepted imdiately.
Better to have others be anxious with her than to be anxious alone!
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Though she talked about making others anxious alongside her, when Shao Yichen actually arrived at the theater, she felt genuinely more at ease.
Perhaps the infectious atmosphere of everyone laughing and chatting together had a calming effect.
Of course, people like the twins and the manager-agent couple who were purely there for team-building seed relaxed, but Shao Yichen was truly shocked to see Jiang Miaomiao, Qin Lu, and Li Qianqian—all crew mbers—maintaining such carefree appearances as they conversed.
What's going on! Was she the only one overthinking things?
She humbly asked these few people for their thoughts, only to be t with strange looks.
"Boss, why are you thinking so much?" Li Qianqian's face clearly said "You're really amusing." "This film has such excellent production quality, effective promotion, and praiseworthy acting performances. If it doesn't break even, I'll write my na backward."
Shao Yichen wanted to say "that's unnecessary," but then realized that Qianqian written from left to right or right to left would still be Qianqian. This manager was possibly just playing with her.
She then moved to Jiang Miaomiao's side to express her anxiety. Qin Lu, who had been positioning himself next to Jiang Miaomiao trying to get into her photo fra, was unfortunately pushed out and could only feel indignant without daring to voice it.
"Isn't this feeling the sa as with previous film releases?" Jiang Miaomiao had recently bought a new cara phone and was taking pictures of everyone she could. She took this opportunity to snap a photo of Shao Yichen as well. When Shao Yichen looked at it, she saw herself with a worried expression. "This is already our third film collaboration, and I've never seen Director Shao so nervous before. Relax, relax! Rember, you're a screenplay genius! Of course it won't lose money!"
Shao Yichen beca even more concerned.
Don't call a screenplay genius! Don't I know better than you that my previous works were just lucky coincidences!
She was about to seek confidence-boosting from Xiao Bai, since as Li Xingyu's fanboy, he certainly wouldn't be stingy with flattery, but the film unexpectedly began, forcing her to watch along with everyone else.
And for so reason, the others had specifically saved her a seat next to Li Xingyu, who waved to her as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Shao Yichen still felt sowhat uncomfortable with this atmosphere that resembled public dating—after all, strictly speaking, they weren't yet in a relationship—but she wasn't opposed to sitting beside Li Xingyu either. So, pretending to be admiring the scenery, she sidled over and sat down.
Li Xingyu appeared oblivious to her little maneuver and helped insert a straw into her milk tea before handing it to her.
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Shao Yichen had thought she would have no interest in scenes she had already watched countless tis, but was surprised to find that watching a film with a group was indeed better than watching alone. Moreover, since these were all their own people, they didn't need to worry about disturbing others by chatting in the theater. The group chattered away, discussing and enjoying themselves, with conversations extending beyond the plot to focus more on behind-the-scenes stories.
About halfway through the film, during the Heart Demon's scenes, Li Xingyu suddenly leaned close: "Do you know what I was thinking when we fild this scene?"
"What?" Shao Yichen looked up to see the Heart Demon preparing to sacrifice himself to save his original self. After a difficult recollection of the plot, she guessed, "You thought the Heart Demon... uh... had sothing going on with Qi Changge?"
Li Xingyu: "...Of course not."
Before Shao Yichen could guess again, Li Xingyu suddenly bent down and whispered in her ear: "I was thinking of you at that ti."
Shao Yichen's ear instantly turned red like a sensitive sensor.
She covered her ear and glanced around, noticing that everyone was either chatting or taking selfies, with no one—at least visibly—paying attention to their little interactions. Only then did the heat in her ears slightly subside.
She asked Li Xingyu softly: "So when you asked to rehearse those lines with you, it was because..."
"That's right. Though I feel sorry for my fellow actor... I found it hard to get into character with her because I kept thinking of you," Li Xingyu said quietly, his eyes fixed on the screen. "That's why I ca to you to rehearse."
"But after rehearsing with you, I beca even more certain that the Heart Demon character was difficult for to understand—although the final effect in the film turned out quite well," Li Xingyu added.
Shao Yichen turned to look at him. His eyes seed to contain the flashing swords and emotional conflicts from the screen, yet they also resembled distant stars, bearing nothing on their surface—all the mirages people saw in stars were purely imposed by imagination.
"Did you find it difficult to empathize with his emotions?" Shao Yichen asked.
Li Xingyu didn't answer directly: "I just felt that if I were him, I would never let go."
After saying this, Li Xingyu maintained a serious expression on the surface but secretly tickled Shao Yichen's palm with his fingertips.
At first, Shao Yichen pretended not to feel anything, but Li Xingyu pressed his advantage, persistently tickling her palm. Unable to bear it any longer, Shao Yichen turned the tables, grabbing his hand and holding it firmly.
Two minutes later, staring at their interlocked fingers, she suddenly realized she had been tricked.
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The two-hour film quickly ended, leaving everyone wanting more.
Before Shao Yichen could reminisce about any of the film's scenes, she imdiately rembered the most important issue.
—How was the box office doing?!
As she worried, Li Xingyu seed to already understand what was on her mind and handed her his phone with the box office tracking app opened.
Shao Yichen closed her eyes tightly: "I don't dare look... tell first, how's the situation?"
"It's better if you see for yourself." Li Xingyu kept the mystery alive, seemingly unwilling to provide Shao Yichen with a helpful announcent service.
Shao Yichen had no choice but to open her eyes a crack.
The first thing she saw was a large "5" in the first position of the box office figure.
Shao Yichen's heart sank imdiately.
Fifty million yuan in box office—while it seed significant, it was rather low for a film of this investnt level on its opening day.
Moreover, with the boost from pre-sales, if the box office was only fifty million on this basis, whether it could break even in the future was truly a severe issue...
As Shao Yichen worried, Jiang Miaomiao excitedly threw an arm around her shoulders.
"Director Shao! How can you and Brother Li remain so calm!" Her face was filled with excitent. "Five hundred million! That's a first-day box office of five hundred million yuan!!"
Shao Yichen's eyes widened.
"What, five hundred million?!" She snatched the phone. "Not fifty million?!!"
"How could it possibly be fifty million? Our pre-sales alone were nearly one hundred million yuan!" Jiang Miaomiao slapped Shao Yichen on the back with such force that Shao Yichen nearly coughed blood, but it conveyed how truly happy she was. "Five hundred million! This already counts as one of the top achievents in the film industry!!!"
Only at this mont did joy finally begin to well up from the depths of Shao Yichen's heart.
She instinctively turned to Li Xingyu for confirmation.
"Really five hundred million?"
"More precisely, five hundred and eighty million."
"First day box office?"
"Including previews—but not much difference."
"Then, even with an investnt of one hundred million—we've already broken even, right?"
Hearing this question, Li Xingyu's smile beca even more evident.
"I believe so."
"So that bet—I guess I've won."
Which ant Shao Yichen should have lost the bet.
Shao Yichen wanted to say sothing, to express so regret, but found she couldn't suppress the upward curve of her lips.
After composing herself, she found the other crew mbers had gathered around to congratulate her upon hearing the astonishing box office news. Just as she opened her mouth to speak, she heard a notification from the system in her mind, which had been silent for nearly half a year.
[System detects that host has completed the final task and fulfilled upgrade conditions. Beginning upgrade settlent ahead of schedule.]
[With host's original consciousness's consent, the Director System is upgraded to the final version, enabling free task platform selection and eliminating task penalties. Host can now independently choose filming tasks and investnts, with no more mandatory task requirents from the system.]
[Wishing the host success in all career endeavors!]
After leaving this generic blessing, the system fell silent again, but it seed to have dropped a bomb in Shao Yichen's heart.
Original consciousness's consent! System upgrade! No more penalties! No more mandatory tasks!
Didn't this an... she would never have to worry about box office results again and could live in this brand new world like a normal person?
For the first ti ever, she found the system's electronic voice so pleasant to hear.
Unable to contain her excitent, Shao Yichen jumped up and threw herself at Li Xingyu: "Li Xingyu!! The system has upgraded!!! I never have to worry about box office results again!!!"
Li Xingyu: ?
Though he completely failed to understand what Shao Yichen was babbling about, he instinctively opened his arms and caught her.
Oblivious to the scene she was creating, Shao Yichen hooked her arms around his neck, appearing extrely excited: "I finally don't have to rack my brains over tasks anymore! I can film whatever I want!"
Li Xingyu patted her back, and though he clearly didn't understand anything, he seed equally happy: "Congratulations—so we're officially dating now?"
Only then did Shao Yichen realize that sohow, she had closed the distance between herself and Li Xingyu to such an extent, and the other crew mbers were all watching the spectacle with evident enjoynt. The twins even happily whistled and jeered like middle school boys who had discovered an early romance.
How embarrassing!
She imdiately tried to escape, but to her surprise, Li Xingyu held her even tighter.
"What, having second thoughts?" Li Xingyu asked with a light chuckle.
"N-no," Shao Yichen closed her eyes in embarrassnt.
"Then, how about a kiss?"
"—Let's talk after the gathering ends! Everyone is watching!!"
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One year later.
Shao Yichen sat with the "Journey to the West on Film" crew on her left and the "The Long Ballad of Immortals and Demons" crew on her right, while before her, the Golden Man Award ceremony was in progress.
The Best Actress award had just been presented, and the host moved on to the next category, the one Shao Yichen was most concerned about.
"This year's Best Actor nominations are quite special," the host said. "As you all know, the two hottest contenders for this year's Best Actor award actually co from different productions by the sa director! This is truly rare."
"One is the veteran actor Qi Gelong, who returned to the public eye after years of silence with his role as 'Old Tang'; the other is Li Xingyu, who despite being relatively young, is undoubtedly a powerhouse actor of the new generation."
The promotional clips of Li Xingyu and Qi Gelong appeared on the large screen.
"Which one will win our Golden Man Award for 'Best Actor' this year? Let's wait and see!"
The host handed the envelope to the presenter—last year's Best Actor.
The actor cordially expressed his expectations for this year's Best Actor before picking up the envelope and opening it.
Shao Yichen held her breath.
Although either winner would be considered her success, she couldn't help having a preference.
Who would be this year's Best Actor—
"Li Xingyu!"
The presenter announced the na from the envelope.
In an instant, thunderous applause filled the venue.
Shao Yichen's mind went blank for a mont before being flooded with joy.
He did it!
She imdiately turned to look at Li Xingyu, who rose with composure, his face showing a relieved and happy expression.
Under the spotlight and caras following his every move, he smiled and waved to everyone, then raised his hand and gently kissed the ring on his middle finger.
And on Shao Yichen's hand, a matching ring shone with brilliant starlight.
Author's Note:
It's finished!!!
Although there are still so unresolved matters, I've decided to put them in extras, such as Fu Lianghui's final fate, how Fu Lianghui was compared until he withdrew from the entertainnt circle, about Li Xingyu's mother, the mystery of Shao Yichen's family in this world, how Liming Video Platform eventually beca Morning Star Video Platform, where that seven percent shareholding ca from, and the romance between Jiang Miaomiao and Qin Lu... Counting them up, there are quite a few loose ends, which might require several extras to tie up.
However, since my original planned ending was the system's automatic correction, then the award, and then the conclusion, the content called the "main text" will end here.
I must say that this story encountered many difficulties during the writing process, which made recognize my own shortcomings. Although I've been trying to correct them, so problems may still be very obvious in the end. I apologize to all readers and am very grateful that you've read this far!
After finishing the extras, I'll probably take a break for a while, write so purely self-indulgent content, reflect on the issues in my writing process, and then continue with my next fantasy story. If you're interested, you can also check if there are any upcoming works that interest you (winks).
Since there will be extras later, I won't say much more! Once again, thank you to all readers! I will continue to improve my writing issues!
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