Chapter 170 Becoming Popular

It was a month later when Director Wang’s film finally wrapped up.
From the first scene to the last, the production had taken half a year—a pace that would have been considered slow back in the old days of Bauhinia City.

The Long siblings did not linger. The exact moment the production wrapped, they said their goodbyes without even a parting word and fled overnight.
This assignment was, without a doubt, the most troublesome one they had ever undertaken.
Logically speaking, a film crew shouldn't constantly attract peeping toms, paparazzi, thieves, and fugitive clashes.
Yet, the stream of incidents they had to handle literally never stopped.
It only slowed down a little after they rounded up a whole batch of troublemakers right there at the studio lot.
Had they stayed any longer, they felt they might have contracted this strange, chaotic trait themselves.

Mofei accepted a bouquet of wrapping flowers. Learning that the siblings had bolted overnight, a trace of displeasure crossed his face. "We didn't even exchange contact information."
Regardless of how things stood, they were friends of a sort. It wouldn't have hurt to share a meal or cross paths again if the opportunity arose.
"You'd better not think like that," Director Wang said with a deeply cryptic expression. "Let me tell you, things like luck are very subtle. Even just a phone number could potentially alter the trajectory of your future."

Mofei offered a polite smile.
Well, a true Bauhinia native for you—they placed great stock in such superstitions. Quite normal.
"All of you must come to the wrap banquet tonight," Director Wang called out. "Keep your phones accessible. If there's any promotional work later on, you'll need to cooperate."
Mofei nodded in acknowledgment.

Once inside Lü Chunqiu's car, he leaned back and let out a long sigh. "It's finally over."
Shooting a proper dramatic film was genuinely exhausting, especially since this production featured quite a few explosive sequences.
Mofei had stood right next to the blast zones, required to keep his eyes unblinking and project an utterly serene composure.
Director Wang had even prepared several sets of charges specifically to help Mofei get used to it.
It was entirely natural for people to instinctively close their eyes or flinch away from explosions or sudden unexpected noises.
Yet Mofei stood there as though attending some high-society gala, surrounded by flying sparks and spattering debris, completely unfazed. This earned him a whole new level of respect from Director Wang and the entire crew.

It was a piece of cake. After sleeping through the sounds of gunfire on the medical ship in Myanmar, these little explosions were nothing.
"I'll give you a few days off to rest for a bit," Lü Chunqiu said, reviewing his upcoming schedule. "There's no work lined up immediately, though you might need to help with promotions once this film is edited."

Mofei raised a hand and made an OK sign.
"Oh right, I have some good news," Lü Chunqiu smiled, swiping across his phone screen. "That movie you shot with Director Little Qian has gone viral in word-of-mouth."

This piece of news came as somewhat of a surprise to Mofei. He immediately straightened his posture. "What happened?"
By his estimation, Little Qian didn't want the film to blow up, and the project lacked a major director, massive traffic stars, or a huge budget. Even with a good script and decent actors, it shouldn't have been so easy for it to catch fire.

Lü Chunqiu raised his phone. "It's Wu Miao. He recommended the film on his personal social media platform and said it was fantastic."
As a former child star, the follower base Wu Miao had accumulated over the years was by no means small.
With a single recommendation from him, the viewership numbers naturally skyrocketed.
Since the film itself maintained a certain aesthetic, possessed a smooth narrative, and featured competent performances from the cast, word of mouth naturally began to ferment.

Mofei glanced twice at Lü Chunqiu's phone screen before finally pulling out his own device, the kind he rarely even touched for days at a time.
The moment he opened the messaging app, a cascade of dings rang out inside the car, the phone almost freezing from the sheer volume of notifications.

Lü Chunqiu shifted gears and drove forward. Hearing the commotion, the corner of his mouth twitched. "I keep telling you to check your messages once in a while. You're an actor now—what if some director wants to reach you?"
"Don't directors always reach out to you..." Mofei muttered, scrolling through the screen.
Aside from 99+ promotional ads, the person sending the most messages was Little Qian.

At first, Little Qian had been immensely smug about locking the movie behind a VIP paywall, believing it would deter the vast majority of rubberneckers and guarantee their utter failure.
Initially, things progressed exactly as he predicted, with the film making not a single ripple upon its release.
That was, until shortly beforehand, when Wu Miao posted that recommendation.
Little Qian had practically wailed in despair.
He couldn't fathom it. He had no beef with the guy, nor any prior intersection—why on earth would this person go out of their way to give him a shove?
What he couldn't understand even more was why people nowadays worked like corporate slaves in real life, only to log online and watch other people working like corporate slaves?
Even oxen and horses knew when to rest, yet modern corporate drones only spent their money on coffee and milk tea.

Well, now look at it—the word of mouth had exploded, and his mother's dormant ambitions had roared back to life.
Not only was she constantly refreshing movie reviews every single day, but she was also pressuring him to hurry up and prepare a second film so she could continue serving as producer and floor manager.

Little Qian had wailed for a while, and seeing no reply from Mofei, likely figured he was busy, shifting to sending an update every few days.
Since web movies calculated revenue based on click-through rates, and Mofei held a screenwriting credit, a share of the profits naturally belonged to him.
No wonder there were several bank deposit notifications mixed in...

Mofei couldn't decide whether to be amused or sympathetic toward Little Qian.
Even shooting Director Wang's movie hadn't paid him as handsomely as that indie film.
Although part of that was due to Ji Xingjian inflating the compensation out of a desire to repay a favor, Little Qian genuinely had been generous.
Now that the movie had blown up, he could be considered to have a representative work under his belt. Sensibility and reason dictated that he shouldn't add fuel to the fire right now.

Mofei formulated a response in his mind and sent a reassuring text: *It's fine, let's keep up the hard work; I'm sure we can make a truly terrible movie next time.*

When the other party didn't reply after a while—presumably because he was busy—Mofei started surfing the internet.
His primary destination was the film's review section.

"When I saw the title, I thought it was some cheap garbage. After watching it, all I can say is if you don't know how to name a movie, don't force it (bean-eyed smile)."
"Huitian Xin's acting is still solid (strong, strong, strong)."
"Does the male lead look familiar? Isn't this the enthusiastic citizen Mr. Mo? These days even murderers have to pick up side hustles (dog-head emoji)."
"Holy crap, I wouldn't have recognized him if you guys hadn't mentioned it. Mr. Mo is kind of awesome."
"Right now I don't care who he is; I just want to say some people are watching a movie while others are looking in a mirror (exhausted emoji)."
"That disguise sequence was so cool. I clipped it to watch on repeat. Wonder if dressing my boyfriend up like that would yield the same results."
...

Overall, the online reviews were relatively positive. As for the minority complaining that the plot was cliché and detached from reality, Mofei simply ignored them.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink; if people didn't like it, they didn't like it. At least they still contributed a view count.

"I left a pack of masks in the back for you. Be careful when you go out from now on," Lü Chunqiu said with a cheerful smile. "This overwhelming wealth has finally found its way to us."