Xin Lu old city was particularly noisy that night, people even appeared to have more smiles on their faces. Passing through the crowds, Han Fei took a cab to arrive at the destination given by Director Jiang, it was a rather upscale restaurant. He rode the elevator to the 16th floor. Once the door opened, he saw the floor manager standing at the corridor in his best suit. He happily led Han Fei to the biggest booth on the 16th floor. Before he entered the room, Han Fei could already hear the laughter coming from inside the room.
Han Fei had a smile on his face as he pushed the door open. He greeted everyone politely and found a quiet corner to sit down. He did not like the spotlight and was not used to being the centre of attention. In contrast, Zhan Yueyue was like fish in the water. He helped maintain a lively atmosphere by making people smile, it was little wonder that he was so popular on variety shows. The casts of Twin Flower were easy to work with. Han Fei did not put up airs, Zhan Yueyue and Mian Nian were easy going people too. They mixed well with the crew. At 7.50 pm, when it was 10 minutes away from the premiere, the waiters pushed the serving carts into the room. The alcohol and drinks were served. The trailers for Twin Flowers were already playing on the large projector screen. But so far Director Jiang’s VIP guest was still a no-show, his seat was conspicuously empty.
“Director, how about we start on our own first?” The floor manager walked to Director Jiang’s side.
“Wait a minute, I’ll make another call.” Just as Director Jiang took out his phone, noisy footsteps came from outside the booth. Soon the door opened and a middle-aged man who looked about Director Jiang’s age walked in with a handsome male actor. The middle-aged man was short and rotund, he was impeccably dressed but for some reason, there was something sleazy about him.
“Jiang Yi, I’m so sorry for being late.” The middle-aged man shook Jiang Yi’s hand. “I’ve been quite busy later. A few of my films have been nominated so I’ve been requested to show up at many different award ceremonies, it’s quite annoying.”
“Qian Cheng, I’ve seen your new film, it’s not bad.” The director was called Qian Cheng, he was currently one of the most famous actors in the thriller genre. Even though he did not have any representative titles, he won with quantity over quality. Every one of his projects earned money and thus many companies were fighting to work with him.
“Attending those ceremonies was just something I have to do. The limit of thrillers is right there, there’s nothing we can do about it.” The man’s voice was laced with pride. When the entire market for thriller movies was less than optimistic, his projects were always able to turn a profit, that was how good he was. “Right, this right here is an actor who just came from a ceremony with me, Wu Li. We’ve cooperated on many different films. He’s also the only actor to be nominated for best new actor with a thriller.”
“Please, have a seat.” Director Jiang did not expect the man would bring an actor with him. Looks like this was the way the director intended to reject Jiang Yi’s suggestion. He already had an actor he used to work with, he did not need any other recommendation. The middle-aged director chatted happily with everyone at the table, he was too socially experienced to let the awkwardness settle. However, the male actor beside him clearly was bored by this whole event. Many big films would book an entire floor to celebrate and the premiere would have a professional host but Twin Flowers not only did not have a host, the crew’s treasurer hesitated for a long time before he cleared the budget to book this booth.
After everyone was seated, the projector screen started to show the data provided by the online cinema platform. In that month, there were 47 new dramas and movies being released. The platform had limited resources. Most of the films were like pebbles dropped into the ocean after they were released. They created little ripple and nothing more. That was often the case for many thriller-type horror films. There were only a few which could garner the viewers’ attention but that was only because they were bombarded by negative reviews. Such was the environment for horror-type movies. On the ranking for horror movies, the top 10 was still dominated by the classics released years ago.
The competition on the platform was normally within love story, fantasy adventure, family drama but a black horse had cut its way up the most anticipated movie of the month. Its genre of thriller was so markedly different from everything else on the ranking. Without any promotion and with a budget much lower than other projects, Twin Flowers was placed number 2 on the most anticipated ranking, it was just slightly behind Wu Wu Entertainment’s Secret Urban Romance.
“Jiang Yi, your film has an impressive lead, you’ll probably break my film’s premiere release record.” Qian Cheng praised but internally he did not think this was that impressive. The man assumed Jiang Yi had thrown money to get on the ranking, everyone could have done that. Even a pile of shit could get on the most anticipatory ranking with money thrown behind it. The VIP viewership was the real yardstick to decide whether it was a lucrative film or not.
“I remember during the premiere of your Female Hostel No. 4, the VIP viewership for the first day was 230000.” Jiang Yi raised his glass.
“Female Hostel No. 4 was the peak of my career, I was unable to break that record until now.” Qian Cheng sighed. “Thriller and horror are after all unpopular subjects, the ceiling is only so high. But your film has such great promotion, I believe you’ll break 30000 VIP viewership easily.”
“Then I hope that you’re right.” Director Jiang glanced at Wu Li who sat beside Qian Cheng. He planned to say a few things about Han Fei, “Ol’ Qian, the main character for our project is very good. His acting skill is perfect. He’s one of the reasons why Twin Flowers got so many people talking.”
“I’ve heard about him, a young man with great potential. But I hear that he’s in a legal problem with Wu Wu Entertainment? The latter claims that they are going to investigate his breach of contract or something like that?”
“Rumors, those are definitely rumors!” Director Jiang was about to call Han Fei over but when he heard what Qian Cheng said, his face dropped, “Ol’ Qian, how long you’ve been in this business already? Couldn’t you tell what’s real and what’s fake?”
“Of course, of course. Come, let’s drink!” Qian Cheng quickly changed the subject. By then 8 o’clock arrived. Han Fei’s first movie, Twin Flowers was premiering on all online cinema platforms!
On the large projector screen, the left side was showing the movie while the right side showed the backstage data for Twin Flowers from all online viewing platforms. In just the few seconds it took for Qin Cheng to pick up the wine glass from the table and put it to his lips, the VIP Viewership for Twin Flowers had passed 10000!
Many internet users were waiting for this moment. The viewership continued to climb. With ease, it left the other 47 films released in the same period in the dust!
With his eyes twitching and his fatty cheeks trembling, Qian Cheng placed the wine glass down. His throat burned! His eyes watered! His heart flamed! “Tsh…” Tonight’s alcohol was rather strong!
The whole booth was silent, everyone was staring at the viewership which was still rocketing. It broke 30000 in a minute, 100000 in 6 minutes. When it was at the 19th minute mark, the overall online viewership was already over 230000!
Qian Cheng looked at the projected data dumbly. He could not believe it. His presumed ceiling was just the starting point for Twin Flowers!
Picking up the napkin, Qian Cheng wiped away his sweat as he looked around to locate Han Fei. As a professional commercial flick director, he sniffed the smell of money.
Half an hour after its premiere, Twin Flowers’ overall online viewership had broken through the 300000 mark, Secret Urban Romance which was placed second only had 200000. Furthermore, the viewership for all the other films were already slowing down but the one for Twin Flowers was still growing. Initially they were focusing on the ranking for thriller and horror movies but now Twin Flowers had appeared on the overall ranking. In just a short hour, Twin Flowers’ viewership had surpassed 500000.
Han Fei who played both roles also appeared on the popular searches. The last time he managed that was through his actions with the police but this time, it was because of his acting. The man had perfectly characterized the dual-character of Meng Changan and Meng Changxi. Even the smallest details exuded the contrasting characters’ personality. The viewers were shocked that a comedy actor could have such a wide acting range. His characters were complicated, maddening but absolutely charming.
On the popularity ranking, both Han Fei and Twin Flowers continued to climb. Inside the booth, Director Jiang’s phone suddenly rang. It was a very famous experienced director within the country. Director Jiang answered the phone in front of Qian Cheng. The old director very politely congratulated Director Jiang and then asked about Han Fei’s scheduling information. The director’s latest film had to do with criminal psychology and he had a character that he believed was suitable for Han Fei.
While Jiang Yi searched for Han Fei, both Mian Nian and the floor manager’s phones rang. The previously quiet booth became so rowdy.
“Mian Nian! Pass your phone to Han Fei now! Ask for his intention to join us You Long Culture, we are open for all kinds of negotiations!”
“Hi, we are from Qian Ding Entertainment. We would like to talk to Han Fei, he hasn’t signed to any other company, right?”
“Yueyue, is your film’s male main character there? I hear he hasn’t joined any agency.”
“Brother Liu, you’re the floor manager for Twin Flowers, right? Give your phone to Director Jiang! His line has been busy!”
The booth was chaotic, everyone was searching for Han Fei but Han Fei was not around.
The wind ruffled his hair. Han Fei had long left the booth. He walked down the corridor and stood beside the open window. He could hear the phone ringing from inside the booth and his name being mentioned repeatedly. “Now I should have the qualification to tell everyone I’m an actor, yes?”
Staring out at the beautiful city outside the window, Han Fei’s eyes eventually fell on the glass. He looked at himself inside the mirror and was reminded of his past. He’d spent a decade honing his craft, finally it had come into fruition!
