DAEYTT "Chapter 50: A One-and-a-Half-Hour MV! Mediocre Films Can Still Produce Hit Songs..."

The mall was exceptionally lively today.

It was Friday, the start of the weekend.

But today's buzz surpassed the usual Friday afternoon hustle.

Almost every dining and entertainment venue was packed to the brim.

After greeting Zhao Lei, Wang Qian took Qin Xuerong to have a meal first, signing autographs for a dozen or so fans along the way and fulfilling photo requests from over twenty fans.

To avoid further hassle, Wang Qian had to find a relatively upscale and quiet restaurant and booked a private room.

Qin Xuerong felt like she was on a date and was excited, "I wish I had dressed more formally today!"

Wang Qian was surprised, "Formal for what?"

Qin Xuerong shook her head, not saying anything, just sitting across with a silly smile on her face, occasionally glancing at Wang Qian while ordering food. She felt that this was happiness!

"The song 'I Believe' you sang today was really amazing. I was so excited listening to it. I believe that once this song is released, it will definitely explode. Congratulations in advance."

Qin Xuerong raised a glass of juice, toasting Wang Qian.

Wang Qian also raised his juice, eating and smiling, "It's not certain. Li Qingyao is promoting everywhere. She's determined to win the top spot for this month."

"But that's also thanks to the support of her company. Compared to her singing ability and songs, she's no match for you."

Qin Xuerong finished her juice in one gulp, saying seriously, "Right now, in the entire pop music scene, there's no one who can compete with you."

Wang Qian didn't dare to think like that and quickly changed the subject, "Thank you! Let's eat quickly. The movie is about to start, and Zhao Lei must be waiting for us."

"Okay!"

Wang Qian promised Zhao Lei to watch the first screening together and offer some feedback.

Of course, offering feedback was just Zhao Lei's humble way of saying it.

Their relationship hadn't reached that stage yet.

They hastened their meal.

Qin Xuerong wanted to enjoy more time together with Wang Qian, but she didn't want to delay his work, so she quickly finished her meal and followed Wang Qian to the movie theater.

At the entrance of the theater, the crew members were gathered again, conducting the second round of promotional activities.

"In the midst of the summer blockbuster battle, 'Nameless Life' appears quite inconspicuous and has very few screenings."

Those big-budget movies wouldn't bother running promotions in malls like this. They typically rely on appearing on popular variety shows and riding on the hype to promote. They only start doing roadshows to increase popularity after the release.

Seeing Wang Qian, one of the men waved and shouted, "Boss..."

Wang Qian didn't expect that his fans would actually come to see him, so he happily waved back, "Hello, thank you!"

Another woman also waved and shouted, "Boss, keep it up!"

Wang Qian waved back, "Thank you, let's all keep it up together!"

Then, a young woman shouted towards Liu Jifeng, "Jifeng, keep it up!"

Liu Jifeng immediately felt relieved.

Finally, his fans had come to support his movie!

In front of Wang Qian, who hadn't debuted yet but already had more popularity than him, Liu Jifeng didn't dare to speak loudly. Now that fans had come to see his movie, Liu Jifeng suddenly felt a bit more confident, holding his head higher and smiling back.

The small episode of interacting with fans passed.

Wang Qian and Qin Xuerong sat together, while Zhao Lei sat beside them, and Liu Jifeng and others sat behind.

Zhao Lei was visibly nervous, his voice trembling as he spoke, "Actually, it should have been released during the off-season to avoid the summer holidays."

The competition during the summer was too fierce, with blockbusters dominating the screens.

Art films had a hard time securing good screening slots.

However, the production company had already arranged the release schedule, and Zhao Lei couldn't do anything about it.

Wang Qian didn't say anything.

Having spent over a decade in the entertainment industry in his previous life, from an actor to behind-the-scenes roles like assistant director and producer, he was well aware of the intricacies involved. He knew that speaking recklessly could inadvertently offend someone. It might not have much impact at the time, but in the future, someone who holds a grudge might deal a fatal blow at a crucial moment.

Since deciding to debut and enter the entertainment industry, Wang Qian began to adopt the attitude he had in his previous life of navigating the entertainment circle: try to get along with everyone and avoid making enemies.

As the lights dimmed, the movie officially began. The theater was filled with people. Zhao Lei, Li He, and Liu Jifeng had been paying close attention to the attendance rate, calculating every person who entered. Seeing that more than half of the seats were filled, they visibly relaxed a bit.

The movie started! Wang Qian watched attentively, wanting to gauge the film standards of this world. Of course, Zhao Lei's movie couldn't represent the standards of the entire industry, at most, it could provide some insight indirectly.

The main plot of the movie was simple. Liu Jifeng played the protagonist, who came from a rural background, was a left-behind child with parents working outside, dropped out of junior high school, worked odd jobs, eventually built a career, expanded too quickly, suffered losses, went bankrupt, lost everything, worked odd jobs again for a few years, then started a small business, and made some money. The protagonist returned to his hometown, saw the girl he liked in school had already married, and he himself had built a small two-story building and started a family. And that's it...

Wang Qian felt it was a bit bland. The only highlights were when the protagonist returned to his hometown and heard the song "The You of the Past," and at the end, when the protagonist recalled his past, the theme song "An Ordinary Path" played. If the movie wasn't so long, and the essence of these two songs was edited into it, it could probably pass as an MV for these two songs alone.

As the movie ended and the theme song "An Ordinary Path" played, some emotional audience members even cried. The song and the scenes of the protagonist's memories were so perfectly matched that it seemed as if the song had been written specifically for the movie!

Some audience members who knew the song even sang along on the spot. "I once crossed mountains and seas, and also traversed through crowds of people..."

Liu Jifeng, Zhao Lei, Li He, and others from the crew also sang along. Other people in the theater followed suit.

Qin Xuerong's singing voice was the loudest! Wang Qian somewhat understood why Zhao Lei had spent a lot of money to buy the rights to his two songs for the film. With these two songs, the movie, along with "The You of the Past" and "An Ordinary Path," was simply a match made in heaven! With the blessing of these two songs, the theme and essence of the movie suddenly elevated to another level.

As the movie ended, applause rang out. Everyone knew the creators of the film were in the theater, so the audience stood up and applauded Zhao Lei and his team. Zhao Lei stood up and thanked everyone, "Thank you all for your support... Thank you..."

Liu Jifeng and the other actors also stood up, bowed to the audience in gratitude, and then walked out of the theater.

"The boss's songs are so touching."

"This feels like a one-and-a-half-hour music video!"

"The movie is average, but the two songs are excellent, elevating the quality of the movie by a notch! Where can I download these two songs?"

"From ancient times, even bad movies produce hit songs..."

Although the voices of the few people discussing were quiet, they were filled with admiration.

However, Zhao Lei and Liu Jifeng could still hear it as they walked out of the screening room, and their expressions were not very pleasant. Especially the phrase, "Since ancient times, bad movies produce great songs!" 

Does this mean their movie is a bad one?

Liu Jifeng was already checking Weibo, wanting to see the reviews of the movie and what people thought of his performance. 

Under his Weibo post, many people who had already seen the movie had left their comments.

"Fengzi's acting is still solid, but the movie is a bit overwhelming. Maybe that's just how art films are. However, I really love the two songs; I just downloaded them, and they sound great."

"A one-and-a-half-hour long music video. If it weren't for the two songs, I would have almost fallen asleep."

"Love the two songs in the movie, can anyone tell me their names?"

"The movie is okay, a standard art film. Fengzi's acting is still top-notch, but the biggest highlight of the movie is those two songs. They fit perfectly. I cried when 'Once You' played and cried again when 'Ordinary Road' played at the end! It's like I saw myself."

"Anonymous Life, Fengzi's character doesn't even have a name, symbolizing everyone. Those two songs are also about everyone... Love the boss's songs."

"Indeed, the music videos really bring out the depth of the boss's two songs. Zhao director and Fengzi collaborated to make a one-and-a-half-hour long music video for the boss, and it almost made me cry."

"I suggest deleting the first hour and starting directly from when Fengzi goes home and meets his first love getting married, playing 'Once You' and continuing until 'Ordinary Road' plays at the end. The music video would be perfect!"

"Fengzi, keep it up..."

Liu Jifeng almost wanted to cry; he finally saw a comment that didn't mention the two songs, but the two words "keep it up" were too short.

Zhao Lei was also buried in his phone, seeing similar comments. He looked up and exchanged a glance with Liu Jifeng, patted him on the shoulder, and comforted him, "Fengzi, keep it up!"

A tear fell from the corner of Liu Jifeng's eye.

Because when he scrolled further down on Weibo, he found that the fan who had said "keep it up" had added a new comment: "By the way, Fengzi, what are the names of the two songs in the movie? I want to download them! They're really good!"

Liu Jifeng looked up at Wang Qian, who was leaving with Qin Xurong, only seeing their backs, and then quickly looked down to type on his phone and send out a post: "I had a great time promoting with senior Wang Qian today. I believe senior's new songs are amazing. Seeing everyone loves the two songs he sang in the movie, I'm sharing the song names here for everyone to search and download."

"'Once You', 'Ordinary Road'..."

"Thank you all for supporting my new movie."

After a moment of thought, Liu Jifeng wrote with difficulty, "Everyone, after watching my movie and then listening to these two songs, you should feel even more touched."

Forget about saving face. It’s not worth it.


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