A week after Valentine's Day, the shadow of "Rose Gold" could be seen everywhere on Weibo, public accounts, short videos, news pushes, etc.
In addition to the articles written by film critics, the comments of passers-by were more straightforward.
"The plot is tight, the pacing of building up and resolving suspense is quite good. It doesn't treat the audience as fools. I hate it the most when a suspense gets dragged to the end as a collective lowering of IQ."
"The picture color is very beautiful. The opening cartoon is a bit bold and I don't understand the meaning. The shots are gorgeous. You must go to the cinema to watch it. Director Mei is indeed a 'color artist' with consistent performance."
"It claims to be a suspense film, but it is actually a love story. It claims to be a love story, but it is actually about finding oneself. Worth a second watch."
"Why is everyone analyzing it layer by layer? I just want to ship the romantic scenes! Director, give me back my tears! The killer died too miserably..."
"Anyway, releasing it on Valentine's Day is the official recognition as a romance film. Tonight is for shedding tears for the perfect love~"
"I give 8 out of 10 to the action and plot. Good for one watch, but the artistic aesthetics and life philosophy got crazy extra points. I give 9.9 without fear of making you arrogant."
"A work of sincerity. I didn't expect the director to tell a love story through a suspenseful plot."
"The big guys furiously wrote three thousand word reviews, while I only have three words: So awesome!"
Of course, among the myriad of comments analyzing the plot, the analysis of the actors also took up a large proportion.
"I didn't understand that previous arthouse film, but in this film I can finally say: too beautiful! Cried from the beauty! How can it be so beautiful! Does Director Mei shoot beauties too well?!"
"Incredible. There are quite a few nude scenes, yet I was as calm as still water. I just wanted to appreciate his beauty without any vulgar desires, and cried. I'm deflated."
"Deflated +1. It's shot too beautifully, only affection without desire, especially wonderful."
Professionals also highly praised it objectively, "The success of the film cannot be separated from the portrayal of the male protagonist. Jiang Baiyan's acting holds up the core of the entire story. With his performance, he washed away the lust in this feeling, preventing it from becoming vulgar and indecent, and returning it to the soul and beauty itself."
But more people didn't understand, and said in a simple and straightforward way, "He didn't act greasy at all. It didn't feel like a sticky sweet romance at all. I recommend him to act in more idol dramas in the future to benefit the public."
All major entertainment accounts started posting press releases, like "No one disagrees that Jiang Baiyan is the backbone of the new generation of fresh meat actors, right?", or "Peeling back Jiang Baiyan's acting career from looks to skills".
Then there were also, "Hardworking people will always be rewarded. A skilled and good-looking acting school textbook example has arrived", "Explosive acting skills. Textbook example of a skilled idol", and so on.
The success of a movie is actually due to the hard work of many people, but the audience sees the performance of the actors. Most praises and criticisms are directed at the main lead.
Either heaven or hell.
Fortunately, this time's Jiang Baiyan was the former.
The box office climbed daily. The official account operated smoothly and soon posted a series of beautiful pictures to celebrate the box office surpassing 800 million RMB.
Light and shadow flickered. The plants on the balcony inexplicably withered. The girl leant on the balcony, gazing at the distant sunset. She faced towards the light but her shadow fell into darkness.
On the other side, the killer lurked in the shadows of the room, but the knife he was wiping reflected the sunlight, brightly lighting up his eyes.
Comment 1: The composition is brilliant!
Comment 2: Saved as wallpaper
Comment 3: To be honest, I want to see the one where he climbs over the wall at dawn
Comment 4: Me too, want to see the abs
The next day, the box office exceeded 1 billion RMB. The official account posted high-definition wallpapers again.
At dawn, the killer was working out in the park. The gates were not open yet so he climbed over the wall. As he pulled himself up the wall, his shirt rode up, revealing even abs.
At that moment, strength and beauty were revealed without doubt.
Comment 1: The official account is so good at social media operations!
Comment 2: Seeing how sensible the official account is, going for third watch!
Comment 3: [Drooling emoticon]
Comment 4: Then...
Comment 5: Changing clothes...
Comment 6: Is there?
Official account reply: 2 billion views! If possible~
Then in 3 days, it reached 2 billion RMB.
Official account: Coming soon, coming soon, graphics team is on it
And then, just as the graphics team finished the changing clothes back view, it reached 3 billion RMB.
Official account editor: "..."
Graphics team: "At this rate we'll get banned."
Official account editor: "Post some couple pics to give fans treats!"
So the 3 billion RMB poster became a picture of the male and female leads eating together.
Street lamp, lunch box, stray cat. The two held lunch boxes and sat by the park, silently eating.
Comment 1: Leader of the shippers has arrived!
Comment 2: I'm from the Civil Affairs Bureau, please get married on the spot
Comment 3: Wuwuwu, too sad, it's a stab again
Comment 4: Such great ship now. The ending will be ambiguous glass
Comment 5: No spoilers!!
By this time, Jian Jing was a bit confused.
She thought, isn't this just a romance film? It can't be, can it? But she also felt the upward momentum showed no signs of stopping, who knows if it'll really run towards 4 billion RMB.
When she asked Kang Mu Cheng, he said, "No obvious weaknesses, outstanding advantages, not surprising."
Jiang Baiyan even more so said, "It's been a long time since there was a particularly good romance film domestically."
When Jian Jing thought about it, it was true. There were rarely any films focused on romance high up on the box office charts. When people talked about domestic romance films, what came to mind were still the old films from many years ago.
This is probably what they call...hitting on a sore spot?
At the end of February, the box office slowly inched towards 4 billion RMB, making it just before the arrival of the new month.
By then, Chinese New Year had already passed and people had returned to work. Still being able to achieve such results was not easy at all. Director Mei privately said that she felt there would be no accidents, and it may be possible to exceed 5 billion RMB.
Jian Jing turned on flight mode on her phone, logged out of her main WeChat account, and opened up a small alt to only add close friends, telling them that if there was anything recently to contact her small account and not go on her main.
As for Kang Mu Cheng, he had always kept work and personal separate. Not many people had his private number so it was relatively quiet.
The most miserable was Jiang Baiyan.
He had always had a good image in the industry. Becoming popular and then not picking up others' calls could easily leave a bad impression of arrogance from success.
"I answer phone calls every day," he said hoarsely to Jian Jing during their video call. "Thank you, overpraising me. It's all thanks to the director, I was just lucky..."
Jiang Baiyan mechanically recited his lines. He almost spoke these words in his dreams too.
Jian Jing laughed to death.
"You're so gleeful at my misfortune!" He said. "Falsely claiming you went into seclusion to write when you didn't at all.
Jian Jing rolled her eyes at him. Of course she couldn't randomly turn on flight mode. She had previously posted on Moment "Going into seclusion to write Demon Book 3, boss chasing for draft" on WeChat, shifting the blame to Kang Mu Cheng, pretending she had no internet.
"I have been writing it though," she didn't lie, "although only a few lines."
Jiang Baiyan pulled a face, smilingaily said, "I saw 'Rose Gold' on the bestseller list again. Congrats!"
Jian Jing: "Same congratulations."
"Earned quite a bit this time," he openly admitted. "What about you, Teacher Jing?"
Her: "Uh, I haven't asked yet."
Jiang Baiyan revealed extreme jealousy, "You really do trust President Kang huh. He's a capitalist. Why trust capitalists to have a conscience?"
Jian Jing glared at him.
"A loyal minister speaks bitter truths to the monarch!" He cried bitterly.
Her: "Oh just shut up."
"I want to move," Jiang Baiyan spoke properly. "No privacy living in this estate. You don't know how hardcore fans are nowadays. The rental houses here are 25,000 RMB a month but they still snatch them up."
Jian Jing asked: "Have you been stalked?"
"I reckon paparazzi are staking out somewhere. I've already pulled all my curtains shut," he turned his phone to show broad daylight curtains tightly shut.
"Be careful," she urged, "change locations temporarily if it's bad."
Jiang Baiyan answered yes obediently.
At the time Jian Jing didn't think much of it either, and continued hiding away writing her draft slowly.
In March, "Rose Gold" the film began marching towards 500 million RMB.
Jin Wu's TV company held a celebration party. "Rose Gold" the novel had an additional 300,000 copies printed. Jian Jing's own Weibo followers also steadily grew.
One day, the system sent a message.
[System: Congratulations, your fame rating has reached "Fairly famous". Exclusive draw time limit shortened to 40 days. Please continue working hard towards the next phase!]
Jian Jing couldn't help but sigh, it really wasn't easy at all.
The exposure rate of writers is not as high as that of celebrities. To achieve the fame of an average secondary star, one must be among the top two or three in the country.
Although Jian Jing is still considered a newcomer in the literary world, her fame is already comparable to that of many masters.
It's a sin, it's a sin.
Jian Jing self-reflected humbly, but she could not hold back her delight either.
Perhaps "Rose Gold" would not win movie awards like "Hide and Seek Child", but this was a work that belonged completely to her.
"Hide and Seek" was observed from the sidelines, "Demon" was inherited, only "Rose Gold" was a glory that belonged exclusively to her personally.
She had proven herself.
This feeling was really...too awesome.
She sent Kang Mu Cheng a WeChat message: [Happy ~]
In the conference room, Kang Mu Cheng's phone lit up and he glanced at the message, suddenly laughing out loud.
Childish.
He replied to her: [Do you still want the copyright fee?]
Jian Jing: [Withholding money hurts feelings]
Kang Mu Cheng: [It will take some time for the settlement, let me know if you want to buy anything]
Jian Jing: "......"
"Mr. Kang, is that Miss Jian?" The manager of the publicity department pushed up his glasses and said tactfully, "Should we discuss the show with her?"
She was responsible for the offline publicity of "Rose Gold". Now this movie was hot, and several well-known shows had invited Jian Jing to participate, along with the creative team, to talk about the production of the film.
Kang Mu Cheng was concise and to the point: "Wait."
He immediately asked Jian Jing about it.
Having just been upgraded to "quite famous", going on shows again would not lead to further breakthroughs. Jian Jing lazily refused: [I have to finish writing Demon 3 this year, Editor Xu has been chasing me already]
Kang Mu Cheng said, "Forget it."
The manager silently turned his face away: You weren’t so accommodating when exploiting us.
Do capitalists also discriminate when exploiting people?
—Not exactly.
Kang Mu Cheng prepared for the unexpected, afraid that Jian Jing would become indolent after receiving her bonus share, and hurried to supervise (exploit) her: [When can you submit the draft?]
Jian Jing: [I’ll try to give you the first part by the end of the month]
Kang Mu Cheng was satisfied: [Good]
However, Jian Jing was unable to complete her writing plan on time.
Because Jiang BaiYan had gone missing.
It started with his agent Sister Chen unable to reach him no matter what, thinking the brat had gone mad. She rushed to his house. On the way, she had already prepared herself for all kinds of terrible events, took a deep breath, and pushed the door open, ready to interrogate him with words already on the tip of her tongue.
No one was home.
Only Pudding was whimpering sadly, the toilet was full.
Sister Chen was greatly shocked, and immediately realized something was wrong.
Jiang BaiYan had filmed "Rose Gold". Without accidents, whether he could win international film awards was uncertain, but Domestic Best Actor was almost guaranteed. It wouldn't be strange if his mind went blank for a bit.
But his family was basically non-existent, Pudding was his only family.
Even when he was out filming, he would still watch the surveillance footage every day, play with the kitty for a while, and even specially hired an assistant to take care of his cat.
So he might make all the mistakes celebrities make, but he would never, ever allow Pudding's litter box to stink, the water dispenser to run almost dry, relying entirely on the automatic feeder to feed cat food.
Something was wrong.
Sister Chen immediately called Qiu Lin to ask the top agent for advice.
Qiu Lin had attended a dinner party last night and was still hungover from the alcohol, lying hazily in bed. Hearing the call instantly jolted her awake and she immediately went to his house.
The phone still could not be reached, and the assistant also did not know where he had gone.
Qiu Lin went to the security office of the community, and through soft and hard measures, asked to check the surveillance footage.
The camera showed that he had gone out the day before yesterday morning, wearing a mask and baseball cap, empty-handed, looking like he'd just pop out for a bit.
Sister Chen immediately said, "He must've gone out to buy groceries."
She had checked the fridge earlier, Jiang BaiYan’s dried fish snacks for Pudding were gone. Jiang BaiYan went out in the morning only bringing his phone, he must’ve gone to the nearby supermarket to shop.
After that, the surveillance never captured him coming back.
"Let's call the police." Qiu Lin's heart suddenly sank.
