More Than A Few Blessing

Chapter 28: God is fair.

At noon, Lu Chengyu looked at the table full of all kinds of farm food, including three dishes made of fish: fish head and tofu soup , fish slices boiled in hot sauce , and boiled fish with pickled cabbage and chilli . The design and colour were not as exquisite as those made in the hotel, but everyone couldn’t help but swallow their saliva when they saw the dishes. Lu Chengyu could even smell the sour smell from the pickled fish.

“It’s rare for everyone to get together like this and have a drink. Come, let’s have a toast,” Zhuang Yu said as he raised the wine made by the farmer himself. “Several brothers here are already familiar with Xiao Lu, so I don’t need to introduce him again.”

The others chuckled, immediately raising their glasses and making a few jokes. However, from their conversation, they already regarded Lu Chengyu as one of their own. 

Lu Chengyu was not a person who pretended to be lofty either. When others handed him an olive branch [4], he was naturally willing to receive it nicely. Standing up, he held his glass with both hands and said, “As a few here are older than me, I’ll be shameless and call everyone ‘brother’. I’ll first drink this cup of wine to salute to you brothers.” After he finished, Lu Chengyu tilted his neck and downed his cup.

[4] Olive branch = symbol of peace. 

At this time, everyone here already knew that Lu Chengyu was Yan Mu’s assistant, and that he was a fresh graduate. Therefore, after Lu Chengyu drank the wine, although several people cheered for Lu Chengyu’s refreshing attitude, no one continued to pour wine. Instead, they started to taste the food together and talked about the big and small things that happened recently.

“Among us, the most complacent should be Lao Zhuang and Mu-ge,” Qi Jingfeng was also regarded as one of the top figures in the capital. He had a close relationship with Yan Mu and the other three people. A bit envious of them, he said, “You’re all successful in business, unlike me. I’m still loafing around with my family’s money to run a small company. Anyhow, the latest famous movie, 《Soaring Birds》, has made a lot of money for Lao Zhuang. I heard it almost made over 400 million in the box office. Is it true?”

Zhuang Yu chuckled a few times, obviously unusually happy, “This matter was truly unexpected. When I was introduced to this movie, I thought it might make around 100 million in the box office. Who knew it would be so popular?”

“Can a movie that cost only a few million to make, make a profit as much as this?” Qi Jingfeng wrinkled his eyebrows, “Last year, the film that I invested in cost several ten of millions for movie production alone. The deficit nearly killed me.”

“There’s nothing to be done about this,” said Zhuang Yu while shaking his head, “To invest in a movie, you would need both luck and vision. There are two ways to know whether or not the movie will become prominent and sell well at the time of release. One, the movie needs to have meaning in itself, and two, it can’t be like the high-cost ancient costume movies that are in the cinema lately. The audience is already weary of this genre. Who would want to watch shallow and depressing blockbuster movies on the Mid-Autumn Festival?《Soaring Birds》is like fat and greasy meat on a table full of tiny vegetables. How can it not sell well?”

As the investor of the film, Lu Chengyu listened to the conversation with a smile. He had negotiated with Zhuang Yu to delay the premier of 《Soaring Birds》. Judging from the current momentum, this movie should make a box office of one billion after it stopped showing in the theaters. The estimate did not include the capital income from selling the movie rights to major TV stations and online broadcasting platforms. He felt comfortable thinking that he would soon become a billionaire. 

In his previous life, the total box office for 《Soaring Birds》 was only about 900 million, perhaps because there were no promotions or trailers in the cinema. In this life, he had cooperated with Zhuang Yu, who had made great efforts to publicize this movie. Moreover, because he didn’t try to change the movie’s plot during filming, the movie was more impactful and better in this life. Taking all of this into consideration, it was not surprising that it made more of a profit this time around.