Chapter 164: Competing
Director Mo quickly finished reading the script Yin Chengjue had sent over and couldn't help but sigh, "President Yin, it's a real shame you don't become a screenwriter."
Having stayed up all night, Yin Chengjue was exhausted. Seeing Director Mo's message, he knew it meant there were likely no major issues. He replied, "If you insist I make a living in screenwriting, then I'll only be a screenwriter for one person." Then he collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep almost instantly, his breathing soon becoming even.
Three light knocks sounded outside the study, but there was no response.
The door was pushed open. Rong Yu entered carrying a glass of milk. Seeing Yin Chengjue slumped over the desk, he tiptoed over, set the milk aside, and then gently lifted Yin Chengjue into his arms, carrying him.
"Brother, you're quite heavy," Rong Yu whispered with a laugh. "You're hiding a body full of muscle."
Rong Yu carried Yin Chengjue back to the bedroom, carefully laid him on the bed, and then lay down beside him. He used his finger to gently trace the contours of Yin Chengjue's face.
"Yin Chengjue, you asked me that night if I remember the first time we met..." Rong Yu's fingertip rested on Yin Chengjue's lips, lightly stroking them. "Of course I remember. It's just that you forgot."
"Because it was a very, very long time ago. Back then, Aunt Yin brought you over to our house to play. I saw you getting out of the car from upstairs. You were wearing a little suit, and your face was truly beautiful."
"I was painting an angel at the time, wondering what kind of face I should give it." Lying beside Yin Chengjue, one arm hugging his, Rong Yu sank into the memory. "By the time I realized what I was doing, my hand had already drawn your face onto my painting."
"Yin Chengjue, have you heard the story of angels and demons?" Rong Yu lowered his eyes slightly. "During that period, my mother loved telling me that story. She said angels bring happiness to people, demons bring disasters."
"She said, in this world, some people are born angels, and some are born demons."
"And I was the latter."
"So at that time, I thought, if a demon looks like me, then what should an angel look like?"
I thought about it over and over, painted it again and again, but I could never get the angel's face right—until I saw you.
"But back then, my mother wouldn't let me leave that room. Otherwise, I would have gone downstairs to find you right then... Luckily, you also found the adults' conversation boring and ran off to play in the garden below my window." A happy smile appeared on Rong Yu's face as he reached this part. "I remember you were chasing a single butterfly around the garden. With so many butterflies there, you focused on chasing just that one. You fell several times but kept running happily."
"Finally, you noticed me watching you from the windowsill... Your expression was absolutely adorable. You tried desperately to hide what you had just been doing, striving to appear very mature and steady."
"That was our first meeting."
"However..." Rong Yu frowned slightly, looking somewhat displeased. "Back then, because my mother had kept me in the room for so long, my hair had grown a bit longer. You seemed to mistake me for a girl."
Rong Yu pinched a strand of his own hair. "Later, when I cut my hair short and went to find you, you didn't recognize me at all."
Rong Yu poked Yin Chengjue's forehead. "With a memory like yours, I really don't know what to say."
"But it's okay..." Rong Yu hugged Yin Chengjue's arm, pressing his face against Yin Chengjue's shoulder. He chuckled softly. "Anyway, you're mine now."
"No one can take you away from me."
In the blink of an eye, it was the wrap day for "Ghost Traces." The official Weibo account released a group photo of the crew holding flowers.
Seven days prior to this, "The Chase" had already wrapped, and its trailer was released three days ago.
The trailer for "The Chase" was thrilling and carried the banner of "Exposing Human Nature." The description on its tags also read—This is a monumental work that exposes human nature.
The official Weibo for "The Chase" used this promotional copy: Reality and delusion, the surface and the underside—we exist within a bizarre and ever-changing world, chasing that single thread of hope.
At first glance, this promotional copy might not seem strange. After all, promotional copy was just that—whether poetic or plain, its presence was mostly a formality.
However, the members of the "Ghost Traces" crew who had read the original, unedited script knew that this line was clearly the original promotional copy from the "Ghost Traces" script!
This was provocation!
Pure provocation!
It was bad enough they copied the text directly, but they didn't even copy it fully. They awkwardly jammed "chasing that single thread of hope" into their own version, trying to pass it off as their original promotional copy.
But to kick up a fuss over something like that would have seemed rather petty—after all, it was just a few words of promotional copy. Who told them to wrap filming later and not have their trailer ready in time?
"The Chase" was blatantly using their promotional copy to block their promotional path.
"How childish! How did I ever know someone as petty as Wei Shu!" Sally fumed indignantly.
Although it was just promotional copy and nothing particularly rare—they could easily have someone write new ones—the thought that this was what they originally intended to use, only to have "The Chase" crew snatch it away first, inevitably left a bad taste.
"Since they like to play these games, we can keep them company," Yin Chengjue was quite calm about it. "Our promotional copy can go like this—"
So, three days later, the trailer for "Ghost Traces" was also released—Searching high and low, only for that faint trace. Yet not until memories return do we find, everything remains at the starting point, we never truly left.
Sally, seeing this copy: "..." Well, great. Now it's as if the two sides have swapped copy. Is this the profound depth of Chinese culture?
Before the audience actually goes to the cinema to watch these two movies, no one will realize how strange their promotional copy is...
However, perhaps because they were a step slower, "The Chase" still hit theaters on major platforms ahead of "Ghost Traces."
Thanks to the financial backing of the sugar daddy behind the villain character who joined the production with investment, plus replacing the male lead with a currently popular traffic star, the combined promotional efforts of paid advertising and fan-driven hype quickly attracted many people to go watch it together.
Yes, "The Chase" not only replaced the originally cast villain but also swapped out the original male lead. They needed fan promotion, and traffic stars with large fanbases were their best choice.
The fans of the traffic star playing the male lead frantically cheered for their idol. Major fans even organized group purchases where individual fans bought dozens of tickets each, all to boost the box office numbers.
Thus, on the first day of "The Chase's" release, by midnight, the box office had forcefully broken 300 million!
Instantly shattering the data for films released in the same period, it successfully clinched the top spot for this round!
As a result, various platforms like Weibo and forums were flooded with posts discussing "The Chase's" plot.
Apart from the previously mentioned scene where the male lead and villain dress in women's clothing to investigate at that kind of establishment, "The Chase" had another point that made viewers even more indignant. Following the dirty transaction chain, they arrive in a remote mountainous area with almost no roads out. They finally find the female lead and also see many kidnapped women and children.
There is no internet, no signal here. The mountain roads are strictly guarded by locals. The women and children brought here cannot escape.
The female lead had only been captured recently, but many others had already endured a lifetime here.
They had thought about escaping, running away, but despite all their schemes and desperate efforts, they were always caught. And each time they were caught, they faced even more terrible beatings and abuse.
Hope after hope, despair after despair, they eventually grew numb.
No one could hear their voices, so they gradually gave up calling for help.
It must be said, "The Chase" is a film that draws greater attention to human trafficking incidents and stirs public outrage. The film's starting point is good and capable of provoking social reflection.
If, while victims were being moved, someone who encountered them had been willing to call the police…
If, upon seeing someone on the road calling for help, a person had been willing—when possible—to take a moment and dial those three numbers…
Perhaps a person’s tragic fate could have been changed.
MovieBunnyV: Let's be honest, the plot of "The Chase" is really good, but the actors are truly... something else [runs for cover while saying this].
WatchSeriesCatV: I'll just say it straight: the plot has its merits, but the actors' idol baggage is too heavy. Their makeup remains flawless and perfect throughout. It's like they dragged the male lead and second male lead from a youth idol drama to fill the roles. They're constantly striking cool poses everywhere, which doesn't fit the "ordinary citizen" character setting at all.
Especially during the casino scene—I strongly suspect he was trying to emulate the Chow Yun-fat version but lacked Chow Yun-fat's presence, resulting in an awkward and cringey performance.
[Chow Yun-fat famously portrays the unbeatable gambling master Ko Chun, known as the God of Gamblers, in the iconic Hong Kong film series 'God of Gamblers']
Even if we tolerate that, barely, for the sake of the actors' looks, the part where they dress in women's clothing to seduce people at the nightclub... my goodness, I couldn't tell if they were playing women or... something else.
Fine, let's chalk that up to their lack of acting skill. But when they go into the mountains to rescue the female lead, trekking through hills and rivers—shouldn't they at least get a little dusty? Shouldn't their clothes get torn by branches in a few places? Yet, they still maintain their idol-drama-level cool-guy makeup, their faces not getting dirty in the slightest! Their clean faces completely clash with the story's setting! It's like they randomly wandered into the scene! And you're telling me this is them "going undercover" to rescue the female lead?
I ask you, director, do you think the local people are blind, or do you think we, the audience, are blind?
OrangeKitty'sLittleSweetheartV: Brother Cat is awesome! Spoke right to our hearts! But a friendly reminder: please turn off your private messages for a while!
OrangeCat'sMeow: Brother Cat, do you still want this account? If not, please point the way to your backup account early so we can all migrate with you!
Soon, fans of "The Chase's" male lead rushed to the scene. Seeing these reviews, they were furious.
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