Literary Master: Starting with Refusing to Be a Child Star

Chapter 40: A "Northeast Love Song" for National Day

During the National Day holiday, Luo Jinnian spent the entire time on ice, but not on the same piece of ice.

Harbin,

Director Mo and Luo Jinnian shared a room at the hotel, while Gu Yanxi's mother accompanied her. The four of them booked two twin rooms.

The assistant with the gold-rimmed glasses booked a double room for himself.

As for the rest of the group of miscellaneous people, Director Mo refused to let them join him. The entire journey revolved around the two children.

As soon as Director Mo got into bed, he started scrolling through his phone. "Tomorrow we're going to the Harbin Ice Sports Center so you can try out the ice in Northeast China."

There is no snow in Northeast China right now, but they went to an indoor artificial ice rink that is kept at a constant temperature all year round and is open 365 days a year.

The first priority when bringing two children is to let them relax and have fun, and the second is to let them bond with each other.

The unfamiliar environment caused them to lose their social identity for a short period of time. The anxiety brought about by the unknown forced them to seek out their kind. This trick worked every time for Director Mo, especially for actors with low moral standards. Changing the environment exposed their true nature, allowing them to be paired up as a couple.

They might have gotten together outright, or they might have developed a brotherhood through prostitution, or even betrayed their sisterhood...

Director Mo didn't care about the process; he only knew that it would greatly help him.

"Go to bed early, you'll be very tired tomorrow."

He was about to remind the boy next to him when he found that the child was already fast asleep, showing no sign of uncertainty about the unknown environment.

Ah, he's truly a young man who can write a hit work at this age; he's really something else.

When I woke up the next day,

Luo Jinnian noticed Director Mo's dark circles and sensed something was wrong. Director Mo explained, "I was cutting fruit."

If all the blame is placed on the game, can the director really say that he didn't sleep well because he was worried that his tried-and-true methods would no longer work?

There was a knock at the door, and through the peephole, Luo Jinnian saw the girl in her pajamas anxiously pacing outside.

"I need to use the restroom."

Oh, this... don't you have a toilet?

Luo Jinnian looked strange when he opened the door.

That's because Mom couldn't get out of the bathroom early this morning. What kind of look is that? Of course, Gu Yanxi didn't say anything to save face for his mother.

"Your pajamas are quite cute."

The girl was wearing a complete set of yellow dinosaur pajamas. What kind of dinosaur? Luo Jinnian only dared to say it wasn't a milk dragon. He blurted out this because he wanted to use the word "cute" to humiliate his good brother.

Unexpectedly, the girl's face was swollen from holding in the feces, and she didn't respond to him at all.

After brushing their teeth and washing their faces, and finishing everything else, the group ate breakfast and then took a taxi to their destination.

"They're all bringing their kids to ice skate."

The older woman's Northern dialect made everyone feel at ease, and Director Mo also spoke with her in dialect for a few minutes.

"Your child is so handsome."

Seeing that Director Mo was holding Luo Jinnian's hand the whole time, the aunt assumed that the two were father and son and sincerely praised them.

Director Mo didn't explain, but patted Luo Jinnian's head and replied with a smile, "I think so too."

The ice rink was bustling with over four hundred people. Gu Yanxi took Luo Jinnian's hand; they had many pairs skating scenes in the drama.

Although they were both girls' hands, every time Luo Jinnian held Gu Yanxi's hand, he thought of that girl far away—he wondered what Teacher Fei was doing now.

His carefree demeanor on the ice rink was all shaped by that girl. At that time, he had just arrived here, and because of the shameless bastard of the middle-aged woman, Luo Jinnian had no sense of belonging to this world.

It was the girl's jianbing (Chinese crepe), and Teacher Xiaofei's guidance and clothes that made him accustomed to this world.

To be honest, although there weren't that many shots of them on camera, the two handsome boys were really eye-catching on the ice rink, and a lot of eyes were on them.

Gu Yanxi enjoyed this feeling, unaware that the boy who was so close to her had his heart soaring to the ends of the earth.

Off-site, Director Mo's assistant took pictures of both of them so he could post them on Weibo later.

This was also one of Director Mo's goals: to film the two children's daily travels along the way, which could also help generate buzz for the film.

After skating at three ice rinks in Northeast China during the last few days of the National Day holiday, Director Mo leisurely wrapped up his work and returned to Shandong Province.

"How many clicks did you say? Over 20 million clicks in a week? This internet data is ridiculous."

On the other end of the phone, the Kiwi employee began explaining the origin of their data to Director Mo using the most professional internet slang, emphasizing that it was not 20 million but 25 million.

Director Mo lost patience and didn't listen. He only knew that if so many clicks were converted into movie attendance, then he would be the top-grossing domestic film this year, even without considering the National Day holiday period.

His thinking is correct. Although the original box office champion in 2012, "Lost in Thailand," broke records by attracting tens of millions of viewers in its opening week, it still did not surpass this achievement.

"They didn't do any data analysis, at least not a lot. This is the result of putting it online for free."

Luo Jinnian explained that before the end of the year, Teng Ge, who starred in the hit movie "Goodbye Mr. Loser" from "Happy Twist," had already appeared in the short film "Bed Relationship," which had already garnered 2000 million views in its first week.

Despite the marketing efforts of a renowned director and multiple Weibo accounts, the fact that the film only garnered 500 million more views isn't particularly outstanding. The core reason is simple: Teng Ge's films, being adult comedies, are bound to attract more attention at the beginning. However, Luo Jinnian is confident that his own viewership will continue to rise in the later stages.

Because "Grandma" is a film worth watching repeatedly, Director Mo was certainly amazed by its current success.

Making online movies was purely a spontaneous decision on his part. You could treat it as a hobby and a way to give the production team some opportunities to get involved. He never expected the results to far exceed his expectations.

People online are completely unaware of their achievements; they're just watching as Han Han and the director who filmed his work argue back and forth on Weibo.

A while ago, there were rumors online that Luo Jinnian was trying to piggyback on Han Han's movie, but in the blink of an eye, Han Han's movie flopped, while Luo Jinnian's movie, which was posted online, achieved remarkable success.

In the end, Han Han boasted that even someone like him who knew nothing about film would direct a better film than this director, and that he wanted to bring his talent to the film industry.

This has caused quite a stir among netizens.

"I support Han Han. The original work was so good, but it was filmed like this. It's understandable that I'm angry."

"Not everyone can make movies, right? Han Han isn't a professionally trained actor, can he make a good movie?" Some people are worried.

"If a novel can be written well, a movie can definitely be made well too. Just trust Han Han." Die-hard fans continue to support him.

If Han Han were to make movies now, wouldn't films like "The Continent" or "Pegasus" be released in theaters ahead of schedule?

Luo Jinnian quite enjoys watching Han Han's racing movies. Although they are still far behind similar foreign films, they bring a breath of fresh air to the domestic film industry.

The outside was in complete chaos, so Director Mo led everyone back to the film set.

"With the National Day holiday over, I hereby announce that filming of 'Ice Love Song' has officially begun."