Chapter 80: Public Opinion Storm

On the first day of their release, the two Spring Festival films, “The Two-Faced” and “Fleeting Life,” provided countless marketing accounts with an incredibly bright path to achieving their monthly KPIs.

For a time, titles like “Shocking Spring Festival Mystery,” “There Are Actually Two Movies This Similar!” and “The Plots Are Extremely Similar, Which One Will You Watch?” could be seen everywhere. The melon-eating masses exclaimed that if you didn’t write a few related articles, you wouldn’t dare call yourself a professional marketing account!

The comment sections and topic pages were also in a chaotic uproar. Because the two movies were so similar—aside from different character names, one having a melodramatic romance plotline and the other not, and differences in filming techniques, post-production, and so on—anyone who had seen both movies could spot the similarities.

Some audience members even took notes while watching, and with a great research spirit, laid out a detailed story timeline at the script level, discovering a similarity of nearly seventy percent.

“—This is beyond the scope of plagiarism, isn’t it? Could it be like the short dramas nowadays, where one script is sold to several companies, and several crews film with the same script?”

“—I think so too. Except for that eye-sore of a romance plot in ‘The Two-Faced,’ I suspect ‘The Two-Faced’ is a super low-budget, melodramatic version of ‘Fleeting Life’.”

“—It’s not certain who copied whom yet. No matter how many scandals Xu Lingjia has, he’s still backed by JiaRui Media and Cheng Ningyu and Xu Yuanjin. The resources he can get are definitely better than Shen Xici’s. What about Shen Xici? Fighting alone, and the director he’s working with is a complete rookie. Isn’t it obvious who could get a good script?”

“—Eh? Xu Rotten Mud still has fans hopping around? Excuse me, I’m about to start sending DMs to curse people out!”

“—Comparing a trash film like ‘The Two-Faced’ to ‘Fleeting Life’ is an insult to ‘Fleeting Life,’ my friends!! ‘Fleeting Life’ is a masterpiece! Can you stop your baseless clout-chasing? And with Xu Lingjia’s face, you have the nerve to say he’s a charming, universally adored young master?”

In Xu Lingjia’s bedroom, the door was wide open. Ye Mei slammed the bag in her hand onto the table and threw her phone into Xu Lingjia’s lap. “Look carefully. After you’re done, tell me what on earth is going on.”

Xu Lingjia picked up the phone. In an instant, countless phrases on the screen like “‘Fleeting Life’,” “clout-chasing,” “eighty percent similarity,” and “who copied whom” all stabbed into his eyes.

Before its release, Xu Lingjia had seen the final cut of “The Two-Faced.” It was similar to the movie he had seen in his precognitive dream—the plot was exciting, the production was excellent, and the romance was very gripping.

In the precognitive dream, the lead actor of this movie, who had been lukewarm in his career, was able to skyrocket to fame with “The Two-Faced.” He felt his own performance in the film was much better than that actor’s. Plus, he had invested heavily this time, so the budget was very generous. He gave Director Wu Ya whatever he wanted. Whether it was locations or the post-production team, he used almost the best of everything.

As expected, last night, the first wave of feedback after the movie’s release was very good. Many comments praised his serious acting and how good the movie was.

Having had a rare good night’s sleep, Xu Lingjia was still thinking before he fell asleep that this time would be his comeback. Cheng Ningyu, Ye Mei, and the others would only regret not providing funds and additional investment.

He never expected to be woken up by the sound of Ye Mei pushing open his door early on New Year’s Day morning.

Sitting up in bed, Xu Lingjia looked at the comments, becoming visibly agitated. He swiped through the phone pages faster and faster, the veins on his temples throbbing. “What’s going on? What do you mean the scripts are similar? Similar to whose script? What are these people talking about?”

Seeing Xu Lingjia’s panicked face, as if he really didn’t know, Ye Mei rubbed her temples, her tone softening slightly. “Many audience members have found that your movie and Shen Xici’s ‘Fleeting Life’ have a plot similarity of seventy to eighty percent. The internet is in an uproar, debating whether it was filmed using the same script or if there’s some other hidden story.”

Xu Lingjia tilted his head back, a forced smile on his lips. “Godmother, why are you believing those anti-fans online again? Eighty percent plot similarity? How is that possible—”

Suddenly, a certain possibility flashed in his mind, and Xu Lingjia’s vision went black.

He thought of something and, with trembling hands, quickly tapped on the basic information for “Fleeting Life.” In the director column, the three characters “Lu Jiming” were written.

In his precognitive dream, his godmother had told him that at the celebration party for “The Two-Faced,” someone had accused Wu Ya of stealing his script and storyboard designs. However, that person had his leg broken by security guards sent by Wu Ya. The incident never made any waves, and the person was never seen again.

Later, a rumor spread that the script for “The ‘Two-Faced'” was actually written by Wu Ya’s roommate from the upper bunk, and Wu Ya had secretly taken it to make a copy. It was uncertain if that roommate’s surname was Wu or Lu, but the name didn’t matter. Who would pay attention to a person who was already ruined?

Because he knew what would happen in advance, Xu Lingjia had already prepared a plan. He was going to double the security at the celebration party and stop any suspicious individuals from entering, completely eliminating the possibility of trouble.

As for the script and storyboards of “The Two-Faced” being tainted, so what?

This kind of thing was not uncommon in the entertainment industry. As long as no one knew, all the honor and money would belong to him and Wu Ya, and he would get the majority share.

But now, just as he was about to be showered in glory, fate had stabbed him in the back when he wasn’t looking!

All sleepiness vanished. Xu Lingjia stared intently at the movie’s detail page before him. “Fleeting Life,” Lu Jiming…

How could a movie that didn’t even exist in his precognitive dream have been made?

His heart pounded in panic. Xu Lingjia unconsciously muttered, “Impossible, how could it be… absolutely impossible…”

Ye Mei remained relatively calm and analyzed, “I’ve looked at the detailed plotline of ‘Fleeting Life’ that the PR department pulled together overnight and compared it with the script Wu Ya submitted. The most likely possibility is that we were all deceived by Wu Ya. This wasn’t his script at all. He just stole someone else’s script and made some modifications. And the level of modification was extremely low. It’s only because the foundation of this script is so good that even with some messy additions, the flaws don’t overshadow the virtues.”

The more she spoke, the more she couldn’t suppress her anger. “Xu Lingjia, your parents and I told you many times before that this Wu Ya person doesn’t seem like a reliable director. You insisted on working with him, and even swore that you would definitely be the box office champion, win awards, and make two or three times the profit for the company and the family. And the result?
Ye Mei then felt a sense of relief. “Fortunately, when you were clamoring for additional investment back then, your mother and I both refused. This investment of over a hundred million is already in. It’s hard to say how much we can get back. I still don’t know how to explain it to the company—”

As she spoke, Ye Mei suddenly noticed something was wrong.

Xu Lingjia, sitting on the bed, had his hands on the covers, twitching nervously.

“Jiajia, what’s wrong with you?”

Xu Lingjia, who had been keeping his head down, slowly raised it. His eyes were bloodshot, and his face was as pale as if it were coated in lime plaster. As if unable to control his expression, the corners of his mouth twitched. “Godmother, it’s too late. It’s all too late…”

Because of Xu Lingjia’s expression, Ye Mei had a bad premonition. She subconsciously stood up straight, her eyes sharp. “What’s too late? Speak clearly!”

Xu Lingjia’s voice was tinged with tears. “Godmother, I signed a gambling agreement. The box office must exceed one billion. Otherwise, I have to pay the money myself.”

“One billion?” Ye Mei barely managed to steady herself by holding onto the edge of the table. She forced herself to calm down. “Who did you sign it with? When did you sign it?” Seeing Xu Lingjia mumbling, not daring to speak, her voice suddenly rose. “Xu Lingjia, how long are you going to hide things from me!”

Xu Lingjia clutched the blanket. “I came home to ask you for money for additional investment, but you wouldn’t give it to me and even scolded me. But the movie had already started filming, and every minute was costing money. What could I do? I could only make a bet to get the money!”

Ye Mei was trembling with anger. “Who did you sign it with?”

Swallowing, Xu Lingjia timidly avoided Ye Mei’s scrutiny and uttered a name, “Cui Yunwei.”

It was Cui Yunwei again.

At this moment, Ye Mei didn’t know what kind of expression she should have.

“I was wondering why you suddenly went to Cui for PR help. Did you think that after signing the gambling agreement, you’d be two grasshoppers on the same rope? That he would help you with all his heart? How much value do you think you have that’s worth his help? Xu Lingjia, are you a fool?”

She stared at him intently. “Tell me, what else have you done that I don’t know about?”

Seeing Ye Mei standing there, as if she were suddenly very far from him, clearly suppressing her disappointment and anger, Xu Lingjia suddenly crawled forward on his knees, reached the edge of the bed, fell onto the carpet, and then scrambled to Ye Mei’s feet. He hugged her legs, looked up with tear-filled eyes, “Godmother… Godmother, you have to help me! One billion! Where am I going to get that much money? You have to help me!”

Ye Mei looked at him, feeling that this person kneeling at her feet was becoming more and more unfamiliar.

“Yes, one billion. You know it’s a lot of money. You don’t have that much money at all.” She asked softly, “Then how did you dare to sign that agreement?”

Xu Lingjia didn’t dare to say it was because in his precognitive dream, “The Two-Faced” had grossed two billion at the box office. He just held onto Ye Mei’s legs tightly, his tears and snot mixing together as he cried, practically prostrating himself at her feet. “I want to be famous, I want to make money, I want to make lots and lots of money, so that Godmother won’t be bullied by Cui Yunwei at the company, won’t have to suffer. So that Godmother can become the Chief Content Officer of JiaRui Media… That’s why I took the risk, wanting to fight for a future.”

Sensing a moment of wavering from Ye Mei, a fierce light flashed in Xu Lingjia’s hidden eyes, and he cried even more sadly. “Godmother, just help me this one last time! From now on! I’ll listen to everything you say! I’ll film whatever you tell me to film, I’ll do whatever you tell me to do. I’ll never act on my own again! Godmother! I’m begging you…”

The online discussion was raging, and related hot searches occupied the top spots. On Shen Xici’s side, Ge Lanjing received a call from JiaRui Media.

Lu Jiming and Lan Xiaoshan were sitting together, eating steamed buns with soy milk, listening to Ge Lanjing talk.

“JiaRui Media’s meaning is, if Director Lu can maintain silence publicly, or publicly state that this is a multi-authorized script—meaning Director Lu sold a filming right to JiaRui Media, and JiaRui Media then gave this script to Wu Ya to film, so now it’s like an original version and an adapted version are being released, with no plagiarism or script theft involved—”

Lu Jiming stuffed a whole steamed bun into his mouth, his words muffled. “Capitalists are really shameless. They can even cook up such nonsense!” After swallowing the food, he said very seriously to Shen Xici, “Your boyfriend doesn’t count. Mr. Sheng is a patriotic entrepreneur who supports the arts!”

Shen Xici understood. “Okay, I will relay this flattering praise to him word for word.”

Lu Jiming gave Shen Xici a high-five in the air, exclaiming, “As expected of my good brother, you just get me!”

Back when Shen Xici was doing his finger-knuckle divination and said he was fated to have a villain with the surname Wu, he had counted and counted, and the only person he knew with that surname was Wu Ya. From then on, he had been on his guard. But he never would have thought that that bastard Wu Ya had already stolen his script and storyboards! And even filmed it!

From watching “The Two-Faced” late last night until now, a chill was still running down Lu Jiming’s back. The only thing he was grateful for now was that he had listened to Shen Xici and set the movie’s release date for the Spring Festival, and was pushed by Shen Xici every day to rush through the editing and production.

Otherwise, if “The Two-Faced” had been released first, then in this lifetime, “Fleeting Life” would never have seen the light of day.

Shen Xici asked, “Sister Lanjing, what are their terms?”

Ge Lanjing’s expression was a bit speechless. “They said they are willing to sign Director Lu Jiming to JiaRui Media with the highest contract待遇 (dàiyù – treatment/benefits).”

For a moment, the office was silent.

Lu Jiming pointed to himself, bewildered. “Am I some unwanted trash?”

Lan Xiaoshan shook his head vigorously. Ever since he watched the premiere of “Fleeting Life” in the cinema, he still hadn’t recovered. He said like a fanboy, “How could that be! You are the future world-famous director, Lu Jiming!”

Lu Jiming was very satisfied with Lan Xiaoshan’s reaction, but was also confused. “I thought I was trash worth five cents a kilogram, and JiaRui Media, with a condescending attitude of collecting scrap, decided to benevolently take me in.”

Ge Lanjing had been at JiaRui before and was used to such tactics. “It’s just the arrogance of an old media group. They think everyone wants to climb the legendary ladder to heaven by grabbing the rope they let down.”

Shen Xici analyzed, “JiaRui wants to settle this privately with Director Lu. This can only mean that if it can’t be settled privately, their losses will be huge. Sister Lanjing, who was on the phone with you?”

“Yan Chao, Ye Mei’s right-hand man.”

When Ge Lanjing decided to cooperate with Shen Xici, she did indeed have the thought of fiercely stepping on Yan Chao after she reached the peak herself. But she hadn’t expected that after such a short time, Yan Chao’s tone on the phone would already be so cautious and consultative, a world of difference from his sarcastic “As a woman, what kind of job can you find?”

Shen Xici thought for a moment. “Yan Chao must have come to negotiate with us under Ye Mei’s instruction. The most likely possibility is that Ye Mei, for Xu Lingjia’s sake, invested a large amount, or even an excessive amount, of capital into ‘The Two-Faced’.”

Xu Lingjia, like him, had memories of a past life. In the past life, “The Two-Faced” had grossed two billion at the box office, and all the main creators had gained both fame and fortune. Since Xu Lingjia was tempted, he certainly wouldn’t have just dabbled in it.

He continued, “For Ye Mei to even come up with such an unconvincing reason as one being the original version and the other being an adapted version, it can only mean they are at their wit’s end. They don’t want ‘The Two-Faced’ to be forcibly taken down. As long as it’s not taken down, they can use various methods to recover the box office and reduce their losses.”

Ge Lanjing agreed. “Right. While the movie is still showing, they can still try to make some money from the box office. Once it’s taken down, that revenue stream is completely blocked. I wonder how much they actually invested to be this desperate.”

After finishing his buns, Lu Jiming asked Shen Xici, “Don’t you have a score to settle with Xu Lingjia’s family? Sister Lanjing, tell them, if they want to settle privately, fine. If they’re sincere, I don’t need money or a contract. Just give me the CEO position of JiaRui Media, and we can talk. Otherwise, it’s off the table.”

Ge Lanjing laughed when she heard this. “Okay, I’d love to pass that message on!”

As expected, after Lu Jiming’s words were relayed, the other side hung up angrily.

With the negotiations failing, both sides had completely torn face.

At the same time, “Brother Thorn’s” live stream started early.

Brother Ci’er was still wearing the simple mask made from a delivery box and a bright red down jacket. He greeted with a cheeky voice, “Hello, my dear audience, Happy New Year! Although today is New Year’s Day, and my living room is full of aunts and uncles waiting for me to entertain them, I really couldn’t resist coming online early to chat with everyone. As a casual fan who greatly appreciated Shen Xici’s role as the mute boy, last night, I went to support the first screening of ‘Fleeting Life.’ Hey, I didn’t expect that after watching it, my annual top film list and best cinematography of the year were immediately updated! To be honest and sincere, this movie is really good! After coming out of the theater, the plan was to go see ‘Capital City Massacre,’ but once I went online, huh, ‘Fleeting Life’ has a twin? How can I miss this excitement? I immediately bought a ticket to see it. Regarding the matter of who stole whose script between ‘Fleeting life’ and ‘The Two-Faced,’ we can first ponder it. The screenwriters for both films are their respective directors. Director Lu Jiming is a complete newcomer, not much to dig up. Director Wu Ya, now that’s interesting. I’ve roasted one of his previous films in my bad movie compilations. It was so bad it shocked heaven and earth and made ghosts and gods weep, bad in a very unique way. I even said back then that I would draw three movie tickets in the live stream, and the winners could give them to their enemies to watch, which received an enthusiastic response from everyone. As for the other one, I checked, the box office was over two million. It’s said that some of them bought the wrong ticket and came out cursing how bad the movie was, while the others wanted to see what movie could be so bad. I can only say, our Director Wu Ya’s skill level is this!”