Chapter 740: Chapter 731: Jealous Li Zijun

As the director of "Demon Capital Fortress," how could Teng Hua not know anything about the issues with his project?

If he was truly blindly arrogant, he wouldn’t have achieved his current success. Simply put, as a businessman, his insight may be lacking, as a director, his ability might not be strong, but he still possesses the basic skills of a director.

Of course, he knows there are problems with the script, but he’s a commercial director, and the only goal for all his works is to make money.

Of course, strictly speaking, this is every director’s goal, but he’s different. As a director, he has a certain privilege.

That is, as long as he secures investments, whether the film makes money or not has little to do with him personally; it primarily concerns the investors.

To put it bluntly, directors are also salaried workers, and sometimes they have to make some bad movies to earn money, which is unavoidable.

The reason Wang Fan made a decent profit this time is that besides his director’s salary, he was also an investor. After all, he could have used his director’s salary, his house and car as collateral, betting everything he had.

Although the funds he invested weren’t as large as Su Qing’s, it was still a substantial income.

And Teng Hua’s goal was simply to increase the investment, thus raising his own benefits.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have chosen these two top domestic stars as the leads, especially since the male lead is extremely popular domestically, with millions and even tens of millions of fans.

With him starring, regardless of his acting skills, at least he can attract significant investment, and that’s a guaranteed profit.

But it’s precisely because so much investment was secured, and with the actors’ fees being high and the schedule tight, even Teng Hua felt a lack of confidence, so he chose an alternative approach to stir up buzz first.

By the time it’s released, the box office numbers should look better. At worst, the fans of the main actors can still contribute a considerable amount to the box office.

In his estimation, riding the current wave of sci-fi popularity, his movie’s box office shouldn’t be too bad.

Reaching the height of "Wandering Earth" is impossible, but achieving even half its success would be a blessing; honestly, just reaching a 1 billion yuan box office would be sufficient to ease the pressure on his chest.

That way, at least they would break even. Even if there is a loss, it won’t be much.

As for Wang Fan and Su Qing, both core figures in "Wandering Earth," they were the hottest topics online related to this film, apart from the actors. Naturally, he wanted to utilize that.

Because, even he could see that, despite the massive investment in this film, its results weren’t good. When the investors are upset, it would be difficult for him too, so he came up with this solution.

Teng Hua’s plan was unknown to Su Qing, and even if he knew, he wouldn’t care. After all, market forces and audiences would teach him a hard lesson without Su Qing needing to lift a finger.

That evening, Su Qing and friends went out for a stroll and a meal to properly thank the landlord lady for her help to Shen Yi.

Moreover, this news soon reached Tang Nan, who was far away in the capital. She called them during dinner, complaining in the video call that such a big event happened without her being informed.

But with the landlord lady present, Tang Nan quickly found herself regretful, as she considered: one married, one met the parents, and only she remained single—dating and hiding it like an underground affair.

The next day, Shen Yi went to the company to handle some matters, especially instructing Deng Jie, since this was the company manager she had nurtured.

As the boss of the company, Shen Yi knew she couldn’t stay at the branch the entire time. It being the first branch, she came in person, but in the future, this wouldn’t be the case.

Plus, having found her better half in Jiang City, she could stay longer here, but eventually, she planned to reduce her involvement with the branch’s affairs, as one’s energy is limited.

After settling some matters, she was about to head back to the capital.

In the meantime, Su Qing went to the hospital, since there was still a patient here.

"So, how does it feel to be treated like a hero?" Su Qing joked, glancing mischievously at Du Qiang on the bed after the nurse left.

When he arrived, the two were chatting happily. With these days of rest, Du Qiang’s injuries had somewhat healed, though complete recovery was still long off, but he wasn’t as uncomfortable as before.

Even though getting out of bed was still quite inconvenient, at least things weren’t as unbearable as before, to the point that even Du Qiang’s parents didn’t have to be there watching over him 24/7.

At this, Du Qiang’s expression slightly fell, and he waved his hand dismissively, "Please, what kind of hero spends all day in bed, wincing at every bandage change?"

Hearing this, Su Qing was momentarily stunned. "Oh, come on, now you’re modest after getting injured? What’s the deal, got shy from the little nurse’s praises? With your thick skin?"

Maybe Su Qing had guessed accurately, as Du Qiang’s face turned a bit red, "No... nothing going on, we just chatted a bit!"

"Just a chat, huh? Well, keep chatting; maybe you’ll find a pleasant surprise!" Su Qing tossed Du Qiang an apple with a smile.

The narration had hinted that the young nurse might be Du Qiang’s destined match, but Su Qing didn’t dig into this, since that destiny seemed far off—a possibility after a few years.

If he pointed it out now, it might affect the natural course of events, turning something good into something bad.

After all, if Du Qiang could move past Jiang Yu’s shadow, it would be a positive thing; a young man shouldn’t stay unmarried forever!

So he didn’t elaborate on this point, nor did he ask Du Qiang how he felt about the little nurse.

"By the way, how’s the case at the bureau going?" Du Qiang asked.

Su Qing shook his head, "Not too sure, Old Zhao and Captain Lin don’t let me in on too much, saying it involves matters outside the province, and won’t let me touch on the core issues."

"Well, my master and the others have their considerations. The case is no small deal; knowing too much does you no good, after all, you’re just a forensic consultant, no need to get involved!"

Su Qing understood Du Qiang’s rationale, knowing he wasn’t someone who couldn’t differentiate good from bad. Aside from helping a bit in the interrogation, Old Lin and the others hadn’t involved him, showing a clear intention.

Probably because the culprits from other provinces hadn’t been caught, they feared retaliation, so in the police notifications online, his name, among others, was omitted, largely replaced by the term Jiang City Police.

Even Du Qiang’s interviews were mosaicked and voiced over, indicating a high level of confidentiality.

Just as they were talking, the ward door opened, and Li Zijun entered with some fruits, dressed casually.

Clearly, she must’ve been off-duty, or else she wouldn’t be dressed like this.

Just as Su Qing was about to greet her, Li Zijun glanced at him and spoke first:

"Oh, isn’t it Su Qing? Heard you took your girlfriend home, quite quick, huh? How come you’re not with her today?"

Though the words were fine, Su Qing noticed something off in her tone, perhaps... annoyed?

Indeed, the next second, the inner narration chimed in again.

[Detective Li Zijun is unhappy about you suddenly having a girlfriend and taking her home. There’s no reason, just unhappy, feeling like something of hers was taken away, with a strong urge to kick you like in childhood, seeing if she could boot you out the door.]

Hearing this, Su Qing instinctively swallowed. What’s up, thinking of kicking me again? I shouldn’t have offended her, right?

While Su Qing wondered how he might have offended this ancestor, Du Qiang, lying on the bed, with no filter, made a fatal mistake.

"Oh? Sister Li, why does your tone sound a bit sour?"

Su Qing: (;OдO)

"Qiang, may you rest in peace!"

The next moment, a sharp scream echoed from the ward.

...

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