Chapter 258: On Fire

The boy’s eyes were also red and teary. He seemed a little embarrassed at having cried in public.

Everyone who saw the movie emerged from the cinema hall with red, puffy eyes. Ticket sales for the first day had been lukewarm at best, but on the second day, most of the showings were full. The cinemas had started out by showing the movie only once or twice a day, but it soon became apparent that there was massive demand for tickets for this specific movie, and the cinema had responded by increasing the showings to four a day, and then to six. By the third day, it was clear that the low budget Divorced was the dark horse among all the movies that had debuted on New Year’s Day: it was such a hit now that every showing was sold out. The box office earnings had increased from the paltry hundreds of thousands yuan on the first day to a shocking 100 million on the third day.

Every cinema now arranged for the maximum number of showings per day for the movie. Every other movie that had begun showing around the same time—even the blockbusters and the movies by famous directors—lost to the low budget Divorced by an embarrassingly large margin.

On the Internet, the reviews and discussion for the movie were overwhelmingly positive. Most touted the movie as being “absolutely perfect.”

One of the netizens left this review:

“I only went to see this movie because I heard someone else talking about it, and I have to say, I was really impressed with it. Everything was perfect, from the directorial vision to the editing and the casting. I cried from the beginning to the end, and I don’t even know why! My tears just kept falling and falling. I couldn’t control myself.

“I can relate to Xiang Ke. I stuck with my husband through thick and thin, and he eventually became very successful. But once he became rich, he stopped loving me. Xiang Ke’s story is my story, and I hope that I can learn something from her.

“Women should be self-reliant. They should have the courage to leave their current lives—there’s an entire world out there full of possibilities!”

Another had this to say:

“I’ve seen the movie three times now, and had a different experience every time. The first time, I thought that the female lead was a fool to love such an awful man. The second time. I thought that the male lead was a fool to let go of such a wonderful woman. The third time, I finally understood that the movie is about the feelings we keep deep within ourselves; the characters’ seemingly foolish actions are merely a reflection of what society is like. We are the foolish ones.

“What do women want?

“What do men want?

“Men and women have different viewpoints and opinions, and will respond to this movie differently. This movie asks us to think carefully about today’s society and our attitude towards love—perhaps we should not be so quick to abandon long-term commitment. A partner for life may still be the best choice.

“I think this movie will be a wake-up call for a lot of people. What does it really mean to be husband and wife? We should think about that.”

Divorced was on fire now, and the flames of its popularity continued to rage. It had grossed nearly 400 million yuan at the box office, and showed no signs of slowing down. The movie also garnered a 9.5 rating on the biggest review sites.

For movies, anything below a 6 was a bad movie. 7 was considered average, while 8 was an extremely high rating. 9 was reserved for “hall of fame” material—a 9.5 was practically a contender for GOAT.

“We’re famous! We’re famous!” Yi Ling had been so excited during the past several days that she had not been able to sleep. She checked the box office rankings several times every day, unable to believe that Divorced was at the top of the rankings and had grossed 400 million yuan at the box office. The thought made her head spin.

Yi Ling held her head. “Oh my god. I’m going to faint. Like, for real.”

Yan Huan did not say anything. She merely lifted Little Bean into her arms and gingerly felt the cat’s front leg to check whether it had healed.

Yi Ling’s main concern was Yan Huan’s fame and reputation. Yan Huan, on the other hand, was more interested in the fact that she had struck it rich.

Of course, Yan Huan had not told Yi Ling about her contract with Director Huang Ming. If she had told her, Yi Ling’s brain would have short-circuited by now.

400 million yuan at the box office! That was already 100 million yuan more than the box office earnings for this movie in Yan Huan’s previous life. Yan Huan was confident that the movie would rake in at least 500 million yuan.

500 million yuan was a lot, but it paled in comparison to the movies that would go on to gross over one or two billion yuan in the future.

But that was much later in the future. Right now, the king of the box office rankings was a fantasy blockbuster film that had a budget of nearly 300 million yuan, and it had only grossed 800 million yuan.

Divorced had been shot on a shoestring budget, a budget so small it was practically negligible. But it had grossed 400 million yuan at the box office, and looked like it was set to break 500 million yuan.

Aside from the box office earnings, there was one other important point.

Yan Huan was now Famous.

Famous, with a capital F.

Everyone could see that she carried the entire movie. Her performance was universally praised for being authentic, sincere, and realistic, and most of the netizens applauded her for being one of the rare actresses in showbiz without a single scandal attached to her name.

Yan Huan could only smile bitterly when she saw their praise.

She could finally live a clean, unstained life this time around. In her previous life, everyone had thought of her nude scenes whenever they heard her name. The whole country—over one billion people—had seen her naked body back then; it had been a humiliating, soul-crushing experience, and Yan Huan had to keep her feelings of complete and utter despair to herself because no one else had been able to relate to the situation.

Two weeks passed, but the demand for Divorced tickets was still high. It remained at the top of the box office rankings, sometimes dropping down to second place, but even them, it was so far ahead of the pack in terms of popularity and earnings it left all the other movies in the dust. Many people saw it two or three times, and they all agreed that each viewing was an entirely different experience.

The story had a different lesson to teach, depending on whether you related to the female lead, the male lead, or looked at the story from a completely objective, outsider’s point of view. It was a mirror that reflected the truth that everyone tried their best not to see.

The story was fictional, but it was incredibly realistic. It was so realistic it pierced the hearts of the audience like an unforgiving spear of truth. The audience did not understand why they cried while watching the movie, but realization dawned on them once it was over: some feelings were universal and resonated with everyone.

“Son, go with me to the movies.”

Ye Shuyun tugged on Lu Yi’s clothes. It was one of those rare days in which her son did not have any work to do, and she wanted him to watch the movie with her, no matter what.

“Mom, you’ve already seen it four times.” Lu Yi rubbed his brow. His mother had seen the movie once with Lei Qingyi’s mother, and then once with her other friends, and then twice on her own. He could not understand why she wanted to see the movie with him for a fifth time. Was it really that interesting? Five times! He was quite sure that she had already memorized the entire plot and every line. To his knowledge, even the most ardent fans had been satisfied with watching it three times; five times was completely unheard of.

But his mother was persistent, and he had to give in to her request in the end. When they arrived at the cinema, he was surprised to find that Divorced took up most of the cinema halls; there were showings from dawn until midnight. And when he went to the ticketing counter to select their seats, he found that most of the showings were already full.

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