"Forget it, to mend relations, I'll have to gross myself out!" Chenglong said with a tone akin to self-sacrifice. After much thought, he absolutely could not afford to offend Jiangnan Group.
The best way to resolve the conflict was for him to proactively show favor to Jiangnan Group, help promote their new television drama, and then insincerely praise how difficult the long-take martial arts action was. At most, he'd seize an opportunity to replicate the move, which would be considered giving them face.
Although this would make him feel disgusted and uncomfortable, the cost was not high; it was just a few words typed on his Facebook account.
To outsiders, he, Chenglong, would still appear as an enthusiastic elder brother in the entertainment industry, supporting newcomers and nurturing juniors. There was truly no loss involved.
This could be considered fulfilling others while disgusting himself!
With this thought, Chenglong decided not to hesitate. After his car stopped at the hotel for lunch, Chenglong had his secretary retrieve his laptop. He personally operated it, connected to the internet using the hotel's broadband, and then opened his Facebook account.
As expected, Chenglong found a large number of private messages in his inbox. They were all from his fans, asking him about the difficulty of that particular scene.
"Xiao Yan, you type!" Chenglong waved to his assistant. "Just say that this difficulty is indeed quite high for young people, very not easy, and very commendable!"
"Brother, don't you need to watch that long-take scene before replying?" the assistant asked softly.
"What's there to watch? These young folks, no matter how amazing their action scenes, can they be more amazing than me?" Chenglong said instinctively. This wasn't him being arrogant, but rather it was determined by his countless real achievements. After all, he was the daredevil who, back in the day, dared to jump from the third floor without any safety measures and without a stunt double. That was also a long-take scene without any editing!
If Chenglong didn't have this much confidence, he wouldn't be Chenglong.
Therefore, he didn't even bother to watch the video and directly had his secretary type out the reply.
Chenglong felt his answer was very well-considered. He had stated that the difficulty was quite high, very not easy, and very commendable, essentially elevating this young man to the heavens.
But in reality, there was a hidden meaning: for old action stars like himself, it was actually not difficult at all.
Of course, Chenglong said this not to show off his own abilities, but to speak to other veteran action stars like Zhao Zhuo, Li Jie, and the Hong family, to save face for them, as they were all old action stars.
After all, if he said it was very difficult, it would be equivalent to undermining the faces of these old friends. Even if they said they didn't mind, these people might use it as an excuse to tease him later, and it might even become a black mark in his life. Therefore, he had to be cautious and avoid any linguistic flaws!
In short, Chenglong was very satisfied with his answer.
However, Chenglong did not expect that his reply would instantly ignite a fervor across the entire internet. He had only spent 20 minutes eating, and when he looked at the webpage again, he found that his post had already received an astonishing 1.6 million clicks, with the number of comments reaching a terrifying 50,000.
"Xiao Yan, what were the highest data figures for my previous posts?" Chenglong couldn't help but ask his assistant.
"Uh, it was the post you made when you first joined Facebook. It's now around 4 million clicks and over ten thousand comments!" the assistant replied.
"Only this much? Clicks are one thing, but why are there so many fewer comments? Are you sure you didn't misremember?" Chenglong asked in surprise.
"There's no mistake, sir! If you don't believe me, I'll show you right now!" The assistant was very confident in his memory. He basically didn't manage Chenglong's Facebook account; it was all handled by him, the assistant. It wasn't that Chenglong didn't care about these things, but Chenglong actually didn't know how to use a computer. This was also a characteristic of many older Hong Kong and Taiwanese celebrities – they didn't use computers or mobile phones, gradually becoming disconnected from the future internet, and ultimately being replaced by fresh traffic adept at utilizing various online platforms.
He quickly found the very first post, which was his entry post when Chenglong had just opened his Facebook account in March of last year.
"..." Chenglong's expression became increasingly grim. His own post, made nearly a year ago, now had only 5 million clicks and 10,000 comments.
But now, a single reply post in just 20 minutes had already garnered 1.6 million clicks and 50,000 comments. Doesn't this mean that his popularity over a year is less than the buzz a newcomer generated in 20 minutes?
Chenglong felt extremely hurt.
"Show me the comments, I want to see what everyone is saying!" Chenglong said.
"Yes!" The assistant nodded and clicked open the comments. The comments were sorted by popularity by default.
So, Chenglong quickly saw the top-ranked comment read, "Thank you, Big Brother, for your fair evaluation. Grateful!"
Following this comment were a string of reply comments, all uniformly expressing gratitude, with a very neat formation, as if they were posted by robots.
However, the second most popular comment was different. This comment very sharply stated, "Can't you tell Big Brother is saving face for that showy fop? What do you mean it's very difficult for young people? Translated, it means it's not difficult for true veteran action stars like Big Brother."
"But the problem is, martial arts isn't acting. As the saying goes, 'youth excels in power.' Young people are at their peak physically and most capable of fighting. Yet, a young person fights worse than some middle-aged and elderly people. What kind of capability is this? It's a joke!"
Perhaps to counter the previous trending comment, this comment was also followed by a string of replies with the word "joke." Both comments had popularity of over 10,000. These two comments and their replies accounted for nearly 24,000 of the comments.
The subsequent comments were almost a replica of these two trending comments. Everyone was madly arguing about how terrible the heat was. As a result, more people came to ask Chenglong about the exact difficulty.
Some even directly asked, "Can Brother Chenglong complete this move?"
"What should I do?" Chenglong was somewhat troubled. If he said it was simple, he would offend Boss Huang again.
But if he said it was difficult, and he himself couldn't complete it, then if someone posted a video of himself completing it, wouldn't he be utterly humiliated?
Chenglong pondered left and right, not knowing what to do. Just as he was considering simply ignoring it, the assistant suddenly suggested, "Sir, why don't we @ Mr. Li Jie and let him help you answer this question!"
"Mmm... good idea!" Chenglong's eyes lit up immediately. Right, if it was difficult for him to answer, then let someone else answer! As the saying goes, "Let a fellow daoist die, not yourself." There was no need for him to bear this matter alone.
Moreover, if everyone was forced to answer this question, then people in the circle wouldn't be able to mock him with this question anymore. At the same time, he would be doing a greater favor for Boss Huang, as this issue was being magnified.
So, Chenglong very decisively had his assistant @ Li Jie and then said, "It seems my words are not convincing. I'll leave it to you!"
Because @ was directly tagging in the post, all Facebook users could see this new dynamic. In this way, Chenglong successfully diverted the trouble and sent all the attention to Li Jie's Facebook account. xxs
At this time, Li Jie was bewildered. His assistant also reported the matter to him. Li Jie found it even harder to refuse Boss Huang because he was in negotiations with Marvel Studios. Marvel Studios was currently planning to film their second movie, "The Incredible Hulk."
Marvel's first movie, "Iron Man," had already been completed, so "The Incredible Hulk" was naturally on the schedule. They were currently looking for main actors for the film.
In the original timeline, "The Incredible Hulk" had no connection with Li Jie. However, at Boss Huang's behest, the script for "The Incredible Hulk" was changed. Although the protagonist remained the Hulk, a major supporting character was added: a superhero from China named Long.
In terms of design, this superhero perfectly fit the traditional American impression of a kung fu master, originating from a mysterious sect in China: Shaolin Temple. He mastered the 72 unique skills of Shaolin Temple and was a superhero who could stop the Hulk with bare-handed combat.
Historically, this superhero named Long did not exist. However, also at Boss Huang's behest, Long had appeared in some superhero comics two years prior.
Initially a supporting character, his role gradually increased, and he interacted with more and more superheroes. Three months ago, a solo comic for Long was even released. Coupled with Marvel's aggressive investment and promotion, Long's popularity was steadily rising.
Li Jie valued the role of Long very highly because he was currently striving to break into Hollywood, hoping to become an international superstar and repeat the career path of Bruce Lee.
Unfortunately, Li Jie's opportunities were even worse than Chenglong's. So far, he had only acted in supporting roles. His only leading role in the movie "Romeo Must Die" was a box office failure, which quickly led to Hollywood producers being hesitant to cast him in leading roles.
Now that a superhero role had emerged, although he would still play a supporting role in "The Incredible Hulk," he was the second most important supporting character, with his role second only to the protagonist and the main villain.
Secondly, when Li Jie was negotiating with Marvel, the other party very definitively told Li Jie that if they were to sign him, he would have to sign a 20-year long-term contract.
This was because, over the next 20 years, there would likely be 1-3 Marvel superhero movies starring Long. This made it impossible for Li Jie to refuse.
Initially, Li Jie was curious if Americans would overemphasize a Chinese superhero. Later, Li Jie realized that Jiangnan Group was actually behind Marvel, and his film was invested and produced by Jiangnan Group. It was natural to find a Chinese superhero, especially since everyone in China knew Boss Huang was a fervent patriot.
With this in mind, Li Jie dared not say a single negative word. He didn't even have the courage to remain neutral. Upon seeing Chenglong @ him, Li Jie immediately posted a dynamic saying, "Brother Long is right, this is indeed very difficult, and even we find it hard to complete!"
"...This Li Jie is too shameless..." Chenglong scoffed upon seeing Li Jie's post.