Chapter 206: The Clash of New Films
During the awards season, Lu Xu had heard rumors that Family and Nation would be released either during the National Day or Spring Festival period. Since the National Day period had already passed without any sign of the movie, it was only natural that it would be scheduled for the Spring Festival instead.
Lu Xu had initially thought that Liu Rennong would wait and choose a less competitive release window.
“This type of film is best suited for the National Day or Spring Festival periods,” Mu Lang said. “If it were released during any other time, it wouldn’t have the same festive atmosphere.”
One evening after dinner, Mu Lang and Lu Xu discussed the movies set to release during the Spring Festival period. The director had never been fond of such discussions in the past, but after getting familiar with Lu Xu, he had started talking more.
Lu Xu thought about it and agreed. With the holiday atmosphere, Family and Nation might have a chance to make it big. If it were released at another time, it would be hard to stir up enthusiasm among audiences—without that excitement, even tricking people into buying tickets wouldn’t work.
Meanwhile, filming for the new project was progressing steadily. By the time the Spring Festival approached, most of the shooting had already wrapped up. Since it was a low-budget film, the production timeline wasn’t drawn out too long.
This year, Lu Xu had some rare free time during the Spring Festival. He spent it casually chatting with Zheng Xiao and the others in their group chat while watching the competition among the holiday releases unfold.
He didn’t have any movies coming out this Spring Festival—Code A77 wasn’t expected to be released until the summer, and that was only if the production team sped things up.
To be honest, Lu Xu found it hard not to pay attention to Family and Nation—he had a feeling that Liu Rennong was trying to use this film as a last-ditch effort to revitalize his career.
The world often worked in strange coincidences.
For instance, back in the day, Liu Rennong and Miao Zhi had competed for the same award. Then, the only time Liu Rennong had ever served as the chairman of the Golden Flame Awards jury, Miao Zhi’s hopes of sweeping the three major awards had been dashed. And now… this year’s Spring Festival lineup happened to feature new films from both Liu Rennong and Miao Zhi.
Liu Rennong’s film was Family and Nation, while Miao Zhi’s was Life on the Line, starring Shao Yao.
The moment both films officially announced their release dates, marketing accounts sprang into action.
The feud between the two directors could be discussed for days on end without running out of material. It was no exaggeration to say that Miao Zhi had indeed suffered repeated setbacks because of Liu Rennong. Although public opinion tended to favor Miao Zhi, this time, Life on the Line didn’t have a lead actor of Lu Xu’s caliber. Whether Shao Yao could command the same level of audience appeal remained an unknown factor before the film’s release.
Lu Xu and Zheng Xiao @mentioned Shao Yao several times in their group chat.
With his first lead role in a major film about to premiere, Shao Yao was understandably nervous. He wasn’t someone who talked much, and even when he was anxious, outsiders wouldn’t easily notice. The only reason Lu Xu and Zheng Xiao realized he was on edge was that his frequency of using emojis had noticeably decreased.
Shao Yao—a man whose emotions were easy to guess.
Before becoming the lead actor in Miao Zhi’s film, Shao Yao had never considered starring in a Spring Festival release. Neither he nor his agency, Mingniao Entertainment, had ever factored this into their plans.
In the entertainment industry, Mingniao was considered a second- or third-tier agency. Most of its signed artists left before reaching second-tier status, treating Mingniao as nothing more than a stepping stone in their careers.
Shao Yao was the most successful artist the company had ever cultivated—he had won awards, built a solid portfolio, and even managed to break into the film industry.
Even though he hadn’t skyrocketed to fame like Lu Xu, his achievements were beyond anything Mingniao had ever imagined.
Because of his personality, Shao Yao had never switched agencies. Had it been anyone else, they might have left right after Voice of the Dead aired. In recent years, countless talent agencies had tried to poach him, including an industry giant with nearly unrivaled resources.
With Life on the Line about to premiere, both Shao Yao and his agency, Mingniao, were already feeling the pressure. The moment they saw Family and Nation as their competition, their nerves only intensified.
Everyone knew that Liu Rennong was skilled at orchestrating behind-the-scenes drama, while Mingniao, unfortunately, was not.
After all, Mingniao was a small company. Although it had gained experience in artist management as Shao Yao rose to fame, it still couldn’t compare to Liu Rennong, who had spent decades navigating the director’s circle and was known for his cunning methods.
And this was after Liu Rennong had already been weakened by Lu Xu.
Shao Yao’s biggest advantage was his clean record. Ever since filming Song of the Southern Country, he had been overly cautious, having learned his lesson the hard way. Aside from occasionally hanging out with Lu Xu and Zheng Xiao, he had no bad habits to speak of.
In an industry filled with actors who loved to indulge in the nightlife, Shao Yao was the type who only had a presence when he had a new project coming out.
Of course, it didn’t take long after Life on the Line was officially scheduled for the Spring Festival before certain marketing accounts “dug up” a scandal about him.
An older actor who had previously worked with Shao Yao claimed that Shao Yao had acted like a diva on set, disrespecting senior actors and causing him deep emotional distress.
Although the accuser had no concrete evidence, his words were extremely provocative. In his version of events, Shao Yao was an arrogant b*lly who used his star power to oppress others on set, while the director and fellow cast members supposedly went out of their way to cater to him.
Even though the director spoke up in Shao Yao’s defense, and other actors stepped forward to vouch for him, their support was twisted into “proof” that they had been bribed by Shao Yao.
Shao Yao: “……”
It was as if the nightmare of Song of the Southern Country had returned. Shao Yao had become so frustrated that he didn’t even want to speak.
Since there was no actual evidence, the controversy gradually died down after two days. However, for the Life on the Line production team, the film’s Spring Festival release had been tainted by an inexplicable shadow.
Everyone knew this was undoubtedly Liu Rennong’s doing. Back when Uncertain Return was released, the crew of Soaring Ambition had been subjected to the same tactics.
Of course, in Soaring Ambition’s case, the lead actor’s scandal had been real. But Shao Yao’s so-called “b*llying” of his co-stars was completely unfounded—just a smear campaign designed to disgust the Life on the Line team.
Shao Yao was frustrated, but he understood that the more one tried to explain, the messier things became. So, he chose to remain silent from beginning to end, leaving the issue to be handled by the production team and his agency.
“Don’t be mad. Just win at the box office—that’s what really matters,” Zheng Xiao consoled him. “No matter how careful you are, you can’t stop people from stirring up trouble.”
Lu Xu had already gone through this before, and now Shao Yao was experiencing it firsthand. By this point, Zheng Xiao’s admiration for famous directors had completely shattered.
When he had just debuted and attended industry events, most big names had treated small actors like him with indifference. Liu Rennong had been the only one to greet him with a warm smile, leaving a deep impression on the young Zheng Xiao at the time.
But idolizing people like that… in hindsight, it was probably best not to.
—
Regardless of the drama, the Spring Festival movie season officially kicked off as scheduled. Due to the earlier controversy over unfair screening allocations, Family and Nation didn’t dominate the showtimes as overwhelmingly as expected. Its screening percentage was only slightly higher than Life on the Line.
Lu Xu and Zheng Xiao went to watch Life on the Line and took the opportunity to promote it on Weibo.
Many of Lu Xu’s fans still remembered the past conflict between Fearless Life and Liu Rennong. Since watching a movie during the Spring Festival had become a tradition for many, his fans naturally gravitated toward supporting Life on the Line.
Besides, the film was directed by Miao Zhi, and Shao Yao’s acting skills were solid. Overall, Life on the Line was a well-made film.
At the very least, Lu Xu thought it was a great movie. Miao Zhi’s directorial finesse was on full display, and Shao Yao’s performance was impressively nuanced.
Ever since Voice of the Dead, the other party had also been making steady progress.
On the first day of the Spring Festival season, Life on the Line managed to surpass Family and Nation in box office earnings—though only by a small margin.
Lu Xu noticed something odd: during the holiday period, all the negative rumors about Liu Rennong seemed to have vanished overnight. No matter how much he scrolled, all he could find were positive discussions about Family and Nation. If he really wanted to find any dirt on Liu Rennong, he’d have to dig through months of posts.
Lu Xu: “…Was this really necessary?”
He couldn’t help but suspect that Liu Rennong either owned a bot-farm company or had struck some kind of deal with marketing accounts. Otherwise, how could those accounts be so overwhelmingly positive? They didn’t even bother to slip in a few criticisms for balance.
When he vented his thoughts to his manager, the response was an affirmative one. “That’s definitely possible. Or maybe he just takes public opinion very seriously and manages it tightly.”
Lu Xu: “…Isn’t that more like something a top idol would do?”
It seemed Liu Rennong had quite the image to maintain.
But judging by Family and Nation’s box office performance, the internet hadn’t completely lost its memory. No matter how much Liu Rennong tried to control the narrative, his film’s earnings still took a hit.
That impact became even more pronounced after the second day of the Spring Festival season.
By this point, film reviews were no longer dominated by bloggers and marketing accounts—ordinary viewers were also making their voices heard.
Among the discussions surrounding Family and Nation, the most upvoted comment read:
[Family and Nation: A false depiction of home, country, and the world.]
Another highly liked comment stated:
[The director is making a film about something he doesn’t even believe in.]
And then there was the simplest, yet perhaps most damning review of all:
[Terrible.]
Liu Rennong’s directing skills were certainly not in question. However, despite his questionable character, Family and Nation was ultimately a film he made in pursuit of trends and popularity.
To audiences, though, Family and Nation felt like a patchwork of scenes rather than a cohesive story like Fearless Life. As a result, the narrative lacked depth. Not only was it fragmented, but its transitions were also choppy, making it difficult for viewers to connect with it on an emotional level. This issue was further compounded by the film’s vague thematic direction.
Fearless Life had Bai Qianshan, and Family and Nation certainly had a few emotionally compelling characters as well. However, under Liu Rennong’s direction, their greatness failed to shine through. Instead, they felt like mere plot devices—existing only to highlight the protagonist or to serve as props for Bei Hong’s character.
“Do they even deserve it?”
The actor playing the male lead faced a fair amount of criticism. However, since his acting skills were decent and the flaws in his character’s development were primarily the fault of the director and screenwriter, blaming the actor alone seemed unfair.
Bei Hong, who played the second male lead, received even harsher backlash.
He suspected that his industry rivals were deliberately buying negative press against him.
Back when Sanzu River flopped so badly, he—despite being the lead actor—had somehow managed to escape most of the criticism. Yet now, even though Family and Nation was performing better at the box office than Sanzu River, the male lead remained unscathed while he, the second male lead, was being relentlessly attacked. How did that make any sense?
Bei Hong conveniently forgot that Sanzu River hadn’t demanded much in terms of acting skills. Back then, he had been just another rookie, and there was little satisfaction in criticizing a newcomer when veteran actors were much bigger targets.
In contrast, Family and Nation fully exposed Bei Hong’s lackluster acting.
Some scenes in Family and Nation already felt superficial, but Bei Hong’s performance was superficial on top of superficial.
The male lead’s acting was at least passable—it didn’t take viewers out of the movie. But Bei Hong’s performance… even within the film, the most memorable thing about him was still his pair of bright, watery eyes.
After undergoing cosmetic surgery, Bei Hong no longer seemed well-suited for the big screen.
[Does Bei Hong have some kind of grudge against Liu Rennong? A single shot in this movie was reshot dozens of times—anyone could be turned into a skilled actor under those conditions. Just look at those idols who completely expose their lack of acting skills in TV dramas but somehow seem like acting pros in films. So why is Bei Hong still…]
[Was the filming schedule rushed? Or was Liu Rennong frequently absent from the set? I actually saw a rumor online that Liu Rennong was ‘too busy’ with other matters, and when he wasn’t on set, someone else directed the film.]
[Bei Hong’s acting is just terrible. Do they have to force him into the spotlight? If they insist on promoting him, at least get him an acting coach first!]
The complaints kept piling up until netizens reached a collective conclusion:
Whenever Bei Hong’s face appeared on screen in Family and Nation, it was the perfect time for a bathroom break.
Viewers could leave for a few minutes and return without missing anything important.
