Opening Day Box Office Exceeding One Billion

The short film ended.

Li Feng’s vision had long since blurred.

He pulled out a tissue to wipe away the tears at the corners of his eyes and across his face.

Suddenly, he felt a profound emptiness in his heart.

"A wide road stretching straight, straight to my home!"

Li Feng softly hummed the lyrics of "Rapeseed Flowers" from the short film and tapped the video to play it again.

This was the magic of a micro-film.

Watching it once was never enough; one could easily watch it a second or third time. After all, the running time was so short that it hardly wasted much time.

His eyes, which he had just wiped clear, blurred once more, but this time Li Feng did not reach for a tissue. Instead, he let the tears stream freely down his face.

In times of war, what was truly worth holding onto?

Strictly speaking, the grunt was a timid and cowardly deserter on the battlefield. Yet when facing the direct invasion of foreign enemies, his spine did not bend, and his knees did not soften!

He lived up to the steadfast belief in his heart!

Even an ordinary, insignificant person could be a towering hero who stood upright between heaven and earth!

Li Feng suddenly became extremely curious about what Qian Lang’s new film was actually about.

The title *Little Big Soldier* seemed to offer a few clues, but he simply couldn't wait to go to the cinema and find out for himself.

What was the new movie really about?

He was not the only one plagued by this curiosity. Countless netizens, after watching the micro-film *Go Home and Plant Some Rapeseed Flowers*, were filled with curiosity and anticipation for *Little Big Soldier*.

The micro-film had been online for only a few hours, but thanks to the vigorous promotion by the Goose Entertainment video platform, its view count had already exceeded one million. Within those densely packed bullet comments, there were already nearly one hundred thousand messages!

The ratio of comments to views was frighteningly high.

"I used to know Director Qian only for his comedies, but now I realize his tearjerkers are top-tier too!"

"I am so grateful that we live in a peaceful era, and I thank the revolutionary martyrs for their sacrifices to create our beautiful home!"

"My hands kept shaking while typing because my eyes were full of tears!"

"Go home and plant some rapeseed flowers—what a noble yet humble ideal. Salute!"

"This is a true micro-film! Looking forward to Director Qian's new movie *Little Big Soldier*!"

"Looking forward to Director Qian's new movie *Little Big Soldier*!"

......

The comment section was flooded entirely with anticipation for Director Qian's new film *Little Big Soldier*!

Cheng Jie was so furious he almost had a heart attack!

He had thrown out several million yuan back and forth.

In the end, this online public opinion surprisingly turned into everyone looking forward to Director Qian's new film?

Then what on earth were all his previous actions supposed to be?

"Ouch, my heart aches!"

Clutching his chest, Cheng Jie called Sun Jianjun.

Yet no matter how many times he dialed, the call wouldn't go through.

"What the hell! Is the whole world conspiring against me?"

In a fit of rage, he smashed his phone to pieces.

Meanwhile, the bosses of various film and television companies in Hong Kong were grinning from ear to ear, their aged faces blooming with joy.

"Director Qian's new movie is practically a guaranteed success!"

"Indeed. I was previously worried that cutting the micro-film would leak the plot and affect the box office."

"There's completely no need to worry. A good movie is worth savoring repeatedly. Even if people have already watched it, won't many still go back for multiple viewings?"

Old Xiao and Old He were beaming with delight.

Sun Jian stroked his bald head and remarked with deep emotion, "The Chairman is truly visionary! Director Qian alone can save our entire Hong Kong cinema. Tsk tsk, it's simply a miracle!"

"Naturally. The person I respect most is Chairman Jiang!"

Yang Jianghao laughed heartily and said, "Now I have one more person I deeply respect—Director Qian! Hahaha!"

"Hey, trying to hog all the glory again?"

"Director Qian is clearly my idol!"

Old Xiao and Old He refused to let it slide.

They hadn't even settled accounts with Yang Jianghao for posting on Weibo first last time.

Why was he trying to stand out again?

Old Xiao glared with wide eyes, feigning a falling-out, while Old He also took on the posture of demanding an explanation from Yang Jianghao.

"You two are so petty!"

Yang Jianghao was utterly speechless.

Just then, Sun Jian stroked his bald head and uttered a remark that none of them expected.

"Director Qian is all of our idol!"

The bosses present were stunned.

Who would have guessed?

Old Sun, who was usually the least articulate, had actually learned to use fancy phrasing now.

Still, he was right!

Amidst the playful bickering, time always flew by quickly.

In the blink of an eye, the Spring Festival release period had arrived.

Thanks to the view counts and topical buzz of the micro-film *Go Home and Plant Some Rapeseed Flowers*, the hype was explosive and fiery!

New Year's Eve, premiere day.

Long queues lined the entrances of cinemas in Beijing and all across the Great Xia territory.

If you casually asked anyone in line, they were all there to buy tickets for *Little Big Soldier*.

The cinema owners were smiling so broadly their eyes vanished.

How could they not have a prosperous year this time!

Originally, they had already allotted the most optimal screening schedules to this film.

Little did they expect the moviegoers of Great Xia to be so fiercely supportive!

No more needs to be said!

Whatever the audience wanted to watch, that was what would be arranged!

They still had that much autonomy.

After all, theater scheduling depended not only on the quality of the movie but also on a comprehensive consideration of promotional impact, topical buzz, and so forth.

Since the hype for *Little Big Soldier* was so glaringly obvious, anyone who still strictly followed their original contracts according to the letter would either be a fool or an idiot.

Who would ever pick a fight with money?

Consequently, other films were pushed aside, and every available screening room was booked to capacity for this movie.

This was the uniform action taken by major theater chains across Great Xia.

Fortunately, unlike previous years when a massive crowd of films would jam the release schedule, this Spring Festival season defied convention, featuring barely three films in total. Aside from *Little Big Soldier*, there were almost zero domestic releases.

Why was that?

Because everyone knew that releasing a film in the same window as Qian Lang’s movie would result in the most miserable defeat imaginable.

Ever since the summer season, when Zhang Mou’s *Tai Chi* was crushed by Qian Lang’s *Crazy Stone*, many directors in the Great Xia film industry adopted a new routine whenever they made a movie: they would inquire everywhere about the release window of Qian Lang's upcoming work.

They certainly didn't want to follow in Director Zhang Mou’s footsteps!

Having worked diligently their entire lives just to carve out a modest reputation in the Great Xia film circle,

who would have thought it could all be buried by a single film?

How tragic!

This time, if not for the internet trolls meddling and making a fuss, many directors might not even have known that Qian Lang was shooting a new movie!

"We almost walked right into the firing line!"

While lingering fears chilled their hearts, a wave of involuntary pride welled up within them.

Hahaha.

Great Xia cinema was finally making something of itself!

By stepping aside for Qian Lang, they would let him ruthlessly slaughter those foreign films instead!

On New Year's Eve, the people of Great Xia had the custom of staying up to welcome the new year.

The clock had just struck midnight.

Major cinemas were brightly lit as usual, while netizens sat with wide eyes, repeatedly refreshing the box-office statistics website.

Today was not only a festive celebration for the people of Great Xia, but also a milestone witness in the history of film development.

People held their breath in anticipation, all eager to see how high the bar would be pushed by this billion-box-office director.

"Tap, tap!"

Following the synchronized, repetitive actions of Great Xia netizens, the box office statistics website uploaded the latest data.

Finally, the first-day box office results were out!

No. 1: *Little Big Soldier*

Box Office Revenue: 310 million!

Public Rating: 9.1!

People stared with wide-open eyes.

Good heavens!

They knew *Little Big Soldier* would claim the top spot in performance.

They just hadn't expected this movie to be so terrifyingly powerful!

"Hahahaha!"

"Awesome!"

Laughter and screams echoed from numerous residential compounds.

Fortunately, not everyone had gone to sleep yet; otherwise, there would surely have been police reports filed against these people for disturbing the peace.

"Hiss!"

Puo Fang's fingers trembled uncontrollably with excitement.

He sucked in a sharp breath of cold air to calm his wildly pounding heart.

A first-day box office exceeding 300 million!

This was something he wouldn't even have dared to imagine in the past.

As a self-media creator, he knew the frenzy sparked by this movie would easily secure more than half a year's worth of income for him.

He hadn't gone to watch *Little Big Soldier* tonight.

He believed that if it weren't New Year's Eve, when everyone was busy reuniting at home, doubling the first-day box office of *Little Big Soldier* wouldn't have been impossible at all!