151: Making Money on One's Own Two Feet

Looking back at the bed, there was naturally no colorless mist.

The setting sun was about to be swallowed by the horizon, and the last ray of gold was being swallowed by the night. The world was not yet dark, but the lights that had been lit up the city announced the arrival of night.

After getting up, Lu Ban packed his clothes and went downstairs to get takeout.

After the adventure, Lu Ban could easily take a break and order takeout. This would save the restaurant the trouble of cleaning up the table and dishes, and also allow the delivery guy to take on an order.

But Lu Ban refused.

Lu Ban's favorite thing is to dine in when takeout is available. For Lu Ban, dining in not only means being able to eat hot food, but more importantly, being able to experience the human touch in the food.

For creators like Lu Ban, the diverse lives depicted in restaurants provide the best source of inspiration.

Moreover, Lu Ban went to a fried food stall.

Fried skewers, much like barbecue, lose their soul once they're delivered.

He ordered fried ham sausage, tofu and cilantro rolls, dried orchid, pig lung, veal coated in batter, and a fried banana.

When Lu Ban was a child, vendors often sold similar fried skewers from pushcarts outside the school, which became a taste in his memory.

Take ham sausage, for example. The taste is completely different when you eat it plain versus when you fry it. Imagine a ham sausage with decorative cuts sizzling in a hot oil pan, the cut parts gradually opening up, and finally being scooped out, brushed with chili sauce, and then eaten.

Even after many years, Lu Ban still remembers.

He ate fried skewers while watching today's news.

The headline news in Jiangcheng was naturally the small earthquake last night. According to the earthquake bureau, the earthquake was not strong, but the epicenter was shallow. In addition, the demolition of Nanhua Private Renji Hospital affected the shopping mall next door, so some people speculated that the demolition caused the earthquake.

For a time, discussions about whether demolishing a building could trigger an earthquake spread throughout the community. People used their knowledge of physics and geography from elementary, middle, high school, and university levels to support their arguments, while the matter of Nanhua Private Renji Hospital became a secondary issue.

This might be due to paid commenters controlling the narrative!

Lu Ban doesn't understand the dark side of the internet.

"So, who exactly is that mother?"

He suddenly had a question.

It's clear that Dean Zhao Gongping's ritual was intended to create a space capable of containing the alien monster, which is this hospital, and then use a pregnant woman to transfer the monster into her body so that she could conceive and give birth to it.

Was this pregnant woman found by chance, or was there something special about her?

He edited the message and sent it to He Youwu, asking him to look up information on women who had pregnancy check-up records around the year the hospital was built, and to investigate the missing or mothers who died in childbirth. Lu Ban believed that the poor mother should be one of them.

[He Youwu]: What new discoveries have you made?

[Motionless]: Here's the thing, an elder of mine had a daughter who was tricked into getting pregnant. She tried to secretly give birth to the child in Jiangcheng, but she ended up dying after going to some shady hospital. This elder is now very old, and I want to help him find out what happened.

[He Youwu]: I didn't expect there to be such a reason. Don't worry, I will definitely help!

Lu Ban closed the dialog box.

In order to investigate this matter, Lu Ban felt extremely guilty that he, who was usually so honest, had to lie. So he decided to order another cup of milk tea to punish himself by consuming too much sugar!

After a satisfying meal, Lu Ban returned to his room.

As soon as he got upstairs, before he even Door Opening, Lu Ban heard a series of thumping sounds coming from inside, as if someone inside was trying to escape and was violently banging on the door.

He paused for a moment, thought about it, and decided not to climb out and affect the city's appearance.

Lu Ban Door Opening and saw that near the entrance to the living room, there seemed to be two wisps of mist entangled together, fighting back and forth, in a very tense situation.

Only after Lu Ban closed the door did the two plumes of mist quickly dissipate, leaving only an empty, dimly lit living room.

"Should we buy a TV and put it in the living room?"

Lu Ban thought about it. He hadn't been particular about it before because it was a rented house. He came and went quickly, and he might be kicked out by the landlord any day.

Now that he's bought the house, it's his own sweet home, and it's time to renovate it properly.

"Put a sofa here, a TV stand here, and a game console here. We can also get a new table."

Lu Ban made some plans and decided to go to the furniture market to buy furniture tomorrow.

The main problem is that with so many people in the family, they just argue and bicker when Lu Ban isn't around. If they watch TV, it should quiet them down. That's how Lu Ban used to deal with the kids.

Back at the computer, Lu Ban's desktop icons were distorted and turned into system text.

[Career Development Task]

[Now that you're making a name for yourself, you should strike while the iron is hot. Your goal should be both critical acclaim and commercial success. Dedicate yourself to creating content and become a creator remembered by many!]

[Task Requirement: Produce a film]

[Mission Requirement: Achieve 10 million in box office revenue]

[Task requirement: Win an award at any popular film festival]

"Can't you earn money while standing up?"

"Tsk tsk."

When Lu Ban saw the mission description, he had a feeling that he knew it was true.

It should be noted that under the current circumstances, Lu Ban should have no problem making a movie that generates several million in revenue. He can do it with his previous fame. Even if he fails, he still has Song Yunyan to rely on and cover for him.

Therefore, to make the task more challenging, it is undoubtedly necessary to add evaluation criteria in addition to the rewards.

"Film festival awards?"

Film festivals sound like holidays, and they really are holidays.

Besides film exhibitions, screenings, and artistic exchanges, the most important part of a proper film festival is the selection of film awards. For example, there are three major film festivals in Europe. Winning an award at any of these festivals is enough to boast about for a lifetime and earn you the title of a great director.

Of course, film festivals vary in size. There are about 700 film festivals worldwide, with more than 50 being major ones. They also have many subcategories. The scope of any popular film festival is very broad, so there's no need to worry about missing the time.

However, many of these film festivals cannot solve their problems with money alone; in other words, they cannot solve their problems without enough money.

Lu Ban glanced at the mission deadline: four months, neither too long nor too short. For a bad movie, it could be filmed in three days.

And soon it will be the end of the year, a time when there are not many film festivals and awards.

He decided to see which film festivals he could attend.

*

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