On September 30, Happy Family was released.
The National Day holiday was one of the busiest moviegoing periods of the year.
Many major films were scheduled to premiere during the holiday.
For example, kung fu superstar Cheng Lianjie's Project Panda.
An international kung fu star rescues a national treasure. It had a 22.6% share of screenings.
The Hollywood blockbuster Hurricane Partners, featuring top-notch special effects and a star-studded cast, had a 21.3% share of screenings.
A new horror film from a veteran Hong Kong director: an adventure in an old mansion, full of suspense and thrills. The House That Never Dies had a 23.5% share of screenings.
Besides the big-name productions, there were also a few animated films.
Bear Party, Penguin Battle, and Little Deer Bus.
Don't underestimate these animated movies.
During the National Day holiday, many parents took their children to the cinema.
Their first choice was always these family-friendly films.
Every one of their directors was a seasoned veteran. They would be ashamed to have made fewer than five films.
As for Happy Family, it was directed by Lin Chuan.
He had previously made Spoon Killer Demon for Bika Net, and it seemed to have been quite popular.
After that, he made Balloon, which was said to be pretty scary.
But compared with this crowd of filmmakers, it was nothing.
At this moment, in the eyes of those with ulterior motives,
Lin Chuan was just a husky that had wandered into a pack of wolves.
Ye Weiming walked into the cinema.
He was the director of The House That Never Dies.
At forty-two, Ye Weiming was at the peak of his career as a director.
Making a name for yourself in this business required being at the right age.
Too young, and you lacked experience, connections, and a solid reputation.
Too old, and though you had experience, connections, and a good reputation, your thinking became rigid, and you couldn't keep up with the younger generation.
So, at the perfect age, Ye Weiming was full of ambition and eager to make his mark.
He had made plenty of films in Hong Kong, including many that audiences knew by heart.
Unfortunately, the actors were such big stars that people gave them all the credit.
They forgot the director behind the camera.
Fortunately, The House That Never Dies was different.
Its star, known in the industry as Lin Gege, had indeed been famous across the country twenty years ago.
But that had been nearly twenty years back.
Now, Lin Gege was just a has-been actress.
Even so, she was the biggest star in The House That Never Dies.
Ye Weiming had placed great hopes on the film.
He had directed a horror movie before, Strange Tales Association.
Though it hadn't done well at the box office, it had at least broken even.
And Strange Tales Association had premiered in the very year when Hong Kong was packed with stars.
In recent years, as the internet had become widespread, modern audiences—bombarded by bad movies—had started seeking out old films instead.
Strange Tales Association had been rediscovered by online users and given high ratings.
Ye Weiming was confident that, as he got older, his directing skills had continued to improve.
And Balloon's box-office performance had boosted his confidence even more.
A video platform Uploader had made an animated film, and it had still grossed ninety million.
That was just because it had benefited from the popularity of its subject matter, wasn't it?
The House That Never Dies was also a horror film, and it was based on a real story: the famous BJ Haunted House Ghost Stories.
To make the film, Ye Weiming had read nearly a hundred horror novels and drawn on the best parts of them.
And he had directed it himself, with all his years of experience.
It was practically guaranteed to be a hit!
Looking at the enormous promotional poster for The House That Never Dies in the cinema, Ye Weiming felt quite proud.
Among the many major releases of the National Day holiday, The House That Never Dies had even surpassed Big Brother Lianjie's Project Panda.
It ranked first in screening share!
It was Saturday, and the cinema was packed.
Many people had come to see The House That Never Dies.
There were parents with children, couples holding hands, and groups of three or five friends.
Ye Weiming walked through the crowd in sunglasses, feeling rather proud.
At the same time, he felt a little disappointed.
He was wearing sunglasses, but no one recognized him.
Just then, a young couple walked past him and whispered:
"Hey, why would a blind person come to the cinema?"
"Shut up. Don't insult people with disabilities. What's wrong with him just listening to the movie?"
Ye Weiming nearly cursed.
His fame might have been a little lacking, but he'd never expected that wearing sunglasses to keep a low profile would get him mistaken for a blind man.
Ye Weiming took a deep breath and headed toward the theater showing Happy Family.
He had seen the trailer for Happy Family. It was pretty good.
Its promotional song, Rice Fragrance, was also lovely.
That had made him even more curious to see just how capable his competitor was.
Of course, Ye Weiming was still confident.
A director who had started out as an Uploader and made only one animated film was still a greenhorn.
There was no way The House That Never Dies could be beaten by Happy Family—
The movie began.
After a moment of darkness, the image slowly appeared.
In a shabby rented room, a down-and-out young man watched television and sobbed uncontrollably.
He stuffed little pills that looked like sleeping pills into his mouth like candy.
As he swallowed the pills, his inner monologue played on the big screen:
"Every Children's Day, different people come to the orphanage~"
"But no one remembers my name, and no one has ever called me by it~"
"Children's Day at the orphanage just goes around and around like that~"
"I've tried hard to live on my own for long enough~"
"No matter what, no one in this world will remember me~ I've lived long enough!"
A shrill telephone rang.
The young man hesitated for a long time between answering it and drinking a bottle of mineral water that cost ten yuan, then chose to pick up.
Pfft!
The sleeping pills in his mouth shot out like bullets from a machine gun.
It was his landlord on the other end.
Apparently, the landlord wanted to charge extra because the young man had stayed a little longer than agreed.
Cursing, the young man went to the bathroom to rinse his mouth.
As he walked, his vision blurred. He tried to hold on, but his legs gave way, and he fell to the floor.
The landlord came running and found him unconscious.
"Wake up, kid!"
Seeing the sleeping pills scattered across the floor, the landlord rushed in, rolled the young man over, and began pressing on his chest.
"Good grief, if this kid wants to die, he should go die somewhere else. What bad luck!"
After the young man was revived,
the staff on a rescue boat beneath a bridge were frantically trying to save a suicide victim who had fallen into the water.
"Honestly, why do they all pick today? Didn't they just put up an anti-suicide slogan on the bridge?"
The camera cut to the slogan on the bridge:
[How have you been lately?]
[Are you tired?]
[Is something troubling you?]
[Go see someone you love!]
[Your wife and children are still at home, waiting to eat with you.]
Before the voice finished speaking, the male lead went splashing off the bridge and into the water.
The two rescuers stared in shock.
The theater filled with laughter.
Though it was a tragic suicide scene, the director had handled it skillfully.
He had added plenty of childlike humor, so the audience could laugh heartily without feeling guilty.
Amid the audience's laughter, only one person sat uneasily, fidgeting as if his hemorrhoids had flared up.
Ye Weiming rubbed his face, his thoughts tangled and his feelings conflicted.
He felt completely out of place among the people around him.
People didn't share the same joys and sorrows.
A vague sense of disaster began to stir in Ye Weiming's heart.
Why did it feel like this director was even more skilled than I was?
Before you continue