There was noisy background chatter in the video.
The female lead in the movie was talking to a ghost:
"I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!"
"You know I can't live without you, so why did you leave?!"
That's right. The female lead in this movie was actually trying to reason with a ghost!
Just then, the camera turned toward the back row.
A furious, burly guy with broad shoulders and a flushed face stood up and hurled the popcorn in his hands at the big screen.
"Ye Weiming, fuck your mother!"
The audience erupted in an uproar, then burst into applause and cheers.
The popcorn bucket traced a perfect arc through the air and landed right on Ren Hang's head.
At the end of the video, the camera turned to Ren Hang.
His voice was picked up, too:
"Aw, shit! Why did it suddenly get dark?"
Beside him, Lin Chuan looked helpless as he lifted the popcorn bucket off Ren Hang's head.
When the video ended, quite a few people left comments.
"Hahaha, what a perfect shot!"
"Fuck, that guy was the voice of the people. I just watched this goddamn awful movie. Unbelievable. Fuck!"
"Hey, you above! Tell us how you really feel!"
"It's like swallowing a bowl of shit, then having someone ask you to describe what it felt like to eat that bowl of shit.
"Sorry, there's no way I can relive the taste and describe it!"
"I went to see Strange Tales Association, and all I can say is, Ye Weiming, you've really disappointed me!"
"Fuck, I even bought the 3D screening. Spent several hundred yuan, then had to bail after ten minutes!"
"You above, you should be grateful. At least you didn't waste your time!"
"I can't even imagine how much willpower it takes to sit through all of The House That Never Dies!"
"I watched this movie with my boyfriend. We were planning to get a room afterward and have a little fun in the theater, too.
"Heh. My boyfriend got so worked up just a little way into the movie that he couldn't even be bothered to touch me. He dragged me out of the theater halfway through.
"Then he put a paper bag over my head with the name Ye Weiming written on it."
"Huh?"
Unlike the unanimous praise audiences had heaped on Happy Family,
all that audiences had left for The House That Never Dies was pure hostility.
It was only natural.
Just imagine: you'd finally finished a day's work and were looking forward to a whole week off.
You and your friends wanted to relax and have some fun.
You saw the movie ads online and thought this film called The House That Never Dies looked pretty good.
So you bought a few tickets, planning to catch a movie with your friends and unwind.
And then the movie turned out to be a turd disguised as chocolate!
By the time you took your first bite, it was already too late!
And what made it worse was that The House That Never Dies hadn't hired any popular stars.
With no fans to defend it, the movie was practically being crushed by the audience's own word-of-mouth backlash.
The topic stayed on Weibo's trending list for less than three minutes.
It was soon taken down.
The production company behind The House That Never Dies had probably paid to suppress the backlash.
But then, just over ten minutes later, the video of that furious guy attacking the screen shot back up the trending list.
This time, several red circles had been added to the video.
Someone had circled Ren Hang and commented:
"Holy shit, is that the Golden Warrior?"
The topic "Unlucky Guy Hit by Popcorn Is Ren Hang" made the trending list again.
Quite a few people knew that Lin Chuan and Ren Hang were close.
Lin Chuan was the director who had made Spoon Killer Demon, Balloon, and Happy Family.
And Ren Hang was the actor who had played the Spoon Killer Demon, then gone on to play the Golden Warrior.
Some nosy netizens flocked to the comments under Ren Hang's Weibo post to tease him.
As it happened, his latest post was promoting Happy Family.
"Hahaha, you promoted Happy Family one minute, then went to see The House That Never Dies the next. Serves you right!"
"You can't let that slide! Grab your spoon, put on your black cloak, and go torture Ye Weiming!"
"Happy Family really is a good movie. The House That Never Dies is a fucking turd!"
"No wonder Lin Chuan stopped taking you along to make movies. Turns out you're a turncoat!"
"Did it get dark? Hahaha!"
Lin Chuan, Xiao Hei, and Ren Hang were all scrolling through Weibo.
But their expressions couldn't have been more different.
Lin Chuan and Xiao Hei were trying their hardest to hold back their grins, fighting not to laugh so hard that their bodies started shaking.
Ren Hang, meanwhile, looked thoroughly annoyed.
"You two want to laugh, don't you?"
Lin Chuan and Xiao Hei glanced at each other, then shook their heads in unison. Putting on a serious face, Lin Chuan said:
"We're professionally trained. No matter how funny something is, we absolutely won't laugh."
"If you want to laugh, just laugh," Ren Hang said helplessly.
"Hahahahahahaha!"
"Kukukukukukuku!"
Their laughter carried far, and someone even glanced over toward Lin Chuan's table in surprise.
They wondered where those lunatics had come from.
But when they saw that Lin Chuan and Ren Hang were both young, they understood.
Oh, college students!
It was normal for college students these days to be a little crazy!
"Chuan, what should I do now? This won't hurt your movie, will it?"
Ren Hang was a little nervous. Clearly, he was worried it might affect Happy Family's box office.
Lin Chuan, on the other hand, didn't care. The netizens were obviously just joking around.
Besides, as long as people thought Happy Family was a good movie, that was the best reward Lin Chuan could ask for.
Lin Chuan thought it over briefly before answering:
"It's fine. Just put out a simple clarification. Say I dragged you along to scout the competition. The netizens won't mind."
Ren Hang then posted on Weibo:
[Dear viewers, I've missed you so much! I'd like to explain why I showed up at a screening of The House That Never Dies.
"Actually, I'd originally planned to see Happy Family. But then I thought, surely I know what kind of quality Happy Family is.
"But I hadn't seen The House That Never Dies yet, so I bought a ticket and walked into the theater.
"Actually, this movie was pretty good..."]
Ren Hang had written that last sentence entirely against his better judgment.
After leaving the theater, he'd spent the whole way cursing the movie.
If he told the netizens what he really thought, his post would probably be nothing but swear words.
But Ye Weiming was a veteran director from Hong Kong Island, and Ren Hang was just a small-time actor. He really couldn't afford to get on Ye Weiming's bad side.
"Chuan, this is okay, right?"
Lin Chuan patted Ren Hang on the shoulder. "It's fine! I understand!"
Lin Chuan didn't much care for social niceties, but he didn't begrudge other people using them. Sometimes, they were just a way to get by.
At the same time, Lin Chuan wondered what kind of good movie he could find for his buddy.
That way, Ren Hang wouldn't have to stay a nobody who had to watch what he said just to post on Weibo.
After Ren Hang posted, Lin Chuan reposted it, adding:
[I can confirm this.]
Xiao Hei reposted it, too.
In theory, there was nothing wrong with either of their posts.
But unexpectedly, the female lead of The House That Never Dies also posted on Weibo, criticizing Happy Family.
[Some so-called rookie directors, please stop trying to ride on the hype surrounding The House That Never Dies, okay? Your good buddy just happened to show up at a screening of The House That Never Dies. Someone just happened to be insulting its director, Ye Weiming. And the popcorn he threw just happened to land on your good buddy's head?
"Viewers, please keep your eyes open. Don't let some directors' self-produced little dramas sway you.
"The House That Never Dies is absolutely a great movie that's worth every penny and will open your eyes!
"Don't let unscrupulous paid posters influence you!
"Don't be fooled by a rookie director with such poor character!]
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