The First S-Grade Talent!

Lin Gege's ordeal was something Lin Chuan naturally knew nothing about.

Even if he had known, he would only have pursed his lips.

Lin Gege had only had a nightmare, but the viewers who watched The House That Never Dies had lost a whole hour and a half.

One person lost an hour and a half. What about a hundred thousand people? A million?

How could she make up for all the time she'd stolen from her viewers?

Was a nightmare and a few jabs from Granny Rong enough to settle it?

Ha. It wasn't that simple.

Lin Chuan was busy taking phone calls.

Happy Family's box office had caused a sensation in Huaguo's film industry.

Earning over a hundred million in three days was the kind of result only renowned directors achieved.

Blue Star's Huaguo was still in the early stages of developing its entertainment industry.

If you had to compare it to anything, it was closer to Earth around 2010 in his previous life.

Technology was advanced, but the cultural industry was underdeveloped.

That was a sore point for many people in Huaguo.

And Happy Family's box-office performance had undoubtedly given the film industry a much-needed boost.

Many people in the business were now optimistic about the future.

Ma Wei and Teacher Xu Xiu had both called to congratulate Lin Chuan.

By now, it was already late at night—the time when Lin Gege was dreaming of Granny Rong tormenting her.

Lin Chuan was on the phone with Director Hou.

When Director Hou saw that Happy Family had passed the hundred-million mark, he was so excited that he couldn't contain himself and called Lin Chuan.

But the line was busy, so Director Hou kept waiting until he finally got through.

The two of them talked for ages.

Mostly, Director Hou talked while Lin Chuan listened.

Director Hou told him about the glorious history of Jianghai City Film Academy.

Then he talked about the bleak present facing its students.

And it wasn't just the students. The teachers were in the same boat.

They had acting skills to spare, but nowhere to put them to use.

Director Hou had clearly reached an emotional point. Lin Chuan could even hear him choking up on the other end of the phone.

"Lin Chuan, I was almost ready to give up. I always thought that this old body of mine was about to be left behind by the times."

"But Happy Family took off, and I got to see so many netizens who love acting!"

"Lin Chuan, thank you for giving an old man like me a chance!"

"When I look at you, I see the future of the film industry!"

Hearing Director Hou's earnest words of thanks, Lin Chuan replied seriously, "Director Hou, I played a part in Happy Family's success, but so did all of you—Teacher Xu Xiu and Teacher Ma Wei, too."

"It was your outstanding acting that brought Happy Family to new heights."

"I hope I can work alongside all of you in the future!"

Lin Chuan heard tissues rustling on the other end of the phone. Director Hou seemed to be wiping away tears.

Under normal circumstances, Lin Chuan might have made a joke to himself.

A nationally certified actor was cleaning up a crime scene.

But now, Director Hou's sincerity had moved him. His heart was filled with solemn respect.

Director Hou's voice was a little hoarse, but joy shone through it.

"You deserve the most credit!"

"I'll let you go. I'm off to teach the netizens how to act!"

"Sure."

After hanging up, Lin Chuan stretched.

He hadn't been pretending to be modest earlier.

When Happy Family came out, one viewer had commented that the whole cast was made up of veteran actors.

Even the kid's acting was impressive.

Jianghai City Film Academy had truly been a huge help to Happy Family.

Lin Chuan could never have found so many veteran actors with strong acting skills through his own connections.

Especially Director Hou, who played Perverted Grandpa. His acting was simply incredible.

It didn't look like acting at all.

The actors had made Happy Family a success, and Happy Family had made them stars.

Take Director Hou, who played Perverted Grandpa, for example.

Before playing Perverted Grandpa, Director Hou had appeared in a few classic roles, but he'd fallen out of the spotlight a long time ago.

His fans were mostly middle-aged women around his age.

Oh, and a few acting students.

He'd only had a few thousand Weibo followers in total.

In just three days, Director Hou's follower count had surpassed 300,000.

That was an average of 100,000 new followers a day.

Lin Chuan opened Director Hou's Weibo and saw that he now had 360,000 followers.

Director Hou's latest post had gone up three days earlier, just as Happy Family was released.

[The movie Happy Family, which I acted in, is out! I went to the cinema and watched the whole thing myself, and I'm very happy with my performance!

I hope you'll come watch it with me! Students, if you have any questions about acting, feel free to ask me.]

It was clear from the post that Director Hou hadn't been prepared for his sudden rise to fame at all.

His followers were either older women or acting students at Jianghai City Film Academy.

And Director Hou was the head of the acting department. His favorite thing to do was teach people how to act.

That was why he'd said in his post that anyone with questions about acting could ask him.

Lin Chuan opened the comments and found that the netizens' tone was a little off.

There were young married women in yoga clothes.

A petite internet celebrity with a tiny waist and a curvy figure.

Voluptuous mature women.

They were all asking the same thing:

"Director Hou, can you teach me how to act?"

A question mark slowly appeared above Lin Chuan's head.

?

So this was how you taught netizens to act?

Lin Chuan left the comments on Director Hou's Weibo.

He opened the Gouyan app and checked Happy Family's live box-office numbers.

He took a screenshot and posted it on Weibo.

[Three days after its release, Happy Family has already made 130 million at the box office. Thank you all for your support!]

The netizens quickly left comments.

"Haha, congratulations, Director Lin!"

"The extra amount is exactly The House That Never Dies's box office. I wonder if Lin Gege regrets it now."

"I just realized Happy Family took less than two months to film. Does that mean we might get another Director Lin movie this year?"

As expected, nineteen minutes later, the hashtag #HappyFamilyMakesOver100MillionInThreeDays# climbed the Weibo trending charts again.

Before posting, Lin Chuan had checked the numbers.

Happy Family's share of available screenings was 23.7%.

After the three-day box-office hashtag made the trending charts,

Happy Family's share of screenings rose to 24.2%.

From then on, Lin Chuan planned to keep building buzz for Happy Family.

Before, he'd hoped the movie would make over 100 million and complete the system's task.

Now, he hoped it would make over 300 million.

After the theaters took their two-thirds share, the rest would be enough for Lin Chuan to make the movie he wanted.

Speaking of box-office earnings passing 100 million,

Lin Chuan suddenly remembered that he'd completed the system's task.

So he called to the system in his mind:

"System, where's my S-grade talent?"

[ Ding! The host's film Happy Family has earned over 100 million at the box office. System task complete.]

[Drawing S-grade random talent...]

[S-grade talent: Telekinesis. Sent. Please check.]

Huh?