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At his wife's urging, Chen Chengrong finished the entire bowl of noodles.

Then his wife said, "How about we sell the house too? We can rent a place for now. That should help us scrape together some money, right?"

Chen Chengrong shook his head. "Even if we sell the house, it still won't be enough. We already sold the car, and we've borrowed from everyone we could... If it really comes down to it, I-I'll sell the foundation plot back in my hometown too."

Chen Chengrong gritted his teeth, but his expression was filled with reluctance.

The plot back in his hometown had been left to him by his parents. It was one of their keepsakes, carrying too much of his past—memories of his childhood, every little moment he had shared with his parents. The place was small and run-down, yet it was Chen Chengrong's refuge whenever he was exhausted. If he could, he wanted to keep that old place for the rest of his life. How could he bear to sell it?

But funding for the film was insufficient now, and he had no other choice.

When his wife heard that, she urged him not to sell it either. He would definitely regret it afterward, and buying it back would not be so easy.

"Is there really no other way?" his wife asked. "What about those people who invested in your films before? Shouldn't you try looking for them...?"

Before she could finish, Chen Chengrong's face darkened. He immediately said, "No. They're the ones who ruined my movie! There's no point in looking for them... We parted on bad terms over what happened before. It was no different from completely falling out. We haven't been in contact since. What's the point of looking for them now?"

In truth, Chen Chengrong had already sought them out in private. But if the result had been good, he would not be worrying like this now.

He had called them and humbly begged for investment, but they had proposed demands and conditions he could not accept—stuffing people into his movie again.

Without even thinking, Chen Chengrong lost his temper and cursed them out on the spot. How could he possibly secure investment that way?

But after hanging up, he could not help feeling a little regretful.

Then he remembered what had happened before, and that trace of regret immediately vanished without a trace.

He had become famous early. Though young, he was extraordinarily talented, and he had never lacked flowers or applause along the way.

He treated films and scripts as though they were his own children. Perhaps he was not even as meticulous with his children as he was with filmmaking.

He pursued perfection in the scripts he chose, and during filming, he was even more thorough and rigorous. From the arrangement of a set to an actor's makeup, from a single line of dialogue to a single word, he watched over everything constantly. If anything was even slightly wrong, it had to be redone.

Once, when the construction of a film set did not match what he had envisioned, he personally built it himself and even injured his hand. But he was immensely satisfied with the final result.

If an actor's makeup was unacceptable, it would be redone. If it was still unacceptable, he would replace the makeup artist, continuing until it achieved the result he wanted.

He demanded strict standards of himself and scrutinized every detail, even to the point of being excessively picky. He was the same with others—if anything, even harsher.

Quite a few actors who had worked with him privately said that he had an odd temper and was difficult to get along with. Yet they had to admit that Chen Chengrong was capable. That was precisely why every film he directed had achieved tremendous success.

One of his films had received very little investment, yet earned an incredibly high box office after its release. Through word of mouth and spontaneous audience promotion, the film became a massive hit. It also pushed Chen Chengrong's name to the peak, sending his reputation soaring. Wherever he went, people respectfully called him Director Chen.

Even passersby said that any film produced by Director Chen was guaranteed quality, and that they would definitely go to the theater to support any movie directed by him.

The name Chen Chengrong had become a mark of quality, a symbol that any film he made would be popular and good.

For that name alone, regardless of how the movie turned out, they would at least have to go see it.

Back then, Chen Chengrong had been glowing with success. He had practically reached the pinnacle of his life. He did not need to seek sponsors or investors; bosses would come to him waving money. He did not need to look for actors either; countless people who wanted to appear in his films would come forward to recommend themselves. Nearly every aspect of his life had reached an ideal state.

So Chen Chengrong had been full of ambition and confidence when he planned to produce a script he had carefully polished for a long time. This film was aimed at winning awards. As soon as news came out, before anyone even knew what the script was like, many investors had already stepped in wanting to fund it. Many actors also sent him résumés, recommended themselves, and even wrote letters or filmed short videos in hopes of earning an opportunity.

At that time, Chen Chengrong's mind and heart were filled entirely with his work. He strove to make every aspect the best it could be, so naturally more funding was needed.

But just as he had prepared everything and begun filming with high hopes, the investors started forcing people into the cast. There were men and women alike, and they demanded additional scenes, demanding important roles in his film. If he refused, they would pull their funding.

More than one investor made such demands. The production team had already been formed and filming had begun. It could not simply stop at will, or it would be a breach of contract. Besides, there were so many people on the crew waiting to make a living, as well as issues like the actors' schedules.

Chen Chengrong was proud and had no desire to compromise. He thought that if they wanted to pull their funding, then so be it—he would just seek other investments. But misfortunes never came alone. Around that time, his family's car accident happened. In an instant, he was overwhelmed with problems and desperately needed money.

On one side was filming the movie. On the other were his parents' funeral arrangements and caring for his wife and daughter in the hospital. He was heartbroken, miserable, and exhausted, crushed until he could barely breathe. How could he have had the energy to argue over whether the investors were forcing people into the cast?

He also had to borrow money for his wife and daughter's treatment, so he began running back and forth between the production set and the hospital.

He went between the hospital and the set, filming whenever he could find the time. But midway through filming, his wife's condition became critical at one point. He could not sleep through the night, consumed by worry and hardship. How could the movie possibly continue under those circumstances?

In the end, Chen Chengrong could only temporarily hand the heavy responsibility of filming over to the producer at the time. He told him to keep a close eye on the crew, monitor the actors' performances, and not let them arbitrarily add plotlines or scenes. If anyone started getting ideas, he was to rush to the hospital and inform him.

The producer had agreed readily enough in front of Chen Chengrong, but once Chen Chengrong left, things changed. The producer took control, was bought off by the investors, secretly altered the script behind Chen Chengrong's back, and added scenes. When Chen Chengrong called while caring for his wife, the producer even guaranteed that everything was normal and nothing was wrong.

Later, after his wife was out of danger, Chen Chengrong wanted to return and continue filming. But he suddenly discovered that no one listened to him anymore. The crew only listened to the producer and no longer recognized him as the director. Everyone had been blinded by the immediate benefits before them. No one had even told him about the altered script.

It went without saying that the film was ruined.

Yet when the film was released, his name was still listed as the director.

So at that time, he was viciously condemned.

Isn't every film from Director Chen supposed to be guaranteed quality?

Isn't every movie Chen Chengrong made supposed to be a hit and worth watching?

They went to watch it. They went to support it. But what was the result?

That movie was a pile of shit. No matter how pretty or sweet the packaging was, it could not conceal the fact that it was still a disgusting, unbearably foul-smelling pile of shit.

Everyone who walked out of the theater cursed and swore. Some could not even stand it long enough to finish the movie and left halfway through, because it was simply too terrible. They genuinely could not keep watching. Watching any longer would be pollution for their eyes and an insult to their intelligence.

What the hell was this supposed to be? The plot made no sense, the story was a mess, and the characters went insane for no reason at all. There was no logic whatsoever. Most importantly, what kind of actors had they hired? Their acting was dogshit! They smiled happily during crying scenes, their lines were stiff, and their expressions unnatural. A random passerby dragged in off the street might have acted better than the actors in that movie.

What was Chen Chengrong doing? How could he have made a movie like this?

The audience felt deceived, so they swarmed online to curse him out.

In truth, some people in the film had fairly decent acting skills, and the plot was not quite so terrible that it had shattered into pieces. There was still a bit of a core to it.

But this film had been directed by Chen Chengrong. Before filming, he had even declared that it was made to win awards and would definitely, without question, be an excellent film. Naturally, this made netizens place enormous expectations on it. Even ordinary people had heard about it and formed the intention to go see it in theaters.

As the saying went, the greater the expectations, the greater the disappointment. They had all gone in believing they were about to watch an exceptional movie, only to discover afterward that it was garbage. The immense gap created by that naturally made them furious. They felt they had been tricked into the theater to be fleeced, wasting both time and money. If they did not curse Chen Chengrong, who else would they curse?

The more famous Chen Chengrong had been before, the more successful and radiant he had seemed, the more viciously the entire internet turned against him then.

Some said he had been corrupted by investors and had ruined his script by hiring a bunch of people who could not act, all for money. What carefully crafted, polished over many years? Bah. It was nothing but a cash grab.

Some said this film was the Waterloo of his life, that he had run out of talent and wanted to make a quick profit before he could no longer produce good movies.

Others said Chen Chengrong only knew how to brag. Win awards? More like win a Broom Award.

This film instantly became a stain on Chen Chengrong's life.

Some claimed that he had gotten carried away after making films for so long. He had been surrounded by flowers and praise all the way, achieved success too easily, and made a hit with impressive box office from the very first film he shot after graduation. He had never stumbled afterward. After earning too much money, he began indulging himself, sinking into extravagant spending and losing the determination he had once possessed when making films. He had joined forces with investors, crammed people into the cast without caring whether they suited the roles, randomly added scenes, and turned the plot into a complete mess. That was why the film was destined to fail. They even declared that Chen Chengrong might never make a good film again, and that this was the point where his life began to decline.

At the time, many people online agreed with and liked those words. They all believed Chen Chengrong had definitely gotten carried away.