Chapter 175 175 Doubt

Chapter 175: Doubt

Shen Wenjie was the director of *Return Undecided*. To be honest, the moment he saw Liu Rennong’s interview, his mind and heart were seized by rage.

He didn’t understand—this wasn’t his first time directing, and *Return Undecided* wasn’t the first film Liu Rennong had advised him on. So why did *Return Undecided* take such a hard hit?

Shen Wenjie had clearly forgotten that his previous films hadn’t been released during the Lunar New Year holiday season. In terms of production costs and box office, none of his other films could compare to *Return Undecided*.

None of his other films had made huge profits, but the outcome of *Return Undecided* was especially disastrous.

Shen Wenjie had been scrutinizing the contract for a while now. The truth was, just as Liu Rennong had said, there was no clear proof tying him to the deal.

This contract also wasn’t suitable for public exposure—if it were leaked, it would confirm that *Return Undecided* and the theaters had engaged in underhanded dealings. Not only would the theaters face backlash, potentially dealing a devastating blow to the entire film industry, but Shen Wenjie would likely become a target of industry-wide backlash.

And even if he exposed the contract in desperation, it still wouldn’t prove Liu Rennong’s involvement.

Shen Wenjie had no choice but to grin and bear it.

But he was only human—he couldn’t remain indifferent to his situation.

Beyond the contract, Shen Wenjie had also begun working behind the scenes.

Lu Xu hadn’t known about this at first; it was Xu Wen who clued him in.

The moment he heard the news, Lu Xu couldn’t help but look bewildered. “How do you know? Shouldn’t this be something private?”

Xu Wen wore a mysterious smirk.

The truth was, his agent had deep connections in the industry. If Shen Wenjie was making moves, he would inevitably seek out directors or actors who were on good terms with him—and who had also been burned by Liu Rennong before.

These people weren’t necessarily Liu Rennong’s students. You could tell just by seeing who Liu Rennong had favored at a certain point, only to suddenly cut ties with them later.

It wasn’t exactly a scam—just that the path to becoming a renowned director inevitably involved countless hardships, especially for someone like Liu Rennong, whose success was half talent, half connections.

Take Mu Lang, for example, a director Lu Xu had worked with before. Mu Lang’s strength lay more than 80% in his skill, with less than 20% in networking.

Mu Lang was bigger overseas, but not by catering to foreign tastes or kowtowing to them.

As for Liu Rennong… he wasn’t the only director in the industry who had critics—Miao Zhi was one of them—but in terms of influence, he did seem stronger than most.

For instance, Mu Lang wasn’t the easiest person to get along with, so he rarely attended any industry events.

Liu Rennong, on the other hand, was a regular at every major film event. With *How Much Do You Know*, a film that grossed over 4 billion at the box office, his clout as a top director grew even more.

In short, even among renowned directors, there were differences in talent and fame. The most famous directors weren’t necessarily the most skilled.

One industry insider who had once been favored and then discarded by Liu Rennong happened to be on good terms with Xu Wen. Shortly after Shen Wenjie reached out to them, they leaked the info to Xu Wen.

And so… Xu Wen quietly stirred the pot.

Lu Xu nudged his agent with his elbow. “You got something on him?”

His agent, with his innocent, straight-laced look, didn’t seem like the type to have gathered a laundry list of sins committed by Liu Rennong.

“A mix of truth and lies,” the agent said calmly. “Who can prove the dirt I’m spreading is fake?”

Lu Xu silently gave his agent a thumbs-up.

Liu Rennong had made such high-minded claims in his interview, but everyone in the industry knew—with Shen Wenjie’s level of fame, how’d he even get in with the high-and-mighty theater chains?

It's unclear what happened that made Liu Rennong resort to using someone like Shen Wenjie, an "unproven talent."

"During *How Much Do You Know*, there was a bit of this vibe too, but Liu Rennong was better at marketing. The promotions for *How Much Do You Know* were everywhere. After all, Liu is a big-name director, and the film's quality was decent. High screen allocations plus a big-name director's production—few moviegoers would doubt the box office performance." Xu Wen glanced at Lu Xu. "Honestly, from your perspective, could *How Much Do You Know* really have hit 4 billion yuan?"

Lu Xu shook his head honestly.

The agent said, "I share your opinion."

The quality of *How Much Do You Know* was indeed good, but its box office performance didn't justify a 4-billion-yuan scale. In Xu Wen's view, the film's box office should have landed around 2 billion yuan. But 4 billion? Despite the crew's efforts to simulate a natural box office trend, the truth still leaked out.

After all, films with 4-billion-plus-yuan box office earnings are exceedingly rare. The *How Much Do You Know* team had only a handful of examples to imitate, and they couldn't make it too obvious—today mimicking the box office curve of one 4-billion-yuan film, tomorrow copying another's—until they ended up with a Frankenstein’s monster of data.

The audience might not have noticed, but industry folks saw through it.

"So," Xu Wen said, his expression turning serious, "*How Much Do You Know* can only happen once. There can't be a second one. Any more, and it’ll backfire."

"He’s that breed of director—wealth-obsessed."

Since the path to riches through filmmaking faced obstacles, he switched to other methods—whether pushing newcomers or cutting backroom deals with theaters—all shortcuts to wealth.

"And he's very vain," Lu Xu added.

Liu Rennong wanted money but disdained crass money grabs. He craved a good reputation, maintaining his dignity as a big-name director while cashing in.

In that regard, he was smarter than Zhang Zhizhen.

If possible, Liu Rennong preferred to handle things personally. For instance, *How Much Do You Know* was a slick theater-distribution play. But with that success unrepeatable, he had to seek out directors he deemed suitable.

Shen Wenjie was one of them.

...

Lu Xu waited a few days until Shen Wenjie finally posted on Weibo, expressing gratitude to Liu Rennong: "I owe everything I am today to my mentor. Every step of my growth has been guided by his hands-on mentorship."

"Today is my mentor's birthday. I wish him happiness, year after year, just like today."

Shen Wenjie shared a series of photos with Liu Rennong—from the film school campus where Liu gave him mentorship, to Liu personally visiting the set during his first film, all the way to... recently, when Liu introduced him to theater-chain execs.

In the comments, Shen Wenjie also mentioned how he never expected Liu Rennong to keep him at arm’s length. Without Liu, he would never have secured the high screen allocation for *Return Undecided*. "My mentor opened a new world for me, showing me what made *How Much Do You Know*, *Silent Crisis*, and *The Lofty Sunset* hits."

The internet: "..."

Films abruptly dragged into this: [crickets]

In short, Shen Wenjie's statement made the internet realize that *How Much Do You Know* and *Silent Crisis* shared a common trait—their screen allocations during release were suspiciously inflated, to the point where competing crews called foul.

During a film's release, unless it flops catastrophically, most crews maintain decorum, knowing that throwing tantrums just turns off audiences.

But the blatant similarities between *How Much Do You Know* and the other two films were too glaring.

Back then, critics from competing crews were written off as sour grapes. Now, with Shen Wenjie naming names, those who remembered the hype began to wonder—had the fix been in all along?

"Am I the only one who thinks Shen Wenjie's statement is textbook 'V-theory'?"

"Lu Xu: ? Why’s my name in your mouth again?"

"Lu Xu: Why am I everywhere?"

V-theory, as a successful discipline, found its sweet spot in Hollywood drama. Lu Xu’s name rarely comes up, but when claws come out V-theory-style, Twitter can't help but tip their hats to him.

Where would we be without Lu Xu for all this juicy drama?

Shen Wenjie's statement led marketers and gossip-loving netizens to revisit the past, uncovering evidence of the long-term high screening rates for *How Much Do You Know*, *Silent Killer*, and *Sunset from the High Tower*.

"Suddenly realizing that *How Much Do You Know* wasn’t free from criticism—it’s just that it didn’t have a competitor like *Fearless Life* at the time."

"Lu Xu: Oh look, it’s me—*again*."

But netizens found this argument quite convincing.

It was precisely because of *Fearless Life* that *Return Undecided* couldn’t manipulate its box office numbers.

Unless it faked 1 billion yuan on opening day.

But back then, who could’ve predicted that *Fearless Life*—with just 14.7% of screenings—would earn nearly 300 million yuan at the box office?

*Return Undecided* raked in 469 million yuan on opening day, which wasn’t low. If screenings were maintained, fudging the numbers and cooking the books to create the illusion of a 3-billion-yuan film wouldn’t have raised suspicions.

But *Return Undecided*’s seat occupancy was abysmal!

And *Fearless Life*’s screenings had to increase.

With *Fearless Life* far surpassing *Return Undecided* in ratings, word-of-mouth, buzz, and butts in seats, how brazen would they need to be to fake numbers past *Fearless Life*?

Audiences aren’t fools, and they shouldn’t be played for fools.

Somehow, it’s *always* Lu Xu’s fault.

Lu Xu: "*Sigh*. Fine."

*Return Undetermined* crashed into *Fearless Life*’s path, but the other three films didn’t, allowing them to create the myth of blockbuster screenings and earnings—though, in terms of reputation and discussion, they were clearly inferior to other films in the same revenue bracket.

The *How Much Do You Know* team was the first to dismiss the claims as outright lies.

But everyone knows Liu Rennong has cozy connections with theaters.

The other two production teams also refuted the rumors online, claiming their high box office was purely due to quality, calling it "a ‘clean, audience-approved’ hit."

Statements barely dropped before photos leaked of Liu Rennong dining with the film’s directors and theater executives.

Whether Liu Rennong was too lazy or the theaters only had these two executives, the attendees were identical to those in Shen Wenjie’s photos—except for the directors.

"How is this dude *everywhere*?"

"Seriously suspecting there are many such films—hits get branded as *How Much Do You Know* or *Silent Killer*, while failures become *Return Undecided*."

"*Chilling* how predictable this is."

Lu Xu wasn’t in the industry yet when these three films—*How Much Do You Know*, *Silent Killer*, and *Sunset from the High Tower*—were made. Reasonable suspicion: Lu Xu hard-counters Liu Rennong. (Note: In Chinese culture, "ke" refers to a superstitious concept where one person’s luck undermines another’s.)