Finally, all forces fell silent, and no one paid any more attention to Jiang Rushuai.
There were no traces of smuggled salt transport boats on the riverbank.
At some point, government-supplied salt at normal prices reappeared in the streets and alleys, and the once desolate streets gradually regained their vitality.
Jiang Rushuai stopped his horse at the bridgehead, looking at the crowds passing by below, his face expressionless.
The haze above these people temporarily dissipated, but after the clouds surged, new dark clouds gathered their strength.
Perhaps when they wake up, the powerful and wealthy will still be powerful and wealthy, and the world will still belong to the emperor, but the common people will be nothing, simply dying and returning to the soil.
Jiang Rushuai knew that day would eventually come, but all he could do was briefly brighten the sky here.
The power of a few people is ultimately too insignificant.
Jiang Rushuai shook his head, pulled on the reins, and urged the horse forward.
Ahead, Shen Jue was also riding a horse, waiting for Jiang Rushuai's arrival.
"Walk?"
"Okay, let's go."
At the end of the story, the reason why Jiang Rushuai was willing to get involved was roughly explained. Only then did everyone realize that the brief fight scene at the beginning of the story was not just to explain the characters' identities and backgrounds, but to explain the cause of the event from the very beginning.
The little girl's father was originally a fisherman on the river, but he was forced to surrender his fishing boat due to smuggling by officials, and ended up in an even deeper and more desperate situation. Jiang Rushuai deliberately called the villain "Zhang Lin," a river bandit recently hunted by the government, from the very beginning, which actually represented his determination.
How could Jiang Rushuai not know that the government was searching for someone everywhere?
He appeared with "Zhang Lin's" head, so he was bound to be targeted.
So from the very beginning, he was just acting.
He Miao also noticed that Jiang Rushuai already had a small string of copper coins strung together around his waist. The director had given it a close-up shot when his clothes were flying during the fight.
Now, tracing back all the clues, everything has been traceable all along.
Perhaps Jiang Rushuai had done many similar things while working as a thief catcher, and the copper coins on his waist were silent witnesses to all of this.
However, all of this is left to the audience's endless imagination.
The film has ended.
The parents, still not finished talking, gathered together to chat about martial arts movies, and incidentally, they talked about the actor Pu Rong, and then about that past event.
He Miao couldn't wait to take out her phone and recommend the movie to her friends on WeChat Moments.
He Miao was not the only one to do this after the release of "The Thief Catcher".
"The Thieves" is being recommended by viewers at an alarming rate.
【Family members, go see the thief catcher! (Screaming wildly)】
【I declare that the best movie of the year has been revealed!】
【Everyone, go see "The Thief Catcher"! Don't make me beg you! Please, please, you absolutely must see it!】
【I'm going crazy, I'm going crazy! How can the Chinese entertainment industry still have such amazing action scenes? They seem to have some kind of "action scene awesomeness syndrome"! It's so exhilarating! I haven't seen action scenes like this in ages! I really want to kowtow to the production team!】
...
A small island in the sea.
As soon as Lin Yu'an stepped onto the island, he was bumped into. He fumbled in his pockets, then turned sharply to Xu Ning beside him and shouted, "That guy was a thief!"
Xu Ning's eyes narrowed, and she quickly caught up with the fleeing, thin man.
"Bang--"
He showed no mercy and took the man down with a flying kick.
Lin Yu'an quickly jogged over.
Xu Ning stepped on the person on the ground, turned to look at Lin Yu'an, and said with great impatience, "Didn't I tell you to keep your cards safe?"
Lin Yu'an smiled wryly: "I don't know how this guy managed to bring a razor blade to the island. He slashed my clothes."
Seeing this, Xu Ning didn't say anything more, bent down, took out the card, and handed it to Lin Yu'an: "Take it."
Lin Yu'an took the card, glanced down at the person on the ground, and stammered, "Is this person—dead?"
Xu Ning glanced at him sideways: "No."
Lin Yu'an pondered for a moment, then said, "Keeping him alive is also a potential problem. Let's tie him to the tree. If he encounters other people, they can't blame us."
Xu Ning shrugged indifferently: "No need for that trouble."
He then found the razor blade hidden on the thief's body, lifted the thief by the head, and, amidst the thief's terrified and pleading eyes, ruthlessly slashed a bloody gash across the thief's neck.
Blood splattered instantly, some even landing at Lin Yu'an's feet. Lin Yu'an took a step back and quickly scanned his surroundings: "Are you crazy? There are eyes everywhere here."
Xu Ning lowered his eyes, slowly wiping the small blade in his hand, and said coldly, "This guy is shady; keeping him around is a threat. Killing him is the safest option."
Lin Yu'an choked.
"You'd better adapt to the pace of life here as soon as possible."
Xu Ning's tone was calm, yet inexplicably carried a hint of mockery.
"Otherwise, you will definitely die."
...
Today's filming has come to an end. Director Ren is very satisfied with Xiao He and Liu Zehang's performance and is going to treat everyone to coconut juice.
Xiao He found a shady spot to sit down, holding a coconut. From afar, he saw a woman wrapped up tightly walking towards him from the other end of the path.
I don't even need to look to know that this must be Sister Liu.
Xiao He quickly told Xiao Chen to go and get another coconut so that he could prepare it for Sister Liu.
"call--"
Liu Rulan had just sat down when she drank a few sips of coconut juice. She then took the small fan that Xiao Chen handed her and used it to blow cool air on herself.
Xiao He asked, "Sister Liu, what's wrong?"
Although Liu Rulan is Xiao He's agent, he doesn't need her to follow him to the film set every day. So, Liu Rulan has been spending most of her time at the hotel lately, handling other matters for Xiao He.
Xiao He was somewhat surprised to see Liu Rulan come to see him this time.
“Of course it’s a good thing.” Liu Rulan took off her sunglasses, a ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) smile in her eyes. “The movie ‘The Thief Catcher’ has been released and is doing very well.”
Xiao He: "Oh."
Xiao He was well aware of the quality of "The Thief Catcher" and expected it to achieve good results, so he was not surprised.
But clearly, he underestimated the significance of Liu Rulan's words "very good".
Liu Rulan noticed Xiao He's indifference and slowly added, "The box office revenue has already reached 20 million, and the numbers are still soaring."
Xiao He's eyes widened instantly, and he turned to look at Liu Rulan: "Twenty million?"
The revenue sharing of online movies is somewhat similar to that of theatrical films; both are ways to measure the commercial value of a film, but the sources of income and revenue sharing mechanisms are different.
Box office revenue sharing is mainly composed of members' effective viewing time, number of paid subscriptions per film, product placement, and pre-roll ads. Essentially, it is a revenue sharing arrangement between the platform and the film production company based on the paid subscription results.
Because of its low risk and high flexibility, this method is attracting more and more young directors, and even members of established directors' teams are coming out to gain experience. In recent years, online movies have been gradually developing towards a high-quality "theatrical" feel and striving for higher revenue sharing.
However, to date, the highest-grossing online movie in terms of revenue sharing is a tomb raiding-themed online film that earned 56 million yuan. Although the production cost of this film was in the tens of millions, it ultimately broke the historical record for online movies in China, becoming the highest-grossing film in terms of revenue sharing.
Although some online movies later broke the 50 million mark with the support of platform resources, there was still a gap, and no outstanding online movie has yet broken the 60 million mark in box office revenue.
As for a box office revenue of 100 million, that would probably have to be at least a phenomenal success, something that has never happened before in history.
Now, "The Thief Catcher" has earned 20 million yuan in box office revenue in just three days since its release, which is an astonishing figure.
To put it simply, that online movie about tomb raiding took six days to reach the 19 million mark, while "The Thief Catcher" surpassed that goal in just half the time!
While the rate of increase does not necessarily represent the final box office result, such a pleasing trend has undoubtedly given everyone a lot of confidence.
