A Stone Thrown and a Dog Barked

Chapter 79 Smashing Stones and Barking Dogs (Third Update)

He Yi'an then turned to the blog of another public intellectual, "Zhang Ming".

His title was more direct: "The 18-Year-Old Speculator Master".

"He Yi'an's greatest skill is not making movies, but speculation."

"He has reopened and pioneered a path of tender storytelling on top of the already developed narratives of suffering, showing us the possibilities beyond the suffering stories of China that Western judges wanted to see."

"It contains not only real suffering, but also packaged 'warmth'."

"He also knew what kind of works were wanted domestically—not sharp criticism, but gentle praise. So he pleased both sides with a bowl of hot soup."

"It's not scary that someone as young as 18 can manipulate the rules so skillfully. What's scary is that we actually idolize such a person as a genius."

O

He Yi'an looked at the screen, tapped his fingers on the keyboard, and then stopped.

He Yi'an was actually mentally prepared for the public opinion landscape in China at the beginning of the century, having already gained some initial experience while filming his previous movies.

However, He Yi'an couldn't help but lose his composure at such an arrogant stance of going against the official stance.

Are you guys really always this brave?

Is it because they provide more dog food from overseas, or do they bring their own dog food out of love?

Whenever He Yi'an thinks about these things, he still misses the Milk Dragon of 2025. At least he really cut off those people's lovey-dovey posts. After that, the internet became much quieter.

However, given the current situation, it's unrealistic to expect to completely reverse or eliminate them.

But to expect He Yi'an to completely refrain from resistance, as if he were made of clay?

After thinking for a moment, he took out his phone, opened Richard's number, and dialed it.

The call was answered quickly.

"Boss? I just arrived in Los Santos and you're already calling. Is there something you need? Or does the publicity for Paranormal Activity need to be changed?"

"Richard, you've worked hard. There are no problems with the publicity for 'Paranormal Activity.' Just do it according to our previous plan and make sure the movie is released before Halloween."

OK!

"In addition, there is another matter. The Kung Fu Panda project cannot be stopped. Since DreamWorks needs to wait, we can push forward on our own side first."

"What new idea has the boss come up with?"

"I'll send you some of the artwork and story drafts via email. Find some artists and college students to turn them into comic stories and spread them out to build an audience. If it's successful, then we'll have more say in the matter —"

"Boss, you're a genius! I told you, you should come to Hollywood. The Chinese market is too small!"

"Alright, this needs to be done as soon as possible!"

"Boss, don't worry, I'll get right on it!"

"There's one last thing—I'll give you some names and photos. See if you can try to check their overseas assets, especially those in the United States—whether they have any tax records—well, that's all."

After hanging up the phone, He Yi'an scrolled through his phone, read some of the text messages, and then deleted them.

After a while, another flood of text messages came in.

He Yi'an selected a few replies, deleted them all, and then saw Liu Yifei's message.

"You big liar, congratulations! You really won Best Director!"

"He Yi'an, the Tianlong crew is so boring, there aren't many familiar faces. But Changchang came today, but she's not in my group."

"Let me tell you, yesterday my mom and I suddenly heard geese calling at night. At first, I didn't know what it was—but I realized it after seeing my mom's reaction!!!"

"You men are so wicked!!! (Don't reply to this)"

"Hmph, especially you, you big liar and scoundrel, a lecherous scoundrel who can't even refuse when surrounded by women! (Don't reply to this message)"

This has become the standard procedure for He Yi'an and Liu Yifei's text message chats.

Liu Yifei, I don't know where she learned this method, would post what she wanted to say, then delete it, and then forbid him from replying.

His replies were all just standard, stock phrases and greetings.

This made He Yi'an feel uncomfortable when he faced her online.

After thinking for a moment, He Yi'an got a mischievous streak and typed directly: "Little Best Director, you've got it~ Also, when did I have two women on my left and two on my right? Have you been watching me all this time?"

"Oh, Sisi, I had no idea you were paying so much attention to me. Tell me, what are you up to?!"

"Tell me, are you planning to ambush me?!"

Click to send!

After waiting a while and seeing no reply, He Yi'an guessed that she was either still filming or still sleeping, so he exited the text message page.

He then took out his spare phone and started scrolling through his contacts. He Yi'an clicked on a number that didn't have any notes and dialed it.

"Mr. Han, this is He Yi'an—yes—I have seen your article, it's still as sharp as ever—but the way you wrote it has made me offend all the directors across the Taiwan Strait and Hong Kong by myself—"

"Haha, it's nothing, I just wanted to ask what you think of my suggestion that you leave the Daily News and go solo?"

"—It's alright, I'll say it again, if you're short of funds, I can sponsor you some—of course, we won't be related, and this funding has nothing to do with me—"

"Okay, if you'd like to do it, you're welcome anytime!"

After hanging up the phone, He Yi'an sat down again. Now was not the time to retaliate.

He needs to wait, wait until Richard can find something, wait for public opinion to build up, wait for the clowns who should jump out to do so to make a clean break, otherwise he'll just be stuck with these people like glue.

My phone vibrated again. This time it was a text message from Yu Feihong: "Brother An, some people in Hong Kong and Taiwan have also jumped out. Do you need my help?"

He Yi'an frowned, then refreshed the news page, and soon another interview was released.

In the video, a Hong Kong and Taiwanese filmmaker with graying hair faces the camera, speaking arrogantly: "An 18-year-old kid made a film that glorifies the mainstream ideology, and he actually won Best Director at Venice?"

"This only shows that film festivals have lost their artistic judgment and have become political tools."

A reporter off-camera pressed, "Have you seen this movie?"

The man paused for a moment, then waved his hand: "No need to watch it. Even a fool could tell what kind of trash this movie is."

He Yi'an recognized this person, who was known for daring to speak the "truth".

Of course, his "truth" has always been on the opposite side.

He then opened another link, this time to Zhu Yanping, a director from Taiwan.

The director, who had made the "Good Boys" series of commercial films, looked at the camera with disdain: "Saying he's the number one youth leader is all just bragging!"

"What artistic value can mainland Chinese films have? They're either glorifying or playing the victim. He Yi'an just took glorification and made it a bit more sophisticated. Westerners haven't seen this kind of thing before, so they thought it was novel and gave it an award. If I made it, I could have won one too."

He Yi'an didn't even bother with this kind of person and continued scrolling down.

Hong Kong film critic and columnist Lin Pei-li also published a commentary in Ming Pao titled "The Decline of Venice": "Venice awarded the Best Director award to an 18-year-old mainland Chinese who made a film praising the system. This is not an artistic choice, but a political one. With Gong Li as chairperson and mainland films winning awards, the exchange of interests is obvious to anyone with eyes to see."

"Even more pathetic is that this teenager shouted 'Let the dogs bark again' on the podium," such arrogance and vulgarity were actually touted by mainland media as "personality" and "genuine character."

"What kind of values ​​are these? What kind of guidance is this?"

"This is tarnishing the image of all Asians!"

He Yi'an read through the comments one by one and finally understood why Han Sanping had personally called him to tell him about these public opinions.

The current public opinion environment is indeed terrible; even if he wanted to speak, he had no channels to do so.

It's difficult to judge what will ultimately be conveyed and how it will turn out if something is said through a reporter's mouth.

No wonder that news item appeared in this morning's newsletter.

It's likely that many people at the top have been unhappy with those guys for a long time.

-

However, China is still too big, and the number of people who pay attention to something as small as movies is extremely small.

At the same time, this text message did not actually set the tone as Han Sanping had hoped, but instead allowed public opinion to ferment further.

This was compounded by someone maliciously praising He Yi'an to undermine other filmmakers.

This completely caused an uproar in the domestic film industry.

After the new article set the tone this morning, public opinion not only failed to calm down, but instead became more divided and spread due to the fierce reactions of public intellectuals.

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