WBSGVS Chapter 236 V1

Just as He Tianzhu expected, after the preview screenings, praise flooded the internet, so much so that netizens started to doubt its authenticity.

These days, there are no more movie ticket subsidies, so every ticket is sold at full price. A single movie can cost dozens of yuan, and on top of that, it takes at least two and a half hours to watch—not everyone is willing to waste both time and money like that.

As a result, comments started popping up like:

“This has to be fake, right? How much did they pay for those glowing reviews? Now I don’t even want to go see it.”

“Yeah, same… I’ll just wait until we get some real word-of-mouth. I’ll go watch that crime thriller tomorrow instead—it just came out today, didn’t have time to see it, but I heard it’s not bad either.”

“Still, I’m probably going to go. I mean, Shen Shen’s in it!”

“Girl above, you go see it first and tell us what you think! Ugh, I don’t want to waste over two hours on a so-so movie. If Liuli had made this as a TV show instead, I’d watch it right away—at least I wouldn’t have to leave the house.”

The film sparked heated discussion online, mostly centered on the two leads. But because it was a realistic drama, not fantasy or action, its box office performance on the first day (July 7) was just average. Respectable for its theater allocation, but far below what all the online hype had led people to expect.

This result gave He Tianzhu, who had been starting to feel a little threatened, a bit of comfort.

He’d been skeptical all along—how could Su Qingli go from TV dramas to making hit films now? If she managed to attract a major actor like Shen Shen, the story must be good, sure, but still…

Then, on the night of July 7, something unexpected happened. Everyone who saw the movie started raving about it online:

“I was wrong! I never should’ve doubted the hype. It’s that good. Seriously!”

“Highly recommend! Adults, go see this movie! Shen Shen is as brilliant as ever, and the female lead is amazing too. I cried, omg…”

“GO SEE IT!!!”

“I’m so sorry. I thought this would be one of those melodramatic love triangles—‘I love you, but you don’t love me’ type stories. But it turned out to be my own story. Watching it felt like watching my life. For the first time, I hated Shen Shen’s character—but I couldn’t bring myself to hate him, because I still loved him… Please, go watch it. Trust me. It’s so worth it!”

Thanks to all this grassroots promotion, the second day’s ticket pre-sales visibly surged.

By the third day, online feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Very few people were still skeptical. For those who’d seen it, there was only one thought in their minds:

“Adulthood Affairs is GOAT!!!”

As word-of-mouth took off, so did the box office. Theater occupancy remained high, and even without Qingli asking, theaters voluntarily increased their screening share to 25%.

Originally, Qingli had planned to push back against Serious Crimes to grab more showtimes. But that film had a production budget of over 300 million yuan, and investors weren’t about to let it flop. They were pouring money into marketing, and its early box office looked decent—so for the moment, it was hard to shake.

Even so, Adulthood Affairs’ performance surprised everyone.

Especially when, by day three, it had already pulled in 500 million yuan, surpassing Serious Crimes, which had been hyped to the moon. And that film had triple the promotional budget Qingli spent.

As per tradition, the production team released a celebratory poster after hitting 500 million. As soon as it dropped, it went viral, landing on trending searches and bringing in another wave of attention.

By the fifth day, Adulthood Affairs was still performing strongly. So many people were trying to get tickets that theaters couldn’t keep up with demand. Meanwhile, Serious Crimes started losing steam. The aggressive marketing couldn’t sustain audience excitement, leading to plunging attendance and slowing ticket sales.

From day three onward, Adulthood Affairs consistently ranked #1 at the box office, with an astounding 85% occupancy rate. Qingli finally succeeded in forcing Serious Crimes to give up 5% of its screening share.

That news made the trending list again, and the public started to see who was truly on top.

When a movie gets showtimes pulled—unless it was a total sleeper hit that flew under the radar—it usually means the market has decided it’s not worth watching.

So if you’re going to the movies, of course, you should pick Adulthood Affairs!
Look how long it’s been out, and the word-of-mouth still hasn’t dropped!

Liuli’s fans were bursting with pride, recommending the film to anyone they met.

“Our queen can write and direct! Come see what she made!”

And those who already disliked He Tianzhu took the opportunity to mock him:

“Ever since He Tanked became a flop, it’s like his creativity dried up with him!”

That same day, Serious Crimes saw a 30% drop in ticket sales compared to the day before.

Now, He Tianzhu felt that familiar chill, like being crushed by Su Qingli again. But unlike television, where the market is broad and forgiving, the film world is cutthroat. Most people only watch one movie per weekend.

With all the buzz going to Adulthood Affairs, what did they have left?

Although Serious Crimes had initially backed off from promoting again, now they had no choice—they were back on the publicity circuit.

Meanwhile, Adulthood Affairs was still on its promo tour.

With the whole main cast available, Qingli continued taking them from city to city to push ticket sales.

Serious Crimes, which had premiered one day earlier, was doing the same. Both groups were crisscrossing airports for events, and by chance, they ran into each other in a VIP lounge.

Qingli didn’t notice at first.

Ning Xi was working on lyrics for a new song, and with all her experience from historical worlds, Qingli had developed a strong sense of language and a musical ear. The two of them were deep in thought, collaborating on songwriting.

It wasn’t until Producer Zhang quietly nudged her that she looked up, then glanced away, uninterested.

She was planning to siphon off another chunk of Serious Crimes’ screen share in a few days. The movie had lost momentum, and with its current screening rate dropping, it was headed for losses. Based on how much they’d invested in production and marketing—roughly 400 million yuan—they’d need at least 1.2 billion at the box office to break even.

Right now, they were only barely hitting 600 million. Losing screenings was already a major blow.

So, she’d keep pushing—why not make their loss even bigger?

While Qingli went to the restroom, a sharp, passive-aggressive voice rang out behind her as she washed her hands: