Chapter 622: Chapter 622

Li Zimu’s face changed dramatically as he discerned the hidden implication in Wen Ningning’s words, "If you leave the team now, you will have to pay a penalty for breaching the contract!"

Wen Ningning retorted, "Does the contract not state that every team member should be protected and their interests pursued? Has JY done that? The contract mentions that all members must attend events unless specifically excused, has JY managed to do that?"

Li Zimu, "Ningning, special situations require special treatment, and this is just a special situation."

Wen Ningning chuckled coldly, "Don’t talk to me about special situations. I’m just a disposable piece to you, to be used or thrown away at will. Whatever manipulations you have in mind, count me out!"

"Everyone has changed, all of you! The JY we have now is no longer the JY we started out with, especially you—Li Zimu. If JY dissolves because of this, it’s all on you. You and Zhang Yingru harmed He Jinxia, you’ve ruined us all!"

Li Zimu felt his heart pound heavily, his legs went weak, and his fists clenched tight. Had Wen Ningning discovered something?

Why... why did she have to single out He Jinxia in the end? ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ NoveI(F)ire.net

No, she couldn’t possibly have found out. All traces had been erased; she saw nothing specific, no one would know, no one!

Wen Ningning saw Li Zimu’s face turn pale instantaneously and a hint of triumph flashed in her eyes.

Of everyone in the team, Li Zimu was the one she envied most. Why should she get to be the team leader just because she was good at pleasing Zhang Yingru, when she, Wen Ningning, was the actual winner of that singing competition back in the day!

Indeed, the several cups of water Li Zimu had asked her to give to He Jinxia must have been problematic; otherwise, she wouldn’t be so guilty!

Wen Ningning hadn’t thought much of it initially, but so many things had happened during that period last year, and Li Zimu’s behavior towards He Jinxia had been odd. Forcing herself to remember, she began to suspect that there had been something wrong with the water.

He Jinxia was Li Zimu’s Achilles’ heel!

Wen Ningning sneered, "What goes around comes around. It’s not that it won’t be avenged, just that the time hasn’t come yet. Li Zimu, you know very well what you’ve done!"

No sooner had she finished speaking than she saw Li Zimu beginning to lose balance.

Wen Ningning felt even more elated.

Her mouth spread into a silent grin as she turned and left the dance studio, a cold gleam crossing her eyes.

Now that they were at odds, she didn’t mind making things worse. Why should she be the only one to suffer!

Meanwhile, He Jinxia had taken the cold medicine that Sister Xiao Hua had gone to several stores to find and started to feel drowsy and ready for sleep.

Just as she was about to rest, Luo You called her.

Luo You, "Xiao Hua mentioned you’ve caught a cold?"

Luo You, "How do you feel, is it serious?"

He Jinxia, "I’m at the point where I don’t even want to talk to you."

Luo You, "...," he was left speechless.

After a moment of silence, Luo You continued with careful instructions, "Don’t talk, just listen. Right now your throat doesn’t hurt, it’s just that your voice is hoarse. If it gets worse, your throat might become inflamed.

If it turns into tonsillitis, it will be very tough on you, and such inflammation can easily lead to a fever, which you should be wary of.

Also, you should drink more water to promote metabolism and detoxification, eat three meals a day on time, remember to take your medicine after meals, don’t think about evading it, go to bed early at night, don’t stay up late, and a reasonable rest schedule will help speed up recovery..."

Mommy Luo instructed her about many things, which made He Jinxia so drowsy that she was about to fall asleep again before Mommy Luo brought up another important matter.

"’Crash Through the World’ will be taken down in two days, hitting exactly thirty-five days on screen. It showed some promise at the beginning, but lacked follow-through. Its box office rapidly declined later on, so there’s no chance of extending its run, just like regular films with about a month in theaters.

The box office results are already clear, and two days won’t make much difference. After all, this film has been bringing in only about a million a day for a week straight, and as time goes on, its revenue continues to slide."

Luo You talked about the performance of ’Crash Through the World,’ "The current total box office stands at 4.153 billion. In the next two days, at most it will increase the last three million to five or six million, but the tens of millions at the front won’t change much, unless someone goes on a massive ticket-buying spree, but there’s no need for that."

He Jinxia perked up a bit, her voice raspy as she asked, "Is this box office performance okay?"

Luo You’s answer was straightforward, and it sounded like he had analyzed this film extensively, "Not especially good, but not bad either. In terms of investment for the film, this box office ensures a return on investment.

After all, it isn’t a special effects movie, and it makes minimal use of such effects. I’d reckon the most advanced technology employed in the whole film was the editing to put your face on another actress, and that’s probably the most expensive effect used in the film.

It’s just that the promotional expenses for the film’s later stage were too high. I heard that two billion was poured into it. With such a massive promotional budget, the box office looks rather ordinary."

He Jinxia pondered for a moment and nodded, feeling it made sense.

Compared to ’World,’ ’Crash Through the World’ couldn’t compete in terms of promotional efforts, but it did have about half the promotion that ’World’ had. Yet it didn’t even gain a third of what ’World’ made just in the Huaxia region; this had to be acknowledged as a failure.

Of course, the disparity in quality between actors and scripts played a role in the different outcomes.

Although the box office for ’Crash Through the World’ was mediocre, it had still broken the 3-billion mark, entering into the realm of premium films, and He Jinxia was quite happy about that.

She had acted in a total of three films. The first, ’Chen Xiaohui Keep Charging Forward,’ was her debut, which had sparked a social trend and had been discussed for a long time when it was released.

Her second film was ’Eighteen Years Old Sky,’ which got nominated and won an award at the Berlin Film Festival.

The third film she shot was ’Crash Through the World,’ released during the holiday season. Unlike the previous two, her screen time in ’Crash Through the World’ was not extensive, as it was just a few minutes, and all her scenes were shot against a green screen.

But since she was a part of it, it could just about be counted as her third film.

Many actors struggle to be part of even one high-quality film, and yet she had managed to be in two such films not long after shifting careers. This added an impressive note to her acting resume and would give her some leverage in negotiations with directors or investors in the future.

Suddenly, He Jinxia had a thought and asked, "Do you think ’Crash Through the World’ has a chance of being nominated for the Venice Film Festival?"