After the premiere, Tao Mu, the leading actor and producer, was surrounded by overseas distributors with a keen sense of smell and a good ability at spotting business opportunities. And this scene was also photographed by the reporters, and then posted with the title “The premiere of “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” was a big success, overseas distributors scrambled to get the copyrights”.

Counting the promotion and popularity of the TV series, the promotion period of the movie version of “Soldier Elite” spanned almost an entire year, not to mention the national popularity. Especially the upsurge of joining the army some time ago had stirred up a patriotic feeling and desire to join the army in all viewers and netizens. Now “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” was released under the banner of the movie version of “Soldier Elite”, many viewers subconsciously began to pay attention to the outcome of the premiere. Knowing that the film was a great success and was fought over by overseas distributors, these audiences couldn’t help feeling gratified and honored.

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In this state, when some film critics criticized the film for “too much emphasis on commercialization and explosive special effects, and did not dig deep into the hearts of the characters”, the audience did not take it seriously. They just couldn’t wait to watch the movie.

The official release time of “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” was scheduled for September 30th, and the second day after its release was the consecutive seven-day National Day holiday. Coupled with the overwhelming online and offline publicity before the film’s release, everyone could see the ambition of the producer. And that what Tao Mu said in the interview, “The goal is to break the box office record of “XXX”, and the point of the knife aims straight at the top of the box office rankings of Chinese movies”, was definitely not just talk.

Out of trust in Tao Mu himself and affirmation of the IP of “Soldier Elite”, on the day of the film’s release to the public, there were long queues at the ticket outlets of major movie theaters. A reporter squatted at the entrance of the cinema and found that not only young people in their twenties and thirties entered the cinema, but also middle-aged people in their forties and fifties and elderly people in their seventies and eighties. Probably because it was very close to the National Day holiday, many movie fans came out to watch movies with their families. Watching movies seemed to have turned into a holiday pastime.

“Why did you choose to watch this movie?” In the long queue at the ticket gate, the reporter randomly interviewed a gray-haired old man who looked about eighty or ninety years old.

“I am a veteran of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Back then, when FlyNews.com and XX established the charity fund for the veterans of the Second Sino-Japanese War, I was also a beneficiary.” The old man approached the microphone unsteadily, speaking full of emotioms: “I have watched Tao Mu’s “The Great Wall of Flesh and Blood”, I have also watched his “Soldier Elite”. I like this young man very much. I think he can capture the essence of a soldier. So when he made a movie this time, I also wanted to watch it.”

The eyes of the reporter who interviewed the old man lit up. He was keenly aware that this was definitely a news point that could make a big splash. The cameraman kept wandering through the long crowd with the camera on his shoulders, and the reporters kept interviewing fans with their families, especially the elderly fans in their fifties and sixties. It soon became apparent that this was not an isolated case. In fact, on the day when “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” was officially released, many viewers came with the whole family. The movie’s attendance rate reached 100% on this day.

This situation had also attracted the attention of theaters.

“It seems that the national popularity of “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” is not bad!”

“Generally, the audiences who watch movies are between their teens and thirties, and most of them are friends or couples watching movies together. This kind of family group watching movies mostly occurs when animated cartoon movies are released. And the attendance rate is very low. It is really rare for the whole family to watch an explosive action movie with full attendance.”

“There are a lot of viewers in their 60s and 70s. Almost half of the 80-year-old online audience.”

“Have they ever seen a 3D movie? They are already so advanced in years, are you sure nothing will happen?”

Out of certain considerations, many theaters contacted the hospital to prepare ambulances on stand-by in case of emergencies.

Fortunately, this worrying situation did not happen. Two hours later, all the excited audience walked out of the cinema, and some gray-haired elderly people couldn’t help tearing up on the spot.

“I really didn’t expect that our motherland had become so powerful.”

“In my lifetime, I finally saw the day when our motherland can be strong enough to protect us.”

Many veterans of the Second Sino-Japanese War and the elderly who have experienced that era were filled with emotion. When they were young, the country was weak and precarious, the invaders eyed them covetuously, ignoring China’s sovereignty and wantonly carving up China’s interests. The young and passionate people were not willing to be oppressed, even if they were unarmed or equipped with the most lacking weapons, they still chose to fight and resist. In the end, through sacrificing flesh and blood they worked hard to create a bright future for the motherland.

Now that the motherland was finally strong, even if there were wars raging abroad, so long as there was a place where the five-star red flag was raised, it could ensure that the Chinese people could pass through the line of fire safely and return to the embrace of the motherland.

Such a scene, even if it was only seen in a movie, was enough to make one feel gratified.

In fact, there was a very touching scene in the movie theater, that is, at the end of the movie, when the hero and several other special forces raised the five-star red flag and crossed the battlefield, when both sides of the exchange of fire in the movie stopped and watched the convoy leave, in the movie theater, all the veterans of the Second Sino-Japanese War also stood up and saluted the national flag on the big screen.

This scene was also photographed by some viewers with their mobile phones, and then posted on FlyNews.com. Many netizens and media shared it one after another. Even Tao Mu himself and the production team did not expect this phenomenon. But after realizing this, the film publicity department also immediately contacted the media and marketing accounts they had good relations with to actively promote this point——

After all, it was a big production movie made to celebrate the National Day. Of course, the more news that promotes positive energy, the better. Moreover, this kind of publicity entry point could better stimulate the patriotic psychology of the audience, and it was also good for the box office and movie reputation.

It must be said that FlyNews.com’s publicity and marketing department was absolutely top-notch in the industry under the leadership of Tao Mu, and its ability to discover news and hype news was quite impressive. Coupled with the high quality of the film, when the film was just released for four hours, and including the 200 million pre-sale box office, the total box office broke the record of 330 million on the first day. As soon as this data came out, it immediately caused an uproar in the media and the industry. Everyone clearly knew that “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” was definitely a hit this time.

What’s even better was not just this point——because Tao Mu used the banner of celebrating the National Day before the filming crew even began filming, aiming at the National Day schedule, and invested a total of 100 million, as well as joined forces with the military and Beijing Film Academy, creating a great and vast momentum. Coupled with Tao Mu’s consistent good reputation of “Tao Mu’s productions must be high-quality”, many films did not dare to take on the film, and either moved up or postponed their release dates, avoiding the National Day schedule one after another.

So much so that during the National Day period, except for the big production movie “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Sword”, the rest were almost all low-cost movies that could not change their schedule, or relatively dull mainstream art films. This directly led to none of the other movies released at the same time during the seven-day holiday being able to put up a fight. Many viewers were not satisfied after watching “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” once, and had no interest in watching the other movies, so they could only watch it twice or a third time. It directly led to the box office of “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” during the seven day holiday becoming an unstoppable force like a flood bursting a bank, and the attendance rate of each showing completely full. In eight days, the box office of the movie directly broke through 1.5 billion, and instantly topped the box office rankings.

Tao Mu said in an interview before that he would try his best to hit the box office record of the Hollywood blockbuster “XXX”. Many people joked that Tao Mu was talking big, that he had grown an inflated ego after just a little achievement, that he dared to challenge Hollywood blockbusters. But now that Tao Mu had proved his rhetoric with facts, the industry and the media instantly shot out colorful rainbow farts. Practically praising Tao Mu as the hope of the domestic film industry——of course this was actually close enough to reality!

On the second week of the film’s release in China, the film’s box office broke the popularity of the Hollywood blockbuster “XXX”. Overseas distributors who had finalized the overseas copyright with the producer at the premiere ceremony also started releasing “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” one after another. It was screened in East Asia, Southeast Asia, Northern Europe, Western Europe and North and South America.

It must be said that this was the charm of the explosive action scenes in commercial blockbusters. No matter what color you were or what country you were from, whether you could understand Chinese or understand Chinese culture, so long as you could understand explosive scenes and fighting scenes, there was only one word for it——cool.

What was more, the movie “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” was not only an action movie with grand explosion scenes, but also had enough fight scenes that were crisp and neat, and the plot was also very interesting. Based on the script adapted from true stories, the evacuation of overseas Chinese that year also aroused various praises internationally. Now being moved to the big screen by Tao Mu and the main creative team, many international friends could intuitively feel the power of China and the power of China’s special forces.

Now the goal of “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” was not to sit firmly at the top of the box office rankings in China, but to start a record at the international box office.

And this big production movie, which was highly anticipated by the domestic film industry, did indeed live up to everyone’s expectations. Four months later, when “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” was released one after another around the world, the final box office sales exceeded 2 billion dollars. Although it still failed to break the Hollywood blockbuster “XXX”‘s box office record of nearly 3 billion dollars, it still ranked second in the global box office rankings.

For decades, the film industry in mainland China, which had been unable to even rank among the top 100 in the global box office rankings, and whose achievements in commercial films have been very bleak, finally amazed the world in a single brilliant feat.

Like a drop of ice water falling into a hot oil pan, the domestic entertainment industry boiled over instantly. Tao Mu and the main creative team of “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” were regarded by the media as national heroes who promoted the prestige of the country and won glory for the country. All kinds of reports containing gorgeous rhetoric, true feelings, and rainbow fart emerged endlessly. Wang Boyuan and several other actors who participated in this movie could only grin from ear to ear. Director Cheng Baodong, who had always had a grudge against Tao Mu, and later developed admiration for the other during filming, was finally convinced. On the day he received the news, he made more than a dozen phone calls to Tao Mu, expressing his admiration and respect and asking Tao Mu not to change directors when he made “Soldier Elite 2” and “Soldier Elite 3”. It almost annoyed Tao Mu to death.

Originally, they just wanted to shoot a movie to encourage their students, but Beijing Film Academy, which accidentally released such a satellite, suddenly became the star of the industry. In the past, the industry always said that Beijing Film produced actors, but Beijing Film’s actors could not increase the box office ratings. But now there was no such evaluation anymore!

The global box office record of 2 billion dollars, the brilliant record of ranking second in the global box office rankings, a good grade that the Chinese film industry had never scored in decades. And the crew of such an impressive production was made up entirely of Beijing Film students and alums, no one else. And other colleges couldn’t take away such good grades even if they wanted to.

The day the principal of Beijing Film got the news, he asked people from the administration department to collect relevant news reports and put them in the school’s exhibition room. In the name of a celebration party, he even invited the principals of the neighboring Yan Film Academy and the Shanghai Theater Academy to attend. That proud and gleeful face nearly vexed Yan Film’s principal to death.

As the center of the whole vortex, Tao Mu, who single-handedly took on the leading role, producer and investor, was naturally busier than the others. All friends and colleagues in the industry called one after another, congratulating Tao Mu and reminding Tao Mu not to forget them when he made “Soldier Elite 2”. Regardless if it was the lack of investment or the lack of guest actors, they were all willing to participate in some way. Summer Star Entertainment and Longteng Entertainment, who invested in this movie with Tao Mu originally out of goodwill, were now crazily ecstatic. Long Tianao called again and kept urging Tao Mu to hold a celebration party where everyone could gather to celebrate.

Tao Mu readily agreed. It was not difficult to imagine the upsurge this celebration party would cause in the entertainment industry. Tao Mu’s popularity in the circle was originally very good, and when everyone heard that Tao Mu was going to hold a celebration party, almost all the big names in the circle expressed that they would come to join in the fun. Tao Mu couldn’t refuse everyone’s enthusiasm, so he could only agree one by one. And so the final celebration party was even more star-studded than the annual Golden Crow Awards. In an instant, it became another fashion festival.

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And in this carnival atmosphere, the domestic entertainment circle also ushered in another year’s Lingxiao Awards Ceremony. Tao Mu, as the leading actor in the TV series “Soldier Elite”, was directly shortlisted for the Best Actor Award, and “Soldier Elite” was also successfully shortlisted, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, Best Screenplay, and other important awards.

In an atmosphere with almost no suspense, Tao Mu took the whole crew of “Soldier Elite”, as well as their family members, to the award ceremony of the Lingxiao Award.

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As Tao Mu’s first lead actor film, and the National Day tribute movie prepared by Beijing Film and the military, “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” took advantage of the popularity of the TV drama prequel and the most popular variety show of the same name, as well as its large-scale publicity in major provinces and cities, coupled with the great momentum of the film promotion in theaters, to bite off a 55% film scheduling rate in the country’s theaters. This resulted in a pre-sale box office before the release directly breaking the 200 million mark. While shocking the entire industry, “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” also became the most competitive box office dark horse in the eyes of all in the industry. Many media and film critics, including online marketing accounts, have expressed their expectations for the film in various ways. So much so that “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” had not yet been released, but it had almost been claimed by many industry insiders to be the box office champion of this year.

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With this momentum, one could imagine how popular the premiere of “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” would be. With Beijing Film personally standing up to guarantee the film, coupled with Tao Mu’s good relations and popularity in the industry, on the day of the premiere, almost half of the entertainment industry came to show their support. This half of the entertainment industry did not only refer to famous celebrities in the circle, there were more producers who were unknown to the outside world but have a very high reputation and authority in the industry. In fact, even the military and related department leaders were present.

In addition, there were many partners and business allies who have a good relationship with FlyNews.com and the Li family. Although they did not attend the premiere in person, they also supported Tao Mu’s movie by booking a theater and treating employees to watch the movie. More than 60% of the pre-sale box office of “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” which exceeded 200 million yuan was contributed by these people.

“CEO Tao, can you predict the box office of this movie?” Before the movie officially opened, a reporter asked curiously.

“As the leading actor, producer and investor of the movie, I certainly hope that the box office will be as high as possible. Let’s put it this way, one billion is not too little, and two billion is not too much.” Tao Mu joked.

“Then do you think “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” can break the box office record of the Hollywood 3D blockbuster “XXX” last year?” The reporter asked.

As we all know, Hollywood had always been regarded as a sacred place in the hearts of the global film industry. Hollywood blockbusters were also popular around the world, and were often lucrative money grabbers. “XXX” released last year was a typical example. As the world’s first 3D movie, the release of “XXX” not only raked in a box office of nearly 3 billion dollars worldwide, but also set off a wave of 3D movies worldwide.

In the post-production stage of “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife”, 3D technology was also used in order to stimulate the audience’s adrenaline to the maximum. The domestic film industry was actually very optimistic about this film out of trust in Tao Mu’s own production ability. But even so, no one really put the heavy responsibility of breaking the trend of Hollywood blockbusters dominating China’s movie box office rankings on Tao Mu and “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife”. When the reporter asked such a question, it was actually just a routine inquiry, and he didn’t really intend Tao Mu to give an answer that would shock the world.

But the result was, Tao Mu did not take the usual path, and did not choose to answer the reporter’s questions within a safe range, but said very straightforwardly: “Of course I hope that the box office of “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” can break the record of “XXX” last year. A soldier who does not want to be a general is not a good soldier. I believe that all those who shoot commercial films hope to use the box office to prove their works. I am no exception. In addition, if our Chinese movies can regain the top spot in the Chinese box office rankings, I think it would be a great and exciting thing. At least it can show that our local films still have more potential and room for development. We Chinese filmmakers are also making continuous progress.”

“Of course, how far the box office and word-of-mouth of this movie could reach, the audience is the judge in the end. As filmmakers, we just try our best to present the best works we can to the audience.”

These words were vigorous and ambitious. The media reporters who were at the premiere immediately became energized. There was no doubt that Tao Mu’s words would make another headline news that could cause controversy. The reporter who interviewed Tao Mu had already even thought of a title——

“The Unsheathed Blade, Points Straight to Hollywood.” Tao Mu makes a bold statement at the premiere, aiming for the box office champion”

“China’s Elite Soldier vs. America’s Superhero, Who Wins and Who Loses”

“Tao Mu makes a bold claim at the premiere: China should have its own box office champion”

Needless to say the enthusiasm of the media reporters. However, Tao Mu did not continue to answer the questions of other reporters, but found his seat and sat down, ready to view the movie. Also quieting were many film critics and columnists. They also heard what Tao Mu said just now, so before watching the movie, they unanimously raised their expectations for the movie in their hearts. After all, since Tao Mu was able to swear by the Hollywood blockbuster, it proved that the quality of this movie should be really good.

Of course, it didn’t matter if the movie was disappointing after it came out. With Tao Mu’s words just now, they would attract readers and traffic no matter what they wrote.

Outside of the premiere, as the media reporters who participated in the premiere sent their reports back to their agency or directly on the Internet, many movie fans and fans who were waiting for food and looking forward to the movie became more and more excited. Of course, antis had something to say as well. They firmly believed that the quality of the big production movie “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” could not be compared with Hollywood blockbusters at all. Tao Mu was just letting his mouth run to the max, using this sensational way to create momentum for the movie and trick more audiences into the cinema.

Some even ridiculed Tao Mu for “if the quality is not enough, use feelings to make up for it” and deliberately exaggerate the sentiment that “Chinese people should support Chinese movies” with the ultimate goal to lead gullible audiences to watch the rotten movie that was “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife”.

Tao Mu didn’t bother to pay attention to the divergent opinions outside. The lights of the cinema suddenly went dark, and the big screen lit up slightly. After a series of company logos, the credits of various producers and production units began to appear on the big screen, and then the screen flashed, and what appeared in front of the big screen was a very African-style of buildings and streets. Accompanied by a burst of extremely intense and realistic gun battles and blasting scenes, the classic soundtrack from the TV series “Soldier Elite” was heard, which immediately pulled the people in the cinema into the familiar atmosphere of watching the TV series a few months ago. And vaguely gave birth to the excitement of seeing the protagonists again.

The feeling was quite like meeting old friends again.

At the beginning of the film, the background of the whole story was explained. That was, a riot broke out in a certain African country. Zhan Feng, played by Tao Mu, and several other special forces soldiers received orders from their superiors to carry out the mission of evacuating overseas Chinese.

“The scenes are quite big!” Seeing the big scene of house bombing, car bombing and street racing on the big screen, a military enthusiast and columnist who loved action scenes of explosive movies sat up straight, and subconsciously estimated the cost of filming such scenes, and whether the models and usage methods of all the weapons and props that appear in the movie were appropriate.

“I actually see the actors performing the impact of the recoil!” After seeing a certain scene, the military enthusiast’s eyes lit up again. Feeling that no matter what the plot of this movie was, just the opening explosion and action scenes were already full of sincerity.

Another professional film critic looked down at the time and then wrote: “In the first three minutes of the film, none of the main protagonists appeared. But the adrenaline-stimulating plot instantly attracted the audience to continue watching.”

And after a five-minute blasting scene that feasted the eyes and satisfied all fans of action movies, the camera turned again, and a pair of military boots appeared. Following the legs all the way up, the camera finally fixed on Tao Mu’s overly handsome face. The ultra-high-definition and super-large close-up made many audiences and film critics in the cinema involuntarily let out a gasp, and once again felt the visual impact of Tao Mu’s face on everyone.

Some female stars expressed on the spot that this was definitely not any less adrenaline inducing than the fierce gun battle just now.

As a commercial film, the pace of “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” was very fast. Director Cheng Baodong had almost abandoned all the inner character scenes that would make people feel bored. There were no long-winded discussions on human nature, and there was no pretending to be deep and profound. The gist of the whole film was “Don’t be cowardly, just do it”.

However, in contrast with such fierce battles filled with gunpowder and gunshots, when the protagonists either looked up at the night sky calmly under the stars, or chatted in front of the bonfire, or entrusted each other’s back with a few words in a crisis situation, it more so ignited the tears of many viewers. And even sincerely sigh that real war was so cruel, there was no chance to give you the time to make a long confession of true feelings, often people might not be able to say a word even up to the moment of their death.

This kind of commercial blockbuster mainly examined whether the plot and explosion scenes stimulate adrenaline, and the requirements for actors’ acting skills and the theme of the film were relatively not that deep. So the film critics here were relatively relaxed and didn’t think too much as they would with art films.

Because of this, many film critics could concentrate on enjoying the movie from the perspective of ordinary audiences. After becoming immersed in the film, they found that “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” was definitely an excellent commercial film. The pace was fast, the scenes were grand, and the most important thing was that the special effects were not cheap. After watching this movie, it felt like taking a cold shower and eating a big bowl of ice cream on a hot day. There was only one word to describe the feeling, and that was hearty.

So much so that after two hours, the audience who watched the film with full attention were quite disbelieving. It was rare for them to watch a domestic film, and not feel the need to go to the toilet or slip away midway.

“The pace is so fast!”

“The plot is so interesting!”

“Although it didn’t intentionally stir up emotions just for the sake of it, when I saw Zhan Feng and several other special forces holding the national flag and leading the expats across the battlefield unscathed, I actually cried.”

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“When many people cried in despair because they lost their passports, and sang the national anthem to prove that they were Chinese, I also cried.”

Hearing the whispered conversations of a small number of audience members in the movie theater, experienced film critics and industry insiders immediately realized that this movie was definitely going to be a hit!

So immediately after the premiere, overseas distributors who were invited came directly to Tao Mu to discuss matters related to overseas distribution copyrights.

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On the day after the engagement ceremony, Tao Mu woke up with a splitting headache in the sun-drenched bed. Tao Mu squinted his eyes, and subconsciously stretched his arms to the side——the other side of the bed was empty but still with a residual warmth.

The sound of sizzling fried eggs accompanied by the aroma of hot milk slipped in through the crack of the door. Tao Mu took a deep breath, got up from the bed, took a shower first, and then walked into the kitchen trailing the fresh scent of shower gel.

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In the warm and bright sunshine that flowed in through the windows, Li Xiaoheng, wearing home clothes and an apron, was standing in front of the island, mixing fruit salad. Seeing Tao Mu come in, he plucked a cherry tomato and brought it to Tao Mu’s lips. Tao Mu accepted Li Xiaoheng’s feeding with half-lidded eyes, and teased with a smile: “Is our CEO Li such a virtuous wife?”

Li Xiaoheng chuckled lightly when he heard the words, leaned forward and kissed Tao Mu’s cheek lightly, and said with a smile, “Happy wedding.”

Tao Mu was taken aback for a moment, then corrected with a smile, “It’s “happy engagement”.”

“It’s all the same.” Li Xiaoheng said, and handed the freshly fried heart-shaped poached egg to his little fiance, while he brought the glasses of hot milk, sandwiches and fruit salad to the dining room.

After breakfast, an assistant came to the door and brought over the gift money received at the engagement ceremony and the list of various gifts. Li Xiaoheng keenly noticed the names of Shen Chen, Yao Wenxiao, Yan Sheng and others on it. These people were not invited to Tao Mu’s engagement ceremony, but these people still mailed gifts to the venue on the engagement day. The staff responsible for signing for the gifts didn’t know the relationship between Tao Mu and these people, so they accepted the things unknowingly. When sorting out the gift list afterwards, they simply wrote the names on it.

Tao Mu was silent for a moment. Clearly they were people who he had been entangled with for several lifetimes, and he used to have such strong and deep emotions and couldn’t let go, but now when he saw the names of these people, he didn’t even have the slightest emotion.

Too lazy to waste it!

Li Xiaoheng saw that Tao Mu had little interest, so he changed the subject. After breakfast, the two returned to their respective companies to hand over work.

After the engagement ceremony, Tao Mu and Li Xiaoheng both took a long vacation for themselves and prepared for their honeymoon trip. Since the filming of the movie “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife”, Tao Mu had not accepted any new scripts. He also entrusted FlyNews.com and his other companies to Xiao Qi Dad with full authority. All kinds of online and offline conscription campaign promotion in conjunction with the launch of the TV series “Soldier Elite” had also been prepared long ago, and could just be carried out step by step. So Tao Mu’s schedule was easily freed. In contrast, it was more difficult for Li Xiaoheng to move his schedule. After all, the nature of Xiaoheng Capital was not the same as that of FlyNews. The financial market was changing rapidly and as the company’s most authoritative chief trader, Li Xiaoheng must always be in charge of the overall situation.

Fortunately, Li Xiaoheng’s work relied heavily on the Internet, so there was not much restriction on the working space. Therefore, even if Li Xiaoheng and Tao Mu have planned a three-month global trip, as long as there was a laptop and Internet connection, Li Xiaoheng could do both work and honeymoon without delaying the other. Besides, the other analysts and traders of Xiaoheng Capital were also the world’s top high-end elites. With everyone cooperating with each other, they could be considerate of their boss who had been an eternal bachelor, finally settling down with a life-long partner.

In fact, Tao Mu was more interested in the famous mountains and rivers in China than traveling abroad. However, due to Tao Mu’s high popularity in China, it was easy to cause congestion once he appeared in scenic spots and tourist attractions, so in exasperation, they could only travel abroad.

The first stop of Tao Mu and Li Xiaoheng’s honeymoon trip was Bali. Then they traveled to the Maldives, the Aegean Sea and other major honeymoon holy places, and finally went to Antarctica to see penguins.

During this period, the ratings of “Soldier Elite” also jumped from 10% at the beginning of the broadcast to 25%, and finally ended smoothly with the finale breaking through the ratings record of 25.7%. And along with the broadcast of “Soldier Elite”, FlyNews.com and the military have also carried out several activities for conscription publicity. Because of the popularity of the TV series, many netizens began to become interested in the routine training and tasks of the special forces. So FlyNews cooperated with the military to set up a program on individual combat of special forces, also called “Soldier Elite”. It allowed netizens who were interested in the military to see the performance of Chinese special forces in daily training more intuitively.

Netizens were originally attracted by “Soldier Elite” drama, and they already have great enthusiasm and curiosity about real army life. Every night after watching the drama, the eagerly climbed to the forum to discuss the plot, discuss several outstanding characters in the drama, discuss whether the shooting of the soldier training and weapons and props in the drama was realistic or not, and even debated about who the soldier elite and popularity king were in the drama. Even in other forums, as long as there were posts related to keywords of “Soldier Elite” and several main characters in the drama, tall buildings with thousands of floors could often be built overnight. (TN: building=thread, floor=comment)

Now with FlyNews.com and the military making such a publicity effort, these young people who were full of yearning for army life after watching the TV drama signed up to join the army without hesitation. Instantly there was a wave of enthusiasm for joining the army nationwide, and especially the proportion of college students joining the army had increased by 30% year-on-year compared with previous years. This immediate publicity effect also made the military grin from ear to ear.

As the leading actor of “Soldier Elite”, Tao Mu was busy with his honeymoon during the few months when the TV series aired. But in fact, he did not fall behind the promotion of the TV series. Usually when the two of them return to the hotel and Li Xiaoheng was busy watching the stock market in the study, Tao Mu would do a live broadcast or record a video to help the military publicize this year’s conscription policy and preferential policies for college students to join the army. Occasionally, he would make a guest appearance as a travel anchor and food anchor, and introduce the scenery and folk customs of the various places on his honeymoon trip to netizens squatting in front of the computer.

Every time this link arrived, Li Xiaoheng, who was not very talkative and appeared quite cold and even dull on the outside but very passionate on the inside, would put down the work at hand and use various excuses——such as pouring coffee, cutting a fruit plate, picking up something, etc. o just walk back and forth in front of Tao Mu, acting as various background boards for Tao Mu’s live broadcast. This adorableness naturally caused the netizens to squeal, and leave various comments on the bullet screen or make monetary rewards, wanting to have CEO Li say a few words.

“Do you want to say a few words to everyone?” Tao Mu turned to look at Li Xiaoheng. The two were on a cruise ship traveling to Antarctica. It was freezing cold outside and the temperature was too low, so Tao Mu and Li Xiaoheng just nestled in their room, having nothing to do so one worked while the other live streamed.

“Say what?” Li Xiaoheng, who was staring at the computer, raised an eyebrow slightly, walked behind Tao Mu, and bent down to greet the camera. Seeing all kinds of rewards and gifts constantly flying out on the screen. After pondering for a moment, he suddenly reported the name and serial number of an international futures to everyone: “This futures has bottomed out, but it should have a good upward trend in the future. Ceramics who are Interested can consider buying it. Consider this a live stream benefit.”

The originally dense bullet screen comments suddenly stopped. A few seconds later, with a bang, the originally stagnant bullet screen once again densely appeared on the screen, firmly blocking the faces of Tao Mu and Li Xiaoheng.

“Online Guidance by the God of Finance!”

“CEO Li is mighty, CEO Li is the best!”

“CEO Li, do you still lack leg pendants? The kind that has been to college and is a Ceramic!”

Some quick-handed netizens have already gone to FlyNews to confess their love. So netizens who didn’t watch Tao Mu’s live broadcast were stunned to find that in less than half an hour, a FlyNews called “Sexy God Online Trading” quickly became the top trending search. Netizens who didn’t know what was going on but loved to eat melons immediately clicked in to read the cause and effect. Then, some netizens who liked to trade stocks and futures tentatively bought a certain international futures based on the principle of believing in the master.

——It was only a few years since the global crisis in 2008. Many financial products and commodity transactions were affected by the crisis, and the current sluggish situation continued. But Xiaoheng Capital relied on the economic crisis to build its capital with precise short-selling on a global scale. As the founder and chief trader of Xiaoheng Capital, Li Xiaoheng had been keeping an eye on the international market for three years non-stop. Coupled with the help of the memory of several lifetimes, Li Xiaoheng’s trading in the international and domestic financial markets in the recent period was even more unmatched. He has truly become the God of Wealth in the financial market who could  cause clouds and rain with a turn of his hand.

Now that Li Xiaoheng recommended a certain futures to everyone, in the eyes of insiders, it was unintentionally the God of Wealth giving out charity. As a result, waves of individual investors and small financial institutions, and even some large financial institutions directly rushed into the futures market without saying a word, these Chinese individual investors also unintentionally affected investors in other countries. Therefore, under the butterfly effect, a certain futures that had been brewing for a few days before showing an upward trend in Li Xiaoheng’s analysis unexpectedly raised its head ahead of schedule.

Seeing this, everyone further confirmed Li Xiaoheng’s authority as a professional. There were even financial media reports from various countries which frequently reached the top of the headlines in various countries. And the Taoli couple, who were honeymooning far away in the Antarctic, once again realized their headline physique of “although this brother is not in Jianghu, but there are still legends of this brother in Jianghu”.

Because of Li Xiaoheng’s example, in the next two years, there was not only a wave of joining the army in China, but also a wave of fresh college entrance examination candidates applying for the international finance major. And it would directly lead to Xiaoheng Capital as the ideal job offer for a considerable number of finance majors at home and abroad in the next few years. As a result, Xiaoheng Capital, which had only been established for a few years, was able to compete with many established Wall Street financial institutions in its core competitiveness of recruiting talents for a period of time in the future. Even many large companies with abundant funds were constantly looking for Xiaoheng Capital to open accounts, and were willing to hand over their idle funds to Xiaoheng Capital for management.

This unintentional effect was also quite dumbfounding, simply too fantastical. As a result, many colleagues kept complaining in front of the Taoli couple——didn’t you say it was a honeymoon trip? Couldn’t you husband and husband concentrate on showing off PDA, why must you multitask on work and honeymoon, showing off your love and grabbing business from everyone? Especially as due to them being on a global honeymoon, the time zones didn’t even match. As a result, other colleagues had to sacrifice their rest time and work overtime, and always pay attention to Tao Mu’s live streaming, lest Li Xiaoheng released some financial reports on a whim during the live broadcast of his love that might affect the entire market!

However, no matter what their peers complained about, Li Xiaoheng and Tao Mu were very satisfied with the efficiency of their three-month work/honeymoon. This was also the first time that Tao Mu and Li Xiaoheng have been so indulgently intimate and stuck together for a long time since they have been dating for so long.

Three months later, Tao Mu and Li Xiaoheng returned to Beijing after their honeymoon trip, and appeared in front of the public again.

Although they disappeared in person for more than three months, the Taoli couple, who had a strong presence on the Internet, once again experienced the increasingly popular airport pick-up scene. Although Tao Mu himself didn’t know it, why must his fans insist on picking him up and kept coming even though they knew he never accepted airport pickups. Of course this time Tao Mu left through the VIP route without exception.

The Ceramics who had long been prepared were not disappointed at all. Just doing the usual routine of coming and going. And it was actually quite organized. When they got home, they didn’t forget to post the airport photos without the protagonist on the Internet, and very happily entertained themselves. It was euphemistically called “My picking you up has nothing to do with you”, “I just feel that when other stars get off the plane, fans would pick them up, so we can’t let our idol be too lacking in face, otherwise it would make us Ceramics appear very unprofessional”.

This reason was really——

“Alright then!” Tao Mu acknowledged that he was a maverick, and was praised by the media and many in the industry as the most unprofessional actor, and now his fans were also following suit. Sure enough, there was some truth to the saying “fans take after their idol”.

The three-month vacation was not long, but for someone like Tao Mu who had a lot of work, the accumulated work was enough for him to keep busy after returning.

The post-production stage of “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” had been completed. Taking advantage of the popularity of the “Soldier Elite” TV series and the enthusiasm for joining the army, the big production movie had been successfully scheduled for the National Day. After returning to Beijing, Tao Mu immediately devoted himself to the promotion work of the movie “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” after it was finalized.

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Because it was the first film he starred in, and it was jointly prepared with Beijing Film and the military. But most importantly, the filming cost of this film was too high, and Tao Mu was still very concerned about the box office and word-of-mouth after the film was released. So after returning to China, he immediately finalized the promotional policy of “both online and offline promotions” and “taking three routes in TV, network and local broadcasting”. Going into battle in person, flying around with the main creative team to participate in variety shows and publicity promotions, and finalized a series of performances with the military during the National Day. His figure frequently appeared in TV and major media reports, and finally did his job as an actor properly.

In the midst of the publicity campaign by Tao Mu and the main film creators, the eagerly waiting movie fans finally saw the premiere of “Soldier Elite: Unsheathed Knife” arriving.

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Because it was an engagement ceremony, the whole process was much simpler than a wedding. After the two grooms came to the stage, the master of ceremonies invited the elders of both sides to come on stage, briefly introduced the two grooms, and then it was time for the elders of both sides to speak.

As the head of the Li family, even though he had retired now, Grandpa Li still stood up without hesitation. He spent nearly ten minutes expressing to all the guests the excitement of the Li family members that Li Xiaoheng was finally able to marry himself off before the age of 30, and his satisfaction with Tao Mu, his new grandson-in-law. Finally, he blessed the newly engaged couple to grow old together and cross a river in the same boat (TN: idiom meaning to share common interests and help each other towards common goals). And as elders they would try their best to be the strongest backing for the two.

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Since it was Grandpa Li who spoke on behalf of the Li family, the spokesperson for the Tao family was naturally old Mr. Song. Compared with the blood relationship of the Li family, although Tao Mu’s family members were not related by blood, their relationship with each other was equally deep. Especially for old Mr. Song, who had experienced family ruin and death, the existence of Tao Mu was equivalent to making up for the vacancy of old Mr. Song’s son who had died early. Now watching Tao Mu grow up and start a family of his own, it was as if old Mr. Song saw his son grow up and start a family in another time and space, and was very emotional for a while. Finally, of course, he wished the newly engaged couple a happy union for a hundred years.

The next step was the soup drinking. During the traditional wedding ceremony, the newlyweds would drink a formal exchange of cups of wine, but now it was an engagement ceremony, so they replaced this link with the newly engaged couple drinking the “century-old happiness soup” together——in fact, according to the ancestral traditions of the Song family, this bowl of soup should be made by the descendants of the Song family, and personally fed to their newlywed wife. But Li Xiaoheng was not a girl after all and marriage was the union of two families. Old Mr. Song also didn’t want to embarrass the Li family by adhering to the Song family ancestor’s precepts so rigidly.

So this link became the newly engaged couple drinking the soup together in front of all the guests at the banquet. It must be said that Tao Mu’s craftsmanship was really good, and the ingredients of the “century-old happiness soup” were really fresh. The effect of beautifying and nourishing the skin was even more immediate——after the l newly engaged couple who hadn’t slept all night drank the bowl of soup, their complexions suddenly became rosy, their eyes clear and bright, and even their skin seemed to be more radiant.

For a while, the atmosphere in the audience became more and more excited. Represented by the juniors of the Li family, many young people whistled and clapped. There were also people asking loudly below whether the soup was good or not.

Li Xiaoheng put down the soup bowl very calmly, and responded in a calm manner: “It’s delicious.”

Instantly——

The sound of screaming and clapping in the audience became louder and more lively. No one thought that Li Xiaoheng, who was always serious and dull, could be such a good sport and actually responded to everyone’s jokes.

Some guests recorded this scene with their mobile phones, and unable to restrain their eager fingers, they directly uploaded the short video to FlyNews. The Ceramics who had been waiting for the news on the Internet instantly exploded. After watching the short twenty second video, they squealed, liked and shared it, and within half an hour, the related video became a trending search.

Unaware of the uproar on the Internet, the engagement ceremony had already reached the stage where Tao Mu would be singing for Li Xiaoheng. In the Chinese-style ceremony with antique decorations, playing and singing on a piano was actually quite out of place. But this kind of thing was actually not important, what was important was the hearts of the two people involved——Tao Mu himself wrote the lyrics and composed the song for Li Xiaoheng. With the two playing on the piano together at the engagement ceremony, it represented a perfect and harmonious union.

So this video of less than five minutes was also uploaded to FlyNews.com from various angles by the guests present. During the summer vacation, the number of real-name registered users of FlyNews.com had risen to more than 199.9 million, and it was about to break through the 200 million mark. At this time the song that Tao Mu had promised to everyone a long time ago was actually released in advance! Netizens all over the country were so excited that they quickly shared and liked it, and the registered users of FlyNews.com also broke the 200 million mark that night.

It could be said to be two simultaneous happy events occurring in the family.

“Cheers!”

After the ceremonial part of the engagement ceremony was over, the banquet officially began. Old Mr. Song personally taught the apprentices of Song Ji to prepare the wedding banquet. Needless to say, the look and taste of the banquet was first class, and even the peach blossom wine made from the Song family’s secret recipe was met with lots of praise.

Tao Mu and Li Xiaoheng followed behind the two families’ elders, toasting table after table. After listening to many blessings and drinking a lot of wine, the two were already quite tipsy.

After drinking for three rounds, the guests who were still somewhat restrained also let loose. The two groups of relatives and friends who originally sat distinct from each other began to mingle, some wanted autographs and group photos, and some took advantage of their uninhibited state to talk about cooperation and endorsement. Fortunately, everyone still maintained some sense, and they have not forgotten that this was the engagement ceremony of Tao Mu and Li Xiaoheng. In the end, there was no stealing the show and turning this ceremony into a business conference or a celebrity meeting.

Grandpa Li, Father Li and Mother Li had already drunk a little too much. Pulling on Li Xiaoheng’s sleeve, they sobbed with snot and tears, expressing that their grandson/son had finally grown up and found a wife. From now on, they no longer had to worry that no one would want him and he would be a bachelor for the rest of his life.

“…..You have to treat Xiao Mu well!”

Mother Li put her arms around Tao Mu’s shoulders with tears in her eyes: “Thank you for not disliking our family’s Xiao Heng for being old. Let me tell you that an older partner has its benefits, they know how to dote on their beloved!”

Tao Mu supported Mother Li who was already staggering, and gave Li Xiaoheng a helpless look: “Auntie, don’t worry. Xiao Heng is very good, we will grow old together and support each other for the rest of our lives.”

“Call me Mom!” Mother Li continued to hug Tao Mu without letting go, and said half drunk and half pretending: “Although you two are only engaged now, not married yet. But I especially hope that you can call me Mom. I had looked forward to you, my son-in-law, for thirty years.”

Li Xiaoheng: “…..” I’m not yet thirty years old!

Father Li’s ears twitched and he looked at Tao Mu with burning eyes. Immediately afterwards, the rest of the Li family also looked over. The atmosphere suddenly quietened. Even the other guests who were drinking and chatting with each other slowly noticed the atmosphere over here and gradually quieted down.

Being watched by so many people, Tao Mu looked at Li Xiaoheng a bit uncomfortably. Li Xiaoheng also looked at him with gentle eyes. His eyes were full of anticipation and tenderness.

Tao Mu pursed his lips nervously, and called out in a low voice, “Mom.”

Mother Li’s eyes lit up, and she responded quickly: “Ai!”

Then she took out the red envelope she prepared in advance from her exquisite small handbag, and directly stuffed it into Tao Mu’s hand: “From now on, we will be a family. I will treat you as my own son. Treat you better than Xiao Heng.”

Before these words even fell, Father Li also asked eagerly: “Then what about me?”

Tao Mu had already called out “Mom”, although his face was burning hot, so he gave up the fight and called “Dad” as well. Immediately afterwards, Grandpa Li and other immediate family members also came over.

Seeing this, Li Xiaoheng took the initiative to call old Mr. Song and Liu Yao and Meng Qi “Grandpa” and “Dad” before they could even speak up.

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Because of this wave of changing family titles in advance, everyone in the Li family was particularly excited and toasted another round of wine towards the newly engaged couple. By the time the engagement ceremony was over, even Tao Mu, who had always been a good drinker, and Li Xiaoheng, who had never gotten drunk before, were also staggering drunk. The two families worked together and sent them back to their new house.

At that time, the two were already fast asleep. Even so, their two hands were tightly held together, and couldn’t be separated no matter what.

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After being forced by Xiao Qi Dad and Mother Li to attend for half a month’s worth of appointments in the beauty salon, Tao Mu and Li Xiaoheng finally made it to their engagement, despite all the unscrupulous media outside claiming they were “getting plastic surgery for love”.

The day of the engagement ceremony was also full of chaos. Li Xiaoheng had it a little better, but Tao Mu was woken up by old Mr. Song at four o’clock in the morning. Because of the Song family’s ancestral traditions, on the day of their wedding, the men of the clan have to cook for their wives a “century-old happiness soup”. It symbolized that the couple would live together for a hundred years.

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According to old Mr. Song, the engagement ceremony was not a marriage wedding, and Tao Mu didn’t need to make the soup himself. But Tao Mu was familiar with the Song family’s family traditions, and also regarded this engagement ceremony as very important. So he insisted on getting up early to make the soup. Old Mr. Song couldn’t hold back his grandson, and of course he wanted to see the Song family’s family traditions carry forward in Tao Mu’s hands. So Tao Mu was woken up ungodly early that morning.

The so-called “century-old happiness soup” was actually made with lily, goji berry and black chicken. Stewed slowly in a pot, the chicken was stewed until it was tender and practically melting, and the broth had a clear layer of oil on the surface, with the fragrance of lotus peas and lily filling the room. It could help with dryness, invigorate one’s energy and replenish one’s blood, moisturize the skin and prevent aging, as well as nourish the brain. It could be said to be a must-have supplement for the women in the Song family’s inner courtyard. Of course, it was also very suitable for Li Xiaoheng, an old leftover man who was getting older and often needed to work overtime in front of a computer screen.

Because time was precious, Tao Mu had to ask a makeup artist to help him do his makeup and styling while he kept watch on the bubbling broth. As the owner of a film and television company with the most potential in China’s entertainment industry, Tao Mu’s team of makeup artists was of course the best in the country. Before, they had tailored several classic looks for the hero and heroine of “Fashion Storm”, and was later signed by Tao Mu to his film and television company. So they have also seen big scenes.

However, no matter how savvy these make-up artists were, they had never seen the flashy operation of making soup while doing make-up on the day of one’s own engagement ceremony. The camera team of FlyNews.com followed the whole process, and felt that this family tradition of the Song family was particularly worth mentioning.

“Not only handsome and rich, he can also cook? Who wouldn’t want to marry such a man!” The employees of FlyNews.com sighed for the Nth time, feeling that Xiaoheng Capital’s CEO Li was just too lucky to catch their boss.

Mr. Li, who was particularly lucky, was so excited that he didn’t sleep all night. He just tossed and turned restlessly until the next morning. That fairer complexion from a rigorous beauty regime when paired with two big dark circles made him look like a panda indeed.

“Panda spirit turning into a human? In my brother Mu’s heart, our Eldest Brother is definitely more precious than any national treasure.” The little sister of the Li family joked with a smile as she watched her eldest brother obediently let makeup be put on him by his mother in front of the dressing table.

As soon as this was said, all the Li family members laughed out loud. There was quite a kind of old comfort in the family that “the eldest son and grandson who have been in stock for a long time was finally cleared”.

Second Brother Li tugged at the sleeves of Li Xiaoheng’s robes, and said with a smile, “I think Eldest Brother looks handsome in the bright red ceremonial robes.”

Because of old Mr. Song’s proposal, the two children’s engagement ceremony was finally decided to be held in the Chinese style. So on the day of the engagement ceremony, Tao Mu and Li Xiaoheng would enter the venue wearing red auspicious ceremonial robes. Since graduating from high school, the Li siblings have never seen their eldest brother wearing clothes other than a suit. Now they suddenly see their eldest brother wearing an old-fashioned groom’s robes. Everyone felt it was very novel.

Li Xiaoheng, who had always been taciturn, was even more speechless under the surrounding eyes of his whole family. Fortunately, this kind of zoo enclosure feeling did not last long. Right on time, the two families rushed to the engagement ceremony together.

The venue of the engagement ceremony was a five-star hotel owned by Fengxing Group. In fact, according to the thinking of the Li family, since they knew of old Mr. Song’s heart knot, they proposed to hold the engagement ceremony in Song Ji.

But old Mr. Song declined. He could understand the kindness of the Li family, but out of practical considerations, the two families had too many guests, and security issues had to be taken into consideration, so the Song family’s courtyard was actually not suitable for such a venue. Besides, the Li family had agreed that all procedures of the engagement ceremony would be handled according to the traditions of the Song family. Old Mr. Song reciprocated in kind, and also wanted to make the Li family look good. So since the format of the engagement ceremony was according to the Tao family’s idea, it was fair that the venue was chosen at the Li family’s hotel.

At 11:58 in the morning, the engagement ceremony officially began.

The big red carpet had been laid from the entrance of the hotel to the scene of the engagement ceremony. The original luxurious European-style banquet hall had been redecorated in an antique Chinese style. The guests of the two families sat on the left and right sides respectively——on the left were mostly Tao Mu’s friends, friends in the entertainment industry, and some business partners connected with FlyNews.com. Star-studded big names filled the room. It was comparable to the award ceremony of the Golden Crow Awards. On the right, most of them were old friends and business allies of the Li family, and basically every one of them had been featured in financial magazines.

The group of famous celebrities sitting in the guest section on Tao Mu’s side whispered: “…..Why do I suddenly have the illusion of participating in a film crew’s investment promotion meeting? It feels like all the investors, advertisers and organizers are sitting opposite.”

The old friends who were sitting in the guest section of the Li family were also commenting: “…..It’s like attending the awards ceremony of a film festival. Zhou Yanqing and Fang Ruoti and other Hong Kong stars also came. My daughter likes Zhou Yanqing very much. Say, should I go over later and ask for an autograph?”

The members of the Li family and the elders of the Tao family who were sitting at the close family table smiled from ear to ear. Grandpa Li triumphantly cupped his hands at old Mr. Song: “Congratulations to the in-laws.”

Old Mr. Song also smiled back: “The same to you!”

Mother Li took Xiao Qi Dad’s hand and sighed: “My son is incompetent. He was so excited last night that he didn’t fall asleep. When we came over together this morning, there were big dark circles under his eyes. What a waste of the more than half of a month’s worth of beauty care.”

Meng Qi just smiled: “It’s okay. Xiao Mu also woke up very early today. He was making soup for Xiao Heng. Century-old happiness soup, it has beautifying and health benefits.”

He continued: “Xiao Mu’s mother-in-law, you can rest assured to hand over your son to Xiao Mu. Although our Xiao Mu is young, he knows how to cherish others. He will definitely treat Xiao Heng well.”

Mother Li smiled widely: “I am assured of Xiao Mu’s character. Don’t worry about it, Xiao Heng’s father-in-law, our Xiao Heng will also treat Xiao Mu well.”

The chatter of the two elders was overheard by the guests in the seats next to them. The group of people stared wide-eyed in disbelief. They never expected that Li Xiaoheng, who looked rigid and serious, was actually the one below.

No wonder the Li family’s relatives and friends section was arranged on the right in this engagement ceremony! And the old gentleman of the Li family had boasted of Li Xiaoheng’s ability this time, that he was able to bring such a good granddaughter-in-law as Tao Mu home. Now it seemed that this grandson of the Li family was indeed capable. But it was not the ability to bring a good wife home, but the ability to find a good husband to marry off!

The celebrity friends on Tao Mu’s side also winked at each other secretly. When Tao Mu was filming before, Li Xiaoheng often came to visit the set, and they all saw the interaction between Li Xiaoheng and Tao Mu. At that time, they thought Li Xiaoheng was the one on the top. They really didn’t expect it…..as expected of Mr. Tao!

Not knowing that the unintentional chat between the two parents had caused such a big misunderstanding. Tao Mu stood in the waiting room with a solemn expression. He was so nervous his palms were sweating. Standing next to him, Li Xiaoheng, who was also very nervous, was keenly aware of his little fiancé’s emotions, stretched out his hand and quietly wrapped it around Tao Mu’s palm, and asked warmly, “What’s wrong?”

“It’s fine!” Tao Mu shook his head slightly, and under the wide hem of his robes, he clasped his fingers with Li Xiaoheng’s, palm against palm, and whispered, “I’m a little scared.”

Don’t know what was going on, but Tao Mu was very calm when he was making soup and putting on makeup, and he was also very calm when they drove all the way here. But once he entered the hotel, his heart began beating very hard. Standing in the waiting room now, he was even more nervous. His knees felt a little weak, and he dared not take a step.

“Me too.” Li Xiaoheng clenched Tao Mu’s hand tightly, and responded, “But I’m no longer afraid when I see you. Because I know that no matter what the future looks like, you will be by my side.”

As long as you are here, even if the future is unknown, I will not be afraid anymore.

Tao Mu turned his head to look at Li Xiaoheng, feeling the warmth of Li Xiaoheng’s palm and his firm gaze, he suddenly smiled too.

“You’re right.” Tao Mu nodded and said with a smile, “I’m not afraid anymore.”

In the banquet hall, the master of ceremonies shouted loudly: “…..Next, let us invite the two grooms to come on stage.”

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Under the wide robes, Li Xiaoheng tickled Tao Mu’s palm with his little finger. The two took a deep breath at the same time. Under the eager and blessing eyes of all relatives and friends, they walked out of the slightly dim waiting room and entered the banquet hall step by step.

Behind the two, their shadows stretched and then merged into one. Accompanied by the light from overhead, it flickered slowly following its owners. At that moment, it seemed that the shadow that had been imprisoned for a long time finally broke free from its fate and walked towards a new life.

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“Hahahahahaha…..”

“What the hell’s plastic surgery for love, those gossip reporters are too good at making up stories.” That night, Tao Mu, who finally dug free from the deep pit of beauty care, was called out by Long Tianao on the phone to attend hia pre-engagement stag party. Also attending the party were Tao Mu’s relatives and friends, such as Da Mao, Xiao Pang, Feng Yuan, the Yun siblings, Gou Rixin, Qin Miaoru and gang. Even many celebrities who live far away in Hong Kong have freed up time to come to Beijing to join in the fun.

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As the host of the party, Mr. Tao, who had just been exposed on the Internet for “doing plastic surgery for love”, was unsurprisingly met with inhuman ridicule by everyone at the dinner table.

“Let me tell you, these reporters dared to act so boldly because your two families are about to hold an engagement ceremony, and can’t send a lawyer’s letter at this juncture.” Long Tianao laughed until tears flowed out: “Do you want to think about letting loose your Lawyer Zhou from FlyNews.com to scare these gossip tabloids who don’t know what’s good for them?”

“Forget it.” Tao Mu shook his head, and handed over the engagement ceremony invitation to Long Tianao: “You also said it, during such a happy event, I’m too lazy to bother with them.”

While talking, Tao Mu took out the exquisitely crafted invitation letters from his schoolbag and distributed them to everyone one by one. Long Tianao took the invitation letter, read it over and over several times, and eagerly asked Tao Mu if he wanted to do something exciting on his last single night.

Tao Mu didn’t bother to respond to Long Tianao’s immature suggestion. He was a man with a family now, and while he could celebrate leaving the single life, there was no need to mess around.

“The longer you live, the more you are like an old antique!” Long Tianao shook his head exaggeratedly, and said with a sigh: “You have such an old-fashioned mindset, and you also senselessly stepped into the grave so early, what a waste of your attractive pretty face.”

Speaking of this, in fact, many of Tao Mu’s friends found it incredible. It was completely incomprehensible that Tao Mu, as a boss worth tens of billions, insisted on plunging headlong into the deep pit that was the Li family at such a young age, rather than enjoy a few more years of single life. With an engagement ceremony at the age of twenty, looking at this trajectory, who knew, he might even get a marriage certificate as soon as graduation?

Long Tianao beat his chest and sighed, “If I had your face, most of the entertainment industry would be my harem, okay?”

Tao Mu: “…..” Enough of you!

After fooling around with his group of friends for most of the night, when Tao Mu returned home, Li Xiaoheng had already filled the tub with bath water for him.

“So wifely?” Slender fingers nimbly unbuttoned the shirt as their owner, Tao Mu leaned against the door of the bathroom, glancing at Li Xiaoheng sideways. The look in those eyes was particularly seductive.

“I can be even more wifely.” Li Xiaoheng smiled slightly, and simply walked over and held Tao Mu’s slender fingers, doing the rest for their CEO Tao.

Tao Mu chuckled, and directly pulled their CEO Li into the bathtub.

When Tao Mu woke up again, the night was pitch black, and it was already the evening of the next day. There were dots of neon lights coming in through the gaps in the curtains. The TV was on in the living room, old Mr. Song, Liu Yao and Meng Qi were sitting side by side on the sofa eating fruit while watching “Soldier Elite” which had just started broadcasting.

It was now the end of June. Since “Soldier Elite” was a military recruitment promotion drama co-produced by Tao Mu and the military, the main audience target was students from middle school to university. Therefore, the broadcast schedule of “Soldier Elite” was naturally arranged during the summer vacation, and it would be broadcast at 8pm in the National TV’s golden slot time.

This was also Tao Mu’s first drama as a leading actor in the past three years since his debut. So as early as half a month before the broadcast, FlyNews.com and BulletScreen.com conducted a massive publicity campaign with the national channel. From the launch of FlyNews homepage ads to the scrolling of clips on the TV station to the main push of the homepage of BulletScreen to FlyNews’s lottery activities, it was ensured that all viewers who watch TV online could know the broadcast time of “Soldier Elite”.

Such a huge publicity campaign directly caused the ratings of the first episode of “Soldier Elite” to break through 10%. The smooth rhythm, tight plot and humorous lines coupled with the sexy soldier big brothers, and the rush of adrenaline stimulation was not what those sweet and glamorous idol dramas could bring. Even the young ladies and housewives who clamored that they were not interested in military dramas were reluctant to take their eyes off and sat firmly in front of the TV. Not to mention the male audience who already liked watching this kind of TV series.

By the end of the second episode, the ratings of “Soldier Elite” had risen to 10.5%. Among the top ten online real-time searches, three were entries related to “Soldier Elite”. By this time, everyone could say with certainty that this military recruitment promotion drama, which the military and most people in the industry have placed high hopes on, had lived up to expectations and detonated this year’s summer vacation.

When Tao Mu came out of the bedroom, there was a scene on TV where the hero played by Tao Mu entered the new recruits company. Because of his heavy idol baggage, he was instigated by the recruits of the same company to compete with the instructor, but was brutally face-slapped by the instructor.

In order to enrich the plot, the personality of the hero played by Tao Mu was set as a husky who was never cool and handsome over three seconds but was reliable at critical moments, while at other times, all kinds of chaos would be stirred up by him because of his idol baggage. In the early stage of the plot, it was lighthearted and humorous, while in the later stage, there were tears and razor blades, but the final ending was happy. It belonged to the coming of age story genre involving learning and growing up in the midst of chaotic humor and reality checks.

At that time, Tao Mu asked the screenwriting team to go to the army to conduct a survey, and they ended up writing a total of three versions of the script. One of the versions was a documentary style similar to “The Great Wall of Flesh and Blood”, another version was an upgraded style that was more inclined to online feel good webnovels, and the last was a slightly hot-blooded second year junior high syndrome style.

As a result, after the three versions of the script came out, the entire crew discussed it for several days, but still could not make a decision. Tao Mu asked everyone to revise according to the plot outline, and combined the three versions of the script, and finally decided on the current version. In the early episodes there were candies continuously given out while in the later episodes the candies were replaced with razor blades. The plot mainly focused on leveling up and fighting monsters with a romantic subplot, which was a comprehensive upgraded version that moved closer to the k-drama style.

It had to be said that this kind of slightly suspended plot was very suitable for the appetite of audiences in the age group of 17/18 to 25/26 year olds. Specifically, during the commercial period of the first two episodes, many netizens logged into FlyNews and Tieba to discuss the TV plot, actively searched for information on the several main actors, and military fans also posted on professional forums to praise and recommend this drama for those interested in fighting and guns, etc. There were even some Ceramics who felt that the hero of “Soldier Elite” was more handsome than Tao Mu, and abandoned Tao Mu to become fans of the hero.

But what Tao Mu didn’t expect was that even their own old man was one of them.

For example, now——

Old Mr. Song glanced at Tao Mu who slept the whole day away and said with disgust: “Can’t you learn from Zhan Feng, look at how energetic this young man is. Unlike you who laze at home, becoming rusty at such a young age.”

After making a movie with blood, sweat and tears, Tao Mu, who had just returned home for less than a week: “…..”

Even Liu Yao, who had been supportive of him all the time, agreed with old Mr. Song and nodded: “I also think Zhan Feng is more handsome than you. Zhan Feng is manly, while you have a little white face.”

Tao Mu: “…..” Just who the hell forced me to go to the beauty salon for whitening?

Meng Qi also took a look at Tao Mu, and said with a little disgust: “Why do I feel that Zhan Feng’s figure is much better than yours. Have you indulged in the past few days after you came home? You didn’t keep up maintenance on your figure?”

Tao Mu: “…..”

Tao Mu, who was full of indignation, didn’t dare to get angry with his elders, so he could only go to their family’s CEO Li to complain about his grievances. As a result, their CEO Li asked calmly while ladling porridge for Tao Mu: “Honey, did you bring back Zhan Feng’s combat uniform when you came back from wrapping up the film?”

Tao Mu: “…..”

Li Xiaoheng said with a little regret: “Speaking of which, when I went to Africa to visit you at the beginning. Seeing that you were so tired, I didn’t want to exhaust you even more. It’s a pity, you were the mature version of Zhan Feng at that time. You were even more sexy than you were in this drama.”

You c an fi nd t he la te st cha pte rs at ( th e bl mu se . c o m )

In Li Xiaoheng’s words, he dared to have a trace of regret and disappointment! As if he had missed out on a million dollars!

Tao Mu: “…..”

Tao Mu didn’t want to talk to their CEO Li anymore! Tao Mu drank three bowls of porridge angrily, then threw the empty bowl and spoon to Li Xiaoheng! Tao Mu fiercely returned to the bedroom and closed the door with a bang!

Men were all big pig trotters!

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