Chapter 50: The Immense Influence of "The Qin King's Battle Music

"Feifei, Director Cheng is filming a historical piece. If you don't even understand the history being depicted, I'm afraid he won't even give you an audition opportunity."

"I suspect that in his future casting, Director Cheng will only choose artists who understand history."

After hearing Su Chang's words, Liu Xiaoli was stunned, thinking to herself: *Is there really such a thing? Don't they usually select artists based on beauty and acting skills?*

However, since Cheng Sheng had made his hints so obvious just now, it was likely exactly as Changchang said.

"Read history!"

Liu Yifei scrunched up her small face.

Having grown up in the United States, her understanding of Chinese history was superficial at best.

"I'll sell you some history books when we get back. Read them whenever you have free time in the future," Liu Xiaoli said.

"Ah! Mom, can I please not read them? I'm already exhausted from filming. If I have to read books too, I won't even have time to sleep," Liu Yifei said with a long face.

"No arguments."

For the sake of her daughter's future, Liu Xiaoli spoke with a stern face.

Su Chang couldn't help but laugh; her dear friend was going to have a hard time ahead.

"Cousin, do I have to watch it?" Song Zu'er looked up, staring at Su Chang with innocent eyes.

Su Chang patted Song Zu'er's head and said, "Wait until you're older."

Song Zu'er was still young; she couldn't even recognize all the characters yet and had classes to attend. It was a bit too early for her to be reading history books.

Furthermore, it was rare for child actors to be used in historical films.

The day after the premiere ended, Cheng Sheng and the other main crew members began their roadshow in selected cities.

Cheng Sheng first stayed in Beijing for the roadshow. Two days later, after concluding the Beijing leg, he took his team to Rao City, which was also his hometown.

As for the subsequent film distribution, China Film Group was in charge.

China Film released a total of 300 prints, covering almost all the major cities.

When *Titanic* was released, it also only had 300 prints, but because the movie's popularity was so high, they added several more rounds of distribution later on.

Following the premiere, the film was released nationwide at midnight the next day.

Because the reception at the premiere had been so incredible, news regarding *The Great Tang Dynasty: Origins* was everywhere online. The hype exploded instantly, and every piece of information regarding the film became a headline.

Thus, pushed by this wave of excitement, a massive viewing craze formed.

Historical films are typically considered dry, but *The Great Tang Dynasty: Origins* was not; instead, it allowed the audience to become completely immersed in the plot.

Every viewer who walked out of the cinema had a look of lingering contemplation on their face; some even went back into the theater for a second viewing.

Online reviews for the film were exploding; very few people said anything negative about it.

【The National Museum has received a selfless donation from Director Cheng Sheng of the complete musical score for "The Qin King's Array-Breaking Music." Our thanks to Director Cheng Sheng... We also wish Director Cheng Sheng's film *The Great Tang Dynasty: Origins* great commercial success. If you wish to hear "The Qin King's Array-Breaking Music," you can watch this film.】

As the National Museum posted this news online, the hype for *The Great Tang Dynasty: Origins* soared even higher.

The entire nation was incredibly excited upon hearing that the complete score of "The Qin King's Array-Breaking Music" was available.

One must understand that "The Qin King's Array-Breaking Music" was a national treasure of China. Due to the changing of dynasties within China, the musical score had long since disappeared.

Even if fragments of the score existed, they were only preserved in Japan.

This made many Chinese citizens loathe the Japanese.

To have one's own national treasure held by another country—who wouldn't feel resentment?

Now, things were different; they hadn't expected their own country to possess the complete version.

Suddenly, the national sense of pride surged rapidly.

The Chinese people were deeply grateful to Cheng Sheng for his selfless donation of the national treasure to the state.

Since he had done such a good deed, people felt they shouldn't let his efforts go unrewarded. Many who originally had no intention of watching *The Great Tang Dynasty: Origins* went into the cinemas to contribute to the box office.

The appearance of the score also caused the National Museum to be nearly trampled by visitors.

The number of people visiting the National Museum broke through the ceiling, with at least thirty to forty thousand tourists entering and exiting every day.

Although the National Museum made a large profit from this, the sheer volume of people was a problem. After all, the National Museum was not like the Terracotta Army, which could accommodate fifty to sixty thousand tourists daily.

Moreover, these visitors were only locals; people from other provinces were still on their way. If the people from other provinces arrived in Beijing, the number of visitors the National Museum had to receive would likely multiply several times over.

A crisis.

Indeed, after learning this news, everyone at the National Museum felt a massive crisis approaching.

Receiving thirty to forty thousand visitors a day was already nearing their bottleneck. If more people continued to arrive, the staff wouldn't be able to keep up, and it could even lead to overcrowding. If a stampede occurred, it would cause massive trouble.

Out of necessity, the National Museum quickly contacted the police to have them deploy personnel to maintain order.

In order to see the national treasure of the "Qin King's Array-Breaking Music" score, the entire country had gone mad, with over a hundred thousand people entering Beijing every day.

This also caused traffic congestion; whether it was trains, planes, or cars, the roads leading to Beijing were heavily congested.

On the highways in particular, the longest traffic jam lasted seven days. This event was directly featured on CCTV News and became a topic of nationwide discussion.

The authorities had to step in and implement flow control policies.

The film *The Great Tang Dynasty: Origins* also became the hottest topic of the moment because of this.

Even more people flocked to the cinemas to watch the movie.

As for the box office, it grew every single day.

Just as Cheng Sheng arrived in Rao City with his team, he received a call from Third Master Han.

"Xiao Cheng, have you checked the box office?"

Third Master Han's excited voice came through the phone.

"I've been on the roadshow for the past two days and haven't had time to look. Is there a problem with the box office?" Cheng Sheng asked.

"There's a huge problem!"

Third Master Han's words startled Cheng Sheng, who thought: *Could the box office performance be too poor? That's impossible! Based on the reaction at the premiere, the audience should like this movie.*

Furthermore, since the premiere, the film's popularity had remained consistently high; there was no reason why people wouldn't be going to the theaters.

"You kid, you haven't checked the box office at all? This is your first movie!"

Third Master Han was truly speechless. If it were any other director, they would have been glued to the box office numbers; they wouldn't be like Cheng Sheng, who didn't ask about anything regarding the film after the premiere ended.

Cheng Sheng didn't care, but of course, Third Master Han wouldn't leave it alone. After all, the film was distributed by China Film, and it concerned China Film's profits; he checked the detailed box office reports every day.

On the first day, the Beijing box office was over 2 million, the Shanghai premiere box office was around 1.8 million, and including other regions, the domestic first-day box office was over 48 million.

When the first-day box office figures came out, it absolutely shocked everyone in the industry.

Although the guests who attended the premiere had anticipated that the box office would explode, they never expected it to be an atomic bomb!

A historical film earning nearly 50 million on its first day—in the past, no one would have believed it if you told them.

(End of Chapter)