Chapter 1190: 1189 movie causes trouble

This was Liang Lu’s first movie to hit the big screen, so it needed solid promotion. Tan Rou asked Tao Zheng to contact some entertainment journalists who were good at writing articles, and prepared some videos already shot for them to help promote Liang Lu online.

For a time, the buzz around Liang Lu’s movie completely overshadowed other big-budget productions. One movie that claimed to have spent five hundred million had a box office return that did not surpass Liang Lu’s film, which had cost only tens of millions to make. This infuriated the director of the other film, who arranged for people to dig up dirt on Liang Lu online with the intention of getting her movie pulled from theaters.

The most scandalous dirt about Liang Lu was her own family background, with a gambling biological father and a biological mother who had been a prostitute—secrets Liang Lu could never share with others.

However, very few people were aware of these issues, except for relatives and friends from her hometown and her adoptive parents.

In the past few days, Tan Rou had been closely following the news about Liang Lu’s new movie. Since Liang Lu claimed that Tan Rou had changed her life, Tan Rou felt a deep connection to this film.

If Liang Lu hadn’t met Tan Rou back then, if Tan Rou hadn’t taught her to study, Liang Lu would now be ruling the streets as a gang leader, perhaps already killed by a random act of violence.

Tan Rou was fond of Liang Lu, perhaps because she had known loneliness herself, so she could deeply relate to Liang Lu’s feelings. Whenever Liang Lu was set to shoot a new drama, Tan Rou was always the first to invest. She liked making money, but seeing her family and friends happy meant even more to her.

Initially, Tan Rou made money to improve her family’s living standards, investing in the stock market with Li Li to give her a happier life. Now that she was wealthy, she naturally did her utmost to help her friends, as her family no longer needed her assistance.

Tan Rou was browsing movie reviews online and would have created an automatic positive review program to post on the internet if Liang Lu hadn’t forbidden it. This program would be dedicated to generating favorable reviews for Liang Lu’s movie and boosting its ratings.

Seventy-five percent of internet users praised the movie, fifteen percent didn’t find it very appealing, while the rest considered it average.

Tan Rou specifically sought out comments that praised the movie. Many netizens had a talent for analyzing plotlines and guessing characters’ motivations. They seemed to have gleaned the psychological detail scripted for the characters as if they had actually read the screenplay.

She enjoyed reading them, and when she came across a particularly good in-depth review, she even shared it with Liang Lu.

Liang Lu was thrilled that people understood her intentions, but what excited her even more was making money. The film had made a substantial profit, recouping its costs within four days of release. If it continued to perform well, she was sure to make a fortune before it left the theaters.

Tan Rou was also glad to see Liang Lu making money but reminded her to be cautious about what was said online and to not give anyone a handle to use against her.

Liang Lu was already aware of this, so all her online comments were positive. Even if someone criticized her movie, she accepted it with grace.

As long as she avoided conflicts with netizens, there shouldn’t be any problems.

Before going to sleep that night, Liang Lu read a few more posts analyzing the movie’s plot, then went to bed satisfied.

The next morning, Liang Lu was woken up by her phone ringing. It was Tan Rou calling.

“Liang Lu, don’t panic about what’s happening online. Lu Qing is already on it, and I’ve asked him to investigate,” Tan Rou said urgently. “You should call Lu Qing right away and see what he has found out.”

Liang Lu was still half-asleep. She yawned and asked, “Tan Rou, what are you talking about? I don’t understand.”

Tan Rou asked, “Haven’t you seen the negative news about you on the internet?”

Liang Lu suddenly remembered something that happened during her first year, “Don’t tell me someone is bringing up my parents again?”

“No, it’s about your grandparents. They’ve made a video accusing you,” Tan Rou said.

“What?” Liang Lu gasped, and after a moment she asked, bewildered, “My grandparents made a video to accuse me? Why?”

“They’re calling you unfilial, saying you haven’t been home since your parents died. They also mentioned that your grandfather is sick and needs a lot of money for surgery. They asked you for the money, but you refused to give it to them,” Tan Rou explained.