Benshan’s beloved disciple, starting from the 2009 Spring Festival Gala
Chapter 6 - Uncle Ben Shan: "Why didn't I know about this?"

Chapter 6 Uncle Ben Shan: “Why didn’t I know about this?”

Just as Uncle Ben Shan had expected, the next morning, both online and offline media were flooded with discussions about “Not Short of Money”.

There were both praises and criticisms. The praise mostly focused on Uncle Ben Shan and Qu Xiaoming, commending their excellent performances, their experience, and the success of the younger disciple.

The criticisms, however, were more diverse and creative. Some experts criticized Uncle Ben Shan for disrespecting farmers and mocked how farmers pretended to be wealthy. Although the skit explained that the money stayed in the family, these experts ignored that part.

There were also critics who disapproved of Qu Xiaoming playing a male role dressed as a female, claiming it was harmful to society and set a bad example for young people. These kinds of criticisms came from various media outlets, most of which were from the unreliable side of the media.

It was no wonder that Uncle Ben Shan wasn’t very well known in the south. Regardless, within one night, “Not Short of Money” had gained enormous attention, and the impact on the actors was clear. Their commercial performance fees skyrocketed overnight.

“How much? One million per show?”

After waking up, Qu Xiaoming received a phone call from Xiao Shenyang. Uncle Ben Shan had instructed the company’s performance department to not arrange any commercial performances for Qu Xiaoming at the moment. Those in need of Qu Xiaoming’s performances were turning to his good friend Xiao Shenyang.

On the phone, Xiao Shenyang said, “That’s right, it’s one million per show. If you think it’s not enough, we can add a bit more.”

Qu Xiaoming recalled Xiao Shenyang’s experience after his breakthrough in the Spring Festival Gala. Thanked to all sorts of true and false marketing accounts, Qu Xiaoming remembered how Xiao Shenyang, after performing “Not Short of Money”, became an overnight sensation and was offered a plethora of movie and music opportunities. However, he soon faded away like a shooting star, with his career sinking after a series of bad roles and a falling out with the company.

The issues that contributed to this included unreasonable company arrangements and Xiao Shenyang’s rapid inflation of ego. In 2009, the company arranged over 100 commercial performances for him, overexposing his popularity, limiting his growth, and eventually wasting the accumulated fame.

Even though Xiao Shenyang remained active, he couldn’t quite leverage his past fame in the long run. Having learned from the past, Qu Xiaoming had a clear plan for his future.

He turned down Xiao Shenyang’s offer, saying, “Brother, Master has asked me not to rush into commercial performances. I’ll wait for the company’s arrangements.”

Xiao Shenyang replied, “Oh, I see.” He jokingly added, “Well, you’re a big star now, I’ll be relying on you in the future.”

Whether it was a joke or not, only the person involved knew the truth.

Qu Xiaoming laughed and said, “I’m not that big a star, Brother. I’ll talk to you when I have some free time, Master is looking for me.”

“Alright,” Xiao Shenyang said, hanging up. “This is just fate. He got famous overnight after the Spring Festival Gala. It’s really frustrating… people are so different.”

On the flight back to Shen City, Qu Xiaoming and Uncle Ben Shan were seated next to each other.

Uncle Ben Shan asked, “Didn’t your brother ask you to go for commercial performances?”

Xiao Shenyang was still in the capital, where there were plenty of performances to be had.

“He did, but I think it’s not the right time to chase after quick money. I should focus on creating a good work to build my popularity, like a film or something,” Qu Xiaoming replied.

“Eh!” Uncle Ben Shan was surprised. “Where did you hear that from?”

“Ah?”

Qu Xiaoming looked at Uncle Ben Shan confusedly.

Uncle Ben Shan explained, “The company is planning to collaborate with director Zhang Yi for a movie this year, but this news hasn’t been released yet. How did you know? Do you have a good ear for gossip?”

Uncle Ben Shan smiled at his disciple.

“I also wish I had an ear for gossip, but unfortunately, I’m just an ordinary person…”

After a brief joke, Qu Xiaoming clarified, “Master, what I meant was that I want to make a movie.”

Realizing that Qu Xiaoming was serious, Uncle Ben Shan became more solemn and said, “Making a movie is no joke. Even the lowest-budget films cost hundreds of millions to make, and they might not even make a splash. Just like the Fallen Leaves Return to Roots movie I participated in a few years ago—costing over forty million, but the box office was less than ten million.”

“But it was a good movie,” Qu Xiaoming interjected.

“Good movies don’t mean much if they don’t make money. It’s the same as when we did Three Guns Shoot at the Case, which had high box office sales, but it was only because of Xiao Shenyang’s popularity and my fame.”

After that movie, Xiao Shenyang’s reputation took a dive, and for years, he struggled to find new movie opportunities.

“So even if we’re doing Three Guns Shoot at the Case, we still need to make a good film first, one with a solid reputation, to build up our status. Otherwise, after Three Guns, it’s going to be hard to move forward.”

Qu Xiaoming firmly said, “Master, I’ve already written the script, and I’m very confident in it. I can’t say it’s a 100% hit, but I’m 80% sure.”

Making a movie script is not as easy as writing a skit…

Uncle Ben Shan opened his mouth but didn’t say anything. He stared at his disciple’s determined eyes and asked, “Tell me about the story.”

“Ah.”

Qu Xiaoming began, “The main storyline is about a boss who returns home for the New Year and encounters a migrant worker who is trying to collect his wages during the Spring Festival travel rush…”