Chapter 52: Son, the footage is great, don't shoot anymore next time

The massive success of Mr. Vampire brought a windfall to everyone involved in the film, particularly Uncle Ying.

However, for Chen Mo, making Mr. Vampire was essentially fulfilling a dream from his past life. Although there were many sequels to the Mr. Vampire series in his previous life, in Chen Mo's heart, this original installment was already the peak.

With that obsession gone, he naturally had no intention of directing the sequels himself.

"Uncle Ying, would you be interested in signing with my company? Of course, you can bring the Lam Stunt Team along with you," Chen Mo asked with a smile when he found Uncle Ying, who was currently beaming with radiance.

Uncle Ying was stunned for a moment, completely forgetting to reply.

Chen Mo naturally had his own calculations.

He did not want to continue directing the Mr. Vampire film series himself, but this franchise was a goldmine. While a sequel might not achieve the extraordinarily high returns of the first Mr. Vampire, making a profit was a guarantee.

Therefore, his idea was to have Uncle Ying take over.

And the condition for this, naturally, was to bring Uncle Ying and the Lam Stunt Team on board.

"Mr. Vampire is just the beginning, and it has already succeeded. All three video streaming platforms, including Sohu, are urging me to make a sequel, but I have no intention of continuing to direct. I hope Uncle Ying can take over the subsequent shooting of this series," Chen Mo said.

"Really?" Uncle Ying's eyes lit up instantly as he asked.

"Of course. What do you think? Would you consider it?" Chen Mo said with a smile.

"No need to consider, I agree!" Uncle Ying accepted immediately.

He was so decisive that Chen Mo didn't even get the chance to say what he had prepared in advance.

Still, this was for the best, and Chen Mo certainly wouldn't treat him poorly—he would definitely provide generous compensation.

However, Chen Mo's good mood was shattered by a phone call from his old man, Chen Shouxin. Well, it was even a bit awkward.

"Hello, Dad? That auspicious geomantic plot of land our family company owns, the 'Dragonfly skimming the water' spot—how's it going? Has it been sold?" Chen Mo asked with considerable anticipation.

"Sold, it's sold! It's just..." Chen Mo's father, Chen Shouxin, hesitated as he spoke.

For some reason, Chen Mo couldn't shake the feeling that his father wasn't all that happy about it.

"Just what? Isn't selling it a good thing? Did the movie's promotion work?" Chen Mo asked with some confusion.

He couldn't figure out why his dad was beating around the bush. Wasn't it a good thing that such an expensive piece of auspicious land was sold?

"The movie's promotion definitely worked, but son... next time, can we not make films like this?" His father hesitated for a moment before suddenly speaking out.

"Wait, why not?" Chen Mo looked completely bewildered. If the promotion worked, why stop making them?

You did a great job, don't ever do it again?

"It's just that the movie's publicity worked too well. The buyer specifically demanded to buy the exact kind of 'Dragonfly skimming the water' plot shown in the movie, and they even offered a higher price," his father said.

"So what's wrong with that? Isn't an increase in value a good thing? Come on, Dad, you're complaining about making money?" Chen Mo grew even more puzzled.

"I am complaining! Mainly because this money doesn't feel safe to earn! The day after the buyer purchased it, they had people seal the whole thing up with concrete directly!" his father said, sounding deeply depressed.

"What on earth? Sealed directly with concrete? No, wait! Didn't you tell them that a 'Dragonfly skimming the water' plot requires a layer of lime on top?" Chen Mo found it completely incomprehensible.

"I told them! How could I not? They were clear about it, too; they even brought their own feng shui master to inspect the plot and gave our auspicious land high praise. That's why I'm saying, if I had known it would turn out like this, I honestly wouldn't have wanted this money!" Chen Shouxin said helplessly.

"Who is it? Who's got the nerves of steel?" Chen Mo was genuinely speechless. No wonder his old man considered this money too hot to handle.

These bastards completely copied the feng shui master from the movie!

What kind of deep grudge or hatred did they have? It was unbelievable.

Chen Mo had anticipated many outcomes—for instance, after the movie premiered, the "Dragonfly skimming the water" plots would become trendy and sell out explosively, or perhaps the promotional effect wouldn't be all that great and would be better than nothing. He had thought of all these possibilities, but he never, in a million years, expected that someone would actually copy the movie and seal a grave with concrete. What were they trying to do? Breed zombies? Are you kidding me? Nowadays people use cremation and cinerary urns; you can't raise monsters like that out of those! Oh, wait, what am I even talking about?!

"Ahem, an accident, Dad. This is definitely an accident. What about the other man-made 'Dragonfly skimming the water' plots? How are they selling? There can't be that many people like this, right?" Chen Mo asked, refusing to give up.

He absolutely refused to bear the reputation of being a father-ruining son. Right, he would never ruin his father or bankrupt the family! That was just an isolated incident!

"Heh!" As a result, his father responded with a single "heh," which plunged Chen Mo into a minor existential crisis.

"What do you mean 'heh'? Come on, Dad, spit it out!" It was impossible, absolutely impossible. Chen Mo still wanted to verify further.

"The moment people hear it's a 'Dragonfly skimming the water' plot, they turn around and walk away without even asking a second question! Let me tell you, son, even if you don't like our family's trade, you didn't have to shaft your old man like this!" Chen Shouxin figured that Chen Mo must still harbor the same shame toward their family's ancestral grave-operating business as he did in the past, which was why he pulled such a father-shafting stunt.

"No, it couldn't be that bad, right? Dad, trust me, I genuinely wanted to help the family with the promotion. I honestly never meant to screw you over!" Chen Mo was starting to lose confidence in himself.

Could it be the residual obsession of the original owner playing tricks? Ah, wait, no, it definitely wasn't that.

"People are saying this: the geomantic land is nice, but it can't withstand the fact that everyone now knows how to turn an auspicious plot into a disastrous one! Son, you've really landed your old man in deep trouble this time. Several other peers from out of town have already called to curse me out," Chen Shouxin said with a bitter face over the phone.

Chen Mo was utterly paralyzed. What the hell? Do people nowadays really play games like this?

"Ahem, Dad, isn't that an overreaction? Are people today really that paranoid? Putting a layer of lime on top is all it takes; who would have nothing better to do than run off and commit vandalism?" Chen Mo still found it hard to believe.

How could people be that malicious? Or how could they assume others would be that malicious?

"How is it an overreaction? What kind of people do you think can afford this kind of auspicious geomantic land? People in business inevitably offend others. If it were any other auspicious plot, even if someone wanted to do evil, they wouldn't know where to start. But with your 'Dragonfly skimming the water' plot, you literally taught people hand-by-hand in the movie how to sabotage this kind of geomantic spot. How could they not be terrified?" Chen Shouxin retorted angrily.

Chen Mo was rendered completely speechless: "..."

"However, it's not all bad news. During this period, we actually got quite a few new orders. Over at the Panshan Cemetery, a whole bunch of people are demanding modifications to their family graves. I suppose that counts as one of the few silver linings," Chen Shouxin said, perhaps worried that Chen Mo would be too devastated by this setback, finally sharing some good news.

"Modify graves?" Chen Mo was puzzled.

"Yeah, they're prying open all the original stone slabs and concrete slabs, replacing them entirely with a layer of slaked lime powder. Yep, exactly that 'snow-capped peak' thing," Chen Shouxin said.

Chen Mo suddenly felt exhausted. Just let the world end.

God damn it, prying open concrete slabs and covering them in lime powder.

So Mr. Vampire only taught them this single trick?