After reading this post, Pei Qian fell into a prolonged silence.

Was this acceptable?

If “A Beautiful Tomorrow” had won the Palme d’Or, I could have tolerated your analysis.

But now it didn’t win the Palme d’Or, and you’re still doing this analysis, with the conclusion being: it could have won, but it didn’t need to?

Even I, as a bystander, can’t stand this!

Between the lines, this post was essentially saying one thing: “A Beautiful Tomorrow” absolutely had the quality to win the Palme d’Or, but missed it only due to some special factors!

I must say, this kind of praise seems even more effective than actually winning the Palme d’Or.

This was evident from the comments section of the post.

“So that’s it! Thanks for the explanation!”

“No wonder, there are so many intricacies involved.”

“Indeed, that final easter egg would be especially meaningful to domestic audiences, completely elevating the film’s intent. But for foreign viewers, especially those jury members, it would be uncomfortable.”

“Perhaps the jury felt that the final easter egg destroyed the film’s artistic value.”

“Hmm, can’t say too much, those who know, know.”

“But under so many unfavorable conditions, ‘A Beautiful Tomorrow’ still won the Jury Prize. Doesn’t this further prove how good this film is?”

“What a shame! If only they had cut the second easter egg at the end before submitting it!”

“I think the creative team might have been aware of this issue but chose not to address it.”

“Why? Were they deliberately sabotaging their chances at the award?”

Everyone was discussing enthusiastically when another influential film critic who had seen countless films spoke up.

“I also think the creative team did this deliberately, which isn’t hard to understand.”

“First, the creative team knew what this film wanted to express and certainly understood the significance of the gun-dropping easter egg. Otherwise, why would they film it?”

“If they understood the meaning of this easter egg, they naturally also knew this scene might not be accepted by the jury.”

“It would have been simple to cut this easter egg, but they still didn’t do it.”

“I think there are two reasons.”

“First, they knew Cannes favors premiering films, so they never expected to win an award, let alone have a chance at the Palme d’Or. They went with the mindset of making a brief appearance, so there was no need to please the jury.”

“Second, they may have realized this point, but they insisted on expressing their thoughts completely in the film.”

“If the final easter egg had been removed, the film would have been missing something. Perhaps the creative team was so stubborn about maintaining the film’s integrity that they refused to cut anything, even a seemingly insignificant easter egg.”

After reading this expert’s analysis, the audience had a collective realization.

So that’s how it was!

Makes sense—if film critics could analyze this, wouldn’t the creators understand it too?

Yet they still fearlessly submitted the complete version for screening, which was like competing on someone else’s turf under their rules, without catering to the judges, and still securing second place through sheer quality.

Could this be… the pride of artists?

Netizens couldn’t help but sigh, truly, heroes emerge from the young!

While those old artists in the film industry are certainly respectable, quite a few veteran filmmakers have actively catered to the tastes of international film festival juries to win awards, abandoning part of their own expression to some degree.

This wasn’t just the tragedy of certain filmmakers but of the entire domestic film industry.

However, the entire creative team of Fei Huang Studio, from director to screenwriter, were all from the younger generation.

It felt like a young martial artist, with unwavering pride, bringing a carefully honed sword to a prestigious martial arts competition, and despite knowing how to please the judges, still insisting on staying true to themselves and conquering everyone with pure skill.

At this point, was there a difference between first and second place?

Although they didn’t win the Palme d’Or, the significance the creative team brought to the domestic film scene was far greater than a single Palme d’Or trophy!

This post once again exploded in popularity, triggering heated discussions!

Later, for some reason, someone posted the ratings from various websites.

“Yesterday, the ratings on foreign film database sites came out: 8.2 points. Some might think this score isn’t high, but considering this website’s rating system, films scoring above 9 points are extremely rare throughout film history. With 8.2 points, it has successfully entered the database’s TOP 250!”

“Looking at this score in terms of percentile, we can’t help but bring out some domestic websites for comparison.”

“Remember before, when ‘A Beautiful Tomorrow’ had scores below 8.5 on many websites? In an environment where good domestic films easily score above 9.5, this seemed particularly ridiculous.”

“And as everyone can see, the rating on the TPDb website has consistently hovered around 9.1, with only minor fluctuations, but always as stable as an old dog!”

“I believe that a low score doesn’t necessarily indicate stringency, and we shouldn’t always focus on foreign website ratings. After all, ‘A Beautiful Tomorrow’ was created by Chinese people, and some of what it tries to express can only be fully understood by Chinese people.”

“I hope this film sets a good precedent, allowing domestic films to focus on telling Chinese stories well without needing to pander to international film festivals!”

“Here I call on everyone to register for a TPDb website account and watch ‘A Beautiful Tomorrow’ again on AiLiDao, so we can commemorate this memorable and great day!!”

…

After reading the netizens’ comments, Pei Qian silently closed the webpage.

Alright, let it be, I give up resisting.

Pei Qian found these netizens increasingly outrageous, always coming up with new ideas every so often.

And he never expected that the topic would again be directed toward the TPDb website and the online version of “A Beautiful Tomorrow.”

He didn’t know how many more people would go to AiLiDao to purchase and watch “A Beautiful Tomorrow,” nor how many would add comments like “watch it a hundred million more times,” “treasure of the site,” “world line convergence,” and similar content to the sea of bullet comments at the beginning of the film.

Pei Qian could already envision his next meeting with Zhu Xiaocai.

He would definitely rush over with excitement written all over his face and say: “Mr. Pei! Your decision to sign a revenue-sharing contract with AiLiDao was incredibly wise and correct!”

Just thinking about it was an utterly depressing scene.

It was truly… disheartening…

…

…

May 26th, Thursday.

In a café near Handong University, the second lesson from Teacher He to “Ma Yang” officially began.

Over the past two days, Pei Qian hadn’t been sleeping well due to the “A Beautiful Tomorrow” situation.

However, to ensure today’s learning effectiveness, Pei Qian had gone to bed early yesterday and slept until he naturally woke up today, allowing his battered spirit to recover.

Before the lecture, Pei Qian very shrewdly glanced at the title of this lesson’s material.

“Successful Case Analysis Lesson Two: Using Foresight to Grasp Industry Development Trends!”

Pei Qian couldn’t help but feel pleased.

Finally, no more cases about Tenda!

The content from last time was actually quite good, mainly discussing how game development and promotion form an inseparable whole, and how choosing the appropriate promotion method based on the game type yields the best results.

The only flaw was that it covered too many positive cases of Tenda’s game promotions, making Pei Qian feel like salt was being rubbed into his wounds.

Nevertheless, there were still gains. Pei Qian planned to apply the knowledge learned when “Struggle” was released.

False advertising was unlikely since the system wouldn’t allow it, but at least he could implement misaligned promotion.

Sometimes, telling a partial truth could have a better effect than telling a lie.

In short, the previous lesson was helpful and instructive; the tuition fee wasn’t wasted.

And this lesson seemed even more reliable.

Grasping industry development trends? It sounded packed with practical knowledge!

He An took a sip of coffee and said unhurriedly: “The content from the last lesson was the most basic foundation, which is establishing the basic concept of game design, clearly defining its type, and then strictly following the relevant rules for each subsequent step.”

“What we’re discussing today is also foundational, but a level higher than the previous content. Simply put, with so many game types available now, which one should be chosen?”

“Choosing the right type is half the battle won.”

“Here I want to give an example…”

Pei Qian’s mood immediately tensed up—surely it wouldn’t be a Tenda example again?

Please spare me, I beg you!

He An paused slightly and said: “MMORPG.”

Pei Qian let out a sigh of relief.

Thankfully, Tenda hadn’t made an MMORPG. Great!

It seemed he wouldn’t be flogged today!

His back instantly straightened a bit.

He An hadn’t noticed “Ma Yang’s” rich inner monologue and continued: “MMORPGs have long been considered the ultimate form of games, a point with ample theoretical support because these massive multiplayer online role-playing games can construct a virtual world for players, provide sufficiently rich content, and have extremely strong expandability.”

“Many game developers have pondered a question: what game could defeat ‘Fantasy World’? Back then, the conclusion was that to beat ‘Fantasy World,’ it would have to be another, better MMORPG game.”

“However…”

“The latest trends in the game industry have proven this view wrong, because promising MMORPGs that could defeat ‘Fantasy World’ never appeared, but game types that could potentially defeat MMORPGs did emerge.”

“That’s right, those are the battle games that are now popular domestically and even worldwide—GOG and ioi!”

Pei Qian: “…”

Life was meaningless.

So, MMORPG was just an introduction, and they still ended up on this topic!

He An noticed “Ma Yang’s” unusual reaction and asked with some surprise: “Mr. Ma, is there a problem?”

Pei Qian forced a smile: “No, nothing. What does this have to do with today’s lesson?”

He An nodded: “Of course it’s relevant! I emphasized that choosing the right type is half the battle won. Even top game developers can’t use a new MMORPG to defeat ‘Fantasy World,’ but they can use a new game type to defeat MMORPGs!”

“This is about keen intuition!”

“Think about it, if other first-class game developers were still stubbornly focused on MMORPGs, but you keenly observed the huge potential of ioi, stayed ahead of the curve, established advantages, seized the market… just like a butterfly flapping its wings, seemingly just one step ahead, but ultimately resulting in a world of difference!”

“Tenda invested in ioi before other game companies and then self-developed GOG, clearly acting as that butterfly working hard to flap its wings. Mr. Ma, as a high-level executive in Tenda’s investment department, you should have a deeper understanding of this than I do, right?”

He An wore a smile, seemingly thinking that “Mr. Ma’s” firsthand experience with the case should give him more inspiration and a better understanding of the course knowledge.

Pei Qian was speechless.

At the same time, he was caught in a dilemma.

How should I tell Teacher He that this project was actually invested in by Ma Yang, and I’m not the real Ma Yang, and even if it was the real Ma Yang, his investment in this project wasn’t due to keen intuition but merely a passing interest…

Forget it, just sorting out this relationship was headache-inducing enough; it would be nearly impossible to explain clearly.

Pei Qian could only silently nod, indicating agreement with He An’s words, and took the opportunity to ask a question and change the subject.

“So, Teacher He, according to this theory, does choosing a declining game type almost certainly doom the project to failure?”

He An thought for a moment: “Nothing in this world is absolute.”

“Many retro game types, even those with pixelated graphics, can still gain many players’ favor if the content is rich enough and the gameplay innovative enough. After all, there are too many players in this world; as long as you find the right target player group, even a small portion of players can well support a game project.”

“However… the theory you mentioned is not wrong in itself.”

“The more a game type is in decline, the smaller the player base that likes this game, and if the investment in the game happens to be enormous, it will greatly increase the risk of failure.”

“There’s even a high possibility of losing everything.”

Hearing this, Pei Qian’s eyes brightened.

Great, a strange money-losing strategy had been added!

Pei Qian asked: “Teacher He, suppose I were to spend a fortune at this point to make a real-time strategy game… what would happen?”

He An smiled slightly: “Then you might as well give the money to me; at least I’d say thank you. Or you could skip stones with the money—at least you’d hear a sound.”

A smile appeared on Pei Qian’s face.

Who said this course wasn’t useful?

Wasn’t the game to be developed in the next cycle already clear?

Teacher He, you truly are my guiding light!