Chapter 547: Summer Vacation Has Arrived

Chapter 547 Summer Vacation Arrives

Back in Hangzhou, Meng Fan first sent Wu Tong to her residence, then reported to the provincial team, completing a series of pre-competition tests and various matters, after which he was "escorted" by Director Zhan to a meeting.

Most of the attendees were staff under the Asian Games Organizing Committee and well-known athletes from within Zhejiang Province. The meeting's content revolved around the torchbearers, drafting a list for the opening ceremony torchbearers. Naturally, the athletes present were mostly on the list, while some who hadn't returned in time were absent.

The final decision still had to be submitted to higher authorities for approval; barring any surprises, this would be the outcome.

After the meeting ended, Meng Fan had barely stepped out of the conference room when he was called into another one for the next session.

It wasn't that all meetings were waiting for Meng Fan's return; rather, the Olympic Sports Center's office area was simply swamped with so many meetings. Now in the final stages of preparation, the entire committee was operating at a terrifying pace.

Before the official start of the Asian Games, Meng Fan had certain responsibilities—image-related duties outweighed practical ones, but he was still on the list for many meetings. Previously, his absence had been excused, but now that he was here, there was no escaping.

Of course, image duties outweighing practical ones didn't mean there were no practical duties at all. There were still plenty of things Meng Fan had to do, such as promotional shoots and the like. However, these were tasks that didn't consume much time or energy, since Meng Fan also needed to begin his pre-competition recovery training. After all, as an athlete, the most significant and primary impact had to be demonstrated on the field.

A few days later, the committee issued a notice confirming the list of torchbearers for the opening ceremony. The next day, Meng Fan was called to another meeting, where one agenda item was announcing that Meng Fan would be the final torchbearer, tasked with lighting the main cauldron.

Although this was entirely within Meng Fan's expectations, he still felt quite excited and thrilled upon hearing it.

Subsequently, Meng Fan had to participate in a series of discussions regarding the design of the main cauldron lighting action. He certainly didn't have the final say in this matter, but his opinions were equally important.

Before he knew it, Meng Fan had entered the pre-competition training cycle, while also beginning to register for various events.

All the events he had ever been involved in had fully qualified him for the Asian Games; now, the decision was which events to sign up for.

Weightlifting, wrestling, judo, plus javelin and shot put—five major categories. Among them, wrestling was divided into Greco-Roman and freestyle, judo included mixed team events, totaling seven sub-events. If he signed up for all of them, it would be another historic feat.

After carefully studying the schedule for each event, the leaders of the Weightlifting, Wrestling, and Judo Center and the Track and Field Management sat down to negotiate (argue). In the end, although the Weightlifting, Wrestling, and Judo Center was very assertive, the Track and Field Management was no pushover, especially since this was a major event on home turf—there was no reason to yield. So—sign up for everything!

At the very least, register for all of them first.

After all, Meng Fan could always choose to withdraw from events later.

This actually had nothing to do with scheduling conflicts anymore, since at this point, with the competition on home soil, couldn't they adjust the schedule a bit? Nothing excessive—just ensure that all of Meng Fan's events were staggered enough for him to make it.

Time wasn't a concern; the only worry now was whether Meng Fan had enough energy to handle so many competitions at once. This wasn't about the energy to simply show up, but the energy to maintain form and showcase his technical and tactical level. If an overly packed schedule led to poor performance, it would be better to withdraw.

On this point, the coaches who were fiercely fighting to secure their respective events were very tense and anxious. Meng Fan himself, however, was genuinely fine—neither his physical strength nor his energy was an issue, as long as the schedule allowed him to move between events.

...

As the Hangzhou Asian Games drew nearer, the city's Asian Games atmosphere grew increasingly intense, and Meng Fan and those around him became busier and busier.

All animation and comic studios, including Damei Studio, received numerous assignments related to the Games. The entire Shanhai Studio also became a part of Hangzhou's Asian Games culture and promotion. This had little to do with Meng Fan personally, as Shanhai Animation Studio was now a representative of Hangzhou's animation culture, even Chinese animation culture, and would serve as the organizer and sponsor of related animation events during the Olympics.

At the China Academy of Art, where Meng Fan taught, many students chose to stay in Hangzhou after summer vacation began. Some had already signed up as volunteers the previous year, while others simply stayed to join in the excitement.

Wu Tong had also signed up as a volunteer last summer. She had a long history of public service volunteering, starting with the mini-marathon event when she first met Meng Fan. Over the years, she had continued her charitable work and volunteering, making her outstanding and experienced enough to be accepted and assigned a certain role without surprise.

Soon it was July. Meng Fan was busy with daily training and intermittent participation in Asian Games-related activities, while Wu Tong was so occupied that she could hardly find time to see him.

Now in the midst of summer vacation, aside from the Asian Games being closely tied to Meng Fan, the summer movie season also became deeply connected to him through Shanhai Pictures. This summer, the long-accumulating Shanhai Pictures was finally ready to make its move. During this vacation alone, two original animated films and one adapted animated film would be released, along with two films distributed on behalf of others.

Among these was a spin-off derived from Meng Fan's original comic, his most popular and well-known work to date: "Shanhai Qiren." The original remained untouched, but the spin-off came first—an innovative approach. There were two main reasons for this: first, the original animation and animated film were still in production, requiring extensive time for refinement; second, it was part of the strategic layout for this comic. The spin-off served as a vanguard, introducing the worldview constructed by the entire "Shanhai Qiren" through this film.

This spin-off film, "Shanhai Qiren: Epoch," held its first preview screening on July 10, followed by additional screenings on the 13th, 15th, and 18th. Word of mouth and popularity soared continuously. By July 22, pre-sale box office had reached 400 million yuan. On the premiere day of the 22nd, the box office hit 510 million yuan, setting a new single-day record for animated films in China, and not far from the overall single-day record, ranking fourth in history.

For both Shanhai Studio and the entire animation industry, it was like celebrating the New Year.

However, compared to the box office, ratings began to decline steadily after the film's release.

As for the reason, it largely had nothing to do with the animated film itself. The initial ratings were simply too high—even Douban gave it an ultra-high score of 9.7 at the start. Undoubtedly, there was some inflation: part of it came from the reputation of the original work and Meng Fan, while another part was likely related to the company.

A week after the film's release, the rating stabilized at 8.7, which Meng Fan considered relatively fair. No inflation there.

(End of chapter)