Chapter 390: Who Exactly Is Inside Me?

As the year draws to a close, the entertainment industry is becoming increasingly lively.

Major entertainment companies are holding their annual meetings one after another, and many stars and artists have posted photos online.

Shanhe Media is no exception, holding its annual meeting in the company's super-large banquet hall as usual.

It is Ni Ni's first time attending the company's annual meeting; under the guidance of her new Agent, she dressed herself up to look very dazzling and arrived at the venue early.

Because she just joined the company and is not very familiar with her colleagues, Ni Ni appears somewhat reserved.

Fortunately, however, she sees a "good friend," her mood instantly relaxes, and she greets her happily.

"Sister Zhang Wen."

Her friendship with Zhang Wen can be traced back to a signed photo from when she first came to the company.

"Ni Ni."

Zhang Wen also has a good impression of this artist who just joined the company and has outstanding figure and temperament—or rather, as long as she has given them an autograph, she has a good impression of them.

"Sister Zhang Wen, why haven't many of the artists come?"

Ni Ni is a bit puzzled; today's venue can be considered star-studded, but several of Shanhe Media's top artists are nowhere to be seen, and at the very least, Qiao Zhenyu, as the top star, has not appeared at the venue.

"Ah, you just arrived, so you don't know yet. Anyone who has a star Studio has their own team; in other words, they are bosses themselves, so they won't attend the company's annual meeting. People like Brother Zhen Yu, Sister Bingbing, and Young Master Zhou are all like this."

As a veteran employee of the company, Zhang Wen knows these things all too well; she rattled off a long explanation, leaving Ni Ni confused.

"Then what about Yang Mi?"

"Yang Mi is filming in Seattle. There are also the crews of *Zhen Huan Zhuan* and *Dragon Tomb Cave*; because the filming locations are far away, they didn't come back this time either. There are also a few crews out running promotions, same thing..."

Speaking of this, Zhang Wen feels a bit fortunate.

"The company has movies to be released during the Spring Festival this year, and the publicity department has already started working overtime. It's a good thing I'm just a receptionist."

Ni Ni also knows the "Buddhist" level of this veteran receptionist, smiles, and then points in one direction, asking curiously: "Sister Zhang Wen, what are they doing over there?"

Zhang Wen looks in the direction of Ni Ni's finger and sees fully armed security guards moving boxes one by one onto the stage.

"Used for giving out bonuses, and for the lucky draw."

"So many?"

A look of shock appears on Ni Ni's face; although she hasn't counted them, looking at the number of boxes, it must be in the tens of millions, right? "It's alright, the boss has always been very generous. I won a super-large red envelope of 88,888 last year."

Mentioning her own glorious achievement, Zhang Wen has a hint of showing off on her face.

Ni Ni, standing to the side, suddenly feels like a country bumpkin. She hasn't been in the entertainment industry for long, and last year she spent the New Year on a film set; at the time, she was already overjoyed to receive two thousand yuan from Zhang Weiping.

But compared to Shanhe Media, it is completely out of the league. It seems she really did latch onto a big shot, and it was worth it to shoulder a debt of ten million.

Just looking at the artists arriving one after another, Ni Ni feels a bit of urgency in her heart; the protection from her teacher is becoming less and less, but the competition is very fierce. She wonders what is happening in the office. As the reports from the heads of various departments conclude, a satisfied smile appears on Wei Jin's face.

In terms of movies, although *Passengers* was released the year before last, because the box office revenue was deferred, it is calculated in last year's earnings, totaling 430 million, which can be called a bumper harvest.

The remaining *The Piano Tuner* earned 200 million, and *Ip Man 3* earned 100 million.

The other few movies, *Love is Not Blind*, *The Thieves*, *Mojin: The Lost Legend*, and *Flying Swords of Dragon Gate*, were all released at the end of the year, so the earnings have not yet been recorded.

But even so, the Film Production Department achieved a net profit of 730 million, worthy of being the company's core department.

The TV Drama Production Department's earnings are not bad either.

*Sword Snow Stride* and *Zhen Huan Zhuan*, these two TV dramas, brought in a total of 500 million from several rounds of broadcasts plus online platforms.

Adding in some previous copyright earnings and external investments, all sorts of things added up to about 200 million.

In terms of variety shows, Shanhe Media continues to dominate the top of the ratings lists on major TV stations.

*The Voice* has currently reached its fourth season; although the lineup of mentors has changed and the audience is already familiar with the show's formula, the ratings still maintain above 3, and occasionally when encountering a highlight, the ratings can even break 4, which can be called the king of music variety shows.

*Keep Running* is not far behind; although it has already done three seasons, the popularity of the outdoor reality show has not diminished, and the ratings are quite dazzling, leaving variety shows in the same time slot unable to lift their heads.

Others such as *I Am a Singer* and *Masked Singer* have gradually seen lower ratings because of low audience participation, but a score of over 2 still qualifies them as high-quality works.

Thanks to this, the Variety Show Department's earnings last year were far ahead, actually higher than the Film Production Department, achieving a net profit of over 800 million.

In terms of special effects, Shanhe Ink undertook more than 30 movies and TV dramas last year, with a cumulative revenue of 380 million and a net profit of 120 million.

The Distribution Department continues to develop steadily; last year, Shanhe Media distributed more than 60 movies, with distribution fees reaching 140 million.

The Animation Production Department has already formed its own system; relying on Qidian, the adaptation of best-selling novels has almost become the norm. The three animated works that exploded in popularity last year, *Everlasting Immortal World*, *Xian Ni*, and *Mortal's Journey to Immortality*, brought in over 120 million in revenue.

The Music Production Department had a hard time last year, with total revenue of less than 30 million.

It is not that the department did not make an effort, but rather that the traditional record industry is in its sunset years, and online paid on-demand has not yet risen, so income basically comes from artists' commercial performances and concerts.

But this part belongs to the earnings of Starry Sky Culture, and the Music Production Department cannot get a share of it at all.

The department director, Yang Shuo, was almost crying with anxiety. Wei Jin had no choice but to make an exception and increase the commission ratio for the Music Production Department; even so, it was still a drop in the bucket for the Music Production Department.

In addition to the direct departments, the group's subsidiaries also had very dazzling results.

In terms of Shanhe Technology, *Zhu Xian* has already headed toward decline, but it still brought in over 1.5 billion in revenue; *CrossFire* continued to soar, with revenue reaching 3 billion; *League of Legends* became popular across the country, with revenue exceeding 4 billion; the other few self-developed web games, including *Brotherhood of Blades*, *Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame*, and *The Legend of Mir*, also brought in several hundred million in revenue.

It is worth mentioning that Mihoyo's team has already begun to develop "virtual idol games," locking the target users on "two-dimensional otaku."

In addition, *Honkai Gakuen* has also been included in the plan, and it is estimated that it can be developed this year.

The research and development of mobile games has also been put on the agenda; this is something Wei Jin specifically instructed.

He remembers very clearly that after 2013, with the comprehensive rollout of 4G networks, the era belonging to mobile games is about to arrive.

In fact, mobile games have already begun to rise, but the market scale is not large, mainly some single-player games, such as *Angry Birds* and *Plants vs. Zombies*.

For this type of small mobile game, Shanhe Technology has also made some attempts to accumulate experience, but the profitability is not very good, so they simply did not invest more resources.

In addition, the development of Yinxiang Net is also quite good; despite the challenges from Maoyan and Douban, it is still the number one social entertainment platform in China, achieving a profit of 80 million last year.

After Starry Sky Culture was spun off, the management became more refined; although costs also rose a lot, the earnings also increased year-on-year.

Last year, artist management achieved a new breakthrough; with less than 20 artists, they cumulatively created over 400 million in profit for the company, among which Yang Mi alone provided over 40 million in profit.

In terms of cinema lines, because the Shanhe Cinema Alliance sought to go public, it introduced strategic investors and eliminated some small cinemas that did not meet the standards for environment and grade, so the market share has declined.

Currently, they control a total of 352 cinemas, control more than 1,600 screens, and have a market share of over 15%; last year, the total revenue reached 2.4 billion, and the net profit reached 520 million.

In addition, Zhao Feng has already submitted the IPO plan; because it is a main board listing, the queuing time is still a bit uncertain, but it is expected to be successful within this year. By then, Shanhe Cinema Line will become the first cinema line stock in Huaxia.

A rough estimate shows that Shanhe Media's revenue last year approached 18 billion, and after deducting various expenses and taxes, the net profit was nearly 5.5 billion.

This does not yet include the profits from Jiahe, nor the earnings from a large number of movies and television dramas that have not yet been collected.

Wei Jin estimates that the company's net profit next year might even exceed 10 billion.

Just as he was daydreaming about his entertainment empire growing ever stronger, Assistant Huang Mengying knocked and entered.

"Boss, the annual meeting is about to start."

At the annual meeting venue.

As time passed, the artists had all arrived, and everyone began chatting in twos and threes.

"Eastern Palace is really popular, isn't it? The viewership rating seems to have broken 3, right? It's too fast, it's only been airing for a week."

"Yeah, little Nazha has really become popular this time, it's just that she was too miserable in the show, haha."

Yang Rong smiled and teased, remembering the little girl who kept singing off-key while performing "Learning to Meow" on stage back then.

"Sister Rong, don't say that, you are the most popular one this year, 'Huanhuan, I want Huanhuan'."

"Gao Ye, you dead girl, when does that Tangren drama start filming? You are the female lead, and you're paired with Hu Ge. Don't fall in love with the handsome guy then, haha."

"Hee hee, our company has so many handsome guys, they aren't worse than Hu Ge, but Tangren's efficiency is really... I guess this show won't start for another two months."

"It's okay, doesn't the boss often say that good things don't come from rushing?"

"Yo yo, how come I haven't heard that."

"Xue Jie, that's enough."

"Hahaha, why are you blushing?"

Kan Qingzi, standing to the side, watched this scene, lost in thought, while Zhang Tianai, who was lucky enough to be seated at this table, felt like a small fry who couldn't get a word in at all.

There was no helping it; the entertainment industry had a strict hierarchy. This table was almost entirely composed of seniors who had debuted long ago, and even the worst among them was a female lead in a TV or movie. An artist like her who had no works yet was undoubtedly at the very bottom.

"I don't know when Ex Machina will be released, and also..."

The annual meeting started quickly, and Wei Jin took the stage to speak amidst a round of applause.

Without going into a long-winded speech, Wei Jin first affirmed the work done this year, then proposed the work goals for next year, and finally gave everyone a bowl of "chicken soup."

"With the efforts of all the Shanhe people, the company's development momentum this year is very good. I hope that next year, we can reach a higher level. I would also like to wish everyone a Happy New Year here!"

After the big boss finished speaking, the next part was the lucky draw session that everyone was looking forward to the most.

With tens of millions in cash and a large number of gifts piled together, the people off-stage already had red eyes.

Zhang Tianai and Ni Ni, who were attending the annual meeting for the first time, both had good luck; the former drew a new Apple phone, and the latter drew a 6,888 red envelope.

Zhang Wen had even better luck, drawing a ticket to Jing Tian's concert. The key was that this was a special VIP seat, and the little girl at the front desk almost let out an exclamation.

It wasn't that she couldn't afford the ticket, but this VIP seat meant she had a great chance to get more autographs.

You have to know that for this concert, Wei Jin personally stepped in and invited many big-name stars who are usually hard to see.

For Zhang Wen, who had a hobby of collecting autographs, this was definitely the best reward.

Almost everyone at the scene had a prize, and even the unluckiest ones had a 1,888 red envelope as a base.

After the lucky draw, it was the company's internal performance segment. The company's signed Singers took turns performing on stage, making the atmosphere at the venue increasingly heated.

Many employees at the scene took out their phones, preparing to take photos and post them on Weibo to show off the company's benefits.

Amidst the lively atmosphere, Shanhe Media's 2012 annual meeting came to an end.

After the banquet ended, Wei Jin went to Liu Yan's Yanjiao Villa as usual, which could be considered a benefit for his assistants.

"How are we playing today?"

Wei Jin wrapped his arms around Liu Yan's slender waist, and one hand began to climb over the milky white breasts that were almost popping out of her evening gown.

"Boss, you put this on first."

Huang Mengying walked out of the bedroom and put the prepared blindfold on Wei Jin.

"Alright, alright, so that's how we're playing, let's see what you have..."

Wei Jin did not resist; losing one sense meant the others would be heightened.

Soon, with the help of the two assistants, Wei Jin untied his restraints and arrived on the waterbed.

The routine SPA session began, and the essential oil chest massage from the two assistants made Wei Jin's whole body relax.

But soon he felt something was wrong; why was there someone else underneath him?

Could it be that Xiaobai and Zixuan couldn't stand the loneliness and secretly asked for leave from the crew to come back?

But this technique was a bit rusty; was it because they hadn't practiced in a long time?

Thinking of this, Wei Jin intended to see who it was, but was stopped by Liu Yan.

"Boss, you are not allowed to take off the blindfold until the three of us go down."

"Hehe, playing like this, is it? Fine, fine, fine, don't call me 'Daddy' later..."

Wei Jin actually found it quite interesting, and he trusted Liu Yan one hundred percent.

After a dozen minutes of massage and shuffling, the night's program officially began.

"Oh~~~~"

"Hmm?"

As soon as it started, Wei Jin felt something was wrong; this contestant was squeezing too tightly.

You have to know that after long-term training and generous treatment by Wei Jin, the assistants had long passed the breaking-in period.

But the one playing her cards now was like a new car that had just hit the road; I wouldn't say brand new, but at least 95% new.

So, who exactly is riding on top of me?

(End of this chapter)