Chapter 191: A Nest of Literary Thieves

The matter wasn't settled; after Cai Yinong hung up, she demanded increased security for the Heaven's Trace production team, strict defenses against any miscreants trying to sabotage them.

This drama must be completed.

They'd treated Fang Hong like a gangster—apparently his reputation was terrible.

Fang Hong sighed; he'd originally wanted to follow Liu Tianxian's advice and be a kind, compassionate person, avoiding harsh methods.

But these people just deserve it—they refuse to believe in consequences, and they've never felt pain.

He'd already been polite; since Cai Yinong didn't believe him, let her believe it now.

Fang Hong held no grudge against Liu Sisi, nor would he act against her; though Liu Sisi was now hugely popular, she was merely a tool with no autonomy.

He summoned Chen Zhixi—only someone of high status could make this effective; low status wouldn't create enough pressure.

"."

After hearing his plan, Chen Zhixi asked: "Did Jiang Jinfu really have a falling-out with Tang Ren?"

"Probably did. Tang Ren can only afford one Hu Ge; everyone else becomes his supporting actor—who's willing to stay a sidekick forever?" Fang Hong said.

Chen Zhixi nodded, understanding: "But isn't this wrong? Breaking the rules."

"We merely provided opportunity and conditions—how is that breaking rules? That's personal behavior. How many people in entertainment fight over roles and resources? None of it concerns us." Fang Hong spoke with perfect logic.

"Fine. Everything you say sounds reasonable. But this will cost something." Chen Zhixi said.

"No problem. We can afford it. Isn't Yu Ma also at odds with Tang Ren? See if any male lead roles are being released—we'll just invest a bit to make it happen." Fang Hong sounded unconcerned.

Yu Ma had many TV projects, all heavily made-up, visually garish.

TV production costs keep rising, yet online copyright prices haven't climbed—everyone invests jointly; Yutu Film Industry only needs to invest a little to settle this.

Yu Ma's studio is under Dongyang Huan Yu, part of the southern faction, not in the same circle as Beijing's people.

Chen Zhixi understood; Fang Hong's plan was simple: get Jiang Jinfu to withdraw from Heaven's Trace on grounds of poor health.

The drama is currently filming, and Jiang Jinfu is one of the leads with heavy screen time—if he stops halfway, production must halt.

That halt means hundreds of crew members' food, lodging, and daily expenses still must be paid, regardless of whether filming resumes.

For a major TV production, this is deadly—daily expenses of millions vanish overnight.

Replacing him won't work; all filmed scenes must be reshot; other actors and crew effectively redo their entire work—costs skyrocket.

If successful, this would be a fatal blow to a company like Tang Ren.

No one can withstand losses like Yutu; when Talent Thief got delayed, Fang Hong flew into a rage.

Because a one- or two-month delay meant one or two months of lost cash flow.

For Jiang Jinfu, this would be a breach of contract, damaging his reputation—but Yutu would back him, fund his lawsuit, pay his breach penalty.

Damaged reputation? Yutu would secure him new leading roles.

This way, he escapes Tang Ren, escapes living under Hu Ge's shadow, and rebuilds his career from scratch.

Far better than his past life, when Jiang Jinfu stubbornly fought Tang Ren, lost money, and ended up forgotten.

For Fang Hong, this isn't a big deal—it just depends on whether Jiang Jinfu wants to leave Tang Ren. If he does, it's easy.

If he doesn't, no one's words will matter! So no moral guilt, no regret—blame Tang Ren for treating artists like disposable objects, for being so biased.

"You shouldn't have any complaints either—it's my fault for not explaining clearly enough, leading to today's outcome," Fang Hong explained.

To outsiders, this should be Liu Tianxian's problem; Yutu has done its part, the rest is up to Liu Tianxian to handle.

But Fang Hong used Yutu's resources to solve it, and sent Chen Zhixi to handle it—this blurs public and private lines; she naturally felt uneasy.

So he needed to dispel her resentment.

"What complaint could I have? You said it—I'll do it," Chen Zhixi smiled.

She understood the full story; nothing to resent—she just thought Fang Hong was too eager for Liu Tianxian.

"Then I'll leave it to you," Fang Hong patted her shoulder.

Chen Zhixi nodded and walked toward the door.

"Hey!"

Fang Hong called out; Chen Zhixi turned back. Fang Hong asked: "How many years have we known each other?"

"We met in early 2010—almost three years!"

Chen Zhixi felt a pang of nostalgia; in just two or three short years, Yutu had become a minor power in the film industry.

She recalled how she'd once doubted Fang Hong, how Yutu had teetered on collapse—yet somehow, step by step, they'd succeeded. It was almost miraculous.

Mostly because Fang Hong grew too fast; if it had been slow, there'd have been fewer problems. Now Yutu was still dangerously tight on cash flow.

But her doubts were gone.

Because all those things were done by Fang Hong himself—no longer through her.

Seeing him silent, as if thinking, she joked: "What? Are you going to treat me to dinner to thank me for all these years of hard work?"

"No need for dinner. Seeing how hard you've worked, I'll give you 6% of Yutu Film Industry's shares." Fang Hong said.

He'd thought about this long—Yutu needed to formalize ownership; without division, morale would fracture.

He wasn't afraid of people leaving—anyone could walk out, and the company would still turn. Chen Zhixi might be brilliant, but she couldn't match his rebirth advantage—he saw the future.

He needed help. Chen Zhixi had experience, ability, and insight—she was an excellent ally. If he didn't give her shares, she might leave later, and he'd have no grounds to stop her.

With her experience as Yutu's former chief administrator, she could rise anywhere; major capital would gladly give her a stake in a new company.

In his past life, Ruyi was created by Evergrande and Tencent—originally called Hengteng Network; after Evergrande withdrew, it was renamed Ruyi.

She'd joined after multiple transitions and still became general manager—though still an executor, her ability and vision had never failed.

"You're serious?" Chen Zhixi beamed.

"Serious," Fang Hong nodded.

Yutu Film Industry was actually very valuable: backed by overseas funding, with a professional production team, countless excellent scripts, acquired novel rights, and multiple film/TV rights—it was nearly impossible to collapse.

It just hadn't developed or properly utilized those rights yet.

Energy and team are limited, so they can only keep increasing production volume.

Copyright protection was also not handled properly.

Fang Hong only gave Yutu Film Industry to them because he separately owns games, best special effects, and animation department.

That means everything will eventually be split and reorganized, and Chen Zhixi only holds shares in the film and television, variety, and artist management segment.

The other segments have nothing to do with her.

Chen Zhixi will temporarily go to Shanghai, and Fang Hong will take over Yutu's work.

Actually, there isn't much work left—it's almost the New Year, so the company needs to wrap up, and each department will just hold a group dinner before everyone returns home.

They'll come back next year to work again.

The drama Beijing Love Story premiered on Zhejiang Satellite TV on January 8 and achieved a 1.005% viewership rating that day.

It climbed to the top of the national satellite TV ratings for its timeslot.

Chen Sicheng, Yaya, and others all became popular! The drama was sold to Zhejiang Satellite TV for 1.8 million per episode, totaling 39 episodes, or 70.2 million.

With a 30-million investment, they made over 40 million in profit—double their money—but there are still second and third rounds, plus online streaming platforms.

Television dramas can be sold in multiple rounds!

The online copyright was sold to Tencent at 200,000 per episode, totaling 7.8 million, plus advertising revenue sharing.

But this isn't exclusive—the term is one year.

This drama had over one billion online views in its original timeline, which is decent.

Back then, online copyright for TV dramas hadn't been inflated yet, because smartphones weren't fully widespread, 4G had just begun, and watching TV online was still limited to computers, with a narrow audience.

The total revenue for Beijing Love Story should reach 100 million.

It's said Zhejiang Satellite TV made 100 million from this drama through advertising revenue—it was still the era when TV stations held strong power.

But they must give Chen Sicheng 5% of the profit share—based on profit, for example, if they sold it to Zhejiang TV for 70 million and the cost was 30 million, the profit was 40 million, so they give him 2 million.

He directed, starred in, and wrote it himself, so of course he deserves profit sharing, plus a salary—but the salary was counted as part of production cost.

Right now, Bilibili doesn't have enough traffic to shoulder the cost of TV dramas; to form a capital pool for reinvestment, TV dramas must be sold multiple times.

Returns are already slow—if they don't sell more, there's no money at all; they can't keep relying solely on movies.

But Fang Hong can give this drama to Bilibili to stream, slowly drawing traffic.

Without channels to draw traffic, this is the only option for now.

To grow well and become large, besides having more content, you must expand operations.

Next, Fang Hong's focus will shift to video platforms; Tu Piao Piao will first integrate resources and develop step by step.

We'll talk about heavy spending later.

With the popularity of Beijing Love Story, another plagiarism scandal arose, accusing the drama of copying Fight and Chengdu Love Story.

Writers Chen Sicheng and Li Yaling were both criticized, the heat remained high, and the controversy grew large.

Li Yaling had previously written scripts for Yu Ma, who taught Li Yaling a trick: "If plagiarism doesn't exceed 20%, it's not plagiarism. For example, if you copy a 20-episode drama and expand it to 100 episodes, the court won't count it as plagiarism."

Fang Hong had to admit defeat and bow in awe.

Compared to his own secret plagiarism of Those Years, this was child's play—this was the true master of plagiarism.

The plagiarism case over Those Years is still ongoing—it's been going on for one or two years, and no one knows when it will end.

Take it slow—Fang Hong isn't in a hurry! Regarding the plagiarism scandal, Chen Sicheng also delivered a famous quote: "All writing is just a big copy; the world has only so much—birth, aging, sickness, death, love, hate, joy, sorrow—it's inevitable to overlap. So-called plagiarism is nonsense."

That's how he earned the nickname "Master of Blending Plots!" But Beijing Love Story is still a Yutu production, and public opinion dragged Yutu into it, calling the company a habitual plagiarist.

They plagiarize movies, and now TV dramas too! Media dug up the long-forgotten black scandal of Those Years' plagiarism and revived it, mixing it with Beijing Love Story.

Jiu Ba Dao came out again to curse: "Principal is garbage, a nest of literary thieves."

Public opinion flared up again.

It's such a headache—more attacks are starting again, one wave after another.

They finished cursing Liu Tianxian and now curse the Principal, back-to-back.

It seems this year won't be peaceful—there'll be plenty of verbal battles ahead.

(End of Chapter)