Chapter 194

Currently, Chen Zhixi has returned to her hometown.

She has already discussed with Jiang Jinfu that after the New Year, she will not join the Tian Zhi Hen drama crew, citing poor health and staying in the hospital.

Originally, Jiang Jinfu wanted to hold out for better terms—either joining Yu Tu or securing more drama resources.

But Chen Zhixi rejected it, stating that Yu Tu cannot afford him and will only provide one lead role.

They cannot support him indefinitely; Yu Tu will offer only initial support, and his future path must be walked by himself.

Additionally, they will help him sue to break free from Tang Ren, providing money or people as needed; whether he shoots Tian Zhi Hen or violates his contract depends on Tang Ren's stance and circumstances.

Jiang Jinfu must obey, otherwise Yu Tu will not help.

It was stated very clearly.

Jiang Jinfu found this acceptable and agreed—even if they offered no resources or legal aid, he still intended to leave Tang Ren.

If Tang Ren compromises, he can still act in Tian Zhi Hen, gain Yu Tu's support and resources, and become a free agent—this deal is extremely advantageous.

Fang Hong told Liu Tianxian about this to ease her concerns.

Liu Tianxian's thinking was simple: she did not want to cause trouble, neither for others nor for herself.

She could bear a little more herself; this matter would soon pass.

But if Fang Hong wanted to play the villain, she let him.

It was impossible to make Fang Hong follow her every wish; him telling her and discussing it was already respect.

In the past, he would have lectured her, saying she was too kind.

Back then, when dealing with Huayi, he would say: "You're too kind—if you don't bother others, won't others bother you?" Fang Hong chatted with Liu Tianxian for a while, stayed the whole afternoon, then left; Liu Xiaoli didn't even invite him to stay for dinner, so there was no point in him lingering.

Liu Xiaoli had not yet decided how to face Fang Hong; this man had suddenly barged in, leaving her unaccustomed.

But judging by his words and actions, he was acceptable; she had deliberately made things difficult just to test his tolerance.

If he wasn't tolerant, showing pettiness, their relationship and life together would be full of conflict—someone always had to yield first.

Before leaving, Fang Hong greeted her as usual, showing no anger despite her difficulties—this was good.

This year's Spring Festival no longer sings "Unforgettable Tonight," nor does it use congratulatory telegrams or cables—it has fully kept pace with the times.

Zhao Dashu's withdrawal from the Spring Festival Gala sparked rumors that he had quarreled with director Ha Wen.

This led Ha Wen to curse backstage: "On the Spring Festival Gala stage, it's him or me!"

In truth, Zhao Dashu simply had no good scripts or fresh ideas—he could no longer surpass his past self.

His last major sketch hit was "Not Poor" in 2009; his subsequent works over the years were unsatisfactory and received little response.

2012 was meant to be a turning point, as more and more young people accessed the internet and society progressed.

How do you make these young people laugh? That's the challenge.

That's exactly what Zhao Dashu himself admitted.

So it's just rumor—today's rumors are never policed, never refuted; anyone can just spout nonsense online.

Saying someone doesn't appear on the Spring Festival Gala means they're out of step.

For example, Liu Tianxian's "naked photos"—that one photoshopped image—are now being spread.

No one needs to take responsibility.

Of course, Zhao Dashu's exit saw Shen Teng and Ma Li emerge as the new generation of "Sketch Kings!" The name "Hao Jian" made audiences remember Shen Teng.

"This year's Spring Festival Gala was pretty good."

Xu Liyun and her son ate their New Year's Eve dinner, watching the large LCD TV in the distance.

Fang Hong glanced at it, then looked away and fed a bone to Heizi at his feet: "This might be the best Spring Festival Gala in recent years."

This year's Gala dared to innovate, discarded many outdated elements, and surpassed all previous ones in stage design—the 3D stage was perfectly integrated.

Overall, it was refreshing.

"Ah, when will there be another person to eat with, another person to watch the Spring Festival Gala?" Xu Liyun shook her head and sighed, looking deeply melancholy.

Every year, just mother and son ate New Year's Eve dinner—it was too monotonous, with nothing to talk about; if Liu Tianxian were here, there'd be someone else to converse with.

"Mom, I'm trying, aren't I?" Fang Hong knew his mother was saying this deliberately for his benefit.

"You've been trying since 2010 until 2012—how many more years will you keep trying?"

Xu Liyun said: "When I was with your father, we met once, got married, and slowly built our feelings—we still lived happily."

Fang Hong replied: "How can you compare now to your time? People's thinking is different now; dating three, five, even seven or eight years is normal."

Xu Liyun gave him a reproachful look: "You want to date seven or eight years? By then I'll be old—no good, son."

Seven or eight years? She'd be over fifty! Again she said "no good," so Fang Hong served her food: "Alright, alright, I'll try harder—I'll bring her over today to keep you company, okay?"

"Really?" Xu Liyun widened her eyes.

"Really—but I can't guarantee she'll come. I can only say I'll do my best," Fang Hong replied gently.

"Son, go for it!" Xu Liyun encouraged.

If Liu Tianxian came today, she could keep her company—this house felt especially cold and empty without people.

Her son had grown up, was a man, and always had his own affairs—he wasn't suited to chat about household matters with her.

After dinner, the mother and son chatted a while, then went their separate ways; Fang Hong was about to go upstairs.

"Hey, son, aren't you going to pick up Liu Tianxian? Why are you going upstairs?" Xu Liyun thought he was going to fetch Liu Tianxian.

"She'll come on her own."

Fang Hong said this and went upstairs to return to his study.

Back in his study, Fang Hong sat down, picked up his phone, glanced at it, then set it aside.

Launch Hero Glory! The game has ended testing and is now officially live.

The server is being built in Huailai County, where electricity is cheap and temperatures are low—perfect.

Setting up a game server isn't expensive—it's just combining CPUs, memory, and hard drives.

The cost lies in operations and bandwidth, because this stuff generates a lot of heat, requires constant temperature control, and needs air conditioning running year-round—large-scale air conditioning at that. Also, servers consume massive amounts of electricity.

In short, this thing is a huge power hog.

Servers aren't necessarily used only for games; Bilibili, the Animation Department, and Best Special Effects also use them alongside.

Now, Hero Glory's reputation continues to spread, and a second server has been opened—there are too many Chinese players for one server to hold.

Revenue reached 32.34 million, all from Skin sales; many players still buy Skin without plugins.

Plugins are self-deception—they can only be seen by the user, not by others.

But this isn't profit; fundamentally, no money was made—it was all reinvested into Propaganda Department promotion and ongoing ecosystem development.

For example, supporting game creators to make videos: a netizen named Xiao Mo made Hero Glory videos and gained 340,000 followers on Youku through humor and wit.

This counts as a very popular person.

Live streaming hasn't taken off yet; only YY Zhibo has some user base, but it's not just game streaming—it includes outdoor, beauties, and chat streams too.

Huya was born out of YY Zhibo as a game streaming platform.

Also, Hero Glory supports some people forming teams for competitions; Huang Zu and OMG were established with Yutu's support.

But it's only support—just exposure: promoting them in the Hero Glory client, promoting them on Bilibili, so they can earn money through ads using their fame.

People will keep going only if they can make money; without profit, nothing lasts.

Yutu doesn't enter the arena itself; team development is left to the market to nurture. Hero Glory only needs to maintain the ecosystem and act as referee.

Of course, Hero Glory currently competes with League of Legends, but the entire gaming market is competitive—Tencent has too many games, and too many profitable ones.

This year alone, Tencent launched The Dragon Lord, Battle God, and Xuan Yuan Legend. Just CrossFire alone brings in 400 million per month.

In this era, Tencent has many rivals.

For example, Pig Factory's A Chinese Ghost Story, Tianxia 3, Datang Wushuang 2, and Zhan Hun are all highly profitable and full-scale competitors.

Changyou's Tian Long Ba Bu, Lu Ding Ji, and others.

Perfect World's Zhu Xian, Xiao Ao Jiang Hu, Shen Diao Xia Lü, and DOTA2—this company earns 700 million overseas alone.

Among them, DOTA2 is also a competitor; how could Tencent's executives possibly pay attention to Hero Glory?

Moreover, they haven't fully acquired Riot Games yet—they won't complete the acquisition until 2015.

Right now, Hero Glory is growing slowly: operating the game well, building the ecosystem, and gradually conquering overseas markets.

Currently, overseas registrations have surpassed 10 million, concurrent users have surpassed 450,000, and it's gradually leaving Steam, operating its own rented servers.

Although performance looks good, Yutu lacks the strength to operate overseas effectively.

It can't organize competitions, can't build an ecosystem, struggles with operations, can't sustain a brand—it needs a big company to handle operations.

"Beep-beep-beep!"

Just as Fang Hong was playing, his phone rang as expected.

"Hello, Xiao Feifei," Fang Hong said, holding the phone between his shoulder while still operating keyboard and mouse.

"What are you doing?" Liu Tianxian asked on the phone.

"Working," Fang Hong said.

"You're lying to ghosts—I can hear your game sounds, the keyboard clacking away. Do you think I'm stupid?" Liu Tianxian's sweet voice clattered just as loudly.

"Oh, so you're not stupid!" Fang Hong teased.

"Get lost! You're asking for it."

This man—he must be scolded a couple times, or she feels uneasy.

Fang Hong just chuckled: "So, do you want to play together?"

"Sure!"

Liu Tianxian was bored, then asked: "Is it still the same game I played before?"

She occasionally played that game.

"Yes, I'll support you," Fang Hong said.

"No, I'll support you—you go kill," Liu Tianxian preferred simpler gameplay.

She couldn't handle anything too hard.

"Fine, then you take over," Fang Hong said.

On New Year's Eve, the two played the game together and turned on voice chat.

"Why are you always hiding in the bushes? Come out!"

"I can't do it alone—you need to block the skills for me. I'm dead!"

"Go attack him, kill him!"

"Can you even play? You're useless!"

"You piece of trash!"

As soon as Fang Hong said those last words, Liu Tianxian immediately quit the game, threw off her headphones, and ran downstairs.

"What's wrong with you?" Liu Xiaoli had invited several friends over to the house.

She saw Liu Tianxian with a cold face, furious.

"I'm so angry!"

Liu Tianxian put on her clothes, got into her Ferrari, and sped straight toward Fang Hong's house—wildly fast.

She couldn't calm her rage unless she beat that man up.

Liu Xiaoli chased outside, looked, then told her friends: "It's fine—probably something happened. Let's play mahjong!"

She knew her daughter either went to see friends or her boyfriend.

(End of Chapter)