Chapter 431: The Surnamed Liu

Inside the villa it was warm as spring. Liu Tianxian sat cross-legged in casual clothes, a little black cat cradled in her arms, her hand gently stroking the cat's back, while her ears listened to Fang Hong's conversation.

She also knew it was about stolen box office revenue—she could guess who had stolen theirs, and had a rough idea in her heart.

But this kind of thing was very common; normally no one would make a special phone call to notify you. A phone call to notify meant it was definitely taken very seriously.

"Here's what you do—first gather evidence. Whoever stole our box office, expose them. Which cinema, where it is, what it's called—expose every last detail so everyone knows. And while you're at it, send them a lawyer's letter. If they don't rein it in, sue them outright. The methods have to be harsh." Fang Hong's tone was very hard.

"Isn't that going too far?" Chen Zhixi said, surprised.

Directly exposing the other cinema's name and location to the public was tantamount to telling the authorities straight out: this cinema is stealing box office revenue, and it must be dealt with.

And to sue them directly was tantamount to crushing them to death. A cinema simply couldn't bear it—apart from the big brands, a cinema itself didn't really have that many assets.

Besides, no one had ever handled it this way. Everyone figured it was better to have less trouble than more, because the payoff wasn't worth it—you'd be tied up in lawsuits for months, wasting time and energy.

Even if you shut them down, they wouldn't have the money to pay you!

"If we don't put a stop to it, and everyone comes to steal my box office revenue to aid the enemy, then were all our previous efforts wasted?"

Fang Hong retorted, his tone turning severe: "I can tolerate them stealing box office revenue for themselves, but I cannot tolerate them stealing box office revenue for my competitors. If a cinema steals for itself, I'll treat it as the Principal treating them to a meal. But if they steal box office revenue for my competitors—that's one thing I cannot stomach."

"Understood." Chen Zhixi grasped his thinking.

It was a competitive relationship to begin with. If these cinemas stole for themselves, that was fine—everyone knew, and by unspoken agreement no one said anything. But aiding the enemy was not acceptable.

It was equivalent to all the work and effort they had put in before being discounted.

It was equivalent to the opponent's value not being struck a blow—the opponent couldn't be made to feel pain, and their strategic objective this time hadn't been achieved.

So it had to be curbed, had to be stopped!

"Don't be afraid of trouble. Expose however many there are. But one thing—only expose those cinemas that steal box office revenue for the opponent. Cinemas that steal for themselves, don't bother with them. Just let those people understand what we mean." Fang Hong said.

Those cinemas stealing for themselves couldn't be controlled. Even if they found out, they could only notify law enforcement officers to enforce the law—unless they were willing to spend a fortune suing and reporting all several hundred cinemas nationwide.

Doing that would invite public outrage, and besides, you might not even be able to keep it under control. So it could only be handled from above. How could they possibly keep track nationwide of who was stealing box office revenue and who wasn't?

Just don't go overboard, just don't be brazen about it.

So Fang Hong only grabbed the typical cases—those cinemas that stole box office revenue for the opponent—and ignored the rest!

"Got it, I understand what you mean. Then should we report it to the authorities above?" Chen Zhixi said.

"I'll handle that. The authorities above are on holiday right now; even if we tell them, they can't deal with it. We can only handle it ourselves." Fang Hong said.

It was right in the middle of the Spring Festival; government agencies were basically all on holiday. Even if there were people on duty, they would only be informed, and would have to wait until after the 15th to handle it.

No matter how huge the matter, it had to wait.

That was why Fang Hong was exposing them directly and suing directly—it had to be stopped.

The two chatted for a while. Chen Zhixi understood Fang Hong's purpose: in short, it was single-mindedly suppressing the competitors, including those who aided the enemy.

Everything else could be ignored. You steal box office revenue, steal away—but you can't steal for the opponent. That was the bottom line.

In any case, Fang Hong always knew who his opponents were!

"Someone stole our box office revenue?" Liu Tianxian said after watching him finish the call.

"Yes, damn it. Stealing for themselves is one thing, but they even help others steal. F— their mothers." Fang Hong's words came out in polished form.

Liu Tianxian kicked him: "Can you be a little more civilized? What a temper."

"I'm not talking about you. You have to understand, to suppress those Hong Kong guys, I spent so much money and resources, and completely exposed my strength. From now on, no one will play with me anymore." Fang Hong was rather lonely.

He figured that from now on, when Huayi and Bona saw the Principal, they'd have to keep their distance—they couldn't afford to fight.

It really was like that. Those Huayi big and little Wangs, when they saw the Principal, they got the jitters. They'd been taken down a few times; their stock price had dropped from a peak of over forty billion to just over twenty billion now—more than half evaporated.

No way around it. Huayi's core director Feng Kuzi had even been labeled with the "money-grabbing" tag, and his value had seriously declined.

Even though "Personal Tailor" made pure profit, the box office wasn't eye-catching. He'd gone off to play real estate and games, shrinking the film business—let the Principal play by himself.

This time, taking down two Hong Kong films in a row, and bringing along Bona, China Film Group, and Hong Kong capital, really showed them the Principal's strength.

China Film Group was the investor of "The Monkey King."

But China Film Group was, after all, a state-owned enterprise, and Zuoshandiao was retiring in just one month—he was no longer handling these matters.

And he couldn't handle them anyway. His daughter was the producer of "Love Like the First," and also had a share in it. It felt like the Principal had done it on purpose.

Xu Liyun also noticed the commotion over here and, thinking something had happened, said: "Xiao Hong, go easy on Xixi, don't keep arguing."

"We're not arguing, Auntie. It's about something else." Liu Tianxian replied.

"Oh!" Xu Liyun realized she'd wronged her own son and shut up.

She went back to watching her idol drama.

"Is this Versailles talk? No one plays with you anymore, and you're feeling lonely, right!" Liu Tianxian was utterly speechless—no one plays with him anymore.

"No, no."

Fang Hong smiled, touched her pretty face, then stood up and said: "I'm going to make another phone call."

He walked into a glass room, where one could see the snowy scenery outside and the silver-clad landscape.

Liu Tianxian followed as well, still holding a little kitten in her arms. She nuzzled it with her face, then set it on Fang Hong's head. The cat timidly curled its body tight, as if afraid of falling off. The cat's body curled up tight—quite cute, adorably clumsy. She thought it was fun.

"Don't poop and pee on my head." Fang Hong found a stool to sit on, pulled out a phone number, and dialed out.

"It won't. It just went." Liu Tianxian said.

The other end of Fang Hong's call connected quickly. His tone was somewhat heavy: "Director Zhang, the box office stealing—are you going to handle it or not."

The current Zhang Hongsen was no longer Deputy Director—he'd been promoted to the top post!

"Of course I'll handle it, definitely." Zhang Hongsen blurted.

This was his responsibility; it had been reported to him, so he definitely had to handle it. He was just very curious why the Principal's tone was so aggressive. This wasn't some big deal—box office stealing, everyone knew about it. Was it necessary to come interrogating him during the New Year?

Zhang Hongsen said unhappily: "You're calling me during the New Year just for something like this? I was thinking you were calling to wish me a Happy New Year."

"Sigh, you don't know how upset I am."

Fang Hong pretended to sigh, then put the phone by Liu Tianxian's ear: "Come, wish Director Zhang a Happy New Year. Our Director Zhang has been promoted."

Zhang Hongsen was fine with what he heard at first, but the latter part had a teasing flavor to it. Damn, getting more and more arrogant.

Of course, their strength has also been growing stronger and stronger. This e-commerce plus internet model has drawn a lot of new people into movies.

Single-day box office broke 200 million for two days in a row — a kind of prosperity never seen before.

It counts as having made an indelible contribution to the film market, and its export capability is strong — both films and television have been exported.

"Legend of Lu Zhen," "Let's Get Married," "Lucy 1," "Now You See Me," and so on have all been exported. Even the Japanese distributors came looking to buy the rights.

They came to buy the rights. Now relations between the two countries aren't great, so they can only sell to the other side for remakes.

"Director Zhang, Happy New Year!" Liu Tianxian still knew her manners — completely unlike Fang Hong.

"Tianxian, Happy New Year."

Zhang Hongsen replied, then added: "You need to rein in your man. The moment he shows up, his temper is that fierce."

"You can't blame him — he was riled up too. If others hadn't broken the rules, it wouldn't have come to this." Liu Tianxian still sided with her man.

One played the good cop, the other the bad cop.

"It's just box-office theft, isn't it? It's not like it won't be dealt with," Zhang Hongsen said.

"It's not like that. The theaters moved our movie tickets onto other movies," Liu Tianxian said.

"You mean other movies stole your box office and put it on their own heads." Zhang Hongsen caught the drift.

"That's not it. Actually, stealing is whatever — we know this kind of thing is common. It's just that they didn't take us seriously at all. They swapped the tickets right under our noses. You tell me — could Fang Hong not be angry?" Liu Tianxian knew how to spin a story. She spoke gently too, so people wouldn't suspect a thing.

In fact, they only learned about it from a third party — it wasn't under their noses at all.

"I'll have a talk with Xiao Fang." After Liu Tianxian put it that way, Zhang Hongsen's irritation faded a bit.

Moving box-office numbers right under their noses — forget the Principal losing face, even he himself would lose face seeing it.

Of course he wouldn't go chasing after some truth or falsehood. With things this heated, there had to be something to it. If someone found evidence, the other side deserved to be criticized.

"Don't be angry. We just felt it wasn't fair," Liu Tianxian said, giving a little signal.

Fang Hong took the phone, held it to his ear.

"I have a rough idea of the situation, but I still need to verify the specifics. Once I'm back at work, I'll handle it," Zhang Hongsen said.

"You don't need to verify. Which theater stole the box office — the media will break it. Just watch the news. And we'll also submit the evidence and report it. I hope you can give us a fair ruling." Fang Hong's attitude was still very firm.

This time he had to pursue it to the end.

"Don't be so impulsive. We'll give you an answer," Zhang Hongsen said, afraid he'd cause more trouble.

"I know. I'll try to hold back."

When Fang Hong said that, why didn't Zhang Hongsen quite believe it?

Still, he didn't say anything. Box-office theft was something they were supposed to crack down on hard — it affected the industry, it affected tax revenue, it was a matter of national interest.

Only, Fang Hong wasn't that noble, and didn't want to blow things up too big. He was only targeting his competitors.

After hanging up, Fang Hong leaned over and kissed Liu Tianxian on the lips, praising her: "Wife, you're really amazing."

She'd smoothed things over for him. In the past, when he wanted to make a big fuss, he'd either have to bow and lick Zhang Hongsen's boots, or go head-to-head with him. Having Liu Tianxian buffer in the middle was much better.

He'd gone head-to-head with Zhang Hongsen a few times before, and only later reined himself in a bit.

"I'm just telling it like it is. We're in the right — what's there to be afraid of?" Liu Tianxian looked all righteous, with the cat still perched on his head teasing him, as if it were great fun.

"Makes sense. We're in the right, no fear." Fang Hong's confidence grew even firmer.

Just as he was lost in thought, he suddenly felt a warm stream on his head, then saw water flowing down.

"Holy shit! Liu, you—" Fang Hong exploded.

(End of chapter)