Chapter 499

Fang Hong didn't want to fill this hole for Warner to drag Hua Yi into because Hollywood routinely pulls such scams.

He feared getting sucked in himself—that would be a net loss!

You know, those big Hollywood companies are shameless. The old Spider-Man sold for $820 million.

【3】 These Hollywood giants are utterly shameless: the old Spider-Man movie sold for $820 million.

When old man Stan Lee asked them for a 10% profit share, they told him the film had zero profit and no dividends.

That's just how Hollywood is—they even scammed the father of Marvel!

The Lord of the Rings series was the same: $300 million cost, $2.9 billion global revenue, yet the books showed losses.

The director even sued them; The Hobbit's delayed production was due to this very issue.

And such cases are countless: Star Wars, Men in Black, Forrest Gump, Alien—all these major blockbusters, under Hollywood's accounting, lost more and more.

They keep churning out one film after another!

The reason? No profit sharing—directors, producers, and actors all have profit rights.

Warner does this all the time: besides making Harry Potter show a loss, they also made Batman show a loss.

Their loss statements are a mess—they set up subsidiaries and charge themselves absurdly high marketing fees.

Even stranger: they make the film project parties borrow money from the parent company—at interest rates higher than loan sharks.

To engineer losses, these Hollywood companies pull out all stops—even Wall Street can't outmaneuver them.

Only the most shameless could pull off such things.

That's why Fang Hong is reluctant to get involved—he's afraid that if he helps Warner handle this, and mediates in the middle, he'll end up paying out and getting scammed along with Warner.

Friends? In the face of profit, they're nothing.

If he approached Universal, he feared they wouldn't be ruthless enough to cripple Hua Yi—if they showed even a hint of mercy, they couldn't hurt Hua Yi, since they're a publicly traded company.

Warner's actions are dirtier than Universal's.

That's also why Fang Hong prefers working with Universal—but Warner has its advantages: more realistic, more treacherous.

He fears not enough venom—he fears the venom won't hit the target.

"Still calling me Mom? I don't have a son that big." Liu Tianxian slapped his hand and added: "You're up to something bad again, aren't you?"

"This isn't doing something bad—it's struggle. I didn't use underhanded tactics or do anything wrong; it's normal business competition. If Hua Yi falls for it, they're just stupid—not my fault," Fang Hong defended himself.

"Everything's your word," Liu Tianxian had no rebuttal, but still felt this was wrong.

This tactic isn't filthy black-magic—it's just "in war, deception is all right."

It's perfectly normal in business warfare—everyone uses it.

"I have no choice—if I don't crush them, they'll keep harassing me. Don't you find it annoying?" Fang Hong said.

Liu Tianxian fell silent, not speaking—she did find it annoying.

Fang Hong spoke again: "If we want more profit and stronger influence, we must make others know you're not to be trifled with. Do you understand?"

The film market is multipolar—others can always choose elsewhere, so influence is always diluted.

After last time humiliating Fa Ge, actors and stars in the industry now feared him—they dared not speak loudly in front of him.

After all, no one has Fa Ge's status—but true big shots still ignore him.

Even with hot money flooding in, the struggle continues—because with money and power, even a Principal can't outmatch real institutional capital.

Can he outmatch capital like Alibaba or Tencent?

"What if everyone ends up fearing you?" Liu Tianxian worried—she could already picture this man becoming a tyrant.

Of course, a tyrant in others' eyes.

"I can't make everyone respect me—I can only make them fear me. If I can't make them fear me, everyone will test my limits, everyone will insult me—how much face will I lose?"

"This industry is now in a hot-money phase—if we don't fight, others won't give us any leeway."

Fang Hong spoke earnestly, eyes fixed on her.

These past two years, every entertainment company has been absorbing capital funds—Hua Yi's most prosperous two years.

If he didn't suppress them, didn't assert his presence, didn't show his strength, people would easily think he was easy to bully.

Dignity isn't given—it's fought for.

Liu Tianxian said nothing—she clearly conceded.

She couldn't say Fang Hong was right or wrong—after all, she herself had benefited under the protection of his Yutu.

She was a beneficiary, reaping advantages—then criticizing his ruthless methods would make her seem overly saintly.

For now, let it be this way—just wait for Warner's reply. No news will come quickly; it needs time.

Just as Fang Hong and Liu Tianxian were chatting quietly, Chen Zhixi knocked and entered: "Director Fang, Xing Ye and Xu Laoguai have arranged to meet you."

"Good!" Fang Hong patted Liu Tianxian's leg: "Come with me to meet the guests."

"Why is Xing Ye looking for you?" Liu Tianxian asked, puzzled.

She knew Xu Laoguai—probably about the Superwoman 2 director—but she didn't know why Xing Ye wanted to see him.

"Xing Ye hasn't had an easy time lately," Fang Hong said with a meaningful smile.

Liu Tianxian suddenly understood—she seemed to grasp his meaning.

The entertainment industry's second half of this year was extremely lively: Xiang Tai launched a furious media assault on Xing Ye, causing a huge uproar.

It started with an article titled "Why So Many People Hate Xing Ye" spreading online.

Xiang Tai was furious and launched a full-scale attack on Xing Ye.

This sparked a wave of alignment among Hong Kong film figures: Du Qifeng, Wang Jing, Hong Jinbao, Er Dongsheng—all these big names publicly sided with Xiang Tai. With people of their stature backing Xiang Tai, actors like Zhang Jiahui and Liu Qingyun naturally followed suit.

A Weibo post claimed Hua Zai had personally said he wasn't friends with Xing Ye; reporters asked Hua Zai about it.

Hua Zai's reply was cunning: "In the past, present, and future, I've always been a fan of Xing Ye."

He never addressed his actual relationship with Xing Ye!

Xiang Tai's relentless attacks turned the feud into a one-sided landslide—nearly all Hong Kong stars now sided with the Xiang family.

Even Da Shu stepped forward to say that Xing Ye has always been fickle.

Of course, from their perspective, it's true—there's no attempt to smear him; everyone interacts with others to different degrees, so their views of people differ.

Actually, how would you describe the relationship between the two? It's purely a professional partnership—not like the outside rumors that they're family.

Perhaps when they once shared hardships and were on the same level, their relationship was good, but never to the extent of family—only better than ordinary friends.

Does working together on many films for years make a relationship like family? That's unrealistic.

Also, once a person reaches a certain stage, they can no longer joke and roughhouse with old friends—Xing Ye is like this.

Fang Hong is the same now—he's essentially changed his class, changed his circle of friends.

Those people from the past can no longer keep up.

Of course, Xing Ye isn't called a good person—he's been criticized by so many people, so his personality must have flaws; he's just very opportunistic.

The only people who can be his friends are those on his level, like Xu Laoguai—their relationship has always been good, the kind that's mutually appreciative.

Regarding outside criticism, Xing Ye remains silent, and now that he's developing in Neidi, he's long left the Hong Kong film industry and can afford to ignore it.

The films he's made in recent years have all been funded by Neidi investors—almost no Hong Kong investors.

But among Neidi investors, only Huayi, Guangxian, Bona, and Yutu are top-tier and truly powerful.

Forget Huayi—they had a falling out with him during the filming of *The Demons*.

Bona is very close to Hong Kong filmmakers and especially close to the Xiang family—Xing Ye would never collaborate with them.

Guangxian seems weak, but that's only when compared to Yutu.

So this time, Xing Ye and Xu Laoguai came together to discuss upcoming film projects.

In a reception room, Fang Hong and Liu Tianxian met Xing Ye, whose shoulder-length white hair was neatly styled, and Xu Laoguai, whose messy white hair looked unkempt.

They had been sitting on the sofa, legs crossed, chatting; seeing Fang Hong and the others, they immediately stood up and walked over. Xu Laoguai extended his hand: "Principal, nice to meet you."

"Hello." Fang Hong shook his hand. "Xu Director, you're still in great shape."

Recently, Xu Laoguai divorced his longtime partner Shi Nansheng and married a woman thirty years his junior—who is now pregnant.

Remember, Xu Laoguai is now sixty-four—still able to father a child at this age? Calling him "still in great shape" is accurate.

"Hahaha, you're teasing me—I take care of myself regularly." Xu Laoguai laughed.

"You do take good care of yourself."

Fang Hong casually said this, then shook hands with Xing Ye: "Xing Ye, I've long heard your name."

"Don't flatter me, don't flatter me." Xing Ye appeared humble, smiling. "Your name as Principal—I've heard it thundering in my ears."

Everyone in the Hong Kong circle knows about Principal slapping Fa Ge's face—this incident shook the entire Hong Kong industry.

Because Fa Ge holds such high status and prestige, slapping his face proves Principal doesn't care a bit about anyone else in Hong Kong.

And so he slapped him—and no one dared react, no one responded. That's power.

"Just empty titles, just empty titles," Fang Hong waved it off.

This made Liu Tianxian beside him smile faintly.

The atmosphere of their meeting was still harmonious, and since this was their first meeting, they naturally sized each other up.

"Miss Liu, you're truly graceful," Xu Laoguai praised.

"You flatter me—I'm just ordinary," Liu Tianxian replied modestly.

"If you count as ordinary, then China has no beautiful women," Xu Laoguai laughed heartily.

"I've wanted to collaborate with Miss Liu several times, but for various reasons it never materialized—it's truly regrettable," Xing Ye added.

Liu Tianxian smiled but said nothing—such remarks are just polite flattery, not to be taken seriously.

If Xing Ye truly wanted her to act, he would have asked long ago—no one could stop him; he has casting authority. The reason he hasn't is due to other factors in the industry.

Influences from the Jingquan, Gangquan circles and their power players—even Xu Laoguai is the same—he'd rather use Da Baobei or Yatai as actors.

It's only because Yutu has entered this circle as an unpredictable factor that these words are being spoken now.

Remember, her husband's power over the past years isn't empty fame.

Xing Ye does have emotional intelligence—but it depends on who he's dealing with. With actors or those below his level, he's indifferent, barely bothering to acknowledge them.

He gets angry when things go wrong and doesn't care about others' dignity—though reportedly he's improved somewhat.

But with someone like Principal, it's entirely different—not to mention Liu Tianxian is Principal's only publicly acknowledged partner, from start to finish.

Seeing the conversation had gone far enough, Chen Zhixi signaled from the side: "Let's sit down and talk."

(End of chapter)