Chapter 583: Give Me One More Chance

These two days, news of Liu Tianxian and the Principal returning to China exploded online, with continuous reports on their incident at the airport.

Now that "Gravity" is still in theaters, Liu Tianxian's international fame has surged momentarily; reporting on them is correct—it draws traffic!

Many media outlets blamed Liu Tianxian for this incident, claiming she caused it and disrupted public order.

Liu Tianxian offered no defense or response, letting them say whatever they wanted.

She is now thinking about how to handle the people around her, because she has basically confirmed that someone close to her leaked her itinerary.

With such a small circle, it's easy to guess—but she doesn't know exactly who it is.

Fang Hong didn't interfere, letting her handle it herself; it's not a big deal, she can manage it.

In truth, Liu Tianxian is very smart, she knows everything, understands everything, but she's too soft-hearted, too reluctant to strike hard, thinking she can just endure and let it pass.

But this isn't something she can endure—it's something that will happen again if left unaddressed.

Recently, Chang'e Technology's CFO Gao Zhun reached an agreement with Enlight Pictures to buy 18.3% of Tu Piaopiao's shares for 1.99 billion yuan.

And become Tu Piaopiao's second-largest shareholder!

This was reported in financial news, but ordinary people who aren't in finance or successful don't read financial news.

1.99 billion was a compromise: Gao Zhun refused to go over 2 billion; but Enlight Pictures felt Tu Piaopiao's valuation was high now.

The massive success of "Gravity" pushed Tu Piaopiao's valuation to 13.7 billion yuan; logically, Enlight Pictures' shares should be worth 2.5 billion!

That's about 500 million yuan more than before!

But Gao Zhun disagreed, arguing that valuation is valuation, but Chang'e's acquisition is real cash, not comparable.

A valuation of 13.7 billion—would anyone really pay 13.7 billion to buy it? Impossible!

This left Enlight Pictures stuck: they couldn't sell to others because the Principal refused—when a shareholder sells shares, if internal shareholders don't buy, selling to external institutions requires all shareholders' approval.

The Principal is the largest shareholder, holding absolute controlling power alone.

Tencent, Wanda, Meituan have no say—they never intended to interfere with Tu Piaopiao's operations, otherwise they wouldn't have let multiple parties fight for dominance; their investments were minimal.

Besides, Enlight Pictures is part of Alibaba Group, no need to get involved.

This is also why Enlight Pictures wants to sell—they have no voice, and it doesn't help them at all.

Chang'e Technology made an offer, Fang Hong applied pressure, and finally they compromised at 1.99 billion, avoiding the 2 billion price tag.

This price gave Enlight Pictures a pure profit of 890 million yuan, not quite 1 billion.

Previously, Tu Piaopiao's valuation had been falling because Alibaba entered the market, Taobao Movies launched online seat selection and ticketing services, rapidly expanding market share through subsidies and promotions.

Taobao Movies is upgrading its brand and will soon be renamed: Tao Piaopiao.

Taobao Movies' series of moves are squeezing Tu Piaopiao's market share, and squeezing other ticketing market shares.

And they're not just entering movie ticketing—they're also entering sports, tourism, concerts, and more.

Alibaba is powerful, with all channels connected, and the capital market lowered its expectations for Tu Piaopiao—but no one expected "Gravity" to pull those expectations back up.

You could say this film lifted the entire film industry's stock market, because a single film earning over 3 billion is a massive scale.

What film could earn 3 billion in half a month? Even money laundering isn't this outrageous.

Liu Xiaoli has made a lot of money in the stock market recently, because before the New Year, Fang Hong advised her to buy film and television stocks—this year's film and television stocks have seen a wave of good news.

1.99 billion yuan will be paid by Chang'e Technology to Enlight Pictures in four installments of about 500 million yuan per month, meaning full payment within half a year.

This sum is no pressure for Chang'e Technology—"Hero Glory"'s revenue this year hit a new high.

Monthly revenue of 135 million U. S. dollars, topping the global digital games ranking.

Converted to RMB, that's about 949 million yuan per month—no pressure, though actual earnings are less due to taxes and operational costs, which are already low.

Now they're designing Hero Glory skins, which can be outsourced to Yutu's Animation Department, no need to hire anyone.

Only gameplay design requires hiring planners.

Of course, the engine is still under development, gradually replacing their own engine.

Security technology is provided by Chang'e Technology, which has established a separate security department primarily responsible for monitoring and preventing attacks.

"Fortnite" is still in development, "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" has been officially greenlit; its creator Brendan Greene has been invited to China—he's Irish.

People like him just need enough money.

It was only just greenlit because his previous work, H1Z1, has been completed and launched on Steam.

He's matured enough, accumulated sufficient experience, and can now take over the "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" project.

If the gameplay isn't mature enough, Fang Hong can fill in the gaps—he's played it, and he's a gaming enthusiast.

But these past few years have been too busy, he's had no time; the graphics card Liu Tianxian bought him has gathered dust.

Yutu has now fully moved to the Huairou film and television base, with new office buildings: one for Special Effects, one for Animation, one for Producer.

What was once a desolate wasteland with no foot traffic is gradually gaining vitality; the film base is now bustling, faces glowing with energy.

In this new environment, there must be a new atmosphere—this year, Yutu's HR department revised salary standards, raising each employee's pay by 15% to 20%.

Of course, only employees with contracts—outsourced temporary workers don't count; this is a significant raise for them.

Ten thousand yuan means an extra two thousand yuan!

The New Year's Eve party was much livelier this year, but Fang Hong didn't attend—what a pity!

Recently, Fang Hong has been busy with Yutu's Option Pool—previously, 38 million shares were distributed to company employees and directors/producers.

Some got 500,000 shares, some got 1 million shares; subscriptions varied—some were given, some bought for one yuan.

Fang Hong has returned to work, discussing how to pay employees; after deliberation by Chen Zhixi, Meng Jun, and other board members, they decided to repurchase Option Pool shares at 4 yuan per share.

Previously issued 38 million shares, totaling 152 million yuan—this is negligible for Yutu's current scale.

It's certainly not 152 million yuan, because many employees originally paid for their shares—the actual cost was just over 100 million yuan.

Fang Hong was too conservative at first, issued too few shares—understandable, since it was his first time doing this, unfamiliar with the process.

Yutu is just his pilot project—he plans to apply this model to Chang'e Technology, whose scale is much larger; then the amounts won't be in hundreds of millions, but billions, tens of billions.

The unit will probably change—to U. S. dollars!

The buyback price for Jade Rabbit shares can't be set too high — if it's too high, people will cash out and be set for life in one go.

At 4 yuan per share, those who subscribed at 1 yuan for 1 million shares can earn 3 million; those who subscribed for 500,000 can earn 1.5 million.

Of course, taxes have to be paid, so those people won't actually get that much — they have to pay personal income tax.

When word spread that the company would buy back shares from the Option Pool at 4 yuan per share, the veterans holding Jade Rabbit shares erupted in celebration.

They praised the Principal as awesome, calling him the one who clothed and fed them.

"4 yuan? Really?" Liu Yin couldn't believe it.

"Really, the announcement has been posted, and the internal company email has been sent — it's 4 yuan per share." Li Anran was excited too.

This one move let him earn 4 million. His shares had been a gift — back when Fang Hong carried out the reform, to pacify the grievances of veterans who had a stake, he adopted a gifting model.

"The Principal treats us well!" Liu Yin clapped his hands.

With this, he'd gotten several million for nothing — equivalent to earning pure profit on top of his acting fees from filming.

"Then I'll sell them right away." Saying this, he was about to go handle the paperwork.

"Don't sell, it's not a good deal right now." Li Anran stopped him.

"Why?" Liu Yin was puzzled.

"If you sell now and want to buy back in, it'll cost you 2 yuan per share. You'd be better off holding and selling when the price rises — next year it might be 7 or 10 yuan. Tell me, why would you sell?" Li Anran said.

When the company buys back Option Pool shares, if employees want to buy again, they generally have to pay half the average buyback price — so 2 yuan per share. It won't be 1 yuan anymore.

The Option Pool shares were always meant to motivate employees, to motivate the people who do the work, to make them fight alongside the company — not to make money off them or play financial games.

That's the original purpose of the Option Pool, so whatever price they sell at, that's the price employees pay half of to buy back in.

Of course, there's always a time limit — you have to hold for at least a year. You can't sell now and then turn around and sell back to the company; that's not allowed, and transfers aren't allowed either.

Jade Rabbit isn't a publicly listed company, so its shares can't be traded on the market.

"But I need money to buy a house!" Liu Yin said.

"Didn't you already buy a place? Why are you buying another?" Li Anran asked, puzzled.

Housing prices are very expensive now — even a bad location will easily run over ten thousand per square meter, decent spots are several tens of thousands, and prime spots can be even higher.

Buying one apartment easily runs over ten million, and there are taxes on top of that!

"The property market is hot right now. I'll buy a few more and hold onto them. Later, when I stop working, I'll sell them off and achieve financial freedom." Liu Yin had a beautiful plan.

At its core, this was just speculation. The peak of Beijing housing prices was from 2015 to 2017.

"You'd better not buy. Live a stable life — who knows what'll happen later." Li Anran tried to dissuade him.

"Can you get rich by being stable?" Liu Yin wouldn't listen to him — he listened to the Experts.

The Experts said now was the best time to buy property.

Although Jade Rabbit was clearly thriving and it was obvious the annual payouts would keep growing, some people simply couldn't resist outside temptations.

Some bought houses, some speculated in stocks — these were personal decisions, and no one else could control them.

Of course, some people chose not to sell, instead leaving their shares in the Jade Rabbit Option Pool to wait for appreciation, feeling it was more stable than outside finance.

All these years, the Principal hadn't treated them badly!

Others took the money and enjoyed themselves — bought furniture for their homes, those without houses bought homes and started families. That was the proper thing to do.

Some even went to bow three times beneath the "Chang'e Holding Rabbit" statue, praying for continued wealth and for Jade Rabbit to keep thriving.

Those without options felt somewhat disappointed — envious, and also jealous.

"How am I any worse than those veterans? They just followed the Principal earlier, that's all."

The 38 million shares were basically distributed to the veterans who had followed Fang Hong, as well as the older technical staff.

Especially the technical staff who came later — the Best Special Effects crew, the people who filmed "Gravity" — the new professional talent felt somewhat unbalanced about it.

This film could be completed and succeed only thanks to the over a thousand professionals behind the scenes.

Don't be fooled by the handful of actors — the behind-the-scenes team is super large. Some of these people were newly recruited by Jade Rabbit and had been with the company for quite some time.

Fang Hong thought of this too. After all, a company needs fresh blood, so the Option Pool couldn't stop at just this amount. Soon, Jade Rabbit released another announcement.

"The Option Pool will be injected with 100 million shares, capped at 500,000 shares per person. All qualified employees may subscribe."

These 100 million shares were all for core technical employees and managers in important positions — the executives were excluded. Adding these 100 million shares, the total comes to 138 million shares. These 100 million shares can be bought back for 200 million, and with the others sold and rebought, Jade Rabbit can recover over 200 million.

It benefits 300 employees. Not everyone can buy the maximum — some don't have the money so they buy less, some with more money buy up to 500,000 shares.

First come, first served — absolute fairness is impossible.

For a company the size of Jade Rabbit, 300 people basically covers all core professional technical staff and managers.

Few managers, many technical staff.

Most people are still being driven — their contributions can't earn them more pay. A company still has to survive and turn a profit, only then can it support more people.

If it can't turn a profit, no matter how much sentimentality Fang Hong has, the company will still go under.

Originally, Jade Rabbit had already implemented an eight-hour, two-day weekend work system, which reduced labor for some and added new employees to share the workload.

When the workers' workload decreased, more people were naturally needed to fill in.

Fang Hong continued busying himself with Jade Rabbit's reform — improving the company organizational structure, refining Option Pool distribution, and handling Shareholder allocation issues.

Once the employees got their money, the Shareholders couldn't be left out.

At the same time, he received a call from Zhang Hongsen: "You kid, your phone is really hard to get through. Have you gone international and started looking down on us country folk?"

"You can't say that. No matter how international I go, didn't I come from the countryside? There's an old saying — a golden nest or a silver nest isn't as good as your own old nest." Fang Hong said.

"Hahaha!" Zhang Hongsen was greatly amused: "At least you've got some patriotic heart."

"Not just some — a lot. I'm determined to serve my country." Fang Hong corrected him — this stance couldn't be wrong.

"Alright, alright, I'll remember that. I'll be watching." Zhang Hongsen just listened.

"Originally, this trip to the United States was for the Propaganda Department to promote the film. I said I'd call you back during the day, but the timing didn't work out, and on top of that I was really busy, so it got delayed." Fang Hong explained why he hadn't returned the call.

The time zones really didn't match — daytime here is nighttime there, and nighttime here is daytime there.

"No worries, I have two things to tell you."

Zhang Hongsen didn't banter with him, paused, then said again: "First thing, this year there's a Belt and Road Silk Road International Film Cooperation Forum, in Chang'an, we'll need you, the great director, the big boss, to hold down the fort."

"I'm just a tiny, insignificant director, but since you need me, I'll definitely be there." Fang Hong couldn't refuse — this was a national policy the state was promoting.

And his task was to show off in front of those poor friends; this he could still do, after all his reputation was very well-known internationally now.

Even if they hadn't heard of the Principal, they'd still have heard of Gravity and Big Hero 6.

"Don't be modest either, this film was shot very well, the international response was huge, but you must keep it up, make a few more films like this, try your best to pull together a professional team, drive the film industry forward." Zhang Hongsen told him to keep working hard.

Only he could work hard; it wasn't that the others weren't trying hard enough, but that their ability wasn't enough.

This time Gravity's success was like giving the entire film industry a shot in the arm, and also giving those above confidence in this industry.

It's not that our films can't be shot well, but that we lack imagination, lack good stories, lack basic industry; with these, those foreigners would still love to watch.

"On this I can only try my best." Fang Hong didn't dare guarantee anything — what if he failed, who could say for sure.

"Not try your best — definitely. If there's any difficulty, speak up, don't hide it." Zhang Hongsen said.

"Since you've already put it that way, then I can only work hard." Seeing the other party had already said it to that extent, Fang Hong couldn't really say anything.

"Second thing, Gravity will be used as a Party-theme film, we'll need your wife to attend and give a presentation." Zhang Hongsen said.

"Oh, what about me then?" Fang Hong also wanted to give the presentation.

Watching those especially upright, brilliant and imposing people watch his film and listen to him explain the film's spirit — that felt pretty cool too.

"You don't need to. Your image isn't as good as hers, and you're not a front-stage figure; it'll be made into a Propaganda Department film for circulation." Zhang Hongsen spoke very bluntly.

"Director Zhang, I don't like hearing you say that. I'm at least handsome and dashing, right? How is my image not good?" Fang Hong seized on this point.

"What I mean is, your image isn't as upright as your wife's, doesn't have the same亲和力, get it?" Zhang Hongsen explained.

"Then you should call her about this, telling me is useless." Fang Hong said.

"Look at you, I just said one wrong thing and you go escalating it. Isn't it the same telling you? Do you two still draw lines between you, me, and him?" Zhang Hongsen was speechless — this was way too petty.

"We do! Her matters, she decides." Fang Hong said.

"You really are…"

Zhang Hongsen laughed helplessly — just one wrong sentence, and the man wouldn't even pass on his message; one sentence had touched this man's reverse scale.

"Fine, I'll call her myself." he said.

The two chatted a while then hung up. Fang Hong picked up a mirror and looked at himself — clearly his looks were very upright, so how was he not upright?

He had Zhang Hongsen call Liu Tianxian so that Liu Tianxian would be happy.

If he delivered the message himself, Liu Tianxian wouldn't have that excited feeling; it would seem more flat.

Different status, different effect of the words spoken!

Recently Liu Tianxian was very busy — busy signing the Bulgari global spokesperson deal, and signing to endorse a certain L'Oreal brand.

All luxury goods, or top-tier brands.

Now her market value was high, her status had risen, so her positioning definitely had to be differentiated.

Some luxury brands have agreements — they don't let her take on too low-end brands, brands with bad image endorsements, because that would damage the artist's image, thereby affecting their brand image.

Artists themselves must do well at positioning management — this is also a kind of requirement.

At the same time she had also gone quiet — countless event invitations and appearance notices had been politely declined by him, mainly because she was too popular, too ridiculously popular, so they wanted to let the buzz cool down a bit.

Once a person becomes popular, trouble multiplies!

With all the focus on her, it's easy to lose one's初心; a person must still keep their original heart.

Just like Jiaozi's Nezha 2 — after breaking ten billion, she was red-hot, but she stopped all outside interviews and sealed off information from the outside world.

Of course some interviews couldn't be avoided, like CCTV's — that couldn't be refused, just not today.

"Get ready, come with me to the CCTV building." Liu Tianxian pushed open a door.

"Okay sis, do you need me to prepare anything?" the Assistant said.

"No need, be quick." Liu Tianxian said and left, seeming very urgent.

This was her studio, located near Jiuxianqiao in Chaoyang District.

Then Liu Tianxian pushed open another door and said: "Get ready, come with me to the Bulgari event site, at Qihao Art Museum."

"Okay Sister Fei, I'll get ready right away." The bodyguard immediately stood up, his posture square and proper.

Liu Tianxian was still the same — say it and leave, not pausing at all.

But after she left, the bodyguard took out his phone and sent: "Qihao Art Museum" — those few characters, then put the phone in his pocket, acting as if nothing had happened.

Liu Tianxian was unaware of all this. She pushed open a third door and said: "Get ready, come with me to Marie Claire magazine for a photoshoot."

"Okay Sister Fei." The driver immediately stood up, then went out and ran downstairs.

Having arranged the three people, Liu Tianxian sat in her office, quietly waiting with her phone. This time she was going to see who leaked her itinerary, then deal with them — this matter couldn't be indulged.

Leaking her itinerary — the nature of this was too vile.

It kept causing her fans to gather, affecting traffic and public order, not to mention making her fans run around, wasting time and money.

Back then Fang Hong didn't mention this matter in the car on purpose, to let her people drop their guard.

To make Liu Tianxian alert, to make her think.

And Fang Hong hadn't given her any schemes either — they were all moves Liu Tianxian came up with herself.

Liu Tianxian borrowed Lu Dabo, had Lu Dabo find three people to stake out three places, and just see which place had fans gathering and reporters — whoever it was, that was the mole.

Time passed second by second; soon almost an hour had passed, and Lu Dabo sent a message: "Qihao Art Museum!"

Seeing this message, Liu Tianxian immediately stood up, walked out of the office, and strode outside.

The little Assistant was right outside, immediately following and saying: "Are we leaving? Sis!"

"The event's cancelled, you don't need to go. Tell the driver too, tell him not to wait." Liu Tianxian said, then pushed open a door and closed it behind her.

The little Assistant, blocked outside the door, looked puzzled and muttered softly: "Not going anymore?"

In the room, Liu Tianxian faced her bodyguard, pulled out a chair and sat down, crossed her legs, and got straight to the point: "All these years, I haven't treated you badly, have I?"

"What do you mean?" The bodyguard's face was blank as he stood before her.

Although the bodyguard was standing, his presence was completely suppressed by Liu Tianxian — perfectly normal, since Liu Tianxian was the boss.

"It was you who leaked my whereabouts, wasn't it? Why would you do something like that?" Liu Tianxian questioned him.

"Sister Fei, I don't know what you're talking about?" The bodyguard's heart was on alert, but he still pretended not to know.

"Since you won't admit it, then I'll just call the police directly, go through legal channels, and let the law give you a fair shake." Liu Tianxian didn't waste words with him either, and made as if to stand up.

"No, no, Sister Fei!" The bodyguard suddenly panicked and stepped forward to stop her.

If it really went through legal channels, he'd be in deep trouble — how much power did he have to fight Liu Tianxian in court?

Besides, this matter was easy to investigate, not hard at all.

"What is it?" Liu Tianxian sat back down, her gaze fixed on the man. The fact that she could sit down and talk meant she didn't want to go to extremes.

"It was me who sold your information. I'm sorry!" The bodyguard lowered his head, his face wretched.

"Since you've admitted it, I won't make things hard for you. Settle your accounts with finance, and get out." Liu Tianxian still had feelings.

If it had been Fang Hong, this person would already have disappeared.

Hearing this, the bodyguard raised his head, looked at Liu Tianxian in disbelief, and pleaded: "Sister Fei! Can you give me one more chance?"

"No. This isn't the first time. If you hadn't leaked my itinerary this time, I might have let it slide. But you keep doing it again and again — I can't tolerate it." Liu Tianxian shook her head, her expression stern, no room for negotiation.

"Sister Fei, I had no choice either. My family is short on money — a sick mother, a gambling-addicted father, a sister in school, and a fiancée demanding a bride price of several million. What do you expect me to do?" The bodyguard's voice was on the verge of tears, his words full of grief.

This left Liu Tianxian completely dumbfounded — that miserable? How did it not match what she knew of the situation?

(End of chapter)