Chapter 598: Humiliating Worship at Yutu

One black sedan after another was parked side by side on the plaza in front of the gate of the Yutu Film and Television Base, where reporters had long since raised their long lenses and short cameras, aiming them at the entrance.

When Yu Pangzi arrived with his wife, Princess Peacock, along with Jiang De Fu and a group of senior executives stepping out of their cars, the scene was instantly lit by flashing lights, capturing each of them one by one.

Their entourage was rather large, numbering over a dozen people — clearly they attached great importance to this meeting.

The moment Yu Pangzi and the others stepped out of their cars, they couldn't help but raise their heads, looking at the towering "Chang'e Holding Rabbit" statue, which glittered brilliantly under the sun, looking somewhat awestruck.

The Principal is just this kind of show-off, terrified others won't know how impressive he is.

Lowering his gaze to look straight ahead, he saw the Principal holding Liu Tianxian's hand, with Chen Zhixi, Meng Jun, and a group of Yutu senior executives standing behind and beside him.

Liu Tianxian had just finished filming "Lucy 2" — that role was simple, nothing complicated about it.

When Yu Pangzi saw the Principal, his gaze turned complicated; no matter how unwilling he was, he could only lead his people forward — now circumstances were stronger than people.

The two sides faced each other, and the on-site reporters captured this scene and uploaded it online.

A truly memorable photograph.

"Principal, General Manager Chen, greetings to you." Yu Pangzi called out to Fang Hong and Chen Zhixi, then glanced at the others.

"You arrived fairly punctually." Fang Hong swept his gaze over the people opposite — Bona's senior executives were essentially all present.

When those people met his gaze, they couldn't help but flinch; Princess Peacock's eyes were wide open, looking quite displeased.

Women, after all, show everything on their faces.

Liu Tianxian was very composed, her expression as usual.

"I just don't know why the Principal called us here — what is it about?" Yu Pangzi's tone was soft; he had no choice.

"No rush, first come and light some incense." Fang Hong gestured.

A staff member handed out three sticks of incense to each of the Bona personnel — the incense was fairly thick and already lit, clearly prepared in advance.

Yu Pangzi, Jiang Defu, Princess Peacock, and others held the three sticks of incense in their hands, looking quite bewildered.

"Principal, what does this mean?" Yu Pangzi didn't understand.

"We have a rule here — since this is a meeting, a cooperation, you must offer incense to 'Chang'e Holding Rabbit' to show your sincerity." Chen Zhixi gestured toward the towering "Chang'e Holding Rabbit" statue.

Fang Hong and the others had already stepped aside; at the foot of the statue was an incense burner.

Yu Pangzi and the others exchanged glances, their eyes full of reluctance — if they didn't offer incense, they weren't sincere; how was this any different from being pushed around?

They had offered incense to gods and Buddhas, to their elders, but never to some mysterious statue like this.

And that statue even looked like Liu Tianxian.

It wasn't a big deal, so Yu Pangzi and the others could only face the statue, stand in three rows — with Yu Pangzi and Princess Peacock at the front — raise the three sticks of incense with both hands, pause silently, and were about to insert the incense into the burner.

They thought that would be enough — it wasn't like worshipping a god.

"You must bow three times, and hold the incense above your head; the heart must be sincere, you must have faith." Chen Zhixi spoke again.

"We're here to negotiate — isn't this going too far!" Yu Pangzi could hardly hold back; bowing once would have been enough, yet they were being made to raise the incense above their heads and bow three times.

The others also wore varied expressions — some displeased, some silent; Princess Peacock's face was practically spewing fire.

"Precisely because we're negotiating, we need to see your sincerity, see your respect for Yutu — only then can we proceed with the matters ahead." Chen Zhixi's tone was flat.

Not bowing meant no sincerity, meant no respect for Yutu — this was somewhat humiliating.

"Then why don't you bow?" Princess Peacock couldn't hold back any longer.

These people don't bow, yet they make us bow, wanting to see our sincerity — then where's yours?

"Asking such a question is itself disrespect toward Yutu, disrespect toward our General Manager Fang." Chen Zhixi's tone turned cold.

"."

Princess Peacock wanted to say more, but Yu Pangzi reached out and stopped her: "We respect Yutu, we respect General Manager Fang."

This made Princess Peacock shut her mouth in great unwillingness; some Bona executives wanted to say something, but still closed their mouths.

The on-site reporters captured this scene — this was big news, and they already had their headlines ready: "Yu Pangzi's Humiliating Worship at Yutu."

"Yu Pangzi refusing to bow to the statue means disrespect toward Yutu — the loser is wrong in everything they do."

The onlookers were also whispering among themselves, all looking like they were enjoying the show; the Yutu people were gloating — after all, they were identifying with Yutu, not Bona.

So seeing others forced to bow to their statue gave them a great sense of pride.

As for the sense of humiliation — that was something the Bona people should experience.

Yu Pangzi and the others steadied themselves, held the incense above their heads, then bowed to the "Chang'e Holding Rabbit" statue — once, twice, a third time.

Liu Tianxian watched, leaned in, and whispered: "Isn't this a bit inappropriate?"

"What's inappropriate about it? Didn't defeated nations in ancient times have to go to the capital to pay homage to the emperor? The ceremony was meant to humiliate the defeated nation's leader and display the victor's authority — I didn't even make him kneel, and that was being kind." Fang Hong explained.

Chen Zhixi, who was listening nearby, spoke up: "This kind of ceremony does have its benefits — it makes them feel inferior and crushes their confidence."

Liu Tianxian said nothing, looking at the statue that resembled herself, then at the big-shot figures performing the worship, feeling something rather strange.

After the dozen or so people finished their worship, they inserted the incense into the burner one by one, and wisps of smoke rose gently.

"This way please, gentlemen!" A staff member gestured for Yu Pangzi and the others to head inside the film and television base.

Fang Hong and his group had already taken the lead walking into Yutu — the matter here was finished.

Yu Pangzi and his people could only follow.

And those reporters also followed them inside, not leaving — to get first-hand breaking news, the outside world was watching closely.

They walked up to an office, where staff stopped them, letting Fang Hong and Yu Pangzi enter the office first so things wouldn't get out of order.

The Oval Office — Fang Hong and Yu Pangzi sat on two single sofas, facing each other directly.

Beside Fang Hong was a chair, where Liu Tianxian sat.

As for the others, they all gathered around standing — the two camps were clear: Bona's people stood beside Yu Pangzi, Yutu's people stood beside Fang Hong and Liu Tianxian.

As for why Liu Tianxian got to sit — she was the daughter of the CEO of Yuanmeng Tiancheng.

Princess Peacock didn't qualify!

After they were ready, the reporters set up their equipment and aimed at them for filming.

This meeting was filmed and recorded in its entirety, and of course the press could also be granted access.

"Principal, isn't this a closed-door meeting?" Yu Pangzi tilted his body and whispered, caught somewhat off guard by the scene before him.

Earlier, outside, humiliating him to display the Principal's authority—putting on a show—he could understand playing along, but for such an important negotiation to let reporters in and film it too was honestly something he hadn't expected.

After all, they had a great deal to discuss, but with reporters present, nothing could really be said.

"What are you afraid of? We're Tandang, upright and aboveboard—what is there we can't say publicly?" Fang Hong appeared entirely unbothered.

That left Yu Pangzi with nothing to say, and he could only sit up straight.

"I'm very grateful to attend this meeting with General Manager Yu. In fact, the two of us have known each other for quite a long time. These past six years or so, although there have been a few minor disagreements, in the end they were all resolved very well.

I believe this is beneficial for our two companies, and for the entire film and television industry as a whole—it has a driving effect."

Fang Hong faced the cameras and delivered his opening remarks, and he spoke beautifully; everyone present fell silent as they listened.

Facing the reporters' cameras, of course one had to say pleasant things.

Yet Yu Pangzi felt the pressure—every word was spoken by the Principal, and all he could do was take it; whatever the man said went.

How could there be no conflicts? The conflicts ran deep.

"I personally have great admiration for General Manager Yu—being able to lead Bona so well and make it one of the industry's leaders." Fang Hong said.

"Thank you, General Manager Fang, for the praise." Yu Dong became polite; the Principal still recognized him after all.

That meant he would be allowed to continue as Chairman of Bona, and a small flutter of hope rose in his heart; the unpleasantness from moments ago was swept clean away.

The rest of Bona's people felt a sense of relief—the Principal had praised their Chairman in front of so many people.

They had been suppressed too harshly outside just now; the moment Fang Hong tossed them a sweet date, they were overcome with gratitude.

"Now the situation has undergone some changes. To cope with the increasingly fierce competition in the film and television industry, our two sides have decided to strengthen our cooperation even further. We will sign a very fair agreement." Fang Hong looked at Yu Pangzi, signaling him to speak.

"First of all, I am very grateful for General Manager Fang's invitation. If this agreement is beneficial to Bona, I am very willing to sign it." Yu Pangzi was very tactful.

He knew that for the Principal to acquire him, something would have to be given up—of course he had already prepared himself mentally.

As long as it wasn't too excessive, that would be fine.

The people at Bona said nothing either; this could be considered as having saved Bona.

Fang Hong took a document from the secretary beside him, then handed it to Yu Pangzi.

Yu Pangzi opened it and looked; there were many clauses on it, and a rough reading went like this.

One, theater cooperation: Bona's theaters must join Crystal United Cinema, implementing unified branding, unified scheduling, unified operations, and unified management.

Although it was in the form of a franchise rather than an outright merger, it was still subject to constraints.

One had to know that Bona's theater locations were far better than Yutu's—all in first- and second-tier bustling cities, with strong brand influence built up over many years.

Two, all of Bona's film and television copyrights must be supplied preferentially to Chang'e Video, which enjoys exclusive copyright and priority broadcasting rights.

That is, all of Bona's film and television copyrights are open to Chang'e Video; Chang'e Video has the right of first refusal for purchase, as well as exclusive copyright purchase rights and priority broadcasting rights.

This cuts off any cooperation between Bona and iQiyi, E-Factory Video, and Youku; from now on, all films can only be supplied to Chang'e Video.

And with priority broadcasting rights, the movie might still be in theaters, and Chang'e Video could end up streaming it at any moment.

An agreement like this is almost the same as making Bona the Principal's puppet—similar in nature to the original "enslaved for generations" arrangement, as if still paying off a debt.

But now the nature of things had changed from the original situation; now Fang Hong had taken control of Bona, which hadn't been the case back then.

There was more below—far from over.

Three, Bona's distribution and marketing channels must be opened to Tu Piaopiao; all films produced must also have Tu Piaopiao participate in distribution, and Tu Piaopiao must provide movie ticketing pre-order services.

This cuts off any cooperation between Bona and ticketing platforms like Weiyin Shidai and Tao Piaopiao; Bona can only work with Tu Piaopiao.

Tencent and Alibaba like to meddle, don't they? Bona's films won't go on their video platforms, and Bona's films won't go on their ticketing services.

Yutu and Bona are currently the two largest production companies in the country; without this portion of supply, it is equivalent to shrinking their market share. In any case, Chang'e and Tu Piaopiao have their own channels—they just aren't mature yet.

Once this agreement is signed, Bona will basically have broken off from Tencent and Alibaba—it's tantamount to the start of a cold war!

One can only say the Principal truly fears neither heaven nor earth.

Yu Pangzi wiped the sweat from his forehead; he felt this wasn't cooperation—he was just a dog.

Bona's distribution channels were to be opened to Tu Piaopiao, but there was no mention of Tu Piaopiao's distribution channels being made available to Bona; everything was a one-sided contribution from Bona. If that isn't a dog, what is it?

And every film had to have Tu Piaopiao participate in distribution—without Tu Piaopiao, it wouldn't do.

Four, Yutu enjoys the right of first refusal for investment in all of Bona's film and television projects; the fund Bona uses to attract outside investment must be tightened.

Bona has a dedicated fund specifically for attracting outside investment, and this must be comprehensively tightened.

Not only Bona—any film and television company has one. This is not a good thing; on the contrary, it's a bad thing.

(End of Chapter)