Chapter 619

In the Oval Office, Fang Hong sat in the boss's chair.

Liu Tianxian sat beside him, carefully cleaning his ear with a small ear pick, saying, "The Monkey King: The Great Sage Returns was pretty good."

"You watched it?" Fang Hong tilted his head slightly.

"Of course I watched it—with Shuchang, Zhang Jingying, and the others. If I hadn't watched it, would I have recommended it on Weibo?" Liu Tianxian said.

"You recommended it because of me, right?" Fang Hong countered.

"Of course not—I recommended it because it was good. " Liu Tianxian wiped the ear pick on the sleeve of his short-sleeved shirt, then resumed digging.

"So you're saying I had zero influence?" Fang Hong said.

"Just a tiny bit." Liu Tianxian smiled.

"Heartbroken and miserable—I guess I mean nothing to you." Fang Hong put on a dramatic look of sorrow.

"Hehehe, no way, you mean a lot!" Liu Tianxian pulled out the ear pick again and wiped it on his clothes.

"Why do you keep wiping it on my clothes? Can't you use a tissue?" Fang Hong stared, speechless.

"You know you're dirty?"

Liu Tianxian, utterly carefree, held up a lump of earwax for him to see: "Look how dirty it is! No wonder you always snap back when I talk to you—you've got your ears completely blocked."

"All I've got left is my mouth to talk back to you. If you shut that down too, you'll have total control over me." Fang Hong said.

"You already have total control over you." Liu Tianxian blew softly into his ear.

The gentle stream of air passed through his eardrum, like a spring breeze.

Then Fang Hong felt one ear being tugged and pulled.

"Let go." Fang Hong tilted his head awkwardly.

"No." Liu Tianxian wore a haughty expression.

Fang Hong reached out and grabbed her smooth earlobe, pulling it down.

"Ow! Are you trying to kill me? Let go!" Liu Tianxian twisted her head, equally awkward.

The two of them sat there, one head tilted one way, the other the opposite, staring at each other and blinking in unison.

At that moment, a knock came—"Dong Dongdong"—and Chen Zhixi entered: "General Manager Fang, something bad has happened."

Before she could finish, she saw the two of them in their odd, mirrored poses, and couldn't help smiling.

"Are you two playing house?" she laughed.

Instantly, they snapped back to normal. Liu Tianxian put away the ear pick, smoothed her hair, and looked utterly serious—no trace of her earlier playfulness.

"We were just bored, fooling around," Liu Tianxian explained.

The two of them immediately returned to their original states; Liu Tianxian put away the ear pick, tidied her hair a little, and put on a very solemn look, with no trace of the playful laughter from just now.

These two had just married; this fresh, sweet phase was perfectly normal.

She and her boyfriend were just as sweet too.

"What's the problem?" Fang Hong sat up straight.

"Well, our The Monkey King: The Great Sage Returns has been pirated online—it's a cam version, and it's even clearer than the original," Chen Zhixi said, sitting down.

"Is this the work of a rival?" Fang Hong asked.

A cam version meant secretly recording in theaters with a phone or camera.

This usually happened either through amateurs—whose quality was terrible—or professionals who bribed theater staff to use high-end cameras.

If it weren't a rival's doing, Chen Zhixi wouldn't have come to report it—piracy happened all the time.

Last time, Big Hero 6 had also been pirated, and even got officially flagged.

Usually, it was individuals or profit-driven groups using new movie releases to sell memberships on piracy sites.

Or registering users to sell their personal data.

Or embedding gambling ads—like how porn videos often had pop-up gambling banners during playback.

Actually, these cam versions could be very profitable.

But if the quality wasn't good, they had little value—at least not worse than the original.

"Yes, it was released by a competitor—openly posted online. But we can't trace who exactly did it," Chen Zhixi nodded.

This could be done from overseas, with spoofed IPs—non-professionals couldn't track it, and even if they did, the culprit might not be the real one.

Liu Tianxian grew alert. She knew the CEO of Anle, and glanced at Fang Hong to see how he'd respond.

"Who do you think did it?" Fang Hong asked.

"Anle and the Jiangzhe faction," Chen Zhixi said.

"Now the Jiangzhe faction shows up too?" Fang Hong gave a weary smile, not taking Anle seriously.

Previously, there were Alibaba, Tencent, Wanda, Hunan—now the Jiangzhe faction had joined. The capital entering the field was growing ever more numerous.

Of course, the Jiangzhe faction had deep ties with Alibaba—they complemented each other through TaoPiaoPiao and Alibaba's promotional advantages.

The Jiangzhe film industry was too developed—Hengdian and Xiangshan were right there. Alibaba, backed by such a thriving film ecosystem, plus its online dominance, was practically invincible.

Alibaba, Wanda, Yutu—each had their own strengths.

As for Tencent, it had massive traffic, plus its video platform and IP library advantages. In its past life, it had nearly monopolized animation through its IP library.

Tencent's major entertainment sector was strong in games, music, literature, animation, and esports—but weak in film.

It was built on social foundations, with IP at its core!

But Fang Hong had previously seized its IP library and stolen its esports fortune when its major entertainment division was still immature.

"Our The Monkey King: The Great Sage Returns is about to clash with Monster Hunt—and Monster Hunt's main investor is the Jiangzhe faction. Of course, they've formed complementary ties with Alibaba's industry. These are just my guesses," Chen Zhixi said.

Monster Hunt was led by Jiang Zhiqiang, who held the largest share and was the primary capital provider—the Jiangzhe faction held roughly 30%.

"This movie took forever to make, with massive investment—they can't afford to lose," Chen Zhixi added.

"This movie of theirs has been dragged out for a long time, with massive investment—they can't afford to lose." Chen Zhixi added again.

Fang Hong nodded, indicating he understood; this movie had originally been filmed in the first half of last year, but then the Ake incident happened.

This forced the producer, Anle, to replace the male lead and reshoot, switching to Jing Bairan, and they had to add an extra 70 million yuan to the budget.

That means the original cost was 280 million yuan; with the additional 70 million, it jumped to 350 million yuan—this is only the production cost, and promotional expenses were another 100 million yuan.

If it loses money, it'll be a devastating blow.

Fang Hong estimated their promotional spending was close to 100 million yuan; otherwise, the promotional campaign couldn't have been so massive, crushing even *Monkey King: Hero Is Back*.

In the past, with Fang Hong's strategy and resource backing, daily box office could easily break 100 to 200 million yuan.

But this one only barely broke 100 million yuan after word-of-mouth spread and went viral, largely crushed by *Monster Hunt*.

It's normal—this movie not only had Jiangzhe backing, but also dual-platform support from Alibaba and Tencent, still managing to precisely explode among young audiences.

A 450 million yuan investment—Fang Hong's earlier *Gravity* was roughly the same cost.

Back then, Fang Hong had no confidence, so he targeted overseas markets, but *Monster Hunt* couldn't earn much overseas—it relied entirely on the domestic market.

This coincided with Principal's *Monkey King: Hero Is Back*, and there was also a threat—their audiences overlapped, so there was motive, though this is only speculation.

They didn't openly flaunt their pirated version.

"I think we should investigate thoroughly—what if it's a misunderstanding?" Liu Tianxian spoke up, fearing Fang Hong might take action.

He still had some ties with the general manager of Anle.

"How do you investigate? And even if you find out, what then? What can you do to them?" Fang Hong turned to her, asking several questions in a row.

No point investigating—wastes time. By the time you find out, the dish is cold; their movie's been playing for who knows how long already.

Liu Tianxian fell silent, unsure how to respond—it was true, even if they found out, they could do nothing.

Previously, when *The* exploded by releasing a pirated version of *Tiny Times 4*, they openly flaunted it—so what? Guo Xiaosi didn't dare say a word.

Outsiders didn't know, but insiders were well aware.

As a result, since 2015, Guo Xiaosi has never appeared on Hunan TV's variety shows—not once.

Later, when Guo Xiaosi appeared on *The Youth Names*, that was Youku's variety show, not Hunan TV's.

The grudge was right here—malicious competition was unapologetic, no pretense at all—just go after you, what are you going to do about it?

Who you are doesn't matter—if you block the path, you die!

Fortunately, Principal is powerful and ruthless; otherwise, he couldn't have kept these people in check, and Liu Tianxian would've suffered too.

People always say Principal has many enemies—but in this industry, isn't everyone someone else's enemy? Who doesn't want their competitor to die?

Even Lei Jun's temper couldn't help but curse: "Competitors are idiots!"

In any industry with profit involved, there's no such thing as peaceful coexistence or win-win cooperation—if there is, it's only because you can help them make money.

Once you can't, or you block their path, or threaten their interests, they'll attack you without any pretense.

"I think Tianxian is right—we should investigate thoroughly. If we're going to retaliate, we must know exactly who the opponent is, in case we misfire," Chen Zhixi added.

Given Principal's nature, he'd definitely retaliate—but if they got the wrong person and made an unnecessary enemy, that wouldn't be good.

"Then call the general manager of Anle and ask him," Fang Hong pointed.

"Okay."

"Let me make the call—I know him," Liu Tianxian interrupted.

"Go ahead," Fang Hong signaled.

Liu Tianxian pulled out her phone, found a familiar number, and dialed.

"Hello, Tianxian!" A frail voice came through the line—likely Jiang Zhiqiang himself.

Jiang Zhiqiang apologized again: "When you got married, I truly couldn't spare the time—I'm very sorry."

"It's fine, General Manager Jiang. I know you're busy—I received your good wishes," Liu Tianxian replied gently.

"I still wish you both a happy marriage," Jiang Zhiqiang said kindly.

"Thank you, General Manager Jiang."

Liu Tianxian expressed her thanks, then got to the point: "General Manager Jiang, I have something to ask you—I need you to be honest."

Honestly, she was doing him a favor—her man didn't even consider Jiang Zhiqiang worth a second thought.

Sure, he had power in Hong Kong and overseas distribution channels—but what of it? Fang Hong's years of cultivation had built channels just as strong.

"Go ahead," Jiang Zhiqiang said.

"It's like this—did you release the pirated version of *Monkey King: Hero Is Back*?" Liu Tianxian asked.

"No," Jiang Zhiqiang denied, his tone turning serious—he suspected Principal might be coming after him.

He added: "It wasn't me—but I know it was Youku."

This made Fang Hong and Chen Zhixi exchange a glance.

They'd assumed it was the Jiangzhe group, or maybe Jack Ma at Alibaba—but it turned out to be Youku.

But Youku is now a subsidiary of Alibaba—so it's the same as Alibaba.

Youku has the technical capability—they started as a video platform, and their pirated versions can remove watermarks and enhance clarity.

And there was already a grudge between them!

"Youku and Tencent were late entrants—you know about the reshoot. We were truly out of money, so we brought them in."

Jiang Zhiqiang sighed: "They not only eased our financial pressure but also provided traffic support. When they proposed it, everyone was present—we all tacitly agreed. I intended to discuss it further, but you know—I'm neither a dragon crossing the river nor a local snake."

He spoke plainly—even if he hadn't, there was no choice. In market competition, if Principal targeted him, he was just cannon fodder—he couldn't stop it.

Alibaba and Youku could withstand it—he couldn't.

Even as the largest investor, here he had to coil like a dragon and lie low like a tiger—obey them.

"General Manager Jiang, I understand your difficulties," Liu Tianxian didn't know what else to say.

In plain terms, they did it—even if Jiang Zhiqiang didn't want to, he was still on their side.

She glanced at Fang Hong.

Fang Hong didn't react. Who knew whether what Jiang Zhiqiang said next was true or false? Even if it was true, they were still competitors. The other side had made a move, so he had to make one too.

To receive without returning is not proper courtesy.

"Tianxian, is the Principal there? I'd like to say a couple of words to him." Jiang Zhiqiang also knew Liu Tianxian was probably in a difficult position; he understood the Principal well enough.

Throughout the whole circle, no one failed to show the Principal due respect, except for those outside capital and internet capital.

They didn't care about your so-called Principal or not — if you blocked their way, they'd just go for it.

"He's right beside me. I'll let him take your call." Liu Tianxian handed the phone to Fang Hong.

Fang Hong gestured for her to put it on the table and turn on speaker.

"Principal!" Jiang Zhiqiang said.

"It's me." Fang Hong's tone was flat; he wanted to hear what the other side had to say.

"I can't stop this matter. To be honest with you, my big investment is nearly 300 million. I'd like to ask you to show mercy." Jiang Zhiqiang kept his tone as even as possible.

300 million was no small sum for him, and that money even included loans. If he lost it, it would be a devastating blow to his An Le!

It would take them a very long time to pay off the loans.

What this man was strong in was connections; in fact, he didn't have that much capital. The film market's box office had only risen and copyright regulation had only been standardized for a few years — how could he possibly have money?

In the past, a hundred million at the box office or even tens of millions was already considered a huge hit, a super awesome film.

Now, box office in the billions had only just begun to emerge.

So these old-school film companies were only impressive in their connections; their capital was stretched thin. To make blockbusters they had to rely on outside capital or bank financing — otherwise they couldn't do it.

"Why should I let you off? Who lets me off?" Fang Hong's tone remained flat.

(End of this chapter)