Chapter 144

"Xiaoyao Gege, you're back!?"

When Liu Tianxian returned to the Hengdian set from Jingcheng, still in her costume, she ran up to him with a smile.

Cheng Chen nodded at him, then hurried toward the set.

Seeing that Cheng Chen did not greet her warmly as he used to.

Liu Tianxian's smile froze instantly; her raised arm dropped limply.

"What's wrong, Xixi? Why aren't you walking?"

Liu Pinyan walked over and asked curiously.

Liu Tianxian didn't know why Cheng Chen was ignoring her, so she told her friend Liu Pinyan what had just happened.

Liu Pinyan furrowed her brow, unable to understand her friend's plight, then suddenly exclaimed:

"I get it! It's definitely because he found out you called him a drama tyrant!"

"No way?"

If Liu Pinyan hadn't brought it up, Liu Tianxian had nearly forgotten it herself.

Now that it was mentioned again, Liu Tianxian felt nothing but regret.

Why had Da Zui ever spilled the audition story? Now Cheng Chen wouldn't even speak to her.

"Oh come on, Xixi, don't worry—even if he found out, so what?"

We've already shot so many scenes; do you think he'd use his investor privileges to replace you?"

The director and Boss Cai would never agree, so just keep shooting and ignore him."

Seeing Liu Tianxian's face turn pale with fear, Liu Pinyan quickly comforted her.

But Liu Tianxian bit her lip, her eyes filled with grievance.

She had only told those words to two close friends.

The rumors on set had nothing to do with her—she never deliberately spread them.

Actually, when she heard Cheng Chen had returned from Jingcheng, she had been quite happy today.

Cheng Chen had always been gentle with her, like an older brother helping her on set.

Among the Four Beauties of Immortal Sword, apart from Yan Danchen who rarely appeared on set, she was the one who got closest to Cheng Chen.

As the most important person on set after the director, even the Producer treated him with respect.

And he always took extra care of her, which greatly satisfied Liu Tianxian's small vanity.

"Didn't you say you could always ask you for advice?"

She remembered that today, while memorizing her lines, she couldn't get into one particular scene.

She had planned to ask Cheng Chen for guidance now that he was back, but now with this attitude from him…

She still has many scenes with him ahead, but this incident has happened today.

She didn't know how to face Cheng Chen anymore!

Sigh…

In truth, Liu Tianxian didn't fully understand how she had changed in her interactions with Cheng Chen.

Cheng Chen had always been the dominant, guiding figure, and she had unconsciously developed a dependent feeling toward him.

This girl, whose parents divorced when she was young, had formed a special emotional attachment to this man a few years older than her.

…

Cheng Chen, of course, had no idea of Liu Tianxian's shifting emotions.

He wasn't deliberately ignoring her—he'd been preoccupied with one matter all the way back.

In Jingcheng, he had taken time to visit Huaxia Blog's headquarters.

Upon seeing the boss arrive, General Manager Li Zhenyu was both excited and astonished.

Was the boss finally remembering he had a person like him, and this business?

In fact, since their one meeting last January, Li Zhenyu had not seen Cheng Chen again.

Of course, he often saw him in newspapers, magazines, and news reports.

But those weren't real people!

Seeing Li Zhenyu so emotional, Cheng Chen teased:

"I'm not a beauty, why are you so excited, Manager Li?"

Looking at Cheng Chen, Li Zhenyu cracked a rare joke:

"Boss Cheng isn't a beauty, but you're even more captivating than one!"

Li Zhenyu eagerly led him into the luxurious office he had kept reserved for Cheng Chen all along.

He immediately ordered finance to bring this year's financial statements.

He also had his assistant bring Cheng Chen the annual plan for Huaxia Blog.

Cheng Chen laughed helplessly at Li Zhenyu's actions:

"I'm not here to audit accounts, Manager Li, calm down—I just came to see how everyone's doing, and whether you have enough money."

Hearing this, Li Zhenyu nearly cried with emotion.

The boss didn't ask about performance, didn't check accounts—he started by asking if they needed money.

Where could you find a boss like this?

Li Zhenyu expressed his gratitude:

"Thank you, Boss Cheng, for your concern—Huaxia Blog is doing fine. With old Li in charge, you can rest easy!"

Cheng Chen nodded and said:

"About Huaxia Blog's future development… hmm… I just have a suggestion, okay?"

Hearing this, Li Zhenyu sat up straight and listened carefully.

Whenever the boss says things like, "I'm just making a suggestion," "Let me mention two points," or "I think…"

No matter how casually he says it, you must never treat it as empty words.

Although Cheng Chen is young and looks like a young guy,

Li Zhenyu knew that the man sitting before him had grand ambitions and insights into the internet that were no less than his own.

In some aspects, they even surpassed him.

So, whatever Cheng Chen said, he would take seriously.

Seeing Li Zhenyu's demeanor, Cheng Chen smiled and said:

"Don't be so formal. Just listen to what I'm about to say—the internet winter is over.

The internet companies that survived the winter are either barely clinging to life or have real skills.

But in recent years, apart from QQ, the instant messaging tool that became wildly popular,

other internet companies haven't launched any standout products."

Li Zhenyu nodded and said:

"That's true. In the instant messaging industry, Penguin has almost become a giant.

Other instant messaging tools either imitate it or imitate MSN…"

"Boss Cheng, are you planning to enter the instant messaging market?"

Cheng Chen shook his head and said:

"Let's focus on making Huaxia Blog great—but we still have shortcomings.

Limited by the network, although the number of netizens has grown, our Huaxia Blog user growth is still too slow.

There are many reasons, but the most important one is that we have no qualitative difference from other blogs."

Li Zhenyu thought for a moment, then said slowly:

"In the blog space, thanks to your endorsement and involvement, we've become the industry's number one.

You're right—we have what others have; the differences are indeed minimal."

"Old Li, have you ever thought about turning Huaxia Blog into a broadcast-style social media and online platform based on user relationships for sharing, spreading, and acquiring short, real-time information through a follow mechanism?"

Hearing this, Li Zhenyu frowned and said:

"Boss Cheng, are you talking about Xiaonei Network?"

Xiaonei Network was the famous Campus Network (Congwang), also a social network.

It allowed adding friends, writing logs, uploading photos, posting status updates—all appearing as fresh updates on friends' homepages.

Cheng Chen paused, then shook his head:

"There's a connection, but also a difference."

Actually, Cheng Chen wanted to say Xinliang Weibo, which would let users post via IM, SMS,

and allow access through multiple mobile terminals like PCs and phones.

It would enable real-time sharing, spreading, and interaction of information in multimedia formats like text, images, and video.

Of course, it was 2004—talking about apps and mobile terminals was still too early.

After all, iPhones and Google's Android phones didn't begin dominating mobile devices until 2007.

After all, it was only in 2007 that iPhones and Google system phones began to dominate mobile devices.

In China's early mobile internet era, it had only been the past two years.

The earliest mobile internet product was Mobile Dreamnet, launched by China Telecom as an official mobile internet portal.

It mainly offered paid downloads of traditional mobile value-added services like ringback tones and email.

People still preferred surfing the web on PCs—"going online" naturally meant using a PC.

But that didn't stop Cheng Chen from laying early groundwork, because in a few years, as users gradually formed mobile internet habits,

broadband strategies would fully launch, internet speeds would increase, 3G communication technology would mature, and mobile products would spread.

Mobile internet would become a major driving force in the internet industry's development.

Demand for mobile internet applications would gradually ignite—if we entered then, it might already be too late.

Next, Cheng Chen explained his concept of "Huaxia Weibo" to Li Zhenyu.

Li Zhenyu was utterly stunned by Cheng Chen's extraordinary vision.

He knew Cheng Chen's visions of the future were gradually coming true, because signs were already visible.

But imagining their actual realization made it feel surreal and miraculous.

The words Cheng Chen spoke today, the concepts he conveyed, were taking root in Li Zhenyu's mind…

And this was exactly Cheng Chen's purpose for coming—he would never pour too much energy into Huaxia Blog.

Whether Huaxia Blog could grow depended entirely on Li Zhenyu, its captain.

Through observing Li Zhenyu, Cheng Chen knew he was an excellent product person, but constrained by the era's limitations.

A little nudge would be enough for him to achieve great things.

So Cheng Chen held him in high regard, because later he would need Li Zhenyu to lead Huaxia Weibo as the foundation for…

Copying products like WeChat and TikTok…

But soon, this man he greatly admired presented him with a difficult problem.

To realize Cheng Chen's ideas… required money!

Millions wouldn't even cover the maintenance costs of Huaxia Blog!

Boss, you're blowing big dreams—but if we have no money, your ideas will just become bubbles.

Boss, you've been blowing up your boasts like a storm, but if we don't have money, all your ideas will turn to bubbles.

After Li Zhenyu roughly estimated the required expenses, Cheng Chen's mouth instantly formed a perfect "0" shape.

……

Thus, Cheng Chen spent the entire journey worrying about money!

So when Liu Tianxian greeted him, he merely waved back, his mind entirely consumed by how to get money!

This state persisted until filming began.

"Cut! Li Xiaoyao, your movement was too fast."

"Alright, roll again!"

"Cut! Li Xiaoyao, you got your line wrong!"

Director Li Guoli frowned and said.

Seeing this, the other crew members exchanged glances—what was going on today?

Cheng Chen's state is off!

After all, Cheng Chen had always been known in the crew as a one-take wonder.

Except for scenes requiring extremely precise footwork or large-scale fight sequences, Cheng Chen had always nailed it in one take.

So the crew loved filming Cheng Chen's scenes—after all, a one-take man saved them a lot of work.

But today he'd messed up twice in dialogue scenes—this was… beyond imagination.

Hearing Li Guoli's words, Cheng Chen apologized:

"Sorry, Director, let's do another take. Sorry."

Money? As long as he stayed active in the entertainment industry, he'd never lack it.

Besides, Huaxia Blog wasn't in a hurry—take it slow, wait for Weibo to launch, and profits would naturally follow.

Worst case, he could release a bit of equity—then how could he possibly lack money?

Of course, Cheng Chen wouldn't choose this path too early, for he clearly understood Weibo's potential.

Once he sorted this out, he stopped overthinking, regained his composure, and resumed filming.

"Alright, one more take, everyone prepare!"

Li Guoli glanced at Cheng Chen and shouted loudly:

"Roll!"

"Cut…"

As Cheng Chen was performing, Li Guoli called cut again.

Cheng Chen was puzzled—he'd performed well, his state was good, what was the director up to now?

Li Guoli was equally puzzled—could bad state be contagious?

The male lead had just gotten himself together, and now the female lead was having problems!

"Zhao Ling'er, when Li Xiaoyao speaks, look at him with affection—not just stare blankly at him, understood?"

"Yes, Director."

Liu Tianxian replied softly.

Cheng Chen also noticed this girl seemed off today—quieter than usual.

Maybe she was in a bad mood? Cheng Chen didn't dwell on it and continued rehearsing with her.

"Cut, Zhao Ling'er, adjust your state—take a few minutes' break."

Director Li Guoli frowned and said.

But clearly, he was speaking to Cheng Chen.

The subtext: Your female lead is failing again—no need for you to call for a break; use this chance to coach her.

Cheng Chen rolled his eyes—he knew exactly what Li Guoli meant.

He silently grumbled: What a lazy director, playing the absentee boss and making me do the coaching?

Cheng Chen didn't refuse—he knew that coaching Liu Tianxian himself would be more effective than Li Guoli doing it.

"What's wrong, girl? Feeling down?"

Cheng Chen asked with concern.

Hearing the care in Cheng Chen's tone, Liu Tianxian's lips trembled—she felt deeply wronged.

She was about to speak, but then remembered Liu Pinyan's earlier words: Cheng Chen must already know she'd called him a drama tyrant on set.

If that was true, then this display of concern was surely just an act—forced out of necessity in front of others.

Pretending!

A single phrase flashed in Liu Tianxian's mind.

"Don't you dare interfere."

Liu Tianxian turned her head away, coldly saying.

Watching Liu Tianxian suddenly throw a child's tantrum, Cheng Chen was exasperated.

This girl had always been so well-behaved and obedient—why was she being stubborn today?

"It's fine, Director, let's start again—I'm ready!"

Liu Tianxian called out to Li Guoli.

Li Guoli, who had been drinking water, immediately shot Cheng Chen a look of approval.

Oh my, she's calmed down so fast today!

Cheng Chen immediately rolled his eyes at him.

"Alright, roll!"

Li Guoli said with a smile.

But soon he couldn't laugh anymore…

……

——————Side Note——————

June first, also Children's Day—may all the big kids and little kids enjoy the holiday!