Chapter 199: Investing in the Future

As soon as Wu Yuchen heard the name Xie Na, he immediately frowned.

To be honest, he felt Xie Na's professional competence was mediocre and he didn't particularly like her hosting style. But that was fine; at most, he would just avoid her shows and treat her like a stranger. However, what made him dislike Xie Na was the character she displayed in her friendship with Li Xiaoran—she was truly a textbook example of being ungrateful.

When Xie Na first arrived in Beijing as a "Beijing drifter," she had a very difficult time. She lived in a basement and couldn't even bear to eat a proper meal. Li Xiaoran, unable to watch her suffer, took her into her own home to live and eat together. Not only did Li Xiaoran never charge her a cent, but she also took care of all the chores like grocery shopping, cooking, and laundry. She even gave her gifts like high heels, and at the time, Li Xiaoran, who had already become a "star," recommended many opportunities to Xie Na.

When Li Xiaoran was popular, Xie Na often marketed their "bestie" relationship, making it sound as if Li Xiaoran was her best friend. But when Li Xiaoran fell on hard times, Xie Na didn't say a word. Later, when asked in an interview what Li Xiaoran was doing, Xie Na simply said, "It's like she completely disappeared for those few years."

The implication was that it wasn't her fault as a "good friend" for not knowing Li Xiaoran's whereabouts; it was Li Xiaoran who had disappeared herself. Does a good friend really go years without contacting someone?

Don't think for a second that she couldn't reach her. Once, when Li Xiaoran appeared on *Happy Camp*, she was asked on the spot if she knew what nickname she was saved under in Xie Na's phone. Li Xiaoran said it should be "Xiaoran" or "Ranran." Xie Na's expression changed immediately, and she tried to brush it off. In the end, it was discovered that she didn't even have Li Xiaoran's number saved—she had deleted it long ago!

Just as everyone was in disbelief, Li Xiaoran quickly stated that they didn't usually call each other and communicated via WeChat. He Jiong also quickly stepped in to smooth things over and immediately changed the subject, finally brushing it off.

Tsk tsk tsk, what a "good sister" indeed!

Is there any need to help someone of this caliber?

As for the rumors that she backstabbed Li Xiaoran, Wu Yuchen didn't know if they were true, but it didn't change his poor impression of Xie Na.

If Wu Yuchen didn't know, he would have let it be, but since he did, he certainly wouldn't let Li Xiaoran get close to her. However, he also knew that this was Li Xiaoran's freedom to choose her friends and he couldn't forcibly interfere. He stretched out his fingers, pinched them a few times, and then said:

"Xie Na? I don't like that name. It feels like it clashes with yours."

Li Xiaoran was stunned upon hearing this and stared at Wu Yuchen strangely: "Hey? I didn't know you could tell fortunes! You can even hear if names clash?"

Wu Yuchen asked as if casually: "How do you know her? You've never mentioned her before."

"That's because, since you already know, I won't hide it anymore. Actually, when I was a child, I met an old beggar. He saw that I had a full forehead and extraordinary bone structure, so he gave me a secret manual called *Six Ren Profound Mystery*. Once mastered, I can know a hundred years into the past and a hundred years into the future..."

Zhu Yongde said with a smile from the side:

"A good art film fears no controversy. The philosophy of our film is to be at the forefront of the era. Wu Dao, don't worry about the minor details. We are all counting on you to bring back an Oscar for us this time!"

Li Xiaoran was thoughtful, but she felt that Xie Na didn't seem like a particularly strong-willed person, and when she mentioned her last time, she seemed quite expectant.

"You said it yourself, I'm a great director bringing glory to the country!"

Then Wu Yuchen added: "If you want to help her, just recommend some opportunities to her. There's no need to bring her into the house. People want to be self-reliant; living in someone else's home makes one a guest, and they might not be used to it."

Wu Yuchen and Li Xiaoran started chatting and laughing, no longer mentioning Xie Na. With his influence, it was impossible for Li Xiaoran to get close to Xie Na. There was no need to deliberately target Xie Na now; if word got out that a big director was picking on an 18-year-old girl, what would that look like? It would be too petty, and it would make Li Xiaoran misunderstand.

"Pfft, shameless~"

Li Xiaoran pouted: "It's all your fault, you're making me break my word!"

"It's just that when we were on set, I saw her as a young girl working as an extra, and it wasn't easy. She came to Beijing to drift at only 18; one look and you could tell she had suffered quite a bit..."

Upon hearing this, Wu Yuchen couldn't help but feel a bit of goodwill toward Xie Jin. This was helping him relieve pressure; he was worthy of being a senior veteran!

With Xie Jin speaking up, and Wu Yuchen's own attitude clear, the others knew what attitude to take when discussing the *Love* they had just watched. The film could be praised, but mentioning the Oscars was enough. If they really wanted to praise it to the skies, they should wait until it was nominated for an Oscar.

When the film ended and the lights in the Great Hall came back on, the applause was like thunder.

Wu Yuchen curled his lip and sighed, "Sister Ranran, you've forgotten your old friends now that you have new ones!"

Xie Jin walked over, patted Wu Yuchen on the shoulder, and said:

"That was shot beautifully! Although your film might be a bit controversial after its release, at my age, I truly feel it deeply! You have the courage to shoot it, the ability to shoot it, and the future will depend on you all!"

Li Xiaoran nodded. A few years ago, she was also a bit-part player, playing maids and being lectured by the production staff like a grandchild. Now, seeing Xie Na, it was as if she saw her former self, and she felt a bit sentimental. Back then, she had Wu Yuchen to help her, and now she wanted to give someone else a hand.

Wu Yuchen put on a pitiful look: "Then what about me? Sigh, in this huge house, there will be no place for me in the future! How sad!"

Wu Yuchen held her and rubbed her: "I just don't want outsiders living here."

"Didn't you say you were going to America in the next few months to push for the Oscars?" Li Xiaoran looked up at him.

Li Xiaoran smiled and gave Wu Yuchen's waist a light pinch: "Why are you so overbearing!"

Wu Yuchen quickly said: "President Zhu, please don't put pressure on me. After all, so many excellent films before this didn't make it, so I can only say I'll do my best!"

However, it would be impossible for her to climb back up. When the time comes, let Cai Yinong step in and drop a hint to cut off her path at Mango TV. Wouldn't it be quite good to just let her keep fawning over Li Xiaoran for the rest of her life?

Li Xiaoran adjusted her posture, snuggled into Wu Yuchen's arms, and nudged him:

Upon hearing this, Li Xiaoran couldn't help but soften inside; after all, this place had always been their little two-person nest.

Li Xiaoran held Wu Yuchen's arm and acted like a fan: "May I ask, Master, if I want to become a billionaire, what should I do?"

Wu Yuchen suddenly understood a little: "Are you thinking about the time you were a bit-part player again~"

Li Xiaoran patted him: "Stop joking, you haven't even met her!"

"If I were shy and embarrassed, you might not even like it!"

Wu Yuchen gently bit her pouting lips: "Just say I don't agree, that it affects my happiness index. Let's see if she dares to have an opinion!"

Wu Yuchen didn't want to build up too much hype right now. If it didn't win in the end, it would disappoint a lot of people. It's best to keep it as it is now; don't raise expectations too high, and if it can win, it will be a big surprise.

The Saturday preview was naturally arranged by China Film Group at the Great Hall of the People. Although it wasn't an auspicious day, many people came to show their support, even those who hadn't received invitations. After all, Wu Yuchen's momentum was right there; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he had already caught up to Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaizi, or even surpassed them both. It was only due to his age that everyone hadn't praised him too highly yet.

Wu Yuchen did a quick calculation and said: "Buy three or four more of these apartments upstairs and downstairs, wait 15 years, and you'll naturally become a billionaire."

Li Xiaoran patted him and said huffily: "What new friends and old friends~"

Wu Yuchen shook his head as if she were a lost cause: "In any case, I have a bad impression of this Xie Na. Be careful when you associate with her."

Li Xiaoran tilted her head and asked: "Then have you achieved great success?"

Xie Jin also knew this truth well, so he helped Wu Yuchen say: "Just do your best. Actually, getting a nomination is a victory!"

Li Xiaoran silently calculated in her heart: the current market price of this house is 5,000 per square meter, 160 square meters, 4 units is 640 square meters. 100 million for 640 square meters? 150,000 per square meter?

"Talking nonsense, I don't believe you!" Li Xiaoran sneered.

"I have achieved small success now, knowing 20 years into the past and 20 years into the future!" Wu Yuchen said, patting his chest.

At this moment, Jiang Wen walked over with a smile, cupping his hands:

"Teacher Xie, you flatter me. I still have a lot to learn and practice!" Wu Yuchen said modestly.

The few people standing around also chimed in. Since the news broke a few days ago that "Love" was going to compete for the Oscars, many people had expectations for it. After all, this was a film that had already won the Golden Lion, and it came from the hands of Wu Yuchen, who had been shocking America one after another.

People kept coming over to congratulate Wu Yuchen, such as Xie Jin, who was previously recognized as the number one director in China. His health hadn't been good since filming "The Opium War," and he hadn't come to the premiere of "Donkey Gets Water" before. This time, he was specifically invited by Zhu Yongde, the head of Shanghai Film Studio.

"Wu Dao, I admire you! The style of your 'Love' is completely different from your previous 'Donkey Gets Water.' The last one was black humor, extremely absurd, while this one is realistic and cold. Using different visual styles to express different themes, you handle it with ease. It's truly impressive!"

"Director Jiang, you flatter me. I'm still waiting for your new film to come out!"

"I can't compare to you in this!"

Last time Jiang Wen came to see "Donkey Gets Water," his "Devils on the Doorstep" hadn't finished filming yet. Now, Wu Yuchen's "Love" had already won the Venice Golden Lion and returned for its premiere, while his "Devils on the Doorstep" was still being edited. Therefore, Jiang Wen was truly impressed by Wu Yuchen's speed in making films; he shot them fast and well, and he really couldn't compare.

Actually, it wasn't that Wu Yuchen was fast; this could only be considered a normal speed. It was Jiang Wen who was truly slow. However, Wu Yuchen wouldn't say this out loud, but instead gave a thumbs up and said with a smile:

"Director Jiang, slow work produces fine art. Nezha was in the womb for three years and six months before he was born. Director Jiang, your film will definitely be extraordinary when it comes out!"

Jiang Wen waved his hand and shook his head:

"Hi, Wu Dao, I don't want to suffer Nezha's fate. I'm just here today to catch some of your good fortune, Wu Dao. As long as it can bless me to pass the review smoothly, that's enough!"

Upon hearing this, Wu Yuchen thought to himself that he had spoken unintentionally, but he didn't expect it might actually come true. After Nezha was born, he wasn't liked by his father, he fought hard against the Dragon King who represented the rules, and was forced to commit suicide. Isn't this the fate of Jiang Wen and "Devils on the Doorstep" in his past life?

Thinking of this, Wu Yuchen could only smile at Jiang Wen and wish him good luck.

After most people had left, Han Sanping and Hou Keming walked over. Hou Keming said happily to Wu Yuchen:

"You've come this far, and we at the school have nothing left to teach you. But when you're free, remember to come back to Beijing Film Academy to give a lecture. I've already reserved that with you!"

Wu Yuchen thought for a moment and said: "Dean Hou, let's wait until next year. I really have too many things to do this year."

"Good, see how you arrange it yourself."

Afterwards, Hou Keming smiled and said: "We've communicated with the Golden Rooster Awards. They said they specifically moved the date up this year just for you! When the time comes, go and have a good exchange with them."

The Golden Rooster Awards had just announced the nomination list a while ago, and "Donkey Gets Water" was prominently featured, with multiple nominations.

Wu Yuchen couldn't help but ask: "Have the award results already come out?"

Han Sanping smiled and said: "You underestimate yourself and your Dean Hou too much. If they don't award it to 'Donkey Gets Water' this year, the Golden Rooster Awards might as well stop holding the ceremony and wait to be scolded to death!"

The current Wu Yuchen was no longer the newcomer he was two years ago. At that time, the Golden Rooster Awards would still say he was just starting out, too young, and needed more practice, only giving him the Best Directorial Debut award.

But now, Wu Yuchen had not only achieved the dual-gold feat of the Jin Xiong and Golden Lion, but also successively filmed box-office hits like "Il Mare" and "My Sassy Girl," and had even established the reputation of a great Hollywood director with three films in America. Who would dare say he needs more practice now?

Moreover, not to mention that Wu Yuchen had the strong support of the Beijing Film Academy behind him, all the major film studios—China Film, Shanghai Film, Xiaoxiang Film, and Xi'an Film—had all cooperated with Wu Yuchen and accepted his investments. Now, Wu Yuchen's reputation for being righteous and generous had already spread.

Who would dare to stop a great director who has such solid strength and also knows how to handle people?!

And in terms of the work itself, "Donkey Gets Water" had extremely high artistic value, winning the Jin Xiong and Best Actress in Berlin. Awarding it is only fitting, and this was something many people expected.

Therefore, Han Sanping's words made it clear: he was going there this year to receive the award, so he should arrange his time accordingly.

These words made Wu Yuchen feel a little embarrassed. Does this count as him having pulled some strings behind the scenes?

On the streets of Beijing in September, people were coming and going. Although autumn had arrived, the sun was still a bit hot, but a refined young man in a suit and glasses felt cold inside.

He had come all the way from Shenzhen to Beijing to specifically find his former idol to raise investment, but he was ridiculed to his face until he couldn't even hold his head up.

"This thing of yours, I could find a few college students to do better than you in less than 3 months. It's simply not worth 500,000!"

Ma Huateng felt his tie was a bit tight, pulled it off, and couldn't help but let out a long sigh. He took off his glasses, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and looked exhausted.

He and a few others pooled 500,000 together to found a chat software platform modeled after the popular foreign ICQ, called qicq. Over the past few months, the number of users had been increasing, but now the server couldn't handle the massive amount of data at all, and the company couldn't make money; there were no profit channels or methods. Now the company couldn't even pay next month's salaries; the money for this month was still covered by them personally.

Helpless, he wanted to sell the software. As a result, he had run around this whole way, finding many people, but no one was willing to buy it. He wanted to sell it for 1 million, but just now Zhang Sohu wasn't even willing to give half of that and even belittled it as worthless.

However, he hadn't come away empty-handed on this journey. Among the people he visited, some kindly pointed him to try venture capital, which also gave him a preliminary concept of what venture capital was, and he planned to find ways to inquire about it once he returned to Shenzhen.

Just as he was planning to go to the train station, the phone in his pocket rang...

Miracle Film, Wu Yuchen looked at the refined and thin young man in front of him. His neat suit and tie made him look quite formal, and he seemed to attach great importance to this meeting.

Wu Yuchen raised his hand and said with a smile: "Don't be formal, have some tea. Let's chat while we drink."

Ma Huateng smiled shyly and said: "Wu Dao, I especially like the movies you make. I've seen every one of them, and I've seen 'My Sassy Girl' in the cinema more than once~"

Wu Yuchen was amused upon hearing this and couldn't help but ask curiously: "Oh? Did you go see it with your girlfriend? You wouldn't be scolding me in your heart, would you!"

Ma Huateng quickly waved his hand to explain: "No, no, I don't have a girlfriend yet, I'm single! Since your movies are so well made, why would I scold you!"

Wu Yuchen laughed and said: "After this movie of mine was released, I heard that some male compatriots suffered a bit. I was afraid you were one of the victims!"

Ma Huateng wasn't very eloquent, so he just smiled upon hearing this.

Wu Yuchen didn't mind, knowing this was the typical personality of a science and engineering man, so he said to him with a smile:

"It's really fate this time. I didn't expect you to happen to be in Beijing. I thought you were in Shenzhen, and I only found out you weren't there after contacting your company, but it saved me some trouble."

Ma Huateng put his hands on his knees: "Wu Dao, I didn't expect you to contact me either. After all, you are a great director and also in the cultural and artistic circles..."

"I'm a young person too! The software you developed is quite interesting, and I'm quite optimistic about it. I heard you are looking for someone to sell the company to everywhere?"

Ma Huateng nodded.

Wu Yuchen took a sip of tea and asked: "How is it? Is it going smoothly?"

Ma Huateng shook his head honestly: "Not very smoothly. Wu Dao, our company staff called and said you wanted to buy it. May I ask, what do you want to buy it for?"

Wu Yuchen waved his hand: "It's not buying, it's investment. How would I have the time to develop your technology company!"

Ma Huateng's heart stirred and he asked: "Are you talking about venture capital?"

Wu Yuchen nodded: "The concept of venture capital is still rarely mentioned in our country, but it's very common in Silicon Valley in America. Since you understand it, I won't beat around the bush: 20 million yuan for 40% equity."

Ma Huateng was suddenly startled by the 20 million yuan Wu Yuchen mentioned. After all, he only wanted to sell the software for 1 million in the morning, but now Wu Yuchen was willing to invest 20 million and only wanted 40% of the shares. Although his family background was quite good, he had never seen such a huge sum of 20 million.

Wu Yuchen saw that Ma Huateng didn't respond, so he asked: "What? Do you think it's too little money? Or do you want US dollars?"

Ma Huateng quickly waved his hand: "No, no. Wu Dao, why, why are you willing to invest money in us? To tell you the truth, many people I looked for before didn't think highly of us."

This really made Ma Huateng quite curious. After all, he had looked for so many industry insiders, and none were willing to pay even 500,000. As a result, a great director from the cultural and artistic circles popped up and sent over 20 million. This matter was a bit hard for him to digest; it felt too magical!

"Hahaha, I was just chatting with friends and found your software interesting when I used it. Investing so much money in you is also because I'm optimistic about your future. Maybe in a few years, you will be able to go public like Sina, NetEase, and Sohu, and then I can be a shareholder of a listed company."

Upon hearing this, Ma Huateng felt encouraged. Now the internet wave in America is driving the development of the internet all over the world in full swing. Wu Yuchen's words hit his heart; maybe they could go public?

With these 20 million from Wu Yuchen, the server that was troubling them now is no longer a problem.

Wu Yuchen added: "You don't need to worry about the software's profitability for now. Try your best to build up the user base first. After the users are up, we will find ways to solve the money-making problem; it's nothing more than a conversion problem."

Ma Huateng just felt that the Wu Yuchen in front of him was simply an angel, and he even felt a lot of guilt in his heart. He was burning other people's 20 million, and they even told him not to consider the money-making problem. If this isn't an angel, what is?

He clenched his fists and said excitedly: "Thank you, Wu Dao, for your appreciation. We at Tencent will definitely live up to your expectations and make this software well!"

Afterwards, Ma Huateng showed a somewhat embarrassed smile again: "Wu Dao, can you give me an autograph?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Yuchen couldn't help but smile: "I thought you were in a hurry to find me to sign the contract first!"

After Ma Huateng left full of energy, Wu Yuchen leaned back tactically in his boss chair. 40% of the shares of the future Tencent empire, just like that, easily obtained?

It felt a little unreal, but thinking about it, it was reasonable. Tencent and Ma Huateng were at their lowest point. According to Little Pony's interview in his past life, the concept of venture capital was still very vague in the country at that time. If it weren't for a friend's introduction, he would never have thought of taking the venture capital path because he didn't have that awareness.

Wu Yuchen then thought of his other investments. Starting from 1996, he had successively invested in internet concept stocks such as Yahoo, Cisco, and Microsoft. Now this internet wave was in full swing, and the Nasdaq was constantly rushing upwards.

Nowadays, the numbers in his stock account, even if he sold them and paid a lot of taxes to the Americans, had reached 10 digits, and the unit was US dollars.

When he goes to America in a month, the first thing to do is to sell the stocks there. He has already earned enough now, so there is no need to wait for the high point next year.