Chapter 231: Finalizing Roles and Re-investing

The temperament Leslie Cheung exuded was different from Takeshi Kaneshiro just now, and also different from Chang Chen in the original version. Although both were deep, there was also a faint, heart-wrenching feeling about Leslie Cheung.

Wu Yuchen pondered in his mind. The first half of the film didn't need it, but in the second half, this feeling that could infect people's hearts was definitely a plus, allowing the audience to resonate more with Shen Lian.

As for the others...

Fame, Leslie Cheung didn't lose to anyone in this regard. He was an iconic figure in the Hong Kong film industry and a big star at the Asian level, and he also had quite a few fans in Japan and South Korea, so there was absolutely no problem with his appeal.

Acting, there was no need to worry about this at all. Leslie Cheung's acting skills were enough to handle the role of Shen Lian.

Appearance? He was already handsome enough, and he even kept stubble specifically, showing even more of a mature man's charm.

It's worth mentioning that Leslie Cheung was several years older than Jiang Wen, who was to play his eldest brother Lu Jianxing, but when these two stood together, everyone would feel that Jiang Wen was older. Just looking at him, Leslie Cheung, who was already over 40, still looked like a young man under thirty, not showing his age at all.

However, there was only one point...

After watching a performance by Leslie Cheung, Wu Yuchen asked: "Great! But I heard your Passion Tour hasn't ended yet? I need the lead to undergo martial arts training in the early stages here."

"Chao'er, did you get selected?"

Zhu Yuchen and the others looked at him in surprise: "Really?!"

"Then you said willing, willing, willing to what?"

Deng Chao was smiling happily. Actually, he thought the same in his heart; being able to let Wu Dao ask more questions and care more meant it wasn't just a formality.

Zhu Yuchen even reached out and patted Deng Chao on the shoulder gently to show comfort.

Just as Deng Chao was welcoming his brothers to pour him drinks, his phone rang. He hurriedly put down his glass, picked it up, and answered.

"That's right, after Wu Dao saw me, he was stunned by my appearance, praised me as a talent, and asked me on the spot if I was willing to play Shen Lian!"

After Deng Chao hung up the phone, the others immediately gathered around him, pulling on his shoulders:

The group was puzzled for a moment, then Zhu Yuchen immediately clapped his hands and said: "Then this means you have a chance! Otherwise, why would he care about your height?"

"Chao'er, was it Wu Dao? What did he say?"

Deng Chao was also chuckling, then picked up a piece of beef and chewed it vigorously. After swallowing the food, he said again:

"What else can I do? Anyway, I tried my best. As for the result, that's not something I can decide."

Deng Chao might have been a bit nervous before the audition, but after the audition, he felt like a weight had been lifted.

Then he heard Deng Chao respond with "oh, oh" on the phone, and then a smile appeared on his face: "Willing, willing, thank you Wu Dao! I definitely won't let you down!"

Wu Yuchen thought about it. His film would start filming in the second half of the year, and training would start in April, which was more than 3 months, so it shouldn't be a big problem.

Leslie Cheung didn't deny it, but said: "Wu Dao, my concert only has the final grand finale in Hong Kong left, and it will end in April. After that, I can devote myself entirely to action practice!"

Leslie Cheung's Passion Tour started in the middle of last year, then went on a world tour, and it hadn't ended yet.

Deng Chao answered the phone, heard the voice on the other side, and immediately greeted respectfully: "Eh, it's me, hello Wu Dao!"

"Did Wu Dao have any evaluation of you?"

The group looked at each other, all confused by Deng Chao's reaction. What was going on? Was he selected or not?

But the next moment, Deng Chao's originally full smile froze: "Ah? Not selected..."

The people around were stunned for a moment, then subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief in their hearts, and then felt sorry for their good brother Deng Chao'er, after all, it was such a good opportunity!

The group asked one after another.

"Yes, yes, yes, Chenzi makes sense! Chao'er, you must treat us today!"

At this time, their feelings were also a bit complicated. They had said things before, but seeing their roommate Deng Chao'er, whom they lived with day and night, really about to be in Wu Yuchen's big production, starting so high before even leaving school, and looking like he was about to fly high, feelings of envy and jealousy couldn't help but arise in their hearts.

"Chao'er, did you really land Jin Yichuan?"

Deng Chao sighed: "Sigh, Jin Yichuan is out of the question, but Wu Dao let me play another role, the Chongzhen Emperor, which counts as a small supporting role..."

The group immediately booed upon hearing this, knowing that Deng Chao had started joking and bragging to them again:

Zhu Yuchen and the others looked at each other, looking at Deng Chao's punchable face, and shouted one after another:

"Slaughter him!"

When the group heard this, their hearts couldn't help but tremble. To be able to have Wu Yuchen call personally, there was a high probability that he was really selected! Otherwise, finding a staff member to call and notify would be enough, and some crews wouldn't even notify.

Deng Chao's arm dropped: "Hi, what else could it be? Just let me perform normally, and he picked out a few flaws of mine. Oh, he also asked me how tall I was..."

"Tch!"

"Just fool your brothers, don't fool yourself!"

"Cut it out!"

"Asked you how tall you were?"

Deng Chao slammed his glass on the table and said heroically: "It's settled!"

On the night of the interview, Deng Chao and several roommates went to a small restaurant to have a meal. After a glass of wine, they asked one after another: "Chao'er, how was it?"

"Hey, I'm not asking you this, you met Wu Dao, right!"

Deng Chao shook his head: "No, I wasn't selected, Wu Dao said I was a bit too tall."

Deng Chao recalled, raised his hand, and was about to start talking, when Zhu Yuchen on the side said: "Don't brag to us anymore, tell the truth!"

The people sitting around also immediately quieted down. Everyone felt that this might be the result, and whether Deng Chao could be selected depended on this call.

"Must make him bleed today!"

After Wu Yuchen put down the phone, he smiled. The role of Jin Yichuan was selected last. Since he had already decided to have Leslie Cheung play the male lead Shen Lian, then when Jin Yichuan stood with him, it was best not to steal his limelight.

The eldest brother Lu Jianxing could be taller than Shen Lian, and as for the third brother Jin Yichuan, it was best if his height didn't exceed Leslie Cheung's. Just from this point, Wu Yuchen eliminated several people, such as the tall Liu Ye, and also Deng Chao just now.

However, he felt that the newcomer Deng Chao was still worth cultivating, so he gave him the role of the Chongzhen Emperor, who also appeared a few times in the film and had some screen time.

In his past life, Deng Chao was a specialist in playing emperors when he debuted, playing emperors in many dramas such as *The Son of Heaven*, *Young Kangxi*, *Ming Dynasty*, and *Proud of the Sword*. Now, let him, Wu Dao, start this for him!

Don't underestimate this role; there were even people who wanted to push someone over to gild themselves. It wasn't anyone else, but Zhang Mo, the son of the emperor specialist Zhang Guoli, whom Wu Yuchen lightly pushed away.

If it were someone else, that would be fine, but thinking of Old Zhang's son, not to mention the beating, he also did drugs, Wu Yuchen shook his head.

As for who was finally selected for the role of the third brother Jin Yichuan, Wu Yuchen looked at the baby-faced Wolf Warrior Wu Jing in the photo and smiled.

Wu Jing had also made a name for himself in TV dramas in the last two years, with *Tai Chi Master* and *Xiao Li Fei Dao* having quite high ratings. This *Brotherhood of Blades* was a martial arts film after all, and fighting well was a big plus. Wu Jing was only 27 years old now, just right for playing the third brother Jin Yichuan.

And as for Wu Jing's height, it was definitely not taller than Leslie Cheung's. Leslie Cheung was 175, and he estimated he was just over 170. In this regard, he was also very qualified!

After the cast of *Brotherhood of Blades* was finalized, Wu Yuchen didn't leave directly, but had to arrange related matters first. For example, the preparation of various props for the crew, and the training plan for the finalized actors, such as Leslie Cheung, Jiang Wen, Duan Long, and even Wu Jing, all needed to undergo martial arts training.

Just as Wu Yuchen was busy arranging various matters for *Brotherhood of Blades*, a phone call came in, which also forced him to temporarily put down the work at hand.

In the office, Wu Yuchen said with a smile: "Come, Ma Zong, taste my new Dahongpao!"

Ma Huateng smiled politely at Wu Yuchen, then said with slight guilt: "Mr. Wu, I'm really sorry, the company still hasn't found a good way to make a profit, but the money has already been spent, the user growth is too fast, and our servers can't keep up again..."

Since the bursting of the Internet bubble on the Nasdaq in America last year, the wave of Internet entrepreneurship that was once in full swing around the world had been hit hard.

In just one year, I don't know how many startups had vanished into thin air. Looking back, Ma Huateng also felt lucky. He had received a large investment from Wu Yuchen before that, allowing Tencent to survive and hold on until now.

But it's a pity that although he had exhausted all his tricks, the money was gone, and there was no other way. After more than a year, Ma Huateng and the entire founding team had also learned a lot about venture capital and the like, and knew that coming to Wu Yuchen for investment now, making him the major shareholder, would be disadvantageous to their side.

But there was no way, now was the coldest period for the Internet environment. Let alone finding venture capital, even bank loans, no one was willing to lend to them. Very helplessly, Ma Huateng could only go north again to find Wu Yuchen, this shareholder, for investment in person.

Wu Yuchen smiled upon hearing this, waved his hand and said: "No need to call me Mr. Wu, just call me Wu Dao, I'm used to it."

Then he asked again: "How many users does QQ have now?"

Ma Huateng immediately reported a number: "The number of online QQ users has exceeded 1.2 million, and the number of registered users has reached 25 million."

Wu Yuchen was quite satisfied with this number. You have to know that the number of netizens in the country now is only a little over 20 million, and the reason why the number of registered users is more than the number of netizens is naturally because one person has registered multiple QQ numbers.

Wu Yuchen thought about it and said: "Ma Zong, the Nasdaq crash was something no one expected. I can understand that the environment is not good now. How about this, I will invest another 20 million this time."

Ma Huateng breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. Wu Yuchen was still willing to pay for investment in such a situation where the company had no profit, which already made him feel lucky. It's just that the number of users is growing faster and faster, and I don't know if this 20 million can last for a year...

Ma Huateng asked: "Wu Dao, I don't know how many shares you want this time?"

He also knew that Wu Yuchen's investment this time wasn't for nothing, he would definitely want to finance and hold shares.

Wu Yuchen smiled and stretched out his right hand, making a gesture of six: "After this financing, I will hold 60% of the company's shares."

Ma Huateng calculated in his mind. Now Wu Yuchen has 40% of the shares, and after financing, it will be 60%. That is to say, this round he spent 20 million to finance 33% of the shares, and his first round of 40% was compressed to about 27%, so adding them up is 60%.

Ma Huateng thought about the financing rules of venture capital companies in Silicon Valley, America, that he had seen over the past year, organized his language, and then said:

"Wu Dao, is 60% a bit too much? Now our QQ has grown more than 10 times compared to the last round of financing, and it is absolutely the first in similar products. I think 20 million yuan for 33% of the shares is a bit..."

Wu Yuchen smiled and interrupted him: "Not yuan, it's 20 million US dollars."

Ma Huateng's pupils shrank upon hearing this, and his open mouth could no longer make a sound.

20 million US dollars for 33% of the shares, the offer Wu Yuchen gave this time was also more than 10 times that of the first round, leaving Ma Huateng with no reason to refute. And this meant that the market value Wu Yuchen gave Tencent was 60 million US dollars, 500 million yuan!

After Ma Huateng was silent for a while, he picked up the tea and took a sip, then said to Wu Yuchen: "Wu Dao, I need to discuss this matter with the team, please give me some time."

Wu Yuchen nodded with a smile: "No problem, I understand, but you should be quick, don't delay the company's development."

"Wu Dao, don't worry, we will definitely give you a reply within three days."

Wu Yuchen watched the back of Little Ma as he left, also wanting to know how he would choose. He didn't invest in Tencent as an individual, but through the Bai Xiong Venture Capital Company he specifically established in Hong Kong. Bai Xiong investing in Penguin, isn't that just right?

It didn't take three days. Just one day later, Little Ma came back with a new plan. They didn't want to finance 33% of the shares, only half, which was 16%. In this way, after financing, it was equivalent to Wu Yuchen only having 49.6% of the shares, and their founding team could still hold 50.4%, holding control.

Of course, this money naturally couldn't be 20 million US dollars anymore, they could only get 10 million US dollars. At the same time, they also wanted a guarantee, that is, when the company encountered an emergency, Bai Xiong Venture Capital could provide at least 2 million US dollars in emergency bridge funds.

According to Ma Huateng and the team's estimation, if they got 10 million US dollars, it would be enough for the company to operate for 3 years under the situation of expansion. If they still couldn't find a way to make a profit in 3 years, then they should just stop doing it and break up. Therefore, this was a plan that could ensure their control and get sufficient development funds.

However, for the plan they put forward, Wu Yuchen couldn't keep making concessions. Since you don't give that much financing share, and you also want emergency bridge funds, then the price can't be that much.

Finally, after some tug-of-war and negotiation between the two sides, Wu Yuchen exchanged 10 million US dollars plus the condition of providing 2 million emergency funds at any time for 25% of the shares in this round. In this way, after financing, Bai Xiong Fund held 55% of Tencent's shares.

However, he also promised another condition, that is, when the next round of financing comes or before listing, he agrees to Tencent company recovering 10% of the shares from him. Of course, the price cannot be based on now, but based on the price of the next round. If there is no next round of financing, but direct listing, these 10% shares will be the incentive share pool for employees in the future.

After it was finalized, Ma Huateng and Tencent breathed a sigh of relief again, and then thanked Wu Yuchen repeatedly. Negotiation is negotiation, gratitude is gratitude, these are two different things.

In fact, the reason why both sides were fighting back and forth was the issue of control. It's not that Ma Huateng and the others didn't know about AB equity, but Tencent's goal from beginning to end was to list on the Hong Kong stock market, and the Hong Kong stock market does not allow the existence of AB shares, so the simplest point is that whoever has the larger equity has the final say.

Now that Wu Yuchen supports them so much, of course it doesn't matter, but in case the two sides fall out in the future and a power struggle occurs, in order to ensure the right to speak, they have to set up some precautions first.

Wu Yuchen also didn't have the idea of fighting for power with Little Ma, he just wanted to occupy more shares while supporting Tencent's development. In this situation now, he was satisfied.

Wu Yuchen couldn't help but sigh that there were too many investment opportunities in this era. He could buy Apple in America, and be a major shareholder of Tencent in China. If he wanted to invest, not to mention Ali and the like, even the future Oil Can, Youku, etc., couldn't escape his hands. However, his main energy now was still in the entertainment industry, investing in a Penguin was enough.

As for the idea of buying real estate and hoarding it, he didn't have it at all. Now it's just how comfortable he is, if he has enough money, why hoard houses? He doesn't lack this way of making money.

However, although he didn't want to play real estate, he couldn't help but pick up some cheap deals, because Miracle Film and Television directly spent money to buy an office building, and it didn't need to occupy Miracle Film and Television's working capital. Because this money was a low-interest loan actively sent by the bank. In this day and age, banks really send loans everywhere to high-quality customers, wishing you would borrow more.

This is really food fed into the mouth, don't eat it for nothing!

Just as Wu Yuchen was almost done arranging things here, a piece of news came from across the ocean. The Oscar nominations for this year were announced. *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* successfully entered the Best Foreign Language Film category, and also received 10 nominations including Best Picture and Best Director, setting the record for the most nominations for a Chinese-language film in the Oscars, and received large-scale attention from the mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

But regarding whether *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* could win, the Chinese-language region was also full of controversy. Many viewers felt that *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* was not filmed well, far worse than *New Dragon Gate Inn*, and this could win?

There were also experts who jumped out and said that Ang Lee filmed this according to the Western film structure, just to let foreigners understand it, so the chance of winning was not small.

There were also people who brought out Ang Lee's resume. Actually, before this, many domestic viewers hadn't heard of Ang Lee's name. After this *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon*, everyone discovered that Ang Lee not only won the Golden Horse Award for Best Director, but also won two Berlin Golden Bears, and had previously been nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film twice with *The Wedding Banquet* and *Eat Drink Man Woman*. He was also an old player with qualifications!

Thanks to Wu Yuchen winning the Oscar last year, the content related to the Oscars had been popularized a lot in the country now, and many people could say one, two, three, and everyone started to argue with each other.

Wu Yuchen smiled at this, this was already in his expectation. It's just that the title of the first Chinese-language Oscar film last year had already been taken by him. Even if *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* won Best Foreign Language Film again this year, presumably the momentum and status would be inferior to the past life.

A reporter even ran to find Wu Yuchen for an interview:

"Wu Dao, as a director who already has Oscar experience, do you think *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* has a big chance of winning an Oscar this year?"

"I personally am still very optimistic about *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon*. Director Ang Lee's ability is unquestionable, and he knows the taste of Western audiences very well. He used the martial arts theme to film a *Sense and Sensibility*. The core is love and desire, and it has a high hope of winning an Oscar! I also sincerely wish *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* can win glory for Chinese-language films again and expand its influence internationally."

Wu Yuchen was speaking from the heart, very much hoping that *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* could win Best Foreign Language Film like in his past life, after all, it was related to the film's box office revenue!

As Wu Yuchen's remarks were reported, more people paid attention to the performance of *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon* at this year's Oscars. After all, even Wu Yuchen, who understood the Oscars best in the country, said there was a high hope, so it seems there is really a chance!

Wu Yuchen didn't care about the domestic disturbances anymore. After arranging the matters of *Brotherhood of Blades* and saying goodbye to the people around him, he boarded the flight to America.

"Oh, Wu, you're finally back!"

At the airport, Wu Yuchen's agent Carl couldn't help but hug him.

"What, Carl, is there any situation?" Wu Yuchen asked with a smile.

"Of course, DreamWorks wants to find you, Grazer is urging you, and Sony is also constantly asking me to urge you..."

Wu Yuchen smiled and waved his hand: "I know, they have also called me many times to urge me. Don't worry, everything is in my plan."

Now, as he is involved in more and more projects in Hollywood, naturally more and more people are contacting him. Although it may seem very busy and troublesome, this also reflects one point, that is, they all need him, Wu Yuchen, which proves his importance.

And his leaving Hollywood this time to go back for the Spring Festival also made them realize that they need Wu Yuchen, which is very important. Let everyone's interests be involved with you, let yourself become more and more important, and your power and influence will become greater and greater. ===== CHAPTER 232 =====