Chapter 337: Investing in TVB, Bonding with New Models, the Crazy

In January, Xiangjiang, Seeing Yan Li returned to his post to oversee the final phase of the financial crisis.

After several months, the outbreak phase of the financial crisis was about to end, leaving only chain reactions and slow, insidious damage.

This also meant that, aside from a small amount of capital, Seeing Yan Li had begun considering how to exit safely.

While cashing out, Seeing Yan Li consciously cultivated relationships with several Xiangjiang elites.

If Yi'an Production goes public, a U. S. listing is unlikely—it will be either A-share or H-share; the same goes for Weibo.

According to future intelligence, Weibo chose the U. S. market because Sina had already been listed there; as a subsidiary, Weibo faced complications listing domestically, and internet companies at the time mostly opted for U. S. listings.

Now, as a brand-new company, Weibo has broader options, and at least Seeing Yan Li has not abandoned the H-share route.

Under these circumstances, Seeing Yan Li cultivated good relations with certain Xiangjiang capital and local tycoons, which would bring convenience and advantages when listing on the H-share market.

At the very least, more friends mean more paths.

Xiangjiang capital will decline relatively in the future, but its foundations run deep; cultivating more connections here benefits Seeing Yan Li.

Peninsula Hotel, a certain banquet.

Seeing Yan Li unexpectedly ran into Jiang, the boss of Anle, and joined him for a chat.

Among Xiangjiang's entertainment giants, Anle is the most low-key.

This also relates to Anle's rare signing of artists; in Seeing Yan Li's memory, Anle's only mainland artist is Tang Wei, who rose to fame through Lust, Caution.

Without artist management, as a pure film and television company, its visibility is naturally lower.

Not to mention that Anle's business leans toward investment and distribution, with few films it directly produces—its fame is naturally even lower.

Low fame does not mean weak strength.

Put it this way: Anle is the financier behind Old Master Zhang; for his recent films, Anle handles the funding while Old Master Zhang oversees production.

Old Master Zhang's financial capacity is evident; as financier and overseas rights operator, Anle's profits are obvious.

In terms of film collaboration, Seeing Yan Li has little to discuss with Anle.

Seeing Yan Li doesn't lack Anle's money; Yi'an, which already cooperates with Oriental and Yinghuang, doesn't lack Anle's Xiangjiang channels.

But Seeing Yan Li wants to learn about Anle's overseas channels.

Although it's currently difficult for films to go overseas and turn a profit, even a fly is still meat—what matters is having a hook, a story.

Sometimes, making money isn't important; going global is.

Another matter: Anle is well-connected with many overseas studios; Seeing Yan Li wants to acquire the Chinese rights to some overseas film and television content to enrich his rights library.

Taking advantage of the financial crisis, his cash flow will soon swell significantly; money shouldn't just sit idle—it must be spent.

Acquiring rights is one direction; regardless of preservation or appreciation, the key is making Seeing Yan Li's rights library more complete and valuable, greatly aiding his plan to control Tudou. com.

Seeing Yan Li is currently at the height of his fame; Jiang, the boss, also wants to build a good relationship with him, and this matter brings him profit too.

In a few words, they reached a tentative inclination and arranged to discuss details later.

Jiang, the boss, is considerate—he knew Seeing Yan Li had few acquaintances in Xiangjiang and took the initiative to act as a bridge, allowing Seeing Yan Li to meet the Xiangjiang media tycoon—Sir Shao.

Seeing Yan Li's luck was still good; Sir Shao, over a hundred years old, had become increasingly reclusive in recent years.

Such banquets occur at most once a year; for Seeing Yan Li to encounter him and have a few words was truly rare.

Seeing Yan Li had never met Sir Shao before, but the young lady beside him—he had.

Now that Sir Shao is elderly and semi-retired, TVB is effectively under the control of the Young Lady, and Yi'an Production has many collaborations with TVB.

For example, TVB broadcasts Yi'an Production's or distribution's TV dramas such as The Legend of Lu Xiaofeng, The Legend of Chu Liuxiang, The Return of the Condor Heroes, The Deer and the Cauldron, and Xiao Yanzhi Snow.

Meanwhile, TVB's quality Hong Kong dramas, entrusted to Yi'an for mainland distribution, fetch higher prices than if TVB sold them themselves.

By the way, Seeing Yan Li has acquired many quality film and television online streaming rights from TVB and Shaw Brothers, allowing the Young Lady to make a tidy profit.

This time, Sir Shao's special conversation with Seeing Yan Li was likely related to this matter.

Seeing Yan Li's conversation with Sir Shao attracted many glances.

One was a veteran Xiangjiang media tycoon, the other a rising mainland entertainment magnate—an old man and a young man, ripe for speculation.

Even Jiang, the boss, couldn't help teasing Seeing Yan Li upon his return: "If there had been reporters here today, tomorrow's headlines would be 'Yi'an Invests in TVB.'"

Seeing Yan Li smiled: "No reporters, but if the rumor leaks, it'll still stir up a wave."

Last year, three events greatly shook Xiangjiang's circle: the sex tape scandal, the financial crisis, and the takeover of Shaw Brothers.

Although today's Shaw Brothers no longer commands its former glory, its status replaced by Yinghuang and Universal, its decades of accumulated prestige and reputation in Xiangjiang were no trivial matter—it was, to some extent, a symbol and totem of Hong Kong cinema's golden age.

Shaw Brothers' acquisition by a mainland company, becoming Orange Sky Shaw Brothers, dealt a heavy blow to Xiangjiang industry professionals.

One can understand: if Beijing Film Studio or Shanghai Film Studio were ever restructured and acquired by a Hong Kong or Taiwan company, it would be a major event in mainland cinema.

Coupled with large-scale northward migration of Hong Kong and Taiwan capital and artists, and the current plight of Xiangjiang film and television, Seeing Yan Li had seen numerous extreme pessimistic articles in print and TV media in Xiangjiang.

Xiangjiang film and entertainment are finished!

This statement is still premature, but all signs indicate the day won't be far off.

Under these circumstances, many Xiangjiang media outlets are highly sensitive.

Another symbol of Hong Kong TV's peak—TVB—has long been speculated to be up for sale.

After all, like Shaw Brothers, TVB now suffers from numerous problems: its founder is elderly, core executives have left or aged, its creative teams and artists are in a generational gap, and profits continue to decline.

Like Mr. Zou, selling TVB and retiring in peace might be a suitable choice.

Even potential buyers have been identified; recently active in Xiangjiang, and also a mainland magnate—Seeing Yan Li—is naturally a hot candidate.

While outsiders buzzed with rumors, Seeing Yan Li had no such intention.

Not to mention whether Sir Shao would sell—if he did, Seeing Yan Li could hardly afford it; more importantly, TVB currently offers little that attracts him.

Rather than buy TVB, Seeing Yan Li would rather pour money into building Tudou. com; TVB's advantages can be compensated by poaching talent or strategic cooperation.

Still, though he had no intention of buying TVB, Seeing Yan Li made no clarification.

Let TVB inflate its stock price for a while; let Seeing Yan Li boost his visibility. In Xiangjiang, people worship wealth and authority—great fame and strong financial power make many of Seeing Yan Li's endeavors twice as effective.

For this reason, on the third day of the banquet, Seeing Yan Li made a special visit to TVB to see the Young Lady.

The two were discussing "The Legend of Chu Liuxiang 2," a drama that aired widely on the mainland in December; TVB had purchased the Xiangjiang rights and planned to broadcast it as their New Year's premiere.

Another drama confirmed as TVB's New Year's premiere was Zhang Dahuzi's "The Deer and the Cauldron," also distributed by Yi'an.

Currently, Xiangjiang's purchases of mainland dramas are mostly Wu Xia and historical costume dramas, because these two genres are increasingly rarely produced in Xiangjiang and are not as well-made as those from the mainland.

Thus, TVB's local productions focus primarily on family dramas, urban dramas, and professional dramas, while acquiring or investing in mainland historical costume and Wu Xia dramas.

As the mainland's largest television drama distributor, Yi'an sold over eight historical costume dramas to TVB last year alone and helped distribute four mainland dramas in the mainland.

To some extent, TVB is also an important Hong Kong partner of Yi'an, though the relationship leans more toward business.

When Seeing Yan Li personally visited TVB, Young Lady Fang took it seriously and personally accompanied Seeing Yan Li on a tour of TVB, accompanied by several senior TVB executives.

Seeing Yan Li took extra glances—he wasn't sure if it was a misunderstanding or simply a gesture of respect, but the heads of TVB's three factions had all shown up.

Yes, TVB is divided into factions, and their conflicts are nearly public.

Even Seeing Yan Li, who had spent little time in Xiangjiang, had heard a few whispers about "Zeng Le Dou," and how heated their battles were.

Seeing Yan Li chatted briefly with the three factions, and among them, the Le faction showed him the most enthusiasm.

The leader of the Le faction was TVB's Artist Director, Le Yiling, commonly called Sister Le, who oversaw a strong group of rising young artists, including Huang Zongze, Lin Feng, Wu Zhuoxi, Chen Fala, Zhong Jiaxin, and Xu Zishan.

At first, Seeing Yan Li thought she had misunderstood his investment in TVB, but later he figured out the truth.

As a core senior executive at TVB, Sister Le certainly knew the inside story; her enthusiasm for Seeing Yan Li was actually an attempt to connect with Seeing Yan Li—or rather, with Yi'an—to send some TVB artists north to make money.

The artists under her control were young, commercialized, and idolized—the very ones TVB heavily promoted. If they succeeded northward, it would benefit both TVB and her personally.

After understanding this, Seeing Yan Li responded coldly to the Le faction.

Come on, even Yi'an's own artists are too many for him to promote; why should he give any of TVB's people a share?

If these people were popular enough to bring real benefits to Yi'an, that would be one thing—but in reality, these TVB young male and female stars had only modest fame on the mainland.

Seeing Yan Li had no Hong Kong or Taiwan filter; under equal conditions, he naturally preferred to promote mainland artists.

After touring TVB, strengthening ties, and fulfilling some publicity needs, Seeing Yan Li left.

Young Lady Fang returned first; Zeng Jie, the head of the faction opposed to Sister Le, sneered.

"She's kissing a cold ass."

Zeng Jie was the head of TVB's Drama Department, responsible for drama production, and also managed a group of artists who leaned toward talent and obedience.

These artists faced great difficulty going north, and Zeng Jie had no desire to trouble herself—she merely enjoyed watching Sister Le's antics.

"Crazy."

Sister Le cursed and took her people straight back to her office; still not giving up, she planned to set up a scheme.

Seduction!

Yan Boss's preferences were well known; she had no shortage of female artists. She'd pick two, make contact, and Seeing Yan Li would surely soften a little.

"Difficult."

One of her deputies shook his head; Sister Le had wanted to connect with Seeing Yan Li for far longer than a day or two—she had already sent people to investigate him before.

"Many others share our thinking, and there are countless opportunists trying to climb the ladder—but Yan Sheng has ignored them all. Rumor has it that because of the yacht incident, he doesn't fully trust people from our side."

As a mainland tycoon and self-made young billionaire in Xiangjiang—a place that reveres capital—he was an absolute top prize.

Countless entertainment companies, agents, stars, and models wanted to connect with Seeing Yan Li.

After the yacht incident, Seeing Yan Li had either become cautious or, according to rumor, mainland women had come to Xiangjiang to oversee things—either way, he barely acknowledged these flirts.

"Just the other day, tabloids reported that Xue Kaiqi nearly chased him into the men's restroom, but there's been no follow-up."

Sister Le asked, puzzled: "Xue Kaiqi? Isn't she Cheng Long's daughter-in-law?"

"They reportedly broke up, and rumors say the Xue family suffered setbacks during the financial crisis—maybe that's part of why she's seeking Yan Sheng."

Sister Le didn't care much about Xue Kaiqi; she cared more about how to connect with Seeing Yan Li.

"Whether it works or not, we'll try first. Arrange a few people to be on standby—I'll see if I can get Yan Sheng to meet."

After thinking a moment, Sister Le added: "Have a backup plan. I remember those two models from the yacht incident—they went to the mainland for Yan Sheng's Weibo Night, right? Try to contact them."

If she couldn't reach him directly, she'd use existing connections.

Two young models—she easily controlled them with TVB drama contracts.

…

Many others shared Sister Le's thoughts, putting immense pressure on Kim, who feared losing her two treasures.

What added to her pressure was that after returning to Xiangjiang, Seeing Yan Li had ignored Wen Yongshan and Baby entirely.

If nothing followed, they'd merely be the female leads of the yacht incident—offering them very limited benefit.

Remember, they had previously pursued the "young model" path; back then, the term hadn't been stigmatized—it meant teenage models, emphasizing youth, beauty, and vitality.

After the yacht incident, their fame surged, but their pure image collapsed; continuing on the young model path would now be difficult.

If Seeing Yan Li gave them a boost, they might enter the film and television industry and naturally become actresses and stars.

But if Seeing Yan Li abandoned them, and their luck turned bad, they'd be stuck in the modeling world—where competition was far fiercer and more intense than in the young model scene, and they might vanish into obscurity any day.

Kim was anxious; Baby and Wen Yongshan were anxious too.

Especially Baby, who had tasted the sweetness of shortcuts—she had no desire whatsoever to slog through modeling anymore.

"Sis, can you think of a way to take us to parties where Yan Sheng appears? Xue Kaiqi can ambush him in the restroom—I can too."

Kim rolled her eyes: "Who do you think I am? How would I know Yan Sheng's schedule? Even if I did, there might be invitation requirements or entry barriers—you wouldn't get in anyway."

Seeing Yan Li attended gatherings with specific intent, so the events he appeared at were always high-end—ordinary people simply couldn't attend.

Xue Kaiqi was a special case; after all, she was a known actress and a fallen heiress with some connections.

Besides, this story spread so widely—it's unclear if it's true or just hype, or perhaps orchestrated by Xue's rivals.

"Relying on this is too hard—you'll have to find your own ways."

Wen Yongshan looked dejected: "We asked twice, and Yan Sheng gave no response. If we ask again, I'm afraid we'll annoy him and get blocked."

Seeing Yan Li's status meant they dared not harass him excessively—only sending occasional greetings; if he replied, they chatted; if not, they waited.

Baby came up with another idea: "Why not ask Huang Shao for help?"

"Useless, I already talked to him."

Kim shook his head: "Last time with the yacht incident, it got messy—he's being more careful now. Besides, Seeing Yan Li's girlfriend subtly warned him last time. Unless Seeing Yan Li speaks up, he won't dare get involved."