Chapter 341: Wanting to Walk in Your Shadow

Beep, beep, beep...

At the foot of the Huayi headquarters building on Xinyuan South Road in the Chaoyang District of Beiping, a shiny bald head was particularly eye-catching.

Xu Zheng paced back and forth outside the side door, checking his watch from time to time, terrified that a call from Wang Xiaolei urging him would pop up on his phone.

He had slipped out under the pretext of going to the restroom, and he still had to go back for the meeting in a while!

Ning Hao was at the location set for "Detective Tang" and only called him back after a long while: "Hello? What’s so urgent? I’m filming!"

Xu Zheng complained bitterly: "My brother! Your brother here is facing a life-or-death situation, can’t you just put things aside and help me out first?"

"Geez! You really are a nag."

Ning Hao signaled the floor manager to wait a moment and walked outside the studio: "How many times do I have to say it? Lu Kuan doesn't blame you at all for going to Huayi! He supports you! He wishes you well! Do you understand?"

"I don't believe a word of it! How exactly did you talk to Boss Lu that day?"

"Oh, I arrived at Huayi, and the next thing I know, the thirteen luxury cinemas under Wenjie Jiahe cut the screenings for 'The Banquet', and they’re bullying people just because 'Otherworld 2' has Leonardo and Liu Yifei?"

"Isn't this aimed right at me? The way Wang Xiaolei looked at me just now wasn't right!"

"Otherworld 2" was soaring at the North American summer box office, with loyal sequel fans contributing over 160 million USD, though major forums were already used to this.

After all, the box office explosion and the massive sales of spin-off merchandise from three years ago were still fresh in everyone's memory.

Putting such a heavy hitter into the National Day slot, with the added popularity of Liu Yifei, made it even more formidable than the average internet-based film.

Ning Hao was torn between laughter and tears; he didn't really understand the company's scale this time either.

But given Boss Lu's temperament, if he really wanted to mess with you, Xu Zheng, wouldn't he have gone to more trouble than this?

"How should I put it, Xu Zheng? Think about it: if he didn't want you to leave, it would just take one word. Would you dare to resist?"

"I wouldn't dare."

"There you go! You didn't wrong him, and you were careful and tactful enough when you left."

Ning Hao laughed: "To put it bluntly, you, Xu Zheng, are just a fart. If someone wants to let you go, they just do. Is it worth them making such a big fuss over you?"

"Also, I’m bringing the sample footage of 'Detective Tang' to show him at the end of this month. Why don't you come with me? How about it?"

"Okay, okay, okay, it’s a deal. You must notify me in advance!" Only then did Xu Zheng finally set his mind at ease.

It wasn't that he, the "Sunny Pigsy," was spineless; it was just that Boss Lu's fearsome reputation was truly too great!

Caution is never a mistake; the clear-headed bald man of the domestic entertainment industry turned and headed upstairs.

In the third-floor conference room, Xu Zheng, who had just entered the Huayi system, pushed open the door and sat cautiously in the last row.

He had the realization that it was best to keep his head down and stay out of trouble.

He was here to make movies, not to fight with the big shots.

For this kind of limelight-seeking business, it was better to avoid it if he could.

With the doors closed, Feng Xiaogang spoke with little restraint: "This is bullying people too much! What kind of behavior is this!"

"We already avoided the popular National Day slot, and he still moved 'Otherworld 2' forward. Isn't this just leaving us no way to survive?"

Suddenly, laughter approached from afar. Everyone looked over and saw Ma Yun and Deng Wendi entering the door, with Chen Sicheng bowing and scraping before them.

It was only because Ma Yun had such an astonishing presence; otherwise, his height standing next to Deng Wendi, who was a full 1.8 meters tall in high heels, would have looked quite comical.

"Xiao Gang! Don't be anxious. Didn't President Deng and I come to provide reinforcements?"

Feng Xiaogang's expression cleared slightly, and he squeezed out a smile, uglier than crying, to greet the two.

Wang Dajun looked around; core directors and decision-makers like Zhang Jizhong, Xu Zheng, and He Ping were basically all there. He naturally hadn't called the actors.

"Everyone, please sit. Xiao Gang, calm your anger." Wang Dajun sighed: "It’s market competition. He hasn't done anything too excessive, so it’s hard for us to say anything."

Deng Wendi was in no mood for small talk with them, let alone comforting anyone.

The humiliation she suffered at the beginning of the year was a disgrace she had never experienced in her life. That bow in front of Hong Kong Disneyland had practically broken her spine.

The huntress was here for three things this time!

Screw Lu Kuan! Screw Lu Kuan! And screw Lu Kuan again!

"How could Han Shanping and the Film Bureau just agree to him changing his release slot on such short notice? Don't we have any influence on the decision-making?"

Deng Wendi's questioning made everyone look bad. Wang Xiaolei explained: "'Otherworld 2' is invested in by Wenjie, China Film, and Emperor. Whether in the mainland or in Hong Kong and Taiwan, the resources for screenings are top-tier."

"In the past, we could have operated within the Film Bureau. If nothing else, avoiding him would have been fine."

"But recently, he proposed that 'film industrialization' nonsense. Several bureau chiefs have now ordered a study of its feasibility from top to bottom, and he himself is a consultant. This matter is..."

Changing a release slot on short notice wasn't strange.

In the 2005 New Year slot of the future, Han Shanping had temporarily moved the release of "The Promise" closer to "Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles" to hype up the showdown between Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige.

For China Film, which acted as both a player and a referee, this was standard procedure.

Not to mention that "Otherworld 2" featured top-tier stars from both China and the US, Leonardo and Liu Yifei, and the first film had taken the historical box office championship in the mainland three years ago.

Whether it was for this film or for Boss Lu himself, Wenjie and "Otherworld 2" were clearly the favored side.

Ma Yun was an outsider after all, and he frowned upon hearing this: "Never mind the release slot, what about the screenings?"

"How come I heard that not only did Wenjie cut the screenings for 'The Banquet' to freezing point, but many other cinema chains are following suit?"

Feng Xiaogang seemed to have found a lifeline and couldn't help but complain: "Exactly, President Ma, that’s the point. Isn't this just bullying others by relying on one's power!"

"He’s just the richest man! That’s just valuation. Once your Ali goes public, President Ma, you’ll immediately cut him down!"

Ma Yun waved his hands hurriedly, pretending: "Too much, too much. I just had a meal with President Lu recently, he’s actually okay. This matter..."

Wang Xiaolei explained: "President Ma, you don't deal with him much. You should ask..."

He was about to say "ask Ms. Deng and you'll know," but that would be slapping someone in the face!

Suddenly, his peripheral vision caught Xu Zheng, who had just joined the group: "Old Xu, you’re more familiar with Wenjie. Why don't you tell President Ma about this?"

"I... how am I familiar with them? I’ve only worked with Ning Hao and the others a few times." Xu Zheng declined, not stepping forward.

Deng Wendi cast a scrutinizing gaze at him, which made Xu Zheng shudder inside.

He did know about the old grudge between her and Boss Lu. She hadn't been to the country for over half a year, and only now that the public opinion had calmed down slightly had she come to Huayi to discuss matters.

Seeing everyone in the office looking at him, Xu Zheng said sheepishly: "As for the release slot, the relationship between President Lu and President Han is known throughout the industry, so I won't say much about that."

"As for cinema screenings, Wenjie currently only directly controls a little over a hundred screens, but Boss Lu has a relatively large influence in the industry."

"Especially after last year's New Year slot, he went against the grain and brought out a disaster film to compete with 'The Promise,' which no one dared to touch at the time. The key is that he ended up winning a complete victory."

"Recently, Gao Jun went to negotiate screenings, and other cinema chains asked him: Why does Wenjie only give so few showtimes?"

Xu Zheng spread his hands and smiled bitterly: "What could Gao Jun say? Say that Boss Lu doesn't think highly of this film? Doesn't that just..."

Ma Yun was truly surprised now: "Is this President Lu really that influential in the entertainment industry and the film circle?"

Wang Dajun sighed: "President Ma, President Deng, some things aren't said to boost others' morale."

"But in the film circle, when it comes to marketing ideas, vision, and judgment, he truly hasn't missed yet. Last year, Jiahe also gave 'The Promise' freezing-point screenings, but because others gave it more, it didn't show."

Deng Wendi had long known how difficult this person was and was relatively calm: "How much impact does Wenjie's current blockade on release slots and screenings have on Director Feng's 'The Banquet'?"

Wang Dajun said in a deep voice: "The three major domestic box office hubs—Beiping, Shanghai, and Guangzhou—each have their own characteristics."

"Shanghai has a developed economy and a high degree of internationalization, so fashion films and Hollywood movies are relatively popular."

"Guangzhou is close to Hong Kong and Macau, and its culture is close to the Cantonese-speaking circle, so Hong Kong films perform relatively well."

"Beiping is our base, and Xiao Gang's films have a strong Beiping flavor, which is quite loved by the audience."

The Huayi president paused: "The problem now is that Emperor is using 'Protégé' to make a splash in the Guangzhou metropolitan area, 'Otherworld 2' is exerting force in Shanghai and the Yangtze River Delta, and they are also fully deploying screenings in Beiping."

"If it weren't for our good relationship with the New Film Union, we might not even be able to hold this last position!"

This kind of thing, while called bullying by Boss Lu, also belonged to commercial means within the rules. Even if they wanted to complain, they had no grounds to speak.

It’s their own cinema chain; they can show whatever film they want. Can anyone stop them?

The key is that his influence is so great that all the larger cinema chains in the country are now observing the decisions of Wenjie Jiahe, leaving Huayi very passive.

Ma Yun curled his lips: "Dajun, I think you need to come up with a countermeasure soon. If it goes on like this, are you going to just wait to be slaughtered forever?"

"Cinema chains."

Everyone heard a term suddenly pop out of Deng Wendi's mouth.

"Cinema chains are the foundation."

The huntress, who dealt with Hollywood and the Big Six all day, crossed her arms.

"Cinema chains are a sunset industry in Hollywood, but there is still a lot of room for development in the mainland."

"Or rather, the only weakness of Wenjie in the entire industrial chain is the cinema chains." Deng Wendi had clearly done her research.

Or rather, during this period, she had been frantically conducting background checks on this mainland behemoth and her opponent.

She suddenly turned to Ma Yun: "President Ma, I have a proposal."

"Please speak."

"We at Huayi already have a joint venture with Warner. Now that Warner is withdrawing from the Chinese market, this portion of equity will certainly be liquidated."

"How about we both take over the shares and use this as a bargaining chip to take over the remaining cinemas owned by Warner?"

"I’ve had people investigate. The flagship cinemas that Warner jointly operates with Shanghai Film, Shenzhen International Trust, and Shenzhen Development are all very profitable. These are high-quality resources."

Ma Yun frowned: "This..."

He had only just entered the entertainment industry and was prepared to take the path of a romantic swordsman. Why was he being asked to perform a move as fierce as "splitting Mount Hua with a saber" right from the start?

Asking for money again?

The two brothers, Dajun and Xiaolei, looked at each other, both feeling exceptionally happy.

Sometimes enemies are just that lovely. Many reforms happen under external pressure, from top to bottom.

Asking them to continue fooling these two into paying money was hard to open their mouths and hard to talk about.

But with Boss Lu putting on this kind of pressure, it became a matter of course.

In fact, even Gao Jun had received news that Warner was going to withdraw. Could Huayi, which had a joint venture with them, not know?

Such good cinemas—anyone in the industry who wasn't blind wouldn't let them go.

It’s just that they are poor and lack ambition!

"Red Cliff" is in investment, "Legend of Sword and Fairy 3" has just begun to air hotly on Hunan TV, and the costs of both major productions have yet to be recovered.

The overseas copyright for "The Banquet" is not going smoothly, and it has encountered sniping domestically; where would they get the massive funds to take over these cinemas?

Deng Wendi has made up her mind to clash with Boss Lu, her attitude resolute: "President Ma, Wenjie’s strength in the mainland spans both the internet and the entertainment industry; his two arms are complementary."

"If we strike down either one of them, it will be beneficial to the overall competitive landscape."

"For the past two years, Wenjie has been focused on acquiring land and building cinemas in first-tier cities, blindly pursuing ultra-high-end and those so-called giant-screen cinemas; I believe this is our opportunity."

Ma Yun is a man with his own ideas; he won't do this kind of impulsive decision-making: "Let's wait and see. Ali Search Star hasn't even launched yet, and now you're starting a cinema project—the budget must be quite large, right?"

Wang Dajun is quick to pick up the cue: "Looking at the location and renovation, they are all top-tier conditions in the country; a single cinema should cost around fifty or sixty million."

"Whoa!" Old Ma gasped; the expenses of this damn entertainment industry are not much lower than his internet business!

You can sell your misery and fish for sympathy all you want, but it's a pity that Feng Qingyang is no ordinary person; he won't make such a blind investment decision.

Deng Wendi suddenly said: "The two Presidents Wang, let's do a private placement or a capital increase and share expansion."

The huntress sighed leisurely: "If we don't take down these cinemas, I truly don't see any possibility for Huayi to catch up to Wenjie."

Her gaze swept over Feng Xiaogang, He Ping, Xu Zheng, and the other Huayi directors; the implication was self-evident.

In making movies, you can't beat them;

In industry status, you have nothing to show for yourselves;

And your interest-binding with key figures like Han Shanping is not as well-executed as theirs.

The person who understands you best is always your opponent.

Just as Boss Lu said during an internal meeting, the development of cinema chains is Wenjie’s greatest weakness right now.

She proposed doing a private placement and capital increase, and of course, the two Wang Dajun are willing!

A so-called private placement is when a limited liability company increases capital toward specific personnel; it only requires the consent of shareholders with two-thirds of the voting rights.

Capital increase and share expansion is "apportionment" directed at all shareholders.

Shareholders who do not accept the "showdown" will be considered to have automatically waived their preemptive subscription rights, and their shares will eventually be diluted.

As for why it is called "apportionment," Wang Dajun is naturally clear:

"Right now, the internal artists and core directors of the company are already somewhat resistant after the last subscription."

"Except for top-tier personnel like Feng Xiaogang, Zhang Dao, and Fan Bingbing, it is very difficult for the minor artists to cough up millions in cash at a moment's notice."

Deng Wendi shook her head: "Vote first. If President Ma is worried, or if the artists are unwilling to pay this money, I will."

She is determined to push this matter forward, and News Corporation has long wanted to use an opening to enter the mainland.

Last time they were precisely struck by Boss Lu in the name of the Olympics, their years of cultivation in Phoenix TV and Star TV were already on their last legs.

Entering the mainland's entertainment and media industry through Huayi is their "crossing the Chencang secretly."

Utilizing the red resources behind Huayi and Ali’s good development momentum in the country is much better than News Corporation’s original headstrong, reckless charging.

Additionally, just like in later generations, MySpace has already begun cooperation with SoftBank in Japan.

The latter acquired a stake in Japan MySpace, becoming the first subsidiary to land in an Asian country.

From this point of view, the relationship between News Corporation and Ali is somewhat closer.

On the side, Xu Zheng was suffering inwardly; if this share allotment were happening at Wenjie, everyone would sell everything they own to buy it.

Didn't you see how the tycoon Dong Zong was overjoyed because of that one-plus percent equity?

But at Huayi...

It is mainly because two years ago, when Zhou Jun brought in Tom, Sina, and Yahoo China, he used his own connections to push Huayi’s net assets per share too high.

How could Huayi’s second-tier actors and directors cough up so much money at a moment's notice?

As for those who could afford it, like Fan Bingbing, Zhang Jizhong, and Zhou Xun, this money was basically advanced by someone else.

If it were up to them, perhaps they wouldn't be willing to cough up this ten or twenty million to gamble.

In the Zhou Jun era, Huayi first introduced internet capital from Tom and Sina, then reached a cooperation with Warner through Morgan’s introduction, engaging in an arms race with Wenjie.

This caused Huayi’s valuation to be somewhat distorted.

By the time Deng Wendi entered the trap again to conduct a capital increase and share expansion, some of Huayi’s "poor and lower-middle peasants" were clearly about to face a shortage of funds.

If core artists like Fan Bingbing don't take the bait, Deng Wendi will have to pay the money herself.

But that would turn into a private placement, which would lead to a change in the equity structure, which is not what Wang Dajun and Wang Xiaolei want to see.

The power figures plotted in the conference room, and under pressure from someone, attempted to "break through" in the only direction of pursuit.

——

Starting from the second half of 2006, the mainland entertainment circle was turbulent and quite conspicuous.

What is very puzzling to entertainment reporters is that the topic-maker of these past few years, Boss Lu, seems to have vanished into thin air.

Except for accepting some interviews on the open days of the "Sky of History" crew every month, or returning to Beiping to teach students at the Pan-Asia Film Academy, outsiders basically never see him on ordinary days.

But this world of martial arts is not just home to one prestigious sect like Wenjie, and it certainly doesn't have only one sect leader.

Under the expectation that the mainland entertainment industry and film market are gradually heating up, the "many strong" following the "one super" have not stopped their pursuit.

Among the "many strong" with slightly lesser strength, Li Shaohong of Rongxingda cooperated with Beijing TV, riding the wave of nationwide satellite TV talent shows to launch a talent variety show for the new version of "Dream of the Red Chamber."

Among them, Emperor Entertainment artist Bai Bing is competing fiercely in the Xue Baochai group with Yao Di.

Xiaoma Benteng did not blindly test the waters of film, continuing to cultivate deeply in the track of high-quality TV dramas.

"Sweet Honey," directed by their direct-line director Gao Xixi, aired hotly, making Deng Chao famous and allowing Sun Li, who had already exploded in popularity due to Haiyan dramas, to continue harvesting fans.

As for those with bigger moves, one must count the second-place Huayi and third-place Chengtian.

Chengtian continued the rhythm of later generations, accepting nearly 400 million RMB in capital injection from the world's largest independent record company, Avex Group, and two other US-UK financial groups, accounting for a 15% stake.

Immediately afterward, they acquired Jinyingma Film and Television Company, which had been established for sixteen years.

The latter’s more famous works include "Black Hole," "Winter Solstice," "The Grand Mansion Gate" (sequel), and "Nth Power of Home," etc.

In terms of film investment, besides "Red Cliff," which is expected to enter the New Year slot, they also participated in the investment of Hong Kong director Chen Kexin’s "The Warlords" (later renamed from "Ci Ma").

It is reported that this project will be co-invested by China Film Group, will start filming in 2006, and will land in the 2007 New Year slot.

Besides this, Chengtian and Huayi also cooperated on a small-budget film, "Call for Love," written, directed, and starring Huayi’s newly signed director and actor Xu Zheng.

This film also has joint investment from China Film Group and Paige.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that the industry’s second and third place are tightly binding together to oppose the leader, and are attempting to pull in the referee, China Film Group.

Huayi is not to be outdone.

With the support of Ali and News Corporation, the first "Ali Search Star" was a complete success, and Hunan TV used this to win the runner-up spot for the average ratings of talent shows for the whole year.

It only ranked behind Travel TV’s "The Voice Season 2."

Magic City’s "Go! Good Man" ranked third.

However, the most eye-catching thing was that at the "Ali Search Star" celebration, Wang Dajun, together with Zhejiang business tycoon Ma Yun and MySpace Asia President Deng, announced:

Huayi will conduct its final round of capital increase and share expansion within the year.

Subsequently, they will hire CITIC JianTou Securities Co., Ltd. as the listing counselor and underwriter to accept standardized guidance, making its various indicators reach the listing standards.

In line with this, the company will complete the transformation from a limited liability company to a joint-stock limited company before 2008, paving the way for listing.

The mainland entertainment circle was suddenly in an uproar!

Second place is second place; even after being suppressed and squeezed by the terrifying leader, they are still relying on their strong background to begin listing guidance.

There was immediate discussion in the circle. Some sources believe that after listing with the help of the financial tycoons behind them, Huayi will obtain ample funds.

With the help of their two internet allies, Ali and Sina, and the channel expansion of overseas News Corporation, they will threaten Wenjie’s ruling position.

There is also a considerable number of financial commentators who believe that Wenjie’s model of combining entertainment and the internet has been figured out by commercial rivals.

Not only Ali, but Sohu’s Zhang Chaoyang, Baidu’s Li Yanhong, and Tencent’s Ma Huateng are all scouting for suitable partners.

In the next few years, Wenjie’s core competitiveness will gradually be lost.

Regardless, leaving aside the industry leader Wenjie Holdings, Huayi, as the first entertainment company in the country to officially put a listing schedule on the agenda, has attracted widespread attention.

In early November, the 28th Hundred Flowers Awards for Popular Film opened in Lin'an.

A film gala began brewing from the afternoon.

Unlike the celebrity red carpets of previous film festivals, the organizers laid out a "Hundred Flowers Avenue" on the West Lake's Bai Causeway; the attending stars took small boats to shore to have close contact with fans.

This was also a scene the media had long been looking forward to; it was as if overnight, the film festival, which the media had complained was dim in star power, became instantly star-studded.

The New Year slot champion, the "Tangshan" crew, which shockingly relied on disaster special effects to get 310 million RMB in box office figures in the mainland, arrived as promised.

Lu Kuan and Zhou Xun sat on a small boat.

"Why didn't Sisi come? Her 'Bad Genius' also received several nominations, right?"

Boss Lu shook his head: "I hadn't realized it before, but now I find that her personality is truly stubborn; she can be called Liu the Little Donkey!"

"It was hard enough to adjust her a bit some time ago, but recently she’s sunk back down."

"But actors with pursuits have to go through this; let's wait and see..."

Zhou Xun sighed with emotion: "I can understand this feeling. Before I filmed 'Suzhou River,' I was also a greenhorn. One day I was beaten into a daze by Lou Ye, suddenly had inspiration, and then I couldn't let it go."

Lu Kuan thought to himself, you certainly didn't let it go; you threw yourself completely into the two roles of Mudan and Meimei, and even developed feelings for the male lead due to the play.

Reporters and fans on the shore screamed and cheered; the two also smiled and greeted them, and chatted about Huayi’s capital increase and share expansion.

"Are the two Wang Dajun brothers so bold this time?"

"I guess it's because you put too much pressure on them, right?"

Boss Lu laughed: "These two brothers have always been cautious in the past; this time, they are willing to risk the change in equity structure to increase capital, which means they intend to make a desperate fight before listing."

Zhou Xun’s expression was as usual: "But the two brothers still hold nearly 40% of the equity, plus Feng Xiaogang’s 5 points; if you want to do something, it won't be easy."

Lu Kuan only asked her to hold shares on his behalf and did not reveal any other news.

Perhaps she guessed something, or perhaps she didn't see it completely clearly.

But whether it was the friendship forged back in 2001 when the young director had yet to make his mark, or the latter’s rise like a towering tree over these past four or five years.

Both publicly and privately, emotionally and rationally, Zhou Xun knew she just had to do as she was told.

He had never treated her unfairly.

For instance, after "Tangshan" won Best Visual Effects at the Oscars this time, he introduced her to internationally renowned directors like Martin Scorsese.

Or take this year's Hundred Flowers Best Actress award; there was almost no need to consider anyone else.

The young director smiled calmly, looking at the shimmering, rippling water, mentally calculating the equity shares he held and expected to hold.

This time, in order to raise funds to purchase several legacy cinemas from Warner, Huayi did not hesitate to turn the capital increase and share expansion into a private placement, allowing Fan Bingbing, Zhou Xun, Zhang Jizhong, and others to snap up quite a few more shares.

Based on a net asset value of $500,000 per share, a 1% stake was worth over 4 million RMB.

Among Huayi’s small and medium shareholders, there really weren't many who were this bold and full of confidence.

This was 4 million in 2006!

No matter how much the IPO plan was hyped up, the only people it could attract were those with the ability to buy, such as a few top-tier artists.

But this was clearly beneficial to Boss Lu, and even Sina continued to cooperate with the capital increase.

"By the way," Zhou Xun suddenly remembered something, "there's a rather strange matter that I haven't been able to figure out."

"What is it?"

"Yang Mi, you remember her, right? My little junior sister from Rongxinda; she obtained 3.5% of the equity."

Boss Lu was surprised: "Her? On what grounds? Is Yang Mi very popular right now?"

"She's alright. "Sword and Fairy 3" on the Hunan channel really helped her break out; she's been on the Blog website's trending list several times in just this one week, and the viewership ratings are only slightly inferior to your "Myth"."

Zhou Xun laughed: "The key is that this little girl has methods. Now the company is hyping her up as Sisi's best friend."

"Her blog only had 5 million followers a few months ago, and now it's surged by over 1.5 million, starting from that photo of the two best friends at Sisi's birthday in August."

Boss Lu nodded thoughtfully.

Since returning to the Shijiao Film and Television Base from Beiping, he had been focused on filming and naturally wouldn't concern himself with these trivial matters.

"Come to think of it, Yang Mi can be considered the biggest 'little flower' in terms of traffic after Liu Yifei. Xuejian is to her what Zhao Linger was to Liu Yifei; this path is being walked quite decently."

The young director said in a low voice: "However, this doesn't seem enough for Wang Xiaolei and his brother to favor her so much."

"The reason is that they are unwilling to let Ma Yun, Deng Wendi, or even you core artists take more shares, so they turned to using her as a check and balance instead."

"After all, a little girl who hasn't been in the industry for many years is always easier to handle when negotiating terms than you big stars, right? As long as she can afford the money."

Zhou Xun smiled: "That's right. This time, we only got a little bit, and it was still split up by newcomers like Yang Mi and Xu Zheng."

"It's just that these young actresses like Yang Mi are truly incredible now; they can just cough up 15 million in cash like that. We were dirt poor when we first became famous."

Boss Lu teased: "Being modest, are we?"

"When we first met in 2001, your salary for "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" was already 80,000 per episode, and the first pair of pants I wore after coming down from the mountain was a gift from you."

Zhou Xun joked: "Oh my! That was the most correct decision I've ever made in my life—using a pair of trousers to latch onto a big shot!"

She then felt a bit emotional: "Five years have passed in a flash; I have to say, time flies too fast..."

Boss Lu mentioning "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" reminded the emotionally expressive Zhou Xun of the duck shed.

Recently, because his and Wang Fei's daughter went to the U.S. for cleft lip surgery, Zhou Xun had also sent her blessings.

The two chatted and laughed as they stepped onto the red carpet. Song Jia and Hu Jun from the "Tangshan" crew were waiting on the shore, and they took photos and posed for souvenirs together with the other main creators.

Today's awards ceremony was broadcast live by CCTV, so the hosts chosen were all top-tier presenters from CCTV.

Among them, a commentator who became famous during this year's World Cup for the line "The great Italian left-back"—Huang Jianxiang—also appeared on stage quite abruptly.

This year's Hundred Flowers Awards adopted a model combining expert judges and public judges, with the final decision made by 99 audience judges on-site.

Of course, it was just for show.

In later generations, many key awards for this edition were swept up by the mainstream film "Zhang Side," which caused great controversy and led people to call it the second Huabiao Awards, completely losing the meaning of an awards ceremony.

In this life, "Tangshan Earthquake," in which the Tangshan government and China Film Group held shares, was also a key project of the Art Department of the Ministry of Culture and had even made it onto the "People's Cinema Line," clearly set to change the original award-winning landscape.

After all, "Zhang Side" and "Tangshan" were both mainstream films in a certain sense.

But the latter was impeccable in terms of artistry, special effects, and box office figures, so there was almost no controversy over it winning.

The people running things wouldn't fail to see this.

Boss Lu taking the time to come here was also at the invitation of the organizers, such as the Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the Film Festival Association, to show support and build momentum.

This was a matter of reciprocal courtesy.

After some song and dance performances, the awards ceremony began quickly, though the process was uneventful.

Best Feature Film and Best Director were both swept up by "Tangshan."

The remaining Outstanding Feature Film awards were like distributing eggs to films such as "A World Without Thieves," "Kung Fu," and "Fearless."

Lu Kuan became the busiest guest on and off the stage, receiving awards himself and having to present awards to others.

Sun Li won Best Newcomer for "Fearless." Boss Lu shook hands with her to show his respects, and this "Zhen Huan" who had just started dating Deng Chao was exceptionally respectful in her attitude.

As Zhou Xun received the Hundred Flowers Best Actress trophy from Lu Kuan's hands, the whole venue cheered, applauding the achievements she had made this year.

She was crowned Best Actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards in April for "Perhaps Love," and now Best Actress at the Hundred Flowers for "Tangshan."

If she were to be crowned Best Actress again at the Golden Horse Awards at the end of the month, she would achieve a Grand Slam of Best Actress awards in the Chinese-language film industry within a year.

In next year's industry rankings, Zhou Xun's position among the Four Dan Actresses would undoubtedly advance further, second only to Zhang Ziyi who had broken into Hollywood, and her soaring market value was a natural consequence.

As for Huayi, Fan Bingbing was the company's most economically valuable actress, but Zhou Xun was the face of the actresses.

As for Li Bingbing and others who had long been pushed into the corner, perhaps before long, even the unstoppable Yang Mi would catch up to her.

The cocktail party after the film festival was always brilliant, and the young director was naturally surrounded by an endless stream of people.

Fan Bingbing suddenly brought over the trembling Xie Jin, with his wife Xu Dawen supporting the old director.

Boss Lu smiled: "Director Xie, Lady Xu, Fan Bingbing, you're here."

He took a step forward to shake hands with Xie Jin: "Director Xie, I was just preparing to go find you for a chat!"

"Not at all, it's this old man who wants to nag you for a few more words! Haha."

Xie Jin looked much more haggard than the last time they met, his eyes slightly cloudy; he was the honorary chairman of this film festival.

Xu Dawen smiled: "Director Lu Kuan, the old man has listened to your speech at the Beijing Film Academy over and over again a dozen times."

"His eyes aren't very good at seeing things now, but he listens while eating, listens while sleeping, and listens while reading the newspaper. Just because of you, his appetite has even improved a bit lately!"

Xie Jin shook his head with a smile, patting Lu Kuan's hand incessantly: "This old lady of mine is making fun of me. However, I very much, extremely agree with what you said about the industrialization of Chinese cinema."

"I have already written a proposal to the Federation of Literary and Art Circles and to the General Administration, hoping they will take it seriously."

"Now should be our best opportunity. With a leading figure like you, and with Zhang Yimou and the others working hard to get closer to the market, this is a good thing!"

Boss Lu humbly denied it, and chatted with Xie Jin about issues regarding the path forward and the critical system.

Soon, Vice Chairman Zhong of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles and Chairman Wu of the China Film Festival Association walked over, and these power brokers standing at the top of the mainland's literary and artistic pyramid looked forward to the future of the mainland film industry together.

From beginning to end, Fan Bingbing did not say a single word.

She stood quietly and gracefully on the side, in an exquisitely tailored black gown, the hem of the skirt trailing slightly on the ground, outlining her graceful curves.

The tiny silver sequins adorning the neckline of the gown sparkled like stars under the lights, yet they were not as bright as the look in her eyes when she gazed at the young director.

Yesterday's early meeting had slightly eased the big actress's longing.

Today, using Xie Jin as a pretext, she couldn't help but want to get close to him.

Even if it was just standing behind him, looking at the stubble of his short, dark hair on the back of his neck, it was enough to comfort her heart.

Lin'an was Ma Yun's home turf, and as a shareholder of Huayi, he naturally wouldn't be absent from such an occasion.

"Boss Lu!"

Boss Lu turned around in surprise, also putting on the posture of an old friend reuniting: "Old Ma!"

The crowd watched and whispered on the side.

Watching these two—one a dashing and handsome romantic director, the other an unremarkable-looking business genius—drinking and chatting together was truly a unique mix.

Ma Yun sighed half-jokingly: "Different industries are like mountains apart, Boss Lu. You don't know until you're in the industry, but once you step in, you realize it's your home turf."

"What does Boss Ma mean by that?" Boss Lu was full of doubts.

""The Banquet" was heavily flanked by you, Boss Lu, and Boss Li of Emperor Group! It taught me the first lesson about Alibaba entering the entertainment industry!"

The young director gave an "oh" of sudden realization, then laughed: "Psh! I thought it was something serious!"

"Boss Ma's methods against News Corporation were also quite tough!"

"Warner's five cinemas for sale, contracts were already signed, yet you guys forcibly snatched two of them away."

"Old Ma, this doesn't seem like the style of Feng Qingyang? Where is your high-minded, immortal image?"

Ma Yun laughed heartily upon hearing this: "We're even. In business, we trade blows, but it doesn't affect our friendship."

"I was thinking about when I could visit your courtyard again, so we could drink and sing together once more!"

"You are welcome anytime."

One old fox and one young fox teased each other, which served as a footnote to the first battle after the alliance between Alibaba and Huayi.

On the Huayi side, the overseas rights for the 16-million-dollar "The Banquet" were bought by Fox at a low price of 8 million dollars.

After deducting the 1.5 million dollars in promotion and publicity expenses at various international film festivals, it still needed about 9.5 million dollars to break even.

Converted to about 76 million RMB.

Excluding the 14 million in DVD rights and 15 million in advertising revenue from various domestic channels, the box office needed to reach at least 140 million RMB.

"The Banquet" was a bad film to begin with; in later generations, it only had 130 million in revenue in the mainland. In this life, it was targeted by Boss Lu, and it only managed to scrape past 100 million.

A huge loss that left Feng Xiaogang feeling completely chilled to the bone.

"The Banquet" was actually a follow-up work by Huayi under the influence of the two big directors and big productions, "Hero" and "The Promise."

At that time, the former's box office in 2002 shocked the mainland film industry and opened the curtain on commercial films, and many big directors were eager to try such high-investment films.

But Feng Xiaogang was not suited for this style and route, and after "The Banquet," he made "Assembly" in a down-to-earth manner, which instead became a huge hit.

Chen Kaige is the same.

After the painful experience of "The Promise," this year he picked up the drama genre again with "Forever Enthralled," wanting to relive the glory of his "Farewell My Concubine."

As for Wenjie, "Foreign Land 2," which continued the explosive popularity of three years ago, dominated the National Day slot with an absolute advantage in screen allocation, ultimately raking in 340 million in box office!

If "Curse of the Golden Flower" at the end of the year hadn't been a massive hit, it would have easily taken the annual championship.

The massive success of this film was almost a foregone conclusion—

It was jointly produced by Wenjie, China Film Group, and Emperor Group, with top-tier domestic screen allocation and marketing resources.

Added to that was the targeted strike specifically against "The Banquet"; as one rose and the other fell, it had almost no rivals.

Although Huayi suffered this heavy blow, it was not without the power to fight back under the support of Alibaba and Deng Wendi.

At the very least, this time, Boss Lu could be considered to have fallen short of complete success—

The five Warner theater assets he had his heart set on were snatched away by Huayi through various public relations maneuvers and price hikes, losing two of them.

There were minor tactical setbacks, but strategically, the immense pressure brought by Wenjie had already lured Alibaba and Deng Wendi into the trap.

With such huge capital poured in, it seemed they had intentions to continue exerting force in the theater chain market.

From this point on, it would not be easy to withdraw.

Ma Yun enthusiastically asked Boss Lu to stay in Lin'an for a small gathering, but was politely declined by the latter, who rushed straight to the airport after the reception ended.

The filming schedule was tight, and he had to rush to film sets in the United States and Germany after the New Year.

Coupled with the 3-4 months of post-production time for war and period dramas, not a single day could be wasted.

Zhou Xun and Huang Xiaoming insisted on seeing him off, and Sun Li, who had just received an award today, also brought her boyfriend Deng Chao along to see him off, hoping to become a familiar face in front of this person.

Obscured by the dark window tint, they did not see the other big starlet in the back seat.

"Why are you in such a rush?" Fan Bingbing weighed her tone, not daring to show any resentment, yet wanting him to know she was reluctant to see him go.

Lu Kuan sighed deeply: "I haven't had a good night's sleep in days."

"At the beginning of the year, I have to report the Olympic plan to those big shots, and the film still has scenes to shoot in the U.S. and Germany; it won't wait for anyone."

Boss Lu closed his eyes to rest, and there was silence in the car for a moment.

Mentioning the "Sky of History" crew, Fan Bingbing couldn't help but think of that girl she now didn't even dare to mention.

The twists and turns at the birthday banquet were nothing more than a lose-lose situation for her and Liu Yifei.

Liu Yifei was heartbroken and didn't want to bring it up again, hoping time would heal everything.

Fan Bingbing didn't dare to bring it up again, unable to bear looking back at the experience where she was almost cast into the abyss because of one overstepping move.

She could only work diligently to get things done for him while enjoying the glory and capital this man brought her, seeking a glimmer of survival.

The big starlet leaned back against the leather seat, her cashmere shawl slipping half an inch from her shoulder.

The dim blue ambient light in the car swirled on the surface of the South Sea pearl on her earlobe, staining the pearl into an eerie peacock green.

She only felt that time was passing so, so quickly; before she could look more at his tired profile and fine stubble, the car had already stopped in front of the airport.

"I want to get out of the car and walk you a bit, is that okay?"

Lu Kuan smiled indifferently: "Why not? Let's go."

The bewitching beauty on the big starlet's face faded slightly, and the smile that bloomed was as pure as a young girl's.

The neon lights on the airport road solidified in her glistening eyes, following closely behind the hem of the man's trench coat in the cold wind.

Lu Kuan's tall figure cast a shadow behind him, and Fan Bingbing followed him step by step, placing herself within it, feeling an inexplicable sense of security.

I truly hope this road never has an end.

(End of this chapter)