Chapter 341: Wanting to walk in your shadow

Beep, beep, beep...

At the foot of the Yanda Huayi headquarters building on Xinyuan South Road, Chaoyang District, 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 phone call from Wang Xiaolei urging him to hurry would pop up on his phone.

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

Ning Hao, at the location set for *Detective Chinatown*, took a long time to call him back: "Hello? What's so urgent? I'm filming!"

Xu Zheng wailed: "My brother! Your brother here is facing an uncertain fate, can't you just put things aside and help me out?"

"Tsk! 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? Director Lu has not a single cent of resentment toward you going to Yanda Huayi! He is supportive! He gives his blessings! Understand?"

"I believe you, my foot! How exactly did you tell Boss Lu that day?"

"Oh, I arrived at Yanda Huayi, and right after, the thirteen luxury cinemas of the Inquiry Realm and Jiahe nationwide cut the screenings for *The Banquet*, and you're bullying people just because *The Domain 2* has Leonardo and Liu Yifei?"

"Isn't this aimed right at me? The look Wang Xiaolei gave me just now wasn't right at all!"

*The Domain 2* soared at the North American summer box office, with loyal sequel fans contributing over 160 million USD, though major forums were already unfazed by this.

After all, the box office explosion and the massive sales of merchandise from three years ago were still fresh in their memories.

Putting such a heavy hitter into the National Day release window, with the popularity bonus of Liu Yifei, was simply more formidable than the average internet film.

Ning Hao didn't know whether to laugh or cry; 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 it be beneath him to go to such lengths?

"How should I put it, Xu Zheng? Think about it: if he didn't want you to leave, it would be a matter of one sentence. 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. People can let you go if they want to. Is it worth him making such a big fuss over you?"

"Also, at the end of this month, I'm going to bring the sample footage of *Detective Chinatown* I've shot over for him to see. Come with me, okay?"

"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 the parent of safety; the clear-headed "Baldy Xu" of the domestic entertainment industry turned and headed upstairs.

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

He had the realization of someone who preferred to keep his nose out of other people's business.

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

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

With the door closed, "Little Steel Cannon" Feng Xiaogang spoke with some lack of restraint: "This is bullying people too much! What kind of business is this!"

"We already avoided the hot National Day release window, and he still moved *The Domain 2* forward. This is just leaving us no way to live, right?"

Suddenly, sounds of laughter came from near and far. The crowd looked sideways, and immediately saw Ma Yun and Deng Wendi enter the door, with Chen Sicheng nodding and bowing.

It was just that Old Ma had an astonishing aura; otherwise, standing next to Deng Wendi, who was a full 1.8 meters tall in high heels, he looked rather comical.

"Xiaogang! Don't be impatient, haven't President Deng and I come to provide reinforcements?"

Feng Xiaogang's expression cleared slightly, and he squeezed out a smile that looked worse 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 any actors.

"Everyone, sit down first. Little Steel, calm your anger." Wang Dajun sighed: "It's market competition, after all. He hasn't done anything too excessive, so it's not easy for us to say anything."

Deng Wendi was in no mood to exchange pleasantries with them, and even less in the mood to comfort anyone.

The humiliation from the beginning of the year had become the greatest shame she had ever suffered in her life. That bow in front of the Xiangjiang Disneyland had practically snapped her spine.

The "Huntress" had come this time for three things!

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

"How could Han Shanping and the Film Bureau just agree to his temporary change of release window? Don't we have any influence on the decision-making?"

Deng Wendi's questioning left everyone looking embarrassed. Wang Xiaolei explained: "*The Domain 2* is invested in by the Inquiry Realm, China Film, and Emperor. Whether in the mainland or in Xiangjiang and Taiwan, the resources for screenings are top-tier."

"In the past, it's not like we couldn't operate within the Film Bureau. To say nothing else, at least avoiding him would have been fine."

"But recently, he proposed that 'film industrialization' nonsense. Now several bureau chiefs have issued directives to study its feasibility from top to bottom, and he himself is even holding an advisory position. This matter is..."

Changing the release window temporarily wasn't strange.

In the later 2005 New Year release window, Old Han had temporarily moved the release of *Zhang Wuji* closer to *Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles*, hyping up the showdown between Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige.

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

Not to mention *The Domain 2*, featuring top-tier stars from both China and the US, Leonardo and Liu Yifei. Three years ago, the first installment even took the historical box office championship in the mainland.

Whether for this film or for Boss Lu himself, the Inquiry Realm and *The Domain 2* were clearly the more favored party.

Old Ma was, after all, an outsider. Hearing this, he frowned: "Let's not mention the release window. What about the screenings?"

"How come I heard that not only did the Inquiry Realm lower the screenings for *The Banquet* to freezing point, but many other cinema chains are following suit?"

"Little Steel Cannon" seemed to have found a life-saving straw and couldn't help but complain: "Exactly, Ma Zong, that's the logic. Isn't this just bullying others by relying on one's power!"

"Isn't he just the richest man? That's just valuation. Once your Ali goes public, Ma Zong, we'll chop him down immediately!"

Ma Yun hurriedly waved his hand, pretending to be modest: "Too much, too much. I just finished a meal with President Lu recently; the man is actually okay. This matter..."

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

He had just wanted to say "ask Ms. Deng and you'll know," but wouldn't that 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 the Inquiry Realm. Why don't you talk to Ma Zong about this?"

"I... how could I be that familiar? I've just worked with Ning Hao and the others a few times." Xu Zheng declined, not stepping forward.

Deng Wendi cast a scrutinizing look at him, which made Xu Zheng feel a jolt in his heart.

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

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

"As for cinema screenings, it's like this: the Inquiry Realm currently directly controls only a little over a hundred screens, but Boss Lu has a relatively large influence in the industry."

"Especially after last year's New Year release window, he went against the norm and brought out a disaster film to fight *Zhang Wuji*, which no one dared to touch at the time. The key is that he won a complete victory in the end."

"Recently, Gao Jun went down to discuss screenings, and other cinema chains asked him: why did the Inquiry Realm give so few showtimes?"

Xu Zheng spread his hands and smiled bitterly: "What could Gao Jun say? Just say Boss Lu isn't optimistic about this film. Isn't this just..."

Old Ma was truly a bit surprised now: "Is this President Lu's word so effective in the entertainment industry and the film circle?"

Wang Dajun sighed: "Ma Zong, President Deng, some things are not meant to boost others' morale."

"But when it comes to marketing ideas, vision, and judgment in this film circle, this person has indeed never missed. Last year, Jiahe basically gave *Zhang Wuji* freezing-point screenings too, it's just that others gave it more, so it didn't show."

Deng Wendi had long known how difficult this person was and was relatively calm: "How much impact does the Inquiry Realm's encirclement and suppression in release windows and screenings have on Director Feng's *The Banquet*?"

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

"Shanghai's economy is developed, its internationalization level is high, and fashion films and Hollywood films are relatively popular."

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

"Beiping is our base camp, and Little Steel's films have a relatively heavy 'Beijing flavor,' which is quite loved by the audience."

The Yanda Huayi president paused: "The problem now is that Emperor is making a fuss in the Guangzhou metropolitan area with *Protégé*, *The Domain 2* is exerting force in Shanghai and the Yangtze River Delta, and they are also fully covering screenings in Beiping."

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

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

It's their own cinema chain; they can show whatever film they want. Can you control that?

The key is that his influence is too great, leading to the fact that all the larger cinema chains in the country are now observing the decisions of the Inquiry Realm and Jiahe, leaving Yanda Huayi very passive.

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

"Cinema chains."

Everyone heard Deng Wendi suddenly blurt out a term.

"Cinema chains are the foundation."

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

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

"Or rather, the Inquiry Realm's only weakness in the entire industrial chain is cinema chains." Deng Wendi had clearly done her research.

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

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

"Please speak."

"Yanda Huayi itself has a joint venture with Warner. Now that Warner is withdrawing from the Chinese market, this part of the equity will definitely be cleared out."

"How about we two take over and eat it up, and use this as a bargaining chip to take over the remaining cinemas of Warner?"

"I had people conduct an investigation. The flagship cinemas that Warner has joint ventures with in Shanghai, Shenzhen Investment, and Shenzhen Development all have excellent profitability. These are high-quality resources."

Ma Yun frowned: "This..."

He had just entered the entertainment industry and was prepared to take the path of a "romantic swordsman." Why did he have to come up with such a fierce "sword strike on Mount Hua" 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 this cute. Many reforms happen under external pressure, from top to bottom.

Asking them to continue to fool these two into spending money was hard to open their mouths and hard to speak.

But with Boss Lu pushing them like this, it became a matter of course.

In fact, even Gao Jun had received news that Warner was going to withdraw. Could Yanda Huayi, which had a joint venture company 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 were "poor in money and short in ambition"!

*Red Cliff* was being invested in, and *Chinese Paladin 3* had just started airing on the Hunan channel. The costs of both major productions had yet to be recovered.

The overseas copyright for *The Banquet* wasn't going smoothly, and they were being sniped domestically. Where would they get the huge funds to take over these cinemas?

Deng Wendi was determined to clash with Boss Lu, her attitude resolute: "Ma Zong, the Inquiry Realm's strength in the mainland spans both the internet and the entertainment industry. Its two arms complement each other."

"If we knock out either one, it will be beneficial to the overall competitive situation."

"For the past two years, the Inquiry Realm has been focused on acquiring land in first-tier cities to build cinemas, blindly pursuing ultra-high-end and those 'giant screen' cinemas. I think this is our opportunity."

Ma Yun was a man with his own ideas. He wouldn't make this kind of hot-headed decision: "Let's wait and see. Ali's 'Search for Stars' hasn't even started yet, and now we're launching a cinema project. The budget shouldn't be small, right?"

Wang Dajun picked up the thread quickly: "Looking at the location and decoration, they are all top-tier conditions in the country. A single cinema should be around 50 to 60 million."

"Whoa!" Old Ma gasped upon hearing this. The expenses for this "culture and entertainment" nonsense weren't much lower than his internet business!

No matter how you sell your misery or go fishing, it's a pity that "Feng Qingyang" isn't an ordinary person. He wouldn't make this kind of blind investment decision.

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

The "Huntress" sighed leisurely: "If these cinemas aren't taken down, I really can't see any possibility of Yanda Huayi catching up with the Inquiry Realm."

Her gaze swept over the crowd of Yanda Huayi directors, including Little Steel Cannon, Heping, and Xu Zheng. The meaning was self-evident.

Making movies—you can't beat them;

Industry status—you can't show anything;

Binding interests with key figures like Han Shanping—you haven't done it as well as they have.

The person who knows you best is always your opponent.

Just as Boss Lu said when holding an internal meeting, the development of cinema chains is the Inquiry Realm's biggest weakness right now.

She proposed doing a private placement and capital increase and share expansion. Wang Dajun and his brother were, of course, willing!

A so-called private placement is a limited liability company increasing capital to specific personnel, which only requires the consent of shareholders with two-thirds of the voting rights.

Capital increase and share expansion is "apportionment" to all shareholders.

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

As for why it's called "apportionment," Wang Dajun naturally knew:

"Currently, the company's internal artists and core directors are already a bit resistant to the last subscription."

"Except for top-tier personnel like Little Steel, Director Zhang, and Bingbing, it's very difficult for small artists to take out millions in cash at a moment's notice."

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

She was determined to push this matter forward. News Corporation had long wanted to enter the mainland through an opening.

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

Entering the mainland's entertainment and public opinion industry through Yanda Huayi was their "crossing the Chencang in secret."

Utilizing the "red" resources behind Yanda Huayi and Ali's good development momentum in the country was much better than News Corporation originally charging in head-on like a headless chicken.

In addition, just like in later generations, MySpace had already started cooperation with SoftBank in Japan.

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

From this point of view, the relationship between News Corporation and Ali was a bit closer.

Xu Zheng, on the side, was suffering bitterly. If this share allotment happened at the Inquiry Realm, everyone would smash their pots and sell their iron, go bankrupt, and still want to buy it.

Didn't you see how the big tycoon Dong Shuangqiang was overjoyed over that one-plus percent equity?

But at Yanda Huayi...

It was mainly because two years ago, when Zhou Jun pulled in Tom, Sina, and Yahoo China, he used his own connections to raise Yanda Huayi's net asset per share too high.

How could Yanda Huayi's second-tier actors and directors take out so much money at a moment's notice?

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

If it were them, perhaps they wouldn't be willing to take out this 10 or 20 million to gamble either.

In the Zhou Jun era, Yanda Huayi first introduced internet capital Tom and Sina, and then reached cooperation with Warner through Morgan Stanley's introduction, engaging in an arms race with the Inquiry Realm.

This led to Yanda Huayi's valuation being somewhat distorted.

By the time Deng Wendi entered the game again and engaged in capital increase and share expansion, some of Yanda Huayi's "poor and lower-middle peasants" were clearly about to face a break in the chain.

If core artists like Fan Bingbing didn't take over, Deng Wendi would only have to pay for it herself.

But that would turn into a private placement, which would lead to changes in the equity structure, which wasn't what Wang Dajun and Xiaolei wanted to see.

The power figures conspired in the conference room, attempting to "break through" toward the only direction of catching up under someone's pressure.

——

Starting from the second half of 2006, the mainland entertainment circle was full of disturbances, quite eye-catching.

What was very strange to entertainment reporters was that Boss Lu, the topic person of these few years, seemed 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 give lectures to the students of the Pan-Asia Film Academy, outsiders basically couldn't see him on weekdays.

But this world of martial arts wasn't just one major sect of the Inquiry Realm, and it wasn't just one sect leader.

Under the expectation that the mainland entertainment industry and film market were gradually heating up, the "many strong" who were chasing the "one super" never stopped their footsteps.

Among the "many strong" whose strength was slightly inferior, Li Shaohong of Rongxinda cooperated with Beiping TV, catching the craze of national satellite TV talent shows, and launched a talent show variety program for the new version of *Dream of the Red Chamber*.

Among them, Emperor's artist Bai Bing was in fierce competition with Yao Di in the Xue Baochai group.

Xiaoma Benteng didn't blindly test the waters in film, still deeply cultivating the track of high-quality TV dramas.

*Sweet Honey*, directed by their direct-line director Gao Xixi, was a hit, making Deng Chao famous and also allowing Sun Li, who had already become a hit because of the Haiyan dramas, to continue harvesting fans.

As for the ones with relatively big moves, they still had to be counted as the second-ranked Yanda Huayi and the third-ranked Cheng Tian.

Cheng Tian 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, holding a 15% stake.

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

The latter's relatively famous works include *Black Hole*, *Winter Solstice*, *The Mansion Gate* (sequel), *The Nth Power of Home*, etc.

In terms of film investment, in addition to *Red Cliff*, which was expected to enter the New Year release window, they also participated in the investment of Xiangjiang director Chen Kexin's *The Warlords* (later renamed *The Warlords*).

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

In addition, Cheng Tian and Yanda Huayi cooperated on a small-budget film, *Call for Love*, directed and acted by Xu Zheng, a newly signed director and actor of Yanda Huayi.

This film still had joint investment from China Film and Paige.

Anyone with a discerning eye could see clearly that the second and third in the industry were tightly binding together to confront the boss, and were attempting to pull in the referee, China Film.

Yanda Huayi was not to be outdone.

With the help of Ali and News Corporation, the first "Ali Search for Stars" was a complete success, and the Hunan channel took the runner-up position in the average ratings of talent show programs for the whole year.

It was only behind the second season of *The Voice* on Travel TV.

Shanghai's *Go! Good Men* ranked third.

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

Yanda Huayi will carry out the final round of capital increase and share expansion within the year.

Subsequently, they will hire CITIC Securities Co., Ltd. as the listing counselor and underwriter to accept standardized counseling, so that its various indicators reach the listing standard.

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 domestic entertainment industry was suddenly in an uproar!

Second is second. Even though they were suppressed and squeezed by the terrifying boss in various ways, they were still relying on their strong background and were about to start listing counseling.

There were many different opinions in the circle. Some insiders believed that after going public with the help of the big financial tycoon behind them, Yanda Huayi would obtain ample funds.

With the help of internet allies Ali and Sina, and the channel expansion of overseas News Corporation, they would threaten the ruling status of the Inquiry Realm.

A considerable number of financial commentators also believed that the Inquiry Realm's combination model of entertainment and internet had already been thoroughly understood by commercial opponents.

Not only Ali, but Sohu's Zhang Chaoyang, Baidu's Li Yanhong, and Tencent's Ma Huateng were all looking for suitable partners.

In the next few years, the Inquiry Realm's core competitiveness would gradually be lost.

Regardless, leaving aside the industry leader Inquiry Realm Holdings, Yanda Huayi, as the first entertainment company in the country to be officially put on the listing schedule, attracted widespread attention.

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

A film gala began to brew from the afternoon.

Unlike the red carpet walks of stars at previous film festivals, the film festival organizers laid a "Hundred Flowers Avenue" on the Bai Causeway of the West Lake. The stars who arrived took small boats to land and had close contact with fans.

This was also a scene the media had been looking forward to for a long time. It seemed that overnight, the film festival that the media had complained about as being dim in starlight became immediately sparkling.

The New Year release window champion, the *Tangshan* crew, which had shockingly obtained 310 million RMB in box office figures in the mainland relying on disaster special effects films, arrived as scheduled.

Lu Kuan and Zhou Xun sat on a small boat.

"Why didn't Sisi come? Her *Bad Genius* also got several nominations, didn't it?"

Boss Lu shook his head: "I didn't realize it before, but now I find that her personality is truly stubborn. She can be called 'Liu the Little Donkey'!"

"It was hard to adjust her a bit some time ago, but she sank down again recently."

"But actors with pursuits have to go through this experience to some extent. 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, and suddenly I had inspiration, and I couldn't let go again."

Lu Kuan thought to himself: You indeed didn't let go, completely throwing yourself into the two roles of Peony and Meimei, and also falling in love with the male lead because of the play.

Reporters and fans on the shore screamed and cheered. The two also smiled and greeted them, and talked about Yanda Huayi's capital increase and share expansion.

"Are the 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 few times. This time, they are willing to take the risk of changing the equity structure to increase capital, which is also their intention to fight hard before going public."

Zhou Xun's expression was as usual: "But the two brothers still have nearly 40% of the equity in their hands, 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 for him, without revealing any other information.

She might have guessed something, or she might not have seen it completely clearly.

But whether it was the friendship formed in 2001 when the young director had not yet made his mark, or the rise of the latter like a towering tree in the past four or five years.

Publicly or privately, emotionally or reasonably, Zhou Xun knew she just had to do as she was told.

He had never treated her unfairly.

For example, this time after *Tangshan* won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects, he introduced her to several internationally renowned directors like Martin Scorsese.

And for example, this Hundred Flowers Best Actress, almost no one else could be thought of.

The young director smiled calmly, looking at the sparkling water and the beautiful scenery, silently calculating the equity share he held and expected to hold.

This time, in order to raise funds to buy Warner's several legacy cinemas, Yanda Huayi spared no effort to turn the capital increase and share expansion into a private placement, allowing Fan Bingbing, Zhou Xun, Zhang Jizhong, and others to eat up quite a few more shares.

According to the net asset per share of 500,000 USD, a 1% share is more than 4 million RMB.

Among Yanda Huayi's small and medium shareholders, there really weren't many who were so bold and confident.

This was 4 million in 2006!

No matter how flowery the listing plan was blown, what could be attracted was nothing more than those who had the ability to buy, such as several top-tier artists.

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

"By the way." Zhou Xun suddenly remembered something: "There is a relatively strange thing that I haven't figured out."

"What?"

"Yang Mi, you remember, right? My little junior sister at Rongxinda. She got 3.5% of the equity."

Boss Lu was surprised: "Her? What does she rely on? Is Yang Mi very popular now?"

"It's okay. *Chinese Paladin 3* on the Hunan channel did make her break out of the circle. In just one week, she has been on the hot search of Blog Network several times, and the ratings are only slightly inferior to your *Myth*."

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

"Her blog only had 5 million fans a few months ago, and now it has grown by more than 1.5 million. It started with the hype of that best friend photo from Sisi's birthday in August."

Boss Lu nodded thoughtfully.

He had been concentrating on filming since he returned to the Shi Jiao Film and Television Base from Beiping, so naturally, he wouldn't ask about these trivial matters.

"Speaking of which, Yang Mi can be considered the biggest 'little flower' traffic after Little Liu now. Xuejian is to her what Zhao Linger is to Liu Yifei. This path can be considered to be walked in a decent way."

The young director said in a deep voice: "But this doesn't seem to be enough to make Wang Dajun and his brother 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, and instead use her to balance it."

"After all, a little girl who has only been in the industry for a few years is always easier to handle when talking about conditions in the future than you big 'flowers'! 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 divided by newcomers like Yang Mi and Xu Zheng."

"It's just that young actresses like Yang Mi are really amazing now. 15 million in cash is taken out as soon as it's said. We were poor to death when we first became famous."

Boss Lu teased: "Being humble, aren't you?"

"In 2001, when we first met, your *Legend of the Condor Heroes* salary was already 80,000 per episode. The first set of clothes I wore when I went down the mountain was a gift from you."

Zhou Xun joked: "Oh my! This is the most correct decision I've made in my life, using a pair of trousers to hold onto a big thigh!"

She immediately felt a bit emotional: "In a flash, five years have passed. I have to say that time passes too quickly..."

Boss Lu mentioning *Legend of the Condor Heroes* made the emotionally rich Zhou Xun think of the duck shed.

Recently, because her daughter with Wang Fei went to the US for surgery for a cleft lip, Zhou Xun also sent her blessings.

The two chatted and laughed as they stepped onto the red carpet. Song Jia and Hu Jun of the *Tangshan* crew were waiting on the shore, taking photos and souvenirs together with other main creators.

Today's awards ceremony was broadcast live by CCTV, so the hosts chosen were also CCTV's leading hosts.

Among them, a commentator who became famous in this year's World Cup because of the sentence "The great Italian left-back"—Huang Jianxiang—also appeared on the stage abruptly.

This Hundred Flowers Awards adopted a model combining expert judges and public judges, and was finally voted on by 99 audience judges on the spot.

Of course, just listen to it.

Many key awards of this session in later generations were pocketed by the main melody film *Zhang Side*, which caused great controversy, making people call it the second Huabiao Awards, completely losing the significance of the awards.

In this life, *Tangshan Earthquake*, in which the Tangshan government and China Film held shares, was also a key project of the Art Department of the Ministry of Culture, and it was also on the "People's Cinema Line," clearly wanting to change the original award-winning pattern.

After all, *Zhang Side* and *Tangshan* were both main melody films in a certain sense.

But the latter's artistry, special effects scenes, and box office figures were impeccable, and there was almost no controversy about winning the award.

People who do things won't fail to see this point.

Boss Lu taking the time to come on this trip was also at the invitation of the organizers such as the Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the Film Festival Association, to support the scene and set up the posture.

This is reciprocity.

After a song and dance performance, the awards ceremony began quickly, but the process was calm.

Best Story Film and Best Director were both pocketed by *Tangshan*.

The remaining excellent story films and others were given to films like *A World Without Thieves*, *Kung Fu Hustle*, and *Fearless* like dividing eggs.

Lu Kuan became the busiest guest going up and down the stage, receiving awards himself and presenting awards to others.

Sun Li won Best Newcomer with *Fearless*. Boss Lu shook hands with her. This Zhen Huan, who had just started dating Deng Chao, was exceptionally respectful.

As Zhou Xun received the Hundred Flowers Award for Best Actress from Lu Kuan, the whole audience cheered, applauding the achievements she had made this year.

In April, she won Best Actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards for *Perhaps Love* and Best Actress at the Hundred Flowers Awards for *Tangshan*.

If she is crowned queen again at the Golden Horse Awards at the end of the month, she will achieve the Grand Slam of Best Actress in the Chinese-language film world within one year.

In next year's various rankings in the industry, Zhou Xun's position among the Four Dan Actresses will undoubtedly go a step further, only behind Zhang Ziyi, who has entered Hollywood, and the soaring of her worth is also a matter of course.

And for Yanda Huayi, Bingbing is the company's most economically valuable female star, but Zhou Xun is the brand representative among actresses.

As for Li Bingbing and others who had long been squeezed into the corner, perhaps not long after, even the unstoppable Yang Mi would catch up with her.

The cocktail party after the film festival was always wonderful, and the young director was naturally surrounded by people.

Bingbing suddenly brought the trembling Xie Jin over, and his wife Xu Dawen supported the old director.

Boss Lu laughed: "Xie Dao, Ms. Xu, Bingbing, you are here."

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

"Where, where, it's me, this old man, who wants to nag a few more words with you! Haha."

Xie Jin's complexion was much grayer than the last time they met, and his eyes were slightly turbid. He was the honorary chairman of this film festival.

Xu Dawen laughed: "Director Lu, the old man listened to your speech at Beidian more than a dozen times."

"His eyes can't see much now, but he listens when eating, listens when sleeping, and listens when reading the newspaper. Just because of you, his appetite has been better recently!"

Xie Jin shook his head with a smile, patting Lu Kuan's hand incessantly: "This old aunt of yours is making fun of me, but I very, extremely agree with the Chinese film industrialization you talked about."

"I have already written an initiative to the Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the General Administration, hoping that they can attach importance to it."

"Now it should be said that it is our best opportunity. Having a leader like you, and having the efforts of Yimou and others to get close to the market, this is a good thing!"

Boss Lu was humble on his lips, not daring to be, and chatted with Xie Jin about route issues and comment system issues.

Soon, Vice Chairman Zhong of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles and Chairman Wu of the China Film Festival Association walked over. The power holders standing at the top of the mainland literary and art pyramid looked forward to the future of the mainland film scene together.

From beginning to end, Bingbing didn't say a word.

She stood quietly on the side, in an exquisitely tailored black dress, the hem of the skirt slightly trailing on the ground, outlining a graceful curve.

The fine silver sequins embellished on the neckline of the dress flashed starlight under the light, but they couldn't be brighter than the look she gave the young director.

The early meeting yesterday slightly relieved the lovesickness of the big actress.

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

Even if it was just to look at the short, bluish hair stubble on the back of his neck from behind, it was enough to comfort her heart.

Lin'an is Ma Yun's home field. As a shareholder of Yanda Huayi, he naturally wouldn't be absent from such an occasion.

"President Lu!"

Boss Lu turned his head in a daze, also in the posture of old friends reuniting: "Old Ma!"

The crowd watched from the side, whispering.

Watching these two—one a dashing and handsome romantic director, the other an unremarkable commercial genius—drinking and chatting happily, it was truly a unique mix.

Ma Yun sighed half-truthfully and half-falsely: "Different industries are like mountains, President Lu. If you don't mix in this industry, you don't know. Once you step in, you know it's your home field."

"What is Ma Zong saying?" Boss Lu was full of doubts.

"*The Banquet* was fiercely attacked by you, President Lu, and President Li of Emperor! It gave me the first lesson in Ali's entry into the culture and entertainment industry!"

The young director realized with a start, and then laughed: "Tsk! I thought it was something!"

"Ma Zong's means with News Corporation are also very tough!"

"Warner's five cinemas for sale, all contracts were signed, yet two were snatched away by you guys."

"Old Ma, this doesn't look like Feng Qingyang's style? Where is your high-person image of being like an immortal?"

Ma Yun laughed loudly: "Each to his own. In business, we come and go, it doesn't affect our feelings."

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

"Waiting at any time."

One old fox and one little fox teased each other, which could be considered as writing a footnote for the first battle after the alliance between Ali and Yanda Huayi.

On the Yanda Huayi side, the overseas copyright of *The Banquet*, which cost 16 million USD, was bought by Fox at a low price of 8 million USD.

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

Converted to about 76 million RMB.

Through various domestic channels, excluding the 14 million DVD copyright and 15 million advertising revenue, the box office had to be at least 140 million RMB or more.

*The Banquet* was originally a bad film, and in later generations, it only had an income of 130 million in the mainland. In this life, it was sniped by Boss Lu intentionally, and it only had a little over 100 million.

A huge loss simply poured a bucket of cold water on "Little Steel Cannon."

*The Banquet* was actually a follow-up work by Yanda Huayi under the two big directors and big productions of *Hero* and *Zhang Wuji*.

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

But Feng Xiaogang was not suitable for this style and route. After *The Banquet*, he made a *Assembly* in a down-to-earth manner, which instead exploded.

Chen Kaige was the same.

After the pain of *Zhang Wuji*, he picked up the drama-themed *Mei Lanfang* again this year, wanting to relive the glory of his *Farewell My Concubine*.

On the Inquiry Realm side, *The Domain 2*, which continued the hot scene of three years ago, dominated the National Day release window with an absolute screening advantage, and the final box office was 340 million!

If *Curse of the Golden Flower* at the end of the year hadn't exploded, it should have taken the annual championship.

The explosion of this film was almost an open card—

Joint production by the Inquiry Realm, China Film, and Emperor, with top-tier screening and marketing resources in the country.

Coupled with the targeted strike specifically against *The Banquet*, the rise and fall of each other, there was almost no rival.

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

At least this time, Boss Lu could be considered to have not achieved his full goal—

The five Warner cinema legacies he coveted were snatched away by Yanda Huayi through various public relations and price increases.

There was a slight setback in tactics, but strategically, the huge pressure brought by the Inquiry Realm had already made Ali and Deng Wendi enter the game.

With this huge capital thrown in, it seemed that there was an intention to continue to exert force on cinema chains.

Further on, it wouldn't 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. After the cocktail party ended, he rushed directly to the airport.

The filming schedule was tight, and he had to rush to the US and German studios after the year.

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

Zhou Xun and Huang Xiaoming insisted on seeing him off. Sun Li, who had just won an award today, also brought her boyfriend Deng Chao to see him off, wanting to get familiar in front of this person.

Obscured by the dark car film, they didn't see the other big actress in the back seat.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Bingbing weighed her tone, not daring to have any resentment, and also wanted him to know her reluctance.

Lu Kuan sighed: "I haven't slept well for several 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 US and Germany. It doesn't wait for people."

Boss Lu closed his eyes to rest, and there was no talk in the car for a while.

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

The twists and turns at the birthday party were just a lose-lose situation for her and Liu Yifei.

Liu Yifei was heartbroken and didn't want to mention it again, hoping that time could heal everything.

Bingbing didn't dare to mention it again, unbearable to look back on the experience of almost being beaten into the abyss because of one overstepping.

She only had to work diligently to do things well for him while enjoying the glory and capital brought to her by this man, seeking a glimmer of life.

The big actress leaned on the leather back of the back seat, and the cashmere shawl slipped half an inch from her shoulder.

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

She only felt that time passed so fast, so fast. Before she could look at his tired side face and dense stubble more, the car had already stopped in front of the airport.

"I want to get off the car and see you off for a while, can I?"

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

The enchanting beauty on the big actress's face faded slightly, and the smile that rippled was as pure as a young girl's.

The neon on the airport road solidified in her watery eyes, following the hem of the man's windbreaker in the cold wind.

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

I really hope this road has no end.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 342 =====