Chapter 97: Little Takeshi Kitano

Zhuang Xu smiled. "It seems your parents really loved reading Gu Long, huh?"

Seeing Lu Kuan drain his soda can in one breath, A-Fei also tilted his head back to finish his, then wiped his mouth.

"I don't have parents. I chose the name myself."

Boss Lu looked at this capable young man with a smile, thinking of the clean, efficient killing skills he had just witnessed, and felt an urge to recruit him.

The entertainment industry is a mix of good and evil, and "dump truck" incidents are common; one has to be prepared for certain things.

Who knows where the next Zhang Tianshuo is, or people like Liu Zeyu? They look polished and glamorous, but how much cleaner are their methods than Zhang Tianshuo's?

"A-Fei, you just saved me. Any interest in coming to the mainland?"

A-Fei was stunned, finding this man somewhat inexplicable, and quickly shook his head.

Boss Lu wasn't in a rush; he drank his beer and ate his skewers while fishing for information.

"Your accent is quite strange. Your Cantonese is fine, but why does your Mandarin have a Northeast flavor?"

A-Fei didn't really want to engage; he was exhausted from the flight and the rush, and he had just finished giving a statement at the police station.

He squinted for a moment before saying slowly, "My ancestral home is in Yanbian. I'm ethnic Korean. I learned Mandarin from the uncles in the gang since I was a kid."

Boss Lu looked him up and down again. *Holy crap, no wonder he fights so fiercely. This is little Takeshi Kitano! *

Takeshi Kitano is an ethnic Korean famous in the South Korean underworld; the protagonist of the 2006 South Korean film *The Yellow Sea* was based on him.

A plan formed in Lu Kuan's mind. "When the Korean War broke out, a group of Nationalist soldiers fled to Taiwan and Hong Kong, taking ethnic Koreans with them. Maybe your ancestors were among them."

A-Fei suddenly looked up, a glimmer of light appearing in his indifferent eyes for the first time. For Chinese people, the instinct to seek one's roots flows in the blood.

People on this land value family and heritage; not knowing where one's home is feels like being a drifting duckweed without roots.

"A-Fei, come help me. I'll have someone help you find your family in Yanbian."

A-Fei was tempted. Under Huang Pi, he only did things like watching over venues and collecting debts, which was incredibly boring.

At his young age, he was full of curiosity about the outside world.

"You... what do you do?"

"I'm a film director. I have to run around and shoot movies. You just need to be my bodyguard and drive. You don't need to do anything else."

"The mainland is very safe. I see you're not old; you can read some books when you're free."

A-Fei looked at him suspiciously. Safe?

If he had been a second late today, he probably wouldn't have been able to deliver the money.

"Alright, then I'll go back to handle some things and then come over."

"Good! Good, good, good!"

Boss Lu was very happy. With little Takeshi Kitano, aside from dump trucks and silencers, he would have no rivals within ten paces.

One cannot be too optimistic about the bottom line of certain privileged classes; there are too many examples...

Zhuang Xu and Lu Kuan walked under the streetlights, each holding a can of beer. It had been a long time since the martial brothers had walked the streets like this.

In the past, they would drink and sing before the Three Pure Ones in the Daoist temple...

Zhuang Xu's expression was heavy. "Little Lu, offend as few people as you can. Today's incident was very dangerous."

Boss Lu agreed deeply, but having lived a second life, he didn't want to be too timid or overly accommodating.

Whenever one fights with others, one will inevitably touch upon their interests. Some industries are zero-sum games, where it's a matter of life and death.

Fake business wars: corporate espionage, reputation attacks, shorting market value.

Real business wars: seizing official seals, poisoning, swinging sledgehammers!

"Senior brother, if you aren't at the table for some things, you'll end up on the menu."

Zhuang Xu looked at him meaningfully. The real business wars he had encountered in this life were far more numerous than Lu Kuan's, and he had to admit this was the truth.

Sometimes, it is events that push people forward, rather than people pushing events.

"By the way, senior brother, do me a favor."

"Speak."

"You have wide connections. Help me contact someone about A-Fei's residency, and then help me contact a bank. I want to take out a loan using my shares in Blog Network."

Zhuang Xu hadn't even had a chance to ask where the suitcase of cash from tonight came from, and he couldn't keep up with Lu Kuan's train of thought.

"What kind of trouble are you stirring up now?"

"I can't keep living at your place. I'm planning to buy a house, fix it up, and consider myself settled in Beiping."

In 2002, Beiping still had a policy of buying a house to obtain residency, but it was limited to houses in the suburbs and satellite cities, and you had to deposit 500,000 in interest-free savings at the bank, which would be returned to you after 5 years.

Because of his investment in Blog Network, Lu Kuan had no problem with residency; there was no need for such trouble.

Boss Lu calculated the days; he had to return to Jiangsu next month for the college entrance exam, and once finished, he would have Sun Wenwen handle this matter.

Zhuang Xu thought that since A-Fei was about to be his bodyguard, and he now had his own work and social circle, it was indeed inconvenient to live together.

With the growth rate of Blog Network, quite a few venture capitalists had already come knocking; pledging some equity wasn't difficult.

"By the way, Blog Network is burning through money very quickly, and your funds are hitting rock bottom again. You need to plan early."

Lu Kuan understood his senior brother's meaning. Blog Network's model was very simple, and it wouldn't be difficult for major internet companies to imitate it.

If the site's development was affected by funding issues, the current first-mover advantage would soon be caught up to.

In other words, Zhuang Xu felt now was a good time to approach venture capital.

This was because he didn't know about Boss Lu's recent income. In fact, he had long had plans in his heart and had already mapped out the direction for several future expected revenues and expenditures.

The remaining 13 million in funds from Hong Kong soccer betting would arrive one after another, and he would continue to pour it into Blog Network.

The revenue from *Blind Shaft* wouldn't be recorded until March of next year at the earliest. He held 2/3 of the shares, and as long as there were no major mistakes, a conservative estimate was a profit in the tens of millions, which would be the startup capital for the next investment or film.

Then there was the revenue from *Whiplash*, which would depend on the film's performance in Venice.

The film market in Venice is much smaller than in Cannes. If they returned empty-handed, not only would overseas copyright revenue become an issue, but domestic theaters would also be tough.

These days, aside from the works of big directors, the only way for a novice director to counterattack is to export to domestic sales.

Even with Zhou Jielun's drawing power, without the laurel of an overseas film festival, the profit prospects for this film would be in doubt.

"Let's wait a bit longer on the venture capital side. The true value of Blog Network hasn't been reflected yet; the valuation would suffer now."

Zhuang Xu nodded in agreement. Currently, the site's strategy of building up entertainment stars was seeing initial results, and strategies for cultural stars and grassroots stars were being implemented.

The timing of the first round of financing is very important. Generally, companies either raise funds when they are starting, during the growth phase, or during the stable phase.

Generally speaking, companies with new models must look for financing targets during the business growth phase.

Because financing has a time cycle, it takes 20-25 days for angel round entrepreneurs to go from contact to getting a TS (term sheet), and the subsequent due diligence and SPA (share purchase agreement) to payment takes another month. For the A round, it takes even longer, totaling a cycle of at least 2-5 months.

Therefore, financing companies must maintain their growth rate during these 4 or 5 months and cannot stagnate in core data.

The next explosion period for users and reputation that Lu Kuan planned for Blog Network would be at least after the 2003 boiling point.

At that time, he would arrange for the company to conduct large-scale event marketing, demonstrating the ability to guide public opinion toward health and stability during collective incidents.

This is the time node that truly reflects the value of Blog Network.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 98 =====