After the divorce, I started to transfer

When the name "Lu Sijia" appeared on the phone screen, Chen Feng's eyebrows twitched almost imperceptibly, a hint of surprise in his eyes.

He knew very well that, given Lu Sijia's personality, she would never contact him unless there was something important to discuss.

After all, her resignation from Fengmang Film and Television was not a pleasant affair; it carried a hint of her being forced out.

Moreover, she has now started her own film and television company, making the two of them true competitors. The business world is like a battlefield, and there is a subtle but real competitive relationship between them.

There was also that unspoken but undeniable act of "helping out."

Although they both pretended nothing had happened afterward, they both knew very well that their friendship had long since soured. Neither could deny the existence of this unspoken truth, but neither was willing to break the silence.

Therefore, Chen Feng could almost conclude that she must have something to say when she made that call.

In a flash, Chen Feng swiped to answer the call.

"Sijia, how have you been lately?" Chen Feng spoke first, his tone carrying a hint of polite concern.

"You're doing great. How about you? Are you still partying every night?" Lu Sijia's voice came through the receiver, carrying a familiar teasing tone.

"Yeah, you know me best." Chen Feng could take the joke and handle it with ease.

"Okay, let's get back to the point. I'm very busy. I'm calling you this time because someone called me first."

Without any further pleasantries, Lu Sijia quickly relayed Li Meiqing's story to Chen Feng.

Then, Lu Sijia added, "You can handle this yourself. If you're not interested, just pretend it never happened and don't contact her. If you are interested, you can contact her yourself. I'm just a middleman, responsible for relaying the message. But, this female reporter has a very nice voice, she might be a beauty, it would be a pity if you missed it."

Chen Feng immediately understood that this female reporter from the provincial TV station was most likely Li Meiqing, and he could also immediately guess why she had contacted him.

He really didn't expect that Dong Shanming's side would be so efficient. In total, it probably only took an hour or so before there was any progress.

In Chen Feng's memory, Li Meiqing was not particularly beautiful; at most, she was pretty, but her tall stature and capable demeanor made her stand out. She was definitely not his type.

However, he was too lazy to explain this to Lu Sijia, and simply said, "Okay, I understand. Send me her phone number later."

When Lu Sijia heard that Chen Feng had actually asked for her number, she felt a surge of disdain for no reason, along with an inexplicable discomfort. She couldn't help but complain, "You're not really planning to go see her, are you?"

Chen Feng chuckled lightly upon hearing this, and said noncommittally, "Anyway, I'm just idling around, so there's no harm in meeting him."

Chen Feng's nonchalant reply made Lu Sijia feel even more suffocated. She said irritably, "I can't be bothered with you. Fine, that's it."

After saying this, Lu Sijia was about to hang up the phone, but Chen Feng immediately stopped her: "Wait, it's been a while since we last contacted each other, let's chat a little longer."

"What's there to talk about?" Lu Sijia's tone was full of resistance, as if she was ready to hang up at any moment.

Chen Feng seemed oblivious to her impatience and continued to smile, "I haven't asked you yet, how does it feel to be your own boss now, how's business?"

Upon hearing Chen Feng's words, Lu Sijia felt a surge of bitterness and grievances welling up inside her, despite his seemingly casual concern. She longed to pour out her heart to Chen Feng without restraint.

But the words caught in her throat, and she swallowed them back. She thought of Chen Feng, who, although a boss like her, was basically a hands-off manager who didn't care about the company, unlike her, who was practically working herself to the bone with a 996 schedule.

In addition, when she was the general manager of Fengmang Film and Television Company, the company was thriving and its performance was outstanding under her management. She was incredibly successful.

Ironically, now that she has started her own business and is personally involved in everything, the company is far from as successful as it used to be. While it's not a complete mess, it's certainly in a state of chaos.

What particularly annoyed her was that Chen Feng had kindly reminded her several times not to participate in the Longyu Film and Television project. But she stubbornly persisted, verbally promising to consider it carefully, but in reality, after establishing her own company, she poured a large sum of money into this so-called "big project" as her first venture.

As a result, since the project was initiated, it seems to have been plagued by bad luck, with one bad thing after another.

First, there was the film "The Skybreaker," spearheaded by Longyu Films. It was advertised as having a 300 million yuan investment, and its actual production cost was indeed close to 200 million yuan. Longyu Films, as the largest investor, contributed 50 million yuan. After filming was completed, Longyu Films added another 10 million yuan for marketing and distribution. Combined with the 40 million yuan from other investors, the total investment indeed approached 300 million yuan.

It was supposedly directed by a big-name director, starred big-name actors, and even had a Hollywood special effects team.

As a result, the box office was dismal after its release. It failed to gross more than 6 million yuan in total after two months of being on the market, leaving the company with nothing.

This directly led to serious problems with the cash flow of the TV series projects that Longyu Film and Television had collaborated on and which had already started filming.

This TV series is also a big production, with a total investment of 2 million yuan. Longyu Film and Television is the lead investor, promising to invest 5000 million yuan.

When Longyu Films wanted to collaborate with Fengmang Films, Lu Sijia was very optimistic about the project and even strongly recommended it to Chen Feng, hoping he would agree.

But Chen Feng, relying on his damned intuition, wasn't optimistic about the project and decisively rejected it.

Lu Sijia, however, was not giving up. Having just received a share of her father's inheritance of over 100 million yuan, and feeling ostracized at Fengmang Film and Television, she made a bold decision, started her own company, and invested 30 million yuan in the project, becoming the second largest investor and successfully securing the position of the project's chief producer.

Longyu Film and Television was severely damaged by the huge losses of "Qingtianji". Of the promised 5000 million investment, only 1000 million was invested initially. They were supposed to invest at least another 2000 million last month, but it was delayed for more than half a month. In the end, they barely managed to squeeze out 800 million and made it clear that their company was short of funds and was willing to sell some of the project's shares at a discount.

However, times have changed. Back then, this TV series project was highly regarded by all parties and was considered a hot commodity. Many people had to pull strings and use connections to get in.

But now, with the film "The Legend of Qingtian," which also boasts a large investment, big production, a big director, and big stars, flopping so badly, this TV series adapted from the famous online novel "Jin Yue Ru Shuang" has naturally been affected as well.

Who can blame them when this drama is also produced by Longyu Film & Television? It boasts a similarly luxurious production team, with a famous director and stars, yet it's already widely viewed with skepticism.

As if things weren't bad enough, at this very moment, the second female lead in the drama was exposed for being a mistress, and it was confirmed with solid evidence.

The project team was in a panic and had no choice but to urgently remove the second female lead from the production and find another actress to replace her.

However, this meant that all of the scenes the second female lead had filmed for almost a month were scrapped and had to be reshot, which undoubtedly brought huge economic losses and time costs to the already tense production team.

As the project manager and executive producer, Lu Sijia had no choice but to work with the director to urgently cast a new female lead. After three frantic days, they finally found a suitable replacement. But before they could even catch their breath, the male lead suffered a fall and fractured his leg while filming a horse-riding scene, bringing the entire project to a standstill.

Fortunately, after being taken to the hospital for treatment and examination, the injury was not particularly serious. Considering that reshooting with a different actor would result in astronomical losses, the only option was to have the male lead continue filming. However, the high-difficulty action scenes and martial arts sequences were out of the question, and they would have to rely heavily on stunt doubles and post-production special effects.

The dramatic scenes, on the other hand, were fine.

However, the series of mishaps on set, coupled with the shadow of the box office failure of "The Legend of the Sky", made things difficult.

The most direct reaction was reflected in the amount of funding allocated by several investors.

Longyu Film & Television was genuinely facing financial difficulties and was unable to raise further funds, leading them to consider transferring their investment shares to survive. However, the other investors, sensing the unfavorable situation, began to back out, deliberately delaying funding and also considering transferring their project shares.

People are starting to lose faith in the project's prospects, but they're struggling to find someone to take on this hot potato.

As a result, the TV series was put on hold for less than a month after filming began, due to the investors' failure to provide funding.

Due to a severe shortage of funds, many scenes and shots that required money could not be filmed, such as purchasing related props and renting special locations. Many of these issues could not be resolved by buying on credit.

Lu Sijia, the executive producer, could no longer tolerate it and convened a closed-door meeting with several investors a few days ago to specifically discuss the issue of securing project funding.

After a long argument at the meeting, all they did was shirk responsibility and come up with the terrible idea of ​​using the TV series project as collateral to get a loan from the bank.

It's just a TV series that's less than halfway through filming, far from being a finished product. How could a bank possibly accept it as collateral for a loan? Unless all the investors are willing to provide personal guarantees.

However, when it came to personal guarantees, these investors all refused, stating that Longyu Film & Television was the initiator and leader of the project and should be the guarantor.

Longyu Film and Television was not stupid, of course, and immediately rejected the proposal with strong words.

When asked to turn around and ask Lu Sijia, the person in charge of the project, to act as guarantor, Lu Sijia admitted that she did not have the magnanimity to sacrifice herself for others, so she naturally refused outright.

In short, there's no way they'll keep putting in their share of real money and depositing it into the project's dedicated account.

As for things like acting in accordance with the contract and making payments within the stipulated time, these seasoned veterans will just listen and let it go. If things really come to a head, they'll just say, "Go ahead and sue me if you dare."

Lu Sijia was furious at their almost shameless behavior, but she was helpless.

The reason these investors were able to participate in the first place was because they all had considerable connections and influence in Xiuzhou and even across the country. Although she is now the person in charge of the project and the chief producer, she has no real power to restrain or deter these investors.

Finally, cornered, Lu Sijia had no choice but to grit her teeth and say that she was willing to buy back another 2000 million yuan of investment shares from them, but on the condition that they would transfer all their remaining investment shares into the project account without missing a penny.

Then, everyone worked together to try to film and sell the TV series as soon as possible, and make back the money with interest.

At the same time, Lu Sijia also expressed her determination at the meeting, saying that the quality of "Jin Yue Ru Shuang" is definitely no worse than that of Fengmang Film and Television's "Qing Yu An" and "Fei Hua". She said that it will definitely become a hit drama after it is broadcast, and it will definitely not be a problem to break even. The only question is how much money will be made.

Because Lu Sijia was previously the general manager of Fengmang Film and Television Company, according to her, she was deeply involved in several of Fengmang Film and Television's hit dramas last year.

These investors had considerable confidence in her production and project management abilities.

With her persuasion and her willingness to spend an additional 2000 million to buy back their investment shares, the other investors finally relented.

Deep down, they certainly hoped the TV series could be filmed smoothly and make money, since their initial investment was substantial. If the project failed, they would also suffer significant losses.

It wasn't until yesterday that the project's funding finally came in, albeit with some setbacks. Including the additional 2000 million yuan she herself contributed, her total personal investment in the project has reached 5000 million yuan.

She is now the biggest investor in the TV series "Jin Yue Ru Shuang".

It's easy to imagine how heavy the pressure was on her shoulders. That pressure almost kept her awake at night.

Now, faced with Chen Feng's seemingly caring inquiry, she couldn't utter a single word of her bitterness and immense pressure, and could only continue to keep it bottled up inside.

"It feels great to be your own boss, and my company is doing very well. Once my first project is successfully completed, I think I should still have a 30% return on investment." She forced a smile, using a light tone to mask her inner exhaustion.

"Is your company's first project the one with Longyu Film and Television?" Chen Feng had heard about her investment in "Jin Yue Ru Shuang" before, so he asked casually.

Lu Sijia couldn't deny it, so she could only say truthfully, "It's this project. I know you weren't optimistic about it at first, but I still am. This novel is so popular online, with a huge fan base. Now that it's being adapted into a TV series, there are already many fans of the original work, and they will definitely watch it. I don't think it will be any worse than 'Qing Yu An'."

Now that the die is cast, Chen Feng didn't want to say anything discouraging, so he went along with her and said, "It's good that you have confidence. I also sincerely hope that this TV series will be a big hit after it's released. Keep up the good work!"

"Well, thank you."

After thinking for a moment, Chen Feng couldn't help but add a word of advice: "Now that you're your own boss, you need to be more careful in everything you do. You can't invest blindly like before, especially in projects that seem very big."

"Okay, I understand, Mr. Chen." Lu Sijia's tone was slightly impatient.

"Alright, Mr. Lu, I won't say any more. If there's a chance, let's meet up and have a meal together."

"What do you mean by 'there's a chance'? If you don't want to have dinner with me, don't say that. It's not like I'm begging you." Lu Sijia's sensitivity and pride made her retort immediately.

"It depends on you. You know I'm basically free every day. If you're available, you can call me anytime, and I usually won't refuse."

"I don't have time to ask you out." Lu Sijia said with a hint of disdain, then added, "Alright, I have a lot of things to do. I won't talk to you anymore, goodbye."

"See you."

The two quickly ended the somewhat awkward call. (End of Chapter)