Traveling back to 1977

Chapter 905 You're Finished
Having successfully caught one, Deputy Director Chen was immediately in a good mood, and even the chaotic sounds from the film crew outside sounded much more pleasant.

Kuang Mingyi was giving instructions to several main actors not far away. When he saw him come out of the tent, he thought Director Chen was about to start filming, so he quickly called out, "Director Chen, give me a few more minutes. We can start filming as soon as I'm ready."

Director Chen was in a good mood at the moment, so he naturally didn't bother with them. He casually waved his hand and said, "It's alright, you guys get ready first, just call me when you're ready."

After saying that, he put his hands behind his back, looked around, and strolled around the film set, pointing and saying, "It's a war scene, so your faces should be smeared with dirt, and your clothes can't be too clean. Why don't you guys go run a couple of laps in the woods first?"

The dozens of soldiers dared not utter a sound and immediately scurried into the nearby woods, some even charging forward with guns drawn and shouting.

Just treat it as a rehearsal.

Director Chen pointed to another group of people and laughed, “You guys are too dirty. You’re playing Blue Army officers now. They’re always yelling ‘Brothers, charge!’ When have you ever seen them charging ahead? Hurry up and tidy yourself up, maybe wash your faces. You have to put on airs. No matter how tough the conditions are, we can’t let the leaders suffer.”

The group immediately scattered and ran to the large tents nearby to tidy up their appearance.

Looking at Director Chen's amiable demeanor, Yuan Wang cautiously approached Kuang Mingyi and whispered, "Director Kuang, what did Commissioner Yang and Director Chen talk about inside just now? It was pouring rain just now, but after they finished talking, the sky cleared up. That's quite a change."

Kuang Mingyi squinted thoughtfully and muttered, "It should have solved a major problem for Director Chen... And also,"

He turned to look at Yuan Wang and corrected him with a serious expression, "You can't say it's a storm. No matter how strict the director is, it's all for the good of the film. As the saying goes, 'the play is more important than anything else.' When it comes to filming a movie, no amount of strictness is too much."

Therefore, it should be said that Director Chen is striving for excellence and pursuing perfection. We should approach this with a learning attitude, and not assume that just because Director Chen is strict, it means there will be storms or torrential rain. That would be incorrect…”

Yuan Wang stared at him, dumbfounded. Then he looked at Director Chen and saw Director Chen smiling as he walked into the foreign manager's tent.

He was somewhat confused, so he turned back to look at Director Kuang, "Kuang..."

"What do you mean, 'what's wrong'?"

Kuang Mingyi's expression changed, and he interrupted him impatiently, looking at him and saying, "Don't you know that in an open place, Director Chen's ears are sharper than a bat's? Do you think he can't hear you if you speak softly? You're too young and naive. Be careful next time."

Yuan Wang's expression gradually stiffened. Looking at Yang Chenfeng, Yang Congling, Chen Qingqing, Gu Haoyang, and Xu Danping beside him, who were all nodding repeatedly, he felt a chill run down his spine.

So the director said that on purpose for Director Chen to hear?

Why do you all know that the director has a very good ear, but I don't?
Xu Danping squatted on the ground, hugged Chen Qingqing's arm, and looked at him with a face full of sympathy. "You're doomed. If the director hears you talking badly about him, he won't let you play the lead role anymore."

Yuan Wang's lips twitched slightly. "Director Chen isn't that petty, is he?"

Kuang Mingyi gently patted his shoulder and sighed, "Director Chen must be broad-minded, magnanimous, inclusive, and have a boundless spirit..."

Hearing this, Yuan Wang felt a little comforted.

Then Director Kuang continued, “However, if you yourself are not ambitious, your acting skills are not up to par, your attitude is not correct, you are hopeless, and you cannot build a wall of dung… then you can’t blame others.”

Looking into the tent, Director Chen still hadn't come out.

Looking at Director Kuang, who was praising him behind his back with a straight face, Yuan Wang had a vague realization.

Decades later, even though Yuan Wang has won numerous awards, he is still known in the world film industry for his ability to discover the strengths of others and for never being stingy with praise. When a reporter interviewed him, he asked whether this high emotional intelligence was a talent and whether it could be learned.

Yuan Wang answered without hesitation, "Of course you can learn, as long as you have eyes to see beauty."

At that moment, he discovered the greatest beauty in the world!
……

Chen Fan walked into Ma Jiajia's tent and saw her looking at a pile of documents. He casually asked, "What are you looking at?"

Ma Jiajia looked up, and after a couple of seconds, she seemed to realize what was happening. She quickly said, "Oh, I'm looking at the statistical reports released by the government over the years, as well as some publicly available data on population, geography, and resources."

She immediately got up and poured him a cup of tea.

Chen Fan frowned slightly, then quickly relaxed, and walked over to ask, "Are you doing market research?"

Since 1959, when the National Bureau of Statistics issued the "Statistical Communiqué on the Implementation of the First Five-Year Plan," it has issued the "National Economic Statistical Communiqué" every year, systematically publishing national economic data.

Although statistical work was interrupted during a period of strong winds due to the abolition of the statistical agency, in 75, the higher authorities convened a symposium in the name of the Statistics Bureau to resume the statistical reporting work and re-collect and publish economic data and reports.

Then in 1979, the National Bureau of Statistics fully resumed its work, and has not stopped since.

Moreover, all of this information is publicly available and searchable, so it wouldn't be difficult for Ma Jiajia to find it.

Ma Jiajia placed the teacup on the table, let out a long breath, nodded and smiled, "Yes. Before coming here, the master instructed me to study the market here carefully."

Chen Fan walked to the table, pulled out a chair, sat down, and looked at her, asking, "Uncle, do you want to fully enter the domestic market?"

Hearing this, a hint of appreciation flashed in Ma Jiajia's eyes. She turned and sat down in her chair, smiling as she said, "Master does indeed have this idea. Besides assisting you with your work, another purpose of arranging for me to come to the mainland is to conduct in-depth research on the domestic market..."

Before she could finish speaking, Chen Fan waved his hand and said, "Then you can reply to him today. If you want to enter the domestic market, don't bother with any investigations. Just one word: speed. Just like his role as a switch distributor, speed is all that matters. You don't need to do any other preparations."

"Uh."

Ma Jiajia blinked, a glint of interest in her eyes, and said, "The master's meaning is similar to what you said, except that he wants to know which industries are more suitable for us, or rather, which can generate profits faster."

Chen Fan took out a cigarette, lit it, and said with a smile, "I'll say it again: don't do any preparation, and don't worry about what industry it is. Just do it."

He paused for a moment, noticing that Ma Jiajia seemed somewhat helpless, then smiled and said, "You've been here for a while now, you've read a lot of information, and you've also done some research outside. Although you haven't been to Beijing or Shanghai yet, the differences between major cities in China aren't that significant. At most, the larger the city, the more abundant the resources. So, do you have a preliminary judgment yet?"

Ma Jiajia took a deep breath and said while thinking, "I think risks and opportunities coexist. There are indeed huge opportunities in the mainland. Various materials are scarce and in short supply, while there's a high level of curiosity and trust in foreign products. Moreover, there's no shortage of wealthy people; even imported products priced far above market value can easily sell out. If we could set up factories and supply goods domestically, we wouldn't have to worry about sales and could reap huge profits. However…"

She frowned, shook her head, looked up at Chen Fan, and said, "Young Master, don't you think the basic conditions here are too poor? Besides, there are frequent discussions about this in the newspapers, which shows that there's no consensus at the higher-ups..."

At this point, she wrinkled her nose and sighed, "The lack of even the most basic investment conditions, coupled with significant issues with policy stability, makes investing in the mainland seem far too risky to me. For the moment, I'm unsure what advice to give Mr. [Name]."

Frankly speaking, if it weren't for you, young master, being here and firmly stating your intention to develop your career in mainland China, I would have been more inclined to wait and see rather than make a major foray into the market.

Chen Fan exhaled a puff of smoke, looked at her and smiled, "Not bad, you can make this judgment, which shows that you put your heart into it."

He paused for a moment, then gently shook his head and said with a smile, "Moreover, as far as I know, the market research departments of many multinational giants have reached similar conclusions to yours."

He then changed the subject, looking at her with a smile, "But you've probably heard the saying: the higher the risk, the greater the reward. If there were no risk, would you even have a chance to get good opportunities?"

Seeing that Ma Jiajia was deep in thought, Chen Fan was in no hurry to persuade her further. He picked up his teacup, took a sip, and smoked for a while before saying, "I think you may have misunderstood your uncle's meaning."

Upon hearing this, Ma Jiajia immediately looked up, staring at him in astonishment. "Huh?"

Chen Fan laughed and said, "If you don't believe me, call your uncle today and ask him if he wants you to conduct research in the mainland or to pave the way for entering the mainland. Both require market research, but the purposes are different, and the methods and results are worlds apart."

As multinational corporations, they naturally seek stability because of their larger size. Whenever they enter an emerging market, they are never worried about not getting the best preferential terms, nor do they think they can't compete with smaller and medium-sized competitors.

These companies don't even deserve to be considered competitors; only multinational corporations of comparable size are worthy of their attention. Therefore, they can wait until this emerging market stabilizes before deciding to enter.

Moreover, their usual method of entry is "using war to sustain war," meaning they first invest a small amount of capital to establish a "forward outpost," then use the profits from this outpost to continuously invest in and expand production, eventually reaching a certain scale before reaping the benefits.

Chen Fan threw his cigarette butt on the ground and stomped it out. Looking at Ma Jiajia, he said, "That's how big corporations operate. My uncle's company isn't small, but it can't compare to multinational corporations, can it?"

Ma Jiajia instinctively shook her head, "If it were before, it wouldn't be on the same level at all."

He paused for a moment, then added, "Even if the scale has expanded several times over now, there is still a very large gap."

Chen Fan shrugged. "That's it. It's precisely because multinational giants dare not enter easily that my uncle was able to successfully obtain the distribution rights for their products and earn profits in China that exceeded the total assets of the Zhou family before."

Your current approach is to follow multinational corporations and learn their methods. But once they've launched, will the opportunities still be available for you?

Upon hearing this, Ma Jiajia shuddered, her pupils dilated instantly, and she said, "I understand."

The next second, she slowly exhaled a long breath, took a deep look at Chen Fan, and said with emotion, "No wonder the master, madam and young lady all speak highly of you. Your business acumen and courage are truly beyond the reach of ordinary people. The Zhou family does need to take some risks to accumulate enough capital to achieve a leap in social class."

She paused for a moment, then took a deep breath and said with a serious expression, "Today I will call the master to confirm the next steps in the development plan, especially the specific investment targets."

Chen Fan chuckled and was about to say something encouraging when a thought suddenly struck him. He looked at her and asked, "Have you looked into the research progress of Wan Muchun Company's communication equipment?"

Ma Jiajia paused for a moment, then gently shook her head. "I only know that it's still under development and we've made some progress, but I don't know the specifics."

She then explained, "The research and development department of Wanmuchun Company is top secret. Only Miss knows the most detailed information. Even the master and madam are kept in the dark by her."

Upon hearing this, Chen Fan couldn't help but twitch his lips slightly.

This is so Zhou Yali, well done.

He clicked his tongue and said, "Alright, I'll call Yali myself later."

He then stood up, waved, and walked out.

Ma Jiajia looked at the swaying curtain, frowned and thought for a moment. She picked up her notebook, opened it, and wrote down the two big characters "communications". At the same time, she muttered, "When I call the master tonight, I must remember to mention this. The young master suddenly asked about the progress of communication equipment research and development. He must have ideas about the field of communications. This time, we must tie ourselves to them. We can't let them leave us behind, otherwise the young master will not have any valuable assets in the future."

……

Chen Fan stepped out of the tent, and the outside quickly quieted down as almost everyone stared at him expectantly.

He looked at Kuang Mingyi, "Are you ready?"

Kuang Mingyi immediately nodded and shouted, "Ready, we can start filming anytime!"

He paused for a moment, then quickly ran forward and said timidly, "Director Chen, do you think we should rehearse a bit first, just to get a feel for it?"

Chen Fan waved his hand dismissively, "Let's line up."

He walked over to the director's chair, plopped down, and said loudly, "Hurry up, if we don't get this take right, you're all sleeping here tonight."

Upon hearing this, everyone shuddered, and each department quickly sprang into action.

A few minutes later, all the actors were in place.

At Kuang Mingyi's command, the mountains and forests instantly resounded with deafening shouts of battle, bugle calls, gunfire, and artillery fire.

What? Why are there gunshots during rehearsals?

Isn't it obvious? We lack film, but we don't lack guns, bullets, or shells.

Arranging some gunfire and explosions can help actors get into character, and it doesn't cost much money, so why not?

(End of this chapter)