Actor: Thank you.

After resting for a night, I first called Meng Guangmei, whom I hadn't seen in a long time.

This older sister has now also signed a management contract with Huayi and is now one of their artists.

She was quite pleased to receive Zhang Yuan's call.

"Come find me when you're free?"

Judging from the tone of this person's voice, Zhang Yuan must be in a good mood.

"Of course, you lent me so much money before."

"Now that the film I invested in is doing well at the box office, I have to pay you back as agreed."

"Really!" Meng Guangmei exclaimed with delight upon hearing this.

It's said that you can borrow money standing up, but you have to beg for it on your knees.

These days, there aren't many people who would voluntarily offer to repay a debt.

"I'm just letting you know in advance. I'll come find you once Universal Pictures settles my bill."

Zhang Yuan owes her nearly 100 million yuan, including principal and interest, enough to make a TV series called "Empresses in the Palace".

My older sister is a former model, and her intelligence isn't particularly high.

He made a lot of money and invested in various places.

But after investing for so many years, it's rare to find someone like Zhang Yuan who can achieve both stable and high returns.

"Perfect timing, I also need to spend some money recently." The older woman then started chatting about her recent life.

Zhang Yuan helped her avoid the Italian calamity, and her life has been quite smooth ever since.

I learned a little something from the experience, though not much...

He's been riding high lately, having gotten involved with the CEO of the Beijing real estate company World Trade Center.

This boss recently got divorced, and now the two of them are making high-profile appearances at various venues, concerts, and events.

It's just unclear whether they got together while still married or outside of marriage.

However, a lawsuit later broke out, with the boss's ex-wife suing him for unfair division of assets and demanding billions of dollars in returns.

But in any case, he's much better than that Italian fraudster; at least this one is genuinely wealthy.

"Congratulations, as a friend, I'm very happy," Zhang Yuan said after listening to her rambling.

"Thank you. If you're thinking of buying or renting a house in Beijing later, you can contact me and I'll help you find a place."

"That's great, definitely." Zhang Yuan pondered, "The Place seems to be mainly a shopping mall, with not many residential buildings."

I don't really need it myself.

But having connections is better than having none.

As for the people... I won't have much contact with them myself.

Now that she's in the Huayi Group, it's good for me to get to know her better.

Moreover, female celebrities like her, who come from Taiwan, are mostly quite superstitious.

Zhang Yuan recalls that Meng Guangmei especially admired the living Buddhas of Siam and Tibet.

The owner of the World Trade Center always operates under the banner of low-carbon and environmental protection.

The two of them together can be considered a gathering of "wise men and women".

Friends are still friends, and they have helped and supported me. It's just that there are different levels of closeness among friends.

He did what he promised, and that's enough.

After chatting for a while, I put down my phone.

I called Sun Li again to talk about "Empresses in the Palace".

Besides Jiang Xin, Sun Li is also an indispensable actress in this drama.

Moreover, this person has recently had some "issues".

"We've been friends for a long time."

“Not only you, but Deng Chao and I are also old friends.” Zhang Yuan opened up right away.

Sun Li was quite polite: "Yes, I was very grateful for your help when I was on the Big Beard film set."

"It's all in the past. We should treat each other like friends."

"What we need to talk about now is the future."

"First of all, 'The Treasure Box' has been finalized and will be released in a few months."

"As the female lead, please help with the promotion."

"I will send out red envelopes after the film makes money."

This film was co-invested by him and Big Dog Brother, directed by Liu Zhenwei, and is a purely nonsensical comedy.

Although the quality is average, it shouldn't be a bad loss.

"Thank you, boss." Sun Li knew he had been involved in the investment.

"Now I have a TV series here with an investment of 9000 million yuan, directed by Zheng Xiaolong, and the script was adapted by Wang Xiaoping over several years."

"A period drama set in the Qing Dynasty."

On Zheng Xiaolong's side, after Ada Choi was unable to act, he actually wanted to find Zhou Xun.

But like Fan Bingbing, Xun Ge thought of herself as a movie star and didn't take a liking to this TV series.

It was because of this missed opportunity that the great legend of Da Ru came about.

Because Liu Lianzi always thought Zhou Xun was more powerful.

Director Zheng wanted to try harder, but Zhang Yuan quickly stopped him.

I was in the cast of "Painted Skin," and Zhao Yanzi was a big enough star to keep her in check.

Without me and Zhao Yanzi, if she really came to the "Empresses in the Palace" production team, you'd be in big trouble.

Of course, Zheng Xiaolong's qualifications are certainly enough to keep things under control, but it will be troublesome to put in the effort to handle this matter.

Zhang Yuansheng was afraid of affecting the quality of his work.

Therefore, he suggested that Sun Li come and asked to communicate with her.

Because he had his eye on Sun Li for a long time.

It's not that I'm lusting after her body; there's really nothing about it that I'm lusting after.

Besides, I can't argue with Brother Chao.

The main reason is that this person has great potential!

So I came forward myself to bring her into the production team.

"I plan to have Jiang Xin and Ada Choi play supporting roles for you in this film."

"Everyone revolves around you."

"Huh?" Both Sun Lis were startled upon hearing this.

One is a veteran, and the other has only won an award a few years ago.

At least their industry standing is no worse than mine, yet they're relegated to a supporting role...

"After reading the script, I felt that you were the perfect choice for the female lead."

"That's why I came here specifically to find you and send you the script. Please take a look at it carefully and give me a reply."

"Well... okay, thank you."

"Thank you so much for thinking of me first."

Zheng Xiaolong, 9000 million, two female leads as his supporting roles... all these conditions combined make for an excellent deal.

It fell on my head.

In comparison, Sun Li is much smarter than Meng Guangmei.

Coming from an ordinary family, it's impossible to reach the level of a top-tier TV drama and a second-tier movie star without some brains.

Moreover, she's not the type to wear her shrewdness on her sleeve.

They are the kind of people who seem a bit simple and honest on the surface, but are actually very shrewd and calculating.

Of all these good things, I'm the first one they've contacted.

She's always been good to me, just like before.

Does he have any ulterior motives towards me?

That's the problem.

With the recent listing of Huayi Brothers, more and more established film and television companies are eager to make a move.

Among them, Sun Li's employer, Hairun, also had the idea of ​​going public and successfully completed its first round of financing.

The listing of Huayi has shown the investment market the benefits.

But just as Huayi has Wang Jinhua, Hairun's big boss in terms of artists is Chang Jihong.

Jiang Wenli, Sun Li, Liu Ye, Wang Luodan, and Yu Shaoqun were all people who worked for Chang Jihong.

Coincidentally, Changjihong and Hairun's 10-year contract will expire early next year.

Now is the time to negotiate a contract renewal.

And unsurprisingly, the talks broke down...

The reasons are quite similar to those of Wang Jinhua back then.

The big agent model of the early days did indeed pose a great threat to company owners.

Just like reducing the power of regional lords, if you don't reduce their power, you can't sleep at night; if you do reduce it, you might die on the spot.

Chang Jihong's requirements are not complicated. Besides the company's authority over artist personnel, doesn't Hairun plan to go public?

Okay, then just like Feng Xiaogang holds shares in Huayi, I also want shares in Hairun!

I'll get several hundred million if the company goes public.

Not only your boss is envious of the Wang brothers, but agents and artists are also envious of people from Huayi's lineage.

Many artists are now eyeing Hua Yi and are eager to work with her.

When Hairun's boss, Liu Yanming, refused, the negotiations broke down.

Because of this incident, Chang Jihong left the company, and the artists ran away together.

After that, Hairun Pictures went downhill, failing in its IPO several times in a row. Later, it couldn't even go public through a backdoor listing because the film and television listing boom had passed.

This misjudgment led to the complete decline of Hairun, a once dominant force in the Chinese-language TV drama industry from the late 90s to the early 10s, which gradually disappeared from the scene.

Now that Chang Jihong is about to "run away with the bucket," Sun Li must also have ulterior motives.

She has less than a year left on her contract and has been temporarily handed over to other agents in the company.

Hairun values ​​her the most now and has "reintegrated" her team.

In reality, they simply replaced the people around her to make it easier to control and guard against her.

They were afraid that their top female star would run away again.

In fact, the more she acted this way, the more upset Sun Li became.

Moreover, Hairun can no longer provide her with higher-level resources.

Sun Li appeared to have a good relationship with Hairun, and cooperated fully with any adjustments without expressing any opinions, appearing compliant.

Actually, I had my own little schemes up my sleeve.

I know that staying at Hairun is not a long-term solution.

If I'm not at Hairun, where can I go?
Should Deng Chao introduce us to Huayi?
However, Deng Chao himself was neither high nor low in Huayi, and clearly could not compete with Huang Xiaoming.

At this point, Zhang Yuan, this "longtime friend," is also a new option.

Talent should be cultivated gradually; you can't expect someone you meet on the same day to start working the next.

That's for recruiting interns, not for finding a movie queen or TV queen.

Moreover, in any workplace, especially in senior management turnover, many issues are personal rather than professional.

I joined this company because of a certain person, because I trusted and had faith in a certain leader or boss.

Therefore, Zhang Yuan wanted to give her a chance to think and provide her with a platform.

"I heard you haven't been doing so well lately," Zhang Yuan asked tentatively.

"No?" Sun Li's heart skipped a beat.

As expected, she has "taken a liking" to me.

When he talks about Hairun, he's probably trying to recruit me to his company. "Of course I've heard about it. You're treating me like an outsider," Zhang Yuan said with a smile.

"Who told you that?" Sun Li retorted.

“Hey, I was having dinner with director Jiang Wen the other day, and he said that his younger brother and you have a movie that has been stuck for several years and can’t be broadcast.”

"Aren't you upset?"

"Oh..." Sun Li realized what this meant.

She and Jiang Wu starred in a TV series called "Little Aunt Duohe".

This show was filmed more than three years ago, but it has still not been allowed to air.

The original work of this drama is the same name by the famous writer Yan Ge Cen.

"Heavenly Bath", "The Flowers of War", "Little Aunt Crane", and "Youth" are all her works.

Overall, this woman's works carry this sense of "scars," and she always reflects the injustices that the times or the country have inflicted on women or people through a female perspective...

Whether a buttock is crooked or not, and whether it's right or wrong, is a matter of opinion.

But this woman's husband is a diplomat...

Later, during the nationwide lockdown, he wrote articles just like Fang Fang... that wasn't even considered sarcastic anymore.

A typical "borderless," "liberal" female writer.

Before she was banned because of that incident, she was quite popular in both the literary and film industries.

It can only be said that people in these two professions are "birds of a feather".

This novel, "Little Aunt Duhe," tells the story of Takeuchi Duhe, an island girl who, by chance, stayed in China after the war.

She was eventually sold to the male protagonist's family, Old Zhang's family.

Zhang's eldest son and his wife have never had children.

The reason they had no children was that their daughter-in-law was forced to jump off a cliff by Japanese soldiers while pregnant, which caused health problems.

In the end, however, they had Duhe, an island woman, bear the child in her place.

Furthermore, her family has never acknowledged her as the child's mother, referring to her only as her aunt.

Ignorant Chinese farmers are persecuting island women left behind again... In the end, Duhe returned to the island after the normalization of diplomatic relations between the island and China.

Regardless, the story itself is still very exciting, with sharp conflicts and clashes.

But no matter how brilliant your work is, the people reviewing it will take a look.

This isn't appropriate...

Our relationship with island nations isn't great to begin with, and your content is even worse.

They kept withholding the broadcast, fearing that the island nation would cause trouble if they saw it, and they would have to take responsibility.

Even though this film was produced by Ningbo Radio and Television, they still couldn't get it done.

They've held several press conferences, and each time they say it's going to air, but every time they're told to postpone it before it even airs.

Sun Li even learned Japanese for this role, showing how much she valued it and put a lot of effort into her performance.

Seeing my work "covered in dust" is also disheartening.

Sun Li has a good eye, especially when it comes to choosing roles.

As long as it doesn't involve her husband, it's highly likely she'll choose a good show...

She felt the show could be a hit, so she was also worried.

I was quite surprised to hear Zhang Yuan bring it up today.

In fact, Zhang Yuan was just talking about her recent situation at Hairun, but she deliberately used the drama "Little Aunt Duohe" to divert attention.

It can be considered as "teasing" the other party.

"Okay, I'll go find out what's going on."

"Let's see if we can release this show."

"But let me make it clear beforehand, don't get your hopes up too high."

"No, no, no, I would be very grateful if you could help me and my film," Sun Li quickly replied.

“Deng Chao and I will come to see you during the Chinese New Year… But don’t wait until the New Year, are you free recently? I’ll come right away and we can discuss the script.”

"Okay, let's set a time in a while."

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Yuan got up and went out.

The reason for making it to tomorrow is that I'm having dinner with someone I have connections with today.

"We shouldn't go to talents, but rather let talents come to us..." Zhang Yuan murmured as he looked out the car window.

Upon arrival, we found ourselves in an extremely luxurious clubhouse.

Zhang Yuan and Zheng Xiaolong sat around a large round table that could seat nearly 20 people.

The air conditioning was very cold, so Zhang Yuantou put on a jacket.

After waiting for a long time, a man and a woman entered the private room, arm in arm.

"Director Zheng, it's been a long time."

"This must be our star Zhang. It's a pleasure to meet you."

The man was bald with short hair, dressed casually, but not cheaply.

It looks like they just came from the golf course.

The woman wore heavy makeup, and her squinting, smiling expression looked as if it were a mask stuck to her face, to be maintained forever.

Zhang Yuan stood up and shook hands with the two men.

The visitors were, of course, Wang Shi, the CEO of Vanke Group, a well-known domestic real estate developer, and his... female friend.

She can only be described as a female friend, because Wang Shi is not divorced yet.

After glancing at their relationship and status, Zhang Yuan immediately thought of Meng Guangmei, whom he had just spoken to, and the owner of The Place.

We cannot say that they are completely unrelated, we can only say that they are exactly the same.

They're all real estate developers, and they're all dating female celebrities.

All within marriage...

Is everything in your industry supposed to be tacitly agreed upon, or are there unspoken rules?

I often feel out of place with you all because I would never cheat on my spouse... because I don't get married.

But other people's marriages are different from his.

Even if Zhang Yuan were to get married, he would need to find a woman who could take care of him from behind.

And what about this one?

First of all, their family background is extraordinary.

Wang Shi's first pot of gold came from reselling corn feed. He transported several truckloads of corn directly from the mainland to Hong Kong, earning 300 million yuan in one trip.

Three million in the 1980s.

First of all, how did you obtain the information and secure such a large deal?

Secondly, how are train cars chartered?

That's a train.

Finally, the feed was sent to Hong Kong. In the 80s, let alone Hong Kong, even inter-provincial transportation required a lot of paperwork. Going to Hong Kong to be considered an export made it even more complicated.

These are the foundations upon which they succeeded and became extremely wealthy.

Success is reserved for those who are prepared; their ancestors started preparing generations ago...

Now he has achieved great success, but his father-in-law is gone.

Shouldn't one's bedmate be changed frequently?
However, this incident also led to Wang Shi's declining status at Vanke.

Because Vanke is not a purely private enterprise, 6% of its shares are held by Shenzhen Metro and other urban investment groups.

But just like Emperor Qianlong and Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, people's ideas change as they get older.

No matter how capable you are in the first half of your life, in the second half, your ambition may fade and your selfish desires may rise, and you may not even be the same person anymore.

Wang Shi has now set his sights overseas and, like the one at the WTO, has begun to focus on environmental protection and low-carbon initiatives.

If you want to expand into overseas markets, environmental protection and low carbon emissions are a kind of "pledge of allegiance".

They've also become much more low-key in the media.

Especially after being heavily criticized nationwide for his donations, he became much more subdued.

Although it's the truth, it depends on the occasion and the time.

Everyone is donating money, but you're preventing people from doing so, which infringes on the interests of certain individuals.

On the contrary, because of this incident, Wang Shi began to pay more attention to public welfare and established a number of sports-related public welfare foundations.

This is because he is one of the Chinese entrepreneurs who is particularly fond of extreme sports.

He became famous a few years ago for climbing Mount Everest.

There were even a group of people who didn't understand the situation and said that since rich people work so hard and are so dedicated, we should learn from them.

Go ahead and learn.

They learned one thing and kept silent.

He climbed Mount Everest, followed by a team of over 30 people, including guides, photographers, climbers, medical personnel, and supply personnel.

Even when doing the same thing, the experience of the rich and the ordinary is completely different.

The difference between people can be greater than the difference between people and dogs.

Most ordinary people don't even eat as well as Wang Sicong's dog...

This is why first class is separated from economy class by curtains.

It's better not to see it; if we could see the happiness of being rich, we'd definitely rebel.

The two of them sat down casually, without showing much remorse for being late.

The woman picked up a hot towel and wiped the sweat from the man's face, showing meticulous care.

The main reason I'm here today is because I'm a fan of the novel "Empresses in the Palace".

After seeing Liu Lianzi's online advertisement for a TV series based on her storytelling, the man took the initiative to contact Zheng Xiaolong.

When the other party approached me, unlike some investors who offered 1000 million yuan and asked my woman to play the lead role, they didn't.

This guy is way more impressive than those other bosses.

After finding Zheng Xiaolong, they didn't discuss the price and went straight to the point.

"Director Zheng, I really like your film."

"So, how much money do you need for this film right now?"

"I'll make up for whatever you're missing."

As much as you want!

Drive as you please.

It's Zheng Xiaolong who's in charge. Any other director would have been kneeling down and calling him "daddy" long ago.

Zheng Xiaolong isn't indifferent to money, but he also loves his films and his reputation.

Another point is that Zheng Xiaolong is also from a privileged background and has connections.

Wang Shi couldn't get rid of him through any means.

In fact, their elders are friends, so things have to be on the surface.

But Director Zheng didn't really want to offend anyone.

Zhang Yuan said he would handle it, and this person is perfect.

If you offend someone, that's your problem; I'm just focused on making the film.

Wang Shi waved to order, getting himself a chicken salad, no sauce.

She looks like she's trying to maintain her figure.

The woman then sweetly remarked that it was enough for her to share the same portion with him.

Then he handed the menu to them.

Zhang Yuan asked Director Zheng to come, after all, he was an elder.

He, meanwhile, was eager and ready to face off against his opponent... (End of Chapter)