Return to 88: Starting from Marrying My Sister-in-law

The wine glass reflected an amber light under the lamp, and Lu Yang's fingertips caressed the rim of the glass.

Waiting for Brother Jie's reply.

"Mr. Lu, I do have this idea."

Brother Jie spoke the truth, and seeing that Lu Yang's wine glass was already half empty, he quickly got up and refilled Lu Yang's glass.

He doesn't have the airs of a kung fu superstar at all.

Moreover, they put on a show of respect for capital.

Lu Yang nodded, a businessman's precision in his smile, and said, "Then I'll be frank. A real co-production is not just about putting a name on a film."

He glanced at Brother Jie across the table and slowly cut a piece of steak. "Brother Jie should know that the rules for theatrical releases in mainland China are that without investment from mainland capital and reaching a certain percentage, it won't pass the review."

Brother Jie's expression turned serious, and he was about to speak when Lu Yang raised his hand to stop him. "1000 million. I'm a very straightforward person. I'll handle the approval and permits in mainland China. But I have another request."

Just as a look of ecstasy appeared on Brother Jie's face, he hesitated for a moment before asking, "Does President Lu have any other requests?"

The 1000 million was an unexpected bonus.

What's more, it also has a fast track to mainland China's censorship.

Since President Lu can make such a boast.

That's definitely not a problem.

But what if we add one more requirement...?

The movie is already halfway through filming, so surely they can't just... change the female lead halfway through?
This is what he is worried about.

As a kung fu superstar who has been in the industry for over a decade, Brother Jie is fully aware of the investors' intricacies and their malicious intentions.

However, he misjudged the situation this time.

Lu Yang never considered replacing the female lead in the movie.

He has other ideas.

To be honest, in his memory, the box office performance of "Fist of Legend" was not high. During its release in Hong Kong, it was said that it never made it into the top three at the box office. There were too many good movies at the same time. In addition, although "Fist of Legend" starred Jay Chou, it was a remake of Bruce Lee's movie "Yu Chu". All these factors combined resulted in the movie's poor box office performance in Hong Kong at the time.

Media reports even stated that "Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen" would be a Waterloo for Jay Chou's film career. With an investment of 20 to 30 million Hong Kong dollars, the final box office was only over 10 million Hong Kong dollars, less than 20 million. Such a serious loss would inevitably cause no one to dare to invite this famous action star to participate in kung fu movies again.

Fortunately, their luck turned around again. "Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen" was a huge box office success overseas, and a few years later, the revenue from VCD/DVD discs was so high that they were making a fortune.

According to incomplete statistics, the film "Fist of Legend" alone generated $1675 million in revenue from videotape and DVD rentals in North America, which, at the exchange rate at the time, was more than 100 million yuan.

Jay also took this opportunity to break into Hollywood.

Of course, these are all things for later.

Lu Yang hadn't thought that far ahead; these were just a few dollars.

Even if we help bring the movie "Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen" to the mainland and release it in mainland cinemas, how much box office revenue could it generate in 94, given the number of cinemas and the total box office revenue for that year?
Don't compare it to later generations. In later generations, a movie can easily gross billions at the box office. These days, it's extremely rare for a good movie to gross 20 or 30 million from its release to its final screening.

Many movies, after their release, don't even make a splash, and then that's it.

Of course, Jay Chou's movie is bound to make a splash. Putting aside everything else, just based on the Shaolin Temple filter alone, the box office will probably not be lower than the box office of the movie released in Hong Kong at the same time.

But that's not enough. There's only one sip of soup, and several companies have to share it. Would Lu Yang even care about it?
Why go through all this trouble, inviting Brother Jie to dinner just to discuss a mere 1000 million investment?
So the key is the condition he's about to propose, which is what Lu Yang really wants to do.

"I don't need to elaborate on how rampant piracy is in the mainland DVD market. I believe Brother Jie should also be aware of this. Genuine DVDs can be sold, but whether they can actually sell is something everyone knows."

My only request is that my Century Group be granted free authorization to distribute the official VCD version of "Fist of Legend" in mainland China.

In return, to coincide with the film's release and promotion, I will be launching a joint promotional campaign with my two technology companies, Xiaotiancai and Xiaoshentong. Buy a Xiaotiancai learning machine and receive a free "Fist of Fury" DVD; buy a Xiaoshentong VCD and receive a free "Fist of Fury" DVD plus a set of your joint poster.

We can discuss the specific timing for launching this event. It could be 10 days after the film's release, or it could be a month after its release. These are my conditions. What do you think, Brother Jie?

Brother Jie looked stunned for a moment, finding Lu Yang's suggestion somewhat unbelievable.

But it feels natural.

Although he also runs a film company, he has never done business as complicated as Lu Yang's. He doesn't really understand the intricacies involved, but he always feels that doing it this way is pretty cool and interesting.

Yin Mingzhu and Xu Siqi, two best friends from Peking University, who were sitting next to them listening to their conversation, were particularly impressed.

Both of them couldn't help but applaud in admiration.

"good idea."

"Yes, this way, not only will the box office be a huge success, but the Little Prodigy VCD and Little Genius Learning Machine will also definitely sell like hotcakes. Maybe they can even be sold in Hong Kong, in addition to the mainland."

"More than that, I think it can sell all over Southeast Asia."

They chatted away as if they could already foresee the movie's box office success, which would also boost sales of Lu Yang's company's products.

Yin Mingzhu, in particular, started to come up with the idea of ​​this joint publicity campaign again.

It's something that's not even close to being finalized yet, and she's still so enthusiastic about it.

Brother Jie was impressed but didn't immediately agree. After thinking for a moment, he said to Lu Yang, "I personally agree with your idea, Mr. Lu, but I'm just a rough guy who only knows how to make movies and doesn't really understand these things. How about you give me a few days to think about it?"

As a top international action star, Jay Chou naturally has his own team, including lawyers, professional managers, and many business operation talents. He always consults these investment talents who manage his assets before making any decision.

Lu Yang didn't press the issue or try to force him to agree immediately. He raised his glass and said, "Then it's settled. I'll wait for your good news, Brother Jie. Let's drink."

Seeing that Lu Yang didn't make things difficult for him, and faced with the young billionaire's toast, Brother Jie immediately stood up and took the initiative to lower his status, "How can this be? I should personally toast you, Mr. Lu, to thank you for the invitation tonight. I'll drink it, Mr. Lu, please feel free to drink as you please."

He tilted his head back and downed the wine in his glass in one gulp.

Then turn the wine glass upside down.

This indicates that the drink is finished, not a drop left, making the attitude very clear.

Next, everyone enjoyed a happy meal.

the next day……

Lu Yang, rubbing his forehead with a headache, got out of bed. He hadn't expected that Brother Jie, a kung fu star, could drink so much.

"Honey, you're up?"

Yin Mingyue walked in, came up behind Lu Yang, and massaged Lu Yang's temples.

Lu Yang squinted and asked, "Wife, where's my son?"

Yin Mingyue pouted behind him and said, "Hmph! All you do when you get home is talk about your son, your son. Don't you know how to care about your wife?"

This made Lu Yang laugh out loud. He turned around, hugged her waist, and said, "Good wife, how come you're even jealous of your own son?"

Yin Mingyue blushed and retorted, "Who's jealous? It's you, you stinky guy, who doesn't even care about your wife when you come back."

Lu Yang couldn't help but raise his head, his chin touching her belly button, his eyes piercing through the crevice of her canyon, reaching right up to his wife's chin, and said, "What's wrong? I haven't been gone for more than a few days, have I?"

Yin Mingyue felt a tickle around her navel from the prickling of his stubble, and couldn't help but squirm and say, "No, no, no, I was wrong, please give me your chin."

Lu Yang remained unmoved, locking her hands in his grip and saying, "Speak quickly, or I might resort to family discipline."

Hearing that Lu Yang was going to use family discipline, Yin Mingyue stopped struggling and said pitifully, "I still need to breastfeed later. If you're going to use family discipline... can you hurry up?"

!! ?
Lu Yang looked bewildered.

He wondered if he had misheard, until he saw his wife's face turn bright red, almost bleeding, like a little monkey's bottom, and then he suddenly realized, "Okay, okay."

He said "good" several times, then picked the person up by the waist and threw them onto the big bed.

"The family discipline is coming."

It's impossible to be fast, but Lu Yang already knows in his heart that his wife has definitely arranged everything.

There's no need to guess right now; not only is her beloved son not in the backyard of this courtyard house, but her sister-in-law is probably not home either.

Yin Mingyue, like a parched land receiving timely rain, did not readily admit defeat this time.

Until evening...

"Oops."

She grabbed Lu Yang's hand, glanced at the time on his wrist, and hurriedly got dressed and left.

This caused Lu Yang to burst into laughter again behind her.

Anyway, it wasn't his fault.

This home-style serving was something my wife herself chose, hehe... I'm so happy...

Yin Mingyue hurriedly dressed and left the room, inwardly grumbling to Lu Yang: "You stinky husband, I told you to hurry up, but you kept dawdling. Now look what happened, my sister must have already brought Fanfan back."

She had previously agreed to take her son to a photo studio to choose a full-month-old photo.

She even deliberately mentioned it to her sister, Yin Mingzhu, how great the photo studio was. Besides taking pictures of babies, they also did makeup for adults and had lots of beautiful clothes to choose from. She said the photos would definitely be gorgeous.

She also mentioned that she had already gone there last week and taken some photos of her baby and herself. This time, in addition to selecting photos, she wanted to take more.

Sure enough, my sister was immediately interested and said she wanted to go together.

She readily agreed, of course.

She even invited her sister's best friend, Xu Siqi, who was her husband's secretary, to come along.

Just as the three of them, carrying her son Fanfan, were chattering away as they left the courtyard, she made up an excuse about having a stomachache to stay behind. She asked her sister and her sister's best friend to help her take her son Fanfan to a photo studio to choose photos, and promised that the two of them could also take beautiful photos today, with her, as the younger sister, covering all the expenses.

Women, for example, have a few days each month when they say they have a stomachache. That's menstrual pain, and it's the least likely reason to be suspected.

As women themselves, Yin Mingzhu and Xu Siqi understood perfectly and happily agreed.

The person said, "That's a good thing. You just finished your postpartum period and you've already gotten your period. It means you're doing normally. Don't worry, leave it to me. You can rest at home and relax."

The person said, "Remember to drink brown sugar water. If that doesn't work, wake up the stinky boss and have him take you to the hospital."

Neither of them thought much of it.

But how could they possibly understand Yin Mingyue's true thoughts?

Since moving to this courtyard house in Beijing, my sister has also moved in. Now that she has finally finished her postpartum confinement, even my husband's secretary has moved in. With so many people, how can she be intimate with her husband at night?

The focus is especially on her older sister. Even if she doesn't live in the same room as her or help her take care of her son Fanfan, she will still live next to their master bedroom. She doesn't want to upset her older sister, who has finally shifted her focus to her career. Sigh, what can she do when, besides being her own sister, the woman sleeping next door is also her husband's childhood sweetheart and former fiancée?

and so……

It's fine if it's daytime, I miss my husband so much. Oh dear, I hope my older sister and Siqi didn't overhear me.
She looked around nervously in the backyard.

A woman is pregnant for 10 months. Although she may have some moments of pleasure from her husband, it can never compare to the time before she was pregnant. Given that the couple has a good relationship, she will definitely miss out on these things, so it's understandable.

Yin Mingzhu and Xu Siqi looked at each other, blushing, and strolled around the pond under the willow trees in the small garden of the central courtyard, holding Lu Yang and Yin Mingyue's child, Fanfan.

And they were whispering to each other.

say what?
This refers to the faint sounds they heard when they accidentally stepped into the backyard.

"Siqi, how long do you intend to remain the chairman's secretary?"

"Sister Mingzhu, what do you mean by this?"

"I'm a boss now that I own a company, as you know. The company is booming right now. Why don't you come and help me? I'll give you 10% of the company's shares. How about it? Let's work together, sisters, to make the company bigger and stronger!"

Suddenly, Yin Mingzhu brought up the matter of recruiting Xu Siqi into the group.

It seems that her career is still more important to her.

They've even gone so far as to poach Lu Yang's company. Moreover, as an old classmate, Yin Mingzhu knows Xu Siqi's background very well. Based on Xu Siqi's experience as Lu Yang's chairman's secretary over the years and the connections she's built, Yin Mingzhu feels that giving Xu Siqi 10% of the company's shares is a fair deal, as long as Xu Siqi agrees to help her.

What's more, this woman has a mother who's the deputy director of a provincial television station. Maybe she'll give in for her daughter's sake... (End of Chapter)