1977: The beginning of the blind date with the daughter of the king

Chapter 674 The End of a Legend!
"Really three million dollars?"

"Won't it change again?"

Yang Jie asked hesitantly at this moment.

Li Changhe pondered for a moment and said, "If you think it's too little, we can actually add some more."

“I’m confident I can offer five million dollars. If you think it’s a good offer, I can talk to them. I don’t think it’ll be a problem.”

Anyway, the foreign exchange goes to the country, so three or five million is just small change to him.

"five million?"

"We can't ask for too much money for this long river. I think three million US dollars is quite a lot. We haven't even started filming this TV series yet."

Upon hearing this price, Teacher Wang, who was standing nearby, hurriedly reached out and waved her hand repeatedly.

If this asking price angers Hong Kong, and the US dollars we've already received disappear, then it would be a huge loss.

"I think so too. We can't let Hong Kong TV think we're too greedy and insatiable. I think three million US dollars is fine; it's already exceeded Taiwan's expectations."

"I heard that a movie from Beijing Film Studio only sells for a few hundred thousand US dollars, while our TV series sells for three million. I feel like I'm dreaming."

Yang Jie chimed in, saying, "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. Rather than betting on them raising the price, we should accept their offer. After all, it's their offer of three million US dollars, so they're unlikely to back out."

Hearing this, Zhu Lin couldn't help but secretly smile.

Whether it's three million or five million, it's all up to Li Changhe's word.

"That works too. I'll have them add two more cameras or something, and then hand them over to our crew."

Li Changhe knew very well that in the original history, the entire "Journey to the West" crew only had one camera, and it was all done by Teacher Wang Chongqiu, who carried out various filming tasks. It was hard work and the filming efficiency was low.

Now that Li Changhe is here, at the very least, providing more cameras shouldn't be a problem.

"Can this really be negotiated?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Chongqiu's eyes lit up.

For him, the camera was his livelihood, but the camera at the TV station was quite old and not as good as the most advanced equipment available today.

The government does sometimes purchase some photography equipment, but the film studios allocate it immediately. Even if CCTV gets its hands on it, many other departments need to use it, so the TV drama department is not the top priority.

Currently, CCTV has only allocated one camera to the production team. If they could add a few more, the difficulty of filming would be greatly reduced.

"A little photography equipment is no problem."

"You two don't know this, but many companies on Hong Kong Island are now trying to do business with us and build good relationships, so many companies are adopting a very humble attitude."

"Since we're not raising prices, simply asking them to throw in some equipment isn't a big deal at all."

"Before, the Beijing Film Studio gave us cameras and two cars."

"Actually, the goal was to open up the door to film and television city projects in Shanghai, and then the deal was successfully negotiated."

"So I don't think this is a big deal at all."

Li Changhe said with a smile.

Upon hearing this, Yang Jie and Wang Chongqiu exchanged a glance, thinking that this matter seemed quite easy.

"In that case, I'll go and discuss it with Lao Ruan and Lao Dai. I think this condition is already very good."

At this moment, Yang Jie spoke in a deep voice, referring to the two deputy directors of CCTV, who were also the key figures in promoting the adaptation of the Four Great Classical Novels.

“Okay, Teacher Yang, once you’ve decided, please give my family a call. I’ll let them know in Hong Kong and ask them to send someone to contact our TV station, just to go through the motions.”

"Linlin and I will head back now."

Li Changhe then got up, preparing to leave with Zhu Lin first.

Yang Jie looked at Zhu Lin, and although she wanted to say something, she thought about it and decided not to speak.

After Li Changhe and Zhu Lin left, Wang Chongqiu looked at Yang Jie and said with a smile, "Were you going to talk to them about the role? Why didn't you say anything?"

"I haven't decided yet. Besides, Linlin can't act right now; she's pregnant."

"Let's wait until she gives birth. Anyway, we can't film there anytime soon."

Yang Jie shook her head and said helplessly.

The main issue was that she wasn't very confident about the role, and the changes she made were a bit too daring.

On the other side, after Li Changhe and Zhu Lin came out, Zhu Lin smiled and said to Li Changhe, "Why didn't you just report ten million US dollars? Look how surprised the teachers were."

"I just said it casually. Actually, three or five million doesn't really matter to me."

"Tomorrow, I need to go and discuss with the government again about another investment of one or two billion US dollars."

Li Changhe then said with a smile.

"One billion or eight billion US dollars? That much?"

"Where did you make your money this time?"

Zhu Lin was still somewhat surprised when she heard the amount, even though she was already immune to such things.

How come Li Changhe has so much money again after all this time?

"This time it's not my money, it's Texaco's money. It's just an American oil company that made a lot of money during this oil crisis and has nowhere to spend it, so it insists on investing in my venture capital firm."

"They gave me two billion, and I plan to take half of it to invest in a petrochemical project in China!"

Li Changhe said with a smile.

"Can this be done?"

"Besides, aren't you a venture capitalist? Venture capitalists are investment companies, right? How can you invest in China?"

After learning about Li Changhe's wealth, Zhu Lin now spends her free time reading books on finance and has gained some financial knowledge.

According to her, at least she should know what businesses her family owns, so that she wouldn't be completely clueless when Li Changhe explains things.

Although she wasn't interested in participating, she felt she should at least know some basic knowledge, especially now that she was about to have a child.

"Theoretically, it definitely shouldn't work, but there's a way to do it!"

"Do you remember that I set up an oil company in Singapore?"

"Singapore is small, so all projects would be difficult to implement. As long as the domestic authorities agree, I can use a company in Singapore as the main entity to cooperate with the domestic authorities."

"Singapore mainly focuses on oil refining, while China can focus on petrochemicals, effectively separating the two sectors."

"And the venture capital firms will buy shares in the Singapore company."

"It's essentially like a Singaporean company setting up a branch in China, while I invested in a Singaporean oil company."

Li Changhe explained softly to Zhu Lin, who shook her head after listening. "It's too complicated. Forget it, I don't understand it anyway."

"You can decide what to do."

Zhu Lin shook her head and said helplessly.

Li Changhe sighed, "This is probably the last time I'll use this identity to negotiate cooperation with domestic entities."

"From now on, we'll have to use Bao Zeyang's identity to openly and legitimately engage with the government!"

With the arrival of 82, some reforms began to gradually unfold, starting with the retirement of some of the older generation.

The most direct impact of these people stepping down on Li Changhe is that his network of connections will all be dismantled.

Whether it's Elder Liao, Director Lu, or Zhang Guangnian, they are all retiring.

Although the influence remains, there is no doubt that without working on the front lines, there will be no more direct involvement in the business.

According to Mr. Liao, Li Changhe has now gained significant influence, and many collaborations no longer need to be discussed privately with the mainland; he can simply negotiate directly as a representative of the Hong Kong side.

The higher-ups would naturally treat him with special favor, which would also make it easier to cooperate with [Bao Zeyang] in the long term and protect this identity.

Li Changhe had already made the same decision, but he never expected that such an opportunity would suddenly appear, which was absolutely not to be missed.

This is because it can bring not only large amounts of foreign exchange, but also certain petrochemical technologies.

Petrochemical technology is one of the foundations of modern industrial development.

The next day, at Director Lu's home, upon hearing Li Changhe's plan, Director Lu couldn't help but shake his head.

"Changhe, you really do surprise us all the time."

"A billion-dollar investment, in the petrochemical industry, has indeed brought tangible benefits to the country."

It is important to understand that the petrochemical industry is an industry that the country is currently developing with great effort, as petrochemical products have a significant impact not only on heavy industry but also on light industry.

Putting aside other things, just take polyester, a material used for making clothes, which is one of the petrochemical products.

The country is now vigorously developing the petrochemical industry, but it is very difficult to enter this industry. Firstly, the country lacks suitable talent, and secondly, cooperation with Western companies must be approached with caution.

This is a large-scale national project; it's not something that can be done by just any company.

Li Changhe's trickery can at least raise the level of trust in the country by two steps.

After all, Texaco's money was invested in venture capital, which in turn invested in Li Changhe's Asia Petroleum in Singapore. Asia Petroleum then used this money to expand, and in turn, it could buy technology from Texaco.

Exxon's oil refining technology and Texaco's petrochemical technology can both be attributed to Rockefeller's support behind the scenes, but Rockefeller's direct involvement is circumvented on the surface.

This effectively reduces the country's costs, since the higher-ups would have had to pay much more if they had talked to Rockefeller directly.

Now, these costs are being borne by Li Changhe overseas, so the country doesn't need to make any extra payments, which is a huge benefit.

"It just so happened that this opportunity came about. I never expected that Texaco would put two billion US dollars in my account in one go. I might as well spend this money."

"Moreover, as far as I know, Texaco will be making a lot of acquisitions in the future, and their technology will probably advance by leaps and bounds. So selling me some of their soon-to-be-obsolete technology wouldn't be against the rules."

Li Changhe said with a smile.

"Okay, I'll make the trip for you and talk to the higher-ups to see where the project should be located."

Do you have any thoughts of your own?

Director Lu then asked curiously.

In this kind of petrochemical cooperation, it is unlikely that a new plant will be built. The best way is to have the existing petrochemical companies cooperate with Li Changhe's petrochemical companies to establish a branch company, and then consider it a joint venture.

However, there are quite a few petrochemical companies in China. From Northeast China to Guangdong and Guangxi, there are petrochemical industries along the way. Given this favorable situation, there are bound to be many companies that want to get a share of the pie.

"Hmm, I remember there's a petrochemical company in Ninghai. If it doesn't work out, we can put it there."

“Bao Zeyang is from Ninghai, so it’s understandable that he would give back to his hometown.”

Li Changhe said with a smile.

After he returned, he did a simple investigation. He remembered that in later generations, there was a very powerful Zhenhai Petrochemical Company in Ninghai, which meant that there was soil there.

"That's true. Nowadays, when Hong Kong businessmen return to invest, their first choice is usually to give back to their hometown. That's a plausible explanation."

"Okay, I'll go talk to them. Wait for my news."

Director Lu is also from Ninghai, and he is very supportive of Li Changhe placing such a large enterprise there.

Putting aside everything else, the number of jobs it creates alone is enough to make other places envious.

With Director Lu intervening, Li Changhe didn't interfere any further and returned home.

As soon as he got home, Zhu Lin looked at him with a smile.

"The teacher just called. CCTV has agreed to purchase the overseas copyrights for a package deal of three million US dollars."

"However, CCTV also has conditions, namely, they want to have the right to supervise you. If you smear the TV series or affect the domestic image, they have the right to revoke the copyright."

Li Changhe nodded: "This caution is quite appropriate. I'm sure there won't be any problems on my end."

"In that case, I'll go back to Hong Kong Island in a few days to arrange this matter."

Li Changhe thought for a moment and then said to Zhu Lin.

This trip back is quick, taking only a few days, and won't affect Zhu Lin's production.

"Oh, right, your graduation certificate. Mom just brought it to you. Shuanglin delivered it to the family compound, so Mom brought it to you."

"Besides your graduation certificate, there's also a group photo of your classmates, and they even wrote you a graduation message, which I brought with me."

After hearing his wife's words, Li Changhe walked to the table next to him, saw the graduation certificate, photos, and a thick book of graduation messages on the table, and sighed.

Sitting on the sofa, Li Changhe then picked up the book of graduation messages and began to read.

Many people left quotes on it, including his classmates from the Department of Political Economy, as well as many of his close friends, such as those from the Department of Law and the Department of Chinese Literature.

Even Lin Yifu wrote a message for him, expressing his nostalgia for the few days they spent together.

Thinking of this, Li Changhe felt ashamed.

Teacher Zhang transferred him to share a dormitory with Lin Yifu, intending for him to help Lin Yifu. However, Li Changhe left after only a few days, so in the end, Lin Yifu actually helped him more.

Looking at the heartfelt messages on it, Li Changhe shook his head and then slowly closed it.

This message can be considered his final moment of glory in this role.

He was a fleeting figure, and then fell like a shooting star. Perhaps decades from now, before his identity is revealed, he will still be a legend of Peking University in the eyes of the public.

A legend comes to an end!

(End of this chapter)