My Lord, you need to stand up!

Why not in Chapter 950?
He's not that stupid.

That's how astonishing marine fuel consumption is.

Moreover, high-speed boats are always fuel guzzlers, and speed comes at the cost of money; this particular type of boat is indeed extremely fuel-inefficient.

The shipyard helped a major client obtain an oil permit, allowing them to refuel at a discounted price of 1.8 yuan per liter at oil depots along the Yangtze River.

A full tank of 15,000 liters of fuel would cost 27,000 liters to fill.

I tried it out briefly at the mouth of the Yangtze River, but it was too flashy, so I didn't dare to show off on the waters of the Lujiazui Bund. Instead, I quietly sailed home.

Dong Xueqing, along with her child and Lamu, happily ran around and looked at everything on the ship. The cabin, with its more than eighty seats, was almost like a luxury bus.

The three-seater configuration can be converted into a single bed by laying down bedding, and there is also a VIP cabin observation deck upstairs behind the driver's cab, with a very comfortable corner leather sofa.

In fact, it could be modified to accommodate 150 people without any problem.

It is only used for daily short-haul round trips between Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, so there is no bedroom cabin, and the kitchen is only at a basic level of heating, similar to that of a flight attendant.

Now I only regret not buying more local specialties in the old town in the countryside, so I could have taken them all with me.

Otherwise, it would feel like a waste for about twenty people to travel 2,300 kilometers back.

Let Wei Dong get acquainted with this area, which also has an old town. It was during his visit here that he and Zhang Lanzhi made their relationship public.

He delivered goods to the Yangtze River Shipping Company countless times, but never went there again.

Now it seems he has let go of his worries and is taking his family and entourage to eat local cuisine. He also goes on a shopping spree, buying everything he can get his hands on, including pancakes, rice cakes, crispy crackers, silk quilts, and embroidery from farmhouses.

They could take them back as gifts or prizes to distribute to employees, and they also bought a lot of trendy clothes and appliances in Shanghai.

They piled it onto the ship, and the guards and drivers were happy to make trip after trip.

As a result, I had such a great time shopping that I wasted two or three days, visiting and shopping in several towns and industrial zones around the Yangtze River estuary.

Just then, Leung Ka-fai arrived from out of town, following along with a worried expression, showing no joy whatsoever at the fact that "The Chess King" had sold over 800 copies in mainland China and made money.

Even though the film companies in Hong Kong were thriving and Wei Dong had cut off the black hands that the Right Bank had extended into the film industry, he didn't rush back to make films.

Instead, following the release of "The Chess King," they traveled to many provinces and cities.

With branch offices and sales staff in various locations to provide assistance, the efficiency is very high: "I discovered that there are outdoor movie projectionists in the countryside, and they are losing their jobs and leaving the market in large numbers. Could we find a way to improve this part of movie screenings?"

This prompted Wei Dong to dig up this incident from his memory.

In my past life, I lost my hand before I was even twenty and ended up working in the tax office, earning a government salary. I didn't like going back to the countryside.

So his rural life was essentially interrupted after that.

But Liang Jiahui said he would definitely remember.

Before the advent of television, entertainment in rural areas was scarce, and watching an open-air movie was a great pleasure.

If they knew where a movie was being shown at night, both adults and children would be full of energy, even if it meant walking five or six miles.

The number of people watching movies back then was more exaggerated than a bustling market, especially when films like "The Crossing River Reconnaissance" and "Shaolin Temple" were shown; even the area behind the screen was packed with people.

I remember when I was a child, I heard that there was a movie in the neighboring village, so Wei Dong would eat dinner early and go with six or seven friends. He even held Er Feng's hand.

The fact that "Shaolin Temple" achieved a box office miracle of over 100 million yuan in the 1980s, when a movie ticket cost only a few cents, was mainly due to these rural open-air movies.

Because the morning fog on the river is heavy in spring, the dockworkers only help to retrieve the mooring lines and leave the shore when the sun shines brightly and visibility is good.

As the foreign technician slowly pushed the gear lever, the orange and black speedboat, which had been gliding slowly on the water like an ordinary boat, began to gradually accelerate.

The reaction force of the jet of water, combined with the hydrofoils on the hull, lifts the gliding hull out of the water.

The vertical blade hydrofoil is actually somewhat similar to the hydrofoil panels that I later saw in short videos, where a person jumps on them and there's a hydrofoil underneath that allows them to travel across rivers.

The resistance between the water surface and the air is reduced to almost zero.

It is also almost unaffected by waves and is very stable.

Moreover, Boeing's high-speed boats have done an excellent job of reducing vibration and noise from the gas turbines, much like the difference between the Boeing 737 and the Tu-154 and Trident airliners that Wei Dong is now frequently experiencing.

Both are jet airliners capable of taking to the skies, but the Russians' products are indeed crudely made. While their specifications appear similar, the user experience is vastly different.

Sitting in the lobby now, it's much calmer and quieter than the sixteen or seventeen-meter yacht Qin Yuye bought back to Jiangzhou. The only sound is the whistling wind brushing against the large glass windows.

Wei Dong stared at the astonished seagulls flying by outside, tapping his finger on the table: "In the countryside, stethoscopes, steering wheels, and projectionists are the most sought-after professions; finding a wife is much easier then..."

He then turned around and asked with a smile, "Does anyone know what the Eight Great Officials are? I can't even remember them all."

A shipyard technician casually replied, "Ticket seller, driver, mail carrier, childcare worker, barber, waiter/waitress, salesperson... cook, I guess."

Let Wei Dong explain to Liang Jia Hui: "No one has a higher status than a projectionist. Everyone says that projectionists travel from village to village, carrying film reels, projectors, screens, and all that, which is hard work. These days, every job is hard, but projectionists bring a lot of excitement to wherever they go. So they are arranged to eat at the commune or the brigade leader's house, with extra dishes and plenty of oil and fat. They are all technical talents who are burping with satisfaction. Girls who go to see a few movies with them are eager to get married..."

Several technicians and guards gathered around, all talking at once. They all had similar feelings; the saying "every village has a mother-in-law" wasn't just for show!
This joke originated with the projectionist.

The Taoist priest was familiar with it: "In our area, the commune would designate members to go to the previous place to carry the equipment back. The projectionists would only come over by bicycle to tinker with the equipment after they had eaten and drunk their fill. In the 1960s and 70s, they received a salary of 31 yuan plus a food allowance of 9 yuan. They were very well-off."

Leung Ka-fai only had a fleeting experience; he didn't have a deep, long-term life experience.

His eyes lit up as he listened, and he seemed to be trying to figure out how to play a projectionist.

Long Zhenwei also leaned in close to the Taoist priest and listened intently.

Old Wang had experienced it all: "When we first came to the western district to reclaim the land, we had nothing. We just hoped that movies would be shown once or twice a week. As towns and streets gradually appeared, they disappeared. Fortunately, movies are now being shown on the aircraft carrier again."

Rang Weidong explained: "There were only one or two cinemas in the county, and even third-line factories could build them, but in most rural areas, a large screen was simply stretched out and hung between trees or on telephone poles. In the past, news briefings and additional screenings to convey directives were shown before the actual movie. This was actually an important channel for bringing culture to the countryside and conveying policies, but the reforms eliminated this because it was a low-profit business..."

These days, you really can't see open-air movie screenings in the old rural town.

1988 should have been the year the film industry began to undergo a major transformation, right?

Systemic reforms will inevitably lead to a decrease in government funding for cinemas across the country.

Even if the public's enthusiasm for watching movies is rising, as long as autonomy is delegated to local governments and there are fewer subsidies and rigid requirements, compared to carrying equipment around to play movies, the biggest benefits can be reaped in cinemas, so who would bother with that kind of effort?

Many open-air cinemas are free; at least, it's a common practice that you don't have to pay if you sit far away.

With the advent of television, it became less of a rarity.

Gradually, this huge cultural front was lost.

Wei Dong vaguely remembered that the video mentioned: "Actually, in the 1970s, our country was the region with the most movie viewing in the world. It seems that the average person watched about ten movies. Because there were no other forms of entertainment, the number of screenings was very large. The main method was open-air screenings in rural areas. Hui Zai said that this was meaningful and worth the effort, but we need to think carefully about how to do it."

Leung Ka-fai observed: "Wang Zhiwen and his team made a movie about college students starting businesses. The idea was good, but the filming techniques and crew structure were very immature, which greatly reduced the quality of the storytelling. If we had our people to guide and lead the team, it would definitely be much better. I can focus on filming in mainland China to assist them."

Stephen Chow earned tens of millions just from filming these two movies since his debut.

Uncle Da could earn millions by helping him out at this time.

So Leung Yee-wai went on to film "God of Gamblers II," which is considered the last installment of this gambling film trilogy, and everyone was scrambling to make money.

Even though Chow Yun-fat has temporarily retired from acting to coach a basketball team, at least he's still making money.

Only Liang Jiahui rushed in like a madman, while Jiang Jialing was teased and complained to by the landlady that she hadn't seen her boyfriend for many days.

Wei Dong reassured him, saying, "We can definitely do something, but don't rush. The mainland is too large; nothing can be done as quickly as it is in Hong Kong."

But a simpler idea might be easier to achieve. Leung Ka-fai has definitely been focusing on this: "Actually, Uncle Tak and his team started out with open-air cinemas and theaters, and eventually they gradually built a theater chain. Boss, can you also organize your own theater chain? We already have four cinemas in Hong Kong. We'll start in a few big cities first, and then branch offices in various provinces... I've talked to them in various places, and they all think it's a super huge project. But right at this critical juncture, if many mobile projection teams disappear, it will cost a lot to replace them."

Is this called sunk cost or marginal cost?
Wei Dong certainly understood this principle, but the reality was that "things done on the mainland need to be done slowly..."

With his mental age, he can certainly stay calm.

Leung Ka-fai, a few years older than him, seemed more like a naive young man: "How about we start a film company first?"

Wei Dong laughed: "It's not that easy. These days, they're all state-owned film studios, which are strictly managed by cultural institutions."

Unexpectedly, the president of the investment bank spoke up: "It's not impossible. Film studios are undergoing restructuring now. Perhaps Dong could consider taking over a film studio."

A thought instantly flashed through Wei Dong's mind: "What's going on?"
He's not interested in contracting banks or real estate, so why not contract a film studio?

(End of this chapter)