Internet moguls are being held hostage by the entertainment system!

Chapter 406: Preparing for the Victory Banquet, Dilraba Returns After Taking Leave
"You need to scald the skin of this cod with boiling water first, and then peel it..."

In the kitchen of Chengfu Banquet, Xie Tingfeng, wearing an apron, was verbally instructing Meng Ziyi on how to cook.

After some guidance, he discovered that this girl, who didn't think much before she spoke, was actually quite intelligent... It was a strange contrast.

Following Xie Tingfeng's instructions, Meng Ziyi placed the skinned cod pieces into ice water, looked up at him, and asked, "Brother Feng, what should we do next?"

"Ah."

Nicholas Tse came over and inspected the cod pieces, confirming they were intact, before continuing his explanation.

"Later, we need to steam the cod pieces first, and then prepare the sauce..."

"Sauce?"

"what?"

"It's okay, you can continue. After you finish preparing the sauce, what's next?"

Although the conversation was interrupted, Xie Tingfeng realized that this was a unique northern Chinese retroflex ending, so he didn't dwell on it.

"And then the dish is ready."

"So simple?!"

Meng Ziyi looked at Xie Tingfeng with a look of surprise, then looked down at the piece of cod.

Nicholas Tse could understand the joy of a celebrity successfully cooking a dish. Just as he was about to elevate the content according to the variety show script, Meng Ziyi's next sentence caught him off guard again.

"Now that I've learned how to make this dish, I can cook it for my boyfriend tonight!"

"..."

Xie Tingfeng stared at Meng Ziyi in astonishment, thinking: What kind of love-struck person is this?

"Ahem, sure! When you're making the sauce later, you need to pay attention to the proportions."

"Brother Feng, could you write down the proportions of the sauce for me? That way I can make this dish more often in the future."

"For your boyfriend to eat?"

“Yes! I used to only know how to make scrambled eggs. He ate that for a long time. I got tired of it, but he never got tired of it. So I wanted to learn more dishes so I could cook different things for him.”

Meng Ziyi's cheerful demeanor turned the food variety show "Chef Nic" into a one-woman romance show for her.

Nicholas Tse is the one who's constantly being fed dog food (a Chinese slang term for witnessing public displays of affection)...

Hearing Meng Ziyi's heartfelt thoughts, he couldn't help but admire Chen Xiu's vision and choice.

"OK, let's make the sauce."

"Okay, Brother Feng, you explain it, and I'll adjust it myself. That way, I can learn it."

Meng Ziyi put on the same seriousness he usually showed when acting, staring at the bottles and jars on the stove, striking a very imposing pose.

As a TV host, Nicholas Tse could only prepare other dishes after teaching her this one.

……

Inside the chairman's office of Datang Pictures.

Wei Feng brought the box office report for "The Long Journey Home" and the plan for the film's celebration banquet to report to Chen Xiu.

"Currently, the latest box office for 'The Journey Home' is 30.1 billion yuan, and the daily box office has dropped to just over 1000 million yuan. It feels like the movie will be taken off the screens in about two weeks. The box office prediction given by Maoyan platform has been adjusted to 32.5 billion yuan."

"Compared to the production cost of 2 million yuan, this box office performance is already quite good."

Chen Xiu said with a satisfied expression.

Datang Pictures had a 60% stake in the production and investment of "The Road Home". If we calculate based on the final box office of 32.5 billion yuan, the box office revenue of "The Road Home" should be 12.35 billion yuan.

After deducting distribution fees and production costs, the total profit from this investment is almost comparable to that of "Detective Chinatown 2".

The profits of other film companies in a year cannot match those of a single movie.

To date, apart from one round of financing at the beginning of its establishment, Datang Pictures has not sought external financing again, mainly because it is not short of money.

If it is determined to go public, based on the PE ratio of film and television companies, Datang Pictures' current valuation would not be less than 400 billion.

After reporting on the film's revenue sharing, Wei Feng continued, "The box office of 'The Long Way Home' has surpassed that of 'Dying to Survive,' ranking third on this year's box office chart. President Zhong's idea is to hold a box office celebration banquet."

"Of course, you can take care of it."

"Who are the specific guests invited?"

"You can decide this kind of thing."

Chen Xiu had no intention of asking about the guests at all.

Wei Feng was not surprised by the result; his report was simply based on normal procedures.

After finalizing the work arrangements, Wei Feng slowly left the office.

Sitting on the sofa, Chen Xiu first glanced at the clock on the wall, then turned to look out the window, wondering if Meng Ziyi might get burned or cut while learning to cook...

She's quite smart; it shouldn't be that bad.

With this in mind, Chen Xiu felt relieved and got up to return to her desk. She turned on her computer, checked her work email, and then, according to American time, made a video call to the Open AI team on the other side of the ocean.

In addition to the usual project progress report, the Open AI team also mentioned to Chen Xiu that Microsoft wanted to seek cooperation.

As mentioned before, the Open AI team is only responsible for research and development, while Chen Xiu is in charge of external financing for the company. Therefore, Sam Altman suggested that Chen Xiu communicate with Microsoft.

Chen Xiu was naturally more than happy to accept this.

The two communicated on OpenAI's chatbot project for over an hour until another chat request appeared, at which point Chen Xiucai ended the conversation.

"Sorry, Sam, I have another conference call. Hopefully, Chat GPT will be even smarter next time we communicate."

"That's what I hope for too."

After ending the call, Chen Xiu glanced at the Musk icon that popped up on the screen and couldn't help but raise her eyebrows.

Clicking on the profile picture to answer the call, Chen Xiu was suddenly greeted by Musk's large, tired-looking face. She stared at him for two seconds before greeting him, "Hello?"

"You're not mistaken, this is me."

Musk's face showed a hint of life, and he immediately guessed Chen Xiu's thoughts.

Chen Xiu pouted and said, "Could you move the camera back? This angle looks rather eerie."

"There's no need for all that trouble. I'm contacting you just to tell you something."

"what?"

"In about 70 days, I will go to China to attend the groundbreaking ceremony of the Shanghai super factory. At that time, I may have time to come and see you."

Musk's casual tone seemed to say: I made time to see you, isn't that giving you face?

Chen Xiu scratched her cheek and considered, "If you really want to come, remember to book an appointment in advance, otherwise I might not be available."

"..."

Musk, having failed to make a proper cup, tactically picked up a nearby glass and pretended to take a sip.

He put down his water glass without any embarrassment and continued, "Okay! Actually, the main reason I came to you is to find a platform to showcase myself and let users in China get to know me."

"You can register an account on Douyin."

"You know, I don't like using TikTok."

"I thought you would make some sacrifices to achieve your goal."

Chen Xiu's words left Musk speechless.

After a moment, the square-shaped face on the screen said dejectedly, "I'll try using TikTok..."

"It's not TikTok, it's Douyin, don't get it wrong."

"OK."

"After you successfully register, don't immediately say you know me, otherwise you will be scolded by my fans."

Unsurprisingly, a look of surprise flashed across Musk's face.

Someone who loves marketing so much would naturally try to ride on Chen Xiu's popularity if he wanted to gain recognition in China. However, before he could even start, that path was blocked.

"OK! I understand."

Seeing Musk's exasperated expression, Chen Xiu smiled and said, "Let's leave it at that for now. If I happen to be free on the day you come, I can treat you to dinner."

Why have you suddenly become so friendly and polite?

"It's just social etiquette."

After saying that, he hung up the video call.

Chen Xiu leaned back in his chair to rest for a while. When he noticed his phone beeping incessantly, he also saw the sunset outside the window gradually turning orange.

Picking up my phone to check, I saw a message from Meng Ziyi saying that she had finished recording and was getting ready to go home, as well as @ messages from the "Datang Film Industry Internal Work Group" and private messages from Reba and Tian Xinwei.

The group chat message came from Wei Feng, who tagged everyone: "The celebration banquet for the 3 billion yuan box office of 'The Journey Home' will be held on November 1st. The venue is tentatively set at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Beijing. Many directors and stars in the industry will be there. Artists who are free must attend."

Yang Mi: "I'm free!"

Hot Bar: "I'm free!"

Tian Xinwei: "+1"

Zhou Ye: "+1"

"..."

Then, the messages from Dilraba and Tian Xinwei were similar, both saying they were coming to attend the box office celebration party and expressing their longing in their own ways.

Chen Xiu's replies to them were all similar: "Aren't you filming (or going to school)? Why were you able to come over?"

"I need to ask for leave!" *2
The messages came one after the other; this time, they were remarkably in sync.

Chen Xiu stared at the screen for a while, her mind already conjuring up the scene where Meng Ziyi, Reba, and Tian Xinwei met at the celebration banquet...

Oh well, it was bound to happen sooner or later anyway. Since things have come to this, let's go home and have dinner first.

Chen Xiu put away her phone, got up from her chair, and left the office.

Reba, far away on the Hengdian film set, puts away her phone, her eyes crinkling with a smile.

She glanced at the body double who was filming a kissing scene with Zhang Zhen, the male lead of "Love and Destiny," then went behind the monitor and waited quietly for director Lin Yufen to finish filming before asking for leave.

"Director, I need to take leave from the 1st to the 3rd of next month."

"Huh? Three days?"

"Correct."

"Hmm~, I'll coordinate the scenes. Try to come back as soon as possible."

Dilraba smiled and nodded. As she turned to leave, she couldn't help but recall her first encounter with Chen Xiu in "Diamond Lover".

When she wanted to take leave, the director's response was either continue filming or leave and pay compensation...

Indeed, in the entertainment industry, status is everything!
On the other hand, Tian Xinwei, who had been a "good student" at the Shanghai Theatre Academy for two months, had a very smooth leave application process.

"Hey teacher, I need to ask for leave on the 1st of next month to go for an audition."

"The exact time is uncertain, so please calculate it as one week for now."

"Okay, thank you!"

After taking leave, I'm checking flight tickets!
After booking her plane tickets, Tian Xinwei went to her group chat with Zhou Ye and Bai Lu, her best friends, and started chatting about crickets...

(End of this chapter)