Huayu: The Big Players Behind the Scenes

In a blink of an eye,

The audition for "Red Cliff" is coming.

Zhang Yimou looked at the stack of resumes in front of him, which were seventy or eighty centimeters tall, and frowned rather worriedly.

"Huai'an, what do we do with these major supporting characters?"

"Senior brother, do I really have to teach you this?"

Zhuang Huai'an glanced at the people and called over a few employees. "Brothers, please take a look and sort these resumes into categories. I don't need to explain how to do it, right?"

"Don't worry, Director!" The lead employee rubbed his hands together, eager to get started. "We know this process like the back of our hand; we've got tons of people at Beijing Film Academy and all the others!"

"Wake up, this is my brother!"

Zhuang Huai'an gave him a thumbs up, then turned to look at the stunned Lao Zhangzi and raised an eyebrow, "Senior brother, don't let me down."

"No, I can't do it."

Zhang Yimou's face fell. "Huai'an, why don't you audition with me? I'm not like you, a die-hard member of the Beijing Film Academy. After all these years, I have some connections. Besides, today's audition is just for a supporting role. If it's not too important, it will be difficult for me to do it."

"Tsk, you're just too honest."

Zhuang Huai'an clicked his tongue a few times, "Senior brother, show some of the aura of a four-time Grand Slam director, you need to step up your game."

"Oh…"

Zhang Yimou was too lazy to bother with him. This kid was too lucky. He had been a saint at Beijing Film Academy since his debut, with people protecting him all the way. How could he understand the difficulties of being the eldest disciple of the outer sect?

"Alright, you get back to work, I'm off."

Zhuang Huai'an waved his hand dismissively. If Zhang Yimou couldn't even handle such a small matter, he wouldn't have reached such a high position.

I strolled all the way to the website department.

"Old Li, busy?"

"Hey, boss,"

Li Shangyou poked half his head out from behind the computer and waved, saying, "You've come at the right time, come and take a look."

Zhuang Huai'an stepped forward and followed his finger to the screen. "Wow, wow, only two hours and we already have 12 registered users?"

Yes, you read that right.

Li Shangyou said happily, "The backend data shows that 90% of these users came through the Tencent link. No wonder it's the internet company with the largest traffic!"

Zhuang Huai'an smiled without saying a word. Before the website was launched, he had Li Shangyou go to Tencent to represent 91 Video and sign a strategic cooperation agreement with Pony Ma.

In other words, under the guise of giving benefits to Tencent users, they offered them free access to uncensored, legitimate movies and TV series.

Pony Ma would certainly not refuse such a mutually beneficial arrangement, especially since Zhuang Huai'an is a major shareholder of Tencent.

Coincidentally, not long ago, Tencent also officially launched the QQ 2006 official version. This was a key historical moment, with a dedicated service icon bar appearing on the personal profile card. Activation/completion conditions would light up in color, while those not activated would be displayed in gray.

Thus, the "light up the icon" game, a popular activity for everyone, was officially born.

Pony Ma didn't hold back either, directly adding the 91 Video icon, along with membership, three diamonds, space, pet, fantasy, email, and mobile phone icons, all lined up in a row.

Add to that Tencent's signature move of automatically bundling web pages when you click on them—wow, with this smooth little combo, only 12 users is hardly a fair assessment of Tencent's massive user base.

Zhuang Huai'an looked at the bottom right corner of the screen and suddenly realized that it was Wednesday, so it wasn't surprising.

When 91.com was first established, considering the current internet speed, it didn't have many fancy sections. Currently, it has three: movie forum and TV series.

Needless to say, their movies and TV series are all self-produced or co-invested in. With the copyrights in hand, they can do whatever they want!

This forum is somewhat like Douban, mainly for netizens to vent and discuss. Currently, only its own projects and a temporary "Red Cliff" section are online.

In fact, Zhuang Huai'an had a thousand ideas in his mind, but he was limited by reality and could only put them aside for the time being.

You can't expect to watch 1080P HD online videos with a 100M broadband connection; that's simply impossible!

Just to put it simply, the clearest video currently available online is only 480p. How can I even describe that clarity in the future?

If you watch a movie at this resolution, you won't be able to tell which is the normal picture and which is the pixelated one!

In a daze, one might even think that they have hit too hard, causing their vision to blur.

Zhuang Huai'an only realized after learning more about it that if you wanted to develop an online video website before 2010, you had to improve your network speed first.

It can upload in 720p, but it can't load on a home network at all; it can only be downloaded to a hard drive to watch. If that's the case, what's the point of online video websites?

Free DVDs can't generate traffic or retain users!

"Oh, by the way, boss,"

Li Shangyou looked up. "When I went to Tencent, I could tell that Brother Ma held you in extremely high regard and repeatedly asked me to convey his desire to meet with you, but it seemed you were somewhat resistant?"

"His real intention is not in the wine; let's ignore him."

Zhuang Huai'an curled his lip. Little Ma wasn't praising him at all; he was clearly after the 18% of original shares in Zhuang Huai'an's possession.

The reason he has been reluctant to deal with Little Ma is simply to avoid conflict and wait for the right opportunity. There will be another wave of opportunities later.

After leaving the network department, Director Zhuang thought that he hadn't inspected the territory in a long time, and since he had nothing else to do, he decided to visit all the areas. After chatting with his aunt about building construction in the finance department for a while, he finally arrived at the small building next door, Madou Media.

"Gossiping again?"

Zhuang Huai'an leaned closer, and Liu Yifei rolled her eyes at him, her sweet, childlike voice saying, "We're just keeping a close eye on what's going on in the industry!"

All around, the three unfortunate sisters were present, with Chun Ge and Tan Weiwei on either side as protectors, Ling Hua exuding heroic spirit, Wan Qian squinting her eyes, Dong Xuan with her eyebrows curved, and Yan Danchen smiling.

Okay, okay, so you're the boss's confidantes, right?

Not far away, a group of male celebrities were secretly observing and listening.

"What's going on? Why is everyone gathered here today?"

Zhuang Huai'an glanced around and directly called out, "Luo Jin, who's next?"

The younger brother stood up and said with an awkward smile, "Isn't today the audition for Red Cliff? Everyone took time out of their busy schedules to come back and join in the fun."

"Huh? Didn't I tell Du Hua to prioritize his own people? What... Oh~~~~"

Zhuang Huai'an slapped his forehead and immediately understood. He guessed that these guys were not content with playing minor supporting roles and wanted to try out more significant supporting roles.

That's fine. It's good to be ambitious. At least they're still thinking about auditions and haven't considered using other methods.

Alright, it's rare to have so many people gathered here. Zhuang Huai'an waved his hand and said, "Let's start the meeting!"

Du Hua, Zhong Lifang, Wang Zhengliang, and all the artists from Madou Media were summoned. The group marched into the conference room and sat down in rows.

"That young man in the corner, yes, that's you."

Zhuang Huai'an pointed at the squinty-eyed young man, "New here, right? Introduce yourself to everyone so we can get to know each other."

"Oh...oh...okay, boss."

Facing a group of celebrities, the young man stood up, somewhat awkwardly, "Hello everyone, my name is Li Ronghao, and I am... well, a music producer. Please give me your guidance, thank you."

Everyone applauded politely, and Zhuang Huai'an laughed, "Speaking of which, Rong Hao was strongly recommended by Li Zongsheng. I spent several million to recruit him to our company."

Upon hearing this, the artists felt a chill run down their spines. Several singers glanced at each other, for they were all seasoned veterans and could easily tell that their boss was supporting this young man.

"In that case, let's begin our meeting with the music department!"