Chapter 1241: The Pleader

Zhao Fusheng was very busy.

Even though the entertainment scene in the capital was now in turmoil, it didn't affect his mood.

Although he occasionally received calls from many people asking about his views on the matter, Zhao Fusheng brushed them off with vague laughter. His meaning was clear: this matter had nothing to do with him. Although Yu Feihong had been injured, the other party had already apologized. As for the rest, he, as the chairman, could not overstep his bounds and decide for Ye Jing, the general manager of Future Film and Television.

Since he had put it that way, others naturally had nothing more to say.

But Zhao Fusheng didn't expect to receive a call that surprised him quite a bit.

"Zhao Sheng, long time no see."

On the other end of the line, Heavenly King Liu was still full of vigor, but his address to Zhao Fusheng seemed somewhat distant.

After all, the connection between the two had been sparse lately, though their impression of each other from their earlier collaboration was quite good.

"Brother Hua, you're too polite. Just call me Fusheng," Zhao Fusheng said with a smile.

People are strange creatures. He had once said the same thing, but back then he was just a top advertising planner, and speaking to the esteemed Liu Tianwang in such a manner gave off an air of neither servility nor arrogance. Now, as a tycoon with assets of over two billion, speaking like this was a great honor to Liu Tianwang. In short, it was a gesture of condescension to the worthy.

That said, there had never been any bad blood between Liu Tianwang and Zhao Fusheng. Even when Lin Jianle tried to meddle with the script for the second part of Infernal Affairs, Liu Tianwang had specifically called Zhao Fusheng to help him out.

Later, when Zhao Fusheng went to Hong Kong to collaborate with Stephen Chow, although he didn't meet Liu Tianwang, he still called him, and Liu Tianwang introduced him to a few friends.

And when Andy Lau developed his career on the mainland, Zhao Fusheng also took the initiative to help, introducing several endorsements to him. Of course, whether there were any other motives behind that was anyone's guess.

In fact, sometimes being used is not necessarily a bad thing; at the very least, it shows that you have value.

Zhao Fusheng was well aware that to make money in the film and television industry, he inevitably had to interact with the Hong Kong artist circle.

It was often said that Andy Lau knew how to handle people, Louis Koo knew how to handle affairs, and Chow Yun-fat knew how to do both. In truth, they were all quite similar—they appeared sincere in conversation and made you feel comfortable with their words.

Unlike Zhao Fusheng, who, in Zheng Yao's words, even when he smiled, made her wonder if he was plotting something.

Speaking of which, Zhao Fusheng had a lot of grievances about that.

Doing business is different from being a person. Don't listen to those motivational speakers spouting nonsense. If anyone did business the same way they lived their life, they'd be waiting to be cheated until they lost everything.

"Fusheng, to be honest, I'm calling because someone asked me to," Liu Tianwang said without beating around the bush, frankly stating his purpose.

Zhao Fusheng chuckled: "Is it Nicholas Tse or Zhang Weijian?"

Obviously, at this sensitive time, Liu Tianwang contacting him was most likely about the assault incident. Whether it was Nicholas Tse or Zhang Weijian who approached Liu Tianwang didn't really matter.

What mattered was that Liu Tianwang had come to plead for leniency.

"It's not them; it's Wong Jing," Liu Tianwang said with a wry smile. "I collaborated with him back then, and Uncle Tianlin took good care of me. During the years I was blacklisted, I received favors from him..."

The meaning was clear: I'm just repaying a favor; whether you agree is up to you.

They were both smart people; they could read between the lines.

Zhao Fusheng smiled faintly: "Brother Hua, since you've called, I'll be straightforward. This time, it's not because they beat up the crew members, but because they injured my sister. Although Yu Feihong is not my biological sister, she gave me the greatest help when I was starting my business. She's no different from family. Brother Hua, tell me, if someone did that to your family, what would you do?"

Andy Lau was silent; Zhao Fusheng's words were clear enough.

You can repay your favor, but given my current status, if my family is hurt, shouldn't someone pay the price?

In the end, a person's status determines their say.

If Zhao Fusheng were an ordinary person, even if Yu Feihong were injured, or even if he himself were hurt, no one would say a word; at most, they'd pay some money to settle it. But the problem was that Zhao Fusheng was not ordinary, and the usual methods meant nothing to him.

In terms of influence, both Nicholas Tse and Wong Jing were like dragons crossing the river, unable to do anything to Zhao Fusheng, the local snake. In terms of money, well, Andy Lau thought it better to let the person who suggested this come to their senses first.

In the end, people like Wong Jing now had no capital to be arrogant in front of Zhao Fusheng.

Such was the power of capital; the rich could be high and mighty and do as they pleased. Andy Lau understood this even better than Wong Jing and the others.

Sometimes, the higher you stand, the deeper you experience certain things.

"Fusheng, how about this: tell me your conditions, and I'll relay them," Liu Tianwang said slowly after a long silence.

At this point, that was all he could do. After all, Zhao Fusheng wasn't really an insider in the entertainment circle. Although he had written scripts in the past and even now, the problem was that he did it as a hobby. Essentially, Zhao Fusheng was a businessman, a tycoon. Liu Tianwang knew that the other party agreeing to talk was already out of respect for their past friendship. If he rashly made any demands, it would be like being given face but not knowing how to appreciate it.

Face is something that is always mutually given.

Zhao Fusheng smiled slightly: "Forget it. Originally, I intended to completely blacklist them on the mainland. But since you've spoken, I'll give you face. For five years, Nicholas Tse and Zhang Weijian are not allowed to develop on the mainland. Otherwise, don't blame me for being rude!"

Andy Lau was taken aback, then smiled bitterly: "Zhang Weijian is easy to deal with, but regarding Nicholas Tse, I need to inform Boss Yang."

Boss Yang naturally referred to Albert Yeung, the boss of Emperor Entertainment.

This man's experience could be called legendary. It must be said that Hong Kong has always been a place of legends, whether business tycoons or entertainment stars, glitterati or ordinary folk. In this bustling city shaped by modern history, it was truly a chosen land. It had both a modern flair striding toward the future and a historical sense of the vicissitudes. The people living there also possessed a unique Hong Kong temperament. Albert Yeung was a typical Hong Kong businessman with that temperament.

Starting with the watch shop left by his father, in the 1960s, Boss Yang became a watch industry magnate. In the early 1970s, he ventured into real estate and finance, owning a listed company. Unexpectedly, in 1983, Hong Kong experienced a financial crisis, and the bank took over all his assets on grounds of insolvency, leaving him with a debt of HK$300 million.

It must be said that Albert Yeung's success was no accident. He invited Arthur Young & Co. to evaluate his business and proposed an asset restructuring plan to his creditor, HSBC. Besides auctioning property assets, he entered into an eight-year agreement with HSBC, hiring himself at a monthly salary of HK$20,000 and his younger siblings at HK$15,000 to continue operating Emperor Watch, with profits used to repay debts.

From boss to "employee," but Albert Yeung firmly believed he could make a comeback. In 1984, he persuaded HSBC to lend him HK$10 million to open "Jewelry City." Jewelry City became the hottest retail market for Japanese tourists buying jewelry. In just three years, he repaid nearly HK$100 million in debt, leaving a balance of HK$40 million.

In the 1990s, Albert Yeung acquired Feitu Records, founded by Ye Zhiming, brother of the bombshell actress Veronica Yip, and officially entered the entertainment industry. Since then, the Emperor Group developed rapidly, and the prototype of its current diversified business synergy was largely completed. Today, the Emperor Group has become a diversified conglomerate with five subsidiaries listed on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

In 2003, Emperor established a branch in the capital, officially entering the mainland market.

Speaking of which, Jiang Wen had a significant connection with Emperor in his previous life. Old Jiang's film The Sun Also Rises ran out of budget, so he approached Albert Yeung, who was eager to enter the mainland market. Yeung invested HK$30 million, but the result was disastrous, losing over HK$10 million.

After all, at that time, Jiang Wen, along with Wong Kar-wai and Hou Hsiao-hsien, was a member of the "We're Professionals at Losing Money" film directors' association across the strait.

However, later Let the Bullets Fly made Albert Yeung a huge profit.

Well, the reason Zhao Fusheng knew so much about Boss Yang was because the artists under his company always made headlines—like the legendary Teacher Chen, the secretly married innocent twin sisters, etc., all were Emperor artists. The photos of the sister who traveled a thousand miles in a day, which sparked a massive protest by Hong Kong entertainment artists, were also exposed by Albert Yeung's tabloid newspaper.

In 2002, Albert Yeung was estimated to have a net worth of around HK$1.5 billion.

By now, Zhao Fusheng estimated that Albert Yeung's wealth was about the same as his own. However, Yeung was a Teochew with a network of wealthy tycoons in Hong Kong, while Zhao Fusheng, comparatively, was far behind.

Of course, Zhao Fusheng was not afraid of Albert Yeung. Not to mention that he was destined to be more successful than him in the future, even now, Zhao Fusheng was curious whether this Boss Yang, the legendary godfather of Nicholas Tse, would confront him head-on for Tse's sake.

People are always curious. For Zhao Fusheng, he was quite eager to get to know this Boss Yang.