Chapter 1416 Life Is Not a Play

Days passed quickly. Liu Qiangdong ultimately adopted Zhao Fusheng's suggestion: Jingdong's e-commerce would not build a distribution center but would focus solely on website information and transaction systems.

In fact, in the world Zhao Fusheng originally came from, Ma Xiaoyun did exactly that. Although the domestic internet environment was relatively backward, once the network became integrated into people's lives, Alibaba rose rapidly.

Speaking of e-commerce, the most formidable website was not Ma Xiaoyun's but the 8848 of that era—not the phone endorsed by the mountaineer who married a young actress and claimed not to be a big shot, but an e-commerce website. This site thrived in B2C but, swayed by the American notion that B2B had more potential, repeatedly changed its core business within a few years, ending up in chaos with severe internal strife, ultimately benefiting Ma Xiaoyun.

Such incidents were all too common in China around the turn of the millennium.

Brother Ma, recalling his former rivals, once lamented: 'During Tencent's development, we encountered various opponents, all stronger than us, but they all made mistakes.'

The opponents made mistakes, while Tencent kept studying them. Naturally, the final result was Tencent laughing last.

Many people consider Tencent's imitation shameful, but these people have never truly understood the company.

The most obvious example: QQ and OICQ. The former is the chat tool we use today; the latter, after you added a friend, you could only log in on that one computer. Switching to another computer, you lost your friends, and if a friend was offline, you couldn't even leave a message.

Such a huge flaw seems laughable to us now, yet with such an obvious problem, none of the domestic companies that copied it thought to make a change.

By the time they reacted, Tencent had already left them in the dust, rapidly dominating the instant messaging market.

Zhao Fusheng did not want Future Group to be overtaken by someone one day.

Or to be more precise, his thinking was simple: he now had the advantage because of his foresight. If it was impossible to maintain that advantage in the future, he would strengthen himself now, to the point of invincibility.

…

…

New Year's Day, 2006.

Fan Baobao finally finished her scenes and returned to the capital with Yu Feihong.

After not seeing each other for over two months, Zhao Fusheng was naturally overjoyed to see his wife. The intimacy between them was not for outsiders to know.

"I missed you so much."

These four short words were not only Fan Baobao's heartfelt sentiment but also Zhao Fusheng's deepest true feeling.

"Now that I'm back, I plan to rest," Fan Baobao said to Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng was startled: "Do you not need to go back to 'Lurking'?"

"Mm, basically no need," Fan Baobao nodded. Although she was the female lead, the main roles and scenes of this drama were concentrated on the male actors led by Sun Honglei, and the promotional highlight was also Sun Honglei's transformative work.

In the original history, Yao Dazui was also a selling point, as she had gained popularity from playing Guo Furong in 'My Own Swordsman.'

But now, Fan Baobao deliberately kept a low profile and instructed Ye Jing not to over-promote her. So the promotion focused on Sun Honglei.

At Xinbaoyuan, Zhao Baogang was happy to see this situation and cooperated quite cheerfully.

Actually, it was simple: Fan Baobao was different from Yao Dazui. Fan Baobao was Zhao Fusheng's wife. To put it bluntly, being in a suspicious position, she could easily be criticized as the big boss spending money to promote his own wife, so naturally she had to keep a low profile.

As for Yao Dazui...

Well, she was simply a miraculous existence. Although by the time Zhao Fusheng traveled through time, she seemed to be making a comeback with the口碑 of her new drama 'All Is Well,' Zhao Fusheng still found it hard to develop any fondness for this key member of the 'Scumbag Women's Alliance.'

The Scumbag Women's Alliance in the entertainment industry included Bai Lianhua Dong Xiaojie, the single mother who rose from Super Girl, Yao Dazui, and the actress who looked very much like Wang Luodan—truly a collection of extremes.

"Since you don't need to participate in promotion, let's just rest well at home," Zhao Fusheng said with a meaningful smile, winking at Fan Baobao.

His mother had called more than once urging them to have a child. If he didn't let her hold a grandchild soon, Zhao Fusheng figured the elders at home would surely lose their temper.

Fan Baobao instantly understood Zhao Fusheng's meaning, blushed deeply, and glared at him.

Chuckling, Zhao Fusheng was about to carry Fan Baobao to the bedroom when suddenly a small figure appeared before them, asking innocently, "Brother, why are you two resting without taking me?"

Uh...

Zhao Fusheng was speechless. Looking at the little girl, he suddenly felt he should send Fan Beibei to a boarding school.

…

…

The Chinese people's regard for New Year's Day is far less than that for the Spring Festival.

This is probably because the former comes from abroad, while the latter is a traditional custom spanning thousands of years.

In the days after New Year's Day, there was hardly any festive atmosphere. Everyone was busy with work, and few gathered with friends to eat, drink, and chat as they did during the Spring Festival.

Of course, this situation was rare for those in the entertainment industry.

Because work schedules in the entertainment industry were unpredictable, it was already hard enough for people to get together; they wouldn't be picky about time or place.

For instance, Zhao Fusheng, Jiang Wen, and Yu Feihong hadn't gathered together in a long time.

Today, taking advantage of Yu Feihong finishing her new drama and Jiang Wen happening to be back in the capital, the three found a restaurant and finally had a chance to meet.

"To be honest, I don't like your new drama. It's too sad. How could such things happen in life?" Jiang Wen said to Yu Feihong.

Clearly, the new drama he referred to was not 'Lurking' but Yu Feihong's 'Love Comes Again.'

Yu Feihong smiled, crossed her long legs, held a wine glass in her hand, looking like a lady stepping out of a painting. Her gaze slightly focused, she said unhurriedly, "Life and movies are fundamentally different. Life has sadness and joy; the sadness or joy in movies is just something we add ourselves. I'm filming a story, not the logic of life. Besides, if movies were the same as life, who would go see them?"

Jiang Wen was taken aback. Zhao Fusheng nodded and said with a smile, "Sister Feihong is right. What is the meaning of a movie's existence? It allows the audience to project their own hearts through watching the movie and experience the significance of different people as protagonists."

"Too artsy."

Jiang Wen pursed his lips and shook his head: "You two are fooling me. I just think that a drama is meaningless if it doesn't teach the audience something."

"You're forcing education on them," Yu Feihong pursed her lips, noncommittal to Jiang Wen's words.

Watching them argue, a smile appeared at the corner of Zhao Fusheng's mouth. He didn't understand movies, but in his view, both Jiang Wen's and Yu Feihong's opinions were somewhat biased.

What is the meaning of a movie's existence?

Actually, it's simple: entertainment.

Whether it's sadness, joy, or educational significance, as long as people watch a movie, they derive enjoyment. The significance of this enjoyment lies in the satisfaction people gain from it.

Under such circumstances, whether a movie has educational significance is not important.

The realist movies of South Korea in later years were all bloody truths, but for most ordinary people, a movie is just a movie. Even if they are outraged by the plot, the moment they step out of the cinema, they return to their mundane lives.

A movie like 'Silenced' spurred the creation of a law—lofty enough, right?

And then?

Some things still continue to happen.

Look up the tragic incidents in the South Korean entertainment industry, look up the Jang Ja-yeon incident.

It's the same in China. Relying on movies to educate people about how to behave is merely the wishful thinking of filmmakers.

Zhao Fusheng saw this more clearly than anyone.

In fact, Yu Feihong and Jiang Wen knew it too, but deep down, they still hoped to do something.

Once people have a sense of responsibility, they often think differently than usual.