Chapter 1492: Crazy Racer

Whatever Zhao Fusheng's ultimate goal was, the fact proved that he had succeeded.

The Beijing News had ultimately chosen to compromise.

A public apology and compensation for emotional distress.

Everything was carried out according to Zhao Fusheng's demands; the other party's intention was simple—they hoped to let the matter rest.

Ye Jing, who was fully responsible for this matter, considered it repeatedly and finally agreed. However, he did not accept the full amount of emotional distress compensation, asking for only one yuan.

The reason was simple: this matter was never about money.

Zhao Fusheng was very satisfied with this. His own goal was not to thoroughly offend the media to death; a deterrent was enough.

The matter basically ended there. As the hottest news in August, it gradually lost its buzz.

That's how news works: when it's hot, the whole world seems to be paying attention; when it's not, a few days are enough for people to forget everything.

Once, two bored men who had shaved all their hair off questioned each other: where do you come from, and where are you going? Then a group of busybodies treated it as a question that should take a lifetime to answer.

Zhao Fusheng was certainly not that kind of bored person, but now he felt he should seriously consider whether to do something interesting.

There was no help for it; staying at home with Fan Baobao was, for Zhao Fusheng, extremely boring.

He couldn't touch his pregnant wife, and he was powerless in other matters. His mother took better care of Fan Baobao than she did of him, and even Fan Beibei had started school.

Zhao Fusheng suddenly discovered that he had become the most idle person in the family.

Although he was very idle, the outside world was not so calm.

On September 8th, the State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television convened the Film Conference.

Besides establishing a new leader, the guiding principles were also more profound and substantial. One highlight was the government's reiteration of incorporating the cultural industry into the macro-strategic framework.

Those uninterested saw it as just a few lines of a report, but those with keen noses sensed a vibrant vitality. Because among all cultural industries, film is a naturally important piece—or rather, film's positioning makes it closer to the concept of entertainment compared to other media.

You see, in 2005, nearly four hundred films were released domestically, with an average box office of less than ten million yuan. Total revenue was 1.2 billion yuan, a drop in the bucket compared to Hollywood.

In such an environment, making a film with an investment of twenty million yuan was like playing with fire.

An investment of twenty million meant the box office needed to reach at least fifty million to make a profit. But looking at the entire year of 2005, films with box office over fifty million were few and far between.

In other words, revitalizing the film cultural industry was an urgent matter!

In fact, smart people had noticed that from two or three years ago, the authorities had begun making fine adjustments. Both the theater chain system and cinema standards were results of official efforts.

Moreover, the authorities had simply opened up the rights for private enterprises to produce and distribute films.

Future Film, like Huayi, had obtained a single-film production license.

In Ye Jing's words: This is the best of times, and also the worst of times; all opportunities and pitfalls appear almost simultaneously.

Whether they could soar to the sky depended on whether Future Film could seize this opportunity.

...

...

“Be cautious!”

Sitting in his office at Future Group headquarters, Zhao Fusheng said seriously to Ye Jing: “Although this is an opportunity, we must not rush in recklessly. If something goes wrong, we’ll definitely lose a lot.”

Not to mention anything else, Zhao Fusheng knew that ever since the authorities relaxed restrictions on co-productions, domestic private film companies had been badly taken advantage of by directors from Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Ye Jing nodded: “I know. That’s why for this production of Rob-B-Hood, I’ve decided that we will be responsible for the producer role.”

“Fine.”

Zhao Fusheng smiled: “We need to balance shooting in Hong Kong and location shooting on the mainland. I have only one requirement: investment can increase, but our money must not be wasted!”

Ye Jing deeply agreed.

He had been a director himself; overshooting the budget was normal. After all, a budget is called a budget precisely because there might be oversights, and occasionally exceeding it is not surprising.

But if someone deliberately tried to cheat him out of money, Ye Jing believed he could still tell.

When that time came, he would make them know that Lord Ma has three eyes!

“By the way, Ning Hao has written a script. It’s pretty interesting,” Ye Jing said, suddenly remembering something as he was leaving. “Do you want to take a look?”

Ning Hao’s new script?

Zhao Fusheng was startled, but he was quite interested. He smiled and said, “Sure, have him contact me later.”

Everything at the company was stable now; Zheng Yao was in charge of the big picture, and the subsidiaries were gradually being separated out to be responsible for their own profits and losses. Zhao Fusheng had nothing much to do these days. Since he had free time, he might as well study Ning Hao’s script.

He met Ye Jing in the morning, and by the afternoon, Zhao Fusheng received a call from Ning Hao.

Clearly, Ye Jing had been quick and had already passed the message to Ning Hao.

Zhao Fusheng didn’t waste words; he directly asked Ning Hao to come to his office.

Visiting Future Group headquarters for the first time, sitting in the chairman’s office, Ning Hao looked a bit nervous. His hands rested on his knees, clearly unsure where to put them.

Zhao Fusheng smiled slightly: “Don’t be nervous. I originally planned to meet you outside, but I have a meeting soon, so I chose to meet here.”

That was the truth. He had intended to meet Ning Hao at a café or somewhere outside, but Zheng Yao called to say there was a meeting Zhao Fusheng needed to attend. Helpless, he had to call Ning Hao over.

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Ning Hao shook his head repeatedly.

At different times, one must learn to say different things.

As the saying goes: speak human words to humans, ghost words to ghosts.

If it were ten years later, Ning Hao might have the confidence to speak calmly and leisurely in front of Zhao Fusheng. But now, he was just a new director whose first film had succeeded and whose second film was still uncertain.

Facing a boss like Zhao Fusheng, who was worth billions, had built his fortune from scratch, and was now one of the top tycoons in the country, it would be nonsense for Ning Hao to say he wasn’t nervous.

It wasn’t that there were no cases of a commoner outshining nobility, but Ning Hao didn’t think he had that ability.

“The script?”

Zhao Fusheng smiled and didn’t waste words, directly asking Ning Hao.

Ning Hao quickly handed the script to Zhao Fusheng.

Taking the script and glancing at it, Zhao Fusheng smiled.

Just like in the original timeline, Ning Hao had written Crazy Racer.

The story was as absurd as ever: at a national cycling championship, the unlucky professional cyclist Geng Hao loses to a lucky opponent by a mere 0.01 seconds, finishing second. Then he is tricked by the unscrupulous businessman Li Fala, gets banned for life due to a positive doping test, and his coach collapses from anger.

Years later, Geng Hao makes a living driving a truck to deliver aquatic products, supporting his paralyzed coach. Meanwhile, the swindler Li Fala gets rich selling his tonic “Kidney Silver.” Li despises his burly and fierce wife, so he hires two amateur killers to murder her, but the killers are instead bribed by the wife. Geng Hao’s coach dies from a fit of rage. Following his master’s last wish, Geng Hao goes to confront Li Fala, but falls into Li’s trap instead. Donghai leads a Taiwanese gang to the mainland to do business with a Thai drug dealer, but the quarrel between Geng Hao and Li Fala attracts police and ruins their plans. Several unrelated groups, due to a series of coincidences, set off a chain of hilarious events.

To be honest, just looking at the script, it was a quintessential Ning Hao-style comedy, full of absurd black humor.

And that was exactly what the current film market lacked.

Thinking this, Zhao Fusheng looked up at the somewhat nervous Ning Hao and said with a smile, “Director Ning, do you have any actors in mind for this film?”