Chapter 1514 The Producer Arrives

The pursuit of perfection is everyone's ideal, but imperfection is the inevitability of life.

Both Zhao Fusheng and Fan Baobao understood this.

Compared to couples who toil day in and day out for a living, they at least lacked nothing materially.

But Fan Baobao still preferred her husband to be a bit busier.

People are probably like this: they all wish their loved ones could spend more time with them, but when their loved ones set everything aside to accompany them, many feel that it's not good.

Life, ah, sometimes is really helpless.

Isn't it?

Zhao Fusheng smiled and said to Hu Donghai, who was driving, "Am I right?"

Hu Donghai grinned naively: "Chairman, I don't understand much. I just think, with your status, you should do whatever makes you happy. Why worry about so much?"

"Yeah, just be happy."

Zhao Fusheng nodded, deeply agreeing: "Money can never be earned to the end."

He paused, then shrugged: "But if there's a chance to earn more money, why not?"

Hu Donghai was stunned.

But thinking of that person's mischievous nature, he felt this was quite in line with his habits.

In Hu Donghai's impression, Zhao Fusheng's character was certainly very good—steady, mature, and sometimes even making people forget he was not yet thirty.

But occasionally, Zhao Fusheng's realism and depth also made Hu Donghai feel that his boss was a man with stories in his heart.

Yet as a subordinate, since Zhao Fusheng didn't say, they naturally couldn't ask.

"By the way, Old Hu, do you think making movies is fun?" Zhao Fusheng suddenly asked Hu Donghai.

Hu Donghai was taken aback, then laughed: "I really wouldn't know. But since you're going to the crew, why not bring Assistant Wu?"

Today he had thought he and the others would have the day off, but unexpectedly, Zhao Fusheng still went out.

Only this time, Zhao Fusheng didn't bring Wu Sijie, the chairman's assistant, but only Hu Donghai and the others.

There were three cars in total: Hu Donghai drove one, and the other two cars carried eight bodyguards following Zhao Fusheng.

"He has things to do. Today it's just you guys accompanying me."

Zhao Fusheng waved his hand and replied casually.

Wu Sijie really did have things to do today.

Representatives from Mercedes-Benz had arrived in the capital.

In fact, Mercedes-Benz headquarters had heard about the repeated quality issues with Mercedes cars in China in recent years.

But the problem was that, as the manufacturer, they certainly hoped to minimize the matter.

Lixing's approach of smoothing things over was in line with Mercedes-Benz's requirements.

But this time, Lixing's handling method made Mercedes-Benz headquarters quite dissatisfied.

For a long time, with the rise of the Asian economy, especially China's economy, the Chinese market's status in the eyes of Mercedes-Benz headquarters had been gradually increasing.

Mercedes-Benz had originally planned to launch two new models in China this year, but with this turmoil, let alone new cars, the sales volume plummeting in the past month alone proved what kind of trouble Mercedes-Benz was facing in China.

And all of this was merely the consequence of improper handling by Lixing's sales staff.

If it weren't for years of cooperation and good relations, Mercedes-Benz headquarters would have already penalized Lixing.

Just then, Tan Kaixuan and Zhao Fusheng contacted Mercedes-Benz through their respective channels, expressing interest in cooperating with Mercedes-Benz to act as agents for Mercedes sales in China.

This greatly interested some senior executives within Mercedes-Benz who were dissatisfied with Lixing.

More importantly, both Zhao Fusheng and Tan Kaixuan represented a powerful force. Although they might not have as high a market value as Mercedes-Benz, don't forget that Mercedes-Benz needed a capable agent.

And the alliance of Zhao Fusheng and Tan Kaixuan undoubtedly had such strength.

For advertising planning, there was Future Advertising and Zhao Fusheng, the gold medal planner.

For capital, Tan Kaixuan himself was one of the most outstanding investors on Wall Street in recent years.

Moreover, Tan Kaixuan had just revealed to Mercedes-Benz headquarters that he had contacted several investors to serve as shareholders of this company, all of whom were influential figures in China.

For Mercedes-Benz headquarters, even if they ultimately couldn't cooperate with such partners, they would choose to get to know them first.

Even if this made Lixing very unhappy, at the very least, it represented pressure, letting Lixing know that Mercedes-Benz had more than just one choice.

Of course, these matters were handled by Tan Kaixuan; Zhao Fusheng naturally wouldn't get involved.

But even so, he sent Wu Sijie to participate in the negotiations as his plenipotentiary representative.

This was a gesture. As a partner, Zhao Fusheng certainly had to show Mercedes-Benz and others his trust in Tan Kaixuan, which was very important.

……

……

The filming locations for "Crazy Racer" were divided into several places. In the capital, they shot relatively simple scenes; for the rest, according to Ning Hao's choice, he planned to shoot in Xiamen.

Since the project was officially established, while writing the script, Ning Hao had also been scouting locations nationwide.

He traveled south from Binzhou looking for filming locations, and upon arriving in Xiamen, he was captivated by the strong southern Chinese atmosphere. Moreover, the script featured a funny Taiwanese gang speaking Southern Min dialect, which geographically suited the plot. After staying in Xiamen for a few days, Ning Hao decisively decided to stop there and not continue southward.

It could be said that choosing Xiamen as the location was a major gain after Ning Hao's long journey.

After confirming Xiamen as the filming location, Ning Hao led the screenwriters to Xiamen to experience life for half a month, refining and supplementing the script. Then Ning Hao sent a location manager and an art team to Fujian Province to find exterior scenes.

To find locations, the location manager and art team traversed the streets and alleys of Xiamen, inside and outside the city, and went to nearby cities. Finally, during the location scouting, what pleased Ning Hao the most was the arcade building complex on Zhongshan Road in Xiamen's commercial district.

Arcade buildings are unique architectural clusters in Southern Fujian. They possess the dual qualities of Western ancient architecture and traditional Chinese southern culture—both mysterious and elegant, yet simple and practical. They are the crystallization of Eastern and Western architecture and culture. The entire crew was attracted by the unique architectural temperament of the arcades.

As the general producer, although Zhao Fusheng didn't have to follow the crew around all day, he had already discussed with Fan Baobao that after the capital's scenes were finished, he planned to go to Xiamen with Ning Hao's crew.

Anyway, transportation between Xiamen and the capital was quite convenient.

"Chairman, you're here."

Standing at the gate of the Beijing Film Studio, Zhao Fusheng met the department manager of Future Film responsible for this project.

His surname was Chen, and he had met Zhao Fusheng before.

"Old Chen, how's the shooting progress?" Zhao Fusheng got out of the car and asked casually.

"Pretty smooth. Here we're mainly shooting some less important shots. According to Director Ning's plan, we'll go to Xiamen in November to shoot."

November?

Zhao Fusheng was taken aback, then frowned slightly.

This conflicted with his plans.

After thinking for a moment, Zhao Fusheng said to Old Chen, "Let's go in first. We'll talk later."

Old Chen naturally didn't dare to be negligent and accompanied Zhao Fusheng through the gate of the Beijing Film Studio.