Chapter 1916: Much Ado About Nothing

Although Ge Meng was an idiot, Zhao Fusheng had no intention of stooping to an idiot's level. Sending a lawyer's letter to make him realize his mistake was enough.

As for what would happen next, Zhao Fusheng simply didn't care.

The emperor is not anxious, but the eunuch is. The party involved could take money and change their testimony; why should an outsider like him worry so much?

What he cared about more was what was about to happen.

Under Zhao Fusheng's attention, the charity gala became a major event for Future Group recently, with all subsidiaries finding ways to participate.

Even many outsiders had heard about it.

Of course, in their eyes, this was Zhao Fusheng's way of pleasing his pregnant wife and currying favor with his mother-in-law and elders.

But regardless, no one would refuse the chance to do Zhao Fusheng a favor.

Huayi simply stated that all their stars with sufficient status would definitely attend.

To that end, Wang Zhonglei personally visited Future Group to meet Zhao Fusheng.

"Liu Jialing's matter was her fault."

Wang Zhonglei said sincerely to Zhao Fusheng: "We were planning to sign her mainland agency contract, but now, I think we'll forget it."

"No need."

Zhao Fusheng chuckled: "I'm not targeting her, just her actions."

"Really?"

Wang Zhonglei was taken aback, quite surprised.

This was his genuine reaction. Originally, he and Huayi's leadership thought Zhao Fusheng was deliberately targeting Liu Jialing, as news of his dislike for Hong Kong artists had been circulating for a long time.

It seemed since the Little White Dragon incident, Zhao Fusheng had never been keen on Hong Kong artists; the only ones he could talk to were Andy Lau and Leslie Cheung.

So everyone assumed Liu Jialing's incident was intentional.

But unexpectedly, Zhao Fusheng told him he was targeting the act, not the person.

Chuckling, Zhao Fusheng glanced at Wang Zhonglei and said calmly: "I'm a businessman. The purpose of doing business is to make money. If it doesn't make money, there's no need for me to do it. By the same token, if anyone hinders my business, I'll see them as a stumbling block and kick them away."

"Little President Wang and I have known each other for a long time. Though we may not fully trust each other, we must admit that when people meet, there's already a five-tenths friendship, right?"

"With a five-tenths friendship, you can sit down and chat, discuss business. At six-tenths, trust appears in your heart, and you let down your guard a bit. At seven-tenths, you can do big things together. At eight or nine-tenths, you can share secrets and fight side by side. At ten-tenths, it's a level where you can entrust your life."

Listening to Zhao Fusheng, Wang Zhonglei was somewhat puzzled but wisely chose not to speak rashly.

Although in the eyes of the outside world he was a playboy relying on his brother for his current status, Zhao Fusheng knew well that Wang Zhonglei was very smart.

If he weren't smart enough, how could Wang Zhongjun have sent him to Huayi Film to manage artist relations and suppress Wang Jinghua?

But often, the public is deceived by superficial things, focusing only on scandals and missing the truth hidden beneath.

"Our friendship naturally isn't that much."

Zhao Fusheng smiled faintly and said to Wang Zhonglei: "But at least, I have no reason to deceive you, do I?"

Wang Zhonglei smiled bitterly and nodded, having to admit Zhao Fusheng was right.

He indeed had no reason to deceive him, as they were on completely different levels.

After all, for someone to be deceived, they must have value worth deceiving. If they have no value and are destitute, why would anyone bother to deceive them?

For Zhao Fusheng, Wang Zhonglei was exactly that.

Or rather, the entire Huayi was nothing in Zhao Fusheng's eyes.

Future Film was just one link in Zhao Fusheng's business empire. After all, the foundation of the entire Future Group was not in film.

But Huayi was different; without the film business, Huayi's operations would plummet.

"Then about Liu Jialing..." Wang Zhonglei hesitated but still asked Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng smiled and waved his hand: "As you wish."

"As you wish?"

Wang Zhonglei was stunned.

Zhao Fusheng nodded: "Yes, sign her if you want. I won't do anything to her."

This was the truth. To him, Liu Jialing was just an ordinary artist. Though she had some gossip, it had nothing to do with Zhao Fusheng.

Even Actor Liang didn't mind a little green on his head, so why should he stick his neck out?

As Zhao Fusheng said to Wang Zhonglei, he targeted the act, not the person, just to teach Liu Jialing a lesson and also to make the crew work harder.

As for anything else, Zhao Fusheng never thought about it.

Blacklisting? Hah, Zhao Fusheng wasn't that idle.

"That's good, that's good."

Wang Zhonglei was quite pleased, nodding repeatedly.

For Zhao Fusheng, this might be a trivial matter, but for Huayi, it was the beginning of their layout in the Hong Kong film industry.

Future Film was different from Huayi. Future Film had Zhao Fusheng as its strong backing; even if it lost a hundred million, or even failed to turn a profit for a year or two, it would still not go under.

But Huayi couldn't. If Huayi lost money on several big productions in a row, the Wang brothers would face questioning from the board of directors.

Merchants pursue profit; if there's no money to be made, no investor would agree.

"I still have a lot of trust in Huayi."

Zhao Fusheng chuckled and said to Wang Zhonglei, "Our cooperation has always been pretty good, don't you think?"

"Yes, yes, yes."

Wang Zhonglei nodded repeatedly. He wasn't stupid; if someone extended an olive branch to him and he still held back, that would be ungrateful.

The two chatted for a while longer before Wang Zhonglei took his leave.

Of course, when he left, he was in a very good mood.

…

…

"What's going on? Why did Wang Zhonglei come?"

When Wang Zhonglei left, Ye Jing happened to come to the company to report on work. Although they didn't meet, he learned of this news.

"Nothing much. He came to sound me out about Liu Jialing's matter."

Zhao Fusheng smiled. "Our contract termination with Liu Jialing scared them. They had originally planned to sign her."

"Heh, Huayi is trying to bring in artists from Hong Kong and Taiwan."

Ye Jing was sharp; after a moment's thought, he understood the Wang brothers' plan. He smiled and said to Zhao Fusheng, "Should we give it a try too?"

"No need."

Zhao Fusheng waved his hand, unconcerned by Ye Jing's words.

Hong Kong's entertainment industry was in decline, and its actors were also in a transitional gap. Now, Andy Lau and Louis Koo were the backbone of the industry; ten years later, it would still be the same.

Zhao Fusheng had no intention of laying out plans for Hong Kong's film and television industry.

Because there was no need.

A place that was about to decline, where most people in the industry would have to come to the mainland to make a living—what was there to plan for?

"Ning Hao's film is edited. When should it be released? We considered whether it could be put in the National Day holiday slot," Ye Jing asked Zhao Fusheng.

The filming and editing of *Crazy Racer* had been completed, and it had officially entered the post-production promotion phase.

In Ye Jing's view, *The Bullet* might be released within the year. If the two films clashed, it would be left hand fighting right hand, completely meaningless.

So he planned to have *Racer* avoid *The Bullet*.

Zhao Fusheng smiled and waved his hand. "No need."

"Huh?"

Ye Jing was startled and looked at Zhao Fusheng in surprise.

"Given Old Jiang's filming pace, how long do you think this film will take?"

Zhao Fusheng smiled and said to Ye Jing, "Let me tell you, at the current rate, that guy will at least film until the end of the year. By then, editing and promotion won't be possible in time."

Ye Jing immediately smiled bitterly.

He had indeed forgotten about this, or rather, he had forgotten Jiang Wen's nature.

He was a well-known example in the industry of slow work producing fine results.

The only ones comparable to him were Wong Kar-wai and a few others.

As Zhao Fusheng said, given the current pace, Old Jiang finishing filming by the end of the year would be fast; with editing and such, he might drag it into next year.

If that were the case, *Crazy Racer* would have no need to avoid *Let the Bullets Fly*, because the two films would never clash.

Ning Hao was far more reliable than Old Jiang.

"Let's leave it at that. Have Ning Hao prepare; this year's National Day holiday slot is his."

Zhao Fusheng made the final decision, directly reassuring Ye Jing: "For promotion, you can collaborate with Bona. But one thing: go all out. I want to boost Ning Hao to the top."

This was the first time Zhao Fusheng had clearly told Ye Jing that he intended to promote Ning Hao.

"Then what about the Spring Festival slot?" Ye Jing was taken aback. He had originally thought, from Zhao Fusheng's words, that he planned to release *Crazy Racer* during the Spring Festival.

Zhao Fusheng waved his hand. "The plot isn't suitable for a Spring Festival release. For the Spring Festival slot, put Xu Zheng's film on."

"Huh?"

Ye Jing was stunned again. He really hadn't expected Zhao Fusheng to set his sights on Xu Zheng.

He naturally knew about *Lost on Journey*, which Xu Zheng was filming. But the problem was, compared to Ning Hao, Xu Zheng had only been an actor before, with no directing experience. Could he handle his first directorial effort?

Moreover, the key issue was: where did Zhao Fusheng get the confidence that Xu Zheng's work could carve out a path in the Spring Festival slot, crowded with big productions?

Seeing his reaction, Zhao Fusheng smiled faintly.

Some things still needed to be proven by facts.