Chapter 1976: Someone Can't Sit Still

Dong Chenxi's thoughts, Zhao Fusheng naturally couldn't guess.

But he was indeed testing Liang Jingyu.

Although Liang Jingyu had done fairly well in South Korea in recent years, after all, Zhao Fusheng couldn't place all his hopes on Liang Jingyu's loyalty to him.

That would undoubtedly be a very foolish thing.

So, whether it was Dong Chenxi or Zheng Yao, they all understood Zhao Fusheng's intention.

That was also why they supported Zhao Fusheng.

After all, everyone knew that not everyone, like them, had come this far with Zhao Fusheng.

Wu Sijie's trip to South Korea was thus settled.

As for how Hanxing Investment would react, that was actually not important.

With Dong Chenxi personally overseeing things, even Lee Jae-hyun would have to greet her in person; Liang Jingyu's subordinates couldn't stir up any trouble.

Time passed quickly, and before long, June was over.

The countdown to the Olympic Games opening ceremony was getting closer.

Zhao Fusheng didn't feel much about it, but the whole family, including Old Zhao, was very excited. Obviously, they were all happy about this event.

Fan Baobao's belly was growing bigger day by day; clearly, the delivery date was not far off.

"Do you want to find someone to check the gender?"

One day, Xue Yuanfang chatted with Zhao Fusheng and casually asked.

"No need."

Zhao Fusheng shook his head: "I prefer the feeling of drawing a lottery..."

"Drawing a lottery..."

For a moment, Xue Yuanfang didn't know what to say.

This guy Zhao Fusheng was really helpless.

It was the first time he had seen such a person.

"By the way, Huayi is having a tough time lately." Xue Yuanfang said casually.

Zhao Fusheng chuckled: "That has nothing to do with me. I didn't cause them trouble back then, which was already good enough."

This was the truth. At that time, Zhao Fusheng didn't waste words with Wang Zhonglei; he left directly. Afterwards, he didn't ask Ye Jing to cause trouble for Huayi; he just suspended cooperation with Huayi.

In Zhao Fusheng's view, this was already magnanimous.

If he really wanted to settle scores, given Future Group's current network, dealing with Huayi would not be a difficult task.

"I know, just letting you know."

Xue Yuanfang shrugged: "Zheng Yao gave the order; Future Advertising will no longer cooperate with Huayi's artists."

"Her."

Zhao Fusheng was startled, then smiled. He naturally understood Zheng Yao's intention—it was just to teach Huayi a lesson.

Well, it was a sad story.

Although the concept of 'the master's humiliation is the servant's death' could no longer happen in modern times.

But since the boss was unhappy, it was only natural for subordinates to vent on his behalf.

"At least give a timeframe."

Xue Yuanfang said to Zhao Fusheng: "I'm not asking this in my capacity as the company's PR director, but on behalf of someone else."

"This year."

Zhao Fusheng thought for a moment and said to Xue Yuanfang: "At least within this year, I won't interfere with what Zheng Yao does. Since some people don't take my words seriously, they must bear the consequences."

Then, his expression turned slightly grim: "That day, if I hadn't happened to invite Liu Yiming's sister to dinner and introduce her to my wife, guess what would have happened?"

Xue Yuanfang was momentarily speechless.

He was well aware of some things. If Zhao Fusheng and Liu Yiming hadn't arrived that day, the situation would definitely not have turned out as it did.

"To be honest, I can't change the current state of the entertainment industry."

Zhao Fusheng looked at Xue Yuanfang and said calmly: "But no one can touch the people of my Future Film. If anyone dares to reach out, don't blame me for chopping off their claws!"

Hearing Zhao Fusheng's words, Xue Yuanfang felt a chill in his heart.

He could tell that Zhao Fusheng wasn't joking; in fact, he was very serious, clearly intending for Xue Yuanfang to pass the message to the Wang brothers and even more people.

After all, the reason he brought this up today was that many people had asked him to inquire through connections.

To put it bluntly, the previous cooperative relationship between Future Film, Xinbaoyuan, and Huayi had made many people envious, as everyone wished to have a powerful ally.

And obviously, Future Film, or rather Zhao Fusheng himself, was a very good ally.

Previously, many had envied Huayi and Xinbaoyuan for such luck.

But now, Huayi had brought trouble upon itself, causing such a big incident. Zhang Mo was directly sent abroad, and Zhang Guoli began to fade out.

Moreover, Zheng Yao, CEO of Future Group, personally ordered Future Advertising to blacklist Huayi's artists.

Under these circumstances, naturally, some wanted to replace Huayi and become Zhao Fusheng's favored partner.

In fact, more than one company.

It must be known that Future Film had the support of Future Group, with both advertising and fashion resources and capital that were enviably abundant.

Take 'Let the Bullets Fly' for example: three top actors performing together, an investment of 130 million—just this gimmick was enough to make those companies desperate to join.

But unfortunately, Future Film wasn't short of money; they only played with their own allies.

Seeing Huayi and Xinbaoyuan insert their artists into the cast, it was impossible for other companies not to be envious.

"Let's leave it at that."

Zhao Fusheng waved his hand, drawing a conclusion to his conversation with Xue Yuanfang.

...

...

Xue Yuanfang's message spread quickly, and Huayi soon got the news.

"Brother, what should we do?"

Wang Zhonglei sat in the office, looking helplessly at Wang Zhongjun.

"What should we do?"

Sighing, Wang Zhongjun smiled bitterly: "Of course, we'll have to tough it out."

"This..."

Wang Zhonglei hesitated but ultimately didn't speak.

He also knew that this matter was indeed his fault.

"Alright, let it be."

Wang Zhongjun, a man of great ambition, quickly calmed down and said to his brother: "Don't worry too much. Zhao Fusheng said he won't control Zheng Yao's actions within this year, which means by next year, we should be out of trouble."

"Next year..."

Wang Zhonglei frowned; that time was still about half a year away.

"I've heard that the ChiNext board should officially open next year."

Wang Zhongjun didn't seem to take this matter to heart and instead brought up something else: "Let's strive to go public next year and list on the ChiNext board."

"ChiNext board."

Wang Zhonglei's eyes lit up immediately.

He knew very well what he and his brother, as major shareholders, could gain once the company went public.

"Keep a low profile."

Wang Zhongjun glanced at his brother and said seriously: "We should try not to offend anyone now. Even if others cause trouble, try not to escalate it. After we go public, we won't have to worry about Future Group."

In his calculation, once the company went public and its market value increased, even if his personal wealth still couldn't compare to Zhao Fusheng's, at least in the film and television industry, Huayi would have a greater say.

That was his confidence.

After all, no matter how powerful Zhao Fusheng was, he couldn't devote all his energy to the film and television industry.

But Huayi could do that.

It must be known that in the original history, after Huayi went public, Wang Zhongjun chose a wrong path.

At that time, Huayi, as one of the first companies on the ChiNext board to enter the capital market, saw its stock price reach a high of 90 yuan on the first day, with a closing market value of 12 billion yuan. Feng Xiaogang and Huang Xiaoming thus joined the ranks of billionaires.

At the bell-ringing ceremony, Feng was extremely excited, staring at the big screen showing the market data, ignoring the host's hints, and excitedly told reporters: 'I will work for this company until the end, and I will follow Wang Zhongjun until the end.'

In the blink of an eye, five years later, at Huayi's 20th anniversary celebration, Wang Zhongjun decided to set a development direction for Huayi: 'de-emphasizing the single reliance on movies.'

Of course, he had no choice; the entertainment industry relied too much on people.

Box office revenue depended on stars, famous directors, and famous screenwriters, while artist management relied even more on stars and agents.

In 2005, Wang Jinghua almost hollowed out Huayi. Subsequently, Huayi aggressively poached talents to strengthen its artist roster, seemingly emerging from the困境.

But after going public, once a project failed, Huayi would face difficulties.

Trying to break free from dependence on movies while developing internet and real-world entertainment businesses was clearly following the advice of market value management experts; however, the end result was that the peripheral businesses didn't take off, and the movie business declined.

Except for 2018, when 'Youth' achieved both critical acclaim and box office success, most of Huayi's films in the remaining years didn't make much money.

In the capital market, Huayi's market value plummeted from 90 billion.

As for Cui Yongyuan's later exposé, it was just the last straw on the camel's back.

At that time, stars scattered like birds and beasts to distance themselves from Huayi, capital fled as stock prices languished, and Feng, as Huayi's entertainment flagship, faced public outcry. Huayi's foundation was gone.

This time, Huayi no longer had brothers.

But in this life,

Because of Zhao Fusheng's existence, Huayi was actually heavily suppressed within the industry.

Although it was now known as the second-largest private film and television company, in reality, it hadn't developed that well.

This made Wang Zhongjun's ambitions in other industries not so great.

He was more willing to focus all his energy on the film and television industry.

This was quite surprising.

Fate often brings surprises.

In his previous life, Huayi was better developed than now, but Wang Zhongjun wanted to diversify. Now, with threats from all sides, Huayi instead made Wang Zhongjun focus on film and television production.

Zhao Fusheng inadvertently changed Huayi's fate.