Chapter 1978: A Powerful Alliance

What is the foundation of business cooperation?

Zhao Fusheng had always believed it was need.

Just like Future Film and Guangxian Media, although Future Film only needed an ally, the choice of that ally was itself a test of strength.

As for Guangxian, they needed the support of Future Film and the Future Group behind it to develop themselves.

That was each taking what they needed.

Thus, Zhao Fusheng and Wang Changtian were able to reach an intention to cooperate.

Of course, whether the cooperation would actually succeed depended on the outcome of negotiations between Wang Changtian and Ye Jing.

After all, although Zhao Fusheng was the boss, he was not the one executing things; company management still relied on Ye Jing and his management team.

But Zhao Fusheng estimated that the chances of success in these negotiations were high.

The reason was simple: Wang Changtian was a smart man.

A truly smart person knows clearly when to make what decision is best for themselves.

……

……

On July 1st, Future Film officially signed a cooperation agreement with Guangxian Media, and the two companies would cooperate comprehensively.

When the news broke, the entire film and television circle was shaken.

Although everyone had heard about the rift in the relationship between Future Film and Huayi, no one expected that Future Film would directly abandon Huayi and cooperate with Guangxian instead.

This time, Huayi once again became the target of public criticism.

Everyone was watching Huayi make a fool of itself.

Previously, Huayi had developed rapidly; apart from Future Film, Huayi was the fastest-growing private film and television enterprise in China, with one blockbuster after another, enjoying unparalleled glory.

And with Future Film ending its cooperation with Huayi, people in the film and television circle realized that perhaps some changes were about to occur in this circle.

“What do we do?”

At Xinbaoyuan, in Zhao Baogang’s office.

Looking at Zhao Baogang, Ding Xin asked seriously.

She was Zhao Baogang’s wife and had always been the general manager responsible for artist management at Xinbaoyuan. She had even been an agent for Yan Wang in the past; she was definitely not a simple person.

“Nothing special.”

Zhao Baogang said with a bitter smile: “Do you think we should stand or fall with Huayi?”

“That’s not necessary.” Ding Xin shook her head.

She wasn’t stupid; the reason why Future Film had fallen out with Huayi was already circulating wildly within the circle.

Although no one had publicly admitted it, everyone had vaguely guessed something based on the information they knew.

Ding Xin wasn’t sure about her own guesses and had some doubts, but in terms of the facts, there wasn’t much discrepancy.

What kind of person Zhang Mo was, and what kind of person Zhang Guoli was, they knew very well given their years of friendship.

Speaking of it, this matter was indeed Zhang Mo’s fault.

But no one expected Zhao Fusheng’s counterattack to be so fierce.

Directly cutting off the line of cooperation with Huayi, and even switching to a different partner altogether—this was clearly aimed at Huayi.

What exactly did this guy Zhao Fusheng want to do?

“Let it be.”

After a long while, Zhao Baogang said to his wife: “We’re not involved in the film industry. If we produce TV dramas, cooperating with Future Film won’t do us any harm.”

“I understand.”

Ding Xin nodded. She naturally understood what Zhao Baogang meant.

After so many years as a couple, if they didn’t have that much tacit understanding, they wouldn’t have been together for so long.

Clearly, Zhao Baogang had made the decision that best served Xinbaoyuan’s interests.

After all, this wasn’t just his company; hundreds of people relied on the company for their livelihoods, and there were also the major shareholders behind it—all of which needed to be ensured.

If Zhao Baogang gave up cooperating with Future Film because of his friendship with the Wang brothers of Huayi, the losses would be real money.

How would he explain that to the company’s shareholders then?

Besides, the so-called Beijing circle wasn’t that tightly knit.

If it were, Chen Daoli wouldn’t have left Huayi with Wang Jinghua back then.

There was still a matter of closeness and distance in these relationships.

“What about Future Film?”

Ding Xin thought for a moment and asked Zhao Baogang.

What she meant was how to face Future Film.

“Do nothing, keep everything as it is.”

Zhao Baogang smiled: “Do you think if we do nothing, Ye Jing won’t understand what we mean?”

Ding Xin smiled too; she understood her husband’s meaning.

Ye Jing was actually very smart.

In this situation, as long as Ye Jing wasn’t an idiot, he would know there was no need to push Xinbaoyuan, which had done nothing, away.

Remember, Huayi had made a mistake, but Xinbaoyuan had always been diligently cooperating with Future Film, an excellent partner.

And most importantly, Xinbaoyuan’s main business was TV drama production.

In this regard, it was completely different from Huayi.

……

……

Zhao Fusheng learned of Xinbaoyuan’s reaction from Ye Jing’s phone call.

“Zhao Baogang is really quite smart.”

Zhao Fusheng smiled and said to Ye Jing: “Since that’s the case, let’s keep everything as it is.”

Since they had performed so well, it wouldn’t be right for him to make a move.

And to be honest, Zhao Fusheng didn’t mind more people coming into the film and television industry to share the pie, because the pie was simply too big for Future Film alone to swallow.

If he remembered correctly, ten years later, China’s film, television, and cultural entertainment industry would have an output value of over one hundred billion.

With such a large market, it was impossible for Future Film or just one or two companies to take it all.

In this situation, the more players in the industry, the greater the likelihood of the industry developing well.

As long as there weren’t companies like the one Da Mimi had set up that caused trouble, Zhao Fusheng felt that China’s film and television industry had great potential.

Speaking of which, Zhao Fusheng had a decent impression of Da Mimi.

But there was no helping it; the way she became famous was too unreliable. Not only did she follow the traffic route, but she also engaged in all sorts of hype and constantly starred in those messy idol dramas.

For someone like Zhao Fusheng, a middle-aged man, that was simply unacceptable.

In Zhao Fusheng’s view, it was because of companies like hers that the Chinese entertainment industry was becoming increasingly chaotic.

In his previous life, he could only get angry watching the news, but in this life, Zhao Fusheng felt that Da Mimi should just be an artist and behave herself.

If she really dared to pull any tricks, he wouldn’t be polite.

“By the way, Guangxian wants to deepen cooperation with us. What do you think…”

Ye Jing asked Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng smiled: “You decide that yourself; I don’t interfere. But if the year-end financial report shows losses, listing in Hong Kong won’t be so easy.”

Ever since he proposed the plan to abandon listing on the domestic Growth Enterprise Market and instead list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Ye Jing had been very enthusiastic about it.

After all, a company listed in Hong Kong sounded different from one listed on the domestic GEM, didn’t it?

To be honest, Ye Jing really wanted to experience the joy of ringing the bell in Hong Kong.

Zhao Fusheng didn’t care; he had never been concerned about such things.

Listing was only meant to benefit the company’s development.

To be honest, over such a long time, Zhao Fusheng’s mindset had been constantly changing.

After all, he had been just a nobody before, and only by starting over did he achieve his current status and identity. This transformation required a process and time.

Even now, when Zhao Fusheng was no longer a failure, he still retained some habits from his previous life.

This wasn’t a joke, nor was it a flaw.

Anyone in Zhao Fusheng’s position would probably be the same.

As the saying goes, a leopard can’t change its spots; people’s habits are not so easily corrected.

Take Zhao Fusheng himself: although he tried to become a tougher person, deep down he was very warm.

Despite telling himself countless times that he should be a refined egoist and be more selfish,

whenever he thought that heaven had given him a chance to start over, Zhao Fusheng felt he should try to help those in need.

Because in the unseen, there must be a pair of eyes watching him.

“Alright, I understand.”

Hearing Zhao Fusheng’s words, Ye Jing nodded helplessly.

This was Zhao Fusheng’s consistent style: he always liked to set the general direction of development strategy and then act as a hands-off boss, leaving the details to those around him.

At first, everyone thought he was just being modest, but after spending more time with him, they found that Zhao Fusheng really did things that way.

In his view, doing everything personally was very tiring.

And what Zhao Fusheng hated most was hard work.

“By the way, ‘Crazy Racer’ is released the day after tomorrow. Do you want to go see it?”

Ye Jing remembered something and casually asked Zhao Fusheng.

“It’s time already.”

Zhao Fusheng was startled, then smiled: “Sure, I’ll go see it.”

No matter what, since this was a film he had strongly advocated for, Zhao Fusheng definitely wanted to watch it.

To be honest, he wasn’t too worried about the box office of this film.

If you expected Ning Hao to win awards, that would depend on luck.

But if you placed your hopes on making money, Ning Hao would never disappoint any investor.

That guy was born to make commercial films.

When it came to grasping the audience’s pulse, Ning Hao was absolutely top-notch.

He always managed to find exactly what audiences liked to see, present it, and reap generous box office returns.

Not only that, but Ning Hao’s films also contained black humor and satire. In this regard, Zhao Fusheng felt he was actually very similar to South Korea’s Bong Joon-ho.

Of course, Ning Hao was still very young now, and he still had a long way to go.