Chapter 0904: The Butterfly Effect

Every loosening of the power pyramid brings hope to everyone in officialdom.

The butterfly effect is often mentioned in nature because American meteorologist Edward Lorenz submitted a paper to the New York Academy of Sciences, stating that a meteorologist noted that a seagull flapping its wings could change the weather. In later speeches and papers, he used the more poetic butterfly as an example: a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil could cause a tornado in Texas a month later.

In fact, in many other areas, people can feel the existence of the butterfly effect. For example, in economics, it's often said that when Wall Street sneezes, global financial markets catch a cold. This is a typical manifestation of the butterfly effect in economics. And in officialdom, the butterfly effect also exists. For instance, now that a position of executive deputy mayor is vacant, the butterfly effect immediately appears: the result of someone filling this position may lead to a chain of successive replacements. This kind of butterfly effect in officialdom could miraculously change a college student's fate. For example, as a result of the chain, a civil servant might be promoted to deputy section chief, and this unit might have a vacancy for a civil servant, which could eventually be filled by a college student.

A college student becoming a civil servant might change the fate of an entire family.

And now, Zhao Fusheng, as a butterfly, flapped his wings, affecting and changing not just one or two people's fates.

Often, once our true emotions are rendered, they become exaggerated and artificial. Sentences that touched us in our youth, whether ornate or not, now read like a clumsy performer putting on an awkward show. For example, Shen Congwen's love letters, Xu Zhimo's confessions, Mu Xin's 'Formerly Slow'—these are the shallowest and ugliest things closest to us.

Zhao Fusheng even occasionally wondered if he had grown too old to accept words driven by hormones and dances performed with posturing.

But no matter what, life must go on, just as Shen Congwen said: 'A soldier either dies on the battlefield or returns to his hometown.'

Since Zhao Fusheng had stepped onto the battlefield of life, he had no intention of being a deserter.

Having fled once, he ultimately did not want to repeat the same mistake.

The commercial shoot for the Mercedes-Benz car went quite smoothly. At Huayi Brothers, the Wang brothers took this opportunity to severely suppress Wang Jinghua. Any artist close to Wang Jinghua failed to get a chance to appear in the ad. As Wang Zhonglei put it, since they chose Wang Jinghua, it was equivalent to parting ways with the company, and they naturally had to be prepared for such an outcome.

'I plan that from now on, for any movies or TV dramas our company invests in, if they involve her people, I won't use any of them,' Wang Zhonglei said viciously during a meal with Zhao Fusheng after a few drinks.

Zhao Fusheng gave him a deep look, but suddenly recalled a legend in his mind. In his previous life, he had read a post online asking: to what extent had the conflict between Wang Jinghua and the Wang brothers escalated by 2005?

He forgot whether it was 'The Banquet' or 'The Promise'—supposedly a super blockbuster invested and produced by Huayi, yet not a single star from Huayi Brothers' talent agency appeared.

That's right, at that time, Huayi Brothers' talent agency had been consolidated into a monolithic entity by Wang Jinghua, and the Wang brothers were utterly helpless against her.

Even when Wang Jinghua left, the Wang brothers couldn't retain anyone.

Well, the 'Two Bings' don't count; those two, heh, look forward, bend backward.

In short, a situation that was supposed to occur two years later had unexpectedly come early because of Zhao Fusheng.

'Since that's the case, I think you might as well start cultivating new talent yourselves,' Zhao Fusheng said after thinking for a moment to Wang Zhonglei. 'Either promote newcomers or poach established artists from outside. That way, you'll be prepared.'

Since the Wang brothers and Wang Jinghua had already become adversaries, Zhao Fusheng didn't mind causing her some trouble; after all, he had nothing to lose.

Wang Zhonglei's eyes lit up, and a thoughtful expression appeared on his face.

Zhao Fusheng smiled slightly and didn't bring up the matter again, instead turning to other gossip.

Some things are best left at a hint; saying too much might backfire.

'By the way, Fusheng, I heard you invested in an internet technology company?' After a while, Wang Zhonglei suddenly asked Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng was startled and looked at Wang Zhonglei with some surprise.

To be honest, he really hadn't expected Wang Zhonglei to be interested in this. But what intrigued him more was how Wang Zhonglei had found out about it.

'Don't take it the wrong way; it came up when Old Jiang and Ye Jing were talking during a meal we had together,' Wang Zhonglei said with a smile. 'You know, there are too many projects out there now—whether in the film and TV circle or the internet—people always come to me asking for investment. Honestly, my brother and I have money but don't know who to invest in, afraid that if we're not careful, it'll all go down the drain.'

Zhao Fusheng nodded. Wang Zhonglei's words were indeed heartfelt. In fact, under the current circumstances, investing in new projects was quite risky, especially after the burst of the internet bubble. Many people remained highly cautious about projects involving the internet.

But the problem was that, in the eyes of those with true insight, the rise of the internet was an inevitable outcome.

This created a dilemma: even those optimistic about the internet couldn't guarantee that the project they invested in today wouldn't become a bubble tomorrow.

For example, the Wang brothers invested in a project in the first half of the year, pouring three million yuan into it without even a ripple, and ended up losing everything.

Then, suddenly hearing from Jiang Wen that Zhao Fusheng had invested in an internet technology company and it seemed to be making money now, Wang Zhonglei's heart stirred with excitement.

Unlike his brother Wang Zhongjun, who kept a low profile, Wang Zhonglei was relatively more high-profile in the circle. In Zhao Fusheng's memory, this guy even appeared in a variety show—something no other company boss would do, but Wang Zhonglei did it anyway.

So when he suddenly showed interest in cooperating on investments, Zhao Fusheng wasn't surprised at all.

What Zhao Fusheng was considering now was how to maximize the benefits of this matter and how to tie the Wang brothers to his own ship. After all, Huayi Brothers was a company that would occupy an important position in the future landscape of the film and TV industry.

If there was money to be made, Zhao Fusheng didn't mind becoming a shareholder of Huayi Brothers.