Chapter 1279 Zhao Fusheng's Money Troubles

Although we are reluctant to admit it, in fact, no matter how we sob uncontrollably in the dead of night, no matter how much negative energy we have, when we wake up in the morning, life still has to go on.

In the city, the traffic is still heavy as usual.

Happy or not, this ever-changing city has no time to wait for anyone.

What is growth?

It is a silent process.

After enduring some hardships alone, one naturally becomes capable of anything.

If you can't, then consider yourself unlucky and live out this mediocre life.

Don't keep saying that life is not worth it; that's something only idiots say. If it's not worth living, why are you alive? In the end, since you can't afford to die, just live on honestly.

…

…

Zhao Fusheng learned about Li Xiaoran's final choice from Jiang Wen. The woman simply terminated her contract with Xinbaoyuan and, under Zhao Baogang's introduction, went to Hong Kong to develop her career.

And the reason Jiang Wen gave was also simple: Zhao Baogang said that after all, Li Xiaoran had been with the company for many years, and failing to make her a star was his own responsibility. The main responsibility for this incident also lay with him, so he hoped Zhao Fusheng would let her off.

Zhao Fusheng was noncommittal about this. Whatever dirty deals were involved had nothing to do with him. He wasn't so domineering as to go to extremes just because Fan Beibei's face was pinched. Blacklisting Li Xiaoran was normal, but that was only to block her acting career. As for harming her personally, Zhao Fusheng felt he hadn't stooped to that level.

He was a businessman, not a gangster. Did everyone think he was like Boss Xiang, who would offer a check and a bullet when hiring someone to make a film?

Some things are bottom lines that cannot be touched.

But Zhao Fusheng didn't know what hatred Li Xiaoran felt when she left, especially when the entire company seemed to be watching her. The feeling of 'the whole world is laughing at me' and the gloating gazes drove her crazy, as if every moment someone was stabbing her heart with a knife.

'I will definitely come back!'

The moment Li Xiaoran got into the car, this thought flashed through her mind.

Of course, she knew that if she wanted revenge, at least for now, she had no chance.

She needed to wait, to make herself stronger.

She needed to make Zhao Fusheng understand that in this world, you can offend anyone, but you must never offend a woman.

…

…

In fact, Zhao Fusheng knew very well that women must not be offended.

Since he planned to invest in South Korea, Zhao Fusheng naturally needed to prepare.

Fan Baobao was about to finish her last stage performance before marriage. In the following time, she would fully prepare for the wedding. Zhou Yun, having nothing to do, helped while taking care of the child. Sister Feihong, also free, was dragged by Fan Baobao to help with advice.

As for Zhao Fusheng, well, after mocking his aesthetic sense, everyone felt he was better off just providing the money.

But speaking of it, recently Zhao Fusheng really didn't have much time.

Zheng Yao went to Shenzhen once and came back with a huge surprise for Zhao Fusheng.

She actually secured the domestic advertising planning rights for Givenchy and Versace among the Eight Red Bloods.

The so-called Eight Red Bloods refer to eight internationally renowned luxury brands, including Givenchy, Armani, Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino, Versace, Hermès, Lanvin, and Burberry.

Correspondingly, there are also Six Blue Bloods, including Dior, Chanel, Prada, Gucci, Calvin Klein, and Louis Vuitton. Louis Vuitton is the legendary 'donkey brand', yes, LV.

Among these fourteen brands, the Eight Red Bloods have a slightly longer history. The Blue Bloods have developed rapidly in China in recent years, but Zhao Fusheng still didn't expect that Zheng Yao could secure the advertising planning rights for these two companies.

After all, previously they only cooperated with the top few advertising agencies in the country. And although Future Advertising was once one of the three major advertising companies in the northern region, nationally it ranked outside the top ten.

This is no joke. Most of the best advertising agencies in the country are concentrated in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and other coastal open cities. The few agencies in the northern region are, relatively speaking, far inferior in strength.

"How did you manage that?" Zhao Fusheng asked Zheng Yao with a look of surprise.

Zheng Yao shrugged: "I fought for it, of course. Did you think they would just hand us the opportunity for nothing?"

Zhao Fusheng was taken aback, then smiled, deeply agreeing with Zheng Yao's words.

Many people think that Chinese businesspeople emphasize harmony and believe that harmony brings wealth. In fact, those who hold this view are largely misled.

From ancient times to the present, in Chinese history, the business arena has always been as full of swordplay and shadows as the battlefield.

The Chinese saying 'harmony brings wealth' has a precondition: as long as it can bring in money, being amiable is fine. Conversely, if there's no profit, why bother being harmonious?

It's like the legendary Laozi's Tao Te Ching, which says: 'The highest good is like water. Water benefits all things without contention.' Many people think this is correct, but in fact, in the true discourse, the original text should be: 'The highest good is like water. Water benefits all things and contends.'

A difference of one character, yet the meaning is vastly different.

'Without contention' is quietist inaction, while 'contends' is natural selection.

In fact, business is the same. If Zheng Yao hadn't fought, how could she have defeated Perfect Oriental Advertising Company to become the largest advertising agency in the northern region and even the whole country?

Zhao Fusheng naturally understood this principle.

"So, it seems your advertising alliance is doing well," Zhao Fusheng said with a smile to Zheng Yao.

Clearly, being able to land such a big deal showed that Zheng Yao's expansion into the southern market had been quite effective.

"Overall, it's okay." Zheng Yao, who naturally hid nothing from Zhao Fusheng, said seriously: "I always feel we could consider developing other regional markets. And this time when I went to Shenzhen, Tencent Technology helped a lot. I think we could develop more of these strategic cooperative relationships."

Zhao Fusheng rolled his eyes. This woman was simply crazy. Was this kind of thing up to him?

According to her logic, wouldn't he have to invest in several more companies and then rely on his network to get advertising?

"Actually, I think you could totally say a word to Ma Xiaoyun over at Alibaba, and then their company's ad planning..." Zheng Yao blinked, testing the waters as she said to Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng immediately lost his composure. Ma Xiaoyun hadn't even gone public yet, and Zheng Yao was already scheming to take advantage of him.

"Cut it out. I'm not getting involved in this. Go negotiate it yourself."

Zhao Fusheng practically fled from Zheng Yao's office. This woman had gone mad; it was best not to provoke her.

Back home, Zhao Fusheng took a shower and lay in the bathtub, letting his mind slowly calm down.

Many people lose their drive after achieving success, but that would never happen to Zhao Fusheng.

He constantly reminded himself that all his glory came from the gift of fate. Once he lost his advantage of foresight, the glory would vanish in an instant. Although Zhao Fusheng had already amassed great wealth, he knew it wasn't enough.

However, with one success after another, Zhao Fusheng also realized that he had to face all kinds of problems. More and more praise and temptations came flooding in—financial reports and honeyed words from those around him—all issues he needed to contemplate and confront.

So, what Zhao Fusheng could do was keep a clear head.

"For now, there's no need to worry about Future Group. With Zheng Yao around, she'll keep an eye on the progress of several projects," Zhao Fusheng muttered to himself, then frowned. "The funds from the US should have been withdrawn by now. I wonder how Tan Kaixuan and Xue Yuanfang are doing talking to the old man..."

There was no helping it—too many things demanded his attention, and he had to make decisions on every front.

Sometimes, when reading novels, he saw tycoons who acted like absentee bosses, with plenty of time to chase women. Zhao Fusheng admired them immensely. Looking at himself, he always felt he wasn't a qualified time traveler.

"If nothing goes wrong, Twitter should be almost ready by Evan Williams and his team," Zhao Fusheng muttered to himself, suddenly wanting to laugh. He wondered if, when Mark Zuckerberg and Evan Williams discovered that Twitter and Facebook would become competitors in a sense, they would come to him, their investor, to complain.

But at the same time, he recalled that, barring any surprises, both companies would be money-devouring monsters in the coming years. If he wanted to maintain his current equity stake, he would have to work hard to make money.

"Damn, I just realized no matter how much I earn, it's never enough," Zhao Fusheng rubbed his face and sighed helplessly.

This was his honest thought. Originally, he thought earning a few billion would be enough for him and his family. But now he realized that if he wanted to rely on shares in high-tech companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Tencent to become a billionaire or even a hundred-billionaire in the future, the first issue he had to consider was how to prevent his equity from being diluted.

After all, these big companies would go through many rounds of financing before going public, and even after listing, they would raise capital through rights issues for various reasons. If he couldn't participate, he would have to watch helplessly as shares originally worth billions or even tens of billions of US dollars dwindled to just a few hundred million.

To be honest, just thinking about it made Zhao Fusheng's heart ache.