Chapter 1679: Gossip

Because Zhao Fusheng, Ye Jing, and the others were heading to the airport, the meeting with Kevin Feige and the others ended quickly.

Watching the motorcade disappear from sight, Robert Downey Jr. suddenly said to Kevin Feige, “Mr. Feige, I don’t quite understand why you agreed to Zhao’s opinion. Because he’s an investor?”

Kevin Feige chuckled. “Robert, what do you think is most important for Marvel right now?”

“Huh?”

Robert Downey Jr. was taken aback, furrowed his brow, and felt a bit bewildered, not knowing why Kevin Feige had suddenly asked him this question. Still, he seriously considered the other man’s question.

After a long moment, Robert Downey Jr. ventured, “The copyrights to the superheroes?”

That was his honest opinion. After all, for Marvel, owning the copyrights to thousands of superheroes was the foundation of their survival. Without those copyrights, Marvel might have collapsed long ago.

“No, no, no, my friend.” Kevin Feige shook his head, not agreeing with Robert Downey Jr.’s words. “You’re oversimplifying things. If we’re talking about copyrights, we’ve already sold off all the most famous superheroes. Whether it’s Spider-Man or Wolverine, they no longer belong to Marvel, do they?”

Robert Downey Jr. fell silent, unable to utter a single word, not even able to think of a rebuttal to Kevin Feige.

The reason was simple: Kevin Feige was telling the truth.

To be precise, even if he didn’t want to admit it, he had to.

The Iron Man he played wasn’t really Marvel’s most famous superhero. In fact, before this movie was made, Iron Man Tony Stark was just a second-tier character in the Marvel universe.

The truly popular ones were Spider-Man, Wolverine—those superheroes!

But there was no helping it. Back then, to keep the company running and ensure sufficient cash flow, Marvel had to sell off the copyrights to those top-tier superheroes, which is why Iron Man came to be.

“See?”

Seeing Robert Downey Jr. silent, Kevin Feige smiled. “What Marvel needs most now is an investor like this, with ample funds to support all the movies we plan to make. As long as the films succeed at the box office, Marvel will have a chance to rise again.”

“So, I’ll agree to any request that isn’t too excessive.” Kevin Feige smiled and added, “And honestly, I didn’t expect Miss Johansson to be so capable, making this Eastern tycoon fall at her feet.”

“Yeah, she really is a beauty.”

Robert Downey Jr. also laughed.

Neither of them found it strange. The American entertainment industry and the Chinese entertainment industry were equally realistic; many things were just things everyone pretended not to understand.

A super-rich man and a beautiful actress—whatever happened between them wasn’t worth being surprised about.

It was just that Easterners were relatively more conservative. Word had it that this tycoon had a family, so it seemed Scarlett Johansson was willingly becoming his caged bird…

“To be honest, if it were me, I’d make that choice too.” When Robert Downey Jr. got home and told his wife about it, her answer stunned him.

“Why?” Robert Downey Jr. clearly didn’t understand.

“Simple. Do you know how much money this Zhao Fusheng has?” his wife asked him.

“Well, I really don’t know.” Having reformed, Robert Downey Jr. spent his days either working on scripts or at home with his wife and kids, paying no attention to other matters, so naturally he didn’t know.

“I looked it up.” Susan, being a scholar, shrugged. “He sold Twitter for four billion dollars to Samsung, plus he owns shares in Facebook and companies in China. Conservatively estimated, this man’s personal wealth might exceed ten billion dollars.”

“Ten billion!”

Robert Downey Jr. was shocked. A man under thirty with ten billion dollars in wealth—this guy was probably the world’s youngest billionaire!

“Is it really that much?” Robert Downey Jr. asked in astonishment.

“It’s true,” Susan nodded. “And that’s a conservative estimate. His companies aren’t listed, and reportedly he owns over eighty percent of the shares in those companies.”

As she spoke, she said in amazement, “Look at this information. It shows he’s also a major shareholder in China’s largest online shopping platform, and that company is going public in Hong Kong at the end of the year.”

She was referring to Alibaba’s public announcement.

After all, with the IPO imminent, such hype was inevitable.

Robert Downey Jr. stared at the news, dumbfounded, and muttered to himself, “I’m a little jealous of Scarlett Johansson. If only I were a woman…”

…

…

Naturally, Zhao Fusheng didn’t know he had become an object of envy in some people’s eyes.

Sitting in the flight back to the capital, Zhao Fusheng fell into a deep sleep.

He was simply too exhausted.

Sometimes, people don’t necessarily need strenuous physical labor to feel tired; even just using the brain can be exhausting.

Like Zhao Fusheng now—basically, as soon as he closed his eyes, he could fall asleep in moments.

The doctor said it was because he was overthinking.

So-called overthinking, in plain terms, was the result of considering too many things. With so many matters to attend to, Zhao Fusheng had to think about every aspect, which was truly tiring.

The plane moved slowly forward, and before they knew it, several hours had passed.

Fortunately, there weren’t many passengers in first class. Besides Zhao Fusheng and his group, there was no one else, so no one disturbed his sleep.

When Zhao Fusheng opened his eyes again, they were about to land.

“How long did I sleep?”

Zhao Fusheng straightened up and asked Ye Jing.

“The whole way,” Ye Jing smiled and said to Zhao Fusheng, “You, man, don’t push yourself too hard. We can handle the things below. You’re not a god, yet you drive yourself like a machine. Your daughter isn’t even a year old yet. If you collapse, what will the company do?”

Whether as a friend or a subordinate, he didn’t want Zhao Fusheng’s health to fail. Rushing around like this was truly too exhausting.

Zhao Fusheng smiled at that and nodded. “Don’t worry, I’m in good health. I won’t collapse.”

Regardless, the burden on his shoulders was too heavy now, and Zhao Fusheng didn’t want to fall either.

Crossing the sea of clouds, the plane began to slowly descend at Capital International Airport. The feeling of weightlessness came, and Zhao Fusheng felt his breathing quicken. Only when the plane touched down did he calm down.

“Chairman, are you all right?”

Wu Sijie asked with some concern, seeing Zhao Fusheng’s condition.

Zhao Fusheng’s face was very pale; he really didn’t look well.

“I’m fine, just a bit tired.” Zhao Fusheng waved his hand, not letting Wu Sijie help him, and slowly stood up. “Let’s go, we’re getting off.”

After all, being in first class, they had the privilege of disembarking first.

The group left the airport and got into the car. Zhao Fusheng said to Ye Jing, “You need to take charge of company matters. Old Jiang is preparing to start a new film, the one we discussed earlier. I’m counting on that film to deliver results. Remember to help him.”

Ye Jing nodded. “I understand.”

He had naturally heard about Zhao Fusheng’s movie and had no objections. After all, the combination of Jiang Wen and Zhao Fusheng had never failed at the box office or in critical acclaim.

“By the way, there’s something. You know Liu Bei, right?” Ye Jing suddenly said to Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng nodded. “I know her. What’s up?”

“She has a friend who wants to sign with our company,” Ye Jing said to Zhao Fusheng.

“A friend?”

Zhao Fusheng was taken aback and frowned. “How did it come to you?”

He knew Liu Bei’s identity. She was part of the Beijing circle. Back when he had a conflict with Zhang Li, Liu Bei, as Zhang Li’s wife, personally came forward to mediate.

As for Zhang Li, he was the director of Yu Feihong’s earlier film “Chinese Past.” But reportedly, Liu Bei and Zhang Li were in the process of divorcing.

“Yeah, Zhang Li found someone else and divorced Liu Bei.” Ye Jing said. “Liu Bei’s friend was a singer before, now an actor. She originally wanted him to sign with Huayi, but as you know, the Wang brothers have been expanding rapidly in recent years, and competition in the company is fierce.”

“I see.” Zhao Fusheng nodded. “Future Films doesn’t have many actors, and its strength is considerable, so she hopes he’ll sign with us, right?”

“Yeah.”

Ye Jing didn’t hide it. “That’s the idea.”

It seemed the two were old acquaintances, so there wasn’t much beating around the bush.

“You decide.”

Zhao Fusheng agreed casually. “Sign the contract normally. The company can give him opportunities, but one thing: he must not tarnish the company’s reputation outside. If we find out, I won’t go easy.”

“Don’t worry, I know.” Ye Jing nodded.

“By the way, you said Zhang Li found someone else. What’s that about?” Zhao Fusheng asked casually.

“A new actress. I heard they met on set, on the film Feihong acted in. I forget her name. That guy is such a jerk. Liu Bei was pregnant, and he was living it up with that woman on set. It’s infuriating!” Ye Jing snorted, speaking angrily.

Clearly, even as a man, he couldn’t condone Zhang Li’s behavior.

“A dog can’t change its habit of eating shit.”

Zhao Fusheng took it calmly. If he remembered correctly, the conflict with Zhang Li had started in a bar when he ran into Zhang Li with another woman.

Time had passed, but the man hadn’t changed at all.

Human nature—how ironic!