Chapter 1917: The Meeting

What exactly caused the rise of the Chinese film market?

The reasons are complex—capital-driven, with official support, but more importantly, the number of Chinese moviegoers has grown, and people have begun to regard movies as a lifestyle of leisure and entertainment.

Sartre said, existence precedes essence.

For anything that happens, there must be a reason for it.

It's like Murphy's Law: the more we hope something won't happen, the more it tends to occur.

Although Zhao Fusheng didn't know much about it, he welcomed the rise of Chinese cinema.

After all, it wasn't a bad thing for him.

There was money to be made.

So, whether it was Xu Shanzheng or Ning Hao, Zhao Fusheng was happy to have them under his control.

After all, as he recalled, they would prop up half of the future Chinese film industry.

Zhao Fusheng didn't know how much money the film and television industry could make in the future, but he was well aware that China's film and TV sector was a huge cake.

Even if he could only get one percent of it, that would still be billions of yuan in profit per year.

"Let's leave it at that."

Zhao Fusheng said to Ye Jing, "Put Ning Hao's film in the National Day slot and Xu Shanzheng's in the Spring Festival slot. As for 'Bullet,' let Old Jiang take as long as he wants."

He couldn't be bothered with Jiang Wen anymore.

That guy would delay even if he held a gun to his head.

Besides, Zhao Fusheng had high hopes for 'Bullet' and expected it to bring him even greater surprises.

Good food is worth waiting for—Zhao Fusheng understood that principle well.

Moreover, both 'Crazy Racer' and 'Lost on Journey' were low-budget films. Putting them in the National Day and Spring Festival slots against domestic and foreign blockbusters didn't really matter to Zhao Fusheng.

Take 'Lost on Journey' for example: with an investment of eight million yuan, even if it lost money, Future Film could afford it.

"Okay."

Ye Jing nodded. He wasn't naive; Zhao Fusheng's idea was actually sound.

Letting two low-budget films test the waters to see the specific market conditions during recent film seasons, and then releasing 'Bullet'—that was a prudent plan.

As for the opinions of directors and actors, they didn't matter.

When had investors ever cared about the opinions of directors and actors? Not to mention Xu Shanzheng and Ning Hao—even the top domestic directors were no exception.

At any time, the money side was the real master; that was beyond doubt.

Moreover, both Xu Shanzheng and Ning Hao were part of Future Film's own team.

This kind of arrangement had no downside for Future Film, so they would naturally comply.

"By the way, 'Wulin' is about to air on CCTV. Should we do some promotional activities?" Ye Jing asked, remembering something.

According to the plan, 'Wulin' would air on CCTV on Children's Day. He wondered if Future Film should do some promotion.

"No need."

Zhao Fusheng waved his hand. "CCTV will promote it for us anyway. Why waste the money?"

"Ah?"

Ye Jing was stunned. Thinking it over, it was exactly as Zhao Fusheng said.

As he pointed out, no matter how low the price CCTV paid, since it was a drama airing on their channel, they would definitely promote it.

He had to admit, Zhao Fusheng's idea was spot on.

"Then I'll head back."

After thinking it over, Ye Jing felt there was nothing more to say, so he took his leave from Zhao Fusheng's office.

...

...

After Ye Jing left, Zhao Fusheng didn't stay in the office long and left the company as well.

Before leaving, he called Zheng Yao and asked her to find him an assistant as soon as possible, or he would just pick someone randomly.

Zheng Yao reluctantly agreed, saying she was already arranging it.

Back home, Zhao Fusheng had just sat down when his phone rang before he could rest.

Yu Feihong?

"Sis, you're looking for me?"

Zhao Fusheng asked, somewhat surprised.

"Yes and no."

Yu Feihong said directly, "My teacher at the Beijing Film Academy asked someone to see if you could meet."

"For what?"

Hearing the other party's identity, Zhao Fusheng was a bit surprised. A professor from the Beijing Film Academy wanting to meet him out of the blue?

Logically, if they wanted a meeting, they should have approached Ye Jing.

"It seems to be about Li Qingshan's son."

Yu Feihong didn't beat around the bush. "If it's difficult for you, then don't meet."

She knew that since this matter involved Zhao Fusheng, the other party had come to her hoping she would put in a good word.

But unfortunately, she had no sympathy for Li Tiantian's actions.

She was a person with clear likes and dislikes, and she trusted Zhao Fusheng's character. With Zhang Qian involved, and talk of a brawl, Yu Feihong would never believe such a thing happened.

If it were just Zhang Qian, she might believe the news reports, but with Zhao Fusheng present, she knew Zhang Qian would never let Zhao Fusheng get involved.

Or to be more precise, if it were really a brawl, Li Tiantian and his group wouldn't have ended up at the police station.

The hospital would have been the only place they could go.

"Let's meet."

Zhao Fusheng smiled. "After all, they went through your teacher. Besides, they only said they want to see me."

"Alright."

Yu Feihong nodded. "I'll reply to them."

Soon, they arranged to meet that evening.

The venue was a private club.

In recent years, private clubs had sprung up in the capital. For some reason, everyone seemed to prefer discussing matters in secluded places.

Zhao Fusheng didn't mind; he had a clear conscience. As for Li Qingshan and Ge Meng, they probably didn't want too many people to know about this.

In fact, Zhao Fusheng's guess was correct.

They really didn't want too many people to know about this.

While Zhao Fusheng drove with Zhang Qian to pick up Yu Feihong, Li Qingshan and Ge Meng were also on their way to the private club.

"Don't speak during this meeting."

Li Qingshan sat in the car, wiping his glasses, and said calmly to Ge Meng.

"Why?"

Ge Meng was taken aback, then said, "Isn't he just a businessman? Yes, he's rich, but we're not afraid of him. If he hadn't talked nonsense, would Tiantian be in this state?"

Li Qingshan frowned, glanced at his wife, and finally sighed helplessly.

He knew that the responsibility for this matter largely lay with him.

If he hadn't been so busy with work and performances, neglecting the education of his wife and son, perhaps the whole thing wouldn't have escalated to this point.

To be honest, as an artist, Li Qingshan was impeccable—both in professional skill and in mentoring newcomers, he was outstanding.

But in family education, perhaps because he had a son late in life, or because of the age gap with his wife, he had indeed neglected Ge Meng and Li Tiantian.

That led to the current situation.

After receiving the lawyer's letter from Future Group, Li Qingshan quickly realized that this time, his son and wife had provoked someone they shouldn't have.

He wasn't stupid. Having survived in the industry all these years, even as an old artist, he knew that was only compared to ordinary people.

Compared to truly big shots, he had nothing to be proud of.

For instance, the chairman of Future Group was someone he couldn't afford to offend.

Especially since the other party held the secret about his son.

Even if he didn't mind offending Zhao Fusheng, once Zhao Fusheng went public with the truth, it would be trouble.

So, no matter what, Li Qingshan had to persuade Zhao Fusheng today.

"Old Li, is this matter very troublesome?"

Ge Meng asked cautiously, seeing Li Qingshan's worried expression.

"Of course it's very troublesome."

Li Qingshan nodded. "You have to understand, if it were just a quarrel with someone, it might be manageable. But we've asked around—it was clearly Tiantian's fault, and they got caught! And then you used connections to frame the other party. What do you think they'll do?"

Ge Meng was stunned, opened her mouth, but couldn't say a word.

After learning about Zhao Fusheng's identity, she was also dumbfounded.

You see, an ordinary person and a wealthy man were two different things in this matter.

With the former, Ge Meng could use various connections to suppress them, even manipulate public opinion to minimize the issue.

But with the latter, neither social connections nor networks were something Ge Meng could contend with.

Although Li Qingshan was a nationally renowned artist, his influence was ultimately limited to the art world. Compared to a wealthy man like Zhao Fusheng, Li Qingshan really didn't measure up.

"Forget it, let's do our best."

Seeing Ge Meng's reaction, Li Qingshan knew she understood his meaning.

But now, saying anything else was useless. He could only hope that Chairman Zhao was reasonable.

Otherwise, Li Qingshan felt that today's matter wouldn't be as easy as he thought.

At that moment, Zhao Fusheng sat in the car, and Zhang Qian asked him the same question.

"What do we do?"

"What do you mean?"

Zhao Fusheng smiled faintly. "Li Qingshan isn't my relative. Why should I give him face?"

Then he chuckled. "Have a meal, then leave. That's all."

Zhang Qian and Yu Feihong exchanged glances, realizing that from start to finish, Zhao Fusheng had never taken that artist couple seriously.