Chapter 2008 Wishful Thinking

What is strength?

So-called strength means your power is enough to protect yourself and to ignore others' reactions.

Just like Zhao Fusheng, he could ignore the reactions of Li Lu's family, including others, and leave directly.

Because he knew very well that no matter how dissatisfied these people were, they could only endure.

“You weren’t wrong.”

Sitting in Zhao Fusheng’s car, Ye Jing smiled bitterly.

He hadn’t expected Li Lu to be so clueless.

Or rather, that girl was so foolish.

In all these years, Ye Jing had never seen such an artist.

“Now you know why I was reluctant to sign her?” Zhao Fusheng shook his head helplessly.

“Yeah, no wonder Zhao Baogang was so eager for us to sign her.”

Ye Jing said irritably.

That bastard Zhao Baogang had actually set him up.

“Let’s send the plague away.”

Zhao Fusheng laughed heartily.

After all, he was acquainted with Li Lu’s parents; probably Zhao Baogang couldn’t stand her temper either but couldn’t say anything, so he hoped someone would sign her.

But unexpectedly, Ye Jing had walked right into it.

“Wait a moment, Sister Feihong should be out soon.”

Zhao Fusheng said casually as the driver prepared to start the car.

Sure enough, a moment later, Yu Feihong also got into the car.

“This child!”

As soon as she got in, Yu Feihong said angrily, “She’s so immature!”

“Forget it, forget it, what’s there to say to a little girl.”

Zhao Fusheng waved his hand.

“Little girl?”

Yu Feihong’s eyes widened: “She’s twenty-seven. What were you doing at twenty-seven, and what is she doing?”

Clearly, Sister Feihong was very angry.

Zhao Fusheng stuck out his tongue, dared not say anything more, and signaled the driver: “Let’s go.”

The convoy slowly moved off, and the group left the place.

Sitting in the car, Yu Feihong calmed her emotions, then said to Zhao Fusheng: “Just pretend I never mentioned it. Don’t sign her to our company.”

Then she looked at Ye Jing: “You too, stop contacting those others. I think they’re all the same as Li Lu, young and cocky, with their tails in the air!”

“You, of all people.”

Ye Jing laughed, pointing at Yu Feihong: “Isn’t that a bit much?”

“I’m not exaggerating.”

Yu Feihong shook her head: “I think our company can’t just sign people randomly now. If we end up with a bunch of undeserving people, what will we do then?”

Ye Jing was startled, somewhat surprised. He really hadn’t expected Yu Feihong to take such a stance.

Usually, Yu Feihong rarely expressed opinions on company matters. Most of the time, she was busy with charity work, and occasionally when the company needed her to do something, she would comply.

As for other things, Sister Feihong said she really wasn’t interested.

But now, she had actually taken the initiative to tell him to stop contacting those artists—this was beyond Ye Jing’s expectations.

“Is it really that serious?”

Ye Jing said to Yu Feihong: “Our company is developing well. Signing more artists is good for future layout…”

“What’s the use of layout?”

Yu Feihong shook her head: “You only think about signing people. Have you considered their character, their acting skills? Will they bring negative influence to the company in the future? Do they really want to sign with our company, or do they want to use our vast resources?”

Hearing this, Ye Jing was stunned.

Because Zhao Fusheng had asked him the same question.

“Anyway, my opinion is that we should take a boutique route.” Yu Feihong said seriously.

“Boutique route?”

This time, even Zhao Fusheng was a bit surprised.

“Yes.”

Yu Feihong nodded: “Don’t sign artists casually. Let outsiders know that being able to sign with our company, being noticed by us, is their honor.”

Zhao Fusheng and Ye Jing exchanged glances, both seeing surprise in each other’s eyes.

They had thought of this approach before.

But neither expected that Yu Feihong would be the first to propose it.

If it were Zhao Fusheng, Ye Jing might have hesitated, but since Yu Feihong said it, Ye Jing couldn’t ignore it.

Some people are like that—they rarely speak, but when they do, others listen.

Yu Feihong was that kind of person.

“Let me think, let me think.”

Ye Jing nodded to Yu Feihong.

Clearly, he had taken her words to heart.

Yu Feihong knew that such a decision couldn’t be made immediately, so she nodded and said nothing more.

Zhao Fusheng found it amusing and said with a smile: “Sis, why don’t you, like Old Jiang, take on the title of vice president?”

“Me?”

Yu Feihong was taken aback, then shook her head: “No, I’m not cut out for that.”

Clearly, Sister Feihong had never considered it.

“You could try.”

Zhao Fusheng smiled.

The reason he had this idea was that he felt Sister Feihong had a sense of calm.

She wouldn’t easily lose herself; she always stayed clear-headed in everything she did.

That was important for a corporate manager.

“No.”

Yu Feihong shook her head: “Let’s forget it.”

She really had no interest in managing a company, even one the size of Future Films. In her view, as an actor, she just needed to do her job well.

Since she didn’t like it, Zhao Fusheng didn’t press further. He smiled and nodded in agreement.

…

…

Ye Jing naturally went back to Future Films, but Yu Feihong didn’t leave. She followed Zhao Fusheng home in the car.

She wanted to see Fan Baobao.

“Sis, why are you here?” Fan Baobao was pleasantly surprised to see Yu Feihong.

“To see you.”

Yu Feihong smiled: “I won’t leave until you give birth.”

“Really?”

Fan Baobao was delighted: “That’s great! You can come with me to pick out baby clothes.”

Seeing them chatting happily, Zhao Fusheng went upstairs.

Finally, someone could take his place accompanying Fan Baobao; otherwise, she would drive him crazy.

This was his lawfully wedded wife; if it were a mistress, hah…

Back upstairs, Zhao Fusheng turned on his computer and began reviewing documents.

Recently, Future Group had been developing well. The advertising company was progressing steadily, and the investment company was mostly focused on the movements of several listed companies.

The remaining subsidiaries were also showing forward momentum.

In particular, Future Technology was gradually building its flagship products.

Everything was moving in a good direction.

Hmm?

Seeing a report, Zhao Fusheng’s brow furrowed.

It was a report about Marvel, stating that recently Marvel’s stock price had fluctuated significantly, and the board was considering issuing new shares.

“Hmph, Disney?”

Zhao Fusheng let out a cold smile.

Clearly, Disney was behind this.

Those Wall Street capitalists loved playing this game—first issuing new shares to dilute equity, then using various methods to raise funds, ultimately achieving their goal of taking control.

Thinking of this, Zhao Fusheng frowned and dialed Dong Chenxi’s number.

“Disney is about to make a move on Marvel, right?”

Zhao Fusheng asked bluntly.

He didn’t believe that Dong Chenxi and her team couldn’t see through this.

“Yes, I’ve already sent people to investigate.”

Dong Chenxi nodded: “Preliminary indications are that Marvel wants to finalize things before the release of The Incredible Hulk.”

“Hulk?”

Zhao Fusheng was startled, then remembered that while making Iron Man, Marvel had also produced a movie about the Hulk.

But as far as he recalled, that movie had flopped badly.

“I see.”

Zhao Fusheng nodded: “Keep a close eye on this.”

“Huh?”

Dong Chenxi was somewhat surprised. She had expected Zhao Fusheng to ask her to take countermeasures, but instead, he only told her to monitor the situation.

Did Zhao Fusheng have other plans?

That was the only reason she could think of; otherwise, given Zhao Fusheng’s personality, he wouldn’t give up on the big cake that was Disney.

The only explanation was that he had other ideas.

“Wait and see.”

Zhao Fusheng said to Dong Chenxi before hanging up.

Dong Chenxi put down the phone with some confusion. Clearly, she still didn’t understand Zhao Fusheng’s intentions. What exactly did he want to do?

What did Zhao Fusheng want to do?

He was waiting to see Disney make a fool of itself.

In his memory, he hadn’t heard of anything notable about The Incredible Hulk.

In other words, that movie had bombed at the box office, and badly.

Under those circumstances, Disney’s plans would surely fail.

“Wanting to pick up a bargain—how easy do you think it is?”

Zhao Fusheng muttered to himself.

He knew better than anyone how unpredictable the film industry could be. You might confidently invest three to five hundred million in a movie, hire a few popular actors and pretty faces, expecting to earn a billion at the box office.

And then?

When the box office numbers come out, maybe you don’t even get a hundred or two hundred million.

Losing everything.

Conversely, you might casually pick a few actors, spend thirty to fifty million, and the movie could become a huge hit.

Such things happen all too often in the history of cinema.

No one can guarantee how their movie will perform. Even the King of Comedy, Stephen Chow, has had his failures, let alone others.

The decision-makers at Marvel were probably intoxicated by the success of Iron Man, thinking they could just throw together any superhero movie and draw audiences into theaters.

In fact, they were wrong, and very wrong at that.