Chapter 2033: Submission

Li Meizhen had never imagined that one day she would suffer such humiliation.

Even when her father was driven to China, as the eldest daughter of CJ Group, she had never been treated like this.

But today, here at the Shilla Hotel, she felt she wished she had never come.

"Chairman Lee, I need an explanation for today's events."

Zhao Fusheng looked at Lee Jae-hyun and repeated.

Lee Jae-hyun quickly nodded: "Don't worry, I will give you an explanation."

Things having reached this point, he was no fool and naturally knew what attitude to express.

Glancing at Lee Jae-jin, Lee Jae-hyun's gaze was icy; he truly wanted to teach that bastard a lesson. If not for him, he and Li Meizhen would not have to lose face like this.

Meeting Lee Jae-hyun's gaze, Lee Jae-jin was completely dumbfounded.

At that moment, he even felt that he might be consumed by the chairman's fury.

But he had no choice; even if he died, he had to bear it.

He didn't even have the thought of resistance.

This was South Korea, and the people he faced were the chairman and vice chairman of CJ Group.

Unless you are Korean, you simply cannot understand what the chaebol mean to them and what status they hold in their lives.

"Then I won't keep you two any longer."

Zhao Fusheng said indifferently.

Originally, he had only intended to teach Li Meizhen a lesson today. Since Lee Jae-hyun was willing to step in, that was for the best.

Li Meizhen's wooden expression was clearly an act, Zhao Fusheng could tell at a glance; she was obviously afraid he would seize on it.

But he really had no intention of doing anything; instead, he was happy to watch her put on a show.

"Then we'll take our leave."

Lee Jae-hyun, a seasoned veteran, calmly bid farewell to Lee Boo-jin, greeted the two representatives of Hanxing Investment, and then turned and left.

Li Meizhen and Lee Jae-jin naturally followed behind him.

As for how he would handle the matter after returning, that was his problem; to Zhao Fusheng, it was unimportant.

Lee Boo-jin watched their backs, opened her mouth as if to say something, but remained silent.

She had originally thought Zhao Fusheng would have a falling out with Li Meizhen today, but unexpectedly, Lee Jae-hyun came out to shield Li Meizhen and took the matter upon himself.

And Zhao Fusheng surprisingly chose to back down.

This greatly disappointed Lee Boo-jin, who had been expecting a good show.

After all, if Zhao Fusheng and Li Meizhen fell out, it would be excellent news for her.

But unfortunately, to her disappointment, Zhao Fusheng seemed to have no such intention.

"The irrelevant people are gone. Let's eat, let's eat."

Only after Lee Jae-hyun and the other two left did Zhao Fusheng say to everyone with a smile.

Everyone exchanged glances; even Choi Jin-ri and Song Qian obediently lowered their heads to eat.

In contrast, Liang Jingyu and Wu Sijie looked indifferent.

After all, they were Chinese and had no clear concept of the chaebol.

But Kim Young-min and Lee Soo-man, being locals, naturally understood what had just happened.

Even Park Sun-young, though a director of Hanxing Investment, truly realized at this moment what kind of status her big boss had.

Those were the chairman and vice chairman of CJ Group!

And he had lectured them just like that.

Moreover, Lee Jae-hyun had obediently allowed himself to be lectured.

Such terror!

That was CJ Group!

One of South Korea's top ten chaebols, a behemoth holding half of the Korean film and television industry, the largest food manufacturing company in South Korea.

Without exaggeration, a company like SM Entertainment wasn't even worth a fart in front of CJ Group.

Though they claimed to be the top agency in the music industry, even a director of CJ Group dared to act arrogantly in front of Kim Young-min and Lee Soo-man. Otherwise, Lee Jae-jin wouldn't have blatantly tried to take Choi Jin-ri and Song Qian to a hotel room.

But facing Zhao Fusheng, that guy could only kneel and beg for mercy.

And even then, whether he would be forgiven depended on Zhao Fusheng's mood.

Truly a super chaebol from China!

Lee Soo-man and Kim Young-min exchanged glances and simultaneously resolved to develop the Chinese market no matter what.

It was simply too big!

And with Zhao Fusheng's connection, they felt SM's development in the Chinese market was very promising.

Little did they know, Zhao Fusheng had no interest in that at all.

Their flattery was destined to be wasted effort.

"Chairman, should I do something about CJ's stock..."

After eating a bit, Liang Jingyu put down his knife and fork and asked Zhao Fusheng.

Clearly, he had taken Zhao Fusheng's earlier words to heart.

Zhao Fusheng smiled and waved his hand: "No need. Lee Jae-hyun won't give you the chance."

Then he looked at Kim Young-min and Lee Soo-man: "Gentlemen, does today's meal suit your taste?"

Since he was treating today, Zhao Fusheng had arranged for Chinese food at the Shilla Hotel.

Moreover, Zhao Fusheng specifically requested that they not use Korean chefs but bring in Chinese chefs.

Korean-style Chinese food...

In Zhao Fusheng's words, it was simply appalling.

The Chinese food Koreans love is basically jajangmyeon and sweet and sour pork, and even those are modified. To Zhao Fusheng, a Chinese person, it was a waste of good ingredients.

So he absolutely refused to eat it.

"Thank you, it's delicious."

"Thank you, Chairman Zhao."

Lee Soo-man and Kim Young-min quickly expressed their thanks.

Whether it was delicious or not, even if Zhao Fusheng handed them a raw scallion, they wouldn't dare say it wasn't good.

You have to pick the right time and place to show off. Acting pretentious in front of someone of Zhao Fusheng's status would be asking for trouble.

Both Kim Young-min and Lee Soo-man understood this clearly.

Neither of them was stupid; they knew how to behave.

Zhao Fusheng smiled and said to them, "I am optimistic about SM's development. I hope you two will continue to work together to make this company bigger and stronger."

Then he looked at Liang Jingyu: "Representative Liang, I recall that our Future Films has a cooperation with SM, right?"

"Yes, Chairman."

Liang Jingyu nodded: "And it has been ongoing."

"Keep it up."

Zhao Fusheng smiled: "If you need anything, feel free to contact headquarters."

"Okay."

Liang Jingyu indicated he would remember.

He certainly wouldn't take Zhao Fusheng's words lightly, and the matter was thus decided.

Lee Soo-man and Kim Young-min exchanged glances, both wondering why Zhao Fusheng valued SM so much. Could he have some interest in the entertainment industry?

Little did they know, Zhao Fusheng had no particular interest in the Korean entertainment industry. Once the Korean entertainment ban took effect a few years later, Korean cultural products would have little room for development in China.

What truly interested him was Korea's star-making mechanism.

Moreover, although Korea couldn't export culture to China, its domestic film and television production industry was developing rapidly, with films reaching ten million viewers appearing frequently.

This was a great opportunity to make money, and Zhao Fusheng had no reason to miss it.

Zhao Fusheng felt no pressure in making money from foreigners.

South Korea's box office statistics differ from other countries; they use audience numbers to calculate box office revenue.

The main reason is that all major theaters in Korea implement uniform ticket prices.

Except for a few discounts, the usual ticket price is 8,000 won (about 40 RMB) on weekdays and 9,000 won (about 45 RMB) on weekends. Thus, multiplying the audience number by the average ticket price quickly gives the film's box office revenue.

Zhao Fusheng was well aware of this.

He also knew that although the Korean film market seemed somewhat sluggish now, ten years later it would explode wildly.

Films with ten million viewers would become common.

Strangely enough, the film markets in China and Korea are somewhat similar. When the overall economy encounters problems, the cultural industry bursts forth with tremendous energy.

The reasons behind this are worth pondering.

Of course, that had little to do with Zhao Fusheng. What he cared about was how much profit he could extract from it.