Chapter 0703: In-Depth Exchange

Night gradually enveloped the sky. January in the north was undoubtedly the coldest time; even with heating indoors, one felt particularly cold, having to hide under the covers, striving not to expose any skin.

Fan Baobao's trial session lasted over an hour, finally ended by Zhao Fusheng's passionate kiss when she grew tired of the interrogation.

This was Zhao Fusheng's killer move against her, and it proved highly effective.

After being thoroughly worked over by Zhao Fusheng from the inside out, Fan Baobao lay limply on the bed, leaning against his chest, feeling his heartbeat.

But for some reason, her body kept twisting and turning, as if she had some unspoken difficulty.

Zhao Fusheng frowned, about to ask her, but Fan Baobao spoke first: "Um, could you not keep it plugged in while sleeping? Pull it out."

"Huh?" Zhao Fusheng was startled, frowning: "What's wrong? Do you need to use it?"

To be honest, he was also tired today. After a whole day of activity and their recent fooling around, he had no energy left and just wanted to sleep well.

"No, with it plugged in, I just feel uncomfortable," Fan Baobao murmured, gently pushing Zhao Fusheng.

"Alright, alright."

With a helpless look, Zhao Fusheng had to get up, walking toward the power outlet while saying, "It's best to turn off the phone while charging; otherwise, the noise is really annoying."

"What do you know? This is the white bear effect," Fan Baobao glared at Zhao Fusheng, despising his shameless behavior of wandering around naked in front of her.

"White bear effect?" Zhao Fusheng was taken aback; clearly, he hadn't heard of it.

"The so-called white bear effect, also known as the rebound effect, comes from an experiment by a social psychologist at Harvard University. He asked participants to try not to think of a white bear, but their minds immediately rebounded strongly, quickly conjuring up a white bear," Fan Baobao explained to Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng was silent, then understood her meaning.

The human mind works like that: for example, with sad memories, people always remind themselves not to think about them, but things often turn out the opposite—the more you want to forget, the more you recall them.

That was probably the white bear effect Fan Baobao mentioned.

"People must learn to live in forgetting," Zhao Fusheng said with a shrug to Fan Baobao.

Fan Baobao was startled, but before she could react, Zhao Fusheng pounced onto the bed, and they tangled together again...

...

...

So-called resignation to fate is a kind of despair after confirmation.

Those who have read Walden should remember this sentence.

You see, sometimes when a seemingly unsolvable contradiction or problem is before you, if you provide an opportunity, a reasonable opportunity, it might open a channel that seems unrelated but ultimately solves the problem.

Just like now, Zhao Fusheng felt that Fan Baobao had provided him with a way to solve the problem.

Before that, he had been worrying about how to make a large sum of money in the shortest time, with clean origins, and explain it clearly to his parents; otherwise, if they knew about all the businesses he was secretly running, they would be shocked.

Most importantly, Zhao Fusheng couldn't explain to his parents how this sudden change in him came about.

After all, advertising planning was his specialty, but for other things like the internet, Zhao Fusheng really couldn't think of any excuse to tell his parents.

This wasn't ancient times, where he could use excuses like being possessed by a spirit or ancestor's apparition to fool them. This was 2001, a new era of the 21st century. He was sure that if he dared to talk nonsense, his parents would definitely scold him to death.

So, Zhao Fusheng needed to make money in a reasonable and legitimate way.

And Fan Baobao's suggestion was undoubtedly very useful.

'Anyway, you're so close with Jiang Wen and the others now. If we save up together and invest in making movies and TV dramas, we're sure to make money.'

When Miss Fan got out of bed, she said to Zhao Fusheng with a smug look on her face.

This was the good idea she had come up with after thinking about it all night. Both she and Zhao Fusheng now had a bit of assets—not a lot, but definitely not a little. Plus, Zhao Fusheng was practically half in the entertainment industry. They could definitely consider dipping into this sector.

Although Zhao Fusheng wanted to tell her that he actually had no interest in the entertainment industry at all, he realized that this might be a good way to solve his current problems.

At the very least, the future prosperity of the entertainment industry was obvious to all. He could have ample reason to tell his parents that no matter what they did, they didn't need to worry—he had the ability to make money, a lot of money.

'Let's put the investment on hold for now and see how the movie does at the box office.' Zhao Fusheng said to Fan Baobao after a moment of silence.

The renamed "Good Dream One-Day Tour" was releasing on the first day of the Lunar New Year. Although he felt confident inside, Zhao Fusheng still wanted to see how things went. If this film became as popular as it had in his previous life, he would be relieved.

No one would turn down money, and Zhao Fusheng was no exception.

The principle that not making money is a fool's errand is the same as the principle that one should enjoy life while one can, as long as I'm not paying.

Moreover, Zhao Fusheng knew very well that in the entertainment industry, connections and money were equally important. With connections, you could find big-name directors, big-name actors, renowned cinematographers, and so on. Without connections, even if people came for the money, only heaven knew how much effort they would put in.

After all, no one in the entertainment industry was a fool.

Playing tricks and harming others for personal gain might make a splash for a while, like certain individuals, but those who truly lasted in this circle were those who held themselves upright and were willing to help others.

After all, in this circle, even if many people might be a bit naive when they first enter, after a long time, how could they remain completely ignorant?

In other words, once someone was cheated or taken advantage of, they would remember it. Not only that, if you deceived or harmed them, you might seem to have gained an advantage, but you lost your reputation—in short, your name would be ruined.

And in the entertainment industry, once your reputation is ruined, your path naturally narrows.

The most obvious example was one of the former Five Tigers, the handsome Mr. Tang. Because he was too flirtatious, he drove his psychologically fragile girlfriend to suicide. As a result, his reputation plummeted. He went from a popular young actor promoted by TVB to a rat everyone despised, eventually only playing minor roles in mainland TV dramas.

Although he was actually innocent in this matter—after all, his ex-girlfriend's weak psychological resilience leading to suicide sounded almost like a joke—the problem was that if he hadn't been so flirtatious, this wouldn't have happened, and naturally, he wouldn't have given people ammunition.

And Zhao Fusheng knew even more that with the development of the internet and the advent of the information explosion era, reputation and connections would become increasingly important in the film and television industry.

Take a celebrity as an example: a certain bald male star's wedding caused a scandal. In fact, if someone had apologized immediately, admitting it was a joke among friends that led to misunderstandings and bad influence, the matter would have basically blown over.

But instead, everyone played deaf and dumb. When the situation escalated and the parties involved came out to apologize, it instantly became a situation where everyone was condemned. Not only that, everyone was put on the spot. Black histories emerged endlessly online, friends turned against each other, and even subsequent works were criticized. The losses were huge.

In Zhao Fusheng's view, if someone dared to slander you in the entertainment industry, the first thing to do was to refute them and firmly shift the blame. Otherwise, if your reputation was truly cemented, it would not be easy to turn things around.

'But seriously, what you said last night—that the future is the era of commercial films—is that true or false?' After finishing her preparations, Fan Baobao took Zhao Fusheng's arm and was about to go out when she remembered what he had said the night before and asked curiously.

Zhao Fusheng smiled: 'Well, let's wait and see.'

'Being mysterious again!' Fan Baobao glared at Zhao Fusheng and said resentfully.

She didn't know when it started, but this guy always liked to speak in such a vague and roundabout way, making people guess. It was really infuriating.

'It's not being mysterious; it's just that this matter itself can't be explained in a few words.' Zhao Fusheng looked at Fan Baobao helplessly and explained.

'What do you mean?' Fan Baobao looked confused.

Zhao Fusheng shook his head helplessly. She was just an actress. He really didn't intend to let Fan Baobao know about these capital-related things. But if he didn't say anything, she would definitely think he was fooling her again.

After thinking for a moment, Zhao Fusheng organized his words and explained in relatively simple terms: 'Whether it's art films or commercial films, the ultimate purpose of making a movie is to resonate with the audience. And the most direct way is box office revenue, because apart from those films and TV dramas with political tasks, the vast majority of works are funded by investors who spend money to make money. It's like the market economy we advocate now. No matter what type of work, if it can't bring returns and profits to investors, do you think they will continue to invest?'

'Of course not; they're not stupid.' Fan Baobao said matter-of-factly, but then her expression changed.

Zhao Fusheng smiled and said nothing more. He believed that Fan Baobao should have understood his meaning.