He retracted the smile on his face and pondered for a while before putting down his chopsticks. He looked at Su Yang and said, “Brother Su, I don’t know why, but I feel like we hit it off very well the moment I see you. During our conversation, I can feel that both of us have been genuine with each other.
“Especially since you didn’t protect National Films just because I’m in its management. Instead, you’ve spoken your mind.
“Therefore, as your senior, I would also like to say something to you.”
Su Yang was dumbfounded. ‘I have no idea what Mu Lei is up to.
‘Is this Friendship Rating so important?
‘What is he going to say?’
At that moment, Mu Lei looked at Wu Feng and said with a smile, “Little Wu, could you head downstairs and get me a pack of cigarettes? I’ve suddenly realized that I’ve got no more in my pocket.”
Wu Feng was stunned for a moment and almost could not react in time. However, he soon understood that Mu Lei wanted to tell Su Yang some things in private, but it was not convenient for him to listen.
Wu Feng nodded. “Alright, I’ll go get it then.”
With that, he stood up and left the room.
After leaving the room, Wu Feng started talking to himself, “Eh? Since when did Mr. Mu get so close to Su Yang?”
Wu Feng and Mu Lei were old acquaintances, so he had a good understanding of Mu Lei’s personality.
Mu Lei was famous in the industry for having a good character and a good personality. Furthermore, he focused all his attention on the movie and was considered a responsible person in National Films. This was also the reason why Wu Feng introduced Mu Lei to Su Yang.
However, that was only on the surface. The people in the circle would know after interacting with Mu Lei a few times. Even though Mu Lei had a good personality and was a nice person, he may be an easy person to get familiar with, but difficult to become close friends with him.
He was someone who could chat and get along with easily as long as they had the same viewpoints or if they liked movies. However, at the same time, he would usually find it hard to actually acknowledge someone.
In other words, it was easy to get to know him, but very difficult to be friends with him. Even the big shots in the industry were distant from him.
‘Judging from Mu Lei’s words earlier, he seems to have acknowledged Brother Su. Is he really planning on befriending him?
‘I don’t get it.
‘I really don’t…’
Wu Feng shook his head as he walked down the stairs. After thinking for a while, he could only come up with one conclusion. ‘This Brother Su of mine is indeed capable.’
In the room, Su Yang was a little confused. He did not expect Mu Lei to change so much after becoming friends with him.
Therefore, he could only look at Mu Lei and listen to what he wanted to say.
Mu Lei took out a box of cigarettes from his pocket and lit it up. After taking two puffs, he pondered for a while and said to Su Yang, “Brother Su, I don’t know why, but I feel that we hit it off very well. This is only our first meeting, but I really want to treat you as a friend.”
Su Yang replied, “Me too, Brother Mu.”
Mu Lei waved his hand and said, “Actually, I don’t usually like to get involved in other people’s projects and I don’t want to change other people’s plans. So when you told me you wanted to buy the copyright, I directly went to talk to my superiors about this.”
“They did agree, but I have a feeling that this is not a good thing for you.”
Su Yang asked curiously, “Why?”
Mu Lei pointed at the ceiling and said, “What do you think the higher-ups of National Films care about?”
Su Yang shook his head.
Mu Lei said slowly, “Results.”
He explained, “Actually, National Films is very rich and doesn’t lack money. What they lack is results. Or rather, after the new CEO took over Third Master Han’s position, the company has been lacking results.
“Actually, he doesn’t care how much money your movie earns, but he cares about your box office, your influence and more about whether this movie is invested and produced by National Films.”
Su Yang looked at Mu Lei, deep in thought.
Mu Lei obviously treated him as a friend now, so he did not let him guess and explained directly, “Let me give you an example. If you have two choices, the first choice is that you have all the movie’s copyright and all the movie’s earnings with a box office of 1 billion yuan.
“As for the second choice, you can have 90% of the movie’s copyright and 90% of the profit, but the movie’s box office is 2 billion yuan. Which choice would you choose?”
Su Yang replied without hesitation, “Of course, the second option.”
‘After all, I’m investing in movies not only to earn money, but also to gain influence. Influence and money are both directly related to the box office, so of course I would choose the second option.’
Mu Lei looked into Su Yang’s eyes and nodded slowly.
Looking into Mu Lei’s eyes, Su Yang suddenly had an idea and understood what Mu Lei meant.
‘What Mu Lei means is that although the investment by National Films would benefit the movie, it would also bring a lot of resources to the movie.
‘Forget everything else, with the status of National Films within the industry, it would only take one word from them to increase this movie’s rankings. If they wanted to promote this movie, how many media outlets in the country would promote this movie for them with just a meet and greet session?
‘These potential impacts and resource support cannot be compared with percentages of shares.
‘Therefore, even if I could buy all the copyrights right now, it would still be better for both parties to cooperate and National Films receives some benefits in the meantime.
As long as the quality of the movie is extremely good, or even groundbreaking, then because I’m also the producer, National Films would definitely promote and invest more resources to make this movie even more popular.
After all, compared to my earnings, what National Films want is a result that could go down in history. Of course, the greater the result, the better it is for them.’
At the thought of this, Su Yang couldn’t help but feel that Mu Lei’s suggestion was wise and mature. Hence, he raised his glass again and toasted Mu Lei. “Brother Mu, allow me to raise you another toast.”
Mu Lei smiled and drank his glass of alcohol before he then said, “If you trust me, then I’ll help you discuss this matter. I’ll definitely try my best to secure your benefits.”
Su Yang replied without any hesitation, “Brother Mu, no matter who I distrust, I cannot possibly distrust you. So, I’ll leave this matter in your hands!”
After that, Su Yang continued, “Also, I don’t want you to land into trouble because of me. This movie is indeed very risky, so I’ll handle all the investments. As for how much of a percentage would National Films want to occupy, I trust that you’ll make the appropriate arrangements for me, Brother Mu.”
[Affinity +3]
Su Yang saw the admiration in Mu Lei’s eyes and knew that he had done a good job.
There was nothing unusual about the following drinking session. After Wu Feng returned, the few of them started to talk about other topics. For example, “Wolf Warriors”, “Wolf Warriors 2”, Guo Fan’s “The Girl At The Neighbouring Desk” and so on.
Because the three of them could be considered to have hit it off well and were friends with Su Yang, even Wu Feng and Mu Lei, who were the closest to each other, were at least familiar with each other. Therefore, the party lasted until late at night.
The three of them were all true gentlemen, hence they did not go out and have a second round of entertainment. Instead, they all left the hotel after they were done.
Su Yang hailed a taxi and told the driver to send him to the provided address.
However, in actuality, he just wanted to find a secluded place to fly back to Shanghai.
After getting out of the car, Su Yang found an alley that had no cameras and no onlookers. Then, he used [Space Traversing Eyes] and flew back to Shanghai.
When he returned to Shanghai, it was not known if it was because Su Yang had made some noises when he landed. Not long after, he could hear his room door being knocked.
“Who is it?” Su Yang asked as he took off his jacket.
Tang Jing’s voice came from outside the door. “Xiaoyang, is that you? Did you just come back?”
Su Yang replied, “Oh, yes. I just came back from a business meeting.”
Then, he dropped his jacket and opened the door. Outside was Tang Jing, who was wearing a light purple nightgown.
Tang Jing wrinkled her nose when she saw Su Yang. Then, she looked at Su Yang worriedly. “Have you been drinking?”
She looked like a wife who had been waiting for her husband to return home, but her husband reeked of alcohol.
Su Yang replied, “Yes.”
Tang Jing said, “Then, why don’t you get some rest first while I make you a bowl of hangover soup.”
Su Yang waved his hand. “It’s fine. There’s no need. I’m going off to sleep now.” Actually, he had Sanque’s roots with him, so drinking that with water alone was much more effective than whatever there was.
Tang Jing, who was usually gentle, did not listen to Su Yang this time. She insisted, “Drink it before sleeping.”
With that, she ignored Su Yang’s reaction and headed down the stairs, making “Stomp” noises while she was at it.
Su Yang looked at her back view and did not know what to think…
Moments later, Tang Jing returned to Su Yang’s room with a bowl of red soup. She passed the soup to Su Yang and said, “Here, drink this.”
Although Su Yang was touched by Tang Jing’s actions, he could not help but think of a certain woman named Pan…
‘With a charming voice. “Come, Da Lang, it’s time to drink your medicine.”
‘With a weak voice, “Jin Lian, I have a feeling that I don’t have much time left…”
‘Yeap… It really does seem like that.’
As Pan Jin… No, Tang Jing looked at Su Yang who in a daze, she waved her hand in front of him. “Xiaoyang? What’s wrong?”
“Oh, oh.” Su Yang snapped back to his senses. “I’m fine, Sister Jin… Sister Jing.”
Because the two names were similar, Tang Jing did not notice anything unusual.
She said, “Get some sleep after you finish the hangover soup, alright? I’ve been busy the whole day, so I’ll go and get some sleep first.” As she said that, she covered her mouth and yawned, making her upper body stand out even more.
With that, she waved her hand. “Goodnight, Xiaoyang.”
Su Yang replied, “Goodnight.”
Su Yang had just picked up the hangover soup when Tang Jing suddenly returned. “Oh, right, Xiaoyang. I forgot to mention that Juduoduo’s boss will be coming to the office tomorrow afternoon. Would you like to meet him?”
Su Yang nodded. “Yes. I’ll leave with you tomorrow morning.”
Tang Jing nodded. “See you tomorrow morning then. Get an early rest.”
After Tang Jing left, Su Yang looked at the hangover soup in his hand. It was red and looked like tomato soup. It felt warm and sour after drinking it…
The next morning, Su Yang and Tang Jing went to Tang Jing’s office together.
Ever since she received Su Yang’s investment, Tang Jing had established this company. Tang Jing, who had plenty of connections and experience in the industry, could easily open a company and recruit many talents.
Due to the requirements of investing in venture capital, Tang Jing’s company had the best location among all the companies under Jiadian Group and also the grandest looking one.
It was located in the economic center of Shanghai, in a building called Renaissance.
Even though Tang Jing’s company did not have many employees and the place was not big, the rent was close to 100 thousand yuan a month.
At the same time, in this place where every inch of land was worth its weight, the employees of Tang Jing’s company who had arrived to work earlier were quietly chatting.
“Have you heard?”
“What?”
“I heard the big boss is coming today.”
“Huh? The big boss? Isn’t Sister Jing the big boss?”
“No. Sister Jing only has about 20% of the company’s shares. There’s someone else above her.”
“I see. What’s the big boss doing here though?”
Someone guessed, “I’m guessing it’s for an inspection, don’t you think?”
A well-informed person said, “No. I heard that it’s because Juduoduo’s boss is coming. So, our big boss plans to meet him personally.”
Hearing Juduo’s name, everyone’s expression changed.
“Huh? The people over there are coming? No way? They’re hard to please.”
“Our big boss is going to do it himself… Will that work?”