Debuted right after graduating from high school

Cryptocurrency is essentially a medium of exchange, or an accounting system.

The buyer pays in real money, while the seller gives the buyer cryptocurrency. The buyer can then use the cryptocurrency to purchase goods or resell them at a different price, making it ideal for cross-border payments or circumventing financial regulations.

Fan Wumian's initial intention in trading cryptocurrencies was just for fun. He didn't mention it to anyone around him, except for a person in charge in the family office. Even the team members who helped him mine Bitcoin didn't actually know the specific identity of their boss. They just thought it was similar to earning gold coins and getting equipment in a game.

The reason why he only holds 37 Bitcoins is that there are not many Bitcoins on the market. Most of them are tech geeks trying to "mine" and then exchanging Bitcoins for a little money from Fan Wumian. Even if it's only enough to buy a hamburger meal, they think it's really cool.

After news spread that someone was buying up large amounts of Bitcoin, the number of people mining it increased, and with the advent of cryptocurrency trading platforms, buying and selling became easier.

The reason Fan Wumian only sought funding instead of starting his own exchange was because the early stages of development involved certain gray areas that lacked legal and policy oversight. He believed he was already quite enviable and hated, and he didn't want to give some people an excuse to lock him up in jail.

Holding shares through venture capital and setting up multiple firewalls solves the problem.

Fan Wumian set a small goal: to buy 100 million Bitcoins himself and indirectly hold a portion through cryptocurrency exchanges. Initially, this would reduce the number of Bitcoins circulating in the market and drive up the price, thereby attracting more attention from the outside world.

It was just a scheme he orchestrated on the side. The speed at which he made money far exceeded the speed at which he spent it. Even if he made a fortune from these Bitcoins, it would have no impact on Fan Wumian's quality of life. He was already at the top of the pyramid of human society in this era, with no room for further advancement.

Despite the frequent analyses of his total net worth by various magazines, Fan Wumian himself finds it difficult to say exactly how much he has. Every year, he has to hire several accounting firms to conduct lengthy audits in order to arrive at a rough range.

Whether a company goes public or not, short-term changes in revenue and net profit, the overall market environment, and so on, can all affect valuation and market capitalization, which fluctuate constantly. It's normal for someone managing over a hundred billion US dollars in assets to not know their total net worth.

If asked what it's like to be this rich, Fan Wumian would find it hard to describe clearly. After the initial novelty wore off, he gradually became numb and began to lose a clear concept of money itself.

So he started spending money to buy happiness instead of continuing to pursue making more money. Just like the Versace brand that was recently acquired, which has a resort hotel on the Gold Coast of Australia, Fan Wumian plans to use Versace and Valentino respectively to build more boutique resort hotels in the most beautiful places around the world, just so that he can travel around and relax when he is bored in the future.

Occasionally, when he takes female companions or children out, he feels uneasy about being caught on camera in hotels. However, it's different when he stays in his own hotel, where he can book the entire place or have bodyguards take over to maintain order.

In addition, there are collectibles. After a period of accumulation, Fan Wumian has collected porcelain from the five famous kilns, as well as several legally heirloom bronzes. At the beginning of the year, he sent people to London to exchange two Picasso oil paintings for the Yongle Emperor's sword and two Golden Cups of Eternal Stability that had been lost to Britain.

Even if others tried to persuade him, it would still be difficult to get this done, but it was just a minor problem for Fan Wumian. He had just hinted that he might move the Aston Martin factory out of the UK when London quickly compromised.

When these two treasures were exhibited in China, the scene was incredibly grand. For several months in a row, tickets for the special exhibition hall of the museum were sold out. Even a feng shui master jumped in to join the fun, saying that Fan Wumian's fortune was too strong and that he needed to use the Yongle Emperor's Sword and the Golden Cup of Eternal Stability to stabilize his luck.

Fan Wumian stopped joining the feng shui master in the fun, but he didn't offer any explanation either. After all, outsiders believed he had good fortune, which was beneficial to his asset management business and listed company.

During his trip to Paris Fashion Week, Fan Wumian made a last-minute decision to start filming the second season of "Walking with Fan Wumian". He visited the Louvre and Fontainebleau Palace, and received a complete set of blue and white polychrome twelve flower goddess cups from the Pinault family, major shareholders of Kering Group and Christie's auction house.

It wasn't a free gift. Due to the controversy surrounding the bronze animal heads, the Pinault family suffered heavy losses in their business in mainland China. They hoped that Fan Wumian could help communicate with the authorities to salvage their business there.

Fan Wumian then offered a suggestion: that the Pinault family use their connections to return the more than 5700 manuscripts of the Dunhuang Emperor stored in the National Library of France to the mainland.

In his previous life, the Pinault family of France chose to save their company's business in mainland China by donating two bronze animal heads. Fan Wumian felt that the value of this batch of Dunhuang's will was obviously greater than that of the two Qing Dynasty "water tap" bronze animal heads.

As one of the most powerful families in France, the Pinault family handled this matter with ease. The National Library of France spends a lot of manpower and financial resources every year to preserve these ancient books, but in reality, they do not pay much attention to them.

A few days later, Fan Wumian received a positive reply, but the most valuable collection of his works was kept by the National Library of France.

By acting as a middleman, Fan Wumian acquired a set of precious wine glasses, which made him quite happy. He left Paris and waited at a winery for a few days before meeting the production team and immediately starting to record the new variety show.

Similar to travel programs, it simply involves frequently inviting guests to visit and showcasing local delicacies and tourist attractions from Fan Wumian's perspective.

Other tourists kept their mouths shut, only showing the beautiful side of Europe to the outside world, but Fan Wumian was ruthless, trying to shatter the filter in many people's minds.

On March 4th, Huang Bo, Wang Baoqiang, and Xu Zheng arrived in Interlaken, Switzerland. Located at the foot of the Jungfrau, the snow there had not yet completely melted, and the scenery was quite beautiful.

After getting up in the morning, the four of them, including Fan Wumian, had nothing to do, so they drank coffee and daydreamed together, sitting on the terrace and gazing at the beautiful scenery.

Huang Bo suddenly spoke up:
"This is my first time in Switzerland. The place looks nice, but it's so expensive! A sandwich costs over twenty euros? There aren't many people around, which makes me feel a bit disoriented and not used to it."

Fan Wumian joked:

"Switzerland is like a mini-Xinjiang in Europe. Instead of spending ten times the money to come here, you might as well go to the resort I built in the Northwest. I feel that there are at least twenty or thirty scenic spots in the Northwest that are just as beautiful as here."

Still jet-lagged and in a daze, Wang Baoqiang said absentmindedly:

"Besides banks, Switzerland seems to be famous for watches too. How about we find a shop to browse? Boss, why don't you acquire a watch company? That way we won't have to spend money to buy watches; we can give them to us as year-end bonuses."

Fan Wumian said speechlessly:

“You’re good at managing your finances. You don’t wear a traditional watch, but the Thor brand is developing a smartwatch that can display messages, record exercise data, monitor heart rate, and make calls. I rarely wear a watch these days; I can tell the time with my phone.” Xu Zheng nodded.
"That's right. Since the advent of cell phones, watches have become mere accessories. If you don't need one, we can put one on for you. I think I read somewhere that the watches of the last emperor Puyi and the last emperor of Vietnam are in your possession. You also have a Patek Philippe, the one with the map on it. There are only three of those in the world."

Fan Wumian smiled and shook his head, saying:
"These are collectibles, not for use anymore. When my smartwatch is released, I'll give one to each of you. Remember to post on Weibo to help me advertise it."

Huang Bo, while eating a sandwich, replied:
"Of course! If we just sit here chatting, where are we going? Will the audience be happy to watch? If the ratings are bad, the audience will only blame us. Unlike President Fan, who is so handsome and pleasing to the eye even when he is just sitting. His richest man aura is more attractive than the scenery."

Xu Zheng laughed heartily and asked Huang Bo if he had his eye on another script.

The first season of "Walking with Fan Wumian" was filmed casually, and the second season was even more casual. The first few episodes were filmed in France, Greece, and the United Kingdom, with Switzerland being the fourth stop. After that, they would fly back to the mainland to continue recording some material. The plan was to film a total of 12 episodes.

After resting, we took the train to climb Jungfraujoch, and in the evening we strolled around the town, sampled local delicacies, and bought some handicrafts.

Around 9 p.m. local time, Wang Baoqiang was exhausted and went back to the hotel to catch up on sleep, while Xu Zheng and Huang Bo accompanied Fan Wumian to a bar.

During this time, people often came up to Fan Wumian to take photos with him and ask for autographs. Xu Zheng, tasting the not-so-smooth dark beer, asked Fan Wumian:

"Mr. Fan, on the way here I chatted with Huang Bo and Baoqiang. We're planning to start an entertainment company together, with a total investment of 1500 million. What do you think?"

As the entertainment market in mainland China grows larger and larger, Xu Zheng and his ilk, having gained fame, feel empowered and want to start their own businesses. This can be seen as people striving for higher goals, no longer content with just being signed artists.

Fan Wumian calmly replied after listening:

“That’s great. When needed, you can come back to film some movies or talk about collaborations with my company.”

"Originally, the revenue from artist management only accounts for a small part of the total profit. If you can achieve better development, I would certainly be happy to see it."

“I predicted a long time ago that the traditional talent agency model would collapse, and that in the future, given even the slightest opportunity, everyone would consider starting their own business. My agency can continue to nurture and incubate new talent; the market is so big, there's enough pie for everyone to share.”

These artists work for the company, and the company takes a share of their income. It's not a matter of who owes whom a favor; it's purely a business transaction.

Several years ago, I signed contracts with Huang Bo, Wang Baoqiang and others. Now that the contracts with them are about to expire, I can't help but start thinking about my own future.

When Fan Wumian mentioned that artist management income was low, Xu Zheng and Huang Bo didn't see anything wrong with it. Although Shanzhaiwang Media and Shenghuo Miaomiao Agency had achieved the leading position in the industry, compared with giant companies like Tencent, Alibaba, and Boshi Fund, they were really just small businesses.

Making money by shooting movies and taking on advertising endorsements, the total income over the years is not as much as that of the "Douyin" short video platform, which was just starting to be officially incubated.

Thanks to Fan Wumian's strong promotion of this project, the market has begun to pay attention to the short video industry ahead of time. Douyin's valuation has exceeded $35 billion, and it has also established a subsidiary in Silicon Valley. The number of active users is gradually increasing.

Huang Bo, with his high EQ, raised a toast and smiled, saying:
"I will never forget your guidance, Mr. Fan. If you hadn't chosen me at the Beijing Film Academy, I might still be playing minor roles and never have a chance to get ahead."

"If you ever need my help in the future, Mr. Fan, just give me a call. In fact, even if I leave to start my own business, I will still need your help."

"What if, I mean, what if the business fails? Is there a chance to back out and take me in again? I don't have much confidence in my investment, so having a fallback plan would be great."

Some entertainment company bosses are shrewd and treat their artists as cash cows. They exploit them relentlessly while fearing that their cash cows will run away, so they set up all sorts of restrictions and even use their assets to threaten them. Their behavior is truly ugly.

In contrast, Fan Wumian has a large family business and a very good temper. He manages the company in an orderly manner, which fully proves that as long as the boss and superiors don't cause trouble, work is not too hard. Sometimes, it can naturally enter a positive development state.

Seeing Huang Bo shamelessly asking for a way out, Fan Wumian readily told him:

"Sure, with your star power, which company wouldn't want you? You've made a lot of money for the company over the years, so you'll definitely be fine. If you don't make a name for yourself, just give me a call. Have you found a suitable script?"

Not worried that Fan Wumian would steal food from their bowls, Xu Zheng smiled and said:
"Well, we're thinking of investing in a Journey to the West themed movie, based on the atmosphere of the song 'The Other Side of the River of Oblivion.' I guess everyone's already tired of the traditional Journey to the West. Maybe if we change it up, it might have some potential."

"A rebellious Sun Wukong, a Tang Monk obsessed with a certain woman, and Zhu Bajie—if filmed well, that would be quite something. But we don't have that much money. How about Mr. Fan invests some money too?"

"."

Fan Wumian sipped his cocktail and chuckled to himself:
"It's not just 'The Other Side of the River of Oblivion,' but how come it feels like 'Wukong' and 'Da Tianpeng' can also be included? Sha Wujing is still so lacking in prestige. I've never written a song for him, and you haven't mentioned him either. He's just a background character."

There are already many films based on the Journey to the West theme that focus on love, such as "A Chinese Odyssey Part Two: Cinderella" and "A Chinese Odyssey Part Two: Cinderella," so it's not easy to make a good one.

After considering it, Fan Wumian asked with a hint of doubt:

"It feels like you guys are setting me up. You're not going to ask me to invest, use my song as the theme song, or have my special effects studio help me out, are you? Wouldn't that mean I'm investing in a project and giving you some dividends?"

Xu Zheng himself felt it was a bit unreasonable, so he could only laugh awkwardly:
"We also contribute financially, but our budget isn't large enough, so we can try to attract some investment from outside." (End of Chapter)