Back to 1997, I became the originator of online literature

Chapter 444 Sword Pointing at Tencent, Ahri

In the lobby of the Shangri-La Hotel, Cao Sheng sat in a corner lounge area, waiting for Andy Lau and the others to arrive.

They had arranged to have lunch together over the phone.

However, Andy Lau and his group's schedule was delayed, so the lunch they had arranged turned into dinner.

Of course, this is not a big problem.

Cui Xinyu sat next to Cao Sheng, while Sun Liang and Lei Zhen, who were already working full-time, stood not far away. This semester, Sun Liang and Lei Zhen were supposed to go out for internships, but they got the opportunity to intern with Cao Sheng.

Upon entering their internship period, both of them subconsciously put on suits and ties, looking at each other like professional bodyguards in a movie.

Perhaps they were imitating bodyguards in a movie?

Suddenly, Cao Sheng's cell phone rang.

Caller ID – Andy Lau.

Cao Sheng answered the phone, and Hua Zai's voice came through, "Mr. Cao! We've arrived at the place, is it room 208 on the second floor? We'll be there soon."

Upon hearing this, Cao Sheng smiled silently, "Alright! Welcome!"

After ending the call, he got up and walked towards the hotel entrance, with Cui Xinyu and the others quickly following.

Cao Sheng disliked socializing.

But that doesn't mean he doesn't know how to socialize.

Since he had decided to host Andy Lau and the others, he wanted to do his best to entertain them.

For example, greet them at the hotel entrance to show respect.

A moment later, Andy Lau, Maggie Cheung, Lau Wai-kwong, Chan Pak-cheung and others hurriedly entered the hotel and met Cao Sheng, who was waiting with a smile.

Andy Lau and the others looked surprised and stopped in their tracks.

Andy Lau: "Mr. Cao? What are you doing waiting here? This is too much trouble for you, I'm so sorry!"

Liu Weiqiang quickly stepped forward, extending both hands, "Mr. Cao! It's a pleasure to meet you! You're too kind!"

Cao Sheng reached out and shook hands with him. As soon as he let go of his hand, Zhang Manyu stepped forward with a smile, took Cao Sheng's right hand, and said, "Mr. Cao! I've heard so much about you. It's great to finally have the opportunity to meet you today. I'm Zhang Manyu. I really like your work and admire your talent!"

Before Cao Sheng was reborn, he was one of those people who, for a long time, couldn't appreciate the beauty of Maggie Cheung.

For many years after he first saw Maggie Cheung on television, he thought she looked strange and couldn't understand why so many people said she was very beautiful.

Therefore, he once doubted whether his aesthetic sense was normal.

It wasn't until many years later, when he watched "As Tears Go By" starring her and Andy Lau online and saw what Maggie Cheung looked like when she was young, that he finally understood her beauty and realized that she was truly a first-rate beauty.

Today, when he met Maggie Cheung in person, he found that although she was no longer as young as she was when she starred in "As Tears Go By," she had gained a more alluring and seductive charm.

A top-tier female star has a very strong presence.

Standing in front of her, Cao Sheng felt that his hair was not as good as hers, his skin was not as good as hers, his smile was not as bright as hers, and his temperament was not as dashing as hers.

"Manshine! I really love your movies!"

Cao Sheng spoke, using the nickname her fans used for her.

In fact, he is not a fan of celebrities.

I wouldn't call myself a fan of any celebrity.

In the current situation, he felt that they needed to flatter each other.

But Maggie Cheung had no idea he was a fake fan. When she heard him call her "Goddess Man," her eyes lit up, and she turned to Andy Lau, Lau Wai-kwong, and the others beside her with a look of surprise and delight, asking, "Hey! Did you hear that? He called me Goddess Man! Mr. Cao said he's my fan, did you hear that?"

Liu Weiqiang and the others nodded with smiles.

As Andy Lau nodded, a hint of jealousy crept into his expression. When Cao Sheng met him last time, he had mentioned being a fan, and now that Maggie Cheung was receiving the same treatment, he felt a little envious and worried that Maggie Cheung might start competing with him for scripts from Cao Sheng.

Of course, Andy Lau has high emotional intelligence, so he doesn't show his thoughts too obviously.

The atmosphere was harmonious.

After exchanging pleasantries, the group went upstairs chatting and laughing.

What Cao Sheng didn't realize was that while he was exchanging pleasantries with Andy Lau and others at the hotel entrance, they had already been photographed by many reporters outside the hotel.

After all, Andy Lau and his team came to Huizhou to promote "The Shepherd's Descent," and their itinerary was not kept secret. Having just finished their promotional activities, they were already being followed by reporters.

In a private room upstairs.

The food and drinks were already on the table, and Cao Sheng and the others were eating, drinking, and chatting.

Director Lau Wai-kwong was very talkative, and Chan Pak-cheung was also witty and quick-witted, a master at creating a lively atmosphere. In contrast, Andy Lau and Maggie Cheung seemed to have a hard time getting a word in edgewise.

Liu Weiqiang: "Cao Sheng! Come! Let me toast you again! Everyone says you are the biggest contributor to the success of 'The Mistake for the Gods,' and I hope we will have the opportunity to cooperate again in the future!"

Cao Sheng raised his glass and clinked it with his, saying, "Director Liu, you flatter me. The film is the director's work; you should be the one who deserves the most credit!"

……

Chan Pak-cheung: "Mr. Cao! Come on! Let me toast you again! You may not know, but I also have part-time jobs, just like you. Besides acting, I also enjoy doing business. I hope we can have the opportunity to collaborate in both film and business in the future. Cheers!"

Cao Sheng smiled, raised his glass, and drank with him.

Before his rebirth, when he read some Hong Kong entertainment novels, he heard that Chan Pak-cheung liked to do business and was quite successful at it.

He has read many Hong Kong entertainment novels.

Therefore, after being reborn, when interacting with Hong Kong stars, directors, and others, the descriptions and introductions of these people from entertainment novels would always flash through my mind.

Sometimes, this feeling makes him feel like he's cheating.

Similar to some games, when any character appears, their name is displayed above their head, and you can use a detection spell to see their detailed information.

The meal took more than two hours to finish.

The men were all a little drunk.

When the party ended, Liu Weiqiang and the others still seemed reluctant to leave, while Cao Sheng looked a bit unsteady and unable to stand.

Finally, Cao Sheng was helped downstairs by Cui Xinyu and Sun Liang.

As soon as he stepped out of the hotel, more than a dozen reporters rushed over, pointing microphones at Cao Sheng and filming him with cameras and video cameras.

One question after another was thrown at me.

"Cao Sheng! Cao Sheng! May I interview you?"

"Cao Sheng! You've written another blockbuster movie script. How do you feel about that?"

"Mr. Cao! Were you drinking with Andy Lau and Maggie Cheung just now?"

"A touch of gray in the Central Plains! A touch of gray in the Central Plains! How would you rate Andy Lau's performance as the male lead?"

……

Cao Sheng, his eyes blurry with drunkenness, looked at them and, under the protection of Cui Xinyu, Sun Liang, and Lei Zhen, walked towards the parking lot.

Several security guards quickly rushed out of the hotel and helped him into the car.

Cao Sheng didn't answer a single question until he got into the car. The car door closed.

After the car drove away from the parking lot, Cao Sheng sat up straight, his hazy eyes clearing up considerably. As he reached out to unbutton his suit jacket and unbutton his shirt cuffs, he instructed Cui Xinyu beside him, "Tomorrow, help me move my things back to my old villa, and also help me hire a nanny who is a good cook."

Cui Xinyu looked at him with some surprise.

I never imagined that his drunken state today was all an act.
In front of a director like Liu Weiqiang, and film stars like Andy Lau and Maggie Cheung, how dare Cao Sheng act?
Isn't he afraid of being seen through by them?
Of course, she didn't dare ask such a question.

He simply nodded and hummed in agreement.

She thought that Cao Sheng would not be staying at school this semester and would be living with his parents.

It now seems that he doesn't like living with his parents.

She could understand his decision.

After all, he was already an adult, and he had plenty of money and a place to live. In front of his parents, he would always be their son, and he would inevitably be controlled by them.

Only by living alone can he have the freedom to do whatever he wants.

She guessed that Cao Sheng lived alone outside so that it would be convenient for him to date Huang Qingya.

She was unaware that Cao Sheng and Huang Qingya had already broken up.

……

Beijing.

That evening, Feng Xiaogang took some time to go to a movie theater alone and bought a ticket to watch "Drishyam".

At the end of last year, he and Cao Sheng had a falling out.

The script "Crazy Stone" that Cao Sheng wrote for him made him suspect that Cao Sheng was fooling him. In his opinion, the multi-narrative style of the script was very fragmented, with the plot going in one direction and out of place, and the overall story was very poor. He could not appreciate it.

After falling out with Cao Sheng, he returned to Beijing, found two screenwriters, and together with himself, created a script called "Big Shot's Funeral".

The film stars Ge You, Rosamund Kwan, and Ying Da.

Comedy films are easy to make; he had already filmed more than half of them before the new year.

We're getting ready to start filming these next couple of days, and we're trying to finish shooting this movie as soon as possible.

He had high hopes for this film.

He wanted to prove that even without the script by Zhongyuan Yidianhui, it could still sell at a high box office.

Just like before, he wanted to prove that he could still succeed even after leaving Wang Shuo's script.

To ensure box office success, he not only invited his favorite leading man, Ge You, but also Rosamund Kwan, known as the most beautiful woman in Hong Kong.

He's putting in a lot of effort to prove his abilities!
During this Spring Festival, when I met with friends in the industry, I kept hearing people mention "Drishyam," which was showing in theaters during the Spring Festival.

Is this a work by screenwriter Zhongyuan Yidianhui?
Did this guy's screenplay become another blockbuster? And with such great reviews?
Is it really that good?
How exactly is it good?
He was a little skeptical, because his friends in the industry had been praising the movie way too much.

So, he went out alone tonight, bought a ticket, and watched the movie.

At first, he felt that the cast of this movie was a bit thin. In the long opening scene, apart from Andy Lau and Maggie Cheung, the only other people who could be called stars, besides the Indian female prosecutor, seemed to be Chan Pak-cheung.

Is the box office really going to be carried solely by Andy Lau and Maggie Cheung?

In his memory, movies that rely solely on two stars are basically art films. They may have a high artistic value, but their box office performance is generally not very good.

It wasn't until the movie's plot progressed that he began to see the level of "intelligence" in each scene.

Andy Lau plays the male protagonist, who, along with his wife (played by Maggie Cheung) and three children with poor mental fortitude and acting skills, struggles against repeated police interrogations and investigations...

Can we win?

Feng Xiaogang thought of a saying: A bunch of incompetent teammates!

In his eyes, Andy Lau's wife and children were a bunch of useless teammates.

They simply couldn't withstand the repeated interrogations and questioning by the police.

The female prosecutor, who is the main antagonist, appears to be cunning and shrewd in every way.

The decisive and efficient female prosecutor is practically a terrifying demon lord, seeing through the maze set up by the male protagonist time and time again.

The male protagonist and his family were like fish on a chopping board, completely at the mercy of others, with no chance to fight back.

Reason repeatedly told Feng Xiaogang: the male protagonist's family could not possibly win.

How can fish on a cutting board possibly beat a chef wielding a cleaver?
but……

What makes this movie so amazing is that the protagonist sets up so many traps in advance, and they are so deep that he anticipates the police's judgments time and time again.

The female prosecutor thought she had seen through his methods, but she was still in his trap.

Even until the end of the movie, the police, represented by the female prosecutor, failed to see through the final trap set by the male protagonist.

It’s so cool!
When Feng Xiaogang realized he was actually feeling quite pleased with himself, a sudden thought struck him: the film's box office was likely to continue soaring, and its reputation was likely to continue to grow.

Such a script...

"Why won't they give me a script like this? I knew it! He just looks down on me, that's why he gave me 'Crazy Stone'..."

As he walked out of the movie theater and got into his car, Feng Xiaogang was still mentally grumbling: What kind of movie is "Crazy Stone"? It's obviously a shoddy job! He couldn't even be bothered to come up with a proper name, not even something like "Crazy Gemstone"...

……

Huizhou.

In front of the computer.

With the effects of the alcohol rising, Cao Sheng couldn't write his manuscript again tonight, but he didn't want to sleep, so he sat in front of the computer and went online to look up some information.

Like many others, he habitually plans his work and life for the new year after each New Year.

Since he couldn't write his article tonight, he thought he'd take this time to plan for the year.

The information he was currently reviewing was data on Tencent.

As a reborn individual, he certainly knew how large Tencent's future market value and influence would be.

When he was first reborn, he thought about investing in internet companies like Tencent and Ali early on, and then waiting for these companies to go public so they could take him to new heights.

He believed that as long as he could get on the fast track of these two companies, making a fortune of hundreds of millions in this lifetime would be a piece of cake.

However, he previously felt that as an ordinary person, even if he invested in these two companies early on, his shares would likely be significantly diluted by the companies' repeated financing rounds.

Moreover, he felt that each time these two companies raised funds, they probably didn't just want investors' money, but also wanted to see if the investors could provide them with other resources.

For example: official background resources, media publicity resources, and the network of contacts needed for listing, etc.

At that time, he could offer nothing but a little money.

With the added advantage of real estate as a sure-fire investment and websites like Qidian as investment opportunities, he hasn't actually invested in Tencent or Ali in the years since his rebirth.

But this year, he's thinking of trying to make an investment.

While these two companies are still reeling from the bursting of the dot-com bubble.

(End of this chapter)