Huayu Chunqiu, starting from being adopted by a fairy mother

Chapter 247 You Owe Me One

One million five hundred thousand US dollars, that's ten million RMB.

Liu Jing's eyes turned red. He had struggled for so many years, and his salary in Hollywood was only a few million dollars.

Sisi only filmed one movie, and her salary was over a million.

Is this justified?

What's even more outrageous is that this spendthrift woman donated it without hesitation; over a million yuan isn't RMB, and she didn't even blink an eye.

Li Lianjie's eyes also reddened; the grown man was deeply moved.

He has devoted so much effort to One Foundation.

He was about to express his gratitude when someone beat him to it, "Sisi, 1.5 million RMB, what a generous gesture!"

"Brother, is it fun eavesdropping?" Liu Jing breathed a sigh of relief; someone had offered him a way out.

It's not that he doesn't want to donate, but rather that he doesn't want to donate to the One Foundation in this way. Liu Jing has no objection to Li Lianjie doing charity work; in fact, he strongly supports it.

After observing for a while, Liu Jing felt that something was amiss.

Liu Jing didn't think much of the two or three million yuan he donated, considering it simply support for the One Foundation's cause.

But Liu Jing wasn't too happy that Xixi wanted to donate ten million.

Did Li Lianjie, who was paid ten million US dollars for the film, actually contribute a single cent?
“Of course it’s interesting. If I hadn’t eavesdropped, how would I have known that Sisi is such a philanthropist? One and a half million RMB used for charity is a great thing.” Cheng Long laughed heartily.

Sisi was stunned; this was the second time Cheng Long had emphasized the Renminbi.

When Mu Tou said 150, he didn't mean 1.5 million, and there was something more to it in his eyes.

She wasn't stupid; she realized there seemed to be something fishy going on, so she remained silent.

"Brother, that's not fair of you. Why did you invite Qianqian but not me?" Liu Jing felt relieved.

When he was with Li Lianjie, he always felt a heavy weight in his heart, which was far less relaxed than when he was with Cheng Long.

"Why don't you go to Thailand? From now on, you have to be the female lead in every one of my movies," Jackie Chan said with a wicked grin.

"Big brother, take a look at this person, isn't she more suitable to be the female lead than Xixi?" Liu Jing took out his phone and started searching in his photo album.

Sisi leaned over for a look, then burst out laughing, leaning on Liu Jing's shoulder.

Cheng Long, curious, rushed over to see what was going on, and then roared, "Who did this? Don't they want to work here anymore?"

Ignoring his disappointment, Li Lianjie also came over to take a look. Cheng Long stopped him, not letting him go over, "Wooden head, delete it quickly."

"Hey! Good things should be shared." Li Lianjie dodged Cheng Long and kicked a stool over to block Cheng Long.

Cheng Long reacted even faster, jumping onto the stool and lunging at Li Lianjie.

One wanted to see it, the other didn't.

In this back-and-forth exchange, what we're looking at is no longer important.

The private room was large, with plenty of tables and chairs. It was Cheng Long's home turf, making it difficult for Li Lianjie to break through.

"Why do you get such a high salary?" Liu Jing had been holding this question in for a long time.

"One salary, two jobs, and I also have to sing," Sisi explained.

"You're only paying me so little for two jobs, you're being too cheap," Liu Jing complained again.

With one English album, Sissi made her mark on the international music scene. The album sales were quite good, and singing earned her more money than acting.

Sisi didn't want to pay attention to such a hypocrite. She nudged Liu Jing and smiled, "You blockhead, look what you've done."

The photo in Liu Jing's hand is still showing its status.

Long, flowing hair, flowing dress—even without looking at her face, she's beautiful from head to toe.

Looking at his face, I can't sleep, because his face is Jackie Chan's.

"Warming up before meals helps with digestion." Liu Jing lamented, "Why didn't they serve a plate of sunflower seeds beforehand?"

"I'm starting to regret it. I wonder if they'll actually fight during filming." Sisi sighed. She accepted the script without hesitation because of Li Lianjie and Cheng Long's fame.

"This is nothing, it's not even a real fight yet," Liu Jing said dismissively.

He had barely finished speaking when, with a "crack," one of the chair legs broke off. "Crash!" The chair then disintegrated.

"It's over." Sisi sighed, grabbing Liu Jing's arm.

"It's just a chair." Liu Jing pressed down on Qianqian's hand. They were evenly matched. You might be itching to play, but don't try anything with me.

"It's my treat today." Sisi said with a somber expression. She couldn't very well make the guests pay for the broken tables and chairs.

"Stop! Peace brings wealth!" Liu Jing suddenly darted out, seizing the opportunity to join the fray.

He grabbed Cheng Long with his left hand and pressed down on Li Lianjie with his right. The two tried to break free, but they couldn't budge an inch.

What a strength!
The two exchanged a glance and then kicked at each other.

Liu Jing gave a powerful swish, sending one of the two men flying to the left and the other to the right, causing their kicks to miss.

The two weren't satisfied; if one leg didn't work, they'd try another.

Liu Jing also got angry and kicked repeatedly with his right leg, one kick for each of them.

"what!"

"Silk!"

"Well!"

Three cries of pain followed, one after the other, and they all fell silent, including Liu Jing.

"What are you doing here?" Several people were standing at the door, including guests and staff.

"Uh, let me stretch a bit." Li Lianjie was embarrassed and put down the hand that was rubbing his leg.

"Haha, rehearsal, rehearsal." Jackie Chan clapped his hands, acting as if nothing was wrong, and laughed it off.

"What play are you rehearsing?" Mr. Wang asked with a smile.

"The first episode of Romance of the Three Kingdoms," Sisi responded.

Cheng Long endured the leg pain and walked towards the customer, trying to walk normally. Upon hearing Qianqian's words, he stumbled and quickly grabbed the wall for support, saying, "I'm sorry about the broken stool, Mr. Li."

"Haha, it's alright, just rehearse casually. If I had known my brother was here, I would have brought a few more stools." The owner of the private restaurant laughed.

This group of guests was quite large, including Yuen Woo-ping, the general manager of Cheng Lung Films in Hong Kong, Su Zhihong, the young manager of Huayi Brothers, Chen Guofu, the chief producer of Huayi Brothers, and Li Bingbing, an artist under their company.

The main topic of conversation among this group was "The Forbidden Kingdom," while Liu Jingcheng was an outsider.

He was happy to have some peace and quiet; since it wasn't his show, he didn't participate at all.

While others kept talking, he kept eating; the food at this private kitchen was quite good.

Liu Jing became increasingly puzzled as he ate. Why was it Qianqian who was treating everyone?
He always felt that there was something fishy going on.

What surprised him even more was that it was Xiao Wang who paid the bill in the end.

Sisi wanted to pay the bill, but the other party had already paid it in advance.

After everyone had eaten and drunk their fill and all matters were settled, the banquet quickly came to an end.

"Liu Jing, do you have any plans for later? Let's go to Heavenly Abode for a couple of drinks." Just as Liu Jing was about to leave, Boss Wang suddenly called out to him.

"No! I have to go home and sleep." Liu Jing refused decisively, and the cold light behind him instantly dissipated.

"Haha, there's something I'd like to discuss with you." Young Master Wang chuckled twice.

Sisi was very accommodating. "Mr. Wang, you two talk. I'll go back to my car first."

Li Bingbing followed beside Young Master Wang. Seeing Qianqian leave, he stepped aside, leaving space for the two of them. "Liu Jing, Chunqiu really has a big budget. Having been in the entertainment industry for so many years, I have to admit I'm impressed," Young Master Wang remarked.

A year ago, he looked down on Spring and Autumn, thinking that apart from having plenty of money, it was no good at anything else.

If Huayi Brothers had such ample funds, they would have made countless movies and earned a fortune at the box office.

Later, when Spring & Autumn acquired Golden Harvest, CEO Wang secretly grumbled, "They're just throwing money away and being foolish. With so much money, they should be giving it to me to make movies."

Who would have thought that Golden Harvest, now valued at several billion, has been making movies for ten years and hasn't even made a fraction of that.

Mr. Wang is so jealous that he can't sleep these past few days.

As long as he closes his eyes, all he sees is the Golden Harvest logo. A few bricks spin and spin, and then he wakes up again.

I talked with Ma Jieke until midnight last night, which helped me regain my confidence and fill me with hope for the future.

According to Mr. Ma, today's Jiahe is the future Huayi. Huayi has a stronger foundation than Jiahe, and once it goes public, it will definitely have a larger market presence and greater potential than Jiahe.

Everything we do now, every single thing we do, will be reflected in the market value in the future.

What are a few billion for Jiahe? Huayi's future market value is hundreds of billions, even trillions.

"President Wang, Huayi Brothers really knows how to make big investments. Tens of millions invested in such a large-scale production—no other company has that kind of boldness," Liu Jing praised, genuinely admiring the production. With Shu Chang as the female lead, the film's release would bring him considerable profits.

Mr. Wang was quite displeased. If Huayi were as wealthy as Jiahe, they wouldn't have to worry about money.

A while ago, when preparing for the movie "Assembly", Mr. Wang almost sold himself to raise funds.

Huayi had to sell everything they owned; even the two bosses, Mr. and Mrs. Wang, mortgaged their houses to raise enough money for the investment.

After some discussion, the group decided to reduce the actors' salaries to under one million to save on expenses.

Whoever asks for the lowest salary gets the role.

As for Feng Xiaogang's previous suggestion to invite Andy Lau and Ge You, let's forget about it.

Ren Quan's salary was over 100,000 yuan, making him one of the highest-paid actors. Wang Baoqiang and Deng Chao's salaries were just token amounts, and Zhang Hanyu's was also over 100,000 yuan.

Chen Shu received a substantial salary, but after joining the production, she threw a tantrum because of the poor filming conditions. Director Feng was furious and kicked her out of the crew. Of course, they couldn't say that publicly; they could say the actual filming was different from what they envisioned, and that both parties amicably terminated the contract through friendly negotiations.

So the female lead went to Shu Chang, because she was famous enough and received no payment.

A few days ago, Shu Chang attended the Star Awards and talked about how tough the filming of "Assembly" was, spitting on Xixi while hugging her.

It's cold, but I could handle it when I was filming "A Deadly Secret" in the snow back then.

But there wasn't even a toilet on set, so she didn't dare drink water.

Her lips were always dry, cracked, and peeling. This beautiful young girl looked like a woman in her fifties or sixties.

What's even more terrifying is that they film for more than ten hours a day, often getting up at four in the morning to film.

Shu Chang was only talking; she didn't back down at all. For her, the harsh filming conditions weren't even the worst.

When filming "Liancheng Jue" back then, I almost signed a life-or-death waiver.

"You invested over 100 million yuan in filming 'The Qin Empire,' which is a much bigger investment than 'Assembly,'" said Mr. Wang sourly.

It's unbelievable that a TV series would cost 100 million yuan to produce; people really do have too much money and are foolish.

The Qin Empire had such a large investment, most of which was spent on land and building the film studio.

The first phase of the project alone cost nearly 100 million yuan, even with government support and bank loans.

This is a real estate project, and the construction site is in Wuxi.

One-time investment, multiple uses. This film and television city can be used for filming sequels to "The Qin Empire" and other historical dramas in the future.

The two foxes, one flattering the other, never get to the point.

ding dong...

Liu Jing took out his phone. Zeng Li had sent him a text message with only four words: "You owe me one."

Liu Jing quickly replied, "Put it in the books."

He waited for a long time, but Da Qingyi never sent another text message.

Zeng Li waited for a long time, and it was already late at night, so it was clear that the other party was not going to come.

She had prepared herself for a one-off transaction. But when the person she was waiting for didn't show up, she felt a sense of loss.

When Xiao Wang noticed Liu Jing frequently checking his phone, he realized the other man was getting impatient and it was time to get down to business.

If we don't get to the point soon, he'll freeze to death.

In December, the nights in Yandu are quite cold.

Liu Jing didn't care; he was strong and energetic, and wearing a shirt only made him feel slightly cold. But Little Wang was in trouble.

"Ahem, Liu Jing, are you considering making a move on the shell company, Meiya?" Little Wang wasn't wearing a coat and was shivering from the cold. He finally couldn't keep going in circles anymore.

"Does Mr. Wang want to go public through a backdoor listing, or buy a shell company to go public?" Liu Jing immediately understood.

“We at Huayi have just undergone shareholding reform and will not be seeking a backdoor listing.” General Manager Wang shook his head. He glanced at Li Bingbing, and Da Hua, being sensible, moved further away. “You’ve heard of Chen Guoqiang, right?”

"Mr. Wang wants to be a middleman?" Liu Jing had certainly heard of Chen Guoqiang. A few months ago, he bought 50 million yuan worth of convertible bonds from Jiahe, which were eventually bought by Sister Li for 70 million yuan.

He was also involved in the Jiahe Rebellion, but he was quick-witted. When he sensed the situation was turning against him, he fled quite quickly.

This man has a rather legendary background; twenty years ago, he provided engineering services to Li Ka-shing's Cheung Kong Holdings.

In 1999, it acquired Oriental Charm, founded by Alan Tam and Eric Tsang, and then went public through a reverse merger. Later, the company was split up, with part of its business sold to Yang Lan and her husband, and the other part merged into Galaxy Satellite.

This year, the company sold its CD-ROM business, raising HK$1.1 billion.

Known as the "King of Shell Companies" for his expertise in acquiring shell companies, injecting assets into them, and then selling them at high prices, he was once famous for his ability to acquire shell companies.

"It wasn't me, it was him who wanted to act as a middleman. A few months ago, he set his sights on Jiahe. He wanted to acquire the shell company and then sell it to Orange Sky. The price he asked for was too high, and Old Wu from Orange Sky was negotiating with the backer. Then your Chunqiu stepped in." Little Wang said gloatingly, his face beaming. "At first, he didn't take it seriously. He thought someone was interfering and he could take the opportunity to raise the price. Who knew that your Chunqiu didn't play by the rules? Instead of dealing with Boss Zou, you went to deal with the other shareholders first. More importantly, you were generous and didn't care about the cost, and you quickly finalized the deal."

Liu Jing remained silent; he knew these things even without Xiao Wang's knowledge.

"He wasn't willing to give up. Taking advantage of some companies in Meiya shorting Golden Harvest, he also fanned the flames behind the scenes. Your funds have already come in. If you're driven out, Golden Harvest can be sold for a higher price. Haha, with your series of moves, he ran faster than anyone else. Before running away, he even sold some of his allies who had fought on the front lines to you." Little Wang sighed.

"What does Mr. Wang want to say?" Liu Jing didn't want to hear about this; it was all in the past.

"Chen Guoqiang is a businessman. He wants to manipulate the shell company Meiya and then sell it to Chengtian. Mr. Wu of Chengtian is also interested and will discuss this matter with you soon." Little Wang sneered, "To be honest, I want to take this opportunity to vent my anger. The shell company Meiya is useless to you. But in Chengtian's hands, it can be used for a backdoor listing, making it easier for them to raise funds. When the stock price goes up, they can easily sell some shares, making it a very profitable business."

"Is Mr. Wang trying to inflate prices?" Liu Jing laughed.

“That’s right. They provide the money, you sell the shell company, and I can’t stop them. If we cooperate, we can dig a hole, sell it for an even higher price, and make them pay a heavier price. You’ll make more money, and I’ll get my revenge. What do you think?” Little Wang smiled as well.

"It's a pleasure to cooperate." Liu Jing extended his hand, and Xiao Wang also extended his hand, giving each other a high five. The two laughed heartily in the cold wind.

"Liu Jing, Heaven on Earth sounds nice, want to go check it out?" Young Master Wang wanted to solidify the partnership.

"No, I have plans for tomorrow, so I need to go to bed early tonight," Liu Jing refused again.

"Soldiers Sortie, right? We even invested in that show, but it was just so-so. We've been busy with Assembly lately and haven't had time for that. If you can help us, Huayi will owe you a favor." Little Wang knew exactly what he was doing and pulled out a card. "This is an anonymous card from Heaven on Earth. You can keep it for fun."

"Mr. Wang, you should keep this card," Liu Jing sighed.

He genuinely dislikes those occasions; this is in China, not abroad.

"Liu Jing, you have to give your brother face. We'll have plenty of opportunities to work together in the future. If you feel bad about it, you can make a cameo appearance in one of our Huayi Brothers' films. All things considered, I'm still the one who benefits." Young Master Wang laughed and forcefully shoved the card into Liu Jing's hand.

"Alright," Liu Jing reluctantly accepted.

Mr. Wang smiled with satisfaction and then waved to Li Bingbing, "Bingbing, take Liu Jing back."

"No need, my sister will take me home."

“Your sister is your sister, and Bingbing is Bingbing. They’re not the same.” Little Wang gestured with his eyes and said meaningfully, “Liu Jing, Bingbing can not only be a driver, but also drive.”

(End of this chapter)