Chinese Entertainment Intelligence King

Chapter 279 JD.com, Top Ten Cinemas, Will Young Girls Like Me When I'm Old?
After Yan Li and Boss Xiong reached an agreement, many things at Tudou.com became much easier.

As mentioned earlier, Yan Li and Boss Xiong together are the largest shareholders of Tudou.com, holding more shares than Wang Wei and his team.

Even though Wang Wei and his management team hold significant power in the company, they cannot avoid the involvement of the two major shareholders at crucial moments.

Of course, he could do some other little tricks, but none of them could escape Yan Li's notice.

Besides the intelligence system, which is a powerful weapon, Tudou.com does have a core executive who is on good terms with Yan Li.

Yan Li's true intention in befriending the system was actually to provide cover for the system and confuse the public.

But unexpectedly, he used too much force and the other party was actually won over by Yan Li.

After all, Mr. Yan has a good personal charm and social skills.

In addition, these internet company executives often have ambiguous attitudes towards some bosses.

Who knows when they might switch jobs or start their own business? All of this requires the support of bosses and investors.

Currently, the other party has not completely betrayed Wang Wei; they are more interested in getting closer to Yan Li, and the information they reveal is generally related to Yan Li and the internal workings of Tudou.com.

Therefore, many of Wang Wei's little tricks were semi-transparent to Yan Li, allowing him to plan ahead or set traps to counterattack.

For example, Xu, the CEO of Capital Today, whom Yan Li had been longing for, thought he had kept it a secret enough, but on the third day of Yan Li's visit to Shanghai, he had a private dinner with him.

As for who Mr. Xu chooses to cooperate with, it goes without saying.

Wang Wei has far more cards than Yan Li, not to mention that Yan Li knows all of Wang Wei's cards and their base values.

Yan Li wasn't in a hurry to talk more about Tudou.com with President Xu; he wanted to lay the groundwork first and then wait for Wang Wei to make his move.

During that meal, the two of them talked mostly about Ganji.com.

That's another high-quality internet project from Yanye Capital besides Tudou.com, and it's doing quite well. Today Capital seems to be interested in it.

Yanli Investment did not invest much in this project before, and its shareholding was limited. After the Series A funding, its current shareholding is about 10%.

Compared to the rapidly rising Tudou.com, Ganji.com is still in the expansion stage. Due to its type, scale, influence, and profit model, it is not particularly good, and its valuation is around 2000-3000 million US dollars, which is still somewhat inflated.

Internet companies at this level aren't bad, but they're not exactly outstanding either.

The industry bubble is too big, especially now that the financial market is booming and capital is extremely active, which has led these internet companies to exaggerate their capabilities.

With only twenty or thirty employees, millions of users and traffic, plus some jargon and packaging, they dare to claim a valuation of hundreds of millions or even millions of RMB.

So, if you take a look at the current internet industry, there are internet companies with valuations of tens of millions or hundreds of millions of dollars, which, while not many, are certainly not few.

Xu Xin was interested in Ganji.com, and Yan Li was willing to act as a go-between.

Yan Li had no other needs for this project; it was purely a financial investment. With a big player involved, they could grow the pie together and make money through an IPO, which was a good thing for him.

Besides Ganji.com, we also talked about some other projects. We're all in the investment industry, and although we're wary of each other, we still share information and resources.

In fact, apart from Tudou.com and Ganji.com, Yan Li hasn't made many investments in recent years, mainly because he doesn't have the money.

Strictly speaking, it's not that Yan Li doesn't have money, but rather that he's being relatively cautious with the money he has on hand.

Because of the booming stock market, he had a lot of cash invested in stocks, and then planned to spend money on cinemas, while also keeping an eye on Tudou.com and Weibo.

This money is all carefully managed; Yan Li needs to maintain a sufficient ammunition depot and cannot afford to spend it recklessly.

Investing is an industry that involves casting a wide net; you have to be willing to spend money and be prepared to lose money.

To put it bluntly, Yan Li is now more of an entrepreneur than an investor.

Of course, Yan Li is currently facing a tight cash flow situation and is taking a cautious approach. However, he will still invest when he has more funds available.

Even now, if there are good projects in the angel or Series A rounds, and the investment amount and equity are acceptable, he is willing to support their entrepreneurial dreams.

For example, in the first half of this year, Yanye Capital selected three projects, including a mattress manufacturer, a travel agency, and a game company, with a planned investment of 1100 million yuan.

Gaming and tourism are booming industries, needless to say, and that mattress manufacturer has a patented technological advantage.

For Yan Li, a few million is neither a lot nor a little; it has limited use in his hands. He might as well choose a few high-quality projects to invest in, and perhaps there will be some pleasant surprises.

Yan Li had limited high-quality projects on hand due to his business plans, but Xu Xin, a professional investor, introduced him to several projects.

Whether they are high-quality or not is hard to say, but they all sound pretty good.

Among them, the one that caught Yan Li's attention the most was JD.com. He had seen the name in Future Intelligence before, and although there wasn't much information about it, he felt that it was not a small company.

However, there are too many similar snippets of information in the future intelligence reports. Apart from those that he feels are useful, Yan Li has neither the time nor the possibility to identify and search for them one by one.

Even though Yan Li knew the name JD.com, he didn't know much about it. It was only after Xu Xin's introduction that he had a relatively clear understanding of it.

"Building its own warehousing and logistics? This Mr. Liu has a lot of guts!"

Yan Li was somewhat surprised. He wasn't particularly familiar with the e-commerce industry, but he had some exposure and understanding of it.

The brilliance of JD.com's move is not difficult to understand; in fact, similar models have been proposed by others for a long time.

But as I said before, knowing something doesn't mean you can do it!
Everyone knows that e-commerce has many advantages and conveniences in having its own logistics channels, but the key is that it requires a lot of money.

Where will the funding come from? How will this expenditure be recouped? Is this model acceptable to the market?
Establishing an e-commerce warehousing and logistics network that can cover the entire country requires a huge investment, and if there are any setbacks, the company might be dragged down and killed.

Both Mr. Liu and Mr. Xu have great courage; this is practically a high-stakes gamble.

However, judging from future intelligence, the two made the right bet.

Yan Li couldn't help but ask Xu Xin how much he planned to invest. The latter didn't say directly, but only indicated that it was an initial investment of tens of millions of US dollars, which would yield a good return on equity.

"..."

Yan Li hesitated. This investment was not small, but if JD.com grew big, it would be well worth it.

Of course, this is just one round of investment, and JD.com's approach will definitely burn through a lot of money.
Even if you get a certain share in the previous round of financing, you have to invest again if you don't want to be kicked out or have your shares diluted too much.

By then, it won't necessarily be just tens of millions of dollars.

Given Yan Li's current financial situation, JD.com is not a good investment target, but Yan Li's silence and hesitation are because he is thinking about something else.

Whether it's Tudou.com or Weibo, if you want to grow this company, you can't avoid one thing: how to make a profit.

If a company doesn't make a profit, going public is just empty talk. Even if it goes public by making empty promises, don't expect the stock to perform well.

Tudou.com is doing well; its profit model is obvious, it's just a matter of how much profit it makes.

How to make a profit from social media platforms like Weibo is a major challenge.

Well, it's not that difficult. It really just comes down to two words: advertising.

Weibo's large user base, high traffic, and high daily active users make it an ideal place for advertising.

According to future intelligence, Sina Weibo will partner with Alibaba to introduce Alibaba's e-commerce advertising, ultimately achieving profitability and revitalizing the entire project.

Besides Weibo, Tudou.com can also connect with e-commerce in many other ways.

To put it simply, Weibo and Tudou are both traffic pools. Traffic pools and e-commerce advertising complement each other. One helps attract traffic and advertise, while the other monetizes its own advantages.

However, Alibaba's operating style, the industry's reputation for paraquat, and the cooperation model between the two parties made Yan Li somewhat apprehensive.

The emergence of JD.com brought Yan Li a sense of change.

If Yan Li were a shareholder of JD.com, he could facilitate cooperation between JD.com and Tudou.com and Weibo, achieving a win-win situation for all parties.

Alibaba can still cooperate, but with JD.com as a counterbalance, Yan Li can gain some initiative.

This principle is the same as Wang Wei's approach: when a partner becomes powerful, a new partner is introduced, thus introducing new variables into the situation.

Of course, the premise is that you don't get eaten up by the other side working together.

Yan Li, who possesses an intelligence network, is quite confident in this regard; aside from other factors, his information network is absolutely comprehensive.

Yan Li's mind raced, but he didn't make a decision immediately. There were too many things involved, and it wasn't something that could be decided easily.

Furthermore, it's hard to say what JD.com is thinking; they might just be putting in a lot of effort on their own.

So Yan Li only said that he was quite interested in this Mr. Liu from JD.com, and if Xu Xin was available, he could help introduce them so they could get to know each other and have a chat.

Xu Xin is very straightforward. The reason she talked to Yan Li about JD.com was because Today Capital alone couldn't take over this project.

Yan Li is wealthy, famous, and well-connected, making him a great partner in her eyes. If he joins JD.com, it will definitely benefit its development and financing.

...

After things settled in Shanghai, Yan Li stayed for two more days before being chased away by Yang Rong.

We have to chase him away, otherwise Wang Ou will come to Shanghai as soon as he finishes his work.

Those two, when they're together, will definitely not let her go!
Yang Rong herself doesn't know what to do now, so she just tries to avoid being with Wang Ou and Yan Li at the same time.

Yan Li was quite busy, and seeing that Yang Rong was rather resistant, he didn't pressure her much.

Wang Ou is full of bad intentions, but he doesn't have much free time these days. Yang Rong is also filming and spends most of her time in Shanghai, so they can barely manage to keep their schedules separate.

Yan Li had just returned to the capital when he heard the good news: Tong Dawei and Guan Yue were getting married.

As Yan Li had expected, the reason was that Guan Yue was pregnant.

As soon as the pregnancy test results came out, without Guan Yue even having to say anything, Tong Dawei's mother started pressuring her to get married.

Having just won back Guan Yue, Tong Dawei didn't dare delay, fearing he would lose his wife and children. So, he gritted his teeth and started preparing for the wedding.

This was a good thing for Guan Yue, and not a bad thing for Tong Dawei either, but Cheng Tian and Wang Jinghua couldn't help but curse.

The hit TV series "Struggle" was a huge success, and it was on the verge of being broadcast on a major satellite TV network. Tong Dawei's career was likely to reach a new level, but then he got married and became a father.

Look at Huang Xiaoming from Huayi Brothers. Although he has many scandals, he never admits them, yet he still has a huge female fanbase.

Although Deng Chao of Yi'an was in love, being in love and getting married and having children are two different things.

Moreover, his girlfriend is the popular actress Sun Li, and the two have been exchanging public appearances. So far, this is more beneficial than harmful to his career.

Even Liu Huohua, who doesn't rely much on fans for a living, is currently in a relationship and has even dated a foreign woman, bringing glory to the country.

Tong Dawei's actions put Orange Sky in a very passive position, and they even considered replacing him with Xia Yu, giving him the title of Orange Sky's number one star.

While the investigation was still ongoing, Xia Yu was exposed for cheating on Gao Yuanyuan, sparking a scandal.

Before Wang Jinghua could figure out what to do about Tong Dawei, she ran off to put out Xia Yu's fire.

"Tsk, another one has fallen. None of these male celebrities are any good."

With Xia Yu's mishap, it's time for Yan Li to stand on his moral high ground and point fingers again, much to everyone's delight.

As a well-known couple in the industry, Xia Yu and Yuan Quan's relationship was even used by someone to subtly criticize Yan Li, but now they've been proven wrong.

At this moment, Yan Li felt incredibly happy!
Dong Xuan couldn't help but roll her eyes. Last time, she had a good relationship with Tong Dawei, so she at least left some room for maneuver. But this time, with someone else involved, Yan Li was unabashedly gloating.

She didn't care whether Xia Yu cheated on her or not, but she kept Gao Yuanyuan in her heart.

Dong Xuan had previously harbored doubts about Gao Yuanyuan, whose resume wasn't very impressive. She had ignored Yang Xue's previous attempts to set her up, and this time she was even more wary.

I'm not afraid of men cheating, I'm afraid of encountering a professional cheater, especially a beautiful one. The risk is much greater than that of other women.

Dong Xuan even considered informing Qin Lan and Fan Xiaopang that although they usually bickered, they shared common interests in this matter.

Dong Xuan wasn't actually worried about Fan Xiaopang.

Although I hate to admit it, this vixen is indeed very charming, and she is also shrewd and has a high social threshold, making it extremely difficult for ordinary people to break through her defenses.

The person who truly deserves a reminder is Qin Lan.

This silly woman loves forming cliques and doesn't discriminate between good and bad. She can even treat someone like Huo Siyan as a confidante. It's not impossible that one day she'll somehow drag someone surnamed Gao into the Teddy Sisters group.

Dong Xuan sometimes couldn't help but mutter to herself, occasionally wanting to team up with these two, one was too shrewd, too arrogant and unsociable, and the other was too naive and straightforward to be led.

Of course, Dong Xuan wasn't the only one who thought this way; the other two also whispered about her a lot in private.

Especially Fan Xiaopang, whose intelligence system occasionally triggered some psychological activities targeting Qin Lan and Dong Xuan, Yan Li didn't dare to mention it to them, for fear of causing someone's death.

"Did Guan Yue and the others say when the wedding is?"

Yan Li asked curiously, "These friends of mine have all gotten married one after another, and I've attended their weddings a few times."

However, there are indeed few people like Tong Dawei and Guan Yue who have been followed from dating to marriage. Yan Li has received more attention.

Dong Xuan wasn't quite sure: "The exact time hasn't been confirmed yet, but it will definitely be during the summer vacation, most likely in July."

Time was a bit tight, but there was no other way; otherwise, her belly would have grown bigger. The couple didn't plan on having a big celebration, and since they had money, one to two months of preparation time would be enough.

"You're definitely going to be the bridesmaid, but have you chosen a groomsman yet, Dawei?"

No matter how many bridesmaids Guan Yue has, Dong Xuan will definitely be one of them, and she has to be the first bridesmaid.

"He did consider asking you, but he didn't know if you had the time."

Yan Li and Tong Dawei were close friends, and Yan Li held a high position in the relationship. It would be prestigious to have Yan Li as a groomsman, so Tong Dawei naturally wanted to invite Yan Li.

However, it's really hard to say when Yan Li will be available, and there's also the concern that he might steal the groom's thunder.

"I can manage to find time to go to the wedding, but it's a bit harder to say about the best man. You should talk to the couple and I'll try my best to coordinate, but they should still prepare a backup option."

"I understand." Dong Xuan was a little disappointed. She had actually hoped that Yan Li would be the best man, even if it wasn't their wedding, she could still get a piece of the action and fantasize about it.

Seeing her like this, Yan Li, though unsure of the specifics, guessed that it was related to her marriage to Guan Yue.

He knew that once Guan Yue got married, his life would be difficult.

Yan Li reached out and embraced Dong Xuan's slender waist, stroking her fair fingers.

"Don't bother preparing a wedding gift, I've already thought of everything."

"what gift?"

"Pick a suitable time, take them on a luxury trip to Europe or somewhere else for their honeymoon, and we'll cover all the expenses."

Dong Xuan thought it was a good idea: "Guan Yue had mentioned wanting to go out and play before, but now she's pregnant and has to take care of the baby, so she might not even have time to travel in the future."

Yan Li immediately added, "Let's go too, join in the celebration, and relax a bit."

Dong Xuan finally understood Yan Li's meaning, and felt a warmth in her heart. In a way, this could be considered Yan Li's honeymoon with her.

However, she had some doubts: "Do you have enough time?"

Is it really that hard to be a groomsman at a wedding? But when it comes to honeymooning, Yanli has plenty of time.

"If others can't, I'll make time for you, no matter what."

The main reason Yan Li wanted to be the best man was that he didn't want to steal the spotlight, so he planned to observe the situation. Although he was busy with work, he wasn't working all year round.

If ordinary employees can take an annual leave, why can't the boss take a short vacation?

At worst, I can shorten my vacation and work overtime online in the evenings.

Yan Li had been thinking about taking a vacation for a long time, but hadn't put it into action yet.

This incident allows them to take a vacation and relax, appease Dong Xuan, and even solve the problem of Guan Yue and his wife's wedding gift—a win-win situation.

---

Upon returning to work in Beijing, Yan Li's first task was to record a video message to cheer on this year's college entrance examination students.

Yan Li didn't know which genius came up with the idea. He was a vocational college student, and an art college at that. Why would he record a video to cheer on the students taking the college entrance exam? He himself felt bad for the students taking the exam.

But surprisingly, despite Yan Li's poor academic background, his videos reportedly garnered a decent number of views online.

After all, Yan Li had a poor education, but he was successful in his career.

These days, as long as you have money and are powerful enough, you're a successful person. Even if you dropped out of preschool, there are plenty of people who will support you.

From this perspective, Yan Li is actually quite good. He barely qualifies as a junior college graduate, and he attended a prestigious art school. At least he's much better than those who didn't even attend university.

Afterwards, Yan Li convened a meeting with the film and television department and the distribution department.

It's June now, and summer vacation is just around the corner, which means Yi'an's work is about to enter its peak season.

"Struggle" aired on satellite TV, "Golden Wedding" aired on satellite TV, "The Deer and the Cauldron" aired on satellite TV, and "The Legend of Chu Liuxiang" and "The Legend of Yang Yuhuan" premiered on satellite TV.

In the next two to three months alone, more than a dozen dramas produced, invested in, and distributed by Yi An will be released, and most of them will be broadcast on satellite TV.

In terms of movies, Yi'an will be responsible for coordinating the distribution of several Hollywood films.

There are also two domestic films: one is "Men's True Colors" produced by Bona Film Group, and the other is "Flash Point" produced by Bona Film Group and Oriental Film Group.

In the former case, Yi'an was just cooperating; in the latter case, she needed to pay more attention. She wasn't going to be too aggressive towards Fatty, and Yan Li and Dongfang Films were also in their honeymoon period.

For some of these projects, Yi An has already completed most of the work; for others, it is still in progress; and for still others, it is only in the initial stage.

Yan Li held this meeting to give all departments a heads-up, ensuring that Yi An's project shines brightly during the summer season.

After holding a meeting with the two key departments, Yan Li also contacted some logistics departments and asked them to provide support and not to hinder the work from the front lines.

Don't underestimate this point; Yi'an made this mistake before.

The film and television department and the distribution department were fine, but several logistics departments made various mistakes, causing chaos and almost ruining two projects.

After that incident, nearly a third of the staff in Yi'an's logistics departments were replaced. Whenever there was such an important moment, Yan Li or other senior executives would emphasize the importance of logistics.

After finishing his work with Yi'an, Yan Li went downstairs to Yi'an Cinema Line to hear a report on its construction.

Now, nearly half of 2007 has passed, and although Yi'an's early cinema construction is not yet in its final stages, it is almost complete.

If all goes well, all the cinemas planned by Yi'an Cinemas in the early stages will be completed in September or October.

By then, Yi'an will own 4 five-star high-end cinemas in first-tier cities, 8 standard modern cinemas in second-tier cities, and many renovated cinemas, with a total of 117 screens.

In terms of sheer number of screens, Yi An is more than capable of breaking into the top ten in the industry.

According to the information Yan Li has, the total number of screens in mainland China should be around 3500 by the end of the year, with a fluctuation of no more than 200.

The company with the most screens is China Film Stellar Media, the exact number is unclear, but it is probably around 350 to 400, and its box office share is about 15 to 20%.

The second and third largest are Shanghai United and Beijing New Film Union, which are not far apart in size. They have around 300 screens each, and their combined box office share should be between 25% and 30%.

Starting from fourth place, the number of entries is generally below 200, with a maximum of 200 entries appearing.

Wanda, for example, now only has 100+ cinemas. However, Wanda cinemas are all self-operated, mainly targeting the mid-to-high-end market, and are expanding rapidly.

In the cinema industry, 100 screens is considered a threshold.

Only cinemas with 100+ screens are considered worthy of mention and can be considered part of a certain cinema chain. If the number is less than that, they are usually referred to as "other cinema chains" or "etc."

To break through this barrier, besides increasing the number of screens, another way is to achieve high box office returns.

Besides the threshold of 100 screens, there is another threshold: a box office share of more than 5%.

There are only about 30 cinema chains in the entire industry. A few top players have taken more than half of the market share. A 5% market share is considered to be among the top in the industry and has the capital to be mentioned.

Yi An currently has enough screens.

Because of its cinema facilities, it is even stronger than other cinemas of the same level, and its overall ranking may even reach 7th or 8th.

However, since most of the cinemas are new cinemas, and were built in the last year or two, Yi'an's box office performance is actually quite average, at least some distance from the top ten in the industry and the 5% threshold.

Compared to the question of whether to continue investing new funds to expand after the funds ran out in September and October, Yan Li is now more concerned about how Yi An can increase its box office revenue.

If we build more cinemas but the box office doesn't increase, then we've put the cart before the horse.

What do investors think?
How do you prepare a listing report?!

Therefore, it's not just about building cinemas; Yi'an Cinemas' box office share must also catch up. Even if we don't expect the business to be booming and crushing the competition, we at least need to reach the normal level of the industry.

Just in time for the summer movie season, Yan Li asked Yi An to seize this opportunity and find a way to boost Yi An's box office, or at least see an upward trend.

If that's not possible, then don't rush to build new cinemas; first, streamline the existing cinemas.

Although Yan Li's demands were harsh and his tone was not pleasant, the senior executives of Yi'an were still confident.

The low box office of Yi'an Cinemas is mainly due to a number of reasons, such as the short investment time of each cinema and the instability of the teams in each store.

After all, which new company or new store doesn't need a period of adjustment at the beginning?

Now, the earliest cinemas have been open for more than half a year, and many others have been open for more than three months.

Many problems have been solved, and the methods have begun to be figured out. Many cinemas have gradually gotten back on track. Even if Yan Li doesn't slam this table today, Yi An is still going to make a big splash this summer.

Back then, Yan Li declared that Yi An would increase its investment in 3-5 years, doubling the number of cinemas and then breaking into the top ten in box office revenue.

This goal initially had a promotional element, but now many people at Yian think it's somewhat conservative.

With a screen count among the top ten in the industry, surpassing most of its peers, along with a novel and clear development plan and ecosystem building, once they get through the initial exploratory period and stabilize, then it will be Yian's explosive growth period.

This year has been tough, especially with so many new cinemas still opening. But next year, with the help of Yi'an's various advantages, we're sure to break into the top ten at the box office.

Yi'an Cinema Line was established in 2006, began its expansion and exploration in 2007, and experienced rapid development in 2008.

In less than three years, it was much faster than Yan Li had initially set, and there was no further investment in cinemas.

Yan Li himself was not as optimistic as Yi An and the others.

Judging from the current trend, Yian is indeed developing rapidly and has considerable advantages.

But Yan Li knew that with the explosive growth of the entertainment and film industries, the entire cinema market would undergo a major reshuffle.

With Wanda's rise, various regional powers vie for dominance, and established and new cinema chains engage in fierce expansion and competition, causing the number of cinemas and screens in the mainland market to inflate like a balloon.

Yi An can now use 100 screens to beat the top ten in the industry, but it's hard to say what will happen in two years.

While it is certainly gratifying that development has been better than expected, we must not be complacent, much less stop expanding and relinquish our first-mover advantage.

Yan Li now hopes that Yi An's summer box office figures will look better, so he can speak with more confidence when talking to investors.

While everyone still has plenty of money before the financial crisis hits, let's invest some in Yi'an.

Even if it gets diluted later, or if the shares are sold to Yan Li or others, there will still be some money left, which is better than losing it all during the financial crisis.

Yan Li used to think that taking advantage of the financial crisis was a bit unethical.

Now I feel that I did a good deed. No matter what, he won't take advantage of me. Maybe he's just leaving these investors a way out.

Feeling that the golden wheel of merit behind him was shining brightly, Yan Li went to a screening of "The Sun Also Rises" after get off work.

After much effort, Jiang Wen finally managed to get this movie out.

It is said that this is not the final version yet and it is still being revised, but the general framework is like this. So, he excitedly organized a screening.

As a film investor, and one whom Jiang Wen was very grateful to, Yan Li was naturally among those invited.

The screening was held in a small auditorium at the Beijing Film Studio. Quite a few people came, including Han Sanye, Fatty Yu, and Wang Zhonglei. Basically, everyone who had time gave their face.

Yan Li also saw Liu Xiaoqing, Jiang's ex-girlfriend, which is quite normal, since the two have always had a good relationship.

However, this juncture is quite interesting.

Not long ago, someone revealed online that Jiang Wen and Liu Xiaoqing were caught cheating by her ex-husband, and were beaten and forced to write a guarantee.

Liu Xiaoqing herself admitted a few days ago that she was sorry to her ex-husband. Although her agent denied it afterward, the rumors still spread like wildfire.

Less than a month after the incident, Jiang Wen privately invited Liu Xiaoqing to watch his new movie.

By the way, Jiang Wen's current wife, Zhou Yun, was also there, and she chatted and laughed with Liu Xiaoqing for a few minutes.

Wow, the older generation is really open-minded.

However, Yan Li turned around and thought that since he had already combined Qin Lan and Fan Xiaopang, Director Jiang's situation was nothing special.

Yan Li also greeted Liu Xiaoqing, an old acquaintance. Although this woman was past her prime, she still had considerable influence and connections in the industry.

Moreover, from an actor's perspective, he is also an outstanding individual, and there may be opportunities to collaborate in the future.

In addition, Yan Li also saw Wang Shuo and Xu Cainu.

Jiang Wen is indeed well-liked in Beijing's social circles. He has dealt with various factions and has gotten along well with them all.

Wang Shuo and Jiang Wen have always had a good relationship. He was the one who helped secure investment for this movie in the beginning, so it's normal for him to come and support it at the screening.

Yan Li was somewhat disappointed that Feng Xiaogang didn't come; he wondered if Feng had heard the news.

It is said that he and Wang Shuo had a falling out over the role of Feng Kuzi in "Days Related to Youth", and he was quite interested in seeing some entertainment.

Yan Li had met Wang Shuo before, but he wasn't particularly fond of this roguish, literary giant from the compound.

He has a foul mouth and a bad temper, and he's always acting arrogant. Others fawn over him for various reasons, but Yan Li doesn't tolerate his bad habits.

The other party didn't seem to like him either, thinking that Yan Li was just a stinky young man from out of town who had a little money and was showing off everywhere. When Wang Dawenhao was in charge of the Beijing literary circle, Yan Li was still working as a waiter in a small restaurant in his hometown.

Although they didn't like each other, they didn't hold any grudges. They each went their own way.

Yu Pangzi came from behind the scenes at China Film Group and then rose to prominence by leveraging the influence of the Hong Kong film circle. He wasn't particularly fond of Wang Shuo, the former leader of the Beijing film circle.

Upon seeing Wang Shuo arrive, he put on airs and as various people went to greet him, he snorted disdainfully.

"I don't know where he got such a big attitude. All he has left is his face. Did you see the girl next to him? I don't even know if she's an adult. Ugh, disgusting."

Yan Li glanced at him a few more times. Fatty Yu had a sharp eye; he hadn't seen him before.

Wang Shuo was accompanied by a rather thin and petite girl who looked rather immature, like a... high school student?

"Could it be his daughter?"

Yan Li remembered that Wang Shuo seemed to have a daughter. Fatty Yu shook his head: "Look at the way that girl looks at him, she's definitely not his daughter. Shameless girl, she could be someone's father."

"You're quite observant."

Yan Li looked at Fatty Yu with amusement, unsure if he was jealous of him.

Although Yan Li didn't like Wang Shuo, he still recognized the other's talent. An old scholar is still a scholar, and even if he fell on hard times, he could still win the hearts of young girls.

Similarly, although Yan Li's literary talent is average, he boasts that he is good-looking and has a decent figure, as well as some ability and reputation. He believes that even if he loses his former glory when he gets older, he should still be able to attract a few female admirers.

Fatty Yu is no good; all he has besides money is a greasy belly. If he runs out of money in the future, nobody will care about him…

(End of this chapter)