Chinese Entertainment Intelligence King

Chapter 363 Yan Li: I opened my eyes to find three or four thousand employees needing my help with everything from eating and drinking to using the toilet.

"Nightclub" performed well at the box office, grossing nearly 1400 million in its opening weekend. The box office momentum declined afterward, but it still only increased by a few million each day.

Based on this trend, reaching 3000 million should not be a problem, and 3500 million is also possible.

That's pretty good, considering the lineup is there. Apart from Xu Zheng and Yang Mi, who just became popular, there's not much else to recommend them.

The film itself wasn't particularly high quality, and being a low-budget movie, its appeal was limited, especially considering it faced several strong competitors at the same time.

If it weren't for Yi'an's backing, it's hard to say whether they could even reach 2000 million.

Although the box office was not high, even lower than "The Fugitive", "Nightclub" had a small investment.

Because the film is set in a small supermarket, the lead actors Xu Zheng and Yang Mi didn't receive high salaries, let alone the other actors.

With the addition of a modern setting and the help of the advertising department to secure a few small product placements, the final production cost was managed to be reduced to around 150 million.

Of course, there were additional investments in publicity and distribution later, but after deducting these costs, combined with box office revenue sharing and other income, Yi An's profit in production and distribution was close to ten million yuan, not including the profits of Yi An Cinemas.

While the profits of tens of millions may not be comparable to those of blockbuster movies, they are still substantial profits and high-return projects.

What investors and the stock market love most are these stories of unexpected big winners, turning millions into tens of millions, or making ten or even dozens of times their initial investment.

Therefore, although "Nightclub" is not a big deal in terms of scale among Yi An's many projects, it was chosen by Yi An to promote it as a key project because it is suitable for storytelling.

Continuing with Yi An's reputation for making big returns on small investments and producing dark horses every year, the film focuses on her having good vision, strong operational skills, and willingness to promote new directors.

In contrast, Huayi Brothers is in a somewhat awkward position.

Huayi Brothers kept a relatively low profile during this summer's film season, focusing more on the National Day and Lunar New Year holidays, but they still invested in and distributed one film.

There's a movie called "Chasing Shadows" directed and starring Wu Zhenyu. The name is similar to "Chasing Fugitives," and the cast is pretty good, including Pace Wu, Xie Na, and Dragon Prince.

But the results were exceptionally poor.

It was caught up with "The Fugitive" and another Hollywood movie, and its box office was less than ten million.

The production company claims an investment of 2000 million yuan, which is probably a bit inflated, but considering it's a period drama, it's unlikely to be too low-budget.

With box office revenue less than ten million, the copyright won't fetch a good price either, so the project is definitely a loss.

This is common in the industry. The reason why movies have high barriers to entry is because they are easy to lose money on, and most people can't afford to play the game.

Yan Li, who is known as a business genius, also stumbled on Jiang Wen. Although he didn't lose money on several other films, he made very little money or barely broke even, just like "The Chase".

Although Huayi Brothers isn't as powerful as Yi An, its film projects still have a high profit margin. Occasionally, they might stumble on a minor project like this, which isn't a big deal.

In the past, even the media wouldn't have been too critical of this situation, but now we have Yi'an.

During the Lunar New Year film season, Huayi Brothers' "If You Are the One" took the top spot. Although "Crazy Racer" saved face, with the addition of films like "Ip Man," Yi An's total box office was even higher.

But Yan Li was still a little unhappy.

This summer, Huayi Brothers' projects flopped, while Yi An emerged as a dark horse. If we don't put it down, it wouldn't be Yan Li.

Even if we don't win, we'll still win; and if we do win, we'll win big.

So, what was originally a quiet flop, "Chasing the Shadow," became famous after its box office failure, dragging Huayi Brothers down with it.

This forced Wang Zhongjun to personally come out and refute the rumors, stating that Huayi Brothers was only one of the investors and its investment was limited, implying that it did not lose too much.

An explanation is necessary; Huayi Brothers is waiting to go public, and the topic of whether a project is profitable or not is very sensitive.

This incident infuriated the two kings of Huayi Brothers, who were determined to turn the tide during the National Day holiday.

This year's National Day film season is a celebration of patriotic films. In addition to the star-studded "The Founding of a Republic", Yi An's "The Message" and Huayi Brothers' "Dawn 1949" will also be competing head-to-head.

Many people are looking forward to this head-to-head showdown; whoever loses will lose face big time.

Huayi Brothers, in particular, plans to go public at the end of October, and the results of the National Day holiday box office will likely directly affect its stock price.

Because of this, there are also disagreements within Huayi Brothers. Many people hope not to go head-to-head with Yi An, because if they lose, the cost will be too high.

However, some people think this is an opportunity; if they win, it will be a major boon for Huayi Brothers.

After much deliberation, Huayi Brothers decided to go ahead with this battle.

The risks are high, but by constantly avoiding battle, Huayi Brothers is being dragged down by Yi An.

Considering Yi An's current size and strategic layout, Huayi Brothers isn't planning to win in the short term, but occasionally managing to turn the tide and closely follow and threaten Yi An is a good industry positioning for Huayi Brothers.

Being the top dog means you can sit back and relax, but being the second-in-command means you have to make a fuss. If you don't make a fuss, everyone will group the second-in-command, third-in-command, fourth-in-command, and other irrelevant people together.

Huayi Brothers would rather be a runner-up who keeps failing than a company with little presence.

Yan Li also supports Huayi Brothers' strategy.

Without competitors, there's no exposure. The entertainment industry is stagnant, and Yi An dominates. It sounds wonderful, but it's actually detrimental to the company and its business development.

Huayi Brothers' "Jump Jump" game allows Yi An to have a rival to bully, which can highlight their own awesomeness. This creates internal motivation and a sense of crisis, and the industry is also bustling. People will still buy into the story they tell.

The reason why many unified dynasties were less influential than the small state of Shu Han is because Shu Han had its own story and its own story to tell.

Huayi Brothers is willing to gamble on the National Day holiday film season, and Yi An is also willing to play along to the end.

If she wins, there's nothing more to say; if she loses, it won't damage Yi'an's fundamental character.

According to the plan, Yi'ande will not be listed until next year, so there is plenty of time to eliminate the negative impact.

Moreover, Yi'an is different from Huayi Brothers. Huayi Brothers relies on film and television production and star strategy. If either of them experiences fluctuations, they will be affected.

In addition to these two, Yi An also has the backing of cinema chains and two major strategic partners, Weibo and Tudou.com.

As long as the cinema market doesn't collapse and Weibo and Tudou.com remain stable, even if Yi'an fails on more than a dozen projects, she can still find opportunities to make a comeback.

Yan Li even made a special phone call to Wang Zhongjun to discuss the details of this National Day film battle.

If you're going to fight, fight well. A chaotic, disorganized attack would be a waste of such a good opportunity.

In the Huayi Brothers office, Wang Zhongjun hung up the phone looking somewhat bewildered, and his younger brother asked him a question.

"Brother, what does Yan Li mean by this?"

Wang Zhongjun didn't dare answer Yan Li's first call. He called his younger brother and several Huayi executives over before calling back, putting it on speakerphone so everyone could listen together.

Wang Zhongjun shook his head: "It's hard to say."

Over the phone, Yan Li's meaning was simple: let's fight a civilized battle. Because it's a tribute film, many methods are not suitable. So, let's make some gentlemanly agreements and not go too far in the fight over box office revenue.

In addition, Yan Li also stated that if Huayi loses, he will not pursue the matter relentlessly, but will stop short of defeat.

The meaning of the first part was clear to everyone at Huayi Brothers, but the second part was puzzling.

There's no need for humiliation, and Yan Li's words were sincere.

Honestly, why did Ke Yanli do that?
One of the executives pondered for a moment, then said, "Does Yan Li not want Huayi's stock to fall?"

Another executive questioned, "How could that be? We're rivals. The more Huayi Brothers' stock falls, the happier he is."

"How is it impossible?"

Wang Zhongjun suddenly realized: "You only see the struggle between our two companies, but you've overlooked the overall industry."

Upon hearing this, some people suddenly understood, while others were still somewhat confused. Wang Zhongjun continued to explain.

"Yan Li has always had a far-sighted vision. He never considers issues from the perspective of a single city or region, but rather from the overall picture and the future. He takes one step forward and thinks ten steps ahead."

“When Yi An first started his business, everyone was thinking about making movies, but he went against the grain and took huge risks to develop the cinema chain.”

"Back then, some people laughed at him for being foolish, and some people laughed at him for overestimating his abilities. But now, with the merger of Yi'an, we have directly filled the gaps, opened up the industrial chain, and achieved a leapfrog development."

"Therefore, his ideas cannot be judged by common sense."

“We are watching the battle between Huayi Brothers and Yi An, thinking about who wins and who loses, while he is looking at the entire industry, figuring out how to win or lose, or how Yi An can win more.”

"Think about it, Yi'an is definitely ahead of Huayi. The higher Huayi's market value is, the higher Yi'an's market value will be as the industry's ceiling. Conversely, if Huayi's stock price is low, Yi'an will be affected to some extent."

"From this perspective, Yan Li might even be more eager for Huayi's stock price to soar than we are."

Wang Zhonglei's eyes lit up: "In that case, let's lower the stock price..."

Before he could finish speaking, he slapped himself in the face.

Huayi Brothers' stock price is not high, and Yi'an can still make up for it in other ways, but they have lost real money.

Wang Zhongjun wasn't angry. Huayi had suffered too many losses at Yan Li's hands, which had made the two brothers a little obsessed. The thought of making Yan Li suffer in silence made them forget everything else.

With a sigh, Wang Zhongjun remarked, "This is another characteristic of Yan Li: his skill in using overt strategies."

Even if you figure out how he's planning things out, you often have to follow his lead.

On one hand, it's a win-win situation; on the other hand, it's a lose-lose situation. Anyone with a sound mind would choose the former.

Wang Zhongjun had faced Yan Li many times and had a deep understanding of him, which led to his mental breakdown as the fight progressed.

Previously, Yi An was not strong enough, so Yan Li resorted to some underhanded tricks. Now that he has a clear advantage, he simply uses his power to intimidate others.

This kind of play is the most frustrating!
The key is that Yan Li is particularly shrewd and vigilant. No matter what underhanded tricks you try, he can easily counter them and force you to resort to open tactics. Then he will use his superior strength to beat you up.

Originally, Huayi Brothers was quite ambitious for this National Day box office battle, regardless of winning or losing, they wanted to show Huayi Brothers' spirit.

Looking at it now, whether they win or lose, Huayi Brothers doesn't benefit as much as Yi An. They've been doing all the work for others, and even the morale of the team is starting to crumble.

Seeing the complicated expressions on everyone's faces, Wang Zhongjun quickly composed himself, ignoring his conflict with Yi An, and shifted the topic to himself.

With its IPO imminent, Huayi Brothers will soon have plenty of money and will be able to make some big moves.

In addition to Feng Xiaogang's earthquake epic, there's also Tsui Hark's period drama, and a star-studded all-star blockbuster.

Another aspect is expanding into cinema chains and the internet.

Yi An's approach of combining film and television production with theatrical releases and the internet provides a standard answer for almost all film and television companies.

Orange Sky acquired Golden Harvest and is focusing its investment on cinema chains. Huayi Brothers, Bona Film Group, and other companies are also planning to invest in cinema chains.

If you have the capability, build your own cinemas; if you don't, partner with others or invest in them. If all else fails, just use your own name and hang a signboard. In short, you must have a cinema chain.

Then there's the internet. Anyone with a brain can see how important Weibo is to Yi'an.

However, this is different from the cinema chain. Even if the cinema chain strategy fails, there is still a movie theater there to support it, so it won't lose much money. The internet is too complicated, and it's easy to just throw money away.

Huayi Brothers' strategy is to find a powerful backer. They've already partnered with Jack Ma, and they can still talk to Tencent.

Yi An has its own internet system, which neither Tencent nor Alibaba can get involved in, which gave Huayi Brothers an opportunity.

In addition to emulating Yi An, Huayi Brothers will also explore the fields of location-based entertainment, music, and games.

Music is one of Huayi Brothers' strengths, and the only sector that can surpass Yi An's, so they definitely need to put more effort into it.

Gaming is a business that the Wang brothers are quite optimistic about; if done well, it could be a source of cash flow.

As for live entertainment, it refers to cultural amusement parks built using movie IPs.

To put it bluntly, it's essentially a disguised version of Disneyland and Universal Studios, developing related products and services based on movies, integrating culture and tourism.

The Wang brothers felt it would be difficult to surpass Yi An in terms of cinema chains, so they decided to take a different approach and combine it with live entertainment to create Huayi Brothers' unique physical advantage.

In this way, Huayi can leverage and establish its unique advantages while avoiding direct competition with Yi An.

Although they didn't say it out loud, both Wang brothers were a little intimidated by Yan Li.

However, what they didn't know was that Yan Li had known about Huayi's so-called strategic development plan for a long time.

We need to move away from a singular focus on film, develop diversification, and build a larger cultural and entertainment ecosystem.

Huayi Brothers' strategy is sound. Filmmaking is high-risk and asset-light, and with Yi An as a formidable competitor, anyone would want to expand into new businesses and build a competitive moat.

However, having the right direction does not guarantee success.

The template for Disney is right here. Who wouldn't want to replicate an Eastern Disney? But the key is whether they can successfully copy it and establish a foothold?

Yan Li also considered live-action entertainment, but quickly gave up.

The film market will be in a period of growth, or even explosive growth, for at least the next ten years. Investment in cinemas is booming, and the prospects are promising.

The situation is more complicated for location-based entertainment. It involves not only the cultural and entertainment industry but also tourism and commercial complexes. It requires large investments, the competition is more complex, and the prospects are difficult to predict.

In addition, Yi'an already has the cinema chain, which is a money-devouring beast, so it has temporarily given up on live-action entertainment.

The reason they haven't completely given up is because this industry still has potential. They can wait and see, and if Yi'an becomes wealthy someday, they can give it a try or cooperate with a company.

Once a large company reaches a certain size, it may not necessarily engage in certain business operations directly; investment is also an important profit model for large companies.

Similarly, the gaming industry is the same. Everyone knows that games can make money, but the key is to be able to profit from it.

Tencent, NetEase, Shanda, and Giant all started with games, and other internet companies and some capital have also participated in some game companies and projects to varying degrees.

Putting aside other things, Yan Li's Yanye Capital has invested in two game companies, with one losing money and the other making a profit.

It's important to know that for most of Yan Li's major investments, even without future intelligence alerts, he would use daily intelligence reports to assess the situation, allowing him to gain a more direct and detailed understanding and judgment of the project.

Even so, the compensation will still be paid.

This is also a winner-takes-all industry, where companies like Tencent make a fortune, while beneath them lie the bones of countless losers.

Therefore, under Yan Li's influence, although Weibo and Yi An are also involved in some game business, their attitude is relatively conservative, prioritizing stability.

As for music, Huayi Brothers has misunderstood this. Yan Li hasn't given up on this business, but he just didn't pay much attention to it before, but things are different now.

As Weibo grows to a certain size, it will inevitably need to leverage its advantages to invest in and develop some subsidiary businesses. This can not only supplement and extend Weibo itself and build a huge ecosystem, but also incubate some golden opportunities.

Most of the $5 million raised by Weibo was used for the development of Weibo itself, with a small portion used to expand into new sectors.

Music is one of the areas Weibo will expand into next.

Next month, Weibo will launch the "Weiyin" app, a music player, aiming to take the lead in the mobile music market in the mobile internet era.

Weibo boasts a massive user base, social ecosystem, and content dissemination capabilities, while Yi'an can also provide celebrity resources, which is crucial for a new music platform.

If it performs well, it might just become one of the most popular music platforms right now.

Weiyin will also become a major sub-business of the Weibo ecosystem.

In addition to Weiyin, Weibo also plans to launch WeiDu, focusing on online literature and reading; WeiGou, a self-operated e-commerce platform integrating the Weibo ecosystem; WeiShi, streaming video content; and WeiYou, game investment and production…

Internet companies, especially giants, tend to cast a wide net and catch as many fish as possible, while focusing on their core business.

If you succeed, you'll make a fortune; if you don't, it's still an exploration and an attempt. You can also use it as an exchange to participate in mergers and investments.

Just like Sina's Weike, if it can't compete with Weibo, it can sell itself to Weibo and get some money and shares.

Yan Li even registered a company called "WeChat," which focuses on instant messaging.

If Tencent still has its eyes on Weibo, then Yan Li will give it a new home and launch [WeChat], attacking Tencent's home base and using a diversionary tactic.

As for launching WeChat ahead of Tencent and capturing the instant messaging market, Yan Li doesn't have the energy for that, nor is he optimistic about the project's prospects.

Other projects are fine, but instant messaging and games are Tencent's lifeblood, and Pony Ma will really go all out to do them.

Tencent is now practically the largest internet company in China. If Tencent goes all out, no other internet company can afford to lose.

Therefore, Yan Li hopes that Tencent will stick to its instant messaging and gaming business and not disturb Weibo's social information and entertainment offerings, so that everyone can go their own way.

...

In late August, the second Weibo Male God competition concluded, with Yan Li defeating Zhou Jielun with 58% of the votes to claim the top spot.

Less than two minutes after the results were announced, Yan Li posted a picture of the award trophy for the male god on Weibo and shared his thoughts.

[This must be the fastest trophy ever delivered to the recipient since the Weibo Male/Female God event began; all it took was a knock on the office door (laughs)]

[Thank you to all the supporters and voters. And let me reiterate, there was no behind-the-scenes manipulation. I even offered to treat the event organizer to dinner, but they wouldn't budge. I won purely through my personal charm and good relationships.]

While some people are calling for a cover-up, aside from a few skeptics, most are just making a joke.

Yan Li is good-looking, has a lot of influence, and is surrounded by various halos and filters. Weibo is still his home turf, so winning the award is simply a matter of course.

If it weren't for last year's Olympics and Yan Li's need to avoid suspicion, he might have been the first one.

Yan Li also joined in the teasing and even modified and added some things to his Weibo homepage description.

[Top 4 of the first Weibo Male God competition, champion of the second Weibo Male God competition]

As for the next one, it probably won't be him.

Although there is no explicit rule that a male or female idol on Weibo can only win once, the unspoken rule is that the platform still favors newcomers to rise to the top.

For example, in the next competition, Yan Li might be placed in the "group of death," where he will face strong opponents and face restrictions in terms of his ability to push the opponent's path.

Most importantly, it's not easy to vote and campaign for so long. Fans and supporters are satisfied when their idol wins, so their enthusiasm isn't as high.

The fans of Liu Yifei and Yao Ming from the first edition were like that; having won championships themselves, they were more open-minded about winning and losing.

Yan Li wiped the trophy clean and placed it on the bookshelf in his office, next to the medal he had just received a few months ago for surpassing 10 million Weibo followers.

Yan Li has already collected two-thirds of Weibo's three major honors: the 10 million followers medal, Weibo male/female god/goddess award, and Weibo King/queen award.

For Yan Li, becoming the Weibo King is both easy and difficult.

Yan Li decides who gets the award; he wants to make himself a Weibo King, so he can relax and enjoy it.

But awarding prizes haphazardly and indulging in self-entertainment has ruined the prestige and credibility of the award and the Weibo Night event.

Therefore, if Yan Li wants to win an award, he must be the most popular male celebrity account on Weibo all year round. He can't even be similar to a real person because he is the owner of Weibo and he has to avoid any appearance of impropriety.

This is quite difficult.

Yan Li mainly works behind the scenes, relying more on his fame and status to win over audiences. In terms of popularity and exposure alone, he is no match for those popular male stars.

"..."

Yan Li pondered for a while, then suddenly realized that he had been confused and had even started studying the award he had created.

The title of "Weibo King" is just an honorary one; he is the true and undisputed king of Weibo.

Shaking his head, Yan Li accepted the interview with the Weibo male god and then left work early.

Before leaving, Yan Li took the opportunity to visit various departments.

He hasn't been "going to the grassroots" for a while, and he feels that Weibo has more and more employees.

This is understandable. With the funds raised, Weibo is expanding rapidly, and its HR department is constantly recruiting. The previous plan was to recruit around 1000 people by the end of the year, not including interns and outsourced staff.

In other words, there are now nearly a thousand people working at Weibo, which is several times larger than when Weibo was first created.

"When I have enough money in hand later, I can build an industrial park to play with."

The higher one's net worth, the more extravagant one's spending becomes. When Yi An moved, Yan Li was thinking about buying a building in the future, but now he's thinking about building an industrial park like Alibaba.

Since it's not his own money, the comfortable office space benefits not only the employees but also himself.

With nearly a thousand followers on Weibo, Yan Li began to calculate how many people Yi An had.

Although Yi'an is a film and television company, it has a considerable number of employees, especially core members of the production crew and distribution promoters.

After merging with the cinema chain, the number of employees increased significantly as cinema staff were absorbed into the company.

When the merger took place last year, Yan Li saw the relevant documents and the number of employees was close to 1500; it should have exceeded that number now.

In addition, Yi'an is constantly expanding, acquiring cinema chains, investing in projects, etc., and it is estimated that it has already reached 2000 people.

In addition to other miscellaneous companies he directly controlled, Yan Li had three to four thousand direct subordinates.

If you include the companies he invested in, and those who indirectly make a living through Yi An and the Weibo system, the number becomes countless.

"Every day when I open my eyes, I have to take care of the eating, drinking and toileting needs of thousands of people."

Yan Li recalled Huang Silang's line in "Let the Bullets Fly" and deeply agreed with it.

Being the boss is stressful, so you need to relax more.

I was planning to ask Huo Siyan and Li Xiaolu; they might not be good at anything else, but they're good at relieving stress and calming the nerves.

As a result, just as he picked up the phone, he found that Li Bingbing had sent him a text message, so he transferred the call to Li Bingbing.

Although this woman is no match for Jiang or Fan in a one-on-one fight, she's still a formidable opponent, and being older, she can be quite unrestrained.

...

Ziyu Villa is a well-known villa area in Beijing, where many celebrities live, such as Zhang Guoli and Chen Daoming.

Li Bingbing had another house before, but unexpectedly bought another one here.

How's the house?

Looking at Yan Li, who was scrutinizing him from upstairs and downstairs, Li Bingbing asked while drinking hot water.

"Apart from the decor being a bit outdated, everything else is great."

With the baby about to be born, Qin Lan and Dong Xuan's place was becoming a bit inadequate. Yan Li had been looking into upscale residential areas in Beijing, including Ziyu Villa, but he always felt that the area was a bit old-fashioned, the kind of style that only the older generation would like.

"I bought it to support my parents in their old age."

Li Bingbing explained that the villa was quite valuable, and she and her sister bought it together. Their parents were getting old, and they couldn't easily return to their hometown. They planned to bring their parents to Beijing to retire, so they could take care of them nearby and have access to better medical care.

However, his parents were still a little reluctant to leave their old home, so they planned to move there in the winter. Li Bingbing would stay there for the time being and see if he needed anything.

"Filial piety."

Yan Li gave a thumbs up, saying that Li Bingbing was truly exceptional when it came to her family, regardless of other aspects.

At a young age, she had to support her family, be filial to her parents, and take care of her younger sister, single-handedly supporting the entire family.

Li Bingbing nodded proudly; this was indeed one of her greatest sources of pride.

"You didn't call me here just to show off your house, did you?"

After Yan Li finished looking at the house, he crossed his legs and asked, "Can't I miss you?" Li Bingbing rolled her eyes at him and said, "Can't I miss you?"

"Sure, why not?"

Yan Li reached out and pulled Li Bingbing into his arms: "Perfect timing, I'll help you warm up the room."

"Pooh."

Li Bingbing struggled for a moment and slapped his thieving hand away: "My sister will be here in a bit, don't do anything."

"Let her come. She knows about us."

Li Bingbing pried Yan Li's hands apart: "Knowing is one thing, but try not to upset her."

Li Xue's feelings for Yan Li have faded considerably, but she still harbors a special affection for him and has reservations about his relationship with her sister.

Li Bingbing cherishes his younger sister and also feels guilty, so he tries to be as discreet as possible in front of her.

"What do you mean? You two sisters are very close. You're not going to kick me out later, are you?"

Yan Li came here to eat meat; he wouldn't stand for it if he was only shown the meat but not allowed to eat it.

"Let's talk business first. After we're done, I'll get her out of the way, and then you can do whatever you want, okay?"

Li Bingbing is a bit older than Yan Li, and sometimes she unconsciously adopts a sisterly attitude, tolerating his mischief.

"alright."

Yan Li didn't insist, and started eating fruit and chatting with Li Bingbing.

Compared to Fan Xiaopang, Li Bingbing's film and television output has decreased significantly. He has begun to consciously improve his commercial work and is starting to move towards Hollywood.

As they were talking, there was a noise from the front door. A moment later, Li Xue came in carrying two bags.

"I bought some food, and we chatted while we ate."

"Goodness, you two sisters have something important to discuss."

Yan Li glanced at the remaining Moutai and joked, "You're not trying to get me drunk and then do something nefarious, are you?"

Li Bingbing patted him on the shoulder, but Li Xue simply ignored him. They had known each other for so many years and had a very close relationship, both professionally and personally, so this was nothing to worry about.

"Don't pour any more wine. My stomach hasn't been feeling well lately, so I'm not drinking. Just eat some food."

Yan Li made an excuse and didn't open the wine. Li Bingbing frowned: "He's not even thirty years old, how come he has stomach problems? Xue'er, do you have any grains at home? I'll go cook him a bowl of porridge."

"No need for trouble, I'm just feeling a little unwell, a simple meal will do."

Stopping the two sisters who were busy preparing, Yan Li sat down and picked up a lion's head meatball.

"Yeah, it tastes good."

Li Xue quietly moved the dishes around, placing the spicy ones in front of the two of them and the milder ones for Yan Li.

After eating for a while, Yan Li ate a little to fill his stomach before getting down to business: "What exactly do you want to discuss with me?"

The two sisters exchanged a glance, and Li Xue said, "Huayi Brothers is about to go public, and my sister's contract is about to expire. We've discussed it and decided to go solo."

In 2007, Li Bingbing renewed her contract, but it was a short-term contract that will expire next year.

Of course, there are still some restrictions and collaborations involved, and cooperation with Huayi Brothers is still required, but it also means that he has gained a significant degree of freedom.

The two sisters will advance and retreat together. Li Bingbing is leaving, and Li Xue will not stay either. She will become Li Bingbing's agent and head of the new company.

This move to establish their own business is of great significance to the two sisters.

Because of his close relationship with Yi An, Li Bingbing has become much more distant from Huayi Brothers, so he may not be able to leverage Huayi's influence much, and naturally he thought of Yan Li.

For Li Bingbing, joining forces with the more powerful Yi An would be a better choice.

Yan Li hesitated for a moment. He had expected that Li Bingbing and her sister would go it alone, as they had previously mentioned some of their ideas.

For Yi An, Li Bingbing's defection was also very beneficial, at least in the short term, as she would have a pair of soldiers to play.

Yan Li was considering the level of support and cooperation methods for Li Bingbing and her sister.

Is it a simple collaboration, a contractual arrangement with Li Bingbing, or a deep partnership involving investment in his new company?

The first two are easy to discuss, but the latter is not just a matter of his personal relationship with the Li sisters, but also requires consideration of the company's long-term development and internal resource coordination.

From a business perspective, it's fine for Yan Li to privately allocate some resources to Li Bingbing, but if it's a legitimate collaboration between the two companies, that's a different story.

If the Li sisters' company wants to receive strong support from Yi'an, they need to demonstrate their sincerity and value...

　I was a little late picking my sister up from school during the National Day holiday, but I'll make it up to her tomorrow.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)