2001 Media Godfather

Chapter 86 Are you in or not?

Chu Jianjun's face was flushed, and his eyes were wide with anger, as if he wanted to proclaim to the world his ten years of forbearance and perseverance under the influence of alcohol.

Chu An was somewhat moved by what he saw. In his own father, he saw a kind of belief, a kind of...
A belief that Chu An had never grasped in either of his two lifetimes. This made this middle-aged man, who had been humiliated for ten years, appear exceptionally tall and imposing.

Speechless, I thought, "How stupid must someone be to waste ten years of their life for others, for a factory that employs tens of thousands of people!"

Chu Jianjun, completely oblivious to Chu An's complaints, was lost in his own world.

Suddenly, he said to Chu Ning, "My son! Your father keeps his word. That bastard Ma Guoyou dared to bully my daughter, and I will definitely avenge you."

Chu Ning just smiled perfunctorily after hearing this; she didn't really understand what her father was up to today.

She went to get a wet towel to wipe Chu Jianjun's face. "You have no sense of decency! Don't you know you have all sorts of health problems? You're still drinking yourself to death!"

Chu Jianjun chuckled, "Don't believe me? Don't believe your dad?"

He commanded Chu An, "Go! Go to my room, there's a file folder on top of the wardrobe, bring it to me."

As she spoke, she boasted to Chu Ning, "He's just Ma Guoyou, isn't he? We've been on guard against him for a while now!"

He muttered to himself, "Everyone says I'm a coward, that I took the blame for him. But was I really taking the blame for him? Don't I know what kind of person he is?"

"For the sake of the bigger picture, let's not stoop to his level! Just wait and see how I deal with him!?"

Chu An ignored him and, together with Chu Ning, helped him onto the bed. Soon after, deafening snoring filled the air.

As Chu An was leaving, he curiously looked at the top of the wardrobe. After a moment's hesitation, he reached out and touched a file folder.

Chu Ning leaned closer, "What?"

Chu An: "I don't know."

As he spoke, he opened the file bag, inside which was only an old, yellowed notebook with a few illegible handwritten words on its kraft paper cover—

[Attendance Sheet of the Assembly Workshop, Ningyuan Agricultural Machinery Factory, 1991]

Chu An was startled and subconsciously flipped to September 27th.

That was the day a major accident occurred in the final assembly workshop.

Besides the workers' handwritten signatures, the duty leader column clearly displayed the three large characters "Ma Guoyou," along with Ma Guoyou's personal seal.

The remarks section is...
[Chu Jianjun is on leave!]

Chu Ning couldn't understand it. "What does this say? What's the use?"

Chu An didn't rush to answer, but took a deep look at Chu Jianjun, who was snoring loudly.

He had genuinely believed his father was bragging because he was drunk.
Now it seems he really did hold back a trump card, and he held it back for ten years.

Youyou said to Chu Ning, "This notebook proves that our dad never went to the workshop. The only leader present that day was Ma Guoyou."

"In other words, Dad couldn't possibly be involved in that accident, so there's no way he could be held responsible."

Chu Ning, "."

Chu An carefully put the notebook away, placed it back on top of the wardrobe, and turned to leave the room.

Chu Ning followed them out, still not quite understanding. "Does that mean that having this notebook proves that Ma Guoyou was the culprit behind that accident?"

Chu An nodded. Chu Ning was overjoyed and gritted her teeth, "Then I'll report him to Ma Guoyou later and see how he can still work in the factory!"

Chu An glanced at his older sister speechlessly, "If nothing unexpected happens, this notebook will never see the light of day."

"What?"

Chu An didn't know how to explain it to her. If he told her that publishing the manuscript not only led to Ma Guoyou's death, but also Yang Chenguang's, would she understand?

Chu Jianjun was not only guarding against Ma Guoyou, but also against Yang Chenguang.

That old guy, he's really good at hiding his true intentions.

He only vaguely said, "Don't worry, without this book, Ma Guoyou won't have an easy time in the future."

When Yang Chenguang returns, both publicly and privately, the first person he will give important responsibilities to is Chu Jianjun; there will be no one else.

Unless Ma Guoyou behaves himself, he will not have a good ending.

Chu An suddenly found it amusing. It turned out that Ma Guoyou had never been a major enemy of the Chu family, or even a rival.

He's nothing but a fart! When there are many people around, just bear with it and don't let that brat out. When you can't hold back anymore, find a quiet place and listen to the noise.
It's gone.

The next morning, Chu Ning went downstairs to make soy milk. Chu Jianjun rubbed his head and came out of the room, where he saw Chu An sitting on the sofa.

He poured himself a glass of water, drank it all in one gulp, and tentatively asked, "Did I say anything last night?"

Chu was dumbfounded. "No, I didn't say anything!"

"Oh!" Chu Jianjun was relieved, sat down next to Chu An, and closed his eyes to sober up.

Chu An: "I'm going back to Shengjing tomorrow, okay?"

Chu Jianjun: "Yes, study hard and get into a good university."

Chu An, "."

After thinking for a moment, he added, "If Director Yang takes over, it will probably have to go through the share transfer process."

Things are different now than they were ten years ago. For a medium-sized state-owned enterprise like Ningyuan Agricultural Machinery Factory, even holding gold bricks wouldn't help; the only way forward was to transform into a shareholding company.

Only in this way can we get rid of the bloated administrative burden of the old state-owned enterprises and move forward with a lighter load.

Chu Jianjun was not surprised by this, as Director Yang was already making preparations.

Chu An said, "Then you can decide for yourself. If you want more shares, just let me know, and I can help you raise some."

Chu Jianjun laughed, "You brat, trying to show off to your dad?"

"Now that I know you're rich, I'm not going to hold back!"

Chu An is a big star now, earning millions for each TV series she acts in!

Out of curiosity, he asked, "Xiao An, can you tell Dad how much money you can give me?"

Chu An hit the nail on the head; he really wanted to take advantage of the share transfer opportunity to gain some control of the factory.

There was no other way; he was terrified by what happened ten years ago. If he had real shares, Old Chu would be confident no matter what went wrong. At the same time, he also had hope for the factory's future.

"Can you scrape together 200 million?" He gritted his teeth and held up two fingers.

Chu An, "."

He glanced at Chu Jianjun with disdain, thinking to himself, "Who does he think he is?"

After careful consideration, I decided to tell my father the truth.

"If you act quickly, it would be good if you could achieve the share conversion by the end of this year."

"The amount of money I can actually access is limited. I just invested in a film before the Lunar New Year, and the return on investment won't be that quick."

"Fei Mingyu's income this year, plus his salary and royalties for 'You Are My Glory,' is probably around four or five million!"

Fei Mingyu is now Chu An's cash cow, and in the first year, it's a child labor contract. Chu An takes 90% of all the endorsements, commercial performances, royalties, etc. that Fei Zhu gets.

It'll be easy to scrape together four or five million by the end of the year.

Chu Jianjun was shocked. "How much!?"

He knew celebrities made money, but he didn't expect them to make this much. It's like they're robbing people!
"Really, there are really that many?"

Chu An didn't answer, and continued his analysis, "However, I estimate that the agricultural machinery factory's share transfer won't be that quick!"

"Such a large factory, going through all the procedures from top to bottom, it would take at least a year or two to get it done."

"It would be quite good if we could achieve the shareholding reform next year."

"By then"

Chu An calculated that, excluding other unexpected income, the revenue from just the two projects, "Heart Fire" and "You Are My Glory," would be sufficient.
"Preparing thirty or forty million for you shouldn't be a problem, right?"

Chu Jianjun, "."

He suddenly didn't want to strive anymore; it was meaningless.

Life was utterly meaningless; there was no other way out but to inherit his son's fortune.

On the ninth day of the Lunar New Year, the festive atmosphere in Shengjing was even weaker than in Ningyuan, except for the bar street, which was decorated with red and green ornaments and was still somewhat lively. When Chu An returned to the courtyard, he felt only coldness and desolation.

Lin Wanxing is still in Beijing, but the scenes in the alleyways have been filmed. The crew has moved to Tsinghua University campus, which is a bit far away, so they've gone back to stay in a hotel.

Su Manqing is still in the United States and didn't even come back for the Chinese New Year. This woman is too ambitious; she's currently having a passionate affair with Sophia, and the film crew is also making intensive preparations.

Moreover, she told Chu An on the phone a couple of days ago that Nicolas Cage had decided to act in the film for free.

Chu An readily agreed and said that in a few days, Lao Lu would convert the money he invested in "Heartfire" into foreign currency and transfer it to her.

After tidying up the room briefly, Chu An lit the fireplace in the small living room and then nestled on the sofa to sort out his thoughts.

His plans for this year are actually quite simple.

The primary task is to get into university. Of course, that's not too difficult.

Lu Mingze has already spoken with him, and Chu An will apply to the directing program at the Central Academy of Drama.

Someone like him, already famous and guided by renowned professors, is in an era where universities have immense power in their admissions processes.

Moreover, with the recommendation of Lu Mingze, a well-known alumnus, there is basically no difficulty in either the school exam or the unified exam.

To put it simply, Chu An could have gotten into the exam by simply stepping on the answer sheet.

However, Chu An also knew that it was better to be careful with some things.

What if their past misdeeds are exposed in the future? Like Zhai Moumou's academic paper fraud, or Ms. Dong's 4+4 scandal.
Therefore, you should still study, and your grades shouldn't be too bad.

Another major event was the preparation for the production of "You Are My Glory".

Su Manqing has now been confirmed to play Qiao Jingjing, and several other important roles in the drama, such as Chu An and Lu Mingze, have also been discussed, with some candidates already identified.

The next steps are adjusting scheduling, finalizing casting, and so on.

Old Lu was much busier than Chu An. He had to go through the storyboard with the cameraman, art director, and lighting crew, and finalize the costumes, props, and sets in advance.

This can save the production crew a lot of time during filming.

Chu An's responsibility is to communicate with Green Field Company.

Firstly, the show contains a lot of CG animation, which requires Green Field Company's cooperation in production.

Secondly, their game is a StarCraft-like game, very similar to Warcraft 3 in another timeline.

It can be used in the series! However, Chu An always felt that "Racial Wars" was not as good as the original "Honor of Kings" in terms of either the confrontation or the fit of the plot.

While there's still time, and considering the map editor feature built into the game "Race Wars"...

Chu Anxin said, "Then why not make a map for Honor of Kings? Or just make a map that's more suitable for DOTA?"

With the promotion of the series, it's bound to be a hit, right? It would be even better if it made money, after all, he and Lao Lu get a 15% profit share.

Without hesitation, Chu An immediately called Xiang Lintao, the boss of Green Field Games Company.

I invited him to come over to my house another day with the company's planners so I could share some ideas with him.

Xiang Lintao had no problem with it! He was like a god of wealth to Chu An now.

Who would have thought that a screenwriter who was completely unknown just a few months ago would become so famous!?
President Xiang was incredibly relieved that his gamble had paid off, especially after being told during his phone call with Chu An before the new year that Su Manqing would be the female lead in the new drama!
This made Mr. Xiang have a wonderful New Year!
"I'll bring people over tomorrow, and we can pay our respects to Teacher Chu for the New Year."

After hanging up the phone, Chu An continued to ponder.

There weren't many tasks today, plus... I was thinking about Old Chu back home.

Should we save more money for him?

Then I'll need to start a side hustle.

He immediately called Lin Wanchen, "Where are you?"

Young Master Lin, "working as a sidekick on set."

"Are we interested in big business?"

Upon hearing this, Lin Wanchen became incredibly excited, "What big business opportunity?"

Chu An: "A business ten thousand times bigger than serving your sister."

Lin Wanchen, "I'll come find you tonight!"

As it turned out, they didn't wait until evening. Just past noon, the brother and sister entered the yard. They didn't even need Chu An to open the door, because he had the key.

Chu An was quite puzzled, "Finished filming?"

Lin Wanxing sat down casually and said, "My period is acting up, so I'm taking the day off."

Chu An, "."

Lin Wanchen, on the other hand, couldn't wait. While taking off his coat, he asked, "What big deal is it? Tell me quickly."

Chu An, "The one I told you about before the New Year."

Lin Wanchen didn't react for a moment, "Which one?"

Chu An remained silent.

Before the Lunar New Year, when he and Ji Yang were having an online feud, he complained that the forum arguments were not satisfying at all, and that it would be great if there were a Weibo platform.

They even teased Lin Wanchen, telling him to stop being a nanny for his own sister and go back to the internet.

"Oh!!" After Chu An's reminder, Lin Wanchen finally remembered, "You mean the blog website thing?"

Blogs are nothing new. Back in 1994, Justin Hall created his personal website Links.net, which featured manually updated diary-style content and was considered the prototype of a blog.

In 97, Jorn Barger first mentioned Weblog, which is the origin of the transliteration of the word "blog".

In 2002, the Chinese internet, whether in another time or in this time, did not have blogs. It wasn't until 2005 that blogs swept across the Chinese internet with tremendous force.

That year was also known as the first year of the blog era.

Lin Wanchen was a little disappointed. What kind of big deal was this?

Looking at Chu An with disdain, she said, "Just to make arguing easier, you're going to create a blog website? You're being way too unreliable."

Chu An chuckled, "What's the point of having a blog? We don't eat what foreigners leave behind."

Let's create a Weibo account!

Chu Wanchen was stunned. "What Weibo?"

Chu An: "It's a microblog!"

He explained, "Traditional blog creation has too high a barrier to entry; it's more of a display-based form of dissemination."

"To put it bluntly, I transform my life and my talents into an online diary for everyone to read, in order to gain praise and support from ordinary people."

"To become an opinion leader in communication studies."

Lin Wanchen: "Isn't this great?"

Chu An: "What's so great about it? This is a game for a select few. Ordinary netizens can only participate at the most basic level. They just write a comment and shout 'Good luck' and that's it."

"But Weibo is different! We limit the content of a single Weibo post to just over 100 characters!"

Lin Wanchen, “.”

I don't understand. It's only a little over 100 words, which is too short. There's no need to limit it at all, right?

Little did he know, the essence lay precisely in this limitation.

The 140-character limit on Weibo allows everyone to participate in creating content and recording their daily lives, with no barriers whatsoever.

Furthermore, if you post a single sentence on Sina Blog, netizens will think you're being nonsensical.

But it's normal for you to post even just one emoji on Weibo.

Everyone is a creator, everyone is an opinion leader, plus some trending topics, rankings and the like.

Before the advent of short videos, the level of public participation in this was unparalleled by any other medium of communication, especially in this era!

"Are you going to do it or not? If not, I'll find someone else."

.

(End of this chapter)