Huayu: A Commercial Director

Chapter 127 Anyone Can Leave
"when are we leaving?"

Chen Shou didn't even look up; he already knew who it was just by the voice.

The other party was clearly not expected to react this way, and after a moment of stunned silence, said:
"Finish this month, then leave next month."

“It’s only half a year if we finish in June. If you leave now, it won’t count as half a year. Besides, you will lose a lot by resigning voluntarily. The company has many projects in the second half of the year. If you leave, you will lose a lot of money if those projects make money.” Chen Shouzhe then looked up at him.

We've been working together for five years now, and I never expected we'd still have to part ways.

Tao Le didn't say anything. He knew he could earn more from the company's projects in the second half of the year, but the other party was giving him so much that he couldn't help himself.

"Alright, go talk to the administration. Our company doesn't have any restrictions on this. I wish you all the best in your future endeavors," Chen Shou said.

"Thank you, Director Chen."

"You're welcome. Thank you for your help over the years."

Tao Le placed his resignation letter on the table, turned around, and walked out of the office.

Sometimes emotions don't come immediately; the more upset you are, the less you'll let yourself show it.

He had anticipated who would leave, and even considered how to retain them.

But upon closer reflection, if a company has one person who cannot function without them, then it's only him.

Everyone else can be replaced, including Tao Le. Zhong Lifan can handle the things he is in charge of, unless Zhong Lifan also leaves. In that case, he will have to be busier and find someone to take over for the two of them.

"Go and invite President Zhong over," Chen Shouzhe called out to the door.

A short while later, Zhong Lifan arrived, her face grim.

"What's wrong with Sister Zhong?" Chen Shou asked with a smile.

"You can still laugh? Tao Le has resigned!!" Zhong Lifan said.

"Yes, they just asked me to resign," Chen Shouzhe nodded.

"I never expected him to be this kind of person, stabbing us in the back without a word," Zhong Lifan said indignantly.

"That's indeed a bit excessive. It seems we still haven't given enough," Chen Shou said with a smile.

"Are you implying something to me?" Zhong Lifan said irritably.

"Haha, isn't this going to improve your treatment, Sister Zhong?" Chen Shou said with a chuckle.

“No need, I’ve already received enough,” Zhong Lifan said, shaking her head.

“No, you need to. Tao Le is gone, and only you, Sister Zhong, can take over his position. Do you think anyone in the company can handle his job? I recruited him from Beijing Film Academy back then. The company's work is pretty much done. We don't need to poach experienced middle managers from outside. Our company isn't at the point of poaching people,” Chen Shou said.

“The supervisors below are enough; they are all capable.” Zhong Lifan nodded. After joining Shouzhe Film Industry, she discovered that the company had a large pool of talent, all graduates of professional institutions. If one of them was missing, as long as they had a basic understanding of the work process, almost anyone could do the job.

What might be lacking is networking, since a company's executives need to maintain social relationships with the outside world.

Tao Le can only be responsible for a very small amount of things. Zhong Lifan can do the same things as him, and even better.

Looking back now, the decision to poach Chung Lai-fan was absolutely right.

Tao Le left in June, and Zhong Lifan took over his work. Zhong Lifan's work was assigned to a manager named Cui Ying, who had previously worked with Zhong Lifan and was familiar with her work. The two quickly took over Tao Le's work, which made Tao Le feel a little uncomfortable.

He thought the company would be in chaos after he left, since he was the one who built the company from a small studio. He didn't expect that the company would continue to operate normally after he left.

Sitting in his increasingly empty office, Tao Le was still somewhat unwilling to give up, so after work he called a few people to have dinner together.

"As you all know, I'm leaving the company. Are there any of you who would like to join me?" Tao Le said.

"Mr. Tao, may I ask where you plan to develop your career?" asked a young man in his early thirties wearing glasses.

“Go to Huayi,” Tao Le said.

"Huayi?!"

The group exchanged bewildered glances. Everyone knew about the conflict between Chen Shouzhe and Huayi, let alone the people in their company. They were mortal enemies. They never expected that Tao Le would actually join Huayi.

“If you’re willing to come with me, I guarantee you’ll enjoy better treatment than you do now. Staying with the film company means Chen is just keeping his own company; he won’t give us any shares. Huayi is different. It already has a market value of over 80 billion, and it will only get higher in the future. We’ll have a better platform for development at Huayi,” Tao Le said.

They all followed Tao Le when the company was first established, and now most of them are in management. Although their salaries are indeed not low, they are still no match for Huayi Brothers in terms of film industry.

With a market value of over 80 billion yuan, it is the number one private enterprise in China's film and television industry, and its strength is undeniable.

"Will President Tao Huayi give us shares?" a manager asked.

“I can try to get it for you!!” Tao Le said.

"Mr. Tao, I'd like to ask how many shares Huayi gave you?" asked the bespectacled young man who had asked earlier.

"I can't tell you here, but there's a lot," Tao Le said with a smile and a nod.

“If I had shares, I would be willing to switch jobs,” the bespectacled young man said.

"And you?" Tao Le asked with a smile.

“We can too.” The others nodded in agreement.

Tao Le smiled with satisfaction, realizing that there was no wall that couldn't be breached.

Chen Shou attended Wu Jing's wedding. There were quite a few people there, mostly second- or third-tier celebrities, many of whom were connected to Xie Nan. As for Wu Jing, he used to be in the Hong Kong entertainment circle and had many friends there, including his elder brother Hong, who came to support him.

Chen Shouzhe arrived quite late, mainly because several more people came to him to resign. Chen Shouzhe tried to persuade them to stay, but they all left in the end.

He wasn't heartbroken that Tao Le left, but he was a little sad that the middle managers had left. Many of these people were people he had recruited from school and trained for four or five years, but they all left in the end, taking some of his own team with them, which caused a shortage of his current team. Fortunately, Zhong Lifan was able to take over and stabilize the situation.

"Director Chen."

"Director Chen, you've arrived."

"Hello, Director Chen."

Many people were surprised by Chen Shouzhe's arrival and greeted him warmly.

Chen Shouzhe greeted them all the way, regardless of whether he knew them or not; his politeness made them feel honored.

"Why are you only arriving now?" After finding a seat, Yu Qian frowned and looked at Chen Shouzhe. Besides Yu Qian and Guo Degang, there were other film and television industry bosses at the table, such as Wang Changtian.

"I was delayed by some company matters," Chen Shou said.

It was clear he wasn't in a good mood, but Yu Qian didn't say anything.

"What's wrong? Is it serious?" Lao Guo asked.

"It's nothing, just a few minor things, we'll take care of it soon." Chen Shou smiled, not mentioning any particular person; there were too many people, it was difficult to say.

The Guo couple were seasoned veterans; they knew Chen Shou must be up to something, but there were too many people around, so they decided to ask him when they got back.

He arrived just as the banquet was starting, ate one meal, and that was about it.

Yue Yunpeng also attended the wedding, but he didn't dare to drink alcohol.

After a satisfying meal, they suggested going to Guo Degang's house for a while. Yue Yunpeng drove, and the four of them—Guo Degang, his apprentice, and his sons—sat in the car.

"You look troubled. What's wrong?" Yu Qian asked in the car.

"Tao Le has resigned, taking a lot of management with him. The company now needs to replenish its management team." Chen Shou, slightly tipsy from drinking, mumbled. "Tao Le resigned?" Guo Yu and Chen Shou both knew Tao Le and were quite familiar with him; they hadn't expected him to leave.

"Is he planning to start his own business?" Yu Qian asked.

"No, it was poached by Huayi," Chen Shou said.

"Why are you leaving?" Old Guo asked.

"The reasons for leaving are similar to those of the Deyun Society members," Chen Shou chuckled.

Old Guo immediately understood that the reason those veterans left back then was simply money.

He didn't give out shares back then, so they all left one by one.

Who wants to be an actor for life? They should be a boss with shares.

When Deyun Society was going through its most difficult time, they didn't contribute any money. Although they did contribute their labor, they were already compensated.

I can't expect you to give me a share of your rice shop in addition to my wages just because I'm carrying rice for you and I've done my work.

There's no such logic in the world. Why doesn't Lao Guo own the shares? Why are they in his wife's hands?

Where did the money come from to keep Deyun Society going for so long?

Does he rely on Guo Degang's apprentices for living expenses?

It was all thanks to his wife who took money from home to support him, selling her car and jewelry to do so; it should have been a beautiful story.

Deyun Society can do without anyone, but it cannot do without Guo and Yu.

The same goes for Shouzhe Film Studio; they can do without anyone else, but they can't do without Chen Shouzhe.

Chen Shouzhe had given him a considerable amount of money, and he also received generous dividends at the end of each year. Since he was dissatisfied and wanted more, Chen Shouzhe had no choice but to compromise or release him.

He would never compromise. If one or two people acted this way, how could he continue running his company? He might as well let them be the bosses and he could just work for them.

It wasn't that they made the film industry successful, but rather that the film industry made them successful.

Chen Shouzhe believed that sooner or later, they would regret it.

"Let them go, it's normal," Lao Guo said.

"I wonder if things will turn sour, hahaha, and he'll say I treated him unfairly," Chen Shou said with a chuckle.

"It's hard to say," Lao Guo chuckled.

"How significant is the impact?" Yu Qian asked in a deep voice.

"Fortunately, Sister Zhong is here to help me. She can take over Tao Le's work, and the company has enough management personnel to handle it completely," Chen Shou nodded.

"People strive for higher positions and water flows downhill; this is perfectly normal, and you shouldn't let it affect you," Yu Qian said.

"I'm just a little depressed. I can finally understand how my godfather felt back then, but I didn't love him as much as he did," Chen Shou said with a smile.

The driver next to him, Yue Yunpeng, was sweating profusely. Among his apprentices and juniors, only Chen Shou dared to joke with Guo Degang like that. If anyone else had joked like that offstage, they would definitely have been punished.

There are no distinctions of rank on stage, but rules must be followed off stage; these are their rules.

No one in the audience would dare to joke with their elders like that, and they couldn't even utter a single swear word to them.

Chen Shou jokingly brought up Guo Degang's old wounds, and only he would dare to make such a joke.

"You have no manners!" Yu Qian immediately scolded.

"Brother Qian, it's alright. The kid's grown up now, and we can't teach him the way we used to. He understands what we've been through. We went through the same thing back then. You can't see a rainbow without going through the storm. You'll learn from your mistakes. You should know how to handle things in the future," Lao Guo said with a smile.

"Hmm, it won't be that easy to let it go," Chen Shou sneered.

Even Yue Yunpeng felt a chill run down his spine. It wasn't until he entered the film and television industry that he realized his senior brother was not someone to be trifled with. When he went out, people would show him respect by saying that he was Chen Shouzhe's junior brother. He even received many offers for projects and would mention Chen Shouzhe more or less on TV shows.

When they arrived at Lao Guo's house, they sat there for a while. Teacher Yu was driven home by others, while Chen Shou was sent back to the villa by his fellow apprentices.

"Brother, the lights are on in your house," Feng Chaoyang said, glancing up at the villa.

"Auntie is home, but the TV isn't on. You should go home and rest early," Chen Shouzhe said.

"Okay, bro." Feng Chaoyang turned the car around and drove away.

Chen Shou glanced at the shoe cabinet as he entered and noticed an extra pair of women's sneakers.

"Auntie, who's here?" Chen Shou asked the auntie who was watching a drama.

"Danchen is here," the aunt said.

"Where is she?" Chen Shou asked.

"They're watching a movie in the movie theater," the auntie said.

"Oh."

Chen Shouzhe responded and went to take a shower. After he finished showering, the aunt turned off the TV and went back to her room.

The first part of Painted Skin was playing in the movie theater. When Chen Shou opened the door and went in, Yan Danchen heard the noise and turned around to look at him.

I walked over and sat down, then leaned back on the big sofa.

"Weren't you supposed to be back in a couple of days?" Chen Shou asked.

"What's wrong? Isn't it good that I came back early?" Yan Danchen asked Chen Shou.

"Okay, what's wrong? Would you like something to drink?" Chen Shou asked, opening the refrigerator in front of him.

The refrigerator is filled with various drinks, mostly beer and cocktails.

Yan Danchen rolled her eyes at Chen Shouzhe. It was her first time in the movie room, and she didn't know there was such a big refrigerator in front of her.

"Cocktail bar, didn't you go to a wedding today? Why are you drinking again?" Yan Danchen asked.

"I didn't drink much. I just sat at my godfather's house for a while, and I'm almost sober now." Chen Shou took out two bottles of cocktails, the currently popular premixed cocktails.

"Open it for me." Yan Danchen glared at him and turned back to watch the movie.

Chen Shou opened the bottle and handed it to her, then picked it up himself and gulped down half of it.

"Is the movie going to be released in July? I thought it would be in August," Yan Danchen said.

"Why August?" Chen Shou asked in surprise.

“You’re so stupid. August corresponds to the lunar calendar, and A Chinese Ghost Story is about a love between a human and a ghost, which coincides with the Ghost Festival,” Yan Danchen said.

"Uh, I didn't think of that. You should have told me sooner. The schedule is set, how about we postpone it?"

"Forget it, July is July, it doesn't have to drag on into August. Do you even miss me?" Yan Danchen took a sip of wine, her gaze fixed intently on Chen Shou.

Chen Shou put down the wine bottle, grabbed her, and pulled her to his side.

"Hey, where am I..."

(End of this chapter)