Internet moguls are being held hostage by the entertainment system!

Chapter 151 A 10 Billion Celebration Banquet: A Grand Event!
As Chen Xiu predicted, Detective Chinatown grossed 3.5 million yuan in its opening week.

Thanks to positive word-of-mouth and a lighthearted comedic style, the film's box office performance remained stable in the second and third weeks, earning 3.2 million and 2.3 million yuan respectively.

The cumulative box office over three weeks is 9 million.

Compared to the film's production cost of 8000 million and promotional cost of 5000 million, this result can already be described as a huge success and a big profit.

Moreover, the film's screenings continue.

In the fourth week, although the daily box office continued to decline, it still brought in 8500 million.

With the film's box office reaching this figure, no one in the market doubts whether its final result will surpass 10 billion.

Reaching 10 billion is inevitable; the key question is when it will be achieved…

To achieve this significant milestone as quickly as possible, the film's three production companies—Datang Pictures, Wanda Pictures, and Tencent Pictures—added an additional 500 million yuan in ticket subsidies on the 18th.

This surge caused "Detective Chinatown" to reverse its box office decline to 1500 million yuan within two days, and finally successfully crossed the 10 billion yuan mark!
On the same day, Datang Pictures released an updated poster on its official Weibo and Douyin accounts to celebrate the 1 billion yuan box office achievement for the movie "Detective Chinatown" and announced that it would hold a celebration banquet on the 20th!
……

Shunyi, Zuodi Road, Huayi Film Studio.

After achieving great success, Wang Zhongjun, as the head of the company, handed over the management of the company to his younger brother, Wang Zhonglei, and went off to collect art.

He doesn't usually come to the company, and the chairman's office is usually empty.

However, this person who doesn't usually handle things suddenly came to the company today.

Wang Zhonglei, who should have been busy compiling the 15 financial report, also left after Wang Zhongjun arrived and rushed to the chairman's office to have a private meeting with his elder brother behind closed doors.

"Brother, do you think Chen Xiu has a problem with us?"

Sitting on a black leather sofa with his legs crossed, Wang Zhonglei posed this question.

Although he used a question, his tone was very certain, and when he said this, his somewhat effeminate face also appeared rather stern.

“How come you see?”

The sound came from the left side of the sofa. Wang Zhonglei put down his crossed legs and turned his head to look.

Behind the large wooden desk stood a middle-aged man in a gray suit, wearing glasses, and with an elegant demeanor.

He held a magnifying glass, leaned over the table, and carefully examined a landscape painting placed on it.

This person is none other than Wang Zhongjun, the true head of Huayi.

"Look, he only sent us an invitation to the celebration banquet tonight, he didn't even make a phone call. Doesn't that mean he has a problem with us?"

In Wang Zhonglei's view, Chen Xiu crossed over from the internet industry to make a living in the film and television industry. It's one thing that she didn't come to Huayi to pay her respects, but now she hasn't even shown basic respect. Doesn't that mean she has a problem?

Upon hearing his younger brother's words, Wang Zhongjun slowly straightened up and smiled dismissively.

"According to your logic, Chen Xiu invited all the CEOs of film and television companies in Beijing to the celebration banquet, and he still had to call them one by one?"

"That's right, they're all his seniors, it wouldn't take long to make a phone call. Besides, he threw such a big party at the Wanda Vista Hotel, making such a big fuss, anyone who didn't know better would think 'Detective Chinatown' had grossed over 20 billion!"

Wang Zhonglei said dismissively, expressing extreme dissatisfaction with Datang Pictures' high-profile actions.

“10 billion is not bad. For those headlines you had people spread that were meant to flatter you, the fact that Chen Xiu is still sending you an invitation is already quite respectable.”

Wang Zhonglei was somewhat embarrassed when his brother exposed his underhanded tactics to his face.

"Brother, how did you know about this?"

"Feng Kuzi came over for tea a few days ago and mentioned it briefly. Why did you have to provoke Chen Xiu? Did he get in your way?"

"No, not really. It's just that I felt that since he came to the entertainment industry to make a living, we should all meet up and get to know each other. But he didn't even say hello before going off to work with Wanda and Penguin to produce a movie. That's not right!"

"When have these internet people ever listened to our rules?"

Ma Yun, who is now a prominent figure in the internet industry, was one of Huayi's earliest major shareholders. From 06 to now, the value of the original shares he holds has increased by about 100 times!
This relationship also led to a deep friendship between Wang Zhongjun and Ma Yun.

At the same time, it made him realize that these people who play the internet game don't care about seniority or background when they enter the entertainment industry; they only care about money!

Wang Zhonglei was speechless for a moment before continuing, "It doesn't make sense! He shouldn't know about what I did to Chen Xiu..."

"Have you mentioned this to anyone close to Chen Xiu?"

"No, no... No, Chen Sicheng should know, but that kid also came from Huayi, and he was also suppressed by Chen Xiu into a blank director, so he probably wouldn't say anything."

During the filming of "Detective Chinatown", the discord between Chen Sicheng and Chen Xiu, as well as Chen Xiu's taming of Chen Sicheng, had already spread throughout the industry.

Directors like Chen Sicheng, who have no independent creative rights, no final editing rights, and can only shoot according to the storyboard requirements, have also earned the title of "blank slate director".

However, in Wang Zhonglei's opinion, Chen Sicheng should be quite happy to see Chen Xiu suffer.

"not necessarily."

Wang Zhongjun shook his head, walked out from behind his desk, and stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the gray sky in the distance.

"Chen Sicheng is a smart man. He skipped over Wanda when he saw her strength. Now that 'Detective Chinatown' is a big hit and Datang Pictures has plans for a sequel, I wouldn't be surprised if Chen Sicheng sold himself out again and accepted investment from Datang Pictures, let alone tipped them off."

Wang Zhonglei nodded. He was already used to the situation of changing sides at any time in the entertainment industry.

"Should I still go to the celebration banquet?" "Of course! Why wouldn't you go?"

Wang Zhongjun turned around and said seriously, "Everyone else is going, but you're not. What kind of talk is that? Besides, Ye Ning will probably be there tonight too. Go talk to him and tell him not to hesitate and to switch jobs as soon as possible."

"Okay, then I'll go over there tonight... Brother, you seem to have a rather unusual opinion about Chen Xiu?"

"I'm not familiar with him, but Mr. Ma speaks very highly of him."

"Ma Yun?"

Wang Zhongjun nodded and began to repeat Ma Yun's evaluation.

"He achieved success at a young age, yet remained humble and composed, acting with a low-key and steady demeanor. He was like a dragon soaring into the sky, always ready to leap from the abyss, leaving everyone astonished."

"He speaks so highly of Chen Xiu?"

Wang Zhonglei's confusion was tinged with a hint of resentment.

Ma Yun likes to study the I Ching and had previously made a similar evaluation of Wang Zhongjun, but the content was that Wang Zhongjun caught the right trend, which was obviously not as high-level as Chen Xiu.

Wang Zhongjun's reaction was somewhat dismissive: "What Ma Yun said is actually correct. Look at Chen Xiu, who is a few years younger than Fu Ye, he has already achieved such results. It is indeed remarkable."

"He was just lucky. What kind of composure can a young kid have? Didn't he have a war of words with Wang Sicong on Weibo last year?"

"Youthful spirit, that's fine. Even the richest man, Wang, didn't mind! Go to the celebration banquet tonight and have a good chat with Chen Xiu. Don't act like you're some kind of senior!"

"Okay, I see."

……

Xiangshan Qingqin, in the study.

On the oak desk, Chen Xiu stared intently at the large vertical screen extending from the laptop, her fingers flying across the mechanical keyboard.

On either side of the keyboard are three sets of books: the Old Book of Tang, the New Book of Tang, and the Zizhi Tongjian. Many of these volumes are laid out open.

After a series of intermittent keystrokes, the sudden ringing of a cell phone alarm made Chen Xiu stop what she was doing.

"Drip drip!!"

He turned off the alarm, saved the document on his computer, and then quickly reviewed his work from the past three weeks.

According to the task issued by the system, Chen Xiu needs to film a TV series.

Moreover, the system requires you to film based on the rewards from the previous task, which is quite obvious – you must film the story of Li Shimin.

As a firsthand witness to those major events in Li Shimin's life, Chen Xiu began to write the script outline based on the historical materials at hand after accepting the task.

The process of writing an outline, having a professional screenwriter fill in the details, and then having it reviewed by yourself is a more efficient way of working.

After reviewing the contents and confirming that everything was correct, Chen Xiu got up and left the study to go to the dressing room and choose a suit with a vest for the "Detective Chinatown" box office celebration banquet that evening.

Looking at herself in the full-length mirror, Chen Xiu had a thoughtful expression on her face. Then she took out her new phone, took a selfie, and posted it on her WeChat Moments.

He used to be unable to post a single update on WeChat Moments for several months, but now he posts one every two or three days.

Three minutes after posting, Chen Xiu opened her WeChat Moments again and saw that Meng Ziyi had liked and commented on the selfie.

"So handsome!"

For the past three weeks, their communication has consisted mainly of liking and commenting on each other's WeChat Moments.

Chen Xiu could sense that Meng Ziyi was no longer angry, but for some reason, the silly beauty still hadn't messaged him privately.

Because he didn't know how to start a conversation, he never sent Meng Ziyi a message, but he would still reply to comments on her WeChat Moments.

"Being handsome is a feeling, but Meng Da is naturally beautiful."

After sending it, there was no further response.

Chen Xiu pursed her lips, feeling that she and Meng Ziyi lacked a chance to break the ice.

Shaking her head helplessly, Chen Xiu heard the sound of a car parking downstairs. She temporarily put aside her longing for Meng Ziyi, turned around and went to the shoe cabinet, finally choosing a pair of comfortable Derby shoes for her suit.

After getting ready, Chen Xiu went straight downstairs and met up with Xiong Ben, who had come to take her to the celebration banquet.

Sitting in the car, watching the vehicles and tall buildings rushing past outside, Chen Xiu suddenly made a request to Xiong Ben, who was driving.

"Big Bear, after the Spring Festival, could you help me get a membership at the horse farm?"

"Boss, do you want to ride a horse?"

"Hmm, I suddenly feel like riding."

"okay, I get it."

Although he agreed readily, a hint of doubt flashed across Xiong Ben's face.

He had known Chen Xiu for more than three years and had never seen Chen Xiu ride a horse. He naturally assumed that Chen Xiu could not ride a horse. Why did he suddenly want to ride one now?
(End of this chapter)