Internet moguls are being held hostage by the entertainment system!

Chapter 449 Zhang Yiming's Scheme Against Penguin

January 16th, Beijing, Datang Film Studio.

Carrying the latest box office report for "White Snake," Wang Wei, CEO of Light Chaser Animation, impatiently knocked on Wei Feng's office door.

"Dong dong!"

After about ten seconds, the door opened inwards, and Wei Feng, seeing Wang Wei outside, simply invited him in, as if it were nothing out of the ordinary.

The two sat down on the sofa, skipping the usual pleasantries and small talk, and Wang Wei went straight to the point about the purpose of her visit.

"Mr. Wei, the box office of 'White Snake' rebounded again yesterday. After 5 days of release, the cumulative box office has exceeded 1 million yuan. According to Maoyan Movies' prediction, the final box office of 'White Snake' should be around 5 million yuan."

Wang Wei spoke in a very high voice, her emotions running high.

Considering that "White Snake" is the most successful work since the founding of Light Chaser Animation, his reaction is not surprising.

Strangely, Wei Feng's response was somewhat indifferent.

"I've already seen the box office figures this morning. I understand everything Mr. Wang said. By the way, would you like something to drink?"

"I do not need."

Wang Wei waved her hand impatiently, her gaze towards Wei Feng carrying an indescribable sense of complaint.

Damn it, if I had known that "White Snake" would be a success, I would never have sold the company!
Light Chaser Animation's current market value is far more than a billion... We've lost money, we've lost a fortune!

I accepted the loss that your Tang Dynasty took advantage of the situation to buy out Chasing Light. Now, I want to develop a new project, but I still need your permission. It's so frustrating!

Wang Wei was full of complaints about the current state of Chasing the Light, but he was helpless. However, he still wanted to regain some autonomy, which was why he came here today.

Taking a deep breath, Wang Wei said, "President Wei, the success of 'White Snake' proves that Light Chaser Animation has found a suitable path for development. I hope you can reconsider the cyberpunk-style 'New Investiture of the Gods' universe suggestion."

"OK! I'll think about it. Are you sure you don't need anything to drink?"

Wei Feng's tone was indifferent, the kind that sounded like he was just being perfunctory.

Wang Wei frowned, glanced at Wei Feng, and said with dissatisfaction, "President Wei, Light Chaser Animation hasn't finalized the content of its next new project yet. You wouldn't want us to just sit around and do nothing, would you?"

"How could there be no projects?"

Wei Feng frowned in confusion, and his previously indifferent expression finally changed slightly.

"Didn't I already send you the script for 'Black Myth: The Chosen One'? Why haven't you started modeling and creating it yet?"

This question stumped Wang Wei.

After a brief hesitation, he decided to embellish the reasons he had given for halting the project and then re-present them.

"I think the story of 'Black Myth: The Chosen One' is very cliché. It's just a story about Sun Wukong losing his magic powers after his journey to the West, and then regaining them. There's nothing new about it!"

"The animated short film of 'Black Myth' has been online on Tencent and iQiyi for a week and has garnered over 3 million views. What more do you need? All you need to do is follow the script and create the story. Isn't that what we agreed on from the beginning?"

"I still think the cyberpunk-style 'New Investiture of the Gods' has a better future..."

“I will consider your suggestion. The current project is ‘Black Myth’, which needs to be prepared.”

Out of respect, Wei Feng tried his best to remain polite and did not want to use his power to intimidate others.

However, with the box office success of "White Snake," Wang Wei was not willing to back down.

"Light Chaser Animation Studios currently has the capability to work on two projects simultaneously. It would be no problem for them to produce 'Black Myth' and 'New Investiture of the Gods' together."

"let me consider it."

"Or I could go directly to Mr. Chen and talk to him. I believe he will understand my thoughts."

"..."

Wei Feng frowned, a wave of displeasure rising in his heart towards Wang Wei.

If such a trivial matter requires Chen Xiu's intervention, what use is he?
"Mr. Wang, I will seriously consider the situation you mentioned. If the 'New Investiture of the Gods' project really has potential, I will have the screenwriter revise the script and then hand it over to Light Chaser Animation."

"Was the script I submitted last time not good enough?"

"The logic is flawed, the characters are one-dimensional, and the protagonist's behavior is full of irrationality... This kind of script is not what Light Chaser Animation is good at, so why are you so fixated on it?"

Wei Feng took a step back on the project, but took a step forward on the script.

They've stuck to one point: if Light Chaser Animation wants to produce a new project, the script must be approved by Datang Pictures before the project can be approved.

This is certainly not the situation Wang Wei wanted.

He came here today to fight for Light Chaser Animation's autonomy; the whole "fighting for projects" thing is just a pretext.

Through the conversation just now, Wang Wei also keenly sensed Wei Feng's concerns.

“Mr. Wei, I also have my own principles regarding the script. If you don’t understand, I can communicate with Mr. Chen.”

"At work, your level isn't high enough to communicate with General Manager Chen!"

Wei Feng said coldly, feeling that he had given Wang Wei too much face just now.

This sudden and forceful attack startled Wang Wei, and a surge of anger rose within her.

After a moment, his expression returned to calm, and as his thoughts churned, a smile slowly appeared on his stiff face.

"Oh, I remember now. Yesterday, ByteDance released a social application that directly challenged WeChat's position in instant messaging, and Tencent responded that very night."

"As a joint shareholder of ByteDance and Tencent, and also co-founded Douyin with Zhang Yiming, Mr. Chen must be caught in the middle, facing a dilemma, right?"

Wei Feng's face darkened. He wanted to refute him, but then he thought better of it and decided not to get entangled with him on this topic.

"Mr. Wang, I don't know about this matter, and it has nothing to do with you, right?" "It really has nothing to do with you, but I still need to discuss the script with Mr. Chen. Of course, if we can resolve it through discussion, I don't need to bother him."

Wang Wei's lips curled up, thinking she could use this to make Wei Feng back down.

However, Chen Xiu had already taught Wei Feng how to handle this situation when filming "Detective Chinatown 1"...

"There's no need to discuss this with General Manager Chen, and we don't need to discuss it with him either."

Wei Feng stood up from the sofa, looked down at Wang Wei, and said firmly, "Since President Chen has put me in charge of the content division of Datang Pictures, it means he believes in my abilities."

"My decision is that Light Chaser Animation has no right to decide the script. If you want to produce any project, you must get approval from Datang Pictures. Mr. Wang, is that clear?"

Wang Wei looked up at Wei Feng with an uncertain expression, but ultimately did not turn hostile.

Light Chaser Animation has been acquired by Datang Pictures. He's just trying to gain leverage by taking advantage of the project's success. If Wei Feng refuses to back down, there's not much Wang Wei can do...

"In that case, we'll leave the script for 'The New Investiture of the Gods' to Datang Pictures."

"Sure, Mr. Wang, don't you really want something to drink?"

"No need, I have things to do at the company, I'll head back now."

"Then I won't keep Mr. Wang."

Wei Feng and Wang Wei maintained a superficial politeness and ended the negotiations.

After Wang Wei left the office, Wei Feng took out his phone and checked his WeChat Moments. Chen Xiu's latest update: Arrived in Shenzhen!

……

Looking back on TikTok's pre-IPO funding round, Chen Xiu finally understood why Zhang Yiming's expression was so strange when he saw Pony Ma.

ByteDance quietly developed "Duoshan" to connect with Toutiao users and build a chat community. It then scheduled to launch on the same day as Toilet MT and Chatbao, preparing to challenge WeChat with a "three heroes fighting Lu Bu" scenario...

Tsk tsk, that's a great idea, but unfortunately it's useless.

Social migration is costly, user habits are hard to change, and Toutiao's news push does not have the essential need to bind users. Duoshan's challenge to WeChat is doomed to failure.

Fortunately, Douyin is keeping an eye on things, so Zhang Yiming can't link his Douyin account to Duoshan, otherwise his Spring Festival red envelope promotion for attracting new users would have been a complete failure!
Thinking of this, Chen Xiu raised her eyebrows, strode into the Penguin Coastal Building, and then took the elevator all the way to Liu Chiping's office.

After being informed by the secretary, Chen Xiu entered Liu Chiping's office, which faced Pengcheng Bay.

These floor-to-ceiling windows, combined with the warm winter sun of Shenzhen, create a very comfortable feeling...

Turning her head to look inside, as her gaze swept over the sofa, a figure appeared in Chen Xiu's eyes, looking bright and lively. OK, Pony Ma was there too.

"Hello, Mr. Ma, good afternoon!"

Chen Xiu greeted him warmly, seemingly unaffected by Zhang Yiming's antics.

Pony Ma, sitting on the sofa with her back to the floor-to-ceiling window, her glasses reflecting the light, ignored Chen Xiu's greeting and pushed up her glasses.

That aura just stood out!

Chen Xiu secretly admired him, then turned to look at Liu Chiping behind the desk: "Hello! Mr. Liu, good afternoon. Mr. Ma is sleeping, shall we go outside to talk?"

"Who said I was sleeping?"

Pony Ma, whose act of being profound had been exposed, could no longer maintain his facade and retorted.

As he craned his neck to look at Chen Xiu, the lenses of his glasses stopped reflecting light.

Chen Xiu turned to look at him, her expression seamlessly shifting from innocent and stunned to sudden realization. She said, "Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Ma, when I greeted you just now, you didn't react. I thought you were sleeping!"

I just pushed up my glasses... Are you blind?

Besides, who sits upright and sleeps during the day?
Pony Ma was inwardly grumbling, but too lazy to expose Chen Xiu's pretense, because there was an even bigger score to settle between the two.

"Cough cough."

Pony Ma coughed twice, got up from the sofa, stood in front of Chen Xiu, and stared at him with a serious expression.

"Let me make something clear to you first. Last time, and the time before that, when I asked you if Douyin had entered the instant messaging field, did you tell me with certainty that you had no such plans?"

"Yup!"

Chen Xiu did not hesitate for a moment; her attitude was exceptionally firm.

Pony Ma frowned, and his voice became low: "Then please tell me, what's going on with Duoshan?"

"What's wrong with Duoshan?"

"Isn't it a new application launched by ByteDance for instant messaging?"

"Yup!"

"Didn't you say that Douyin didn't plan to enter the instant messaging field?"

"Yup!"

Chen Xiu's expression remained unchanged, and her attitude was even more resolute than before.

Pony Ma pursed his lips, his anger barely concealed, and said, "Duoshan is an instant messaging software, doesn't that mean Douyin has entered the instant messaging field?"

"You can't say that."

Chen Xiu waved his hand and smiled as he corrected Pony Ma's misconception: "Duoshan is ByteDance's software, what does it have to do with Douyin?"

(End of this chapter)