Hong Kong Film Intelligence King

Chapter 189 I have money

At the end of this month, "The Romancing Star" indeed reached 9.65 million at the box office, just as Wang Dao had predicted at the beginning of the month, just 350,000 short of breaking the 10 million mark.

The staff of Qiankun Film and Television were overjoyed.

As Lung Kwan has said, all the profits from the first film will be distributed to the company's employees as a memento.

For a billionaire like him, the profits from "Chasing Girls" are no longer worth much.

So he followed the king's advice and tried to win people's hearts.

Anyone who's been around knows that people's hearts are the most precious thing.

Naturally, the higher the box office, the happier the staff at Qiankun Films are—it's all money!

Among them, the chubby Wang Jingjing was the happiest. No matter where he went, he had a big smile on his face. It was his first film as a director, and his debut film topped the annual box office in the top five... What could make him not happy?

Liang Kun noticed the change in the company's atmosphere and asked:
"Ado, can our movie reach a box office record of ten million?"

Nine million six hundred and fifty thousand, or nine million nine hundred and ninety thousand, as long as you don't break one thousand, it's still nine million.

Although it differs from a thousand by only tens of thousands, the meaning is completely different.

Wang Dao glanced at the excited employees in the office and whispered:
"uncertain."

Liang Kun said angrily:

"There are still five days left, and we're still short 350,000 in box office revenue. We can't even reach 70,000 per day?"

Wang Dao shrugged:

"It's possible that it won't be able to achieve its goal if we don't take action."

"This is an objective law of the film industry."

"The box office drops sharply every time it's taken off the screens."

"Like our box office, it was two million in the opening weekend, and after another half month of screenings, it accumulated seven million, and then..."

He did not continue.

Liang Kun had realized that the income from the last ten days was far less than that from the first twenty days.

"What action should be taken?"

Wang Dao smiled:
"It's only 350,000. Why not give the club members a five-day holiday so they can watch movies?"

Liang Kun was taken aback:
"that's it?"

Wang Dao whispered:
"If we were to arrange a marketing campaign, the cost would far exceed 350,000."

"Give my underlings a wig and some movie ticket money, it's a win-win situation!"

Liang Kun smiled and pointed vaguely at Wang Dao:

"Ah Dao, you just happen to have so many ways to win people's hearts."

The Way of the King is humiliated:
"How could this be me trying to win people's hearts?"

"It's clearly the big boss who's winning people over."

Handsome Kun laughed heartily:

"Okay, okay, I'm trying to win people's hearts."

So, Liang Kun contacted the three brothers, Gan Zitai and Han Bin, along with his own gang members in Mong Kok, and let them go to the movies for free.

Anyway, we have to make sure that the box office of "Chasing Girls" reaches ten million!

Liang Kun asked:

"How about our second movie?"

Wang Dao shrugged:

"I've ordered 'Chasing Girls' to be re-released after it's taken off the screens. I haven't watched it yet. I'll give you a report after I've seen it."

Liang Kun sighed:
"Ado, your ability is amazing. Such accurate box office predictions are beyond the reach of ordinary people."

Wang Dao explained:
"This is our own movie, so I'm quite familiar with it."

"If it were another movie, that would be a different story."

"Who knows what kind of trouble they might cause?"

"A film's quality alone is not enough. Besides that, its box office performance is also closely related to the actors' recent performances and the distribution company's marketing and promotional activities."

"For example, at the crucial moment when a movie is being released, the main actor is suddenly embroiled in a scandal."

"That's it!"

"For example, if a movie is clearly a comedy, but the marketing and distribution of it is done in a brainless way, it will be doomed."

"For example, even if everything is perfect, the cinema might schedule your movie for the worst time and secretly steal box office revenue. That would be even more troublesome!"

Liang Kun was dumbfounded:

"I thought people in the arts were more innocent!"

Wang Dao was taken aback and said:
How could someone involved in the arts be pure?

"When they get into a frenzy, nobody else gets a chance to shine."

"Besides, everything is tied to money. They want purity... but can their bodies handle it?"

Liang Kun blinked:

"What do you mean?"

Wang Dao shrugged:

"How can we eat if we don't have money?"

"No matter how cultured an artist is, as long as they are involved with money, they are a businessman."

"What wouldn't you write for money?"

"Some people even keep diaries specifically about money!"

Liang Kun said in astonishment:
"Who keeps a diary these days?!"

Wang Dao nodded:
"Yeah, who keeps a diary these days?"

"That guy is shameless; he'll do anything for money!"

Liang Kun looked at him suspiciously:
"You're really holding a grudge, aren't you? Should we send one of our brothers to take care of him?"

Wang Dao shrugged:

"Forget it, they are noble artists, there's no need for that."

Handsome Kun shook his head:
"You're too soft-hearted!"

"Since we've already offended him, let's offend him to the bitter end and not let him recover."

Wang Dao laughed heartily:

"That kind of person doesn't work on us."

"I can't stand what you just said."

Handsome Kun also smiled:
"Alright, I won't say anything more."

Just then, Chen Yongren knocked on the door and came in, carrying a bag in his hand:

"Master Ding, this month's figure is two million three hundred thousand."

Handsome Kun laughed:

"went well?"

Chen Yongren scratched his head:

"It went very smoothly. Brother Qiang and Brother Niu were ready early in the morning. I had some tea with them before coming out."

Looking at the money, Liang Kun took out 300,000 and said to Chen Yongren:
"Ah Ren, I'll have to trouble you to go back again."

Chen Yongren looked at Wang Dao and asked, puzzled:

"Brother Ding, why do you say it's troublesome?"

Liang Kun shrugs:

"I'll have to trouble you to send one million to each of them."

“Tell them that this money is for taking the brothers to the movies.”

"In any case, I should spend all this money on the movie."

Chen Yongren was stunned.

Wang Dao quickly replied:
"Brother Kun, this won't work."

"A movie ticket only costs eighteen yuan, we don't have that many brothers."

Liang Kun was dumbfounded:
"What should I do?"

Wang Dao shrugged:

"It's a perk anyway, so let's let our brothers' relatives, friends and family go to the cinema to watch it."

"The rest can be done by buying some snacks and treats."

After thinking for a moment, Liang Kun waved his hand:
"Ah Ren, did you understand what Ah Dao said?"

Chen Yongren nodded repeatedly:
"Understood!"

Handsome Kun waved his hand and said:
"If you understand, then go quickly."

Chen Yongren happily took the money back home.

Wang Dao quipped:
“We were just 350,000 short of reaching 10 million in box office revenue, and you ended up putting in 2 million of that.”

Liang Kun disagreed:

"I have money!"

He explained,

"Our Mong Kok branch doesn't have to pay headquarters for three months, so this little bit of money is nothing."

Liang Kun was somewhat smug:

"Now when I go out to eat or buy things, I just toss them a large banknote and they don't even need to give me change!"

"I have money!"

What else can we say besides giving a thumbs up to Wang Dao?
Liang Kun asked:

"Shall we get together tonight?"

Wang Dao shook his head regretfully:
“Maybe not!”

Liang Kun said in astonishment:
"why?"

Wang Dao shrugged:

“My in-laws have been in closer contact with me since they moved to a new house.”

"I'm going to their place for dinner tonight."

Handsome Kun laughed:

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"Neither of you can cook, so it would be much better if you went to freeload a meal."

Wang Dao laughed and said:

"That's why they invited me to dinner; Ah Zhen is going to get criticized again tonight."

Liang Kun asked:

"You two really don't want to hire a housekeeper?"

Wang Dao shrugged:

“We do hire people, it’s such a big house, cleaning it every day is a lot of trouble…”

Liang Kun glared at him:
"I mean the housekeeper who lives with us."

Wang Dao shook his head:
"Forget it, who knows what these people do? Restaurants are so developed nowadays, if you want to eat something, just make a phone call and they'll deliver it."

"If you pay a little more, they can even deliver the kitchen to you."

"what?!"

Wang Dao stroked his chin as he pondered.

Liang Kun's Strange Path:

"What have you remembered now?"

Wang Dao's eyes lit up:

"I don't need to hire a housekeeper, but I can hire a cook!"

Handsome Kun said speechlessly:
"As for what!"

Who would agree to such conditions?

Wang Dao was taken aback and said:
"No way?"

Liang Kun pouted:
"That's too much trouble."

Wang Dao thought for a moment and said:

"Then let's open a restaurant. A restaurant needs to hire chefs, right..."

Liang Kun was so shocked by his outrageous actions that his scalp tingled:
"You mean you invest in opening a restaurant, and then hire the restaurant's chefs to cook three meals a day for you?"

Wang Dao countered with a question:
"Is that not possible?" Handsome Kun asked with a wry smile.
"Okay!"

Wang Dao laughed and said:

"If Big D can promote 'You Gu Qi' (a restaurant with backbone) as a restaurant exclusively for big shots, then we have quite a few underlings under us. It's not easy to support a restaurant like this."

"Even if we lose some money, how much can we really lose?"

Handsome Kun sighed:

"Whenever someone else says this, I think they're just showing off, but only you have the right to say that."

"You have money!"

Wang Dao laughed heartily:

"We have money!"

"Brother Kun, have you ever thought about investing in a restaurant with me?"

Liang Kun said in astonishment:
Investing in a restaurant?

Wang Dao analyzed:
"Look, we'll be having more and more social engagements from now on."

"Having a restaurant would make things much more convenient."

Liang Kun's eyes lit up:
"Sure, this will give Bozi something to do."

Wang Dao was taken aback:
"Is this your sister-in-law?"

Liang Kun asked:

"Is it inconvenient for Bozi to manage a hotel?"

Wang Dao laughed and said:

"How could it not be inconvenient?"

"I just wanted to ask, does the lady in charge of this restaurant have time to manage it?"

Liang Kun was stunned:

"Do you have time?"

Wang Dao shrugged:

"Alright, looks like we don't need to look for one already."

"Building it from scratch or renovating it would be a good idea."

Liang Kun suddenly realized:

"Yes."

"Bozi is busy with things at the house; I almost forgot!"

Wang Dao laughed heartily:

"You've really mastered the art of being a hands-off manager."

Handsome Kun smiled wryly:
"I used to secretly laugh at you, but when it was my turn, I realized that it's really hard for women to do renovations!"

He complained furiously.
“Bozi is usually a very opinionated person, but who would have thought that once she started taking charge of the renovation, she would change her mind every day, or even every hour.”

"The screen was a nice decoration for the living room, but then she wanted to use furniture, and then she wanted to use a partition..."

"I'm so overwhelmed!"

Wang Dao sympathized with the way:
"So, you'll end up like me: pay up, and I won't make any decisions about anything else."

Liang Kun asked suspiciously:
"Wouldn't it be wrong to do this?"

"Aren't you afraid that she'll corrupt your family?"

Wang Dao shrugged:

"What kind of change can it be made into?"

"No matter how you change the decor, it won't look bad."

"Think about it, high-end Chinese style buildings are originally built according to the imperial palace model, what kind of changes can they be made to?"

"Besides, she also needs to live here. How could she possibly make the house look bad?"

Liang Kun's eyes lit up:
"It makes sense!"

Wang Dao shrugged:

"So, there are some things we don't need to do; we just need to be in charge of the overall management."

Liang Kun sighed solemnly:

"You still have a way."

Wang Dao laughed and said:

"You can discuss it with your sister-in-law later, and we can bring in a few more people to invest."

Liang Kun casually said:
"Who else could it be? Can't our two families be together?"

"It would be even better if Ah Chung and Binni joined us."

Wang Dao understood that Liang Kun wanted to strengthen his cooperation with the two of them.

After all, when forming an alliance, it's best to find people with strength, or those with similar strength.

If the gap is too large, one will feel constrained in doing things, which is not ideal.

Wang Dao thought for a moment and offered an idea:
"In that case, why not let your sister-in-law take the lead and let Huizhen help out as well?"

Liang Kun's Strange Path:

"Ah Zhong doesn't have a woman."

Wang Dao shrugged:

"It's not good for Brother Zhong to get involved in this."

"Unless the restaurant is not located in Kowloon, it is easy to attract trouble."

Upon hearing this, Liang Kun scratched his head:

"The police are quite troublesome."

The Way of Kings is straightforward:
"That's good. They have guns on them. If there are no rules to restrain them, this group will be the worst."

Handsome Kun smiled:

"That's right!"

Wang Dao waved his hand:
"Then I'm going back."

Handsome Kun sighed:

"It's rare that you come home after get off work."

Wang Dao rolled his eyes:
"The way you're talking makes it sound like I'm always slacking off."

Handsome Kun smiled and asked in return:

"So, do you usually slack off?"

Wang Dao laughed loudly:

"Yes!"

The two of them burst into laughter.

Before leaving, Liang Kun gave him some instructions:
"I know you have money now, but don't forget about intelligence work."

Wang Dao waved his hand:
"I certainly won't forget it."

Liang Kun added:

"Remember to come and get reimbursed for the money spent on buying intelligence."

Wang Dao laughed heartily:

"This feeling is good."

"Alright, I'm leaving now."

Handsome Kun laughed and scolded:
"Hurry up and go, don't keep them waiting!"

Just as Wang Dao was about to leave, Han Bin called:

"Where is Ado?"

Wang Dao replied:
"Just left the company, what's wrong?"

Han Bin laughed and said:

"Come over here, my ship is back, and it brought back some huge Australian lobsters. I can share them with you all."

Wang Daohuan said happily:
"Binny, I like you so much."

When we arrived in Kwai Tsing, we discovered that there were not only Australian lobsters over a meter long, but also black abalone!

Wang Dao was extremely surprised:

"You have one of these too?"

Han Bin disagreed:

"People who go out to sea always get some perks; this was a gift from a friend in the area around Australia."

Wang Dao gives a thumbs up:
"Okay, thanks a lot."

Han Bin laughed and said:

"Should we call your sister-in-law over so we can have dinner together?"

“I’ve already called Ah Kun and Ah Zhong…”

Wang Dao gave him a strange look:
"You don't want Zhong Ge to live, do you? He's single."

Han Bin looked at him with the same expression:
"How did you treat me before?"

Wang Dao shrugged:

"Didn't we help you win over your sister-in-law?"

Han Bin was speechless. He really had to thank the two of them for this. If it weren't for their advice, he didn't know when he would have been able to win over Van.

"I'll pass, but my parents-in-law have summoned me, and I have to go and keep them company."

Wang Dao suddenly remembered something, casually took out a wad of cash, and handed it to Han Bin, whose face changed color:
"It's just bringing you some food, why are you making such a fuss?"

Wang Dao was both amused and exasperated.

"What are you thinking about?"

"The movie 'Chasing Girls' was just 350,000 short of reaching 10 million in box office revenue."

"But we ran out of money, and this money was meant for the brothers to go to the movies together."

“Tell the brothers in Kwai Tsing, To Mun, and Kowloon City to relax.”

Han Bin frowned and said:
"A movie ticket is only eighteen yuan, is that enough?"

"Why don't we let Big D go to Tsuen Wan too? There are a lot of people there."

Wang Dao reminded him:
“That works, but Benny, our status as brothers is different now. Favors between brothers aren’t cheap.”

Han Bin's expression immediately changed.

He had completely forgotten about it.

That's right. Now, their little group, whether it's Liang Kun, Chen Guozhong, or Han Bin, are all billionaires, not to mention Wang Dao.

How can you expect to get away with favors from a billionaire for nothing?

Han Bin thought for a moment and said:

"It's nothing, Big D owes me a favor."

Seeing that Han Bin had a plan, Wang Dao stopped talking.

As Wang Dao was leaving, Han Bin gave him another case of red wine:
"Australia is also a major consumer of wine."

"Take this and give it to your uncle and aunt to drink for fun."

Wang Dao didn't stand on ceremony with him and left with the huge pile of stuff.

Le Huizhen arrived before him and was stunned to see Wang Dao carrying things back and forth.
Why did you buy so much stuff?

The king's way was silent:
"It's nothing new. What's wrong with me accompanying my parents-in-law to buy some things?"

Mother Le quickly said:

"Son-in-law, you really don't need to buy so much stuff."

The Way of the King is Sincere:
“Mother-in-law, I am Ah Zhen’s son-in-law, which is like being half a son to you. It’s only right that I bring something over.”

Mom was so happy she couldn't stop smiling:

"Then you don't have to come here to buy things every time."

Wang Dao made a joke:

"Things won't be like this after we get married."

Of course, Mom knew he was joking:

"It's okay, you can bring anything home after you get married."

As she said this, Mrs. Le was somewhat alarmed: Ah Zhen brought a lot of things to the family today and even gave out red envelopes. This is all the son-in-law's money. What if the son-in-law gets angry?
Unbeknownst to Le's mother, Le Huizhen had quietly become a wealthy woman without their knowledge!
(End of this chapter)