Huayu: Returned Overseas Chinese

After the two finalized their business, Chen Jingming recalled the scene in the elevator earlier and tentatively asked Zhang Jiandong:

"Director Zhang, there's something I don't quite understand. Could you please explain it to me?"

Zhang Jiandong was taken aback for a moment, then looked at Chen Jingming, smiling and gesturing for him to continue. Chen Jingming then recounted in detail the changes in Wang Shuo's appearance inside and outside the elevator. After listening, Zhang Jiandong instantly understood the situation and looked at Chen Jingming with a smile, saying:

"I don't even know what drove you to plunge headlong into this industry."

Who is Lao Wang? What position does he hold in your company? He's an assistant director, and a senior one at that. Let's put aside his connections in the industry for now, and just talk about his authority.

Whether or not to use certain actors or not is generally a matter of the director's decision. As directors, we rarely change the cast unless there are special circumstances. Of course, we will inform everyone in advance so as not to put anyone in a difficult position.

As for the sense of oppression you mentioned, whether or not an artist can get acting roles or earn money depends entirely on Lao Wang's word. In that situation, what can Huang Xiaoming possibly say?

After hearing this explanation, Chen Jingming completely understood the logic and stopped dwelling on his previous doubts. He smiled and smoothly changed the subject. The two sat quietly in the office, chatting idly while waiting for the final cast list.

The two chatted casually, and time passed slowly. About three hours later, there was a knock on the office door, and Chen Jingming said, "Come in." The door was pushed open, and Wang Shuo walked in carrying a pile of documents.

"President Chen, Director Zhang, the actors have been almost selected. Please take a look."

Wang Shuo placed the documents on the table and spoke with a smile.

"Senior brother, don't rush, sit down and have some tea first."

Chen Jingming pointed to the sofa next to him, and as soon as he finished speaking, his secretary brought over tea. After Wang Shuo sat down, Chen Jingming picked up the documents on the table and started reading. He casually flipped through them, and suddenly everything went black.

Several main and supporting characters have familiar names: Li Youbin, He Zhengjun, You Li, Wang Quanyou, Zhang Guangbei, Zhang Tong, Zhang Xiaojun, Tong Lei, Sun Li, etc. Wow, it's basically the original cast.

Looking at the familiar photos in the materials, Chen Jingming was a little dazed, inwardly sighing. This is the person the senior assistant director selected? What about the first batch from his own company that they said were unsuitable?

Zhang Jiandong, who was standing next to him, also started looking at the materials. Instead of looking closely at the actors' basic information, he focused on flipping through the bottom of the materials and reading Wang Shuo's comments one by one. He then nodded.

"Old Wang, let's settle on this then. Send out the notification later. Mr. Chen, what are your thoughts on the remaining extras?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Jingming put down the documents in his hand and slowly spoke:

"Director Zhang, Teacher Wu has spoken to me, saying that we can have some acting students come over for some experience. What do you think?"

Zhang Jiandong didn't answer directly. Instead, he picked up a cigarette from the table and offered it to the two of them. He could help clarify some things if Chen Jingming asked, but he wouldn't say anything more if it wasn't explicitly stated.

Wang Shuo took the cigarette, lit it, and then bluntly interjected:

"We can accept some, but they'll all be minor roles, nothing more. A bunch of students can't possibly portray ordinary people. If they don't agree, have them come to me."

These words were spoken in a very forceful manner. Upon hearing Wang Shuo's words, Chen Jingming coughed and then said somewhat awkwardly:

"If we don't give any of our actors a chance to appear on screen to Beijing Film Academy, and I just glanced at the files, the actors are all from Shanghai Theatre Academy or Central Academy of Drama, is that appropriate?"

"Why isn't it suitable?" Wang Shuo immediately sat up straight, then looked at Chen Jingming seriously and said:

"Mr. Chen, please don't let your emotions affect your film and television works. It's fine to occasionally do someone a favor for an unimportant role, but if you want to make a masterpiece, you have to find the most suitable actors. Only then will the film and television works have a soul."

Chen Jingming nodded upon hearing this, acknowledging the other person's professional judgment, and stopped arguing. He glanced down at his phone and, seeing that it was already past five o'clock, took the opportunity to ease the tension:

"Director Zhang, senior brother, let's have a meal together. It'll be a way to celebrate the success of our first film in advance?"

Neither Zhang Jiandong nor Wang Shuo refused. Now that the cast is finalized and filming will begin soon, it's a good opportunity to get to know each other better over a meal.

The meal ended happily amidst laughter and conversation. During the meal, Chen Jingming and Zhang Jiandong finalized their itinerary, agreeing to fly to Jiangsu Province the next afternoon to conduct on-site inspections of the filming locations.

The next morning, Chen Jingming and Wang Shuo arrived at the company on time, and Lin Dan also came along. In front of all the employees, Chen Jingming publicly announced the decision that the film and television company would be under the full management of Wang Shuo.

Personnel authority was also separated from the investment company. From now on, personnel at the film and television company will be independent, and the structure of each department will be completely reorganized and rationally laid out by Wang Shuo.

Lin Dan had no objections; he wasn't particularly good at managing film and television businesses, so having someone share the workload was a good thing for him. After arranging all the tasks, Wang Shuo immediately threw himself into his work. Of course, Chen Jingming hadn't forgotten about Wang Shuo's wife either, and directly instructed the finance department to transfer one million yuan to Wang Shuo as a settlement allowance.

After handling various trivial matters at the film company, everyone else in the office left one after another, leaving only Lin Dan and Chen Jingming inside. Lin Dan tidied up the documents in his hand, then smiled and stepped forward to report on the recent investment progress:

"Mr. Chen, we have taken over Tengxun's shares from Yingke and IDG. Yingke sold 20% of its shares, while IDG, seeing that we had taken over, only sold 12.8%, reserving 7.2% to observe future developments. In addition, based on the previous valuation, we invested 500 million RMB, and in total, we obtained 33.8% of the shares."

He paused for a moment, then continued:

"Mr. Ma wants us to sign a concerted action agreement. I called you last time, and you agreed then, so I signed it. Also, the lock-up period for our shares is five years. To be honest, Mr. Chen, I don't understand why you agreed to this concerted action agreement?"

Chen Jingming simply smiled upon hearing this. He was aware of Tengxun's potential for future development, but he couldn't explain the reasons explicitly. Instead, he slowly explained:

"Mr. Lin, we are only making a financial investment; we don't intend to take control of other companies. Since we are optimistic about the company's future, we will choose to fully relinquish control. In the future, when promising startups in the market are choosing investors, they will naturally give priority to investment companies like ours that do not interfere with internal operations."

Lin Dan nodded slightly upon hearing this, glancing at Chen Jingming. Although he didn't know why Chen Jingming was so confident, the funds had already been invested, the decision made, and he could only proceed as planned for the time being. After discussing the cooperation model with Tengxun, he naturally brought up the next asset allocation:

"As for Alibaba, SoftBank explicitly rejected the idea of ​​selling shares, and we did not acquire any shares from Ma Yun's team."

"If not, then so be it." Chen Jingming's expression was calm, showing no regret; these kinds of financial investments were meant to happen naturally. Changing the subject, he continued, "By the way, how's it going with Sina? How many shares has our team in the US bought on the market?"

"I didn't buy any shares." Lin Dan shook his head and analyzed directly, "I'm not optimistic about Sina. Its revenue is too singular, with only GG making a profit. It keeps burning money and doesn't have a stable cash flow."

The websites are highly homogenized, lack patents and a competitive advantage, GG's growth has peaked, and its profit model is simply unsustainable.

Chen Jingming was taken aback by Lin Dan's words but didn't say anything more. He hadn't originally planned to profit from Sina in the short term; he was simply laying the groundwork for future market dominance on Weibo. After listening to Lin Dan's analysis, he naturally raised his question:

"If you don't have a good opinion of Sina, why are you so optimistic about Tencent?"

"Mr. Chen, at the end of 2000, you proposed to focus your investments on these internet companies. At that time, I specifically contacted Ma Huateng, who was indeed a very insightful founder. Moreover, the domestic SP business was also developing steadily. After in-depth communication, we all felt that this sector had broad prospects. By June of last year, Tenxun had already achieved a stable monthly profit model."

At this point, Lin Dan laughed again and added:

"Just yesterday, Yingke called me and offered to buy back some of Tengxun's shares, but I rejected it outright."