Huayu 1999: Starting with nothing but getting something for nothing

The middle-aged man didn't say anything. Zhang Lei smiled and expressed his gratitude, saying he would contact him as soon as he had any news, and then ended the call.

Yang Che put down his phone and felt a little strange, just not quite right. But he couldn't be sure what the specific reason for his discomfort was. In any case, it certainly wasn't because the other party looked down on the slogan.

Fan Zeping, sitting across the tea table, was very excited, clapping his hands exaggeratedly with a cigarette in his mouth.

"You've really gone all out!"

Yang Che grinned.

Yang Che didn't have lunch at Lao Fan's house afterward and insisted on leaving.

"Brother Fan, I don't think I can stay in Longcheng for more than a few days. There are a lot of guests at home these days."

Old Fan understood, so he stuffed a case of Huazi cigarettes, two cases of Wuliangye liquor, and a case of red wine into the trunk of the Grand Cherokee.

Yang Che didn't refuse; he even picked out the red wine himself...

As expected, my second uncle's family arrived when I got home.

Yang Che's return was a complete surprise, and they were very happy. Yang Che was quite polite, unlike his warm and casual demeanor towards the neighbors yesterday...

Wang Weiqing was very surprised.

Yang Che only said, "President Fan had something come up."

He doesn't have the habit of opening champagne at halftime, and it turns out he was right not to.

On the way to visit his boss's house with his father in the afternoon, Yang Che received another phone call from Beijing.

The other person spoke first; their voice sounded older and quite friendly.

"Hello, Yang Che."

"Hello, who is this?"

"Who I am is not important; what matters is that I want to do business with you."

"Speaking."

As Yang Che spoke, he turned the steering wheel and pulled the car to the side of the road.

The other party's voice was gentle: "Name your price for the 'Tai Chi Five Rings Plan,' and I'll buy it."

Although Yang Che copied it, his hands were genuinely shaking with anger at that moment.

This mess in the art world has befallen him ahead of time; he's probably developed PTSD.

"roll."

There was a pause on the other end, then the tone remained gentle: "Young man, you can't handle something this big. If you sell it to me now, you'll still gain something, and you'll also have my friendship. After all, you work in the cultural field, so I can help you."

Seeing the astonishment and worry in his father's eyes, Yang Che took a deep breath and then said, "Heh, so this might mean I can't really help, but I can definitely cause trouble?"

"No wonder everyone says you're smart. How about 300 million?"

Yang Che paused for two seconds, then hesitated before saying, "I've already done a creative presentation with the Xinqiao Hotel. How can I sell it to you?"

The other person replied with a smile, "You don't need to worry about that."

Yang Che understood, then laughed and said, "Hello, respected leader, I'll fuck your mother!"

The other party paused, gave a disdainful smile, and then hung up the phone.

Yang Yuanchao's eyes were filled with worry, and his tone was deep: "Yang Che, who bullied you?"

Yang Che smiled: "It's not really bullying. That's just how this industry is. I guess he's some kind of arrogant art master..."

Yang Yuanchao looked completely bewildered: "Tell Dad what exactly happened."

Yang Che paused for a moment and then gave a brief account of the whole thing. He was only doing this to review and reflect, and he didn't expect his father to come up with any ideas.

Sure enough, Dad's handsome face turned bright red, his fists clenched, and he looked ready to fight to the death.

Yang Che reassured him, "Dad, don't worry, no one can do anything to me. Your son is a rare talent in China's commercial film industry, and the leaders value him highly."

Looking at his son's smiling and calm face, Yang Yuanchao gradually calmed down and felt very ashamed.

"Dad is useless, I can't help you, and there's nothing I can do..."

Yang Che quickly interrupted, "Old Yang, what are you saying? Let's go, it's really nothing, don't worry. Don't tell my mom, she's very sensitive. Besides, if this gets out, outsiders will laugh at us, and if the Olympic bid fails, your son will be accused of something... haha."

As Yang Che spoke, he started the vehicle and continued walking towards the leader's house.

Well... a leader definitely can't live in the same neighborhood as ordinary employees, that would be so low-class.

After a minute or so of silence, Yang Yuanchao slowly spoke: "Son, if this person had no power or influence, how could he dare to seize things so blatantly? Even a few hours after your report, we still can't let our guard down. You need to talk to the leaders."

Yang Che smiled and said, "Dad, first of all, my design plan went through two hands, one of whom was Zhang Yimou. They both know me, so this person probably doesn't know these things."

Secondly, the real leaders only care whether things are done properly, not who does them. So this person is not a proper leader, which is why he dared to make this call.

Thirdly, he thinks your son is just an ordinary young man who got lucky, so he can be manipulated at will.

Yang Yuanchao paused for a moment: "You still shouldn't let your guard down. Does that bastard think he could make this call without being certain?"

Yang Che didn't argue anymore: "Okay, I'll call you when we get downstairs."

My dad still acts like a young man, holding many things and many people in awe.

But Yang Che knew that this world was a makeshift operation, and most people didn't get their seats through ability, but through blood ties, marriage, or chance encounters. In fact, anyone could sit there.

The person who called Yang Che is very likely someone who is used to taking advantage of newcomers and exchanging resources; he and his circle have developed their own set of operating logic.

But Yang Che wasn't involved in that circle!

He works in the entertainment industry under the spotlight!

He didn't want to tell his dad these things, partly because he didn't want to waste his breath, and mainly because it wouldn't make any difference. But he was curious, so...

However, Yang Che really envied his father. He was a true winner in life, a handsome man with a simple mind. Everyone loved him from childhood to adulthood. He never suffered during the special era and had always had someone to rely on for most of his life. He didn't have to worry about anything. Just thinking about it made people jealous.

Three minutes later, they arrived at the destination. Yang Yuanchao gave Yang Che some more instructions before taking the gifts upstairs.

Yang Che did make a phone call, but he didn't call any leader or Zhang Lei from the liaison office; instead, he called Xie Xiaojin.

The one who tied the knot must untie it.

Xie Xiaojin laughed in anger. Although such things were common in academia, he had never heard of such blatant blatantness before. It was Zhang Yimou who had submitted it.

"Yang Che, wait for my call."

After responding, Yang Che went upstairs as if nothing had happened, becoming "someone else's child" to receive praise and share some "industry secrets" to make his superiors look good and have something to talk about.