Bai Lu got scammed, but I became a superstar through e-commerce.

The celebration banquet was held at a private restaurant on the shore of West Lake in Hangzhou, which is not open to the public.

Qingxiao booked the entire floor, and the view from the window was of West Lake at night.

Almost all the directors that Tianmen Film and Television had worked with over the past year were present—Chen Yu sat to Qing Xiao's left, using chopsticks to pick up peanuts from the plate and put them into his bowl one by one.

Yuan Shuang leaned back in her chair and chatted with Fang Ming next to her about the script. When she got excited, she drew storyboards on the tablecloth with her finger.

Old Zhao flew in from Northeast China with the screenwriter of "There's a Girl in the Village." They landed in the afternoon, and their suitcases were still at the front desk.

Song Yang sat in the far corner, clutching a glass of barely drunk orange juice, his eyes sparkling as he listened to his seniors chatting.

Bai Lu sat to Qing Xiao's right, wearing a beige knitted sweater, her hair loose and naturally draped over her shoulders.

She had just returned from Hengdian, still carrying the weariness of the film set, but her eyes were bright. She clinked her wine glass with Chen Yu's, then turned to Yuan Shuang to discuss the concept of the next script.

Qingxiao stood up and raised his wine glass into the air.

The desktop fell silent.

"Today's meal isn't a project meeting or a debriefing session; it's just a treat for everyone. In the past two years, Tianmen Films has grown from a single micro-film to several notable works. Chen Yu has worked with me on micro-films from 'My Girlfriend is a Little Bit Savage,' Yuan Shuang has been our partner since 'Cat's Tree,' Fang Ming successfully navigated the thriller genre with 'Yin Yang Town,' Lao Zhao's 'There's a Girl in the Village' grossed over six million yuan, and Song Yang's 'Dark Room' earned two million yuan on a budget of only two hundred thousand. Every single film was written word by word and shot scene by scene by you. This toast is for everyone."

Everyone stood up. The glasses clinked together with a crisp, clear sound.

Bai Lu raised her wine glass and clinked it against his, pressing the rim of her glass down by half an inch.

Yuan Shuang put down her wine glass and tapped the rim of her bowl with her chopsticks.

He was wearing a gray sweatshirt today, and his hair was longer than the last time we met, but his eyes still had the same energy they had when we were filming a short film at the Cat Tree Studio in Nanjing.

"Mr. Qing, when I first met you, you were still packing packages in your rented apartment in Jiubao. Bai Lu was standing next to you folding clothes. The two of you were squatting on the ground, one packing and the other folding, with the dog's ping-pong bell ringing. Back then, Bai Lu and I were filming a short film, and all the clothing sponsorships were sample garments from your store. The end credits said, 'Clothing Sponsor: SUNSA'—who here wore SUNSA from that period?"

Bai Lu smiled and raised his hand: "Me. I'm wearing the most clothes."

Everyone at the table laughed.

Yuan Shuang didn't laugh. He picked up his wine glass, his tone becoming serious: "Back then, I felt that you, as an e-commerce boss, were different from others. Others sponsored micro-films to win, but you sponsored micro-films to pave the way for Bai Lu. Later, you made online movies, investing a whole year's worth of e-commerce profits into them. At the time, I thought, this person is either crazy or obsessed. Looking back now, you applied the 'blockbuster logic' of e-commerce to online movies, achieving the highest returns with the lowest costs. 'Yin Yang Town' yielded over four million from 350,000, and 'Love Tutoring Class' yielded nearly four million from 450,000. Tianmen Films' achievements today are not luck; they were built up one order at a time from the floor of your rented room."

Fang Ming took over the conversation.

He was younger than everyone else present, and his words carried an academic sharpness: "President Qing, let me tell you the truth. When we were filming 'Yin Yang Town,' I initially came for Tianmen Films' promotional resources: an A-level recommendation spot on iQiyi, a support channel for young directors on Youku, and package promotions from SUNSA e-commerce. These resources are simply unavailable elsewhere. But after filming, I realized that your most valuable asset wasn't resources, but your vision. You never ask 'Is this subject matter popular?' when choosing a script; you only ask 'Can this script make the audience remember the lead actor?' You truly understand audience appeal. The online film industry is now learning your methods, but no one can copy your vision in choosing scripts."

Old Zhao slammed his beer glass on the table and continued, "Director Fang said he only realized how sharp President Qing's eye was after filming was finished. I was convinced even before filming started. I showed the script for 'There's a Girl in the Village' to several film and television companies, and they said that the rural comedy genre was too small and not worth investing in. Only President Qing, after reading the script, said, 'The Northeastern girl in this script is exactly the same as Bai Lu when she was hanging planks in Sijiqing.' Just for that sentence, I didn't haggle over a single penny."

Qingxiao smiled but didn't say anything. This was all because of the information gap regarding the future.

He has indeed become a master at turning lead into gold.

Qingxiao picked up his wine glass and drank it all in one gulp.

Everyone at the table was laughing. Yuan Shuang tapped the edge of her bowl with her chopsticks and said, "President Qing cries even more than Miss Bai."

Fang Ming said, "Next time we make a thriller, we must invite President Qing to make a cameo appearance."

Old Zhao said, "President Qing doesn't charge for his crying scenes."

When the party ended, everyone walked down the steps in batches.

Yuan Shuang walked at the back, putting her arm around Song Yang's shoulder as they walked out, while Fang Ming distributed the Northeast snacks that Lao Zhao had brought back to everyone.

Bai Lu stood next to Qing Xiao, watching the group walk arm in arm into the Hangzhou night.

She suddenly spoke up: "Back in Jiubao, it was just you and me, then Chen Yu and Xiao Geng joined us. Now, all these people—Yuan Shuang, Fang Ming, Lao Zhao, Song Yang, Sister Su—were all brought here by you one by one."

Six months later, the online film market had completely changed.

At the beginning of the year, the investment threshold for an online movie was less than one million yuan, but by the end of the year, an investment of ten million yuan has become the norm.

New actors have no chance to get ahead; the lead actors in online movies are all people whose names can be recognized from TV dramas.

In the conference room of Tianmen Film and Television, Qingxiao recalculated all the figures on the investment plan.

The first batch of projects funded by the special fund had an average return on investment of over eight times, a benefit from the early days of reform and opening up.

Now that the regular army is entering the fray, budgets are rising, and competition is intensifying, using a strategy of deploying hundreds of thousands of units is suicidal.

He reduced his investment amount for the new quarter to one-third of the original amount, investing only in projects with the highest certainty.

Yu Zheng's dinner was arranged at a long-established local Shanghai cuisine restaurant in Beijing, the same place where everyone gathered before the start of filming for "Huang Quan".

The private room was very warm, and outside the window was the East Third Ring Road in early winter. The traffic had not yet dispersed, and the taillights turned the whole road red.

Mr. Zhou, the general manager of Huaxia Vision, took off his suit jacket and draped it over the back of his chair, rolled up his sleeves to his elbows, and tapped his fingers on the table.

Director Sun from Mango TV pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses, twirling a cup of barely drunk Pu'er tea in his hand.

Chen, from Asia Pacific Films, sat opposite him, setting aside his strong tea, the cold dishes in front of him untouched.

Yu Zheng sat in the main seat, holding a purple clay teacup, with a smile that said, "I'm just here to drink tea and watch the show."

Qingxiao pushed open the door to the private room and walked in.

"President Qing!" President Zhou was the first to stand up, pushing his chair back and striding forward to shake Qing Xiao's hand. "It's been over a year since we last met. You two are now prominent figures in the online film industry—no, not just prominent figures, but dominant forces. Who in the online film circle doesn't know Tianmen Films now?"

Director Sun also stood up, holding a teacup and handing it over: "On the day 'Huang Quan' was released, I happened to be having a meeting with Director Liu at iQiyi. He opened the backend data panel in front of me, and the effective views exceeded 500,000 in the first hour—500,000! He said at the time, 'When will Mango TV be able to provide me with a film of this scale?'"

He clinked his teacup against Qingxiao's wine glass.

Qingxiao smiled and accepted the wine without explaining.

Brother Chen moved his chair half a meter away and pulled Qingxiao to sit down next to him.

He was a veteran of Asia Pacific Film Studio, having spent most of his life in Hengdian, working his way up from script supervisor to producer, and he rarely praised anyone.

"President Qing, let me put this out there today. When you first came to us with that timeline investment plan, you said that online film revenue sharing would triple every year, that the champion in 2014 only made a little over 600,000, and that in 2015 there would be projects worth tens of millions. I didn't believe it then. Looking back now, you were right. 'Huang Quan' made 45 million in revenue sharing, and 'The Monkey King' made 26 million—the two films together made over 70 million. Add to that your special fund projects, and the total revenue has exceeded 100 million, right?"

Qingxiao placed his wine glass on the table and crossed his hands on his knees: "Brother Chen, the focus today isn't how much Tianmen Films made..."

"That's the key point." President Zhou picked up his wine glass and stood up, his voice rising half an octave. "President Qing, you've pocketed over a hundred million yuan in revenue all by yourself. That's not fair."

There was a moment of silence in the private room. Yu Zheng picked up his purple clay cup, gently blew on the steam rising from the tea, and his eyes crinkled into a smile.

Qingxiao remained calm. He leaned back in his chair, picked up the cup of hot tea Bai Lu had poured for him, and took a sip.

"President Zhou, President Sun, Brother Chen—when I approached you to invest in 'My Sassy Girl,' you were all my angel investors. Before 'Huang Quan' was released, what kind of projects did Tianmen Films work on? 'Yin Yang Town' was worth 350,000, 'Love Tutoring Class' was worth 450,000, and 'There's a Girl in the Village' was worth 550,000—projects of that size, asking me to approach Huaxia Vision, Mango TV, and Asia Pacific Pictures for investment would be a joke, wouldn't it? Which of your companies doesn't have a minimum investment threshold of tens of millions?"

Mr. Zhou choked for a moment. Director Sun pushed up his glasses, pursed his lips, and didn't refute.

"I was just playing around." Qingxiao put the teacup on the table, his tone nonchalant. "I didn't expect it to work so well."

Mr. Zhou leaned back in his chair, tapped his fingers lightly on the table twice, then suddenly laughed: "Alright, a small fry. Now tell me, what's the total investment for 'Yellow Springs'?"

"Seven million."

"Seven million is still small fry? Considering Tianmen Film and Television's previous scale, this was your largest investment at the time." President Zhou slammed his glass on the table. "President Qing, why didn't you bring the rest of us?"

"I invested seven million in 'Huangquan' because I supported Bai Lu."

Qingxiao spoke very frankly.

"You big bosses invest tens of millions to promote a celebrity. I'm investing seven million to promote my girlfriend—my real girlfriend. This isn't an investment; it's a necessity."

Yu Zheng finally laughed out loud from behind the purple clay cup, put the cup of tea on the table, shook his head and said, "President Qing, you little rascal."

He stood up and took over the conversation: "President Zhou, President Sun, Brother Chen, I know Qingxiao best. He's the kind of person who doesn't let money hurt feelings, and doesn't let feelings interfere with making money. This meal isn't about accusations. If Tianmen Film and Television has any suitable opportunities for cooperation in the future, President Qing will certainly not forget you all."

Qingxiao quickly chimed in, "Yes, it's the era of big productions and big returns now. Tianmen Film and Television can't do it anymore, so we'll have to rely on you guys to lead the way."

Mr. Zhou leaned back in his chair and finally smiled. He raised his glass and swirled it at Qing Xiao: "Alright. This glass is for you. You've had good luck and high returns, I, Mr. Zhou, am convinced. But next time there's a good project, Mr. Qing, you can't keep it all to yourself."