I'm conquering Hong Kong entertainment with two billion US dollars.

Chapter 69 Earning a Top-Tier Courtyard House in Half a Day

The next day, in the presidential suite of the Great Wall Hotel.

The phone rang, and Lin Dong answered it.

"Ah Dong, have you missed me?" Li Jiaxin's voice came from the phone.

Lin Dong took his phone, walked to the sofa, sat down, and without answering the question, simply asked, "How's life on set these past few days?"

"Not answering again," Li Jiaxin muttered somewhat disappointedly, then cheered up, "It's fine, it's just that I've been looking at the sea view for a while now, and I'm getting a little tired of it. I also miss you a bit."

"Well, 'Prince Charming' is about to be released, and I'll be back in a couple of days," Lin Dong said after thinking for a moment.

"Really?" Li Jiaxin on the other end of the phone was overjoyed. "That's great! I'll pick you up from the airport."

"Okay!" Lin Dong nodded.

"By the way, Dong, the $240 million from selling stocks last night should arrive in your account today. I'll transfer it to you then." After saying this, Li Jiaxin asked curiously, "What do you need this money for?"

Lin Dong smiled slightly: "Buy a courtyard house."

"A courtyard house?"

"That's right, about two thousand square meters, more than twenty thousand square feet."

Lin Dong leaned back on the sofa, his tone unusually relaxed. "I went to see it yesterday. It's a prince's mansion on Willow Shade Street. It has a main hall, side halls, and a rear building, with three sections and four courtyards, and even a theater. The garden is a bit overgrown, but it should look nice once it's cleaned up."

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, then Li Jiaxin's voice rose by half an octave.

"Over 20,000 square feet? Ah Dong, that apartment in Happy Valley is only 2,700 square feet, and my apartment in Mid-Levels is less than 3,000. You live alone in Beijing with 20,000 square feet?"

"A bigger yard is more comfortable," Lin Dong chuckled. "You'll see when you come and see for yourself."

"Of course I want to see it." After saying that, Li Jiaxin paused for a moment, then tentatively asked, "Adong, you bought a house in Beijing, and your company is also in Beijing. Are you planning to live there permanently in the future?"

Lin Dong tapped his fingers lightly twice on the leather surface of the sofa. "I'll be running between Hong Kong and Beijing. The center of gravity will gradually shift northward, but not right now."

Li Jiaxin hummed in agreement. Being a smart person, she didn't press the matter further.

"Save me a room in that courtyard on Willow Shade Street."

Her voice returned to its soft, coquettish tone, "I want the one facing the best, the one with a view of the garden."

"If you go to the capital in the future, I'll go with you."

"Okay." Lin Dong did not refuse.

In the past few days, Amazon has been going crazy, with its stock price increasing by several dollars every day. It's now almost at 96, and it has made a profit of over 9000 million US dollars.

The $240 million is just a floating profit for less than half a day.

After hanging up the phone, Lin Dong straightened his clothes and prepared to go out.

240 million US dollars is roughly 2000 million RMB. 1800 million of this money can be used to pay for the house, and the rest can be used for renovations. That should be enough.

He invited Han Sanping, Zhang Shaolin, screenwriter Lu Wei, and consultant Zhu Shujin.

As soon as he stepped out of the suite, Ah Qiang, who was waiting in the corridor, came to greet him. "Mr. Lin, the car is ready."

Lin Dong nodded and went downstairs.

Not long after, a Mercedes and a Crown drove towards the Beijing Film Studio.

Beijing Film Studio conference room.

Several open copies of *Romance of the Three Kingdoms* lay spread out on the long table, the pages curled at the edges. Beside them were several red and blue pencils and—

A hand-drawn sketch of the terrain of Chibi.

Lu Wei sat by the window with a stack of manuscript papers in front of her. The top sheet was already covered with names of people, and had been revised several times.

Zhu Shujin sat opposite him, with a copy of "Records of the Three Kingdoms" beside him.

Zhang Shaolin sat at the end of the long table, his shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows, twirling a pencil in his hand, pausing after two spins, then spinning it twice more.

Han Sanping sat next to him, holding a teacup, without saying a word.

The door opened, and Lin Dong walked in. Several people stood up at the same time.

"Sit down." Lin Dong waved his hand, pulled out a chair opposite Zhang Shaolin, and sat down. "I'm not an expert in scriptwriting. I'm just here today to hear what you all think. You decide, and I'll listen."

Lu Wei looked around and spoke first. "President Lin, I've been working with Teacher Zhu for a few days and we've gone through the character analysis."

The main historical figures involved in the Battle of Red Cliffs, categorized by faction, include: Cao Cao's side: Cao Cao himself, Xun You, Cheng Yu, Zhang Liao, and Xu Chu; Sun Quan's side: Sun Quan, Zhou Yu, Lu Su, Huang Gai, and Gan Ning; and Liu Bei's side: Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, and Zhao Yun.

He made a dot on the manuscript paper, "This only includes those with names and surnames. Add to that the strategists, lieutenants, and messengers from both sides—"

Just recognizing all these people would take the audience twenty minutes of the first day.

"So we have to cut it." Zhang Shaolin put down the pencil in his hand. "We're making a TV series, forty episodes. We can keep all these characters and develop the story slowly, no problem."

But a movie is only two hours long; viewers don't have time to recognize so many faces. My suggestion is—keep the core characters in each storyline, and merge the rest.

He stood up and walked to the table, gesturing with his finger on Lu Wei's list of characters. "On Cao Cao's side, the strategists are merged, Xun You and Cheng Yu are combined into one, retaining only the image of a military advisor. Zhang Liao is retained among the generals, but Xu Chu is cut. On Liu Bei's side, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei are retained, but their roles are reduced to the minimum. Zhao Yun—cut."

Lu Wei frowned. "Zhao Yun was killed? The Changban Slope scene is the most outstanding action scene in Liu Bei's storyline."

"Changbanpo was before Chibi."

Zhu Shujin then spoke, his tone unhurried, "In September of the thirteenth year of Jian'an, Cao Cao marched south, and Liu Bei retreated south from Fancheng, only to be overtaken by Cao Cao's army at Changban in Dangyang."

Zhao Yun protecting Lady Gan and A Dou as they fought their way out of the encirclement was the prelude to the Battle of Red Cliffs, not the battle itself. If the film had started from Changban Slope, the preceding scenes would have been at least twenty minutes longer.

"This isn't exciting. The Battle of Red Cliffs itself is just the result; the preceding struggles and defeats are the source of the dramatic conflict."

Lu Wei drew a timeline on the blank space of the manuscript paper: "Cao Cao marches south - Liu Bei flees south - Changban Slope - Sun-Liu alliance - Battle of Red Cliffs, this is a complete timeline."

Han Sanping put down his teacup and spoke. He had been pondering this problem for the past few days, and perhaps there was a solution: "Everyone, I'd like to suggest a direction; perhaps we could consider dividing it into two parts."

Everyone turned to look at him. Lin Dong also raised an eyebrow. The version of Red Cliff by the man surnamed Wu was divided into two parts. Was it going to be the same now?

But thinking about it, it makes sense. With such an epic storyline, one movie is simply not enough to keep it all to yourself.

"The first part focuses on the oppressive feeling of Cao Cao's southward advance. It begins with Cao Cao's southward advance, ends at Changban Slope, Liu Bei's defeat, Zhuge Liang's mission to Eastern Wu, the alliance between Sun Quan and Liu Bei, and the eve of the Battle of Red Cliffs. The second part is the prelude to the Battle of Red Cliffs, Huarong Road, and the tripartite balance of power."

Thus, the dramatic conflict in the first part lies in whether the alliance can be formed, while the conflict in the second part lies in whether the fire can be ignited. There's no need to cut any characters; all the original ones can be retained.

Lin Dong was a little stunned. Why did this introduction and plot seem so familiar?

Just then, he heard a voice, it was Lu Wei's: "President Lin, if we divide it into two parts, what's the budget?"

Lin Dong quickly realized, "Don't worry about the budget. Money is not a problem."

At this point, Zhu Shujin spoke up, "Everyone has been talking about structure and rhythm. I'll only mention one point—characters."

The historical Zhou Yu was not the narrow-minded person in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms who was angered to death by Zhuge Liang.

He was magnanimous, open-minded, and skilled in music. He commanded the Battle of Red Cliffs, which had little to do with Zhuge Liang.

If we were to film "Red Cliff," I hope we could portray Zhou Yu as the true leader, not a supporting character.

Lu Wei quickly jotted down notes on the manuscript paper. Zhang Shaolin picked up his pencil again and circled Zhou Yu's name next to the list of names.

"And then there's Cao Cao. The Cao Cao of the Battle of Red Cliffs was not the cunning and ruthless hero he later became. He had just unified the north and was full of vigor, thinking that marching south would be a piece of cake."

His defeat was not due to falling into a trap, but rather because the northern soldiers were unfamiliar with naval warfare, plague was rampant in the army, and he had no concept of the southern winter.

If these reasons are all reflected in the film, Cao Cao will not be a stereotypical villain, but a tragic figure who makes a fatal mistake because of pride.

Lin Dong leaned back in his chair and breathed a sigh of relief. The character Zhu Shujin described was extremely similar to the one he remembered, but thankfully, there was no mindless plot about going to war for a woman.

He nodded and concluded, "Teacher Zhu is right. Zhou Yu is not a supporting character, and Cao Cao is not a caricature. Everyone in this movie should have their own reason for being."

Cao Cao had his pride, Zhou Yu had his decisiveness, and Zhuge Liang had his all-or-nothing gamble. The point isn't to distinguish between good and bad people, but to capture the choices made by everyone in a chaotic world.

Lu Wei put down her pen, looked at the densely revised list of names in front of her, and let out a long sigh.

"If it's a two-part series, these characters can indeed be retained. The first part describes Cao Cao deploying his troops on the north bank of the Yangtze River, while Zhou Yu is mustering his generals in the south."

Zhang Shaolin breathed a long sigh of relief. With that, the tone of the script was set. Although there was still a lot to do, at least there was a direction.

At that moment, Han Sanping turned on the television that had been specially hung in the conference room.

Midday news broadcast.

PS: To be honest, I thought about the movie Red Cliff for a long time and did some research, but I couldn't come up with any good innovative points. Perhaps the only thing I can do is to remove the thunderous scenes and make it closer to the official history.