Huayu: We're asking you to act, and you're playing a superhuman?

Chapter 98 Not Making Money from Fans

Pork belly, beef rolls, mushrooms, and scallions sizzle in the oil of a cast iron skillet.

Wang Weili picked up a piece of fried pork belly, dipped it in the dry dipping sauce, put it in lettuce, added a few cloves of garlic, and then took a bite!

"Mmm~, this tastes much better than the barbecue from South Korea!"

Sitting opposite Mao Wenchao, he didn't know how to react.

He hadn't expected Wang Weili to invite him to the film set, and even more unexpectedly, Wang Weili treated him to barbecue after he arrived.

"Why aren't you eating? This is a lunch specially prepared for you; you don't usually get to eat this."

As he spoke, Wang Weili picked up a slice of fatty beef roll, dipped it in soy sauce, and ate it directly.

Mao Wen asked curiously, "So what do you usually eat? The crew's boxed lunches?"

"It's not that bad. I booked the annual meals at the St. Regis Hotel, and my assistant goes over to pick them up for me every day."

While eating, Wang Weili explained that it wasn't that he couldn't afford the money, so why was he eating a boxed lunch?

Seeing how much he enjoyed eating, Mao Wenchao was absolutely certain that this barbecue was just something Wang Weili wanted to eat, and he was using himself as an excuse.

Although somewhat speechless at this approach, Mao Wenchao patiently asked, "Ahem, Mr. Wang, what do you think of the plan I just mentioned?"

"I refuse."

"Huh? Why?"

"Why? I only had a 50% stake in Xiaohongshu's angel round investment, so why should I use my personal IP?"

"Shall I help you advertise for free?"

Wang Weili said this as a matter of course.

At the last Jiaotong University graduate reunion, he and Mao Wenchao exchanged contact information, and after a month of investigation, he finally decided to invest in Xiaohongshu.

Just after the two parties finalized the funding and share for the angel round, Mao Wenchao suddenly had a clever idea: to bring in another investor for the angel round.

Wang Weili said he didn't care, as securing half of the angel round investment meant he already had 10% of the original shares.

Unexpectedly, after the financing was completed, Mao Wenchao came up with another clever idea.

He wanted Wang Weili to use his popularity to help Xiaohongshu accumulate its initial user base, just like he did with Kuaidi Dache.

Wang Weili's reply has already been given.

Mao Wenchao couldn't understand: "Although you only own half of the investment, you still have 10% of the original shares, as long as Xiaohongshu becomes—"

"China's Instagram?"

Wang Weili laughed and said, "Don't you guys have your own sales pitch? Or did you all come from the same training class? Chen Kai used to talk to me about Uber China every day, but now that he's matured a bit, he's stopped talking about it."

"Is there a problem with the wording?"

"When you try to compare yourself to something, you've already placed yourself in a position where you're inferior to it!"

"I'll keep that in mind, but your fan profile completely overlaps with Xiaohongshu's target users. If you help Xiaohongshu with promotion, even just by posting a Weibo, it will be equivalent to several months of our work in completing the cold start —"

Mao Wenchao eloquently described the great prospects of Xiaohongshu to Wang Weili.

Wang Weili simply said, "I won't help."

Why?

"What did ZhenFund, the other half of your angel round funding, do to help?"

"Forehead----"

Mao Wenchao was speechless.

He sought ZhenFund's partnership to pave the way for future financing; currently, the latter can't really offer much help.

Wang Weili owns the same shares as ZhenFund, so he can naturally refuse to help.

However, Mao Wenchao was really envious of his fans: "You've already helped me hurry up————"

"I always receive stock options for doing marketing for Kuaidi. What are you going to give me?"

Wang Weili's counter-question stumped Mao Wenchao.

In other words, he was unaware of Kuaidi's current shareholding structure. If he had known, he would never have dared to say such a thing.

Seeing that he had nothing to say, Wang Weili continued, "You mean my fans completely overlap with Xiaohongshu's target users? To put it bluntly, you just want to make money off my female fans, right?"

"This can be considered a rational use of resources."

Mao Wenchao tried to argue, but his expression was unnatural.

Wang Weili glanced at him, got up and turned off the stove, gesturing for Mao Wenchao to come with him.

The two left the rest area and headed towards the location where they would be filming later.

Even from more than ten meters away, Mao Wenchao could still see a group of more than twenty young women standing there. When they saw Wang Weili coming over, they immediately burst into cheers.

"SuSu!!"

"Quiet!!!"

A louder voice drowned out the girls' cheers.

Li Xue, wearing a yellow vest over a hoodie with the words "Maintain Order" printed on it, was holding a megaphone and standing in front of the group of girls, trying to control the situation.

Wang Weili waved to Li Xue from a distance of more than ten meters: "Assistant Li, I've finished eating. Let them come over."

"SuSu!!"

Another round of cheers erupted, and this time Li Xue didn't use a loudspeaker to suppress them.

To Mao Wenchao's astonishment, this group of good-looking fans surrounded Wang Weili and asked Li Xue to take a group photo with each of their phones.

Li Xue found a small stool from somewhere, sat down and started taking pictures, with more than twenty mobile phones placed in front of her.

After the group photo was over, Wang Weili had the girls line up one by one.

They took the photos out of their pockets, and Wang Weili took them and stamped them with his seal.

Mao Wenchao leaned closer to take a look and discovered that the seal in Wang Weili's hand was none other than a signature stamp he had made.

This type of seal cannot be used for signing official documents, but it is extremely useful for mass-producing autographed photos when placed on them, especially since fans have brought their own photos.

Using a signature stamp will prevent anyone from using autographed photos to make money off fans, and it will also save Wang Weili some effort.

Having accomplished all that, Wang Weili waved goodbye to his reluctant fans, even reminding them to study hard when they got back.

Do you understand?

'

Wang Weili looked at Mao Wenchao, but didn't speak too bluntly.

But the implication is: he doesn't even make money off his fans, so why should you?

Mao Wenchao coughed twice, feeling that the timing of his visit today was not quite right.

"Um, about promoting Xiaohongshu, how about we discuss that later?"

"No need to go through all that trouble, just be patient and take your time!"

Wang Weili frowned slightly, but still went to say a few more words.

"Xiaohongshu is a content platform, fundamentally different from ride-hailing services. Even if I help you promote it, you can't retain users without content. Don't you understand that?"

"Where there are users, there will naturally be content."

"Who will guide the users? You?"

"this----"

Mao Wenchao paused for a moment, suddenly realizing that he might have been a little too hasty.

Seeing the shame on Mao Wenchao's face, Wang Weili knew that his feverish mind was beginning to cool down and he could listen to what was being said.

"Different types of companies require different investment guidance methods! Chen Kai understands technology but not management, so I will spend more time helping him, which of course is paid."

"Cai Mi and the others don't really understand management, but miHoYo is on a stable development path, and their skills will gradually improve, so I don't need to interfere too much."

"As for you, I think all I need to do is have faith in you."

This evaluation is clearly higher than that given to Chen Kai and Cai Haoyu.

Mao Wenchao was slightly moved, said sorry to Wang Weili, and left alone.

After he had walked quite a distance away, Li Xue approached Wang Weili and asked, "Boss, were you just trying to appease him with what you said earlier?"

"Is it that obvious?"

"I knew it—"

"Treat everyone the way that suits them best — let's not talk about that anymore, you continue to liaise with the group leader and arrange for fans to visit the set again next week."

All those girls were Wang Weili's fans.

The reason they were here was because a few days ago, when the filming of "Boss & Me" started, a fan posted an update on Weibo, which attracted local fans in Shanghai to come and watch.

In order to maintain order and not disappoint the fans, Wang Weili asked Li Xue to contact the fan leaders after he had persuaded them to leave, and to inform them that they could arrange for someone to come and visit the set every week.

That signature stamp was also something he had just made.

Li Xue added this to her memo and said, "Boss, the CEO of Enlight Media is coming to visit the set this afternoon, but you haven't confirmed the time yet."

.

"If you hadn't mentioned it, I would have forgotten about it."

Watching the crew members return to the set one after another after finishing lunch, Wang Weili was unsure what time he would be able to finish work today.

"William! Are you done with your work?"

Naza ran over from the side, accompanied by her sweet and innocent voice.

This time, she is filming "Shan Shan Comes," where she plays the female lead, Xue Shan Shan.

To fit the role, the makeup artist gave Nazha a bun hairstyle, which, combined with her still-present baby fat and prominent ears, made Nazha's originally delicate face quite adorable.

Watching her skip and hop over, Wang Weili's lips unconsciously curled up slightly.

"I'm done with my work. How did your conversation with Gu Man go? Did you understand the character?"

1

"Um----"

Naza's smile faded, and she pursed her lips awkwardly.

During lunch, Wang Weili met with Mao Wenchao and didn't stay with the rest of the crew.

Naza took the opportunity of dinner to ask Gu Man, the author of "Shan Shan Comes to Eat," for advice on how to play her role well.

Judging from her reaction, the result of asking for advice probably wasn't very good.

Naza looked at Wang Weili shyly: "Teacher Gu said I'm too good-looking, unlike Xue Shanshan who's a little foodie."

She has the energy and vitality of a young girl.

"It's okay, I'll help you rehearse when we get home tonight."

Wang Weili said dismissively.

Although his acting skills aren't exactly top-notch, he's the male lead in this drama, so he naturally draws Naza into the role.

Upon hearing that they would be rehearsing their lines that evening, her delicate pink face transformed naturally, like a hibiscus flower changing from white to red.

Just as she began to let her mind wander, a voice suddenly came from afar.

"Naza, I suddenly think that having the makeup artist make you look more ordinary might actually better suit the role!"

Wang Weili and Nazha looked in the direction of the sound and saw Gu Man, wearing thin-rimmed glasses and with her forehead covered by thick bangs, walking towards them.

When Gu Man came over and saw Wang Weili, her eyes lit up. She then said, "Mr. Wang, you look quite handsome in this outfit, but it doesn't seem to suit Feng Teng's image."

"Teacher Gu, no offense intended. I have indeed been an investor and know what they usually wear."

These words left Gu Man speechless.

In her book, Feng Teng is just a character who plays Lao Qian, while Wang Weili is a real-life venture capitalist.