Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Speaking of which, there wasn’t a big problem with the merger. What Lao Deming was truly concerned about was who would be the boss.
It was rather difficult to do business in the films and entertainment industry now. In the face of the technology blockade by Hollywood, the cost of making a film had been increasing. Moreover, these few years there hadn’t been many big hits. It wasn’t easy to come across a “The Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre: Pugilistic World.” Furthermore, it was done in collaboration with Hong Dali.
It wasn’t an overstatement to say that the sales growth of Penghui Films now was rather pessimistic—had it been optimistic, Lao Deming wouldn’t have wasted his breath talking to Hong Dali here now. After all, nobody would wish for his own company to be taken over by others, right?
However, the problem was that this superprodigal Hong Dali, at the present moment, was really too great.
The top 8 rankings of the download count on So Cool video-sharing website were all started up by Hong Dali, and the follow-up details had not even been counted in yet.
In the collaboration on “The Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre: Pugilistic World,” Hong Dali was also the one that altered the script.
Li Nianwei, the number one goddess in Heavenly State, was made famous by Hong Dali, and “I Am a Singer” had boosted the popularity of more than ten celebrities who were previously not really known figures at once.
In the face of such pressure, Lao Deming had to give in.
He had no choice. If Hong Dali had the slightest unhappiness and decided to make the movie himself, he’d really be broke by then…
Thus, once he said this, Lao Deming’s little heart beat rapidly, as if there was a little deer inside it.
“Oh, that’s simple.” Hong Dali answered as a matter of fact. “My Sister Cai will be the director.”
“This…” Lao Deming’s hands instantly started trembling. “Young Master Dali, look at the scale of our company. After this merger, it won’t belong to me anymore, do you think I’ll agree?”
What he meant was obvious. If you’re not going to make me the director, I’ll not carry out the merger then. I’d rather be the head of a dog than the tail of a lion. After all, I’m in charge, and at least my words carry weight.
If he had to address Zhang Cai as director after the merger, wouldn’t it be akin to him handing over the whole company to someone else?
However, Hong Dali totally ignored what he thought, and directly threw out a heavy bomb. “En, then it looks like I can only find someone else for this film which I’m planning to invest 50 million into…”
50 million!
Lao Deming instantly froze…
He’d worked so hard to find sponsors, and he’d only gotten 10 million for this “The Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre: Pugilistic World” film originally named “Wind Pursuer.” In the end, this young man in front had told him that he planned to invest in a film worth 50 million…
Thus, Lao Deming was very depressed now.
Because he could really feel a deep sense of danger. Other things aside, if this prodigal were to collaborate with other companies, then that company would definitely rise overnight, to an extent where its popularity would shoot to the max. Lao Deming was definitely certain that the casting line-up for this film would be grander than he could ever imagine.
Especially since he’d heard that lofty declaration by Hong Dali previously!
“Why must Hollywood be in Merika?”
Now that he saw it, Young Master Dali was really planning to make movies! With that wealthy background of his, the often unexpected ideas by this prodigal, and coupled with the estimated investment of 50 million—what the heck, even if he wouldn’t be the first person in charge, with this film alone, he would be able to gain quite a lot of benefits as well!
Since he’d come today, Lao Deming was actually already prepared to agree to it. It was just that he didn’t think that he would be defeated by just one sentence without even the courage to negotiate the terms…
“Alright!” Lao Deming fiercely nodded. “Young Master Dali, what benefits can I gain after the merger?”
People would die for money, just like how birds would die for food. Naturally, he had to make it clear about what he would gain from this.
“In the future, for the movies that I make, you and your team will get half of the dividends.” Hong Dali directly stated a term that was completely irresistible. “You don’t need to fork out a single cent out.”
Lao Deming immediately knelt down. “Thank you, My Lord!”
He’d learned this by now too…
“Hehe, you won’t lose out by working with me.” Hong Dali roared with laughter. “Sister Cai, tell him about the movie that I’m going to film. Currently, this ‘The Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre: Pugilistic World’ is about to enter the later part of the production phase, right? Once this movie is completed, let’s start our project!”
Speaking of which, this Lao Deming was really a rather magnanimous person. If not, he’d really not have been able to get Penghui Films into the top few in Heavenly State within just a short few years’ time.
Many a time, boldness and decisiveness were the keys to doing business. The indecisive ones would often lose out good opportunities.
Thus, Lao Deming was obviously very happy now.
Because he’d once again proved the validity of the sentence “There’s no such thing as suffering losses when working with Young Master.” When Zhang Cai had told him about the gist of what the film was about—CG animation movie that Hong Dali was going to film, “The Holy Warriors of the Goddess”—Lao Deming knew that he’d made the right bet.
Soon after, he broke out in cold sweat as if he’d been depleted of all his energy…
The Holy Warriors of the Goddess starred Li Nianwei, Black Tortoise, Mu Zixiao, Geezer Wang, Liu Mingxin, Liang Yifeng, Wang Mingyu, as well as Hong Dali’s lackeys. The number one super technological geek in history, Lin Chuyin, was to be the engineer of the production of the holy garments. The estimated budget was as high as 50 million, and it could be said to be the most highly invested movie in the country in recent years. Moreover, the setting was chosen to be at the sci-fi school town that Hong Dali was going to construct—New Lanxiang city campus…
The holy garment was real, the city campus was real, and coupled with the Virtual Reality Projection technology and after some enhancements by the animation production team, it could be said that, though this was an animated film, everything inside was real!
With regards to such a movie, Lao Deming was first shocked till his heart almost stopped beating, and afterward, he was so happy that his heart almost jumped out…
This was sick. Who would’ve thought that Young Master was planning to spend such a fortune in the making of his first movie?
He could almost imagine that the storyline and whatnots needn’t be taken into consideration, for the amount of money invested in the money alone, paired with those things set up by Young Master, could definitely scare the entire film industry out of its wits.
He had made such a wise decision by directly agreeing to it previously!
Thus, after Lao Deming had heard about all the details, his gaze when he looked at Hong Dali was completely different now.
In the future, I’ll fight to the end against anyone who tells me that Master Hong Dali is a prodigal! How could he be a prodigal? He is obviously a God of Fortune sent to earth by the Jade Emperor!
Thus, Lao Deming’s attitude when talking to Hong Dali now made everyone doubt their hearing. “Young Master, you must be thirsty, right? I’ll get someone to make you some tea at once. What flavor do you like? Once you say it, it’ll instantly be sent over! If you don’t like tea, coffee or fruit juice is fine as well!”
“Forget it.” Hong Dali pouted. “Stop talking to me about useless things. Oh right, I’ve just thought of something.”
“What is it, please say it, Young Master!” Lao Deming’s humble attitude was like that of Hong Dali’s most loyal lackey.
“En, do you know where to get ores? Best if it’s the type that has gemstones in it.” Hong Dali asked.
The reason why he asked Lao Deming was that since this fellow was someone who made movies, he’d definitely have been to many places—even if he didn’t run around the world with his production crew, he would at least know about where to get this type of thing.
He’d just acquired two skills. The first one was the machine breakdown, assembly, and transformation skill, which had already been tried out and was rather awesome. The second one was gem processing, embedding, and magic enhancement—it naturally had to be properly tried out!
“Ores? Gemstones?” Upon hearing what Hong Dali said, Lao Deming carefully thought for a while, then suddenly said, “If I haven’t understood it wrongly, Young Master can visit Qingwu district in Beijin City, near to the north of Tianjing City. There should have what Young Master wants.”
“Qingwu district in Beijin City? There are many ores there?” Hong Dali was rather confused by Lao Deming’s words.
“En, there’s a stone-gambling market there, it’s very suitable for Young Master.” Lao Deming smiled and said.
“Stone-gambling?” Hong Dali was full of questions in his head. “What’s that? It’s related to gambling? Is it fun?”
He had to clarify this. This Great Prodigal System of his banned the host from gambling. This stone-gambling was like buying the lottery. That was very troublesome. He couldn’t touch it for sure, who knows what would happen if his points continued to be deducted!
“Yes, it’s stone-gambling. Its background is quite big. It refers to, when the jade gemstones and so on are extracted, there’s a layer of air-slake on it, thus, we don’t know whether what’s inside will be good or bad. We have to cut it open before we know whether the jade we bought is good—this is called stone-gambling. The thickness of the exterior layer depends on the level of the extent of its air-slake. If the air-slake extent is high, the layer will be thick. A piece of jade may have a good exterior due to its raw material and colored crust. However, though a green color may appear by the first cut, it’s possible that by the second cut, the green color will be gone. This is something that commonly happens. Away from the mine, the probability of striking it rich with betting is only one in ten thousand, while the probability of striking it rich in the jade mountains is much higher. After the value of the jade shoots up, they’d strike it rich overnight. But most of them fail in the end.”
After Lao Deming had finished introducing stone-gambling, he peeked at Hong Dali. “However, Young Master, I think that there shouldn’t be a problem if you go for this stone-gambling…”
Wasn’t that obvious? Which member of the upper class in Tianjing City didn’t know that this Hong Family’s little prodigal’s luck was exceedingly good?
“In this case…” Hong Dali was rather despondent. This stone-gambling seemed almost the same as the lottery, and it was rise or plunge either way. If it plunged, it meant that there weren’t any good stones, and all his efforts would be in vain. But if it rose and a few million was instantly deducted by the System, he wouldn’t have to live anymore…
But how did Lao Deming knew about this? Upon seeing that Hong Dali was a bit skeptical, he hurriedly said, “Sigh, what a pity, my luck is bad. I normally like to engage in some betting as well, but I’d lose at least nine out of ten bets. Especially the last time, I lost a rough stone and lost more than 500,000. With Young Master here today, why don’t we go and try our luck.”
Uh, one bet cost him more than 500,000? Lao Deming’s tone made it seem like this is some petty business, this fellow is definitely planning to take advantage of me.
However, what Lao Deming said had instead reminded Hong Dali—the difference of a small and big bet over stones!
What it meant was, if you want to play it big, you can play it big. But if you want to play it small, no problem as well, it’s all up to you.
This is much easier. I’ll just go and try it out first and buy a 10,000 yuan stone to play with first!
Then there won’t be a problem! Wahahahaha!
“Director Lao, you’re really something, haha!” Hong Dali currently was extremely overjoyed. “Then, let’s go and take a look now! I’m really quite curious how this stone-gambling is played!”
“Young Master, you really want to go?” Lao Deming obviously wasn’t able to react to it for a while, as he thought, Those few words that I said just now convinced Young Master, this big prodigal with exceedingly great luck? Wahaha, Young Master is awesome! As expected, there’ll only be benefits by following Young Master!
