Chapter 75

Wu Shulan never expected that running a night stall with Leslie Cheung would not only bring them closer, but also pull him into her younger uncle Wu Cheng's company.

Wu Cheng was not too worried about whether Leslie Cheung would be willing to join his company. In fact, Leslie Cheung's real breakthrough would not come until the 1980s.

There is a saying in the Hong Kong entertainment industry: "Leslie Cheung had to endure ten years of struggle." This means that after his debut, Leslie Cheung remained in a semi-popular state for nearly a decade.

Therefore, he had plenty of opportunities to pull him over. Moreover, he believed that with his help, Leslie Cheung would not need to endure ten years of hardship to become famous.

The next day, Wu Cheng handed the manuscript he had written the night before to the person from the "Urban Entertainment News."

The young man, upon receiving the manuscript, excitedly flipped through it. When he saw the words "Zhu Xian," he was momentarily stunned, but quickly became excited again.

Although it was not a time-travel series, it was a fantasy novel similar to "The Sword of Emei" by Li Shouzhu. However, the writing was easier to understand than "The Sword of Emei."

The young man felt as if he had found a treasure and immediately became engrossed in it.

In fact, Wu Cheng had no choice but to copy "Zhu Xian" instead of "Xun Qin Ji." After all, although "Xun Qin Ji" was a good choice, it contained too many romantic scenes. If he dared to copy it, he would definitely be criticized harshly.

Not only the moral guardians outside, but also the readers, especially the female readers of "Hui Ming," would not accept their favorite author writing such erotic content, as it would damage his image.

Moreover, not to mention others, even the women around Wu Cheng might be angry with him, as he was no longer the young man who had just arrived.

Wu Cheng did not expect that, when he was copying his first novel, he could not copy it due to his age, and now he could not copy it either because of its significant impact.

Especially the impact on his image in the eyes of women. He believed that no woman would still think of him as a gentleman after reading that novel.

Therefore, for the sake of his future romantic endeavors, he could only reluctantly give up.

Actually, his fondness for "Xun Qin Ji" even surpassed "Hui Ming."

Of course, all men understand!

Therefore, Wu Cheng could only sigh inwardly and think, "I'll just return 'Xun Qin Ji' to Master Huang!"

...

When Wu Cheng returned to the company, he unexpectedly saw a familiar figure at the company entrance.

"Rong Shao, why are you here? Why don't you go in?" Wu Cheng couldn't help but smile when he saw him. He didn't go into the company either, but instead pulled him away, saying, "Come on, let's go somewhere!"

"Wait, Wu... Cheng Shao!" Leslie Cheung didn't expect Wu Cheng to be so enthusiastic when he saw him. His nervousness lessened, and he felt a bit of joy, but also some apprehension. "Where are we going? Why don't you let me finish what I was saying..."

"There's no need to say it. Since you came to find me, you must have decided to work with me, right!" Wu Cheng said as he hailed a taxi and pulled him in.

Leslie Cheung was a bit surprised, then smiled and thought, "He's really amazing!"

After getting in the car and giving the driver an address, Wu Cheng asked with a smile, "I'm a bit curious, how did you decide in just one night? Aren't you afraid I might sell you?"

Leslie Cheung laughed and said, "I'm not worth much anyway! Besides, I trust you and Alan, and there's no reason for you to deceive me."

"Wow! You're calling her 'Alan' after just one night!" Wu Cheng chuckled. "Did something happen between you two after I left? You don't mind telling me, right?"

Leslie Cheung laughed and said, "There's nothing to hide! After you left, Alan came over and said she wanted to experience the life of running a night stall. So we ran a night stall for a whole night and chatted about you... I also wanted to see what I would be like ten years from now!"

Wu Cheng clapped his hands and laughed, saying, "Aren't you afraid I might be deceiving her?"

"I'll take my chances!" Leslie Cheung smiled and shrugged.

Seeing his carefree attitude, Wu Cheng couldn't help but laugh heartily. He patted his shoulder and said, "Rong Shao, just relax! Follow me, and within three years, I'll make you famous in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and even Southeast Asia."

Leslie Cheung also put his arm around Wu Cheng's shoulder and said, "Fame doesn't matter to me; as long as I'm happy! I just want to try it out, and if I'm not happy, I'll quit!"

Wu Cheng laughed and said, "Don't worry! You're born for this!"

Wu Cheng took him to Tian Cheng Entertainment and introduced him to Chen Shufen. He asked her to prepare a contract for Leslie Cheung. The contracts at Tian Cheng Entertainment were divided into several levels, with the lowest being D-level, which was for new artists. Even the D-level contract was much better than those of other companies.

Wu Cheng even planned to establish an artist training department, similar to the training program at TVB, where graduates would be given D-level contracts.

C-level contracts were for third-tier stars, B-level for second-tier stars, A-level for first-tier stars, and S-level for top-tier stars.

Currently, apart from Wu Cheng, there were no other top-tier stars in the company. A-level stars included Zhao Yaqi, Lin Qingxia, Hong Jinbao, and Yuan Heping, while Cheng Long was only at the B-level.

For a new artist like Leslie Cheung, giving him a C-level contract was already a great honor.

The low commission rate of the agency was a bit of a concern for Chen Shufen. After all, no other company in Hong Kong offered such good terms to their artists, which was almost like charity. However, she couldn't argue with Wu Cheng and had to let him have his way.

Wu Cheng's thinking was simple: without such good terms, how could he attract all the top stars in Hong Kong? If the terms were the same as other companies, why would anyone switch to his agency? Without any attractive points, no amount of persuasion would work.

Moreover, Wu Cheng believed that if the company had more top-tier stars, the earnings would not be less. Just think about how much a top star could earn from a single film. Even for ordinary stars, as long as there were enough of them, the company wouldn't lack for money.

Think about the top talent agency in the U.S., CAA. Their bundled sales strategy is amazing! Of course, CAA was just founded, and the concept of bundled sales for stars hadn't appeared yet, but that didn't stop Wu Cheng from implementing this strategy.

Of course, Hong Kong wasn't Hollywood, and it might be difficult to implement this strategy.

However, Wu Cheng didn't think it was a problem. As long as he could attract top stars to his agency, when others wanted to work with a top star, they could also get a suitable lesser-known star as part of the deal.

The biggest benefit was that the goddesses he wanted to protect could live happily under his protection, which was the most important and crucial point.

Because of this, Tian Cheng Entertainment would become a leading talent agency in the future, with branches all over the world. It's worth noting that in the future, most of the entertainment stars in South Korea would be under Tian Cheng Entertainment.

Of course, this is a future matter, and we'll leave it aside for now.

"Cheng Shao, what's going on? Are we signing the contract now?" Leslie Cheung was puzzled. "But if I sign, can I still leave if I'm not happy?"

He spoke frankly about his thoughts to Wu Cheng.

Wu Cheng smiled and said, "Don't worry! Signing the contract is just to prevent other film or record companies from poaching you. If you're not happy here, you can leave whenever you want. This is my personal promise to you!"

"Since that's the case, I'll sign!"

"Are you not going to read the terms carefully?"

"You've said that, so it doesn't matter whether I read them or not!" Leslie Cheung smiled. "I trust you, Cheng Shao, just like I trust Alan!"

Wu Cheng laughed and said, "When did you and Alan become so close? Just from selling jeans for one night?"

Leslie Cheung laughed heartily and said, "You don't know, we only spent two or three hours together, but it felt like we were old friends. We talked about everything. I can't believe how she manages such a large newspaper; she doesn't seem like a strong woman at all!"

Wu Cheng smiled and said, "You haven't seen her in front of her employees. She's like a queen, decisive and authoritative. Of course, that's when she's working."

"I'm really curious and want to sneak a peek sometime, ha ha..."

Wu Cheng shook his head and smiled, "Alright, you can do that later. Now, I'll take you to meet two music teachers to learn some music theory. In August, we'll go to Taiwan!"

"Go to Taiwan for what? To shoot a movie?"

"Yes, the setting of the movie is in Taiwan."

The two left Tian Cheng Entertainment and went to Feng Long Records.

Wu Cheng thought that when he had more money, he would bring all these companies together in one place to save the trouble of running around.

"Cheng Shao, aren't you the boss of a film company? Won't running around like this affect your work? Why don't I go by myself?"

Wu Cheng shook his head and put his arm around his shoulder, saying, "No, that won't do. One of those old guys is very concerned about face. If I don't take you there personally, who knows what he'll say! Besides, you, Rong Shao, are a star in my company... a future big star, but we're also friends. A friend's matter is my matter."

Leslie Cheung smiled brightly, not saying anything, but he was deeply moved.

...

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