Chapter 20

Shen Zhenghui rubbed his temples hard, trying to dig out some valuable works from his already faded memories of his rebirth, but the memories were too old to be reliable. The popular works he knew all belonged to the 21st century, and he couldn't replace *JUMP* to discover these authors, nor could he write and draw for them. After all, in his previous life, he was just a reader, not a professional "otaku."

Fukuda Miharu still looked at him with hopeful eyes, "Do you think our capital entering the cultural industry will have an impact like that of Kōshun Kōdansha?"

"Kōshun Kōdansha?"

"You don't know? He was the president of Kōdansha, oh, he's not the president anymore. He was imprisoned in 1993 and released on bail in 1994. Now the president of Kōdansha is his younger brother. He has formed the Kōshun Kōdansha Office and continues to engage in film and publishing. Of course, from 1976, he continuously produced grand and excellent films, almost one per year, until he was arrested for drug issues in 1993. It can be said that the Japanese film market before 1993 was entirely supported by him."

Shen Zhenghui stroked his chin, thinking for a long time, then suddenly turned to look at Fukuda Miharu, "Are you ready to proceed according to our original plan?"

"Does Mr. Shen lack confidence?"

"Pointing out the direction is easy, but when it comes to the specifics, you'll realize how difficult it is. Once you decide to step into this quagmire, you need to be mentally prepared."

"Of course." Fukuda Miharu spread her hands, "Otherwise, why not continue selling furniture or collecting rent? Why would I devote myself to such a cause? Isn't it to realize my dream?"

"The dream of becoming a queen?" Shen Zhenghui smirked.

"Does Mr. Shen not want to manipulate female stars?"

"Cough, cough, cough..." Kuroshima Jinichirō burst into a violent cough.

"Oh, so you also want to manipulate..."

"Miharu, don't talk nonsense, you... you don't look like a girl at all."

"I'm not a girl anymore, call me President!"

"Kuroshima, thinking about manipulating female stars is a low-level dream," Shen Zhenghui said with a smile.

"Nonsense, who thought about it? Clearly, you did!" Kuroshima Jinichirō turned around and said fiercely, "I knew you had ulterior motives, Miharu, how could you cooperate with such a person?"

"Low-level dreams are just a part of my dreams. I also have intermediate and advanced dreams."

"What are they? Manipulating intermediate and advanced female stars?" Kuroshima spoke without thinking.

"Brother, what are you saying!" Fukuda Miharu shouted.

"Sorry." Kuroshima Jinichirō finally regained his composure, bowed in apology, and turned away.

"Intermediate and advanced dreams, of course, involve manipulating Hollywood female stars, and even higher-level ones, like..." Fukuda Miharu stared at Shen Zhenghui, "daughters of high officials?"

Kuroshima Jinichirō suppressed the urge to spit blood, thinking, indeed, sending Miharu to study in China was a mistake; she should have been sent to Britain.

"Alright, let's finish the jokes and talk about serious matters." Shen Zhenghui cleared his throat.

"Mr. Shen, you haven't talked about your intermediate and advanced dreams yet!" Fukuda Miharu interjected.

Shen Zhenghui rolled his eyes, "Kuroshima and you have already filled in the blanks well enough, I don't need to repeat them."

"I know Mr. Shen's level is not that low," Fukuda Miharu said seriously, "so please tell me, if you can achieve it, I will definitely help you."

Kuroshima's face darkened, and he remained silent.

Shen Zhenghui blinked.

"Of course, if it's about manipulating male stars, don't mention it."

Shen Zhenghui was speechless, and Kuroshima Jinichirō couldn't help but laugh.

"Of course not!" Shen Zhenghui said angrily.

"Then what are your intermediate and advanced dreams?"

Shen Zhenghui took a deep breath, "The intermediate dream is to change China, to make the Chinese people live happy and content lives. Even if I can't achieve that, I want to make China a fair and equal country."

"Oh!" Fukuda Miharu's eyes widened.

Kuroshima Jinichirō sneered.

"The intermediate dream is already so great, what about the advanced dream?" Fukuda Miharu asked curiously.

"Changing China is just a stepping stone. The most important thing is to change the world, to make the world also bask in the light of fairness and equality," Shen Zhenghui said earnestly.

"Wait," Fukuda Miharu thought carefully, half-closing her eyes as she looked at Shen Zhenghui, "Mr. Shen, I once heard you talk about politics in school. You said that the rule of power over capital is the greatest benevolence in this world, and power itself must be supervised by the people to prevent it from degenerating. Are you referring to socialism?"

Shen Zhenghui was speechless, "Sort of, but this socialism will definitely have a different connotation from the past."

"In other words," Fukuda Miharu continued, "your dream is not only to maintain socialism but also to promote the ideology you maintain in China as the international ideology of the world?"

Kuroshima looked shocked.

Shen Zhenghui licked his lips and didn't answer directly, "When I left China, I thought that perhaps I would only achieve low-level dreams in this life."

"You made this choice from the beginning, didn't you?" Fukuda Miharu countered, "If not, when we were in school, whether it was Sun Jingfang or Wang Anran, they could have helped you enter politics, right? In that case, wouldn't your ultimate dream also be possible?"

Shen Zhenghui rolled his eyes at Fukuda Miharu, "You're overthinking it," he said, "China's political system is completely different from Japan's. Not to mention whether I can rely on their power, if I do, I'll be labeled from the start."

"But being labeled is inevitable, isn't it?" Fukuda Miharu argued, "Can't you prove yourself with your abilities and achievements? For example, isn't your new prime minister also known for his work capabilities?"

"That's because he had a patron," Shen Zhenghui sneered, "I don't think much of the new prime minister, although he completed his historical mission with enough strength, his status is far from what a reborn person would consider."

"Mr. Shen, you really lack confidence in yourself!" Fukuda Miharu shook her head.

"That's because my father didn't give me that confidence," Shen Zhenghui spread his hands, seeing the topic drifting away, he couldn't help but say, "Let's not talk about this anymore. You mentioned *JUMP* earlier, which gave me an idea."

"Oh, what is it?" Fukuda Miharu seemed somewhat disinterested at this point.

"Japan's anime industry, from light novels, manga, animation, to movies, this integrated process gave me some insights. Popular light novels and manga clearly have the potential for animation and movies, and generally, the performance of animations and movies is not bad. Of course, there are also examples where animations and movies have a negative impact, but the growth of the anime industry has made me realize that this system is beneficial in a certain sense."

"Do you mean we just need to find popular manga and invest in them?"

"Let's put aside good directors and production companies for now. My point is, can we transplant this system to movies?"

"Movies?" Fukuda Miharu blinked.

"Movies are a crucial part. The anime industry in Japan is already mature and needs to open up new markets. However, with China starting to protect its own animation industry, opening up new markets is becoming increasingly difficult. Movies are another breakthrough."

"Do you not know what Japanese movies are like?" Kuroshima Jinichirō couldn't help but interject, "Or do you think you can change the decline of Japanese movies?"

"Hollywood movies are conquering the world," Fukuda Miharu said, "Countries rely on protection policies to maintain their own film industries. No country's films have the global market appeal of American films. Do you think we can succeed?"

"First, Japan is still the second-largest market in the world; second, I didn't say we want to defeat Hollywood; third, who told you that investing in movies means only making movies? Fourth, we won't limit ourselves to the Japanese market."

"Since we can't enter the mainland, are you talking about Hong Kong or Taiwan?"

"If I go into detail, the plan will be too grand." Shen Zhenghui paused, "The future entertainment industry clearly needs more than the current workforce. How to combine the idle labor force in society with the entertainment industry is a problem."

"Do you have a solution?" Fukuda Miharu asked skeptically.

"I'll mention two directions." Shen Zhenghui held up two fingers, "First, in Japan and South Korea, women generally don't work after marriage and stay at home to manage the household. What if we select scriptwriters from these housewives?"

Fukuda Miharu looked thoughtful.

Kuroshima Jinichirō sneered, "Korean women."

"Don't underestimate housewives; they are the main consumers of TV dramas."

"What about the second direction?" Fukuda Miharu continued.

"Every year, so many authors submit their works to *JUMP* and other bookstores, but only a few are actually published. Can we create a platform for this large potential writing and drawing population to directly face consumers?"

"Are you going to start a new magazine?"

"No, I want to start a website where people can freely publish their works."

"Will there be royalties?"

"Readers can directly pay for electronic copyrights, and we can also preview some parts. If they are popular, we can publish them."

"A marginal project," Kuroshima Jinichirō sneered, "What value do works rejected by editors have?"

Shen Zhenghui ignored his sour words, "How many copyrighted works can we accumulate for scripts?"

Fukuda Miharu looked thoughtful, then suddenly raised her head, "Mr. Shen, is there already a business model like this in China?"

"Uh," Shen Zhenghui blinked, "There's a website called Rongshuxia in China where many young people like to post their articles."

"Rongshuxia..." Fukuda Miharu repeated the word, then raised her head, "Mr. Shen, according to your previous statement, the internet will change the world. Does this mean that the main consumption platform will be on the internet?"

Shen Zhenghui was taken aback by Fukuda Miharu's question, "I haven't thought about it," he said, "It seems we need to plan our overall layout better!"

Fukuda Miharu smiled, and the car had already entered Tokyo.