Chapter 45

"Did you hear that you gave away all the company's shares?" Shen Xingguo glared at his son and said.

"Not that exaggerated."

"I clearly heard that you were planning to give 99% of the shares to the employees." Shen Xingguo said angrily, "This guy is really a spendthrift."

"If I only have 1% of the shares, then the company's assets might have already swollen to 100 billion." Shen Zhenghui spread his hands.

"100 billion?" Shen Xingguo was dazed by this figure.

"That's not right. Our company's assets are not far from 100 million. So, your personal assets haven't really grown much, have they?" Shen Xingguo said discontentedly.

Shen Zhenghui was speechless for a moment, then he patted his father's shoulder, "I really don't know what to say to you." He shook his head.

Shen Xingguo seemed to realize he had made a big joke, "Well, doesn't Liu Xin also have shares in the company?"

"I already have her authorization to handle her shares."

"Ah? Are you going to marry her?" Shen Xingguo asked in surprise.

"Where are you going with this?" Shen Zhenghui shook his head.

"Son, come help Mom look at the script." Liang Kexiu walked over and interrupted their conversation. Her tone was clearly full of anticipation, "See if it will become popular when filmed."

"Did you finish the script so quickly?" Shen Zhenghui found it hard to believe.

"Hey, this is one of the scripts, based on Aunt Xu's personal experiences. We found a typist who could type very fast. She narrated it, and Aunt Yan polished it. It was done in a few days."

"Is that so? Let me see. What does Aunt Xu do? What experiences does she have?"

"Oh, her experiences are very rich. Her family has overseas connections. She married a Thai Chinese and went to Thailand in 1977 to find her husband. But her mother-in-law found another woman, and she was blamed for not being able to have a son. She couldn't stay in Thailand and couldn't return to the mainland, so she went to Hong Kong and started a small food stall, which eventually led to her owning a frozen food factory in Shenzhen."

"Uh?" Shen Zhenghui stopped flipping through the script, "This story sounds familiar."

"Um, is that so?"

Shen Zhenghui continued to read the script. The story was very simple, with few characters. Even if expanded, it would only be about ten episodes of a TV series. Although it was an inspiring story about a woman, it seemed to lack emotional depth. It would be suitable for a 13-episode Japanese drama, but for a mainland Chinese TV series, it would seem too thin.

"How is it?" Liang Kexiu had been standing by for over an hour, watching Shen Zhenghui read the script with a thoughtful expression. She immediately asked.

"The story is too simple and not complex enough," Shen Zhenghui frowned, "and there's not much emotional entanglement. Didn't Aunt Xu get married again?"

"No! She has psychological scars from being cheated once." Liang Kexiu said, "I don't know why men in Thailand can have multiple wives."

Shen Zhenghui glanced at the script again. The time span was very large, making it good material for a long film.

"Let's do this," Shen Zhenghui said, "I'll revise the script and find someone to polish it. Your company can then talk to CCTV."

"This, " Liang Kexiu was taken aback, "just filming it and airing it on Pengcheng TV would be fine."

Shen Zhenghui thought to himself that his perfectionism was making him want to do everything on a grand scale, but he said, "The background is good. We can write a historical drama series, add more characters, and maybe it can air on CCTV-1."

Shen Xingguo, who had been reading documents, took off his glasses, "Really?"

"This will require a significant investment. Find a good director and good actors." Shen Zhenghui shook his head, "Get the money ready!"

In Shen Zhenghui's plan, the most important thing for the company, which was currently producing TV series and would later produce films, was not strength but fame. It didn't need to become a large, all-encompassing entity. The key was to establish relationships in the mainland entertainment industry, serving as a foothold for entering the market.

"Let Dad handle the public relations. He has already established connections with some people, right?" Shen Zhenghui glanced at his father.

"This sounds promising. Can it really air on CCTV-1?" Shen Xingguo asked.

"CCTV-8 can also work."

"No, no, let's aim for CCTV-1!" Shen Xingguo touched his chin, feeling a surge of ambition, "This is a much higher level than Old Liu." He had already forgotten about Shen Zhenghui's reform of the company's shares.

In fact, Shen Zhenghui wouldn't go too far. The companies he planned to reform were only the anime magazine and the animation production company, which were relatively small. These companies were essentially talent development companies. Their value lay not in themselves but in what they created. In China, the quality of work in these places would drop to an unacceptable level if the leaders left. They had not yet reached the scale and level where they could continuously produce the talent they needed. Therefore, this equity reform was necessary to bind the best talent in the mainland's anime industry to his company. Shen Zhenghui felt his horizons broadened, and his vision far surpassed those who were still focused on assets—of course, this strategy was learned from Ren Zhengfei, who had only a few percent of the shares but still led Huawei.

Indeed, he had too few people under his control, and many things had to be left to develop on their own. However, given the current environment and his overseas investments, the newly established film and television cultural company should be able to develop normally, if not rapidly.

Ignoring his parents' fuss, Shen Zhenghui simply rewrote the outline of the script his mother had brought, placing Aunt Xu's story in a larger historical context, spanning Thailand, Hong Kong, and the mainland. Aunt Xu's story only occupied a small part, making it more profound. The rest was up to them to find a writer to polish it.

Then, Shen Zhenghui had to go to Hong Kong again. This time, he finally had the opportunity to sit down with Lin Jian and discuss the female stars.

Although "The Cruel History of North High School" had average box office results in Hong Kong, it still caused a stir in Asia. Lin Jian also saw that Spring Day Films seemed to have opened up in Japan. The two discussed the paper-based cooperation plan with great enthusiasm. Lin Jian, due to his failed real estate investment, decided to focus his energy on the entertainment industry. He was planning to acquire a majority stake in TVB and become its chairman. Shen Zhenghui naturally welcomed this.

Then, the two casually discussed the issue of AsiaSat TV. Although the Lin family was no longer the chairman, they still owned a significant stake in the station, which was a money-printing machine!

However, AsiaSat had been weak for years and had a deep-rooted inertia under the pressure of TVB, losing money since the late 1980s.

When Lin Jian talked about this, he was deeply moved. When his father was in charge of AsiaSat, it was basically he who ran it, and it ended up in a mess, forcing them to sell their shares and lose their position as chairman.

Shen Zhenghui was somewhat regretful about the decline of Hong Kong's TV stations, but given Hong Kong's small size and the naivety of its media professionals, what could be done? The competition among TV stations was intense. He and Lin Jian discussed some ideas for TV station programming, and the unscrupulous methods used by TV stations in the future made Shen Zhenghui casually mention them, surprising Lin Jian.

In fact, many things had been done for years in Europe, America, and Japan. With creativity and careful localization, making TV programs wasn't that difficult. When Shen Zhenghui talked about it, Lin Jian seemed to get the impression that it was indeed not that hard. This led to a lot of thinking on Lin Jian's part, so much so that when they talked about relaxing topics, Lin Jian didn't seem particularly enthusiastic, casually asking Shen Zhenghui if he had any favorite Hong Kong female stars and offering to introduce him.

In the past, Shen Zhenghui might have been interested in the female stars who had accompanied his growth, but after the洗礼 (baptism) from his parents in Pengcheng, he wasn't particularly interested in such matters at the moment.

"Mr. Lin, are you familiar with Taiwan?"

"Somewhat." Lin Jian replied, "What, Mr. Shen, are you interested in Taiwanese female artists?"

"We plan to expand our business in Taiwan, so we need to keep an eye on it," Shen Zhenghui smiled, "But Taiwan's film industry is really not doing well. Taiwanese female stars will likely have to develop in Hong Kong and the mainland." Actually, Hong Kong could be excluded.

"Always the case," Lin Jian nodded, "Taiwan's film industry hasn't really improved."

Then, Lin Jian asked enthusiastically, "Which Taiwanese female star are you interested in? Or which one are you paying attention to?"

Lin Jie hadn't debuted yet, and he didn't like the Big and Small S, so Shen Zhenghui said, "Jia Jingwen is good."

"TV dramas? Taiwan only has soap operas and variety shows left to watch." Lin Jian smiled.

"There's another female star who came to Hong Kong, Lin Xi, who is also good." Shen Zhenghui spread his hands, "I heard she played a role in Zhou Xingchi's new movie."

"The one directed by Wang Jing?" Lin Jian seemed to know Lin Xi, "She's also in 'Gambler's Battle in Las Vegas.' Younger brother Shen, you have good taste."

"Not really, Mr. Lin has better taste." Shen Zhenghui pursed his lips.

"If I had talent and was young, I would really want to learn from younger brother Shen and act as the male lead in a movie, with the girl I like as the female lead. Alas, my status limits me, and there are many things I can't do." Lin Jian was very reflective, "Younger brother Shen, when will your next film be ready?"

"Busy preparing a TV series and making an animation. I might only consider a film in the second half of the year." Shen Zhenghui replied.

"You can find me for distribution in Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, and Taiwan." Lin Jian said.

"Sure, I'll consider it." Shen Zhenghui replied politely.

...

Just as Shen Zhenghui was considering whether to stay in Hong Kong for a few more days and find time to meet stars like Zhou Xingchi and Andy Lau, he received a call from Fukuda Miki, asking him to return to Japan as soon as possible if he had nothing to do. Shen Zhenghui was trying to figure out what had happened, but Fukuda Miki playfully said he would explain in detail when he returned.

Having just consolidated his base in the mainland, Shen Zhenghui had to board a flight to Japan again, fortunately, he could go directly from Hong Kong. If he were in the mainland, he would have to fly to Beijing.