Best Friends and Investment Results

On December 8, the premiere of "A World Without Thieves" was held in Beijing. Huayi's Young Mr. Wang personally called Wei Jin to invite him.

Wei Jin said he was out of town and couldn't attend, and wished the film box-office success in advance.

By December 10, after a full week of roadshow appearances, "Those Years" had reached 72.84 million yuan at the box office.

It had averaged over 10 million yuan a day, but its box office had dropped sharply since the previous day because "A World Without Thieves" had officially opened. After all, the number of screens was limited.

"A World Without Thieves" earned 4.7 million yuan on its opening day, a result that made jaws drop. "Those Years" had previously come close to 10 million on its first day, which the industry had widely regarded as a sign that the market was warming up.

Feng Dapao himself had been brimming with confidence, thinking that riding this warm current, "A World Without Thieves" might smash past 10 million on opening day. Instead, reality had slapped him so hard that his head rang.

The industry fell silent too, unable to understand why the gap between the two films was so enormous.

The explanation was simple: that was how fan films worked. They relied entirely on a huge initial burst to rack up box-office revenue quickly.

If word of mouth collapsed afterward, the first week's earnings were basically the total.

Fortunately, word of mouth for "Those Years" had remained good, allowing it to bring in over 10 million a day. That was also why Wei Jin wanted to continue the roadshow.

Wei Jin couldn't control the speculation outside. At that moment, he was sitting on the bed with an annoyed look on his face, looking somewhat haggard.

The half-naked woman beside him teased:

"What, still regretting it? You didn't hesitate last night. You even tore my stockings to shreds."

Wei Jin glanced at the black stockings on the floor and couldn't help feeling a little awkward. Then he argued:

"Can you blame me? You came to my room in the middle of the night dressed so skimpily, wearing black stockings and a bodycon skirt, teasing me every way you could. What cadre could withstand a test like that? Besides, black stockings are my weakness."

"Aha, so you really do have a soft spot for black stockings. Pear wasn't lying to me after all."

"Sister Jing, can we not bring up Sister Li? I don't even know how to face her."

That was right. The woman who had paid Wei Jin a nighttime visit was none other than Zeng Li's close friend, Hu Jing.

And that was precisely what troubled him. If it had been a stranger, just a man and a woman enjoying themselves, Zeng Li probably wouldn't have taken it seriously even if she found out. But this was her best friend.

"Don't worry. I won't tell Pear, and I won't damage your relationship."

Hu Jing spoke with a calm expression.

"But it looks like Pear does have some weight in your heart. At least she wasn't wrong about you."

Hu Jing had given what happened last night careful thought. Making it in the entertainment industry was simply too hard. She had no background and had struggled on her own every step of the way.

She had graduated several years ago and still hadn't managed to buy a home in Beijing. She had only gotten a role in Wei Jin's film because of Zeng Li's help, but favors couldn't always be counted on.

With the film's box office about to pass 100 million yuan, Wei Jin would become one of the country's leading directors. So she had wanted to build a connection with him.

As for the way she went about it, this was perfectly normal in the entertainment industry. There was a fitting term for it: polite sex.

As for wronging her best friend, Hu Jing felt she hadn't inserted herself into their relationship, so it didn't count as poaching and she hadn't wronged Zeng Li.

"You make it sound so simple. If Sister Li finds out, what will she think of me?"

Wei Jin still couldn't quite accept it. He silently cursed himself for failing to keep himself under control last night.

Still, Wei Jin wasn't entirely to blame. After all, it had been a long time since anyone had shared his bed. Between sleeping alone and being young and full of vigor, an accidental discharge was unavoidable. If it had been someone else, Wei Jin wouldn't have had the slightest regret.

"Oh, come on. You're a grown man, so why are you fussing like this? How can someone like you make it in the entertainment industry?"

Hu Jing could be a little frightening when she got fierce, but her words did help Wei Jin untie the knot in his heart.

The reason Wei Jin had been so conflicted and annoyed was that the values from his previous life were still at work.

He had fucking transmigrated and was living a second life, and he was in the entertainment industry. He could have a moral bottom line, but he couldn't set it too high.

Wei Jin, oh, Wei Jin, you only made a mistake that every man in the world would make.

Wei Jin lit a cigarette and comforted himself.

From that moment on, Wei Jin seemed to have awakened some remarkable attribute.

Seeing that Wei Jin no longer seemed conflicted, Hu Jing looked at his bare upper body. Thinking of last night, her eyes turned sultry, and she couldn't help pressing herself against him:

"I have another pair of black stockings in my bag. They feel even better. Want to try them?"

Wei Jin took a deep drag on his cigarette, ground the butt hard into the ashtray, then turned and pounced on Hu Jing:

"Temptress, you're testing my weakness. I'm going to make you call me daddy..."

"Come on, come on..."

After the roadshow ended, Wei Jin returned to Beijing.

Not long after he got off the plane, Xiang Wenlong called. After a long stalemate, the two literature websites had finally agreed to Wei Jin's investment.

Back in September, Xiang Wenlong had already identified his investment targets in the literature sector: Moujiang and Moudian.

But Moujiang's founder had never planned to seek financing, and wasn't particularly short of money.

After making contact, Xiang Wenlong also found himself like a mouse trying to drag a turtle, with nowhere to get a grip. Moujiang would only agree to give them priority when selling copyrights, and negotiations had reached a stalemate.

Moudian was even more troublesome.

Long before Xiang Wenlong approached it, Shanda had already been negotiating with Moudian. The two sides had nearly agreed on a price when Qingtian Capital appeared out of nowhere.

Moudian also saw an opportunity to hold out for a better price, and the three-way negotiations fell into a deadlock.

It had seemed the impasse would be difficult to break, but over the past few days, the film adapted from Wei Jin's novel of the same name had been released to unprecedented success. The founders of both literature websites seemed to have glimpsed another path for development, and both had softened their positions somewhat.

After Xiang Wenlong explained, Wei Jin understood the whole story. He promptly made time to meet the heads of the two websites formally.

Three days later, Wei Jin reached an agreement with both parties, completed his investments and secured priority rights to the copyrights for all novels on the websites.

Afterward, Xiang Wenlong also reported on some of the recent groundwork for the cinema chain.

By the end of 2004, there were fewer than 2,400 cinema screens in the country. A survey of the five biggest box-office cities showed that existing cinemas suffered from poor environments, outdated equipment and inconvenient transportation.

The team's analysis suggested that opening cinemas in commercial centers or places with heavy foot traffic should yield good returns. They had already shortlisted twelve promising commercial locations.

After looking over the marked cities and locations, Wei Jin decided to establish the cinemas through a combination of leasing and purchasing.

At present, setting up a cinema required roughly one million yuan in initial investment if no real estate was purchased, but operating one cost around two million yuan a year.

Taking 2003 as an example, there had been 2,300 screens and a total box office of one billion yuan, with each screen generating an average of 430,000 yuan. A cinema with five screens would earn 2.15 million yuan a year from ticket sales alone, of which the cinema could take around 1.2 million.

Ticket sales, however, accounted for only 40–50% of a cinema's total revenue. The rest, including snacks, drinks and commercial advertising, actually made up the larger share. A well-run cinema would earn no less than three million yuan a year, more than enough to cover its costs.

As long as it didn't lose money, Wei Jin would make a huge profit.

After some quick calculations, Wei Jin made his decision: negotiate deals for all twelve locations and aim to begin renovations after the new year.

By the time he had dealt with the company's affairs, it was December 23, and "Kung Fu" had been released.