Chapter 58: This Is What You Didn't Want After All

After finishing the phone call with his superior, Zhang Qianjun had a clear plan in mind. Returning to the meeting room, he found the six of them still sitting there idly.

With the main issues settled and nothing left to do, Zhang Qianjun gave a wave of his hand, calling for whole roasted lamb downstairs.

The seven of them, plus Li Yanjing and Reba’s new assistant Xiaoling, along with Zhou Chongshan and Chen Xiaoyu who followed Zhang Qianjun like shadows, made a total of eleven people heading downstairs.

Reba could be considered to have met most of the company’s current core personnel by now.

After dinner, Zhang Qianjun arranged for a driver to send Reba back to her hotel, telling her that if she had nothing special to attend to, she could return to Shanghai the next day and simply come back in July.

After making sure Reba was safely checked into her hotel, the driver and Reba's assistant Xiaoling also bid farewell and left. Reba lay on the bed, just about to sigh with some emotion, when her phone suddenly rang. She answered it, and a smile immediately bloomed on her face.

"Mom～

I'm fine, everything is great, I just got back to the hotel.

The company? It's not huge, but it's quite wealthy. The company cars are Mercedes and Audis worth over a million, they booked me first-class for my flights, and the hotel is five-star.

What do I think of it? Well, I've never been to any other company, so it's hard to compare, but it seems like a very pragmatic place. Everyone in the company walks really fast.

The boss is very young, only a few months older than me.

The whole company is so young. Aside from the manager who is from the seventies, everyone else seems to be post-85s—no wait, the head of company security should be close to thirty.

Right, this company is quite unique; they have a security department, and quite a few people are in it.

What's the boss like as a person? I'm not sure, but he seems quite upright. The only rumors online were about him liking to scold people on set.

The way he looked at me? I can't really describe it, just very ordinary. Right, just the kind of look people give ordinary folks.

Maybe he didn't think I was all that pretty; after all, he's a big star and must have seen plenty of pretty people.

We had whole roasted lamb for dinner. It tasted all right, though definitely incomparable to home-cooking. Maybe he thought this was the kind of food I'd love?

I definitely didn't drink any alcohol at dinner, but they did. The atmosphere was really nice; everyone drank whatever they wanted, and nobody interfered.

The boss? He can hold his liquor pretty well, but he wasn't drunk either. It was hard to tell his drinking manners, apart from the fact that he liked to down mugs of draft beer in one gulp, I didn't notice anything special.

Still, I feel like his drinking manners must be good, because not a single person at the table lost their composure.

Mom, didn't you say you can tell what kind of person a boss is by looking at the employees? I think he seems like a pretty good guy.

Oh, there is one thing: this guy is super direct. The moment we met, he said my skin was dark and told me to get whitening treatments. That was honestly a bit annoying.

Hahaha, I think this company is pretty good. Movies are coming out one after another, and before long, I might just become a Best Actress!

Yeah, I'm heading back to Shanghai tomorrow. Okay, bye-bye, get some sleep early too."

Putting down her phone, Reba recalled the experiences of the day once more.

*Seems pretty good.*

The next morning, under the escort of the driver and her assistant Xiaoling, Reba boarded a plane back to Shanghai. Meanwhile, Department Chief Wang of China Film Group also received Zhang Qianjun's quotation.

"Zhang Jun, isn't this just too absurd?"

Chief Wang looked at the person in front of him with a troubled expression.

Zhang Qianjun smiled and said,

"It's not absurd. Just submit this to the company's leadership and let them decide for themselves. Whether it succeeds or not doesn't matter; you still handle the distribution."

Chief Wang looked perplexed.

"Are you sure? Last time the budget for *So Young* was fifty million and it caused an internal uproar. This time it's so exorbitant that even I find it incredible."

Zhang Qianjun nodded.

"Sure. I've already made the calls, and everyone agrees on this."

While Chief Wang was still wondering who "everyone" referred to, Zhang Qianjun had already bid farewell and left.

Looking at the movie proposal in his hands, he didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Oh well, time to report it upward. When the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up.

Looking at Wang Guohui before him, Zhao Haicheng wore a skeptical look.

"Old Wang, are you serious?

Zhang Qianjun said it doesn't matter whether it succeeds or not, and they'll still let us handle the distribution?"

Chief Wang nodded.

"President Zhao, those were Qianjun's exact words. He also said he had already made the calls and everyone agreed."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Haicheng seemed to understand something. Looking at the outrageous proposal in his hands, he made up his mind.

"Well, what else is there to discuss? Let's bring it to the executive meeting."

In the afternoon, the executive committee meeting commenced.

After discussing various other agenda items, the meeting moved on to the segment regarding film investments.

Han Sanping sat in the primary seat and signaled the various vice presidents to begin.

Zhao Haicheng spoke first,

"Chairman Han, fellow leaders, I have a project here provided by Solar System Pictures. It's a comedy genre with a production budget of 150 million, scheduled to start filming in June.

Most leaders should be quite familiar with Solar System Pictures by now. Their released films *Better Days* and *Brotherhood of Blades* were both massive successes.

Among them, *Brotherhood of Blades* brought the company a return of 74 million, ranking second only to *The Founding of a Party* in the 2011 fiscal year.

Currently, *So Young*, starring Zhang Qianjun and jointly produced by China Film, Wanda, and Enlight, has also been scheduled for release on June 1st.

Zhang Qianjun and his Solar System Pictures, along with their core members, all hail from the Beijing Film Academy. Whether judging by their background or their actual performance since entering the industry, they can be described as dependable.

My personal suggestion is to maintain a long-term cooperation with him moving forward. This will be an important performance growth point for China Film in the future."

With that, Zhao Haicheng nodded toward Han Sanping, signaling the end of his statement.

Han Sanping looked around at the people gathered at the executive meeting.

"What do other comrades think? After all, this is a 150-million project, so we still need to approach it with a sense of reverence."

As soon as Han Sanping finished speaking, the newly arrived President Zhang raised a question.

"President Zhao, I've looked at the filming schedule for this movie. Aside from a short location shoot in Chifeng, the rest is all being shot in Qiantang. For a comedy film like this, how did the budget reach 150 million?"

Zhao Haicheng hesitated slightly before speaking truthfully,

"Out of the 150 million production cost, 100 million is Zhang Qianjun's acting fee."

As soon as these words were spoken, the meeting room fell silent for a moment before erupting into a murmur. The newly arrived President Zhang reacted most fiercely.

"Does he think he's Jet Li? Last time fifty million was already outrageous, but since other companies were footing the bill, I didn't object. This time, I firmly disagree. This is simply preposterous!"

After President Zhang expressed his stance, a few others agreed with his view, feeling the matter was far too exaggerated. Others kept their eyes fixed downwards, acting as if nothing had happened.

Another faction secretly glanced toward La Peikang, who was seated second to the right of Han Sanping, as if waiting for him to speak.

Han Sanping remained unfazed and silent. When the murmurs subsided, he looked toward La Peikang.

"Chairman La, although you are currently not directly in charge of the company's operations, you are a director of the group, and you voted in favor of the previous Solar System Pictures projects.

Regarding Haicheng's proposal this time, what are your suggestions?"

The attendees suddenly grew quiet. President Zhang had not gotten along well with this person ever since he arrived, and La had always been a supporter of Solar System Pictures. A good show was about to begin.

Chairman La picked up the teacup in front of him and took a sip.

In a measured yet firm tone, he said,

"When we invest in films, aside from supporting the development of domestic cinema, profitability is also a crucial objective—especially given that the domestic market currently values commercial films and box office returns.

Therefore, in the process of selecting investment targets, whether the invested commercial film can turn a profit and the scale of that profit is a very important metric.

Based on this premise, I believe we cannot determine whether a film is worth investing in simply by looking at a single actor's salary.

After all, Jet Li and Jackie Chan command even higher fees. If we use salary as a rigid standard, our thinking becomes somewhat restricted.

Judging by Solar System Pictures' consistent track record and the capital market's recognition of Zhang Qianjun himself, I believe we should join this project and secure at least a fifty percent share."

Just as Chairman La finished speaking, before Han Sanping could say anything, President Zhang could no longer sit still.

"Chairman La, would you like to repeat and listen to what you just said? Are you comparing Zhang Qianjun to Jet Li and Jackie Chan? Do you think that's appropriate?"

Chairman La calmly turned his gaze toward him and said steadily,

"I am simply citing an example based on factual circumstances. There is no question of whether it is appropriate or not."

President Zhang pressed on relentlessly.

"Are you saying that whatever exists is rational?"

Chairman La smiled faintly.

"President Zhang, Hegel's original text is that what is rational is actual, and what is actual is rational. It cannot be simply interpreted as 'whatever exists is just.'"

President Zhang still wanted to lash out, but constrained by the occasion and unable to fully vent his feelings, he could only blurt out,

"I firmly object to investing in this project."

Seeing that both sides had made their stances clear, Han Sanping did not drag things out.

"Let's vote by a show of hands."

That same evening, Zhang Qianjun received a call back from Chief Wang.

"The investment was vetoed."