Huayu Entertainment 1995 started with hijacking.

Chapter 122 Take bigger steps!
At the airport, Wu Yuchen was reading a book while waiting for his flight when he suddenly heard a voice next to him:
"Excuse me, are you director Wu Yuchen?"

Wu Yuchen turned his head and saw a handsome face looking at him with some excitement, making him feel a little dazed. It wasn't because the man in front of him was handsome, but because he didn't expect to run into him here.

A-Zu!

Seeing that Wu Yuchen was stunned and didn't speak, Wu Yanzu immediately suppressed his excitement and explained:

"Director Wu, hello! I'm a big fan of yours. I watched your film 'Run Lola Run,' and it was absolutely fantastic! I loved it! I was waiting for my flight when I saw someone who looked like you, and I was surprised to find out it really was you!"

Upon hearing this, Wu Yuchen realized that his film "Run Lola Run" had also been released in the United States, and it even featured an illustration of him winning the Best Director award at the Berlin Film Festival, which turned Wu Yanzu into a fan.

He immediately smiled and extended his hand to shake his: "Nice to meet you! Sorry, I just thought you had a very good image, very suitable to be an actor, so I didn't realize it~"

Wu Yuchen then struck up a conversation with Wu Yanzu and learned that he had just graduated and was waiting for a flight to Hong Kong Island, planning to visit his sister there first.

Wu Yanzu is a top student in the Department of Architecture at the University of Oregon. He was born in California and, like many American students, planned to travel for a year before considering his future.

“I’ve never been to Hong Kong Island before. My sister told me it was very interesting, so I decided to go and see it.”

"Can you speak Cantonese?"

"No, I spoke only Shanghainese at home before high school, and I never spoke Cantonese. But my sister said that speaking English in Hong Kong Island is no problem at all."

Wu Yuchen smiled as he sized up Wu Yanzu, a thought suddenly forming in his mind. He then asked:
"Have you ever planned to visit the capital?"

“I went to Beijing two years ago. I participated in a training camp at the Shichahai Martial Arts School. I have been practicing kung fu for many years and even won an award!” Wu Yanzu said, revealing a proud expression.

Wu Yuchen gave a timely thumbs up: "Wow! That's really amazing!"

He then casually asked, "Ah Zu, have you ever considered becoming an actor in the future? You have a really good image!"

Hearing Wu Yuchen say this, Wu Yanzu scratched his head: "Director Wu, I never thought of that. I studied architecture and have never been involved in acting..."

"Hehe, it's okay, you can think about it now. Let's exchange contact information, I'll contact you when I have the chance!"

He recalled that Wu Yanzu worked as a model in Hong Kong for a few months, and then a director relentlessly pursued him to film a male-male movie called "Bishonen". He refused for half a year, but finally agreed after the director's persistent pleading.

If you can speak Shanghainese but not Cantonese, wouldn't that make you more suited to developing your career in mainland China?

Whether he goes to Hong Kong or the mainland, he'll be acting. His opportunities here are definitely better than for "Bishonen"!

……

As Wu Yuchen stepped off the plane, he was about to exclaim how fragrant the air in China was, but upon inhaling and feeling the sand and dust entering his nose, he had to swallow his words.

Although the air quality in Beijing is not as good, the moment I set foot on Chinese soil, I felt a sense of homecoming, a heartfelt warmth and relaxation.

This time, someone from the company came to pick him up, driving the same domestically produced Jeep. As soon as they saw him, they very tactfully took his luggage.

Wu Yuchen sat in the back row and asked about what had happened at the company while he was away. After listening, he realized that he seemed to have quite a lot to deal with now.

First, there's the matter of preparing for the filming of "If Love Has a Destiny." The company has already made all the necessary preparations, and the rest will have to be decided by director Wu Yuchen after he returns.

Then the production team of "The Passionate Years" ran into a funding shortage. The production team's funds were provided in installments of one million yuan each. After finalizing the cast in March, they spent another month preparing, and filming officially started in April. So far, they have been filming for two months and have spent 4 million yuan.

It wasn't that they overspent; Miracle Pictures simply didn't have enough working capital. Because the money from selling the rights to "Run Lola Run" wasn't deposited into their domestic account—and China has always had strict controls on the US dollar—once the money came in, it couldn't get out, so Wu Yuchen didn't dare transfer it in. Under these circumstances, Miracle Pictures started experiencing a cash shortage, and if Wu Yuchen didn't return, the company would have to contact him.

Han Sanping's side also came to him, because summer vacation is just around the corner. The movie "My Brothers and Sisters" that he filmed half a year ago in winter was supposed to be released during the summer season. Now the Beijing Film Studio has prepared the publicity plan and wants to discuss it with him.

Wu Yuchen rubbed his temples in the back row. He seemed to be quite busy; there was a lot to do, and he already had many things to deal with as soon as he returned. However, there was one advantage: he had decision-making power over these matters, which was a significant improvement compared to his time in Hollywood.

He didn't mean he had to do everything himself. For example, he basically handed over the handling of "The Passionate Years" to Kang Honglei and the company. However, he had the decision-making power for the project. He made the decisions. This feeling of being proactive versus being passive is completely different.

Wu Yuchen picked up the phone:
"Hey, Brother Lei? Yes, I just got back! How's the filming progress over there? Will it take another two or three weeks? Okay, I got it. I'll transfer the 100 million to you tomorrow. Don't worry, just film well."

After hanging up the phone, Wu Yuchen said to the person in the front row:

"Let's go to the stock exchange first."

"Mr. Wu, why don't you go home and rest first?"

"I won't feel at ease until we resolve the money issue first!" Wu Yuchen said with a smile.

Wu Yuchen went to the securities company to deal with the Changhong shares he had bought.

After returning from the Tokyo Film Festival last year, I invested another $80 in Changhong stock. Combined with the more than three million I already had, the stock value of my holdings at that time was nearly ten million. Now, in just over six months, it has grown to 3623 million.

Naturally, Wu Yuchen is now considered a major client and was invited to the VIP room.

Wu Yuchen glanced at Changhong's stock price; it had already risen nearly 20 times from its low point in January of last year. His mother had been nagging him about that 20-fold increase back then, and now it seemed it had reached that point. Regardless of whether it was the peak, they had already made so much money; the only remaining risk was risk.

The securities company manager smiled and said to Wu Yuchen:

"Mr. Wu, your amount of capital is quite large. If you sell all at once, you may incur a loss. Would you like to consider selling in batches?"

Wu Yuchen frowned upon hearing this and asked:
What was Changhong's transaction volume yesterday?

"5.4."

Wu Yuchen thought for a moment and said, "I'll wait here for you for an hour, and let the traders sell it in batches."

He didn't want to sell it over several days anymore; the 500 million transaction volume was enough to cover his 30 million+ sell orders.

About forty or fifty minutes later, the manager came over:
"Mr. Wu, we have paid everything for you. After deducting the commission, your cash balance is 3507 million."

Wu Yuchen calculated that he had lost about 3%, but since he was constantly selling off his stock, the price was bound to fall. Losing only 3% was acceptable, and he could withdraw the money tomorrow.

By the way, the only advantage of the domestic stock market is that it doesn't levy personal income tax or capital gains tax. However, if you really want to invest in stocks, you should go to the US stock market, since it's genuinely rising, while the A-shares market is stuck at 3000 points for ages. If you're only trying to save on taxes, you'll likely lose most of your principal. Wu Yuchen only dared to play this game because he had some foresight.

The next day, at the Beijing Film Studio. "Director Wu, you really have to tell me all about your trip to Hollywood this time!"

Wu Yuchen came to the Beijing Film Studio intending to discuss the release of "My Brothers and Sisters," but Han Sanping grabbed him and made him talk about Hollywood.

Wu Yuchen smiled and shook his head: "Director Han, everyone here raves about America's freedom, but I have to tell you the truth, when it comes to the rights of being a director, our directors are much freer than those in Hollywood!"

Immediately afterwards, Wu Yuchen began to tell Han Sanping about his Hollywood experience, recounting everything in detail except for the minor incident involving Gretchen, which was unnecessary to mention.

Although Wu Yuchen complained, he tried his best to remain impartial when he spoke.

Han Sanping could sense the constraints Wu Yuchen faced as a director from his description, but he could also feel the power of Hollywood. Capital, union protections, talent agencies, special effects production, completion insurance, and the powerful publicity system that Wu Yuchen hadn't encountered—China lags far behind in every aspect of these areas.

"This trip was definitely worthwhile!"

Han Sanping made a couple of remarks, then gave Wu Yuchen a delighted smile:
"You actually managed to get Sylvester Stallone to be your male lead. Just that alone should make countless directors in China extremely envious!"

Upon hearing this, Wu Yuchen chuckled and said with a hint of pride, "Director Han, I didn't invite him here; Stallone delivered himself to our door!"

Han Sanping laughed heartily: "You really are acting innocent after getting a good deal!"

He then asked, "By the way, your 'Frequency of Black Holes' doesn't have any explicit content, right?"

"No, it's just about time travel and father-son relationships, very positive and mainstream."

"Hey, I'll give you a heads-up in a couple of days. Stallone is the lead actor, and you're directing it. There shouldn't be any problem getting this movie imported and shown next year!"

Wu Yuchen only remembered this after hearing Han Sanping's words. He hadn't considered the situation in China at all when he was filming "Frequency".

China Film Group Corporation currently has a quota of 10 foreign language films to be imported each year, and Wu Baige's "Broken Arrow" was imported last year. With Wu Baige as an insider and Sylvester Stallone as a superstar, "Frequency" is almost certain to take one of those quotas.

"Thank you very much, Factory Manager Han!"

"Don't be so polite. With a director like you here, they would have to bring it in even if I didn't say so," Han Sanping said with a smile.

After the two finished discussing Hollywood, Han Sanping called in Section Chief Yu Dong to discuss the publicity and distribution of "My Brothers and Sisters".

After Yu Dong entered, he smiled at Wu Yuchen and then said:
"Director Wu, actually we had already come up with a rough plan before you came back. Our movie has a big star, Wang Zuxian, and you, the Berlin Best Director. We'll use the two of you as the promotional points."

Wu Yuchen nodded; it was only right. With Wang Zuxian's status as a major star, it had to be utilized.

He asked, "How do you plan to promote Wang Zuxian's story?"

"We came up with several headlines at the time, and finally chose this one."

As Yu Dong spoke, he handed over a notebook. Wu Yuchen took it and looked at it, seeing what was written inside:

"Wang Zuxian's first film in mainland China, a touching family drama by Wu Yuchen!"

Looking at the title, Wu Yuchen thought it was quite in line with the propaganda slogans of this era. The claim that it was Wang Zuxian's first film in mainland China was sure to attract quite a few people.

But how to put it, Wu Yuchen had seen so many titles from later generations that he felt this one was too bland and too rigid. In any case, he found it to be quite ordinary and not enough to stir up people's emotions or desires.

However, Wu Yuchen did not blame them for their thoughts. After all, this is the current environment, and people's imaginations are still being constrained.

Seeing that Wu Yuchen didn't speak, Yu Dong tentatively asked, "Director Wu, do you think there's a problem?"

Wu Yuchen smiled and said, "No problem, it's pretty good. But I think we can take a slightly bigger step."

"Bigger?" Han Sanping was also curious when he heard this. How big should it be?
Wu Yuchen picked up a pen and wrote another line in his notebook:

"Asian Queen of Pop Wang Zuxian's Search for Relatives on the Mainland!"

Han Sanping and Yu Dong were both dumbfounded after reading it.

Yu Dong stammered, "This, this..."

He never imagined that a promotional headline could be written like that.
Han Sanping was taken aback for a moment and then asked, "If we promote it like this, won't we be accused of false advertising?"

Wu Yuchen smiled and said, "Where is it fake? My movie is just about the whole process of the female protagonist, Wang Zuxian, returning to the mainland to find her relatives."

Upon hearing this, Han Sanping scratched his head. What he said was true, but the title was very misleading!

They've never done anything like this before.

Wu Yuchen asked Yu Dong with a smile, "Yu Ke, if you were a viewer, would you be interested in such a title?"

Yu Dong immediately nodded: "Of course! I'm curious to know why Wang Zuxian would run to the mainland to find her relatives? What happened to her in the past? Does she really have relatives still on the mainland...?"

Wu Yuchen turned to Han Sanping and said:

"Director Han, you see, this will definitely attract more audiences to the cinema. This isn't false advertising, it's just a little bit of well-intentioned guidance. This is nothing compared to what's happening in Hong Kong and Hollywood."

Han Sanping, whose emotions had already been stirred by Wu Yuchen's various Hollywood experiences, made up his mind after hearing what Wu Yuchen said: "Okay, let's do it this way! But will there be any problems with Wang Zuxian?"

"It should be fine. I'll call her later and ask. If she doesn't agree, we'll stick to the original plan."

Wu Yuchen felt that there shouldn't be any major problems with Wang Zuxian. After all, he had experienced all sorts of exaggerated and ridiculous propaganda methods in Hong Kong, so what was this?
Yu Dong looked at the title, then at Wu Yuchen, his eyes darting around. He picked up his pen and wrote another sentence in his notebook, then said with a smile, "Director Han, Director Wu, I think it would be even better to add one more sentence."

Wu Yuchen and Han Sanping looked at the notebook and saw that it had changed to:
"Asian Queen of Pop Wang Zuxian's Search for Relatives in Mainland China"

—Wu Yuchen, Best Director at Berlin Film Festival, documented the entire event!

Wu Yuchen couldn't help but curse inwardly. He had to admit that Yu Dong's mind worked really fast. Adding that sentence made Wang Zuxian's search for relatives even more realistic!
At least to the naive audience of the 90s, it was a real gimmick, very eye-catching and tempting!
……

(End of this chapter)