I'm just trying to ride the wave of popularity!

Chapter 182 Their Year-End Bonuses! (Part 2)
【Tianyu】

Film department.

Outside the window, brilliant fireworks bloomed in the sky, illuminating the dark night.

The light shone brightly in the office of the "People in the Jianghu" crew.

From the director and assistant director to the executive director and the cinematographer, the core members of the crew were all sitting excitedly in the conference room, staring intently at Xu Haibo, the head of the film department and deputy general manager of Tianyu Media.

At the beginning of last year, before filming began, Xu Haibo called the core team members to his office and made a very solemn promise to everyone.

If the film's box office exceeds 2 million RMB, fulfilling the company's performance agreement, then on the day it reaches 2 million, the company will prepare a big surprise for everyone.

And today, the box office is exactly 2 million!
And Xu Haibo kept his promise and fulfilled his agreement with everyone!
……

"In the past year, we created the miracle of 'Qin,' and this year, we have created the miracle of 'Ren Zai Jianghu'..."

"This is a small step for us, but a giant leap for Chinese cinema!"

"Do you remember what I said at the beginning of last year..."

"Once the performance-based agreement is finalized and we gain control of the narrative, then..."

"I have a surprise for you all!"

"..."

The dazzling light of the fireworks illuminated Xu Haibo's excited, slightly flushed face.

For a long time, Xu Haibo has been under tremendous pressure from the betting agreement!
Tianyu Media is preparing for its IPO, facing immense pressure to meet performance targets. Their film division is one of the most crucial components for the company's listing process.

Throughout last year, Tianyu Media set numerous records!
"Qin" set a box office record, "A Better Tomorrow" was a box office success, and "King of the Monsters" was a box office hit. However, the film also experienced a series of public opinion storms, including the box office failure of "Superman", the tax evasion incident of "Love Ferris Wheel", and the banning of Zhou Yang.

Xu Haibo had been working diligently for the company, never daring to slack off in the slightest. He even bowed his head and humbled himself in front of Zhou Yang, that little bastard, just to stop the public outcry.

However, the long-awaited peak of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" has finally arrived, adding a significant boost to the company's upcoming IPO.

Just now, Chairman Deng Baiqiang patted him on the shoulder earnestly and personally toasted him with a glass of wine, saying, "You've worked hard," which moved him to tears!

After the banquet, he saw the news online that "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" had surpassed 2 million views. He remembered the movie production and the things he had promised the crew...

He also wanted to use the "bonus" as a gimmick to create another wave of momentum for the listing of [Tianyu], so he approved a bonus of two million from the company and immediately asked the director to make a phone call to the senior executives of the crew.

The bonus will be distributed to all the staff of the "People in the Jianghu" crew tonight. We've even invited the media to give it a good publicity!
"Director Li, this is an extra reward from the company. It's not much, only five million, but thank you for your contributions to 'The Legend of the Condor Heroes' and to Tianyu Media!"

In the conference room, the photographer adjusted his "candid" pose and gave an OK sign. Then, Li Zhengtao from "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" stood up and smiled.

Although he is a highly renowned director of the fifth generation in China and a leading figure in Chinese cinema, the share he received from "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" was not small. Five million was nothing to him. Moreover, he already knew that the company had only approved two million for Xu Haibo.

However, he knew what kind of occasion this was, so he put on an excited expression and walked step by step towards Xu Haibo...

Then, they received bundle after bundle of RMB, seemingly carefully putting them away, but in reality, they gave a glimpse to the "secretly filming" angle!

Immediately afterwards...

Xu Haibo then smiled and called over assistant director Chen Bisheng.

"Director Chen, this extra 500,000 yuan is a reward from the company. Have a good New Year!"

"..."

Chen Bisheng looked excited!
Somewhat shocking!

Half a million!
This was something he had never dreamed of. He hurriedly stood up, ran to Xu Haibo's side, and took the reward.

After receiving it, he was a little stunned, as if he felt something was wrong, but after seeing the director Li Zhengtao's eye signal, he quickly put on a grateful look and accepted the money.

Then, they came down.

"Director Xu, 400,000 RMB..."

Another clueless executive director, Xu Chao, stood up and hurriedly walked over, only to find that what appeared to be four bundles of money were actually "practice coupons" in the middle!
Damn it, not even 50,000 yuan?
Instantly, a bucket of cold water was poured over his face!

Immediately after noticing the camera, he realized what was happening, smiled, and excitedly accepted the money, which had "several pieces of paper sandwiched in between."

"..."

After receiving hundreds of thousands of RMB in bonuses, it was discovered that almost all of them were accompanied by stacks of "practice vouchers" used for taking photos.

The initially exciting atmosphere instantly turned into disappointment, as if expectations had been raised to their peak and then suddenly pushed down into an abyss.

Executive director Xu Chao counted it quickly; there was only 30,000 yuan…

He waited in a daze until the meeting ended, watching Xu Haibo speak passionately about awarding "tens of millions" in bonuses, and his complex feelings grew stronger!

"We'll be arranging interviews next, so make sure you do your best!"

After leaving the meeting room, he heard the following words.

He nodded, complied with the company's arrangements, and "excitedly" accepted an interview, saying some things with great enthusiasm.

After the interview, he returned home and was about to close his eyes when he suddenly received a phone call!
The call was from Che Xiao, a junior of Yan Ying.

Previously, their relationship was so-so, but after Che Xiao filmed her first movie, she started calling him frequently, intentionally or unintentionally. Over time, they became quite familiar with each other.

"Senior, your reward this year is only 400,000?" "Yeah, what's wrong?"

"Holy crap, senior, why don't you just switch sides and join our [Xuan Shi Entertainment]? Four hundred thousand to feed a beggar? Damn it, you're the most important assistant director of 'Man in the Jianghu'! Senior, may I ask, how much money did you make in total for this movie with Director Li Zhengtao?"

"Why are you asking this?" Chen Bisheng felt uncomfortable when he heard this.

"Do you have five million?"

"I'm just the executive director. There are assistant directors and the director above me. There are five or six executive directors like me in the whole crew. Five million? How could there be five million? Are you kidding me!"

"Five million isn't possible, but two million is, right? This is a 2 million movie..."

"No, I didn't get a share of the film's profits. I already said I was just the executive director!"

"What? Not even two million? Do you have one million?"

The shocked voice on the other end of the phone pierced his heart like a needle: "No, why are you asking this?"

"Even including the bonus, not even a million?"

"About that, exactly one million. What's wrong?"

"Damn it! Even with the 400,000 bonus, it's only one million? What kind of capitalist is this?!"

"What do you mean?"

Actually, including the bonus, it totaled a fucking 38 RMB!

"My God, do you know how much bonus our executive director of 'The Spirit of Zhao Zilong' received? He gave out a million in bonuses alone!"

"???"

"Didn't you see the news?"

"Didn't see it..."

"Look now, some scoundrel in the company sent out President Zhou's email and the finance department's bonus table. Sigh, I was worried President Zhou would be angry, but surprisingly, he didn't... I even suspect that President Zhou sent them secretly himself... Sigh, I couldn't even keep a low profile..."

"???"

Xu Chao trembled slightly upon hearing the voice on the phone!
Next!

I immediately turned on the computer!
Then, I saw an internal letter that Zhou Yang wrote to all employees!

……

"As I write this email, I see the dazzling fireworks outside my window. The fireworks are beautiful, and they remind me of the evening last June when I first met Director Shen Long..."

"Back then, we were all poor, but we all had dreams. We wanted to do something so that we wouldn't waste the rest of our lives because of this!"

"That year, Director Shen was going to switch careers to wedding planning!"

"If nothing unexpected happens, Director Shen is probably a wedding photographer now, dressing himself up in festive attire every day, and then taking one photo after another amidst a chorus of blessings..."

"But I urged him to persevere a little longer. I told him to give me a month, and I would give him back his dream of making movies!"

"Then, we made 'Monkey King vs. Superman 2,' a terrible movie that's now being criticized by countless filmmakers, but because of that movie, we survived..."

“Dreams sometimes face storms, setbacks, and criticism. Having come up from the bottom, we understand very well the despair of struggling in hardship and giving up on dreams…”

"Fortunately, none of us gave up!"

"Fortunately, we survived..."

"Fortunately, our team is growing, and more and more people are joining us..."

"Fortunately, we gained recognition step by step..."

"..."

"All of this is not just my achievement, but also the credit of Director Shen, Director Che, and others!"

"And it's all of [XuanShi Entertainment], those lovely dream chasers who are on their way, who have carried us up step by step..."

"I'm sorry, this year I was so busy with so many things that I forgot to prepare for the New Year..."

"I'm also sorry that this year, I haven't been able to have a proper chat or a meeting with everyone..."

"And we've never even had a proper wrap party..."

"I know many people have been looking forward to this day, but please allow me to apologize, there will be no celebration banquet this year..."

"Only a tiny bit of bonus..."

"..."

After reading the internal letter, Xu Chao didn't feel anything. However, when he saw another bonus detail, he trembled slightly!
Unbelievable...

Keep your eyes glued to that prize money slip!
He saw it—director Che Xiao's bonus!

(End of this chapter)