How A Ride-Hailing Driver Comes To Dominate The World? [EN]: Chapter 398

398. Investing in the Filming of “The Captain”: What’s Wrong with a Ride-Hailing Driver Having Some Money?

Chapter 398 Investing in the Filming of “The Captain”

It’s only natural for Lin Yiren to stand up for her old classmate when she’s in trouble.

However, expecting her and Yang Chen to reason with these people who are used to getting free meals is clearly impossible.

These internet celebrities who freeload are very harmful to platforms like Douyin [TikTok], and Yang Chen, as a shareholder, naturally can’t sit idly by.

Yang Chen beckoned Lin Yiren to lean in and whispered, “Check what their accounts are called and read them to me.”

Lin Yiren smiled and nodded, quickly walking over.

The internet celebrities who wanted to freeload showed lewd smiles when they saw how beautiful Lin Yiren was.

“Wow, beauty, you’re so pretty.”

“Seriously, those internet celebrities can’t live without beauty filters. They’re unwatchable without them. This is the first time I’ve seen such a beautiful girl in real life.”

“Beauty, add me on WeChat [a popular Chinese messaging app]. We can help you become an internet celebrity. How about it?”

“Beauty, become my apprentice, and I guarantee you’ll achieve financial freedom within a year.”

Lin Yiren was disdainful. If she wanted to be an internet celebrity, with her looks and Yang Chen’s influence, it wouldn’t be impossible to gain over a hundred million fans across the entire network.

In fact, if she wanted to be a star, with her own qualities and Yang Chen’s resources, she could become famous in a short time.

With only five million followers combined, they dare to show off and try to recruit her as a disciple?

“Do you really have five million followers?” Lin Yiren deliberately asked, pretending not to believe it.

Those little internet celebrities immediately got excited and showed their accounts to Lin Yiren.

Lin Yiren said loudly, “This ID is ‘Le Ge Eating, Drinking, and Having Fun,’ and it has so many followers, 4.56 million.”

Yang Chen immediately wrote down this account, planning to send it to the Douyin CEO for processing later.

The account owner, Wang Le, smiled proudly and said, “There are methods and techniques to being an internet celebrity. If you become my apprentice, I can teach you everything I know. I won’t say much, but you’ll be eating and drinking well every day, and financial freedom within three years isn’t a dream.”

Lin Yiren smiled and nodded, continuing to report the IDs of the remaining little internet celebrities.

Yang Chen recorded all these people’s IDs and then sent them to the Douyin CEO, along with a text message.

“I came out for dinner today and happened to see these internet celebrities eating and drinking for free under the guise of ‘internet celebrity store visits.’ Are you unaware of this phenomenon among platform users? Immediately deal with their accounts. I want to see your rectification plan by 12 o’clock tonight. If I’m not satisfied, you can wait for me to request a shareholders’ meeting to remove you from your position.”

This scared the CEO, who quickly called Yang Chen.

However, Yang Chen hung up on him.

Then, he sent a message.

“Mr. Yang, I’m sorry, this is my dereliction of duty. I will immediately have people deal with them and convene a meeting to discuss a rectification plan. Please calm down, I will definitely make you satisfied.”

Yang Chen didn’t reply, giving him some pressure.

Lin Yiren turned to look at Yang Chen, who nodded at her.

Lin Yiren smiled and said, “Who was the owner of that 4.56 million follower account just now?”

Wang Le immediately waved his phone, saying, “Mine.”

Lin Yiren: “Can you show it to me again?”

Wang Le: “Of course. As long as you become my apprentice, I guarantee you’ll have over a million followers in half a year. Look…”

Wang Le was stunned. What’s going on? Why is the account empty?

Lin Yiren: “Huh? Why has your account been emptied? The followers are gone, and the videos of eating and drinking for free, oh, I mean, store visit videos, are gone too. What’s going on?”

Wang Le quickly refreshed, but it was still empty.

He logged out and logged back in, but the system reminded him that he had violated platform regulations and was suspected of illegal and criminal behavior, and had been permanently banned by the platform according to relevant regulations and legal standards.

“What’s going on? Why am I permanently banned?” Wang Le shouted.

His other companions quickly checked their accounts, and they were all permanently banned as well.

“Damn, mine’s banned too! What’s going on?”

“We didn’t make any explicit videos! Why are our accounts banned?”

“Damn! My alt account is banned too. What’s going on?”

“Luckily, the Kuaishou [another video platform] account is still there.”

Hmm?

Kuaishou?

He simply banned these people’s accounts on platforms such as Kuaishou and Redbook [a lifestyle and fashion platform] to prevent them from continuing to cheat food and drinks everywhere under the guise of store visits in the future.

Yang Chen silently picked up his phone and sent instructions to the CEOs of platforms such as Kuaishou.

“Huh? Why is my Kuaishou account banned too?”

“Damn, mine too, and my Redbook account is banned. What’s going on?”

“Hey? What’s going on? I saw it was fine just now, but when I refreshed, my Kuaishou account was banned.”

“We’ve been banned from the entire internet?”

Wang Le and his group all showed terrified expressions.

Because they couldn’t understand how they could suddenly be banned from all platforms in such a short time.

Lin Yiren: “Isn’t this easy to understand? It must be because you often eat without paying, and people complained about you. Hurry up and pay, otherwise the platform and the police will investigate you for extortion, and your crime will be even more serious. If you pay now, we won’t testify, and you can at least get a lighter sentence of half a year.”

Wang Le and the others opened their eyes wide and hurriedly took out their wallets or phones to rush to pay the bill.

“Boss lady, I’ll pay the bill. If you need to testify, remember to say that I paid.”

“No, no, no, it’s my treat this time. I’ll pay the bill, don’t buy it.”

“Damn it, leave me a chance, half a year less is half a year.”

The other diners in the store laughed.

Just now, they were all 耍赖 [shuǎ lài – acting shamelessly] not paying, and now they are rushing to pay. They are really 贱 [jiàn – cheap/despicable], they just need education.

Lin Qing just didn’t like Wang Le, so she deliberately didn’t take his money and took the money from the others.

Wang Le was still unhappy and said, “Boss lady, why don’t you take my money? I was wrong, I really know I was wrong. Don’t mess with me, take my money too.”

Lin Qing: “You are a big internet celebrity, you can promote me, I dare not take your money.”

Wang Le: “Wrong! I really know I was wrong! I apologize to you, please forgive me. Take my money, please.”

Lin Qing looked at Lin Yiren, and the two smiled at each other.

Then, Lin Qing took Wang Le’s share of the money.

Wang Le felt much relieved and said, “Thank you, boss lady. If someone comes to investigate you later, you must say that I paid. Please, please. I’m getting married soon, don’t even mention going to jail, even being detained is troublesome. I’m begging you.”

Lin Qing: “You guys go.”

That’s how you do business, even if you suffer a little loss, you have to be friendly to make money.

What’s more, Lin Qing didn’t suffer a loss now, so she wouldn’t get entangled with these people.

Wang Le and his group hurriedly took their things and ran away, rushing to the company to ask the boss for help.

Lin Qing smiled happily and said, “Yiren, thank you for standing up for me. But what’s wrong with their accounts? Why were they suddenly banned?”

Lin Yiren glanced at Yang Chen, then whispered in Lin Qing’s ear, “My boyfriend is a shareholder of Douyin, Kuaishou, and other platforms. I deliberately reported their accounts just now, and my boyfriend sent a message to the heads of these platforms and they banned their accounts.”

The menu in Lin Qing’s hand fell to the ground, Yang Chen’s identity was beyond her imagination.

No matter how she thought about it, she would never have thought that she could have a relationship with someone like Yang Chen.

Lin Qing quickly pulled Lin Yiren back to her seat, hurriedly bowed to Yang Chen, and whispered, “Mr. Yang, thank you for your help. I didn’t expect you to be so powerful, Yiren is so lucky.”

Yang Chen: “The platform is not doing well, I hope you don’t mind. I have already asked the platform to introduce a rectification plan, and there will never be such a situation of eating and drinking for free again.”

Lin Qing: “Mr. Yang is so amazing, I can’t even imagine ordering Douyin to introduce a rectification plan. You and Yiren sit down first, I’ll go to the kitchen and ask them to make all the special dishes of our store for you.”

Yang Chen: “Don’t make too much, just enough for us to eat.”

Lin Qing nodded and ran to the kitchen.

Lin Yiren was in a great mood to be able to show off in front of her old classmate.

“Hehe… darling, you’re great.” Lin Yiren praised in a low voice.

“In what way are you great?” Yang Chen teased.

Lin Yiren understood Yang Chen’s interest in seconds, and replied with a blushing face: “You are great in every way.”

Yang Chen smiled, and then asked seriously: “Do you want to be a star? Although those little bastards are not good, they are very reasonable. With your conditions, you can become popular with a little support. I have entertainment resources, as long as you are willing to try, there will be enough resources, and no one will dare to bully you.”

Lin Yiren was nervous and said, “I can’t do it, I can’t act. If I mess it up, I will be embarrassed.”

Yang Chen: “This is simple, I have the right to speak. I acted with Andy Lau before, didn’t I just play myself? I can also let you play yourself.”

Lin Yiren: “Then… then is there a suitable script?”

Yang Chen: “Yes. Yang Zhen told me a few days ago that she was going to do “The Captain”, you can play the flight attendant in it. This is a big production, and it is a main theme movie [a movie with patriotic or nationalistic themes], it will definitely become a hit. How about it, do you want to try it?”

When Yang Chen said this, Lin Yiren was really tempted.

Except for people in some special industries, who doesn’t want to go on TV and movies to experience it.

Lin Yiren: “Then you have to tell the director, if I don’t act well, I can be replaced, but don’t scold me in public.”

Yang Zhen: “They dare not. My woman, they can’t wait to support her, how could they dare to scold you.”

Lin Yiren happily giggled and then nodded to accept the role.

After dinner, Yang Chen called Lin Qing to come and pay the bill.

Lin Qing quickly said: “Yiren and I are old classmates, just treat this place as your own home, why do you need money to eat at home. You go play, come again when you have time.”

Lin Yiren: “That’s not okay, you still have to charge money, otherwise how can we be embarrassed to come here in the future.”

Lin Qing had to charge a little money.

Leaving the restaurant, Yang Chen wanted to take Lin Yiren to go shopping.

But before he took a few steps, Lin Yiren said that she was dizzy and wanted to go home to sleep.

As soon as he heard the word sleep, Yang Chen was shocked.

Mom, I really can’t come back to Haicheng casually.

If his girlfriend wants to sleep, can he not sleep?

Early the next morning, Yang Chen sent Lin Yiren to China Eastern Airlines Group.

Yang Chen felt weak all the way, and he was a little uncomfortable stepping on the brakes and accelerator.

After sending Lin Yiren to China Eastern Airlines, Yang Chen was bored and took an order.

Soon, he came to the starting point to pick up the passengers.

The passengers were two middle-aged men who looked very tired.

When the two confirmed that the one who came to pick them up was Cullinan [Rolls-Royce Cullinan, a luxury SUV], they smiled in surprise.

“I went, brother, you drive such a luxury car to run Didi [a Chinese ride-hailing app]?” One of them asked.

Yang Chen smiled and replied: “Yes, mainly to experience life. The car that was registered is being maintained today, so I drove this car here. Don’t worry, I will definitely take you to your destination safely.”

The other person said with a smile: “I really envy you, you are so young and you have already started to experience life. I don’t know when we will be able to live this kind of life.”

The two looked at each other, and then smiled bitterly.

Yang Chen didn’t know what industry they were in, and it was not easy to say anything to comfort or encourage them, so he smiled and said nothing.

After a while, the two passengers discussed in the back row.

From their discussion, Yang Chen probably heard some information.

The two now have an anime script in their hands, and they want to make this anime, but they have no money, and now they are looking for investment everywhere.

Domestic animation has always been criticized for being bad. If there is a good script, Yang Chen is willing to help the rise of domestic animation.

“Two brothers, can you tell me about the outline of your script?” Yang Chen said.

The two people’s eyes lit up instantly. A person who drives Cullinan to experience life should be very rich.

If he is interested, he can be persuaded to invest.

So, the two quickly introduced themselves.

One of them is called Liang Chun, and the other is called Zhang Xuan. They are alumni of Tsinghua University [one of the most prestigious universities in China].

Yang Chen’s eyes also lit up. Why would Tsinghua University students want to make animation?

According to their description, Liang Chun had a dream that year, and he made this dream into a 5-minute animation and uploaded it to the Internet.

That was 18 years ago, when the Internet was not yet developed, and many small places even had just appeared Internet cafes.

However, this 5-minute animation still received a lot of attention.

So, Liang Chun dropped out of the Civil Engineering Department of Tsinghua University and found his alumnus Zhang Xuan to work together to try to expand this 5-minute animation into an animated film.

The choice of the two can be described as very bold, and naturally they cannot get the support of their families.

They can only support themselves by taking private work and slowly save money to make animation.

In a flash, ten years have passed.

The two finally wrote the complete script of the animation after stumbling.

However, due to funding problems, the project can only be shelved.

Later, the two launched crowdfunding on the Internet, hoping that the audience who like animation can support them with some money.

In the end, the two raised more than 800,000 yuan, and then began to make animated films.

However, this amount of money is obviously not enough.

Now the project has only done less than a quarter, and it has stopped again because of lack of money.

The two are doing this project to realize their dreams, but the others in the team are doing this project to get paid and live.

Without money, who would be willing to work for them?

This is not, the two are pulling investment everywhere, hoping to pull about 2 million yuan of funds, and try to complete the remaining parts.

Yang Chen nodded in appreciation, and people who work hard for their dreams deserve encouragement.

Afterwards, the two roughly told Yang Chen about the content of the script.

In short, the girl Chun, as the heir of the family, is in charge of the growth of begonias. She does not hesitate to violate the precepts of the clan and go against the sky, secretly raising the soul of a human teenager in the underwater world – a thumb-sized fish.

At first glance, it doesn’t seem like anything special, but Yang Chen’s intuition tells him that he can invest in this animated film.

As mentioned earlier, everyone says that domestic animation is not good, but Yang Chen wants to help domestic animation rise.

A mere 2 million yuan of funds, Yang Chen doesn’t care at all.

Just treat it as giving Guoman [Chinese animation] a chance.

“I invested in your project.” Yang Chen said.

Liang Chun and Zhang Xuan were stunned for a few seconds, and then laughed excitedly.

Liang Chun: “Brother, oh, no, boss, are you serious?”

Zhang Xuan: “We take it seriously.”

Yang Chen: “Haha… I am very moved by your persistence, and I also want to give Guoman a chance. You do it well, and I hope to bring the audience a well-made animated film.”

Liang Chun: “Boss, don’t worry. I have 100% confidence that this animation will be liked by everyone.”

Yang Chen: “Then I will give you 2 million, how many shares will you give me?”

Liang Chun and Zhang Xuan looked at each other and began to gesture with their fingers.

After a series of gestures, Liang Chun said with a smile: “We will give the boss 60% of the shares. What do you think?”

Yang Chen: “Yes. We’re at the hotel. You go back and have a good rest first, give me the script and contact information, and wait for my news.”

Liang Chun and Zhang Xuan nodded, one took the script and the other wrote the contact information.

The two got out of the car, and Yang Chen immediately rushed to Xingchen Entertainment.

Yang Zhen was reading the documents, and the secretary hurried in to report that Yang Chen was here, so she quickly put down the documents and ran out to greet him.

“Mr. Yang, when did you come back?” Yang Zhen asked with a smile.

Yang Chen: “Just the past two days, I came back to do something, and I came over to take a look.”

Yang Zhen greeted Yang Chen into the office, and the secretary quickly made tea and sent it over.

Yang Chen sat in Yang Zhen’s seat, glanced at the documents on the table, and then asked, “How is the company doing recently?”

Yang Zhen: “Not bad, several projects we did have made money. We are now screening the next projects to do.”

Yang Chen: “How is the “Captain of China” that you mentioned in the work report a few days ago preparing?”

Yang Zhen: “That project is a bit difficult to do. Because it is to be made into a main theme movie, it is necessary to imitate the previous main theme movies and use an all-star lineup to shoot. This will inevitably increase the production cost, and our pressure to recover the cost will be great. There are too many main theme movies on the market now, and the audience has a rebellious mood, and the box office is not very stable.”

After speaking, Yang Zhen found the story outline of “Captain of China” and showed it to Yang Chen.

In short, it is the story of a plane encountering danger in the air due to a collision with a flock of birds, and saving all the personnel with the excellent performance of the crew, especially the captain.

This kind of subject matter does have to be made into a main theme movie, and it is really hard to say whether the box office is stable or not.

Yang Chen thought for a while and asked, “How much is the estimated investment in this movie? Do you think there will be a company to follow up?”

Yang Zhen: “It is estimated that it will cost about 350-400 million. With the golden sign of our Xingchen Entertainment, it is definitely not difficult to find investment partners. But if this movie loses money, our golden sign will also be smashed. So, I tend to not do this project for the time being.”

Yang Chen: “We calculate according to the highest, the investment needs 400 million, then the box office needs about 1.2 billion to recover the cost. I don’t think there is a big problem, at worst, I will let Wanda Cinemas give more screenings at that time, and we will pile up the box office even if we pile it up hard. Do it, I will talk to China Eastern Airlines about it later, let them also invest some money, and we will put the story background in China Eastern Airlines, which can be regarded as a promotion for them. In addition, I have already decided on the flight attendant candidate, and I will use Lin Yiren, the flight attendant of China Eastern Airlines international flight.”

Yang Zhen was stunned for a moment. She now understood why Yang Chen insisted on filming “Captain of China”. It turned out that it was to support the little sister [a term of endearment for a younger woman].

Although Yang Zhen didn’t quite agree with Yang Chen’s approach, the company was his, and the money was his, so he could do whatever he wanted.

If the project can make money, then of course everyone is happy.

Even if it doesn’t make money, Yang Chen, the boss, has to bear it.

Yang Zhen nodded and said, “Okay! I see. Then I will start the “Captain of China” project immediately and start filming as soon as possible. In addition to the role of flight attendant, do you have any requirements for other roles?”

Yang Chen shook his head and said, “No! You choose other roles from a professional point of view.”

Yang Zhen: “Understood.”

Yang Chen took out the anime script he had just obtained and asked Yang Zhen to take a look.

Yang Chen quickly read it again and said, “Why do I feel like I have seen this story. “Big Fish Begonia”, I am sure I have seen it. Where did you get the script from?”

Yang Chen told Yang Zhen the story of Liang Chun and Zhang Xuan.

Yang Chen smiled and nodded, “I said I have seen this story. The 5-minute animation they made before was indeed very good. I remember the response was good that year. What do you mean? Are we going to invest in this animation?”

Yang Chen: “Yes! They said that 2 million is enough, and they will give us 60% of the shares. Their contact information is on it, you can communicate with them about the follow-up matters.”

Still that sentence, Yang Chen is the boss, he said to invest in what to invest in, Yang Zhen can give advice, but in the end he has to obey his orders.

“Okay! I see, I will follow up.” Yang Zhen replied.

Yang Chen nodded, stretched, and asked, “Is there anything else to report?”

Yang Zhen thought carefully, but there was nothing special to report.

“No more. If there is anything, I will report to you in the work report as soon as possible.” Yang Zhen replied.

Yang Chen nodded and got up to leave the company.

Seeing that it was almost noon, Yang Chen stopped picking up passengers and went straight home for dinner.

Yu Shishi and Maya heard the car and ran out quickly.

But the two of them did not go to greet Yang Chen, but moved the chairs out and sat at the door waiting angrily.

Yang Chen parked the car and walked over, seeing that the two of them seemed to be in a bad mood.

“What do you two mean?” Yang Chen asked with a smile.

Maya: “Where did you go last night?”

Yu Shishi: “It’s not easy to come back, why don’t you stay at home and accompany us, where did you go 浪 [làng – gallivanting/roaming]?”

Yang Chen: “You also said it’s not easy to come back, I have to visit some friends and partners. I’m hungry, hurry up and cook, I have to go back to Beijing in the afternoon.”

Yu Shishi and Maya immediately became anxious, and quickly got up and hugged Yang Chen’s arm and acted like a spoiled child.

Yu Shishi: “Why are you leaving again? Can you stay for a few more days?”

Maya: “I want to go to Beijing with you, I really don’t want to go to work anymore.”

Yang Chen: “Go cook first, we’ll talk while we eat.”

Yu Shishi and Maya nodded and ran to cook.