Losing Money to Be a Tycoon

He opened the chat software and saw many congratulatory messages. Zhu Xiaoce and the others had even filmed a short video and sent it to Boss Pei. It was messily filmed. Pei Qian could only see a bunch of people shouting and cheering.

Pei Qian remained silent for a moment and then decided to figure out what the fundamental problem was.

What kind of award was the Jury Prize? Pei Qian watched movies frequently, but he did not follow any professional award ceremonies. All he knew was the Oscars.

It was time to engage Qiandu for help.

Two minutes later, Pei Qian understood.

There were different types of awards given out at the Cannes Film Festival. The most important one among those was the Palme d'Or. It was equivalent to the Golden Bear and Golden Lion at the other two film festivals. All of those awards were the highest international awards attainable in the film industry.

The last time a local film won a Palme d'Or was in 1993. That was also the only time.

The Jury Prize was widely considered the second-highest award. The last time a local film won that award was in 2000. That was why the news headline had been 'Winning the Award Again after Eleven Years'.

After reading the Qiandu search page, Pei Qian did not know if he should feel upset or overjoyed.

Fortunately, it had not been a Palme d'Or. He had only gotten second place.

Pei Qian had been afraid that his own good luck would strike again. If he had won the Palme d'Or, he would have had a huge mess to clean up!

That was not completely impossible. After all, the more professional a film critic was, the richer his imagination would be. Who knew what kind of things westerners could infer from Tomorrow is Beautiful's material?!

However, the current situation was enough to render Pei Qian speechless. He had only gotten the second prize, but it was still extremely rare!

Many local filmmakers had worked hard for the past eleven years. Every year, a few films would be sent to the Cannes Film Festival. Yet, most of them would fall short; the second place had practically been unattainable.

On the other hand, he had written a film with the sole aims of feeding poison to the audience and incurring losses. Yet, not only had his film become extremely popular in the local theaters, but it had even won an award at the film festival!

What exactly was wrong with this world…?

…

Pei Qian quietly got out of bed, washed up, and traveled to the office. All the employees on the 16th floor of Shenhua View were hard at work. The atmosphere was silent.

Pei Qian heaved a long sigh. He could not help but rejoice inwardly. It was a good thing that he had put Fei Huang Workspace into shock therapy. Otherwise, all the employees at Fei Huang Workspace would have come up to his office to congratulate him personally. Who would be able to tolerate that?

At the very least, he was safe in his own family.

However, just as Pei Qian stepped into his office, he heard a pop. A champagne cork flew up into the sky!

At the same time, there were explosions of fireworks and confetti. At once, the entire office was filled with noise.

"Surprise!"

"Boss Pei, congratulations!"

"Tomorrow is Beautiful has won an award, and Zhu Xiaoce especially thanked you! How do you feel now?"

Everyone got up from their seats one by one. Some held onto fireworks, and others held onto confetti; some clapped while others poured champagne for themselves.

Pei Qian turned to Assistant Xin, confused. "This…"

Assistant Xin smiled and explained, "Boss Pei, everyone knew that Fei Huang Workspace's employees are on holiday, and the main production team of the film is still overseas. That's why they organized this celebration on their behalf.

"After all, it's worth celebrating. How could we let this opportunity slip by?"

Pei Qian: "…"

You are all very thoughtful. However, I don't need this kind of celebration! Horrible!

Someone served champagne to everyone else until everyone held a glass. Pei Qian had no choice but to tilt his head back and down his glass.

Hao Yun, who was standing beside him, looked confused. "Er, Boss Pei… shouldn't you give a short speech first?"

Pei Qian placed the empty glass down on the table beside him. "It's all in the past. There's nothing worth talking about. Alright, everyone. Go back to work, quickly!"

Do you still want to celebrate? If we celebrate once now, and Huang Sibo and the others celebrate again when they get back, wouldn't I be enduring double the punishment?

Go to hell!

Once Boss Pei went into his office and closed the door, Assistant Xin smiled and addressed everyone. "Boss Pei has always been like that. Alright, get back to work, everyone. It won't be too late to celebrate when Huang Sibo and the others get back."

As Wu Bin stood by the side, he quickly jotted those events down in his notebook. "Indeed, even after so long, Boss Pei has not changed.

"I heard that Boss Pei was like that when Ocean Stronghold became successful as well. He symbolically took a sip of his champagne and then threw himself back into his work.

"When I heard this from Bao Xu, I thought the latter had been exaggerating. After all, even if a successful man doesn't want to rely on his past successes, he would not go so far as to save on a mini-celebration, right?

"Yet, from the looks of it, it's true. Bao Xu had not been exaggerating. That's what Boss Pei is like.

"Yes… I think I can add this to the Tengda spirit notes. I'll send this to Cui Geng and ask him to think about how to make use of this material."

…

In his office, Pei Qian whipped out his cell phone and began reading all 99+ of his unread messages. Most of them were congratulations with similar content. Pei Qian ignored them without saying a word.

He simply could not reply to all of them. Further, what if the other parties took the chance to strike a conversation with him after he replied to their messages? What if they praised Tomorrow is Beautiful to no end? Wouldn't Boss Pei be hurt once again?

Thus, Pei Qian considered making a post on WeChat moments later on to thank everyone for their congratulations.

He would say that he could not reply to all the messages because there were simply too many of them, and then he would block notifications from WeChat moments. After that, everything would pass.

He continued scrolling through the messages but suddenly paused. His gaze lingered on the message from Lin Chang.

"Boss Pei! Congratulations! You have to treat me to some beer when I go to Jingzhou the next time! It's true that the film had won the award because of its top quality, but I was the one who helped to send the film to the Cannes Film Festival in the first place. I should get some credit, right?"

Pei Qian's mind was filled with question marks. He quickly replied, "You were the one who sent the film in?"

A while later, Lin Chang replied. "Boss Pei, why are you only replying to me now? Were you high last night? Did you drink too much?

"Of course, I got someone to accept the film. Cannes has always preferred films that premiered at their own film festival. If not for my connections, the judges would not have accepted your film.

"Boss Pei, I'm not trying to claim credit. I'll tell you honestly—I didn't think that Tomorrow is Beautiful would win an award either. I just thought I would offer some help since the film was doing so badly in overseas box offices.

"The film only won the award because it was well-produced by you, and it completely won the judges over. No matter how solid my connections are, I would never have been able to achieve this for you."

Pei Qian: "…"

I've found the culprit! You were the one pulling tricks behind my back!

Pei Qian very carefully considered whether he could send a Management Trainee over to Shenhua Corporation or not. For instance, he could send a Management Trainee to the office of Shenhua Film and Media Co. Ltd.'s president…

He had a clear picture of what was happening inside the office, but he was still completely blind to anything happening outside!

"Your kind intentions have gone to waste, then. Based on what I know, Tomorrow is Beautiful has been performing badly overseas. It's going to be withdrawn soon, right?" Pei Qian's expression was dark as he typed the reply.

Now, he was worried about two things in particular. First was the contract with Aili Island. Now that the film had won an award, a new group of viewers would surely rush to watch it online. That meant more income for Tengda. Second was the possibility that foreign video websites would offer high prices to buy Tomorrow is Beautiful's overseas internet copyrights.

As for the box offices overseas… Tomorrow is Beautiful premiered at the start of the month with low row piece rates and poor ticket sales. Pei Qian guessed that it would be taken down soon.

Lin Chang: "Withdrawn? The last I heard was that, after winning an award, Tomorrow is Beautiful would be screened afresh by overseas media! The major cinemas would continue screening it for another month with higher row piece rates.

"Films that have won the Jury Prize are inherently valuable for business. How could they withdraw it? Cinemas would fight to take advantage of the film's popularity and generate more profits!"

Pei Qian: "…"

Why did I ask so much? It was true that, unlike blessings, misfortune never came singly!

Pei Qian had thought that screening Tomorrow is Beautiful overseas had been a false alarm. Yet, the entire situation had turned around after just one film festival!

He was filled with sorrow. This cycle was becoming increasingly stressful. He had intended to film a lousy movie and incur losses, right? This film was generating profits for him locally, overseas, in theaters, and online… when would it end?!

Pei Qian felt that this was his worst investment yet.

Er… no, this could be the second-worst.

The worst investment would always be the fifty thousand yuan that he had poured into The Lonely Desert Road.

Lin Chang sent another message: "There's another thing, Boss Pei. The second round of comments on your film would probably be out in a day or two. Are you ready to be bootlicked?"

Pei Qian: "?"

Lin Chang replied, "Sometimes, people would have one view of something while it remains in the country but have a completely different view of it once it goes overseas.

"Now I'm very curious. Earlier, many people thought that Tomorrow is Beautiful was nondescript, and that neither locals nor foreigners would like it. Yet, Tomorrow is Beautiful went on to win an award at the Cannes Film Festival. What would those people say now?

"Alright, Boss Pei. Keep celebrating. Remember to treat me to a good beer when I come to Jingzhou!"

Pei Qian remained awfully silent as he read his conversation with Lin Chang again.

What a headache!

…

Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, Handong University branch…

"Hello, I'm the head of Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, Xiao Peng. You are…?"

Liang Qingfan shook Xiao Peng's hand. "I am Liang Qingfan, the designer in charge of Boss Pei's Sloth Apartments."

"Oh! Please, take a seat."

Xiao Peng led Liang Qingfan to the coffee area and sat down. A waiter served them two cups of coffee. After exchanging a couple of pleasantries, Liang Qingfan explained the reason for his visit. "Boss Xiao, I wonder if you're interested in renovating Fish-Catching Internet Cafe."

After completing Sloth Apartments, Liang Qingfan had been touring and playing in Jingzhou to gather inspiration while waiting for further instructions from Boss Pei. However, after waiting for a long time, he still didn't receive any news. He was beginning to feel bored.

Thus, Liang Qingfan decided to survey the various locations first.

Boss Pei had so many businesses, including Fish-Catching Internet Cafe, Fish-Catching Take-Out, Deposit Fitness, Sloth Apartments, and the like. All of them would have to be renovated.

If he could obtain all of those contracts and design a few famous and popular places, he would be able to significantly improve his own reputation.

What's more, he knew full well that Tengda Corporation was wealthy. The designer fees would surely be generous.

That was why Liang Qingfan was visiting Fish-Catching Internet Cafe's Xiao Peng today. He wanted to introduce himself first, so that they could work together more easily when the time came.

Xiao Peng pondered for a moment. "Not for now. Customers like Fish-Catching Internet Cafe 1.0 and 2.0 very much. Changing the style all of a sudden might have the opposite effect. As for Fish-Catching Internet Cafe 3.0… it's already undergoing renovations. It won't be convenient to make changes now.

"Of course, if we think about setting up Fish-Catching Internet Cafe 4.0 in the future, I will contact you at once.

"However, I know a place that might need your help. Why don't you go and take a look at Thriller Hostel? Here's the contact number of the man in charge there. His surname is Chen. You can reach out to him directly."