Zhong Lifang

After the framework was roughly determined, the meeting moved into a period of casual conversation and exchange of opinions.

Liu Guonan and Ma Ming then began asking about the appearances and treatment of figures such as Cao Cao and Liu Bei.

After all, when it comes to the Three Kingdoms period, they are the most well-known figures.

Of course, there's also Zhuge Liang, but unfortunately, Zhuge Liang wasn't even born yet at this time.

"I think Director He's idea of ​​running two parallel lines is sound."

Since He Yi'an had entrusted Liu Guonan with such a heavy responsibility, he had no choice but to accept it. Once the filming of "Full House" was finished, he would need to take over and promote the project in all aspects.

Of course, he's currently thinking more about filming.

"On Zhang Jiao's side, we film the suffering and despair he witnessed at the bottom of society while he was preaching and saving people, as well as the rise and fall of the Yellow Turban Rebellion. On Dong Zhuo's side, we film his rise in Liangzhou, his battles, struggles, suppression of the rebellion, and his final journey to the capital."

"The appearances of figures such as Cao Cao, Liu Bei, Sun Jian, and Yuan Shao should be interspersed throughout the story."

"What about Cao Cao?" Ma Ming suddenly asked. "Director He, how do you plan to portray Cao Cao? Is he just going to make a last-minute appearance?"

After all, when talking about the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao's name is unavoidable.

This is also a common perception. He Yi'an thought for a moment, then said, "Cao Cao appeared before the Yellow Turban Rebellion. He was recommended as a filial and incorruptible official and served as the Northern Commandant of Luoyang. Later, he was transferred to be the Magistrate of Dunqiu. After the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out, he was appointed as a Cavalry Commandant and, together with Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun, suppressed the Yellow Turban army."

"This part, especially his time in the capital, can be connected to the story of Dong Zhuo, presenting everything from Dong Zhuo's perspective."

"The same applies to Liu Bei and his two brothers. In fact, all the figures in the early stages of the Three Kingdoms period can be drawn into the great vortex of the Yellow Turban Rebellion."

He Yi'an frankly expressed his historical views and his understanding and opinions on the Three Kingdoms period.

The screenwriters kept taking notes, and after they finished, one of them remarked with emotion:

"Director He, you have a deep understanding of the Three Kingdoms period."

Basically, anyone who knows a little about the history of the Three Kingdoms and has read anything related to it can be considered to have some understanding of the Three Kingdoms.

He Yi'an certainly wouldn't say that because he was watching the new version of the Three Kingdoms and making fun of it, he also watched the original version and even studied the official history of the Three Kingdoms. He just smiled and said, "It's alright, I've liked it since I was a child."

"What about Liu Bei? Will he also join in? I just heard you say, Mr. He, that Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei saved Dong Zhuo." As a woman, Zhang Jing doesn't know much about the Three Kingdoms period, so it's not surprising that she had such a question.

This time, He Yi'an didn't need to answer; one of the screenwriters answered for him: "Liu Bei's formal historical appearance, besides when he was studying, was also during the Yellow Turban Rebellion."

"Liu Bei was completely different from Cao Cao. Cao Cao relied on talent and methods, while Liu Bei relied on benevolence and personal charisma. He didn't have any extraordinary talents, but he could get talented people to work for him. That was his skill."

"Director He, shouldn't we focus on developing their introductions?" another screenwriter asked. He Yi'an provided the general framework; they were the ones who would meticulously organize everything, and they definitely needed to clarify things regarding these key figures.

"Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were Liu Bei's right-hand men, and their stories are familiar to almost everyone, so we don't need to describe them in too much detail; we can just show them in a few shots."

"Of course, there's also Sun Jian," He Yi'an continued. "Sun Jian was the Tiger of Jiangdong, brave and skilled in battle. He participated in the suppression of the Yellow Turban Rebellion and later made great contributions in the campaign against Dong Zhuo."

"Actually, I think we could also film the storyline of Sun Jian, which shows the rise of powerful figures in Jiangdong, if we have the opportunity."

After He Yi'an finished speaking, he wrote a long list of names on the whiteboard.

"These characters are all protagonists of the Three Kingdoms period. But in the first part, they are just supporting characters. The real two male leads are Zhang Jiao and Dong Zhuo."

"Zhang Jiao died of illness, and the Yellow Turban Rebellion was annihilated. Dong Zhuo entered the capital, deposed the young emperor, installed Emperor Xian, and seized power."

"This is the twilight of the empire."

After listening to the entire story and the discussion, the head of the editorial department promised: "Director He, we will produce a first draft of the script as soon as possible, and it will not delay the preparation."

He Yi'an waved his hand: "I won't rush you, but we can only make a proposal and submit it to China Film Group after your script is completed."

"What about the second and third parts?" Zhang Jing asked again.

He Yi'an shook his head: "Don't rush to talk about what will happen next. After all, it's just a concept. Let's film the first movie first. If the first movie is successful, the rest will be easier. If it doesn't work out..." He Yi'an didn't say it explicitly, but everyone understood. They finally felt the pressure.

"Director He,"

At this point, Ma Ming spoke again: "After this script is written, who do you plan to cast in it?"

"It's just an idea right now. We'll talk about the actors once the project starts moving forward!"

"Screenwriting team, you have a heavy task ahead. Continue to flesh out the details according to the outline. Keep the dialogue concise; don't give me any abstract lines that don't fit the characters' roles. The plot also needs to be tight."

"We know, Director He!"

"Then let's set a goal first," He Yi'an said, looking at everyone. "Once the project is approved, the first film should be released no later than the Lunar New Year of 2003."

"Yes!" everyone responded in unison.

"Director Liu," He Yi'an turned to Liu Guonan, "After filming 'Full House' wraps up, take a short rest, and then you can fully dedicate yourself to the preparation of 'Twilight of the Empire.' Location scouting, set construction, props, historical guidance, and costumes all need to be prepared in advance."

"clear."

"Director Ma, we can't let our guard down on 'Chinese Paladin' either. Filming starts next February, so time is very tight."

"Understood." "Sister Zhang, you're in charge of following up on the actors' contracts and the production team's matters."

"it is good."

Seeing that no one else had anything else to say, He Yi'an adjourned the meeting.

However, after the meeting, He Yi'an's "painful" days began.

Forget about going to school; he was stopped at the company and told he had official business to attend to.

To think that he, a dignified sophomore, now rarely even goes to school anymore, is simply... amazing.

In fact, this would be a big problem for other majors and schools.

However, this isn't a problem for the photography department, because photography is a second-year subject, with a significant increase in practical and outdoor shooting courses, and a relative decrease in time spent on campus.

Therefore, it is really necessary to join a group or start practicing on your own. Apart from still having to complete required courses and creative assignments, there is very little actual time spent at school.

At most, you can take your work back to the teachers for them to look at and comment on; otherwise, you can just get out of the school.

Those sophomores and juniors still in school, well, basically...

So, aside from being at school last semester, He Yi'an has barely returned this semester, except for regularly submitting creative assignments to Mu Deyuan. I wonder if this will sadden many of the younger female students?

After all, their only chance to get in touch with He Yi'an had been ruthlessly cut off.

Thinking of his junior, He Yi'an felt a little excited.

He knew this meant he was growing up and his testosterone levels were starting to rise.

To put it simply, he's thinking about women.

This is a normal physiological phenomenon, and there is nothing shameful or shameful about it.

It's not terrible for a man to have desires; what's terrible is that he can't even control these desires.

He Yi'an is clearly not among them.

After the meeting ended, his assistant brought him a huge pile of documents for him to sign.

To be honest, after experiencing the fun of being a boss for a little while, He Yi'an instantly sobered up.

He'd rather make another movie than sit here dealing with these trivial official duties.

Budget approval, contract review, personnel arrangement, progress tracking... Since Mom isn't at the company, he has to sign off on every single thing, and he has to review every single thing.

He picked up a document from the table; it was a post-production progress report for "Full House".

He flipped through a few pages, and the dense numbers and terminology gave him a headache.

"What is all this nonsense..." he muttered, wrote "Read and agreed" in the signature column, and then tossed it aside.

I picked up another document, which was the budget for setting up scenes for the game "Chinese Paladin".

This time, he carefully read through several pages and felt that some parts were not quite right. He picked up a pen, drew a few circles on them, and wrote "The budget here is too high, recalculate".

Then turn to the next one.

One document after another, He Yi'an felt like an emotionless signing and stamping machine.

"Director He, this is the box office report for 'Fireworks in the World'." The assistant came in carrying another stack of documents.

"Just leave it there," He Yi'an said without even looking up.

"And this is a plan from Enlight Media to increase advertising; we need your confirmation."

"And this is a draft contract from China Film Group regarding 'A Separation.' President Han said you should take a look." "And this..."

"Alright, alright," He Yi'an interrupted her, "Leave them all, I'll look at them slowly."

The assistant put down the documents, turned around, and left.

He Yi'an looked at the mountain of documents piled on the table and sighed deeply.

Is this what it feels like to be a boss?

That's so refreshing!

He picked up his phone and sent a message to his mother: "Mom, when are you coming back? There's too much going on at the company, I can't handle it all by myself."

The message was sent, but there was no reply for a long time.

He Yi'an knew that his mother was probably in Shenzhen right now, negotiating with Little Ma.

Since Xu Wan's trip to Shenzhen and her initial contact with Brother Ma, both sides have expressed their intention to continue the talks.

Although Tencent is having a tough time right now, and although Li Huanggua's son has withdrawn his investment, many other investors have followed suit or are adopting a wait-and-see approach. But Pony Ma, after all, comes from a technical background and values ​​control very much.

Xu Wan's trip was to finalize this matter. They only wanted 12%-20% of the shares, would not interfere with the operation, and could even sign an agreement with him to share both the gains and losses.

We will definitely need to continue investing later, otherwise our shares will be diluted severely. But once we're on board, everything will be fine, and we can just keep investing.

I just don't know how long the talks will last.

"Sigh..." He sighed again and picked up the next document.

Over the next few days, He Yi'an fully experienced what it meant to be "the boss of a startup company is not easy".

Working harder than an ox or a horse every day, arriving at the company at seven in the morning and not leaving until ten at night.

Aside from meals, I was mostly dealing with various tasks.

Meetings, signing documents, reviewing reports, answering phone calls, replying to emails...

He even started to miss his days on the film set.

Two days later, He Yi'an was in his office watching a rough cut of the first few episodes of "Full House" that Liu Guonan had brought when the door was suddenly pushed open.

"Anwa!"

A familiar voice rang out, and He Yi'an looked up to see his mother, Xu Wan, standing in the doorway, looking travel-worn. "Mom! You're finally back!" He Yi'an exclaimed, as if seeing a savior, and quickly stood up. "How did the talk go?"

"With your mother involved, how could we not reach an agreement?" Xu Wan walked in, tossed her bag onto the sofa, and said, "An additional four million was added, bringing the total to nine million US dollars. That's almost all the money left in Langyuan Investment's account. Sixteen percent of the shares, no interference in operations. Signed."

He Yi'an was overjoyed: "That's wonderful!"

"What's so good about it?" Xu Wan rolled her eyes at him. "Do you know how much I had to explain?"

"That guy, Brother Ma, looks quiet and unassuming, but he's as stubborn as a mule. I wanted more, but he absolutely refused."

Actually, despite its rapid growth in the future, it has just experienced the withdrawal of investment by Li Huanggua's son, so its valuation is not high. The more accurate valuation is the level raised after MIH took over in 2001, which is about 6000 million US dollars.

Based on this valuation, $900 million is roughly 15%, but the valuation and the actual value will definitely fluctuate, and 15%-20% is reasonable.

But it's clear that Ma doesn't want to give too much; 16% would actually be enough.

"Thank you for your hard work," He Yi'an quickly poured water for his mother. "Mom, sit down and rest for a while."

Xu Wan took the water glass, took a sip, then looked at the documents on the table and raised an eyebrow: "Oh, our young master can handle official business now?"

"Mom, please stop teasing me," He Yi'an said with a wry smile. "I've been exhausted these past few days."

"Tired? What are you tired of?" Xu Wan sat down and crossed her legs. "Your mother has been running around outside for months, and you're telling me you're tired?" "Yes, yes, you're more tired." He Yi'an quickly admitted defeat.

"Alright, I'm kidding you. How's business at the company?"

"It's alright. All the necessary signatures have been signed, and all the agreements have been finalized. It's just that there are some things I feel shouldn't be pushed onto me and left for Zhang Jing and the others to decide themselves."

Xu Wan nodded: "That's right. Being a boss doesn't mean you have to do everything yourself; it means putting the right people in the right positions."

"I know," He Yi'an said, "which is why I especially need someone right now."

"Who is it?"

"Someone who can help manage the company."

Xu Wan smiled: "As expected of my son, he thought the same thing as me. What a coincidence, I just brought someone with me today."

"Who?"

Xu Wan called out towards the door, "Come in."

The door was pushed open, and a woman in her thirties walked in.

She was dressed in a simple black suit, her hair was tied up, her features were delicate, her eyes were sharp, and she exuded a capable and efficient aura. He Yi'an recognized her the moment he saw her.

Chung Li-fang.

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