After the Divorce, I Could Hear the Voice of the Future
Chapter 404 - 401: Mutual Benefit is the Key to Cooperation

"Tomorrow, I'll accompany you to Mahua and have a chat with Zhang Chen."

Lu Liang looked down and saw, clad in high heels, her tense calf muscles trembling with delight, he felt an inexplicable sense of satisfaction.

The confined space and the unique setting truly could heighten desire and bring about an unprecedented surge of excitement.

Afterwards, he picked up a bottle of white wine that had been chilling in an ice bucket, pulled out the cork, took a breath, and sighed, "Comfortable."

"Aba aba, I'm thirsty too."

Zhang Tian'ai's big eyes were watery like ripples on a spring lake.

Her cherry lips parted and closed, the delicate lipstick now smudged into a kiss-stained mess, even reaching her chin.

Lu Liang handed the wine bottle to her and pulled it back as she reached for it, repeating the teasing action, provoking her to repeatedly pout in charming annoyance.

Lu Liang chuckled, "Drink up."

Zhang Tian'ai covertly observed Lu Liang, then pounced like a hungry tiger, taking a fierce gulp, she hooked a blanket with the tip of her shoe from the bed and draped it over herself and Lu Liang.

Squinting, she murmured, "Sleepy, going to sleep."

"Sleep then." Lu Liang couldn't suppress a chuckle.

They chose not to sleep in the bed but instead cuddle together in the small bay window, gazing at the city's night scene, spending a lovely time together.

The next day, woken up by the sunlight, they returned to the bed for a bit more sleep.

Approaching noon, Lu Liang followed Zhang Tian'ai with steps one after the other to the main theater of Mahua.

"Tianai, please wait outside for a little while, I'll first have a chat with Mr. Lu."

Zhang Tian'ai was left outside the office, and inside, Zhang Chen stood before Lu Liang like a schoolboy who had done something wrong.

"Shameful Iron Fist" had been off the screens for a while, and by the time it finished showing, it had grossed 1.375 billion.

For a movie that was invested with 70 million and had a marketing budget of 50 million, achieving this box office result was a tremendous success.

But it actually could have been more.

If at the beginning he had followed Lu Liang's advice to avoid "War Wolf 2" and delayed the release until the National Day holiday, they could have guaranteed at least a 2-billion box office.

It was only because Mahua had a strong market reputation that it wasn't completely squeezed out by "War Wolf 2."

A good movie impacts the box office of other films released in the same period, it's indubitable; otherwise, they wouldn't refer to it as a clash.

Iron Fist was clearly the one crushed in this clash.

If there was no prior warning, they could only blame bad luck, but Lu Liang had already informed them, advising to avoid competition as much as possible.

A car accident could have been avoided.

But his arrogance led to the accident, so the responsibility lay with him.

"Mr. Zhang, Iron Fist had a total cost of 120 million, making a profit is good enough; talking more about it now is pointless."

Lu Liang showed a slight smile, a simple and calm statement that immediately sent Zhang Chen's heart sinking.

Making a profit is good enough – such words are only suitable for a petty trader, for a top-notch VC like Lu Liang, earning less is equivalent to a loss, and even more so when it's an avoidable, human-induced shortfall.

Zhang Chen wanted to explain, but Lu Liang didn't provide time for that, "Is Little Love's contract about to expire?"

Zhang Chen nodded woodenly, "Tianai's contract with Mahua was only for two years; it expires in mid-November this year."

Lu Liang said directly, "Help her establish an independent work studio; she can be approached for suitable roles in the future."

"Sure, sure." Zhang Chen nodded repeatedly, suddenly excited as if he had grasped a lifeline.

Helping Zhang Tian'ai establish a studio meant it would be affiliated with Mahua; their representative relationship would remain, just needing time for slow repair.

"Anything else?"

Lu Liang patted the nonexistent dust on himself; Zhang Tian'ai had made him very happy, so naturally, he would lend her a bit of support in kind.

Entertainment industry's second-tier actresses, already having gained fame, renewing with Mahua would only mean splitting the profits due without any gain.

Establishing a work studio and operating independently, minimizing intermediary profit-making, is an essential step for every star.

Zhang Chen hesitated for a long time, then painfully offered a 40% stake of the project for the second half of the year, "Aunt Li Cha."

Lu Liang responded expressively, "Mr. Zhang, just like before, a 15% investment from Tianxing Investment will suffice."

Even if Iron Fist slightly missed the mark, Mahua, like him, maintained an undefeated record to this day.

Every movie has made at least 200% profit.

Now, all they have to say is that they lack filming funds, and for sure, many investors would wave their cash and line up to join.

But Mahua is different from Tianxing, after all, Mahua is just a filmmaker, can't afford to offend anyone, and needs to take care of the feelings of various forces like cinemas, distributors, and so on.

A long time ago, when Lu Liang first got into the industry, Wu Tianzheng from Good Dream Production had said that for good film and television projects, investment shares would never flow out to the market because the cake was already divided internally way ahead of time.

Previously, Lu Liang had always held a 15% investment stake, and no one should dare touch his portion, but now it had suddenly surged to 40%.

If his share increased, it meant that someone else's decreased.

In the last project, including Tianxing, there were also Wanda Cinema Line, Xinli Media, and Maoyan Media as the three investors.

They held a 60% investment stake, and Zhang Chen definitely wouldn't dare cut into their shares, so it was very likely that he cut his own, surrendering Mahua's investment share to him.

Lu Liang saw this point and did not take away what others cherished. Mutual benefits and cooperation were key, damaging others for self-benefit was nothing but a tribute.

No objections now didn't mean no objections later, especially since investments weren't guaranteed to yield profits.

At the very least, he hadn't received any news that the Mahua group might be running out of steam.

The 40 million invested by 'Aunt Li Cha' had a 15% stake, just 6 million, which wouldn't matter if it went down the drain.

"That's it, then, I'll be leaving."

"Thank you, Mr. Lu, please take care, Mr. Lu."

Zhang Chen was deeply moved, hastily opened the door, and watched Lu Liang leave.

Lu Liang left Mahua's main theater with Zhang Tian'ai, saying as he walked, "Your contract expires in mid-November, set up your own studio then, ask Zhang Chen if there's anything you don't understand, he'll help you."

Zhang Tian'ai was dumbstruck, her eyes widening, "Mr. Zhang, did you really say that?"

Lu Liang replied irritably, "Are you doubting me?"

"No, no, not at all~~" Zhang Tian'ai quickly hugged her arms and pouted, showing her one million two hundred thousand percent trust in Lu Liang.

It was quite normal for an artist to leave a company to establish a studio, but it was quite abnormal for their former boss to help out.

Recently, like the situation with 'Big Mimi' and Jiaxing Media, there were lawsuits making headlines every couple of days.

With Lu Liang as her backer, Zhang Chen surely wouldn't make things difficult for her, but to go this far was quite generous.

It felt a bit like a plot twist from a Neon small theater NTR drama.

Moreover, this would also send a signal to the outside world about how significant her background was; otherwise, Zhang Chen would never let her leave and even help her set up a studio.

Lu Liang chuckled, "He has a guilty conscience, just accept whatever he does for you in the future."

"Okay." Zhang Tian'ai was delighted, holding onto Lu Liang's arm, "What shall we eat?"

"Anything's fine, you decide."

Lu Liang had stayed in Beijing for two and a half days, making trips to Li Xiang Automobile and Douyin Technology to understand their recent developments.

He had not followed up on DiDi's issues and acted as if nothing had happened, waiting until Panda hit the market to take further steps.

On the 16th, at noon, he returned to Modu.

He met with Little Wang's team at the airport, and Little Wang looked puzzled, "Why do you look like you've been completely drained?"

"Is it that obvious?" Lu Liang couldn't help but touch his cheek.

He had been staying with Zhang Tian'ai these past days, their relationship was almost like mending a broken mirror, so things had gotten quite wild.

He wondered whether it was due to a lack of exercise or if they really had played too hard, which made his back a bit sore that morning.

"It's kind of obvious, the dark circles under your eyes are about to show," Little Wang tried to hold back a laugh, introducing several hosts under his name.

"Liu Mou, Jiang Tao, Han Yingying..."

They were all major hosts with tens of millions of followers, but each one of them was as excited as a fan meeting an idol when they saw Lu Liang.

"Nice to meet you." Lu Liang nodded and smiled, he only recognized Liu Mou among the four, Sao Pig was too famous to not know.

"Mr. Lu, hello, I've heard so much about you." Liu Mou shook hands with Lu Liang enthusiastically, excitedly pig-snorting.

Long Fei arranged the itinerary, "Mr. Lu, they'll leave before us and we'll meet at New York Airport."

Lu Liang's Global 6000 had limited seats, and since he had to bring some people with him, it was impossible to accommodate both groups.

In the end, it was decided that he and Little Wang would take Lu Liang's private jet, and the rest of the team would depart an hour earlier.

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