Bright Era of China Entertainment

Chapter 803 Family Gathering
The nanny car stopped in front of the gate. Chu Xuan got out of the car carrying a suitcase and stood on the neat two-car path in the community, facing the artificial lake under the fence a few meters away from the road.

The sunlight at dinner time spreads over the lake, and the light blue water appears to have a layer of gold, which is a unique and pleasing scenery.

The ripples on the lake surface brought up a faint smell of mud, accompanied by the fragrance of the blooming gardenias planted in front of the fence. The long-lost but reassuring smell of home hit me in the face, making me feel very comfortable.

"Mr. Chu."

Chu Xuan slid the suitcase from the front of the car to face the front door. The driver's slightly vigilant voice came from the driving seat. Combined with the open door, Chu Xuan's eyes also flashed with vigilance and frowned.

Looking inside, Wang Jinhua was directing the housekeeping staff to clean up the room at the entrance of the villa.

Seeing this scene, Chu Xuan's vigilance was replaced by a smile, and he waved to his master: "It's Mr. Wang in there, it's okay, you can go back."

Hearing this, the driver breathed a sigh of relief. Mr. Chu was clearly outside, but the door was open. He thought a thief had broken in. When he heard that it was Mr. Wang inside, he felt relieved and drove back to the company.

"Sister!" Chu Xuan walked in with the suitcase.

He had informed Sister Hua in advance before returning to Beijing. Sister Hua was the only person other than them who had the key and password to the house. But he did not expect that Sister Hua would specially ask the housekeeping staff to clean the house and welcome him before he returned home.

Wang Jinhua tilted her head and saw that it was Chu Xuan who had returned, so she greeted him with a smile: "You've gotten a little tanned again, but it's just right, more masculine."

Chu Xuan smiled, put down his suitcase and hugged her: "I'm going to Wuhan for a while in a few days, and I thought I'd clean it up when I come back."

"I knew you would do this, so I decided for you." Wang Jinhua separated from him and joked.

In the past, her younger brother lived a rough life. He had to wait until the washing machine was full before running water to wash clothes, and cleaning was basically done by Liu Xiaoli.

After getting married, her younger brother changed. He was very diligent during the New Year holidays and would take the initiative to do housework. But there was a prerequisite, that is, his sister-in-law, Xixi, had to be present, so that her younger brother would have the motivation to do housework.

Now Chu Xuan has returned home alone. Based on her understanding of Chu Xuan, without Xixi around, his temperament will definitely return to its old self.

She knew that Chu Xuan might go to Wuhan to prepare for Liu Xiaoli's birthday, and judging from her brother's previous temperament, he would probably wait until he returned from Wuhan to clean up everything at once to save trouble, so as to avoid cleaning this time and then cleaning again when he returned from Wuhan. This was not Chu Xuan's style of handling trivial matters in life.

So, during these few days, she guessed that Chu Xuan was planning to clean up his bedroom and live there for a few days.

This won’t do. I haven’t been home for more than two months, and the house is covered in dust. How can I live here without cleaning it up?

So, she came back from the company at noon today and specially asked the housekeeper to help Chu Xuan clean up in advance.

"Go upstairs to put your luggage, and then go to my house for dinner." Wang Jinhua said.

Chu Xuan came back just in time. After a few words, the housekeeping staff finished their work and cleaned the villa spotlessly.

Chu Xuan went upstairs to the bedroom, put down his suitcase, and went downstairs, following Sister Hua to her home for dinner.

"Brother Dong, Zijian."

"Brother Xiao Chu!"

"Xiaoxuan is back. Come sit down. The dishes are ready. I'll go get some wine. Let's just have a few drinks as a family today."

Dong Zhihua brought the dishes to the table, and when he saw Chu Xuan coming, he turned around and went to get the wine.

Dong Zijian was sitting at the dining table waiting for dinner. When he saw Chu Xuan, he happily called out "Brother Chu".

After some greetings from both sides, Chu Xuan pulled out a chair and sat down as if he was familiar with the place. The delicious dishes were mouth-watering and whetted his appetite as he hadn't even had lunch.

There were three wine dispensers. Dong Zhihua picked up the wine and filled each cup. Then he sat down and raised his glass with Wang Jinhua to toast Chu Xuan.

"Xiaoxuan, first of all, welcome home, and secondly, congratulations on your successful first directorial debut."

"Come on, congratulations."

Facing the toast from Sister Hua and her husband, Chu Xuan picked up the wine glass with a smile on his face: "Even family members are so polite... Sister, Brother Dong, toast to you."

Dong Zijian drank milk and the three adults drank the wine in one gulp.

Wang Jinhua put down her wine glass and asked as she picked up some food: "How does it feel to be a director for the first time?"

Chu Xuan said: "I have benefited a lot from this, but from now on I will either direct or act. I won't direct or act by myself anymore. It's really tiring."

Wang Jinhua raised the corner of her mouth and lowered her head to take a bite of the food.

Originally, "My Love from the Star" was just a project of the company and a new work of Chu Xuan and Xixi. However, Chu Xuan suddenly proposed to become a director and engage in a new field, which was quite unexpected.

But Chu Xuan is the boss of the company. If he wants to try being a director, he can just go for it. It’s not a big deal.

But now she heard Chu Xuan's idea of ​​not wanting to direct and act in his own show anymore, which was quite interesting and something she had expected.

The thought of directing and acting by oneself is tiring. With Chu Xuan's level in the entertainment industry, why would he do that? In addition, Chu Xuan has always valued family, so she can imagine that Chu Xuan will not persist in directing and acting by himself, because it is really unnecessary.

"It goes without saying that your dramas are all key projects of the company, but Blue Channel's "Full House 2" seems to be competing with "My Love from the Star". What do you think?" Wang Jinhua asked.

“If we really want to fight, it should be before the show starts. Now it’s harmless to just do a small fight. There’s no need to waste energy on it for now.” Chu Xuan said.

Wang Jinhua nodded. Ever since she had a falling out with Blue TV during the negotiations for the "The Voice of China" project, she had expected Blue TV to be unhappy with Brilliant Times.

Since the "Korean Wave Gate" incident, the domestic Korean Wave market has hit rock bottom. Two years later, the Korean Wave has shown signs of restarting, and has formed a strong alliance with Blue Channel.

An idol drama "Full House 2" and a variety show that has not yet been released are the clear news that the company has received, and they are also two major projects that Blue Channel and South Korea are cooperating on.

"My Love from the Star" is a project promoted by the company's brilliant era. The male and female protagonists are Chu Xuan and Liu Yifei, two of the most popular young artists in China. If "Full House 2" can continue to make "My Love from the Star", perhaps the market for Korean TV dramas will be restarted.

From this perspective, if "Full House 2" wants to be popular, it can't avoid "My Love from the Star". If South Korean idol dramas and TV series want to be rebooted, they can't avoid "My Love from the Star".

Therefore, the current minor conflicts between the two dramas on the Internet were intentional by Blue Channel and were also within the company's expectations.

However, the two dramas are still a long way from being broadcast. According to the market rules, marketing hype is concentrated in the period before the broadcast of a TV series or film. Perhaps the real battle will take place a few months before the broadcast.

With this in mind, just as Chu Xuan said, if there is a situation in the future, we can deal with it later. There is no need to be impatient at the moment.

At this point, Wang Jinhua changed the subject: "Regarding Dong Yonggui's investment, Mr. Hu, my third brother and I have already had several rounds of talks with him. The contract should be signed in a few days."

In the past two months, in addition to Chu Xuan's debut as a director, she was also concerned about the fact that Dong Yonggui, a real estate developer recommended by Chu Xuan when he bought a wedding house, was going to enter the cinema chain, which also made her, Hu Hanguang, the chairman of Brilliant Times Cinema Chain, and Han Sanping spend more time thinking.

Dong Yonggui has the capital strength to be able to acquire a large piece of land in Shenzhen.

Being able to develop a villa area in Shenzhen, Dong Yonggui's company also has the ability to build basic industries.

Dong Yonggui has a good business sense as he was able to think of developing cinema business to seek business opportunities or a way out in the context of the subprime mortgage crisis.

As for the Brilliant Times Cinema Chain, it has now developed to the point where it owns 140 cinemas across the country, with a national market share of 15%, but its market share is only 8%, which is equivalent to the proportion of the total audience attendance in the country each year.

The market share is far lower than the number of cinemas, which shows that the company's brand effect is not enough. Most audiences are still accustomed to watching movies in cinemas under Dadi Cinema Line, Huaying Cinema Line and Shenghai Cinema Line.

Brilliant Times Cinema has also joined the Huaying Film Theater Chain, but the Huaying Film Theater Chain has many cinema brands, among which there is great competitiveness.

Moreover, many cinemas are old-established chains, so it is still very difficult to seize market share and break the audience's habits.

So, grabbing market share by quantity is the best way despite being the last resort.

At present, Brilliant Times Cinemas has no shortage of funds or connections, but what it lacks is the strength and speed to build cinemas.

Dong Yonggui, who was recommended by Chu Xuan, and his company Haijing Real Estate can make up for this shortcoming.

Through contact and discussion between her, Hu Hanguang, Han Sanping and Dong Yonggui, they reached a consensus on cooperation.

Brilliant Times can provide multiple cinema construction projects every year, as well as subsequent physical building projects, while Dong Yonggui's Haijing Real Estate provides labor, excellent infrastructure technology, cheap engineering costs, etc.

Overall, this is a win-win cooperation.

"Sister, you just need to keep an eye on it. The most important thing is to get the Brilliant Times Cinema's cinema chain license as soon as possible." Chu Xuan said.

In his heart, the most important thing is to allow Brilliant Cinema to obtain a cinema chain license and become a completely independent cinema chain.

Nowadays, the Brilliant Times Cinema Chain has not made any films and has always been dependent on the Huaying Cinema Chain. 1%-5% of the box office revenue of a movie released belongs to the cinema chain and is taken away by the Huaying Group.

Whenever Brilliant Times Cinemas takes photos and upgrades to an independent cinema chain, this money will belong exclusively to Brilliant Times. Regardless of how much money it is, the core issue is that Brilliant Times' voice and status in the film industry will soar.

With the continuous regulation of relevant departments, the annual share of income of theaters has increased from 2 million to 3 million.

According to the 50% profit sharing ratio, the annual turnover of the cinema chain must reach 6 million to meet the benchmark for applying for a license.

Brilliant Times has 140 cinemas, and 6 million means that each cinema has to have an average annual turnover of 430 million. Considering the scale of a regular cinema with only three screens and about 400 seats, this is difficult.

Unless the average attendance rate reaches more than 20%, but the overall average attendance rate in the country is only 10%, and the Brilliant Era is still at 5%, which is still a bit far from the goal.

Chu Xuan thought the same as Sister Hua. It would take time to completely open up the market. If they wanted to shorten the time, they could only increase the speed of opening up cinemas and consolidate the annual turnover in terms of quantity in order to meet the standards for applying for a license from the relevant authorities.

All these tedious matters can be handled by Sister Hua and Han Sanping. He and his wife can just play a supporting role. If they really have to deal with them, they will be worried sick and they really don't want to do that.

Wang Jinhua also understood her brother's character, so she didn't say anything more after mentioning the cinema chain. She changed the subject and said, "I really didn't expect to help Zhang Shaohan reverse public opinion, but you want to build your own media, which I support."

Last month, she received a call that Chu Xuan was going to mobilize public opinion to help Zhang Shaohan? This was beyond her expectations.

Perhaps it was because Chu Xuan was kind, or perhaps it was because both Liu Xiaoli and Xixi, mother and daughter, were kind-hearted that they did this.

But in her eyes as an observer, the specific reasons are not important. When she learned that Chu Xuan wanted to build a media industry, and considering the current industry situation where the media industry is increasingly dominating the entertainment industry, she supports Chu Xuan's idea. If she could have a media network that she can control and has considerable power, it might be of great use in the future. This would be beneficial to Chu Xuan, Qianqian, and the company.

Moreover, Chu Xuan intervened personally and used his marriage to distance himself from manipulating the media. She admired this method very much. At that time, she also gave a thumbs up to her brother's wisdom, which was really amazing.

"The media will be of great use in the future, let's wait and see." Chu Xuan said.

Wang Jinhua nodded. The spiritual connection between the siblings made her not ask more questions. She only reminded: "The media is a double-edged sword. You should be careful."

"Yeah." Chu Xuan agreed.

Seeing this, Wang Jinhua changed the subject and said, "The company building has started construction. Do you have time to go and take a look?"

After the company was incorporated into a group last year, the first major event was the company building.

After land investigation at the end of last year, land discussion at the beginning of this year, and land bidding in March, the land that Chu Xuan, Qianqian and a group of group executives had viewed was successfully acquired by Brilliant Times. After two months of drawing design, the first phase of the project has now started.

"Let's go and see it after Xixi comes back." Chu Xuan said with a slight smile: "My focus right now is my mother's birthday, which must be done well."

Dong Zhihua smiled and asked, "What are you going to do?"

"When the time comes, all of you can come to my house and give her a surprise together." Chu Xuan said.

Wang Jinhua nodded slightly: "Okay, I'll listen to your arrangements when the time comes. We will definitely cooperate with you. I've known your mother-in-law for so many years and she hasn't celebrated her birthday. This time, you, as her daughter and son-in-law, will organize a birthday for her. She will definitely feel very happy."

Chu Xuan nodded and thought so too.

After chatting and drinking for an hour or two, the simple family dinner ended at night.

For Yu Chuxuan, after a tiring day of traveling, he would go home while he was drunk so that he could have a better rest for the night.

After bidding farewell to Sister Hua's family, Chu Xuan returned to his bedroom. The pair of wedding dress puppets of a man and a woman that Zhao Liying had given to Liu Yifei on her 20th birthday stood quietly on the wooden board at the head of the bed. They had been covered with dust after being away from home for two months. Perhaps the housekeeper had forgotten this small detail, so he took a tissue and wiped the two puppets.

There is a spring installed inside the puppet. After wiping, the head of Liu Yifei's white wedding dress puppet bounces and shrinks, which is very cute.

This couldn't help but ignite Chu Xuan's longing. He jumped onto the bed, enjoying the familiar warmth brought by his bed at home, then picked up his cell phone and called Liu Yifei.

"Hey, did you miss me?" After a few seconds, Liu Yifei's playful voice came from the other side.

"Yes, I miss you so much." Chu Xuan echoed his wife's words.

"I missed you, too." Liu Yifei's tone was a little lazy, as if she had just woken up in bed: "I just got up, saw your text message and was about to call you, but I didn't expect you to call me."

Chu Xuan said: "I went to Century Culture to ask the technical staff, and our plan can basically be implemented."

"I see, that's great, let's do it!" Liu Yifei was very happy.

"Okay." Chu Xuan responded, "Put the later stage things on track in three days, and I will go to Wuhan as soon as possible."

"Yeah." Liu Yifei may have been still sleepy, and her voice was full of baby voice: "Thank you for your hard work, husband. The task is important, and I am counting on you."

Chu Xuan smiled. The sound was so soft and numb that it made him feel a little excited. "Okay."

"If you can get it done as soon as possible, please come to New Haven. It has been confirmed that I will be giving a speech. I am still a little nervous..." Liu Yifei pursed her lips and spoke in a slightly coquettish tone: "If you were here, I wouldn't be nervous."

"Okay, I'll try to get it done as soon as possible." Chu Xuan agreed.

"Well, I'll get up. It should be past eight o'clock in the evening over there, so go to bed early." Liu Yifei said.

"You get up, I'll take a shower and go to bed." Chu Xuan said.

"Good morning, husband."

"Goodnight, wife."

(End of this chapter)