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"Aren't you even going to ask how much more funding is needed before you cover everything?" Wang Cong was somewhat dumbfounded.
The movie he planned to shoot wasn't your ordinary urban or school-themed production, but an epic fantasy, which couldn't be made with just tens of millions in investment.
Wang Cong was a total novel enthusiast. Ever since the novel "Battle Through the Heavens" came out, he was completely obsessed with that world. Someone had made a TV series adaptation before, but it was utterly criticized by the audience.
The special effects in the decades-old movie "Zu Warriors" were far superior to that TV series remake. The "Dou Zong strongman riding a horse" meme was entirely ruined by netizens, and even Wang Cong couldn't help but want to drag the director out for a beating.
To create his ideal "Battle Through the Heavens," Wang Cong had spent a significant amount of money to buy all the adaptation and filming rights to the novel and invited a Hollywood special effects team.
The budget for that part alone reached an astonishing 250 million, but the props, actors, directors, and so on later would require another massive investment.
At the start of Wang Cong's business venture, Wang Lin had given him 500 million in startup capital. He had managed to multiply that tenfold in just a few years through his efforts, and his current net worth exceeded 7 billion.
However, a large part of this money was fixed assets. The liquid funds he could use amounted to less than 1 billion. He couldn't possibly dump all that into the project, could he? If the box office didn't do well, it would be like drawing water with a bamboo basket—efforts wasted.
According to Wang Cong's budget, to achieve the best effect, the total final investment might reach a staggering 1 billion, which was unheard of in the film industry, and no one dared to take such a big risk.
According to Fang Jueyu, if he covered the remaining funds, he would have to come up with almost 500 million. Although he was undoubtedly wealthy, getting such a large amount of money isn't something you can just do on a whim.
"I might still need 500 million!" Wang Cong said frankly.
"No problem, I'll cover that 500 million!" Upon hearing Wang Cong's thoughts, Fang Jueyu also became a bit excited. Back in high school, he would secretly read this novel every night under his blanket. He was heartbroken after watching the "Battle Through the Heavens" TV series. With Wang Cong having such a good idea, he was absolutely supportive!
"Are you serious?"
"Serious!" Fang Jueyu said firmly, "You're not doubting that I can't come up with a mere 500 million, are you?"
Sitting nearby, Liu Yimou and the others rolled their eyes. Such an enormous figure like 500 million, most people might never earn even one percent of that in their entire life, and yet these two dared to prefix it with the word "mere."
"Of course not!" Wang Cong wasn't doubting Fang Jueyu's financial power. After all, his father had to show respect to Wang Lin, and maybe he was even wealthier than Wang Cong himself. But assets are one thing, and liquid funds are another; 500 million isn't a small number.
"Don't worry, you just handle the actors and directors. If you're short on money, come find me!" Fang Jueyu said confidently.
Wang Cong had always been the one saying such things to others during his investments, but now hearing it directed at him gave him a very special feeling inside.
"You might not believe it, but someone just said this to me: If you're short on money, come find me." Wang Cong casually posted this sentence on his Weibo.
Wang Cong had tens of millions of followers, and once he posted it, the comments section erupted, with the popularity quickly rising to the second spot on the hot search list, just behind the morning's helicopter incident.
"Hahaha, Principal Wang, even you have times when someone throws money at you!"
"I want to know which rich lord has the guts to say that to the principal, could it be the young master from the Capital City?"
"Hang on, don't forget that the principal was at China Joy today. Although the staff claimed the helicopter incident was a special program by the organizers, from my years of experience, this is definitely a smokescreen. The person involved in that incident is likely the one who said this."
"We all received nine years of compulsory education, so why is the person upstairs so outstanding? Did they secretly take extra classes?"
"@Tsinghua University, we suggest accepting them!"
"@Yanjing University, we suggest they skip straight to graduate school!"
As soon as the Weibo post went out, the heat for both of these topics started climbing rapidly. Some even snapped photos of Wang Cong and the others entering a hotel, but unfortunately, the resolution was too low, and Fang Jueyu's face couldn't be seen clearly.
However, one thing was almost certain: The owner of the helicopter was most likely there to meet Principal Wang!
Since everyone had driven, no one dared to drink. Even though they had unique identities, they were all young, with many shared topics, especially when it came to making fun of the same thing, they quickly established a "revolutionary friendship" and soon started calling each other brothers.
Wang Cong had some matters to discuss in the afternoon, so he couldn't stay at the venue any longer. When they walked out of the hotel with Fang Jueyu, the car arranged by Zhuang Ying had already been delivered to the hotel entrance.
But the car seemed different from what he had imagined. Didn't he ask for a Maserati 430? Why was there a sports car adorned with the Maserati logo before him?
"Damn, was this the car you said someone would deliver?" Wang Cong's eyes widened. He recognized this car, a Maserati MC12, with only 50 in the world, and only two in Huaxia.
However, he knew the owners of those two cars, and none had the last name Fang! It was clear this car wasn't among the two.
A middle-aged man dressed in a suit got out of the car. He walked respectfully to Fang Jueyu, then handed him the car keys, "Young Master Fang, Miss Zhuang asked me to bring the keys to you."
"What…?" Fang Jueyu was a bit baffled, "Weren't they supposed to deliver a 430? Why did they bring this thing?" Fang Jueyu became anxious; he realized many people around had already noticed, and some were even starting to snap photos with their phones. Such luxury cars weren't a common sight, and the car owner was the focus of everyone's attention.
"Here's the situation: Recently, due to a company issue, that car model was found to have safety hazards and got urgently recalled. Miss Zhuang knew you liked Maseratis, so she simply had me bring this car."
"This woman is causing trouble again?" Fang Jueyu was so annoyed his teeth were grinding, but there was nothing he could do. The car had already been delivered, and he couldn't possibly ask them to take it back, especially since he needed a vehicle to get around here.
"Hey, Old Fang, where'd this car come from? I remember only two in Huaxia. Did you get this from some wealthy foreign hand?" Wang Cong asked with interest.
"I don't know either," Fang Jueyu turned his gaze to the middle-aged man who delivered the car, "Uncle, do you know?"
The middle-aged man delivering the car gave a strange look, "Young Master, you didn't know you own 78.2% shares of Maserati? Every time there's a new model, a few complete cars get sent to Huaxia first, and those aren't counted in the limited sales."
"Well, I have shares again!" Fang Jueyu rolled his eyes, then gave Wang Cong an innocent look.
"You're something else!" Wang Cong gave a thumbs-up, then took out his phone to post on Weibo, "Just now, I had dinner with the largest shareholder of Maserati, and he only found out afterward. I got hit over the head with money today!"
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