Chapter 184 : 156 Shock of the Younger Aunt_3
Truthfully, it\'s quite a struggle for female stars below the third tier to afford expenses at Water Cloud Space.
Zhang Tian\'ai had been there once or twice, and got herself a small card.
The environment, privacy, and the overall ambiance there were indeed matching its standard.
And especially the female staff there, each with excellent personal qualities.
They understood classical arts like music, chess, calligraphy, painting, tea ceremony, and coffee art, among others.
This was quite extraordinary.
There was a reason why they could run such a successful women\'s business in Capital City.
Zhang Tian\'ai used to be just a nobody, a small extra on the street.
She had her chance to play a lead role this year, although the investment was small, and it was for a web series.
But at least she could play a leading role properly for once.
She was quite similar to Song Wu in this regard, also thrilled to be playing a secondary female lead.
She even threw a party at home to celebrate.
Zhang Tian\'ai never expected Song Wu\'s own sister to be so wealthy, and what was even more unexpected came later.
Chen Pingsheng bought a new car, so he no longer wanted to drive Black King Kong.
Just then, his sister-in-law visited, so he had her hold Chen Xinyi while Song Yanxi herself drove them out to eat.
The household\'s spoiled brat, Chen An\'an, loved joining in on the fun. Whenever a new car was purchased, she had to be the first to plunk her chubby backside down and give it a try.
Chen Pingsheng hadn\'t even driven the 8.0T car yet.
Sitting inside, it always felt like the chassis was particularly low, as if scraping the ground.
The Bugatti was loud, rumbling even before he fully pressed the gas pedal.
Chen An\'an fastened her seatbelt tightly next to him, looking at him with a bit of nervousness, "Dad, are you sure you can handle this?"
"Could you even get off if I couldn\'t?"
Doubting his driving skills, Chen Pingsheng lightly pressed the accelerator, keeping the speed at its slowest.
Unlike typical sports cars, the Bugatti was quite comfortable to drive.
What a pity.
There were simply too many cars in Capital City, and no matter how many Ts your car had, don\'t even think about going over thirty.
Give it a bit of a gap, and it would let you easily choke on its exhaust.
Driving along, Chen Pingsheng enjoyed the high rate of heads turning his way.
Once he got a little more comfortable, he had Chen An\'an call her mom.
"Dad, why are you calling mom?"
"I feel like having Northeastern barbecue. Tell your mom, let\'s go to that place we used to eat at often."
That place we used to eat at often? Which one?
Chen An\'an had completely forgotten, but Song Yanxi remembered it well.
When they were short on money, their little romance was to spend a hundred bucks on some skewers.
Add a small bottle of Harbin beer, and life was sweet.
They hadn\'t been there in a while, and today they suddenly felt the urge to go.
Chen An\'an video-called her mom and got the lowdown after a few words.
It was in the direction of home, just over in Shijingshan.
A modest roadside barbecue stand, where the traffic got a bit smoother after the Third Ring Road.
Someday when they lived inside the Second Ring, they\'d probably have to frequently ride an electric moped out.
Chen Pingsheng parked the Bugatti by the roadside, and the moment he got out, he looked incredibly cool.
It had nothing to do with looks, it was about the bonus points the supercar granted.
The boss was still the same one from before.
Don\'t let the small stand fool you, he had bought a house in Capital City quite early on.
After decades, his living conditions were not bad at all.
The office workers in high-rises had incomes that were far less than those selling on the streets and doing small businesses.
Of course, it was genuinely hard work.
They had to work at least ten hours a day.
"Boss, get a table ready!"
Barbecue was meant to be eaten outdoors, casually setting up a table, then enjoying some delicious skewers.
Life was good.
Song Yanxi and her group arrived as well, parking behind him.
Zhang Tian\'ai might have felt that she was at least a star; when she got out to eat, she kept looking around nervously.
Worried about being recognized, yet worried about not being recognized.
The truth proved that, with the little fame she had now, she wasn\'t nearly as attractive as the Bugatti parked by the roadside.
"Brother-in-law, I heard that Yang Mi is applying to terminate her contract to switch companies?"
Yang Mi seemed to have a pretty good relationship with her brother-in-law\'s family.
At least she has always been the public spokesperson for Water Cloud Space.
Chen Pingsheng held a lamb skewer in his left hand and a grilled prawn in his right.
He was eating with great relish.
"Isn\'t that normal? Yang Mi is a very smart woman,"
"When she decided to come to Tengying, your brother-in-law offered her some pretty good conditions!"
Song Yanxi knew about this; long before Water Cloud Space had more than one store, her husband had boasted that he would poach this woman sooner or later.
And it turned out to be true one day.
"Ah? Tengying is also run by your family?" Zhang Tian\'ai was stunned. What was going on?
Her brother-in-law owned such a big entertainment company,
yet her little sister was stuck playing beggars or corpses in the entertainment industry.
Tengying\'s most famous trait in the entertainment circle was its investment record—never experiencing a loss.
It was basically a guarantee that whoever they invested in would make money.
Moreover, although Tengying hardly appeared serious, they did indeed make a lot of money.
Just on the drama \'Hua Qiangu\' alone, they had made a fortune.
Now, they were even planning to poach Yang Mi.
To be honest, Tengying had the capability to do so.
"Yang Mi isn\'t as good an actress as Zhao Liying, who\'s only famous because she started early. Sooner or later, Liying will surpass her."
Chen Pingsheng was very confident about this; he firmly believed that in the short term, the entertainment industry relied on marketing, but in the long run, it definitely depended on acting skills.
"Then why are you poaching her, brother-in-law?"
"She has a great figure, a huge fan base, and she\'s particularly good at all kinds of marketing,"
Chen Pingsheng said, "You think I\'m poaching her to make money from her TV dramas? I\'m just going to use her fame to make money for the company. She knows it too; that Tengying isn\'t really a professional entertainment company in the industry.
But one thing we have that other entertainment companies can\'t compare with is our physical investments, which are stronger than any other entertainment company\'s."
"Who can rely on acting for a lifetime? Besides, if there\'s a major scandal someday, she could just get banned outright."
"What I promised her was that besides Bobo Milk Tea, I would let her co-invest in at least three other startup companies."
No wonder they call Yang Mi a queen; her vision is indeed very sharp.
Once she\'s involved in several companies with this side, she could indeed make a living from it for life.
At the level of fame she\'s reached, that\'s already the ceiling for an actress.
She\'s almost touched the proverbial ceiling.
It\'s worth mentioning that this year, a lot of top-tier celebrities also invested in LeEco.
LeEco is incredibly hot right now.
Even Wang Yanfeng made a good deal because he invested early in LeEco\'s stocks.
Song Wu was quite shocked; she hadn\'t expected her brother-in-law to poach Yang Mi in this manner.
As long as Yang Mi joined Tengying, the company\'s valuation would definitely rise further.
Without a doubt, Yang Mi truly has no rival in the drama circle.
At least for these past few years, that\'s how it was.
Whatever she filmed became a hit.
Zhang Tian\'ai also wanted to ask him, "Does your company still need artists?"
They do need artists...
But those they lack are all top-tier artists.
Apart from Yang Mi, Chen Pingsheng\'s most desired collaboration within Eighty-Five Flower is only the so-called Fairy.
She too has a large fan base.
He had already figured that the main way to make big money in the future was to push companies to go public.
The moment an IPO is completed, a random multiplier should be able to be activated.
Just pushing one small company to go public would at the very least guarantee profits equal to a dozen small goals.
As for spending hundreds of billions to catch the wave of new energy...
Frankly, without several hundreds of billions in savings at home, he wouldn\'t even consider it.
It\'s too risky.
If successful, all is well; if not, it becomes a joke.
Zhang Tian\'ai had now witnessed what it means to be a magnate\'s unassuming plainness.
Owning a Bugatti worth a modest half-billion, yet casually enjoying barbecue at a roadside stand—no one else could compare.
If you looked closely, you\'d even spot several burly security guards standing at a distance.
If anyone tried to reenact Kunshan Long\'s drama for him,
those ex-military personnel could kick you flying several meters away with a single rapid move.
The legal department would then swiftly deliver you a large court summons.
In modern civilized society, who still resorts to fighting?