91: Bright Sword Script

"Boss." The conference room door was suddenly pushed open, giving Ding Yan a start. Xu Chu quickly stood up.

Li Xiuwu waved his hand and looked at Xu Chu. Xu Chu looked quite ordinary, and his build wasn't particularly tall or large. He appeared to be a very average person.

"I heard what you just said. You really got Big Beard Zhang's wife and mistress?" Li Xiuwu asked curiously.

Xu Chu looked a bit embarrassed but nodded in admission: "Yes, Boss. Next time... I definitely won't do it like this next time."

"You're a talent. I'll give you a month's bonus." Li Xiuwu looked at Xu Chu in amazement. Even Lin Qian, who was standing beside Li Xiuwu, couldn't help but size Xu Chu up a few more times.

Being skilled at 'fighting stripped to the waist'—he was definitely a talent; it just depended on how he was used. Throughout history, many have achieved success relying on such skills.

"Tell me the situation." Li Xiuwu sat down and gestured for everyone else to sit as well. He hadn't been paying much attention to Big Beard Zhang's side, only having heard Zhu Yawen and Liu Yifei mention it once.

"We investigated some of Big Beard Zhang's sex scandals, as well as how he transferred assets from the company he co-owned with his wife, collaborating with Fan Xinman..."

Ding Yan explained the operational process.

"We collaborated with Fan Xinman to obtain various documents and evidence, catching Big Beard Zhang off guard. First, we froze the cards under his name and the funds he had transferred out; all these funds have been frozen and recovered."

"Fan Xinman filed a lawsuit on the grounds of infidelity and the transfer of joint property. Xu Chu went to 'persuade' Big Beard Zhang's mistress in bed, getting her to testify in court."

Li Xiuwu nodded. All the money Big Beard Zhang cared about most had been frozen; that alone was enough to drive him mad.

At the same time, because his and Fan Xinman's company was affected, his work had basically come to a standstill. The network of connections he had built over the past two years was mostly destroyed.

When a wall starts to crumble, everyone gives it a push. Big Beard Zhang had monopolized many TV station resources, which had dissatisfied many people in the industry. Seeing him in trouble, everyone wanted to take a kick at him.

"We plan to let this lawsuit drag on for three to five years, keeping his funds frozen the entire time," Ding Yan said.

If the lawsuit ended quickly and Big Beard Zhang and Fan Xinman's finances were split, Big Beard Zhang could still have a place in the industry by relying on his reputation and connections, even if he couldn't return to his peak.

But Ding Yan and the others intended to drag the lawsuit out, freezing all his assets without splitting or unfreezing them. In three to five years, he wouldn't be worth a damn.

As for how Fan Xinman agreed to such conditions that were clearly disadvantageous to her as well—that was Xu Chu's skill.

"Well done. The company won't let talent go to waste. Keep up the good work; there will be even bigger stages for you to display your ambitions in the future." Li Xiuwu patted both of them on the shoulders.

He felt that both of them had done well; they were both talents.

As for getting Big Beard Zhang locked up—based on the current information, casting couch scandals, sex scandals, and tax evasion—in this current era, even if it was all exposed, it wouldn't hurt Big Beard Zhang much.

One must remember that even when Zhao Yanzi was caught wearing the Japanese military flag and beating a pregnant woman, and the videos were leaked, it didn't stop her from continuing to film and rake in money.

After encouraging the two of them, Li Xiuwu walked out of the conference room.

The two stood at the door, seeing Li Xiuwu off.

Once he was out of sight, they turned back and closed the conference room door.

"Good performance," Ding Yan said to Xu Chu with a face full of smiles.

"Manager Ding, is it really okay for us to do this?" Xu Chu asked.

The conference room door hadn't been closed. Ding Yan had been scolding Xu Chu, and just as he reached the scandalous parts, Li Xiuwu happened to hear it. Could there really be such a coincidence in the world?

"President Wang has plenty of opportunities to show off. We'll take this bit of credit for ourselves first. Besides, we're the ones who actually did the work," Ding Yan said with a wave of his hand.

Loyalty didn't mean one wouldn't compete or play mind games. Ding Yan had played a trick to let Li Xiuwu hear the results of the Big Beard Zhang matter from him first.

By speaking first, he created a first impression that his contribution to the entire event was the greatest.

Leaving the conference room, Li Xiuwu headed toward Wang Cheng's office.

"Boss, that was a bit of a coincidence," Lin Qian stepped forward and said.

Li Xiuwu raised his hand: "It's not important."

Lin Qian nodded. Since the boss had seen through it, he wouldn't mention the issue he had noticed again.

Lin Qian knocked on the door of Wang Cheng's office. Seeing it was Li Xiuwu, Wang Cheng immediately came out to greet him.

"No need to be so formal, have a seat," Li Xiuwu said to Wang Cheng. Wang Cheng's secretary brought tea and left the room with Lin Qian.

"new strange tales is already filming. Because we didn't have enough experienced staff, I poached a group of seasoned veterans from the Tangren company."

Wang Cheng introduced his work during this period, from the formation of the company and the two production crews to the operational status of the projects.

He didn't mention Big Beard Zhang at all. The matter with Big Beard Zhang was a personal grudge; using the company's power to handle it wasn't something he considered a professional achievement.

"For new strange tales, I've exchanged some resources with other companies for certain actors. However, since our company has no artists, we can only trade for other types of benefits."

As Wang Cheng continued talking about his work, Li Xiuwu's eyes fell upon two words that surprised him.

Drawing Swords.

Under Wang Cheng's surprised gaze, Li Xiuwu walked over and picked up the script.

He flipped through it; it was the one from his memory.

"This?" Li Xiuwu looked at Wang Cheng.

"Our company has been receiving many scripts since last year," Wang Cheng explained.

Perhaps because Xu Muyang had spent money so recklessly to snatch three projects from Tangren, many directors in the film and television circle thought Golden Culture had more money than brains and brought their scripts here to seek investment.

"Is that so?" Li Xiuwu thought about it and understood.

When many directors found it hard to get investment, they would cast a wide net, recommending their scripts everywhere.

"I thought this script was quite good, so I kept it here, but it doesn't quite fit the market." Wang Cheng liked the script for Drawing Swords very much; he had even gone to read the original novel for it.

But this script had one problem: it went against the market.

In anti-war TV dramas, the protagonists were usually upright and heroic figures. In this script, Li Yunlong was full of foul language, ignored rules, and defied military orders.

Li Xiuwu flipped through it; it was basically the same as the TV series he had seen, perhaps with minor differences in dialogue.

"I think it's quite good. We can invest a bit and see."

"This..." Wang Cheng was somewhat hesitant.

"The biggest issue with this script is censorship. If the director can get the script through censorship, we'll invest," Li Xiuwu said.

That was indeed a way. Wang Cheng nodded; censorship was also his biggest concern.

This script was excellent, but Li Yunlong's image was too subversive for an anti-war drama. It was because he worried about the censorship hurdle that he hadn't planned to invest.