Becoming a Movie Star, System Only Finished Loading After Ten Years

"It's all about luck. If you want to establish your own studio, you need to figure out the resource issue."

Qi Hao interjected, throwing a cold splash on these celebrities dreaming of independence.

A group of women immediately slumped in spirit.

Setting up a studio is easy; which first or second tier star doesn't have some savings?

But once you leave the agency, even if they don't blacklist you, don't expect to get resources from them.

The contracts in Huaxia aren't as slavish as in Korea, but agencies have large expenses. The boss wants to buy a Lamborghini, so they'll definitely find ways to exchange resources for money.

If you're not part of their company anymore, why would they offer you anything?

Unless you pay more.

But if you leave the agency only to buy resources with money, what's the difference from before you left?

"Qi Hao, why not start an agency, and we could all join you?"

The voice seemed to belong to... Sui Junbo, though having a name that sounds masculine, she's actually a woman.

Qi Hao couldn't recall how the rumors between them started, or if there were any at all.

He had experienced so much.

But this suggestion was really setting him up.

Sister, you're putting me over a fire to roast here.

"Won't this kind of monopoly get us blacklisted by other companies joining forces?"

An Feng sometimes thought she was a bit foolish, but truthfully, many were even more foolish than her.

Monopolizing female celebrities...

What kind of mindset is that?

Such moves would only result in two possible outcomes.

One is that other capitalists will promote other female celebrities, the other is that this group will no longer get resources, effectively blacklisted by joint efforts.

Of course, both outcomes might happen simultaneously.

"Sigh, we're just fish on the chopping block," lamented another actress, Yang Ruoxi.

Actually, this kind of talk is a bit pretentious.

Real fish are forced to have their scales scraped and innards removed before being placed on the chopping board.

But these actresses have fought tooth and nail to enter the industry.

The entertainment industry makes so much money; many people earn in one movie what others earn in a lifetime.

It's survival of the fittest, no one can truly transcend that.

If you want to be famous, earn more money, and get resources, you must pay the price.

Either pay with skill and popularity.

Or pay with your body and share.

If you're bold, you can even help launder gold, helping others evade tax.

After chatting for a while, An Feng took a call, saying she had to go back.

"I'm really sorry, my mom is urging me to go home, let's chat next time."

Being a famous mother's girl in the industry, she barely needed any excuse.

My mom's calling me home to eat!

Though others despised it internally, they didn't forcefully prevent her from leaving.

"Qi Hao, are you going back too?"

With An Feng leaving, the other women turned their eyes to Qi Hao.

True, none of them were Qi Hao's official girlfriend, many were just rumored together, and some hadn't even collaborated to be rumored.

But they couldn't help it now that Qi Hao was impressive.

His Penguin stocks in plain sight were worth 800 million, and adding everything else, his net worth was probably over a billion.

This was net worth.

There weren't many in the entertainment industry with such wealth.

Not considering other factors, purely in terms of money, even Zhang Yimou doesn't compare to Qi Hao.

And that's exactly what these actresses want—money.

With money, they can buy mansions and hire help; with money, they can afford high-end jewelry and bags…

Qi Hao could provide all these for them.

Moreover, Qi Hao's personal life wasn't messy. After getting married, they wouldn't have to worry about mistresses galore…

Qi Hao had a good temper, no tendencies towards domestic violence.

Good physique, seemingly strong and appealing…

A perfect husband candidate.

If they could marry Qi Hao, they'd even be willing to stay loyal to him alone, and never flirt with wild men outside again.

"Me? I'm in no rush; I'll stay and play a while longer."

Qi Hao acted as though he hadn't noticed An Feng leaving.

Yet he didn't continue mingling with this group of women plotting against him either.

None of them looked as radiant as they did, but not many had brains.

Their topics of discussion weren't luxury goods and industry gossip, but immature topics like these.

Just at that moment, seeing Wang Chongjun and Huang Xiaoming, Qi Hao walked straight over.

No need to pursue after An Feng, her assistant and driver would take her back.

Following now would only stir up resentment for An Feng.

"...Isn't that just an escort model? And you're okay with that? Good? How good? Arrange a time for me to try too..."

Upon approaching, Qi Hao realized these two might be discussing something unsavory.

Turning away at this point would indicate he heard them.

Qi Hao wasn't worried about these two silencing him, mainly because if they invited him to join, it'd be quite awkward.

Plus, Huang Da'an's behavior of offering someone up was really hard to agree with.

It's said that, back then, Xiaoming endured a lot for resources, so he particularly enjoyed people being subservient to him after gaining fame.

"Hey, what are you two hiding here talking about?"

Qi Hao kept a straight face, pretending the scene was too chaotic to hear anything.

"We're no match for you; the moment you appear, all the women are drawn over,"

Wang Chonglei said sourly.

If it weren't for Qi Hao at today's occasion, this entertainment mogul would definitely be surrounded by a bunch of women.

"I'm really not good at this, I'm just too tired to deal with it."

Qi Hao looked pained, successfully making Wang Chonglei and Huang Xiaoming laugh.

"You really don't appreciate the charm. If I were you, I'd be the groom every night."

Wang Chonglei was envious; what he could play with were just those things.

Those who don't mind him having a wife, those who don't mind him being ugly, are all willing to sleep with him for resources.

The real top-notch ones totally ignore him.

Over the years, he's also kicked quite a few iron plates.

If it were someone like Qi Hao, attractive and wealthy, he could probably win over any goddess.

"President Wang, if you're going to say that, then the next time I see your wife, I'll have to tell on you."

Qi Hao purely treated this as a joke.

"Haha, the flag at home stays standing, while flags outside flutter in the wind."

Wang Chonglei disdained it in his heart, thinking his old wife at home was nothing. If he wanted, he could make a harem group and let his wife be the admin in there.

He could even let his wife take care of the mistress during her confinement.

"When I need advice, I'll definitely consult you, President Wang… but right now there's no need. Xiaoming and I are both still single."

Qi Hao replied perfunctorily.

"Ah, Xiaoming lives more transparently than you."

Wang Chonglei felt it wasn't interesting, just as his brother said, Qi Hao was destined not to fit in their cup.

Completely a different kind of person.

You might not feel his perfunctoriness, but if you think about it carefully, you realize everything he says is just perfunctory.

"I quite envy Qi Hao."

Huang Xiaoming envied Qi Hao's openness and cleanliness.

He felt his acting skills weren't much worse than Qi Hao's, plus he had a formal education, peers, seniors, and teachers. If he settled down and developed slowly, he might still make a name for himself.

Unfortunately, it's all too late.

"Come on, we're all considered successful people, where's there so much lamenting? The company is almost going public. Once it does, we'll all be billionaires."

Qi Hao changed the subject slightly.

Sure enough, at the mention of going public, smiles appeared on the faces of Wang Chonglei and Huang Da'an.

Qi Hao had 3.71 million shares of Mrs. Hua's shares, and Huang Xiaoming had 1.8 million shares as well.

As for the Wang Brothers, there's even less to say, anyway, the hard days are over.

The three immediately started chatting about stocks.

Qi Hao and Wang Chonglei didn't mention that Qi Hao would sell all his stocks on the first day of trading.

In fact, this transaction was done secretly.

In a short period, Qi Hao couldn't publicly trade the details, to avoid over-interpretation by others, affecting the confidence of the small investors in the stocks.

Wang Chonglei showed no attempt to hide his attitude toward the small investors.

Blatantly saying he was going to cut the small investors.

Cut two thousand per person, cut fifty thousand small investors, and that's a hundred billion in huge profits.

There's no business more profitable than cutting small investors.

Why bother making movies when there's this kind of business?

Qi Hao didn't say anything to refute, he didn't have too much sympathy for the small investors.

Instead, Xiaoming thought that movies still need to be made properly.

Making movies is very profitable in itself; if you can truly make a few blockbusters every year, the stock price would still keep rising.

Qi Hao very much agreed with Xiaoming, but he didn't say it.

Because he knew the Wang Brothers were already crazy, in their eyes, there was only cutting small investors.

Of course, the necessary films would still be made.

The small investors also needed nourishment; only when they grew robustly could they be harvested over and over again.

However, films were no longer everything for the Wang Brothers.

According to Wang Chonglei, they must become the Disney of Huaxia; if this concept was played well, it could increase the stock price more than making several billion-dollar movies.

If you're going to play, play big.

Qi Hao was even more glad that he had negotiated stock repurchase in advance with Mrs. Hua.

You're trying to replicate Disney without even figuring out movies yet.

I'm even more convinced that there's no bright future for you.

Of course, Mrs. Hua, after all, is the number one private film company domestically, they're likely to have a period of substantial growth, but Qi Hao didn't know at what level this growth would be or how long it would last.

So, he was completely incapable of selling at a high point.

Better to play it safe, earn less if it means earning less.

To avoid staying mingled with the Wang Brothers for too long, affecting his reputation.

When the time came, Qi Hao would definitely distance himself from the Wang Brothers and publicly announce he no longer held Mrs. Hua's shares.

"I heard you invested in Jiang Wen's movie, who got you to do that?"

Wang Chonglei couldn't hide his glee; he was also resentful, thinking that they had taken so many of their stocks, yet hadn't invested in them.

Investing in Jiang Wen was a dead end, wasn't it?

"Wen is my idol. He had no investors; it was too pitiful, so I couldn't help but invest a little."

Qi Hao was half-true.

Mainly because Gao Yang liked Jiang Wen's movies, thinking they had the most style.

As an agent, a few words of advice didn't work, so he let it be.

"Fifty million, that's not just a little; your coal boss is probably going to lose big on this one."

Wang Chonglei himself couldn't even come up with fifty million now.

Filled with envy, jealousy, and hatred.

"He's worth billions, doesn't care about such a small amount."

Qi Hao jabbed at Wang Chonglei a bit; fifty million was just a trivial expense, merely money for people to have fun with.

"Ah, filthy rich…"

Wang Chonglei initially wanted to sneer at Qi Hao for wanting to shoot an action movie, but realizing Qi Hao's big boss wasn't short on cash, he lost interest.

Just wait a little longer, by October, their Mrs. Hua wouldn't be short on cash either.