Chapter 292: Fuelling the Fire

Turner and Michael’s expressions of shock were as if they had just seen aliens; they both burst into laughter. The mockery in their laughter made a fierce look flash in Tie Long’s eyes once again.
“Hahaha! Xiao Ran knows nothing about business!” The two kept laughing nonstop. This was the funniest joke they had ever heard—they would swear on their lives. A person who understood nothing about business could create the world’s greatest wealth and build something from scratch in just ten years. It was simply ridiculous.
But looking at Tie Long’s serious expression, they realized it might not be a joke after all, and gradually stopped laughing. Tie Long stomped angrily on the expensive carpet in the room to vent his hatred, though he tried not to show it. “In your investigations into Xiao Ran, is there any evidence showing that he personally handled any business deals?”
Turner and Michael lived up to Tie Long’s expectations and quickly searched their memories. To their horror, there was indeed no record of Xiao Ran participating in management or actual business operations over those ten years—at least not in their records.
“I suppose you both acknowledge Wei Dongling’s business genius. Then perhaps we can now understand why Xiao Ran always seeks advice from professionals like Wei Dongling before making any major moves!” Tie Long spoke each word carefully, his expression tinged with resentment. “Xiao Ran does this because he knows nothing about business. At least that’s what I think.”
Turner and Michael’s faces paled. If what Tie Long said was true, it was absolutely unacceptable to them. A person who didn’t understand business management could still create the world’s greatest wealth and defeat all competitors time and again. Other than calling him a genius, they really couldn’t find another word to describe him.
“That’s right. Xiao Ran is indeed skilled in business strategy. But that doesn’t mean he understands business operations. If he loses Wei Dongling, it’s like losing his own hands. Even if he’s smart, he won’t have anyone to help him achieve his goals!” Tie Long said the last sentence with absolute certainty.
In fact, Tie Long only suspected that Xiao Ran didn’t understand business. After all, his records showed no evidence that he had attended any business-related schools. Combined with other circumstances, he came to this rather ridiculous conclusion. In truth, he himself didn’t fully believe it. He brought it up merely to boost Turner and Michael’s confidence.
As for Turner and Michael’s thoughts, needless to say—the Shadow Empire posed a huge threat to the six major Hollywood studios, almost completely dominating the animation film industry, especially the former. Moreover, the Shadow Empire had been vigorously developing its theme park business in recent years, building several parks in Asia and Europe, and was now planning to enter the U.S. market. Disney suffered greatly from this competition. Its profits last year were at least 200% lower than five years earlier, and Michael’s position was in serious danger.

For Turner as well, it wasn’t necessarily pleasant. Xiao Ran was a nightmare to them; he couldn’t even imagine how the people sent by Shuxiang to manage the television networks controlled by Universal quickly managed to gain a foothold in the North American television market thanks to their rich experience and some unheard-of programs. Moreover, Warner Bros., once the industry leader, had lost its position several times over the years, causing its stock price to drop significantly.

The other companies were even worse off—they not only couldn’t compete with Shadow but often lost to Tianluo, Debao, and Taihang. An old fox remains an old fox. The two of them silently watched inside the iron cage and said, “Tell me, what do you think we should do?”

Tie Long said nothing but fiercely waved his hand in a cutting motion, making his intention clear. Turner and Michael remained expressionless, both considering this possibility. Such actions could lead to trouble, so it was worth considering avoiding violence: “Is there any other way, like poaching talent?”

As soon as Michael spoke those words, he realized he was wrong—completely wrong. Wei Dongling had a fortune of hundreds of billions of dollars—what could they use to poach him? Turner’s assets were now far less than Wei Dongling’s—what could they use?

If it weren’t for considering Michael’s pride, Tie Long would have burst out laughing. He thought Michael must be used to poaching people, so he blurted it out casually. With a faint sneer, he said, “Wei Dongling and Xiao Ran are very close friends. It’s said that Xiao Ran wants to give Wei Dongling more shares, but Wei doesn’t even want them! What can you use to poach him?”

It had to be admitted that this sarcastic remark really hurt their old classmate. While secretly amused, Turner quickly racked his brains. He thought it felt a bit like a rat pulling a turtle—for Wei Dongling, perhaps the only solution was the one Tie Long had suggested!

Why not point the finger at Xiao Ran? Xiao Ran was a world-famous billionaire. If anything happened to him, the uproar would be unimaginable. But Wei Dongling was far less prominent…

However, he didn’t think he needed to do it himself—he didn’t even want to give orders. After a brief thought, this cunning old fox found a scapegoat, his gaze shifting uncertainly toward Tie Long.

Wei Dongling was in high spirits, completely unaware that a conspiracy was aimed at him. This time, he could finally leave some of the headquarters’ tasks to Xiao Ran. Imagining Xiao Ran being overwhelmed by work filled him with delight.

Unfortunately, one of Wei Dongling’s two trusted assistants stayed in Hong Kong to handle some of his work, so it seemed his plan might not work after all. But Wei Dongling just thought that way. If he really let Xiao Ran handle those tasks, he bet the company would fall into chaos within three days—this was why he kept assistants around.

Sometimes Wei Dongling would think with regret. A man as strategic—no, as cunning—as Xiao Ran, if he could also master business operations, would undoubtedly be the perfect business figure. Perhaps it was because of his talent in filmmaking that fate took away from Xiao Ran his ability to handle actual business matters!
From 1986 to 1997, he and Xiao Ran had fought side by side for eleven years. During those eleven years, Xiao Ran faced countless crises, large and small. Like a shadow, they navigated through numerous difficulties, and through their joint efforts, they managed to survive—though the hardships were beyond the imagination of outsiders.
He felt he had indeed achieved his former dream: finding a space of freedom where he could fully utilize his abilities. Xiao Ran had given him ample room for that, and he was very grateful to him for that. Probably no director in any major company in the world could offer such freedom as Shadow did.
To say that Wei Dongling cared nothing about money would be a lie. Money and status had indeed brought him many benefits and a sense of superiority, especially when negotiating investments with certain countries. But he certainly didn’t consider money more important than anything else—perhaps this had something to do with both Xiao Ran and Fang Xiaoqiang. At least both of them had such personalities; sometimes one had to admit that personality could influence others.
He couldn’t help but reflect on how he had grown from a young man who couldn’t find a satisfactory job and was always complaining to someone who now held significant power in the business world. The changes were enormous. Looking back now, many things seemed extremely interesting.
Xiao Ran was about to retire soon. He was the only person besides Lin Qingxia who knew of Xiao Ran’s intention. Over the years, he had realized that Xiao Ran wasn’t very happy with his current life, especially since his power had reached its peak—everything seemed boring.
So, he strongly supported Xiao Ran’s idea of retiring and himself also wanted to find an opportunity to retire and enjoy a happy life. However, while Xiao Ran could retire, he couldn’t do so yet, because Shadow still hadn’t found a suitable successor. The two most suitable candidates were Wei Dongling’s two assistants, but Wei Dongling still felt they lacked Xiao Ran’s strategic acumen.
Yet, this was also inevitable—running a superempire worth over $300 billion wasn’t easy. Fortunately, Xiao Ran didn’t plan to retire completely but instead intended to oversee everything from a semi-retired position. He thought that with ten years, he could train the right successor. But in the end, he never expected that more than a decade later, it would be Xiao Ling, the little girl regarded as everyone’s adorable treasure, who would take charge of Shadow.
Now, Xiao Ran was paving the way for retirement. Once July 1st passed, everything would be under control. To prepare for this, Xiao Ran and he had spent two whole years planning. This time, they were determined to conquer the world.

Just this one battle will establish Phantom as the undisputed champion of the entertainment media industry. Wei Dongling himself has also decided to retire officially in five years, handing over his work to one of his two assistants.

Wei Dongling is now coming to the United States with Xiao Ran’s instructions, aiming to deal a heavy blow to the six major companies and plant deeper seeds for the collapse of the North American film industry. Within at most ten years, these seeds will surely sprout and grow under Phantom’s control until the U.S. film industry collapses—by then, perhaps the goal of Hong Kong movies dominating the world could be achieved.

What needs to be done now? After some thought, Wei Dongling realized that the most important task assigned to him by Xiao Ran was to raise the salary again to forty million dollars. He smiled cunningly—doing this wasn’t difficult at all, but it wasn’t appropriate for Phantom or Universal to take action.

Higher salaries don’t necessarily mean higher revenues; instead, it would lead to cuts in other actors’ pay. In Hollywood, aside from well-known actors who earn high salaries, ordinary and second-rate actors already have very low pay, creating an extreme wealth disparity. If this trend continues, collapse is inevitable.

This time, he intended to quietly push things forward, as it wasn’t convenient for Universal to step in, otherwise, others would surely suspect Phantom’s motives. After some consideration, he decided to follow Xiao Ran’s plan—stir up conflict and let other companies take action on their behalf.

Local companies wouldn’t fall for such a trick easily, so the most viable target was Columbia, controlled by Sony. After brief thought, Wei Dongling reviewed some of the films Universal was preparing and quickly identified one set to start shooting in the second half of the year. It was an action movie, and Han Long believed it had potential, so it was planned as a big-budget production. However, the lead actor hadn’t been chosen yet. Wei Dongling thought for a moment, then checked another list containing actors who were planning to take on projects with other companies soon.

The most prominent name on that list was Cruise. Sony was trying to recruit him for a romance movie, offering three and a half million dollars—already the highest offer so far. Wei Dongling asked the person Han Long had sent to assist him, “Has Cruise signed a contract with Sony?” The answer was no; Cruise was merely in talks with Columbia. After some reflection, Wei Dongling realized he wasn’t familiar with the film industry. Before coming here, Xiao Ran had warned him that the worst thing in this industry was someone breaking new ground first.

Just as in previous years, when Xiao Ran instructed Universal to raise Cruise’s salary to thirty million dollars, the first person to do so triggered demands for higher salaries from other actors in the same category. Once this started, it was hard to stop. What Wei Dongling needed to do wasn’t to push hard, but to give just a slight nudge to push those exorbitant salaries above their current levels—then the market would naturally drive them up further.

Since they wanted to do this, why not let Sony be the scapegoat? After some thought, Wei Dongling quickly decided to compete with Columbia for Cruise, using competition to force Columbia to raise the salary.

Cruise was very surprised; he didn’t expect Universal to be willing to pay 36 million to cast him in a movie, which exceeded the highest salary rates currently in use. Still, he was somewhat hesitant, as Columbia was being very sincere in its negotiations with him, and the movie was tailored specifically for him.

The person talking to Cruise was a producer sent by Universal. In fact, since Xiao Ran took control of Universal, he had never considered changing Hollywood’s system. In his view, rather than making his competitors better, it was better to let them maintain their current system. As a result, not only did he not introduce Hong Kong’s system, but he also actively worked to keep other actors and filmmakers’ salaries low under the pretext of high star salaries. All of this contributed to pushing Hollywood toward collapse.