Chapter 23: Young People Have No Sense of Martial Virtue?!

As Pony Ma spoke, Li Wenyu continued selecting his breakfast. Once he had finished, he walked with Pony to a table and sat down before speaking, "Partnering with Tencent is a good choice, but I have one condition."

Pony nodded, "Go ahead, Director Li. If it is within my power, I will not refuse."

Though Pony Ma was now wealthy, he still dared not underestimate the twenty-year-old Li. After all, the coordinated efforts of online armies from Beijing and Hong Kong had unleashed such a powerful wave of new traffic for the early 21st century. Was this internet beauty pageant set to replace the traditional ones held by TVB and ATV? Regardless of how those two television giants might react, Tencent was now positioned to seize the momentum of the beauty pageant craze if they played their cards right. This required Li Wenyu’s support—not that Tencent couldn't pay to hire its own armies, but the current trend of online influence across East and Southeast Asia was firmly in Li’s camp. It was already too late for Tencent to build its own. One step behind meant being left behind forever!

The Hong Kong team featured Gillian and Ah Zhi; the Taiwan team had Jiang Zuping and Bea Hayden. Indeed, the netizens’ initial picks for the Taiwan team—names like Ruoxuan, Jingwen, and Chiling—had been swamped by mainland and Hong Kong users. They argued, "We are looking for the top beauty of the new generation; what are these picks? How old are they?" They insisted that if they were to pick veterans, stars like Michelle Reis or Vivian Chow were far more formidable, as were Chen Hong and He Qing. Even Joey Wong wasn't exactly old yet.

And so, Bea Hayden, who was still in high school and pursued by many boys, was thrust into the spotlight early. In her original timeline, she wouldn't have debuted until the 2002 Taipei beauty pageant. Now, she was representing the Taiwan team in a massive online contest. The surge in her popularity was incomparable to the original trajectory. Jiang Zuping, also on the Taiwan team, was only twenty-three, and her period-drama look was highly popular. Then there were South Korea’s Jun Ji-hyun and Kim Hee-sun, Japan’s Yukie Nakama, and Singapore, which was lagging a bit as Fann Wong and the others were getting older.

In short, as the momentum built, the beauty pageant—an event inherently loved by young and old alike—became a battleground for the beauties of various nations. The scale was growing exponentially. The mainland’s 20 million internet users were rapidly approaching 30 million. With computers becoming more common and the internet offering more entertainment, the phenomenon was spreading through schools and society alike. If Japanese, South Korean, or Hong Kong capital tried to launch their own pageant sites now, they would be soundly defeated the moment Li Wenyu arrived with his three beauties and his army of netizens. Pony Ma’s visit was, therefore, a formal negotiation.

Li Wenyu smiled, "I hope that during the pageant and the theatrical run of my film, *The Shallows*, Tencent will create a special pop-up program. Every time a user logs into their Tencent account, they should receive at least one daily pop-up news alert about the pageant happenings across East and Southeast Asia. This includes promotional content for Bingbing, pushing her as the top beauty, and notifying users that *The Shallows* is currently in theaters."

"Furthermore, pop-up advertising is a great revenue stream for Tencent. For this pop-up concept, I want a creative fee of one million Hong Kong dollars."

Pony Ma’s eyes lit up. "Pop-up news? Pop-ups..." After muttering to himself, he clapped in admiration. "Great idea. One million is not expensive. I didn't expect you to be so well-versed in this, Director Li. If you weren't a great director, I would want to invite you to be the director of our creative department."

After taking a sip of milk tea, he laughed, "By telling me this idea so directly, aren't you afraid I’ll take it without paying?" Tencent was still in its low-key growth phase, and Pony was just teasing.

Li Wenyu smiled brightly. "If you take the idea without paying, be careful—I might just rally a group of stars to build a rival social app. How do you think the public would react if Ah Zhi or Gillian announced that their new chat software was launching?" He had several million in savings waiting to be invested in stocks in 2002, so he wasn't desperate for cash.

Pony Ma, mid-sip, choked violently. He had only meant to tease the youngster. Was he really going to be this ruthless? Playing the celebrity card? Damn. The younger generation had no sense of sportsmanship, ambushing an "old man" like him with such provocation.

Regaining his composure, Pony pulled out his checkbook. "One million. You are truly formidable, Director Li. I wish us a pleasant cooperation." The pop-up concept seemed simple, but for an internet company looking to profit from news and ad space, it was a long-term, inexhaustible gold mine.

Li Wenyu shook hands with Pony and they finished their meal.

***

After breakfast, Li Wenyu brought some food back to the hotel room for Bingbing. She was still groggy, but as she ate, she asked suspiciously, "Are you really part elephant? Don't they say bulls are the ones that get worked to death?"

Feeling his fitness attribute at 102 points, Li Wenyu felt proud but didn't want to discourage her. "Good news: the deal with Tencent is done. During the pageant and the run of *The Shallows*, they will push you heavily to become the number one beauty in East and Southeast Asia. Combined with A-Rong’s concert promotions, I think we have a chance to push the mainland box office for *The Shallows* past 100 million!"

With the stakes this high, it would be unreasonable not to break 100 million! Previous hits like *The Blair Witch Project* or *The Mermaid* couldn't compare to this momentum.

Bingbing spat out a mouthful of food. "Break 100 million? Are you dreaming?"

After her exclamation, she was stunned. "Wait, no... *Titanic* made 360 million in the mainland in 1998, and *Saving Private Ryan* and *Who Am I?* both made over 80 million."

"In 2000, *Fatal Decision* made 116 million, and this year *Pearl Harbor* made 105 million! Hiss..."

It wasn't impossible to break 100 million in the mainland; there had been several such films in recent years. As Fan Bingbing stared at Li Wenyu in shock, he smiled, "Should we celebrate again?"

Bingbing immediately regained her confidence. "Bring it on, you think I’m afraid of you?"

If they actually broke 100 million, then regardless of anything else... well, *Hero* had a lot of Hong Kong investment, too! Bingbing felt her blood boiling.

Li Wenyu wasn't just bragging. With A-Rong’s concert, CCTV ads, and Tencent’s daily pop-ups, the promotion would be pushed to the extreme—the grandest firework display imaginable. Otherwise, how would *Hero* have earned 250 million?

The first multinational online beauty pageant was in full swing, and the primary task of the mainland army was to bring the online buzz into the real world, calling on friends to recruit more users and cheer for Yang Xue, Huang Shengyi, and Le Jiatong. As more netizens were drawn in, Bingbing’s debut would be like catching a strong wind. With the stage set this way, Bingbing would leave the likes of her former peers and even her former management stunned, watching from the sidelines as she soared.

***

Dozens of minutes later, Li Wenyu was smoking when his phone beeped. It was a message from Huang Shengyi: "Senior, someone wants to pay me 300,000 RMB to shoot an ad. Should I take it? I’m so panicked. Are they trying to trick me into taking nude photos?"

Li Wenyu was speechless. "You, Yang Xue, and Le Jiatong are effectively the top five of the pageant; it's normal for your popularity to explode. Think of the superstars who emerged from the Miss Hong Kong pageants and don't panic. If you want to make money, do it, but have a teacher review the contract for you. You are currently the mainland runner-up in a multinational online pageant."

Having pocketed a million from Pony Ma, he could increase his 2002 investments in NetEase or pursue other ventures. He was winning big!