My capital is quite large.

Chapter 133 The Penguin's Anxiety

In mid-March, spring was in full bloom.

The domestic entertainment industry, which had been quiet for some time, was stirred up by an official announcement from Haofeng Film and Television on Weibo.

[The modern urban romance drama "The Return of the Heiress," fully funded by Haofeng Pictures, officially begins filming today! The female lead, "Shen Changqing," will be played by our rising star, @NiNi! The male lead, "Lin Hao," will be played by the talented idol, @LiYifeng!]

This Weibo post immediately sparked considerable discussion among fans.

Ni Ni goes without saying. As a film actress cultivated by Haofeng Film and Television, although she did not rank among the top four actresses, she has big-screen resources such as "Love is Not Blind" and her status and popularity have long been established. She is considered a high-class face in the eyes of the audience.

What caused the fans to go wild was the male lead, Li Yifeng!

This "national school heartthrob," who came from a talent show, has been in the awkward situation of being lukewarm in popularity for several years. His fans are getting anxious like ants on a hot plate, watching their idol do some meaningless commercial performances every day.

Now, with an official announcement, he has been thrust into the lead role in a major drama fully funded by Haofeng Film & Television, and he's paired with a high-class actress!

This was like a thunderclap out of nowhere, igniting Li Yifeng's fan base!

"Waaaah! Brother Feng has finally made it! He's finally hooked up with some big money!"

"Haofeng Film & Television is awesome! Boss Li is awesome! This is a well-known star-making factory in the Chinese entertainment industry! Our Brother Feng is really going to soar this time!"

"I heard that Haofeng's contracts for newcomers are all incredibly generous, with a 50/50 split! He not only provides resources but also doesn't bleed the artists dry. Boss Li is practically a living bodhisattva in the Chinese entertainment industry!"

Just as fans were cheering and expressing their gratitude for their idol's comeback and Haofeng's "conscientious contract,"

Several well-known entertainment bloggers dropped a bombshell on Weibo!

According to industry insiders, Haofeng Film & Television has introduced stringent new regulations this year! Contracts for newly signed artists now include dozens of pages of joint liability clauses!

[If an artist's career collapses or their work is removed from circulation due to illegal or unethical conduct, they will not only have to fully compensate the production team and investors for their economic losses, but will also face a staggering penalty of up to 100 million yuan for breach of contract!]

After this revelation, the netizens who were praising Haofeng's conscience were collectively shocked!

One hundred million?!

In an era where even top-tier celebrities only earn a few million yuan for a single film, a breach of contract penalty of 100 million yuan is an astronomical figure that can drive someone to despair!

"Holy crap! One hundred million?! This isn't a contract, it's a saddle with a death sentence!"

"Hilarious! Haofeng is treating his own artists like high-risk P2P investment products!"

"That's ruthless! But to be fair, Boss Li did a great job! In recent years, how many production teams and investors have been ruined by those disgraced celebrities who have had scandals and broken their reputations? This 100 million yuan fine should be used to tighten the reins on these stars' belts and their brains!"

"Hahaha, no wonder Haofeng's artists are always filming, without a single scandal. With a hundred million guillotine hanging over their heads, who would dare to do anything illegal or disorderly!"

In just half a day, the hashtags #HaofengArtistsCannotCollapse# and #100MillionYuanBreachOfContractFraud# were pushed to the top three of Weibo's trending topics!

This unexpected surge in public opinion did not tarnish Haofeng Network's reputation as a "heartless capitalist"; instead, it won over many casual observers and government officials.

In the chaotic entertainment industry, Haofeng's iron-fisted rules have become a breath of fresh air.

……

Meanwhile, at this very moment, in the Fiyta Building in Nanshan District, Shenzhen.

In the highest-level strategic conference room of the Tencent empire, CEO Pony Ma sat in the main seat, listening to reports from senior executives below.

"Mr. Ma, since WeChat launched the 'One-Click Import QQ Contacts' feature last month, the number of registered users has exploded. Currently, the number of daily active users is steadily increasing, and we have already established a firm foothold in the mobile instant messaging market."

Zhang Xiaolong, who is in charge of WeChat business, spoke calmly. This is the only piece of good news that Tencent has heard in the past six months, amidst the gloom of being suppressed by Haofeng Network.

Tencent ultimately managed to secure this "platform ticket" for the mobile internet era without any major incident.

Pony Ma nodded slightly, his expression softening: "Communication with acquaintances is our lifeline, and we did a good job in this battle. However, users alone are not enough. How far has WeChat progressed in terms of monetization and its payment closed loop?"

Upon hearing the phrase "payment closed loop," the vice president in charge of Tenpay's integration with WeChat looked troubled but forced himself to stand up.

"Mr. Ma... There are technical difficulties in fully integrating Tenpay into the underlying architecture of WeChat, but it won't take too long to overcome them."

"But... the biggest barrier to realizing your vision of anytime, anywhere mobile payments lies on the banking side!"

The vice president wiped his sweat and explained bitterly, "If we want to succeed, we have to negotiate direct connection interfaces for quick payment with the headquarters of each of the major banks in China!"

"Negotiations and approval processes for interfaces involving national financial security are lengthy and cumbersome. At the current pace, conservatively speaking... it will probably take another one to two years for WeChat Pay to be fully launched."

One or two years?!

Pony's eyes turned cold, and a surge of anger rose in his head.

"One or two years? In the mobile internet era, don't you know how many changes can occur in a year?! By the time you finally manage to release the interface in a year or two, it'll be too late!"

"Since direct bank connections will take time, let's start with Tencent's core user base! We'll bind WeChat Pay's first application scenario to our [game top-ups]! Let's get a segment of high-net-worth players used to spending money through WeChat!"

"As for the direct connection channels for quick payments with major banks, I don't care what methods you use—whether you beg, throw money at it, or sign performance-based agreements—you must get it sorted out by the end of next year!"

Looking at the vice president who was being thoroughly berated, Pony Ma's tone revealed the anxiety of being surrounded by wolves.

"Do you really think we have that much time to slowly grind things out?!"

"Just getting a third-party payment license approved in the initial review has already caused a huge stir! Do you think that Jack Ma from Hangzhou is just sitting around doing nothing?!"

"Alipay's competitive advantage on PCs and Taobao is incredibly strong; they absolutely won't just stand by and watch Tencent push payment into the mobile platform!"

Pony Ma knows his old rivals very well.

In this circle, once a deadly intention is revealed, it will inevitably be met with a storm of attacks.

"Having payment tools alone is useless; payment needs a **context**!"

Pony Ma suddenly turned his head and looked at the Senior Vice President of Tencent's M&A Department.

Stop fixating on those vague concepts like copyright and traffic!

"The entire investment department is mobilized! Focus your attention on offline, high-frequency everyday scenarios!"

"Investigate! Submit reports! Whether they're in ride-hailing apps or food delivery."

"For any daily necessity that ordinary people have to use and pay for, no matter the cost, we must pour Tencent's capital into it!"

Pony's eyes gleamed with the resolute light of a gambler.

"We need to use capital to buy up these O2O sectors in advance! We'll turn these everyday scenarios into WeChat Pay's exclusive training ground for the future!"

A massive, money-burning war, far more brutal than the copyright war, has quietly begun amidst the anxieties and ambitions of the Penguin Empire.