Beijing, China.
In a courtyard house on Mao'er Hutong, Chen Qing had just finished her video call with her boss. Due to the 12-hour time difference, it was already past 9 p.m. on Tuesday, October 21st, in China.
While organizing the meeting notes, Jiang Shanwu knocked on the door and entered, followed by Zhu Momo, who had just returned from Paris.
Chen Qing immediately smiled. "Momo, come, sit."
Zhu Momo also smiled and walked over to Chen Qing, handing her a gift box. "Sister Chen, this is a gift my aunt and I brought for you."
"Ah, thank you," Chen Qing replied, ignoring the manuscript Zhu Momo had casually placed on the table. After the girl sat down on the chair Jiang Shanwu brought over, Chen Qing took her hand, like a wolf grandmother. "Momo, how about sleeping with Sister Chen tonight?"
Zhu Momo had experienced what it was like to sleep with Chen Qing before. She tried to pull her hand back but failed, so she could only shrink her neck and make an excuse. "Sister Chen, I just got back and haven't adjusted to the time difference yet. I might not be able to sleep."
"That's perfect. Sister Chen has been having trouble sleeping lately too. We can chat all night," Chen Qing said, seeing that Zhu Momo wasn't giving in, she added some bait. "Momo, if you sleep with Sister Chen tonight, I'll tell you a secret."
Zhu Momo was curious. "What is it?"
"You have to agree first."
Zhu Momo decisively gave up her curiosity and pointed to the manuscript she had placed on the table with her free hand. "Sister Chen, this is the adaptation script of Yu Xi Tan that my aunt wrote. She wants you to take a look."
"I see," Chen Qing nodded. Seeing Zhu Momo's resolute expression, she didn't push further since it was just a joke. She even volunteered the secret she had mentioned earlier. "Also, I'll tell you in advance, your mom is coming tomorrow."
Zhu Momo's eyes widened, and she instinctively wanted to stand up. Only after being pulled back by Chen Qing did she realize her mother was coming tomorrow. Still, she felt restless. "Sister Chen, what... what is my mom coming to Beijing for?"
"To discuss some projects."
Chen Qing said casually.
To be precise, Mo Yiling was coming to 'collect a debt.' During his last visit to Suzhou, her boss had promised to produce at least five period dramas at the Jin Shu Film and Television City next year. While her boss had made the promise casually, it was a big deal for Suzhou. Worried about being stood up, Mo Yiling decided to come personally with her team to finalize the details.
Zhu Momo clearly didn't know the specifics of why her mother was coming to Beijing. She just felt like there were nails on her chair. After all, she and her aunt had been hiding her relationship with Simon from her family. If her mother found out they were still living in the Mao'er Hutong courtyard, it would all be exposed.
Zhu Momo just wanted to move out overnight. She tried to pull her hand back again, and this time succeeded. She immediately stood up. "Sister Chen, if that's the case, my aunt and I will move out first."
Seeing Zhu Momo's urgency, Chen Qing pulled her back down. "Did you tell your mom you were coming back to Beijing?"
"No," Zhu Momo shook her head, then realized something and her eyes lit up, but quickly dimmed again. "But it's impossible to hide. My mom is very sharp. She'll definitely know I'm back. I still have to move out."
Chen Qing smiled and comforted her. "Alright, but you don't have to rush. You can move out tomorrow morning. Your mom won't arrive until the morning."
Zhu Momo thought about it and agreed, but she still didn't feel like chatting with Chen Qing. She wanted to go back and prepare. She stood up again. "Sister Chen, if there's nothing else, I'll head back first."
Chen Qing didn't force her this time and smiled as she watched Zhu Momo leave. Thinking about Mo Yiling, she couldn't help but feel a bit emotional.
That was a woman even her boss had to 'obey.'
After Jiang Shanwu closed the door, Chen Qing returned to work mode.
As for the script Zhu Momo had brought from Mo Wuling, Chen Qing just set it aside. She would have someone from the Jin Shu team evaluate it tomorrow. She didn't have time for that right now.
After the video conference, the telecom cooperation, Hong Kong matters, and the life sciences institute were mostly settled. Next, she needed to focus on South Korea.
Chen Qing stood up from her desk, walked to the bookshelf behind her, and pulled out a few files. She returned to her desk, spread them out, and began reading and organizing her thoughts.
According to her boss's instructions, the first step for the Westeros system in South Korea was to take over most of the entertainment industry, including film, television, music, and gaming.
Chen Qing had recently reviewed a lot of related materials and felt her boss was making a big deal out of nothing.
The South Korean entertainment industry, at this point, was hardly worth mentioning. The country was small and still clumsily imitating Japan.
Therefore, taking it over would be simple.
Most of South Korea's major film and music companies were directly or indirectly affiliated with the chaebols. In the coming days, whether these chaebols could survive was uncertain. To stay afloat, they would be more than willing to shed these peripheral assets.
What the Westeros system needed to do was take over and integrate.
After reviewing the documents again, Chen Qing noted something extra in her memo.
About South Korea's television industry.
To develop the entertainment industry, platforms were essential. However, under South Korea's current laws, foreign investment was prohibited in the major terrestrial TV networks. Moreover, Chen Qing could predict that even if South Korea had to make significant economic concessions, as long as the government wasn't insane, this ban wouldn't be easily lifted.
This meant they needed to find another way.
Since South Korea's main TV platforms were currently concentrated in the three major terrestrial networks—KBS, MBC, and SBS—if they couldn't get involved in these platforms, it would be impossible for the Westeros system to control South Korea's entertainment industry.
Drawing on her knowledge of the industry from working with her boss over the past few years, Chen Qing quickly came up with a solution: content-production separation.
Thinking of it, she acted immediately.
Chen Qing picked up her phone and directly called a consultant in South Korea who was familiar with the field. She switched to fluent Korean and chatted with them for over ten minutes, quickly getting a general idea.
Before the 1990s, South Korea's mainstream TV stations still followed an integrated production and broadcasting strategy, which essentially meant a complete monopoly. It wasn't until 1991, under government intervention, that the major TV stations began to open up slightly. However, they resisted passively, and even now, the proportion of external content on South Korea's major terrestrial networks was only around 10%.
And that was just for film and music content.
If you included news and current affairs, the percentage was even lower.
After hanging up, Chen Qing thought for a moment and noted a number in her memo: 30%. This was the first-stage target to be achieved by the end of the year. She could imagine that the situation with TV stations in South Korea wouldn't be much different from China's. They couldn't push too hard in a short time. 30% was enough for the Westeros system to digest initially.
Then, Chen Qing added another note: within five years, achieve 50%.
That would be the limit.
Moreover, after five years, even if they couldn't enter the terrestrial TV sector, Chen Qing had also asked about cable TV. The Westeros system could easily support some cable TV networks in South Korea and create their own platforms.
After finalizing this, Chen Qing wrote two more words in her memo: cars.
Then she regretfully crossed them out.
South Korea's automotive industry, in Chen Qing's opinion, was also worth taking over. Even if it wasn't as strong as Europe, America, or Japan, it was still far ahead of China.
However, according to her boss's words: "After the new century, apart from China, no other country's traditional automotive industry is worth investing in."
Chen Qing had some small doubts about this, as well as a strange sense of pride.
Regardless, since her boss insisted on this stance, Chen Qing had to let it go. Moreover, she realized another layer of meaning in her boss's words.
If the 'traditional automotive industry' in the West wasn't worth investing in after the new century, did that mean there was a 'non-traditional automotive industry' that was worth investing in?
The answer was likely yes.
And if it wasn't something as radical as flying cars, Chen Qing thought this non-traditional automotive industry was probably electric vehicles.
She would have to ask about this next time.
If that was the case, they could start making some early arrangements now.
---
After working late into the night, Chen Qing woke up early the next morning. During breakfast, she heard from Jiang Shanwu that Zhu Momo and Mo Wuling had already left in a hurry. Chen Qing couldn't help but laugh.
She even thought to herself that she hoped to have the same kind of authority over her own children in the future.
Terrified at the mere mention.
Tsk.
Just thinking about it gave her a sense of accomplishment.
After breakfast, Chen Qing headed to the Wenyu River area northeast of Beijing with some of her entourage. This area, adjacent to the airport expressway, covered thousands of acres and housed some of Beijing's earliest high-end residential communities.
However, in Chen Qing's eyes, they were quite mediocre.
These were Beijing's first attempts at luxury real estate projects in the early 1990s, and they lacked experience. The five adjacent communities were a mix of apartments and villas, with various styles and layouts. In short, it was a hodgepodge.
Although Chen Qing looked down on them, the problem was that there weren't many options in China at this stage.
Therefore, over the past two years, as the latest batch of luxury properties in this area went on the market, Chen Qing, under her boss's instructions, had gone on a buying spree. She had purchased three entire 11-story apartment buildings and over 50 villas, spending a total of 200 million yuan. At one point, the developers had even thought she was a scammer.
After confirming that Chen Qing wasn't pulling their leg, this big spender was immediately treated like royalty.
With China's real estate industry in a slump and many potential buyers holding off, the sudden influx of 200 million yuan in cash was like a godsend to the developers, even if the discounts she demanded were steep.
Ancestors!
As Chen Qing got out of the car in front of an apartment building in the Ligao Royal Palace, one of the adjacent 'Li'-named communities, a group of women approached her.
These were the managers of the Westeros family's property management team responsible for this area.
Chen Qing smiled and walked toward the leader of the group, a woman in her early thirties with a refined demeanor and her hair tied up. She hugged the woman affectionately but teased, "Ah, the sunlight is so bright today, I can't even see your shadow."
Everyone laughed.
The woman's name was Lian Ying, which literally meant 'no shadow.'
Lian Ying, who was actually 31 and older than Chen Qing, endured the younger woman's playful antics before saying, "Ms. Chen, let's go inside."
Chen Qing nodded and entered the apartment building. She glanced at another woman standing behind Lian Ying, a tall, short-haired woman with sharp eyes and single eyelids. "Shuhua, aren't you going to greet Sister Chen?"
The woman, named Liu Shuhua, smiled shyly and said softly, "Hello, Sister Chen."
"I've always thought you and Sister Ying should switch names. You should be Liu Ying, and Sister Ying should be Lian Qin Qi," Chen Qing said, then gestured to another single-eyelid woman in the group and added to Lian Ying, "Sister Ying, what do you think?"
"Ms. Chen, if you think it's a good idea, you can change your own name."
"That won't do. My dad would beat me if I changed my name."
Lian Ying: "..."
Have you considered how my dad would feel?
Everyone laughed again.
After the banter, they reached the elevator. Chen Qing thoughtfully said to the single-eyelid sisters, "You haven't seen each other in a while. Stay downstairs and chat. We can go up on our own."
The sisters in the group agreed and obediently stayed behind.
Liu Qin Qi and Liu Shuhua were sisters, just like Jiang Shanwu and Jiang Yuan Chi. The difference was that Jiang Shanwu and Jiang Yuan Chi came from an intellectual family, while the Liu sisters were from a small village in the Qinling Mountains in Shaanxi. Their father, who wasn't very educated, had heard the phrase 'qin qi shu hua' (music, chess, calligraphy, and painting) somewhere and thought it sounded sophisticated, so he named his daughters accordingly.
The reason Chen Qing had noticed the Liu sisters was that they were among the best in the Westeros family's female guard unit in China. Growing up in a village with a tradition of martial arts, even for women, the sisters had exceptional physical abilities.
With their impressive skills, the sisters, only a year apart, had both been selected for military service at 16 and 17 and had even reached the highest levels. Chen Qing had personally seen either sister hold their own against top male bodyguards from the Westeros family during training.
Chen Qing had offered high salaries and used her connections to recruit the sisters. Otherwise, they would likely have been working as bodyguards for high-ranking women.
Originally, both sisters had been assigned to Chen Qing's personal security detail. However, due to the current situation, Chen Qing had temporarily sent the younger sister here.
The main reason was that a group of girls from the Guofeng Art Troupe, who were preparing for next year's Spring Festival Gala, were about to return to China for rehearsals. These were her boss's precious treasures, and Chen Qing didn't dare to be careless. Since the large mansion in the city couldn't accommodate too many people, and the ordinary residential communities were beneath the standards of Chen Qing, her boss, and the now high-standard Guofeng Art Troupe girls, they had decided to house them here.
Although it was in the suburbs, about ten kilometers from the city center, it was conveniently located near the airport expressway, making it only a 30-minute drive to downtown.
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