I Inherited 5,000 Years of Family Property

Having resolved his roommate issues, Zhang Menglong completely relaxed. He had initially planned to return to Gusu to see Lu Yiyao, but since Lu Yiyao was busy with her graduation exams, he did not want to distract her.

Of course, making a daily phone call was essential, and their relationship warmed rapidly after this meeting.

"Alright, I'm going to take a shower now, I have a sight-singing exam tomorrow morning. You should go to sleep early too!"

"Got it, rest early." Zhang Menglong turned off the video call and lazily stretched out on the sofa, just as Wang Ling called him.

"Boss Zhang, it's only been a few days, and you've already turned Jiangnan City upside down. Watching from the sidelines has really been an eye-opener for us commoners!" said a sarcastic voice from the other end of the phone.

"Can you blame me?" Zhang Menglong responded, "When those Russians belittle our Huaxia culture and unity, I just had to show them how awesome our culture really is!"

"This isn't about showing off our culture! They were chased away before they could even see the paintings you brought out!"

"They don't deserve to see!" Zhang Menglong scoffed. "By the way, Boss Wang, you never visit without a reason. Spill it, what do you want today!"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Hey! Can't I just call to have dinner and chat?"

"Pfft! I'm not some naive girl, why would you ask me to have dinner and chat? Out with it or I'm hanging up!"

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"Wait a second!" Wang Ling quickly cried out, "Okay, I really do need something!"

"Ha-ha, speak!" Zhang Menglong laughed, "Spit it out quick, whatever it is!"

"I need to borrow some money!"

"Borrow money? You, Wang the rich guy, are asking me for money?" Zhang Menglong was surprised, "Did you do something wrong and get kicked out by your dad?"

"Cut the cold remarks!" Wang Ling retorted angrily, "You know how severe the pandemic is this year. The film industry has taken a huge hit, and our family's film company being the biggest in the country, the losses are just too severe!"

"What does that have to do with borrowing money from me?" Zhang Menglong questioned, "If it's a cash flow problem, I can spend money to buy shares of your Wanda Film Industry, or even consider a total buyout!"

"Boss Zhang, Master Zhang! Please spare me! I'm already miserable enough!" Hearing Zhang Menglong mention buying shares, Wang Ling was scared stiff, "Wanda Film Industry is now in my hands. If you buy it, my dad might just dismantle my whole skeleton!"

"Then what do you need the money for?"

"To make a movie!" Wang Ling declared, "Now that the situation is starting to improve in the film industry, but there aren't any good films being released. If I make a blockbuster right now, it could have a huge impact on the film industry!"

"You really think so, huh," Zhang Menglong sneered, "What kind of film do you plan to make? An adult film? Then you might need to go to another country to find actors. Let me recommend a few for you like Momotani Erika, Ohashi Miku, Asuka Tomorrow, Momonogi Kana—perfect choices for you!"

Damn, a kindred spirit! I tell you, Teacher Momotani's works are absolute classics!"

"Heh heh, exactly!"

The two old lechers suddenly found a common interest, and the topic abruptly took a bizarre turn.

"Ahem, ahem, let's talk business!" Wang Ling cleared his throat, "I've recently acquired some rights that are absolutely top-tier sci-fi material!"

"Novel or anime?"

"Liu's 'Three-Body'!" Wang Ling grew excited as he spoke, "This work is a classic of classics. If shot well, it could rival the global phenomenon of 'Harry Potter'!"

Zhang Menglong had already read this work in high school and couldn't deny that it was the pinnacle of domestic sci-fi novels. The prospect of turning it into a film was truly something to look forward to.

"Those rights must have been expensive, huh?"

At that question, Wang Ling's face twisted in pain, "The rights to remake the entire series, 20 million!"

"That's actually quite cheap!"

"Do you believe I'd drive over right now and run you over?" Hearing Zhang Menglong's sleazy tone, Wang Ling was infuriated. To Zhang Menglong, 20 million really wasn't much, but he was a freak, not even a person!

Wang Ling was worth over a billion dollars, sure, but you have to realize, most of that was fixed assets. When it comes to liquid assets, being able to produce seventy or eighty million was already quite good!

Keep in mind, the first time Wang Ling met Zhang Menglong, he had painfully prepared that sum of money to buy that poisonous Lamborghini.

"You know, last time I was about to buy that car, I almost went bankrupt. Now I only have 50 million in liquid assets left. I consulted with Big Liu, and for a sci-fi movie, if we want the best shooting effects, even using domestic special effects teams, just the special effects could cost over 300 million!"

"And adding actors, props, and other costs, we're looking at around 500 million."

"So you've come to seek investment from me?"

"Cut the crap, are you going to help me or not?"

"I'll give you 1 billion!" Zhang Menglong was anxious about not being able to spend his money, "If that's not enough, I'll add more later!"

In reality, to use up that money, he could just acquire a few large corporations easily, but since those corporations hadn't wronged him, forcibly acquiring them didn't seem right. However, spending money through normal routes was too slow, and investing carelessly often ended up feeling like making donations, which was really frustrating.

"That's what I like to hear! I knew I wasn't wrong about you!" Wang Ling instantly felt better, "As for the box office revenue split, let's base it on our respective investment amounts!"

"No way, if you give me a share of the box office proceeds, I'm not investing!" Zhang Menglong said.

"What? Are you doing charity?" Wang Ling was surprised, but then he suddenly remembered that time at the betting stone event and swallowed the half-spoken words back.

"It's not exactly charity, maybe consider it alleviating poverty at most!"

"You rascal!" Although he knew Zhang Menglong was joking, why did Wang Ling feel such an urge to hit him? Wang Ling, after all, was one of the top rich heirs. Now someone's talking about poverty alleviation on him?

"Enough said, tomorrow at 11:30 AM, I'll treat you to lunch at Fico Hotel, and we can discuss our shooting plan."

"Fine, but for this billion-dollar lunch, you better treat me well!"

"Haha, of course!"

...

The next afternoon, half an hour before the appointed time, Zhang Menglong arrived early at Fico Hotel, a highly upscale hotel where a normal lunch would cost a few thousand dollars, just to have a taste.

"Hmm, strange, why are there so many people?" Zhang Menglong felt a peculiar atmosphere as he walked into the hotel.

Logically speaking, this time was not a peak period, and even though Jiangnan City had many wealthy people, a hotel of this caliber would never be full. The strangest thing was that everyone's gaze uniformly focused on the hotel's main entrance, as if someone significant were expected today.

"What's going on?" Zhang Menglong found the seat number Wang Ling had told him, and Wang Ling was already there waiting, "You didn't need all these people to welcome me, did you?"

"Welcome you, my ass!" Wang Ling wasn't exactly polite, "Turns out today we happened to catch a big event."

"What event?" Zhang Menglong asked, curious.

"Damn, you've already bought Weibo, don't you know about this trending topic?"

"As long as it doesn't concern me, why should I care about it?" Yet curious, Zhang Menglong still pulled out his phone.

"You know how the stock god Warren Buffett auctions the chance to have lunch with him, right?"

"I've heard about it, it costs several million dollars or even tens of millions just for a meal!"

"Exactly, and I don't know if it's because these people think too highly of themselves, but they all started imitating him," Wang Ling said scornfully, "Even the world's richest man auctioned a lunch with him for 12 million dollars. A Huaxia entrepreneur bought it, and it's happening this noon in the VIP hall of this restaurant!"

"World's richest man?" Zhang Menglong was puzzled, "Isn't the world's richest man me? I never did such a thing?"