Chapter 137 Classmates of Classmates
Lin Ruoyan greeted classmate Lu's mother, who said, "Hello, I'm Fu Ying, a teacher at Beijing Film Academy."
Lin Ruoyan was even more surprised. Her company didn't seem to have any connections to Beijing Film Academy. Wait, the film she invested in was already in post-production. Could it be related to Beijing Film Academy? I heard that many film and television post-production companies are run by university professors. They are alumni and friends with the directors and actors, so it's easy for them to attract business.
Fu Ying noticed Lin Ruoyan's puzzled expression, so she smiled and said, "Mr. Lin, I wonder if you could chat with me sometime. Oh, there's a nice coffee shop nearby. How about I treat you and we go over there and talk?"
Is this a request from her? Lin Ruoyan didn't have any serious work to do anyway, and it was only a little after four o'clock, so she agreed and said considerately, "If you didn't drive here, I'll have the driver take everyone. There's no need to go to a coffee shop outside, I opened one at home, we can go there and drink for free."
Mother Ou knew the Lin family was wealthy, so she didn't refuse. She dragged Liu Ying along and followed Lin Ruoyan to the school gate. She noticed that the luxury car Lin Ruoyan drove this time was different from the one she drove to pick up her child from kindergarten. Just how many cars did the Lin family have? Each one cost several million. It was simply too extravagant.
It is certain that the luxury car has a special driver. The driver opened the car door for the three ladies, settled them in, and then drove to the back street of the Siheyuan B&B as instructed by the boss. The coffee shop was open along the street there.
After getting out of the car, Fu Ying was surprised and said, "Oh, so this is the cafe you opened? This is the one I was going to recommend."
Lin Ruoyan smiled and said, "This isn't actually a proper coffee shop, it's a supporting restaurant for my Siheyuan B&B."
As she spoke, she invited the two guests into the cafe.
The coffee shop has been open for a while and has a certain reputation in the neighborhood. Hua Mengmeng also took advantage of her language skills to post in various forums frequented by foreigners to promote this coffee shop with traditional Chinese charm.
During the time of the book, hutong coffee shops were rare. Hutongs were typically filled with small, local specialty restaurants, and foreign tourists would simply peek in, not venture out. However, coffee and simple meals are different. Coffee is a popular beverage abroad, and simple meals are essentially modified Western cuisine, making them more appealing to the diverse dining habits of visitors.
In short, there are a constant stream of guests here from morning to night, and there are no empty seats in the lobby at this time.
Lin Ruoyan simply asked the waiter to open a VIP tea room. Usually, this place only accepts reservations from gold card customers with a pre-deposited consumption amount of more than 10,000 yuan. It is mainly for business discussions and has a certain degree of privacy, so they will not be easily disturbed by other ordinary customers.
As for this consumption prepayment model, it was just something Lin Ruoyan mentioned casually, and Hua Mengmeng and Zhang Huanyu perfected it.
Back then, there were no convenient online payment methods, and people mainly used credit cards and cash when going out. Some people preferred to go to teahouses and coffee shops for business, as they offered a sense of ambiance and privacy, offered significant discounts for pre-paid purchases, and often offered promotional events, making them a strong draw for customers.
At the same time, this pre-deposited money can also be used as the daily operating costs of the cafe, purchasing ingredients, and paying employees' salaries, making the merchant's income more secure.
Of course, not just any restaurant can offer this prepaid card model. To convince customers to deposit so much money, the venue must have certain unique characteristics and appeal. Secondly, the owner isn't renting the space; he owns it. The monk can run away, but the temple cannot. If the cafe fails and goes out of business, the owner still has the property, making the chances of him absconding with the money smaller.
The B&B café fits this logic, so when it introduced prepaid consumption cards, some repeat customers and nearby businesses signed up. With the cards, they visited more frequently, bringing friends with them to eat, drink, and stay, which boosted the B&B's overall business.
Lin Ruoyan was the owner of this place, and now she could use whichever room she wanted to entertain guests. She provided a set of coffee, drinks, and snacks, which was the specialty of this restaurant.
This gracious hospitality made Fu Ying, who had originally offered to treat them, feel a little embarrassed. Mother Ou kept praising the elegant decor and taste of the place, saying that the many foreigners coming in and out taking pictures clearly showed that it was not an ordinary business.
Lin Ruoyan didn't explain much, simply saying that the place also served as a homestay, and that if they had friends from other places or abroad visiting Beijing in the future, they could introduce them to experience the charm of living in a courtyard house. Then she brought the topic back to what Fu Ying had originally wanted to say.
From the moment she got into the luxury car to now sitting in the VIP room of her favorite cafe, Fu Ying felt a bit surreal. She had never expected to meet someone like Boss Lin. Finally, when the question got to the point, she took a long time to calm down and said, "Boss Lin, did you invest in a movie?"
"Oh, yes, it was several months ago, and it should have been finished by now. I have someone under me who is in charge, and I don't usually ask about that project." Lin Ruoyan answered truthfully.
Fu Ying knew that the project required an investment of 30 million yuan. Lin Ruoyan only let others watch such a big project, and she herself didn't care about it. As expected of her from a wealthy family, the project she cared about must be worth hundreds of millions.
Mother Ou suppressed her envy and explained, "It's like this. My Xiaoxue heard from Mengxi about your investment in a movie, and then mentioned it to a classmate named Lu, Fu Ying's son, Lu Yiming. Today, I told Mother Lu that you were also attending the parents' meeting, so we thought it would be a good opportunity to meet. Fu Ying has a project, and maybe there's an opportunity for cooperation..."
Fu Ying said, "I can't call myself a partner, I just want to ask for a favor. Our Beijing Film Academy hopes to organize a student film festival that will join forces with several universities. We've got the personnel, judges, and projects, but we suddenly don't have enough funds."
We've previously worked on a film you've invested in, and several of my students also participated in post-production, so we'd like to discuss this with you directly. After all, the director's team has made it clear they don't dare bother you with project matters, let alone anything else.
"I know your contact number, but I wasn't sure how to ask. I originally wanted to bring some materials and formally visit your company. It was such a coincidence that we met at the parent-teacher conference at her child's school, and since Mrs. Ou was so eager to help, I wanted to get to know you, so I took the liberty to ask."
Lin Ruoyan didn't see any specific description of the film festival held by the Beijing Film Academy in the original book, but it seems that the original hero, Wei Xu, participated in the film festival of his alma mater. Could his alma mater be the Beijing Film Academy?
Since the other party had already spoken up, she couldn't just pretend it didn't happen, so she asked, "There's an actor named Wei Xu in my film and television project. Did he graduate from your school?"
A complex expression flashed across Fu Ying's eyes, but she quickly concealed it and nodded, "Yes, Wei Xu is a junior of mine from a few years younger than me. I only found out he was also involved in this project when we were editing the video. I stayed on campus after graduation and served as a counselor for their class, but I wasn't very familiar with him, and I haven't had any contact with him since graduation. So, there's no way I could find you through him."
Lin Ruoyan didn't dwell on the awkwardness in Fu Ying's expression. It just confirmed that this was most likely the film festival Wei Xu attended at his alma mater before he became famous. So, this was still a good investment, and it could also serve as a promotional channel for the film project.
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