Brother Dao Took the Entertainment Industry by Storm, Fans Beg Me Not to Kill Anymore

Chapter 612: Planning to Start a Tech Company?

After the rehearsal, Xiao He specifically took individual photos with the two lead actors of The Phantom Thief Alliance and uploaded them to relevant platforms to help promote and build hype.Almost every year around this time, countless netizens would camp out at major TV stations' official accounts, waiting for the Spring Festival Gala lineup and first-hand rehearsal footage. So news of Xiao He's participation in the Gala had already spread online and garnered massive attention. Now that Xiao He had voluntarily posted photos, everyone swarmed in to ask about the situation.

[Congrats, Brother Xiao! First time at the Spring Festival Gala—are you nervous?]

[Wow, I see the Phantom Thief duo! Looks like they've entered the promotional phase. That's amazing—getting a commercial spot directly on the Gala. As expected of Director Zhuang, this totally has his signature all over it.]

[Brother Xiao, how was today's rehearsal? Is that XX also going to be on this year's Gala? Did you see him there?]

[Ahhh, Brother Xiao, could you please check if XXX is also participating in the performance this time? I really want to know about him.]

The comment section had all sorts of questions, and some fans even came over to ask Brother Xiao about their own celebrity's situation. This move was honestly a bit surreal, but Xiao He ignored it. He quickly interacted with the official account of The Phantom Thief Alliance in the comments, then logged out of Weibo.

By now, he was already on his way back to the hotel.

Having just wrapped up a busy rehearsal, Xiao He was in a pretty good mood. Before he could even plan where to eat dinner tonight, his phone rang.

This time, it was Lin Cheng from Linghui Entertainment, all the way in Shanghai, calling him.

"A tech company wants to discuss a collaboration with me privately?"

Xiao He was a bit surprised.

"Yes, boss. They reached us through Fusheng Technology's channels."

Contact information was available to anyone, but the recommendation channel made all the difference—it determined how seriously the matter was taken.

In this case, because Fusheng Technology had previously collaborated with Linghui Entertainment on the mechanical arm project, a foundation of trust had already been established between the two companies. So a new company recommended by them would find it easier to connect with Linghui Entertainment and set up new negotiation talks.

"What's it about, roughly?" Xiao He asked. "It's not about that drone assistance thing from before, is it?"

"Yes, boss. Their company headquarters is right in Beijing. If you're interested, you can talk to them directly."

Lin Cheng glanced at the documents in his hand, paused for a moment, then tactfully reminded Xiao He: "Boss, collaborations of this type have been slowly increasing over the past few years. Have you considered finding a dedicated person to handle the coordination for you?"

Lin Cheng wasn't saying this because he was lazy and didn't want to help Xiao He manage these collaborations. Rather, this kind of work essentially counted as Xiao He's own personal business. Within Linghui Entertainment, Xiao He was both the boss and a shareholder, but it wasn't his company alone. If Linghui Entertainment's people got too involved in his personal ventures, the profit division down the line would become unclear, and Xiao He could easily end up at a disadvantage.

After all, the current shareholders were basically the founding members of Linghui Entertainment, and everyone got along well. But as the saying goes, even between brothers, accounts must be settled clearly.

Moreover, collaboration projects with tech companies were quite different from entertainment companies. They could involve many issues like qualifications and taxes, and they could easily cross legal business scope boundaries, leading to shared risks. Over the long term, this could create major hidden dangers.

Lin Cheng had extensive industry experience, so he was highly perceptive and sensitive to these matters. But he honestly hadn't expected Xiao He's expertise to be so diverse—website blocking, AI-assisted arm systems, drone assistance... Wait, wasn't he a computer science major? How was this gradually starting to feel off?

Lin Cheng's thoughts briefly derailed like a runaway train.

Hearing Lin Cheng's suggestion, Xiao He began to think it over.

It was true. Back when he was selling software, Linghui Entertainment hadn't been formally incorporated yet, and they were pretty short on cash. So basically, Xiao He had handled everything himself—finding teachers to connect with companies, then piggybacking on the teachers' or the school's channels for collaborations and sales.

Later, when Linghui Entertainment officially became a company, he wasn't strapped for cash anymore. But that scalper interception system from last year's birthday party had gone through the company's channels. Even though the patent application was still filed individually and hadn't generated any profit, it still counted as a small project under the company's umbrella.

As for the later AI-assisted mechanical arm system with Fusheng Technology, Xiao He had done the entire coordination under Linghui Entertainment's name for the sake of film promotion and using the mechanical arm as a prop. This was essentially handled through the company's official accounts, and the future profits would need to be calculated together with the investment in Super Spacetime Confrontation. So Xiao He might end up taking a loss.

For Xiao He, this was all just a cheat-like assist from the System's Golden Finger—painless R&D. But in others' eyes, it looked like Xiao He was practically giving away his blood, sweat, and tears at a bargain price, generously sharing it with everyone in the company.

No wonder Lin Cheng had given him such a tactful reminder.

It was partly because he felt uneasy about the profit distribution, and partly because he feared Xiao He might harbor some resentment. Plus, once a tech project started generating serious revenue, the numbers could get absolutely insane. If these projects frequently went through the company's books, it would mean a lot of people would know exactly how much Xiao He was making. If that later bred greed or jealousy in others, they might even turn around and screw Xiao He over.

"Thank you for the reminder. I'll think about it."

After some deliberation, Xiao He thanked Lin Cheng very sincerely.

"It's nothing, boss."

Lin Cheng quickly replied.

Xiao He was growing way too fast.

Back in the day, Lin Cheng might have spoken more casually, but now when reporting the company's situation to Xiao He, he had become much more cautious, genuinely respecting this young man.

"Do you have any candidates in mind?"

Xiao He had absolutely no ideas about this area, so he simply asked Lin Cheng if he had anyone to recommend.

Lin Cheng thought for a moment, then said: "I know an old classmate who used to work at a tech company in a related role. I can reach out to him."

"Alright, thank you."

After hanging up with Lin Cheng, Xiao He turned around and called his former teacher from Hu University, Yuan Ling.

Receiving Xiao He's call, Yuan Ling was a bit surprised. "You're starting a new company?"

"Heh heh, nothing too big. For now, I mainly need someone professional to help with R&D,"

Lin Cheng had extensive industry experience, so he was highly perceptive and sensitive to these matters. But he honestly hadn't expected Xiao He's expertise to be so diverse—website blocking, AI-assisted arm systems, drone assistance... Wait, wasn't he a computer science major? How was this gradually starting to feel off?

The company didn't need to be huge. For now, simply put, Xiao He was the main force. He needed such a company as an umbrella for his future related projects.

As for future arrangements, Xiao He had plans too. He had been working on AI R&D all along, but the database had always been a problem. Once the company was properly set up, he could openly conduct normal technical collaborations and exchanges under the company's name, expand the database and large models, and further develop the AI module in his hands. Who knows—maybe he could actually create something like an AI system in the future.

"I see. Let me think—"

Yuan Ling was in the middle of speaking when someone happened to knock and enter.

"Professor Yuan, could you take another look at my thesis?"

A young man wearing glasses walked in.