After finishing the conversation with Huang Xizhao, Lin Baicheng and Cheng Yufeng followed him to the meeting room, where the entire management team of RTV (Li's Television) was already waiting.
Lin Baicheng sat in the seat usually reserved for Huang Xizhao during meetings. Cheng Yufeng sat in the first seat to his left, and Huang Xizhao sat in the first seat to his right.
"I'll introduce everyone. This is Mr. Lin Baicheng. Mr. Lin holds absolute controlling shares in the television station, so from now on, he will be in charge. Let us welcome Mr. Lin. Under his leadership, the television station will certainly reach new heights."
Huang Xizhao stood and led the applause.
"Hello, Mr. Lin!"
The group greeted him together and applauded.
"Hello to all of you. Let's work together and contribute to the development of the station," Lin said, gesturing for them to sit.
Huang Xizhao continued, "This is Assistant Cheng Yufeng. He will assist Mr. Lin in managing the television station. Please treat him with respect."
"Hello, Assistant Cheng."
"Hello, everyone," Cheng replied, standing and nodding politely.
"Mr. Lin, this is Professor Zhong Jinghui, one of our directors and a television consultant. He holds a Master of Fine Arts from the Yale School of Drama in the United States — highly accomplished," Huang introduced.
"Hello, Mr. Lin."
"Nice to meet you," Lin replied.
Lin vaguely recognized him — he remembered that he played the smiling villain in God of Gamblers III: The Early Stage, and he had thought he was mainly an actor, not someone who worked behind the scenes.
"Mr. Lin, this is Mak Dangxiong, this is Lee Zhaoxiong, and this is To Wingxiong — they are all television producers."
Lin hadn't seen them before, but as someone who had written Hong Kong entertainment fiction, he knew of the trio known as the "Three Heroes of RTV," who were powerful talents in television production.
"Mr. Lin, this is Xu Xiaoming, a director and action choreographer. Don't be fooled by his age — he's the best martial arts choreographer in the station."
"Mr. Lin, this is Xiao Ruoyuan, the station's top scriptwriter."
Huang continued introducing more staff. Although Lin hadn't heard of some of their names, he knew that anyone who could occupy a high-ranking position in such a talent-filled station must be capable.
"You are all rare talents. I hope you'll contribute to the station's future development and make it even better," Lin said after the introductions.
It was then Lin's turn to speak. He had come not only to meet the management but also to deliver a message.
"First of all, with new leadership comes change. Since I'm now the owner, the station's name will also change.
Asian Television — I plan to rename Li's Television to Asian Television. As the name suggests, we shouldn't limit our vision to just Hong Kong. We need bigger goals."
"Of course, one must stay grounded. Although we must have ambitious aims, our first objective is to make our station number one in ratings in Hong Kong — and to maintain that position consistently, not just for a few days or a short period."
"To achieve this short-term goal of becoming number one in Hong Kong, I will inject 50 million HKD into the station to update costumes, props, cameras, and equipment. We can't keep recycling the same old outfits. Sets should look realistic — not obviously made of foam that breaks the immersion."
Regardless of whether the remaining shareholders would sell their shares or not, Lin planned to inject this 50 million HKD to improve production quality and boost ratings.
The management team was visibly delighted — more funding and better resources were exactly what they had hoped for but never received from their previous parent company.
Seeing their excitement, Lin continued:
"As for personnel, aside from the finance department where I will assign my own people, I won't change your positions for now. Whoever was responsible for something will continue doing so."
Everyone quietly let out a sigh of relief. To them, the key concern was whether their positions were safe.
"But don't celebrate too soon," Lin suddenly said seriously. "I don't know your true capabilities yet. So over the next two months, I'll have people observe and evaluate your performance in secret. If anyone is not up to standard, I will ask them to leave. Of course, if you perform well, I will maintain the current management structure and keep you assisting Manager Huang."
The group was startled but not overly worried — they had confidence in their abilities.
"All right, that's all. Manager Huang, stay. Everyone else can return to work."
After a few more words, Lin dismissed them and asked Huang to remain.
"Manager Huang, show me around the station," Lin said.
Huang guided Lin around the various departments — broadcast rooms, voice-over rooms, the artist training class, etc. Lin met many staff members so that employees would recognize their new boss.
They also visited the sets of several television dramas currently being filmed. Lin realized he didn't recognize most of the actors of this era.
For Hong Kong's entertainment industry, the actors he knew best were from the 1980s and 1990s, like Maggie Cheung, Chow Yun-fat, Wong Cho-lam, Chingmy Yau, Stephen Chow, etc. In 1977, most of them hadn't debuted yet or were still minor figures.
As for Li's Television — or rather, what should now be called Asian Television — Lin didn't plan to make major changes immediately. He would wait until he acquired all shares and had sufficient funds before implementing larger reforms.