Entering the Chinese entertainment industry is like entering a deep sea

Chapter 817 The Most Expensive Like in History
This Christmas is also the last working day of the week.

A news item trending on social media has caused quite a stir among people in the industry.

#Huanrui was visited by the China Securities Regulatory Commission#
Sina Finance reports
"Huanrui's stock price fluctuated wildly on Christmas trading day after the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) suddenly came to its door!"

"The company suspended trading immediately to clarify the situation, which triggered widespread panic in the market and raised questions within the industry about the transparency of its information disclosure."

"On December 25, 2015, Huanrui Century, an A-share listed film and television star stock, encountered a 'black swan' event on Christmas Day. At around 10:12 a.m., a Weibo user with real-name authentication, 'Financial Observer Li,' posted a tip."

"We have exclusively learned that Huanrui was subjected to a surprise investigation by the China Securities Regulatory Commission today, involving issues related to the re-disclosure of information. The office has been sealed off with documents. The news quickly spread in investment communities, causing the stock price to plummet by 7% during trading before being suspended from trading, resulting in a market value loss of nearly 8 million yuan."

If a black swan event occurs during Christmas, and it happens to the A-shares market, then the US or Hong Kong stocks would at least have a buffer period if the market were closed.

The financial observer who made the whistleblower's revelation, surnamed Li, is not Li Chen, but even a fool could make the connection to Li Chen.

Li Chen's Weibo post inexplicably gained hundreds of thousands of likes and countless questions.

The trending topic and public opinion were immediately ignited.

"This is probably the most expensive like in history, directly causing the company's market value to evaporate by 8 million!"

"First there was a bloody incident caused by a steamed bun, now there's a tragedy caused by a like!"

"Guan Hu: I just made a movie, why are you making a sequel? Leonardo DiCaprio: I call this 'commercial sniping,' it's more exciting than your Lunar New Year film!"

"Li Yifeng: I was just eating a melon, how did the melon rind hit my head? Little Li: You can take back a like, but you can't take back a stock price."

"From now on, executives will have to use alternate accounts to like posts, otherwise it could easily become a 'short selling signal'."

“Feng Xiaogang probably doesn’t even know that he has a ‘passive skill’ in the capital circle: whoever likes his posts gets their company investigated.”

"With a slight smile and a tap on the keyboard, the listed company's stock price plummeted to its daily limit, more fantastical than striking a bull from a distance in a martial arts movie."

"The drama in the capital market is far more melodramatic than the fantasy dramas produced by Huanrui."

Li Yifeng: From now on, I will only give a thumbs up to the weather forecast.

In addition to the enthusiastic responses from netizens, industry insiders have also stepped forward to share their experiences.

"It's no secret that bigwigs in the film industry are constantly battling it out, but in the past it was about grabbing box office revenue, now it's about driving down stock prices—it's gotten to an all-time high!"

Huanrui's Christmas celebration was marred by a black swan event, becoming a landmark event of 2015.

It was jokingly called "Like Gate" by netizens, and someone photoshopped a prank on it that same day.

Feng Xiaogang's Weibo post read: "Like this post and your company will be safe."

Some netizens even suggested that Huanrui should quickly issue a statement: "Our company solemnly declares that Li Yifeng's 'like' was purely a personal act, and we have deeply reflected on it. From now on, we will switch to 'anonymous mode' to enjoy the gossip."

A storm raged within Yang Siwei's heart.

She didn't even need to think about it or ask her boss.

There's absolutely no doubt that her boss is involved in this.

Recalling my boss's words from yesterday, "Don't ask what you shouldn't ask," now they seem like a powerful warning, resounding in my mind.

This is not on the same level as her saying to Zhang Hanyun, "Don't ask what you shouldn't ask."

The difference between bronze and king is beyond description.

She just wanted to teach this clueless Feng Zi a lesson, and also to make an example of him to warn others.

Her boss is trying to wipe out Huanrui completely.
But does Huanrui really have a problem?
How did the boss find out that Yang Siwei frowned and fell into deep thought?

-

Wang Changtian was no less shocked than Yang Siwei. After having breakfast early in the morning, he decided to call Li Chen.

"Brother, you've heard about Huanrui's situation, haven't you?"

"heard."

Wang Changtian sighed inwardly, thinking that this younger brother was becoming more and more mature.

If he expresses surprise and says he knows nothing about it and hasn't seen it trending on social media, then Wang Changtian is 100% certain that this was his doing.

But at this moment, the three lightly uttered words "I've heard about it" left Wang Changtian unable to accurately assess his condition.

“Brother, with Huanrui being targeted by the China Securities Regulatory Commission at this time, you’re the prime suspect, haha,” Wang Changtian said, half-jokingly and half-seriously.

"It's just a visit, not a case being filed. If you haven't done anything wrong, you have nothing to fear. We can just watch the show. Besides, don't I already have enough suspicions about me?"

Wang Changtian laughed heartily: "That's right, you're full of unsolved mysteries. In my whole life, I, Old Wang, admire no more than one person, and you're one of the best among them!"

"Before I could even congratulate you on the huge success of 'The Villain,' Enlight Media's stock price has already soared."

"Hey, what's the difference between this little increase and no increase at all? Compared to Wanda, my 'king' status is nowhere near as big as theirs."

After exchanging a few more words, Wang Changtian hung up the phone.

Although Li Chen didn't say anything, Wang Changtian still intuitively felt that Li Chen must have been behind this.

Otherwise, no one in the industry has that kind of influence.

His younger brother has won him complete respect over the years for his connections with the higher-ups.

Through various patriotic films, he was almost like a panacea, able to speak with various government departments.

The internet was in an uproar. Although Huanrui issued an urgent denial, stating that it was just a normal inquiry, the official conclusion was that an investigation was underway and that everything would be subject to the final conclusion announced by the official media.

Huanrui was now completely thrown into chaos.

Li Yifeng panicked even more, as all signs indicated that someone was going to make a move against Huan Rui.

Who did it? Who had the ability to do it?
"Crack!"

On the set of "The Legend of Chusen", director Zhu Ruibing roared!
"Li Yifeng, can you film this? Can you film this?!"

"I'm sorry, director! I'm not feeling well."

Zhao Liying, dressed in her costume and holding a prop sword, gave Li Yifeng a deep look before turning around and walking to the side to rest.

"Sis, tell me, was it the big boss who did it?!"

"Shh! Stop talking about these things!" Zhao Liying quickly stopped her gossipy assistant.

The assistant immediately nodded and dared not utter a sound.

Zhao Liying was also quite frightened at this moment.

This is what a real boss is like. He looks harmless most of the time, but when he takes action, he's ruthless and powerful. He can take down a listed company without hesitation!

Zhao Liying was very fortunate that she wasn't with Huanrui, and even more fortunate that she joined Rongchen.

Everyone on the crew noticed today that Li Yifeng was out of sorts, completely absent-minded. Even the best-tempered director couldn't stand a scene that could be done in one take taking ten.

Zhu Ruibing was practically spitting fire. If Li Yifeng hadn't been a member of the production company, he would have fired him long ago.

"Ten-minute break!" Zhu Ruibing shouted, then angrily plopped down on his seat.

Li Yifeng was in a daze. In just two days, he had experienced firsthand what it meant to be cold and indifferent to human relationships. Only he knew the truth.

The people around him, from his girlfriend to his friends in the industry to the artists in the company who call him "Brother Feng" all tease him, saying that he is a real man.

But they all stayed as far away as possible, fearing they might be caught in the crossfire.

Li Yifeng walked into his van. He was the highest-paid actor in the entire crew, and his treatment was unique to Scorpion Daddy.

For his previous film "Sparrow," he earned 2600 million yuan. Zhang Luyi earned 880 million yuan, Zhou Dongyu 871.20 million yuan, and Li Xiaoran 552.38 million yuan—the three of them combined didn't earn as much as he did alone.

Li Yifeng hurriedly took the phone from his assistant.

"Sister Mi just made a phone call to Brother Feng," the assistant muttered quietly.

"understood."

Li Yifeng took a deep breath and called Yang Mi back. He just wanted to hear his girlfriend's voice to dispel his fear.

When they called back, the line was busy.

Yang Mi was also extremely busy at this time.

The innocent bystanders are caught in the crossfire; Jiaxing is the biggest fish in the fire, okay!

The knife wound Huan Rui received terrified Yang Mi, Zeng Jia, and Zhao Ruoyao.

"We were worried he would target Li Yifeng; we were truly judging a gentleman by our own petty standards!"

"I knew long ago that if my senior didn't take action, he wouldn't do anything lightly, but I never expected it to turn out like this!"

"I'm just curious, how did Li Chen know that Huanrui had problems? That's terrifying!"

Zeng Jia and Yang Mi were exchanging words when Zhao Ruoyao suddenly interjected, "This kind of person is not to be trifled with! Mimi."

Yang Mi turned her head, already having a premonition, and saw Zhao Ruoyao hesitate, "Speak?"

Zhao Ruo cleared her throat and glanced at Zeng Jia again.

Zeng Jiawei nodded almost imperceptibly.

Zhao Ruoyao then said, "Um, Mimi, I have a suggestion. Since you and Li Yifeng haven't gone public yet, why don't you cut ties as soon as possible?"

Yang Mi's heart tightened, and she turned her head to look at Zeng Jia again.

"Yes, Mimi, we're not listed yet, and Liu Yifei and Li Chen know about your relationship with Li Yifeng. Yao Yao and I don't mean to interfere in your private life. It's just that the entertainment industry is inherently realistic."

"Stop talking, I know!" Yang Mi raised her hand to interrupt Zeng and Zhao.

Clearly, the two of them had planned this before coming to confront her.

It seems that the senior's actions have left a shadow in their hearts. Jiajia was once so determined to reach the same level as the senior, but now that shadow has taken hold...
Yang Mi knew very well that Li Yifeng's matter was no longer important at the moment.

Huanrui is the real problem; the three of them also own a company that is closely related to Huanrui.

It is the Jingcheng Xuanxu Cultural Exchange Center, formerly known as Jingcheng Jiaxing Culture.

If the higher-ups really want to investigate, although it's not a big deal, its disclosure will inevitably have repercussions. The accounts here are unclear, and the only people who probably know the truth are Huanrui's two top executives.

-

As online discussions heated up, Liu Yifei became somewhat worried.

"What are you worried about? Don't worry about all the commotion in the industry. Your biggest task right now is to focus on your pregnancy."

At times like these, a man's calm tone and nonchalant expression are the best tranquilizer.

"Okay! I'll listen to you and not think about anything anymore!" Liu Yifei suddenly felt a great sense of security and quietly leaned on her husband's shoulder.

The man she married was definitely not perfect; she finally understood what it meant to say, "Women don't love men who aren't a little bad."

-

Thanks to the popularity of Li Yifeng, "Mr. Six" unexpectedly benefited from the misfortune. Over the Christmas and weekend period, its box office soared, earning 1.85 million yuan in just three days.

In contrast, "The Villain Angel" suffered a collapse in reputation, and no matter how hard Deng Chao and Yu Baimei tried, they couldn't change the fact that it peaked on its opening day.

Public opinion was outraged, and just three working days later, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) announced that it had filed a case against Huanrui, causing a huge uproar.

With artists holding shares in Huanrui Entertainment scattered throughout the entertainment industry, panic ensued, and everyone felt insecure, making a sell-off inevitable.

Now that things have come to this, although Huanrui's Zhong Junyan and Jiang Lei are heartbroken, blaming Li Yifeng won't change anything.

Moreover, Li Yifeng is now one of Huanrui's main sources of income, and he still owes Huanrui 1800 million yuan!

The smart thing to do is
"Fengfeng, what's done is done, so don't dwell on it anymore. Just focus on filming!"

"Brother Lei, I'm sorry!"

"What are you saying sorry for? It's just eight hundred million! With you here, I'm all set!" Jiang Lei's tongue was trembling as he said this.

It's more than 800 million!
Li Yifeng earned a nickname: Li Eight Billion.

However, Huanrui, the victim of a panic sell-off over the past two days, has seen its market value shrink by 1.4 billion yuan.

Having been listed for less than two years, it almost lost everything overnight.

The shareholders wished they could nail Li Yifeng, the king of likes, to the cross!
Upon hearing the words "With you here," Li Yifeng seemed to come back to life on the spot.

"Okay, Brother Lei, please tell President Zhong that I will definitely earn back that 800 million for the company!"

He became a sensation after starring in "Gu Jian", earning a total of 8900 million yuan last year. Although there are only two or three days left this year, his income has already exceeded 1.6 million yuan.

Breaking 200 million next year is a certainty.

Huanrui cooperated fully with the investigation, and with the attention of the media and the public, the issue was quickly clarified by the relevant departments.

Sina Finance News

"On the evening of December 31, Huanrui issued an announcement, according to the CSRC's 'Administrative Decision Letter'."

"Huanrui failed to provide true, accurate, and complete financial data for 2013, 2014, and the first half of 2015, resulting in false records and material omissions in the financial data disclosed by Huanrui."

According to the China Securities Regulatory Commission's (CSRC) penalty, reporters calculated that Huanrui will face a fine of 412 million yuan. Sina Finance sent an interview outline to Huanrui, but as of press time, no response has been received.

On the last day of 2015, Huanrui was among the products trending on social media.

There are also several celebrity shareholders, including Yang Mi and Li Yifeng.

The various financial maneuvers of Huanrui and Jiaxing, along with their celebrity shareholders, have left onlookers stunned.

Li Yifeng is still in the eye of the storm. Just in February of this year, he borrowed 18 million yuan from Huanrui's accounts to buy a house.

The controversy came to an end with a single announcement.

Huanrui suffered a major blow, but fortunately, its core artists are still around, and a comeback is just around the corner.

But this time, Zhong Junyan and Jiang Lei couldn't figure out who had leaked the information.

There are only five people in the entire company who know about these things.

Zhong Junyan has checked everyone and there are no problems.

"Old Jiang, what do you think went wrong this time?"

At this point, Zhong Junyan no longer felt there was anything wrong with this approach.

After all, there are many companies in the industry that operate this way, and as long as no one investigates, everything will be fine.

Jiang Lei was completely baffled at this point, unable to figure out which link had gone wrong.

After this battle, Rong Chen not only became the envy of everyone in the industry, but also awe-inspired by everyone.

(End of this chapter)