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Chapter 474 0464 [Money Talks]

The rules for inviting guests to "Byte Night" are that the top 30 fans on Renren.com, HaiNei.com, and Byte Weibo are all invited.

Then, they selected celebrities from various professions from the top 200 on HaiNei.com and ByteDance's Weibo and invited them to participate.

Try to involve as many industries as possible.

Some people don't even come when they receive an invitation; for example, Li Kaifu is arrogant.

If Chen Guiliang had personally extended the invitation, Li Kaifu would definitely have accepted. But Chen Guiliang was too lazy to do it himself.

Pan Shiyi didn't come either.

Yu Minhong seems to enjoy joining in the fun, and she readily agrees to any invitation. As an entrepreneur, her Weibo followers are actually hundreds of thousands more than Fan Bingbing's.

Some people actively seek out this opportunity to gain attention, such as Editor-in-Chief Su from Harper's Bazaar.

At this time, Su Mang hadn't yet become the subject of trending topics like not wearing thermal underwear, the 650 yuan food allowance, or cooking for her in-laws' family of 15. She seemed to have the air of a fashionable, powerful female lead; she couldn't just refuse someone who proactively contacted her to attend an event, could she?

Su Mang arrived quite early and immediately began socializing, chatting happily with Yu Minhong, Cai Kangyong, and others.

The moment Chen Guiliang appeared, she quickly stood up and ran over to shake his hand: "Hello, Mr. Chen. I've heard so much about you. It's a pleasure to finally meet you today."

"Hello, Editor-in-Chief Su," Chen Guiliang replied with a smile.

During the pleasantries, Su Mang handed over his business card, inquired about Bian Guanyue's identity, and then became incredibly enthusiastic towards her.

She noticed Chen Guiliang's lukewarm attitude, so she wanted to cultivate a good relationship with Bian Guanyue. Perhaps she could get Bian Guanyue to attend the charity gala, which would eventually drag Chen Guiliang into the mess as well.

Chen Guiliang is second on this year's Hurun Rich List and third on the Forbes Rich List. A true super-rich man!
"Haha, Mr. Chen, congratulations on making a fortune." Yu Minhong also came over to shake hands.

Chen Guiliang said, "Let's get rich together."

Yu Minhong lamented, "The last time we met, you were ranked around 200th or 300th on the rich list. In just over a year, you've actually entered the top three on both lists. Sigh, I'm just unlucky; Muddy Waters specifically issued a report to short sell me."

"Haha, true gold fears no fire, and it's back up now, hasn't it?" Chen Guiliang comforted him with a smile.

Last year, New Oriental was questioned by Muddy Waters Research, causing its stock price to plummet to $71.8, which resulted in Yu Minhong dropping dozens of places on the rich list. Now, the stock price has rebounded to over $110.

Yu Minhong said these things just to show off.

Hey, even though Muddy Waters shorted my stock, I'm not only unaffected, but my share price is rising even higher than before.

But Muddy Waters' killer move is yet to come. In six months, they will release a second report that will drive New Oriental's stock price down to just $21!

"Is that Chen Guiliang?" Cai Kangyong asked.

Little S nodded: "It's him, just like in the photo."

As they spoke, the two walked over together.

Both of them ranked in the top ten in terms of Weibo followers, and ByteDance extended invitations according to established rules.

"Hello, Mr. Chen!"

"Hello, both of you. Guo, the vice president of ByteDance, has always been a fan of yours, and I am very pleased to have you both here today."

"It's an honor. Please give my regards to Mr. Guo."

This is obviously just polite talk; Guo Fengzi did enjoy watching "Kangxi Lai Le" when he was in college.

But it was purely for amusement.

Guo Feng was too lazy to even attend tonight's celebration; he was at home watching Detective Conan with his girlfriend. They only watched a few episodes a week, and this silly anime would keep them entertained for years.

Chen Guiliang actually really wanted to recommend that they watch "Peppa Pig".

Just then, Feng Xiaogang appeared with the cast and crew of "Aftershock". They had just come from the interview room and had already given a brief interview to the media.

"Mr. Chen!"

Feng Kuzi, standing two or three steps away, had already extended both hands, leaning forward as he shook hands, appearing humble and subservient.

Chen Guiliang had no choice but to extend both hands to shake his: "Congratulations Director Feng on the box office success!"

Feng Kuzi said, "The actors performed well; the story of the earthquake is inherently moving."

Chen Guiliang shook hands with Xu Fan again, while observing the relationship between Xu Fan and Zhang Jingchu.

The two didn't interact much throughout the entire process, and Xu Fan even deliberately stood in the middle, separating Zhang Jingchu and Feng Kuzi.

Zhang Jingchu wanted to step forward and shake hands with Chen Guiliang, but Xu Fan picked up a little girl and blocked her way, saying, "President Chen, this is my daughter, Xiao Fangdeng."

Of course, it's the daughter in the movie.

"Hello, Uncle Chen," Zhang Zifeng greeted him confidently.

Chen Guiliang corrected him, saying, "You should call him brother."

Zhang Zifeng smiled and said, "Hello, brother."

"That's more like it." Chen Guiliang finally cheered up.

Bian Guanyue finally escaped Su Mang's entanglement and returned to Chen Guiliang's side, shaking hands with Feng Kuzi and the others.

Xu Fan didn't care whether Chen Guiliang knew them or not, and took the initiative to introduce Chen Daoming and other actors, deliberately leaving Zhang Jingchu out in the cold.

Feng Kuzi was a little embarrassed.

Zhang Jingchu maintained a smile throughout, showing no signs of being neglected.

Just then, the crew of "Let the Bullets Fly" arrived, including the Jiang brothers (Jiang Jiawen and Wu), Chow Yun-fat, Ge You, Liu Jialing, Chen Kun, Liao Fan, and others.

If we're going to give awards to the films of 2010, we can't avoid mentioning "Let the Bullets Fly" and "Aftershock".

More and more celebrities are flocking in; besides actors, there are also a large number of singers.

Singers, in particular, received performance fees, more than half of whom were required to perform on stage.

Wang Jingwen did not come.

Although she treats Weibo like her personal WeChat Moments and has a large number of followers, she said she had something urgent to attend to and wouldn't be coming.

Everyone who showed up tonight came to shake hands with Chen Guiliang.

Chen Guiliang is still the same Chen Guiliang, but now he's broken into the top three of China's rich list, seemingly shrouded in a golden halo. It's dazzling, forcing one to take a second look.

ByteDance's stock price was mainly driven up by its mobile phones and Weibo.

HarmonyOS, as a self-financing subsidiary of ByteDance, can show its profits from booming smartphone sales through consolidated financial statements. Furthermore, smartphones, as traffic gateways, can also drive growth for ByteDance's other businesses, such as Weibo.

The explosive growth of ByteDance's two main businesses, mobile phones and Weibo, has greatly excited American investors. Even when ByteDance issued $2.6 million worth of new shares, it didn't significantly lower the stock price, which quickly rebounded.

Take these celebrities for example, they all have a smartphone.

Among top celebrities, the phones they currently use are almost evenly split between HarmonyOS and iPhone 4, with only a very small number opting for the Samsung i9000. Top celebrities who don't use any of these three models are extremely rare.

Jiang Wen's first words to him were: "President Chen, your phone is awesome! I just bought one on New Year's Day!"

Of the well-known writers present tonight, only Han Han, Zheng Yuanjie, and Shen Hongfei are here.

Zheng Yuanjie has an astonishing number of followers on Weibo, and he surfs the internet intensively every day. No wonder he would say, "Only those who think internet addiction is a mental illness are mentally ill."

"Haha, Mr. Chen, let's take a picture together, I want to post it on Weibo." Zheng Yuanjie took a picture as soon as they met and posted it on Weibo immediately afterward.

Chen Guiliang immediately put his arm around his shoulder and made a V sign at the phone camera.

Although this was their first meeting, they were practically old acquaintances online, frequently tagging each other and creating collaborative content. Chen Guiliang had urged them to update "The Magic Cube Building" more than once.

Zheng Yuanjie, in turn, urged the author to update "Those Things of the Ming Dynasty".

The main theme is mutual harm.

……

"The vast horizon is my love, and the flowers are blooming at the foot of the rolling green mountains..."

The opening song and dance was "The Most Dazzling Ethnic Style".

At that time, Phoenix Legend was still an object of scorn and ridicule, and no matter how well their records sold, they were still regarded as online singers.

Many college students and white-collar workers, in particular, think that listening to Phoenix Legend's songs is too low-class.

It will take a few more years before Phoenix Legend can transform into a national icon.

Even when Xie Yang presented the final plan for "ByteDance Night," he asked if it was appropriate to have Phoenix Legend open the show.

Xie Saobang does like Phoenix Legend, but he's too embarrassed to admit it.

At this moment, after Phoenix Legend finished singing "The Most Dazzling Ethnic Trend", they sang the currently most popular song "Moonlight over the Lotus Pond".

Chen Guiliang smiled and turned to Bian Guanyue, saying, "Guess if anyone is looking at their phone?"

"Huh?" Bian Guanyue didn't catch the joke.

Guo Degang caught it remotely.

After Phoenix Legend finished singing two songs, they were stopped by the hosts Chunni and Guo Degang.

"Hey, I thought my phone was ringing just now," Guo Degang blurted out.

The guests in the first few rows didn't react much to this remark, but the audience members further back burst into laughter.

Chunni said, "My mom's phone ringtone is 'Moonlight over the Lotus Pond'."

"Hahaha!"

The celebrities in the front row finally realized what it meant.

After a bad start, Guo Degang was actually a little nervous: "Do you usually use Weibo?"

Baron Zeng said, "I use it frequently."

Guo Degang took out his phone: "Let's follow each other."

Baron Zeng obediently took out his phone.

While operating the machine, Guo Degang said, "Your job seems pretty easy."

Baron Zeng had already guessed what Guo Degang wanted to say, and very cooperatively put on a blank expression: "Huh?"

Guo Degang asked, "You only say a few words, how are the performance fees split?"

Linghua said, "It's a secret."

"So the couple can just divide it up however they want?" Guo Degang said.

Chunni interrupted, "They're not a couple."

Guo Degang: "No?"

Baron Zeng: "No, it's not true."

Guo Degang: "I always thought you two were a couple. You've been working together for five or six years, haven't you?"

Baron Zeng: "More than ten years."

Guo Degang: "It's right not to associate with each other. If we're too familiar, having known each other for over ten years, we'd definitely become like brothers. If we got married, we'd both be laughing when we went home."

"Hahaha!"

It wasn't a particularly funny remark, but it made Baron Zeng and Linghua laugh.

They probably really imagined the awkwardness of marrying each other.

Guo Degang rambled on for a few more minutes, then ushered Phoenix Legend off the stage: "I almost forgot the main point. Thank you all for attending the ByteDance Night Annual Celebration. I am Guo Degang."

“I am Chunni,” Chunni said.

Guo Degang: What were you doing when you were 25?

Chunni: "To be a host."

Guo Degang: "When I was 25 years old, I had just founded the Beijing Crosstalk Association, which was the predecessor of Deyun Society."

Chunni: "You're pretty amazing."

Guo Degang: "I'm far from that level. Some people become millionaires by the age of 25."

Chunni: "Who is it?"

Guo Degang: "Alright, stop pretending. How could you not know about something this big? Who's paying you for hosting tonight?"

Chunni: "President Chen is only 25 years old?"

Guo Degang: "President Chen is incredibly capable; he succeeds at everything he does. Let me tell you about it. At 17, he participated in a writing competition and unexpectedly won first prize. Tsinghua and Peking Universities were vying to admit him."

Chunni: "Really?"

Guo Degang: "I started two companies right after entering university. Wow, one company is now worth tens of billions of dollars, and the other game company has become number one in the country. And they're not even rich kids, they don't have parents who are officials or businessmen. Isn't that amazing?"

After saying this, Guo Degang looked down at the audience.

The camera lens was also pointed at Chen Guiliang.

Many guests and audience members shouted in unison, "Awesome!"

When Guo Degang comes to this kind of occasion, he naturally knows he should shower his benefactor with compliments.

Quite a few people are unaware of Chen Guiliang's background, only knowing that he is a very wealthy boss.

For example, Little S was extremely surprised and whispered to Cai Kangyong, "You're so rich at 25 years old, starting from nothing?"

Cai Kangyong said, "It's a bit scary."

Zhang Yimou also brought the crew of "Under the Hawthorn Tree".

Zhou Dongyu asked Zhang Yimou, "Besides Weibo, Mr. Chen also makes games?"

Zhang Yimou said, "It seems so."

Dou Xiao said, "Their games are all very fun; I've played several of them."

"Amazing!" Zhou Dongyu exclaimed.

Guo Degang's praise had an immediate effect, stunning all the celebrities present.

In most cases, as long as you are rich enough, your status in people's eyes will be infinitely elevated.

Even if your money was obtained through fraud and deception, the process of initial accumulation will be deliberately ignored.

(End of this chapter)