A grand feast for the Chinese entertainment industry

Chapter 133 Niwai
The atmosphere inexplicably became more relaxed.

Frankly speaking, even in the most pleasurable moments, Lin Jianlu didn't feel any "trust" or "love" for Chen Hong. Simply put, based on his understanding, life experience, and the judgment he had accumulated over two lifetimes, he intuitively felt that Chen Hong, with her eyes, face, and speech, was the kind of woman who was very intelligent and calculating.

He couldn't believe it.

He was only with her because he was driven by lust.

And even if you have a lot of lice, it doesn't itch.

However, ever since he suddenly noticed that this woman was smiling through her tears, he felt that something was wrong with her, that there was something strange about her that he couldn't quite put his finger on—but he still didn't expect that after holding it in for so long, she would actually say something so surprising.

Yes, purely by intuition, Lin Jianlu immediately sensed her sincerity and love.

How strange! She seemed to suddenly become a little foolish, revealing all her shameful secrets, her less-than-honorable plans and schemes. Yet, Lin Jianlu suddenly found her adorable and sincere, and unknowingly developed a lot of inexplicable goodwill towards her.

This affection is reflected in every time I hold her in my arms, in the strength of my arms during each hug, and in the smile on my face every time I kiss her hair.

She seemed to sense it too.

I'm extremely happy.

She was a smart woman, and before she even uttered a word, she already knew it was foolish. But for some reason, she just felt an unusual urge to do this stupid thing today, to expose all the filth in her heart to the man beside her—and she actually did it.

That was an incredibly stupid thing to do.

But surprisingly, the man didn't show any disgust or disdain. Instead, he seemed to sense her sincerity immediately. His eyes no longer held pity or possessiveness, but suddenly filled with warmth, affection, and... sincerity.

Chen Hong was overjoyed.

In an instant, I could truly smell the scent of love.

The sweetness in my heart made me wish I could live like this every day, indulging in a blissful state.

By exposing all the dark secrets in my heart and letting love air them out, I felt much lighter all of a sudden—I inexplicably had a feeling that those sincere people, those seemingly foolish guys, were actually really happy!
That kind of relief, cleanliness, and empty joy from the depths of the soul is probably, as those American TV shows say, causing the brain to secrete some strange stuff—hormones, dopamine, or something else—anyway, just feeling so happy.

So, without even trying, she could casually cling to Lin Jianlu's arm and act coquettishly, exuding an indescribable charm and cuteness. "No way! Eileen Chang is a deadbeat literary youth; everything she says is just her own delusional wild imagination! Pfft... Don't say that! There are many reasons why I love you, but it's definitely not because of that shortcut she mentioned... Hahaha, you're so annoying!... Jianlu..."

Gluttonous and saccharine.

Clap clap clap.

Hum and chirp.

The next morning, when she woke up, she was even more radiant, simply stunningly beautiful.

Such a stunning beauty, perfect body, and superhuman state combined in one person could bring an amazing feeling that Lin Jianlu had only seen twice before: the first time was with Lin Qingxia, and the second time was after that night with Xu Qing.

It seems that only the first time can you feel this amazing sensation.

If it reappears later, it may be no different, or even more beautiful, but it will never have the same stunning effect.

I accompanied her to wander around Chinatown this morning.

For convenience, she rented a place that was only about a kilometer away from Chinatown, making it very easy to get there. She acted like a little girl, losing her composure and calmness, and instead skipped and jumped around, taking Lin Jianlu to see two attractions that she personally thought were must-sees.

An antique shop run by Chinese people.

It mainly features domestically produced porcelain, supplemented by various rare and precious antiques.

Lin Jianlu didn't know anything about antiques, but even he could tell they were fake at first glance when he entered the shop.

Those porcelain pieces were all smooth and shiny, probably just fired in Jingdezhen last month. That Yuan blue and white plate, which is said to be one of only a dozen or so in existence and an unparalleled treasure, is more than ten times faker than the ones in the antique markets in China!
There's also Emperor Qianlong's paperweight, Su Dongpo's authentic calligraphy, and Emperor Xuanzong of Tang's back scratcher...

But surprisingly, many foreigners came to browse, and they were all amazed. After wandering around for about 10 or 20 minutes, the owner actually made a sale: a pair of vases. The owner wouldn't budge on the price, but a foreign couple eventually paid over $1,900 for them!

Fuck!
Inside the shop, Chen Hong tried to suppress her laughter, but once they left, seeing Lin Jianlu's expression, she grabbed his arm and laughed uncontrollably. Lin Jianlu laughed too, shrugging, "New York's Chinatown, Chinese people selling porcelain to silly foreigners, is that really a spectacle?"

Chen Hong burst into laughter.

The second place was a record store that sold only Chinese pop music records. In the far corner, there were even Japanese records. And the large poster hanging at the entrance of the store was of him, Lin Jianlu.

Customers come from both China and abroad. Well, if they are international students, it's hard to say, but if they are second-generation immigrants or foreigners, it's probably purely out of curiosity—similar to the logic here. For Hong Kong films to be publicly screened in North America is incredibly difficult; nobody buys tickets. Jackie Chan's *Rumble in the Bronx* was probably the first to achieve significant commercial success, but in reality, Hong Kong film VHS tapes are everywhere in American video stores and rental shops.

The United States, with its two to three hundred million people, boasts the world's strongest consumer power. Even niche, novelty-seeking tastes can create a substantial market here. However, Hong Kong production companies can only sell the copyrights to local videotape manufacturers at a very low price, meaning they don't actually make much money.

Once inside the store, it was easy to find the Rolling Stones section!
They even have a special section for Rolling Stone records here!
The CD and vinyl record of "Cold to the End" were placed in the most conspicuous place. The big box on top was obviously the 10 million dollar celebration edition. Picking up the CD and taking a look, I immediately exclaimed "Holy crap!" It was an ordinary CD, obviously a Taiwanese version, priced at 180 New Taiwan Dollars, but the price tag in this store was 25 US dollars!

In the entire East Asian and Southeast Asian market, Taiwanese CDs are priced almost the cheapest, at NT$180, which is less than five US dollars. Since the records weren't officially released in North America, they must have either gone through import procedures or been smuggled. It's normal that they would choose the Taiwanese version, but at 25 US dollars…

Normal European and American records are generally priced between $15 and $20, and stores usually offer some kind of discount during normal sales!
"Hmm, it seems I'm more valuable to the Americans."

Chen Hong laughed again.

…………

I spent the whole morning with her.

At noon, we found a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown that was supposedly quite "Chinese-style," and the food was sweet and cloying. We had lunch there together.

After lunch, he took her back to her apartment. Under her watchful gaze, Lin Jianlu hailed a taxi and headed straight for Wall Street. After getting out of the car, he wandered around aimlessly, found the Nasdaq screen, looked at it for a while, but wasn't very interested. Then he walked to another street.

His personal manager at HSBC had a long-term hotel room here, specifically for him to acquire Yahoo stock through a personal account.

He found the place, knocked on the door, and went in. The other person looked surprised and immediately reported that this morning, they had encountered a large sell-off. Although he had followed Lin Jianlu's instructions to be careful when finding a trader to take the order, he still managed to buy in an order worth about $300 million. Yahoo went public in April this year with an offering price of only $13 per share, issuing a total of 260 million shares. However, on the first day of trading, the stock price soared to $33 per share, instantly pushing the market capitalization to a peak of over $8 million, approaching $9 million. Afterwards, it fluctuated, but a considerable number of individual investors and institutions remained optimistic about the internet sector, so now the stock price has reached around $50.

Its market value is roughly around 14 billion US dollars.

However, it is clear that while some people are optimistic and even get carried away, others are very aware of the risks and judge that it is dangerous for an internet concept company like Yahoo, which has no real performance to support it, to have its market value soar to such a high level. So, they sell and take their profits!

However, everyone's thoughts were the same: whether they were selling to run away or planning to accumulate shares, no one wanted to cause a large fluctuation in the stock price, so both buyers and sellers were very cautious.

For Yahoo's current size, its transaction volume in recent times has been quite large.

Although the lock-up period for the original shareholders has certainly not expired, the underwriting institutions, including many people who initially managed to buy the shares, have already cashed out and withdrawn.

Lin Jianlu opened an account not long ago and cautiously began to accumulate shares, but he has already acquired about 14 shares at an average price of about $49 per share, spending about $700 million.

Yes, Yahoo's total share capital is around 2800 million shares, so you're already a small shareholder with 0.5% ownership!
We chatted for a bit, then I left without looking at the charts. I admitted I didn't understand them, only got a general idea of ​​the situation, and then I left.

The other party is from HSBC, working for a commission, so there's no need to be overly polite.

You help me convert $6000 million into Yahoo stock, and I'll give you a commission—a simple and direct working relationship.

They didn't trust him, but rather the HSBC brand.

After returning to the hotel and resting for a while, he washed his face and thought for a moment before calling Lin Xilei to ask about Yu Feihong's situation. He was told that Yu Feihong was very honest and had been getting up early to eat at the internal restaurant these past few days, occasionally going out for a stroll, and sometimes eating out for lunch and dinner, or sometimes buying things to eat back home.

She accepted the five hundred dollars that Lin Xilei had asked her to give her without hesitation.

But apart from that, it's been two or three days now, and she hasn't done anything else, not even contacting Lin Xilei.

(End of this chapter)