Film and Television World Life Record

Andy was actually a little embarrassed, which was quite rare.

"Then I'll talk to Lao Tan first, and I'll treat you to a meal when I have time to express my gratitude."

Li Mu said, "Alright, I'll be waiting."

……

The following day, the entire legal team of Shengxuan Group mobilized and sent out numerous lawyer's letters. On various news platforms such as Weibo and Toutiao, the company also issued a serious statement through its official account: Regarding the rumors against Ms. Andy, the company has reported the matter to the police and will hold accountable any individuals and media outlets that maliciously spread rumors and attacked the company's senior executives.

For a company as large as Shengxuan Group, this attitude is quite intimidating. Various self-media outlets have fallen silent, with only a few still trying to ride the wave of popularity.

Meanwhile, Li Mu published some clarification articles through social media, which became trending topics, and public opinion shifted, with people beginning to attack those who maliciously spread rumors.

In the afternoon, the official Weibo account of the Shanghai police released a message stating that more than 20 people who maliciously spread rumors and attacked senior executives of Shengxuan Group had been arrested.

A-Guan-Nan and several online troll leaders have been formally placed under criminal investigation. According to the Criminal Law, anyone who defames another person and whose actions are serious shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, criminal detention, public surveillance, or deprivation of political rights.

He's obviously going to jail.

In addition, the two best friends who helped A-Guan-Nan with her schemes, as well as some members of the online troll team, were sent to the detention center and detained for fifteen days, even though they were not criminally charged.

The remaining small group of self-media outlets that were still trying to ride the wave of the trending topic trembled instantly upon seeing the official Weibo post from the police, and immediately deleted all their previous posts.

And that was the end of it.

Chapter 153 Twenty-two Small Goals

Time flies, and more than a month has passed in the blink of an eye, ushering in 2016. The days have been peaceful.

Andy successfully found her younger brother, Xiaoming; Qiu Yingying quickly adapted to her current job, showing considerable potential in e-commerce and doing very well at the new company; Guan Juer finally got a permanent position, and the clouds finally parted; Qu Xiaoxiao, after so much hard work, finally adapted to the position of CEO and is doing quite well; Fan Shengmei, besides being a little short on money and having a mess at home, is learning flower arranging and pottery, living more and more like a wealthy lady, and has even developed a refined temperament.

As for Li Mu, he focused more of his energy on the company.

As of yesterday, Toutiao's total number of users has exceeded 100 million, with daily active users exceeding 60 million, making it the most dynamic comprehensive media platform in China.

At this point, Origin Technology, like a needle in a bag, could no longer be hidden and attracted the attention of major domestic internet giants.

People began analyzing why Toutiao rose to prominence so quickly and why it has such high user retention and activity levels.

Li Mu knew that Origin Technology would be considered a major player in the domestic internet industry from now on, and keeping a low profile would no longer be an option.

After quietly developing for so long, Toutiao has laid a solid foundation. It's time for it to make a big splash, promote itself rapidly, and seize the market.

Otherwise, once the major giants start imitating and learning from this, the competition will become even more intense.

On the other hand, the initial version of Douyin has been developed and is currently undergoing internal testing. It will be officially released within a month.

Whether it's promoting Toutiao or posting on Douyin, a large amount of capital is required as a foundation.

During this period, many venture capitalists have contacted Li Mu, with the highest valuation for Origin Technology reaching seven hundred million US dollars.

Unfortunately, the valuation was far from what Li Mu had in mind.

Origin Technology's true potential has yet to be realized. Currently, it only has one product, Daily Headline, with just over 100 million users, which has not yet demonstrated its due value.

Even disregarding China's massive internet user base, it's highly likely that Toutiao's user base will multiply several times over in the next year. Just consider the yet-to-be-released Douyin (TikTok), and its future value is immense.

These factors cannot be reflected in the valuation, since others cannot predict future trends like he can.

Li Mu disagreed with starting the Series A funding round now.

Based on the current valuations offered by venture capitalists, expecting to acquire 30-40% of Origin Technology's shares for just two or three hundred million US dollars is wishful thinking.

Fortunately, Li Mu had a backup plan. Last year, he used 500 million yuan of principal at Huaxin Securities, leveraged it twice, for a total of 1.5 billion yuan, to go long on Moutai, Ping An and real estate stocks.

These stocks have seen impressive gains recently, making Li Mu a fortune. His current stock holdings are worth over 3.3 billion yuan, with a paper profit exceeding 1.8 billion yuan.

Li Mu knew that these stocks would experience another surge, especially Moutai, whose market value could multiply several times over in the future, so he decided to stop investing.

For him, Origin Technology is more important.

With sufficient funds on hand, not only will you not need to sell equity at a low price to raise funds, but you will also have the confidence to negotiate with venture capital firms in the future.

I specifically set aside a few days to liquidate all my stocks held by Huaxin Securities. Unexpectedly, yet predictably, Huaxin Securities also showed interest in Yuandian Technology, wanting a ticket to its future Series A funding round.

Huaxin Securities also has venture capital business and has invested in many domestic startups in recent years. Considering Huaxin's influence and the resources it can provide, Li Mu readily agreed.

As long as the conditions are right, what's wrong with having another investor enter the market?

I spent a day at Huaxin Securities, returned 1 billion yuan of leveraged funds, and paid more than 50 million yuan in interest before the matter was finally settled.

This long position resulted in a net profit of 17.8 billion.

With the addition of the 500 million yuan principal, Li Mu has a total of 22.8 billion yuan in funds at his disposal.

Li Mu kept 280 million as pocket money and reserves, and injected the remaining 2 billion into Origin Technology.

With such a large injection of funds, Origin Technology, which was growing rapidly, suddenly had ample nutrients to develop and began to thrive, like a baby crying for milk.

……

That day, Li Mu visited a newly built building nearby. It had more than 30 floors and was of a decent standard. He rented ten floors, totaling more than 20,000 square meters.

Once the renovation is completed, combined with the company's original office space, it will be able to accommodate more than 8,000 people working together at the same time, preparing the hardware for the company's next large-scale expansion.

The human resources department is busy again, connecting with major headhunting firms to find high-end talent, and selecting suitable candidates for the company through a series of offline recruitment fairs.

The entire Origin Technology Group suddenly seemed like a rising sun, full of vitality and attracting considerable attention.

Li Mu has been quite busy lately. Fortunately, he knows how to separate his life from his work and hasn't added too much burden to himself, otherwise he would have to live at the company every day.

In his spare time, besides exchanging and learning with Michelle and Fan Shengmei, he also often tutors Qu Xiaoxiao in foreign languages.

Since taking over as the company's CEO, Qu Xiaoxiao has been incredibly busy. This isn't like the small, insignificant company she had in the original drama, which only handled the agency business for GI air conditioners. This is the most powerful subsidiary of the parent company, with a wide variety of complex businesses.

Qu Xiaoxiao has been working incredibly hard lately to outdo her spendthrift brother, with her only relaxation time being to learn foreign languages ​​from Li Mu.

Fan Shengmei, on the other hand, has been looking worried these past few days, as if she has something on her mind. However, Li Mu has been too busy with work these days, and she has been good at hiding it, so he hasn't noticed.

That noon, Fan Shengmei received another call from home.

With a sob in her voice, Fan's mother said, "Xiaomei, what should I do? We gave them all the money you just wired to us, your father's pension this month, and the money we usually save, and they still said it wasn't enough and they wanted to move some things."

"I had to beg and plead with them to wait. Xiaomei, what do you suggest we do?"

Fan Shengmei was also under immense pressure. A few days ago, her scoundrel brother got into a fight and injured someone. Not only did he lose his job, but the injured person's family also demanded a large sum of money in compensation.

Her father was retired, and her mother was a housewife who needed her to send living expenses home every month. Her brother, through her introduction, worked as a security guard to make ends meet, but he couldn't even support his sister-in-law and nephew, and often went to their parents' house to freeload. She was also responsible for the mortgage on the house her brother lived in.

Such a family, mired in debt, had no savings and relied entirely on Fan Shengmei's financial support. How could they possibly afford to pay such a large sum of money?

As the pillar of the family, all the pressure suddenly fell on Fan Shengmei.

However, over the years, Fan Shengmei has been endlessly exploited by her family, leaving her with no savings and penniless. She has no money to pay compensation.

Her eyes welled up with tears, and she could only say tearfully, "Mom, this is all the salary I have. I just paid the rent for the next quarter a couple of days ago. After sending you living expenses and paying the mortgage for my brother's house, where would I get any money? I only have a little bit of money left for living expenses. If I send it back to you, I won't even be able to afford food."

Fan's mother cried, "Xiaomei! There's nothing we can do. They're waiting at home, and they won't leave without money! They say they still need to move their things."

Fan Shengmei angrily said, "Mom, don't you have a key to my brother's house? If you want to move things, ask him to go to my brother's house. It's my brother who caused trouble, not you two old folks."

Fan's mother cried, "No, Xiaomei, no! If these people empty your brother's house, your sister-in-law will divorce you, and Lei Lei will have no mother. No, no... Xiaomei, we still need you."

Fan Shengmei said helplessly, "Mom, I really have no other choice. That's all I earn in a month..."

Fan's mother interrupted, "Xiaomei! You can't just ignore this! Go talk to the landlord and see if you can get your rent back and stay in the company dormitory for two months!"

"Xiaomei, your brother is useless and has caused trouble again. The whole family is counting on you."

Fan Shengmei felt extremely wronged. Her brother always made her clean up his messes, but she had nowhere to vent her grievances when faced with her tearful mother.

"Mom, the rent has already been paid, how can it be refunded? My sister-in-law and brother have some savings, right? Let them take out some to tide them over. Even if it's not enough, it will give them some buffer time."

Fan's mother said, "Xiaomei, no, it won't work. Your brother is still inside. Your sister-in-law heard that someone came to ask for money, so she ran to her parents' house this morning. She just called me and said that I should pick up Leilei. She doesn't even care about Leilei anymore. Now we can only rely on you, Xiaomei."

Fan Shengmei, her eyes red-rimmed, said, "Mom, I don't have any money either. What am I supposed to do?"

Fan's mother said, "You work at a big company, you must know a lot of wealthy colleagues. You can borrow from them! Xiaomei, our family can only rely on you now, you can't be ashamed of your pride!"

Hearing her mother's words, Fan Shengmei's already wounded heart grew even colder. She gave a bitter smile; "It's always been like this at home! I'm used to it."

"Mom, don't worry. I'll call my sister-in-law and ask her to come home. We can't leave everything to you two old folks."

After hanging up the phone, Fan Shengmei looked out at the bustling metropolis, her mind blank. She was heartbroken and sad, wanting to give up but unable to bring herself to do it.

She could imagine that Fan's mother was currently apologizing to the visitors with tears streaming down her face. The visitor's family member had been injured and hospitalized by her brother; they weren't someone to be easily appeased! And her father was probably sitting in a corner, silently smoking, not saying a word.

This is the norm at home.

Thinking of this, she hurriedly called her sister-in-law, but it rang for a long time before being answered.

“Sister-in-law, those people have gone to Mom and Dad’s house. They’ve already given them some compensation, and they can’t afford anything else. You must have some savings, right? Try to scrape together some money and send them away…”

Chapter 154 Fan Shengmei in Despair

Before she could finish speaking, her sister-in-law wailed, "Xiaomei! It won't work. We only have this much savings. If we lose it all, we won't be able to survive. Our whole family will starve. Think about your nephew Leilei. We can go without food, but we can't let Leilei go hungry."

“Right now I’m shamelessly eating and drinking at my parents’ house, and you’re the only one the family can count on. Xiaomei, you’re the most promising person in this family, and you’re in a big city like Shanghai, where money is everywhere. Please help us out.”

“Lei Lei said that when he grows up, he'll need his aunt to find him a job! You can't just ignore him…”

Fan Shengmei listened blankly... tears streamed down her face, ruining her once meticulously made-up look. She silently turned off her phone, wanting to cry her heart out and release her pent-up frustration.

But for some reason, she still couldn't help but worry about her parents. Without compensation, she wondered how they were doing, and whether the other party's family had reacted because they hadn't received the money.