The Entertainment Industry in Turmoil: Young Actresses All Want to Rise to the Top

"You have to be there for my graduation performance on June 9th!"

After hanging up the phone, Shen Mo stared at the text message on his phone, lost in thought under the 2011 Beijing sun.

The unusually brief and low response from Li Yitong on the other end of the line was completely different from the lively and cheerful person she was supposed to be at this moment, as I remembered.

An absurd yet heart-pounding thought surfaced in his mind—could it be that she also…

He immediately shook his head, suppressing the thought.

The most urgent task is to assess our situation and plan for the future.

His gaze swept across the date on his phone screen, and a tremendous sense of absurdity gripped him.

Just yesterday (in his perception), he was celebrating Tian Xiwei's 28th birthday, and she smiled and said she wanted to marry him.

The girl with the white beret, the sweet smile, who would cling to him and ask for kisses all the time…

A sharp pain shot through his chest, as if a cold awl had pierced a hole in it, causing him to instinctively clutch his chest.

I have never had a heart condition. This is just the helplessness and sorrow of that burning and unreserved love being ruthlessly severed by time and space.

Right now, she's just a middle school student who's not even fourteen years old and whose life trajectory doesn't include him at all.

Go find her?

The thought had barely crossed his mind when he suppressed it.

Regardless of how inhumane this idea is, what he loves is Tian Xiwei, who is in harmony with his soul and grows together with him, not a blank girl who needs to be "raised".

This realization made him feel an unprecedented sense of powerlessness and emptiness.

He took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.

Since he can't go back, he'll start over. He absolutely cannot repeat the same old, stumbling path.

Memories of his past life flooded back, assaulting his senses like a tidal wave.

He remembered his initial choice.

After graduating from the Beijing Film Academy, she entered the cast of "Love is Not Blind" as a supporting actress through her senior classmate Bao Jingjing, and her future seemed bright.

Then, with the 500,000 yuan he had scraped together from his family's financial support and his acting fees, he plunged headlong into the stock market.

At that time, young and ambitious, he saw the market's weakness. With a ruthless spirit and extraordinary perception, he went against the trend and shorted stocks during the 2011 bear market through margin trading and highly leveraged stock index futures, like licking blood off a knife's edge.

Given that interest rates and reserve requirements had already been raised in 2010, the central bank raised the reserve requirement seven times and interest rates three times in 2011 in order to control persistently high inflation.

Therefore, even if the overall performance of A-share companies was not problematic, the market valuation of these companies still dropped significantly. Then, amid concerns about stagflation, high inflation, and slowing economic growth, the market experienced a three-quarter sell-off, with the overall price-to-earnings ratio in 2011 falling by nearly 16% compared to 2010.

More than 90% of stock investors suffered losses, while less than 5% made money.

He recalled the scrolling candlestick charts on his computer screen, the snowballing numbers in his account, and the overwhelming curses and insults that followed.

A minor celebrity made a fortune by shorting the market, prompting envious people to mock him, those who suffered losses to hurl insults, and industry peers to kick him while he was down.

A recent graduate with no connections is the best outlet for their emotions.

"Profiting from human suffering!" "Causing people to lose their fortunes!" "Pushing stock market investors to the rooftop!" "Leave the entertainment industry and get out of the country!"

Cyberbullying has spread from online to offline.

The blood-stained knife delivered to my doorstep, the wreaths placed downstairs...

He doesn't care about any of these things.

But he will always remember that moment.

Li Yitong noticed the online abuse and rushed over from home with her suitcase, her face turning pale when she saw the disgusting "gifts" at the door.

She looked up at him with a gaze he had never seen before, a mixture of concern, fear, and alienation.

"Shen Mo...did you really profit from human suffering, causing other families to be destroyed and lives lost?"

At that moment, he felt as if his heart had been stabbed.

Distrust from a loved one is more hurtful than insults from millions of strangers.

Young and hot-blooded, he offered no explanation, only anger at being misunderstood, and the two erupted into a fierce argument.

Then, he flew back to his home in Shenzhen.

However, less than a month later, she appeared on television on a dating show instead of preparing a teahouse in the capital.

"Snapped!"

In my memory, it was the sound of him smashing his phone.

In a fit of anger, he decisively "fulfilled" the wishes of netizens by announcing his retirement from the entertainment industry and moving abroad.

He didn't return until 2015, when he earned his MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

After many twists and turns, I met her again in 2018 at an investment summit in the cultural and entertainment industry. Her agent took her to expand her network with the boss of Feibao Media.

Years of friendship ultimately amounted to just one sentence: "Long time no see."

Although they re-established contact, there was always a barrier between them.

She couldn't open her mouth, and he couldn't bring himself to ask.

Until 2023, at Li Yitong's home, I met her, the sweet-looking girl who called herself a mature and carefree woman—Tian Xiwei.

With her straightforward personality, she quietly entered Shen Mo's heart on that ordinary afternoon.

The two, born in different years but on the same month and day, quickly got together. On her 28th birthday, she decided to marry Shen Mo before she turned 30.

How naive and fragile I was back then.

Exposing enormous wealth to the public eye without knowing how to protect oneself ultimately leads to being severely wounded by the backlash of public opinion.

But this life is different.

I want everything that belongs to me back!

He slowly opened his eyes, all the confusion, pain, and memories in them had faded, leaving only absolute calm and control.

For him, becoming capital is the simplest step on this path.

He will still act in "Love is Not Blind".

But this is not only to fulfill his initial dream of becoming a big star after studying at Beijing Film Academy, but also an excellent springboard for him to enter the cultural and entertainment industry chain, build connections and influence.

He knew this movie would be a huge success with a small budget, becoming a phenomenal hit, and it would be the perfect start to his career as a star.

But his true power comes from another "treasure" in his mind.

His thoughts will no longer be limited to A-shares.

This time, he turned his attention to the south, to the battlefield that is connected to the international market and will usher in an even bigger storm in 2011—Hong Kong stocks.

He vividly recalled that a global stock market crash triggered by the downgrade of America's sovereign credit rating was about to sweep across the world, with the Hang Seng Index expected to plummet by thousands of points in the coming months.

That would be a... deeper, wider, and more suitable hunting ground for him to silently lurk and hunt at will, even more so than the A-share market.

A clear, two-pronged blueprint instantly took shape in his mind.

On stage, he will become the most dazzling star under the spotlight, enjoying his dreams and using them as a fulcrum to leverage the path of capital through entertainment.

Behind the scenes, he will transform into a silent behemoth, seizing enormous capital capable of shaking the rules amidst the turbulent waves of the global market.

And if that speculation about Li Yitong is true...

Then, the last weakness in his plan to build an entertainment empire will be filled.

Shen Mo stood up, walked to the window, and looked down at the familiar yet unfamiliar city.

He picked up his phone, found Bao Jingjing's number, and pressed the call button without hesitation.

Take action, starting now.

……