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

Chapter 331 Slaughtering the Rich!

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At 1 p.m. sharp, just as the afternoon session began, the previously tense market was shattered by a heavy blow.

Several reputable and authoritative media outlets, including Cailian Press, Economic Daily, and Yicai, simultaneously published in-depth investigative reports.

If the revelations this morning were rumors, then what is now presented to the public is a bloody record.

The mobile phone supply chain owes more than 80 billion yuan, resulting in factory shutdowns and hundreds of suppliers staging a sit-in at headquarters.

A debt of 30 billion yuan in sports broadcasting rights means that the rights to broadcast sports events could be shut down at any time.

Even more alarming is that the car project, which is considered the core of the ecological closed loop, has already burned through more than 100 billion yuan on paper, but weeds have already grown in America's factory.

The data was so detailed, the evidence so conclusive, that even some confidential audit reports on related-party transactions were made public.

The market's last shred of hope vanished in the face of these cold, hard numbers.

"The media has lit the fire; it's time for us to add fuel to the fire."

Shen Mo sat upright in front of the large screen, his eyes showing no emotion.

Without needing to make a phone call, Mohen, Jun'an, Zhongxin, and other organizations demonstrated an astonishing level of understanding at this moment.

Dozens of short orders totaling tens of thousands of lots instantly pushed the stock price down to its daily limit.

140 yuan, limit down!

The massive sell orders acted like a thick iron wall, firmly sealing the stock price at the floor.

No matter how much the scattered buying below struggled, this wall remained unmoved, and the buy orders even continued to increase over time, eventually forming a staggering astronomical figure.

"Clang! Crash!"

On the top floor of the Leshi Building, Jia Yueting swept the furnishings in his office to the ground one by one.

"Who is it?! Who stabbed us in the back?!"

His roar pierced through the walls and echoed throughout the office area outside.

Sun Hongbin's assistant at Rongchuang just called. The strategic financing of 150 billion yuan that he had agreed upon with Jia Yueting now needs to be reassessed for debt risks.

Jia Yueting knew that this financing deal had completely fallen through.

The disappearance of this life-saving money also means the complete collapse of the financial chain.

The stock market was closed at 15:00 PM.

Those celebrity shareholders who had just posted on Weibo that morning and expressed their "belief in LeShi" in front of the camera were now feeling extremely uneasy.

Having just finished filming a scene, Zhang Yimou ripped off the monitoring headset on his head and, amidst the astonished gazes of hundreds of people on set, jumped into a van parked by the roadside without even having time to say "that's a wrap."

"To LeShi headquarters! Hurry! Drive faster!"

Throughout the journey, this usually composed leading figure of the fifth generation of directors couldn't help but tremble with his fingers.

He recalled the flowers and applause at the signing ceremony, the celebratory banquet he had with other celebrity shareholders just two weeks ago, and the nearly 2 million yuan unrealized profit in his account yesterday.

But now, his phone is full of pop-up ads, with countless friends and relatives forwarding him news about today's financial scandals and stock price crashes.

Some genuinely cared whether he had run away, while others were there to watch the drama unfold, and some even spoke with schadenfreude.

However, when he finally managed to squeeze through the crowd of media and rush into the LeShi building, he was met with chaos and silence.

A group of staff members were like headless flies, while executives held pointless meetings and shifted blame to each other.

Most importantly, he discovered that Jia Yueting had disappeared!

Compared to Zhang Yimou's eagerness, Feng Xiaogang was more irritable.

"Snapped!"

A porcelain teacup shattered in front of the monitor, and the crew dared not breathe. This was the fifth teacup that Feng Xiaogang had broken that day.

The director, who was known for his fiery temper, wore his anger on his face.

"Turn it off? They actually dare to turn it off!"

Feng Xiaogang roared furiously into his phone. He made at least 20 calls, but Jia Yueting didn't answer even once!

He posted a screenshot of "increased holdings" on Weibo this morning at Jia Yueting's request.

But at this moment, his comment section has changed from "the director is domineering" to a screen full of "old liar" and "harvesting leeks".

He may not care about his reputation, but he cares about the money he's invested.

That's the wealth he accumulated by filming countless movies and spending countless sleepless nights in freezing weather.

Feng Xiaogang slammed the script to the ground. "Find him! We absolutely have to find him!"

Meanwhile, at a filming location in another city, Wu Fanfan locked herself inside the van.

The agent banged frantically on the car door, but he ignored it.

The car was dark, with only the faint glow of his phone screen illuminating his pale face.

He stared blankly at the rapidly shrinking numbers in his account.

For someone as influential as him, these are the years when he's most likely to make money, and he originally intended to achieve upward mobility by investing in LeShi.

Unexpectedly, I became the one who was most severely exploited.

He tried calling the financial tycoons he usually called brothers, but when they answered, their words were so cold that he felt as if he had fallen into an ice cave.

"The stop-loss line for LeShi has been breached; now it's beyond saving."

"You—good luck!"

It's not just them.

In the dressing room of the film crew, Liu Tao looked at her half-finished makeup in the mirror and tears silently streamed down her face.

Sun Honglei sat in his study, silently smoking an entire pack of cigarettes while watching the bustling traffic outside the window.

Deng Chao and Chen He were completely dazed and uninterested on the set of Running Man, like zombies.

At this moment, these celebrities at the top of the entertainment industry felt the true weight of the capital market for the first time.

Faced with absolute financial violence, fame, popularity, and acting skills all become the most useless pieces of paper.

The numbers that once made them proud on their accounts were shattered by the sell orders that were locked at the daily limit down.

They could only watch helplessly as their lives and fortunes, accumulated over years or even decades, were swallowed by darkness, powerless to grasp even a straw for salvation.

At that moment, their world collapsed!

Meanwhile, Shen Mo, in Mohen's office, was standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, overlooking the prosperity and hustle and bustle of the capital.

In his eyes, the tears and anger of those celebrities were nothing more than a necessary "growing pain" in the process of capital restructuring.

Amidst this scene of widespread despair, Shen Mo appeared silently before these celebrities.

Mohen's legal and asset representatives handed them copies of pre-prepared agreements, their tone polite but cold.

"President Shen said that out of consideration for our past as colleagues, he will show you a way out."

"What do I need to do?" Liu Tao was the first to calm down.

"Hand over your LeShi shares to Mohen for safekeeping."

"Where is the way out? What are the conditions?" She knew that there was no free lunch at this time. Although she had worked with Mohen before and had a good relationship with him, it was not to the point that she had to spend a lot of money to save her life.

"The terms are simple." Inkmark representative pushed over a repurchase agreement and a stock holding agreement.

"After the three-year lock-up period for your shares expires, InkHen will repurchase them at the original price you paid."

"The way out is that at least you can guarantee that your investments won't lose money."

Then, he added the most fatal sentence.

"The effectiveness of this agreement diminishes every 24 hours."

"Sign up today, original price; sign up tomorrow, 20% off; sign up the day after tomorrow, 40% off, and so on."

Liu Tao is arguably the one who invested the most among these celebrities, exceeding 6000 million yuan.

A while ago, she was so full of pride looking at the hundreds of millions of floating profits in her account, but now there are less than 9000 million left in her account.

If she accepts the conditions offered by Mohen, she can get back 60 million in three years. If she doesn't accept, she can take a gamble. Maybe tomorrow the 90 million will return to over 100 million, but it may also continue to fall and become worthless.

She made the decision almost instantly: she signed!

She worked hard for four or five years, taking on more than 25 roles, before finally paying off the 4 million yuan debt her husband had incurred when his company suffered a major setback a few years ago. This 6000 million yuan is one of the few remaining funds she has.

Even if this investment doesn't make a profit, it's still better than losing everything and then continuing to make money by filming like crazy.

She decisively took the two agreements, carefully read them, and then signed her name.

Then, feeling relieved and completely relaxed, she began to wonder.

According to current market predictions, if we wait another week or two, Leshi's stock price will fall to its lowest point. If Mohen were to buy it on the market at that time, the cost would probably be less than one-tenth of what it is now.

Why would Shen Mo choose to spend a large sum of money to hold their shares at this time? Is it really because they are colleagues in the entertainment industry?

Would the owners of a venture capital firm really be that kind?

However, for these celebrity shareholders, the option Shen Mo offered was indeed a lifeline, and they had to accept this favor.

Besides Liu Tao, several other artists closely associated with Mohen, such as Deng Chao, Wang Baoqiang, and Sun Honglei, also made their decisions quickly.

They believed in Shen Mo's methods. At this critical juncture, for them, not seeking huge profits, but simply not losing money was a win.

With the scratching sound of pens falling, they were the first to extricate themselves from this vortex.

As for the rest, although the stock hit its daily limit down today, their accounts still have much more money than when they invested, and they are reluctant to part with it.

There was still a glimmer of hope in their eyes.

They're betting that such a large company like Lexis couldn't possibly be completely abandoned, that Jia Yueting definitely has a strategy to deal with it, and that the stock price will definitely rise back up tomorrow.

After finishing filming "Running Man" in Shanghai, Bai Lu rushed back to Beijing.

She hadn't even gone home yet when she rushed into Meng Ziyi's villa.

After entering the room, she threw herself into the six-figure cashmere sofa and let out a loud wail.

"Meng Ziyi! Share it with me when we meet!"

At this moment, Meng Ziyi was holding a cup of hand-drip coffee, wearing a silk robe, and walking with an elegant yet affected catwalk.

He sat down opposite Bai Lu and shrugged.

"Don't be like that. Money is just a number when you have too much. I'm also struggling with how to spend it."

"I'm going to kill you!"

Bai Lu pounced on her like a tiger, and the two of them instantly rolled around on the sofa, their laughter almost lifting the ceiling.

In the midst of their playful banter, Bai Lu casually sent Shen Mo two WeChat messages.

[Hey Mo, come over to Sister Meng's after get off work! Someone's struck it rich, we're going to rip them off today!]

[I'm here too! Hehehe! (evil grin.jpg)]

Half an hour later, the door lock clicked softly, and Shen Mo walked in carrying several large bags of top-quality ingredients he had just bought from the fresh food supermarket.

Meng Ziyi was being forced to beg for mercy by Bai Lu when she saw Shen Mo come in. Taking advantage of Bai Lu's distraction, she slipped out and buried herself in Shen Mo's arms.

Then she naturally wrapped her arms around his waist, her voice so sweet it could melt your heart.

"MoMo, you're finally here! Bai Mengyan bullied me and even tried to steal my secret stash of money!"

Shen Mo patted her on the back and chuckled, "Sister Meng, how could you, a Northeasterner, be bullied by a Southerner like her?"

"However, you asked for it. Who told you to provoke her?"

Bai Lu stood to the side with her arms crossed, watching Meng Ziyi sticking out her tongue provocatively in Shen Mo's arms, making her so angry she wanted to bite her.

"Meng Ziyi, you just wait, you'll be sorry tonight!"

Shen Mo smiled, not getting involved in their dispute, and carried the ingredients into the kitchen. "You guys have fun, I'll cook for you first."

Upon hearing this, Meng Ziyi's eyes lit up, and she immediately followed him, carefully tying an apron on him and then making a pretty bow at his waist.

Not to be outdone, Bai Lu stepped forward and helped Shen Mo roll up his shirt sleeves.

Seeing Shen Mo's well-defined forearms, Bai Lu couldn't resist reaching out and touching them a few times.

Meng Ziyi slapped her hand away, "Bai Mengyan! You're drooling! Don't disturb Brother Mo's cooking."

The rhythmic sound of chopping vegetables began to fill the kitchen.

Two popular actresses, who are adored by millions of fans, obediently stayed by Shen Mo's side and began to compete with each other.

"Brother Mo, is this how you break this vegetable?"

"Brother Mo, Brother Mo, how do you clean this abalone?! Wow, this is so much fun, it sprays water when you press it!"

Dinner was served, and four dishes and a soup, each with its own unique color, aroma, and flavor, were brought to the table.

Bai Lu disregarded her celebrity image, stuffed a bite of braised pork into her mouth, and squinted her eyes in bliss.

"Mmm—as expected, Brother Mo's cooking is still so addictive."

Meng Ziyi couldn't help but laugh as she watched Bai Lu wolf down her food. She swallowed the delicious food in her mouth and looked at Shen Mo with bright eyes.

"MoMo, I just calculated the amount of money I have left. If I were to buy a house, should I continue to buy in Beijing, or should I buy in Shanghai?"

Bai Lu snorted heavily and glared at Meng Ziyi.

There are only three people here, who are they showing off to?!

Bai Lu's eyes darted around, and her gaze settled on Meng Ziyi's wine cabinet.

She ran over with a clatter, and Bai Lu, without saying a word, took out a bottle of wine and, in front of Meng Ziyi's wide eyes, popped it open with a "bang".

She didn't know anything about wine, but she had heard of Louis XIII; she recognized the words.

If you're going to rip off a big customer, you can't go wrong with the most expensive one.

"Hey! Bai Mengyan! Can you drink? Just open it!"

"Drink! If you can't drink anymore, you're here for me! I'll treat you!"

"Thank you so much! You're offering me your drink!"

"You're welcome!"

As Bai Lu poured the wine, she was secretly plotting her own scheme.

She could never forget the day Li Lin presented her to Shen Mo as a "gift." Mo-ge had helped her and Meng Ziyi make money, so logically, they should reciprocate with a gift.

Since Meng Ziyi is so happy and so Versailles-like today, she must really want to thank Brother Mo!

She glanced furtively at Shen Mo, then at Meng Ziyi, a sly smile playing on Bai Lu's lips.

So tonight's "gift" might as well be this Versailles spirit and myself, and give them to Brother Mo!