Pirates began to dominate the Chinese entertainment industry.

As for the "heartthrob" Chen Hao.

She was originally Orange Sky's top female streamer, but since Orange Sky expanded, her position has become awkward.

In front of her were a group of veteran actresses under Wang Jinhua's management.

Following them are newcomers Tang Yan, Jiang Yiyan, and Song Jia, who are heavily promoted by Wu Kebo.

In addition, Orange Sky originally had limited resources, and there were too many monks and not enough porridge, causing her resources to plummet.

She had long harbored the intention to retire and wanted to return to the Central Academy of Drama to pursue a master's degree, thereby securing a teaching position at the school.

Ji Yun promised her a role as the second or third female lead, and Chen Hao readily agreed to coordinate with Ji Yun's schedule to announce his departure.

Ji Yun took out a folder from the drawer and started looking through the movie schedules for June, July, and August.

These days, before the Spring Festival film season has taken off, the summer film season is the biggest film season of the year.

However, August this year is special. With the Beijing Olympics, all films have to be put on hold, so the summer movie season only has July left.

Among the films released in June was the Hollywood family-friendly movie "Kung Fu Panda," but its peak popularity had passed by the end of the month.

July should have been packed with movies, but in reality, apart from the Hollywood film "Hancock" released on the 18th and a minor thriller, there were only "Lost in Thailand" and "Red Cliff" competing against each other.

On one hand, it's possible that Orange Sky and China Film Group are working together to clear out the market and monopolize the prime-time slot.

On the other hand, other films, seeing that the blockbuster "Red Cliff" was scheduled for release in July, were afraid of not being able to recoup their costs and avoided it like the plague.

But Ji Yun was not afraid.

First, he has less pressure to recoup his investment.

Secondly, he was well aware of the huge business opportunity involved. He knew that after a few days of release, the other film would suffer a rapid decline in box office revenue due to its poor reviews. This allowed a relatively unknown film like "The Deserted Village Inn" to effortlessly rake in over 2000 million yuan at the box office.

Once he can take on this huge opportunity, he'll truly be on the rise.

"what!"

Naza suddenly screamed, her slender finger pointing at the screen, her voice trembling:

"Boss, this is terrible! Orange Sky Entertainment has publicly accused us of being a pirated DVD company online. We're being attacked and criticized to death. Someone is even bringing an online army to demand a boycott of our movies."

Ji Yun walked to Nazha's side, bent down and took the mouse from her hand.

The lavender scent emanating from Naza was captivating, and her smooth, flowing hair and flawless white skin complemented each other beautifully, creating a picturesque scene.

Ji Yun stared intently at the screen; it was number 3 on Baidu's trending search list.

Sohu Entertainment Headline:

[Exclusive Investigation: Background of Ji Yun, Director of "Lost in Thailand": His company "Tiandao Culture" was formerly a pirated DVD company and has been investigated and punished multiple times for copyright infringement!]

The accompanying photos are of the former site of Tiandao Culture, as well as several blurry court summonses.

The comments section below exploded, as if JiYun Company had committed a cardinal sin:

"Holy crap, this company actually wants to launder its image and go public!"

"Boycott! Absolutely boycott! Pirated commercially produced movies are a disgrace to our conscience!"

"No wonder they can hire so many celebrities, it's all dirty money!"

"I've already reported it; I hope the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television will ban it!"

"Upstairs, he's a 'stock market guru' now. He's got money and wants to whitewash his past."

"Stock market guru? I think he's a bootleg guru!"

……

Naza turned to look at Ji Yun, wrinkling his nose, and said, "Boss, what do we do?"

Ji Yun smiled.

"They're finally here. I was worried all my preparations would have been for nothing."

On the very first day of his rebirth, he knew this would happen and had taken precautions.

The fact that Tiandao Culture used to produce pirated DVDs was already known online, but it was overshadowed by the popularity of him, Liu Yifei, and the stock market guru. This time, it's clear that someone is bringing it up again for hype.

The fact that our company used to produce pirated discs is undeniable.

Instead of hiding it, why not...

"Retrieve the files I asked you to save before."

Naza paused for a moment, then quickly searched through the computer and opened a folder.

Inside were documents that Ji Yun had proactively submitted to the cultural department after taking over Tiandao Culture, including a "Business Transformation Filing Form," a "Declaration of Termination of Piracy Business," and a "List of Infringing Works Removed from Sale."

There were more than a dozen documents, all with the timestamp of January 2008.

Each one has an official stamp.

"These...were prepared in advance?" Naza was stunned.

"Otherwise what?" Ji Yun flicked her forehead. "Do I look like the kind of person who would be easily caught doing something wrong?"

Naza covered her forehead, her eyes sparkling.

"Alright, stop being so infatuated and hurry up and post it."

Ji Yun pressed her head down, turned her towards the computer, picked up the phone, and dialed Cai Yinong.

"Mr. Cai, did you see it?"

"I was just about to call you." Cai Yinong's voice sounded tired. "Orange Sky has made its move; their online army is spreading rapidly, and it's circulating on several major forums. As agreed beforehand, I'll lend you my online army. Do you want me to help suppress it?"

"Blocking is not as good as guiding, and guiding is not as good as bombing."

"Really not going to?"

"That's right. Don't be fooled by the loud voices online; they're mostly paid trolls. Those who hate piracy the most are never the viewers. Not only do we not need to suppress it, we should also fan the flames for them."

Cai Yinong was silent for three seconds, then smiled: "You mean..."

"Tell them to make the fire burn brighter. The bigger the fire, the more effective the reversal will be."

Ji Yun hung up the phone and then dialed Tangren's "online army leader".

"Director Jia, we need you to take charge."

"President Ji, please speak."

"Find a group of people to 'help' repost that exposé from Orange Sky on various forums. Remember, use an indignant tone, the angrier the better."

Jia Shikai was taken aback: "Are you... helping your opponent smear yourself?"

"Yes. But remember one detail..."

Ji Yun lowered her voice and said a few words.

Upon hearing this, Jia Shikai gasped, "President Ji, your move... is too underhanded."

"Is that malicious? They struck first."

"Okay, I'll take care of it right away!"

After hanging up the phone, Ji Yun sent Xu Zheng a text message: "In the next few days, if any reporters ask about piracy, don't avoid it, just say four words: 'The prodigal son returns.'"

Xu Zheng replied instantly: "Okay."

An hour later.

On Tianya Forum, posts about Ji Yun's identity as a "pirate" have flooded the screen.

The most popular post: "Boycott pirated movies! Let's start with ourselves!"

Second most popular post: "Ji Yun: From Pirate to Director, a Capital Laundering Show?"

The third most popular post: "Former employees of Tiandao Culture whom I knew: How many movies did they pirate back then?"

Each comment was accompanied by a uniform chorus of curses.

But observant netizens may have noticed a strange phenomenon:

All the trending posts were published within half an hour of Orange Sky's exposé.

Within half an hour, there were over a dozen trending posts and tens of thousands of comments.

This speed is even faster than grabbing tickets during the Spring Festival travel rush.

Someone raised a question in the comments section:

"Why are all these accounts that are posting newly registered today?"

"The person upstairs is right. And look at those who are cursing the most, their IDs are all gibberish."

"A fake person? Did Orange Sky hire an online army to smear its competitors?"

The question was deleted in less than three minutes after it was posted.

The account of the person who posted the message was also banned.

This, in turn, aroused even more suspicion.

"Delete posts, ban accounts? You're just admitting it!"

"I didn't believe it at first, but now I do. Orange Sky is getting anxious."

"Red Cliff had a budget of 6 million yuan, and they're afraid of a low-budget comedy with a budget of 500 million yuan? That's hilarious."

"Is 'Lost in Thailand' really that good? I'm kind of interested in watching it."

The wind direction inexplicably began to shift.

------

Orange Sky Entertainment Headquarters.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, sunlight refracted between the towering buildings, the blazing sun scorching the air. But inside, the central air conditioning was blowing out cool air.

Wu Kebo sat in his chairman's office, which was over 100 square meters, looking completely at ease.

Jiang Yiyan, dressed in a cool short skirt, lit a cigar with a charming expression. She took a puff herself and then brought it to President Wu's lips. There were still traces of her lipstick on the cigar.

Opposite the sofa.

Lin Chih-ling personally poured a cup of coffee for Wu Yu-sen, carefully tested the temperature, and then bowed to present it to him, sitting intimately beside him and chatting and laughing.