A song called "The You of the Past" has prompted the entire internet to beg me not to leav

Xinghai City, hillside villa.

Lin Yan has been hiding away in peace and quiet for three days since escaping from western Hunan. The production team claims that due to scheduling conflicts, Lin Yan has ended the recording of the show early.

They didn't even ask Lin Yan for a penalty for breach of contract.

The song's popularity online has only increased, with "Rice Fragrance" becoming the go-to background music for cultural and tourism bureaus across the country to attract visitors. From the snowy plains of northern China to the water towns of southern China, the line "I still remember you saying home is the only castle" is playing on repeat in every street and alley.

But Lin Yan didn't care at all. He was comfortably staying at home, like a dead fish.

"Beautiful! A comeback with a sliver of health!" Lin Yan excitedly tossed the controller aside, grabbed a can of cola from the coffee table, gulped down a large mouthful, and let out a satisfying burp.

"Ding-dong, ding-dong, ding-dong!"

The doorbell rang suddenly, startling Oscar in my arms so much that he let out a "woof" and burrowed under a pillow.

Lin Yan frowned, but before he could even start cursing, Shen Qingqiu flung open the door. Immediately afterward, Lao Liang, a senior executive at the company, stormed in like a mad boar.

He was clutching a folder that was half a meter tall tightly in his arms, and the few remaining strands of hair on his forehead were stuck to his scalp with sweat, making him look both comical and broken.

"President Lin! This is a disaster!" Old Liang slammed the documents onto the coffee table, making the Coke can spin wildly.

"A catastrophe! Our group is facing a major calamity!"

Lin Yan slowly pulled out a tissue to wipe his mouth: "What's wrong? Did the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television finally take a dislike to us and blacklist us? Or did Lao Xue get sacked in Hollywood for his foul mouth?"

"No! It's because making money has led to something catastrophic!" Old Liang paced anxiously in front of the coffee table.

Shen Qingqiu came out of the kitchen carrying a plate of sliced ​​melon, handed Lao Liang a glass of ice water, and gestured for him to catch his breath before continuing.

Old Liang gulped down a large mouthful of water, his hands trembling as he flipped through the documents: "The 4 billion yuan box office revenue from 'A Chinese Odyssey' has arrived, plus the overseas copyright fees for your songs, and Qingqiu's various dividends over the past six months..."

"Our company's current cash flow has exceeded 15 billion! This profit margin has attracted all those bloodthirsty crocodiles from Wall Street!"

"Let them come. We're not short of money. We can just not accept financing, right?" Lin Yan said dismissively, scratching his dog's chin.

"This is where the problem lies!" Old Liang took a deep breath and dropped a bombshell: "Blackstone Capital Asia Pacific President Smith, along with three of the top domestic investment banks, swept up our early-stage retail shares off-exchange."

"Although the combined profits from their best efforts are less than 10%, these bastards used underhanded tactics and leveraged financial leverage to initiate a special shareholders' proposal!"

"They colluded with dozens of institutions to forcibly value our group at 150 billion yuan. They demanded that the group immediately launch its IPO on NASDAQ in the US! They wanted us to be forced to ring the bell and go public!"

"Clatter".

The dog biscuit Lin Yan was holding fell onto the carpet. Oscar, who was hiding under a cushion, poked his head out and snatched it away.

Lin Yan, who was on the sofa, suddenly sat up straight. His lazy, languid demeanor vanished instantly, replaced by an undisguised sense of horror.

"What the hell did you say? What city?" Lin Yan's voice cracked.

"That's right! A valuation of hundreds of billions, Mr. Lin!" Old Liang's eyes gleamed with excitement.

"The moment this bell rings, your net worth will skyrocket! We'll be the undisputed kings of the Chinese entertainment industry, and even established capital firms will line up to toast us!"

"Bullshit!"

Lin Yan jumped up suddenly, just like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

He pointed at Lao Liang's nose and started cursing: "Why did you change your name in the first place? 'Don't want to go to work'! Don't you understand those four Chinese characters?!"

Old Liang shrank back, startled by the shouting: "Yeah, I don't want to go to work..."

"Do you even know what going public means?!" Lin Yan slapped his thigh in anguish.

"This means we'll have a performance-based agreement hanging over our heads! It means we'll have to release annual reports, semi-annual reports, and quarterly reports! It means tens of thousands of shareholders will be scrutinizing our performance with a magnifying glass every day!"

"If I dare to stay home and play games for half a month without writing songs, the company's stock price will drop by hundreds of millions in market value! At that point, it won't be me ordering you around anymore!"

"Those were those bastards on Wall Street, standing behind me with barbed whips, forcing me to work 996 days a year writing songs and making movies!"

Lin Yan felt increasingly chilled to the bone, and desperately clutched his head: "I risked my life to retire from the entertainment industry and become a chef, and I was finally able to retire comfortably. And they actually want me to work for the entire world's stock market investors? What the hell is the difference between this and murder?!"

Shen Qingqiu stood aside, watching her husband's miserable look as if the sky had fallen, and finally couldn't help but burst out laughing.

If anyone hears that the company is going to ring the bell in the US, their ancestors' graves will be emitting auspicious smoke.

This guy acted as if he had received an imperial edict to be executed by slow slicing.

"Wife! You're still laughing! Those foreign devils are coming to smash your husband's game console!" Lin Yan looked at Shen Qingqiu with a wronged expression.

Shen Qingqiu's smile faded, replaced by the decisive composure of a female CEO: "Old Liang, if we pursue legal action and forcefully reject this listing proposal, what will they do?"

Old Liang wiped away a cold sweat, his face contorted with worry: "They control the core distribution channels. If we overturn the table, Blackstone Capital will unite with cinemas and streaming media both domestically and internationally to completely ban our subsequent works."

"They can even maliciously short-sell us in overseas markets. The logic of capital is dirty, Qingqiu. If you don't let them leech off us, they will join forces to destroy you."

The villa suddenly fell into dead silence.

Capital's methods are always ruthless. They may not be able to write a good song, but they have hundreds or thousands of dirty tricks to make sure you never get ahead in your life.

Shen Qingqiu frowned slightly, a cold glint flashing in his eyes: "Since they want to play dirty tricks, then let the group's legal department burn through cash in a business war with them. When it comes to spending money, we've never been short of funds."

"No, lawsuits are too mentally taxing and will affect my quality of life."

Lin Yan suddenly raised his head, the look of terror from before completely gone. He wiped his face, loosened his collar, and a wicked sneer appeared in his eyes.

He shuffled to the floor-to-ceiling window in his slippers, looked down at the bustling skyline of Xinghai City, and stretched out a big yawn.

"Weren't these suit-wearing thugs begging us to go public? Didn't they think our company was an outrageously profitable money-printing machine?"

Lin Yan turned around, stared at Lao Liang, and his eyes flashed with an almost insane light.

"Alright, let's go along with their wishes. Immediately prepare a top-level roadshow nationwide. Invite all the investment banking bigwigs and Wall Street elites you can contact to sit in the front row."

Old Liang gasped in shock: "President Lin! You...you're going to compromise? You're really going to ring the bell?"

"I'll knock his grandpa's door open."

Lin Yan snorted coldly, a chilling smile curving his lips: "I'm going to personally go on stage and draw a big, round pie for these vampires."

"I want to scare these Wall Street elites so much that they'll buy tickets and get out of China overnight before the roadshow ends."

Shen Qingqiu raised her slender eyebrows, instantly understanding her husband's mischievous and unconventional humor. Leaning against the kitchen counter, she chuckled and asked, "So, tell me, what do you need me, the CEO, to do for you?"

"Honey, approve my budget of 200 million yuan first."

Lin Yan blinked at Shen Qingqiu and pointed at the Samoyed on the ground: "I'm going to import the world's finest Kobe beef as dog food for Oscar."

"By the way, give each of the cleaning ladies in our company a year-end bonus of five million tomorrow morning."

"I'm going to make the cost expenditure section of our next quarter's financial statements so bad it'll make them question their existence!"

Old Liang stood there, feeling a chill run down his spine, and his legs began to go weak.

This guy is planning to wield a sledgehammer right in front of all of Wall Street and pull off an epic reverse sell-off!