The sweetest in the entertainment industry

"So fast?"

Gu Lanxi was leaning against a willow tree, feeling drowsy, but when he talked about the new album, she immediately woke up.

His last album was released on Valentine's Day, which was only a little over five months ago. It would be understandable if he were to collect songs from various sources to put together an album, but he writes them all himself. Isn't that a bit too fast?

Gu Lanxi carefully chose her words: "Haste makes waste. We would rather go slower than sacrifice quality for speed. High-quality works are the foundation of our business."

No one is perfect. Even the most popular celebrities in the industry have their flaws, but their fans can always forgive them.

Firstly, they haven't made any fundamental mistakes; secondly, they have outstanding works; and thirdly, the energy and money invested in following celebrities are real, and giving up would be difficult due to the heavy sunk costs.

Just like how a woman, for the sake of her children, is still reluctant to divorce even if her marriage is not perfect.

Fans who are loyal will usually choose to endure.

They always tell themselves that the flaws don't detract from the overall merits.

Gu Lanxi didn't want to be remembered with a bad reputation years later.

Therefore, the bottom line I set for myself after entering this industry is not to take on bad films for money, nor to endorse bad products just to make money off customers.

She set this standard for herself and hoped that Lu Nanting could do the same.

When people are young and full of vigor, they often dream of leaping ten steps at once. But as they get older, they realize that it is more prudent to take things one step at a time.

Seeing her serious tone, Lu Nanting couldn't help but find it amusing:

"I just said I've thought of a theme, not that I'm going to release a new one next year... Hey hey hey, hurry up and copy this!"

Before he could finish speaking, a blue shadow flashed before his eyes. Gu Lanxi acted swiftly and accurately. Even though there was no fishhook on the cotton rope, she still managed to scoop up the small fish the moment he pulled it out of the water and the fish let go of his mouth.

Upon recognizing what kind of fish it was, their interest vanished instantly: "Ugh, another wheat ear!"

Ever since the last time she caught a bunch of wheat ears in the lake near her house, fried them into a huge basin, and the whole family ate until they were sick of it, Gu Lanxi has disliked fish.

But Lu Nanting had already put the chicken heart back into the water, his eyes fixed on the surface, continuing to look forward to it.

Perhaps afraid that making too much noise would scare the fish away, he moved about a foot and a half closer to Gu Lanxi before quietly continuing their conversation:
"I'm also the type of person who prefers quality over quantity. If I'm going to release an album, I'll definitely polish it repeatedly."

Gu Lanxi nodded: "That's good. So many people fail because they are too eager for quick success."

Fearing that he might think I was too dogmatic and old-fashioned, I told him some things I had heard.

For example, a real estate tycoon took advantage of favorable policies to aggressively acquire land. His group adopted a "wolf culture," using a small amount of its own funds to pay the initial land payment, quickly starting construction and pre-selling, and using sales revenue to pay the remaining land payments and construction costs. However, in order to curb the overheated real estate market, the government tightened lending policies, and the company's cash flow instantly dried up. The huge company went bankrupt in the blink of an eye. In desperation, the boss climbed to the unfinished rooftop and jumped off. His family's quality of life also plummeted. It was a truly tragic story.

For example, during a real estate bubble in a certain country, a businessman invested heavily in and held financial derivatives related to subprime mortgages. When the subprime crisis broke out, the value of his huge amount of "toxic assets" plummeted. Due to excessive leverage, he instantly became insolvent.

Investors and counterparties lost confidence and withdrew funds in a run, causing its liquidity to dry up completely. The government did not intervene, and in the end, not only did the owner go bankrupt, but it also triggered a global financial tsunami.

"This not only harmed his own family, but also countless unrelated people, which is even more terrible."

He had heard about the Lu family's business dealings more than once.

During family gatherings, their father would often bring up these stories to warn his three sons to be down-to-earth in their work and conscientious in their conduct.

He was only in elementary school then and had not yet fully shown his musical talent. According to his family's plan, he was also supposed to join the group to help out. He had heard this so many times that he was sick of it.

Moreover, he believed he didn't have the problem of being ambitious or eager for quick success, so there was no need for such a serious reprimand.

Therefore, even when his beloved wife told him the story herself, he didn't pay much attention. He just thought Gu Lanxi's serious little face was adorable.

Regardless of whether Yu'er would fall for it or not, he turned his head, cupped her cheeks, tilted his head, and kissed her lips a few times.

Seeing that he wasn't taking it seriously, Gu Lanxi assumed he didn't care, pushed his head away, and started talking about something that happened a couple of years ago:

“These things are quite far from us, so if I tell you them, just listen to them as stories. I’ll tell you something that happened to me.”

Lu Nanting was very interested in everything related to her, and when she heard her talking about herself, he immediately perked up his ears: "Is there anything else that I don't know?"

Gu Lanxi slapped him in an annoyed tone: "There are a lot of things you don't know! Sit further away, it's so hot!"

"How can you say that passionate love is hot?"

Gu Lanxi was amused by him and punched him twice. He didn't dodge, but just reached out and grabbed Gu Lanxi's wrist, and then leaned in to kiss her.

"So, are you going to listen or not?"

"Listen!" Although they were in the wild, Wang Cheng's family was still nearby!
Gu Lanxi felt embarrassed, so he didn't tease her.

"A couple of years ago, bike-sharing was all the rage, right? I invested all the money I made from my coffee chain into it. I thought it was a great idea, and bike-sharing would definitely become a common mode of transportation for people in the future. So I invested in a senior who had a lot of ideas."

"and then?"

"Later, at an alumni reunion, we both went. We drank a few glasses of whiskey and got a little tipsy. He started talking about his grand future goals, without mentioning any specific targets. He just said things like stepping on so-and-so and taking down so-and-so. I won't say which bosses he was talking about, lest you accuse me of kicking him when he's down and mocking him while he's bankrupt."

"and then?"

“I realized that he had become arrogant. At that time, he was truly a darling of capital, famous all over the world, the kind of person that everyone wanted to hold shares in. So, I took advantage of another round of financing to quickly clear out all the original shares I had.”

At this point, Gu Lanxi couldn't help but laugh.

With a slight upturn at the corners of her mouth, a flirtatious brow, long eyelashes fluttering gently, and bright, cunning eyes, she resembled a little fox tilting its head and licking its paws.

Her rise to wealth, especially her every decision, has been analyzed countless times by financial bloggers, but she has never shared her inner thoughts with anyone.

Lu Nanting listened attentively.

"At that time, he urgently needed capital support to expand the scale, but he was also afraid of capital control. When he lost half of his shares, he was probably a little uneasy and asked me to have dinner with him in private to discuss it in detail."

Lu Nanting also knew that senior. For a while, Gu Lanxi and he were very close, and they were often photographed by paparazzi having meals together.

One is a rising star in the entertainment industry, a "triple-high" movie star with high education, high IQ, and high looks; the other is a "triple-high" financial upstart with money, good looks, and talent. It can be said that in the early days of Gu Lanxi's debut, these gossip stories almost accounted for half of her popularity.

If it weren't for the fact that they weren't actually dating, Lu Nanting would have gone crazy.

But he wouldn't mention those things, pretending not to know the other person, and calmly asked, "And then?"

"And then? Then he created the illusion that I had no background and couldn't withstand the impact of capital, so I had to give up. He even subtly blamed me for not stepping in to protect me at the critical moment, causing me huge losses. After all, he made his fortune entirely thanks to my investment. Now that he's successful, he wants to kick me aside. We're alumni, and I haven't gone bankrupt. He doesn't want to offend me. Plus, at that time, everyone in the financial circle thought I just got lucky to make my first fortune. Now that we've encountered a real opportunity, I don't have the ability to seize it. They're desperately badmouthing me. He still has a bit of a conscience."

"Then, in less than six months, he went bankrupt, owed a bunch of people deposits, and was cursed at three times a day?"

"Ang~"

Gu Lanxi squinted and reminded him, "Fish."

Lu Nanting didn't react at first, but when he did, he picked up the branch and the chicken heart was almost half eaten away, and the fish escaped.

He couldn't help but chuckle: "You're listening so intently! What exactly happened? I'm not really interested, but listening to you talk about it is quite interesting. Why don't you tell me more?"

Recently, Lu Nanting has become very interested in financial matters, and Gu Lanxi always explains the details to him carefully, and this time was no exception.

“He was really arrogant back then. Actually, before the capital officially entered the market, I was reluctant to give up this huge new ‘cake’ for a while. I didn’t really want to withdraw. I wanted to give him another push so that he could see the situation clearly and make a positive response. As a result, I asked him to dinner three times in a row, but he always said he was busy. Once, my car was right downstairs from his building, and I saw him bring a bunch of people upstairs with my own eyes.”

That time when she lost control after drinking, Gu Lanxi only had the idea but hadn't made up her mind.

In terms of her career, she has always been a very steady person.

“His avoidance immediately made me realize that I had been abandoned. He chose capital, thinking that by sharing the ‘cake,’ capital would help him make the ‘cake’ bigger and bigger. But he didn’t know that others only wanted to learn his ‘recipe’ and make their own ‘cake,’ and in the end, they would make him leave. So I withdrew very decisively.”

Finally, a financial behemoth intervened, leveraging its own brand's national recognition and investing heavily in resources to directly waive deposits, quickly seizing the market he had worked so hard to develop, leaving him with no place to stand.

"After he went bankrupt, he regretted it very much and wanted to see me, but I never saw him again. Because I used the money I made from him to invest in Su Qi's artificial intelligence and made a fortune. The paparazzi started spreading rumors about me and Su Qi again, and the financial circle forgot about the previous suppression of me and started praising me as an investment master who could always stop losses in time."

Gu Lanxi gave a mocking laugh.

Her world and Lu Nanting's world are completely different in terms of sweetness.

"So many things are not just my fear-mongering. No matter what industry you're in, you have to be down-to-earth to go far."

This time, Lu Nanting no longer took it lightly.

He nodded seriously, indicating that he had taken note.

The fish gathered together again, and Gu Lanxi immediately swung the net.

Three small fish were caught.

Upon closer inspection—"What bad luck! It's wheat ears again!"

Lu Nanting couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Gu Lanxi stood up and slapped him across the face, annoyed. "Let's go! Let's find another seat!" (End of Chapter)